terror attack in the u.s. since 9/11. should our government get credit and how much is luck? >> continue the conversations on today's stories, go to our blog at cnn.com/amfix. now that's going to wrap it up for us, our labors are through. we'll see you again bright and early tomorrow morning. >> meanwhile, the news continues. "cnn newsroom" starts now with heidi collins. president obama back from vacation and back to work on this labor day. he looks to the high stakes of a busy week. at this kentucky church, the devil is in the details. should a convicted sex offender be ordained as one of its leaders? and a beach holiday on ice. chilling images of great white sharks keep swimmers on edge and out of the water. good morning, everybody. i'm heidi collins. it is september 7th, monday, labor day, and my husband's birthday. you are in the "cnn newsroom." let's get started right off the

top this morning. at the white house this morning, cnn's ed henry. he's going to be talking about how the president is on the road again today, but fighting to stay on his message. and brie yann keeler is looking to capitol hill this morning. of course, congress returns. does that mean the focus on health care reform will do the same? also, atia abowie has a developing story in afghanistan this morning. a charity there says u.s. troops ransacked a hospital. let's begin now with the president's agenda. next hour, the president leaves for a labor day picnic in ohio. he's meeting with the aflcio. and they released transcripts of the president's address to schoolchildren. the administration is trying to quiet critics who say the speech will contain liberal propaganda. on wednesday, he's due to address the nation at a joint session of congress. so we have a lot of ground to cover this morning. let's get right to our senior

white house correspondent, ed henry. ed, good morning to you. tomorrow's education speech, certainly raised some concerns. we've been hearing about this for several days. what, exactly, is the white house doing to quell that controversy? and were they expecting this to raise such a ruckus, if you will? >> reporter: heidi, they were not expecting it to raise such a ruckus. when you talk to top white house aides, they sound pretty frustrated that conservatives got so fired up and stoked this controversy late last week. they're hoping here at the white house that it died down a little over the weekend and they're really hoping to douse the flames over the next couple of hours by actually releasing the text of what the president is going to say to schoolchildren tomorrow to try to say, look, this is pretty noncontroversial. the president's going to talk about studying hard, staying in school, basic american values, essentially, that transcend politics. and white house aides point out, they've been pointing out for several days now that previous republican presidents like the first president bush, the late ronald reagan, gave similar

speeches just like this. and while democrats at the time raised some concerns, talked about the possibility of politics, it certainly didn't cause a ruckus quite like this. the white house thinks once they release the transcript of what the president's going to say, they hope it just dies down. >> have they toned it down a bit? because if it's benign as this, people wouldn't have been so upset. have they changed the message? >> if it was so benign, they may have released it late last week, but instead they were probably tweaking it over the weekend to make sure when they released it everybody could see it was not that controversial. i think, clearly, there was going to be a lesson plan that was distributed with this speech. that was what really fired up conservatives. that's been pulled back, for sure. and i expect the text in the speech we see will be pretty noncontroversial. >> we'll be looking forward to that and talk a lot more about it on our program throughout the morning. meanwhile, wednesday, ed, the big speech to congress regarding health care reform, where it stands, where the white house stands on this whole public

option. that's been something that everybody's been talking about quite a bit. >> reporter: that's the key. what senior advisers are saying is that the president is going to give a strong push for public option on wednesday night, to say he still believes that it's the best way to bring down costs, the best way, in his words, to keep insurance companies honest. but when you listen closely to what top advisers like david axelrod are saying when he appeared yesterday on nbc's "meet the press," it's also clear that the door's open to losing the public option. take a listen. >> he believes the public option is a good tool. now, it shouldn't define the whole health care debate, however. >> reporter: does not define the whole health care debate. so he'll give a strong push for it, but in the end, if he needs to drop that public option to get a deal, that's likely what he'll do. >> nice to see you outside the white house, ed. let's turn to capitol hill. cnn congressional correspondent brianna keilar joining us from our washington bureau this morning. brianna, good morning to you. where do things stand with regard to the public option in

congress? >> reporter: as a whole, heidi, the rhetoric is starting to move away from the public option. and in the senate, and we've known this for some time now, passing a public option, very unlikely. there is just this lack of support, not only among republicans, but among key democrats, like nebraska senator ben nelson, as you know, heidi. and he actually indicated yesterday on cnn's "state of the union" that he could support a so-called trigger for a government-run insurance plan. here's what he said. >> well, i think he has to say that if there's going to be a public option, it has to be subject to a trigger. in other words, if somehow the private market doesn't respond the way that it's supposed to, then it would trigger a public option or a government-run option, but only as a fail save, backstop to the process. >> reporter: now, this would go into effect only if certain goals are not met in a certain amount of time. getting enough people insurance

coverage, for instance, or bringing down costs to a sufficient degree. we should mention, maine republican, republican olympia snowe, she's a key smart involved in bipartisan negotiations, she's been discussing this very idea with the white house. so, obviously, you can see this may be a part where some of these conservative democrats in the senate and some of these moderate republicans can maybe find some common ground, heidi. >> maybe. hope so. what about in the house? liberal democrats, not really a fan of this, right? >> reporter: this is getting a cool reception, certainly, from some rank and file liberal democrats in the house of representatives. they say that health care reform without a public option is -- it's not reform, they say. and a trigger to many of them is just a way of setting up a plan for this government-run health insurance, this public option that never actually goes into effect. we're still hearing speaker pelosi insist the house will pass a public option, but when you listen to some of the other democratic house leaders, speaker pelosi is number two and her number three, their rhetoric

seems to be moving away. they are saying that a public option is important, but maybe they have to only take half the loaf, so they can get health care reform. that's what we heard from her number three, james clyburn, over this past weekend, heidi. >> wow. an awful lot to still work out, it sounds like. brianna keilar, our congressional correspondent, thank you, brianna. a mother, a father, and their daughter, all three killed in a rocket attack in afghanistan. it happened yesterday in kabul. no claim of responsibility yet, but the taliban are suspected in similar attacks last month. meanwhile, german chancellor angela merkel is calling into an investigation into a deadly nato air strike. the attack killed at least 90 people in a northern province on friday. a german commander called in the strike as afghans tried to siphon fuel from tankers hijacked by the taliban. also in afghanistan today, claims of u.s. soldiers overstepping their bounds at a hospital. our atia abowie is joining us now live from kabul via telephone, actually. atia, tell us a little bit more

about this incident. what happened inside that hospital? >> reporter: well, the information that we're getting right now, heidi, is from the swedish committee for investigation. they're alleging that u.s. forces raided a hospital. they say that they were breaking locks, they tied the guards uh, they were going from ward to ward, including the female ward, which is a very culturally sensitive in afghanistan, looking for taliban. before leaving, they told the hospital staff to make sure that if any taliban come to the hospital, they call the military. the military says that they can't do that. that the doctors made an oath treat anyone, no matter race, religion, or even political affiliation. and also, what the committee told cnn is that if they did, if they were to go to the u.s. military when the taliban came to their hospital, hypothetically, what that would mean to them, would the taliban then attack the hospital? would the safety of the hospital staff be in jeopardy? but the u.s. forces here said

they're still investigating the allegations made by the swedish committee for afghanistan. >> these hospitals, oftentimes, become sort of safe houses. do we know anything about the intelligence that the u.s. soldiers may have had on this? >> reporter: right now the u.s. forces, they're not speaking occuup on the issue until they're clear of what happened. they're trying to get details of what exactly went on. but places such as hospitals, such as mosques have become hiding grounds for certain insurgent groups. but at the same time, with the new initiative by general mcchrystal, u.s. forces, coalition forces, they're still not allowed to attack or go anywhere near certain areas that they think that civilians might be a part of. and obviously, with the nato air strike, we're seeing why. because that's when afghan support fades for the coalition forces, and the taliban are able to use that as propaganda to actually get more and more support when it comes to villagers throughout the country.

heidi? >> something they've learned very well, that tactic. atia abowie, out of afghanistan for us. tonight, anderson cooper takes you inside afghanistan live from the battle zone. an "a.c. 360" special report coming your way at 10:00 p.m. eastern. forgiveness may be a basic principle of christian religion, but is one kentucky church asking for trouble by inviting a registered sex offender to be a minister? it may be a vacation for a lot of people, but weather, it never stops. if you're headed to the beach or the barbecue, you've got to know what to expect. find out, coming up. when this shoe store added aflac

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fire crews working on the massive station fire that's been burning nearly two weeks near los angeles now have the blaze more than half contained. but it certainly took a heavy toll. listen to this. of course, as you remember, two firefighters died. 78 homes are destroyed. nearly 246 square miles of the angeles national forest have been burned. fire agencies in cash-strapped l.a. have sent more than $50 million fighting the blaze, but full containment is not expected for about another week. officials have ruled the cause

of the fire as arson because two firefighters died, they have also opened a homicide investigation. in oakland, about 260,000 vehicles may need an alternate route when the work begins tomorrow. transportation officials say a crack discovered in the bridge's structure has delayed ongoing routine repairs. >> the question we'll ask is, how big the crack is. if the crack is significant enough you can see it on the ground. >> repair crews hope to finish all the work on the bay bridge before tuesday, but officials are warning that drivers across the bridge that usually use the bridge, it actually could be closed for another day. all right. well, as you know, it's labor d day, we're laboring, but we say that every day. >> hopefully not many closures on that bridge. when you're talking about a crack on the bridge, it's like, take your time, get it right.

>> they check it often, for earthquake -- structure and its actual viability for possible earthquakes and they were able to find this during this routine examination. pretty interesting. >> those exams are really a good thing. they've had the rough part. in the south, you were talking about the fires, the dry conditions. what they could really use in places like southern california could be ample rainfall. talk about rain, this is one of the biggest rainmakers we have on the planet. a tropical wave that's forming off the coast of africa, no threat to anyone in the u.s. as of yet, but as always, we watch these things very carefully for you. there is a chance this may become something bigger. may be a depression, may be a storm. we'll keep a sharp eye on it. let me show you what did happen. last night in parts of washington state, we had some rough weather. we had some damage reported from some possibly straight line winds. could be a rough day in other parts of the nation, including cincinnati, where we have a live image for you. cincinnati, about an 80% chance of severe storms later on today with a high temperature expected of 78 degrees.

that is not going to be the only place. other parts of the ohio valley, including places like louisville, kentucky, even into lexington could deal with thunderstorms. there's a chance we could have some north of the red river valley. and all along the i-4 car adore, converging sea breezes. that could give you a rumble of thunder. and speaking of heating, here's the high temperatures we're expecting for the day. 91 in tampa, 97 in dallas. 83 in denver. back over to salt lake city, 87. for new york, 83. that's a wrap on your forecast. >> check back with you later on, reynolds. thank you. the gloves come off at a lacrosse game in canada. spectators got to see their teams leave it all on the field, but sportsmanship and conduct had nothing to do with it. the game erupted into an all-out brawl after a player on the visiting team got whacked by two players. both teams were fined. another player got suspended. by the way, when the game finally continued, the home team won. looks like hockey, doesn't it?

san diego's chargers lined up -- linebacker, that is, shawne merriman could be in some hot water. how a reality star says a weekend party with the nfl star ended in unnecessary roughness. triple, , or even quadruple points when you pay with your mastercard card. triple-a members can get even more. better values, best western. for details, visit bestwestern.com. (announcer) time brings new wisdom

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just a week away before the nfl season kicks off. an arrest involving a san diego chargers player. star linebacker shawne merriman was arrested early sunday. he's accused of choking and revaining reality tv star tila tequila at an after party at merriman's home. an attorney for the football player denies the assault

allegations. he says tequila was drunk and merriman simply tried to make arrangements for her to leave the house. several prisoners are being treated under guard this morning, according to the associated press, after their private transport van crashed on interstate 59 around haitisburg, massachusetts, yesterday. it was moving nine prisoners when it hit an embankment, some trees, and flipped over. the driver died. what if someone baptized your child without your permission? that's exactly what a mother in breckenridge county, kentucky, says happened to her son on a school trip. a public school coach took about 20 of his players on a retreat to his baptist church last month. about half of them were baptized. one mom called a lawyer after hearing the superintendent was there and did nothing to stop it. the superintendent says she didn't seek consent because she thought the kids were old

enough. a lot of people don't want sex offenders in their neighborhoods, so why is a louisville, kentucky, church inviting one into its congregation? registered sex offender mark horgan is becoming an ordained minister at the city of ref ju worship center. he served time for sexually abusing an 11-year-old boy in 1998. last night, our richard lui asked him if sex offenders can really change? >> in the jaycee dugard indicate, phillip garrido is a good example of one who was in recovery, but not really in recovery. why should parishioners that you go to church along with believe that you are in recovery? >> well, i completed a sex offender treatment program while i was in prison and also since i was released, while i was on the parole. so i've actually completed it twice and i've learned a lot of tools through that program and

i've learned that i have to change the way that i think in order to change my actions and my behaviors. and i've learned a lot of things, as far as what situations not to place myself in and when i'm having problems on emotional levels to seek out counsel from other people, such as my pastor or other members of the church in order to deal with those so that it doesn't turn into something that it has in the past. >> the man you saw sitting there next to horgan was his pastor, randy meadows. he says horgan has shown he deserves forgiveness. their church caters to gay and transgender followers. he signed an agreement not to minister to children. this is a story that's got us talking in our news room. go ahead and blog to us on cnn.com/heidi. tell us your thoughts. we've got a little synopsis of the story here. registered sex offender to be ordained as a minister.

do you think the church is right to forgive and accept horgan, or do you think they are taking too big of a risk? once again, cnn.com/heidi on that. a community overjoyed. south lake tahoe, california, the town where jaycee lee dugard was kidnapped 18 years ago is celebrating her safe return. cnn's kara finnstrom shows us the parade held in jaycee's honor. >> reporter: a sea of pink, girls walking arm in arm, a hometown telling jaycee dugard they love her. it's all so familiar. >> it's very overwhelming. it's a good overwhelming. >> reporter: jaycee's childhood friend, amelia edwards walked this route on the tenth anniversary of jaycee's disappearance. now, eight years later, this community is walking it backwards, symbolizing they've come full circle and jaycee has come home. >> all of us are just like in awe. we keep getting goose bumps.

>> reporter: in the years since jaycee vanished, this community has held its children tighter. >> constantly trying to find out where she is and reach out for her hand. >> reporter: that fear, even more real for edwards. the week before dugard disappeared, edwards said she told her parents a car with a man and woman inside followed her home from the bus stop. >> i remember hearing the tire tracks pull on to the dirt road behind me, and i remember walking faster, hearing the tires go faster, and that made me even more scared, so i ran home. >> we just thought it was a 10-year-old being overly dramatic and didn't really believe her, actually. >> reporter: edwards says, at the time, she immediately recognized sketches of the car and the woman suspected of involvement in jaycee dugard's disappearance. >> at 11 years old, it was my worst nightmare coming true. my mom stated, you know, it's the bogeyman coming to life. >> reporter: edwards needed to do something. >> this is one of the original

pink ribbons. >> reporter: she started what became a pink ribbon campaign. pink was jaycee's favorite color. 18 years later -- >> we're getting lost in a sea of pink. it's the most beautiful thing i think i've ever seen. >> reporter: jaycee dugard is not here with them, but edwards now knows that missing girl, now a free woman, may just feel and see their joy. kara finnstrom for cnn, south lake tahoe, california. she won't be flogged, but she will pay a fine. a woman gets in trouble for wearing pants, but her punishment could have been worse.

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afl-cio's meeting today. the president will be announcing to union members that he's named a senior counselor for manufacturing policy. in two days, president barack obama will spell out his ideas for health insurance in a speech to congress. as you know, there's been much debate over whether or not there will be a government insurance plan to compete with the private ones known as the public option. cnn's john king discussed this with minnesota governor tim pawlenty and nebraska senator ben nelson on cnn's "state of the union" yesterday. >> if he were to do something like that, would you embrace a backup public option if they went to the trigger approach that we create a public option, but it only kicks in if in three years or five years, the insurance market isn't more competitive? >> there's lots of things we could agree to on a bipartisan baby, the public option is not one. the trigger option just kicks the can down the road. it just delays the inevitable. i think if the democrats embrace the public option, even in the

form of the trigger, they'll shoot themselves in the foot. >> well, i think he has to say that if there's going to be a public option, it has to be subject to a trigger. when i say trigger, you know, out here in nebraska and in the midwest, i don't mean a hair trigger. i mean a true trigger, one that would only apply if there isn't the kind of competition in the business that we believe there would be. >> wednesday night, president obama addresses congress on his health care reform plan. coverage from the best political team begins wednesday, 8:00 p.m. eastern, only right here on cnn. one of president obama's advisers stepping down over the weekend. the white house says the president did not force van jones to resign, but his apparent link to 9/11 conspiracy theorists did play a role as mary snow explains. >> reporter: van jones, a special adviser for green jobs, was thrust to the forefront over questions surrounding this 2004 petition he signed on the 9/11

truth.org website, demanding, quote, a call for immediate inquiry into evidence that suggests high-level government officials may have deliberately allowed the september 11th attacks to occur. van jones is listed as signer 46. asked why his name is on it, jones did not carefully review the language in the petition and in a statement issued friday, jones said, i do not agree with this statement and it certainly does not reflect my views, now or ever. white house press secretary robert gibbs was asked about jones' name appearing on the petition, responding, it's not something the president agrees with. jones has also gained attention for comments he made before his white house job, including this one, now on youtube, when he was talking about republicans. >> how are the republicans able to push things through when they had less than 60 senators, but somehow we can't? >> well, the answer to that is, they're [ bleep ].

[ laughter ] >> i'm afraid that was the answer. >> that's a technical, political term. and -- barack obama's not an [ bleep ]. >> reporter: in 2005, he was quoted saying, by august, i was a communist. jones says, if i have offended anyone with statements i made in the past, i apologize. the green jobs guru came under scrutiny by some conservatives. notably fox tv host, glenn beck. defenders of jones say beck targeted him because jones was formerly with a group now working to get advertisers to boycott beck's show.

the boycott came after the fox host called him a racist. before this, he was primarily known for his environmental work, including the best-selling book, "the green collar economy." back in may in comments on the "san francisco chronicle" website, jones even won the praise of former ebay ceo, meg whitman. >> i'm a big fan of him. he's done a marvelous job. >> reporter: on friday meg says she did not know jones well and clearly holds views that she entirely rejects. mary snow, cnn. limiting those outrageous banking bonus. that's what the g-20 agreed to do over the weekend in london. among them, u.s. treasury secretary timothy geithner who says controlling bonuses will help avoid past mistakes. in an exclusive interview with richard quest, listen. >> there is no risk that we will -- can afford and will

allow conditions in the financial industry to go back to what they were in the peak of the boom. >> but the speed of which they've gone back to -- >> haven't gone back yet. >> on the way -- >> no, haven't gone back yet. and i think it's important it did not happen. in fact, you're going to see very significant reforms and compensation package across the major financial centers. and one thing we did today, which is very important is, reach an agreement on a common framework and commit ourselves to make sure we're going to apply those standards on an even basis across our countries. >> the g-20 meeting this weekend was a prelude to the major summit happening a little bit later this month in pittsburgh. president obama wants to make saving money easier for you. our christine romans is joining us now with a little more on this. christine, what exactly does the administration have in mind? >> it's interesting, timothy geithner pointed out, the treasury secretary, you were just listening to, says that half of the nation's workforce

has little beyond nothing of social security benefits to live on once it retires. nearly half of america's workforce isn't saving the money beyond social security to try to live in the future. americans have not saved enough for retirement. the nest egg is small and fragile and now this administration wants to make it a little bit easier and bureaucratic for people to get enrolled in their company 401(k)s. auto enrollment in retirement plans, this is thing is that big company have said doing for some time. meaning if you work for a big company, it's very likely that you're automatically enrolled and you opt out if you don't want to do it. this makes it easier for small and mid-sized companies to do that, cleaning up in some of the paperwork and bureaucracy, companies must opt out. also, beginning in 2010 on your tax return, you'll be able to check a little box that would allow your tax refund to be automatically turned into a savings bond. this really pushes for some automatic investment. now, some personal finance types say there are other ways, maybe better ways to save your money, but for people who are not

saving their money and who are immediately spending their tax refunds, it would be a way to have some forced savings. you never see that in your checkbook and wouldn't be able to spend that tax refund. and another plan would turn sick days and vacation time into 401( 401(k) money. do you have a vacation bank, if you take your sick days, you can get that in cash. this would be a way you would be able to turn that into money turned into your 401(k). some companies like ours who have a use it or lose it policy, doesn't help you in that situation. but it might be a way to get some more money diverted into the 401(k). >> i love talking about all of this, and we are very fortunate to have jobs. we're talking about a 26-year high for unemployment. people who don't have jobs, millions of them who lost their jobs in this recession, what about them? >> it's a very good point. because here we're talking about how to have it easier at work, to save your money, but we know

that the wages are stagnant, that if you've got a job, that your own health care expenses, your own expenses are going up. so it's a hard time to be talking about saving money. all of these things help, but it doesn't help those people, those 26 million plus people in this country who are ready, willing, and able to work full-time, but they don't have a full-time job, heidi. >> it's true. well, we are watching that very closely today too, on this labor day, sn. christine romans for us out of new york this morning, thanks. this labor day, certainly, is no picnic for people without jobs, with the unemployment rate the worst in 26 years. what's it going to take the turn things around? answers later.

it is labor day and vice president joe biden is keeping his focus on the nation's workers. this morning, he's in pittsburgh addressing a labor rally and taking part in the city's 26th annual labor day parade. iran says it's ready to hold talks with the west, but its nuclear ambitions will not be up for discussion. iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad is coming to new york later this month for the opening session of the u.n. general assembly. he says iran is ready to discuss global challenges. the hardline president did not offer specifics. new developments for a female journalist in sudan. wearing pants in public was the first step that she was going through, but she got fined by a sudanese judge for public indecency. the alternative was 40 times worse. i know's david mckenzie is joining us now from nairobi, kenya, with the latest details. tell us what is going on here. >> reporter: good morning, heidi. this isn't the first we've heard

of the story. a journalist and previously a u.n. worker in khartoum in the sudan, she was up for 40 lashes for wearing pants in public. she said what she was wearing was not at all indecent. she said it didn't break the law and the strict interpretation of islamic law in sudan is what got her in trouble in the first place. they took her into custody, said she would face 40 lashes on the spot, but she chose to fight this and she said she wouldn't take the immunity by the u.n. she resigned her job, the trial has been delayed the last couple of months. today she faced the trial. the judge tried to sort of sweep it under the carpet and just say, you're guilty, we're going to fine you $200. she said, no, she's not going to pay a penny according to her lawyer who spoke to cnn and she said that she'll fight this and she'll go to jail if needed. obviously, she's saying this is not just about her, it's about, in general, the public

punishments that -- the punishments that women face in sudan, she said it's degrading and amnesty international said it's abhorrent. so she might go to jail as soon as today. heidi? >> wow. well, keep us posted on this one, if you would. david mckenzie, live from nairobi, kenya. cnn's reynolds wolf standing by in the -- i don't know, do we have to call it a severe weather center today, or are we kind of okay? >> well, we might have some severe weather this afternoon. right now -- >> you can always find it. >> yeah, we could certainly find it last night. we had some in parts of washington. take a look at this video we would love to share with you and the rest of america that shows a lot of tree damage, a lot of straight line winds, power outages. you can see these big trees, some over 100 years old, just thrashed yesterday by some strong thunderstorms. you do get rain in this part of the world, that's no surprise. but strong thunderstorms, a little bit out of the normal. it can happen, but today it's going to be a better day for them.

still some scattered showers, not quite as rough. take a look at what we have in this part of the world right now. we have scattered showers forming along parts of 90. what's interesting, you have all your rain showers, at least the heaviest precipitation is going to be pretty much in the western half of the state. when you get over towards the eastern half of the state, all that moisture is ripped away by those mountains, by the higher elevation. they're not going to be expecting much. in terms of precipitation, you're going to be seeing quite a bit in places like the ohio valley, scattered showers there. we can also expect some rainfall, possibly some severe thunderstorms into portions of the sunshine state. so although conditions may look pretty good for the time being, there may be a rumble of thunder. any flights trying to get out of orlando, you might have a few delays out this and also along parts of i-35, i-95, and i-4, you could have a little bit of a wave. price pretty nice for you in parts of the northeast, great conditions along the coast. if you look towards parts of

colorado, same story. hit and miss showers for parts of texas with high temperatures going up to 97 degrees in dallas. but that is kind of a little bit of a trick. because 97 degrees, the air temperature, when you pile on the humidity is going to feel like it's up to 102 or so. i know we're making that turn towards fall, but it's definitely going to feel like summer in parts of dallas. 83 degrees for denver, 81 in los angeles. back in the valleys where they're fighting the fires, over 50% contained. still, those temperatures very, very high out there in the valleys. some spots over 100. 71 in boston, 73 in new york, 77 in our nation's capital. you're up to speed. back to you. >> reynolds, talk to you again in a moment. thank you. if you're dreaming about the beaches off the coast of cape cod for your labor day, big problems in the water. >> reporter: ain't no sharking down here at cocoa beach. we're living from a surfing competition. a live report coming up in just a few minutes. now, it's no pr.

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if you head out to cape cod this labor day weekend, you may have to settle for just a tan, maybe not a swim. the water is off-limits because of these. look at that.

four massive great white sharks swimming around the shoreline. yeah, the shoreline. shark sightings are common, as you probably know, in cape cod, but four great white sharks, can obviously be rare, even in new england. >> it's a common occurrence for these sharks to be in our waters. swimmers should be aware of that and they should use appropriate caution. >> yeah, appropriate caution. a marine expert managed to tag two of the great whites to help monitor their movements. this is a good idea. it's the first time great white sharks have been tagged in the atlantic. hitting the beach is not a bad way to spend this labor day. in fact, that's exactly what our incredibly hardworking rob marciano is doing. he's in cocoa beach, florida, at the annual nkf pro-am surf festival. yeah, wipeout. i have seen so much video this morning, it's sad. it's border line pathetic, my

friend. >> reporter: um, well, yes, but you didn't quite get all of my successes on tape. >> oh, the cameraman out of batteries? >> reporter: that's true too. i will show you that in just a second. good morning, everybody, i am laboring on this labor day at the beach. that's a pretty good deal. love my job today, for sure, here at the national kidney foundation, the florida version. their surf festival that's happening for the 24th year. they've raised millions of dollars for kidney transplant recipients. all right. the kids are lining up. we've got amateurs, got professionals. here are some of the amateurs, long boarders. look at the size of that board compared to that kid. there's the pro side. hundreds of thousands of kids out here enjoying the sights. a retire surfer has a special connection to the kidney transplant foundation.

take a quick listen to his story. >> '74, '86, '99. >> reporter: three kidney transplants? >> then add on three years of intensive cancer therapy and there i am. >> reporter: how about that? three kidney transplants plus having gone through surgery, he and his twin brother are here today and they're excited about this. >> three, two, one! >> reporter: all right. the heat's starting. there go the kids. go tear it up. some gnarly waves coming in, dude. >> you're scaring me a lot. i know you're really actually a skier, so i guess i thought -- maybe i was setting the bar too high, but i thought with all of your adeptness in the snow, we would see the same sort of thing in the surf, but we have some video to prove otherwise. you want to narrate this or should i do it for you?

>> reporter: listen, i never surfed before, i'm a bit of a landlubber, certainly not on the water. i got a lesson from my friend ryan yesterday on a long board which i'm told a cow could get up on. one, two, three attempts. on the third attempt, i took out some kids. cnn lawyers, be aware, you may be getting a call today. and on the fourth attempt -- did you see how big those waves were? that one wave was totally curling over my head. it was sick. ripping it, shredding off the top, it was gnarly, dude. come on, heidi, you know you're jealous. >> yeah, i would rather be there than here, that's for sure. >> reporter: maybe for the 25th year, i'm going to enter myself in the competition. i feel the skill set coming in the next 12 months. >> okay. you work hard on that. i think you're going to need all the video instruction and

professional help that you can get. rob marciano. take care. be ware of the very large waves out there. >> reporter: see ya. >> thanks so much. obviously, we have a lot going on this morning, even though it has labor day. news to get to you. our cnn crews are working hard to get to you. let's check in with ed henry at the white house. >> conservatives still fired up about the president's back-to-school speech tomorrow and whether it will be too political. the white house is about to release a text of the speech to try and douse the plams. i'll have that story at the top of the hour. and i'm brianna keilar in washington. congress returning to town after a month-long recess. i'll tell you where the debate on health care stands at the top of the hour. >> and what is going on. we'll take a look at your holiday forecast coming up. the complete picture coming up at the top of the hour. >> thanks so much, guys. also a closer look at president obama's speech tomorrow to school kids.

as you herd ed mention we'll talk to parents on both sides of the argument and a school official searching for common ground. ododododododododododododd

imagine every within was a three-day weekend like this one. it's now a dream come true for

kids in one georgia county, but our fredricka whitfield found teachers and parents aren't happy with the four-day school week. >> i was devastated. i'm sure i speak probably for every superintendent in the state of georgia. >> reporter: susan s. clark is school superintendent in rural peach county, georgia. >> it was almost like come on, it's a week before school starts, what are we going to do? >> reporter: in july public schools in georgia got some bad news as the state grappled with crisis, they were told to cut spending. peach county had a shortfall of $800,000. >> do i want to shut the building down and take the bulk of my savings in energy and transportation or do i want to lay off 39 people? >> reporter: so peach county decided to try something new to georgia, a four-day school week. for all 4,000 students in peach county, no school on mondays. the county estimates it will

save $400,000 by closing school buildings and parking school buses. it's saving a similar amount with a three-day furlough for all staff. >> when they first said we were going to a four-day week, i thought this is crazy. >> reporter: nancy harp, whose daughter is a third grader at buy ron elementary, wasn't happy. >> planned out what i was going to do, okay? and when you make a budget, you've got your finances in a budget you're got it fixed all of a sudden they threw a monkey wrench in it. >> reporter: parents are left trying to keep their kids occupied or kard for on mondays. some good goth lucky. thanks to jesse fortin, pastor of byron baptist church. >> we decided to put together a program that's low cost. we don't want to do child care. if we're doing child care we'd put them in a day care. we're mentoring and help them out in school. >> reporter: that helps a few dozen students. a group of moms came up with another plan. >> several of us are getting our

children together on mondays and letting the children experience things, sometimes can't learn in school. we're just making the best out of a delicate situation right now. we talk about anything from the seven contin tents in the five oceans, five senses, counting, anything that is age-appropriate exercises. >> reporter: susan clark says, there are no easy options. she believes she took the least damaging course. >> are you willing to take the risk to do what you believe is in the best interest of the children or not? >> reporter: there may be more tough choices ahead. the county expects further budget cuts in january. fredricka whitfield, cnn, atlanta. a look at top stories we're following this morning. nato's top commander for afghanistan talking to people there in a rare television appearance. general stanley mcchrystal promised to conduct an open investigation into the recent

air strike that reportedly killed dozens of civilians. these pictures just in from mexico, where recovery efforts are under way right now. heavy rains from two tropical storms triggered flash floods and deadly mudslides. three people were killed when their homes were buried in one of the mudslides. 50,000 people have fled their homes since the storms began. late this morning, word of a dramatic rescue from the huge ferry that sank off the coast of the philippines. a philippine air force helicopter has rescued a woman who spent more than 30 hours drifting in the choppy seas. a massive rescued a thousand people from the ship. nine people died, one person is still missing. president obama back from vacation and back to work on this labor day day. he looks to the high stakes of a busy week. today the white house will release transcripts of his televised address to schoolchildren.

the administration is trying to quiet critics who say tomorrow's speech will contain liberal propaganda. president obama also getting ready for a critical speech on health care reform. on wednesday, he is due to address the nation and a joint session of congress. we have a lot of ground to cover this morning. right to our senior white house correspondent ed henry now. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. >> how exactly is the white house handling this controversy now surrounding the speech? i guess we're a few minutes away from being able to see it ourselves? >> that's right, any time later this morning the white house is expected to post the speech online they want critics to see that the president is planning to give a noncontroversial address. they say previous republican presidents gave this including the first president bush in 1991. education secretary arne duncan says, look, if anything, he's surprised that more presidents since 1991 haven't stepped up and given a speech like this, basically urging kids to stay in school, study hard. take a listen to what he said yesterday on cbs. >> schools can do this, they

cannot do it, watch it during the school day. children can watch it at home with families, watch it a month from now they could never watch it. it's purely voluntary. all of the drama, the hoopla, at the end of the day the president motivates a "c" student to become a "b" student or one student considering dropping out to stay in school, it's worth it. >> reporter: the white house thinking it's worth it, however the lesson plan the department of education under arne duncan originally attached to speech encouraging students to write essays and do things about how they could help the president of the united states, what they admire about him that 's where conservatives thought it crossed the line. now that the education department pulled back the plan, now the white house think it's much adieu about nothing. >> reporter: they think, again, that this is the kind of thing that presidents of either party

should be doing. obviously we've been talking a lot about the need for the health care system in the united states to be fixed and there will be a lot more talk about that wednesday night. but the president believes the education system needs work as well. >> you've mentioned what's happening wednesday with congress, do we have any idea of what exactly the president will be saying? >> reporter: i think the key is that he wants the strike according to the senior advises are a consolatory tone, say that after the angry town hall meetings, it's time to come together, maybe his last chance to reach out to republicans. they're not expect have much, if any, from republicans. the key is how he threads the needle between liberal and conservative democrats. the indication is the president will give another push for the public option but also making it clear that the public option's up for grabs if he needs to drop it to get a deal on health care reform. the big question is whether liberals revolt if, in fact, he drops that after the speech. >> and also isn't itting quickly, ed, a question of

independence, where they're going to go if this will happen? >> reporter: sure. we've seen in the president's approval ratings support among independent voters, it's really dropped significantly. so that's important. and so that's why while we talk a lot about the sparring back and forth between the two parties, independent voters folks in the mid whole might be open to the idea of reform but want to hear more about what the president would do because he hasn't laid out the specifics, they're going to be looking closely because the top aides say he will finally really put the specifics on the table, heidi. >> we will all be watching. thanks so much, senior white house correspondent, ed henry. at bottom of the hour, a closer look at president. speech to school kids that we were telling you. talking with parents on either side of the argument and also an educator trying to bridge the divide. keeping a close eye on capitol hill. congress returned, as you know, and so does that focus on health care. president obama getting ready for the critical speech on reform wednesday, due to address

the nation and also the joint session of congress that we were talking with ed about the. brianna keilar is joining us our washington bureau. the question for you is where we stand with regard to the public option in congress. >> reporter: well, heidi, democrats are so eager to hear what president obama is going to say on wednesday. but as a whole, i would say the rhetoric is starting to move away from the so-called public option. certainly some liberal members of the house, as you heard ed reference there, are not moving away from it, but speaking in terms of an average. so in the senate, we've known this for some time now, there is a look of support, not only among republicans but among key democrats like nebraska senator ben nelson. he indicated that they could support what's being called a trigger for a so-called public option a government-run insurance plan. >> i think he has to say if there's a public option it has to be subject to a trigger, in other words, if somehow the

private market doesn't respond the way that it's supposed to, then with t. would trigger a public option or government-run option, but only as a fail-safe backstop to the process. >> reporter: so this would go into effect only if certain goals are not met in a certain amount of time, for instance, getting enough people insurance coverage or bringing costs down a sufficient degree. main republican olympia snowe, a key senator voinvolved in bipartisans, some idea maybe this is where moderate democrats and moderate republicans may find some common ground in the senate where they're struggling to do so at the time. >> what about the house? >> reporter: yeah, it's a different story in the house. this idea's getting a cool reception from many rank and file liberal democrats who think that health care reform, without a public option, is thotd reform. to them a trigger is a way of setting up a plan for government-run health insurance

that never goes into effect. you can see here the different factions of democrats that president obama has to juggle when he addresses congress on wednesday night. >> no question. we appreciate it. congressional correspondent, brianna keilar this morning. want to let you know, we'll have live coverage of president obama's labor day remarks and his expected announcement of a new adviser for manufacturing policy, that will be scheduled for 1:15 eastern today. a political career badly damaged over a 9/11 controversy. van jones, president obama's adviser on green jobs is stepping down for signing a petition in 2004 that suggested the government let the 9/1 attacks to happen. but the administration says the president did not force him to resign. >> the president and the ceq accepted his resignation because van jones, as he said in his statement, understood 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. >> jones did apologize, and now says he doesn't agree with the petition. but he also claims opponents of the president's health care plan are smearing him. jones drew fire for making insulting comments about republicans. in oakland, 260,000 vehicles may need an alternate route when the work week begins tomorrow. transportation officials say a crack discovered in the bay bridge's structure has delayed ongoing routine repairs. giving you live picture of the bay bridge right now. probably usually more traffic at this time. repair crews hope to finish all of the work before tuesday but officials are warning drivers the bridge may be closed for yet another day. fire crews, meanwhile, working on the massive station fire. it's been burning for two weeks near los angeles. well now they have that blaze more than half contained. but it certainly took a heavy toll. two firefighters died, 78 hopes

destroyed, 246 square miles of the forest have burned. fire agencies spent more than $50 million fighting the blaze. full containment is not expected for another week. officials have ruled the cause of the fire as arson. and because two firefighters are died, they have also opened a homicide investigation. it is labor day, as everybody knows right now, and a lot of people out there trying to enjoy a beautiful day, we hope. depending where you live, obviously reynolds wolf will tell you what to expect. >> heidi, there will be great place as long the coast. most of the eastern seaboard, parts of the northeast conditions are picture-perfect. we'll see a bit of an issue. watching one wave coming off the african coast right into the cape verde islands. there is a possibility this may become a named storm. if it does, the name of the particular storm will be, ready for this, which we had a drum roll, fred.

fred will be the name of the storm. yeah. we'll keep a sharp eye on it. as of now it does not pose a threat of land but there's always that possibility. we'll be focused on this like a laser beam been meanwhile, what we're seeing is heavy rainfall possible in parts of the midwest. talking about of course, places like cincinnati, where you have an 80% chance of thunderstorms high temperatures today going up to 78 degrees. that's a chance it's already happened in parts of say the northwest. in washington state, sure, last night rough stuff. storm damage there. in seattle, take a look at the live image that we have for you. off in the distance there you see, of course, mountains, a bit of the emerald city there, of course the space needle. right there on the lens cap raindrops. expect more rain in the forecast for the day. back to the weather computer, places like the red river valley could see scattered showers. parts of the ohio valley could also see rain. look for a chance of thunder boomers in the sunshine state of florida, orlando, going to any park, you'll have an issue with

rain. same story for key west, some raindrops there. certainly keep that in mind because high temperatures going into 80s, 90s for the sunshine state. 85 in atlanta. 97 in dallas. 83 denver. 76 in billings. chicago, home of the cubs, 76 degrees the expected high. let's send it back to you. >> hey, next time we talk with you, a special treat for the folks at home. >> look forward to it. >> see you in a few minutes. >> with unemployment at an all-time high, labor day has new meaning for the millions of people out of work this year. but what will it take to get folks back in the workplace?

time for a story that has gotten a lot of us talking here in the newsroom. we wanted to put it you on our

blog, cnn.com/heidi, talking about this story a sex offender from louisville, kentucky ordained as a minister of a church this sunday. the church says he deserves a new chance and forgiveness but some think the congregation is taking way too big of a risk. so of course, we want to know what you think. you also send great comments to us. cnn.com/heidi, give us your thoughts on that. we'll put some in the show later.

while some of you are enjoying a day off this labor day, many of you are not.

instead, you are looking for work. with the unemployment rate eiat 26-year high this day has new meaning for people without a job. when will things turn around? a senior writer for "business week" joining me from new york to talk more about it. robin, thanks for being with us. >> thank you, heidi. >> tell us more about what makes this recession, this unemployment rate, so vastly different from others that this country has seen. >> for starters, talking about a rate at least not only we haven't seen since 1983, and who can even remember which songs were at the top of the charts in '83. >> yeah. >> 10% is a daunting number but i think the scarier number is the one that's not reported, the under employment rate, people either frustrated and they're forced to take part-time work and those who have altogether stopped looking for a job. that's closer to 17%. so that is the primary overhang right now. if you're employed you're not gainfully employed.

if you're unemployed it's harder to find a job. >> i'd like to talk about a change since last we spoke about it, but i'm thinking not. those that are a little bit older and would be considering retirement right now are not retiring, they're staying in the job and, therefore, taking up a certain portion of them that maybe perhaps younger people just entering the job market could be taking, of course you've got the experience that sort of differs there. but still, overall, i imagine there are less jobs because of that issue alone. >> there are. and there are multiple headwinds if you're approaching retirement now. the stock market has had its worst decade since, i believe, 1900. it's harder than ever to assume that you're going to have enough to tide you over for your golden years. on top of that, as you mentioned if you have a job, you covet that job, hang on to it. you have to pry it from somebody's cold, dead hands. what that ends up doing is backlogging the entire workforce. but i mean, it's a nice dilemma to have, if only we had all of

the jobs to backlog. there are not enough jobs for the number of people looking. >> when you look at this problem, and you have been for a very long time now, what do you see as something, anything, maybe a combination of things, that could help lift us out? >> well, you have central banks bringing interest rates down to zero, a hyper stimulative global monetary policy. governments the world over throwing trillions of dollars at this. you have green jobs planned. you have cash for clunkers. you have ideas of high-speed rail. >> yes. >> and on top of that, there's this idea, it's almost a dream at this point, that we can have green jobs just the same way the internet browser came out of left field and dotcom took us out of the early recession of the 1990s, maybe another killer app will hit us like this asteroid and lift us out of it. but certainly, i mean, there are lots of hopes, lots of expectations and just the

possibility of options. i, myself, feel underemployed. if you have any sort of appetite for a dashing financially savvy multiculturaled journalist. >> shameless. shameless. >> you've got to do what you've got do. >> you do, right. robin, a pleasure talking with you. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. the health care debate and one proposal that's taking root in the heartland. we take you inside a health care cooperative and reveal what it cooperative and reveal what it would mean to you.

just a week away before the nfl season kicks off, an arrest involving a san diego charger player, shawne merriman arrested

early sunday. he's accused of choking and restraining reality tv show star tila tequila at an afterparty at merriman's home. attorney for the football player denies the assault allegations. he says tila tequila was drunk and merriman tried to make arrangements for her to leave the house. several prisoners are being treated under guard this morning according to the associated press after their private transport van crashed on interstate 59 around haitisburg, mississippi, yesterday. the van was moving nine prisoners when it hit an embankment and trees and then flipped over. the driver died. one guard and two prisoners were last listed in critical conditions. authorities are investigating but do not suspect foul play. what if someone baptized your child without your permission? that's what a mother in breckenridge county, kentucky says happened to her son on a school trip. according to the louisville courier journal, a public school coach took about 20 of his

players on a retreat to his baptist church last month. half of them were baptized. one mom called a lawyer after hearing the superintendent was there and did nothing to stop it. the superintendent says, she did not seek consent because she thought the kids were old enough. the battle over health care reform, the debate lurches back into gear this week, as vacationing lawmakers return to capitol hill. unone of the options to consider is creating a health care co-optive, what would that mean? chief national correspondent john king has lessons from the heartland. >> reporter: 280 cows here. each eats about 100 pounds of feed a day. three milking cycles and tending to the crops. a family farm is a long, hard day's work. with milk prices down a profit is hard to come by. it makes bob all of the more

grateful for his invisible partner. >> seed, fuel, fertilizer, feed, everything we buy is through a kopp cooperative. we market our milk through a cooperative. if there is profit made the profit returns to the owner so the more you use the co-optive the more you get back. co-ops have been around for a hundred years in agriculture. >> reporter: for the past ten month his has turned to the co-op approach for something far more personal, health care. joining a 2 1/2-year-old model. >> step it up. a lot of farmers who had individual health insurance elsewhere came to us and saw their premiums go down, and the other benefit we saw was there was farmers who didn't come to farmers health but by putting an extra layer of competition in the marketplace, their premiums went down just to meet what the farmers' health is putting out. >> i got it.

all right. >> reporter: competition and choice are the main goals and co-op fans say their way makes more sense than a new government-run health insurance option. >> 85% of the members of the farmer's health coptive, for example, reported premiums fell or stayed similar to what they had before but important, 65% of the them said their health benefits increased substantially over what they had before. where co-ops are they tend to be high quality because it is the consumer who owns them, making sure that their health care providers a quality health care provider. >> bill of the co-optive network says plans are helping with another big problem. >> about 12% of our members were previously uninsured. we think we have had an impact on bringing those who didn't have access to health insurance. >> reporter: wisconsin has a dozen co-ops in all. >> you took x-rays today. >> reporter: others used pulled purchasing power to negotiate better rates with private

insurers. plans are widely accepted across the state, including this clinic monroe. >> no numbness or tingling? >> reporter: bob knows critics suggest what works in rural areas or small cities might not fit in more diverse suburbs or urban america, but he's just as skep tal that government has the answer. >> to me, just looking at the way the government managed the clunkers program and managed the fema and katrina and all of those things i don't want to turn my health care over to a government agency and try to get my round peg in a square hole and if it doesn't fit i'm caught in bureaucratic red tape. with the co-op system i know the people that i can call and they're going to take care of me because i'm an owner versus just a number. >> reporter: john king, cnn, waterloo, u.s. wisconsin. breaking news we want to get out to you now a verdict in the case of three men accused of conspiring to kill thousands of people by blowing up flights in

midair with liquid explosives, the case that started the whole three ounces or less wide-ranging rule on carrying liquids on your flight. a live report straight from london in a couple of minutes.

live in the "cnn newsroom," heidi collins. well, it's a working holiday for president obama. this hour he leave for a labor day picnic in ohio, meeting with the afl-cio. also today the white house will release transcripts of the president's televised address to school kids. the administration is trying to quiet critic who say the speech contains liberal propaganda. the text for the speech will be released today so parents can take a look at it themselves. originally there was controversy

over the lesson plan the white house sent out. it asked students to write letters about what they can do to help the president. but that has since been revised. some feel the classroom is not the place for politics while others think this will be great for the kids. joining me to discuss the issue are amy vizey and bill, and say spokeswoman from the rockwell independent school district. welcome to all of you. i know that this issue has brought up a lot of different opinions if you will, so we wanted to make sure that we included them all. amy, i want to start with you. what do you think about this? what is your opinion? >> my opinion is that we should allow our children to view this speech and hear president obama. i feel like we as parents often put our children in front of professional athletes and movie stars and singers and we don't

question their political viewpoints. the president of our country wants to call our students to action to do goals in school. >> does it make a difference when that happens, when we see athletes and so forth, we do it at home or we have a choice about it or we don't do it at school? >> yes, we definitely have a choice about it but i feel like, you know, in my particular school district, in the rockwell independent school district, we have been given the option to allow our children to view this. i think that's a very fair and equitable way to do this. but you know, it almost seems, you know, i'm not sure why parents wouldn't want their students to hear out the leader of our country. >> sitting right next to you is big hogstead who does not agree. bill, you're not happy about it. >> no, i have a couple different problems with.

the president's speech is what's wrong with the country, i believe this is the greatest country on earth and try to teach that to my children and i don't want them hearing there's a fundamental flaw and the kids need to go forward. until i see the text, i'm concerned. >> i did want to be fair about that. no one has. this has not goth gone online yet. it could happen any minute. we're watching out for that so everyone has a very importanted opinion. sherry, i want to get to you, sherry fouler, spokesperson for the rockwell school district. i'd love to know how the decision came about. what does your district think about this? how did it come to the point where you said yes, we're going to do this and offter up to our students? >> well, it came about in an interesting way. on wednesday morning we became acutely aware of the speech because we began getting a lot of parent phone calls. and i have taken more than probably 50 parent phone calls myself. >> what do they say? >> they're running a huge spectrum.

if i had to pick out two things i would probably say the two things were parents want a choice and parents also would like to preview what's in the speech. so as we were developing our district plan regarding president obama's message, we decided that we would look at those two things as being very, very important. and so our policy is that it is going to be shown live on every campus, but not in the classroom. so students have the option to come out if their parents want to watch the speech. in addition, we're pushing our website option also, which is those parents that want to preview the speech are able to look at it through a link on our website after the fact and then watch it at home with their own children that evening. >> well, it seems like a pretty fair approach. but, bill, i'd love to know what you think about that because i'm not sure what your plan was today. if you get online and you see this text and you're not happy with what the president will be offering your kids, what you going to do? >> i'm if a different isd, and

they're doing an optional program but based on curriculum. they're not going to show it the same day as the speech. i believe they'll use it where it's appropriate. i am sure it's not going to shown to kindergartners now. >> understood. what about you, amy? if you happen to find a surprise, you end up being concerned after you look at the text, what are you going to do about it? >> i've already made my decision, that my children are going to view this speech. i feel like, you know, i trust the leader of our country and if, you know, there are things that he does that i don't agree with, you know, i don't completely agree with some of the health reforms that are being discussed, you know i feel like i have the capability, you know, that evening to talk with my children and educate them and discuss our political views. >> is there anything in there that earth of you are looking for with regard to issues.

you mentioned health care reform you, want your children to hear from the president? bill? >> actually i don't want them to hear anything from the president in kindergartner. i'd be against it just at his age. >> understood. amy you mentioned health care reform. to the three of you, we certainly appreciate it. we are waiting for the text of the president's address to the schoolchildren to come out any minute now. so everyone can get a look and decide for themselves what they will do. amy, bill, sheri, thanks so much. >> thank you. a registered sex offender will be the newest minister at a kentucky church. one of the pastors says he's prompt ta he prompt that he's changed. but as whas says not everyone feels quite so forgiving. >> reporter: the church proclaims that everyone is welcome. that's probably what attracted mark corrigan. charged back in 1998 with

sodomizing, sex lyle abusing and intimidating an 11-year-old boy. he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, served time in prison, agreed not to serve as a leader in any church where he would have contact with children. but the probation is over. even if the sex offender registration will never end. >> but us, as a society, we can't forget. we can't move on. and i preach in this church to try to allow god to move you on to a better life. >> reporter: pastor randy meadows says the lordcorrigan's. he will become an ordained minister next sunday. >> if we show people that someone with mark's background, mark's past, can become someone that would be productive in society, then who else could reach out to other people but christ's people. >> reporter: former church deacon kevin pickerel said

corrigan was never straightforward about his past until confronted. i have, of course, my piece of paper i've done my research and hand it to him and said, this is the problem. and his reaction, oh, you found out. >> reporter: pickerrell fears corrigan may be tempted by the children who attend sunday school and worries he could reoffend. >> maybe he'll fall into the category of the low percentage that doesn't. but i don't want to take the chance. >> reporter: pastor meadows says, corrigan will sign an agreement not to minister to children. >> god is a god of love and forgiving god. and i'm doing what he's telling me to do and if that's not popular -- >> it's a story we have been talking about and opened it up to you. we've gotten something like 100 responses already on this. many of you giving your perspective on this controversial decision to let a registered sex offender become an ordained minister. here's what some of you had to say. i hope i'm going to do this

right. the church is all about forgiveness. so i don't see this as surprising. hopefully, this will keep him away from children. if i was a parent at that church, i would probably leave or keep an extra close eye on my child. the people attending the church have a decision to make. if there is a negative outcome, they'll have to live with that decision. and then this one -- i was an offender, not a sex offender, but an offender nevertheless. i think he should be given a chance to prove to himself that god is greater than his demons. i wish him well. if it wasn't for rehab or people wanting to give me another chance i wouldn't be who i am today. this one says -- i'm all for being foesh giving but not when it comes to jeopardizing the welfare of children. children are are the most vulnerable, most easily abuses human beings. anyone who takes advantage of a child's innocence and inability to protect him or herself does not merit the respect due to a minister. finally this one, sort of a flavor here of what everyone is

writing in. it's wonderful this church is able to forgive. but inviting him to become ordained clergy is irresponse iblg. he can serve his church without being elevated to such an important position of trust. so again, just some of the opinions that you were able to write in it us on the blog. you can weigh in, cnn.com/heidi. breaking news right now. got to get it out to you. we have a verdict in the case of three british muslims accused of blotting the biggest terror attack since september 11th. cnn international security correspondent paula newton in london for us this morning. this is pretty incredible. this is the entire case that has us carrying tiny bottles of liquid on to planes. >> reporter: absolutely, heidi. wondering why we do it, it goes back to this plot in 2006, eight standing trial, three convicted of conspiracy to murder. this was a retrial. these three had been convicted of conspiracy to murder.

but it was the plot, the plot itself, the first jury just never bought. they said, look we don't have enough proof here to say that these men intended to blow up as many as eight aircraft crossing the atlantic. and kill tens of thousands of people. this time the prosecution got a measure of victory here. they certainly didn't get what they wanted against all of the defendants, one man sentence to four charges. but right now, these three guilty verdicts, heidi, mean that the british government can say to themselves, look, we proved it, they were going to blow up airplanes with soft drink bottles we proved scientifically this can happen. they were saying look, we were justified the security measures have been put into place worldwide. >> no question. we have something or our screen, that said one ounce, i believe it's three ounces. we all go through that process every time we fly.

and ait all goes back to this. thanks, paula, live from london. oprah did it, now a rap star is doing it, too giving away cars. why ludicrous decided to give more than a dozen people a new ride.

some people without wheels now have transportation, thanks to a rapper and actor. ludacris partnered with the dealership in suburban atlanta and gave away 20 cars to people who nearly lost their jobs because they did not have transportation. about 4,000 people submitted essays to the rapper's foundation saying why they deserved a car. >> we have our own stimulus

plan. we're doing our part as a foundation, as an organization to give back. we know it's hard economic times. like i said, we call it luda day weekend a lit of convenients towards charity, giving back, leading by exam. with great power comes great responsibility. i'm just doing my part. >> along with the free car, winners also get free gas for 30 days. americans heading back to work may find it's taking them longer to get where they're going. but the longer commute may be a sign of economic recovery. stephanie elam has the breakdown from new york. >> hi, heidi. after a year and a half of decreased congestion, it's getting a little more crowded on america's road according to a company that monitors traffic pattern nationwide by using a million gps cars and truck. the average american will spend 30 hours stuck in traffic this year, that's a slight increase from 2008 but still well off the 41-hour average that americans spent in traffic in 2007 back before the recession began.

the increase is due to lower fuel prices and increased economic activity. in some says that means more people going work. washington, d.c., for example, one of the biggest increases in travel times result of more government workers but it's not just the jobs. its numbers take into account several factors including more shipping and freight activity as well. >> and what about construction? sitting in your car waiting on construction crews, is that in there? i don't know. >> probably has a lot to do with different cities, that's for sure. >> exactly. what about the federal stimulus package? is a lot of the money, of course, meant to fund road projects. so also contributing to this increase, yes? >> no doubt about it, that is true. department of transportation received 27.5 billion from the american recovery and reinvestment act. so far, that funded over 6,000 road projects nationwide which has led to a 40% increase in delays during off-peak construction hours from the

first half of 2008 to the first half of this year. this map i'm about to show you shows where the biggest delays are. albuquerque, new mexico, the i-40 project there, also in st. louis, multiple interstate projects in the works. i can testify to that. almost late to a wedding because of that. you have to get off the freeway and back on on the other side of the construction. that was a nightmare. and the massachusetts accelerated bridge program has boston, worcester, springfield all in the top ten in terms of increased overnight delays. number one on the list, portland, maine, plans to redesign i-295, one of the area's main arteries. follow the recovery at cnnmoney.com including a story about the unusual stimulus projects. >> love it. all right. stephanie elam with the breakdown. thanks. claims that u.s. troops tied up hospital guards and burst into women's wards in afghanistan, who were they looking for? why some say they went too far. so i couldn't always do what i wanted to do.

but 5 minutes ago i took symbicort and symbicort is already helping significantly improve my lung function. so today, i've noticed a significant difference in my breathing. and i'm doing more of what i want to do. so we're clear, it doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. my doctor said symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infections, osteoporosis, and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. my copd often meant i had to wait to do what i wanted to do. now i take symbicort and it significantly improves my lung function, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort has made a significant difference in my breathing... now more of my want to's are can do's. ask your doctor about symbicort today. i got my first prescription free. call or go online to learn more. (announcer) if you cannot afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. announcer: you could buy 300 bottles of water.

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or have vision changes or eye pain. tell your doctor if you have glaucoma, problems passing urine or an enlarged prostate, as these may worsen with spiriva. also discuss the medicines you take, even eye drops. side effects may include dry mouth, constipation and trouble passing urine. my doctor said i could be doing more to breathe better and now i am. announcer: ask your doctor about lifestyle changes and once-daily spiriva. in afghanistan today a family of three killed by a rocket attack and claims that u.s. troops overstepped their bounds in a hospital. she will be with us from kabul as soon as she becomes available. tone, anderson cooper takes you inside afghanistan live from the battle zone, on "ac 360" report at 10:00 p.m. eastern time. hitting the beach this labor

day, our rob marciano is already there this morning in cocoa beach, florida. we'll take you there like in a couple of minutes.

back to artia joining us kabul, afghanistan, talking about a rocket attack there and something that happened with u.s. troops inside a hospital there. some allegations i should say. apparently i'm being told that communication has once again been lost. we'll continue to work on that story. of course we'll have it throughout the day on cnn. right now we want to get you over to reynolds wolf, our constant man at ready. >> i don't know if that's good or bad. >> it's great. we love you.

and really across the country. i don't know if there's -- it's a nice labor day in most parts rishth? >> it is. we did have rough weather in parts of the pacific northwest and washington state. we had storm damage there. cleaning up today. today it looks like one of the trouble spots in ohio valley. let me show you, we have this area of high pressure in the great lakes, that's fine. that is compressing effect on the atmosphere, tranquil conditions from chicago to detroit and all points north. on the southern half, ohio valley we may run into storms especially into the late afternoon hours. we have the peak daytime heat, air mass becomes unstable, a chance for storms there could have rumble of thunder in florida, too, from colorado cocoa beach, to miami, maybe key west. heading up to the coast, say in parts of the northeast, take a look at what we have from province, southampton, cape may. temperatures mostly in the 70s. in the water it gets dippy if a few places. water temperatures 65 province

town, 356 southampton. cape may 74, a little bit warmer there. in terms of your air temperatures, what you can expect outside. 85 in atlanta. 91 tampa, 93 houston. 102 phoenix. 67 in san francisco. we have a tower cam? show you what's happening outside key locations around the country. we had seattle a while ago, cloudy skies, high temperatures 64 degrees. 87 in salt lake city. los angeles with 81. you're up to speed. heidi, back to you. >> we don't have a lot of things but we have this. check this out. i just saw for the first time my little tiny child -- yeah, this isn't it. we have live pictures. i think that's of cocoa beach of rob marciano who will be joining us shortly. reynolds i was going to share this with you. on my husband's birthday, matt collins today, our child walked for the first time. this video just in moments ago.

owen edward, his brother riley, taking his first steps. how about that? >> congratulations. tremendous, tremendous. before you know it, walking over to the counter, picking up the car keys driving away. >> hopefully not the tv remote to shut us off. thanks for sharing that with me. appreciate it. we're going to take a quick break.

if you haven't heard, swimming in some beaches around cape cod this labor day is a no-no unless you want to get in the water with these. four great white sharks have been sighted swimming along the shoreline. a marine expert managed to tag two predators. in fact it's the first time

anyone has tag a great white in u.s. waters in the atlantic ocean. huge! sand and surf sounds good now, as long as you're not there. rob marciano is not, he's in cocoa beach florida at the annual nkf pro am surf festival. good morning. >> reporter: yeah, i mean, the crazy skills i've exhibited this morning, i'm glad you appreciate that. enough about me. it's about people around here surfing. women's long board competition happening now. they're out there waiting for a good set to come in. little bit farther down the beach, we've got the men's division. they're waiting for a good set. haven't had huge waves. come on, it's the florida coastline. pretty good ground swell. it happens during morning time because winds are light, lets waves set up. afternoon sea breezes kicks in. oh, that's nice. 84 degrees. that feels good. great weekend to be at the beach about you better believe it. let's see what this guy does.

going left, kick off the top. don't know what they call it. another kick off the top. >> serious points for than about coming out and going back in so quickly. >> reporter: in style all the way down. he's doing that for cameras. amazing what this camera will do to these guys for inspiration. inspired by a gentleman who for 24 years has been the forefront of the event. retired surfer. he's had not one but three kidney transplants and for 24 years he's raised between 4 million, 5 million for the national kidney foundation of florida. so not only a great event to come out watch surfers take it to the waves but, you know, get you in the heart as well. >> absolutely. >> reporter: live from cocoa beach, this is not major nelson's cocoa beach anymore. it has changed since the days of "i dream of genie" and a nice play to hang out for labor day. love my job day. >> please don't hurt yourself working too hard. rob marciano, cocoa beach, florida. thank you. that will do it for