profiled said they're using this platform to mentor other people and give speeches about their experiences and how they got here. it's a chance to show that with hard work the options and possibilities in life are limitless. dan lothian, cnn, the white house. stories like this in "black in america 2." if you missed our cnn documentary you can see it again in its entirety this weekend. saturday and sunday night at 8:00 p.m. i'm heidi collins, have a grit weekend, everybody. "cnn newsroom" continues now with tony harris. >> it is friday, july 24th. here are the faces driving the headlines in the newsroom. senate leaders slamentiming on brakes. this afternoon they meet with president obama. hear from the cambridge police officer who arrested a harvard professor at his own home. meet breast cancer survivor andrea ivory going door-to-door

to save the lives of other women. good morning, again, everyone. i'm tony harris and you're in the "cnn newsroom." just keep working. that's the message president obama is expected to deliver when he meets with two key senators this hour. on health care reform. it was part of the president's message during his town hall meeting yesterday in ohio. >> i just want people to keep on working. just keep working. i want the bill to get out of the committees and then i want that bill to go to the floor and then i want that bill to be reconciled between the house and the senate and i then i want to sign a bill and i want it done by the end of this year. i want it done by the fall. >> senate democrats say a vote won't happen before the august

recess, white house correspondent now suzanne malveaux joining us. good to see you. good morning. how is flpresident handling thi delay? >> we just had a briefing on the record with the white house press secretary robert gibes and here's how he's explaining it. they're going to keep meeting and pushing here and we'll see the president meet with senate majority leader as well as max baucus of the senate finance committee, obviously, two very important key players in all of this. i asked gibbs whether or not the president will push for another deadline and he said not necessarily. he will listen to these two leaders and take in what kind of timeline do they see and where are the sticking points in all of this. he was also asked, as well, if you're reaching out to republicans on the senate finance committee he said, yes, on a regular basis he has spoken with senators grassley, lindsay, as well as snow. he also said whether it was a

blow to this president. we didn't expect any kind of signing ceremony before the august recess, but they're trying to push him along that any kind of progress he can make in these weeks and bhunths to come would be a good thing and finally it was interesting that chief of staff ron emmanuel meeting with a group of blue dog democrats was asked, how did that meeting go? how much of it was cracking heads or begging for support? and robert gibbs said somewhere in between. so, obviously, there's a little arm twisting that's going on behind the scenes, should also let you know that we're going to see the president traveling more and more in the days and weeks to come. rally and roanoke being a couple places where he will sell his message in really a personal way and making that appeal to the american people directly. >> bottom line question on this. does the president still believe he can get a plan? >> he believes he can get a plan, but this is going to be, it's tougher than they imagined here, tony. as you know. they are not sticking hard and

fast with like the august recess. they realize they're pushing this back a little bit and got it give it more time to breathe and they are pushing to have something on his desk by the fall. >> hour white house correspondent suzanne malveaux. good to see you. thank you. let's get the latest on what is and isn't happening with health care reform legislation. our congressional correspondent brianna keilar. there is word going on, is there a chance something will get done before the august recess? >> tony, the slow down really revolves in the senate around the finance committee and that's why baucus is meeting with the president today. the risk of sounding like a broken record, they're working through some of the issues we talked about before. how to pay for it and what's in the plan and they say they need more time. they're aiming to have some sort of agreement before this committee before recess, but we're not sure if they will be able to do it and then a whole other ball of wax when you talk about the house of representatives.

house speaker nancy pelosi is dealing with democrats who have different demands. the blue dogs, the fiscal conservatives who have concerns about the cost and how to pay for it and then we heard pushback on the left who is concerned that if the blue dogs get their way about the cost and cost cutting, that some programs, perhaps, for minority health care are going to be cut. and then even after that, tony, you have another group of democrats who are prolife who are concerned that abortion under this plan may be paid for through some taxpayer money and they're really objecting to that. we heard from house speaker nancy pelosi. she wants a vote before the august recess and, really, we don't know if that's definitely going to happen. >> boy, you paint a picture here. how difficult is it for speaker pelosi to keep her democrats in line? >> oh, i mean, obviously, it is so hard and that's really why the discussion that we've been covering on the house side have been between democrats, blue dogs, for instance, meeting with ron emanuel and speaker pelosi

yesterday. this creates an opportunity for republicans to really, you know, hit them for the fact that they're not getting along and here is my show and tell of what they've got out, that they keep lugging down to the house floor. this is a flow chart. you can see, it's quite a mess of a flow chart. >> yes, it is. >> this is put together by republicans. they say this is the house democrats health plan and they say this is you, the patient. this is your doctor and all the stuff you have to deal with in your health care system. as you can imagine, tony, democrats say this is an exaggeration. they say they're actually taking some of the red tape out of the situation and they are floating their own version of a flow chart. they're putting this out there. you can see, let's see if it's coming up. >> it will come up here in a second. >> all questionmarks and they put together their own flow chart that's because house republicans at this point do not have a bill put together and we don't know when they will have one put together. so, it's the battle of the

charts here on capitol hill. >> i think we got our order a little turned around, but i think we all get the point, brianna. boy, this is something. what a debate. brianna keilar on capitol hill, thanks, brianna. health care reform certainly a hot topic for cnn's ed henry. on his radio show today ed is talking on the phone now with republican congressman, let me just double check that. he is, he's not on the phone yet. but we believe any moment that he is going to be speaking with republican congressman eric canter, the house minority whip. when we get word that that conversation is actually taking place, we will get back to ed henry and a little later i will actually talk to our senior white house correspondent after he wraps that interview, we'll check in with him in about 30 minutes or so. you know, when it comes to health care reform, we've been asking this question all week, what are you willing to give up? the responses have been absolutely huge. can't thank you enough for

participating. if you would, keep the comments coming. just go to our blog. this is our show blog, just go to cnn.com/tony and leave a comment and we will share some of your comments or responses your thoughts, your views, your opinions a little later in the program right here in the "cnn newsroom." who should be the nation's top watchdog when it comes to credit cards and mortgages? a live picture now, okay, of the house finance services committee. where is everyone? squaring off there today. timothy geithner and federal reserve bank chairman ben bernanke testifying back-to-back. when the session gets under way. geithner wants a newly created federal agency to handle a consumer protection duties and fed chairman ben bernanke says, hold on just a second here, he wants the responsibilities to stay with the fed. your retirement accounts a little fuller today. the dow closed above 9,000 yesterday for the first time since january and the highest

since november. the s&p and nasdaq also up a bit. earnings opmism triggered the big surge on wall street. stocks taking a bit of a breather today. profit taking going on today and the dow is down 53 points and we'll check in with susan lisovicz in about 30 minutes. professor versus police. the massachusetts officer in the middle of an arrest controversy speaks out. what he has to say about arresting a professor in his own home. 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. 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. good friday. i'm meteorologist rob marciano. we'll start you off with some travel if you're getting away for the weekend. that will clear out later on, comfortably cool, as usual this time of year. teterboro also seeing delays and good news for folks in boston, you're done at least for now. what we're seeing across the

southwest a little monsoon this time of year where it's more humid and soupy and not that dry heat and also fire off some showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon especially. because of that, there has been a flood watch issue for a good chance of southern california, western arizona and also southern nevada, including vegas. be aware of that if you're out that way. could see thunderstorms and those quickly can drop a lot of rainfall, including southeastern parts of minnesota. that's a quick check on weather, tony, i'll toss it back to you. >> good to see you, rob. right now, our senior white house correspondent ed henry who is on the phone with republican, what did we just lose? did we just lose ed? did we just lose eric canter? let's do this, let's listen and maybe ed henry is reflecting. let's listen in for just a moment. >> how is this being applied? is it being applied by police organizations across the country? what can the obama

administration do to stop it? i thought he would keep his answer pretty general but to weigh in and give a lot of details about what he believes happened that night in cambridge, massachusetts, was surprising. but even more surprising was the fact that he believed that cambridge police acted stupidly. the president is usually very careful with his language and especially careful when he talks about race issues. he was just at the end last week and sitting in the front row there at the news conference, i was stunned that the president used the word stupidly and we see some police organizations coming out and saying that they think the president went a liltal too far. we have representative eric canter on the phone and we want to talk about health care. how are you, sir? >> i'm on the floor of the house, if i have to run, it is because the vote is being called. >> i understand. where are we in this health debate and where are republicans? are you willing to now work with the president since this debate is at a cross road and try to find a bipartisan solution or are you going to take the path

and say this is a chance to break the president? >> no, listen, i think that pretty much to a person in the house that no one wants to accept the status quo and we do want health reform that works. and i think that is where we are. we are at a crossroad and the plan that president obama has put forward simply is not going to make it across the finish line. so, it's time for us, really, to start to work together and to really listen to the american people. i mean, they, first of all, don't understand why it was so important to rush in to passing a plan when you're talking about such a transformational bill. so, you know, it does give us an opportunity, i think, to allow families across this country to begin to understand what's at stake and what it means when we say health care reform. >> but i want to push you on that, you say you want to work with the president and find reform and roy blunt of missouri, a very prowerful republican said he will not present a health care

alternative. so, how can you say you want to work with the president and find a solution if the republicans are not offering their own bill? >> we have plenty of bills out there. this is where some of the confusion lies. the republican alternatives are numerous and what is the common thread throughout the bills that have been proposed by our side is, number one, we do want to preserve the ability for people to keep a health care plan if they like it and, number two, we do actually want to bring down costs without sacrificing the kind of choice of health care and quality that the people of this country have become used to. we just don't believe that you can do that by allowing there to be a government takeover of health care. and that, really, i think is what held up progress on the other side of the aisle because there are not democrats who agree with republicans that a government takeover is not where we should be going. >> now, the president insists it's not a government takeover.

we'll talk about that in a moment. i want to talk about the cost issue where conservative democrats are pushing back. to pay for health reform, if you're not in favor for the surtax and the house democrats come up with, what is the thing? >> the first and most gaping emission from the democrats' formula for paying for this bill is the lack of medical liability reform. there are estimates that if we put in some type of protection to keep the litigation at a reasonable level so we don't have the frivolous lawsuits so that doctors won't have to be practicing defensive medicine that we could save in some estimates $300 billion. unfortunately, there's been no discussion of that by the president or those on the other side. so, that would be a significant avenue for us to begin to save some costs. we also have in mind the ability for providing incentives for

individuals to purchase health care in the same way that we provide incentives to do so. if we give that incentive and boost it, what we'll see is the ability for folks to choose the kind of plan that they want and their family needs and not have to go in and purchase and have the government subsidize plans that are even richer than what people would choose on their own, so bedwin to bring down prices in that way. >> congressman, if you have all these ideas and you have different bills put together, why hasn't the republican leadership on the hill take all these ideas to bring down costs and put it one bill and put an alternative because i remember the bush years and time after time the bush white house and republicans on the hill like you would say the democrats have no alternative to the president bush's social security reform plan. it was just, no, no, no. you're throwing stones at the president, but where is your plan. >> >> we have a plan out there, we have legislation out there, this is just sort of a false

argument here. >> pardon me one second, i don't want to be rude, roy blunt yesterday said the republican leadership will not present, i know individual bills out there, but you're not going to present one leadership. >> we will have a bill and we have bills. i mean, this is what i don't understand about the question. we have bills and there is a republican plan out there. as you know the democrats are determined the way in which a piece of legislation comes forward. the energy and commerce committee has now shut down because of so much bipartisan opposition to the bill that was before that committee and so we've got to -- we've got to realize from the democrats how it is that we can even present a plan. will it be in the form of an amendment? will it be in the form of a bill? i mean, we have several bills out there with a vision and direction for where we need to go and the differences are very, very clear. number one, no government plan in terms of the republican version. number two, we want to make sure

we don't provide a tax and impose a tax on small businesses in one of the worst economic times that we have seen. and number three, we want to make sure that people are allowed to keep what they have and that we preserve what's good about this system and try to address and fix that, which is not working. >> i want to ask you about the politics, as well. i mentioned republican senator that this might be the waterloo. that you might be able to break the president. are republicans sitting back here letting the democrats fight it out because you think you may pick up seats in the house and senate and a repeat of what happened to bill clinton in 1994? >> listen, ed, health care is too personal for every man, woman and child in this country for us to play politics with health care. and that's why it's so important we take our time. that's why it's so important that the american families who are going to be impacted by this, which is every single one of us, understand, talk to their doctor and see what's at stake.

so, you know, look, you could look at it in terms of if they pass one of the bills, if they pass a bill coming out of the house, that would be extremely bad policy and, frankly, bad politics. because it doesn't reflect what the american people want. if you, if you see that they are unable to bring their plan to the floor, maybe that gives us a shot at trying to push some good policy to affect good reform. >> well, how committed are you to it then? the president osaid okay, they no longer want to meet the august deadline he put out there, but he wants to get this done in the fall, september or october. are you committed to getting it done. whatever it is, we don't know, it's still working through the committee progress, but are republicans committed to coming up with a deal for this president this fall? >> i will have to run and vote in a second, but, absolutely, we are committed to try to work towards a bill that actually produces the kind of health care that we want, not a government takeover of our health care system. >> i know you have to go vote on

the house floor. we appreciate you joining us. you can join the conversation, 1-877-very powerful on capitol hill that republicans are committed. >> this is, boy, this has been very interesting. eric cantor, a house minority whip and ed henry. a lot of issues raised there by ed. he did a terrific job on that and we'll talk -- here's our or original plan was to talk to ed in 20 minutes or so, but we'll see if we can put this together pretty quickly here. take a quick break and see if we can bring ed into the discuss n discussion. if we can bring our congressional correspondent brianna keilar in on the discussion of some of the points raised by eric cantor in that really good interview just moments ago with our ed henry. not sure we can pull this all together.

wow, we have been able to pull part of this together. our cnn correspondent ed henry talking health care reform on his program. just moments ago on cnn radio and, ed, terrific job with eric cantor. can you hear me okay? we're still trying to make the connection. >> i think tony harris trying to talk to me on cnn television, how are you, tony? >> beautiful. i got you and you can hear us just fine? >> excellent. >> okay, so, here's the thing,

the only republican, look, the idea of a bill, a republican bill and the way that you know a bill takes shape from your days as a congressional correspondent, that's not what's been offered by republicans to this point, correct? >> that's right. i didn't want to be rude to congressman cantor, but i wanted to press him on that point. >> but he said to you, we have bills. >> there are individual bills out there. individual congressman paul ryan from wisconsin, for example, have come up with different kind of plans, but there's been no one republican alternative, which the leadership, which is what matters. until the republican leadership like eric cantor number two behind john boehner until he steps up and says this is our bill and this is alternative to the president. it doesn't mean very much. on the other hand we need to point out and i will right now, this president has not come up with an obama plan. >> here's the thing, ed.

because there is a very deliberate. look, you're covering hem every day strategy here. look, clinton health care was shot down in part from some of the analysis i have been reading and listening to because it was this plan. here is our plan and we're going to, look, you're going to pass this. >> you're absolutely right. they're trying to learn ron emanuel the white house chief of staff. >> he worked on clinton health care. >> he learned that lesson, you're absolutely right. the question is did the pendulum swing too far. too different from bill clinton instead of giving details up front and became known as hillary care, did they go the other way too far and say we're not giving you anything? the president even at that news conference friday night -- >> some say he's allowing the body that is responsible for crafting legislation to do his job. >> the white house is right about this. this is the legislative process, it's not pretty. you heard the two things that

you don't want to hear being made. sausages and laws. it is kind of true. we are seeing it play out in the house and senate right now. nevertheless, this is the president with the bully pulpit and even though we have been talking bout his polls dipping a little bit, he's still pretty high right now. mid to high 50s depending on which poll you look at. he could drive this to a conclusion. >> is he -- >> democrats are saying we want more details. >> exactly. you're absolutely right. i'm wondering, what are house and senate democrats pushing the president for that at this point he has been unwilling to give them in terms of real specifics and let's be clear about it. we're talking about how to pay for this. >> right. mostly how to pay for it and mostly how all of this is going to work. you had the president yesterday starting to talk a bit more about insurance reform instead of health reform because the white house is realizing that they focused a lot of their argument early on the 46

million, 47 million people who do not have insurance. the ones who do have insurance are saying, what's in it for us? you're going to raise our taxes in order to cover more people and are we going to lose our insurance potentially and change plans. >> which gets us back to the question we've been asking all week of what are you willing to give up? what compromises are you willing to make in your coverage, in your plans right now to ensure is health care a basic right for american? >> that's a big question and the president the other night when you asked what are democrats looking for in the house and senate, a little more guidance from the president. he was very broad brush. if you go back to the very first question at the news conference, he tried to push him on specifics and details and the president fell back mostly on principals, i want a lower cost, i want to cover more people and democrats up there are saying, we need some more detail. we need to push this along because, yeah, he's got to leave some of this to the

congressional process, but at this point congress could keep talking and talking and there may not be action. they already missed one deadline. the president yesterday lost that fight. harry reid said we're not going to get it done by august. >> no, no, i love to give a second and i'm sorry and i don't want to lose you and you have callers lined up, but hopefully we're pumping up the phone bank. >> we have jamal simmons will be on in a moment and he will join the conversation we had with eric cantor. >> here's my last question for you, again, you've got two hats here that i'm asking you to wear here at the same time. when you're asking eric cantor about reform and how to pay for it and all those issues that you asked him, the first area he went to was tort reform, right? >> right. >> so, make the argument that cantor is making about tort reform and then let's be clear about this. the cbo does not score, am i correct here? the savings that you get from --

that you believe you're going to get from tort reform, correct? >> they have not scored it to my knowledge yet because i have not seen, what you're seeing there is a political issue because the democrats who have the trial lawyers as one of their big allies are not big in favor of tort reform. that hasn't been a big part of the democratic initiative, so the republicans are trying to push that. eric cantor may be right that may squeeze some savings. my next question is tort reform may be helpful but not get you $1 trillion. it may not pay for it. it may pay for some of it. that is the big issue on both sides. the president has not put out an obama plan yet and the republicans keep saying they want health reform but as you heard me pressing eric cantor, the republicans are not laid out a plan and roy blunt said we don't really need a plan now. we'll let the democrats work this out. are the republicans serious about reform? that is a big question. >> aside from tort reform, how do republicans pay for it?

whatever their plan is. whatever their bill suggests, we don't know, do we? we heard what they are against. they are against the surtax in the house that the house democrats have. they're against some of the tax now, there have been some republicans like chuck grassley in fairness who have been saying and at the table of the senate finance committee very powerful saying maybe we need to change this deduction, the deductibility on some of the cadillac health care plans. again, that hasn't been decided yet and they're talking and the other big thing, just about now in the oval office the president is meeting senate majority leader henry read and max baucus. that is key. >> that is terrific. tell jamal i apologize for -- >> people can join us on the radio. thanks, tony. >> appreciate that, talk to you soon. a knock on the door that could save your life, it's the cnn hero of the week.

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okay. cafe owner monique hayward says fighting the good fight she finally shut down her business. we've been checking in with this oregon entrepreneur ever since the bottom fell out of the economy. she's an absolutely terrific friend to the program. monique, this year's winner of the portland business journal 40 under 40 list. monique, we're sorry to hear about this. >> yeah, it's unfortunate, but it was certainly the right thing to do, tony. >> 40 under 40. that sounds like a nice award. what is it about? >> the portland business journal recognizes local entrepreneurs and business people who are under 40 for their accomplishments and achievements in the local area and i happen to be one. >> you were expected to be a success here. you weren't expected by that business journal to be shutting

down your business and then in your note to us, you talk about, what you call the final nails in the coffin. what were they? >> essentially what happened was that the unemployment figures that came out at the end of june, beginning of july that showed that the economy was still going to be recovering very slowly, that we're going to be losing a lot of jobs and every economist worth his weight got on television and got on radio and said we're in for a long, painful, slow recovery and really just took the bottom out of consumer confidence and that had an impact on me almost immediately going into the fourth of july holiday weekend. >> were you ever a successful business? i know you have the cafe and bar open, what was it, four years, four and a half years? >> almost four and a half years. >> were you ever a successful business? >> we actually had really good, strong revenues the first two years but the last couple years we were right on the front end of the subprime mortgage fiasco and the financial crisis that followed very shortly therefore.

because the restaurant has a lot of dependence on consumer confidence and discretionary income, we just saw it before anybody else. >> that's -- looking at some of the pictures. that's a good-looking shop. man, i'm sorry this happened to you. i'm wondering, did the banks, you know, we're learning that so many businesses really, really, really depend on banks for life blood here. did the banks stop lending to you? >> fwhanks were never really there for me in the beginning. i had some bank financing but when i tried to refinance to consolidate my loans and to make better sense of the interest rates and get better lines of credit, i couldn't ever get that deal done. in fact, just a couple days ago i was trying to work with a bank on an sba loan and that came back declined because of "low ratios" and that's low cash flow and low collateral. >> if you had to do it over,

what would you do differently? >> i think i probably would have had more money in the bank, so to speak, just to make sure that i had enough to survive the downturn. i think those of us who launched businesses in the 2003, 2004 time frame did not have this really tough recession on our radar screen. this thing just really snuck up on us, i think. >> what are you going to do now? what is next isn't. >> i certainly still have my day job and that has taken up a lot of my time, of course. i continue to focus on that and i have book that i recently released, what the guide books don't tell you about women entrepreneurs and i'm speaking and talking about my experience and mentoring other entrepreneurs in the office. >> one door closes and another door opens. >> it sure does. >> what is the single takeaway you would pass on to other entrepreneur s that are thinkin about opening a small business in this business climate? >> in this business climate i would say, make sure that you

are well-positioned to survive through the downturn. it's really tough right now as we're just discussing to get credit, to have the banks be on your side. i would urge caution right now and just have people really try to figure out if their business is really going to survive through all of this over the next six to nine months or even a year. >> monique, great to see you again. sorry to hear about the business. >> no, don't be sorry. >> i was going to add, i think you'll be just fine. did you write a blog for us or are you going to write a blog for us? >> if you like, i would love to contribute to that. >> i want people to benefit from your experience. write us a mrablog. what the address again? cnn.com/tony. send it to me and we'll get this on our blog. >> i appreciate the invitation. all the best, thank you. >> thank you. >> your questions answered.

gerri willis joins us live now from new york city with your top tips answering your e-mails gerri, good friday to you. you want to dive in the e-mail bag. >> it's friday. >> our first question comes from diane who writes, how are people able to get their student loans down to 2%? and two of my children have student loans and we'd be very interested to know this. thank you very much. you got help here, gerri? >> absolutely. this is amazing this 2% and we've got a ton of e-mail from folks wondering the same thing. look, if your children have older, variable rates, stafford or plus loans that were issued before july 1 sf, 2006 and they haven't been consolidated you could consolidate these loans and take advantage of this 2% interest rate. can you imagine, 2% money, that's fantastic. but if you have loans that originated after that date, you're looking at 6% to 8%.

it all depends on the timing of your loan. for more info, contact your lender. >> as i read this next question i think your necklace is bouncing off your microphone and i don't want anyone distracted. joan writes, how do you get a credit rating when you have no credit history. what things should i be considering, gerri, before going ahead? >> well, the truth is you'll need to get a cred card in order to start creating your credit history. to become an authorized user on someone else's credit card. an authorized user is someone who uses someone else's credit card who is responsible for the bill and a lot of people do this to help their children or maybe spouses get better credit. shop around for the best credit card terms at creditcardratings.com and make sure once you get that credit card you pay your cards on time. tony? >> one more question here from fay, what is your advice on

reverse mortgages for seniors over 83 who need more income to maintain. what are your thoughts here, gerri? >> fay, a reverse mortgage is a loan against your home that you never pay back for as long as you live there. you're taking equity out of your home and these products are a good idea if you have a lot of equity and you're not going to go anyway. fees associated with this kind of loan. a lot of fees. best place to go for info, aarp.org. for more info, of course, if you have questions, send them to me. >> have we talked at all this week about your bottom line? i love your show. 9:30 a.m. join us right here on cnn for "your bottom line." bank fees and what's going on there, it's a sticky situation for a lot of people. how to save money by the calendar and, of course, we're talking about health care, as well. join us 9:30 a.m. saturday right here on cnn. >> gerri, good to see you. have a great weekend and we'll

see you next week. >> check out our special report, the work done by our money team. the cnn money team, you can't do better than this. great advice on the financial crisis and expert analysis. crisis and expert analysis. just go to cnnmoney.com. help mr 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. 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.

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on wall street, the dow is trading above 9,000 and there is more talk of an economic recovery, but we're not seeing improvement when it comes to

commercial real estate and that has real reprecushions, good and bad for everyone. susan lisovicz at there new york stock exchange with details. >> everyone was talking about commercial real estate. the next shoe to drop. the famed watergate complex in washington, d.c., failed to attract. some shopping malls are going bankrupt and now we're seeing hotels that can't make their mortgage payments and luxury hotels are among those hit hardest. the four seasons in san francisco defaulted on a $90 million loan. check it out. it's a five star hotel, the standard room there, tony harris, goes for 500 bucks a night. >> that's it? come on! >> no worries. st. regis monarch beach defaulted on its loan. there you're looking at it. this is where all sorts of corporate fat cats have held gatherings. also five star hotels in phoenix, las vegas, new york, are also defaulting.

tony? >> so, if the hotels default, does that necessarily mean they're in danger of closing? >> well, not always, tony. a lot of times it's a step taken to force the lender to renegotiate the loan. problem, of course, is that occupancy rate are way down so it means deals for you, the average luxury room price fell 12% this year compared to 7% for mid-priced hotels. cnnmoney.com has more on this story and includes a picture gallery. check it out, you might be able to negotiate prices on wall street and also coming down. we had a great run. microsoft shares down 9% and you're seeing it way on the dow right now down 28 points, but still above 9,000, tony. >> like it, like it. susan, good to see you. see you next hour, if i don't because of craziness in the newsroom, have a great weekend. a massachusetts officer in the middle of an arrest controversy speaks out.

what he has to say about arresting professor in his own arresting professor in his own home, that's next. eeps my airwa. 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.

it is the hot topic just about everywhere. sergeant james crowley's arrest of harvard professor of henry louis gates jr. at his home for disorderly conduct. gates calls it racial and wants an apology. president obama said police acted stupidly, but cambridge's police chief and reporter sat down with agent crowley. >> 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 officers in the cambridge police department, but officers countr. >> reporter: sergeant james crowley, sitting down with 7 news, reacting to president 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. and, again, words to the effect, what's this all about? i said, i'm sergeant crowley from the cambridge police department, i'm investigating a break in progress. he responded, why, because i'm a black man in america? in a very agitated tone, 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 that there were 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. >> reporter: 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: sergeant 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 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 aren't true that are saying about me, at least warranted a response and allow people to see that i'm not a monster or the bigot or racist that he has portrayed me to be.

this is me. >> the police officer had gone into gates' home to check on a possible break-in. now, coming up at noon eastern, cambridge police unions will hold a news conference. we will bring that to you live. the organizations are backing the police sergeant. wellbeing. we're all striving for it. purina cat chow helps you nurture it in your cat... with a full family of excellent nutrition and helpful resources. purina cat chow. share a better life.

i'm just trying to figure out what -- oh, i'm sorry. so, here's the thing. we had an option. we could do weather with rob, or we could talk about the perfect game pitched yesterday. >> more important things this time of year, the boys of summer doing big things. >> big things. let's take you tochy. mark buehrle, left-handed pitcher. the ground ball to the shortstop, there it is. what do we have here, rob? >> perfection. no errors, no walks. >> yeah. >> no hits. >> but do we have the play from the top of the ninth that really saved -- oh, the catch. the center fielder. >> you mean the home run? >> yes, yes, yes. we don't have it? >> we don't have it. it was fantastic. >> it was masterful, i was trying to figure out what outs he pitched. neither of us got to see the game. i don't know if he's got a flamethrower or a mix or the cut slider. >> he's good.

>> he's really good. >> they're telling us to wrap up. happy birthday, tomorrow is a big day for our boy tony. it's a big number. >> it is -- yeah. >> it's fantastic. >> i'm wearing it will, right? that's why you ended up here. thank you, doc. we got a whole other hour. we're back, got to go. got to go, bye! i think i'll go with the preferred package. good choice. only meineke lets you choose the brake service that's right for you. and save 50% on pads and shoes. meineke.

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okay. some breaking news now on health care reform legislation, particularly in the house. let's get to capitol hill right now. brianna keilar is there, and what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, tony, as you know, the real hang-up in the house of representatives with the democrats' health care proposal there is it's been hung up in this key committee, the energy and commerce committee. and what we've learned is that the chairman of that committee is saying they may bypass the entire committee process and take the bill straight to the floor of the house, if they cannot come to an agreement. not with republicans, but with some of their own democrats. because one of the things that's really been slowing down the process here is there's a lot of infighting going abetween different democratic factions. in particular this group called the blue dog democrats, these fiscally conservative democrats, who have raised concerns about

the costs of health care reform and how to pay for it. in this energy and commerce committee, they have actually stalled the process by saying we are not happy that our concerns have not been included in this reform plan, and so we're not allowing this to move beyond the committee process unless you take our concerns into account. well, it now sounds like the chairman here saying, hey, we may just scoot by this committee process altogether if we can't come to an agreement with these blue dog democrats. henry waxman actually saying, quote, we cannot let them embolden republicans. so, you see here, the democrats, the key democrats, really pointing the finger at some other democrats and the blame of the stall of the health care reform plan in the house. >> well, this is an interesting development, because as we know henry waxman chairs the committee you're referring, oversight and government, but here's the interesting thing, there are at least two other committees -- and correct me if i'm wrong here -- in the houseworking on this. and is the idea to bypass the work that waxman's committee is

stuck on and then get to the work of melding these two -- the work on the legislation from these two other committees? >> reporter: well, actually, what you have is -- yeah, ways and means committee and education and labor. >> yes. >> reporter: and energy and commerce. it's very complicated, but all of them have to weigh in on this. >> but you're doing a good job of explaining it. >> reporter: the other committees have to weigh in on the plans of the committee. so, at this point i guess it would be to meld those -- those -- >> yes. >> reporter: but actually, you know, really what we should point out, tony, is that each of these committees kind of has a different jurisdiction, they deal with different parts of it. >> right. >> reporter: so it may not be that much melding that has to go on, but certainly -- >> got you. >> reporter: so that would be the step, to bypass this and go to the floor with it. >> but the other point is there's 51, 52 -- >> reporter: 52. >> -- blue dog. i'm trying to do the math in my head, but you would still need the democrats on board, right?

>> reporter: you would. but it's much easier as a blue dog democrat to stall at this process, at the committee process, than to get in the way of a full vote before the house floor, because then you're really standing in the way. you're not just standing in the way of an incremental step along the process, that's why moving to the floor would put the pressure on these blue dog democrats to get on board. >> that's the important bit. >> reporter: yes. >> on capitol hill, brianna keeler, thank you. delays and the senate vote by the august recess, not going to happen. senate majority leader henry reid said it's more important to do it right than to do it quickly. >> i think that it's better to have a product that is one that's based on quality and thoughtfulness, rather than trying to jam something through. >> senator reid and senator max baucus meeting with president obama today. white house correspondent suzanne malveaux joins us live.

suzanne, we wish you were in the room for that meeting. whether there's any way to know what's happening inside right now. >> reporter: boy, if i could be a fly on the wall. >> yeah, yeah. >> reporter: we do have a sense of what's happening inside the oval office at the moment, because i did have an opportunity to talk to the press secretary, robert gibbs, earlier this morning. and i asked him, is the president going to press a new deadline essentially because of this august recess deadline not quite working out for the president and the administration. he said, no, that he's going to listen to the two very powerful figures and figure out what is the timing here? what are they looking at? what is realistic? what can they negotiate? what can they give up? what disthey he need to say, perhaps, a role they need to play in this whole process? that's what the meeting taking place in the oval office is all about. gibbs said he did not expect there would be a signing ceremony per se before the august recess, but there's certainly going to be a lot of work he says, tony, that president will be out a lot in the weeks and the months to come

regarding this. the president is going to be a bit more flexible about this. he is pushing them obviously behind the scenes, but he's talking about by the end of the year here, so there's obviously some wiggle room here. his chief of staff, rahm emanuel, is very much doing heavy lifting as well. he met with the group you spoke about moments ago, the blue dog democrats, and one person asked him how did the meeting go. how much was cracking heads and banging for support, he said, it's somewhere in between, in the middle here. so, what you're seeing is the president privately very much engaged and involved with lawmakers who at the forefront of this and then publicly, also, tony, we'll see the president once again out on the road trying to sell this directly to the american people, going to raleigh, roanoke, some other places in the days and the weeks to come. tony? >> really, suzanne, is there anything the president is going to do differently moving forward? >> reporter: one of the things that he is going to do -- and we've seen it just over the last 48 hours -- he's trying to lay it out in very plain, simple

language to make the case that this is something that applies to everybody. he's not just going to be emphasizing the 46 million or so who are uninsured and the importance of bringing them along. but he's also trying to give the message that if you do have insurance, that you're not necessarily going to be charged more for your health care costs. that a lot of these blue dog democrats are saying, look, we keep hearing about taxes and increases, these kind of things. people who have insurance already who are very concerned about this plan, he's going to try to address their concerns as well, tony? >> okay, our white house correspondent, suzanne malveaux for us. suzanne, appreciate it. thank you. it is the professor versus the policeman. the massachusetts sergeant at the center of a debate over the arrest of a harvard professor at a news conference, getting under way. we understand any minute now. wow, we're really close. okay, police unions in cambridge, massachusetts, are backing officer james crowley. crowley told a local affiliate, whdh, reporter kim casey, that

professor henry louis gates jr. was the aggressor in the confrontation. >> everybody ready? >> i was continuously telling him to calm down during this whole exchange, because i didn't really want this either. and i didn't -- although i didn't know at the time who professor gates was, knowing he was an affiliate of harvard, i really didn't want to have to take such a drastic action, because i knew it was going to bring a certain amount of attention, unwanted attention, on me. nonetheless, that's how far professor gates pushed it and provoked and just wouldn't stop. >> okay. let's get you life to the news conference under way right now in cambridge, massachusetts. >> -- of which both cambridge unions are members. earlier this week the superior officers association, after conducting its own review, issued a press release expressing its full and unqualified support for the actions of sergeant crowley in connection with his encounter

with professor gates of july 16th, 2009. yesterday, we were pleased to learn that after its own intensive investigation, the cambridge police department also expressed its support for sergeant crowley, clearing him of any wrongdoing and declaring him -- his actions consistent with local and national standards of police practice. the leadership groups of both associations are here today, with their leadership officers, to offer visual support for sergeant crowley, and they carry with them the unequivocal and enthusiastic support of the rank-and-file police officers they represent in cambridge and surrounding communities. in addition, there are many of the members of the cambridge multicultural police association present today to support sergeant crowley. and i am authorized in his absence to express the support

of that organization's president, anthony santiago, who is here -- not here only because of babysitting issues. he wanted me to make sure that i conveyed his wishes, his statement of support for sergeant crowley, and on behalf of himself and his membership. on behalf of the unions and their members, let me assure everyone that the officers of the cambridge police department are committed to the professional and nondiscriminatory enforcement of the law. they respect and embrace the diversity within their own community, and, indeed, within their own ranks. they make hundreds of decisions each week and thousands of decisions each year in the preservation of the peace. race does not play a role of any kind in that decision making and played no role in the decision making in this case.

on my advice and in the interests of his family, sergeant crowley is here today, but will not be making any statement and will not be answering any questions. his comments about the event have been recorded in interviews conducted by weei radio and channel 7 news and are available for view in those facilities. if you're interested, you can see every word that he has spoken. for purposes of today, we are here simply to support him, to express to all of you that all of us collectively and individually believe that he acted appropriately, as any police officer would, in conducting a response to a break-in-progress call and

processing that call and in disposing of the case. at this time i'll turn to other leadership members on the panel to make comments of their own. thank you. >> good afternoon. my name's sergeant dennis o'connor. i'm the president of the cambridge police superior officers association. i'd like to start first by thanking the -- our brother -- our brothers and sister fellow officers who have sent us thousands and thousands of e-mails of support, and i especially want to thank the citizens of cambridge who have come forward to support us. and i'm going to read a prepared statement. i would like to comment briefly in reply to the statements made by governor patrick and president obama regarding this case. it's noteworthy that both qualified their statements by saying they did not have all the facts. usually, when one hears those words, one would expect the next words to be, so i cannot comment. instead, both officials, both admitted friends of professor gates, proceeded to insult the

handling of this case by the cambridge police department. president obama said that the actions of the cpd were stupid and linked the event to a history of -- a history of racial profiling in america. the facts of this case suggest that the president used the right adjective but directed it to the wrong party. his remarks were obviously misdirected, but made worse yet by a suggestion that somehow this case should remind us of a history of racial abuse by law enforcement. whatever may be the history, the supervisors and the patrol officers of the cambridge police department deeply resent the implication and reject any suggestion that in this case, or any other case, they have allowed a person's race to direct their activities. however, we hope that they will reflect upon their past comments and apologize to the men and women of the cambridge police department. thank you. >> steve killion, president of

the cambridge police patrol officers association. >> good afternoon, folks. thank you all for coming. as president of the cambridge police patrol officers association, i am here to put full support behind sergeant crowley's actions. i've known sergeant crowley for 11 years, his career here. he's done a marvelous job. and for this to happen to him was wrong. cambridge police are not stupid. i am proud to represent the officers of the cambridge police department. it is a great department. i think everybody that knows us knows that. i'm a third-generation cambridge police officer from my family, and i'm very proud to be a police officer. and i think if you ask any of the officers in cambridge, they'll tell you they're proud to be here. as far as the president's comments, the governor's comments and comments that i did not hear that our mayor made, i think when the time is right, they should make an apology to us. i think the president should make an apology for all law

enforcement personnel throughout the entire country that took offense to this. with that, thank you very much. and let's get by this. >> harold mcgely, president of the patrol officers association and also president of the massachusetts municipal police coalition. >> thank you, and good afternoon. i'm here representing the 22 member unions of the massachusetts municipal police coalition. i'm speaking in one unified voice on behalf of the union presidents and their memberships. we completely support sergeant crowley and the fine men and women of the cambridge police department. we want the viewers to know that our website is being inundated with e-mails from law enforcement officers and ordinary citizens from across the united states expressing their support for sergeant crowley and the cambridge police

department, and we'd like to thank everybody for that support. and on behalf of the entire membership of the mmpc, we'd just like to say that we have sergeant crowley and his family in our thoughts. thank you. >> we'll open the floor for questions. sir? right here. right here. >> are you getting any support or offer of apology fully -- [ inaudible ]? >> i think, you know, that was a decision that was made without our input. we think in retrospect, given the publicity that has transpired, it would have been better to let the matter go forward to a trial of fact so that the truth could have been disclosed by means other than debates in the media that we've expressed -- or that we've seen over the last few days. we have no control over that. it's done.

and i think that's the best way i can answer your question. john? >> do you have a representative from the multicultural association? >> there are a number of members here -- >> can someone -- can someone speak now? >> no one is going to speak now. [ inaudible question ] they come up with a vote of support as an organization, the association, have they thrown their support behind -- behind sergeant crowley, or do you simply have individuals in the association here today to show their individual but not official support? >> i think the answer to your question is that there's both. there are individuals here showing their support. i've also been authorized by the president of the organization to express support on behalf of the organization.

>> have you spoken to the governor at all besides the news media, have you reached out to them? >> we have not reached out to them. that's something we will be talking about in the coming weeks. but right now our main concern is to make sure that everyone understands our position with respect to sergeant crowley and our dislike of what's happening to him. >> have you had a chance to talk to them? >> we have not. we have not. >> do you want an apology from the president and the governor, would you also like an apology from professor gates? if not, why not? he wants an apology from the sergeant here, and the sergeant made clear he's not going to apologize. do you think it would be appropriate to put this thing to rest, in your words, to have the professor apologize for his actions? >> let me make it clear, we're not demanding an apology from anyone. our view is that we think if governor patrick and the president review all of the facts -- which they did not have before them when they made their

off-the-hip remarks, that they would have commented differently. we're hopeful that upon reflection, they will realize that their statements were misguided and will take appropriate action in the form of an apology. if professor gates chose to do that, i think that would be an excellent outcome, but we're making no such request, and we'll leave that decision to him. okay. right here. >> do you have the radio transmissions from the 911 tapes? >> well, that's hard to say. we haven't heard the tapes. sometimes they're very effective in capturing what happens, sometimes they're not. i believe they will be released. when the city solicitor conducts his review, and as you know if you listened to the police commissioner's press conference yesterday, there will be a panel authorized to review this matter, and i presume they will have access to those tapes. >> as a spokesperson for the police department said today that's not going to be released,

it's not going to be released, until the panel is finished with their investigation. i presume that will be weeks away. do you think they should be released sooner than that? >> i can't comment on the timing of their release. we're happy to have them released when the city and the police department officials, who are responsible for those decisions, decide that it's appropriate to do so. yes? [ inaudible question ] we have not talked about that. quite frankly, we've been so busy answering your calls and e-mails, that we haven't had a chance to develop a postpress conference strategy. we will be doing that in a timely fashion, and we'll consider all things on the table. yes? >> have you made a decision on a -- >> we have not. >> were you approached by

professor gates and set up a meeting with him? i think you're saying you have not spoken to him. if you have not approached him and he wasn't approached, what is your reaction? >> we're happy to speak to anyone on this matter in a position of responsibility or involvement and that would include professor gates if he wanted to speak with us. as i said, we've been more than busy arranging to this press conference, responding to the media. we will be meeting, following this press conference, in the coming days to develop a strategy going forward, and that's certainly one of the issues that we'll consider. yes? >> you have an extraordinary breadth of law enforcement experience on the podium today. i'd like to ask you, what is the precedent for arresting someone in his own home. it was established that he had not broken in.

he was allegedly being outspoken. all the people on this podium have been in law enforcement for many years. have any of you made similar arrests or similar circumstances? >> first, let me ask tom drexler, attorney tom drexler on my left. he's an attorney consultant for both the unions in these matters and i would ask him to speak directly on the issue of this conduct. >> i'm happy to represent the associations and offer whatever support that we can. i will say this, from a legal standpoint, having spent 30 years in the business prosecuting as well as defending police officers, anyone will tell you, a law professor,apros attorney, one of the most difficult crimes to define and categorize is the crime of disorderly person. and it has been the subject of so much litigation over the years.

but i want to remind everybody that when a police officer makes a decision to make an arrest on the street, he or she does not have the luxury of studying law books, pondering the hundreds, if not thousands, of cases that form the precedent for this particular crime to determine whether or not every nuance -- for example, there has to be some threat of disruption. there has to be a commotion. there has to be some citizens that are disrupted. for example, there were citizens attracted to this situation. you can find hundreds of debates of any disorderly person arrest. the police officer on the ground, if you will, on the spot, of making those decisions does not have that luxury or ability. if you review sergeant crowley's report, i think you would find many lawyers who would agree

that the evidence presented therein would be sufficient to make an arrest. i also would like to emphasize another point. district attorney leone in his discretion determined that he wasn't -- byron asked this earlier -- going to go forward with this case. and he has many considerations, i'm sure, with regard to trial length, judicial resources and the like that he has to consider in a situation like this. but at no time has he concluded, to my knowledge -- and i don't believe this to be the case -- that anybody -- that sergeant crowley did anything wrong here. so, his decision to not go forward with those charges is not the same as a finding that anyone did anything wrong here. i want to emphasize that, because that is not the case. he has simply made a decision not to go forward. but, again, that is a big difference between that. and i think some people are attempting to interpret that as meeting a finding of wrongdoing. far from it.

i don't believe that has happened and i don't believe will happen in these circumstances. >> you said that you think an apology is warranted from the governor as well as the president, i think you mentioned in error. what has the governor said that was -- against police officers? >> he's made two or three comments about this. the first interview in which he gave an opinion of the matter, he expressed the fact that he was disturbed by the arrest. and we took from that a pejorative connotation. >> what is it that you believe that they don't understand about this case that you want them to -- >> let me take the president's remarks first. first of all, he began his comments by saying he had a

personal bias and that he didn't have all of the facts, as dennis so artfully indicated, the next sentence should have been, so i'm not going to say anything. unfortunately, he proceeded to say some things. he said that the cambridge police acted stupidly in taking the actions they did. we think that that conclusion was dead wrong and that if he knew all of the facts, he would have concluded that had professor gates simply cooperated with the investigation that sergeant crowley was undertaking, sergeant crowley could have cleared the matter and returned to his office, where he wanted to be, doing his regular work. so, in our view, there was nothing stupid about what happened. what happened, to produce a different outcome, was directly under the control of professor gates. and that's something that i think the president does not fully appreciate.

and, second, and more important, the president suggested that somehow, at least implied, there was a link between what happened here and the history of problems between persons of color and law enforcement. and while that well is true in some localities, it isn't true in cambridge. it wasn't true in this case. it was inappropriate for him to draw that comparison. and, you know, whether you can debate the propriety of the arrest based upon the technical aspects of the disorderly persons statute, there is no evidence whatsoever that the arrest was race based. >> have you spoken to or wanted to speak to the governor? >> you have a long list of things you want us to get to. i'm sure we'll get to them.

right there? >> there's concern about what happened. [ inaudible ] i've spoken to police officers about the transmission. can you speak as to why? >> it's not within our control. that's within the control of the cambridge police department and the city of cambridge. we welcome their release. and we believe they will be released when it's appropriate to do so. yes, sir? >> sergeant o'connor said the words were misdirected by the president. who did he mean it should have been directed to? >> well, i -- >> he's right there. >> i think that's open for interpretation. >> that's why i'm asking. >> and perhaps it would be best to let sergeant o'connor handle that. however, i won't put him in that position. my belief is that he intended that remark to refer to professor gates. >> what do you know about the previous break-in? >> we only know from the reports

and from a comment made by professor gates at the scene that there was a prior break-in in that building within the recent past. >> looking over this -- looking over this in behind sight behin do you think it would have been better to walk away? >> you're asking us to second-guess a different scene, whether it's a home invasion, whether it's a serious domestic violence situation, whether it's a burglary. he's encountering a lack of cooperation -- i'm trying to answer your question, sir. he encountered a full lack of cooperation. it was fully within his discretion when that behavior persisted to make the arrest, and we're not going to second-guess that session. yes? >> are you concerned at all that by not arresting him that would have perhaps set a precedent and undermined the -- >> that's certainly a

consideration, that officer crowley, sergeant crowley, was entitled to make, at least to in part inform his decision making. >> would this change the way you respond to other calls like this in the future, not just cambridge police, but departments all across massachusetts, and perhaps the country, especially when you have a president weighing in on the way that these officers make decisions? what's going to be happening now with this? >> okay. last question. last answer. we are concerned about that. thank you. >> we want to thank everyone for coming today. thank you very much. okay, allen mcdonald, legal counsel, cambridge police. huh. all right. how to proceed? how to move forward? as you heard, allen mcdonald is asking for an apology, not just from the president of the united states for his comments about the case, but also from the governor of massachusetts, deval

patrick. both of those two men have acknowledged their friendship with professor gates. and there is crowley in the middle of the screen right there. was present but didn't offer any comments. at one point allen mcdonald suggesting that the president sort of shot from the hip with his remarks. yeah, without having all of the facts moving forward. i don't know why i was under the impression that this news conference, by the end of it, we would be closer to resolving this. i don't know why i thought that, but clearly, it looks like we may be more entrenched at this point with cambridge police unions, the legal counsel for cambridge police saying very clearly that they support the actions of the officer in this case and want an apology from the president.

don lemon was in the room for this. i thought this was pretty extraordinary, don. i was just saying a moment ago, i don't know why, for whatever reason, i was in our meeting this morning and i thought by the end of this news conference that we would be working closer to that moment when perhaps sergeant crowley and professor gates would be patching this thing up together, but i tell you what, it just feels like the divide, if it started here, it just got wider and wider and wider with each comment. what are your thoughts in the room? >> reporter: yeah, i'm surprised that you thought that, i mean, tony, you've been doing this just as long as i have. >> yeah. >> reporter: i knew that there would be some fallout after i -- after it was told to me that the -- the superior officers association was going to have a press conference. i think they were very concerned with gates' comments after the incident. they feel that it's been very one-sided, you know, to be honest with you, in the media about gates. you've been hearing about gates.

you've been hearing about gates. but you haven't been hearing that much about the officer. part of that, though, is the department's own fault, because they haven't really been transparent or allowing any of their officers to talk, and they didn't want sergeant -- sergeant crowley to speak as well. but as you saw, every -- just the sense of the community, i got here yesterday and i went directly to the police department, you could sort of feel it in the air. the police commissioner said to me, morale is low here. >> yeah. >> reporter: and it was -- you know, it was better before the president made his comments. >> can i say something? >> reporter: even lower after that. >> yeah. >> reporter: hang on, hang on. it got even lower after that, because they thought it was going to go away after a while, after the news cycle, but once the president responded to it, they feel it brought it back up again but brought it back up again -- >> i get you. here's the point. this is incendiary. race in this country is powerfully incendiary. >> reporter: yeah. >> and i suppose i thought that both sides of this would take a

step back, not listen to -- >> reporter: yeah. >> -- the news cycle. not base future comments on the last news cycle and make a determination that race is such a powerful -- >> reporter: but, tony -- >> -- let me finish the thought. is such a powerful factor in this country, that it would be better to take a step back and try to figure out a way to mend this. >> reporter: yeah. >> not deepen it. >> reporter: that's -- that's what advisers on both sides are saying. advisors from outside on both sides are saying, hey, listen, guys, tone down the rhetoric. >> take down the temperature on this. >> reporter: take down the temperature on this, and relax a little. because, you know, the law enforcement community, we know, it is a community that bans together. is very vocal. they are very protective and insular of their own. as well they should be. as well most people are. and the same thing when you're talking about race and especially african-american men

and their relationship to police officers. i mean, most african-american men in this country have had some sort of incident, perceived or real, about filings about being racially profiled and i for one have had -- >> let me stop you. don, let me tee it up. here's the thing. >> reporter: yeah. >> i say this because i want us to conduct this discussion here with total transparency. i know that you -- >> reporter: yeah. >> -- have had an incident in your life, and i'll let you explain it. but as you make these comments, i want folks to understand, you are working as a correspondent on this story, but you have had something in your life, it doesn't -- that may be -- no, let me have you explain the incident and folks can make their own determination. >> reporter: no. i just -- i just thought it was complete transparency. we all have our lives. we all have the lens that we come through. i didn't have anything with a police officer. it was something to do with something else, but there was racial profiling. it was settled out of court. i was right.

the other -- the other party was wrong. and we settled out of court. but here's the thing -- everyone has incidents in their lives. and you have to judge each of them on the merits and on the circumstances. i'm sure there are many incidents where there are racially -- people are racially profiled and it's claimed to be and it's accurate. and there are other incidents where people are racially profiled and it's not. and even with incidents like that happening to me and happening to many other african-americans, latino, brown people, you still have to judge every single incident on the merits. we always say there's two sides to every story? well, there's more than two sides to every story. as many people as you had witness, there can be eight sides to a story. so, you just have to -- it went away. i want to say that. mine went away. you know, the police officers came, they were great. >> yeah. >> reporter: and i have great friends who are police officers. i've won awards for doing police officer stories.

there's good and bad on both sides. this is only going to ramp up, tony. >> i agree with you. that's where i want to bring it back to. i thought there was an opportunity here. that's all i'm suggesting. for us to begin to turn something of a corner. but when you hear statements in this news conference, where the suggestion is that if anyone acted stupid or stupidly, it was professor gates. >> reporter: right. >> you're digging the hole deeper. you're lining up the forces -- >> reporter: right. >> -- on either side of this. and people are going to become more entrenched in their views. and where you are on the spectrum here is probably dependent largely on the kind of experiences you've had the police officers, and whether or not you're black or you're white in this country. and that was i think the opportunity missed to start to bridge this thing. and i'm not sure that happened in this news conference. that's my only point. i'll give you the last word on it. >> reporter: well, it depends on your lens. everyone comes -- >> yeah, that's what i just

said. >> reporter: yeah. everyone comes with, you know, their own history. >> right. >> reporter: and notions. and they look at -- view life through their own lens. the reason why i wanted to say this, i think it's going to ramp up. i think you're right in this. it should take down the volume. because when i spoke to professor gates' attorney this morning, before he jumped on an airplane, he said that his reaction, his client's reaction, whether or not he's going to sue, will depend on how the police department handles it. they tonight want the police department making his client out to be some crazy guy who went off on police officer and lost his mind for a moment. >> yeah, i got you. >> reporter: and if they do that, he said, the officer has been with the police department for a long time and it is open records and he will bring people forward who have had similar experiences. >> my last thought on this. got you. don, my last thought on this. there were choices here for professor gates. there were choices for this officer. >> reporter: for the officer. >> absolutely. >> reporter: yeah. >> and, you know, other choices,

we don't have this huge event. and, you're right, it is going to get bigger. don, let's leave it there for now, and i know you'll be joining kyra in just a couple of minutes. don, good back-and-forth. love that. thank you. >> reporter: thank you. still to come in the "newsroom" -- how is the transition in iraq going as local forces take over security responsibilities from u.s. and coalition forces? the u.s. general who was responsible for making it work talked to our arwa damon. we will talk to arwa live, in just a moment. chloe is 9 months old.

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another deadly day for u.s. forces in afghanistan. two more troops were killed in an insurgent attack in the southern part of the country. the military has not said if it happened in the turbulent helmand province. a marine died there yesterday during battles with the taliban. he is identified as sergeant ryan lane. the 25-year-old from pittsburgh is seen here giving candy to an afghan child. the latest casualties, i mean, 37 u.s. troops have died this month in afghanistan. it is the deadliest month there for american forces. the man calling the shots for american forces in iraq and afghanistan is right now in iraq. general david petraeus, assessing the transition of security duties from coalition to iraqi troops. live now to cnn's arwa damon in

baghdad. and, arwa, if you would, share some of the conversation you had with the general. >> reporter: well, tony, of course, we asked him how he felt this transition was going. he did say that he felt that the iraqi security forces were doing a pretty good job at holding their ground. he also is here to acease these reports, stories, we've been hearing about between u.s. and iraqi troops as american soldiers try to adjust to this new role. but given the extent of his expertise here in iraq and now the global perspective he has, we put to him the question as to what lessons learned in iraq could potentially be applied to the conflict in afghanistan. >> the lessons that we have learned here about counterinsurgency -- and there have been many over the years, as you know, because, again, it wasn't just the surge. it wasn't just 30,000 more forces here, it was the employment of those forces on a manner that focused on security of the people, and did it by living with the people. and then also sought to help the

process of reconciliation. because you cannot kill or capture your way out of this kind of endeavor. >> reporter: and one of the other factors that allowed the surge to work here is a strategy that we are seeing, he said, being repeated in helmand province, that you mentioned, just there. and that is the clear hold and build. sending in u.s. forces to certain areas, clearing it of an insurgency and leaving them behind so they can hold that crucial ground. another factor that had a great impact on the conflict here was bringing iraq's sunni insurgency into the fold. they had grown largely disgruntled, displeased with al qaeda. the u.s. did extend a hand to them, and they are now trying to begin, if possible, to reapply that strategy to the taliban. but that might prove to be a bit more challenging. >> i think it's a little bit difficult to imagine senior taliban leaders agreeing to the kinds of conditions that one

would want in reconciliation at a time when they are on the offensive in certain respects, although obviously our offensive now has them on the defensive in certain areas. but, again, i think we have to be -- be careful with our expectations. >> reporter: still, he said, that they were beginning to, just beginning to reach out to low and midlevel taliban commanders. in the same fashion here in iraq they reached out to the mid and lower levels of the sunni insurgency, not going after the senior al qaeda membership. also he talked about how everything is interconnected to the pakistani taliban to what's happening in afghanistan to the al qaeda cells that are here in iraq that are in the arab peninsula, that now have their headquarters in yemen. and we spoke about iraq. because, he said, iraq is

central to this global war on terror, and that is why it is so important that iraq remains stable, tony? >> terrific stuff, arwa damon for us in baghdad. arwa, good to see you again. thank you. a once-vibrant towns heads into the history books, but does anyone care if hobson city, alabama, disappears? i head to this tiny town to find out why it matters and who's trying to save it. my bones strongo keep but even with calcium, vitamin d, and exercise, i still got osteoporosis. i never thought i could do more than stop my bone loss. then my doctor told me i could, with once-monthly boniva. boniva works with your body to help stop and reverse bone loss. studies show, after one year on boniva, nine out of ten women stopped and reversed their bone loss. i know i did. (announcer) don't take boniva if you have low blood calcium, severe kidney disease or can't sit or stand for at least one hour. follow dosing instructions carefully. stop taking boniva and tell your doctor if you have difficult or painful swallowing, chest pain or severe or continuing heartburn, as these may be signs of serious upper digestive problems.

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okay. mobile web use on the rise. it's what we're talking about today in our "what matters" segment in partnership with "essence" magazine. when it comes to surfing the net, blacks more likely to surf the web than whites. blacks are the most active mobile internet users with almost half having at one time accessed the web on a cell phone or other hand held device. although two-thirds of white have home broadband connections

only 28% have used the mobile web. while president obama has high approval rating among blacks. according to a recent cnn/"essence" magazine poll, 96% of blacks approve of how he is handling his presidency, but 55% think racial discrimination is a very serious problem, that is up from a postpresidential election rate of 38%. hobson city, alabama, is a tiny town. what makes it so special is that it was founded by black leaders at a time when racism was rampant. it became a haven for black families in alabama. now it is headed for the history books. as part of our "what matters" series, i went to hobson city to meet the people trying to save it. >> reporter: images of a town time has truly forgotten. everywhere, boarded-up homes and businesses, broken windows along the street renamed martin luther king drive.

a much different picture than when residents say hobson city, alabama, was a great place to call home for blacks in the segregated south. >> had a black mayor, black sheriff and all that. and for many of us, that was very interesting, coming from the environment that we came from. >> reporter: one of america's black surgeons generals, graduated from a high school in hobson city. >> played a very key role during that period of segregation, to see leadership, to see black leadership. hp this two--mile-long sliver of land southeast of birmingham was founded by blacks for blacks in 1899. an historically significant accomplishment in a state like alabama with its notorious racial history. it became a city when blacks were kicked out of the neighboring town, because the black vote turned an election. even segregationist governor george wallace showed up to a groundbreaking of the town during a failed re-election bid.

is the idea of obson city, the first black city in alabama, does that mean hor to you, your generation, than it does to the young people we were watching just a few minutes ago playing? >> absolutely. >> we grew up in the '60s, with the civil rights struggle. and so we know that -- we know the sacrifices that our families made so that we can live the way we live now. >> reporter: today, where there were once dozens of black-owned businesses, there are only three. this small print shop. a barber shop, and a gas station/convenience store. >> half the city was vibrant. the park had a baseball park, pavilions, where they danced, and you could stand around on the outside and look on the inside. >> reporter: now, all that's long gone. the decay has been decades in the making. this empty shell of a building

is what's left of hobson city's fire department. there is no police department. drug dealing is rampant. you don't have a police force, do you? >> we don't have a police force. >> reporter: is that a problem? is crime a problem? >> it is. crime is a serious problem in this community. >> reporter: what killed hobson city? the town's leaders say, ironically, it may have been the civil rights movement. desegregation meant freedom to shop and live everywhere. so, many blacks left hobson city behind. >> and -- >> reporter: you say desegregation hurt hobson city? >> i think it did. in fact, it's not just hobson city, but i look at other african-american communities where you have your grocery stores that really provided for the people in the community. >> that's what we're -- >> reporter: eric stringer and bernard snow are determined to restore hobson city to some of its past luster. they founded the hobson city

community and economic development corporation. you could have just let it go. >> no, no. >> no. >> reporter: you could have allowed it to be absorbed by edson. >> nobody wants it. >> reporter: that wasn't an option. nobody wants it? >> noble wants it. >> from my perspective, i didn't want anybody else to write hobson city's successes or legacy. >> reporter: last month their group drew up a plan to bring in a tax base and the group has applied for state and federal grants. while they await a response, they're reaching out to foundations and planning fund-raisers. their vision? >> the business community that has a revenue tax base. there's a rich history here, we just don't want to it fade off the table. >> and you can learn more about eric and bernard's effort to save hobson city and how you can help by going to the website at the bottom of your screen. it's www.hobsoncitycdc.org. and still to come -- the effort to protect our homeland is coming home to roost

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treasury secretary tim geithner and federal reserve chairman ben bernanke squaring off over who should become the consumer watchdog. both appearing today before the house financial services committee. >> we propose to take away from the fed today responsibility for setting, writing rules for consumer protection, and for enforcing those rules. and we propose to require the fed receive written approval from the secretary of the treasury before exercising its emergency lending authority. >> well, bernanke says the federal reserve is better suited to the task of protecting consumers. the proposal to create a consumer protection agency is part of a broader revamping of the nation's financial rules. the homeland security department does just that, protect the homeland. but you might be surprised at what the department considers a security concern. our jeanne meserve tells us

about the department's concerns over a historic barge attraction in pennsylvania. ♪ summertime >> reporter: it's hard to imagine many things more peaceful than a leisurely barge boat ride on pennsylvania's historic lehigh canal. but the long arm of homeland security has stretched even here. >> it has nothing to do with international or national security. it has to do with some tourism and letting people relive our historic past. certainly no threat to national security. >> reporter: the mayor is upset that four historic reenacters at the humore historic park and handle the boat and the mules that pull it had to go through the bother and expense of getting secure credentials called transportation worker identity cards or twic. >> it's ridiculous when you get right down to it. >> reporter: the cards were mandated for all mariners after 9/11 to make sure port workers aren't terrorists. so, what needs protecting around

here? and who exactly are the terrorists? >> our biggest threat is not the threat of man. it's the threat of the weather. the threat of natural forces. and muskrats. >> reporter: the mules, hank and george, certainly don't appear to be security risks. >> well, the only thing they ask for is a couple meals a day and a new pair of shoes a year. >> reporter: they are largely amused at having their little tourist attraction treated like a major port. >> we catch some little fish in the nets as well as the big ones. and nobody threw us back. >> reporter: the park had to divert $1,200 from its educational programs to pay for the cards. five months ago, the local congressman urged the home land security secretary to find a commonsense solution. >> let's work with you on this particular case if we might. >> reporter: but it hasn't happened. >> the law is very clear. it's required for all u.s. licensed and documented mariners, which does not give us any leeway to make exemptions.

>> makes absolutely no sense. this is simply a case of bureaucratic nonsense trumping common sense. >> reporter: congressman dent is proposing legislation giving small operations like this an out. ♪ good looking but for now the requirement for twic card stands and some all asinine. the next hour of "cnn newsroom" continues right now with kyra phillips! >> tony, thanks so much. we're pushing forward on a charge that's been dropped in a case that just won't go away. >> knowing he was an affiliate of harvard, i really didn't want to have to take such a drastic action because i knew it was going to bring a certain amount of attention, unwanted attention, on me. >> the cop who arrested a harvard professor and friend of president obama says he's not the bad guy, and his comrades and bosses agree. america's lowest-paid workers are getting a raise, but