what's next. despite the setback, the white house is making progress on health and making their case to the american people. known for being blunt and sometimes off message, we're going to tell you why the white house is scrambling to clarify vice president joe biden's remark about russia's future. we begin with the changing of the guard in alaska. sarah palin waking up this morning a private citizen after officially stepping down as governor yesterday. she's not talking about her future plans. but in her fairwell speech, it includes straight talk, she blasted the media and how old. last night she sent her final state twitter saying, thank you, alaska, i love you. god bless alaska. god bless the usa. more on her parting words from our political correspondent. >> reporter: she is a one-woman sound bite machine. >> by the way, hollywood needs

to know, we eat, therefore we hunt. >> reporter: a warning from the moose hunting, fish catching sarah palin that hollywood wants to take away the right to bear arms, an unexpected topic for a farewell speech as she hands over the governorship, the wear, tear and resentment from the year on the big stage were resentment. her parting words, a parting shot to the media. >> so how about in honor of the american soldier, you quit making things up. >> reporter: palin's farewell was a three-day rolling picnic from wasilla for fairbanks surrounded by reporters. >> if we get a woman president, let it be her. she's a real woman, knows about what a woman is supposed to be. she's pro-life, she's pro family, she's pro woman. >> not all friendly going. palin has lost some of her light in alaska and a lot of it on her

national stage. >> she abandon. they didn't ask for her to run. >> reporter: the latest poll found 53% of americans view palin negatively. 40% see her positively. worse, four in ten republicans don't think palin understands complex issues. still, she wouldn't be the first politician to rehabilitate herself. it's clear while she's handing over the governor's chair, she's not relinquishing the microphone. >> with this decision now, i will be able to fight even harder for you, for what is right and for truth. >> reporter: palin is writing a book. she says she'll help other candidates. she'll give speeches. one of her first post governor event is at the ronald reagan library in california. she could make good money doing all of that. she could be on a path that leads to 2012 called keeping your options open. >> i just asked her that about five minutes ago. know what she said? she said, i don't know.

with her little smirk. >> reporter: one thing is crystal clear, sarah palin, private citizen, sounds a lot like sarah palin, politician. >> one other thing for the media, our new governor has a very nice family, too, so leave his kids alone. >> reporter: exit stage right, but definitely don't fade to black. cnn, washington. >> all right. so we know she's not going to fade black but just how much money does sarah palin plan to make now that she stepped down from governorship. here is a look. book deal for 2010, according to the website and thedailybeast.com, her vance is $4 million. she'll get 75 to $100 million a speech. she could make $5 million in speaking fees along. add that to tv appearances, newspaper articles and other

contributions, she could bring in upwards of $20 million over the next year. congressional vote on health care is likely a long shot. president obama still pushing hard for health care reform. this week the president will be back on the road selling that plan. a key democratic senator admits even with a 60 vote majority they likely don't have the votes to get health care passed without republican help. mvp while nancy pelosi says if the plan goes to the floor, it will pass. >> it is the speaker's job sometimes, you know a lot better than i, to referee disputes in the family. are you worried your family is coming apart on this and you will not have the votes on the floor? >> absolutely positively not. when i take this bill to the floor, it will win. we will move forward. this will happen. >> cnn's suzanne malveaux following developments in the white house. suzanne, administration out doing damage control. for one saying that august

deadline to get this passed, maybe it wasn't really a deadline. >> elena, enpublic there's confidence. you heard nancy pelosi, you hear the white house express the same confidence. in an e-mail i got this morning, however, one of the top white house aides is saying this is a time when the president look credible, look viable, still in this debate. it's the one thing they are trying to get across to folks, that he is still a player. he has not lost political capital despite the fact he did not get the deadline, did not get what he wanted this time around. take a listen. >> we're less interested in hard deadlines than in moving the process forward. the deadlines have had a disappointing affect. three of the five committees of jurisdiction in the congress have passed a bill. the other two we're working hard on. we want to move this process forward, even if poth the house and senate had voted on these bills before the break, this would still do, as you know,

well into the fall. >> that's what they are saying, it's going to go well into the fall. the debate continues. we'll continue to put the president out there and he's doing to push this issue. but it is clear from white house aides we know there's hurdles. we're talking about 80% there, 20%. we've got a ways to go. it is that 20%, elena that's going to be the toughest 20% for them to negotiate. here is how one republican put it. >> the house bill and senate health committee bill, they pay for it by cutting doctors, cutting hospitals, and raising taxes on small business. those are very difficult pay fors and they are having a hard time selling it to their members. the only thing by partisan so far is the opposition to them. >> well, that's a snipy little phrase there, snappy phrase but obviously something a lot of people are feeling here. this is something that's going to be tough. there's real flips between the democrats, real problems

republicans have with the bill. white house officials believe you put the president out there. he'll be out there again this week, and in the weeks to come in augment august is not going to be some sort of grand recess for the president that he's going to be trying to push as much as possible behind the scenes, do a little more arm twisting as well. >> you talk about that wrangling, minority leader mitch mcconnell saying the only thing bipartisan about the bill is opposition to it. one of the proposals gaining ground is the cadillac tax senator john kerry is proposing. tell us about that. >> one of the things we're beginning to feel the last couple of days or so, gaining bipartisan support, senator kennedy introduced it, some republicans wouldn't object, the white house says they will pay close attention. essentially it is a tax on gold plated cadillac plans, a tax on the insurance companies who offer these plans to high company executives worth about $40,000 or so. the government

and some democrats believe they are way overpriced. they should tax those plans of the critics are saying, look, you're doing to tax the insurance company on these big-time plans. that tax is just going to be passed onto the consumer. it is ultimately the consumer that's doing to be paying for it. it's a controversial idea. it is still one people are listening to, they are open to, now that they have a lot of suggestion, more time on the table to take a look at health care reform. >> also an issue, of course, that every american cares about, too. suzanne malveaux at the white house for us. thank you. president obama is hoping a cold beer will help cool a heated racial controversy. it all started back on july 16th with the arrested harvard professor henry louis gates jr. at his home. he said gates and the arresting police officer james crowley have agreed to sit down with the president and share a symbolic cold one. >> it's their hope, as the

president said, there can be -- this can be part of a teachable moment, that we can create a better communication and dialogue between communities and police and help everyone do their job a little better. it's our hope that soon professor gates and sergeant crowley can sit at the white house and talk about some of these issues and have a beer with the president. >> the president has tried to diffuse the situation after his initial comments that cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting gates. meanwhile the woman who reported the break in said she never mentioned race when she called 911. she's personally devastated by media reports saying the men she saw were black. also new this morning, north korea says it's open to specific talks over nuclear program. pyongyang says the country will not return to six-nation nuclear talks. the united states says it will

only allow talks within the six-party format. this morning a five-year-old boy in deadly condition after a three-car crash that killed eight people including his mother, sister and three young sus inside. it happened yesterday north of new york city when the boy's mother drove the wrong way on the parkway and slammed head on into an suv. the three men inside the suv were also killed. a third vehicle was also involved in the crash but those passengers were not seriously injured. right now shuttle astronauts aforward the international space station are gearing up for an ambition walk. the fifth and final is scheduled in two and a half hours. they are installing new cameras, rearranging power hookups as well. lance armstrong may have missed out on the yellow jersey this weekend but he still made a pretty impressive comeback at the tour de france. >> he did. the seven-time winner took his place on the podium as the third cyclist to finish the race.

the last tour de france victory was four years ago. cnn chief medical correspondent sanjay gupta had a chance to talk exclusively with armstrong about what it was like to complete this year's race. >> coming in first, is that something you thought about? did you care? you write it's not about the bike but do you care whether you come in first or not? >> well, i wanted to come in first. but sometimes in sports, there's somebody that's better. thafs guy for seven years and i never understood what it felt like to get second or third. i'm 38, you race guys 24, 25, 26. they are fast. they are strong. they have acceleration. they have all those things you had at that age. then you get third. that's the great thing about the tour, the best man always wins. >> there you good.

good sport about it. >> he was. but he won seven times and he's still on the podium. >> you can see sanjay's entire interview in 30 minutes. meanwhile vice president joe biden offered a critical and blunt assessment about russia and its future. is that the message the administration wants. why is russia still vital? ceit . elp hetel dangit's noa stoid. announceit keeps my airways ope. 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. to hme breat betr aly lo.s not eroid.p me breathe better and't erlong. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways.

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news in the morning, 14 minutes after the hour right now. vice president joe biden is known for speaking his mind. in an interview with the with the "wall street journal" the vice president talks in no

uncertain terms. speaking of russia, a withering economy -- joining me to talk more about the fallout is the washington correspondent for "time" magazine. that's for being with us. >> thanks for having me on. >> explain why it's so important, why russia is such an important player on the stage and why it matters. >> reporter: future gas and oil. relations haven't been exactly rosey in recent years. if you remember back in the beginning of the administration, hillary clinton hit the reset button and said we're going to reset relations with russia. there was a big push in the obama administration to get on better terms with russia to ease a lot of tensions that happened under the bush administration. obviously these comments aren't exactly in the mold of what has

been, obama's stated policy. >> the vice president seemed to suggest we had the upper hand, i guess you would say, we're in a better bargaining position to get them to go along with us, north korea, iran nuclear threats. then it was interesting to hear what secretary of state hillary clinton, the nation's top diplomat had to say about biden's comments. let's listen to that? >> no. i don't think that's at all what the president meant. there are certain issues russia has to deal with on its own. we want to make it clear as we reset our relationship we are very clearly not saying that russia can have a 20th century sphere of influence in eastern europe. >> she backed down from the comments where she said did he mean we're in a better bargaining position. no, i don't think what's that meant. two different messages. off message or part of the administration strategy when dealing with russia. >> the whole point when i spoke to the administration about

this, the whole point biden, vice president going to ukraine and georgia was to very much assure these countries even though barack obama was going to moscow, even the president of the united states was resetting relations with russia, that doesn't mean we're not taking their sovereignty seriously, and they are not going to be careless in terms of russia's claims as putin and medvedev calls them, leaders of russia. sort of a good cop, bad cop turn. we've got hillary clinton and barack obama saying one thing, let's be nice, let's be friends. on the other hand you've got joe biden saying don't take us for granted of we're not going to roll over if you have certain interests in this neighborhood. so i think it was a concerted effort to be tough on russia and say, look, just because we're going to be nice doesn't mean we're going to be easy. >> how often does the vice president's words and things he says in that position contradict or speak for the administration,

historically speaking. did you hear vice president cheney saying things that weren't exactly how george w. bush would have put it. >> certainly the problem with biden speaking so bluntly is he's got such a history of doing these gaffes where he talks about how maybe you wouldn't want to get on an airplane during swine flu or 30% chance the stimulus might fail. so because he's had dpafs in the past we as journalists have to look at his comments when he goes off message or isn't the same as the obama administration, maybe he's going off message, another gaffe, when, in fact, it could be them saying good cop bad cop. >> what we call gaffes may be truth, a wave of honesty among poll technicians. >> that is the definition of a gaffe, telling the truth bluntly. >> isn't that funny. washington correspondent for "time," thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me on. >> 18 minutes past the hour. ng. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways.

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>> hi. 21 minutes after the hour. >> good morning, everyone. >> good morning. >> christine romans, minding your business. ben bernanke. >> the fed chief, when i started covering the fed in the '90s, you never heard of the fed chief going to town hall answering questions about real business. that's what he's doing. a warmer, fuzzier fed, because of the great recession. he's out there trying to explain what they are doing, demystify, explain what bailouts are all about. on the economy he says the economy will recover in a few

years. it could actually be stronger than before. this is what he said about bailouts. nothing made him more frustrated than to intervene where banks made wild bets and put them close to bankruptcy. nothing made him angrier. but if they failed it would have brought the system down. i was not going to be the federal reserve chairman that resided over the second great depression. i had to hold my notices and stop these firms from failing and i'm as disgusted about it as you are. >> he was a student of the depression, studied and saw places the government fell short in helping prolong the pain in the '30s. >> that's right. this new open fed, trying to use mistakes from the great depression and try to make sure we don't repeat those again. defense of what fed is doing, defense in front of real people in town hall on meet the press. 1994 is the number and the year. the year 1994, we all had

curlier, bigger hair back then. this is the the year the fed began to actually release its federal committee announcements on interest rates. before then, when i first started talking about the feds, you didn't know officially what the fed had done. it was so secret, so inside lar you didn't know what was happening. now we have minutes. we hear what the fed has done. >> the public demanded that. >> public demanded it. also the economy changed of the economy was faster and bigger. you had to start sort of klug in everybody what was doing on. it's ben bernanke and dr. phil. the fed i covered never would have done this. >> a child prodigy. >> the interesting thing a lot of people are saying it's our money, what's happening. >> the fact he's answering these questions and coming on different shows, it's a good thing. >> but really quickly, $1.5 trillion the fed london to these banking institutions we don't know about. we don't know who got what. there are still secrets i

personally would like to know but we are learning more and more about what the fed is doing and more defense of the bailouts than before. >> all right, thank you. >> thank you. >> seven-time tour de france winner lance armstrong made it to the podium in paris as a third place winner. our sanjay gupta spoke exclusively to lance after the race. we'll that for you next, 20 minutes after the hour. it's not. 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. if we don't act, and it' medical bills will wipe out their savings. if we don't act, she'll be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. and he won't get the chemotherapy he needs. if we don't act, health care costs will rise 70%. and he'll have to cut benefits for his employees. but we can act. the president and congress have a plan to lower your costs and stop denials for pre-existing conditions. it's time to act.

welcome back to the most news in the morning. we've made it a top priority at cnn to show you where the stimulus money is doing and who is helping. cnn's jim acosta live in washington for us. jim, you found one mayor who is asking, writes the money? i suspect he's not alone. >> that's right, alina, he's not. he visited st. cloud, minnesota to tout the prospects of the stimulus. now the mayor of the city has

become one of the toughest critics. his question, what is taking so long? >> our best days are ahead of us. this is just not happy talk. >> reporter: back in march, joe biden took a stimulus road trip to st. cloud, minnesota where he toured the bus company. he and ray lahood predicted stimulus would create jobs. >> tomorrow you'll have a phone call from our folks at do the to figure how we can make this happen. >> we had a high expectation of this ready to go right away. >> reporter: four months later st. cloud mayor says he's still waiting for those jobs, waiting for an answer on nearly a dozen stimulus request. he blames stimulus red tape. >> so is it your feeling vice president and transportation secretary overpromised and underdelivered? >> well, i think it raised our expectations. it raised our expectations we were going to see something quicker. >> what i said was accurate,

sure. >> transportation secretary ray lahood points for the new flyer bus fact richlt thanks to the stimulus it's seen a boost in sales and avoided layoffs. >> all you see across marc is orange cones, people working, building runways, building bus garages. the idea that our money isn't going out is just not accurate. >> reporter: we did find new stimulus jobs in st. cloud at the signal company. they have hired 25 new workers to make road signs. stimulus projects across the state. >> before the stimulus and after the stimulus you've seen an effect. >> absolutely. compared to last year and this year, it's been a resounding affect. >> resounding affect. >> yeah. >> st. cloud is weathering the recession well. city hall is surrounded by state road construction projects which has driven local unemployment to 7.7%, far below the national

average. that's without the stimulus. >> reporter: a lot of mayors would trade places with you to have that unemployment rate. detroit, 15% there. >> we have a diverse economy. again, we still have challenges. >> reporter: you feel like you're not getting your fair share. >> absolutely not. i'm convinced of that. >> reporter: the transportation department cites a recent report saying the stimulus is moving ahead of schedule but don't tell that to mayors who have their own studies showing cities compared to rural areas are getting the short end of the stimulus stick. alina. >> jim, live in washington. thank you. it is just about, exactly 30 minutes past the hour monday morning. checking top stories this morning, she is waking up as citizen sarah palin after officially stepping down as governor of alaska sunday. she took some parting shots at democrats, environmentalists, hollywood and the media. palin has been vague about her future plans to say the least. the only thing we do know she's

scheduled to speak at a gop event next month at the reagan presidential library in california. new video into cnn shows french president nicolas sarkozy leaving the hospital this morning. he had a health care collapse while jogging in hot weather. he spent the night in military hospital. tests confirmed it was not related to heart problems. new york senator chuck schumer wants to make it a federal crime for mass transit operators to send text messages while on the job. schumer will introduce a bill this week prohibiting drivers and conductors using electronic messaging devices while in any public or private transportation vehicle. it follows a deadly crash in california, another in boston involving transit operators who were text messaging. language armstrong has his sights set on 2010. he came a little short, he was still third in his comeback tour. the seven-time champ finished

third after alberto contador of spain. >> reporter: it's been a remarkable 22 days for lance armstrong in france. tour de france started in mon o monaco, ended in paris. fans, cancer survivors from all over the world cheering on the seven-time tour de france winner. i set on the board of lip strom, after a four-year hiatus it was a big decision. i caught up with him to talk about some of the challenges, criticisms waged against him, how he responds to those and ask why he decided to get involved in all this once again. coming in first, is that something you thought about, do you care? you write it's not about the bike. did you want to come in first or not? >> well, i wanted to come in

first. but sometimes in sports there's somebody that's better. i was that guy for seven years. and i never understood what it felt like to get second or third. i'm 38 now. you race guys 24, 25, 26. they are fast. they are strong. they have acceleration. they have all of the things you had at that age. you get third. that's the great thing about the tour, the best man always win. >> how was this race different in terms of how you trained, what you ate? >> differences of five years ago? i used a lot of the same training, the same idea with diet. the only difference, i guess, is i'm now 38 years old. so a 38-year-old man does not wake up every day like a 28-year-old. but i can't complain. i think i rode well. >> why come back after four years? what inspired this? >> obviously i have to have a

love for the bike, a love for the tour. otherwise it's too hard, way too damn hard to do this. my passion for fighting cancer, not just in texas and united states but around the world. >> when you look at you the man, lance, and the issue of cancer, do you think the people separate that? do they understand why you're riding and why you came back? >> yeah, i think so. these days it's easy to get feedback. when people have a comment or have an issue, they let you know. most of them are regarding cancer. that tells me the people understand. they have been effected either themselves or a loved one and they understand it. and they say keep going. pedal hard for them, my mom, my neighbor, my co-worker. >> one of the things you talked about, the surprise test for

doping. they come and surprise you. >> not surprises any more. >> over 40 tests. >> fifty now. >> what do you say to critics, skeptics now at the end of the tour. >> look, i've done this a long time. i've been at the highest level now since 1992 until 2009. i've been tested more than anybody else. if i can take four years off and come back at the age of 38 with more control than anybody else on planet earth and get third in the hardest sporting event in the world, i think we've answered the question. >> it's worth pointing out a couple of things. lance's heart and lungs are different than most people. his heart pumps 90 gallons a meet, as opposed to five pounds. he gets double oxygen as compared to a 20-year-old. physiologically he has advantages. he wants to keep on the cancer fight. he's hosting a global cancer summit in dublin later this

august. kiran and alina, back to you. >> fantastic he had a chance to talk to you. >> i've never seen sanjay in pinstripes. >> me either. in paris? >> not a bad gig to walk down the stairs in paris in the middle of the city. >> a man crush. >> yes. >> she thinks a man crush. >> he does. >> talk to sanjay later. meantime victim of recession, lobsters and lobster business in maine. 36 minutes past the hour. t t t . announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better y lo. it'not a stoid. anit keey rway... hp mereathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways.

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. we've seen the economy take a toll on businesses and industries across the country. maine's lobster industry was hit particularly hard collapsing prices, forced lobster fishermen to take extreme measures. >> jason carol just back from maine. >> yeah. >> what did you find? >> here is the good news. if you're a consumer like we are lobster is cheaper now than ever of the bad news for lobstermen, they are taking a hit from this.

when you think of lobstermen, think of the small business owner. every time one goes under, so, too, does a small business. businesses like this are the backbone of the economy. their survival now in question. it's a stormy morning in the waters off of portland, maine. not ideal conditions for lobster fishing. that didn't stop mike davis. >> even in this rainy weather, still out. >> summertime. summertime you have to -- you can't make up a day you missed in the summertime. >> reporter: that's because things have gotten bad for maine's lobster men? >> missing a day, it does hurt. you've got to go as much as you k you really do. >> reporter: davis knows he'll catch in a storm. the question is, will consumers, battered by a dismal economic climate buy. many are foregoing lobster for cheaper eats. in 2007 maine lobster industry made $280 million in sales. last year $240 million.

lobster men say that loss hurts. >> a lot of guys, we're on the breaking point of can we keep doing this. >> reporter: lobster men wondering if they are trapped investing in a sinking industry. >> we pretty much have seen i guess a 30 to 40% cut in income. >> we need more money, so the pressure on the industry is quite a lot. >> reporter: pressure that turned to violence. >> the shooting of a lobster man. >> reporter: one man accused of shooting another over fishing territory last week. also tension between fishermen and dealers who sell their catch. lobster men say dealers are turning profits so in order to make ends meet, lobster men like mike davis sell not only to dealers but directly to consumers. dealers like bill bailey not happen. >> sometimes i don't think they want to listen to reason.

>> reporter: bailey along with 12 other dealers wrote a letter of complaint to the state. >> selling their product on the side of the road for a cheap price did he presses the whole market. >> reporter: for now the state says lobster men can keep selling on their own. >> i think one of the things we have to do is see how big it gets. >> reporter: however bad the economy gets, mike davis can't think of any other life. >> today might be a little different story. but when you wake up and it's a beautiful, calm, sunny morning, i can't imagine not coming down and going out. i would definitely miss it. >> reporter: well, until the economy rights itself and prices rise again, lobster men say the industry has to do a better job of marketing and letting consumers know lobsters are less expensive right now so go out there and buy and eat. >> also just a question i was asking as your piece was running about the unintended consequences environmentally. is overfishing happening because

of this or are lobster populations growing because they are not getting as much money for them? >> that's a good question. basically the jury is out. what you've seen from the piece, lobster men are out fishing all year-round instead of one portion of the season to make ends meet. eventually environmentalists are going to be looking at this and saying -- >> the other thing from a business standpoint, is this robbing peter to pay paul. >> that's what the dealers are saying by going out and selling on your own directly to consumers at a low price, what your basically doing is hurting yourself. as it stands now these lobstermen can do it. >> survival. >> exactly. >> jason carol, thank you. a quick check of the a.m. rundown, a taste of new york from home grown celebrities. we'll tell you how big apple tourists are getting red carpet treatment. vice president joe biden prone to verbal gaffes.

hear how the white house and secretary of state are scrambling to clarify statements. secretary clinton expressing herself on a female candidate. does the former candidate see herself in the oval office someday. we'll tell you. 43 minutes after the hour. to her 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. anceps my airws en..to hp mb y 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.

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rob marciano tracking the weather for us. 46 minutes past the hour. yesterday i was driving.

i made it into my garage, a second later the skies opened up. we got storms. >> it was ugly for a while. >> up and down. it's one of those deals that feels good, the heat and humidity build up during the day. i know you've seen a lot of rain this summer. maybe doesn't sound so appealing. typical sometime weather across the northeast and southeast this weekend with the same sort of deal happening. we're finally starting to get into a pattern which is more typical of summer and what we've had the past month and a half. stationary boundaries here. we do have severe weather across the upper midwest, western great lakes. be aware of that. shouldn't be as rough today across the northeast as it was in the weekend. still haven't hit 85. you hit it once. 82 in atlanta, # 4 expected in chicago. here is some radar. we have a little rain. that will get out. you'll see more typical rain showers bubble up throughout the afternoon. all right. check out some storm damage

outside of baltimore, maryland and virginia. this woman got plucked out of her car. there was one injury from that. trees falling on top of cars and obviously a lot of power out from storms alina and kiran mentioned. a lighter note out of australia, a brand-new asian elevatphant, first to be born. i don't know why she's playing on top of there. the obligatory monday morning animal story for alina. i thought she might like that. i know you like that. >> i do like it. 238 pounds. look how tiny she looks compared to the mom. >> a bundle of joy. >> thanks, rob. next time you come to the big apple maybe you won't see statute of liberty, times square, instead perhaps a tour

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a whole new way to tour the big apple. a big shot this morning of new york where it's 74 degrees. maybe that's not so beautiful. all right. a little bit later, 85 degrees and some storms. >> the sky looks beautiful. >> sure does. see it there through the fog. welcome back to the most news in the morning. if you're planning a visit to new york city, it's a pretty safe bet you'll do "time" square, empire state building.

>> around christmas, the tree at rock center. definitely. >> of course. >> but for a taste of new york you can tag along with real noshers thanks to big ap greater programming. some of the newest are bona fide celebrities, celebrity tour guides. they are showing you parts of the big apple many never see. would you want to tour new york with this guy? you would if he did this. ♪ this bronx born and breadth, known on the hit series "soprano." now he's a tour guide. a what? >> this is the neighborhood, the place for cigars. >> he's the newest member of the big apple greeter program. a non-profit group that pairs real new yorkers with visitors,

a way to promote the city, a way to show people a side of the big apple many never see or taste. they start their day on the subway, the little italy of the bronx. author avenue where he was born. >> this the neighborhood right here. right here. spend a few minutes walking around with the actor and you'll find he's treated like the mayor, and he knows his food. >> pizza, delicious. really nice. an old italian expression. >> reporter: he also shows them the new york way to eat pizza. fold the slices in half. >> the real italian food. >> a real treat. >> thanks for coming by, really. >> i can't tell you how much it's meant to us to be here with him and see this community and just appreciate it for what it is. >> reporter: the tour ends with a walk around the old

neighborhood. >> i was born in this building in 1931. >> and to stroll through author avenue markets where they sampled aged parmesan cheese and get a tour of a lifetime. ♪ >> you know he's 78-year-old. >> i know. he's great, though. we went down to little italy around christmas time a couple years ago and was out there singing. has he a beautiful voice. he looks nothing like uncle june, does he? >> if you want to hear more of his singing go to cnn.com/am. what's great about new york, most live outside of manhattan. they created great neighborhoods

they created great neighborhoods like the bronx get up there if you get a chance. >> sounds good. great piece, alina. >> 55 minutes of a the hour. to r all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways.

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welcome back to the most news. 57 minutes past the hour. something vice president joe biden said made things a little tense between washington and moscow. president obama has had to clarify some of the vice president's comments before. now secretary of state's turn. tracking from the washington bureau this morning. comments made in an interview he gave to the "wall street journal." >> reporter: right. kiran, the catchphrase the obama uses for its russian policy is reset the relationship. it's an expression that vice president joe biden used first in a speech back in the spring. now, catchphrases are one thing. but diplomats watch their words carefully, something the vice president isn't known to do. now what some people call biden's refreshing candor is

setting off alarm bells in moscow and creating some headaches for secretary clinton. america's chief diplomat finds herself trying to explain comments on russia by the vice preside president. >> is he speaking for the president and is the message essentially russia has the upper hand in dealing with america? >> no, i don't think that's at all what he meant. >> vice president joe biden just back from his own trip to ukraine and georgia tells "the wall street journal" the united states holds all the cards in a relationship with an economically weakened russia. they have a shrinking population base, he says. they have a withering economy. they have a banking structure not likely to withstand the next 15 years. those comments land with a thud in moscow. a top adviser to the russian president firing back, quoted by

interfact news agency is saying the question is, who is shaping the u.s. foreign policy, the president or respected members of his team? the white house spokesman tries damage control saying the president and vice president believe russian will work with us. not out of weakness but out of national interest. finally secretary clinton rides to the rescue. >> we view russia with challenges, every country has challenges. >> reporter: along with the russian foreign minister she's heading a joint commission spearheading relations. explaining comments by vice president biden doesn't appear to be part of the job description. the russian president's aide says he's perplexed by vice president biden's comments and adds if some members of the president obama's team don't agree with the policy then,

quote, we should simply know about this. looks like secretary clinton will have some more explaining to do when that commission meets. >> questioning whether it's part of the good cop bad cop strategy and it was intentional. >> that's always a question. nobody really knows but it didn't go over well in moscow and the relationship they want to start over again. >> thanks so much. meanwhile crossing the top of the hour. 7:00 a.m., top of the hour. i'm alina cho. >> i'm kiran chetry. here are some stories we're breaking down in the next 15 minutes. sarah palin's parting word as governor of alaska packing quite a punch. her jabs at hollywood, the med yarks anti-gun crowd and more. our analysis just ahead. also does president obama have the votes. the white house sounding strong, even confident on health care reform. on capitol hill plenty of talk

from both sides of the aisle the bill will not pass. is the president's plan on life support? live from the white house. >> and with a two-week rally under its belt, next days critical for wall street. 146 companies from s&p 500 report earnings. christine romans has numbers to watch for. police while fed chief pen bernanke believes there maybe a silver lining in this sagging economy. now that sarah palin is no longer governor of alaska, a lot are wondering about her next move. she posted on the twitter account god bless the usa and alaska. is she really preparing for run for office in 2012. senior political correspondent examines those words and the parting words in the good-bye to being governor speech. >> reporter: she is a one-woman sound bite machine. >> by the way, hollywood needs to know, we eat, therefore we hunt. >> reporter: a warning from the moose hunting, fish catching

sarah palin that hollywood wants to take away the right to bear arms, an unexpected topic for a farewell speech as she hands over the governorship, the wear, tear and resentment from the year on the big stage were evident. her parting words, a parting shot to the media. >> so how about in honor of the american soldier, you quit making things up. >> reporter: palin's farewell was a three-day rolling picnic from wasilla to anchorage to fairbanks surrounded by reporters. >> if we get a woman president, let it be her. she's a real woman, knows about what a woman is supposed to be. she's pro-life, she's pro family, she's pro woman. >> not all friendly going. palin has lost some of her light in alaska and a lot of it on her national stage. >> she abandoned her state in the middle of her turn. they didn't ask for her to run. >> reporter: the latest poll

found 53% of americans view palin negatively. 40% see her positively. worse, four in ten republicans don't think palin understands complex issues. still, she wouldn't be the first politician to rehabilitate herself. it's clear while she's handing over the governor's chair, she's not relinquishing the microphone. >> with this decision now, i will be able to fight even harder for you, for what is right and for truth. >> reporter: palin is writing a book. she says she'll help other candidates. she'll give speeches. one of her first post governor event is at the ronald reagan library in california. she could make good money doing all of that. she could be on a path that leads to 2012 called keeping your options open. >> i just asked her that about five minutes ago. >> what did she say? >> you want to know what she said? she said, i don't know. with her little smirk. >> reporter: one thing is crystal clear, sarah palin, private citizen, sounds a lot

like sarah palin, politician. >> one other thing for the media, our new governor has a very nice family, too, so leave his kids alone. >> reporter: exit stage right, but definitely don't fade to black. cnn, washington. >> thanks, candy. also secretary of state hillary clinton thinks we'll see a female president in the united states someday but she says it won't be her. mrs. clinton and on meet the press and was asked about running for president again and asked about the prospects of president palin. >> that's up to the voters to determine with respect to anyone. putting together a presidential campaign is an extremely complicated enterprise. i'm going to leave it at that. i will be an interested observer. i do want to see a woman elected president. i hope it's a democratic woman.

>> and mrs. clinton says she believes there will be a female president sometime in her lifetime. when i interviewed first lady laura bush, she said i want to see a female president, i hope it's a republican. in the fight over health care reform the question remains, does president obama have the votes to get it passed. pressure is mounting. lawmakers saying they don't think support is there. even democrats fighting within their own ranks. house spartanberg nancy pelosi is defying naysayers telling john king there will be reform. >> it's a speaker's job to referee fights in the family. are you worried your family might be coming apart on this? >> absolutely not. when i take this bill to the floor, it will win. we will move forward. this will happen. >> suzanne malveaux is live for us at the white house this morning. suzanne, administration on a

full-court press trying to do damage control, right and a half dama -- right? >> damage control. they are saying that publicly but privately they are putting the president out there. he'll continue to push for this. essentially he's still a viable, credible player when it comes to this, despite the fact he did not get that deadline he's hoping for, he still has political capital to try to put this through. so public, a lot of confident, optimism. privately, once again, you'll see a little bit of that arm twisting. want you to take a listen to how david axelrod put it. >> we're less interested in hard deadlines than moving the process forward. the deadlines have had a disciplining affect. three of the five committees of jurisdiction in the congress have passed bills. the other two we're working hard on. we want to move this process forward. even both the house and senate had voted on the bills before

the break, this would still go, as you know, well into the fall. >> alina, you're absolutely right. it is going to go well into the fall. we expect the president to be traveling this week. also in august, they talk about the august recess. he's going to push this forward aggressively in august. one of the things they do concede, it's going to take a lot of work. it is going to take more time. they have been emphasizing about 80% of this thing done, 20% of it not done. it is that 20%, alina, we know is going to be the very tough sell. i want you to hear from a top republican who put it this way. >> the house bill and the senate health committee bill, they pay for it by cutting doctors, cutting hospitals, and raising taxes on small business. those are very difficult pay fors. they are having a hard time selling it to their own members. the only thing bipartisan about the measures so far is the opposition to them. alina, however, there is a

bipartisan measure or a measure gaining bipartisan support, the so-called cadillac tax. it is a tax on a gold plated cadillac plan, insurance plans offered to high execs. this is something that insurance companies will offer. it's very expensive. they say if they go ahead and tax insurance companies perhaps they will get revenue they desperately need for health care reform. critics are saying, looks if you tax health care companies for an expensive plan it's just going to go back to the consumer, be put on the consumer. there's still debate over there. it's one of these ideas that seems to be percolate now that you've got time to think all these different plans through. alina. >> suzanne malveaux, live at the white house. thank you. coming up, we're going to be talking to two people really on opposite sides in terms of viewpoints, democrat and republican, president obama weighing in on henry louis gates scandal, controversy, the

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. 11 minutes after the hour. new developments in the controversial arrest of prominent harvard professor henry louis gates of the woman who first called 911 said she never uttered a word about race when she reported a break in at gates's home or what she thought was a break in. now there are new questions this morning about president obama's about face in the case. here are his two comments again coming days apart. >> the cambridge police acted stupidly. i unfortunately gave an impression that i was maligning

cambridge and the police officer specifically, i could have worded that different. >> >> political analyst for "new york times" and former adviser to the republican national committee. thank you for joining us. we have health care reform on the table, an economy in shambles by most accounts, wars in iraq and afghanistan. yet at a prime-time news conference president obama weighs in on this matter. some suggested that's not presidential to weigh in on a local matter so why weigh in. >> i think it's the kind of president that any president would have been asked. it raises some serious sort of questions about race and bias in our country. you know, on the political side i might say if i was working in the white house or advising, i might have wanted him to say it in a slightly different way but as an american, i was very proud that he weighed in and frankly he kept true and honest to what

his feelings were. clearly we know in this incident, this is not necessarily about the two men specifically. it touched a deeper nerve, i think, for all of us. i think the president was speaking to that i think that was the right thing to do. >> you talk about that teach deeper nerve. the president said by his own administration he could have calibrated those words differently. setting that aside by weighing in perhaps the president opened up a bigger and better discussion on race. you can say what you want whether racial profiling exists, whether or not it exists in this case. racial profiling has happened in this country, i suspect it continues to happen. why not have this conversation? is it such a bad conversation to have? >> the president did two things. certainly the good thing about what he said was he elevated the discussion on race, of course.

the bad thing is he elevated it in a way he now regrets elevating it in that wachlt i'm sure that is not the way he wanted to frame up this discussion and this not how you push the discussion forward to race and race relations. frankly there are things he probably could have thought about before hand knowing this was going to come up, to move the discussion forward. one of the things his predecessor did, for example, president bush, issued an attack on racial profiling in 2001 when it was occurring, made a promise he was going to put an end to it. in 2003 issued the first ban on racial profiling. so if president obama wants to elevate this discussion on race as opposed to having knee-jerk reactions which diminish your credibility, the best course of action is to talk about productive ways to do this. >> i think his credibility would have been damaged if on friday he went into the briefing room he would have completely taken everything back.

the president has a lot on his plate on the domestic front and foreign front. one of the things we've seen fairly consistently in the poll numbers, honesty, shares my values. the american people trust him. i think unlike most politicians. we all know, all been there, the political thing to have done was go in an completely apologize and sweep it under the rug and move on. he didn't do that, actually. he said i might have been able to calibrate what i said but stayed true to what he said initially. i hope by inviting both men to the white house, we can elevate the discussion. there are a number of issues left unsaid. this comes out on the heels, two weeks ago we saw a group of children kicked out of a swimming pool and some of the comments made during the sotomayer hearings, it was appalling to hear a senator speak to a woman, hispanic woman

candidate for the supreme court that way. there are a lot of issues still out there. hopefully we can use it as a teachable moment. >> i would just disagree slightly with the credibility issue. he is president. his words carry a lot of weight. he has to remember that before speaking out before having facts is not very presidential. i think he has to take that in consideration. >> no matter where you fall on this issue, one thing is for certainish tara, you took the words out of my mouth, no more powerful meeting phony than the presidential meeting phony. that is for sure. communications director for democratic national committee and political analyst for "time," adviser to the republican national committee, we thank you for joining us. 15 minutes after the hour.

he ber all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways.

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♪ now, that's a beautiful shot. >> gorgeous shot this morning in st. louis. >> beautiful, the arch.

>> love it. 57 degrees right now. it's going to be 89 and sunny. pretty nice. >> some storms in new york, i think. >> always. >> not so good. >> the entire month of july practically. welcome back to the most news in the morning. christine romans has been tracking stimulus money for us. recovery.org website, under the circumstances to find out where some of the money goes. you guys do digging from there. where is it all going. >> recovery.gov is the website. it's interesting. you can go in there, find your own hometown, home state, find out what companies have a contract. one in pennsylvania, $9.3 for unused train station. this is one the stimulus folks zoom in on and it's one project they don't like. abandoned train station, platform that serves 80,000 people each year. they are going to refurbish the train station there. has been increased use of that amtrak spot so they are doing to put a

little coffee shop in there. $9pl for that. another one in colorado is bird watching road, this is pawnee national grassland. apparently this is a good place to watch rafters. this is a good place to go. $2.5 million to fix up roads and have a road in so you can go bird watching. this is in colorado. yes. for capital improvement and maintenance go right on recovery.gov and see it for yourself. another one, 23 fellowships for early career scientists, $3 million for 23 different fellow ships for people for global health, research leaders, which is what they are trying to fund. this the president's idea of trig to push people into medicine and research and technology, these are the kinds of jobs for the future. quickly, $55 million is romans numeral, $55 billion, this is how much is expected to be wasted or lost or lost to fraud from the stimulus.

$55 billion according to earl devaney. the guy who oversees it in the confirmation hearing says this will be lost to waist. >> track it down to $250 in virginia why can't they find the $55 billion and stop it. >> that's what we're doing, by keeping an eye on these projects, calling the people getting the contracts. sometimes they are not happy to hear from us quite frankly. calling and saying, hi, guess what, we're following your contract. how many people have you hired? how are you spending the money. that's what we're doing. >> that was your numeral, $55 billion. >> we'll be right back. ays open. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways.

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are working together -- for what matters most. that's why we're here. ♪ welcome back to the most news in the morning. you know this next story from the father's point of view. we've all heard that. a little boy caught in an international tug-of-war between his american dad and his step family in brazil. the child's father was hear on

"morning express" telling his story. >> we had a chance to talk to him. he's just really, really in a bad way trying to get his son back. he actually moved to brazil. now cnn in an exclusive for the first time is ever to talk to the brazilian family. they speak at length from their home in rio de janeiro. in the end this is a little boy who is caught in the middle of all this and both sides want him. >> absolutely. it's the child who is going to lose in all of this at least initially. this is something really basic. if you're unhappy in your marriage, how far would you go to keep your child, kidnap your kid in another state, another country. it's a desperate, terrible choice, but one thousands of parents have made defying court rulings again and again. >> at the age of 35, she had everything she dreamed of, living in brazil with her american-born son, happily remarried, a baby on the way, her own business.

it was almost perfect. >> she was really, really brave to come here. she wanted her life back. >> it came with a price. she gambled to keep her son in brazil and work out custody with her first husband in new jersey, david goldman. >> no one except bruna knows the exact moment she decided to stay in brazil. it's at this point the stories took sharply different turns. >> he went to court in brazil, she in rio de janeiro. both got custody. they ordered shaun home. >> that's why she took this step of kidnapping the child. >> she told him not to go to police threatening -- >> i would never see my son again. >> her mother and brother say for the true. >> was she threatening him.

don't come. >> she asked him to come many, many times. >> goldman's attorney called the invitation a bold-faced lie. meanwhile in the past sean was living in rio learning the language and making friends. then his mom died tragically giving birth to a daughter. his world was about to change. a judge ordered an immediate return to goldman concluding the family had alienated the child from his real dad. shaun's stepdad is making a claim for him to live in brazil where he's lived half his life. >> why as a stepfather are you fighting for custody of another man's biological child. >> 60% of his life i've given him love, care, protection, financial. >> for a man with no blood

relation to keep another parent's child is against their own laws. >> why is he, now nine, still in brazil. >> she always asked me to, mom, if someday something happen to me, please, he's your son. promise you'll stay with minimum. >> still grieving her death, they fight on. >> imagine you have to live in america, live with someone you don't know, your biological father, you do not remember, just go. i mean, he doesn't want to go. >> he's so sad. i miss my daughter so much. >> the hague convention does consider the best interest of a child, length of time living in a different place.

it's a flawed argument because it rewards the initial act of kidnapping. >> you were talking earlier, sean was taken to brazil when he was four years old, he's now nine. you talk about early memories are there with the mom. >> that's what the family is arguing. they are arguing, do you snatch this kid back out of brazil. doesn't that substitute another abduction. again, the initial argument, you can't kidnap twice. >> the dad says it's a different story. he's there in brazil fighting to get him. he gave up his life here. he has visitation with him. he feels the child is being told to say this stuff. again, two sides to every story. in the end no one wins if the child isn't happy. >> david has won all the court arguments in the u.s. and higher court levels in brazil. >> do you think the child knows what's going on? >> he does. he does. you can't put the weight on the nine-year-old child to make the decision. do i stay with the family i've known the last five years of my life. i'm only nine. do i go back to my american

father who loves me but what life is it. i don't know. that's complicated. >> great reporting definitely. >> thank you. we are tracking developing stories for you. several of them. just crossing half past the hour. just a short time ago nicolas sarkozy left a paris hospital after an overnight stay. doctors were monitoring his heart. the 54-year-old sarkozy collapsed jogging in hot weather. his test results came back normal. they say when president sarkozy collapsed he never lost consciousness. >> ahmed omar ali due back in court for sentencing. who is he? a virginia man convicted of helping al qaeda and conspiring against president bush. he joined al qaeda in college. last year the appeals court decided a 30 year sentence was too lenient. a 23 year old man in new jersey has been arrested for

hit-and-run death for axes coen. she was killed in seaside, new jersey and police ruled her death a homicide. you may her her for auditioning twice. after twice rejected her words had to be sensored for simon cowell. >> alberto cont, ador. lance still made it third. sanjay gupta spoke to him in paris. >> coming in first, is that something you thought about? did you care? you write it's not about the bike but do you care whether you come in first or not? >> well, i wanted to come in first. but sometimes in sports, there's somebody that's better.

i was that guy for seven years. and i never understood what it felt like to get second or third. i'm 38, you race guys 24, 25, 26. they are fast. they are strong. they have acceleration. they have all those things you had at that age. then you get third. that's the great thing about the tour, the best man always wins. >> how was this race different for you in terms of how you trained, what you ate. >> differences compared to five years ago? ago? i used a lot of the same training, the same idea with diet. the only difference, i guess, is i'm now 38 years old. so a 38-year-old man does not wake up every day like a 28-year-old. but i can't complain. i think i rode well. >> why come back after four years? what inspired this? >> obviously i have to have a love for the bike, a love for the tour.

otherwise it's too hard, way too damn hard to do this. my passion for fighting cancer, not just in texas and united states but around the world. >> when you look at you the man, lance, and the issue of cancer, do you think the people separate that? do they understand why you're riding and why you came back? >> yeah, i think so. these days it's easy to get feedback. when people have a comment or have an issue, they let you know. most of them are regarding cancer. that tells me the people understand. they have been affected either themselves or a loved one and they understand it. and they say keep going. pedal hard for them, my mom, my neighbor, my co-worker. you know, he was telling sanjay -- sanjay was saying his

heart pumps 90 gallons a minute as opposed to five gallons for a normal person. >> he's super human. >> he is. double amount of oxygen for every breath he takes. >> it's interesting what he said. you feel it when the athletes are 10, 15 years younger than you. >> he was 27 the first time you won, now he's 38. >> my grandmother say you can't fight -- >> not that we know, but we've heard. we have heard the body slows down. >> stay tuned for more of the interview. they will talk about doping. would you believe this if i said gas was going up to $20 a gallon? >> maybe. >> would you believe it if i said that was a good thing. >> maybe not. >> we have an author who wrote >> we have an author who wrote this will see $20 a gallon gas and why it will change our lives for the better. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways.

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. last summer loads of people parked their cars, decided to get rid of their suvs. they walked, they biked, they car-pooled, yes, because gas

soared to four bucks a gallon nationwide. a lot of people wondering how high will it go. now aaa says the national average $2.50 today. our next guest says cheap fillups aren't going to last forever but that's a good thing. senior staff reporter at forbes, wrote the book "$20 per gallon" about the inevitable rise in gas and how it will change our lives for the better. thanks for being with us this morning. >> thank you. >> how do you convince people to worry when it's relatively low. >> some people you can't convince to worry. as economies recover across the world and we get $2 billion enter the global middle class, right now only a billion around the globe. the price will go up, it's inevitable. >> you talk about the growing middle class in china and india. how are they going to affect the world as we know it in terms of gasoline usage. >> those people want to live the the same type of lives we

already have. china just passed the united states as the largest car market in the world in 2009. that's an amazing thing. if someone told you that was going to happen ten years ago, you would have thought they were nuts. >> another interesting thing, when we talk about how gas is a natural resource, obviously not an infinite resource. how it takes for every six gallons of gas we use, we only take one out of the ground. >> for every six barrels we use. >> barrels of oil. >> same difference. we only find one. so we're using at a much greater rate than we're finding because we found most of the good oil. >> also the process it takes for us to get gasoline now is much harder. so how does it translate to the person at home driving an suv who wants to be able to drive what they want and thinking $2.50 a gallon right now. >> it's hard to force people to change when life is so easy at $2.50. what you're going to see is people aren't going to change a

lot until they have a reason to. that reason is the price of gas. when people think about tomorrow, they got up and price of gas was three times as much, would they drive as far to go to work. would they be willing to drive their kids as far, willing to live in the same town as now. the answer is no. >> you talk about psychological tipping point, $6 a gallon. when do you think that could happen? >> i think that could happen the next three to four years. the reason $6 is so important. we've already been to $4. that wouldn't blow anybody away psychologically, though it certainly changed how we live in america. americans drove 100 billion less miles than before. we never had a statistic like that. that was due to $4. >> what about your subtitle, it will change lives for the better. how will it be better? >> a bevy of reasons. it goes back to things how we live. how we live is largely determined where we live.

as we are denser, obesity rates down, we'll become independent, certainly not toelgtly independent but capitalism needs an incentive for people to develop alternative energies and thain sentive eventually will be the price of gas. >> we talk about incentives. we don't have enough to change it. it's interesting. we took a look at, if you will, the good and bad happens at different price points. let's put up what happens at $6 a gallon. the good part is the death of the suv. some people say that's good, some people say not so good. los angeles emerge from the smog. you say 15,600 lives saved by people being off the roads? >> that's just from car crashes, fatalities. we lose 45,000 people a year on the roads. as prices go up we use fewer and fewer. >> one 20ds a gallon, a lot cringing saying i hope this won't happen. 90% of live in cities, 70% will never own a car.

bad end nuclear powers everything and polyester too expensive for clothes. >> it comes from gasoline. we'll find natural fibers to wear. i don't think anybody cares about that. as we move to closer things, as we live more urbanly we'll ride mass transportation. we'll walk to work, grocery stores and school. that's how a lot of people already live. >> what happens to the suburbs. >> suburbs? far out ones? they probably turn back to farms. a lot of those homes are going to fall over. >> interesting. you paint a great picture. your thesis is interesting. for people looking to find out more, 20ds for gas. thanks for being with us. >> after a controversial arrest prominent professor, police are asking for some understanding. a ride along next. 43 minutes after the hour. bettr 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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welcome back to most news in the morning. new information this morning in the case of arrest of prominent black harvard professor in massachusetts, henry louis gates. the woman who called police is coming forward saying she never mentioned race when she called 911. cops are facing more scrutiny over split second judgments some people claim are influenced by race. is that fair. what kind of decisions are they forced to make in the heat of the moment. live in our boston bureau with that story.

you went object a ride along. what did you find? >> i did. obviously cops are sensitive and want to make sure that people understand really what it is that they are dealing with. i can tell you they are taking a step back on all sides, trying to put this very controversial issue to rest. but here in the boston area, it is very clear hard feelings remain. sergeant james crowley wants to move past the controversy over his arrest of harvard professor henry gates. >> are you satisfied with how the president handled this? >> yes. >> but in cambridge this weekend, signs placed in professor gates yard while he was out of town accused him of playing the race card. they have since been removed. in neighboring arlington, massachusetts. >> we treat everybody the same. >> officer mike hogan, a decorated eight-year veteran of the force won't comment specifically on gates' arrest but thinks the public needs to

understand -- >> there's no such thing as a routine call, because it's such a dangerous job, you don't know what you're going to run into. just got a 911 hang-up call. we're going to respond to that house. >> reporter: in minutes he's there after a second officer arrived. after a quick look inside he determines it was an accidental call. >> that's a perfect example of we don't know what we're walking into. >> reporter: hogan recalls a different ending in this neighborhood. another 911 hang-up, a man answers the door, insists nothing is wrong, then refuse toss allow hogan inside. >> i kind of pushed the door open, stepped closer to him. behind him i found there was a female who was standing in the hallway crying. she said, please, help me. help me. >> the woman had called 911 after being raped repeatedly. those split second judgments familiar to all police officers.

while he acknowledges racial profiling may exist, hogan says most cops just want one thing. >> they are out there every day just trying to help people. >> reporter: back in cambridge, a new view. he was there the day of gates' arrest and fully supports crowley's actions insisting he's no rogue cop. as a black man, he says he knows firsthand what it's like to be viewed suspiciously. >> hopefully we continue to have dialogue on it. it is a big issue and it's a concern for everybody. it's something that needs to come out. people need to be able to talk about it, i mean, openly. >> as for dialogue, as for that sitdown over beers at the white house with president obama, sergeant crowley and professor gates, white house spokesman robert gibbs said yesterday he hopes it will happen over the next several days. >> elaine, thank you. 48 minutes after the hour. s not. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long.

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good morning, new york city, there's a look right now at the jacqueline onassis reservoir. a lot going on in central park today. >> you ever run around? >> yeah, beautiful. what is it exactly 1.6 miles? 1 1.2. >> it feels like 1.6. if you are running, you have to run between the rain drops, it's clou cloudy, and 72. here's a look at some of the top videos on cnn.com. she won the lottery almost 9

months ago but says she hasn't seen a penny. we'll see her in a second. what british woman accidentally dropped her winning ticket. two people picked up her winnings, now a uk court has ordered the couple to pay what's left of half of the original, which is $50,000. factory closures have made the city's air the cleanest it's been in a decade. and also, a massive hailstorm ripped through wisconsin this weekend. pebble-sized chunks of ice pelting the southwest portion of the state taking down trees and causing flooding damage, as well. wow, in wisconsin, you saw that mess out there. rob marciano's keeping track of all of the extreme weather for us. it's that time of year, one of the severe storms we see in the heart of the summer. >> just about anybody can get them. and we're starting to get in that pattern where the east coast is finally seeing humidity build. so all along the i-95 corridor,

afternoon thunderstorms, and highlight an area west of chicago where we think we'll see more strong storms pop up later this afternoon. we are seeing showers and storms, that won't last too long and you'll get into the afternoon and more of those thunderstorms pop up. dallas, northwest across the red river, also seeing a few showers there this morning, shouldn't be too bad. 108 in vegas, 82 degrees in atlanta, and 83 degrees in new york city. all right, got to love aa ball. the binghamton mets' mascot doing a little dance over center field. oh, my goodness that's got to hurt, that's got to sting in the nest as a matter of fact. my goodness that hurts to watch, doesn't it? apparently bingo, the bumblebee does this deal after a home run. he decided to take it to another level and obviously, yeah, wings

are a little creepy. >> he took it to another level, about two ok daves. that's when your grateful for the bulk of the suit. the padding takes the edge off. >> i'm not sure it's going to take much of the edge off of that particular fall. anyway, guys, more obligatory animal video, although that would be a man dressed up as an animal. >> i have one for you next time. a fish story, my mother-in-law caught maybe the biggest flounder in delaware this season. they've already fried it up and eaten it. >> she beat your father-in-law, it was not even close. >> the jury's still out whether she reeled it in herself. i'll show you later. >> all right. good. >> thanks. sarah palin is now officially the ex-governor of alaska. she spent her last day, you know, handing out hot dogs at the governor's picnic. >> yeah, a huge picnic. >> the big question $50,000

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. raul castro says the global economic crisis means tougher times ahead. but raul says the communist island nation can't blame all of the problems on america. reporting from cuba for us. >> reporter: good morning kiran and alina. it was revolution day this weekend, usually an opportunity to reflect on the state of the nation. right from the top president raul castro warned of new cost-cutting measures ahead.

he says hard times are not about to let up. adding a second belt tightening plan will be hammered out in coming days to deal with the fallout of the global economic crisis. especially the reduction of revenues from exports and additional restrictions on accessing external financing castro says. cubans are already feeling the squeeze. public transport has been reduced. the government has ordered factories and businesses to cut energy consumption or face sanctions. this global slowdown has hit cuba hard. revenues from key exports like nickel are down, the price of imports like food is up. but this war veteran says he's not worried about the future. we've always managed to pull through, he says, we'll pull through any situation. 200,000 cubans packed into the parade grounds in eastern cuba to hear his speech. he took a few swipes at the u.s.

trade embargo but made it clear that cubans only have themselves to blame for agricultural shortages. it's not just a question of shouting father land or death down with imperialism, the blockade knocks us out when the land is there waiting for our sweat. it's a message castro surely hopes cubans will take home with them after the party is over. we should get more details about those cost-cutting measures this week. not exactly what many cubans wanted to hear on their holiday. kiran, alina? >> good morning, everybody. almost crossing the top of the hour, 59 minutes after the hour, monday, july 27th, good morning, everybody, glad you're with us. john roberts has the morning off. >> good to have you with us this morning, stories that we'll be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes. here's a look. you can't call her governor anymore, sarah palin officially stepping down yesterday. a bunch of farewell barbecues and took some jabs at the media

as well as hollywood and the anti-gun crowd. what are her future political plans? and will she run for president in 2012? >> with this decision now, i will be able to fight even harder for you, for what is right, and for truth. >> the political buzz about sarah palin goes on and our candy crowley has new insight for us coming up. after vice president joe biden says russia's economy is withering, hillary clinton tried to rephrase the vice president's comments. who's really in charge of the white house foreign policy message? and is this another gaffe from the vice president? we're live from washington. also, lance armstrong didn't win the tour de france, so how does he feel about the third place finish. his answer may surprise you. we're going to hear what he told our own dr. sanjay gupta. what's next for now citizen sarah palin?

she posted her final message on her official alaska governor twitter account yesterday. candy crowley now takes a look at the fighting words of her good-bye speech and shows you what palin may have up her sleeve next. >> reporter: she is a one-woman sound bite machine. >> by the way, hollywood needs to know we eat, therefore we hunt. >> reporter: a warning from the moose-hunting, fish catching, sarah palin that hollywood wants to take away the right to bear arms. an unexpected topic for a farewell speech as she handed over the governorship, the wear, tear, and resentments on the big stage were evident. her parting words, a parting shot at the media. >> so how about in honor of the american soldier you quit making things up. >> palin's farewell was a three-day rolling picnic,

surrounded by supporters dreaming big. >> if we get a woman president, let it be her. she's a real woman, she knows about what a woman is supposed to be. she's pro-life, pro-family, pro-woman. >> was not all friendly going. palin has lost some of her light in alaska and a lot of it on the national stage. >> she abandoned her state in the middle of a term. they didn't ask for her to run. >> the latest abc washington post poll found that 53% of americans view palin negatively, 40% see her positively. worse, 4 in 10 republicans don't think palin understands complex issues. still, she wouldn't be the first politician to rehabilitate herself, and it's clear while she's handing over the governor's chair, she's not relinquishing the microphone. >> with this decision, i will be able to fight harder for you, for what is right, and for truth. >> palin's writing a book, she

says she'll help other candidates, give speeches, and one of her first post governor events is in california. she could make good money doing all of that, also be on a path at least to 2012 called keeping your options open. >> i asked her that about five minutes ago. and she -- you know to know what she said? she said i don't know with her little smirk. >> one thing is crystal clear, sarah palin private citizen sounds a lot like sarah palin politician. >> one other thing for the media, our new governor has a very nice family too. so leave his kids alone. >> reporter: exit stage right, but definitely don't fade to black. candy crowley, cnn, washington. >> how relevant is sarah palin now that she's a private citizen? what impact will she have? we're speaking to david axelrod on "state of the union" he says

she's not much of a factor of the circle he travels in. >> i can tell you with absolute honesty that when i sit around with my political friends, particularly friends who are involved with me in my current pursuits, there's very little or no discussion of sarah palin. we're talking about the problems we're dealing with right now facing the country and so on. and i really have no idea what governor palin is going to do. she's entering private life now, we wish her well, and it's up to her to decide what role she's going to play in the future. she's got plenty of advice, i'm sure, she doesn't need mine. >> well, sarah palin's future was certainly the talk of the sunday shows because hillary clinton also was asked and weighed in on the future of sarah palin, appearing on "meet the press," and she was asked about the possibility of a female president, perhaps palin in 2012.

>> that's up to the voters to determine. it's up to the voters to determine with respect to anyone. putting together a presidential campaign is an extremely complicated enterprise. so i'm just going to leave it at that and i will be an interested observer. i do want to see a woman elected president, i hope it's a democratic woman. >> now that sarah palin is no longer a governor, what is her next move? will she continue to be a major voice in the republican party. we're watching david frum, former speech writer for george w. bush. something vice president joe biden possibly making things a little tense between washington and moscow. president obama had to clarify some of the vice president's comments before. well, now it's the secretary of state's turn. jill dougherty tracking the story from our washington bureau. good morning to you. >> reporter: hey, good morning. the vice president is the one who first used that cash phrase we all know that defines this

administration's russia policy, reset the relationship. now, catch phrases are one thing, but diplomats like to watch their words very carefully, and that's not something the vice president is known to do. that's creating some headaches for secretary clinton. >> i think that's the story -- >> reporter: america's chief diplomat finds herself trying to explain comments on russia by the vice president. >> is he speaking for the president? and is the message essentially that the u.s. now has the upper hand when it's dealing with russia? >> no, and i don't think that's all what the vice president meant. >> reporter: just three weeks after president barack obama tried to reset the relationship with moscow, vice president joe biden just back from his own trip to ukraine and georgia tells the "wall street journal" the united states holds all the cards in the relationship with an economically weakened russia. they have a shrinking population base, he says, they have a withering economy, they have a banking sector and structure that's not likely to be able to

withstand the next 15 years. those comments land with a thud in moscow. a top adviser to the russian president firing back, quoted by the news agency is saying the question is who is shaping the u.s. foreign policy? the president or respective members of his team? the white house spokesman tries some damage control saying the president and vice president believe russia will work with us. not out of weakness, but out of national interest. finally, secretary clinton rides to the rescue. >> we view russia as a great power. now every country faces challenges. we have our challenges, russia has their challenges. >> reporter: one of secretary clinton's top responsibilities, along with the russian foreign minister, she's heading up a joint presidential commission spearheading relations, explaining comments by vice president biden doesn't appear to be part of the job

description. >> the russian side is making hay from this, saying if members of president obama's team don't agree with their own president's policy then "we should simply know about it." looks like secretary clinton might have to press that reset button again. >> jill dougherty live from washington with us, thank you. also other stories new this morning. president obama is going to be going out there once again talking about his health care plan in different parts of america. he's going to north carolina and he's going to virginia this week. senate budget committee chairman kent conrad says democrats may have a majority but they'll need help from their republican colleagues to actually get a health care reform bill passed. on the house side, though, nancy pelosi tells cnn that if the plan goes to the floor, it will pass. >> it is the speaker's job sometimes, you're doing a lot better than i to referee disputes in the family. are you worried you might not have the votes on the floor? >> absolutely, positively not.

i take this bill to the floor, it will win. but we will move forward, this will happen. >> the senate already put off action on health care until the fall, the house may be forced to weigh on it, as well. bold words from ben bernanke. he said he had to quote hold his nose over the bailout, but bernanke insists this had to be done to avoid a major meltdown of the u.s. financial system. and he said he didn't want to be known as the who presided over the second recession. -- showing the most gay characters on the small screen. according to the study, hbo's 14 series, 10 included gay characters and for the 13th year abc was given among the major broadcasting networks. 10 minutes after the hour. annou. to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid.

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. sarah palin said her final farewell as governor of alaska, said it in a feisty speech in various conclusions. she had some digs at the media, as well. many are asking, though, what's her next step? >> with this decision now, i will be able to fight even harder for you, for what is right, and for truth. >> well, this morning, she wakes up a private citizen, but how long will this absence from political office last? david from the editor of the new majority.com, a former speech writer under george w. bush. >> good morning. >> we had her last tweet as governor, saying god bless alaska, god bless the usa. criticized the media a little

bit. she talked about the need to eat, which is why people hunt, a little bit of a dig there at the end. what's her next step? >> well, the most striking thing in that farewell was her blast at government delivers handouts, which has kind of strange impact from a governor who's most notable achievement was to increase the state payout to alaskan residents by $1,200 per person. her next step, she's going to make a lot of money. she's going to do speaking engagements, she will make a lot of money in the way that bill clinton did after he left the presidency. i suppose she'll prepare for her next political outing. >> she was careful to point out, she wanted her legacy to be that she saved billions for alaska by cutting out wasteful spending, refusing to allow wasteful spending at the state and federal level, and she also talked about the fact that, you know, it was the independence of alaska. and if you think government's the answer, you're in trouble.

at the same time, she really was sort of laying out. a lot of what we heard from her on the campaign trail, as well. she went after the anti-gun folks. they're going to try to use alaska to go after the second amendment. is she trying to reignite a cultural war as she tries to figure out what her national platform will be? >> it's a reinvention. as governor, her major achievement was increase in the payout, major increase on taxes to oil companies. in alaska like everywhere, democrats also like higher taxes and more government payouts, she was not a culture warrior before john mccain chose her. that's a new identity, and that's the message she's going to try to take as she positions herself in republican politics in the lower 48. that's very damaging message for the republican party. i'm not even sure it works in alaska, but it sure is not going to work in the rest of america. >> it's interesting you talk about what works and what doesn't work. this is what got the biggest applause. it was a dig at what seems to be

her favorite target, which is the media. >> you represent what could and should be a respected honest profession that could and should be a corner stone of our democracy, and that is why -- that's why our troops are willing to die for you. so how about in honor of the american soldier you quit making things up. >> does that work? >> well, the secret of sarah palin's post election success is her ability to turn her personal grievances and resentments and make them expressions and grievances felt by other people. but you don't win elections in america on a platform of grievance and resentment. election after election, americans choose the more optimistic, the more cheerful, the more tolerant person. that's why ronald reagan was so successful. he didn't -- he had plenty of grievances, but he didn't say in

the name of the american soldier, quit publishing things about me. maybe please publish more material about our achievements in iraq, or maybe please print more pictures of girls in bikinis, but i think stop attacking sarah palin is not necessarily the first request of every fighting serviceman or servicewoman. >> and i want to ask you about that. because according to the latest washington post poll, 53% of those in this poll view sarah palin negatively, 57% say they don't think she has a good grasp of complex issues, 54% don't think she's a strong leader. can you be a national candidate with negatives in that range? >> candidates do sometimes overcome the negatives and discover resources in themselves that will allow them to do that. for sarah palin, the more worrying thing is the decline she's seen among republicans, especially since the announcement of her resignation. republicans are -- this is the party of small business, the party of people with responsibilities, that

republicans do disproportionately well among parents. among people who have to execute, work, who have burdens to carry, the idea you lay down the burden because as you yourself say, i can't get the job done, i'm facing too much criticism, and as you don't say but is true, i'd like to make more money doing something else, is not an attractive message. so our party, you can see a deterioration in support for her, but we have some very difficult choices in 2012, it's not impossible, she could have a future inside the republican party. nationally, different story. >> all right. david frum, editor, former speech writer under president bush. thanks for joining us this morning. and weapon want to know what you think what's next for the newly resigned governor. well, the economy is effecting almost every facet of american life. we talk about it every day. now even the lobster industry in maine is effected. he found out how lobster fishermen are adapting and what it means for lobster prices too.

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♪ good morning, minneapolis. cloudy and 70 degrees, going up to 86 with some isolated thunderstorms. it's cloudy there. welcome back to the most news in the morning. well, we've made it a top priority here at cnn to show you where the stimulus money is going and who exactly is helping. jim acosta live for us in washington. you have one mayor asking where's the money? >> that's right, even though we found people in his own backyard with stimulus jobs.

earlier this year joe biden visited st. cloud, minnesota, to tout the prospects of the stimulus. now the mayor of this city has become one of the stimulus program's toughest critics. his question, what's taking so long? >> our best days are ahead of us. that's just not happy talk. >> reporter: back in march, vice president joe biden took a stimulus road trip to st. cloud, minnesota, where he toured the new flier bus company. he and ray lahood predicted the stimulus would create jobs. >> tomorrow you'll have a phone call from our folks at d.o.t. to figure out how we can make this happen. >> we had a high expectation of these things ready to go right away. >> reporter: but four months later, he says he's still waiting for those jobs, waiting for an answer on nearly a dozen stimulus requests. he blames stimulus red tape. >> so is it your feeling that the vice president and the transportation secretary over promised and underdelivered? >> well, i think it raised our

expectations. it raised our expectations that we were going to see something quicker. >> what i said was accurate. >> ray lahood points to the new bus factory. it's seen a boost in sales and avoided layoffs. >> and all you see all over america are orange cones, people working in good-paying jobs, building roads, building runways, building bus garages. so the idea our money isn't going out is just not accurate. >> we did find new stimulus jobs in st. cloud. they hired 25 new workers to make road signs. stimulus projects across the state. >> before the stimulus and after the stimulus, you've seen an effect. >> absolutely. compared to last year and this year, it's been a resounding effect. >> reporter: st. cloud is weathering the recession well.

road construction projects have driven down the local unemployment rate to 7.7%, far below the national average, that's without the stimulus. >> a lot of mayors would trade places with you to have that unemployment rate, would they not? >> we have a diverse economy and again, we still have challenges. >> you feel like you're not getting your fair share? >> absolutely not. i'm convinced of that. >> everybody wants their fair share. now the transportation department cites a recent government report showing the stimulus is ahead of schedule, don't tell that to the nation's mayors that have their own studies that cities are getting the short end of the stimulus stick. so alina, the stimulus debate goes on. if there's one thing that's certain, it will go on beyond the length of the stimulus program. >> you're absolutely right. you know, and those mayors want that money yesterday. >> show me that money. that's right. >> that's right. jim acosta live for us in washington. thank you. and for more on jim's story,

check out our blog at cnn.com/amfix. 24 minutes after the hour.

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♪ welcome back to the most news in the morning. when we talked about all of the things that have resulted as our slumping economy, many small businesses taking a hit across the country and maine's lobster industry is also one that's been hit particularly hard. >> it's surprising to some. collapsing prices are forcing lobster fishermen to take extreme measures, that's just to survive. jason carroll back from maine and has the story. good morning. >> good morning. here's what the good news is. for people like us, consumers, you're looking at a savings here, as much as a few dollars per pound on lobster. the bad news for the lobster men, taking a hit on all this. when you think of a lobster man,

think of a small business owner. every time one goes under so does too a small business. they are the backbone of the economy and their survival now in question. >> it's a stormy morning in the waters off of portland, maine, not ideal conditions for lobster fishing, but that didn't stop mike davis. >> you're still out looking for lobsters. >> summer time. it's summer time, you have to -- you can't make up a day that you missed in the summer time. >> that's because things have gotten bad for maine's lobster. >> you miss a day, it does hurt, you know, you've got to go as much as you can, you really do. >> reporter: davis knows he'll catch in a storm, the question, will consumers battered by a dismal economic climate buy? many are for going lobster for cheaper eats. in 2007, the maine lobster industry made 280 million in sales.

last year, $240 million. lobster men say that loss hurts. >> a lot of guys -- we're on the breaking point of can we keep doing this? >> reporter: lobster men we spoke to wondering if they are the ones now trapped, invested in a sinking industry. >> we pretty much have seen, i guess i'd say probably a 30% to 40% cut in income. >> we need more money. so the pressure on the industry is quite a lot. >> pressure that turned to violence. >> the shooting of a lobster man -- >> reporter: one lobster man accused of shooting another over fishing territory last week. there's also tension between fishermen and dealers who sell their catch. lobster men say the dealers are still turning profits. so in order to make ends meet -- >> there you go. >> thank you very much. >> lobster men like mike davis sell not only to dealers, but directly to consumers. dealers like bill bailey, not happy. >> sometimes i don't think they want to listen to reason. >> reporter: bailey along with

12 other dealers wrote a letter of complaint to the state. >> selling the product on the side of the road for a cheap price depresses the whole market. >> sales first, buddy, sales, first. >> reporter: for now the state says the lobster men can keep selling on their own. >> i think one of the things we have to do is see how big it gets. >> reporter: however bad the economy is, mike davis can't think of any other life. >> today might be a different storyious but when you wake up and it's a beautiful calm sunny morning, i can't imagine not coming down and coming out to haul traps. i would really definitely miss it. >> hard-working group of guys. until the economy rights itself and prices rise again, lobster men says the industry has to do a better job at marketing and letting consumers know that lobster is out there, less expensive right now, so buy and eat. >> did you get a chance to enjoy some yourself? >> you know, i should have, given what the story is is, but i'm not a big fan. i used to be allergic to

shellfish. >> you had some problems on the dock, didn't you? >> alina, you can't behave, can you? i fell on the dock, i fell twice. >> there's jason carroll dressed to the nines and at the end he goes, no thank you, i'm not a lobster fan. any of us would kill to be out there -- >> and i said, is there video? >> meanwhile jason starts, what are you going to do? thanks so much. >> fantastic reporting. 30 minutes after the hour. we are tracking several developing stories on this monday morning. right now nasa astronauts are making the fifth and final space walk of their current mission. on the agenda today, housekeeping on the international space station including adding tv cameras to the brand new japanese made science lab. shuttle endeavor undocks tomorrow and that will end the largest gathering ever in space of 13 astronauts between the shuttle and the crews.

a short time ago sarkozy was able to leave a paris hospital, there for an overnight stay, doctors monitoring his heart. all of it happened after the 54-year-old collapsed while jogging in hot weather yesterday. officials say his test results were normal. and a baseball rivalry turns potentially dangerous on the diamond. the philadelphia phillies were hosting the st. louis cardinals yesterday during the seventh and eighth innings, at least five players were targeted with a green laser pointer while at bat. both albert pujols and julio lugo had the laser shine in their eyes. the umpires had to stop the game, but they couldn't find the fan responsible in the stands. >> i'm surprised it doesn't happen more. >> you would think by the opposing team's fans. well, next year in paris, lance armstrong saying he's already signing up again, setting his sights on the 2010 tour de france.

he came in third place. >> not bad. but lance is used to coming in first. the seven-time tour champ finished third, more than five minutes behind the winner. after the finish, armstrong sat down with dr. sanjay gupta. >> to tell you it's been a remarkable 22 days for lance armstrong right here in france, tour de france started in mon monacco and ending in france. i can tell you after a four-year hiatus. it was a big decision for him. i caught up with him just a few hours after he took third place, that's -- to talk about some of the challenges, some of the criticisms that have been waged against him and how he responded to those and simply ask him why he decided to get involved in all of this again. >> coming in first -- is that something that you thought about? did you care? you're right it's not about the bike, but do you care if you

come in first or not? >> well, i wanted to come in first. but sometimes in sports there's somebody that's better. and i was that guy for seven years. and i never understood what it felt like to get second or third. i'm 38 now and you race guys that are 24, 25, and 26, they're strong, they have acceleration, they have all of the things that you had at that age. and you get third, that's what's the great thing about the tour, that the best man always wins. >> how is this race different for you in terms of how you trained? what you ate? was it different compared to five years ago? >> well, i used a lot of the same training, the same idea with diets. the only difference, i guess, is that i'm now 38 years old. so a 38-year-old man does not wake up every day like a 28-year-old. but i can't complain, i mean, i think i rode well.

>> why come back after four years? what inspired that? >> well, obviously i have to have a love for the bike and the tour. it's way too hard to go out and do this. but my passion for fighting cancer and fighting not just in texas and the united states but around the world. >> when you look at the issue of cancer, do you think that people separate that? do they understand why you're riding, why you came back? >> yeah, i think so. you know, these days it's -- it's easy to get feedback. when people have a comment or have an issue, they let you know. and most of them are regarding cancer. so that tells me that the people understand. they've been effected either themselves or a loved ones and they understand. and they say keep going, pedal hard for them tomorrow, pedal hard for my mom or my neighbor or co-worker. >> one of the things you talked

about was the surprise test for doping. they just come surprise you. >> they're not surprises any more. >> i think over 40 tests. >> i think over 50 now. >> what do you say to the critics and skeptics now end of the tour? >> look, i've done this a long time and i've been at the highest level now since 1992 until 2009, i've been tested more than anybody else. if i can take four years off and come back at the age of 38 with more control than anybody else on planet earth and get third in the hardest sporting event in the world, i think we've answered the question. >> it's worth pointing out a couple of things. lance's heart and lungs are different than most people's. for example, his heart pumps about 9 gallons per minute as opposed to 5 gallons, which is more typical. also double the amount of oxygen out of every breath. so he's physiologically has a lot of advantages for sure. he also tells me he wants to

keep on the cancer fight. he's hosting a global cancer summit in dublin later on this august. back to you. >> there you go. we did e-mail sanjay and say sorry we teased you about the man crush. >> he said he had a man crush -- >> he said it's not a man crush it's a bromance, it's mutual. >> exactly. >> either way, it's a nice love affair that they have. >> it sure is. and guess he points it out it's so amazing that he's physiological made -- >> and he's such a good sport. third place is not a bad deal, he wants to win it next year. good for him. >> good luck. coming up, we have some new developments in the controversial arrest of prominent harvard professor henry louis gates, the woman who made the 911 call reporting a possible break-in at gates' home is speaking out for the first time. we have the first tv interview with her lawyer. that's coming up. it's 37 minutes after the hour.

they should both be ashamed of themselves. >> i've been a police officer for 22 years now, and i think this whole issue has been totally blown out of proportion. there are certain procedures that need to be followed from a police officer's perspective. even when a bank is robbed, the innocent that are taken out or hostages are handcuffed until identities can be ascertained. i think this whole issue is completely racially driven and needs to be just totally dropped.

♪ welcome back to the most news in the morning. an accountant gives up his job to become a home builder, then the recession hits. in today's money in main street, one small business owner who is using the stimulus to help him

hang on. >> how you doing? >> good. >> reporter: tom gave up a secure number-crunching career for the nail-banging of home building. his timing was perfect 18 years ago. he rode the housing boom to build a thriving business, employing a dozen full-time employees, putting off as many as 50 homes a year. >> people need places to live. that is the american dream. >> reporter: after nearly two decades of building the american dream, the housing bust has been a business nightmare for him. today tom is down to only two full-time employees, and he's building only three homes this year. two of which are unsold. >> right now, you just, you know, living for a better time. >> reporter: home builders are suffering in every state, the business is down by 2/3 nationwide since peaking in 2005. new jersey is doing a little better than that, but you'd never know it talking to him. >> it's been a crash. and most people will tell you

that it's more of a depression. >> reporter: so survive, he is turning to uncle sam. not for a bailout, but for a piece of the stimulus pie. he's bidding for contracts to repair military recruiting centers as well as other government business, and to improve his odds, he is partnering with larger companies, experienced in doing construction for the military. >> people need to work. and my company needs to work. >> reporter: a lot is riding on his bid for new business, he has a son in college and a daughter about to enroll. they already have had to raid their 401(k) and tap other savings. >> do you regret having left accounting? >> no, there's no regrets. >> even now? >> sure. >> even now? >> we could always -- i've always said to my wife we can always go back to that. >> reporter: he's optimistic he'll win a contract from uncle sam. that would help him through the recession and eventually rebuild his business. allan chernoff, cnn, new jersey.

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♪

happy monday, guys. it's 45 minutes past the hour. we're checking in with rob marciano who has a lot to talk about. we had storms, hail, thunderstorms, lightning in all parts of the country. whoa -- >> whoa, storms in the studio. >> your camera man's getting dizzy just talking about it. >> yeah, you know, it's an excitable group down here and we've got a lot to talk about. you had thunderstorms over the weekend, across the northeast. those lines, that line of thunderstorms moved offshore a little bit. here's many of the damage across parts of maryland and virginia, a lot of trees down. big time winds, hail, as well, this woman plucked out of her car and there was one injury in virginia with a similar type of scenario. today, more of the same, humidity starting to build, western great lakes, we'll see thunderstorms that could become severe later on today. all right, let's check on some of this bumblebee video. showed it to you last hour, but we want to keep playing the hits because it hurts.

aa ball and aa ouch. that got both of them didn't it? you mentioned hopefully some padding there, either way, that had to sting for sure. apparently this bee did a bit of a hop, skip, and a jump when there was a home run by the home team. he thought he'd really go the extra mile and the bee is limping off. all right, i can't look at that again. >> is it that important? >> kiran, you promised me some fish video of your mother. >> i'm not kidding. >> we're not talking about this anymore? okay. >> you want to talk about -- >> the failed attempt at something. let's talk about the fish, please. this is crazy. my mother-in-law who is a small woman. she's only about 5'3", reeled in what may be, may be the biggest flounder caught in the state of delaware this year. it's 7 pounds, 4 ounces, 29 inches long -- >> they're like official measurers.

>> alina, you don't even know how serious this gets. she's going to be in fisherman's magazine, and she got a citation, but a good one. >> and that's your father-in-law. >> there he is. >> that's not too shabby either. that's a good catch, as well. >> i asked her, he's 6'4", i said did he help you reel it in? he gave it one tug for her. >> how long did that take? >> i have no idea. probably a while. >> a little stuffed flounder, there that could go a couple of weeks. they enjoyed it yesterday. >> i love flounder. >> it's delicious. >> i wonder if they saved us any. i doubt it. >> it's never good the second day. probably not the third day. congrats to mom. >> we're very proud. there's the fish story. 48 minutes past the hour. 's no. announceit keeps my airways. to help me breathe better all day long.d its t stoianp to hp me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announceit keeps my airways.

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nine minutes before the top of the hour as the president tries to cool temperatures between the cambridge police department and harvard professor henry louis gates. the woman who called police, the woman who said there might be a robbery at the professor's home is now speaking out. her name is lucille, and her lawyer says she never mentioned race when she called 911. so what exactly did she see and what did she tell police? i'm joined on the line now by

her attorney wendy murphy. thanks so much for joining us. she is said to be a 40-year-old woman of portuguese descent, said to be personally devastated about this. what did she say about what she said in that 911 call? >> good morning to you, alina. the thing that we're really emphasizing this morning is what she didn't say. there's no question she never reported seeing quote unquote two black men. and the reason we're clarifying that is number one it's been widely reported, but number two, it's been -- to falsely characterize ms. whalen as a racist, she never said they were black, indeed, she couldn't tell their race at all. >> but who in your estimation is classifying her as a racist? >> well, if you read almost any mainstream news, you'll see some implication that this incident

would never have happened, indeed the police never would have been called if the men had been white. that's an implication that the woman who called 911 was acting because she saw "two black men." but also if you look at many of the online reporting sites and some of the columnists, they're basically saying had she not been racist and acted in a racist manner in calling 911, had she not been a white woman fearful of the black men in the neighborhood, she wouldn't have thought they were committing a crime and so she is the racist spark that started this mess, and the absolutely opposite is true. she didn't see their race, she didn't report their race, she didn't act on race, she acted on behavior. she works nearby, she doesn't live in the area, she was concerned because she knew there were recent break-ins in the area. >> and ms. murphy, i want to jump in for a moment. because that is initially why she made the call, right, because she was aware of other recent robberies in the area, right?

>> that's exactly right. >> and that am i correct in saying that she says she never saw two black men, but what she saw were the backs of two men with backpacks. can you confirm that? >> no, no, she did not report seeing two men with backpacks. >> what did she say on that call? >> she said she saw two men who appeared to be breaking into a home and when asked for further description she indicated that she also saw two bags, that's it. that's the description she gave. when pressed a bit further, well, can you describe the men? she said i don't want to speculate. i don't want to speculate, but if you make me it looks like one of the men might be hispanic. that's how she described the scene, nothing about black men. and she is absolutely devastated by the way she's not even a white woman. white woman.ell, ms. mur01x, it this is now part of the national

conversation. president obama as you well know said last week on wednesday, i believe, that he believed that the cambridge police acted stupidly. two days later he said, well, i could have calibrated those words differently. i'm curious to know what your client thinks about president obama wading into these waters. >> oh -- however she feels about that, she's not telling me. and i don't think she wants to voice her opinion. >> how do you feel about it? >> what i want -- what i want folks to know on behalf of my client is that she believes both sides are respectable and she wants to tamp things down. she doesn't want her clarification of the record to make things worse. she cares about the racism allegation as a person. she does not want to spark any more fights and controversies about the race issue. she's a good person, she was a good citizen, and i think we're beginning to see that she was not the racist spark that fuelled the fire.

>> wendy murphy, attorney for the woman who made that 911 call in the henry louis gates case, th 16th. we thank you for joining us. 56 minutes after the hour. athe r 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. right now 1.2 million people are on sprint mobile broadband. 31 are streaming a sales conference from the road. eight are wearing bathrobes. two... less. - 154 people are tracking shipments on a train. - ( train whistles ) 33 are im'ing on a ferry. and 1300 are secretly checking email... - on a vacation. - hmm? ( groans ) that's happening now. america's most dependable 3g network.

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. if you're planning to visit new york city, it's a safe bet you'll go to time square, see a broadway show, maybe you'll check out the empire state building. for a taste of real new york, you can actually tag along with real new yorkers. >> that's right. that's thanks to the big apple greeter program. and get this, some of the newest greeters are bona fide celebrities. watch. >> would you want to tour new york with this guy? you would if he did this. this is bronx born and bred, the actor otherwise known as uncle junior on the hit tv series "sopranos." and now he's a tour guide. a what?

>> this is the neighborhood, this is the place for the cigars. >> he's the newest member of the greeter program, a non-profit group that pairs real new yorkers with visitors. the celebrity factor, a way to promote the city and show people like nancy and daughter katie sakston from south carolina a side of the big apple many never see or taste. >> let's go over here. >> reporter: they start their day on the subway, final stop -- the little italy of the bronx. arthur avenue where he was born. >> this is the neighborhood right here. right here. >> reporter: spend a few minutes walking around town with the actor, and you'll find -- >> good to see you, kid. >> reporter: he's treated like the mayor and he knows his food. >> pizza. delicious. really nice. it's an old italian expression. >> reporter: he also shows them the new york way to