gown that jason wu designed will go to the permanent collection of the smithsonian, but not a given. my guess is that it will end up at the smithsonian again. >> thank you for that. swiss lace, was it? >> swiss lace. >> where can i find that? not in men's warehouse? >> would you wear it? >> it looked nice. we had a great week. t.j., thanks for being with us. i know you're trying to head back to atlanta. >> weather permitting. >> hope it works out for you. continue the conversation on any of today's stories on our blog cnn.com/amfix. see you back here monday. >> now time to hand it over to the "cnn newsroom" in atlanta with heidi collins. worried about health care reform? turns out some democrats are concerned about their own colleagues' health care plan. new sound from inside the halls of congress. jobless americans in some states could get a break. we'll tell you about a push to extend unemployment benefits.

and could a condemned home hold clues to cold cases? dogs on a kidnapping suspect's property pick up a scent. good morning, everybody. i'm heidi collins. it is friday, september 18th, and you are in the "cnn newsroom." of course, we have a lot going on this morning. want to make sure we get straight to it today. homeland security correspondent jeanne meserve has new details to tell you about from this week's u.s. terror raids. her sources are saying the threat was all too real and we'll tell you why. also, reza sayah is follow the street protests in iran. we'll tell you all about those as well. large crowds, big tensions in that country right now, still divided by that contested election. and also, our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr, is going to be talking about the war in afghanistan. another american is killed and the debate ramps up. should more troops be sent there? there is new information now on possible targets for a

suspected terror attack. federal agents in new york and colorado raided several buildings this week, as we told you here, as part of their investigation. cnn homeland security correspondent jeanne meserve is joining us live from denver this morning with the very latest. jeanne, sources are telling you more details now of these plans? >> reporter: first, let me say, heidi, this is very much an ongoing investigation as authorities are still trying to get their arms around exactly what they are dealing with here. we have had sources tell us that during the searches on the residences in new york, they did find multiple backpacks. now, backpacks were used in the madrid train bombings back in 2004 and sources say this has led some members of law enforcement to theorize that this alleged plot might have been involved some sort of hit on a transportation hub, a train station, or a subway station. some place where there would be a lot of people and minimal screening of bags. in addition, two sources tell cnn that authorities have turned up instructions for bomb-making.

one law enforcement official says that this information was found on a computer that was taken to new york by najibullah zazi. zazi is the 24-year-old afghan national who's at the center of this probe. his lawyer says this information about bomb making instructions on his computer is simply not correct. >> i have no information confirming anything like that. and all i can possibly say -- >> sorry, sorry. >> -- is that my client has no comment at the time. if you have some, direct them to me. all i can say, if they had found bomb making materials in his car or on his computer, or one wild report i heard, that there were enough explosives in the apartment to blow up two buildings, do you really believe the fbi would have allowed us to walk out of here last night? >> reporter: now, zazi is reportedly meeting today for a third day with the fbi. meanwhile, authorities are saying they believe this is the real deal.

additional resources have been put into new york and to denver, they say. but, as yet, no arrests in this case. >> understood. as we've all been saying, certainly investigation ongoing in this. what more do you know about mr. zazi? >> reporter: well, we don't have a full picture of this gentleman, but we do know he was born in afghanistan, emigrated to the united states, came to denver not too long ago. and for the last six months or so, he's been working for an airport limousine company. i spoke yesterday to an individual who answered the phone there who described zazi as a very hard worker, diligent, good kid. he did describe him very definitely as a kid. and he said when he heard that he was being questioned in connection with an alleged terrorism plot, he laughed out loud. back to you. >> jeanne meserve, our homeland security correspondent, thank you, coming to us from denver, colorado. and now we are learning more about the suspect in the killing of a yale university graduate student, her name, annie le.

raymond clark was charged with murder yesterday, one day after undergoing dna testing. the president of yale said the lab technician's employment record showed no signs of trouble, but police are describing the case as workplace violence. and the associated press reports yale workers told police clark was a control freak. even with science and doctoral students. but friends of the suspect painted a different picture of him on cnn's "larry king live" last night. >> larry: bobby, you're a friend since childhood, grew up next door to him. what do you make of this? >> ray is my absolute best friend. he's someone i considered a dear friend of mine, ever since growing up, since we've been 5 years old, up until -- you know, thus far. and it's just -- ray to me is -- i'm speaking on behalf of my friendship with him and for the rest of, you know, the town of brantford, ray has -- absolutely complete shock. cannot understand the position that ray's in right now, why

he's in this position. obviously, we do know, you know, what is going on, but it's like, it's a complete shock, because this is a dear friend of ours, a dear friend of mine who i've grown my whole entire life to know and it's -- the whole country and everybody else in brantford are wondering. we want questions -- i mean, we want answers to all of our questions. everybody has questions. he's being portrayed right now as, you know, being a murder suspect. and that's not the raymond clark i've known my whole, entire life. >> le's work involved experiments on mice and it was part of research that could have implications for cancer treatment. clark's technician job included cleaning floors and mouse cages. we turn now to street protests in iran, and new anger directed at a protest. what you hear is chants of "death to the dictator." this is amateur video posted on

youtube and believed to have been shot today in tehran. the rallies are an annual event, but this year, as you see, there was new cause for attention. cnn's reza sayah is in pakistan now with the very latest. reza, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, heidi. it has been a while since we've seen the green-clad opposition movements take to the street en masse, but that changed today in tehran. tens of thousands of opposition supporters hitting the streets according to our sources on the ground and coming face to face with large crowds of pro-government groups. usually that's been a recipe for violent clashes, but we didn't see widespread clashes today. there were some, but not many. today in iran was an annual rally to show solidarity for the palestinian cause, but as they've done in the past, iran's opposition movement took advantage of this government-approved event to take to the streets and protest

the june 12th elections and the often vicious government crackdown that vfollowed. the protests and the rallies started in the morning. tens of thousands of people heading towards tehran university. there, president ahmadinejad made another searing speech targeting israel and washington. here's what he had to say. >> translator: today the most important issue in the world is the issue of palestine. if there is conflict going on in iraq, we believe that the conflict has been instigated by the zionists. if there's a conflict in afghanistan, the war has been provoked by the desizionists. if the people of sudan are being suppressed, that's due to zionists' temptations. in fact, we consider all these schemes as being just drawn up by the zionists. >> reporter: now, inside tehran

university, president ahmadinejad getting plenty of cheers, but a different story outside tehran university, where opposition supporters stood by. they were chanting, "liar, liar," as the president was speech i speaking, also, "death to the dictator," and a new chant, "no to gaza, no to lebanon, i give my life to iran." it's this new position that they're facing economic woes and the government should pay attention to them before paying attention to the palestinian cause, but president ahmadinejad making it clear that paying attention to the palestinian cause is a national duty. heidi? >> all right, understood. and appreciate the update, reza sayah for us this morning in islamabad, pakistan. so what exactly is hudsday? it's an annual rally to support the palestinian people and protest israel's presence in jerusalem. it's held in many arab and muslim countries.

even though it's held each year on the last friday of ramadan, it's considered a political, not religious event. the parade originated in iran after the 1979 islamic revolution. coming into this week, moderate democrat max baucus hoped his bill for reform would bring both parties today. well, the proposal has indeed found some common ground. both democrats and republicans are finding reasons to hate it. so where does the debate go from here? can one plan build bridges in both directions? cnn congressional correspondent day na bash takes a closer look. >> reporter: forget about republicans, even democrat jeff bingaman, who spent months negotiating with max baucus, isn't ready to support his health care proposal. >> i have favored having a public option available and voted for one in the health and education help committee bill. so i hope we can do that.

>> reporter: in fact, outside a closed meeting of the senate finance committee, almost all the democratic senators we talked to said they wanted to change what their democratic chairman max baucus calls a consensus plan. one huge issue -- >> affordability. >> affordability. >> affordability for middle class families. >> reporter: concern that americans would not get enough financial help buying the health insurance they would be required to have. >> this has to work for families. and i understand all of the trade-offs. but the trade-off can't be that a middle class family can't afford the insurance in this bill. >> reporter: are you prepared to vote against this? >> yes, i can't support a plan that doesn't have the affordability of health care and doesn't have the affordability for my constituents in it. >> reporter: and many democrats don't like one way baucus helps pay for his health care overhaul, taxing insurance companies for high-cost plans. it was john kerry's idea. >> yes, it was my idea, originally. >> reporter: but even he now opposes it, saying the way

baucus structured the tax, it could penalize the middle class, including union members. >> we need to make it fairer to working people so that working folks don't get dragged into this at a level where they just don't have the incomes that support it. >> reporter: meanwhile, olympia snowe is still the one republican democrats think they can still persuade. >> it has to be practical, achievable, and doable. >> reporter: in fact, baucus stood listening carefully as snowe spoke to reporters and then told us -- whatever senator snowe wants to do, i've heard her. >> reporter: whatever she wants? >> whatever she wants. >> reporter: in all seriousness, senator baucus told us, he is willing to make changes to address concerns about affordability and potentially taxing the middle class. he knows he has no choice in order to get votes from fellow democrats and pass this proposal in his critically important committee. dana bash, cnn, capitol hill. >> and make sure you watch cnn on sunday morning when president obama sits down with cnn chief national correspondent john

king. that's on cnn's "state of the union," sunday morning at 9:00, 6:00 pacific. congress sharpens its budget knife as it takes a harder look at the controversial organization a.c.o.r.n. and i'm rob marciano in the cnn severe weather center. starting to feel like a broken record as far as the south is concerned. another day of flood watches and it's expanding.

how to get rich, by america's health insurance companies. health insurance premiums 4 times faster than wages. million dollars a year. deny payment for 1 out of every 5 treatments doctors prescribe. if the insurance companies win, you lose. tell congress to rewrite the story. we want good health care we can afford with the choice of a public health insurance option.

millions of unemployed americans are looking for work, and counting the days until their jobless benefits run out. well, for some, health and hope may be on the way. christine romans is part of a cnn money team and is joining us now. christine, who, exactly, may be getting some help here? >> in 26 different states, if this goes through, the house is considering and will be voting on next week a bill to extend unemployment benefits by another 13 weeks. this would pertain to anybody in states with higher than 8.5% unemployment rates. that's about 26 states with a lot of folks. we know that usually unemployment benefits last about 26 weeks. we've extended them already, but

in some cases, these lawmakers are saying there simply aren't jobs if these unemployment benefits run out, you're going to have families who will have no income. the on thing worse than trying to raise a family on an unemployment check is trying to raise a family once it runs out and there are no jobs. there are six people looking for every job opening, six qualified applicants for every job opening and that is a very tough situation to be in. it looks like this could pass the house, the democrat-controlled house. it's uncertain when and if it would land in the senate, but at least pressure and momentum building on the hill to extend these benefits. heidi, for more than 500,000 people, their jobless benefits run out by the end of september. by the end of the year, it's well over 1 million people will lose their jobless benefits. so what happens when those benefits run out? a lot of people think it could be real tough luck on the economy. will not have those people spending money, we'll have those people still in dire straits. >> well, hopefully a lot of

people that will be helped by this. christine romans, sure do appreciate that. thank you. looking for leads in two cold cases. investigators turned to the property of a kidnapping suspect. now, two search dogs have picked up a scent.

let's take a quick check of our top stories now. authorities plan to dig in an area of phillip garrido's property where search dogs have shown some interest. county building inspectors have condemned garrido's home as unsafe to occupy and released these pictures of it. garrido is charged with kidnapping jaycee dugard and his property is now being investigated in connection with the 1980s disappearances of two other girls. russia's leaders are praising president obama's decision on missile defense. the president announced the u.s. would abandon controversial plans for sites in eastern europe. russian prime minister vladimir putin called it a right and brave move. meanwhile, media reports in decided to scrap its own plans

to deploy short-range missiles in the baltics. military vets are being warned to watch out for an ongoing phone scam. callers say they are with the v.a. and need credit card information to update prescription medication records, but the v.a. says it doesn't ask for personal information over the phone.

congress is cracking down on a.c.o.r.n. the house approved an amendment yesterday to pull federal funding from the community organizing group. the senate passed a similar provision earlier this week. the votes are in response to several undercover videos like this, shot by conservative activists who posed as a pimp and a prostitute. on the tape, a.c.o.r.n. employees appear to give the

couple illegal financial advice. a.c.o.r.n.'s ceo says she's deeply disturbed by the videos, but she says the employees who appear on the tapes are bad apples who have been fired. one of the worker says his words were taken out of context. >> i never in my life do something wrong. >> usually people that are not -- that are involved in criminal activity are not contacting law enforcement to let them know about the criminal activity. >> a.c.o.r.n. has ordered an independent review of the tapes. we'll have a full report coming up on this story from cnn's special investigations unit. you can see that at the top of the hour. more rain expected again today for an already soggy southeast. a torrential downpour -- look at that -- across parts of tennessee yesterday, flooded streets, closed schools and businesses and sent residents scrambling for higher ground, apparently cattle too. emergency crews used boats to

rescue dozens of people stranded in their homes. >> it hasn't never been nowhere near this deep before. >> we've evacuated more than 17 or 18 families. >> rob marciano joining us now to talk more about this. they are just getting hammered there. >> yesterday was the straw that broke it. didn't see a tremendous amount yesterday, but it's been a couple of days coming. as a matter of fact, this video a couple of nights ago out of chattanooga. a familiar scene across the southeast with just streets flooding in major metropolitan areas. and with that sort of action, you know, it gets a little bit wet at times. check out some of the numbers. these are storm totals for armina, arkansas, over a foot. even pensacola, florida, and monroe, louisiana, seeing similar numbers. so very impressive, no doubt about that.

and st it's just going to keep on coming. showers and thunderstorms that will fill in from memphis south down i-55. and there are areas that are not under flash flood watches through tomorrow, but also flash flood warnings. the brighter colors indicate warnings. that's beginning to spread out as well. take a look what's going on in nashville right now. that's where they're seeing -- they've seen quite a bit of rainfall, especially south and east of nashville. wkrn, and it just doesn't look that sunny. sunshine not going to shine in nashville, memphis, or atlanta for several days to come, i don't believe. charlotte, you're under a ground stop until 9:30 if you do some travel into atlanta hartsfield. 15 minute delayings right now. i expect those will be on the increase as we start to see the radar fill in. as far as what we can expect around the rest of the country, we're looking at nice weather across the southwest and drink weather for the most part across parts of the northeast as well. a good-looking weekend for much of the northeast with temperatures there eventually

climbing into the 70s. the daytime high map looking like this, 75 degrees in new york city, 77 in chicago, and 75 here in atlanta, which will be a rather muggy and rain soaked 75. >> we got more of it last night, too, didn't we? >> like to say we need it, but we probably don't need it anymore. i think we're done. >> can't you control that? >> all right, rob, talk with you later. thank you. the best-selling author of "the kite runner" making a trip home to afghanistan. his firsthand account of the situation there now and his work to help refugees returning home rebuild their lives. but with the strength of zyrtec ® , the fastest, 24-hour allergy relief, i promise not to wait as long to go for our ride. with zyrtec ® i can love the air ™ . stay any 2, 3, or 4 nights between september 13th and november 22nd, and you can earn double, 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,

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week, let's go to susan lisovicz at the new york stock exchange. >> happy friday to you. that rally could resume today, even though we expect some caution at the open. at the top of the hour, we'll get a look at state-by-state unemployment numbers for august, the july report showed the unemployment rate rose in 26 days. as christine mentioned earlier, this comes just days before congress is set to vote on a measure to extend unemployment benefits again in states with high jobless rates. an extension may be in store for separate government program to help out the housing market. the irs says just under 1.5 million first-time home buyers use the government's $8,000 tack credit this year. that's helped to boost home sales and the economy. as of now, that credit set to expire at the end of november. in corporate news, palm reporting its ninth straight quarterly loss. palm has been struggling due to competition from the iphone and blackberry. sales of palm smartphones more than doubled because of popularity of its pre device.

not enough to boost overall revenue, which tumbled more than 80% in the last three months. and we're not seeing stocks tumble. we're seeing gains across the board. three major averages in the first minute of trading. we're less than 200 points from dow 10,000. heidi, yesterday, i put on this hat, this dow 10,000 hat. >> i love that hat. >> i know you do. and i'm working on getting you one of them. it's a 10-year-old hat, so it may be on ebay, but i've found one. i heard there was a collective gasp in the makeup room when i put it on. >> that's never good. >> you want to be friends with those people at all times, for the herculean task they perform every day. >> they love you. you're in and out in 30 seconds. love that. susan lisovicz, thank you. a partnership for missile defense. nato secretary general says the u.s., russia, and nato should combine efforts on a military

defense system to protect against threats from asia and the middle east. this comes one day after president obama announced plans to end a bush administration plan for missile sites in eastern europe. that decision drew some criticism. >> the consequences of this decision may be, albeit, unintentionally, courage further blinlg rans on the part of the russians and a distinct lack of confidence on the friend of our allies in the word of the united states. >> president obama says the u.s. is not abandoning missile defense. the plans are for newer and faster systems. russian president dmitry medvedev called it a responsible decision. they're set to discuss security in the region when they meet in new york next week. >> a u.s. service member and another member of the nato fighting force are the latest troop deaths in afghanistan. beth died in right side bomb attacks. august was the deadliest month

for u.s. troops in afghanistan. now 21 people have died there this month. and those numbers are stoking the debate over future troop increases. cnn's barbara starr is at the pentagon now this morning to talk a little bit more about this. barbara, we've been expecting general stanley mcchrystal to request more troops. when are we actually going to hear what these commanders want? >> well, heidi, that's really the big question right now, because this public silence is fairly deafening. it was earlier this week that president obama said he wanted to take his time and have some patience on deciding about whether to send more troops to afghanistan. vice president biden told our chris lawrence, traveling with him in iraq, that there was no immediate decision on the table to send more troops. this against the backdrop of the military's side of the house, admiral mullen and others saying that securities deteriorating and that things, you know, need to be fix there had. and of course, u.s. troop deaths

now at record levels. so it was very interesting yesterday when defense secretary gates had this to say. >> there's been a lot of talk this week and the last two or three weeks about afghanistan. and frankly, from my standpoint, everybody ought to take deep breath. >> seeming, once again, to be at odds with the military side. no great urgency in any of this. but here's what we know behind the scenes. now, general mcchrystal has actually made a decision on how many more troops he needs. it's somewhere in the 30,000 to 40,000 range. that's a very big number for the white house to deal with and general mcchrystal's been told, don't send that request to washington just yet. we'll call you when we're ready to hear about it. heidi? >> that is what is so fascinating to me. it really begs the question,

who's running things right now? is it the military commanders or the politicians? >> well, there is civilian control of the military in this country, but -- >> so what's congress been saying? >> they're noticing all of this and saying, hey, we want to hear what's really going on. general mcchrystal went to afghanistan to command the war there with the orders, tell us what you need, we'll get it for you. now he's ready to say what he needs, but washington's not r ready to hear it. heidi? >> well, of course we'll follow this very, very closely as the days go on here. appreciate it very much. our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. thanks so much. acclaimed author khaled hosseini just wrapped up a visit to his native afghanistan. he's an american citizen, but born in kabul and afghanistan has always remained near and dear to his heart. he's written about it in "the kite runner" and "a thousand plenty did sons." he's a goodwill ambassador for

the united nations. khaled hoe ssseini is joining u now from washington. always good to see you. thanks for being here. really interested to know how afghanistan looked to you today. you actually left just on tuesday. >> yeah, i think the current trend, especially from the standpoint of security is not an encouraging one. when i spoke to afghans, they were concerned about their future and have some reservations and disappointments about the present. but the sense that i got that things are not hopeless and sustained stability in afghanistan is an achievable goal. but in order to meet that goal, we do have to be patient. this will take time and we need the sustained commitment on the part of the international community. and also, we can't meet this goal through military intervention alone. the military is part of the answer, but it has to be linked to political, social, and economic convention as well. so there has to be a strong,

civilian component to strengthen the afghan state institutions and to give those people in afghanistan the modest levels of improvement in life that they're asking for, which would earn us, i think, great goodwill and contribute so much to stabilizing the country. >> yeah. and i think that's been going on for many years. we've been talking about how this could never just be, you know, one platform. it's got to be military, and of course, diplomacy and involving the citizens of afghanistan. you say that hope is not lost, though security is a definite situation. therefore, when we talk about more troops, potentially, going into afghanistan and a significant number that we're hearing from our commanders, 30,000 to 40,000, potentially, what do the people of afghanistan think about that? >> well, i think that, undoubtedly, there is a shade of public opinion in afghanistan that is beginning to see the security forces there as an occupying force compared to a few years ago, i would say there

are more people who view the security forces negatively. >> so they feel equipped in what you are hearing, to be able to defend their own country, at this point? >> no, but that's the point. that on balance, when you speak to afghans, they feel that if the security forces were to leave afghanistan, things would be a whole lot worse. because the afghan state institutions, the afghan security forces are not strong enough to ensure the country and its people of a normal state of existence, of protection. so do they want to have foreign troops on their land? no. but do they see it as a necessarily thing. i think most afghans would concede that point. >> absolutely. let's talk about the refugee situation. i know that you were a refugee yourself. how big of a problem is this now in afghanistan? i mean, what are the numbers that we're talking about? >> well, it's a continuing problem. you know, since 2002, 5 million refugees have come back to afghanistan. that's a 20% increase in the country's population.

that is an enormous figure for even a developed country. but you take a poor country like afghanistan, brutalize it through 30 years of consecutive civil conflict and then ask it to absorb a 20% increase in its population, that's a herculean task. so what i saw when i went back to afghanistan on this trip is that refugees are struggling, a daily struggle with basic services like land, shelter, water, access to health and educational facilities and they remain, really, their survival depends on continued donor support and on the continued engagement of the afghan government and the international communities. >> what about the u.n.? obviously, you're a goodwill ambassador now for the united nationsed. what about their efforts? are they having an effect? >> absolutely. i think unhcr has been the lifeline of these refugees, providing them with emergency help, with shelter, with legal, with physical and material protection. but unhcr can't do everything.

it has to rely on developmental partners to bring about those socioeconomic conditions that are conducive to successful reintegration. >> certainly. some real chances. quickly, we have to ask you, the author of "the kite runner" about this kite festival you took part in on monday in kabul. >> it was beautiful. it was just a fantastic scene. we were on this hill with all these children flying kites and it was a beautiful scene. you know, and it was a day to keep the peace agenda alive, to remind people that afghans are a peaceful people who want peace for their country and who rant to be able to restart their lives and rebuild their country and bring to an end and to a closure this very dark chapter in their history. >> i'm a personal fan of both of the books and i appreciate your work to keep the spotlight on afghanistan, your native country. thanks so much, khaled hosseini. want to get to our top

stories of the day. the investigation into the case of a suspected serial killer has turned up a huge gap in wisconsin's dna database. officials say dna samples from some 12,000 convicted felonies were never taken or recorded. >> we can't afford to have that many felony's dna unaccounted for. >> it's essential we recover that information. >> i have to admit, i'm shocked that it could have happened to this magnitude and i've been around a long time. but the numbers that we're talking about to me are staggering. >> well, authorities say most of the dna samples could be taken from people already in prison. processing them will be a burden on a crime lab that's already backed up with other cases. and without dna on file, investigators would be unable to tie suspects in custody to other criminal probes. a former high school football coach has been acquitted in the death of a player. a kentucky jury found david stinson not guilty of reckless homicide in the death of

15-year-old max gilpin. gilpin collapsed during a practice in hot weather last august, his body temperature reaching 107 degrees. he died three days later. the defense argued that other factors may have led to gilpin's heatstroke. pakistani police say they're ready to arrest a leading cleric for helping a group believed to be behind the deadly attacks in mumbai, india, last year. the cleric is accused of raising money for the banned group. he says it's charity. 166 people died in the attacks in mumbai. health care in america. passions run high, divisions run deep. with seemingly everyone shouting, is anyone still listening?

with phillip garrido already charged in the jaycee dugard case, investigators are searching his property for possible links to other kidnappings. garrido's home has been condemned and county inspectors have released new photos. reporter david benick from kcra has the story. >> reporter: a pink child sneaker lies in the sand. pots and dishes are stacked in the kitchen sink, and a box of crayons sits next to filthy black fish tank. these are some of the 102 pictures taken by build inspectors nearly three weeks ago before they condemned the garrido home is unsafe to up a. many pictures show piles of boxes, mattresses, and debris in the backyard, where authorities say jaycee dugard and her two daughters were held captive for several years. there is a wooden shed with metal bars on the windows and

door and makeshift electrical wiring. also visible are two barbie-style dolls. a child safety seat are items lying above the crushed side of an aboveground swimming pool. there is a white plax toilet, which inspectors say was not connected to any sewer or septic system. inside the house, pots and dishes fill the kitchen sink and cover the counter and stoves. a can of pinto beans, a jar of peanut butter, and a box of ritz crackers sit on a microwave often stand. pieces of furniture are piled on top of each other, papers are strewn on the floor, and what appears to be plastic flowers sit on top of the dining room table. >> authorities are now planning to dig on garrido's property as part of the investigation into the disappearance of two other girls in the 1980s. let get over to rob marciano standing by in the severe weather center.

i feel like we've been talking about all this rain in the southeast and nowed flooding for, i don't know, like three or four days. >> and it's probably going to continue in spots. here's the deal, heidi. take a look at this video, first of all, coming south and east of nashville, rutherford county yesterday just got hammered with flooding. >> time lapse, yeah? >> horses doing their thing. and folks are -- if we could close heidi's mike, that would be great. getting rescued. this is the forecast weather map for today, with lows sitting and spinning in this general direction and not really moving all that much. we're looking for this to rain out just a little bit and it will kick out to the east. a slow and steady process. it will be nice across the northeast today and pretty nice across the southwest. and that encompasses the entire weekend. in the meantime, we're looking at problems across the south. this is mississippi and parts of western tennessee and north and east of greenville in through the interstate 55 area, you'll notice that these aren't moving

all that much. that becomes an issue. and this area from birmingham to atlanta will probably fill in over to the western parts of the carolinas, all the way to the coastline is where we're having issues. so the expanse of this continues and where it does pop up as far as thunderstorms, it comes down in a hurry and saturated grounds, so flooding is going to be an issue for a good chunk of real estate. 75 in atlanta, 75 as well in new york city, and 77 degrees up there in new york. 87 in houston and 85 degrees in los angeles. all right. that's the latest from here. heidi, back over to you. >> all right, great. thank you, rob. health care in america, passions run high, divisions run deep. and with seemingly everybody screaming at everybody else, is anybody else still listening? (voice 1) traffic's off the chart... (voice 2) they're pinging more targets... (voice 3) isolate... prevent damage... (voice 2) got 'em.

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the debate over health care in washington. the anger heats up. the debate bogs down with both sides so angry is anyone even listening anymore? we'll get a closer look from candy crowley. >> good morning.

>> reporter: the speaker of the house says some of the things she's hearing in the health care debate borders on dangerous. >> i saw this myself in the late '70s in san francisco this kind of rhetoric was frightening and it created a climate in which violence took place. >> reporter: to review, the pro-reform side including the president has been called socialist and unamerican. those against the president's plans have been called wing nuts, fringe groups and racists. republicans accuse democrats of stoking a false racism charge to diminish honest opposition. democrats say for political reasons, republicans won't condemn the clearly racist signs and words at some protests. how the white house wants to put a lid on this one. they've been trying since sunday. >> i don't think the president believes that people are upset because of the color of his skin. the president does not believe

that criticism comes based on the color of had his skin. >> reporter: the vice president chimed in from iraq. >> as you approach the resolution of an incredibly controversial issue, usually you find excesses grow from that. the president does not believe nor do i believe it's racially based. >> reporter: it's not that the president is above a good partisan fight. he was out there proving that. >> i've heard a lot of republicans say they want to kill obama care. some may even raise money off of it. but when you ask these folks what exactly my plan does, they got it all wrong. >> reporter: here's the problem. beyond the four walls of that rally, who's listening? the side show, the debate about debators, drowns out the president. >> all of the background noise,

the conversation behind the conversation is hurting his ability to get his policy agenda implemented. >> reporter: a bitter side show on one of the most toxic topics turns off moderate less partisan voters and makes the opposition more opposed. >> to be accused of being racist for expressing those concerns, you know, it further polarizes an already polarized debate. >> reporter: there is bipartisan agreement on this. the health care debate is the nastiest in history. >> this isn't about black and white. it's about insuring america. >> reporter: yeah. health care. >> make sure you continue watching cnn especially on sunday morning when president obama sits down with our chief national correspondent john king. that's on cnn's "state of the uni union" at 9:00 eastern.

let's check out our correspondents and their stories today. let's begin with suzanne malveaux at the white house. >> reporter: michelle obama is weighing into the health care debate now and she's not just talking about the need to eat your vegetables. she'll talk about why reform is necessary for all america's families. i'll have more details at the top of the hour. i'm gerri willis. worried about missing out on the tax credit? you could be in luck. it could be extended. i'll have more at the top of the hour. i'm susan lisovicz at the new york stock exchange where the mark is rallying for the 9th out of 11 session. the trend we've seen is it's one reason we're all $2 trillion wealthi wealthier. more on that in the next hour. >> look forward to it. we'll dig deeper into a story. the study about suicide. you may be shocked about how

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watching right now. kim jong-il says he's open for talks on his country's nuclear program. he met with a special enjoy from china today. a summit sponsored by a leading conservative group gets under way in washington. speakers at the 2009 values voter summit include senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, john boehner, mike huckabee. we're waiting for new state jobless numbers this morning. the labor department is ready to release the stats for august. national unemployment for august was 9.7%. we'll get to new numbers as soon as they come out. acorn may soon be taking a huge financial hit. yesterday the house approved an amendment to pull all federal funding from the community organization. the vote follows the release of several undercover videos of acorn workers. the videos were made by

conservative activists posing as a pimp and a prostitute. let's get more from abbie boudreau. >> reporter: it wasn't even close. by a 345 to 75 vote, the house of representatives voted to kill all federal funding for the community organizing group acorn. >> acorn is trying to claim that they're cleaning up their act but i think it's too little, too late. >> reporter: it wasn't just republicans. 172 democrats also voted to defund acorn. an indication of deep pounds by hidden camera videos. >> your business is performing artist. which you are. okay. so you're not lying. >> reporter: videos that show acorn workers offering help and advice to conservative activists posing as a pimp and a prostitute. acorn damage control effort

included saying the tapes were doctored and ordered an independent investigation. >> i immediately took swift action. i said you know what? we're going to look at this. we're going to make a review from top to bottom so that this thing never happens again. we worked too hard to have some trumped up thing like this happen. >> reporter: the newest tape shows an acorn worker in national city near san diego advising the undercover filmmakers on how to get underage sex workers from el salvador over the border from mexico. acorn tells cnn the worker was trying to deal with a bizarre and challenging situation and he was playing along to get information which according to acorn he passed onto his cousin who is a detective with the national city police department. now this video released by an acorn worker in philadelphia. she said she reported the couple

to the police. >> it appears he lied to get his appointment. he was not dressed like on the internet. when we got suspicious about the questions he was asking, we called the police and filed this report. >> reporter: there are other cases where acorn workers say the videos didn't show the full story. this acorn worker claiming to have killed her ex-husband in self-defense. >> i shot him. he died right there. >> reporter: but she tells cnn she was just playing games. her ex-husband is just fine. >> he's alive and well. >> reporter: local police confirm that. >> reporter: coming on top of earlier tapes which clearly show ache orns bending over backwards to help the couple, tapes that may be misleading or

drowned out in the clamor. >> more information about acorn. the group says it's the nati nationenation's largest community organization. it has more than 1,200 neighborhood chapters. the nonprofit group is funded through donations. it received $53 million in taxpayer money since 1994 according to a california congressman. critics are calling for an investigation now. the brother of acorn's former chief organizer was charged with embezzlement. other employees are accused of voter registration fraud. the undercover videos prompted congress to vote on millions of dollars in government funding cuts for acorn. last week the census bureau ended its deal with acorn to help out with the 2010 head

count. a yale university technician is being held at a high security facility on $3 million bail after being charged with the grad student's murder. new haven police call the case one of workplace violence. raymond clark was arrested yesterday even though he had been under surveillance for several days. the body of annie le was found in lab building sunday where she and clark worked. to another investigation across the country now. authorities plan to dig on part of phillip garrido's california property after two dogs found scents in the same place. garrido is behind bars charged in the jaycee dugard kidnapping but he's also being investigated in connection with the disappearance of two other girls in the 1980s. his home has been condemned as unsafe to occupy and released these pictures of it. we are learning more about a

possible terror plot in the united states. sources tell cnn there was plans and preparation for an attack and that mass transportation may have been targeted. the investigation led to raids by federal agents in new york and colorado. cnn homeland security correspondent jeanne meserve is joining us. >> reporter: what they're doing is trying to get a better sense of what these individuals may have been up to and they don't think they have the full picture yet. the investigation is ongoing. two sources have told cnn that investigators did turn up instructions on how to make bombs. one law enforcement source tells us they were found on a computer that najibullah zazi carried to

new york. his lawyer says that's not true. he emerged from the fbi yesterday and said if the fbi had found evidence of that sort, he didn't suspect that mr. zazi would be walking free. in addition, sources have told cnn that they have found backpacks during searches of new york. backpacks were used in the 2004 subway bombings in madrid and according to sources, this has led law enforcement to think that it had to do with mass transit and hit some place where there was a lot of people and not much screening of baggage something like a subway station or a train station. that's the theoretical premise that they're working on right now. at this point in time the investigation is continuing. we've been told by sources that additional resources have been put into new york and denver to

continue with this investigation but at this point in time there have been no arrests in this investigation. >> understood. cnn's homeland security correspondent jeanne meserve following the story from denver this morning. thank you. let's head to the severe weather center where we find rob marciano who has been watching all of this flooding across the southeast that we've seen particularly we saw some unbelievable video out of tennessee and there is he. hi, rob. >> i'm going without -- i got up from my seat. there it goes out of my ear. i apologize for that let's look at what's happening across the country. look at this low which is not really moving all that much. hasn't moved in several days. and with that you got flood watches that have been posted for a good chunk of real estate for the southeast. put me in place. with rainfall totals in some cases exceeding 12 inches of

rain, you're talking about a soggy air mass with soggy ground and places like atlanta where you are looking at now with buildings of downtown are covered in low cloud cover and fog. under a flash flood watch through tonight at least if not through tomorrow because things will go downhill from there. as far as what we got going on around this part of the world, flash flood watches have expanded to include parts of georgia in through western parts of tennessee and that's where we have had most of the problem. tennessee southeast of nashville especially where yesterday they had to do some evacuations and even some rescues and with this moisture field expanding into parts of the tennessee valley, it encompasses a larger array of people. as far as what to expect across the rest of the country, northeast is looking dry today and over the weekend. back to the west we go with warm temperatures across parts of montana and wyoming again and dry weather expected across parts of southern california.

that's the latest from here, heidi. with delays in philadelphia and atlanta. send it back over to you. >> i know you can't hear me so i'm going say a bunch of bad stuff about you. all right. we'll check in with rob later on and continue to follow all of that rain. for now, let's get to iran. there are some street protests that we need to tell you about and new anger directed at president ahmadinejad who is accused of rigging his own re-election. what you hear is chants of death to the dictator. this is amateur video posted on youtube believed to have been shot today in tehran. the rallies are an annual event but this year as you can see there's new cause for tension. witnesses tell cnn there were several times opposition protesters exchanged words with hardliners but there are no reports of violence. we'll stay on top of that story for you.

she's been talking about the importance of a healthy lifestyle and now is michelle obama about to get in front of her husband on his number one domestic issue? we'll look at her role in the battle for health care reform. fh 28% of your daily fiber. but i like this chicken tuscany. i like it too. but it has fiber in it. that's right. fiber? yeah. but i like it. (announcer) progresso. you gotta taste this soup. ky eater gonna love her friskies any less if i spent less on them? um... no.

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president obama is hitting the road and the airwaves in a campaign blitz for health care reform. yesterday he spoke to 15,000 college students at the university of maryland. what a great school, by the way. he told them reform is a

defining struggle of this generation. >> we've all got a stake in getting this right. that's why i said i will embrace good ideas wherever they come from. we already have. too often during this important debate we've also seen the same kind of partisan spectacle that has left so many people disappointed about washington. too many scare tactics instead of honest debates. they use it to score short-term political points. instead of working together to solve a long-term challenge. >> this weekend the president turns to tv. he's scheduled to appear on five sunday talk shows and next week he'll be dave letterman's guest on late night television. not even a president can be in two places at once so turn to his better half. could first lady michelle obama become the next weapon in health care reform. suzanne malveaux joins us from the white house. so what is the first lady doing

to help her husband's cause on health care? >> reporter: she's here to help obviously. about 45 minutes from now she'll be speaking about health care reform. she's jumping into this debate both feet forward. she's not just talking about the need to eat your vegetables. we've spoken to the first lady's office and they're going to talk about ways that american families, particularly young girls, women, families, will be impacted by health care reform and why it's necessary to change the system. she's not necessarily going to get into weeds about what kind of bill they favor but certainly going to talk about the kinds of every day concerns that families have about pre-existing conditions, about their own coverage, their own situations with their families, taking care of the kids, things like that. and this is really a different audience. this is about every day folks but it's also about folks that we just haven't seen before. this is sponsored by the white house council on women and girls. among those who will be in the

audience, ywca, a forum to show people and tell people this is about everybody and all americans need to pay attention and to really kind of put a friendly face on this very controversial debate, heidi. >> all right. we'll be watching. sounds like a very busy weekend for everybody indeed. suzanne malveaux, thank you. out in front of the white house today. signs and posters depicting president obama as hitler really struck a nerve in one man near seattle, washington. so much so he now faces assault charges. our affiliate king tv tells us how a conflict over the posters got out of hand. >> reporter: they say every man has his breaking point. henry reached his at fifth and main. henry walking through downtown edmonds where two people had had signs and literature like this depicting president obama as adolf hitler. it struck a nerve in henry and

he lashed out. >> i don't want to see the picture of a killer, a demon, in the street to be used for somebody's political career. are. >> reporter: during world war ii, henry was a young boy as hitler began his extermination. >> i have relatives that were killed. my other uncle came home without a leg. >> reporter: he tried to grab pamphle pamphlets. he shoved. they shoved. he stopped to ask a police officer if what they were doing was legal and next thing he knows he's sitting on this bench in handcuffs. >> whatever you say will be used against you. >> reporter: the people with the signs accused henry of attacking them. he's now charged with fourth-degree assault. several people have applauded henry for what he did. >> people can voice their opinions however they want to but i still think the whole thing is wrong. >> i think that was excellent of him, you know. especially for what his family has gone through and what he's

obviously gone through. >> reporter: for his part, henry hopes others will stand up against what he calls stupidity. >> we can argue about that. that's freedom of speech. but what that has to do with hitler and swastika? >> the people with the signs and pamphlets were supporters of a strong opponent of president obama. they could not be reached for comment. a deadly suicide blast in pakistan. at least 25 people are dead. 36 others hurt. the car bomb exploded near a crowded market. police say the target was a shia neighborhood. the residents have received taliban threats in the past. the plast collapsed buildings and shops and trapped people inside. military veterans are being warned to watch out for an ongoing phone scam. callers say they are with the va and need credit card information to update prescription medication records. the va says it doesn't ask for personal information over the

phone. watch out for that one. in wisconsin, the investigation into the case of a suspected serial killer has turned up a huge gap in wisconsin's dna data base. officials say dna samples from some 12,000 convicted felons were never taken or recorded. authorities say they could now get dna samples from people already in prison, processing them will be a burden on the crime lab that's already backed up with other cases. thoughts of suicide. they are more common than you might think. wait until you hear the shocking statistics.

disturbing new statistics on suicide. a government health agency reports more than 8 million americans seriously considered killing themselves last week. more than 2 million made a suicide plan. and just over a million others actually tried to kill themselves. so what's behind these numbers? we want to talk about that more now. joining us is someone with answers to all of this. dr. melva green. thank you for being here. we should point out that this is the first year they've actually done this study. we don't have a lot to compare to by way of saying these numbers are up significantly. i guess when you hear that number, 8 million, and you think about the population of this country, for that many people to be contemplating seriously thoughts of suicide, what's your reaction? >> i think these numbers are very accurate. i think over the years we've

grossly underestimated people's thoughts of suicide or hopelessness. i think they're a direct reflection of what's going on in our country right now. there's a significant amount of hopelessness. there's a significant amount of stress and depression. and people are contemplating taking their lives and contemplating ending it all. >> so what you're saying and obviously you work with mental health patients every day. people are talking to you, your patients are talking to you about what issues in particular? >> well, people are talking about stress. they're talking about a tremendous amount of financial stress. family stress. relationship stress. people are coming forward with discussions about depressive symptoms. i'm seeing an increase in the number of people with major depression. >> we should let people know more about the study and let you know who has done it here. it's substance abuse and mental health services is the organization that conducted the report. they talked to 47,000 people age

between 18 years and older. i guess i just wonder how many people are going out and getting help? if we are able to gather numbers like this that say there are 8 million people who have seriously contemplated the idea, at least those 8 million people are talking about it? >> i wish more were talking about it. there's a tremendous amount of stigma around suicide and around depression. more often than not people are trying to grin and bear it or suffering in silence. so i'm really hoping that more and more people now that we're having this dialogue and now that we're uncovering serious truths about a major public health problem, my hope is that people will come forth more. >> it sounds to me like this number could even be underreported when you put it that way certainly. one of the things we do have from the study that we can share by way of quantifying is this. adults who seriously contemplate suicide in the year 2008, it is broken down by age group. what we see here is the age group of 18 to 25, america's

young people, are the highest demographic there. 6.7% of that age group has seriously considered suicide. why is the rate so much higher among younger adults? >> that's a particularly vulnerable time. you know, the thoughts of suicide or the thoughts of ending it all or the significant amount of hopelessness is largely correlated to one's coping strategies. one's coping skills. and in our young lives, we're left apt to be able to have life experiences that led to a sense of self-confidence or a sense of hope that things are going to get better. we have less experiences to support that. in the older populations, many have experienced life, have had letdowns and some setbacks but they may have many successes that they can recall on that can be rather protective. >> this is also the age group typically where many men and

women have decided to go into the military. we've talked here on this program about ptsd and suicide rates in the military. i don't think we should leave the segment without talking about how you can get help. there could be people who have these thoughts and don't know what to do with them. >> i think the help is critical. educating ourselves. being aware. it's about awareness. it's about support. it's about prevention. i want to make sure i point out that suicide is a preventible situation. we want to talk more about it. we want to be more open about it. we want to engage people in accessing help. there's the 1-800-suicide hotline that people should access. there are other websites like suicide.org that's a 24/7 website that is rich with resources. and is available to the public to get all of the information and access to help that they need. the most important thing is to

get help. suicide is preventible. >> all right. thank you for the point. appreciate your time as well. dr. melva green from maryland. thank you so much, doctor. the world health organization says global production of the h1n1 flu vaccines will fall nearly 5 billion doses short of what it hoped would be available. what's the problem? associated press reporting there have been production problems and some manufacturers are still turning out vaccines for seasonal flu. the war in afghanistan, the debate heats up. should more troops be sent there? depends on who you ask. (woman) dear cat. your hair mixes with pollen and dust. i get congested. but now with zyrtec-d®, i have the proven allergy relief of zyrtec®, plus a powerful decongestant. zyrtec-d® lets me breathe freer, so i can love the air™. (announcer) zyrtec-d®. behind the pharmacy counter. no prescription needed.

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afghanistan. the bombing is the latest in a wave of taliban attacks. 21 people have now been killed this month. those numbers are fueling the debate over future troop increases. barbara starr has the story. >> reporter: the latest suicide car bomb attack in the heart of kabul. another day when insurgents made clear the capital city is not safe. but suddenly the obama administration and the president's top military advisers are split on the urgency to fix afghanistan's security problems. just days after the top military officer said -- >> a properly resourced counterinsurgency probably means more forces. >> reporter: the vice president said, not so fast. >> a decision on additional resources is premature and it's a distance off. >> reporter: in an exclusive interview, vice president joe biden told cnn's chris lawrence no more troops will be sent

until the current 21,000 troop increase is in place and the afghan election results are finalized all still weeks away. but a senior u.s. military official tells cnn general stanley mcchrystal, the top u.s. commander has now decided how many more troops he needs but he's been told by washington don't send that request until you're asked for it. >> there's been a lot of talk this week and in the last two or three weeks about afghanistan and frankly from my standpoint everybody ought to take a deep breath. >> reporter: the reason may be the white house is not ready to hear what the general has to say. all indications are mcchrystal now believes he needs 30,000 to 40,000 additional troops, military sources tell us they worry it's a huge decision the white house does not want to get in the way of other issues like health care. senior military officers have

long signaled they can't wait too long given afghanistan's collapsing security. >> i think it is serious and it is deteriorating and i've said that over the last couple years that taliban insurgency has gotten better and more sophisticated. >> barbara starr joins us live from the pentagon. so how long will general mcchrystal and also mike mullen who we heard from there put up with this? don't call us, we'll call you sort of attitude from the white house. i understand that they have to of course get permission to have more troops sent over but if they're saying they need it, how is this happening? >> reporter: i got to tell you, heidi, in all of the years i've covered the pentagon, this is a first for me. i never actually heard of this notion, you know. general mcchrystal went to afghanistan with the orders tell us what you need, we'll get it for you. and now he's being told, not so fast. hang on. hold that thought. it doesn't really usually work this way. all of the thinking that i have

heard behind the scenes is general mcchrystal will give it a few weeks. he knows the president wants to take his time. people want to look at all of this. at some point general stanley mcchrystal is not a shrinking violet. he'll let it be done what exactly he thinks and as one source said he may put the troop request in the mail addressed to the pentagon and let the chips fall where they may. 30,000 to 40,000 is a big number. that's going take some doing. a lot of generals, a lot of commanders, think if that's what they're going to do, they need to get started. >> if in fact that happens and again i know that's not what we're saying is going on right now, if there's an actual letter that gets sent to the white house, who then immediately deals with that? is that the secretary of defense? obviously the pentagon. white house liaison if you will. will that go to the president? >> reporter: let me not be too flip about this. in today's world, all of these things are done of course via

secure classified cables, video teleconference, all of that. general mcchrystal at some point will send a request to the pentagon, a request for forces. it will have to be discussed with president obama because right now the plan, the official u.s. plan is 68,000 u.s. troops in afghanistan. anything beyond that will go to the president for a decision. the president is indicating he wants to take his time and there's one more very serious wrinkle in this and that's the afghan elections. there is still no certified winner of the afghan elections. they are facing a situation where it could be weeks if not months before they know who the president of the country is and that's complicating it either further. >> we'll stay on top of this one absolutely. barbara starr at the pentagon for us this morning. thank you. options for afghanistan are likely to be a hot topic when

the united nations general assembly opens next week looking at live pictures of the brookings institute in washington. secretary clinton is there to talk about the u.s. agenda at the u.n. including afghanistan and other security issues in the middle east and asia. the u.s. made a major change on missile defense. the president deciding to drop bush administration plans for sites in eastern europe. the new plan drew raves from russia and nato but criticism on capitol hill. >> our new missile defense architecture in europe will provide stronger, smarter and swifter defenses on american forces and america's allies. >> this ill-advised decision does little more than power russia and iran at the expense of our european allies. >> powerful russian prime minister vladimir putin called the decision by president obama "brave." the president is expected to talk about security in the

region and russia's role when he meets with russian's president next week in new york. a reassessment of the threat from iran is one of the reasons president obama gave for the change in course on missile defense. brian todd takes a look at the new plan. >> reporter: the top brass insists america's not scrapping missile defense in europe. instead, they say, the new plan would give them more flexible defenses sooner against what they say is the biggest threat from iran right now. >> the threat from iran's short and middle range missiles is developing more rapidly than previously projected. >> reporter: we mapped out the threat and the first phase of the new plan to counter it with weapons expert john pike of the analysis firm globalsecurity.org. >> iran has missiles that can reach israel and bases in the middle east and it could go into

eastern europe in the not too distant future. they want interceptors in the eastern mediterranean possibly in the black sea and possibly in the north sea way up there. with transportable radars around turkey. is that going to be enough to stop the missiles? >> it depends how many ships are deployed. if there are only a few ships, the problem is the missile may fly between the ships and they can't fire the interceptors very far side to side and iranian missiles would fly between them. >> reporter: u.s. military officials say between now and 2011, they plan to send two cruisers with interceptors to patrol the seas at a time but could add more and they say right now there are patriot missile batteries to fill some gaps and later land based interceptors. how does it compare to the scrapped heap missile defense plan that would have been deployed later in the decaddeca?

>> would you have fixed bigger ones in poland. is that more effective or less effective? >> they are completely different threats. the bush plan was to deal with long range missiles aimed at the united states. the obama plan is to deal with medium range missiles that hit western europe. >> reporter: that's a threat the u.s. takes more seriously than iran's long range threat with missiles capable of hitting america. u.s. officials say iran's capabilities there are moving more slowly than expected. brian todd, cnn, washington. time is running out for first-time home buyers who want to cash in on that $8,000 tax credit. now there's talk of making the windfall bigger and for more people. u 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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guilty of reckless homicide in the death. the player collapsed during a practice in hot weather last august. his body temperature reaching 107 degrees. he died three days later. his parents spoke outside the courtroom after the verdict. >> we knew that it was going to be a tough -- beyond a reasonable doubt. that's tough. we knew that. but there again like i said, our objective is that this doesn't happen to another child or to another family. and i know we've reached that goal. we are going to continue to reach out to people throughout the united states and we're going to continue to fight for the safety of these children. of all student athlete. >> just want to thank everybody that supported us and know that we're happy that -- we know max didn't die in vain. people are becoming aware of

this. we'll keep on doing what we're doing and may being people aware and just watch your kids. >> the defense argued that nonheat related factors including the use of a dietary supplement and prescription drug led to his death. pakistani police say they are ready to arrest a leading cleric for helping a group believed to be behind the deadly attacks in mumbai, india last year. he's accused of raising money for the group. he says it's a charity. 166 people died in the attacks.

first time home buyers take heart. you may have time to take advantage of that $8,000 tax

credit. sounds good, right? the government may extend the program and put money in your pocket, too. personal finance editor gerri willis joins us with details on this. what's the scoop? >> georgia senator johnny isaacson is calling on congress to extend the tax credit. he says the tax credit should be raised to $15,000 up above the $8,000 it currently is and be available for any home buyer and not just first-time home buyers and he would remove income caps. the senator says that doing this will stabilize home values and improve the jobless rate and even prevent a second dip in terms of recession. critics have said an extension of the credit is too expensive and would help people who would be buying homes any way. >> april sure there are people who wonder, you know, which pile of money this would come out of as well. but then you have to talk about the impact here. what has this tax credit meant to the housing market? >> let's take a look at the

actual impact of what we've seen so far. some 1.4 million people have claimed the tax credit according to the irs. there have been 350,000 more sales than there would have been. that's according to the industry. they say that there would have been -- there would be 350,000 sales they did not expect without the credit. home sales year to year would have been 6% below or lower than the previous year. now, the national association of realtors says that a real estate recovery will help the economy because home buyers spend on average $63,000 in months after they buy the home in furnishings, finishings and that helps the economy. 8.6 million homes and condos are on the market. that's a 9.4-month supply. foreclosures are still rising. some of the upbeat numbers we've been talking about in housing is based on people buying

foreclosures, distressed properties and some people are buying foreclosed homes and that doesn't help homeowners trying to unload their homes and move on by selling their house. >> personal finance editor, gerri willis. thank you. >> my pleasure. >> wow. did you see that? >> that's new. >> rob marciano is joining me now for today's "hot shot." >> i'm a little more than 20 yards away and this ear piece is my life line to you and the set and the rest of the world so it's nice to be here. we're going to talk about some stuff -- >> this is good. this has been out there that you may have seen earlier in the day. in case you missed it, look at this. a how-to video on the best way to stop spread the germs. we've been talking about swine flu obviously.

this one delivered by health and human service secretary kathleen sebelius to nbc reporter chuck todd. >> i think that -- bless you. what is that about? who has got some purele. give that to mr. todd right away. hand sanitizer. good. we'll have elmo give chuck a special briefing. we'll get elmo over. elmo knows how to sneeze. >> i didn't realize there was a proper way to sneeze. >> really? they've been demonstrating it. you have been over there hiding out in the severe weather center on an island of some kind. it's this. sneeze into your sleeve. he probably sneezed like this. then you get to take your hands -- >> this is much easier to clean

up. not always a clean environment. >> teach the children this. >> it was a neat moment. now i know how to knees sneeze. no more excuses. >> great for chuck todd to be taught by elmo. he's teaching the kids. >> i should come up here more often. i learn more. >> we're really very nice. we're kicking you out now. thank you, rob. as you know, times are hard for a lot of people. it's not all bad news. some people are actually getting richer. can makes everything pop! ♪ hey [ male announcer ] same cost but a lot more fun. ♪ everythid÷ pops with the pringles superstack can! dear cat. gentle cat.

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in this recession americans have been losing jobs and homes and retirement nest eggs have certainly taken a hit. now we have good news. a study by the federal reserve shows that we're all a little bit richer these days. what? susan lisovicz is on the floor of the new york stock exchange to explain this one. >> reporter: it's a good friday story. listen to this. we all got richer by $2 trillion in the second quarter. that's collectively all 300 million americans. >> are we going to talk about inflation in this story? >> reporter: no. i'll talk about a trend we just started to see. we haven't seen this trend in a quarter for two years. why is that? our two biggest investments saw increases finally. housing and stocks. let's start with real estate. rose in the second quarter by

2%. you say that's not much. well, it's the first time we've seen an improvement there in three years. stock market, between april and june, we saw 22% increase there. remember, we saw the lower the bear market in march. stocks on a rally since then and guess what? right now we're seeing the dow up 36 points at 9820. and nasdaq is up a couple points as well. >> seriously, i expect the hat, cowboy, all kinds of stuff if we actually get to 10,000. >> reporter: you won't have champagne in a paper cup. you'll have the big thing. >> that's right. it's interesting this story. we're all a little richer but i would imagine not a lot of people are feeling richer. >> that's true. we have to put it in perspective. if you take that 2 trillion divided by millions of americans, you're looking at $7,000 per person. it's an increase. we're not back to where we were just as we went into the

recession. we would need another $12 trillion for that. some economists say it may take a few years because the recovery may be very slow. one thing that we have to say that also came out of this report by the federal reserve is we're living within our means. the savings rate went up for the fourth straight quarter. at one point the savings rate was negative. there are a lot of reasons we got into this mess. run of the reasons why is we weren't living within our means and that's something we see very clear these days. lesson learned. >> no question. all right. susan lisovicz, thank you. have a great weekend. the medal of honor awarded to an army sergeant who walked into a hail of bullets to save his fellow soldiers. from walmart for just over $1 a person. one breakfast a week saves a family of four over $800 a year. save money. live better. walmart.

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>> the father of army sergeant jared monti always had the instinct to help others. today his family cherishes his memory and his medal of honor. here now, cnn correspondent barbara starr. >> reporter: the medal of honor presented to the family of jared monti. >> reporter: he received the medal for actions above the call of duty. it's the type of heroism these men know. living recipients gathered this week as they do every year. there's no one wearing the blue ribbon from iraq or afghanistan. in fact, there's been no living

recipient for any military action since vietnam. the defense secretary believes there are unrecognized acts of courage among the living. >> this has been a source of real concern to me and i will tell you it was one of president bush's real regrets that he did not have the opportunity to honor a living medal of honor winner. >> reporter: there are still 95 living recipients from past battles. world war ii, korea and vietnam. >> before i was in the army i didn't know what the medal of honor was. >> reporter: he was recognized in 1970. he wonders why so few of today's warriors have been recognized. >> i've been asked this question numerous times.

240 medals of honor in vietnam. they have been four in iraq and two in afghanistan and two in somalia. >> reporter: general james conway says one reason there may be fewer medal recipients these days is counterinsurgency wars don't have the big battles of the past. we asked this veteran if he wants a living service member to be honored. >> he's doing heroic things to make that situation better. i don't want to wish that on anybody. >> reporter: defense secretary gates says current files are being reviewed and the next ceremony may be for a living medal of honor recipient to join these men in history. barbara starr, cnn, washington. >> again, we thank all of the service men and women for their service defending the country. i'm heidi collins. have a great weekend, everybody. "cnn newsroom" continues with tony harris. >> it's friday, seper