"cnn newsroom" continues with tony harris. it is monday, september 7th, labor day. here are the top stories for you notice "cnn newsroom." >> they have voted for mccain and bush in the past i wouldn't want them speaking to my students or your students or anybody else's students for that matter, their child. politic is totally up to the family. >> wow. okay. anger over the president's message to school kids. read it for yourself today. a civilized discussion of the raw political tonight. everybody out of the water. how about this? queue the jaws music. great whites invade the waters off cape cod. a woman convicted of wearing western clothes, her pants too tight, her blouse too sheer. what happens now? good morning, everyone. welcome. i'm tony harris.

you are in the "cnn newsroom," where we will quickly get you caught up on the day's hot headlines, then take the time to break down the big issues to find out why they really matter. leading the way this hour, president obama facing a critical week ahead. he is trying to regain control of the health care debated while facing the fallout over an education speech. the president spends part of this labor day speaking at an afl-cio picnic in cincinnati. live pictures of marine one. tomorrow, he delivers his tv and web address to schoolchildren. wednesday the president goes before congress to try to regain momentum on the health care debate. we are waiting to get the text of president obama's speech to schoolchildren. the address has come under fire from conservatives. the secretary of education says, keeping kids home to avoid tomorrow's speech would be silly about critics say they still have concerns but secretary arne

duncan says the goal is simply to motivate students. >> i think all of the drama, all of the hoopla at the end of the day the president motivates one c student to become a b student, one b student to become an a student or a student thinking of dropping out and take education seriously, it's all worst it. >> concerns about the disruption, concerns about is this done in an appropriate manner? i trust and hope the white house will have a content that's not political, not using the public school infrastructure for that purpose. >> well, the white house will post the speech on its website and our senior white house correspondent will read portions of the speech, as soon as it is posted. >> i saw a statistic that said the station player is the tenth largest fire in the state's history. that gives you an idea of the size of the operation and the impacts that -- of the fire. i want to summarize by saying yesterday folks made excellent

progress. i have great news. officially the entire western perimeter of the fire from big t, divide, up and around towards actton, little rock is officially contained. >> and that is good news. fire officials briefing us on the massive wildfire near long pep they have more than half of it contained. two firefighters have died in the station fire and has burned almost 246 square miles and destroys dozens of homes. governor schwarzenegger is offing $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible. afghanistan's election commission is tossing ballots from 447 polling stations. that could mean tens of thousands of votes. it's a response to charges of fraud in last month's presidential election. president ma ha mid karzai's close to winning. results show he's got almost 49% of the votes so far. financial regulation a hot topic at g-20 summit in london.

treasury secretary geithner tells cnn he's pushing for stricter capital rear minutes for banks around the world. geithner's speaking excl inin e with richard quest. >> we need to make sure we have a new international accord tonight capital standards that constrains excess leverage in the future. a krit particcritical part of t >> but they managed to avoid those the last time. i mean the whole tenor of the crisis was they've got -- >> we waited too long to put in place more effective constraints and made them too easy to evade. >> how easy it is to get agreement on greater capital requirements for banks? >> it's going to be hard for some, just to be honest. but we're going to get agreement because i think everybody knows that the damage caused by the crisis was unacceptable and it's not tenable for any country, i think to resist the kind of changes we need to prevent this

from happening again. >> the risk that those banks involved will go overseas fine another way -- >> that's why you have to do it internationally. it's not enough for u.s. to raise standards in the united states because the shift will shift. we'll do what's necessary to protect the united states. our judgment is, and we think there's broad agreement, it's better for the world for us move together. >> will you hold out on other parts of the reform package if you don't get agreement on capital -- >> don't expect or need to. you saw broad support around the room for these kind of changes. again, we need to move when the memory of the crisis, when the damage, is still acute. the memory's stel searing in the impact. >> how quickly do people forget? >> they're going forget too quickly. we're moving quickly notice was there's a lot of will around the world to move quickly. we need to act now. >> the government needs to reign in spending but not too soon. he would not give a specific timetable for when the u.s. can stop thinking in terms of

stimulus. stakes are high this week for president obama. after taking a real beating during august on health care reform the president tries to regain control of his signature domestic issue but before his speech to congress wednesday, he faces another test with his back-to-school message tomorrow. senior white house correspondent ed henry joining us live. ed, we are awaiting the text of the president's speech. i have got to tell you something, he's probably -- this speech to the school kids tomorrow will probably be as closely scrutinized as the speech to a joint session of congress on wednesday. >> reporter: who would have thunk it? as tough an audience as members of congress, skeptical of health care reform. i think i've seen everything in politics now. this is what was supposed to be a noncontroversial speech, president saying study hard, stay in school, basic message the democrats or republicans or independents for that matter could embrace. but in the current media environment, everything can be blown up, blown out of

proportion. in this case conservatives bounce on the lesson plans aattached to that. aides will acknowledge that that lesson plan, which is encouraging students to write up things, that they admire about the president, ways they could help the president, suggested to conversations maybe this was going to cross the line into politics. now that lesson plan has been pulled back. so the speech should be the focus and the education secretary, arne duncan, made clear yesterday on cbs, nobody's being forced to watch anything. >> schools can do this they cannot do it, they can watch it during the school day. children can watch it at home with families. they can watch it a month from now. they could never watch it. it's purely voluntary. >> reporter: and in order to try to douse the flames that have been fired up in recent days, the white house is planning at the top of the next hour to post the actual text of the president's speech online so that parents can look at it decide whether or not they think it crosses any sort of political line, and if they do, then they can obviously not send their

kids to school on tuesday but the anticipation from senior aides this is controversy and something that people will and should embrace. we'll bring it to you as soon as we get it. >> can't wait for that, ed. wednesday the president addresses, as we mentioned, the joint session of congress on health care. ed, this is really going to be a big moment for the president. >> reporter: absolutely. you know, the bottom line is that, i think we're going to see a number of things. we're going to see a consolatory tone from the president, dialing back from the anger we've seen in the town hall meeting making his last approach to republicans maybe there's a bipartisan approach here. senior aides saying they expect the president to be you much more specific than he's been throughout the process. you've been hearing not just republicans but democrats demanding that. he's going to push for it saying this is the best way to keep insurance companies honest, but he's also going to make clear there's flexibility there

because he may need to drop the public option in order to cut a deal. the best way to put it he's not throwing the public option under the best but might be taped along the bus, rolling along the road. about f. they need to cut it off the bus to get a deal, they'll do what they need to do. >> ed, see you at the top of the hour when the education speech hits the website. appreciate. let's -- a couple of program notes. we will carry the education species live during the noon hour tomorrow, so you can see it judge it for yourself. cnn will bring you the president's address to congress on health care reform live. of course we will do that. coverage from the best political team starts wednesday 8:00 p.m. eastern time. millions of americans unemployed living without a salary, how can you make ends meet during these difficult times? personal finance editor gerri willis gives us a step by step plan, next.

yes you, certainly are. let's get things started by showing you video from last night, washington state, the center part of the area seeing storm damage due to straight line winds, knocking over branchs and causing damage to houses. thankfully, no injuries reported. so that's the good news. bad news, we've got a lot of cleanup today and power outages to deal with. looks like a better day for washington. nice day around the country. exception the ohio valley, back to the weather wall. take a look at this. scattered showers possible for

the ohio valley especially late for in the afternoon. make our way to the gulf coast, well, let's show you what we can expect along the beach. from padre island, panama city, key west, a couple of things in common. first and foremost, looks like all the spots are going to have a chance of dealing with thunderstorms into the afternoon the other thing in common, water temperatures very warm, mostly 80s. one exception key west, water temperatures into the 90s. like bath water down there. incredible. sky temperatures quickly, 97 degrees, dallas. 79 in kansas city. 73 new york. 87 miami. back to l.a., 81 degrees, much warmer back in canyons where they're battling fires. more with tony harris.

almost 7 million jobs have been lost since the recession began at the end of 2007. if you've lost your income, you know how much harder it is to make ends meet. gerri willis here with strategies on handling finances if you've lost your job. what's the first step here? >> your first step is to prioritize, creditors, bills, above all other debts. keep your calm, right? that's your top priority. if you think you're going to have trouble making your mortgage payment, make sure you get on the telephone to lenders and explain your loss of income. now, your lender may be able to reduce or suspend your payments for a certain amount of time.

and your interest rate could be cut be, adjustable rate could be froze. 800-251-2227. >> jerry what do you do if you have a lot of other debt? >> time to start negotiating. look, tony if you have high credit card debt call your lender, explain the situation. more credit card companies are willing to negotiate. they're not just being charitable, they're trying to get out of you what you can and you may be able to get on a monthly payment plan, late fees waived and some cases principal is reduced. high student loan debt you may be able to get a deferment on the federal loans. in both cases you can stop making payments for a while. debt doesn't go away but interest continues to akrooe crew, even if you don't make payments. >> i'm up to here and beyond, i've got problems here. where can i go for help? >> a lot of people are like that. if you can't make the monthly bills one place to turn to, united way at 211.

they may be able to direct you to local, low cost assistance programs if you can't make the rent, can't make the utility bill. according to consumer credit counseling service you may be dribbled to child care or reduced copt medical centers. places to plug in. make sure you get to them in time. >> gerri, these days finding that next job is taking a lot longer about. what is it about longer term financial planning? >> you really -- you've got to know where your money goes. it's more important to track how much money they're spending, tou quick, microsoft money can help you organization yourself. currently quicken has a freon line version, free, free. >> nice. free is for me. >> and that's where you track all of your money on one page and see your retirement, your checking account, all at one time. what's more, the program will also calculate where your money's being spend so you can

see a pie chart, make sense, easy to follow. ger gerri@cnn.com. tony i have to tell you, elmo, elmo. >> yeah, yeah. >> elmo says hello to you. >> to me? >> yeah. >> really? >> yeah. thinking about you. thinking about you. >> i don't think i can go on. i'll soldier forward as best i can, but i'm moved. gerri, thank you. wow. >> my pleasure. >> collect out our special report. update it all the time. america's money crisis, that's at -- did you hear that, elmo said hello -- at cnnmoney.com. video of the day, ready? gloves come off at a lacrosse game. this is getting out of hand. the football stuff last week. this at a lacrosse game in canada. a game just full-on, erupting into an all-out brawl.

let's get to our top stories. crews scrambling to reopen the bay bridge, linking oakland and san francisco. live pictures now. good, good. works are stumbled on a two-inch crack in a steel link during a seismic upgrade this weekend. >> again, worked all through the night, the materials arrived yesterday by plane, they were able to lay them out, able to inspect them, passed inspection. we were able to go through the process of measuring the area, taking all of the dimensions, doing the modeling we needed to do, and the work has started on actually placing the saddle that we're going to be using and the rods we'll be using for the

repair. >> b.a.r.t., appreciate it. the massive wild fire near los angeles is more than half contained. station fire destroyed dozens of homes and kill two firefighters. a thousand -- make that 100,000 reward is offered for information leading to an arrest. german chancellor merkel is calling for a thorough investigation of friday's nato air strike in afghanistan. that attack ordered by a german commander killed at least 90 afghans. it occurred as afghans were siphoning fuel from two tankers that had been hijacked by the taliban. anderson cooper takes you inside afghanistan all this week. live from the battle zone starting tonight. don't miss the special "ac 360" at 10:00 eastern.

our ali velshi's on the road in the cnn express, holding his own mini tone halls. he's driving through wisconsin on his way to chicago. one of his last stops was in a suburb of kansas city, where he asked about the impact of the town hall meetings on health care. >> what's your view on this? >> i think it's too fast. i think time needs to be taken out to educate everyone, as many people in america, maybe there needs to be a forum held to educate people as far as what this whole thing is about. >> isn't that what those town halls were supposed to be? >> supposed to. >> what was your general impression about how that went down? >> one of the fundamental problems to the town halls was they were highly politicized. there wasn't an agenda.

whether you're a democrat or republican, libertarian, whatever your affiliation you claim, there was a polarization to the town halls. this was marketing. >> it was. >> blatantly so. there was no, in my estimation, a lack of value because it wasn't informative, it was politicized the extent it was marking to me, made people tune it out and we leave ourselves unknowledgeable about what's really happening. so this is probably a much better representation of how this should be handled major in a larger number throughout the united states. >> it shows you how passionate people are about health care and this is a huge issue and to rush through the bill is not the answer at all. >> we should be happy people are passionate, prepared to come out and not bored and not lackadaisical. >> it will affect our children. it's no about me, it's about my children, the changes that we're going to make for the united states that are long standing,

that's paramount in this situation. >> it made or broke us, i mean flat out, one of the turning points where everything could change for the better or the worst. >> we'll hear live from ali next hour of "cnn newsroom." overhauling health care, finance committee chairman max baucus' proposal off the presses, what did he and his gang of six agree on? gang of six agree on? live on the hill. i'm working on my digestive health.

it is make or break time for president obama on health care reform. he's under pressure from the left and the right. as he goes before congress on wednesday. now aides say the president will detail what he wants to see in a health reform bill. the story from kate bolduan. >> reporter: president obama returned from vacation to face a crucial week ahead in the health care debate. top white house aides insist the president will spell out his specifics for reform when he speaks wednesday to a joint session of congress. >> they'll lead that speech knowing exactly where the president stands, exactly what he thinks we have to do to get health care done. >> reporter: at the same time, cnn has learned the white house is quietly talking about

drafting its own health care bill, a kind of contingency legislation, and is leaning toward a plan that would trigger a public insurance option only if health care reforms fail to meet certain goals. white house officials dodged questions sunday about whether the president would sign a bill that doesn't include a public option. >> he believes the public option is a good tool. now, it shouldn't define the whole health care debate, however. >> reporter: it's a contenth shus issue that has the white house squeezed from the right and the left. >> we need credible, comprehensive, universal health care with a good robust public option now. >> i think if the democrats embrace the public option even if the form of the trigger they're going to shoot themselves in the foot. >> reporter: political analysts say there's a lot riding on the president's short visit this week to capitol hill. >> he can talk about, you know, various alternatives and ideas, but at the end of the speech, it seems to me, folks on capitol hill and around the country have to have a much clearer idea what

kind of a bill he feels he needs to sign. >> reporter: recent numbers show the president may have some hard work ahead there. according to a cnn opinion research corporation poll, a majority of americans say they feel more secure under the current health care system than with the president's proposals. kate bolduan, conditinn, the wh house. vacation accomplished. congress back to town after get ang earful on health care during the august recess. brianna keilar in washington. after months of waiting for the senate finance committee to put out its proposal for a health care overhaul, the committee's chairman, max baucus, at least, drafted within. what can you tell us about it. >> reporter: senator baucus taking into account hours of negotiations that we have followed so closely, has finally put together a formal proposal and circulated it among the bipartisan members of the so-called gang of six. this is just a group that's been

seen as the best chance for bipartisan compromise on health care reform in the senate. so, here's what it includes. a nonprofit health care cooperative, as we expected, instead of a got-run insurance plan or public option, and then the big tax that would pay for part of the overhaul is a tax on cadillac health insurance plans high-end insurance plans that some say encourage consumers to overuse health care. the price tag here, tony, less than $90 billion. this is actually about $100 billion less than the other bills before congress. so what senator baucus is doing here, putting out this proposal over the weekend, trying to make sure that his committee can put its stamp on the health care debate before the president's address to congress on wednesday, really to see, tony if this key committee can reach a bipartisan compromise or if that effort is futile. i have to tell you some senate democratic leadership sources have been telling me for some time that they have felt that it is. >> really? okay.

you know, there's another possible compromise track here, this idea of the public option with a trigger. what is it? and is there any bipartisan support for that idea? >> reporter: so the trigger, this public option with a trigger, what that means is there would be a government-run insurance plan that would kick in only if private health insurance companies don't do what congress wants them to do provide affordable coverage to a certain number of americans within a certain period of time. there's is a key republican in the gang of six, though this is a separate track from what we talked about senator baucus' proposal, the key republican, olympia snowe, she's been talking about this for some time. she's been in discussions with the white house about this so-called trigger. yesterday senator ben nelson, a key conservative democrat in the senate, said this is something the president should consider. what's more, minnesota senator amy cloeb char has indicated she is open to this as well.

keep in mind, of course, the liberal democrats, the house of representatives, they are opposed in-to-this idea. they think that think public option with a trigger is tantamount to not having a public option. >> tomorrow, starting tomorrow it really gets interesting on your beat. brianna keilar for us, appreciate it. >> see you then. >> the protest against health care reform, known as tea party express. south bend, indiana, joliet, illinois, battle creek, michigan. it wraps up this weekend in washington. cnn wednesday, president obama addresses congress on his plans for health care reform. coverage at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on cnn. the white house is set to release a tech of president obama's back-to-school speech that has many conservatives upset. some critics say they're concerned that the president will use the speech to advance his political agenda.

supporters say it is an exciting opportunity. >> it's the president talking to students. you foe, the embrace of technology as a young student, i would have been so excited as a kid to have the president talk to me. so i think it's a great opportunity for our students and we're going to embrace it. >> trying to bring his views to the school and, you know, with the school kids and things. so, no, i don't think it's a good idea for him to do that. >> our white house correspondents are standing at the ready to go as soon as the text is released. and just last hour, a jury convicted three british muslims in a plot to blow up airliners in flight and kill thousands of passengers. the men's arrest in 2006 led to restrictions on liquids on planes. international security correspondent paula newton in london. talk us through the day in court. >> reporter: well, this is a retrial, tony. what happened was these three had been convicted of conspiracy

to murder in 2008. they were already starting to serve their life sentence. the missing piece of the puzzle not convicted of trying to blow up airlines and british intelligence here, prosecutors saying we cannot let this stand. we have martyrdom videos, they insisted, they have evidence though they did not have plane tickets, we are try this again. they did. and as a majority 0 verdict 11-1 that's allowed here in britain, three convicted of trying to blow up the planes. tony, what it means for all of us, you know airline travel is changed for you and me and everything else the complete liquid plane, tolerate little bottles. >> yes. >> reporter: but this is vindication for homeland security for the united states and british officers here. the plot involved eight airliners going to the united states or canada from london's heathrow. vindication, they're saying when we said that you know soft drink bottles, bombs disguiseded asoft drink bottles could blow up a

plane we meant it. it could have happen. we were right to put in the restricts and that's the reason they decided to spend effort and expense trying to get this retrial. five of them, there were eight defendants, five were not found guilty of those charges, but still the british prosecutors here, they'll take it, they're taking its a victory. >> paula newton, appreciate it. a former u.n. worker faced trial in sudan, her crime, her pants were too tight, her blouse too skimpy. david is watching this case from nairobi, kenya. we'll get to david in just a couple of moments. we just lost him. it is a move driven by the economy but some say it could lead to dozens of wrecks. today, folks, in the pacific island nation of samoa will begin driving on left side instead of the right. it is the first time a country has attempted to switch its driving lanes since the '70s. officials say the move will make

it possible for thousands of expatriots who live in new deland and australia to send used cars to family back home. a map here, this map shows you who drives where. the red indicating left driving countries. yeah. better get out of water if you see these guys headed your way. these when r. great whites. this isn't a movie.

let's get you to our top stories now. five more nato troops killed in afghanistan. officials not yet releasing the identities and nationality of the fallen troops, but we know at least two of them are americans. so far this month nonu.s. troops have been killed in that war. just when you thought airlines nickelled and dimed you enough with their fees, southwest airlines has a new one for you. travelers who pay ten bucks more each way can board ahead of others to grab a plumb seat. the early board program. president obama headed to cincinnati for labor day rally.

he left washington earlier this hour. he is expected to push for health care reform at the afl-cio annual picnic. the speech 1:15 eastern. cnn will bring it to you live. as we told you just a moment ago, a former u.n. worker faced trial in sudan seed. her crime, her pans too tight, blouse too skimpy. david mckenzie watching this for us. what happened in court today? >> reporter: well, tony, what happens was quite surprising. the u.n. employee and a journalist living in sudan, she is sudanese, up for trial today. what we expected was possibly her to get that 40 lashes conviction or a fine or to be acquitted. but the court tried to get out of all of this and basically said we'll give you a fine of $200 and that's that. see said she's going to continue taking a stand saying there's a

rule and this law is against the rights of women. now she's in jail, basically her lawyer telling us she refused to pay the fine, she'd rather take a stand. she's going to spend a month in jail for the crime of wearing pants. you see in that photo, what she's wearing is not revealing. she says, yeah, it's certainly not against the sharia law in sudan but there's a strict interpretation of the law and she's trying to fight and make it possible for all women to wear what they like. >> david, she wants to take this all the way to make the point here, done she? >> reporter: well, that's right, tony. basically they're trying to take it to the equivalent of the supreme court in sudan. the problem is, is that the sudanese government is trying to sweep this under the carpet. for them they've had a lot of bad press, a lot of bad publy tis, amnesty international calling this -- you have to remember, this isn't the first

sudanese woman who has come across here, many women have been flogged for wearing what is against islamic code according to the morality police. she's trying to stand the overall constitution. certainly not the end of this, but it would seem she's spending the night in jail and possibly the next month in jail for this so-called crime. >> david mckenzie for us, appreciate it. time for a check of weather now with reynolds wolf. unfreeze the animation. let's go to reynolds. >> just works like that. >> all right. beach weather, we are looking for beach weather wherever we can find it on this labor day, rent knolls. >> absolutely. right to it. we've been showing people it's been happening in the northeast into the gulf coast. let's get to -- well the and east. cape hatteras, hilton head, cocoa beach, south beach. temperatures regoing to be into the 80s. when you get into the water it's going to be cooler in a few

spots, the same in others, 70s, 80s, gentle rolling surf from cape hatteras to south beach. the rest of the forecast looks like this, scattered showers and possible throughout the ohio valley. texas, north of the red river valley, parts of oklahoma, you may see thunder boomers in afternoon. the same expected for the pacific northwest and into the central rockies. temperatures of the day, 102 in phoenix. 83 degrees in denver. 79 kansas city. 77 washington, d.c. p 85234 atlanta. 89 memphis out by mud island. for los angeles, 81 degrees is the high for your day. all right, tony, you're up to seed. right back to the newsdesk. >> before i let you go here, have you seen what rob has been doing all morning? >> i'm so envious. >> somewhere near cocoa beach, he's been -- yes. >> very nice. very nice. looks like an eight-footer, i'm thinking triple fin board he's playing with. something like that. looks nice. he's doing all right there.

good balance. >> no, he's not. >> come on, that's my friend, man. >> all right. there he is. the big man, rob marciano apologizing. women and children, be very afraid. >> he almost took out a family. >> one more time. one more time we need to get to some news. come on, rob, bring it home. >> very nice. >> awesome. >> reynolds, appreciate it. >> absolutely. >> we have got -- i don't know if you've seen this, have you seen the video out of canada? i mean, we show this because, i mean, this is starting to get out of hand here. we've got a free for all during a canadian lacrosse championship there in front of a packed house, british columbia. the brawl erupted after two players from the salmon bellies clocked a player from the excelsiors as you can see the bench is cleared. >> that's where the trouble starts. when you have a name called sanl bellies and playing hockey without ice, it gets crazy.

and the teams find the bench is empty. kids are watching. we've got to do better than this. >> exactly. >> appreciate it. see you next hour. if you were in downtown atlanta over the last couple of days you probably saw dozen of people masquerading as fantasy and comic book characters. that's lovely. that's a good look, moms. the world's largest sci-fi convention known as dragon con wrapped up. these images sent to us from our i-reporters. just upload your pictures, news story, and ireport.com. [ woman ] dear cat. gentle cat.

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unemployment hitting african-americans harder than any other group. here's a lack at racial divide from the bureau of labor

statistics. it shows almost 9% of whites unemployed while more than 15% of blacks don't have jobs and 13% of hispanics. the obama administration says it recognizes that too many people are out of work and is out of w trying to fix that. the economy also plays into issue -- the issue of health care. i asked our top money people, christine romans, and ali velshi about that on friday. here is some of that conversation. >> something crazy has been happening in the labor market not in just the past two years or ten years, we are seeing globalization as the cheaper labor market and you're already hearing labor economists saying if there are going to be new jobs created, maybe a company will take facility across the world instead of it expanding across here. ali and i like to talk about

productivity. you're doing your former colleagues job, you're doing your productivity up 6.6%. do you think employers are going to say when the are recession is over, go back to your jobs? you're going to be more productive once things turn around? >> we've seen a shift towards employerses hiring people where they don't have to pay them benefits. you're going to see a lot more of that. that's an important thing to think about in this health care debate. you might not be put out of a job. you might just not be in a job. >> every weekend was a three-day weekend like this one. it's a dream come true for one georgia county. fredricka whitfield found people not happy with a four day a week school week. >> susan clark is school's

superintendent in rural peach county, georgia. >> if was almost like, come on. it's a way before school starts. what are we going to do? >> in july the public schools got bad news as they grappled with the budget crisis. they were told to quit spending because they had a shortfall of nearly $800,000. >> i want to take the bulk of my savings or do i want to lay out 39 people? and on monday, the county estimates it will save $400,000 and school buildings and saving a similar amount with a three-day furlough for all staff when they first said that we were going to a four-day week and nancy harper, whose daughter is a third grader, wasn't happy.

>> and when you make a budget and you've got it set, often times they prove -- >> parents are trying to keep their kids occupied or cared for on mondays. some got lucky. thanks to jesse, pastor of this church. >> we sat down and put together a program on monday, extremely low cost we don't just want to put them in child care. we want to help them out in school. >> that helped a few dozen students. a group of moms came up with another plan. >> several of us were getting our children together on mondays and letting the children experience things. they sometimes can't learn that in school. we're just making the best out of a delicate situation right now. we talk about anything from the seven continents to the five oceans and county.

you know, anything that is age appropriate exercises. >> 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? >> there may be more tough choices ahead. the county expects further budget cuts in january. fetd reek ka whitfield, cnn, atlanta. >> here are some of the stories that we are working on. president obama's back to school pep talk has concerns for parents and students who feel and fear that le push his agenda on impressionable young minds. the white house will release that speech at any moment.

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this is great. everyone knows for the first time researchers have tagged great white sharks swimming off the atlantic coast. this prompted several beaches to be shut down. cnn has been following this for us. >> reporter: tony, some species of sharks are common off the coast of massachusetts, but despite what you may have seen in the movies, the researchers

spotted not just one but two and were able to tag the giant predators near the beach. they estimate each two for the first time in the atlantic have been tagged. it all happened on saturday when researchers and local fishermen made a little history at the sea. >> as soon as he came up to the surface, i raised it up and got ready to take aim and as soon as he gets within range, i put the pole over the fish that hits the fish and then the tag is in place. >> i've tried to find great white sharks in 27 years. i couldn't find them. one day, boom, two animals. that kind of puts them in perspective. >> reporter: they were tagged with high-tech devices programmed to stay on the shark until january 15th. and the data versus satellite to

help them learn more to lead to conservation efforts. also an important note, tony, several beaches in the area have been closed and say that officials are warning swimmers in the area to be on the lookout. tony? >> jason, appreciate it. work hard, earn good grades and stay in school is the gist of president obama's message to school children. we expect to get the entire text while we're waiting for the white house to post their information on the website. >> reporter: call it a fast lesson in public push back. the president's plan to speak to school kids on tuesday has some conservative parents saying he's trying to brainwash their kids into buying his politics. >> thinking about my kids, i -- in school, having to listen to that, it really upsets me. >> i think it's up to the family. >> where will i send my child? i don't know.

right now i would say no. i'll keep him home. >> across the country, many school districts 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 optional. some site schedule conflicts and difficulties, but this is not what the white house expected. the white house will focus on keeping kids in school, a subject that's been promoted before. >> unfortunately, high school students are not making it to graduation. >> reporter: but the core disagreement is supplementary materials from the department of education. originally they called for students to write "what they can do to help the president." the white house has since changed that. suggesting that children now write about their own educational goals. further more, the text of the

president's speech will now be put online on monday so you can preview what is going to be said. plenty seemed fine with that, including the national president of the pta. >> we have an opportunity to take part in a tremendous -- >> reporter: still, just like the crowds at all of those town hall meetings, others are far from satisfied. >> my rights to the parents are being circumvented. and they clearly forget the notion that they are unfairly questioning the president's motives. >> education matters and what you do today and what you don't do could change your future. >> reporter: after all, they point out, when the first president bush spoke to school kids on tv in 1991, democrats

called that top political advertising on their dime. >> ed henry is standing by waiting for the administration to post the text of the president's speech. ed, honestly here, we are planning live team coverage and the moment it hit the white house and now i'm having a little fun and analyze the text and figure out exactly the controversy and what they are going to say and figure that may be perhaps one less for the students and perhaps there is sort of this mentality now of shoot first and ask questions later before anyone is seeing what the president is actually going to say. and when you look at those images of tom foreman, all of

the guidance we've gotten so far from the current officials is that the president's speech tomorrow expected to be pretty similar to what the first president bush said in 1991, study hard throughout the '80s and early '90s as it still is today. and once we do go through this mission with a fine-tune comb and the sense i'm getting is that perhaps we're going to think this is much to do about nothing. >> ed, give us a heads up when the text hits the website. >> all right. >> thanks, ed. >> you're welcome. you don't have to be in school to see president bush's speech to the young people. we'll carry is live at noon eastern tomorrow. the backlash of the message, the angry reaction at health care town hall, the fear factor of

the political debate, or is there something more at play here, a civil discussion of the raw politics ahead this hour. the conversation about president obama's school address is heating up our blog. what do you think? just go to cnn.com/tony and leave us a comment, if you would. we will share them on the air in the next hour. lawmakers return to washington tomorrow after road busts and contentious town hall meetings on health care reform. brianna keilar is in washington. the chairman of the senate finance committee has a proposal. he is circulating that proposal. i've got to ask you, is the much discussed public option part of that proposal? >> no, tony, it includes a noncooperative health care my max bauccus and the tax that would pay for this overhaul is

the high-end insurance plans that some say forced consumers to over use health care. it's to tax insurance companies and be passed on to individuals. now, the price tag of $900 million is less than the oub butt and senator bauccus, it's seen as the best hope and no coincidence, he put this down ahead of the conversation on monday. he wants to make sure that he has an opportunity to put its stamp on the health care debate before the president starts laying out his boundaries on wednesday night, tony. >> there's another possible compromise passed here. the public option. there's a trigger.

what is it and what is the by partisan support for? >> the government run insurance plan will kick in only if private health insurance companies don't provide affordable coverage to enough americans within a short period of time. so it would trigger the so-called public option. now, a key republican in this gang of six, olympia snow, has been talking about this for quite some time. she's been talk together white house about this trigger. it's been a key conservative democrat, saying that the president should consider. also consider this, tony, minnesota senator amy indicates that she's open to this idea. so we're kind of seeing perhaps some common ground that we can sense here in the senate. keep in mind, liberal democrats and they say they are and posed to this idea because it takes the teeth out of the public option. >> i cannot wait for tomorrow.

i can't wait and you're going to be there for us, right? >> yes. >> we're counting on you. >> all right. brianna keilar, in washington, watch president obama's address on health care reform before a joint session of congress. get an analysis from the best political team in washington. 8:00 p.m. eastern on cnn. a jury in london today convicted three men of the plot to blow up liquid explosives aboard the flight by disguising the bomb material in soft drink bottles. he could be sentenced as early as thursday. this led to the notorious restrictions on what you can carry aboard your flight. remember the chaos? richard quest does. we all do.

joining us live from london and, richard, this case really changed the way we all fly. >> indeed in many ways. 9/11 started the protest of starting the potential of aircraft being a danger, sort of a potential target. so the potential attacks, what it basically did was add in the unthinkable. to some extent, they thought liquid gas could be used but never had any real concrete evidence of somebody to do that. of course, this was reinforcing the idea and there are rules about liquid, gels, and that sort of thing. and, tony, those are still enforceable in airports around the world today. >> richard, remember the initial run of restrictions? we backed off of those initial

day, haven't we? >> you have to a certain extent. remember the first days after the rules came in, there was just basically a plurality particularly in the uk. there after, we've now transformed it. this could take up to 100 million -- no more than -- and the totality and when the duty-free was brought on board would have difficulty coming through because, of course, they would have more than a liter of -- that's very confuse fg you're traveling overseas. don't under estimate what took place when those alleged or now

convicted -- >> that's a good reminder. >> richard quest for us. richard, thank you. after innocent civilians are killed in an air strike, a u.s. commander has sent the message to the afghan people. yes! with unbeatable prices on t.g.i. friday's appetizers-- game time costs less at walmart. save money. live better. walmart. (announcer) what are you going to miss when you have an allergy attack? achoo! (announcer) benadryl is more effective than claritin at relieving your worst symptoms. and works when you need it most. benadryl. you can't pause life.

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square miles and set by arsonists, and real estate the humidity that comes in makes the plants a little bit soggier. >> yes. >> they are not wet. >> we're talking tender dry. we're talking a lot dry. it's just a fine light but the fire slows down a little bit. i'm still curious as to how it could only be 50% at this time. it seems like, my gosh, in this

amount of time we should be able to get it right. >> all under control. the problem is, tony, it's so big now. the fire line , if you're thinking about 246 you miles, the circumference could be 1,000 miles. how can you get 1,000 miles covered at the same time. the firefighters have worked hard. there's rain on the east coast. i'd love to get it there but it's not going to come. there's no way we're going to get rain. and, if, tony, el nino will help get more moisture in the soil. now you have 246 square miles with nothing on it. now the mudslides are going to start to come. watch what you wish for. it's a tough situation out there. the more it rains in the el nino season, the more green it happens and the more green it dries out when it stops raining in southern california. then you have more vegetation to burn and the fire season could

actually be worse after a wet season compared to what it was. it's just something that you have to learn to live with when you live out there. >> yes. >> earthquakes and all of that. but that's the hard part about living in paradise. >> living in paradise. and, chad, appreciate it. we just got word that the text of the president's speech to school kids has hit the press. last week the plan was that it was going to be 20 minutes long. and actually read it to you. still to come, work crews are racing against the clock to get traffic rolling again and the bay bridge has big problems. can you imagine the detour stops.

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transporting them crashed and aboard critical condition. there's a crack in the bridge in san francisco. we've got a little picture. it was closed for retrofitting. it's supposed to reopen early tomorrow. it's not live pictures but looks more like it could be pushed back to wednesday. crews are scrambling to repair a crack. we will get another update of our top stories in about 20 minutes. firefighters are making progress battling the massive california wild fighter north of los angeles.

the first day back to school and the white house website and i guess i should explain how you do this. what you do is go to whitehouse dot gov and click on the number one and there you can read the are remarks ed henry has done just that and joins us. i clicked a couple of times. i'm concerned that the site might actually crash a bit. i'm sure they will put it back up. but you have the text. who can share with us, ed? >> i can report that the president is going to urge students to study hard and stay in school. >> no. >> yes. we have that. i guess it's no longer exclusive because it's right there. but the bottom line s. for all of the chatter about what was going to be here, whether it would be indoctrination, throughout the speech the president is speaking mostly

about education reform. at the top you'll see that he remembers a lot of students don't like waking up real early. he remembers getting up early and living with his mom and his mother was a single mom and his dad was not part of his life. at the end of the day, fulfill your responsibility unless you pay attention to the teachers and listen to the parents and grandparents and put in the hard work. the president says you can't drop and learn for it. and he talks about how people in

the future discover the aid and technology, going he will, twitter, and, again, i think if you go back historically, this is similar and it's very much the don't cut class or drop out of school, study hard, listen to your parents. but ultimately he again talks about his own personal story and how, with his father leaving at an early age, he could have easily sort of used that to walk away from school, blame others, et cetera. and he says look, later in the speech, a lot of you have a hard time and it's hard to focus on your schoolwork. but it's your personal responsibility regardless of your background. that's the message that we'll hear from the president. he will be in northern virginia tomorrow. >> i tread lightly here because i know there are real concerns

out there. no mention of health care? no mention of -- >> i have not seen any mention of health care. i'm just about down to the bottom here. >> tax policy? >> i'm not seeing anything on tax policy. >> anything on bailouts? >> i'm not seeing anything on t.a.r.p. maybe the kids wouldn't get that acronym, that washington bureaucratic lobbying type thing. >> as i sort of try to paraphrase what the concern has been among some parents, it's with the lesson plans, correct, that went out ahead of the speech and you can explain it better than i can. >> sure. at the middle of last week, there were lesson plans floating around distributed by the department of education. it was saying, look, if your classies this speech by the president, maybe you can have an exercise about how they can help the president, maybe right an

essay about what they add mire about the president. it's still arguable whether that's political. saying i admire the president for x, y., and z., young students admire the president regardless of either party because of the position of power that they hold. some people ran into that, that maybe it would be some sort of indoctrination, some way for the president in this speech to influence kids in some of the fairest way. the white house has got to, number one, acknowledge that the lesson plan inartfully worded. and then if there's any indoctrination, sendingi a message to kids and it's clear that this president is going to move forward despite the controversy to send that signal, that message of personal responsibility to kids. >> i will tell you this. i grew up in the city of baltimore where three-quarters

of the kids from high school don't graduate. they can't hear this stay in school persevere message enough. does the president in the text acknowledge the controversy at all? >> you know, i have not seen that, to be quite honest with you. i'll take a closer look. it's about four pages. i was rushing out to give you the headlines here. i'm not seeing anything. this president's way tends to, when there's a controversy like that, to speak directly to the audience and not to the controversy because it gives more oxygen -- >> thank you, ed. we're back in a moment. more cnn "newsroom" right after this. you know what's complicated? shipping. shipping's complicated. not really. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service shipping is easy. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that's not complicated. come on. how about...a handshake. alright.

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hearing from the nation's heartland. >> it's a little early yet, day one, and i read somewhere, it's $1 corn dog days. >> unbelievable. >> have you seen any change because of the economy and things like attendance and participation? does it look different than it did last year before we went through the financial crisis? >> you know, what i think what has happened is that people are staying closer to home. they are looking for a value package towards the end of summer vacation. >> my daughters first visit to the state fair, we're having a great time. so much to do and so many things to buy if we have the money for it. >> i was looking for the program and there's a lot to do with the economy. there is coupon clipping and is that something that typically happens at the fair? >> yes.

we took advantage of a new term called rural lifestyles. >> we show cattle here for many years and my dad sells john deere tractors for them. >> we traditional sell our hogs for the last 22 years in the swine barn and my kids and grandkids are now showing. >> if you want to learn how to do gardening or container garden, we want to show you how. you want to learn how to coupon and cut your grocery cost, we're going to show you how. >> ali, joining us on the phone, he's on the road in wisconsin. what are people saying about how they are adjusting their lives in this recession? >> i'm kind of fascinated by what the fair director said, because i've heard it as some people call it rural living. some people call it the new frugality. but the idea that you can't control housing prices and you can't control the stock market so do the things that you can

control. that means growing a garden. $4 worth of tomato seed will give you the equivalent of buying $1,000 worth of tomatoes. that's not literally what all americans are going to be doing but it's the sense of being more frugal, controlling your spending, and adjusting to the fact that this recession a reality, even if it's ending right now, tony, the reality is that we are not getting our wages back. some people are not getting their jobs back. even if the stock market is not going anywhere, it's certainly nowhere where it was at the top of 2007. control what you can and don't worry about what you can't. >> i hope you have a gps on you. where is the next stop? >> we're on our way to naperville, illinois, one of the western suburbs of illinois. we're going to talk to some people there. that's a community for chicago. it's far out enough that some people work in manufacturing and lost their jobs there.

we're going to talk to people there about how they are feeling about the economy and health care. >> be safe and travel well. ali velshi with the cnn express. the t.e.a. party express traveled today and here is the rhetoric. >> you're ready for a t.e.a. party? >> i see the things that the obama administration and the congress is doing is really threatening the condition of this country. >> i believe ease the constitution. >> everything the government is doing. >> there is something happening. we don't know quite what it is. but it's happening and people ordinary narrowly wouldn't turn out for the streets to protest are turning out to the streets to protest. >> it's the sleeping giant that has been awakened. >> liberalism coming to you on a silver platter.

barack hussein obama. >> tens and trillions of dollars to banks and and we're headed towards socialism and i don't want this to be a communist socialism industry. >> i have the right for the government not to patrol my health care and my life. >> and i have the right to disagree with you, sir. >> i'm like the person who they are going to say, take a pill and go die. >> mr. president, ms. pelosi, support our troops. >> i was sayinging all night long, telling us all these lies. >> okay. so some of the nation's political debate has turned

pretty raw. is beer driving the over the top rhetoric or is it something more? to quote the singer marvin gay, what's going on here? joining us, joe hicks, a commentator for pa jaj mpajamas. good to see you. and i have wanted to play down the scenes from some of the town hall, even as i have been stunned, frankly, by what occurred and what i've seen. >> right. >> is this serious? is this what the next 3 1/2 years will look like, sound like in this country? >> i certainly hope not. i think it's important to differentiate.

obviously not all of the opposition to the president or the opposition to him speaking to the school kids, for example, is about racism, the area that i focus on and rush limbaugh in late april saying the obama way you can get a job with this administration is if you hate white people. now they are saying he is going to indoctrine nate the kids and turn them into the youth. it's not all about racism. a few people have stayed on the town to crazy town and the fact is, there's a rags rhetoric that under lies a lot of this and it's dangerous for us to not explore that aspect. >> what's your take on this.

>> i wonder if you take pink elephant and on a daily basis, and you know, this isn't new. this has been going on. and it's been in place for eight years under george bush. we're seeing the flip of the same coin now. and it's been going on for eight years. >> we didn't say things like george w. bush is going to set up detention camps. we didn't say ronald reagan and

all colleagues on the left, when you compare bush to hitler, it's not an appropriate comparison. >> what's your response? >> you have rosie o'donnell and telling them they are going to move out to canada and we have pictures of obama and you have pictures of hitler for eight years. >> it goes even handed. >> i was at those rallies and i condemned it, as did most of the people. >> all right. good to hear. >> all right. so what am i to do with this?

and i'm seeing this stuff and you know, it is news. you get these people, what am i to do with it? am i to ignore it or put it into some kind of context? what am i to do when i see the stuff that is, you know, our president, whether it's george bush or whether it's barack obama or hitler? what are we to do with this stuff? >> we report on it, just as you guys have been doing it and the major media has been doing, report on it. show it. but i guess it's a little even handed in terms of the way that some of it gets depicted. now we hear that from van jones to people opposing obama tomorrow in a speech to the t.e.a. party and town hall, there's some racism element. this is a bit over the edge here. >> well, it's not. >> it's not nothing to do with racism. in the case of the town hall stuff, you've got a lot -- you've got organizing people to come to the town hall meetings

to call obama hitler. it's outrageous. but, you know, there's a lot of uncertainty on the part of the american middle class. >> you have rush limbaugh going on the air -- >> identifying what the health care plan is. >> let mim respond. >> you have rush limbaugh going on the air drawing connects between obama and hitler, making comparisons with the health care load and calling it a nazi symbol. it's the key person in the party. >> let me finish. let me finish. and then finally, give people like glenn beck suggesting that this president wants to lock up the political youth and the defense core, mandatory core. >> just a second. stop one second. >> good point. let me stop you for a second and ask you one more question of you, joe, he is cultural or racial anxiety and nobody in his

right mind and that's simply we're living in a country today that the country has elected its first black president and a latina on the supreme court and all of the polls show that this country is probably and rags initial racial attitude and the political globalization and and some kind of barometer. >> joe, that's not necessary to do. this guy is showing up at the town hall meetings saying that glenn beck sent them. that's what happened in tampa bay. they were there to protect his politics. he had number four ranked.

and if you're going to say that, what, you never heard me say that. >> no, but glenn beck did. >> hello -- >> so they won't -- tim, what i want to do in the future here is i want to find out -- i get what is fueling a lot of this and i get radio -- how much of this -- how much of this is real and what we do with it and does information ultimately win the

day? let's focus on that joe, appreciate it gentlemen, thank you. >> all right. let's get to top stories now. the head football coach in kentucky is in hot water after taking 20 players to church to get baptized. at least one parent says she's angry her 16-year-old son was baptized without her knowledge or consent. the school's superintendent said that she thought the trip was proper because attendance was not required. and their plan to make sure what is hidden in soft drink bottles and find out if they are guilty or not guilty in the bomb flot. the captain that capsized is rescued after being in the water for more than 24 hours.

nine people are confirmed dead. it is a holiday but it is back to work tomorrow and you may find -- it will take you longer to get there. the good and bad news about traffic. keep every hair in place.ill the pictures are gonna be great! with unbeatable prices on tresemmé tres two hairspray beauty costs less at walmart. save money. live better. walmart. if you're taking 8 extra-strength tylenol... a day on the days that you have arthritis pain, you could end up taking 4 times the number...

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the economic recovery, stephan stephanie elam, something about about a year and a half is getting more crowded on america's roads. that's the company that monitors traffic patterns. and the average american will spend about 30 hours stuck in traffic this year. that's a slight increase in 2008 but it's still well off the 41 hours of average back before the recession began. the increase is due to lower fuel prices and increased economic activity. and a result of more government

workers. it's not just jobs. the numbers take into account several factors, including more shipping and freight activity as well, tony. >> well, stephanie, what about the federal stimulus packages? a lot of that money went to fund the road project. so is that also contributing to the increase in traffic? i bets. >> yeah, you can bet your bottom dollar. the department of transportation received trillions of dollars from the american recovery and reinvestment act. that's finded many roads nationwide and it's led to an increase in delays during off peak construction hours during the first half of 2008 to the first half of this year. this map shows where some of the biggest relative delays are. albuquerque, new mexico. st. louis, multiple projects in the works. massachusetts, accelerated bridge program has springfield all in the top ten in terms of increased overnight delays.

now, the number one on that list, portland, maine. there are plans to redo the main artery. go to money.com to see a stimulus project. i have to thank all of my new england friends here that have taught me how to say gusta. >> thanks. >> snoo two seasons in america, you know this, winter and road construction season. thank you very much. see you tomorrow. >> bye. the whistle blower who exposed shock being behavior at the embassy in kabul. i've stilt room for the internet. with my new netbook from at&t. with its built-in 3g network, it's fast and small, so it goes places other laptops can't. i'm bill kurtis, and i've got plenty of room for the internet. and the nation's fastest 3g network.

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you know, they talked about takesing parties and the man who and he sat down with paula newton. >> fresh off a plane from afghanistan, terry is back home in britain much sooner than he wanted to be after blowing behavior that was shocking and indignified. >> it was downright stupid some of the things that they would do. >> he 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.

department of education for inappropriate conduct stemming from charges and explicit photographs involving u.s. embassy guards. images of alcohol abuse and and no one is and may have to joke and and he wrote e-mails. >> and i think that's the way they looked at some of it. >> but the incidents

investigated by the watch dog group on government oversight and fired or resigned, management is being replaced. but as a whistle blower, he wasn't after mass firing, just a change in behavior. back at camp sullivan, he was made to feel that he had done something wrong and has since resigned a few days ago only to ask for his job back. but it was too late. he was on his way home within hours. and his own free will and although we are now aware at camp sullivan and it's not investigated with this matter. how much does it bother you right now?

and have a chance to do something different. and it was still doing exactly the same thing because i think people's integrity and respect at work is more important. and he still is stunned that this would have such a dire consequences on his life. the rest of the body is a no brainer. doesn't your whole body deserve excedrin strength relief? excedrin back & body. excedrin. what ache?