to do with mine. >> the church hopes the random acts of kindness will cross central florida and zond hopefully we'll inspire people and continue to bless people to see if that makes a difference. >> i'm heidi collins. cnn "newsroom" continues now with t.j. hol mess. good morning. it's monday morning. president obama at this hour promotes a new gi bill with benefits for iraq and afghanistan veterans. diplomats work to free three hikers after being arrested in iran. also, katherine jackson is in court at this hour. she's fighting for her son's estate, an estate that could be worth billions. hello to you all. i'm t.j. holmes.

and on the new gi bill, you're seeing a live picture of the ceremony happening right now. this is in fairbanks, virginia. the president is expected to make remarks within minutes. nobody is on the podium just yet. nobody is expecting be the president to speak at any moment about the expanded gi bill. when the president steps up, we will go back to his remarks. so let's get a preview of what the president is going to be talking about. dan lothian, good morning to you. >> good morning. as you know, the gi bill, the original one was very important for these vets returning from serving their countries overseas. more than half of the 15 million vets from world war ii took part in some kind of education program. so this is the new bill post 9/11 bill, if you will. it was passed last year but the

va has some 18 months to get the program going. so here is what the program will do. $78 billion program will give iraq and afghanistan veterans the same opportunity for world war ii veterans and give eligible vets a full ride in a public education system. it will also provide them the tools or rather the money to be able to afford the books and expenses and also cover housing for four years. and, by the way, the money started going out on august 1st. so, again, $78 billion to assist the veterans who fought in iraq and afghanistan to help them get a good education. >> and this could help, it went into effect on august 1st. a lot of people will be taking advantage of this already. >> they are already facing a mountain of issues and emotional

issues and figuring out what to do in the next phase of their lives and want to get a good education and wanting to afford that is always a big hurdle. this is way for them to pay for that college and give them a stipend so they can have housing and books and anything they need to get a good education. >> we appreciate you. a reminder to our viewers, you are seeing a live picture. this is making comments about the new gi bill. we will make those comments live. also, this morning, talking about your money this morning. does this sound familiar? if you make less than $250,000, will you not see your taxes increase a dime. it should sound familiar because you heard that out on the

campaign bill and christine romans is at the business des income new york. this got a lot of tension here. we don't wa to and you're right. ed henry is saying, you don't see two top money men on the samt weekend refusing to rule out a middle class tax hike. all of these words very carefully chosen and that's why we are listening to what they chose. when asked about a tax increase for health care reform and tax increases in general for the middle class, listen for yourself to what timothy geithner, the treasury secretary, and larry summers said on the weekend chat shows. >> there's a lot that could happen over time. but the priority what the

country needs to do is they need to do whatever is necessary. >> and there are people who say that once the economy is just growing on its own and higher taxes and lower spending to get our time in order and now we're spending so much money that our deficit for our economy and prior to world war ii. so when you look at the size of

our time and it's impossible not to raise taxes in some way, shape, or form down the road. the president on the campaign trail said that the middle class would not sigh tax increases. they have scraped their heads and said, down the road, how are you going to raise the money? the hope here is that the money we are spending now to get the economy restructured will help us be signed into the future and you can't just tax the rich to get out of this, or raise taxes on the rich or return taxes on the rich and two top money men are not getting that out.

>> >> we are not there yet. >> no. >> appreciate it so much. let's turn to the auto industry. when is the last time that you heard this? that an auto company actually saw sales increase. let's go ahead. susan lisovicz, this is a big deal. >> when is the last time we heard something from the big three where sales actually increased? about two years since the financial crisis began. so ford is telling us, giving us a preview, telling cnn radio that, yeah, july saw its sales increase. cash for clunkers played the part but they saw conditions start to improve in june. remember, cash for clunkers only kicked in in the final week of

the month. what dealers are telling ford is the fact of a rising tide flips all boats, and we are hearing that we are seeing customers buying all sorts of cars now, and that, of course, why is that a big deal? cars are a big-ticket item and consumer spending is key in terms of the economic recovery. so let me give you a little bit more because earlier this morning, about an hour ago, we got two other improvements for the economy. construction spending increase and the economy battered by the recession. if these trends continue, we'll see growth in the third quarter. we're seeing growth in the stock market right now, t.j.

we're seeing a rally coming off of the best july in 20 years. more details later on with the program. swiss diplomats are in iran and they are working on behalf of the u.s. trying to find out more about three americans detained for illegally entering the country from iraq arwa is live in baghdad. any movement that we know? >> reporter: that's right. the u.s. diplomats are trying to find out where the three americans are being detained.

the swiss diplomats are not able to get that far everyone is trying to figure out what happened. the u.s. embassy is being tight lipped. but we have been able to confirm with kurdish officials that they believe these three are being held up near the border, near the iranian security guards. but they have literally not been heard from since the last phone call on friday.

>> arwa, thank you so much. we're waiting for someone to step up to the podium. he's going to be talking about the new gi bill, laying out the key provisions that expand events to this country's war veterans. and we'll certainly bring those to you live. and right now stay with us on cnn. you need to be your own advocate. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. you take care of your kids, now it's time to take care of yourself. my name is chef michael.

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a double whammy for the folks in the western part of jersey. damage left by severe storms. wind is shown on the right. and then five inches of rain falling in a short period of time. that line of thunderstorms moving off shore. good morning, i'm cnn rob marciano. moving through the central part of the country, it certainly will bring thunderstorms that can produce this situation that we thought outside here of philly. this is not the strongest time of year and the front that came through the east coast it's

pretty quiet outside. good morning, it's 92 degrees. it's going to be toast today temperatures getting up and over the 100 degree mark. san francisco, meanwhile, will be cool, cloudy, and foggy this morning. there are delays in and out of sfo. as far as what you can expect for daytime highs today, 58. 101 in dallas. we'll be right back.

's. we are keeping an eye on the stage where the podium is. the president will come out and make statements about the new gi bill. during the break and when this happens, we'll bring that to you live. of course, we've been talking a lot about the economy, grabbing a lot of headlines. we're keeping an eye on michael jackson's mother in court today to fight for some control over her son's estate. katherine jackson challenging two men named as executor in michael jackson's will. we'll have a live report coming up in just a bit. also in virginia, jury deliberations resume in the corruption trial of a former louisiana congressman william

jefferson. he's accused of taking hundreds and thousands of dollars in bribes. fbi agents found $90,000 in cash hidden in his freezer. and the pilot has reported a problem with the brakes. an 18-year-old mystery solved. the remains of the first american officer shot down in the 1991 persian gulf war. michael speicher died on the first night of the war. the military never deployed the

team. here is don lemon. >> killed within hours of the initial flash report which we received that he had been shot down. the united states government at that time had incredible search and rescue capabilities on the ground ready to go. and instead they were told to stand down. and so this day, we don't have any idea how he came to that conclusion so rapidly and we continue to fight to liberate kuwait and scott speicher moved off the map. >> today, a leader, former president with one of the

i-reporters, leading the people reports. and he died on saturday of cardio rescue and details on wednesday. that was supposed to be an implosion. 90s slacker hip-hop. ♪ singer: buckle up, everybody 'cause pu're taking a ride ♪

♪ that can strain your relationships and hurt your pride ♪ ♪ it's the credit roller coaster ♪ ♪ and as you can see it kinda bites! ♪ ♪ so sing the lyrics with me: ♪ when your debt goes up your score goes down ♪ ♪ when you pay a little off it goes the other way 'round ♪ ♪ it's just the same for everybody, every boy and girl ♪ ♪ the credit roller coaster makes you wanna hurl ♪ ♪ so throw your hands in the air, and wave 'em around ♪ ♪ like a wanna-be frat boy trying to get down ♪ live in fair virge kra, the president is making comments. >> it's wonderful to have one of the best partners that anybody could have in the elected office. our vice president joe biden i

want to thank staff sergeant miller for the gracious introduction. i want to thank president burton for his hospitality. there are a couple of people here who deserve all of the credit because they got a very tough bill done. and part of the reason they were able to get it done was because of their extraordinary effort for the bill. these are new to the senate and one had been there a while and yet together they formed an incredibly formidable piece of class acts. please give a big round of applause to virginia's own john warner and jim.

i know that we have a number of members of congress who are here. i want to thank them for their out standing work. i want to point out that senator mark warner could not be here but we appreciate him. we've got the secretary of veterans affairs, a hero in his own right. i want everybody to please acknowledge him and we have senator chuck hagel, representative ginny, and peter king, all that have worked hard along with the delegations, we

are very grateful to all of them. i want to join all of today's speakers in thanking those who worked so hard to make this occasion possible but above all, i want to thank those who are pursing education. i'm honored to be here and to renew our commitment to ensure that the men and women who wear the uniform, the united states of america, get the opportunities that they have earned. i was a proud co-sponsor and i'm committed to making sure that it's implemented as president. we do this not just to meet our moral obligations for those who sacrifice greatly on our behalf. and on behalf of the company. we do it because these men and

women must now be prepared to lead our nation in the peaceful pursuit of economic leadership in the 21st century. this generation of servicemen and women have already earned a place of honor in american history. each of them signed up to serve, many after they knew that they would be sent into harm's way. over the last eight year, they have endured tour after tour of duty and dangerous and difficult places. they've experienced ruling comment from the streets of fallucia and they have adapted to complex insurge cease and trained security forces. so by any measure they are the

authors of the anyone who puts on a uniform joins the patriots. the freedom and prosperity that we enjoy would not exist without the americans willing to bear the heaviest and most dangerous burden and we are investing in our fump. not just their future but also the future of our own time. now, this was the lesson that america was sometimes too slow to learn. after the civil war in world war i we saw far too many veterans denied the chance to live their dreams. and who were unable to find in

peace the hope that they had fought for in war. and fdr knew this. in 1943, before the beaches of normandy were stormed and the treacherous terrain was taken, he told the nations that the veterans of world war ii would be treated differently. he said that they must not be demobilized, and i quote, to a place on a breadline. demobilize to a place on a breadline. instead, roosevelt said, the american people will insist on fulfilling this american obligation to the men and women in the armed forces who are winning this war for us. that is it precisely what the american people do. the gi bill was produced just weeks and carry with it a simple promise.

you pick the school, we'll help pick up the bill. and what followed was not simply an opportunity, a half enrolled in college were veterans. ultimately this would lead to free supreme court justices and more importantly the backbone of the middle class in american history. all told, more than 8 million americans were under the gi bill, including my grandfather. no number can sum this up in our society.

i never would have gone to college had it not been for the gi bill. h.g. jones, a man from north carolina said, what happened # in my community happened all oifr the country. going to college was no longer a novelty. i would not be standing here today if that opportunity had not led him left in search of opportunity. so we owe these servicemen and women that have afforded the previous generation. that was the promise of post 911 gi bill. and it has the same simple logic of the first gi bill. and this is even more important

than it was in 1944. the first gi bill helped build a post war economy that has been transformed by the revolution and kmin indication and education is the currency that can purchase success in the 21st century and this is the opportunity that our troops have earned. i'm also proud that all who have mourninged the burden of service will have service and afghanistan and iraq, we are including the military families who have sacrificed so much, by allowing the transfer of unused benefits to family members.

and we are including those who pay the ultimate price, making it available to those children, to those that lost their life it's an investment of our own kind through the increased ref nye and through the men and women and they can lead the way to lasting economy and hold our communities together. they, too, can become the backbone and the growing middle class. and i know that all of us can learn something about the men and women who serve our country. we've lived through the age when

many people in the institutions acted irresponsible. when service often took a back seat and hard choices are put away for some other time. men and women who have served since 911 tell us a different story. while so many reaching for the quick button, they were heading out on patrol. and producing more heat than light, especially here in washington, they have put their very lives on the lines for americans. they formed the responsibility of war. now with this policy we are making it clear that the united states of america must reward irresponsible built.

so today we honor the service of an extraordinary generation and look to america that they will help build tomorrow. we can give our veteran as chance to live their dreams and tap their creativity and be guided by their sense of responsibility to their fellow citizens. and to this country. may god bless our troops and the veterans and the united states of america. thank you very much. a brief comment there, the former senator of virginia, jim web there, the current democratic senator from virginia as well talking about the new gi bill. talking about it not just as a repayment, said, as paying a debt to the veterans and also an investment in this country's

future. they are going to become the backbone of the growing middle class and essentially allow them to get the skill to create their own revenue and make this country a better country and also to get it back on a good economic pudding. despite the first gi bill, extend some benefits to the veterans of 911, the veterans of the war in iraq, the war in afghanistan, and some of those benefits. now, the $78 billion bill, a lot of them are starting school up in the fall. this went into effect on august 1st, those payments going out to the university, full ride for a lot of these veterans and some of the education benefits extended to their family members as well. stay here with us. we will continue to follow several stories that are moving and shaking for us, including in the michael jackson case, who is going to get control of his estate? his mother wants control and

she's in court right now trying to get it.

michael jackson's mother is heading back to court. katherine jackson is fighting for control of her son's estate. ted rowlands has the details. she first off, who has control of it now? >> well, the exhibit fors of the will, they are in control of the right now and she said that she wants some briefings, if you will, on the details of the

estates, saying that it is crucial and this really has been with him all his life. a judge is going to hear those petitions. and also decide a rubber stamp they have already worked outside of the courtroom and basically say okay, and approve the deal and that will give katherine jackson custody of the three children. as part of that, debbie rowe will get visitation at a later date when it is appropriate through a third party. the psychologist will talk to the kids and they will work that out down the line. on the other side of the point, not the same case. and if you can test the will contest the will, you can lose all of your rights and in this

case she is awarded 40% of the estate. so they are walking a fine line and trying to get a little bit of control here. katherine jackson is in court. we also stand that two of michael jackson's sisters are in court. and the concert promoters have filed a late motion asking for intervene nors in this. i parentally it is packed in there. >> when you have this many lawyers fighting for something, there must be money on the table. >> yes. >> help us understand how much money we're talking about that his estate would necessarily be worth and of course so many people remember all of the financial trouble that we were told to believe that he was in. >> yes. and it seems like those days are

long gone. and record sales exploded after his death. so the financial situation is much different than before he died. they spent anywhere from 100 million up to 500 million. i'm sure the exhibit fors have a sense of it. but you can be sure. a lot of people are going to want a seat at the table and their hands outlooking for something when you have so much money at stake. ted rowlands, we appreciate it snoo severe turbulence causes problems. ( car door closes ) ooooch! hot seat!

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we've all seen these implosions. and it didn't work that way. >> this is not the actual video out of turkey. >> because it's hard to believe. >> yeah. >> it looked like somebody blew a hole in the side and it tap peled over. you know, somewhere someone is laughing, you can't take my building down. >> sure. it's going to come down in style. >> nice work. hey, t.j., the weather is severe yesterday across the east coast

and it's since moved off the atlantic coast. we're seeing across the western great lakes an area of cold air driving down from canada. and warm, moist air right along here. that could become severe later on today. we've seen a line of showers and thunderstorms becoming severe back from chicago to st. louis. certainly in the heat of the day, the showers form at the tail end of that front. that's cruising across parts of the south. that's what the weather shows across the area. >> well, they can't all be dr. sanjay gupta.

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the best july we've seen in 20 years. that is what happened to the dow for the month of july and not just that, the markets, nasdaq and s&p, getting a pretty good threshold as well. susan lisovicz is here. susan, is this good news? some signs of relief even.

because of economic reports that came out this morning, construction spending, i don't think we have to talk about why that is important. it rose .03 of a percentage. that's not a big amount. wall street expected a decline and the jump came in residential building. so there's apparently more building there as home sales rise. the other surprise came from manufacturing. this is a sector that has just been battered since this recession began. it continues to show contraction. it's not healthy. but the declines are coming at a slower pace and if the trends continue, we could see recovery in the third quarter. well, the third quarter, well, we're in it, basically, so we're looking at improvement and that's what you're seeing. the dow, nasdaq, s&p 500 are

seeing nice gains. right now each are up about .01. t.j.? >> what are our expectations for august? >> you know, august has been a tough month for a few reasons. one, it's typically very slow. you know, the three major averages used to be one of the best because the harvest takes place in august. guess what? we're not a farming economy anymore. we're still getting a lot of earnings news. the earnings news has been good so far. the big headline will come at the end of the report. again, we're seeing a steady pattern of improvement and wall street likes this. >> we all like it. thank you so much, susan lisovicz. we'll see you again soon. meanwhile, the fdic closed banks on friday and there sa warning that more banks could be

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the goal of president obama's overhealth is to cut costs and improve quality. one organization in rural pennsylvania is proving it can

be done. how it works and whether it will work for the rest of the country. >> feel me pushing. >> reporter: cardologist berger is looking inside a patient's heart and getting graded on his work. >> in the heart and taking pictures. >> reporter: the grade is based not just on the success of this procedure but on the overall care his patient received. sometimes up to months later. >> everybody that's involved in the care is focused on the outcome, not their piece of the action. >> reporter: it's part of a radical approach to medicine that has made geisinger medical center, cut costs and improved quality, developing a team approach and emphasizing preventative and follow-up care. >> all of those things are thought or have been proven to be related to the probability of

you having a perfect outcome. >> reporter: some of their innovations, checklist, they follow steps to ensure there are no mistakes, making sure the right patient is on the table. >> can you tell me when your birthday is? >> reporter: a warranty, instead of charging for each test or procedure, patients can pay a flat fee for treating their heart condition. if there are any complications, the patient gets follow-up care for free. >> this warranty system provides additional incentive for us to do the right thing. >> reporter: a third innovation, patient partnering, a nurse is assigned to a patient and checks in regularly. nurse's can get a readout of a parent's weight every day -- >> dan will be on the phone looking for an explanation. >> reporter: according to geisinger partnering has led to a huge decrease in hospitalization. dr. berger says these inno

vacations have helped to make his patients healthier. geisinger says if some instances they saved up to 7% a year. the big question is can this be dup indicated on a national scale? the doctors at geisinger say some parts more readily than others, to expand medical records and harder to get primary care doctors and nurses and specialists to work together and change their approach to medical care. cnn, washington. >> stay with us, ahead we're talking about the 100 days of the obama administration, second 100, days of change or days of frustration? you can let your voice be heard at cnn.com/recordcard and get the report thursday night at 8:00 eastern. also is president obama having second thoughts about a tax hike for the middle class, we'll tell you what the white house is

saying now. also the house approved an additional $2 billion cash for clunkers program. will the senate fill her up. mahmoud ahmadinejad formally endorsed as the iranian president for a second four-year term. stay with us for those stories and more right here in the cnn newsroom. insuring your family's ifs can be confusing,

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iranians staying to the street. here's new information coming in to us. i guess a lot of people not taking too kindly to the endorsement. >> this just in to the iran desk, protests and demonstrations taking place right now in the streets of

tehran. there was a lot of buzz that demonstrations would take place to coincide with the ceremony. earlier with the supreme leader endorsed ahmadinejad. thousands of protesters along a major thorough fare in downtown tehran south of major square. hundreds of security forces in place. we don't have any reports of clashes, we have reports of three people arrested. here's another interesting note. according to a state-run news agency, also protesting, one of opposition candidates, a former government official. he was a no-show at the ceremony today. he was in what they called, illegal protests, very interesting development there. we're taking on top of it here. more for you as it becomes available. >> we'll get back to you as soon as we can. we appreciate it.

thank you so much. well, more signs of an economy on the mend. stocks are trading higher today after the dow posted the best july in 20 years. ford also saying that july '09 sales were up compared to july of '08. there's concern a middle class tax hike could be on the horizon. listen now to treasury secretary timothy geithner who did not rule that out. >> people have to understand we have to bring the deficits down and it will be difficult, hard for us to do. and the path to that is through health care reform but that's necessary and not sufficient. >> revenues are on the table as well? >> we're not at the point where we'll make a judgment about what it will take -- >> but not rule teenager out, can't rule it out? >> what the country needs to do, we're going to do what it takes. do what's necessary. >> you clearly hear the treasury secretary would not rule it out. president obama certainly

sounded like he was ruling it out as a candidate. take a listen. >> under my plan, tax rates will actually be less than therapeutic under ronald reagan. if you make less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased one single dime. if you make less than a quarter million dollars a year, you will not see your taxes increase a dime, not your payroll or income taxes or capital gains taxes, nothing. if you make under $250,000, you will not see your taxes increase by a single dime, not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains tax, no tax. >> all right. dan, what are we supposed to do with this now. we heard it over and over and over again. this is getting attention -- it's one thing to assume if someone makes a mistake.

you had two top economic advisers would not rule this out. what is the white house saying today. >> reporter: you're right. as you pointed out there in the clip from the president on the campaign trail, he was drawing the line in the sand he was not going to be raising classes on the middle class. but, you know, whether this is the trial balloon you heard there from timothy geithner or what we also heard from larry summers, take a listen to what he has to say. leaving the door open that the middle class could be taxed in order to pay for all of the expensive things this administration is trying to do, including health care. >> a lot that can happen over time, but the priority, right now, never good a good idea to absolutely rule things out, no matter what. >> reporter: so, again, it does appear that -- again, what i was saying, are they throwing up this trial balloon or is there a real fundamental shift in this

administration to look for other places to get that revenue? i mean, right now, what the administration's mind has always been is that they would lean the on the wealthiest of americans to pay for health care. is that a shift? we don't know. typically the administration will have the early morning gaggles where you're allowed to go into the press secretary's office and sit down and talk about the news of the day, kind of go over it and hagle over a little bit before you come out for the afternoon briefing. this morning we didn't have one of those gaggles, perhaps they are trying to figure out what the response is or what the real message will be. no doubt at the briefing robert gibbs will be hit hard on this. >> as you said, the briefing at 1:00, what is your first question today at the briefing, dan. >> reporter: is the president going to stand behind his campaign promises or backing away from it? i have a couple of others, i won't tell you what those are.

>> dan, we appreciate you as always, we're looking forward to the briefing today. we'll turn to economic news now, july seemed to sizzle for the dow and also for ford. susan, a u.s. automaker is having a good month? >> a good month and the best month we've seen in two years. ford was happy to leak this to cnn radio yesterday. july sales for ford rose 2% in two years. and here's something else. everybody has been talking about the wild success of cash for clunkers and ford certainly gives credit to that program. but it says it had a successful month prior to it. we'll be able to break it down as we get more of the numbers. what did more for ford? fuel efficient cars of course. escape sales rose 94%.

mercury mariner sales rose more than 70%. the taurus, we'll see how that does. but the bottom line is these are big ticket items and consumers are spending and it's very encouraging for economic recovery and very encouraging to investors and we have a very nice rally in first trading day of august after this scorching month in july, the best month in july for the dow and the s&p 500 in 20 years because we also got two better than expected economic reports. so it's a total trifecta here, got a better than expected report on construction spending and on manufacturing. so the dow and nasdaq and s&p 500 all up. >> good to hear the good news from you. we'll check on you plenty throughout the day. also coming up in 30 minutes, the cash for clunkers program you've been hearing a lot about.

it has been successful, maybe too successful. when will it run out of gas? christine romans will be live with that. what happens to the cars once demolished and how the engine is purposely ruined. all of that coming up. meanwhile we'll turn to iraq and iran. a couple of americans, swiss diplomats acting on behalf of the u.s. trying to arrange a meeting with the three americans who have been arrested in iran. susan tells us they are accused of illegally hiking into the country from iraq. >> reporter: kurdish officials identified the three americans being detained as joshua fa tal and shawn bower, both appearing on internet websites, they've been staying at the hotel before setting out an a scenic hike in the mountains near ahmed awa in

iraq. an unmarked natural border with northern iraq. a friend who stayed behind at the hotel because he was ill said he last heard from them friday. they called to tell them therapeutic surrounded by iranian soldiers during the hike. the mother confirms captivity but declining requests for on camera interviews. >> my husband and i are eager for the best welfare and conditions for our son, josh and for the other two companions he's with. and that is our only concern. his welfare and the best conditions for him. >> josh is a very curious person. and he is interested in the

world, wants to eat the world whole. >> reporter: friends say the three have spent time or lived in western europe and the middle east and are seasoned travelers. sara is on a website that mentions her travels and also appears on shane bowers website. it has asked the swiss console at in iran. >> it's a very sensitive situation especially given the strained relations between the u.s. and ran. susan candiotti, cnn, new york. a battle over michael jackson's estate is going on in california happening in a courtroom right now. what is the fight all about? we'll tell you what's at stake. more warm weather in the pacific northwest. portland will be 88. the biggest story is the potential for severe weather there. we'll have the forecast coming up in about a half hour. om the d

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a live picture, of a memorial happening outside of atlanta. this is new birth missionary baptist church. thousands of people are expected for the funeral services of former boxing champ vernon for rest. you may remember it was over a week ago that she was shot to death in an atlanta gas station. he was robbed and then exchanged gunfire with probably three to four suspects. a host of celebrities and boxers as well expected at the memorial service. oscar d oscar dela high ya. sugar shane moseley expected to be at the funeral as well. he was 48 years old. former olympian, thousands

expected. just getting under way now for vernon forrest. katherine jackson is back in court expected to fight for this control of her son's estate. ted rowlands joins us in los angeles. you're outside the courthouse. tell us what's happening inside. >> reporter: the hearing was delayed a bit. just getting under way now from what we're told from a court spokesperson. katherine jackson is there along with his two sisters and brothers. a huge contingent of lawyers inside the courtroom. we're expecting the judge will rubber stamp the custody agreement where katherine jackson gets custody of the three children, debbie rowe gets some visitation at some point down the line when it's appropriate there. the judge will have to entertain

katherine jackson's wishes to have a larger role in the estate. and basically she's asking for more information. the executers are saying, we're not willing to give her information unless she plays better our rules and their rules are they want her to sign a confidentiality agreement that is too cumbersome. they are fighting. the judge will have to figure it out. there's $100 million at the table. $500 million at the high end in terms of an estimation of jackson's estate. one other thing they are expected to figure out today is a stipen for katherine jackson and the three children. a lot of lawyers to maneuver around for this judge. >> to follow up on one point you made. it sounds like she's asking for at this point information. she wants to have more access to a lot of things. what do we know she wants to do with it once she gets information. is she going to make a play to control all of her son's estate?

>> reporter: it's unclear. it seems as though a bit of paranoia going on, you can imagine with the secrecy involved in something like this and the amount of money and different contracts. one of things they came up with, they wanted to see the contract michael jackson signed to do the concert, the details of it. they haven't been able to see it. that is really disconcerning for katherine jackson's camp. late today aeg asked the judge if they could intervene adding more lawyers and people at the table. >> ted rowlands, trying to keep track. we appreciate you keeping an eye on what has become an increasingly complicated legal situation. we'll hear from you later. a nearly 20-year-old mystery now solved. the answer to what happened to captain scott speicher buried in the sand the whole time and

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listen in live now to the secretary of state answering questions about the three american hikers believed to be

being held in iran. >> we want this matter brought to a resolution as soon as possible. and we call on the iranian government to help us determine the whereabouts of the three missing americans and return them as quickly as possible. with respect to the potential actions that might be undertaken by the international community, we're not going to be commenting on what might or might not be done. we've made it very clear that we wish to engage with the iranians in accordance with president obama's policy to discuss a broad range of issues. that would be a bilaterally channel which we have communicated to the iranians and engaged in multilateral channels, and as you know, the p

5 plus one representative, put forth a proposal some months ago that we have not received a response to -- >> just wanted to jump in and hear those comments from the secretary of state hillary clinton about the three americans believed to be wide reported now held under arrest in iran after they accidentally -- sounds like they accidentally crossed an unmarked border from iraq into iran. they were hiking when they found themselves where they shouldn't have been which was over the border in iran, surrounded by iranian soldiers and now believed to be held there. secretary of state there making interesting comments, saying calling on the iranian government to help determine the whereabouts and return them as quickly as possible. sounding like they may not be sure, in fact that they are being held by the iranians, but saying to help determine the whereabouts. the swiss right now are operating and negotiating on behalf of the americans because,

again, they are the strained and diplomatic relations between the u.s. and iran. the swiss are trying to work and make contact with the americans. the secretary of state making comments. wanted to bring that to you live as we got it. let's turn to the gulf war mystery that got solved over the weekend. our cnn pentagon correspondent chris lawrence joins us to talk about the discovery of naval flyer scott speicher's remains. first background on this navy pilot. >> reporter: scott speicher's children were toddlers the day he disappeared. now his remains are coming home to college students. was he captured? tortured? all this time the answer was buried in the iraqi sand and solved by a single tip. >> it's a bitter sweet ending. it's great that we have finally accomplished an ending. but it is bitter sweet. >> reporter: last month an iraqi citizen told american troops about the crash site.

when the marines arrived another iraq okay said he was there when they found captain speicher. u.s. troops found multiple skeletal fragments and bones. when they compared with the dental records with the recovered jaw bone, it was him. >> the whole family is so grateful that the navy stayed on this. >> reporter: the military made mistakes starting hours after speicher was shot down when the pentagon declared him dead. >> the total u.s. losses are one aircraft and one individual. >> the pentagon has identified a navy pilot as the first u.s. servicemen missing in action. >> reporter: some thought he may have ejected and still be alive. according to senior defense officials in the room, chairman of the joint chiefs, scrubbed the plan and said, quote, i do

not want to have to write the parents and tell them their son or daughter died looking for old bones. in 2001, the peg pentagon changed the status to missing in action and there were accusations he was being held captive by saddam hussein. some thought at the found speecher's initials scratched into the walls in a prison, but it was not him. now the vigils can ends. one fact remains. >> we walked away from a downed pilot. it was done by mistakingly declaring him dead and they didn't search for him. that was a mistake and that is very important that we never repeat that mistake again. >> all right, chris lawrence, joining us now from the pentagon. chris, one of those big questions, certainly the military wanted to solve, was he ever held in saddam hussein's prison. we have the answer to that question. do we have all the answers now?

can the family now have that peace and all those questions answered? >> not quite, t.j., there has to be a few more questions the family would like to have answered. number one, is there any chance that he survived that crash? even for a little while. and two, did he die at the crash site or did he die somewhere else, and was his body then brought to the crash site and buried there? those are some questions the family may try to answer right now. >> another question there, if we don't know exactly what happened, if he didn't die in the crash, a question of why, you talked about those that buried him out there, why they buried him. >> shepherds living off the land in a remote part of iraq. muslim law dictates you have a burial promptly after the person's death. it's possible they buried him

out of respect for his body. that part of an bar province was the move violent part of iraq for a long time. it was years ago that the sunni tribed switched sides and started working with the u.s. and that changed the relationship into a more friendly relationship between the people there and u.s. forces. >> a much different place then. chris lawrence for us on this story. at least part of the mystery is solved. we appreciate you this afternoon. >> you're welcome. you know about the cash for clunkers program. you get the cash, but what happens to everybody's clunker? our poppy harlow went to see demolition for herself.

senate negotiators get back to work on health care reform today. house lawmakers are going home

for the august recess. the bipartisan group still searching for a compromise, there won't be a vote before the senate breaks for their august break sometime the end of this week. you heard the term blue dog democrats being held a lot. this group is critical in the debate over health care. cnn chief national correspondent john kooen explains the blue dog tag. >> you heard from voices familiar and some maybe not so familiar. democratic leaders in the house and senate, and republican leaders in the house and senate. if you're listening closely, it's also likely you heard the term blue dog democrats. individually most are not so influential, together their voices are proving pivotal. a new govern-run insurance program is such a good idea? these are the states representing at least one member in a congressional delegation

who calls himself a blue dog. you see them again. take a peek in here. 52 members of the blue dog coalition, represent the 29 states we just showed you. 32 of these members represent districts won by republican john mccain in 2008. in our american dispatch we wanted to take a closer look. in western idaho, this blue congressional district, the first congressional district. wanted to look up close at the blue dogs who have to balance the party's call with a constituency that doesn't like big spending or trust big government. western idaho is in a word spectacular. rolling hills filled with golden grain. breath taking forest. shimmering lakes. and tiny towns like saint mary built around the mines and mills and anchored by places where everyone is on a first-name basis and everyone thinks a

business and the government should put a premium on the bottom line. >> it's difficult to be a liberal in this neck of the woods. >> reporter: a proud democrat but she knows from the lively conversations in her restaurant, she's a minority, especially in the recent debate over what to do over health care. >> i come from british parents. they taught me that socialized government is not a bad thing that everybody reports it to be. i think the government needs to take over health care. >> reporter: saint mary's is in a timber region where john mccain won by a 2-1 margin. the democratic chairwoman says what sells in new york and san francisco will likely fall flat here. >> we're westerneres are more independent, don't want to give up their guns, tend to be more self-reliant.

more fiscally conservative. >> reporter: the local congressman is a democrat, one of those that adds the word blue dog to his party affiliation. >> that means someone who thinks realistically and pragmatically about spending. i think the blue dog democrats see their constituents more realistically than the real strong liberals. to visit a place like this is to see the blue dog dilemma up close. >> years ago i voted for reagan, even though i thought he was too liberal. >> reporter: giving government too much power, but he won't reward the democrat with his vote because he wants the house back in republican hands. >> if he doesn't change his party, there's no way i can vote democrat because like right now, they have control of the house and all and that's what's killing america.

>> reporter: cross the table, proud liberal patricia bauer has concerns of a different time. >> i'm concerned about him being too conservative. i am happy he's watching the numbers because i think we need to do that. but i'm concerned that fiscally responsible becomes a ney vote for health care. >> reporter: university of idaho professor brian mcclyde says it is an impossible balancing act. >> the district is very republican. p of the district is solid red in terms of blue and red american. obama is going to be an issue, especially if there's more liberal -- >> reporter: she disagrees when her government fights plan for an option. >> most of whom who don't have insurance. >> reporter: because you can't afford to give it to them? >> disagrees but understands the

blue dog rationale. loggers and fellows that work in the timber industry are pretty right wing. >> the way he thinks is typical of most moderate, be it republicans or democrats in this area. he needs to do that because that's what the constituents want. >> blue dog democrats criticize the president's health plan as too costly which is why we're seeing the white house and leadership meeting with the blue dog group. the senate may follow the house and refuel the auto rebate plan known as cash for clunkers. christine, this thing is working and working well. if the senate doesn't follow suit, is this program about to go away? >> if the senate does not approve another 2 billion bucks, the white house says it will be done than the middle of the week. when they were first putting the

stimulus together, it got whitled down to one and that $1 billion was eaton up in a few days. the auto industry telling us frankly, they had in the last week of july, more sales of cars because of this than for the whole rest of the month of july. so more than one week for the rest of july. and this is why because some people are able to go and get a car, buy a new car, trade in their old one and get more for it than it's even worth. listen. >> i traded in a car, got $4500 for a car i paid 4,000 for two years ago. i think i made a great deal. >> ford is saying it had first increase in car sales in two years. i told you about all of those sales in the end of july, people are thinking beginning of august will have an awful lot of car sales too. they would like to see it keep going. the criticism from some people is you shouldn't have the government running the used car business. you'll hear about this i'm sure

this afternoon in the debate from people around the senate. people who don't want to vote for this. and also some people say point of stimulus is not to cram three or four months of car demand into a few weeks but to generate new demand from somewhere. some people are saying it isn't necessarily new demand, people on the sidelines waiting. whatever the reason, it is really boosting car sales. >> what a deal. he paid $4,000 for a car and got $4500 for it. >> $220,000, god love you for driving your car that far. but to get the big gas guzzlers off the roads and then that goes a little ways to our energy dependance issues and just better for the environment. that's at least the goal of this whole thing. >> it is working. so far so good. maybe too well. we're talking about that guy's car there. he traded in and all of those others, what exactly happens to the ones left behind at the

dealership? we'll turn to cnnmoney.com's poppy harlow who has a breakdown for us from new york. that's a lot of cars people are turning in. where are they going? >> this isn't just an economic stimulus plan of sorts. it's lgs also a plan to get the worst polluting cars off the road. the dealers are forced to get rid of the gas guzzlers. they have to destroy the engine. we visited a nissan dealer. they killed this 1996 plymouth vil agoer. you rev up the car and the solution hardens and in seven minutes, you can never drive the car again. that's the goal. the voyager you saw is the first one that that service manager at the dealership ever killed. take a listen to what he said. >> as a service manager you

never want to junk the old cars, as the sales end of it goes, it will be a huge success and can't wait to do another 100 of them. >> can't wait because they get to trade them in and buy new cars and heptz the dealership. incredibly popular program. about $1 billion in funding as we know now about exhausted in a week of the program. >> you talk about the liquid glass you call it they pour into the engine. then what? >> then they take it to a scrap yard, the doors, hood, anything you can use is stripped out. but the engine can't be stripped out it's crushed. but some auto recyclers don't like this because the engine is the most valuable part for them. about 60% of their sales for these recycled auto parts are generally the engines. but they can still sell the hood and doors and anything else from the clunkers. i asked people on facebook, are you trading in a clunker?

and i want to bring you a comment from howard. listen, this is a win-win situation. they should do it again in five years when the electric cars become more prevalent. it's working for now, that's for sure. >> poppy harlow for us today. thanks so much. that is the top story on cnnmoney.com. for latest financial news as well as analysis. we will turn to the fight in afghanistan now as. is the country security enough for elections? we'll find out.

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hello, again, everybody. i'm standing over here at our iran desk. it has been a busy place lately since the protested elections. presidential elections there in iran. it's been up and down. at first it was heavy with a lot of protests, died down a little bit. every once in a while it sparks back up. something sparked them. >> right now it is back up.

the demonstrators will hold demonstrations to cou demonstrations to co-inside with the elections. protesters, thousands of them in this area, this is a major square in downtown tehran. according to sources, you have thousands of people marching up and down chanting, god is great, death to the dictator. also on the scene there, hundreds of security forces, members of the besieged riding in pairs on motorcycles. they are charging these protesters when they chant on the sidewalk, the usual game of cat and mouse when they chant. they charge, they disburse and start back up again in another street corner. no report of clashes as of yet. sources telling us at least three arrests. earlier today you had the ceremony with the supreme leader supporting ahmadinejad.

the man defeated on june 12th, what does he turn up according to a state-run news agency, he is there among what they call an illegal protest. huge development there. opposition candidate, former government officials missing from the ceremony today in protest and shows up in one of demonstrations today. about 9:15 right now, still going on. this was supposed to be the president's day but the opposition movement saying this is our day as well. and we're not going away. >> are we still having the same challenges and have the restrictions on the media there? we can only do so much and get -- >> yeah, we depend on our sources and pictures coming in. this is a picture just posted on the internet. we cannot independently verify where this is, but according to the picture posted it is in valley and there you see opposition supporters wearing the green, the official color of the opposition movement.

we're depending on these individuals, citizen journalists to send us pictures and give us information with our sources there. they are risking a lot to do that. without them and the sources on the ground, we couldn't report the facts to you. >> latest developments happening in iran. we'll let them get back to work. we have aid video to show you, something interesting. exactly what not to do when you want to implode a building. stay with us.

michael jackson's mother will be the one to raise his three children. that's the word we're get from the courthouse. the judge has now said she'll be the permanent guardian, for prince michael and paris and 12, 11 and 7 years old in the 2002 will he said he wanted his mother to raise the children. now a lawyer -- a judge has now

made it official that she will be the one to raise the three children. that is one of the number of issues being handled out in court today. a hearing going on right now with a lot of lawyers representing so many different interests and entities who are essentially bickering back and forth about who is going to control the estate. the judge is saying katherine jackson will be the permanent guardian of his three children. we'll keep an eye on that hearing. we'll turn to afghanistan now and the fight in. natu nato innational security force, ivan watson, joining us from kabul. we have seen a lot of reports of violence and casualties. tell us, how is the latest on

the violence there. >> reporter: it was a bloody weekend here. nine u.s. and nato troops killed over the course of a weekend in a number of different incidents around the country on saturday and sunday. six of them american troops and two canadian soldier and french soldier. a deadly incident, a roadside bomb evidently targeting an afghan police chief. it killed two of his body guards and wounded him and killed another ten afghan civilians who were in the area. wounded dozens there. that brings us to the point afghan civilians are suffering the brunt of this conflict according to the united nations, more than a thousand afghan civilians killed over the first six months. chief cause of death is taliban insurgent roadside bombs and suicide bombs and western nato and u.s. air strikes, number

two. there is a presidential election scheduled to take place on august 20th. we caught up with one of the candidates, who's running for re-election and he accused hamid karzai of famie failing to keep the security in the country, forcing the u.s. to double the troops in afghanistan since last year. list ton what he said. >> unfortunately, the government of afghanistan has failed to provide security for its citizens and also to utilize the opportunity which was the presence of the foreign troops, international troops, as well as billions of deconstruction assistance in afghanistan to stabilize afghanistan to the extent that eight years down the road we would have been able to say, less troops rather than more. >> reporter: now, t.j., hamid

karzai has almost been out stumping and traveling and trying to attract supporters and voters for august 20th for the presidential election and been defending his record. he says since the taliban was overthrown eight years ago millions of afghan refugees have returned to the country and he pledged to do more with the help of the international community to bring peace to this war-torn country. >> keeping an eye on things in afghanistan. thank you so much. well, no matter where you are in this country, you probably think you have a tough morning commute. well, baghdad's rush hour ain't no joke either. we'll meet the man many iraqis trust to get them where they are going. triglycerides are still out of line? then you may not be seeing the whole picture. ask your doctor about trilipix. statin to lower bad cholesterol, along with diet, adding trilipix can lower fatty triglycerides and raise good cholesterol to help improve all three

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you've seen implosions before, right. >> successful ones. >> i've never seen one go badly. >> i've only seen one that was on old smoke stack that was supposed to go down that actually fell over. >> let's go ahead and show what was supposed to happen, implode an old flour factory in turkey, this is what happened.

>> i have never seen a building fall over like this before. and rob made a point earlier, it looks like somebody was out there with an axe, like chopping down a tree. >> it looks like they blew up the strongest building in the country. i'm only kidding, not being serious, it was so well built it doesn't collapse on its side. >> what they are saying, explosives on one side of the building detonated. so that's the hole we see here that left the building standing for a short time and that was eventually going to happen. and l. i'm sure the guy who built that building is laughing somewhere, you can't take my building down, baby. i told you i built that strong. >> it was supposed to go straight down and not roll over. >> it didn't hit anything. >> no casualties, that's a good thing there. giving us something to look at and talk about. >> chad, thank you. we'll turn to iraq, where iraqi forces are taking responsibility for security in their country

and one general is determined to make the iraqi capital safe for commuters. phil black reports. >> reporter: rarely do traffic police officers anywhere inspire this much affection or so much respect. it's a great honor to meet you, this man says. general ahmad has been a traffic officer in iraq for 23 years. the last 18 months he's also become a television celebrity. general ahmad is baghdad's traffic guru, the traffic in baghdad is pretty much always terrible. general ahmad tells the audience of good morning iraq just how terrible it is. he reports live from the street and the city's traffic monitoring center using its 85 cameras to make sense of the gridlock. he tells me he loves his job, doesn't care about being a

celebrity. he's just happy that people are watching and learning. general ahmad, doesn't always give traffic reports, he's been a moral compass for the city's drivers, publicly cite sizing their mistakes. anybody's, even the police or other officials. look at this car driving on the wrong side, he says here, what gives him the right to break the law just because he's driving a government car? >> reporter: navigating the road work isn't about convenience or getting somewhere on time. in this city, people are killed while sitting in traffic. the general knows this personally. last year his 18-year-old son was kilds by a roadside bomb. he says his job has now become a duty. some people thought about revenge when they lost loved ones, he says, but it won't bring my son back. this is why i have