this until i die. and his viewers believe he is saving lives. when i drive i remember general ahmad's advice and put on my seat belt, this man says. unlikely but effective hero in a city that needs many of them. phil black, cnn, baghdad. >> and cnn newsroom continues right now with kyra phillips. more cash for clunkers? it could all come to a screeching halt and fast. >> it was horrifying. i never would have thought in a million years that i would have the emotional reaction that i did. a doting mom and family blog. kids for sale or not on the internet? we're pushing forward on an outrage you'll have to see to believe. >> one down.

100,000 to go. >> and the evergrades have a burmese python problem and now the pythons have a problem too. you'll meet him this hour. hello, i'm kyra phillips live. you're live in the cnn "newsroom." the deficit is soaring and health care may be expending and taxes may be rising and not just on the rich. we're awaiting the conference on the talk show appearances of both officials who suggested broad-based tax hikes may be needed to cut the deficit and bank roll health reform. here's tim geithner. >> 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 but not sufficient. we'll do other things too. >> receive news are on the table? >> we're not at the point where we'll make a judgment -- >> you can't rule it out? >> i think what the country needs to do is understand we'll have to do what it takes, what is necessary. >> here's the problem. the message that president obama delivered on a daily basis when he was candidate obama is this -- >> under my plan, tax rates will be less than they were under ronald reagan. if you make less than $250 nourks a year, you will not see your taxes increase a single dime. if you make less than a quarter million dollars, you won't see your payroll taxes 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. >> let's bring in cnn white house correspondent dan lothian. i'm seeing flash backs, president bush, no new taxes, read my lips. >> that was 1988, he had to back back from that because he needed the money to pull down the deficit. white house not moving the story forward in terms of trying to clarify it was that the two top money money had to say yesterday. one interesting point, over the last couple of weeks, robert gibbs, the spokesman has been holding these gaggles, a backgrounds briefing early in the morning, a chance to hit them on the big story of the day. today that was canceled. it's kind of interesting, perhaps the white house is still trying to figure out what the message is.

clearly this appears to be they are throwing up trial bloonz but perhaps there's a fundamental shift here for the administration. we'll press that hard at the briefing coming up in an hour, we hope. >> we'll show it as soon as it begins. dan, thanks so much. broke, yesterday, but broken? by all accounts cash for clunkers a runaway hit. an estimated quarter million new car sales in a single week. as we've been reporting, the funds are runding out if they haven't already and the house passed a $2 billion extension on friday and the push back is already under way, some senators want to include fuel efficient used cars. others question where the money will come from. ford reports its first monthly sales jump in almost two years and says clunker cash is the reason for that. u.s. officials are having a tough time getting information

about three americans now being held in iran. the fact there's no diplomatic ties between the two countries isn't helping matters either. the three were arrested friday for allegedly crossing the border illegally from iraq's northern region. susan candiotti has more. >> reporter: kurdish officials identified the three americans being detained as joshua fattal, seen here on his facebook page and shane bauer and sara shourd, both appearing on internet websites, they've been staying at the hotel before setting out for a hike in the mountains near iraq. despite warnings to be careful, they apparently strayed into iranian territory across 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 him erp surrounded by iranian soldiers during the hike. fattal's mother who lives in

pennsylvania confirms the captivity but is declining requests for on-camera interviews. she spoke with cnn radio by phone. >> 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 well fare and the best conditions for him. >> josh is a very curious person. and he is interested in the world, wants to 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. sarah shourd appears on a website that mentions travels and named on shane bauer's website, he's a photographer. the american who stayed behind

because he was ill is at the u.s. embassy in baghdad. he is a graduate student at the university of washington. the state department says it has asked the swiss consulate to try to make contact with the detained americans because the u.s. itself has no diplomater relations with iran. >> begin the strained relations between the u.s. and iran, susan candiotti, cnn, new york. joining us now from baghdad with more. ar wa. a lot of people are asking why would anyone want to hike in iraq's northern region. you and i both know it's pretty beautiful there. >> reporter: it is, it is quite stunning. and i'm sure it is strange for people to hear american tourist would have come to iraq given it is constantly in the headlines because of the war that waging here for the last six years. northern iraq, the kurdish north

is completely different. it's absolutely beautiful and it's relatively safe. it hasn't been plagued by the levels of violence that we saw ravage the rest of the country. it's booming economically, fz a very attractive place for foreign investment. you have these beautiful mountain ranges, you've got specifically in the area where these three americans went, you've got waterfalls. it's a beautiful spot, it might seem strange, it's not. especially when you take into consideration that these three americans were considered to be something of, the type of traveler that isn't afraid to wander into strange and different places. >> do we know now since susan filed her report, if the swiss embassy has reached out to the iranians? >> reporter: they have. a state department says that swiss diplomats did meet with officials in tehran but they received surprisingly little information. in fact, the iranian officials

they met with said they hadn't even heard about this report, this incident, which is very disconcerting given it is the iranian press tv that reported that the three had been detained. there are, of course, ongoing efforts to secure more information, but everyone seems to be coming up against the road blocks, even kurdish officials in the north have been trying to reach out to the iranian consulate up there and receiving very little information as well. it's pretty disturbing. >> and knowing that area, it's secure and safe. still, you are so close to a war-torn area with terrorists and a lot violence taking place, if you are to hike in that area, are you warned about this and do you take things with us, for example, weapons or any type of special radios in case something does happen? >> reporter: well, look, kyra, when we travel up there we take a number of security precautions, we are aware even though it is safe, as you

mentioned, it is very close to iraq and there are extremist element that's do operate up in that area. the last time we actually went up there though, we did run into a number of tourists who didn't really have this with them. these three, as far as we're aware, were not warned about any sort of terrorist, they were warned by the local police to watch out because of the proximity they were in to iran, saying, you're american, these are very tense times so -- >> we'll follow the story, thanks so much. iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad got what he needed today. formally endorse ahmadinejad for a seconds term. the ceremony aimed at showing unity was boycotted by critics of the disputed june presidential elections. the endorsement clears the way

for ahmadinejad to take the oath of office. >> michael scott speicher's status changed so many times in eight years, his family's piece of mind changing with it. they finally have answers now. to stay on top of my game after 50, i switched to a complete multivitamin with more. only one a day men's 50+ advantage... has gingko for memory and concentration. plus support for heart health. that's a great call. one a day men's.

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one word makes the difference between defining the mission and accomplishing the mission. one word makes the difference in defending our nation and the cause of freedom. how... is the word that makes all the difference. doing right by veterans and their families in a post 9/11 world. the gi bill kicked in on saturday. what's different? this version covers tuition at public universities for active soldiers, you have three years of active duty since 9/11, you can get four years of tuition plus a monthly stipend. troops with three years of active duty can transfer the benefit to a spouse or child. guardsmen with at least three years active duty in the past seven years can get the full

tuition package also. the president, vp and head of veterans affairs celebrated the bill with young veterans today at george mason university. >> with this policy, we're letting those who have born the heaviest burden lead us into the 21st century, we honor the service of an extraordinary generation and look to america that they will help build tomorrow. the post 9/11 gi bill, we can give our veterans a chance to live their dreams -- >> the va expects to pay out about $78 billion over the next ten years. next hour we're talking to the senator that introduced the new bill, jim webb, from virginia. >> speicher, first american shot down in the golf war in 1991, one of the last to come home, his remains have been identified. . we're expecting robert gibbs to address as we take the briefing live now.

>> today's previously scheduled event to honor nascar champion was -- had to be rescheduled because the race yesterday was rained out. that event will be august 19th here at the white house. second announcement is the senate democrats will come down to the white house tomorrow and have lunch here with the president. all of them. unclear. you didn't get your invite? to continue to talk about the priorities that they have, to talk about what has been accomplished in the first six and a half months of the administration and to talk about

the progress. no. no. it's the president's birthday and chuck e. cheese was booked. >> i got it. >> good. that didn't actually cause you to laugh though. i like -- who celebrated a birthday a few weeks ago at chuck e. cheese. i was joking about that. take us away, phil. >> the president has been pretty clear wants to cut the deficit in half within a decade, wants a health care overhaul that's deficit overhaul and promised no tax increase on the middle class. is there a point where you say two out of three ain't bad and can you get all three of these done? >> the president is committed to doing those things. the president was clear in the campaign about that. i think in some ways those goals

overlap. we're not going to make progress on the deficit without dealing with health care. so some of those goals actually work in tandem. i don't think we're going to get the deficit under -- begin to get the deficit under better control until we get the economy moving again. in order to get -- lay the new foundation the president strongly believes health care reform is important. he was clear about his commitment on not raising taxes on middle class families. i don't think any economist would believe that in the environment that we're in raising taxes on middle class families would make any sense. >> why didn't secretary geithner and dr. summers say they would not raise taxes on those families? >> i did not watch the shows, i read the transcripts. i think they allowed themselves to get into a hypothetical back

and forth. i will say this and i think this is important for all of us to understand and we've talked about this issue and throughout the time that we've been here, we do have big structural deficit that's are going to have to be dealt with in order to meet the president's commitment of cutting this deficit in half and getting us back on a path toward fiscal responsibility. that there's no question about. and i think what they both talked about was one, we're not going to have -- we're not going to be able to sustain any sort of economic recovery unless or until we do have a path towards fiscal responsibility. but they also said that this shouldn't be done as a way of burdening middle class families. i think that the president's commitment on this is clear. we have a lot of big challenges. we're already looking at ways to cut wasteful spending as parts of health care reform, the

president identified half a trillion dollars in spending that he thinks can be cut. we worked just in the two weeks on a bipartisan basis to look at the program like the f 22 and cut that wasteful spending out of the budget as well. yes,ma'am. >> if iran doesn't agree to talks with the united states, is the u.s. discussing with its allies the possibility of sanctions such as sanctions on gasoline and other refined petroleum products? >> as you know, the p 5 plus one has an outstanding invitation for the iranians to come to the table. the president strongly believes we should, many of our allies believe we should not allow the iranians to acquire a nuclear weapon. that invitation has not been responded to.

as you've heard the president discuss recently, we'll evaluate as part of the g8 process where we are in that in september. i don't want to get in discussions amongst allies or hypotheticals as we get toward those dates. >> when you say you're not going to allow, what do you mean by that? >> we think it's important to do what has to be done in order to prevent iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, yes. >> like what. >> a host of things, including, i think beginning by engaging directly with them so that they can live up to their own responsibilities in not pursuing that technology. >> in terms of what geem gijener

and certificate msummers had to think it's possible to do deficit reduction, but that's not -- >> we can quibble whether the word possible -- >> that's not what the word hypothetical. is it possible to do everything the president wants to do without increasing revenues on the middle class? >> right and i want to state again clearly here that the president has made a very clear commitment to not raise taxes on middle class families. >> if economists, including the president's own economist don't necessarily think that it's possible to do so without raising taxes on the middle class, how is that dealing candidly with the american people? >> again, jake, there are a series of things that have to be done. you'll hear an announcement from treasury later this afternoon but how much money has to be borrowed versus what they thought was going to have tb bore reed as a result of financial stabilization in terms

of cutting the amount of money that's needed, again, i think the president has been clear on this. the first thing that we can do, the most important thing we can do right now is get our economy growing again. we know that the deficit -- part of the reason the deficit is up right now is that the economy has slowed down so much that tax revenues -- because this is what happens in an economic slowdown have regressed a lot. i think the president obviously -- we're going to have to make decisions down the road on some of the president's legislative power, these are some things congress wants to do to evaluate how we move back towards the path towards fiscal sustainability. >> yes. >> so geithner and summers go

off script or were they testing the temperatures? >> i don't know. the president has been clear on his commitment on it. >> there's no real scenario there where middle class taxpayers might be hit with a hike? >> the president has been clear, very clear. >> could i make that even more precise, the president as you well know not just middle class, but very precise about it, no family -- >> let me be precise, his clear commitment is not to raise taxes on those making less than $250,000 a year. >> any implication, anybody drew yesterdays from the contrary is flatly wrong? >> the president has been clear. you heard him reiterate not that long ago, right outside this room in the rose garden. >> you can understand what people said what they said yesterday as geithner and summers trying to open the door

a little bit. >> i hope you'll take my reiteration as an up -- >> the door is closed, they did not open the door. >> i'm reiterating the president's clear commitment in the clearest terms possible that he's not raising taxes on those that make less than 2 $50,000 a year. >> did you speak to him about -- >> we talked about a number of economic issues this morning as parts of the daily briefing. >> is everybody going to be on message -- >> promising everybody is going to be on message is too high for me to leap over -- the goal is to get our government back on -- >>my family -- >> to get our government on a path toward fiscal stability and lay the term for economic growth and one point i forgot, that i think is important in this, within the very first month of the president taking office, 95%

of americans received a tax cut. that's everybody in the middle class. okay, the president ran because for eight long years the middle class had borne the brunt of bad economic policies, right. even when jobs were being created, even when you saw positive economic growth, for the very first time in our history, you saw wages for the middle class decline. that's one of reasons that led the president of the united states to want to run for president of the united states, to protect the middle class, to cut their taxes, which he did. and to make sure that their voices were heard, the economic policy making of this country. >> the door is not open even a millimeter. >> i hope you take seriously what i said. >> update from senator baucus on if you'll get a bill out of the

financing committee? >> i don't sometime last week, i don't think there were any calls over the weekend. not that i know of. >> can you explain, did you feel like friday's gdp, every time there's a reported number, there's a revised number, something that lately has been revised downward. do you guys worry the gdp number, which you guys jumped on as a positive step forward, do you have any reason to believe it could get revised downward? >> obviously, one of the things that was done one of things that was released on friday were revisions based on newer economic modeling back decades. i could ask if we assume -- i certainly don't believe at this point. i think so, but plus, look, you know, obviously the number is not more than a weekend old. so i know they feel confident in that. the one thing that we do know

now that we didn't have as clear a handle on that you see in these economic revisions is the shear depth of what -- what we were facing economically, the -- you know the growth the positive growth you saw in the second quarter of 2008 was revised down sharply. the first quarter of 2008 went from a period of supposed economic growth to economic contract gs, the depth of the third quarter in 2008 began to show you how deep a recession we were in and continue to be. i think we take heart, take some heart from the numbers, obviously on friday, that showed one, that the recovery plan we think is having an impact, cushioning the economic downturn

that we saw, saving and creating jobs. understanding with this caveat, we'll get new jobs figures on friday, and, you know, i don't think there's anybody that doesn't believe that we're going to see several hundred thousand more jobs lost in this economy. >> confusion on the tax thing, this is something that summers and geithner got caught up in hypothetical questions or is this a media interpretation? >> i thnk a con influence of some of that stuff, sure. >> robert, is the administration looking at fort leavenworth as a possible site for detainees from gitmo. >> i don't know the degree to which they've gotten into specific sightings, i think we made progress on dealing with a

number of issues that the executive order that needed to be dealt with as part of the executive order in reviewing the case files and in deciding who can and should be transferred. but no final decisions have been made. >> bottom line what we were waiting to hear is what robert gibbs to say about taxes. we heard on a couple interviews from secretary tim geithner, we're talking about not just rising on the rich. during the interviews over the weekend, the talk was about the broad-based tax hike maybe needed to cut the deficit and bank roll health reform, something that candidate obama said he would not do and now all of a sudden we're having the talk about tax hikes and it's getting americans wore riled about that. we'll follow that throughout the day from the hill to the white house. meanwhile, we'll have more from the cnn newsroom straight ahead

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michael jackson's mom making out okay today as a judge rules on custody and estate issues. ted rowlands has the latest.

>> reporter: a busy morning so far. katherine jackson has been awarded permanent custody of the three children with a hearing pending in october. sort of a status hearing but the judge said yes to her being in control of these children and being the guardian of these children. the little bit of a wrinkle at the beginning of this hearing dr. arnold klein, the dermatologist, his lawyer stepped up and said he wanted a role in the children's life. the judge said on what basis, they had a sidebar meeting and came back and the judge, said, no, you don't have standing here and moved on. a surprise request for another person to get involved in these children's lives. that seems to be set as far as the children. now onto the estate. the judge took a break a half hour ago, you attorneys go and try to hash this out so i don't have to make decisions. they have just concluded their meetings and getsing underway again answering questions about

the estate. katherine jackson wants a larger role saying she's been kept in the dark. the attorneys talked to each other, we'll see what the judge has to say. on the table katherine jackson's role as far as the estate, $20 million, upwards of $5 billion by the players involved. >> o.j. simpson's lawyer is in court today in nevada trying to get him out of prison, asking a state supreme court panel to set bond while the conviction is appealed. simpson is serving up to 33 years for kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon. all from the infamous confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers a couple of years ago. killed in action and then reported missing and captured and missing again. michael scott speicher's status changed so many times in 18 years, his family's piece of mind changing with it. now finally they have answers.

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i think i'll go with the basic package. good choice. only meineke lets you choose the brake service that's right for you. and save 50% on pads and shoes. meineke. captain michael scott speicher one of the last to come home. his remains now identified. speicher's family getting some

answers after more than 18 years of grief, false leads and false hopes and fears and rumors. imagine the roller coaster hearing he was dead, captured in a prison and missing again. >> reporter: captain scott speicher's children were toddlers the day he disappeared. now the remains are coming home to college students. was he captured? tortured? all of this time the answer was buried in the iraqi sand and solved by a single tip. >> it's a bittersweet ending. it's great that we have finally accomplished an ending, but it is bittersweet. >> reporter: last month an iraqi citizen told american troops about the crash site. when the marines arrived, another iraqi said he was there when veterans found captain speicher already dead and buried his body.

u.s. troops found multiple skeletal fragments and bones. when compared his dental records with the recovered jaw bone, it was him. >> the whole family is so grateful that the navy stayed on this. >> reporter: but 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 identified the pilot as the first u.s. serviceman missing in action in the gulf war. >> reporter: some thought he ejected and might still be alive. in 1994 they pro poised a secret mission to survey the crash site. according to senior officials in the room, the plan was scrubbed and said, i don't want to have to write the parents and tell them their son or daughter died looking for old bones. the pentagon changed the stat

tous missing in action. and there were accusations he was being held captive by saddam hussein. some thought his initials were scratched into the walls of an iraqi prison. a grave site was excavated in baghdad. it was not him. now the vigils can end but one fact remains. >> we walked away from a downed pilot. it was down by mistakingly declaring him dead and they didn't go and search for him. that was a mistake and very important that we never repeat that mistake again. >> captain speicher's family appreciates all of the troops who never gave up and kept searching all these years. they have would be wondering, there sme chance he survived the crash and would an immediate search and rescue have made any difference. chris lawrence, cnn, los angeles. stunning development in a story we've been following since june. the navy says a petty officer

charged with the murder of a fa fellow sailor committed suicide. jonathan cam poes stuffed tie let paper in his mouth. he was charged with the death of provos, who was gay and his family said he complained of being harassed days before his death. the navy has no record of a harassment record. faced an investigative hearing in the coming weeks before he took his life. a rough time for folks aboard a continental flight. the plane veered off course for an emergency landing after sudden severe turbulence injured 24 people. it touched down in miami before dawn with ambulances and stretchers standing by, even an airline catering truck was pressed into service bringing passengers down on the elevated lift. four people aboard were

seriously hurt. hitting the ceiling getting knocked unconscious by flying debris. it's a really emotional and terrifying experience. >> went down and so bad -- >> so scary. >> all of the people so scared, all the people. >> did you have any injuries? >> many many people, many people injuries, many people. >> what were you doing at that time when the plane dipped down? where were you? you were sitting, standing? >> i'm sitting. but this -- i don't know, i don't understand so unclear. just -- the airplane -- so bad. sorry. >> straight ahead, imagine a mom's surprise when she finds out the to tddler playing on th floor is up for sale as an

african orphan. hello? how does that happen? but i did. you need to talk to your doctor about aspirin. 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. we're number one in fraud protection. the fraud team does a terrific job protecting the customer's interest and providing them with security. total security protection is a feature that comes with all of our credit cards. if there is a fraudulent purchase, anything that you are unaware of, we have a guarantee that we'll refund those funds to you. we don't expect you to pay for something you did not buy. it gives customers a piece of mind knowing that, you know what, if i lose my card the bank is going to take care of me with total security protection.

just when researchers thought they were well informed about hiv, latest strain apparently derived from gorillas. it was found from a woman now living in paris, she doesn't have aids, the indications are she contracted the virus from another human. the gi bill new and improved for post 9/11 warriors, the president says they have borne the heaviest burden. one of heroes putting the new bill to work. and atheist camp, we're taking you there. creeppy story out of massachusetts, but it could have happened anywhere. a mom finds out her child is up

for sale as an african orphan. sitting there on the floor playing with his toys for pete's sake, the internet and scam that took pictures from the family blog. sean kelly reports. >> reporter: 7-month-old jacob bren an was busy tasting toys when his mother got a suspicious e-mail. >> out of the blue some girl e-mailed us and said, i think you should know someone is using a fake picture in an adoption scam. >> reporter: it sounded hard to believe. did investigating and found this ad on craig's list, a cute baby boy available for adoption, she got this in her inbox. >> the picture he sends you is a picture of jake. i never thought i would have the emotional reaction i did. >> reporter: it claims he was canadian born and living in an

orphanage next to nigeria. >> reporter: she discovered if you hold the curser over the picture it shows the address for her family's blog. >> i never thought anyone who want to. >> reporter: it unraveled through an elaborate correspondent, they asked for $3,000 to start the process. >> i think in a way he's been sort of violated. >> violated is a good way. creepy works too. it makes you think twice about putting cute family pictures out there. let's talk to christine der, an expert in virtual safety. christine, if you've got a family blog or website, is there any way to prevent your pictures from being used like this. >> there are some things people can do. they should check the blog

application provider to see if they do have an option to restrict access to only specific individuals. blogger.com, for example, very popular because it's free, does allow people who have blogs there to restrict access to only those individuals they approve. that's always a good idea for family blogs. >> so if you're starting a family blog today, what's the number one thing that you should keep in mind or maybe your first step? would it be just that? >> it would be exactly that. looking for one that does give you that option to customize so that you can restrict access. >> are there specific safety options people should look for in a blogging or website service? >> you know, it's really difficult in terms of people taking pictures off of your website. as you've seen, i'm sure, it happens. people steal pictures and they paste them on to other websites. we see it happen all the time on personal websites as well as business websites. again, the most important thing that you can do is make sure that if you do have a site, that

you restrict the access. most sites do, most blog sites do have that customization. use it. >> well, it's interesting that you bring that up because i had no idea until one of my producers came over to me and said christine ran your name and sure enough, my picture came up on this argentinian website and i guess i'm telling folks hey, we got great consultants for anxiety, stomach disorders, sleep problems, which okay, they should use my picture for all that, but on a serious note, how did you find this and how do i prevent my picture from getting on something like this? is there a website where i can do a search, then find out where everything is? >> there is. we actually, to find your picture, used a site called tin eye, t-i-n-e-y-e.com. it's really interesting. it's like the google of images, if you will. google is great for searching text. tineye does exactly that for images. all you have to do is paste in,

browse for your picture, upload it, or you can paste in the url where you already have it uploaded and it will search the internet looking for other occurrences of that photograph or that image online. that's precisely how we found your picture in argentina. so in terms of protecting it, again, keep it behind a firewall. only let people who are allowed in, in your case, that's difficult to do. it's not a family blog where they found your image so a site like tineye can help you figure out if there's been abuse and misuse. >> that's t-i-n-e-y-e, tineye.com. one more time, let's reiterate what to not include on your website. >> very important, especially if you have children. don't include your physical address. don't include your phone number. don't include the names of the schools that your children are attending and in that same vein, don't include pictures of your children wearing geographically identifiable attire. if you already told people you

live in kentucky, for example, you don't want to include pictures of your children wearing the name of their school on the teeshirt because that will give somebody who has ill intentions exactly what they need to find your child. >> christine durst, always great advice coming from you. sure appreciate you calling in. straight ahead, pythons don't belong in the everglades. john zarrella really doesn't, either. so why has he been searching for a big snake tale? stay tuned. meet jack. recently turned 65. glad he's now got medicare on his side. but jack knows that medicare part b cpders only...

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it's a story that we told you about on the very first day of the hunt. hit men creeping through the everglades in the dark of night, stalking eco invaders who have thrown the natural balance out of whack. john zarrella goes out on patrol with one of florida's python hunters. >> reporter: joe drives along a narrow stretch of road that bisects florida's everglades. night is coming on quickly. he's looking for snakes. one, in particular.

>> the next ten miles seem to be the hot spot for burmese pythons. >> reporter: he's a retile expert, one of a handful of men sanctioned by the state to rid the glades of pythons. an extraordinary move in response to what scientists believe is a rapidly growing threat to the delicate ecosystem. >> it's a large predator and they're eating basically everything in sight. that's the problem. >> reporter: 20 years ago, there were none here. today, perhaps 100,000. no one is quite sure. night is the best time to catch these nonvenomous snakes. that's when they're on the move. joe spots something. he jumps from the truck, runs to it. >> this is a banded water snake. >> reporter: banded water snake? >> yeah. you want to pick him up? >> reporter: do i? >> he'll bite you. >> reporter: an hour driving back and forth across the road, still no pythons. at least not alive. there's a dead one and several more small snakes. a baby alligator, too. >> oh, man.

he got hit by a car. >> reporter: two hours into our hunt, suddenly, joe is on it. he sees one. >> yeah, baby! hey, look at the size of this one. >> reporter: skillfully, he grabs it behind the head. it instantly coils around his arm. he will lock the snake in a crate and take it to the national park biologists to be studied and destroyed. first we have to untangle it from his arm. >> this is a good ten feet. at least. 12. >> reporter: he doesn't get paid. it's voluntary. while he knows they've got to be eliminat eliminated, he's got a soft spot for the reptiles. >> guess what? it's not the snake's fault. he didn't mean to be here. >> reporter: some are believed to have gotten here when reptile breeding facilities near the everglades were destroyed by hurricane andrew. >> you take that side.

you take the head end. i got the back end. >> reporter: others from pet owners who disposed of them when they got too big. they can grow up to 200 pounds. but this one is no longer a problem. >> one down. 100,000 more to go. >> reporter: john szarrella, cn. after seeing that story, it reminded us of how we had an interview recently with another python tracker who demonstrated his snake nabbing technique. you can actually relive every scale-tingling moment at my blog at cnn.com/kyra. we're pushing forward now on the new improved g.i. bill, now in effect. the bill's been around in some form since world war ii. it made college a reality for those who might never have had the chance otherwise, a kind of compensation for those who served, an investment in their future and the country's. so many people you have probably heard of went to college on the

g.i. bill from bill cosby, johnny cash, harry belafonte, steve mcqueen, even gene hackman. the list goes on and on. the g.i. bill helped the greatest generation build post-world war ii america. president obama today saying, too, that the new version will prepare the extraordinary generation to take us forward. >> now, with this policy, we are letting those who have borne the heaviest burden lead us into the 21st century. so today, we honor the service of an extraordinary generation and look to america that they will help build tomorrow. the post-9/11 g.i. bill, we can give our veterans the chance to live their dreams. >> president bush signed the post-9/11 version of the g.i. bill last year. this version covers tuition at public universities for some active soldiers and if you have three years of active duty since 9/11, you can get four years of

tuition plus a monthly stipend. troops with at least ten years of active duty can transfer the benefit to a spouse or a child and guardsmen and women and reservists with at least three years active duty in the last seven years can get the full tuition package, too. staff sergeant jim miller of the u.s. marines introduced the president at today's event. he has actually got big plans now. after three tours in iraq, he's using the g.i. bill to help take the next step in his life, enrolling at george mason university this fall. congratulations. >> thank you, ma'am. i appreciate it. >> let me ask you, when you introduced the president, did you have a chance to have a chat with him or tell him hey, by the way, this is really great, let me tell you why? did you get a chance to chat with him at all? what did you tell him? >> well, actually, it was really humbling. not only did i get a chance to meet the president, but senator warner, senator webb, who spearheaded this event for us. the post-9/11 g.i. bill because of their initiative is the reason i'm sitting here today and talking to you.

i did, i spoke to him just briefly before i introduced him, and just said how privileged i am and an honor to meet him. it was a humbling experience that i actually got a chance to introduce him today. >> jim, no doubt, it's got to be an amazing experience, especially as a marine to be able to meet your commander in chief but put into perspective for us, because here on our show, we are, i mean, the veterans are close to our heart and we cover a lot of stories involving veterans. unfortunately, there have been some horrible breaks given to them recently and for a number of years. so when something like this comes forward, how is this helping the men and women who they're coming home to pink slips, they're coming home and becoming homeless and living in shelters, they're not getting good benefits with regard to the medical situation. you know, how bad is it for men and women right now and what will this do? >> this is an extremely unique

opportunity, one that us veterans have not received or even seen since the 1940s. as you know, literally, there's an interesting statistic that was being talked about today by senator webb. for every dollar the u.s. government spends, these individuals, the veterans, gave back $7 to our economy and helped push them into the new century, helped form the middle class. it was absolutely incredible. now, taken from those specific statistics, now it's relied on us to help build a new economy, help push forth new innovations and new opportunities that we all have. i think for any new veteran that's coming out of the military, regardless of branch of service, i definitely suggest that they take advantage of these new benefits. like you said earlier, a monthly stipend, e-5 pay, locally that's $1800 a month and i will get every month just to go to school plus they will pay for tuition, they pay for books, they pay for fees. it's an incredible experience, one that i hope all veterans take advantage of.

>> i understand you will major in business communication. what do you want to do? >> actually, my plan is after i receive my degrees, to join the department of state, become a diplomatic security agent. >> that's your goal? >> that's my goal, ma'am, yes. been my goal for awhile. >> we would like to follow you through the process. as soon as you graduate, we would love to spend the first day on the job with you. >> absolutely. thank you, ma'am. i appreciate that. >> congratulations. i appreciate you joining us and telling us about it. >> thank you. >> jim miller, appreciate it. if you have a job, a house and money tucked away in stocks, you may be wondering what recession. foreclosures are easing in a lot of places and home prices are rising almost everywhere. construction is up, too. the markets are surging. blue chips just came off their best july in 20 years. if, however, you don't have a job, recession is reality as far as the eye can see and over the weekend, treasury secretary tim geithner predicted unemployment may not peak for another year, even as the economy starts to grow.

joining me this hour to push these issues forward, cnn's chief business correspondent, ali velshi and from wall street, cnn's susan lisovicz. ali, why don't we start with you. you're up on the interviews we saw over the weekend. we started hearing about higher taxes, not just on the rich and you know, the back and forth about are we out of recession, not out of recession. a lot of people got pretty nervous after sunday. >> yeah, look, the reality is we are in the deepest recession, longest recession we've had in generations and we have always known a couple things. the stock market recovers ahead of the recession so look at the bottom of your screen, you can see we're starting to see that stock market move ahead. we also know that jobs are a lagging indicator, one of the last things to recover, so it's not a great surprise that we'll be into 2010 before we start to recover. let me just give you a couple numbers. i won't overwhelm you with them but let's go back to before this recession, unemployment was about 5%. now, we're getting close to 10% and most estimates are that we won't get back down to that 5% even in a recovery until 2013.

so jobs are always going to be a problem. they are so central to recovery that if you're not in a job or you're losing your job, the fact that other parts of the economy are recovering may not seem that relevant to you. >> so can the obama administration take credit for this? >> well, you know, i was speaking to a number of economists this morning who were saying that this economy was in a recession last year, last fall it got really serious. as one economist described it, we sort of fell into an abyss. the bank bailouts and t.a.r.p. and the fed pulled us out of the abyss and let the business cycle continue. so we're probably premature for the obama administration to be taking any credit for the recovery. they might take credit later on if it's a particularly robust recovery but for now, this is not stuff that this administration has done. >> what's up with cash for clunkers? it's kind of stalling within the senate. it passed the house no problem. >> it stalled in the senate but what a remarkable program. this thing was supposed to have money probably until the end of august and there was a deadline of november, and they ran out of money in the first week.

all these people trading in their cars. ford told us it's had its best month in two years, largely because of cash for clunkers. so interesting, interesting development here that people really took up this offer that they could trade their clunker in, get $3500 to $4500 back and buy a fuel efficient car. means two things. things are maybe a little better in the economy and folks are worried about those high gas prices, thinking they can protect themselves against the future. we'll keep you posted to see whether it gets through the senate and another $2 billion becomes available for people who want to trade in their cars. >> got it. thanks so much. let's talk more about cars and the auto sector. susan, ford reported a 2% increase in sales. sounds small but it's still significant, right? >> reporter: it's huge, because it's a big ticket item, a car is, and it shows that consumers are spending, sure, cash for clunkers helped but the fact is consumers went out there, saw a deal, they bought it. it also shows that credit is available as well or at least, not as tight as it was. that's the abyss ali was just

referring to. it's a real big two years that we've seen the first monthly increase and we're not out of the woods yet. why is that? because that is ford sales. we also got gm's sales, year over year, its monthly sales fell 19% but if you look what happened between june and july, gm says its sales increased 12%. same thing happened with chrysler. monthly sales fell 9%, but if you compare it just from june to july, 20%. the trend is telling us that things are getting better. yes, cash for clunkers definitely helped out. also chrysler had its own additional incentive, $4500, so what a time to get a car and people did respond. >> well, let's be clear. there are still some big warning signs on the economy, specifically unemployment, and now there could be more layoffs at gm. >> reporter: that's right. so it's very nice to see these kind of trends. we have waited for a long time. to ali's point, this is the

longest recession we have seen since world war ii but yes, gm said today that 6,000 workers took its latest early retirement offer. gm was looking for at least double that number. part of the lean, mean gm, the restructuring that's happening, is it has to bring its numbers down. this was a company that at one time numbered nearly half a million strong in the u.s. now it's down to 54,000. needs to get down to 40,000. so don't be surprised if you hear that more workers are laid off. but today, most of the news is very encouraging and you can see it in the stock market, something also ali was talking about, we're coming off the best july, as you mentioned, in 20 years for the dow and s&p 500 and guess what, first trading day of august, we're seeing the nasdaq hit 2,000 for the first time since october. the s&p 500, so many of our mutual funds are tied to what the s&p does, hitting 1,000 for the first time since november. ford shares trading at $8.50.

what, that doesn't sound like a lot? this is a stock that was trading at a buck early this year. 52-week high and yes, the bulls are finding that they have more room to run. triple digit gains for the dow and for the nasdaq, s&p 500. terrific start to the month of august. >> susan lisovicz, thanks so much. most of the focus in the cash for clunkers program has been on the cash and rightly so, but later this hour, we will look at the clunkers, specifically what's supposed to happen to them once they're off the road. poppy harlow will show and tell. about the middle class tax hikes i mentioned, over the weekend, two of the president's top money men said you can never say never but if you were with us last hour, you heard the white house press secretary say never. cnn's ed henry at the white house. which is it? we're getting mixed messages. >> reporter: it's probably somewhere in the middle. the president's two top money men, larry summers, tim geithner, two well-experienced pros, they don't just throw

things out there for nothing. when they both left the door open to the possibility of tax increases, a lot of ears in washington, around the country as well, lot of pocketbooks probably perked up, wondering what exactly the president's plans are. white house spokesman, robert gibbs, in the last half hour, again and again trying to shoot down the notion of tax increases, though there were caveats here and there. take a listen. >> -- clear commitment in the clearest terms possible that he's not raising taxes on those who make less than $250,000 a year. >> did you speak to them about the fact that they did raise -- >> reporter: so you heard a lot of pressing after that, you know, people wondering what scenarios there could be. bottom line, robert gibbs insisting that the president will keep his campaign pledge, which is that he promised he would not raise taxes on anyone making under $250,000 a year, but essentially, again, door open as it has been for a long time from the president's own

campaign, anyone over $250,000 a year could have their taxes raised. i think the bottom line when you step back to the door open, door closed, is the fact of the matter is especially in the middle of this health care fight, it's going to cost money, even if money is saved in the long run in the health care system, with reform, in the short term, basically any plan on the table is going to increase cost in that short term. you add that on to the stimulus funding, the bailouts, all the rest, we are trillions of dollars in debt and that's why it seems inevitable that some sort of taxes are going to be increased at some point in the obama administration. it's really just a matter of when. >> ed henry live from the white house. thanks. three americans hiking in northern iraq and of all places, now held by iranians. we will bring you the latest on what happened and what the iranian government is saying about their detention. if you're taking 8 extra-strength tylenol...

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the gulf war more than 18 years later, we have an answer.

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told they knew nothing about the detention but would follow up on the matter. the swiss were acting on behalf of washington because the u.s. and iran don't have diplomatic relations. kurdish officials met with i rashgsian border counterparts who also said they had no information on the americans. the three were hiking in the northern kurdish region when they apparently crossed the border into iran. state-run media reports they were charged with illegally entering the company. michael scott speicher, the first to be shot down in the gulf war, the last to come home. his remains now identified. his family getting some answers after more than 18 years of grief, false leads, false hopes, fears and rumors. over the years, his status went from killed in action to missing, then captured. maybe in an iraqi prison, scribbling his initials on a wall, then missing again. the navy says an iraqi citizen told u.s. forces last month he witnessed the burial of speicher's remains after that crash.

tossed around so violently in the air, ambulances were waiting on the ground. continental passengers talk about this morning's terrifying flight. ♪ (announcer) introducing new tums dual action. this tums goes to work in seconds

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not a good day at the airport when they're wheeling stretchers across the tarmac. a continental flight from rio de janeiro to houston, with an emergency landing forced in miami. seems they were cruising at 38,000 feet when the plane just dropped violently. >> the mask come down and everything, people that weren't seat belted in flew up and hit the ceiling. their faces, their heads, hit the plastic and broke all the plastic up top. >> was there any warning, passengers buckle up? >> no, no, it happened like this. >> at least seven people were taken to local hospitals for treatment. chad myers, you know a lot about turbulence. you have experienced it. you've covered it. you're a man of all trades.

>> i always fly with my seat belt on. my seat belt might be off for 30 seconds, when i'm not standing up, going to the restroom or taking care of my son, i always have it on. the people that had their seat belts on were not injured in the flight. the people that did not have them on were the people that were thrown literally into the ceiling of this plane. i want to take you to where this plane was. it was flying just to the north of puerto rico and up past the dominican republic and somewhere in here, it just experienced a considerable drop in altitude, like it just hit a hole in the air, and that's where the people, as the plane went down, the people were slammed into the ceiling and then when the plane caught, they got back down on the ground again. but this must have been something called clear air turbulence. i just don't think i see any significant weather in the area enough to cause that type of up-and-down motion when it comes to what i would consider enough turbulence weather-wise. it's just an area where the air is nice and flat and all of a sudden, at some point in time,

you can't see it, the pilot can't see it but that air is either going down or going up. at a couple points they said it was going down, then the plane finally caught and flew again. otherwise, we have severe weather across parts of the plains today. also strange weather across parts of the northwest. there could be severe weather all the way east and southeast of portland and seattle, near wa walla-walla. warm through the plains, as you would expect. 101 for dallas. temperatures in the southeast, won't be held down as much today as the days before this, because of the showers we've had. not as many showers today, i don't think we will see too many, and the only area i think we will see severe weather is south of chicago right through st. louis and one big cell right there. not a warning on it yet but i think we will probably see from parts of illinois through kansas and iowa back into missouri, that's the area that will see the greatest chance of probably some hail and wind damage. >> we'll track it.

thanks, chad. we could be looking at a new endangered species. mail carriers as we know them, anyway. snow, rain, heat and gloom of night couldn't stop them but unfortunately, the digital age might. ( car door closes ) ooooch! hot seat!

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come to meineke now and get a free ac system check. at meineke, you're always the driver. a fearful good-bye for davon bailey in california. the 6-year-old boy known affectionately as day-day was found beaten to death in his home last month. the mother's ex-boyfriend is accused of the crime. friends and relatives at the funeral are outraged that social workers returned the boy to the boyfriend's care after a nurse actually raised concerns about the abuse. police are still searching for marcus fisher. this is a story we want to stay

on so we canwant to keep his mu shot up there. we believe he is being hidden with friends or family. they might be helping hide him out. we want to let you know police in los angeles need your help to find this alleged killer that is still on the loose. a veritable who's who of the boxing world paying tribute to slain former champ vernon forest today. his funeral is being held in georgia just outside of atlanta. >> reporter: you know, this has really been a huge loss not just for this community and the boxing community, but it's even been felt beyond that. we're here at new birth missionary baptist church, where about 1,000 people have turned out to not only just celebrate but also honor the 38-year-old boxer who was tragically gunned down. among the who's who you were talking about, evander holyfield, sugar shane mosley. forest wasn't a flashy guy but he was four-time champ in two different weight classes.

he was really known for his charity work. he did a lot of work with mentally challenged young adults and to give a nice anecdote, mosley, who lost to him two times, absolutely adored the man. earlier, we spoke to evander holyfield, who described forest's humble beginnings. >> he is one of the guys that, you know, came from the ghetto but made a conscious decision that he didn't want to live that lifestyle. he set goals and was able to reach his goal. he was one of the top boxers in the state of georgia but made the olympic team and the world two-time champion. he was a man that regardless of how things started, you know, he had a plan. >> reporter: now, for rest's murder still has not been involved. we have surveillance video, again, gunned down after a robbery attempt. the robbery took place at a gas station in downtown atlanta, right near a parking lot.

police say that a red pontiac carrying three or four suspects as it pulled off to the right of your screen right there, after they pulled off camera, they went and supposedly or allegedly targeted forrest for his rolex watch and championship ring. now, we will show you some video at an apartment complex, where police say these are the suspects that gunned him down. forrest, police say, went and armed himself and went to try to reclaim his property, and the second shot in this video is of forrest, police say, leaving the apartment and after which he was gunned down, shot in the back several times. as of now, as i said, his murder is still unsolved. he leaves behind a 12-year-old son. kyra? >> appreciate it so much. we'll stay on top of that story. the surprisingly popular cash for clunkers program could be done for unless the senate acts quickly. cnnmoney.com's poppy harlow has more. >> reporter: senators meeting in less than an hour, huge topic on

the table aside from health care, $2 billion in potential additional funding for cash for clunkers. why? because that initial $1 billion has essentially all been used up in a very short amount of time. there's a lot of interest in this program. that's because people can get up to $4500. they trade in their trucks or suvs for a more fuel efficient model, they get the government credit but the outcome in the senate ununclear. you have opposition on both sides. some argue this is just another auto industry bailout and some democrats say we don't want more funding because the fuel efficiency standards aren't high enough. it got through the house pretty easily on friday, not clear that will happen in the senate. >> now, all those clunkers that have already been traded in, what's supposed to happen to them? they're supposed to be scrapped, right? >> reporter: they are. we visited a dealership in new york, a nissan dealership that just started doing this. it's interesting how they kill the cars to get them off the road.

they drain the oil out of the engine, pour that mixture, essentially liquid glass, then rev up the engine, about seven minutes later the engine dies forever so you can never drive that car again, and that voyager was actually the first one that that man right there at the dealership killed. take a listen to what he said about that. >> as service manager, you never want to see them junk their old cars. you would rather see them fix them but as the sales end of it goes, it's going to be a huge success and you know, can't wait to do another hundred of them. >> he wants to do another hundred of them because then they sell 100 new cars and that is good for any dealership these days. what happens, those cars are stripped of the useful parts and then are crushed like that. some good news to tell you about for the dealers, the rules of the program have been changed that allow them to wait to trash the clunker until they get that government rebate. that protects them in case the program doesn't get more funding and they're not stuck with a vehicle that's crushed and they don't get anything back for it. so it's interesting, people are

weighing in on my facebook page telling me what they think. i want to point out a comment from howard, who writes win/win situation, they should do it again in five years when electric cars become more prevalent. consumers like this. we'll see if senators vote in favor. >> we'll follow it. thanks. there might come a day when you tell your grandkids about a person called a mail carrier who came by every day but sundays and holidays. want to know why? let's just say check your e-mail. brian todd reports. >> reporter: for almost three decades, delvin johnson has been unloading, sorting, hoofing it house by house, becoming a fixture on his northwest washington beat. >> okay. all right. >> thanks a lot. >> thank you. >> reporter: he survived the anthrax scare at his local station and other perils of the job. in 30 years, how many dog bites? >> this one. >> reporter: only one? >> after 28 years. >> reporter: you went 28 years without one?

>> without one. >> reporter: just got one a couple years ago? >> yeah. yeah. like i said, come with the job. >> reporter: for mail carriers, dog bites may be the least of their worries these days. the u.s. postal service is now on the government's list of high risk agencies. it's projected for a net loss of $7 billion this fiscal year alone. we're all simply doing more e-mailing and online bill paying, and that means a lot less physical mail to and from your doorstep. what is the volume like now compared to what it was before? >> well, i'd say about a third to a half. it's dropped off. >> reporter: in how long? >> in about a year and a half, to a year. yeah. >> reporter: is that the most drastic it's been for you? >> the most drastic, yeah. >> reporter: in fact, over the past two years, the government accountability office says the volume of physical mail has seen its most drastic drop in at least two decades. plummeting 9.5 billion pieces in fiscal year 2008, another 18.5 billion by the beginning of this summer. a postal system built to handle

so much more is now oversized, antiquated and considering cutting benefits and work force. as for our mail, the service has drawn up a list of nearly 700 post offices for possible closure and -- >> mail volume levels can no longer sustain six day a week delivery. >> reporter: back in that d.c. neighborhood, we asked janet bochman about that. they're talking about cutting it from six days to five days. >> wouldn't bother me at all. in fact, i personally think that for residential mail delivery, today, three days a week is sufficient. >> reporter: another story for small businesses on delvin johnson's route. dave lesser helps run a nonprofit that promotes nutrition. he says his operation sends out hundreds of pieces of mail each week to places like doctors' offices. his clients, he says, count on them. >> people are really interested in having something solid that they can hold on to, they can look at, flip through the pages. >> reporter: still, it now looks like the icon that never stopped for snow, rain, heat or gloom of

night is about to become much less a part of our lives. neighborhood resident patrick bass, who grew up in france, offers some perspective. >> where i come from in europe, the mailman used to sit at our table and then here is very nice too but it tends to disappear. >> reporter: delvin johnson has been offered early retirement twice. he says he's held it off both times. he wants to keep going another three years until the age of 55, because he says he's got a daughter getting ready to go to college. brian todd, cnn, washington. cutting costs and improving quality. the two major goals in the president's health care reform plan. some call it a radical approach to medicine but we'll show you where such a plan is already working. ouch! ow! oops! it's neo to go!®

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getting word now of an earthquake in baja, california. chad myers, what do you know? >> in the gulf of california, in a very remote area, literally, there might be in the entire area within 500 square miles of

this place, less than maybe 1,000 people, which would be good, because this is a major 6.9 earthquake. here would be san diego. way down here would be cabo san lucas. four minutes before this, sometimes we talk about this when we say an earthquake just came, is there going to be another one, that earthquake right there was the first shock. that was the four shock of around 5.5 and the real shock was 6.9. we have been in touch with affiliates in san diego. they're not saying they felt anything at all there. let me give you an idea of the remoteness of this area. i have to drive you all the way down here to cabo where everybody knows. we are going to get back up here to where the earthquake occurred. i'm just going to look for literally a road. i'm going to try to look for a village. i will go all along this area here, popular fishing area here.

you may see more boats out in the water than you might see people here on land and literally, roads on land. i cannot even find a city anywhere in the area. great news there. now, because this was only about ten kilometers deep, only six miles deep, there very well may have been a tsunami here. there's no warning out for british columbia, for hawaii, for the west coast, because it happened in this gulf of california. the wave would literally not come out and come around and get any of the larger areas here. i will close this up, get back to the google earth. we'll see if it changes. sometimes the magnitudes will go up or go down just because scientists will look at it and say this was a bigger quake than we think, a smaller quake than we think. look at this seismograph and they can better triangu late that. that is a major earthquake but not in a majorly populated area. o.j. simpson's lawyer is in

court in nevada trying to get him out of prison. he's asking a state supreme court panel to set bond while simpson's conviction is appealed. no decision is expected today. simpson is serving up to 33 years for kidnapping and assault with a deadly weapon all from that infamous confrontation with two sports memoribilia dealers a couple years ago. paris, prince and blanket's grandma officially their new guardian. a judge ruling on several issues related to michael jackson's estate. ted rowlands is live at the courthouse and has been following it all day. >> reporter: the first ruling here from this judge was to award katherine jackson custody of the three children. they did set another hearing in october, sort of a status, but she does have custody. a little drama at the beginning of this hearing. dr. arnold cline, the dermatologist who treated jackson who debbie rowe worked for, his lawyer showed up and asked the judge for standing in the courtroom and said cline wanted to play a role in the children's life.

the judge said why are you here. he went to have a sidebar with the judge and then the judge ruled he did not have any standing and they moved on. other issues that have been dealt with, they have given katherine jackson and the children a stipend out of the estate. all parties agreed to that. they gave katherine jackson 100% of what she was asking for, the children got about 80%. the judge said it was a little excessive so they hammered that out. for the last hour and 40 minutes, the attorneys have gotten together to try to come up with a plan to allow katherine jackson some sort of seat at the table in terms of the estate. they have been asking for that. the judge has now just reconvened inside the courtroom, is katherine jackson, la toya and rebbie along with an army of lawyers and journalists. we'll see what the judge comes up with as far as what katherine jackson's role will be in the estate. that's only the pending issue from here on out. there are no atheists in

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president mahmoud ahmadinejad got what he needed today. the supreme leader formally endorsed him for a second term. there was a hit. the ceremony was boycoted by students who protest the disputed election. the endorsement by the supreme leader clears the way for ahmadinejad to take the oath of office on wednesday.

building fires, making crafts and not your usual summer camp in britain. check out this story. >> reporter: at first glance, this could be any camp, anywhere. but look beyond the rain and you'll realize campers here stand out. >> they had a bible in school and it contradicts itself. >> reporter: questioning religion. doubting creationism. here, campers are encouraged to build their own beliefs. >> the camp aims to provide a secular alternative for the children of parents who are raising them in a nonreligious environment so for example, the scouts, there are several christian camps, even jewish camps, and they all have fun activities as well as being from that particular religion. we wanted to provide an alternative for someone that comes from an atheist, humanist approach. >> reporter: this is not the first official camp for

atheists. it's based on five other camps in the united states and one in canada. young people here aged 8 to 17 live in these tents around me and get to participate in outdoor activities and classes where they learn not what to think, but how. >> there's a difference between lying outright -- >> reporter: in this philosophy session, campers analyze the meaning of the emperor's new clothes, debating whether or not a lie is a good thing if everyone believes it. critics say the camp's true agenda is to lure children away from a belief in the supernatural. they point to a 500 pound donation from the foundation of famed atheist and author richard dawkins. in the past year, dawkins has helped the british humanist association with its atheist ad campaign. >> we're not trying to pull anyone away from religion. it's sort of a social support mechanism for them. >> reality, religion --

>> reporter: supporting campers is rita harold who told me criticism exists because questioning religion is still taboo. >> in my country, in ireland, they have a blasphemy law where it costs 25 euro to criticize the religion and cause offense to a number of people within that religion. it's definitely alive and well in a lot of places. >> reporter: controversial or not, camp quest uk was a success. this introductory session of camp sold out at a fee of 275 pounds or $450 per person. next year, camp quest plans to extend its season so it can enroll more campers. no promises of better weather, though. one counselor light-ha heartedl quipped, you could pray for it. what do you think about a miss land mine beauty pageant in cambodia? our first reaction when we came across this story today was

could this even be true? apparently the cambodian government banned the event today, calling it an insult to the disabled. but we wanted to dig a little deeper and this is what we discovered. not only are the contestants beautiful, but they've got guts. they and the norwegian artist who created the pageant see it as a way to empower them and other disabled people and they view it as a perfect way to raise awareness about the dangers of land mines. believe it or not, an estimated four to six million land mines and other unexploded ordnance remain in cambodia from decades of civil war, and they kill or wound hundreds of people every year. so tweet us at twitter.com.kyracnn and let us know what you think. is the pageant a good or bad idea? (music plays)

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they're calling it the catch of a lifetime. a father catches a baseball in one hand while holding his baby in the other. hope mom wasn't watching. jeanne moos shows us that that move and other most unusual catches. >> reporter: it was the crying baby versus the soda kid. did you catch the guys catching foul balls with one hand while holding kids in the other? >> unbelievable play. >> reporter: sure, it happens every once in awhile, guys catching popups with their kid propped up in their arms but for

it to happen twice in three days has sports fans raving with competing superlatives. was this the best foul ball catch ever? >> dad with the catch! and the baby! >> reporter: or was this? >> contract time. >> reporter: websites compare the two bare-handed catches. fans gave points for difficulty with the heavier kid, they subtracted points because this ball seemed deflected by someone and thus, easier to catch. they gave props to this kid for how he fielded his soda. >> hold this gigantic soda and not drop it when the dad doesn't drop the ball. >> reporter: bobby crosby should know. he also multi-tasked while catching fly balls. isn't holding a camera a little like holding a baby? >> it's definitely tougher to hold a baby. they don't come with those nice straps. they just strap right to your hand. >> there we go. >> reporter: bobby attends about 75 dodgers games a season. he likes to tape himself catching balls during batting practice.

>> oh, man! >> reporter: he sees what a ball can do to somebody. in fact, he's prevented a few people from getting smacked. >> hello. oh, yeah! >> reporter: though catching with a glove isn't quite as entertaining, catching with a pizza box, bobby even taped himself giving a ball he caught to a kid. unlike the guy who shoved around a 4-year-old a few years back while scrambling to get a foul ball, and the announcer called foul on him. >> there's a jerk in every park. >> reporter: but this guy didn't jerk. he didn't drop the ball and the kid didn't drop a drop. >> that is one of the better grabs you'll ever see. >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn, new york.

the goal of president obama's health care overhaul is to cut costs and improve quality. one health care organization in rural pennsylvania is proving it can be done. jessica yellin examines how the system works and whether it will work for the rest of the country. >> reporter: cardiologist peter burger is looking inside a patient's heart and getting graded on his work. >> we're in the heart and taking some 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 new approach to medicine

that made geisinger health system an obama administration poster child for reform. geisinger has improved quality and cut costs, developing a team approach and emphasizing preventive and follow-up care. >> all of those things have been proven to be related to the probability of you having a perfect outcome. >> reporter: some of their innovation, check lists. the medical team follows steps to ensure there are no mistakes, like making sure the right patient is on the table. >> can you tell me when your birthday is? >> reporter: another innovation, 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 just provides additional incentive for us to do the right thing. >> reporter: a third innovation, patient partnering.

a nurse is assigned a patient with a chronic condition and checks in regularly. nurses can even get a readout of a patient's weight every day. if he gains weight -- >> dan's going to be on the phone the next morning looking for an explanation. >> reporter: according to geisinger, partnering has led to a huge decrease in hospitalization. dr. burger says these innovations have helped make his patients healthier and geisinger says in some instances, they have saved up to 7% a year. the big question is, can this be duplicated on a national scale. the doctors at geisinger say some parts more readily than others. it will likely be easier to expand the use of internet medical reports and will be harder to get doctors and nurses and specialists to work together and change their approach to medical care. has the second 100 days of the obama administration been

days of change or frustration? cast your vote at cnn.com/reportcard, then get the results from cnn's national report card thursday night at 8:00 eastern. stay with us. rick sanchez takes it from here. again and again, he said this. >> if you make under $250,000, you will not see your taxes increase by a single dime. >> is the president breaking a promise? i made a bad mistake. >> she had an affair with a married state senator. he is an evangelical republican and there's an update. my hometown has a slimy problem. how bad is the republican party's problem with hispanics? >> we have a very, very deep hole that we got to come out of. >> you'll hear from john mccain.

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