sew pran know's james gan doll feeney. it is very sharp comedy. thanks to all of you for being part of my program this week. i'm see you next week. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com the u.s. supreme court gets set to convene a month ahead of schedule. will it throw out limits on corporate campaign donations? and no swimming. shark attack fears close some massachusetts beaches. speaking out, now out of a job. our paula newton talks with a man who blew the whistle at the u.s. embassy in afghanistan. you're in the cnn newsroom this sunday, september 6th. i'm fredricka whitfield.

a big week ahead for sonia sotomayor. she'll hear her first case on the high court. the justices are coming back almost a month early to take up a fascinating free speech case. it all started with a sharply critical movie that a conservative group made about hillary clinton's run for president. >> -- is claiming basically the entire eight years of the clinton presidency as her own except for the stuff that didn't work out in which case she says she has nothing to do with it. >> the supreme court heard arguments about whether the movie amounted to a campaign ad. that's leading to a ruling on whether there should be any limits on campaign spending by corporations and labor unions. attorney tanya acker helped prepare cases for the supreme court during the clinton administration. she joins us from los angeles. good to see you. >> nice to see you. >> what a week to get the supreme court back in action and among the first cases that the

new sprem court justice will be handling, how significant is this case potentially? >> this case is huge. we are talking about a case that can potentially overturn almost a hundred years of our understanding about how campaigns are funded and financed. what at issue in this case is whether or not corporations and labor unions are going to be treated just like people, just like individuals for purposes of donating to campaigns. right now they cannot. now, there are some ways of evading some of those restrictions. but the law right now provides that corporations and labor unions cannot contribute to these campaigns. now, what the supreme court could have done here is simply rule on the very narrow ground about whether or not this campaign individual -- oh this citizen's united video constituted a campaign ad. instead of doing that they've suggested they want to consider the much larger question about whether or not this ban on corporate and union money to campaigns should be overturned.

it's a really big deal. >> this movie, "hillary the movie" is the springboard of the discussion, it is what precipitated the discussion about the corporate financing or financing from labor unions? >> absolutely. the movie was funded, produced by citizens united, a conservative group. as you know, as you pointed out, it's extremely critical of now secretary clinton. but the point really is beyond the substance of this movie, what the sec held previously was that the movie could not be distributed on demand because it constituted a campaign ad and it thus fell within the jurisdiction of sec regulation. so again the court could have really taken the easy way out and say it's not so much a campaign ad because my understanding is that citizens united want to distribute the movie on demand. they could have gotten around the much larger trickier issue. but they really have instead chosen to take the much more dramatic course which is to potentially overturn a decision

that they made just not six years ago when they upheld these campaign restrictions. >> there are nine justices that will be weighing in on this ultimately, but it's one justice, the newest one, sonia sotomayor, all eyes may be on her to see exactly how she argues or what kind of points that she just might make. what kind of performance, if you will, for lack of a better word, do you expect from her? >> fredicka, justice sotomayor was known on the appellate bench to be a very aggressive questioner. she is sharp. one lawyer who appeared before her is quoted as saying, she doesn't suffer fools gladly. i think that's true of a number of justices on the court. she's known to be sharp and assertive. i think she'll be pretty active. importantly though, her placement on the bench is not going to change the ideological composition of the court. whereas this court seems to be inclined to overturn some of these campaign finance rules,

she is probably not going to really shift that balance. it's going to be interesting to see how this plays out. >> i said arguing she's not going to have her prosecutorial hat on, but instead questioning and then ultimately ruling on it. all right. tanya acker, thanks so much. good to see you, from los angeles. have a great weekend. >> you, too. after months of letting congress take the lead on health care reform, there are reports the obama administration may draft its own plan. the president is scheduled to address congress this week. cnn's kate bolduan is standing by at the white house. kate, what is the administration's new strategy to move health care reform forward? >> they are definitely trying to reframe the debate, refocus the debate over health care right now, fredicka. as you said, it is a big week ahead, a big week for the president. he just returned a short time ago from a stop-and-go second week of vacation returning from camp david, the presidential retreat. he's now facing a crucial week

in the health care debate. he'll be addressing a joint session of congress wednesday where the administration says the president will lay out an understandable clear terms what the white house wants in health care reform and amid increasing public concern over the current democratic proposals that are out there, top white house aides fanned out today to set the stage and set the tone for the president's address this week. listen here. >> they'll leave that speech knowing exactly where the president stands, exactly what he thinks we have to do to get health care done, health care reform done this year. >> all the ideas are on the table, david. the president set forth principles at the beginning of this discussion, at the beginning of the year. and now all the ideas are on the table, and the president will say we agree on 80% of this. let's do the final 20%. let's get the job done and here's how i think we should do it. >> here is how i think we should do it. and the white house officials,

press secretary robert gibbs specifically today also saying that president obama will lay some -- draw some lines in the sand in terms of legislation. so they're setting it up to be quite a lot riding on this speech as they're trying to reframe and get control of this health care debate, fredicka. >> is there a plan b say if talks or these negotiations back and forth fall apart on the hill? >> reporter: that's a good question. i don't know if we can yet call it a plan b. cnn is learning that the white house is quietly talking about drafting its own health care legislation, being described as kind of a contingency legislation if talked on capitol hill do fall apart. that could include a trigger. it's a so-called trigger, meaning that if health care reforms -- the public option will only be triggered if health care reforms don't meet certain goals, benchmarks and timetables. but the big question, as we always ask fredicka, will that

win support. that is really unclear. today again on the sunday talk shows we heard people on the left and on the right really digging in. liberals saying the public option is essential. people on the right saying that is just not something they can support. i guess the key will probably be the president appealing to moderates, to the center trying to win bipartisan support, some kind of bipartisan support on this legislation. >> kate bolduan at the white house. thanks so much. >> reporter: of course. >> key week coming up for the health care battle for president obama. he'll push his reform plan at a labor day rally in cincinnati tomorrow. on tuesday he gives his address to the nation's school kids. wednesday the president will address a joint session of congress on health care. friday he'll be at the pentagon for a 9/11 memorial ceremony. another test for the obama white house. the president's televised message to cool kids. facing an angry backlash for many parents, the administration now plans to release a transcript of the planned speech

tomorrow. cnn's tom for man explains. >> reporter: the president's plan to speak to school kids on tuesday have some conservative parents saying he's trying to brainwash their kids into buying his politics. >> thinking about my kids -- sorry -- in school, having to listen to that really upsets me. >> politics is up to the family. >> will i send my child? i don't know. right now i would say no. i'll keep him home. >> reporter: across the country many school kids are encouraging students to watch. in new orleans it will be required, but that's an exception. in virtually every state at least some schools have decided to either not show the speech, review it first or make viewing option. some sites schedule conflicts and technical difficulties. this is not what the white house expected. the president's speech will

focus on keeping kids in school, a subject he's promoted before. >> unfortunately nearly 30% of u.s. high school students aren't making it to graduation. >> reporter: but the core complaint seems to be with supplementary teaching materials from the department of education. originally they called for students to write, quote, what they can do to help the president. the white house has since changed that, suggesting the children now write about their own educational goals. furthermore, the text of the president's speech will now be put online monday so any teacher, parent or politician can preview what's going to be said. plenty seemed fine with that, including the national president of the pta. >> we have an opportunity here in the united states for parents, teachers and students to take part in a tremendous civics lesson. >> reporter: still, just like the crowds at all those town hall meetings, others are far from satisfied.

>> my rights as a parent are being circumvented so this president can speak to my children. >> reporter: and they clearly recent the notion that they are unfairly questioning the president's motives. >> education matters. and what you do today and what you don't do can change your future. >> reporter: after all, they point out, when the first president bush spoke to school kids on tv in 1991, top democrats called that just political advertising on the taxpayer's dime. tom foreman, cnn, washington. you don't have to be in school to see president obama's speech to the kids. just tune in to cnn. we'll carry it live noon eastern on tuesday. the announcement came in the middle of the night, in the middle of a holiday weekend. white house environmental adviser van jones has resigned. jones insists that he's the victim of a vicious smear campaign, but he is quitting to avoid becoming a distraction. he was under heavy fire by

conservatives who accuse him of having extremist views. they point to a petition he signed back in 2004 suggesting that the bush administration officials may have allowed the 9/11 attacks. they also krilt size him for course rhetoric like this february exchange posted on youtube. >> how are the republicans able to push things through when they had less than 50 senators, but somehow we can't? >> well, the answer to that is they're [ bleep ] holes. >> white house spokesman robert gibbs reacted to the jones resignation this morning. >> what van jones decided was the agenda of this president was bigger than any one individual. the president thanks van jones for his service in the first eight months in helping to coordinate renewable energy jobs that are going to lay the foundation for our future -- >> does the president want him to go? >> the president and the ceq accepted his resignation because van jones, as he says in his statement understood that he was

going to get in the way of the president and ultimately this country moving forward on something as important as creating jobs in a clean energy economy. >> we'll talk with senior white house correspondent ed henry about whether the obama administration bowed to pressure over the van jones controversy and if we're seeing signs that the opposition is slowly chipping away at the white house. that's coming up at the bottom of the hour. jaycee dugard's hometown feared the worst for 18 years. the town is turning pink now to celebrate her safe return. the kidnapped girl now a free woman. i am definitely a skeptic. actually, my mom convinced me. and i have activia every morning for breakfast. activia definitely helped with my occasional irregularity. activia is clinically proven to help regulate your digestive system in two weeks when eaten every day. chances are someone you trust can recommend activia. take the activia challenge. it works or your money back! ♪ activia!

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in california a small town is celebrating the return of jaycee dugard. she disappeared from south lake tahoe, california, 18 years ago and was found recently living in the home of a convicted child molester. tara finnstrom is in south lake tahoe. what's going on right now? i see the pink balloons behind you. >> reporter: a parade is now under way. we want to show you some of those pictures, set to arrive here in about ten minutes. we're talking about a literal sea of pink. people carrying ribbons and signs. pink was jaycee dugard's favorite color as a child. the dugard family moved away from this community years ago. those who lived here say they've always felt connected to jaycee. >> everyone was just going did you hear jaycee is alive, and she's found.

we were all so excited. >> reporter: neighbor angie kyle never forgot the blue-eyed girl snatched on her way to school. during the two decades since, sadness and fear have reverberated throughout the community. >> there were tears and they were scared. they should have gn scared. >> reporter: jaycee's fifth grade teacher said classmates wrote her letters. one classmate, meagan doris felt jaycee's absence during each life milestone. >> she didn't have a chance to graduate high school, to have friends, turning 21 and going to college. i think that's probably been the most haunting thing. >> reporter: angie kyle says in the midst of all the horror and loss, jaycee unknowingly gave her and other parents an incredible gift. >> this guy walked around the corner, and he said if i don't you come find my wallet with me, i'll give you $with.00. >> that was shortly after a

frightening 2002 en counter. emmett was taught to escape through a program in schools called a fighting chance. >> my name is terry, i'm jaycee louise mother. >> reporter: jaycee helped launch it six years after her daughter's disappearance. >> we would put the dmids the trunk of the car and we would actually lower this. we don't latch it all the way. >> isn't this a little scary for them? >> it is scary for them. when they feel out of good, they understand what takes to break wires or kick out taillights or bang on the top of the roof and make a lot of noise. >> the training told me say no, you don't know this guy. so i did. >> you just never know what would have happened. but the fact that emmett knew what to do and knew not to even engage in any conversation meant that he is with me now. >> reporter: kyle says in this community where nobody used to

lock doors, the training appears to have helped a number of children. now she's over joyed knowing a girl who started it all is finally back home. >> i can't imagine what it would be like to get her back. >> reporter: this parade reverses the walk this community did on the 10th anniversary of jaycee's disappearance. they say that actually signifies this has come full circle, jaycee coming back home. >> extraordinary story. thanks so much, kara finnstrom. planning to spend this labor day at the beach? we'll tell you why some folks in massachusetts are making other plans now. you like your health coverage, but worry what happens...

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a look at the top stories right now. a shakeup in the obama administration. environmental adviser van jones is calling it quits. the word of his resignation came overnight. he said he's the victim of a right wing smear campaign over his past activism. he once signed a petition calling for an investigation into whether the government allowed the 9/11 attacks to happen. president obama returns from camp david today to start a busy week.

tomorrow he's pushing his health care reform plan at a labor day rally in cincinnati. tuesday he addresses the nation's school children, and wednesday he faces another tough crowd returning members of the u.s. congress. he ends the week at the pentagon for a 9/11 memorial. more progress against the massive wildfire outside of los angel angeles. firefighters say it's half contained and should be fully contained in about nine days, no longer threat ending any homes. for many people labor day weekend means one last trip to the beach. several massachusetts beaches have been closed through the end of the holiday because of sightings of a great white shark. "no swimming" sign haves gone up at five cape cod beaches. massachusetts hasn't seen a fatal shark attack since 1936. officials are taking no chances. if you're spending the labor day weekend along the gulf coast, you'll be dodging some showers, but mostly it's a beautiful holiday forecast for

just about everybody out there. jackie jeras. >> check this out. >> it's beautiful, but don't get in the water. >> check it out. oops. i want to get the temperature. i don't want the i understand. give me the temperature. check it out 61 in boston. >> that's not my kind of beach weather. then again, i'm not die hard. folks in massachusetts are diehard. >> 60-something could feel good. it's a little chilly if you're thinking about the beach in the northeast. it is beautiful. temperatures warming throughout the afternoon. we're looking at heavier showers and thundershowers across parts of florida, across the florida keys where things have been heavy as well. we'll pan over a little bit and show you some of the thunderstorms around mobile, new orleans we've been getting heavier showers and storms here as well. looking around indianapolis, down towards louisville, this is going to stick around through

some of the afternoon as it heads towards the cincinnati area. in the southwest we had a lot of rain into arizona and phoenix. today just a couple of spotty showers. we're still going to have a chance in the afternoon, but not quite as prevalent i don't think as yesterday. really the worst place for a barbecue today in the pacific northwest where we've got a strong cold front, making its way onshore here, bringing in very heavy showers and thundershowers. we've got a camera to show you from our affiliate in seattle from king tv where the rain is coming down pretty heavy. foggy conditions. 58 degrees. >> ooh. >> rain through labor day. >> too brutal for me. >> it gets better. hold on, there's more. >> you're going to tell me about the snow. >> snow, yes. snow levels about 6,000 feet. they could see one to two feet of snow at the higher elevations between today and tomorrow. tomorrow, of course, the big labor day holiday. we'll see a lot more of the same across the southeast. a little more widespread into the ohio valley and the pacific

northwest being rainy and very cool. everybody else looking pretty good. >> everyone will have to spend a lot of time indoors together. thanks jackie. from the speech this week to school kids to a controversial adviser's resignation to backlash over health care reform, is the white house starting to show signs of vulnerability? i'd spend class preoccupied, bothered by itchy eyes. but now i have new zyrtec® itchy eye drops. it works fast, with just one drop, to relieve my itchy eyes from allergies for up to 12 hours. no other allergy itchy eye drop works faster or longer. which is good, 'cause there's a lotta paws to shake. with new zyrtec® itchy eye drops i can love the air™. (announcer) find it in the allergy aisle next to other zyrtec® products.

opponents of government health care reform and big government are making sure their protests stay fresh in lawmaker's minds. ♪ i need someone to save me from bad choices i have made ♪ >> the tea party express that started in california found its way to louisville, kentucky this weekend. it will make several more stops before reaching washington, d.c. on september 12th for a taxpayer march. health care reform and government spending aren't the only topics inviting criticism of president obama. just last night word came that

white house adviser van jones had resigned. a leading house republican, among others, had called for jones's job pause of a petition jones signed five years ago. the investigation is into whether government officials under the bush administration deliberately let the 9/11 terror attacks happen. is this an example, the resignation, of the white house caving in to pressure from the right? i talked about that with cnn white house correspondent ed henry. >> i think they pretty much did give in to the pressure. it had been building for days. the white house hadn't pushed back very hard. some of the comments van jones made were kind of beyond the pale, even for people in the white house privately acknowledged, especially signing on to the petition for this group that essentially was charging several years ago that bush era officials knew about 9/11 and let the terror attacks happen for their own political reasons. people inside the white house very high up realized this

gentleman was not going to survive that. they didn't want the president being tied to that. so they acknowledge now that maybe the vetting was not good enough about his background, his statements and whatnot. there's clearly a mistake there. i think secondly and most importantly, with the political pressure out there, the white house realized the president about to give a big health care speech, the focus needs to be on that, not some other controversy. they try to bury this over the labor day weekend, a lot of americans are vacationing. this is a good time to get bad news out there and focus on health care. >> this anti obama administration movement, it does seem to be gaining strength and even chip chipping away at the administration in different ways, whether it's van jones or maybe health care reform or maybe even tuesday, his speech to school children. is this movement sort of chipping away at the integrity of the white house? or does the white house feel like it's handling this well?

>> maybe not the integrity, but maybe chipping away at the political armor the president had. it seemed like days it could do no wrong. whereas the clinton and mccain campaign had problems. we're starting to see approval ratings come down. i think there's some frustration among democrats that i have talked to on capitol hill, other advisors to this president who are saying they're not pushing back as quickly as they did when he was a very agile candidate, when there were charges on the internet, rumors out there. in the white house like that education speech on tuesday, again, that festered out on talk radio for several days with very little push back from the white house. these van jones allegations were festering out there. they let it build and build. with what the president calls disinformation out there about death panels and the like, the president eventually pushed hard pretty hard, but he let it go on for weeks and weeks until the

opposition mobilized. it put the white house on the defensive. >> as it pertains to health care reform and even the lesson plan for the classroom speech, the white house made some modifications. it now is saying it wants to craft its own health care reform legislation, and it also made some changes in that lesson being asked of the school students. does that undermine this white house? >> well, certainly on the education speech, i think what happened is they acknowledge that the lesson plans that they were going to distribute on tuesday along with the president's address, back-to-school address to students, they had to chuck that because it looked a little political. trying to get the students to write essays on how they can help the president, why they admire them. there was blowback on that. they acknowledge that. on health care, what top aides to the president are saying is that he hasn't settled on writing his own bill yet per se. but for the first time in private, they are talking about

putting something together, whether they call it legislation, call it principles. you're right. that's a reversal from before when they kept insisting they didn't no need to write their own bill, had to let congress do it. they maybe overlearned the lesson of 1993 and '94 with bill clinton where he got too much in the weeds and the details. it backfired. congress rejected it. this time they were so bent on letting congress do all the details that maybe the president didn't assert himself early enough in the process. i think the bottom line though is he still has a time. it's evaporating. he's got time. that's why wednesday night is so important, the speech to the joint session of congress. he can finally assert himself, finally get much more specific. maybe we're late in the fourth quarter i guess, with the football season about to start. but he's still got time, fred. >> does the white house see these attacks as politics as usual? or does it see something else, dare we use our word, racism? >> in terms of van jones, i think they realize that while this was someone who has been

friendly with the president and some of his advisors over the year and he was the green job czar which was a very important priority for the president, they haven't suggested race was a factor here. i think in large part because on some of the issues that are at stake here, for example, this 9/11 splinter group charging that the bush officials knew about 9/11 in some way. it was so outrageous, having nothing to do with race, that even people in the white house who are fans of van jones in terms of substance and policy on environmental issues realized that's just beyond the pale and they couldn't defend it. even if there were other issues that could have tinged towards racism, they're not bringing it up because they realize, bottom line, this guy signed on to really controversial stuff. he said he didn't really know what he was doing. after the tim geithner tax issue and tom daschle tax issue, why did they let this man go through without vetting his statements and associations a lot more closely, fred? >> the white house knew change would be an uphill battle.

does anyone in the white house acknowledge or indicate this is tougher than they expected? >> they will acknowledge as they are sort of sleep deprived at this state. so many of the aides are working around the class. think back to the first hundred days dealing with the stimulus and the financial crisis, that's almost calmed down a little bit. unemployment almost at 10% right now. they're still facing a mountains of problems. we haven't even gotten to afghanistan yet. i mean that may ultimately be the biggest issue this president confronts over the first four years here, whether he has only one term or not, we'll see whether he has eight years or four years. the bottom line is he already sent 21,000 more troops into afghanistan. he's getting pressure he might have to send even more. conservatives certainly by and large want to see that. on the left he's facing pressure from people in his party saying why are you doubling down, why are you increasing our presence in afghanistan? this is not what we voted for.

your bottom line question is absolutely right. campaign i campaigning is one thing. governing a whole other thing. >> white house correspondent ed henry in washington, thank you. a key week coming up in the health care battle for president obama. he'll push his reform plan at a labor day rally in cincinnati tomorrow. tuesday he gives his address to the nation's school kids. wednesday the president will address a joint session of congress on health care, and then friday he'll be at the pentagon for 9/11 memorial ceremony. afghan president hamid karzai is close to winning a second term. but afghanistan's election remains under scrutiny as claims of election fraud continue. cnn's atia abawi reports from kabul. >> the independent election commission released more results from august 20th presidential elections. they say they've tallied about 74% of the votes. karzai with a comfortable lead of 48% of those counted.

his main rival with around 32% of the votes. the iec also stating they had to throw out votes from 447 different polling stations because of fraud. this has been an election marched with fraud even before election day. the ecc, electoral complaints commission receiving over 2,000 complaints, nearly 600 considered priority a, meaning strong enough that it could actually affect the outcome. >> the independent elections commission has been completely impartial and neutral in its activities and in fulfilling its duties throughout the process. >> reporter: just yesterday dr. abdullah held a press conference where he again was pointing the finger towards the karzai campaign for fraud, and this time also towards the iec saying they were also engaged in fraud. the iec has denied those allegations. so has president karzai's

campaign. president karzai's campaign say they're not speaking up at the moment because they would rather have the institutions handle the situation rather than interfering with democracy. atia abawi, cnn, kabul. the man who blew the whistle on his naked cohorts in afghanistan is speaking out. hear what he has to say about the behavior and why he's now looking for a new job. still haven't tried activia? listen to this story. my problem was occasional irregularity.

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a look at our top stories. one of the president's top environmental advisors is resigning. environmental point man van jones says he's been hammered by criticism over his past activism. he called for 9/11 attacks which suggested the government under the bush administration was responsible. he has since apologized saying he didn't review the document fully. health care education and 9/11 figure prominently in president obama's agenda this weekend. he'll push health care reform at a rally in cincinnati tomorrow and a joint session of congress on wednesday. then tuesday he'll stress the

importance of education to the nation's school children, and on friday he'll pay a special visit to the pentagon for 9/11 memorial. afghan president hamid karzai is edging closer to victory right now despite accusations of vote rigging and with 74% of the election results counted, he is leading. he needs 50% to avoid a second runoff. the independent election commission is not expected to finalize the results until later this month. china says people convicted of syringe attacks could face the death penalty. police arrested 21 people last week in western china on suspicion of stabbing others with hypodermic needless. five people have died in recent protests separate from that. this part of china has been racked by ethnic violence between native muslim uyghurs and millions of others who have moved there from other parts of the country.

he saw his co-workers misbehaving on the job at the u.s. embassy in afghanistan. he turned them in. now the whistle-blower is out of a job, too. terry pearson says he wasn't looking for glory or mass firings. what was he after? he explains in this exclusive interview with cnn paula newton. >> reporter: fresh from a plane in afghanistan, terry pearson says he's back home in britain sooner than he wanted to be after blowing the whistle on behavior he said was shocking and undignified. pearson was a contractor working as an operations supervisor at camp sullivan in afghanistan, housing quarters for u.s. embassy guards on contract. the camp is now under a u.s. state department investigation for inappropriate conduct stemming from charges and explicit photographs involving u.s. embassy guards. images of nudity, alcohol abuse and what appears to be sexual

hayesing. pearson says he saw it for himself a couple of months ago, was disgusted and said no one should have tolerated it. >> you would not try to enforce a sexual dooef yantd way of thinking. you may have to laugh or joke or do something, drop your trousers just for a laugh. when you start encouraging people to drink alcohol running off somebody's body parts, a bit over the top. >> reporter: pearson says he wrote e-mails to his employer, ra international, and complained to supervisors of armor group, the contractor that shared the camp and employed the guards featured in the pictures. >> his answer to it was, they're just letting off steam. i think that's the way they looked at some of the incidents that happened. >> reporter: but the incidents were investigated by the watch dog group, project on government

oversight and reported to the state department. several guards have now been fired or resigned. management is being replaced. but as a whistle-blower, pearson says he wasn't after mass firings, just a change in behavior. he says back at camp sullivan, he was made to feel he had done something wrong, so he resigned a few days ago, only to ask for his job back just hours later. it was too late. he was on a plane home within hours. his employer, ra international says pearson resigned of his own free will and, quote, although we are now aware of the alleged events at camp sullivan, the employee's resignation was not associated with this matter. how much does it bother you, you're the person who said this is not right, and now you're out of a job? >> if i could turn back the clock and have a chance to do something different, i don't think i would. i think i'd still end up doing exactly the same thing.

because i think people's dignity -- dignity at work and respect at work is more important than having a job yourself. >> reporter: pearson says he will continue to help with the state department investigation, but he's still stunned that doing the right thing could have such dire consequences in his own life. paula newton, cnn, liverpool, england. this week marks the 8th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. now in 2009 how safe are our roadways, our bridges, our ports? we'll take an in-depth look at the state of u.s. security. if you have any questions, we want to hear from you. send them to us at cnn.com slash fredicka or find me on facebook and we'll tackle those questions next saturday during the 4:00 p.m. eastern hour of the newsroom. state of the u.s. security. we want to hear from you. it's the kind of problem no crew wants to find, why a disturbing discovery on a california landmark could have drivers looking for another way to work.

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drivers in san francisco and oakland could have a nasty commute ahead. take a look. this is the time lapse photo right here as work crews began a seismic retrofit of the bay bridge. yesterday they actually found a significant crack in a steel link that helped hold up the eastern span. now take a look right now. live pictures of the bridge being worked on there. it's a beautiful bridge. we all agree on that. they want to make sure it's as safe as possible for the thousands of people that commute it every day. that span could be closed for much longer than first planned. it was supposed to reopen tuesday. some 260,000 vehicles in all cross the bridge every week day. pretty nice weather for most of

us this labor day holiday weekend. folks in seattle are shivering in cold, raw, rainy weather. in the mountains there eye snow. that's what jacqui said. you said it. i believe it. >> so glad to hear it. thank you, fredicka. >> you know i believe you all the time. what you got for us? >> like you said, really very chilly across the pacific northwest. this is that big labor day holiday weekend where people are thinking sun, fun, pool, beach. well, i'm thinking fireplace and maybe a little hot chocolate across the pacific northwest. i know you're kind of used to it here. this time of year it's even cool by your standards. check out some of these temperatures in this area and what it kind of feels like. 64 degrees right now in seattle. portland also about 60 to 64 degrees this this area, olympia, tacoma, there you can see you're still in the 50s at this hour. certainly a bit on the chilly side. that's going to stick with you right through the weekend. as you head into the higher elevations, yeah, you see that

white in here, a little bit of that pink, that's snow transition taking place. could see a couple of feet of the stuff before all is said and done. so this little bit of a bummer for you for the weekend unless you like to stay inside and enjoy that kind of stuff. we've got other areas of the country that are a little on the wet side as we take a trip over to the east coast. there you can see some of the showers and thundershowers pushing through the louisville area. indianapolis, you're finally starting to clear out. for you beach goers along the gulf coast, we've been having spotty showers from new orleans towards mobile, through the pensacola area. south florida really, really heavy and wet yesterday. today less prevalent. it is still out there. no travel delays, the best news for the day. try to get a big smile out of you. that never happens. the forecast tore for tomorrow looks a lot like today. heat start together build back into parts of texas. we've got the onshore flow in the southwest which brings a little fog to that bridge in the

san francisco area, but also brings humidity into those fire areas. >> they need a little bit of that. thanks so much, jacqui. appreciate it. sleeping on the job and then busted for it. what happened to security guards caught napping when they should have been protecting new york city's george washington bridge.

the whistle has been blown, the ax has fallen. two guards who were hired to protect george washington's bridge have been fired. they were sleeping on the job. cnn's deb feyerick spoke to the guy who actually caught them napping. >> joey lapore loves riding his bike over the bridge to new york's central park. >> you take this path every day? >> pretty much every day. >> reporter: it was one of those rides when he looked over in a security booth and saw something that alarmed him. >> i saw a guide sleeping and i thought this is crazy that the guy is sleeping on duty. >> reporter: he said it happened not once, but three times.

>> i got totally outraged. i said, you know what? i'm taking a picture of this. >> reporter: which he did, walking straight up to the security booth. >> imagine if i was a terrorist. imagine if i had a gun in my hand. i could have opened up his door and blew his head right off. >> reporter: months before going public, lapore said he reached out to the security guard. >> i said i don't want to be a jerk and report this. but you've got to repromise me you're not going to be sleeping while you're guarding a bridge. he said no, no, no, it won't happen again. >> reporter: but when it did with another guard, he felt there was a bigger problem. >> if this guy worked in a deli and sleepd behind the counter, i wouldn't care. when you're protecting us and it's your job to have an eye out for our safety, i take that very seriously. >> reporter: the port authority which runs the bridges says both guards have been fired for sleeping on the job.

in a statement to cnn the agency says it welcomes public vigilance and, quote, the port authority takes the safety of its passengers and facilities very seriously and has spent more than $4 billion on security since 9/11. although he feels badly about the first, he still feels he did the right thing, especially because a cousin and friend died on 9/11. >> if i can do one thing to help one person to stay alive, i'll be very fulfilled. >> reporter: neither the port authority or the contractor who hired the security guards would release the names of the two fired security guards. they did confirm sleeping on the job was the reason for termination. deborah feyerick, cnn, new york. coming up in one hour, who is making a bid for senator ted kennedy's seat. we'll take a look at the players. at 4:00 eastern, swine flu. a lot of you have questions about the h1n1 virus. we have answers. a