we can choose progress over the politics of the moment. we can build on the extraordinary common ground that's been forged, and we can do the hard work needed to finally pass the health insurance reform that the american people deserve. and i can guarantee you that when we do pass this bill, history won't record the demands for endless delay or endless debates in the news cycle. it will record the hard work done by the members of congress to pass the bill, and the fact that the people who sent us here to washington insisted upon change. that's the work that we've come here to do, and i look forward to working with congress in the days ahead to getting the job done. thank you, everybody. >> mr. president -- >> mr. president -- >> president of the united states there, pushing once again his health care reform bill. i will tell you in just a few minutes, rnc chairman, michael steele, will join us with his reaction. meanwhile we're pushing forward. wars collide on the sands of southern afghanistan. weapons killing soldiers.

drugs hooking and killing americans. the war against the taliban meets the war on drugs with explosive results. exclusive reports from a cnn corn embedded with u.s. marines. a house full of kids. a jail full of suspects. two dead parents. and a tangle of loose ends, and leads, and questions for police in the florida panhandle. wait until you hear the latest. and when it comes to health care, the squeaky wheel gets a whole lot of taxpayer dollars. a cnn special investigation, how medicare spends your money. i hope you're sitting down. hello, everyone, i'm kyra phillips, live at cnn world headquarters in atlanta. you're live in the "cnn you're live in the "cnn newsroom." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com they call it an unconventional war, and this is one reason why. these aren't artillery shells or

ieds being blown up in southern afghanistan, they're poppy seeds, scales, and other equipment and chemicals used to make heroin. heroin that's making its way to the united states and into the hands of u.s. drug dealers. u.s. marines are seizing ground from the taliban in helmand province, it's squeezing its economic lifeline. drugs flow out. money flows in. people get high. taliban fighters get weapons. and the war drags on. for more now, five years now, the drug enforcement agency has been a part of that war. and now it's part of a surge. thomas harrigan is the dea's chief of operations and joins me live from headquarters in just a moment. but, first, hold on. let's take you to where all this is happening. cnn's ivan watson is with the marines in helmand province and saw the cash cow go up in flames. >> reporter: somerset season for fighting in afghanistan, and it's been a bloody summer. four american soldiers killed on monday by a deadly roadside bomb, which hit their vehicle in

eastern afghanistan, and one british soldier killed on monday as well here in helmand province, where we're located. the nato forces here, the u.s. forces, have hit record numbers of casualties for the month of july. they have broken records for this eight-year-long war, and this month is still far from over, as more troops continue to pour in from the u.s. military. they're trying to double the number of troops on the ground since last year as part of a major offensive to try to rout the taliban. now, the marines that i'm with right now from the 2nd light armored reconnaissance battalion, rather, they took a step this week that they believe will try to limit the number of deadly roadside bombs that the taliban has access to. they have been moving to a nearby market and gathering tons -- literal tons -- of poppy seeds for that cash crop, which grows opium and can be used to make heroin. it's a $3 billion industry here in afghanistan, and the taliban is believed to use these

revenues to recruit fighters and to make weapons as well. and we saw in a ceremony today the marines sent out a message, a spectacular message, with this explosion during a series of air strikes. let's take a look at this. those are 1,000-pound bombs dropped on more than 1,600 sacks of poppy seed. it's going to definitely put a dent into the poppy harvest here in southern afghanistan, which can be described as the opium capital of the world. now, i talked to america's top coordinator for economic and development affairs here, ambassador tony wayne, and i asked him whether or not the u.s. military is now getting into the business of poppy eradicati eradication. here's what he had to say -- >> what we realize is the nexus between poppy growing and drug trafficking and money for the insurgency. so, when there's opportunity to find stashes like this, that was

cov discovered, part of the mission is to destroy it, take and it destroy it. >> reporter: now, the big challenge here is if you take away the poppy business, the opium business, what kind of money-earning enterprise will be left for the poor farmers in this impoverished country? ambassador tony wayne, he says that the u.s. government is funneling hundreds of millions of dollars to southern afghanistan alone to help with agricultural aid. he says agricultural experts are coming in. he says there are work projects being set up and vouchers for farmers to buy fertilizer and seeds for legal crops to be put on the ground here. but he says the big challenge is getting afghan partners to work in conjunction with these internet projects on the ground. that is going to be a big challenge, because any afghan you talk to will say that the credibility of the central afghan government is really in question right now. the government often being accused of corruption and even

being involved in this very heroin business, very same heroin business, that is booming in afghanistan. and that government's credibility will be tested on august 20th, in presidential elections. ivan watson, cnn, reporting from helmand province in southern afghanistan. well, afghanistan just hasn't cornered the world's heroin market, it owns. since 9/11, it is reported that afghans have been responsible for 90% of the hair wayne sold worldwide. it's fertile ground for the dea and that what brings me to my guest in arlington, virginia, thomas harrigan is assistant administrator and chief of operations. he's going to be sending a number of more agents to afghanistan. tom, i just have to ask you, learning about this, reading about this, seeing these reports coming out of afghanistan from our ivan watson are should be more concerned about terrorists breeding in afghanistan and

coming here and killing us, or the growth of heroin getting into the hands of drug dealers over here and killing us that way? >> well, obviously, kyra, both of those are major concerns to us. what we're trying to do in the dea, in close consultation with the department of state, with ambassador holbrooke with ambassador eichenberry is send several additional agents to afghanistan, not just to kabul, but to forward deploy them in afghanistan, down south to helmand, which is ground zero for afghanistan, up north and in jalalabad and nangarhar as well. so, our concern is to get the traffickers -- again not the farmers, but the drug traffickers, the high-value targets that process most of the heroin over the world's -- 93% of the heroin that we see here throughout the world. >> so, tom, let me ask you, because you're not just sending a couple more agents over there. it's going to be far more than

double of what has been there. what exactly can these dea agents do that the military can't just by using force? >> well, it's a very balanced attack, kyra. we're going over there. it is. it's the most prolific expansion in dea history. we are sending our agents out to work in close coordination with the u.s. military and our nato counterparts, but also, more importantly, with the counternarcotics police of afghanistan. we've worked with them over the last several years. again, dea was in afghanistan in the '70s, we were there during the late '70s during the russian invasion. we reopened our office in 2003, obviously because of the potential movement of opium and heroin through afghanistan, into eastern and western europe and eventually into the united states. so, again, we work very, very closely with our military and with our counternarcotics police of afghanistan. >> and, tom, as you well know,

corruption within the afghanistan government is a tremendous problem. a lot of these drug dealers are very cozy with members of the government. that's got to be a challenge. how are your agents going to deal with that part of this war on drugs? >> well, that's -- that's a great question, kyra. again, it is a very delicate matter. we work very closely. we had embedded units. we have our vetted units throughout afghanistan. we're never going to eliminate corruption, obviously. but we certainly will try to minimize it, and we will work with our very close counterparts in afghanistan and hopefully overcome the corruption issue. >> final question, tom -- what's happened here? it seems that we've seen this tremendous increase, as we pointed out, since 9/11. what have you seen as the biggest failure here, and why more drugs are getting into the u.s.? >> well, again, right now, from -- from afghanistan, we're not seeing a tremendous increase of heroin from southwest asia.

what we view it as a problem, it's a national security issue. as you've heard time and time again, we must not let afghanistan fail. we have to extend the rule of law throughout afghanistan, and in doing such, will professionalize all the agencies in the afghan government. but as far as dea is concerned, especially the counternarcotics police of afghanistan, because, again, it is they that must remain in the country for years to come and, again, we're trying to build a very professional, competent, law enforcement authority in the counternarcotics police of afghanistan. >> well, it definitely needs your support. dea's thomas harrigan. tom, always good to talk to you. appreciate it. thank you very much, kyra. learning a little more every day, about the killings of byrd and melanie billings. the couple who adopted several special-needs children, a revelation at every turn down this twisted florida road. like this little nugget -- state documents now show that byrd billings once tried to copyright the kids' names. he'd send florida a bill when

their names appeared on a state letterhead. we're also learning more about the suspects and about how the children are doing without their parents. here's cnn's susan candiotti. >> reporter: cnn has learned the suspects made a dry run at the billings' home about a month before the murders, but the sheriff says it was not caught on surveillance cameras. we are also finding out that the suspected mastermind, leonard gonzalez jr., allegedly told investigators that he once received money from mr. billings before opening a martial arts studio. and gonzalez apparently also at one time on mr. billings' payroll. >> mr. gonzalez worked, i think, for an automobile dealership, again, we're verifying that information that he worked with one of the companies that mr. billings had -- and owned an interest in. >> reporter: the billings family is doing everything it can to try to heal. billings' daughter tells me that they've gotten a lot of help with the community, putting in

new windows and cleaning up the house and putting a new security gate outside. i also asked billings' daughter about the funeral and about messages that the children attached to balloons that were sent up into the air. >> there were several "i love you, mommys," "i love you, daddys." one of them said "you're the best mommy in the world." there's just -- you know, they understand and they're compassionate children. and they know that they -- their mommy's not here. and children -- all children need a mommy. and she was the best mommy. >> reporter: in her will, mrs. billings asks her daughter to take care of the children if

anything happens to her. and ashley markham says, i've told my brothers and sisters that's exactly what i am to you. i am your sister. you'll always only have one mother and father. susan candiotti, cnn, pensacola, florida. a harvard professor, one of this country's top black scholars, arrested, after someone catches him trying to get into his own house. quite a case and quite a controversy in cambridge. some new developments, just in, in the last few hours.

president obama wants

congress to pass health care reform, and fast. and if you didn't get the message, don't worry, because he'll keep repeating it. you may have heard him live just minutes ago at the white house in the rose garden. >> so, i understand that some will try to delay action until the special interests can kill it, while others will score political points. we've done that before. and we can choose to follow that playbook again and we'll never get over the goal line and we'll face an even greater crisis in the years to come. that's one path we can travel. or, we can come together and insist that this time will be different. we can choose action over inaction. we can choose progress over the politics of the moment. we can build on the extraordinary common ground that's been forged, and we can do the hard work needed to finally pass the health insurance reform that the american people deserve. competing plans are working their way through house and senate committees. they aim to offer coverage to just about everybody while easing the financial strains on

government and family alike. the two main points are costs. the white house said the reform shouldn't add to the deficit and the so-called public option patterned on medicare, which most democrats support and republicans oppose. a leading voice in that republican opposition, of course, rnc chairman, michael steele, he joins me now live from our washington studios. chairman, you never mince words. you heard the president's comments. your major concerns right now? >> my major concerns remain the same -- i think tomorrow night the president has an opportunity to come straight to the american people and tell us exactly what's in this plan. how much sit really going to cost us? are you really going to cut $400 billion from medicare and medicaid programs. these are -- these are cbo numbers. these are numbers coming from think tanks. people who are independently looking at what this plan is all about. and i think -- i agree with the president when he says, you

know, it's time to come together and do something different. but this isn't the different we want. >> what is the different that you want? tell me what the difference is -- >> well, the different i want, i think we should start by the fact that we need to slow the train down, number one. why this rush to get a health care bill signed or at least passed before the august recess, number one. number two, when you talk about bipartisanship, it's hard to be bipartisan when you're not even invited in the room. we are not even taking the suggestions and recommendations of republicans in the house and senate and making it a part of the bill. oh, do you want to do the bill and then get us in the room to say, well, at least we had you there? that's not -- that's not the approach i think that the american people want or what is ultimately a fundamental change to the way we do health care in this country, which is needed in terms of addressing the costs and insuring the uninsured. but the way the administration is going about it, to me, is not appropriate. so, the delay action is so that we can be smart about the action we have to take, and the political points, well, you

know, right now the dnc is running around, you know, trying to gin up activity around what senator demint said, you know, is that how we're going to do the politics here? >> the more you delay, the more you delay, the more we're going into the hole. i think something has to be done. i think everybody agrees it's important to come to some type of decision. >> right, i agree. >> because we're already struggling in this country and health care is costing uz up the wazoo. >> do you know how much it's going to count? >> far more than we can continue. senior medical correspondent, elizabeth cohen, can you put a cost on it? >> mr. steele talked about it at the national press club yesterday. it's a huge amount of money. and mr. steele agrees with everybody that that should not continue. it's way too much money. but what i thought was interesting at your national press club feed, i've been reading it here, it was a really interesting speech. you didn't say what you would do to solve the problem.

you've bashed obama and pelosi and those folks, but i didn't hear what would you do to solve the problem. >> i beg to differ. i beg to differ. i have 2 1/2 pages of recommendations of what we could do to begin to address the cost issue, which i laid out as the central reason for this crisis right now it's cost driven. it's not access. it's not quality. it's cost. and the reality of it is, there are four or five things i can drop right now from portability to tort reform to creating co-ops, to a host of other things that i've spelled out in 2 1/2 pages in that speech in bullets that tells you exactly what we should be doing and to begin to address the question of cost containment. so to sit there i didn't say what we would do. i reflected back to the american people what republicans and senate -- and -- republicans in the house and senate have been trying to get the democrats to pay attention to for the last four or five months. >> when you were asked by someone in the audience, how do you insure the millions of people who don't have insurance, you said, i'm -- i'm not a

policy person. but what would you -- >> right, that's not -- that's not my job. that's why we have elected officials who are now trying to deal with this issue which is, again, to my point -- how do you begin to address that issue in two weeks' time? it took us a year and a half to put the medicare program in place. we want to fundamentally reorient one-sixth of our economy in two weeks. that makes no logical point to me. we've got policymakers whose job we've elected to do that. my job yesterday was to go out and to try to establish thematically where we think the administration is getting off the track and where we think we can begin to put in place some necessary reforms, that i laid out in there, tort reform, et cetera, to deal with the cost containment, and the policymakers should take the time between now and the end of the year or the beginning of next year to put together a solid health care plan that

includes insurance agencies, doctors, patients, lawyers and whoever touches this issue, pharmaceutical companies, for example, as well. >> whether government-run or private, no one's going to demand you're going to go one way or another. you're still going to have a choice. >> we don't -- maybe we don't. i don't know. we haven't had that debate. i mean, you're talking about -- you're talking about the possibility of reorienting one-sixth of our economy with legislators who haven't even read the legislation. i mean, are they going to dolt health care what they did with cap and trade? are we going to get amendments at 4:00 in the morning and no one reads them? and then only afternoon the health and human services department begins to implement this craziness, we're going to find out what's in the bill? that's not how you do health care and it doesn't give comfort to people of this country to know that this administration is trying to rush through what i think is a very risky experiment on their health care and the costs that they have to pay. >> what about health care reform to senior citizens?

>> absolutely. well, look. the reg-d, you know, prescription drug benefit was put in place during the bush administration. that was a reform. some agree with it or didn't agree with it, but there came a consensus, a bipartisan effort, to reach that reform. certainly as you go forward and you're looking at the weight and the cost of medicaid. and medmedicare, not just to seniors, but to the poor in this country, that is something else that our legislators have to begin to deal with. is the administration going to have to make cuts in medicare and medicare, if so, what are they? if so, how deep? that's something, again, that has not been addressed as part of this overall effort to reform our health care system. there are a lot of seniors who run the risks in -- in a very short time if we go through with this thing -- and i had it happen, someone said it this morning on another program, well, if my 85-year-old grand mother wants a hip replacement, why should we replace her hip? well, who wants to have that conversation with an 85 grand

mother? do you? do you want to be the one to tell her you can't because you're too old? do you want me to tell her that? do you want the federal government to tell her that? that's a personal decision, and the government should not put itself in a position of dictating to anyone what their health outcomes are. we have ways to do that -- >> it's interesting when you state that, that the government's going to tell an 85-year-old grandmother, sorry, you're going to not going to have a hip replacement? where does it say that the government is going to tell your grandmother that they can't get a hip replacement? i don't see it in either bill. >> of course, you don't. it's a little something called implementation. are you seen the flowchart on the bureaucracy that will be created? all the government agencies that will have a hand in this? how the independent group of people will sit back and make decisions on health care coverage? of course, you're not going to spell that out in the legislation. but you can read and know where this thing is going and the reality of it is, it is -- it's part and parcel of what people are talking about. what people are concerned about.

so, to this point, whether or not it's in the legislation, it is a concern that i've heard and a number of people have heard around the country that needs to get addressed. and i don't think this administration can look at the american people in the eye and tell them that three, four years down the road that the federal government, very much like it has with amtrak, set up a monopoly in health care and have the ultimate control of the outcomes of what you get, where you go, and how you receive that health care service. >> want to point out, though, we're still talking about the fact that people will have a choice. they went to be told to go one way or the other. one final question, i'm curious -- >> i don't know that. i haven't seen the final bill. i don't know that. >> question for you -- >> and you don't either. >> -- what kind of health care do you have? >> i have -- i have private -- i have health care through this -- through the rnc. but i was a small businessman and had to pay for this myself at one time, so i can tell you from firsthand experience what it's like to go in this market and have to spend over $20,000 a

year to provide health care of my family. i understand the cost side -- >> but are you happy with your health care? >> i'm happy with my health care, just like 85% of the mesh peop american people. >> but you are concerned about the cost? >> we're concerned about the cost. as i'm sure you are. >> we're all concerned about it. >> and that's the bottom line. >> any final thoughts? >> i think sometimes it comes down to the haves and the have-nots. he told us he's a have and what about the people that don't? that's what health care is about. as well as containing costs. >> that's 47 million out of 310 million. don't paint the picture that america -- 90% of our people don't have health care. that's not the case. we have a small segment of the community. 12 million of whom are illegal immigrants, 10 million or so who are qualified for medicare or medicaid already and don't know it and haven't gotten on to the program. a significant number of our young people. so the 47 million number looks a little bit different when you

get behind and see who the people are and what the situation is. >> chairman, before i let you go, i'm curious, because elizabeth and i are both wondering, what time of health insurance do you have? do you get that through the rnc? >> yes. through my employer. >> what company is it? >> bluecross blue shield. or maybe not. >> you must not have gone to the doctor lately. you're in good shape. chairman -- >> yeah, i haven't had -- i haven't had to use the plan too much. thank goodness. although there are days in this job. >> oh, you're preaching to the choir, my friend. rnc chairman michael steele. always appreciate your time. it's always interesting. thank you. >> take care. >> elizabeth cohen, thank you so much. my fact checker, she keeps me honest on all the issues and all the numbers. all right, this could have been the day that the senate judiciary committee passed judgment on sonia sotomayor, instead as senate rules allow, republicans called for a one-week delay. nobody doubts that the no one

will not recommend her confirmation to the supreme court. a happy ending to a story that drew national outrage, minority kids kids out of a swim club, getting ready for a fantastic trip. a celebrity moved by the story, picking up the tab. to stay on top of my game after 50,

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well, a big-name professor's arrest sparked bigtime controversy. the news hit harvard square and then the headlines. we'll have some new developments just in the last couple of hours. the disorderly conduct charge against professor henry louis gates, otherwise known as skip gates, is being dropped. the notre black scholar had accused cambridge cops of racial bias. the whole mess sparked by a 911 call who thought the professor was a burglar. it turns out he was just trying to get into his home. cops came. words were exchanged and he was led away in cuffs. today professor gates' friend and lawyer broke down his point of view on "american morning." >> all it took was a cool observation of what -- where he worked, and the reality is that think about this, you walk into the house, a police officer, and you see they things.

you see his har vard i.d., so you know who he is, you see the driver's license with his photograph -- >> right. >> and then you see, well, his address on the driver's license that matches the address where you are. those are the facts. >> and, in fact, everyone's now on the same paining. quoting now from a joint press release -- they were kicked out of a swim club's pool near philadelphia. now they're going to disney world. a few weeks ago we first told you about the 65 kids from a mostly minority day care center who had their swimming privileges revoked. the swim club's director said the change had changed the complexion and atmosphere of the club, and that made a movie star pretty mad, so he's footing the bill for all the kids to travel to disney world. >> if you want to know the celebrity that you will be

meeting that have paid for your trip to disney world, the celebrity name is -- >> how you all feeling about that? >> good! >> you're going to disney world! >> yeah! >> tyler perry, of course, is the star writer and producer of such hit movies as madea goes to jail, and his publicist said when perry heard what happened to the kids, he immediately wanted to help. tyler perry and professor gates are both featured in cnn's "black in america 2." the countdown starts tomorrow night at 7:00 live from times square. then at 8:00 president obama's news conference, followed by the first night of cnn's two-night event, "black in america 2." competitive bidding, it's supposed to save you money on medical expenses were so why is taxpayer money paying four times more than something is worth? something our special investigations unit covered will outrage you. .

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it's called competitive bidding, and it's what medicare wants to cut health care costs,

but it's getting vigorous opposition from some in the industry and their supporters on capitol hill who want to keep a system some call a taxpayer rip-off. drew griffin with cnn's special investigations unit looked at what it cost to get a simple item for a patient. and you're going to be outraged on what he found out. >> reporter: to debbie brown it's really easy to understand why medicare is going bust. since a back surgery gone bad six years ago, she's had plenty of time to think about it, to think about the wheelchair, the government has been renting for her with medicare dollars. for this? squeaky chair? >> yeah. it's kind of embarrassing. >> reporter: so far, for this very wheelchair, taxpayers have spent more than $1,200 just to rent it. how much does this wheelchair cost if you just bought it? >> if i wanted this one, about $400. >> reporter: could that possibly

be true? yes! here is the exact same wheelchair being sold on the internet for $440, free shipping. but, wait, it gets even better. brown's wheelchair is rented to her from a national health care products supplier name app prap health care, one of the largest suppliers. it's apria that has already billed the government $1,200. to check prices, we decided to buy our own chair. the company we contacted said brown's model is no longer being made, but this one, being made by the same company is even better. >> these are pretty sturdy, right? >> yes. >> reporter: the price? just $349. the company selling it to us? apria health care. the same company charged medicare $1,200. so, who would come up with a system where renting this

wheelchair would cost four times the amount of money it would take to actually buy it? let me give you a hint. >> well, congress sets payment rules, and the statute's prescriptive as to who has to pay for health care services. >> reporter: jonathan blum is president obama's pick to try to change for how the change of centers for medicaid and medicare services, cms, has been paying for this. which as he points out is very different from how the rest of the country shops. congress, it turns out, sets the rules for how much a wheelchair should be rented for, and congress has determined that the wheelchair should be rented for a period of 13 months, instead of just buying them, and congress has determined price is not as important as other considerations. like small business contracts and availability. you can't imagine anybody who actually had to pay for this would go out and get the same

price that the government is being handed? >> it's wrong. the good news is, we have new authority right now to use competitive bidding, which would give the program much more flexibility. >> reporter: that new authority is to actually have companies bid on the prices for things like wheelchairs. >> mr. speaker, i would urge to us defeat this bill -- >> reporter: the problem is congress has been very reluctant to allow competitive bidding. it's been delayed for years. started last year, then stopped after just two weeks because of complaints from congress. they will try again this fall, but congress is complaining again. in this letter signed by 84 members of congress, saying the competitive bidding system is unfair. find out exactly why members of congress are against competitive bidding, we took our wheelchair to the halls of congress, to the top republican and democrat, who signed that letter. betty sutton is the democrat.

what better way to contain costs than just have a competitive marketplace? >> well, you know what, i'm a big believer in competitive bidding, so at the outset, i absolutely concur. but this program, as it has -- has unfolded, as it's been developed, it really is a competitive bidding process that isn't competitive at all. >> reporter: marcia blackburn is the republican. on the free market, this $349 -- >> that's right. >> reporter: -- wheelchair's pretty cheap. when the government is paying for it, it so far costs four times as much money. >> that is right. and anytime you have a bureaucracy that is going to make those decisions and is going to decide what that price is going to be, look what it ends up costing. and as we talk about health care reform, that is one of our points. >> reporter: both say they support competition, just not the rules that government has set up.

what's this really about? the american association for home care represents businesses who have been billing the government for things like wheelchair rentals. in a statement, the association said the bid program would sacrifice care for seniors and people with disabilities as it reduces patient access to and choice for medical equipment, and the association claims competitive bidding will actually increase medicare costs because it will lead to longer, more expensive hospital stays. how does apria account for the disparity in pricing of these two wheelchairs? the company says, its own employee made an honest mistake and should have charged cnn $949 for the tracer xf-5. $949 for a wheelchair whose manufacturer suggests a list

price of $655? and a wheelchair we, again, found online even cheaper than we first bought it for $289 and $249, free shipping. apria says it charges more for its wheelchair because of extensive government paperwork and its full-service, 24 hours a day, including free delivery. john rother with the retired advovassy group, aarp, said the industry is trying to protect profits for a $1,200 wheelchair that costs a mere $400. >> it's a rip-off for taxpayers. >> reporter: debbie brown's wheelchair needs replacing and she's reluctantly talked to her doctor about a new one. an suv on fire and a woman

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courage and a gut response. both probably saved two infants and their mom, trapped in their burning suv. we want to warn you, this is pretty tough to watch and to listen to. >> get back! there's a baby in there! >> get her. come on. >> save the baby. save the baby. >> quick. >> get away. >> get away. >> wow, two brothers, who are milwaukee firefighters, were off duty when they arrived on the scene here. they and others pulled the mom. and then you can see the 2-year-old daughter came out first. her 4-year-old son was actually still trapped by a seat belt. so, the brothers' first attempt to get him out failed, as others used fire extinguishers to hold the flames back. one of the brothers cut the boy free and he suffered burns over 30% of his body. yesterday he was in critical condition. his mom and sister were treated

for burns to their hands and to their arms. well, we've got some disturbing new figures about the swine flu. not only is it fatal, it's fast. the world health organization says more than 700 people have died from the virus, some 260 more deaths reported in the past two weeks. you can see here on this map behind me that it's actually spreading with unprecedented speed all over the world. in the past flu viruses took about six months to spread like this. the h1n1 bug swept around the globe in just six weeks. you can see with the yellow dots from brazil to iceland over to kazakhstan, over to japan, you can check out the website on healthmap.org. you can see where all the cases have popped up. well, beginning tomorrow some 240 human volunteers in australia will act as guinea pigs for the new swine flu vaccine. they'll get two shots over the next three weeks. doctors will be testing their blood to see if the vaccine produces the right immune response. researchers say if not, they'll

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he wants the treasury department to get a detailed accounting of what those banks are doing with your dollars. and the golden state is hurting these days, california lawmakers and governor schwarzenegger managed to make up a $26 billion short fall. for three weeks now, the state has been issuing ious to contractors and vendors. back in time to the moment before steve mcnair's death what it is telling us more than two weeks after his sudden and violent ending. to stay on top of my game after 50, i switched to a complete multivitamin with more. only one a day men's 50+ advantage...

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and a footnote to the steve mcnair case, test results show the retired nfl quarterback was drunk in a legal sense where his mistress shot and killed him more than two week ago. blood alcohol level, more than twice the legal limit for driving in tennessee. the mistress killed herself. toxicology reports show she had a trace of marijuana in her system. two down, one to go, the second of three convicts who busted out of an indiana prison earlier this month back in custody. the rapist and the law were

reunited at his parents home in rock port. now the focus is mark booer, a convicted killer and still out there. another escapee was caught the day after the escape. we're pushing forward on health care. it is a daily mission for president obama now. you may have heard him live at the top of the hour telling congress "the status quo is unacceptable and this time it will be different." >> common ground, but make no mistake, we're closer than ever before to the reform that the american people need and we're going to get the job done. i have urged congress to act and the health care reform bill is making its way through the respective committees and the house and the senate to reflect a hard earned consensus about how to move forward. >> republicans are still pushing back, warning democrats to slow down, spend less and change course. last hour my colleague elizabeth cohen and i interviewed rnc chairman michael steele. you'll hear from him in a

minute. republicans point to a congressional budget office report that democratic reform plans would add to the nation's debt and still not cover everybody. supporters of those plans say the cbo didn't take account of potential savings. malpractice insurance, jury awards and fear of malpractice lawsuits helped make u.s. health care the costliest in the world. but the university of michigan health system has a prescription for savings. i'm sorry. turns out admitting mistakes, apologizing and offering compensation really does pay off. rick boostman is the university's chief risk officer and former malpractice defense attorney. he joins me now live from ann arbor. i'm curious, how exactly did you convince the administration to do this? >> actually i guess i'm somewhat of an anomaly here, i never asked permission. we just started to do t i realized some success, publicized that success.

because it made all the sense in the world, it just got the ball rolling. >> well, how did it come up? and seriously, how did that negotiation process to get the university to sign on to this? >> to be honest, it wasn't that difficult. as one of the malpractice lawyers for the university, i knew that the university of michigan had an inherent ethics about it anyway. i certainly didn't bring ethics to the university of michigan. so doing the right thing was pretty natural. they -- i think our medical staff had to be convinced that it was safe to do, and once you got over that fear, it really wasn't a hard sell at all. >> so, richard, how do you go about this. does the doctor discover he or she did something wrong, go to the superiors and say, okay, we have got to bring in the patient, this is what happened, and we have got to all sit down and try and admit our mistake and see if they'll take compensation and not sue us? >> well, it is a little more

complicated than that, but the first thing you should realize is that we have realized such success with our early intervention program here that the institution is now sold on the value of early reporting. just to give you an example, our incident reports, when things go wrong, our incident reports have risen from roughly 2,000 about five years ago to 18,000 last year. that doesn't mean we're less safe, it means that people now believe in the importance and the value of telling the department of risk management when something has gone wrong. one of the problems -- one of the challenges in our area is that just because things go wrong doesn't necessarily mean that somebody did something wrong. unlike automobile accidents or product liability injuries, you can do everything right in medical -- the delivery of medical care and still not get the results that you want. so what happens, in answer to

your question is, our staff is sold on the importance of early reporting. we get phone calls from operating rooms. we get phone calls almost immediately after there has been an unanticipated outcome of some sort. and we dispatch one of our risk managers who are on call 24/7 right to the scene to start an investigation, serve as a buffer with the patient, to provide information. we just commit to the patient that we're going to give them an honest and transparent view of what happened once we get the answers. >> okay. now i can understand because you've implemented this new policy, you admit the mistake, you say you're of sory, you work out a expense deal if indeed that's what it turns into. i understand that malpractice claims are down. but what about the number of mistakes? because that is one way you fix those mistakes, you sue, and internal records become available, you can see who needs to be held accountable and then

hopefully the problem is fixed. so i guess the main crux of my question here is how do you know the problems are definitely being taken care of when really no one is held accountable? >> well, first i would disagree with the premise that no one is held accountable. we are very accountable for what happens. >> i guess i should say legally. you're absolutely right. sl legally someone is not sued so how do you make sure the problem is fixed? >> in all honesty, the mood of the place has changed dramatically. our staff is now so focused on patient safety as opposed to worrying about claims. that we have got a very robust patient safety apparatus. our chief of staff is skip campbell, transplant surgeon who is completely committed to all of this and very courageous about it. so our patient safety culture is on the rise. we're able to track

complications, we're able to track things like infections and mishaps. we issue a daily, a weekly, a biweekly, a monthly report, all of our executives are kept almost regularly informed of certain safety parameters. so there is lots of checks and balances here to keep our eye on that, really important prize, and that's patient safety. >> it is interesting to see how many other universities will do this as well. we'll follow up. richard boothman, an interesting concept, appreciate your time. >> thank you very much. botched gal balader operation costs a young airman his legs. we'll have the heart wrenching story and show you what you need to know before your next surgery. this could have been the day that the senate judiciary committee passed judgment in sonia sotomayor. instead the senate rules alou, the republicans called for a one-week delay with democrats and the majority, nobody doubts

the panel will recommend sotomayor's confirmation to the supreme court of the united states and the full senate will confirm her. time's up. the obama administration missed its own deadline for detailing its new anti-terrorism policy. the deadline was today. the report is a key part of president obama's plan to close the military prison at guantanamo bay, cuba, by january of next year. new target date, six months before we learn how long terror suspects should be held in custody and two more months before the report on interrogation and transfer of detainees to other countries. moments ago, president obama won a key battle for the f-22 fighter jets. the senate voted to cut nearly $2 billion for seven additional 522s. they argued that more planes were not needed or wanted. orders counted that the issue was about saving jobs in states where the f-22 is built. defense secretary gates vows to do everything possible to find an american soldier capture by the taliban in afghanistan.

pfc bowe bergdahl was released sunday. he was captured june 30th. the taliban threatened to kill him if coalition troops continued to target civilians. allied military officials deny that allegation. u.s. officials with access to the latest info tell cnn that they believe bergdahl is still in afghanistan. striking the taliban where it hurts, their gold mine of poppy seeds used to make open upand heroin, the deadly drugged smuggled out of the country, fetching millions of dollars if not billions on u.s. streets and around the world. a u.s. air strike blew up tons of the seeds today. since 9/11, afghans have been responsible for nearly 90% of the heroin sold worldwide. the dea is getting involved in the mission to cut off the taliban's drug trade. last hour i spoke with the dea's assistant administrator and chief of operations. >> we are sending our agents out to work in close coordination with the u.s. military and our nato counterparts but more

importantly with the counternarcotics police of afghanistan. we worked with them over the last several years. dea was in afghanistan in the late '70s during the russian invasion. we reopened our office in 2003, obviously because of the -- because of the potential movement of opium and heroin through afghanistan into eastern and western europe and eventually into the united states. >> the end is near, says fed chief ben bernanke, the end of the recession. don't expect a booming recovery. bernanke warned congress "unemployment will stay high for quite some time". he still doesn't expect the economy to turn in positive numbers for the second half of this year. the guy in charge of following all the taerp dollars is on little today. he's not happy either. more on that in the breakdown later this hour. he says he was busted because he's black. a professor's arrest sparks controversy in cambridge and today the d.a. weighs in. her br. of pain reliever. tylenol rapid release gels...

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very frustrated, no question about that. but belligerent is not the case. never touched the officer, never pointed at the officer. and in fact, he was trying to stay in his house, having produced identification. what more do i need to do? this is my house. >> so were you -- will you pursue any -- mr. ogletree, will you pursue any case of wrongful arrest here? >> right now we're talking with the cambridge police, the district attorney's office, and the city of cambridge to try to resolve this as soon as possible and we hope that what will happen is that cooler hands will prevail in looking at this case and realize there is no statute

in massachusetts that is violated and that the charges will be dropped. >> and it was. word coming down a few hours after the interview that the disorderly conduct charge against harvard professor henry louis gates dropped after he was arrested last week. he accused cambridge cops of racial bias, all sparked by a 911 call by someone who thought the professor was a burglar. he was trying to get into his own home. cops came, words were exchanged and he was led away in cuffs. this incident should not be viewed as one that demeans the character and reputation of professor gates or the character of the cambridge police department. professor gates will join us tomorrow night as cnn continues its investigation of the most challenging issues facing african-americans. what are the solutions?

the countdown to an all new "black in america 2." and then president obama's news conference and the first night of the two-night event "black in america 2." (announcer) illness doesn't care where you live... ...or if you're already sick... ...or if you lose your job. your health insurance shouldn't either. so let's fix health care. if everyone's covered, we can make health care as affordable as possible. and the words "pre-existing condition" become a thing of the past...

we're america's health insurance companies. supporting bipartisan reform that congress can build on. california may be closer to getting its financial house in order. they're trying to sell a compromise plan to close the state's $26 billion budget short fall. cnn's dan simon joins us from san francisco. dan? >> reporter: hi, clekyra.

this is described as a significant retooling of state government. you have a huge deficit at the end of the day, looking at $15 billion in cuts, sort of hard to wrap your number around that. been on the phone for the last hour or so talking to state officials to get some perspective in terms of what that means. there will be $9 billion in cuts just to education alone. talking about a third of the cuts to education. we're also seeing the significant cut to california's medicaid program, $1.3 billion cut to medical they call it here, that serves 6 million families and low income people throughout the state. of course, governor schwarzenegger, you would expect him to do this, put his best face on what we're seeing. take a look. >> this is a budget that will have no tax increases, a budget that is cutting spending. we have to deal with the entire $26 billion deficit, $15 billion in cuts that we're making.

very happy about that. we're protecting education, education will be fully refunded. we also very happy that in this budget we made government more efficient. and also be cutting the waste, fraud and abuse in some of the programs. and so all around i think this is a really great, great accomplishment. >> well, when governor schwarzenegger is saying he's protecting education, what he means is that they have built in this budget that as soon as the economy rebounds, that all that money, $9 billion, will be paid back to education, be paid back to the public school systems and the universities in california. now, there is some good news here, if you can call it that. schwarzenegger had proposed totally eliminating the state's welfare program. that will stay largely in tact. and a lot of citizens were worried about the public parks, the parks could be closed throughout the state of california. most of those will remain open, kyra. >> dan simon, we'll follow it, of course.

appreciate it. oakland, california, once used marijuana to help the city solve its cash crunch. voters are being asked to approve a measure that would raise taxes as oakland's medical marijuana shop and the shop owners are in favor of it. they say helping oakland with the financial problems would help them be seen in a more acceptable light. what's that new scar on jupiter? that's what a lot of experts are trying to figure out after the biggest planet in the solar system got smacked in the face.

what the heck happened to jupiter? that's what space boss is trying to figure out after something smashed into the king of the solar system. experts say it could have been a comet, a meteor, a big chunk of ice. right now nobody is quite sure. amateur astronomer in australia was the first to see jupiter's new beauty mark and he tipped off nasa. here on planet earth, a heavenly show, just hours from now the daytime sky will turn dark across much of asia. a solar eclipse like this one we see here from last year. it is going to be visible in china, india and other parts of the continent. it will last almost four minutes. the longest solar eclipse so far this century. hearing the solar eclipse song in my head. sorry. cue the cheesy video, back from the '80s. >> there you go. >> is this what you're checking out? >> this is the solar eclipse. it will run across shanghai, a great place for people to go. only problem is, a cold front also came to shanghai. >> oops.

>> all these people that spent thousands of dollars to go see this thing in shanghai are scrambling to go north or south to get out of the way of the cold front. >> people are headed there to see it? >> absolutely. a $1500 plane ticket to the see this eclipse and now you have parked yourself under the biggest cold front in asia. >> you can never count on weather but question count on you. >> won't be able to see it really across much of australia or even for hawaii. it will slide down across, i don't know if you can see what this graphic is, here is asia, here is australia and there goes one, two, three, basically high sun because that's when the sun is going to be the highest. and the moon is going to get in the way and there it goes, just north of new zealand and so on and so forth. there is the front. there is the rain right across shanghai. no good news there for people that tried to go there. we're seeing rain showers, though, all the way from memphis, through nashville, down into new orleans. we'll also see a few showers as we can do a bunch of new things here. we can zoom in with this new

graphic, zoom into parts of louisiana. this rain is going to be moving into new orleans later on tonight. great news, we still need rainfall down here and we will take it as much as we can get. the next big story, i think, would be yesterday's highs. we had this great story about how this cold front came down and cleared everybody out. problem is, if you're in mckalyn or del rio or roswell, new mexico, the front never got to you. it got hotter. that's where all the hot air was pushed down to, expressed to, 107 degrees in mccallen and corpus christi up to 101. it is going to be a hot couple of months across parts of the caribbean. i showed you yesterday, this thing that blew up it died overnight. now redeveloping, could be the next numbered or named system. has to get to 40 miles per hour before it gets a name. so far, not even close to that we'll keep watching it for first system. now, remember, just because we haven't had any storms yet, in the atlantic, andrew was the first storm of the year, and it

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i think i'll go with the basic package. good choice. only meineke lets you choose the brake service that's right for you. and save 50% on pads and shoes. meineke. the story we covered that provoked a lot of outrage. kids from a mostly nigh minority day care kicked out of a swimming pool in suburban philadelphia. the reason, the club says it was for safety concerns. others say it was racism. the experience had 12-year-old marcus allen in tears. >> marcus, i see tears coming down your face. why does this make you cry? >> because it is kind of, like,

sad that, like, people are still thinking, like, thinking like this. when i felt like these days were over. >> well, marcus is smiling now because there is a happy ending. actor, writer and producer tyler perry saw marcus on cnn and was so touched that he is sending marcus and 64 other kids from the day care to disney world. marcus joins me live from philadelphia along with the director of the creative steps day-care center. you're smiling big now, marcus. when you found out what tyler perry was going to do, how did you react? >> i was, like, really -- i was really excited that he was going to do it. and, like, i was, like, all happy and excited to go to disney world. >> well, i'm curious, i know this is pretty exciting, you any, to now go to disney world and it does change the face of this whole situation. but at the same time, marcus, what did you learn from this

experience, about race relations and, you know, the importance of integration and you even mentioned there when susan candiotti was interviewing you that you thought attitudes like that were far gone. what did you learn from this? >> i learned that some people are still thinking the way that people thought a long time ago. everybody isn't the same. even though a couple of people are still thinking that way, and i shouldn't stereotype a certain group of people just because of some people from their group is something wrong. >> amen, marcus. i bet this is not just about the swim team and winning meets and having a good time in the pool. my guess is this situation allowed you to use a hands on experience or real life experience to teach these kids another important lesson. >> absolutely. absolutely. i really think that by tyler perry reaching out to the children, it shows them that

people of color can be successful and to be proud of the skin that they're in in spite of what happened at the swim valley swim club. one thing that sticks out in my mind is, how can we have an african-american president in air force one, but the children sasha and malia can't go to the valley swim club. >> not only has -- let me ask you this, how has this impacted the swim team? has it changed morale, has it brought the kids closer together, has it brought kids and parents closer together. what is the overall positive effect of something that was pretty disappointing? >> it has been disappointing as far as the unity that has taken place, even throughout the world. people have been reaching out and supporting and it is really helping us to understand as the world that this bigotry still exists and the children have really been emotionally scarred

from this because they're bashful. some children have never experienced this before. they're inner city children. >> tyler -- marcus, what is your message to tyler perry. we tried to get him on the phone. he's shooting a movie in the bahamas. who knows, he may be able to see this. what would your message be to him? >> i would say thank you for being so kind and generous for sending us all to disney world. i hope you have a nice day and have fun shooting your movie. >> all right. i tell you what, we should all be so lucky to have someone like marcus not only on the swim team, but as our son. marcus, you are amazing. give us a report after disney world, will you, marcus? >> what did you say? >> i want to hear all about disney world when you get back, okay? >> okay. >> thank you very much. >> we appreciate it. we appreciate you guys a whole bunch. tyler perry will be featured in

"black in america 2" by the way. it begins tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m.

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asking the question, how does a mistake like this happen? we have the heart wrenching story. >> reporter: evan colton james reed entered the hospital for a routine gall bladder surgery. >> there is still some things we didn't know until we met with some of them yesterday. >> reporter: the air force tells reed's wife jessica, a resident, a doctor in training was performing the procedure when the surgery went horribly wrong. >> i wasn't aware. i don't know if colton was aware, but a resident was going to be doing part of his surgery. >> reporter: surgens at david grant medical center on travis air force base tried to repair the severed aortic valve but they're most angry about this. >> why was his life or his quality of life not more valuable than that? >> reporter: we're told it took travis 8 1/2 hours to transport the 20-year-old airman to the uc davis medical center in sacramento, a top flight hospital just 40 minutes away. >> we were told had it been

within a six-hour period, the limbs could have been saved. he might have had muscle damage or damage, but nothing, nothing to this degree. >> why did it say so long to get my husband home? why did they wait so long? >> reporter: a spokeswoman from travis air force base refused to talk about the specifics of the medical procedure. but lieutenant holly hess did say this -- >> wasn't what we wanted to hear by any means. and from some of the decisionmakers over travis i felt like we were almost on the defense. >> reporter: colton read remains in critical condition, but he is improving. read's wife is trying to remain positive. his mother, however, is heart broken. >> i want someone to know that my son's first question was air force question mark, question mark.

we have it in writing that my son's very first question was is he going to continue with his career? >> if read's story doesn't outrage you enough, listen to this. a 1950 supreme court ruling banning malpractice lawsuits by active duty military members means that read can't even sue. legislation to change that law is making its way through congress right now. now, in all fairness to the legal process, we wanted to know if colton read understood that a resident would be doing his procedure. so we called travis air force base, asked the chief spokeswoman directly. did colton read sign a release that he knew a resident would be doing his surgery? lieutenant holly hess said that because of the investigation to the incident, and patient privacy law, she could not answer that question. that got us thinking, do patients always know who will be involved in their surgery or do you have to watch for the fine print every time you go into the hospital room? senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen has the information you need to know to

become an empowered patient. she'll talk about when you go into any kind of surgery, are you asked in particular to sign something prior to a surgery? >> what happens when you go in for a surgery and a teaching hospital, where there are residents and those are -- those are doctors who are in training to be full fledged doctor, you look at it that way. it is customary for those patients to be asked to sign a form that says in addition to the surgeon who would be operating on you, that residents and other house staff may or will be involved. that is the customary way to do it, the release form says, yes, you'll be with your surgeon, but there may also be sort of people in training who will be involved. in this case, with this airman, it is unclear who was doing the surgery, the resident doing the surgery or was the surgeon doing the surgery, were they doing it together, was he assisting or was he really doing the surgery, it is not clear. but, yes, you are asked to sign something that says your surgeon is doing it, but other people might be involved. >> we're not exactly sure who made the mistake.

>> right. i think it is not clear until this is all sort of investigated and laid out. >> so if you refuse to sign that, and you don't want the residents doing it, can you still get the surgery? >> this is the issue. and i want to be clear here. i'm talking about civilians. military medicine is a whole different deal, so i'll be clear here, we're talking about civilians. if you are at a teaching hospital, meaning that there are surgical residents who are there, and you do not want the resident involved, you don't want the resident touching you in the operating room, you should make that clear well before the day of the surgery. so if you're having an elective surgery, like a gall bladder surgery, say to your surgeon, look, i want you to do this, i do not want residents involved in my care. or you might say, you know, if they want to watch, that's fine, but i don't want them to touch me. you should make that clear. surgeon may say i'm sorry, you have to go elsewhere. but at least you had that conversation and you can make an informed choice. >> this young man, only 20 years

old, went in for gall bladder surgery. how -- is that a complicated surgery? because apparently this was a slip of a needle, the next thing you knew a leg was paralyzed, it just turned into a complete nightmare and they to amputate his leg. >> this is not a particularly complicated surgery. that's the thing. what happens here is so tragic that it happened because this really should have been very routine. but accidents happen in the operating room. residents make mistakes, full fledged surgeons who have been doing that surgery for decades sometimes make mistakes. bad things happen. that's why saying you're sorry is an important part of all of this. >> thanks, elizabeth. pushing forward on health care, remembers are still pushing back, warning democrats to slow down, spend less and change course when it comes to president obama's push for health care reform. last hour, elizabeth and i had a chance to interview rnc chairman michael steele after the president's speech. what i thought was interesting at your press club speech i've been reading it here, really

interesting speech, you didn't say what you could do to solve the problem. you bashed obama and pelosi and those folks, but i didn't hear what you could do to solve the problem. >> i beg to differ. i have 2 1/2 pages of recommendations on what we could do to begin to address the cost issue. which i laid out as the central reason for this crisis right now and it is cost driven, not access, not quality, it is cost. >> point it a congressional budget office report that democratic reform plans would add to the nation's debt and still not cover everybody. supporters of those plans say the cbo didn't take account of potential savings. so you know what to ask before you have surgery, but how deep are you willing to dig in your pocket to pay for it. some federal health care reforms have the rich picking up the tab, but how do you define rich? carol costello breaks it down. >> reporter: on the subject of health care reform, president obama is fighting back. >> one republican senator said

and i'm quoting him now, if we're able to stop obama on this, it will be his water loop. it will break him. >> reporter: but mr. obama and the democratic national committee are not about to be broken, not even by their own party. the dnc launched this ad aimed not at na poll yohnic republicans but a conservative democrats. >> it is time. >> it is time for health care reform. >> reporter: turns out some democratic small business owners who make over $280,000 a year don't want to pay a surcharge on their income to pay for the president's trillion dollar health care program. the democratic house speaker nancy pelosi has come up with an alternative plan. instead of raising taxes on those who make more than $280,000 a year, she wants a proposed surcharge to apply to individuals making over 500 k a year and couples making more than $1 million. pelosi figures you hear $500,000 a year, you think, my god,

that's not me. but me does apply to around 1% of taxpayers and some of them aren't happy either. according to the nonpartisan tax foundation, a self-employed couple making $1.5 million a year in montgomery county, maryland, now pays $583,863 in total taxes. after 2010 when the bush tax cuts cut s expire, their taxes will go up, throw in a 4.5% surtax for health care reform, that's $9,000 more. total estimated taxes on the year, $655,126. and while that may sound like a fine way to raise revenue, economist peter marise says that won't begin to pay for the kind of health care reform that the president wants. >> he's going to need that surcharge on the wealthy and it is going to be bigger than anticipated or he'll have to tax everybody.

>> the congressional budget offices weighing in too, saying the house bill as it is now would increase the nation's deficit by $240 billion by 2019. and that's something the president doesn't want to see happen. he wants the combined cost savings with extra taxes on the rich, that way the deficit will not grow. carol costello, cnn, washington. >> call it love facebook style. they share more than a social network. these love birds share first and last names. meet the future mr. and mrs. kelly hildebrand.

topping the bailout program

is on the hill today. they need to keep better tabs on how banks spend your tax dollars. alison kosik has our breakdown from new york. hey, alison. >> wouldn't you just love to know where all that bailout money has gone? >> i think it is probably impossible to track every single penny, but that would be nice. >> it would be. neil barofsky, the special inspector general overseeing the troubled asset relief program known as t.a.r.p. and he says we should have those answers. he told the house oversight committee that banks should be required to explain how the money is spent. right now the treasury department doesn't collect that information. it argues monitoring t.a.r.p. funds is like pouring water into the ocean. it diffuses so quickly that it can't be tracked. barofsky isn't buying that and neither are several senate democrats, calling on the treasury department to accept his recommendation for greater transparency and accountability. kyra? >> barofsky is warning that tax payers could be on the hook for a lot more than 700 billion bucks. >> exactly. he also is saying that when you

add up all 50 government rescue programs, not just t.a.r.p., total taxpayer exposure could hit $23.7 trillion, that's $80,000 for every american. but the treasury department is calling that number inflated and barofsky acknowledged that number includes some programs that the government is no longer on the hook for. it also ignores fees and interest that regulators have collected. but barofsky is hitting back. >> if you look at the report, and in context, it is very clear where these numbers came from. they came from the government itself. these are all open source, public source information. this is from the websites of the treasury and the federal reserve, submissions to congress. if the somebodies are inflated, it was the government itself that inflated it, not us. >> what exactly do we know about how the banks are spending t.a.r.p. money at this point? barofsky says all you to do is ask. he surveyed 360 banks and look what he came up with. 83% said they used it to make loans and that's the original purpose of t.a.r.p. banks also used t.a.r.p. money

to add to their own capital cushion to make investments to pay back debt, and even to buy other banks. barofsky isn't saying whether that is good or bad. he's pointing out that banks can account for this money. kyra, the question is whether the treasury department will start asking for more accountability. that is the question, kyra. >> thanks, alison. the budget is issue number one in california. for good reason. the state is dealing with a $26 billion deficit. but after months of haggling, governor arnold schwarzenegger reached a tentative deal with lawmakers to close the hole. susan lisovicz has the details. this budget includes a lot of cuts. let's lay out where they're all coming from. >> $15 billion in cuts, kyra. as dan was talking to you earlier in the program, nearly two-thirds of it is going to come from education, coming in at a terrible time because so many of russ going back to school to get additional degrees, to learn a vocation, something to ride out this recession. so $9 billion cut from public

schools, colleges, universities. and you see that play out with more crowded classrooms, some programs that may be cut altogether. another big chunk is coming from local government. just under $4.5 billion. the state trying to get its budget in order and you will be able to feel it across the state with all these local governments, which are going to have problems, undoubtedly, because of the cuts they're going to see additional cuts will come, state workers are going to continue to feel it. they're already taking three days every month without pay. that would be extended through next june. >> well, as you know, california has been paying a lot of the creditors with these ious. when does the state make good on those? >> very good question, kyra. we don't have an answer for you. we don't know if in fact they're even going to continue putting out more ious. we know the state controller is evaluating this proposed budget. we do know that there floated an

early october redemption date. there is a brisk secondary market for these ious. stay with me, kyra. if you go on craigslist and go to california, you'll see all these offers to buy these ious at less than face value. why is that? they'll make money because they're paying less than face value and they'll be redeemed. but also because there is an interest rate that comes with them, a 3.75% interest rate. one of them that i was looking at says don't wait until october to get your money, i have approximately $90,000 available to invest in these warrants right now on a first come basis. >> all right, susan lisovicz. >> seller beware. >> there you go. thank you. an suv flips on its side and engulfed in flames. a mom and her two small children trapped inside. time for quick thinking and fast reaction. a much better outcome than what you think. . ♪

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house full of kids, jail full of suspects two dead parents and loose ends and leads and questions for police in the florida panhandle. wait until you hear the latest.

two small children and their mom trapped in a burning suv, no time to waste, no room for error on the part of rescuers. we want to warn you, it is pretty tough watch this and to listen to it. >> move back! there is a baby in there! >> come on! >> save the baby. save the baby! >> get away from the car. >> two brothers who are milwaukee firefighters were actually off duty when they arrived at the scene here. they pulled the mom and the 2-year-old daughter out first. her 4-year-old son was trapped by a seat belt. the brothers first attempt to get him out failed and others used fire extinguishers to keep the flames back, they cut the boy free. he suffered burns over 20% of

his body. he's in stable condition. his mom and sister were treated for burns on their hands and arms. if you have the cash, you can own a big piece of american history. the water gate hotel in washington is on the auction block. hotel made famous by the scandal that brought down president richard nixon. the watergate's owner defaulted on its loan and foreclosure notice was served on friday. nixon resigned as you may remember after his involvement in that break-in and the cover-up. it all was revealed. tough times call for creative thinking. in the recession, a lot of state and local governments are turning to auctions to raise some much needed cash. here is cnn's alina cho. >> reporter: looking for a deal on a car? would you buy a used one from this man? >> average chrysler is about $1200. >> reporter: the governor of new jersey. >> $1500, $2,000, a lot of these cars are really more valuable

than that. people are taking that opportunity to save money in a tough environment. >> reporter: new jersey is just one of many states holding government garage sales to make money at a time when they desperately need it. federal and local governments are in on the game too. and almost everything is on the block. >> you can buy a salt spreader truck? who would want that? >> reporter: you would be surprised. watch, leer jets, some seized, some surplus, all for sale. >> you can buy literally anything. you can buy a container of soccer balls, a disassembled mig jet, a boat, a car. >> reporter: government auctions aren't new. but in a recession, they are more popular. >> we get good cars here. they are dirty, they just need to be cleaned. >> the body of it is good, the paint is not chipped. transmission and oil looks good. >> reporter: one drawback, you buy as is. no test drive. these two are shopping for his first car. >> there is one in the back, a

dodge, i believe, i like the color. >> are you kidding me, for a first car owner, he'll take anything on the lot. >> reporter: if you can get it. bidding can be fierce. >> there has been a couple of incidents where there was an actual fistfight where two customers were arguing over a car. i personally had to break that up. >> reporter: this new jersey car auction raked in more than $163,000, bringing the state so far this year more than $2 million in auction sales. sometimes -- >> i have bought a car that has stuff in the trunk or had the car with bullets inside, with fax machine inside. >> reporter: you get a little more than you bargained for. if you are interested in buying something from a government auction, a couple of things you should know. do your research, comparison shop with a car, for example, you can get a blue book. in your mind, set a maximum bid and stick to it. there is something called

auction fever, and it is real. alina cho, cnn, new york. there are ten kelly hildebrandts in the united states and two of them are getting married. to each other. a pretty wild love story brought to you by facebook. check out how kelly katrina met kelly carl. >> i was curious one night and i just typed in my own name, just wondering if there was any other kelly hildebrandts and he was the only one that popped up. >> well, guy kelly immediately thought girl kelly was a babe. they started exchanging messages and then moved to phone calls and well, the rest of the story is history. the happy kellys wedding set for october, and, no, there won't be a baby kelly, they promise. this takes no explanation. it is a picture worth a thousand words and, folks, we don't have the time.

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slow drip of details trickling out every day in the florida murder case. now we learned the suspects had a dress rehearsal about a month before the attack on byrd and melanie billings' home. the alleged mastermind says the billings gave them financial support for his martial arts studio. and listen to this bizarre twist, state documents show byrd billings once tried to copy right the kids' names. he would send florida a huge bill their names appeared on a state letter head. the stepdaughter was asked about that. >> i don't know a lot about that. i heard the reports. i know that the