help either. >> like this, right? >> reporter: and then there was this at a college football game. through it all, by many accounts, andrews dealt good naturedly with those who did it. she said it's time she pushed back. >> play to the 12-year-old girl and her mom and dad on the couch. don't play to the frat house. do everything you can to make sure that those wackos do not interview in my life. >> we've been asking for your comments this morning. i have a couple. who's fault is thwhose fault is? the fault of the guy with the camera. the laws need to be changed. what happened to erin is a crime, there's no question about that, it's also true that this happened to a lot of women and there has really been no national outrage, so maybe something good can come out of this. john, kiran? >> yeah, it's amazing that could've happened to her. carol, thanks so much for that.

>> and we'd like you to continue the conversation on all of today's stories. head to our blog at cnn.com/amfix. >> thanks so much for joining us. have a great weekend. right now the news continues with heidi collins. good morning, everybody. i'm heidi collins, it is friday, july 24th, and you are in the "cnn newsroom" which happens to be a very busy place today. first off this morning, health care reform. is president obama's plan delayed or completely denied now? we'll get you up to speed on that. also, we'll go live to afghanistan where cnn's ivan watson has the latest from the front line on the battle raging there. and also, this story, a car burst into flames, a 3-year-old is trapped, and a grandmother screams for help. we'll tell you what happened next. but first, we want to tell you about a big shift in president obama's push for health care reform. senate majority leader harry reid now says the chamber will not vote on a health care bill until after the upcoming august recess.

now, that means september at the very earliest. and that is a big setback for the president who's been making a very public push for congress to act before its august break. but senator reid says lawmakers need more time to negotiate a bipartisan plan. president obama says he's okay with the delay as long as lawmakers keep working on the legislation. the president is meeting with senator reid and senator max baucus later this morning, we will have a live report from the white house coming your way in just about 30 minutes from now. people have been talking about it, blogging about it all week now, the arrest last week of a prominent harvard professor at his home in cambridge, massachusetts. now, those involved are speaking out. here's what our joe johns has to say on who is talking next. >> reporter: everyone it seems is weighing in on the story of harvard professor henry louis gates' arrest for disorderly conduct. everyone, including the president. >> the cambridge police acted stupidly. in arresting somebody when there

was already proof that they were in their own home. >> reporter: the president had to reel that comment back in a bit with his press secretary saying the president "was not calling the officer stupid he was denoting that at a certain point the situation got far out of hand." but mr. obama talked about it again in an interview on abc. >> from what i can tell the sergeant who was involved is an outstanding police officer, but my suspicion is that probably it would have been better if cooler heads prevailed. >> reporter: the president didn't comment about the racial overtones in the case, but professor gates certainly is. gates who is a friend of the president claims he was the target of racial profiling. he's demanding an apology. >> but what it made me realize was how vulnerable all black men are. how vulnerable all people of color are, and all poor people to capricious forces like a rogue policeman. and this man was clearly a rogue policeman. >> reporter: but the guy who

arrested gates, james crowley is now speaking out too. saying the arrest didn't have anything to do with race. and when asked by wfxt whether he would apologize to gates, crowley said forget it. >> just now and ever no apology? >> yes. >> what if it means discipline or your job? >> it won't. i have the support of my organization, which i'm very grateful for. >> reporter: and as far as the president goes, crowley said in a weei radio interview that mr. obama didn't have all of the facts. >> of course he's the president of the united states and i support the president to a point, i guess. i think it's disappointing that he waded into what should be a local issue. >> reporter: turns out crowley's got a good resume, he was hand picked to teach classes on racial profiling at a police academy. and as far as the gates' case goes the disorderly conduct charge was dropped. but the mayor says she wants to make sure nothing like this ever

happens again. and the cambridge police commissioner who expressed his firm support of how crowley conducted himself says his department is launching an investigation. and is clearly not happy about all the attention. >> this department is deeply pained, takes its professional pride seriously. >> reporter: the national debate over race and and the police. friends and co-workers of sergeant crowley call him a principled police officer, not a racist, and he echoed that in an interview last night from our boston affiliate whdh, his first comments directed to president obama. >> i was a little surprised and disappointed that the president who didn't have all of the facts by his own admission then weighed in on the events of that night and made a comment that, you know, really offended not just officers in the cambridge police department, but officers around the country. >> reporter: sergeant james

crowley, sitting down with 7 news tonight, reacting to president barack obama's comments about the day he arrested harvard professor henry gates and talking extensively for the first time what happens at the cambridge house. >> i asked him if he could step outside and speak with me and he said no i will not. and again, words to the effect, of what's this all about? and i said i'm investigating a break in progress. and he responded, why? because i'm a black man in america, in a very agitated tone. and again, i thought that was a little strange. >> reporter: sergeant crowley saying after getting a call about the break-in, he was just trying to protect gates as well as himself. >> there was a report there was two individuals, i see one and it could be him, so where's the second person? or there's two people in the residence that he doesn't know are there. either way, i wasn't expecting his response, which was that's none of your business. to me, that's a strange response for somebody that has nothing to hide, is trying to cooperate

with the police. >> so did he come out and speak with you? >> i was leaving -- as i reached the porch, i could -- i was aware that now he was following me because he was still yelling about racism and black men in america and that he wasn't somebody to be messing with -- >> reporter: he says he warned gates he was acting disorderly and when he didn't calm down, he arrested gates. the professor wants an apology, but the sergeant says he will not set that precedent for police officers. he regrets the event and wants to let his story be heard. >> the amount of negative things that are untrue he was saying about me at least warranted a response and allow people to see that i'm not a monster or the bigot or racist he has portrayed me to be. this is me. >> gates' attorney says he is worried the wrong message is being sent that his client was never unruly and did nothing wrong. he told don lemon he thinks the 911 tapes when released will show that. he also says a lawsuit is a

possibility. cambridge's top cop also speaking about this incident. robert huff says sergeant crowley followed procedure, but he's ordered a review to get the whole story out. he told don lemon he wishes the president would've refrained from commenting so soon. >> so commissioner, when you look at this in the paper and see the president here and it says obama scolds cambridge police, what do you think of that? >> i think you need to understand about this police department in this community it's very proud about its diversify within this community and how hard we've worked over the years to build those strong, solid relationships with the department and the community. and i have to tell you, the officers take that very personally and basically feel hurt by that comment. we truly are trying to do the best service we can to the community. and sometimes we make mistakes, we're human, but we learn from those mistakes and move on. >> president obama was asked about his comments on abc's "nightline" program, and here's

how he put it. >> i have to say i'm surprised by the controversy surrounding my statement because i think it was pretty straightforward commentary that you probably don't need to handcuff a guy, a middle-aged man who uses a cane who is in his own home. now, what i do know is as i said last night i don't know all of the details. >> sergeant crowley's police union is holding a news conference later on today and crowley is expected to read a statement. cnn will have live coverage of that event coming your way noon eastern. we do want to know what you think about the henry louis gates arrest. go to cnn.com/heidi and hit the comments button, or you can call in your thoughts to the brand new hot line to heidi. that number is 1-877-742-5760. so do you feel that? it's your retirement account getting a little fatter these days. in the past nine business days, in fact, the dow has soared some 11%.

in this hour it begins above 9,000 for the first time since january. cnn's christine romans has been watching the numbers, joining us live from new york with more on this. i'm like terrified to be excited, christine. >> aren't we all? this is all about clawing back some of what you lost. this is about looking over the past 18 months and knowing you've been decimated in your 401(k) and you're getting a little bit of it back. let's look at the dow above 9,000. why is it above there? it's been very fragile above 9,000, but closing above 9,000 for the first time since november. and you can see that -- the first part of that chart where it goes all the way down, that's the march 12th year low, and ever since march, the stock market's been going up, up, up. the reason is here, the feeling on wall street, frankly, that we avoided some kind of an absolute collapse of the financial system. this isn't about an economy going gang busters, this is about we avoided a big collapse. now better than expected corporate earnings, seeing the companies coming out look, we're

not making the profits we were a year ago, we're still losing money, it's not as bad as people had thought, and so that better than expected corporate earnings is helping. also the economic data, you know, you saw june home sales tick up, even though those sales are coming at sharply reduced prices for homes. these are some of the kinds of data that people are watching. so that's the reasoning behind it. but you know, look, i want to say about corporate earnings, what's good for main street isn't good for wall street. one of the reasons they're doing better, they're cutting costs, that means cutting jobs. so even while we're feeling this horrible labor market, it's something that is working to the favor of some of the corporate earnings right now. >> no question. i know a lot of those reports came in just yesterday. well, everybody wants to know, is it going to last? >> and that's the big question. we just don't know. we've already seen such a big move. look at it this way, the s&p has clawed back half of what it lost after the collapse of lehman brothers. so you're still down.

you're still down quite a bit. but it's clawed back some of what it lost and pretty much factored in this idea that the worst might be behind us. >> so now what? >> now we have to see what happens. >> just wondering what the next challenge is, the most immediate ones are. >> and there are a lot of it, housing, the housing market is still in trouble. and no one thinks that home prices are going to be moving higher even if you do get stabilizing home sales. and you also have the problem of unemployment. unemployment and housing. these are the things that you and i touch and feel, our neighbors, your job and your home and there's still a crisis in both of those areas. so that could be -- at least for how we feel, that's going to be much more important than how much money we're clawing back on our 401(k) right now. >> how about the romans' numeral? >> the romans' numeral is 8.75. and it's a percent. this number surprised me. i wanted to find out since this recession began, since this debacle began about 18 months now, what are you doing in your 401(k)? and according to research by the employee benefit research institute you're down about

8.75% right now in your 401(k) over the last 18 months. i thought it would be much worse than that quite frankly. looking further, you find out the harder hit people are older, age 45 to 64, they're down about 17% still in their 401(k) and have much less time to win it back. but just trying to figure out how much we are clawing back. how we've changed, and, you know, how decimated has our retirement been. also that data showing that people are turning more conservative over the past year or so. >> sure. >> saving. >> sure. that's where we are. and this story regarding your money. the minimum wage goes up today. it's now $7.25. that's up from $6.55 an hour. the rise over the past four years, the raise only applies to the 30 states that do not already have an even higher minimum wage. several states don't have one at all. analysts do fear, though, the move could hurt small businesses forcing them to layoff people

because they can't afford to pay the higher wage. a deadly attack by insurgents in afghanistan, u.s. marines on the firing line. we'll take you there live. d. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. if we don't act, anno medical bills will wipe out their savings. if we don't act, she'll be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. and he won't get the chemotherapy he needs. if we don't act, health care costs will rise 70%. and he'll have to cut benefits for his employees. but we can act. the president and congress

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now i want to bring you this story right here on cnn, only on cnn today. we kind of have the privilege of having a special guest in the studio with us today. you know him as an award-winning musician, but there is definitely another side to usher. and he is here with us this morning to talk about something that is as important to him as his music. live here in atlanta one more time. we appreciate you being here. you guys have come to know each other because of some of the work that you've done is now benefitting her. tell us about your camp first and then i want to hear what it's like. >> well, she is one of the 130 kids that we mentor every year. this will be our fourth year. this year we actually had it on the campus of emery. >> great. >> and mentoring is something that's very, very valuable to growth, to becoming a more

responsible american, you know. to be able to give back and give that opportunity to those who are less fortunate. but also at the head of change, it is our youth. these kids come from underserved communities, but we give them the tools they need to want progress in life but also give them the opportunity to go back to their communities and serve. the power of service is powerful. very, very powerful. and if they just understand or have someone to unlock that potential in them, who knows what could happen. >> is it true? you've been there, you're going to go back to your community and talk more about this, i bet. what are you going to take away from it? >> just being a leader, basically. >> that's a big thing to say. >> yeah, it is, and everything i've learned from the camp is just preparing me to give it back to my community. how to push them forward as well as myself.

>> so when a child smaller than you comes up to you and says, hey, you know, how did you get where you are? how do you have the confidence? because i've talked to you for 10 seconds and i can tell you have fantastic confidence. how do you then take what you've learned at the camp and give it to this child who is younger than you and doesn't have the experiences that you've already gotten? >> i think from the camp, you know, i learned that there's obstacles that we're going to have to overcome. so i would tell that little child there's going to be things against you. but you have to get past that. and there's all of these people around you and his program for us to teach us how to move forward, how to push forward, and at the same time also help others around you, as well. >> so -- >> i'm proud. >> i can tell. he's like a proud daddy. was this the overall mission? because as we mentioned before,

you do at lot of stuff. this has become a major priority for you. four years running, it's tough to keep camp like this going. >> i'm happy i have an incredible board that helps me to sustain. you know, there's a difference between hard work, which is what we all can identify with, and then there's heart work. as you said earlier, music is what i do, but this is just my passion. and it actually is just -- it's just incredible to be able to see that knowledge unlock. and it's all in a second. it's a seed planted and the harvest is in the future. you know, truly being powered by service makes a difference. and i'm happy that i could be able to mentor here in atlanta. i'm happy i can do it here in atlanta. >> yes, i think we are too in this area. very much. well, quanisha, we'll be watching you and the leadership you've been able to get from this. very quick, how is the food at the camp? >> oh, good. >> good.

that's important, right? it's a pleasure talking with you, the name of the camp is new look. in fact, you can hear more about programs like this in our "black in america 2" documentary. you can see it again in the entirety this weekend. "black in america 2" airs saturday and sunday night at 8:00 eastern. quickly want to get back to this story. we are learning about the deaths of two more u.s. troops in southern afghanistan this morning. and our reporter is embedded with those troops. talking to him in a couple of moments. open... to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways.

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we are learning about the deaths of two more u.s. troops in southern afghanistan this morning. the military tells cnn they were killed in an insurgent attack. another marine died yesterday during battles with taliban in helmand province. cnn's ivan watson is embedded with that marines unit. hear now the very latest. sounds like we are having a little bit of difficulty with that report as we've been telling you, ivan is embedded with the marines and sometimes it's difficult for us to get availability with him.

so now we are going to try that one more time. once again, ivan watson is live on the telephone with us now. ivan, if you can hear me, okay, tell us about the latest now in the fighting. >> reporter: heidi, i can hear you. it's difficult to communicate here, we're only using satellite telephone technology and it's pretty primitive conditions here in the southernmost point that the u.s. marines have advanced to in afghanistan's turbulent helmand province since they launched an offensive earlier this month. one marine from the reconnaissance battalion paid the ultimate price on this mission yesterday. sergeant ryan wayne, 25-year-old, originally from pittsburgh, pennsylvania. he was killed yesterday, mortally wounded when insurgents fired mortars at the fortress, the ancient afghan fortress that the marines are currently in in this district capital.

we witnessed as marines retaliated firing artillery moments after those mortars landed on this compound. then we also saw later on in the day as the marines were firing mortars from this location where i'm at now, where sergeant wayne was killed, firing them at suspected insurgent targets. they say they killed one man. now sergeant wayne had already served once in afghanistan. his colleagues tell me that he was nicknamed little guy because he was short. he was a huge fan of the pittsburgh penguins and paraded around in a pittsburgh penguins t-shirt that was mailed to him by his wife. he could've done other jobs after doing a previous tour in afghanistan, heidi. but he chose to come back here with his platoon, we're told, because he wanted to save lives. that is the story of one marine killed in action yesterday by a

mortar attack by insurgents during what has been the bloodiest month yet for u.s. forces in afghanistan since the taliban was initially overthrown eight years ago. heidi? >> ivan, i'm not sure if you're able to elaborate, but we're looking at some pretty meaningful pictures of brian lane, and there is one photo that we showed of him with a young boy, do you know any more about that photo? >> reporter: yeah, we've been talking with his colleagues. they said one of the wonderful things about sergeant lane was that he had had previous experience in afghanistan in the north. and they felt he had a good understanding about the people here. that when they would go out on patrols and missions, he could establish quickly a rapport with the afghan population. that they say they are here to help. they said that they learned a lot from him based on his prior

experience on how to deal with the local population. heidi, this is not just a combat operation. they're not just out here fighting, they're trying to build a fledgling local government that's been controlled for more than four years by the taliban. taliban basically fled without a fight, they have been since been lobbing rockets and mortars at this location and planting deadly roadside bombs which killed two other marines from delta company just last week. these guys are having a very touch time here right now. living in difficult conditions, they've had three of their colleagues killed in just two weeks, heidi, and they're going out, holding meetings with provincial officials. they've brought in about 50 afghan national police officers just today and gone out on the first joint patrol with them. they're trying to win the hearts and minds of these locals while still being attacked by insurgents, heidi.

>> yeah, that is absolutely the heart of the battle. we understand it very well now with your words, ivan watson, thanks so very much. and we certainly do appreciate the sacrifice of brian lane and his family today as well as all of our armed servicemen and women in this battle. in fact, the latest casualties mean 37 u.s. troops have died this month in afghanistan, at least nine of them came in helmand province in southern afghanistan. they began a push in that area this month. since 2001, 666 u.s. troops have died in afghanistan. the dow 9,000, we're there. but for how long? let's go to susan lisovicz at the new york stock exchange for a preview. i don't want to be a nay sayer, just want to be a realist. >> good morning, happy friday,

heidi. there is applause on the trading floor for the opening bell. and perhaps for this extraordinary streak that we've seen. the dow closed yesterday above the 9,000 mark. and at the highest level since november. and for the nasdaq, heidi, today would be lucky 13. that index -- >> don't say that outloud. >> you're right. i could jinx it, but the nasdaq has been up for the past 12 sessions. we haven't seen that since 1992. and we're expecting a little bit of buying at the open. this comes despite some weak corporate earnings. microsoft's fourth quarter profit dropped nearly 30%. the big focus is on the company's sales. microsoft's annual revenue fell for the first time since the company went public way back when in 1986. microsoft shares are down 8% and actually we're seeing the nasdaq give back a little bit.

we're seeing a little bit of upselling at the open. meanwhile, american express said its quarterly profits were nearly cut in half, largely because of credit card company repaid government bailout money. we've seen that before. earlier this week with morgan stanley, amex also battling drop in consumer spending and a little bit of weakness. finally the nation's top two money men scheduled to testify on capitol hill later today. certainly doing a lot of talking. the fed chief ben bernanke and tim geithner expected to talk about the president's financial regulatory reform proposals. checking the opening numbers, the dow's off by 1/3, the nasdaq's down 1.5%. we saw a weak open yesterday and quickly rallied, though, each of these averages have climbed at least 11% over two weeks. it's really been remarkable, heidi. >> all right. well, i will confine and

constrain my excitement. >> okay. >> susan, thank you, we'll check back later. meanwhile, president obama shifting his deadline on health care reform. but not exactly by choice. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways.

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this coming. but he was emphatic in the very beginning about getting this reform passed before the recess. >> reporter: he certainly was, and heidi, this is honestly a blow to the administration, but certainly is not the end of the debate. the strategy here at the white house, keep pushing, keep talking, there's really two parts of this. one of it is behind the scenes, the president getting directly involved. later this morning, heidi, he's going to be meeting with harry reid as well as the senate finance chair max baucus who is going to sit the two down together. and say what do we need to do? where are we in this process? what needs to be looked over again to negotiate, to compromise, and how much longer do they believe they need to get these sides to come together? not just republicans and democrats, but democrats and democrats to get them to see eye to eye on some of them. we also expect, heidi, that the president is going to continue in a very aggressive, very forceful way to get his message out directly to the american people. going out there, taking these messages to the town hall

meetings, to all kinds of different places so he can talk directly to the american people and tell them here's how this is going to impact you. heidi? >> all right, well, obviously as you said, certainly not the end of the debate. we will continue to follow it very, very closely obviously effecting every american. our white house correspondent suzanne malveaux, thank you, suzanne. >> thank you, heidi. meanwhile sarah palin stepped down as alaska's governor on sunday. she's leaving office less than a year after bursting on to the national stage as john mccain's surprise pick for his vice presidential nominee. libby casey has followed the career as a washington correspondent for alaska public radio network. she is joining us this morning live from washington. so, libby, governor palin has been using twitter a lot lately to communicate. in fact, we're going to take a moment and put on the screen something that she twittered the other day. it says this a.k. will progress

plus side benefits equals ten days to less politically correct twitters fly from my fingertips outside state site. do alaskans know anything more today than they knew july 3rd about what she wants to do next? or what her intentions are? >> well, the governor has said in introduce she will be making trips to the lower 48 to stump for politicians she supports, possibly even democrats who share her values, we're not really sure exactly what comes next. twitter has been the best way to get a sense of the governor's mind set. and as you read in that tweet, heidi, she talks about how she wants to let loose when she leaves office on sunday. we're expecting her to talk more about -- not just her opinions about things, but politics, maybe she's been holding back on some stuff. >> okay, well, that's a good tease. sunday is her last day as we mentioned and lieutenant governor sean par nel will be taking over. this is going to happen at the annual governor's picnic that

takes place in fairbanks, that might sound a little funny to a lot of people in different states, but this is kind of where these types of things happen, right? >> well, this is totally unprecedented, but yes, the governor is going to picnics throughout the state wrapping up in fairbanks. and what's usually a real hometown celebration celebrating the gold rush history and their, you know, competitions, but this year everything is entirely different because the governor is making a dramatic -- this dramatic historical day out of it. so we will be seeing the governor step down and the lieutenant governor take the reigns and palin was tweeting this past week about how she's been crafting her speech. we're not sure what it's going to say yet. one interesting thing about palin's legacy, we're reflecting on her 2 1/2 years in office. we're going to watch to see what he does. does he continue things that she started? it sounds like he plans to stay the course. >> they have a close relationship. >> they have a close relationship from all intensive purposes. and he's keeping all of the

cabinet members, key staff, and i've talked to staff they've said they want to stick around, they want to work through this transition because they feel they owe it to the state of alaska, which is interesting given that palin has chosen to step down which has created this change in alaskan politics. >> can you update us on these ethic charges? what is the basis? where does it stand now? has anything solidified? is it moving forward? what's the scoop on that? >> well, the state hired an investigator to look into charges that the governor created -- encouraged the creation of a trust to benefit her. and the investigator found there may be some wrong doing there. it's important to note, though, this is a preliminary report that was leaked to the press, this is not a decisive account of what happened or what the governor may need to do next. the woman who started the trust said palin is not involved in it. so we're still watching this process play out. and an interesting note, heidi, alaska state law says charges of

ethics violations can still be brought within two years after the fact. so this may not be the end and governor palin may have to deal with this as a private citizen as she moves forward. >> i'm willing to bet she probably knew that whether or not it had anything to do with her stepping down from the governorship as she mentioned. she wanted to leave the state alone so they could progress because this is apparently hampering what she was going to be able to do. speaking of, do you think alaskans are going to really remember her as their governor? or is it always going to be as a vice presidential nominee. >> i think as a governor. a lot may depend on what she decides to do next. will she stay in alaska? will she decide to spend more time on the national stage? you know, only in office for 2 1/2 years, things dramatically change when she was picked for the vp slot, that's 10 months we've been doing this now. that's 1/3 of her time in office. that really has colored how people will look at her legacy. >> as she walks out the door, her approval rating.

do we have the latest figure? >> the washington, d.c. post abc poll came out today showing a majority of americans have a negative take on her, but 70% of the republican base does still support governor palin and does think highly of her. >> i was wondering about alaskans. >> we're still watching to see how kind of public opinion weighs out. it's really a mixed bag. her poll numbers have plummeted, but that's really since this vp run. once things calm down a little bit and we see what she does next. >> it's been a pleasure talking with you and washington correspondent for alaska public radio network. thanks once again. just minutes ago in california, lawmakers there approved a plan to close their massive budget gap. lawmakers worked through the night, passed bills that will shave $26 billion from this year's budget. the cuts, though, are painful and deep as you would imagine. nothing has been spared, including programs for health, welfare, and education. california's been operating without a budget for weeks now

forcing state to pay its bills with ious. hey, you're planning to have a salad today? well, there is a nationwide recall of a certain type of lettuce. we'll tell you about it and what you need to know.

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the number of swine flu cases has soared in england. just listen to these statistics now. there were 100,000 new cases of h1n1 last week alone. health officials say a majority of the patients are children under the age of 15. and most cases have been mild. but on our blog, we are asking you this question of whether or not you would volunteer to test this new swine flu vaccine that they are working to develop. of course they have to test it on somebody, so we want to know if you'd be interested in being one of those somebodies. well, our first blogger says this, karen, yes, of course i'd volunteer. i'd rather be part of the solution than to wait to get to the disease and be seriously ill. gary, offer it to prison inmates in exchange for a reduced sentence. this saves the taxpayers money to keep them in prison and provides human subjects for the vaccines. finally victor asks, how much are we talking about here?

okay, good questions. i want to make sure that we ask you to add your thoughts to this. always inviting your comments, go to our blog at cnn.com/heidi. a scare prompting a nationwide recall of one brand of romaine lettuce. one head of lettuce tested positive in wisconsin. it was distributed by tanimura & antle fresh foods. with this code 531380. it is only for full heads of lettuce and not the pre-washed pre-cutlet t lettuce in bags. a car flips over and bursts into flames. a 3-year-old is trapped and a hero arrives on the scene. t a s. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways.

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in los angeles, praise for a hero. john mcdonald was on his way to work when he saw a car flipped on its side and engulfed in flames. three people had managed to escape the burning vehicle, but a 3-year-old was still trapped inside. >> what's going through your mind through this whole thing? >> i thought we were both going to do to be honest with you. when i pulled her out of the

car, she said, that was really scary and i was thinking you have no idea. i was pretty shook up. >> not the first time we've seen this type of video this week alone, is it? here you can see just how spectacular that fire is, in fact. two of the victims in the crash were taken to the hospital, but both are expected to survive. he is actually embarrassed by all of the attention. rob marciano standing by to talk a little bit more of the weekend weather. we all want to know if we're going to be able to have lovely weather to do things outside. >> we'll touch base on that. want to say good morning to our west coast viewers. they're moving the camera around. this must be a helicopter. >> i think they're listening to you. >> captain cairo, zooming around the emerald city there. whoever is on the lens, take it easy. we have viewers who are just

waking up and maybe a little queasy stomach. cool shot there of whatever that thing is. >> bottom of the helicopter. >> a sled. looks like below visibility of 500 feet okay and you're getting a good view of the port and water temperatures here about 50 degrees or so. good morning, seattle. love ya. love you, portland, love you san francisco. back to the east coast now where my friends are definitely having a morning to speak of. boston just seeing heavy rain this morning with wind, as well. everything coming off new york. this is sort of a tropical system a lot of moisture, a lot of heat and allows for heavy rainfall and they have seen that the last couple days. check out these numbers on eastern new york, surely new york 3.45. providence, 2.28 and they had a flood warning out there in warwick earlier this morning and

worcester getting in at 1.80. look at portland, sustained winds at 29 miles per hour out of the north, northeast. we do have some delays at the airport. 10:30 local time, so, another half hour. ground stops into boston. san francisco also seeing an hour delay there because of local clouds and newark 30-minute delays. as far as what we expect to see across the eastern south carolina, thunderstorms now rough this morning beginning to wind down just a little bit and a pretty good chance of seeing some thunderstorms that may very well be severe today. western great lakes and the upper midwest including places in wisconsin and eastern parts of minnesota where temperatures there will be around 84 degrees. there you go, not too bad. could be worse for this time of year, don't you think, heidi? >> in fact, mosquitoes. >> all those legs will do that. >> i always forget how smart you

are. >> rob marciano, we'll check back later on. an awful lot going on in the next hour of the "cnn newsroom." let's begin with susan lisovicz who is keeping her eye on the dow. hey, suzen . >> yeah, and the numbers have been remarkable over the last two weeks, heidi. the dow is above 9,000 and at its highest level of the year. the nasdaq may snap its longest swin streak, however, since 1992. i'll have all the numbers and all the action in the next hour. >> i'm alison kosik in new york. millions of americans are getting a raise today as the minimum wage hits $7.25 an hour but with unemployment at a 26-year high, can the job market handle it? heidi, i'll have that at the top of the hour. >> what do you do when you waukt out of the hospital with a gigantic bill? a david and goliath situation. i'll have that at the top of the

hour. making a difference from 1600 pennsylvania avenue, african-americans in the forefront and behind the scenes at the white house. blocked arte, another heart attack could be lurking, waiting to strike. a heart attack caused by a clot, one that could be fatal. but plavix helps save lives. plavix, taken with other heart medicines goes beyond what other heart medicines do alone to provide greater protection against heart attack or stroke and even death by helping to keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming clots. ask your doctor about plavix, protection that helps save lives. (female announcer) if you have stomach ulcer or othp$ condition that causes bleeding, you should not use plavix. when taking plavix alone or with some other medicines including aspirin, the risk of bleeding may increase so tell your doctor before planning surgery. and always talk to your doctor before taking aspirin or other medicines with plavix, especially if you've had a stroke. if you develop fever or unexplained weakness or confusion, tell your doctor promptly as these may be signs of a rare but potentially life-threatening condition called ttp, which has been reported rarely, sometimes in less than two weeks after starting therapy.

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the doctor with michael

jackson when he died is being investigated for possible manslaughter. texas investigators have released documents detailing the items taken from dr. conrad murray's office and storage unit on wednesday. samples of prescription medications, computer hard drives and several documents were seized. mursy scheduled to meet with investigators for a third time later this week. the whole michael jackson never got a chance to buy. a permanent residence in las vegas where jackson wanted to build a life. drew griffin from our special investigation's unit got an exclusive home that michael jackson had to save up for. >> reporter: the home michael jackson wanted but even he at the time couldn't afford. according to his las vegas realtor, this 10 acre estate was to be michael jackson's vegas wonderland. >> the only house i showed michael out of 10 or a dozen and he came out and he came outside

with no umbrella or mask on and just came out with the kids to see the grounds of the property. through this chase here we have apartments, about 1,000 square feet and the kids wanted to make this into the playroom and michael loved that idea. >> reporter: instead they placed him in this lease home, it was not up to par, but jackson was building a life in las vegas and also trying to build back his wealth, entertaining casino owners who were offering jackson deal after deal to make him stay. >> i know that michael really liked the idea of being able to perform in one location night after night. he loved the fact that the kids could have a place to call home and not move around with them since they're always going everywhere with him. that was an idea that appealed to him. >> reporter: the estate is fill would quirky appeals and leading to a gun range that jackson wanted to turn into a music studio, a barber chair in the master bath, a full gym, theater room and a 20-car garage where

he and his family could load into and out of cars out of view. what was he most interested in when he came into a house? >> michael's biggest concern in my opinion was always the safety of his children. >> reporter: at the time, just back from his self exile in bahrain and ireland, he couldn't afford the $22 million to $25 million price tag. he believes the concert tour would have been michael jackson's pathway back to this house, a permanent show in las vegas and a new retreat he would have called wonderland. drew griffin, cnn, las vegas. here are some of the other stories we're watching right now. a pair of astronauts moments away from starting another spacewalk. today's work could take nearly eight hours. they have more to do today because wednesday's spacewalk was cut short because of a faulty space suit. deposed president jose zelaya is headed back to

honduras today. in a caravan going through nick rag wu. he is going home despite threats by the current government to have him arrested. no vote on health care until after august. senate majority leader harry reid dealt a blow to president obama's timetable for reform. he will meet with the president later in the oval office today. right now, though, republican members of congress are holding a news conference in washington to talk about their differences with the president's plan. your money back in the headlines this morning, but here's the unusual thing. the news isn't all bad. wall street has rallied to its highest level in months. the dow is up 11%, just over the past nine days. might not look like it right now because we are to the negative, but millions of americans are getting a pay raise. recession weary businesses aren't quite ready to celebrate minimum wage, obviously, going

up. an awful lot to cover today on the financial front. susan lisovicz at the new york stock exchange to break it all down for us. hi, susan. >> buy in may and go away. that certainly didn't hold true for july because we are coming off, right now, what has been nothing short of a remarkable run. last two weeks we've seen the dow closing above 9,000. yesterday there tfor the first since early january, it's hanging in there right now but seeing the selloff accelerate right now and the nasdaq has been riding a 12-session win streak and that is the longest since 1992. why is that? release, release, heidi, that corporate america has been telling us things aren't as bad as we all feared. that the profits, the profits are a little bit better than expected. of course, the bar was set very, very low. but what folks are looking for is sales. a lot of the profits had been

coming because of massive cost cutting and so what you're seeing today, the selloff, why are we seeing it? microsoft shares down 10%. microsoft hosting its first annual revenue decline since the company went public in the 1980s. you're seeing sentiment clouded a little bit by that, but by and large, a great sense of relief and we'll all benefit from it with our 401(k) statements. heidi? >> boy, you got that right. susan lisovicz, thanks so much for that. >> you're welcome. let's talk now about the millions of americans who are getting a raise today. the final stage of the three-step increase in the federal minimum wage passed by congress two years ago. can the economy handle it now? alison kosik breaking it all down for us from new york. it is kind of a tricky one, who knows what it will do for small businesses? >> there there is a lot of debate on how this will impact the economy. the federal minimum wage raises 70 cents from $655 for a

full-time worker that comes to a little more than $15,000 a year. workers in 29 states will get the raise. in 21 other states workers won't feel it because those states already paid more than $7.25 an hour. the economic policy institute is estimating it will mean higher wages for about 4.5 million people, heidi. >> yeah, but unemployment, as everybody has been pretty well aware at 9.25%, a 26-year high on that. you raise the minimum wage and some people might not be able to pay their employees and then does that number go up, too? >> some economists worry this could bring more job cuts. when workers get too expensive, they may let spl people go or at least cut their hours and this could be especially true in the retail and restaurant businesses, both rely heavily on low-wage workers. it's also possible, businesses could pass the higher costs on to consumers. but advocates say workers need a

higher minimum wage now more than ever and some analysts say it can even boost the economy by getting more money into the pockets of people who will spend it rather than save it. so, what do you think? we're getting lots of comments on cnnmoney.com. james in atlanta writes, i work in fast food and the increase in minimum wage will raise my salary and far from a living wage. we also got one from paul in l.a. and he says that raising the minimum wage is self-taxation through inflation. there's no free lunch. minimum wage should be abolished. you can always count on strong issues on both sides of this issue. >> alison, thanks so much. appreciate it. let's turn to capitol hill for a moment where lawmakers are taking a closer look at the nation's financial crisis. the house budget committee is holding a hearing on the economic recovery package. is it doing enough to strengthen our economy? later this hour, the question is, who should our top consumer watchdog be?

ben bernanke wants that role to remain with the central bank. timothy geithner wants to create an entirely new agency. president obama forced to move his deadline for health care reform from the summer to the fall. top senate negotiators say they need more time to hammer out a bipartisan bill and they won't be able to hold a vote in august as president obama had wanted. joining us now live from capitol hill, cnn's correspondent brianna keilar. there seems to be a big shift now, where does congress stand now on health care? >> president obama said he wanted the house and the senate to vote on health care before they left here in the next week or so for august recess. as you said, not going to happen in the senate. we heard that from the top democrat in the senate, harry reid. because of what's going on in the senate finance committee where a small group of democrats and republicans they're trying to hammer out a compromise. they're trying to figure out a plan that can get some of those

centrist democrats and republicans in the senate onboard to move this through, but the senate finance committee chaired by matt baucus, that man right there. they need more time. because of that, they're going to be over at the white house today meeting with president obama. now, there's a whole other situation, as you know, heidi, over in the house of representatives. house speaker nancy pelosi is basically by blue dog democrats, some fiscally conservative democrats who are taking issue with the cost. we've been talking about this, how do you pay for health care? they have issues with that. the difference here, heidi, speaker pelosi says she still has her eye on a vote before the august recess. we'll wait and see if that happens, heidi. >> the division between house democrats has sort of created an opportunity for republicans who completely oppose their plan. they're making their point with an interesting visual aid. >> yes, they are making their point with a visual aid and this is it right here.

>> no way, you have it. >> this is a flow chart. if you look right next to me. this is put together by the republicans and it is supposed to be their flow chart of the democrats' plan. as you can see, it's quite a mess, heidi. that's really the point of it to show in their opinion how complicated the democrats' plan is. they have been taking this down to the house plan to make that point. take a listen to what they've said. >> this is what it looks like. now anybody think all this bureaucracy is needed to fix our health care system, i would polightly disagree. >> this is the organizational chart of the health care plan the democrats are proposing. >> we're talking about a health care system that's going to have the good heart of the irs and the efficiency of the postal system. you know, let's take a look at some of these different government agencies and how much

do we really want to trust them with our personal health care. >> now, democrats say that this here is a complete exaggeration that what they're really trying to do is streamline the process for getting health insurance and that really it's a quite simple process underneath their plan. they say if you want a really complicated flow chart, you should look at a flow chart of the way the health care system stands right now. heidi, i have to show you what they are floating. what democratic aides are floating as their portrayal of a republican plan. >> i knew there would be another one to look at. >> see that, all these question marks. >> i don't get it. >> this is their tongue in cheek because house republicans are not putting together a bill. so, they're kind of saying, here, you don't even have anything so we can't even make a flow chart out of your plan. >> i don't know if your cameraman can pan down just a bit, but i wonder if ross perot is down there holding up that placard there. >> i know. it takes you back, doesn't it? >> little bit.

all right, brianna keilar, thanks for staying on top of the story. appreciate it. back to the story we first told you about yesterday in the show. dozens under arrest in new jersey. federal agents taking several new jersey mayors and religious leaders into custody. they are charged with a range of oillegal activities like taking bribes and international money laundering scheme. cnn's deborah feyerick has the story. >> reporter: it began as an investigation into international money laundering, allegedly by a handful of prominent new jersey rabbis with ties to israel. it turn ed into a probe of far-reaching as nearly 30 politicians, democrats and republicans, were rounded up in what prosecutors called the largest sweep of its kind. >> this case is not about politics and certainly not about religion and it is about crime, corruption and about arrogance and about a shocking betrayal of the public trust. >> reporter: the two cases are linked by a single cooperating

witness posing as a real estate developer, but, in fact, working for the government says new jersey's top prosecutor. >> i don't donate, i invest in meetings, in parking lots, at restaurants, luncheonettes, diners, offices, basement boiler rooms and bathrooms. and the politicians willingly put themselves up for sale. >> reporter: prosecutors say public officials, including mayors, deputy mayors, councilmen and a new jersey assemblymen took envelopes stuffed with thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for political favors. one of the most damaging statements allegedly made, hoboken mayor peter cammarano who took $25,000 in bribes telling the developer he would become a priority while people who were against us the whole way, they get ground into powder. >> corruption is not only

pervasive, it has become ingrained in new jersey's political culture. >> reporter: new jersey governor jon corzine criticized the corruption while asking one of his staff to step down after he was investigated, but not charged. >> this morning i asked for the rest of the nation, commissioner and he has agreed to resign. >> reporter: prosecutors say the same cooperating witness who has been paying public officials bribes and earlier infiltrated the money laundering taking fees for laundering millions of dollars through their charitable organizations. deborah feyerick, cnn, newark, new jersey. >> the arrest of those rabbis is big news back in israel. it's making the front pages of the major newspapers in jerusalem. investigators say five rabbis in new jersey set up charitable organizations to launder $3 million. one other man arrested in the crackdown is accused of trying to sell a human kidney. of course, we'll stay on top of this story for you. marines exchanging heavy

gunfire with insurgents. we're there with the troops as they lose one of their own. help brehe bter all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. annoit keeais en.. tomeatetp me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways.

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and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. a deadly month getting worse in afghanistan. two more u.s. troops are dead this morning killed by insurgents. another marine was lost in a batual taliban fighters yesterday. ivan watson is embedded in the dangerous helmand province and

he joins us right now with the very latest. ivan, good morning to you. >> good morning, heidi. the marines here are working hard. this must be one of the world's hardest jobs because they're also coping with the loss of oone of their conrads yesterday. sergeant ryan lane. he was killed by mortar fire coming in the direction of the improvised camp where i'm located right now. the marines retaliated and fired artillery at the point of origin of this mortar strike and fired more mortar rounds later in the day and they killed what they say is one suspected insurgent, but they lost this sergeant ryan lane mortally wounded. he was 25 years old from pittsburgh, pennsylvania. a rabid fan of the pittsburgh penguins who showed off his t-shirt when his wife sent it out to him here. he had also been studying the local languages on his free time to try to better communicate with the people here and we have a photo submitted by one of his comrades of him giving candy to

a child. now, he is one of the marines from the delta company of the reconnaissance battalion who had been stationed at this place they call the castle. the southern most point that the u.s. marines have advanced to since they launched an offensive into turbulent helmand province earlier this month. about 70 miles from the pakistani border. national police on a joint patrol in the neighboring bazaar just a few hours ago. let's look at that report, heidi. this is the main bazaar. the castle where the marines have set up operation is right over here, right next door, maybe able to see the wire and there there are some local afghan government officials who have set up, as well as afghan soldiers and so on.

if you look down this street, today is friday, it's supposed to be the busiest day of the week. and the bazaar is all but des t deserted. these shops are all boarded up and even around the corner the bakery that sells the staple food for afghans is closed. we're hearing that someone in the baker's family has been kidnapped. an experiment under way here right now. the afghan national police have arrived, a group of 50 police officers and the police commander is trying to reach out to what locals are here today and this is part of the attempt to extend the authority of the afghan central government to a part of afghanistan that has effectively been ruled by the taliban for some four years, at least. the experiment has just begun and it's off to a rocky start. there was fighting yesterday. artillery outgoing from the marines and mortar fire coming in from the insurgents, actually

landing in this castle itself. and the locals that we have spoken with here say if this fighting continues, they're just going to pack up and leave. they don't want to be caught in the middle of this fight. so here we have the marines. they just lost one of their comrades and two other marines from this very same company killed last week, heidi, in a deadly roadside bomb and they're still going ahead with this very difficult mission of trying to help set up a fledgling provenshal government here. >> it's so obvious that they have their hand full. even to the point, ivan, where it seems they are doing everything they can to ward off the insurgents when one of the missions in afghanistan was also to be training afghan troops, afghan police. can you give us an update on how that part of the mission is going right now?

>> well, this has been a process, heidi, that has been going on for nearly eight years, not only the u.s. military has been involved in it, but other coalition partners here have been trying to train the afghan national police and the afghan national army and from what we can see here, it is still the u.s. military that is the point of the spirit here trying to take back territory from taliban insurgents and then they bring in afghan national army soldiers but in much smaller numbers than the foreign troops and then bring in afghan national police, again, in much smaller numbers and not nearly as well-equipped and as well-trained and widespread complaint around afghanistan that the police, in particular, are corrupt. they demand bribes from locals and that some of the locals hate the police in some ways almost more than the taliban themselves. so, this is a big challenge. eight years after the taliban was overthrown the afghan central government is still a shaky project and it's still very difficult to extend its

authority anywhere beyond the afghan capital. heidi? >> boy, oh, boy. very clear now. we sure do appreciate it. ivan watson embed would the u.s. troops. thanks, ivan. we want to update you on the latest casualties. 37 u.s. troops have died this month in afghanistan alone. at least ten of those deaths came in held mand province in southern afghanistan. the marines began the push this month and since 2001, 666 u.s. troops have died in afghanstep. head over to the severe weather center right now and rob marciano is standing by. almost the weekend, time to go. >> a lot of folks out west or maybe you're going there. flood warning in effect for vegas and southern arizona, already seeing showers pop up. the monsoon, this time of year you'll see more humidity and a flow from the south and

thunderstorms developing in the afternoon and some could come down in a hurry and flooding always a possibility with that. minneapolis, east across the river and towards wisconsin, heavy thunderstorms here. haywood, wisconsin, want to point that out. lumberjack championships. >> i have seen it, been there, experienced it. >> i can just see you in your flannel shirt with the ax chop and log roll. >> you disappeared. see, you can't make fun of me like that, we just lose you. maybe you need to step into the shot. there we go. i have a map. you want to talk about the map. >> i guess we're going to camera one away. or a full screen radar. you know what, since weather's not working out, let's geet the beavers, all right. your obligatory roll. two orphan beavers from just outside of seattle, they were orphaned within a week of each

other and they have been hand fed and also been kind of mothered by the use of a stuffed animal and they're taking on their more natural characteristics. they'll be released to the wild, hopefully, once they learn to build a beaver dam, which they're showing signs of doing. no name yet. i propose maybe flip and flap. >> that's pretty. >> aren't they cute? >> i love it. just waiting for them to get up on water skis. >> you're asking way too much here. we can barely get the television stuff on the air and you want water skiing beavers. >> all right, rob, thank you. >> see you later. paying more than $1,000 for an e.r. visit. how much of that does the insurance company actually pick up? take a guess. fighting back against big bills in our empower me friday segment. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways.

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well, it's empower me friday and you know what that means, it's time to answer your questions on health care and we have a lot of them. elizabeth cohen is joining me to help you become a more powered patient.

the first e-mail is from kwe who said in june i was charged $1,265.57 in the emergency room for just cutting two blisters from my foot and writing a preskringez. insurance only paid 75 bucks. that's a lot, right? i mean, that's kind of outrageous. what can you do? >> right, kwe almost owes $1,000 to the emergency room for two toe blisters. we asked the advocates what can he do? look, several things he can do. first of all, he needs to go to his insurance company and say, what is up here? $75 on a $1,200 bill. that's crazy. they gave him some bureaucratic paperwork reason and he needs to fight them and appeal that decision. we're told by experts most of the time when you appeal an insurance company's decision, you actually win. go for it, the odds are with you. find an advocate to help you do that. it's very david and goliath.

you're fighting this big insurance company. there are billing advocates that can help you do that. if you go to cnn.com/empoweredpatients we have all these links where you can find people. >> it never hurts to at least ask, you need to have that conversation. but what if the insurance company says no? >> then he needs to go to the hospital and say, look, first of all, give me an itemized bill. do i owe this much money. look y can't pay you 1,200 bucks, i can pay you $500. give them a certified check and a lot of times the hospital will be like, we'll take it. there is a great chance you will never pay anything so sometimes they'll check a check for a half, a third or even a quarter just because they want something out of you. something is better than nothing. >> some lessons we can take away from his experience? >> first of all, try to get an idea, is this hospital ripping you off and what you can do, go to a website called change

health care and you can put in your city and put in something like emergency room visit or whatever and they'll tell you about how much it should cost because $1,200 is a lot of money. >> so you could really get that specific? you could say toe blisters or whatever -- >> not necessarily. but you can say emergency room simple visit. >> that's realthy white elephant in the whole thing, did he need to geto the emergency room? i don't know. >> just how bad were these blisters? i don't know. if he had just waited until the next business day, he would have saved himself like $1,000. you want to think about that and that website will tell you an office visit versus an emergency room and then you can make an informed decision. you have no idea how much things cost. no idea.

this website gives you a little bit of an idea of what things will cost. >> maybe he was dealing with infection or something, we don't know. but i do know that we're always getting a lot of questions for empower me friday. >> we sure are. if anyone has a question for me, write to empower patient at cnn.com and maybe we'll answer your question next friday on empower me friday. >> i want to start myself. >> okay. >> thank you, elizabeth, appreciate it. the officer who arrested a prominent harvard professor tells his side of the story and more storm clouds are gathering over new england. rob marciano in our weather center. to silence headaches... doctors recommend tylenol... more than any other brand... of pain reliever. tylenol rapid release gels... release medicine fast. so you can stop headaches... and feel better fast. me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid.

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closer look at the nation's financial crisis. right now the house budget committee is holding a hearing on the economic recovery package. is it doing enough to bolster the economy? also this hour, the question of who should be our top consumer watchdog. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke want that role to remain with essential banks but timothy geithner wants to create a new agency. we are keeping a close eye on the markets this morning. began the trading day above the 9,000 mark but big name companies like american express and microsoft released their earnings last night and some significant weak spots. susan lisovicz on the floor of the new york stock exchange with the latest. things have improved a little bit. down 23 points early in the trading day. hi, susan. >> hi, heidi. we're still above 9,000 and still at the highest level of the year for the dow. everybody in america wants to know when will the economy get better? so, the focus on wall street

last week, this week and next week is what corporate america has to tell us in its quarterly report cards and by and large things are better than expect. corporate america has been shedding jobs and cutting costs wherever they can, they've also set the bar pretty low. but the bottom line is the theme is better than expected and the market has rallied big time on top of it. a number of companies raising forecasts for the year. very diverse companies like hershey and 3m a big industrial company and that brings us to today. two heavyweights, both reporting significant weaknesses. you said microsoft reporting its first annual revenue decline since the company went public in 1986 and american express saying that its year-over-year profits fell by nearly 50%. microsoft shares are down 10%. that's hurting market sentiment. you see right now the dow giving back a little bit, 23 points. and both are dow 30 companies

and the nasdaq is down more than 1%. that's in the early going, heidi. >> well, some of the analysts are saying the economy is stabilizing. but shouldn't we be seeing that these companies are doing even better, if that's the case? >> well, yes. you know you have to look at sales in particular now. like i said, a lot of the profit is due to cost cutting. massive amounts of cost cutting. when are consumers and businesses spending? that's what hurts microsoft. businesses arant spending. for american express, consumers aren't spending. you're really seeing a dramatic jump there. american express total consumer spending in the last quarter was $1.7 billion, huge number, right? but down $2.7 billion, i'm corrected here. but, but it's still down 15% from year over year. so you really need that. that's the juice that gets this economy going. we're going to be hearing from retailers soon and they will shed further light on what exactly we are or not doing.

>> all right, very good. susan lisovicz on the floor of the new york stock exchange. thank you. >> you're welcome. as you know, the minimum wage goes up today. it is now $7.25 an hour. that's up from $6.55 an hour. here's the rise over the past four years, in fact. the raise only applies to the 30 states, though, that don't already have an even higher minimum wage. several states don't actually have one at all. analysts fear the move could hurt small businesses forcing them to lay off people because they cannot afford to pay the higher wage. a big shift in president obama's push for health care reform. senate majority leader harry reid now says the chamber will not vote on a health care vote until after the upcoming august rece recess. that means september at the very earliest and that is a big setback for the president who has been making a public push for congress to act before the august break. lawmakers need more time to negotiate a bipartisan plan and

president obama says he's okay with the plan as long as lawmakers keep working on the legislation. the president is scheduled to meet with senator reid and matt baucus. we're asking your questions on health care reform and we'll let you know what some of our bloggers are saying this morning. the first one from peggy. we have been discussing the need since harry truman was president. so i don't understand why the concern about putting this on the fast track. i say obama's right to push this bill through. of course, we'll have to tweak it later, but we have to get this done. this one from diana. until the government can give decent care for our military and disabled veterans i cannot believe they will do anything adequate for the rest of us. if you want to add your thoughts, we welcome them. go to our blog at cnn.com/heidi.

rob marciano has all the latest on the severe weather. i guess we shouldn't call it super severe. >> definitely not super severe, but severe to some folks. eastern new england seeing quite a bit of rainfall and wind this morning and storm rolling through the upper great lakes and midwest disrupting some travel for this weekend. weather is coming up in just a few minutes. talk more about that. the "cnn newsroom" with heidi callsons coming right back.

the arrest last week of a harvard professor has reignited the debate. friend and co-workers called sergeant james crowley a police officer, not a racist.

he talks with kim casey from our boston affiliate last night. his first comments directed to president obama. >> i was a little surprised and disappointed that the president who didn't have all the facts by his own admission then weighed in on the events of that night and made a comment that, you know, really offended not just officer os in the cambridge police department but officers around the country. >> reporter: james crowley sitting down with 7 news reacting to barack obama's comments about the day he arrested harvard professor henry gates and talking extensively for the first time what happened at the cambridge house. >> i asked him if he could step outside and speak with me. he said, no, i will not. what is this all about? i said i'm sergeant crowley from the cambridge police department and i'm investigating a break-in progress. >> and he responded why i'm a black man in america.

i thought that was a little strange. >> reporter: after getting a call about the break in, he was just trying to protect gates, as well as himself. >> it was a report that there were two individuals. i see one and it could be him ands whether where's the second person or two people in the residence that he doesn't know are there. either way, i wasn't expecting his response which was, that's none of your business. to me that is a strange response for someone who has nuthing to hide and trying to cooperate with the police. >> did he come out and speak with you? >> i was leaving and as i reached the porch, i could, i was aware that now he was following me because he was still yelling about racism and black men in america and that he wasn't somebody to be messing with. >> reporter: sarnlant crowley said he warned gates he was acting disorderly and when he didn't calm down, he arrested gates. the professor wants an apology but the officer says he will not set that precedent for police officers and he regrets the

event and wants to let his story be true. >> the number of things he was saying about me and allow people to see that i'm not the monster or racist or bigot that he portrayed me to be. this is me. >> gates' attorney said his client was never unruly and did nothing wrong. he told cnn's don lemon he thinks the 89 911 tapes when released will show that. the lawsuit is a possibility but he'll wait to say more. you can watch the press conference coming your way today noon eastern. what do you think about the henry lewis gates arrest? we have to tell you, we have never seen so many responses so fast on a story on a blog for our show. getting a lot of callers and thoughts coming in. want to go to two of these callers now. one from kentucky and the next from michigan. >> i think the harvard professor was totally out of line that

policeman was doing his deuty and was there to help this guy. >> i feel like the black gentleman was in the right. i think the black people in this country, they must wonder when it is ever going to stop. >> and here's a look at what some of our bloggers are saying. first, from po8man. reports clearly show that it was professor gates who made race the issue. neighbors of gates confirm his behavior was belidgeant. it was his mouth and not his race that got him arrested. next from william, this happens all the time in my community, we as black men are harassed, profiled and arrested all the time, but in my community, we are not afffluent or well-known. so, it is pushed under the rug and life goes on. i'm glad america gets to hear and see what really goes on with police and black men. finally, from patricia, why are you still talking about the

arrest in cambridge of the professor? move on. people are concerned about wars, jobs, health care, buy/selling homes." the lines are still open go to cnn.com/heidi or call the hotline to heidi number. 1-877-742-5760. three-word sign is really causing quite a stir in one texas community. a family who lived in the town northwest of ft. worth has a sign posted on their front door that says hispanics keep out. some residents in the neighborhood say it is offensive and would like to see it taken down. a dallas reporter spoke with a woman who lives that house. >> we're here because of the sign that is posted on the roof of the house. >> what about it? >> some people are upset about it. >> i don't care. i'm upset about them coming over here illegally, too. >> it does offend people. it is something that is offensive, but, you know, it's

just property. >> we think this is our privilege as an american to protect our property. >> okay. >> this is our property. >> don't you think it would be okay to post a woman that said keep out to everybody and not just target one particular race. >> i don't want to keep out everybody. >> police say the sign does not violate any laws and is an expression of freedom of speech. looking for president obama. we introduce you to the young power players working at the power players working at the white house. airways open... to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways.

the u.s. senate passes a defense spending bill of $680 billion, but it's minus a few things, including a jet program for the ap-35. that's the next generation of fighter planes. earlier senators cut out plans for more f-22 fighters and still to be worked out, differences with the house bill. school districts in all 50 states find out today how they can win some of the stimulus money set aside for education. president obama has earmarked $5 billion to overhaul schools over the next couple years. he wants states to toughen academic standards and find better way to recruit teachers and track how student are doing. time to go to rob marciano one more time because there is meteor logical activity in new england. >> use those big words on a friday, heidi. slow friday to get things going

across bean town and northern new england getting some rain and wind and rough morning in through parts of boston. might as well get right to this. if you're doing some traveling today, looks like boston is off the map. that's good. things are back to normal at logan, at least, for the most part. san francisco seeing an hour delay and newark also seeing a delay at 45 minutes and atlanta and teterboro seeing some delays. that will come to an end in just a little bit and serious storms heading into rochester, minnesota and eventually down towards milwaukee and these may spawn more severe weather as they get closer towards chicago, but right now, not too shabby. some showers developing across parts of the southwest, monsoon flow so that means more humidity and not that dry heat that we typically talk about. a month, month and a half period where they get some humidity and thunderstorms in the afternoon, which of which can be pretty heavy duty at times. vegas included in what can be a

flash flood watch for those folks. daytime highs today looking like this, 92 degrees in kansas city, 97 degrees in kansas, yes. could be warmer for this time of year. 86 in d.c., and 82 in new york. back out west where the heat continues to build. 103 in phoenix and little bit cooler along the immediate shoreline. temperatures will begin to build across the pacific northwest and 82 in seattle pretty warm for this time of year. tomorrow daytime highs for your saturday looking like this 87 in seattle and it will be 80 degrees in denver and 101 in dallas and 92 in memphis and 85 degrees new york city, that's relatively speaking, warm for those folks this time of year. little splash of color for you there, heidi. >> looks like an x-ray of some sort of body part. >> taken from a couple nights ago. >> beautiful. >> you want to see pictures like this go to spaceweather.com and

our friend load these things up and you can choose from a whole gallery of photographs. that's your little weekend project. >> more meteor logical stuff. rob, thank you, appreciate it. what a great segue, let's head to outer space. space shuttle "endeavour" just began another spacewalk y think that was the horn for the solar eclipse we heard a few days ago. two astronauts trying to give the international space station more fresh batteries and the work is expected to take 7 1/2 hours. this will be the fourth spacewalk of the mission. award winning pop star usher is in the house talking about his passion. and it's not what you might think. etter all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways.

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he created camp new look to provide mentoring and training programs to underserved youth. the camp is coming up on its fifth year. i talked to him about it last hour right here in "the newsroom." >> mentoring is something that is something that has been very, very valuable and growth and becoming more responsible american. to be able to give back and give that opportunity to those who are less fortunate and also had a change. it is our youth. these kids come from underserved communities but we give them the tools that they need, but also give them the opportunity to go back to their communities and serve. the power of service is powerful and very, very powerful. >> and one of those members has

gone to his camp. the young lady sitting right next to him and a lot of interesting things to say, as well. camp new look is happening at emory university here in atlanta and it's mentoring 130 kids. in fact, african-americans are playing key roles in this white house, whether it's helping to push health care reform or education or urban issues, dan lothian tells us some have been around washington for a while, others are in the freshman clas. >> reporter: they help manage the mesage and the policies of the president. hard-driving staffers fueled by coffee and soda. and so that's the fuel. >> this is the fuel. like instead of coffee. >> reporter: no one at the white house dwells on the issue of race, but it's hard to ignore the obvious. young african-americans who are now on the inside. >> now that i'm here, it's a little surreal and it's an extraordinary honor, but, it's something that you definitely don't take for granted. >> reporter: karen richardson who has been focused on health care for the office of public

engagement is 30 years old. press assistant kevin lewis is 26. and michael is 40 years old. as i went behind the scenes, i found loyal aides who have a sense of pride and purpose. >> i read all the time about the african-americans who have had a chance to participate in history and it seems like the people that have made the most impact have, you know, connected with something beyond themselves. >> reporter: this is their connection, and lewis has seen first hand what that can mean, especially to older blacks he meets on the streets. >> almost like they adopt me. like when their son is there. someone they know is there. >> reporter: lewis who was raised by a single mother in brooklyn, new york, joined the obama camfeipaign five days bef it initially launched. still pinching himself on his first day at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. >> i didn't know i could actually walk through the gates of the white house.

i walked through the gates and i couldn't stop smiling. >> reporter: richardson's journey to the white house began with an internship office in then senator obama's washington office. >> he is a guy with kenyan roots. >> oh, that was -- >> reporter: he shares the president's love for basketball and as i found out during a shoot around in his office plays a mean defense. >> you need a little defense, man. >> reporter: he met the first couple in chicago when he was a paralegal and they were engaged. now, this lawyer is on the inside looking out and taking friends and family along for the ride. >> you can imagine the call your family members from air force one. they are usually so stunned they really don't even know what to say. >> reporter: all of these white house aides could make a lot more money doing something else, instead, they're cashing in on history. >> you can't really put a price on what i'm doing now and you can't put a price on what it