to today. imelda, back in the philippines, following exile, is a member of congress who has just been named chair of a committee charge with implementing the u.n.'s goal of cutting the poverty level in her country in half in five years. i wish her the best of luck. it's a noble cause. she might start with a shoe sale. thank you, all, for being part of my program. see you next week. vk vk i'm fredricka, "your $$$$$" starts now. the resilience of baseball, the foils of both. while filmmaker ken burns goes back to the ballpark. a look at the tenth inning. and a worldwide problem. human trafficking. how a mexican girl was lured into the united states and forced into prostitution, and healthy eating on a strict budget. advice from a famous french

chef. you're in "the cnn newsroom." i'm fredericka whitfield. ancie urgent search in california. california authorities fear the group may have been planning a mass suicide, and eight children are missing. we have the spokesperson from the los angeles county sheriff's department on the phone. give me an idea of why this is so alarming. what evidence have you located in this group might be doing something that would imperil everyone's lives? >> that's a very good question. and i'll certainly answer it. first i want to say no crime has been committed. why is that significant? if, indeed there, is the off chance that any of this group is listening to or viewing your program, that nobody is in trouble. please, just alert the authorities that you're safe and sound. now, to answer your questions.

there were belongings found, cell phones, important documents, notes that were written that were talking about -- that could lead people to think perhaps that they were going to an after life. notes talked about meeting jesus, talking about deceased relatives, soon to meet up. i'm paraphrasing, of course. this is not an incantation of what was exactly said. but in essence the feeling was this needs to be addressed and needs to be addressed right now. at about 1:45 yesterday, they were reported missing by two gentlemen, and they told us that their wives, one of their wives especially may, in fact, be under the influence of this cult-like group leader and they were concerned. we are right now searching. it is palmdale, in northern los angeles county. a massive geographic challenge. we have people on horseback, in the air. major crimes bureau tracking

down leads. >> i think we're looking at the image of one of the people who reportedly is with this group based on what you say, a family's description, saying they were a little concerned that she and others may be in trouble? >> yes, that's true. they came and said that they may be under the influence of this cult-like group leader and may be problems ahead. >> okay, so, steve, i'm wondering too, this group reportedly was in a prayer meeting earlier yesterday morning, correct? and from there, they, what? got into a couple of vans and took off? where were these notes located that you're speaking of? >> they were in a purse. a large container purse that one of the -- the husband of the wife. the wife left the purse with the husband and asked for the husband, if you will, to pray over the purse. the husband became curious, looked inside the purse. when these belongings, cash, notes, and cell phobes were

discovered. that happened early in the morning. they came, reported it to us, we began the search. >> and how large is your search? how do you know the distance, radius in which to look? >> it's a grid that search and rescue because of l.a. county's geography we're abreast of and skilled in. it's a large geographic area. we start from point "a," from homes, neighborhoods, and residents, and work outward. >> description of vehicles, anything like that that you're putting out? >> yes. there's a white toyota, there's a minivan, and villager, toyota tundra truck, which is silver, and all of that is available if anybody locates or sees the vehicles, sees this group or these individuals, contact the authorities immediately. >> very fascinating. the search for five adults and

eight children. >> one more thing, if i may. the children are ages between 3 and 17. >> all right. >> please contact authorities. thank you. >> all right. thank you, steve whitmore of l.a. county shefb's department. a white toyota, a minivan and a tubd ra truck. all of these vehicles together as they look for these 13 individuals. we'll keep you updated on that. former senior bush adviser karl rove wants an explanation about a candidate's comments about witchcraft. he's not the only one on waiting to hear christine o'donnell's about her comments made in 1999 that she dabbled in witchcraft when she was younger. here is what she said on "politically incorrect" with bill maher back at the time. >> i never joined a covient. >> you were a witch? >> i didn't join a coven.

>> you are a witch. i was a witch. wait a minute. >> that's exactly why. because -- because i dabbled into witchcraft. i hung around people who were doing these things. >> having fun. >> i'm not making this stuff up. i know what they told me they do. one of my dates. >> wait a minute. i want to hear this. >> one of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar, and i didn't know it. >> that was your first date? >> i went to a movie and then had a midnight picnic. >> an appearance on 1999. bill maher recently aired it on his show. o'donnell just recently swept to victory after backing with the tea party movement. rove says her victory did little good for the party. he says she can't ignore her

witchcraft comment. she canceled her scheduled appearances on at last two sunday talk shows today. after more than a year in an iranian prison, sarah shourd is home in the united states. she is schedule speak to the media in about one hour from now. susan candiotti joint us now. what a jourpy she has had. >> a long one. after spending more than 13 months in an iranian prison. here is what we do know, fred. we'll be hearing from sarah shourd from the first time since she arrived on u.s. soil. she's only been here for a few hours. we'll be getting her thoughts. and what it is like to leave behind her companions, her fiance, shane bauer, and josh fatal. she will not be taking any

questions, that's what we're being told. but the mothers of shane bauer and josh fattal will be answering questions. freedom for her came with a price. she had to leave behind her companions, of course, and she is leaving with a serious potential health problem, because her daughter found a lump in one of her breasts. there is also another kind of price. $500,000 in bail was paid in order to get her released from that iranian prison. we do believe she will be sticking to a prepared statement, much like she did in oman on saturday. >> your country, with the first breath of my freedom. the sweet smell of sandalwood, and the chance to stand by the ocean, listeninging to the waves. i think the good, hospitable people of oman for your support and ask you to please, please

extend your prayers to my fiance shane, and my friend josh. in shallah, they will soon be free. >> that means in arabic, god willing this he will about free. the timing of the release may or play not be accidental in terms of the timing of the start of the u.n.'s general assembly. might be demonstrations to urge a humanitarian release of shane bauer and josh fattal. fred. ♪

[ male announcer ] it's luxury with fire in its veins. bold. daring. capable of moving your soul. ♪ and that's even before you drop your foot on the pedal. ♪ the new 2011 cts coupe from cadillac.

the new standard of the world. everything you need to stretch out on long trips. residence inn. ♪ everything you need to stay balanced

on long trips. residence inn.

hurricane igor is hours from bermuda, but big waves are already there. this is what it looked like along the coast of warwick parrish when debbie may was filming there. our reynolds wolf is braving the elements in elbow beach. oh, boy. pretty nasty. when is landfall? are you experiencing the outer bands right now? >> we're dealing with the outer bands. in fact, we started dealing with some of those last night, fredericka. i'm here with a photojournalist, and you can see the swaying palm trees behind me. visibility has been reduced to quarter mile due to the heavy rainfall coming in. you can barely make out elbow

beach. conditions will get worse. center of the storm is 140 miles from the exact location. looks like bands are coming through. it looks like from the latest forecast at the center of the storm will push to the west of bermuda. that in mind, though, we're going to be hit with the strongest part. the northeast corner of the storm which will bring the heaviest rainfall, pounding surf at the same time, strongest winds. winds 60 to 65 mile per hour range at times. dealing with 20, 30, 40-mile-per-hour gusts. gurss at the airport reported much higher. it's been an amazing day. getting around the islands is tough. many roads are shut down. closed down the causeway. we had a chance to get out and explore and this is what we found. here in bermuda, we're feeling the effects of the storm. hard to believe we've been following this hurricane since september 8th off the coast of

africa. it's getting close to bermuda, and outer bands, strongest winds, heaviest waves are on the doorstep of the island. ashwood cove, bermuda is getting hit storm by igor. and the strongest of the storm is yet to come. heavy rainfall and immense waves keep battering the shoreline. the wind has been very strong at time. tropical storm force with hurricane force gusts. we pan over just a little bit. and you can see the sheer pow every of these things pounding against the rocks. doesn't matter which direction you go, it's a sight to see. white caps as far as you can go in the horizon and closer to shore, you see all of the foam. understandably, the city of hamilton is a ghost town. take a look at the video you can see the streets fairly empty,

save a few people and a motorcycle here and there. few cars on the street. just a few sightseers, many of them have returned home, understandably so, and 6,000 of them without power. island is home to roughly 67,000. we'll see stronger winds coming in, and we'll deal with more power outages. the storm is expected to pass as we get through the evening hours, and into tomorrow. once it moves away and we get into monday, tuesday, things will slowly get back to normal and then the cleanup begins. let's send it back to you in atlanta. >> thank you so much. reynolds wolf, thank you. young girls in trouble. they are being taken advantage of by adults, and many of them end up for sale on the internet. cnn's amber lyon takes a look at the staggering numbers and one mother who is dealing with the reality of her mother's disappearance. >> okay. so where are we headed right now? >> going upstairs to her

bedroom. she's a normal 12-year-old, hannah montana, the jonas brothers. >> you sleep in her bed at night? >> i do. just so i can still basically have that connection. >> a mother's anguish. her 12-year-old daughter, lure ahead way by a pimp on her way home from school in april. she's then sold for sex on craigslist before the site closed its adult services section, and also trafficked on another website, back paipage.c. >> a friend of mine told me to look on craigslist. it almost blew my mind. i almost didn't believe what i saw. she was there, with waiting on. had on a purple negligie. >> your 12-year-old daughter. >> and the other one, it was just her rear end, bent over. >> everybody wants to know when you look at a website and you see a list of prostitutes, how

many of them are children? >> nobody knows what the real numbers are. >> back in june, we asked craigslist to estimate the number of underage traffic being vict victims in their ads? quote effectively zero. >> we have been able to return home 54 missing kids on craigslist. now, that is a tiny fraction of what the total scope of the problem is. we found 12 kids on back page. >> the national center for missing and exploited children gave us current missing children posters, all being sold for sex. there are 52 missing posters hinds me, all representing 52 girls all missing right now, christina, monica, rachel, and the national secenter for missi and exploited children, say they are all being trafficked for sex.

erica, ashley, niccole. the vast majority being sold on the internet. white girls, black girls, hispanic girls, asian girls. the youngest went missing when she was 13 years old. a lot of them have something in common. may be in the company of an adult male. may be in the company of an adult male in this case, that adult male is most likely the pimp. a group called a future not the past commissioned a study. they focused on the men who try to buy sex on line with underage girls. >> the results were staggering. 7,200 men a month find sex from adolescent girls took my breath away. >> there's no legal obligation to report ads that involve underage prostitution. it includes link to help them

contact missing and exfloat mighted children. and they promised to work tirelessly in tandem with key nonprofits and agreed to report ads to the center for missing and exploited children when they seemed to involve underage children. it only reported 132 ads, that's 132 out of over 700,000 ads that were rejected. ads that could have provided vital leads about children being bought and sold. and that 12-year-old girl we told you about in the beginning. by chance, she called home while we were there. >> you should be home. >> the first time they had spoken in the two weeks since the little girl vanished. police rescued the 12-year-old girl and arrested a 42-year-old man and charged him with human trafficking. one girl rescued out of thousands. >> how are you doing?

just please step away. >> that was amber lyon reporting. september is stop human trafficking month. and coming up later today, we'll have more on this growing problem and we'll see how girls are being tricked into coming to the trust other countries and being forced into selling sex. that's straight ahead in the 4:00 eastern hour. and american baseball in the 21st century. >> first of all, i'm confident. and i know people misjudge that. people might say he's cocky. i'm fearless, intense, some people might say he's mean. >> all right. that's a clip from a new television documentary called "the tenth inning." filmmaker ken burns picks up where his earlier documentary about the national pastime left off and he'll talk to us about this. d frustrations d frustrations of the shrimpers and fishermen, hotel or restaurant workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross.

bp has taken full responsibility for the clean up in the gulf and that includes keeping you informed. our job is to listen and find ways to help. that means working with communities. restoring the jobs, tourist beaches, and businesses impacted by the spill. we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund to cover lost income until people impacted can get back to work. and our efforts aren't coming at tax-payer expense. i know people are wondering-- now that the well is capped, is bp gonna meet its commitments? i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right. [ george ] save $523. save $345. 16 minutes could save you 16%. come on. isn't it time an auto insurer gave it to you straight? that's why you should talk to state farm. but not yet.

first, talk to any one of the 40 million drivers who already have state farm. 40 million. yeah, that's more than geico and progressive combined. by a lot. 40 million drivers, more savings, and discounts up to 40%. where else are you gonna get discounts like that? but first, talk to your neighbors. chances are, they're one of the 40 million. then call a state farm agent or go online for a free discount double-check. they'll find you discounts you didn't even know you deserved. like discounts for having a safe car. so go ahead. check with your neighbors. then call a state farm agent at 1-877-699-8970 or go to discountdoublecheck.com.

a look at top stories right now. authorities are searching areas around palmdale, for 13 salvadorans, including 8 children. the group may be about to commit mass suicide. the group, led by this woman, disappeared after a prayer meeting yesterday. it left behind deeds to homes, money, and notes saying that they are going to meet jesus and deceased relatives. and a presidential show of support for 33 trapped miners, chilean president sebastian pinera visited the site, met with the miners' families and talked directly with the miners. they were trapped a half mile underground since a cave-in in early august.

and pope benedict just left england. the climax was a bea tification of a cardinal. and six men were released after no evidence was found of wrongdoing after searching several homes and two businesses. more top stories in 20 minutes. >> all right, who doesn't love baseball? don't you remember watching that nine-episode baseball documentary on public television? believe it or not that was 16 years ago, and a lot has happened since then. later this month, filmmaker ken burns brings us up to date with a sequel "the tenth inning." here is a preview. ♪ for the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪

>> as the actuality ultous 20th trentry drew to a close, the game of baseball remained remarkably unchanged. >> ken burns joining us now from new york. good to see you, you are becoming our resident documentaryian. >> thank you for having me back. >> this is beautiful, "the tenth inning," whether are you a baseball fan or not. so what it was that you wanted to address that you didn't in your first series? >> you would think nine episodes, nine innings, 18.5 hours would be enough, but the last bit of action we described was the '92 world series. we came out in '94, fully expecting to see a pennant race

and looking toward to a postseason, and there was a strike. the last two decades, the '90s and '00s have been the most consequential in baseball, which reflects our country as a whole. you have the strike, steroid scandal, the wild card, rise of latin players, kids playing in the dominican republic in bare feet with 2 x 2s and balls wrapped in cloth. and i said we've got to bring this up to date. as much as it sort of looks at the dirty laundry, steroid scandal, the good news is the game is never stronger, never better and we think we've given fans of the game and people as you say who aren't fans, a reason to get back to the game to continue to love it and to put the steroid scandal into perspective. >> and you delve into the relationship, whether it's the

relationship between the fan and the game, the fan and the players, but also the players and their family members, whether it's bobby bonds, that relationship -- barry bonds, bobby bonds, or the relationship between a player and his vulnerabilities to alcohol, to even drugs. >> well, we live in a media culture and we're saturated 24/7, as you know better than me, with information and too often this is sort of a binary response. good or bad, black or white, red state or blue state and we forget to select for the complications, we felt barry bonds, one of the poster boys of the steroid scandals, still one of the greatest people to ever play baseball and maybe the greatest ever. so let's delve into it. find out the kind of person that makes this, and the kind of person that complicates it. we wanted to do that with every

aspect. not just the strike in steroids, but the good stuff as well. the rise of some amazing pictures, joe torre able to tame the bronx zoo, where the latin players come from, 9/11 and how baseball play aid role on helping the country come back, the red sox remarkable come from behind victory in 2004. this is the greatest game ever been invented. people don't go up and down the field like a hockey rink or basketsball court or soccer field or football field there is an amazing poetry and the longest game in our history. and we wanted to come back and say and then the story goes on. >> and among the voices in this poetry as you put it, you've got some notable names, whether they -- in the sports world or entertainment world. chris rock, bob costas, keith olbermann, all of them have added to this narrative of what baseball is, and the temptations. let's take a listen to how one

kind of simplifies, for lack of a better word, simplifies what the temptation of steroids all about for a player in major league baseball? >> it's my belief if the means existed in the '20s, that babe and his friends would have jumped in in both feet and so would mays and mantle in the people in the '50s. >> f you're looking at that and saying i'm 35, and i'm a backup infielder for the san diego padres, and if i can take this, i can play another five years and make another $15 million for my family and for the rest of my life, why would you not do it? you would have done anything to get to the big leagues before, you will do anything to stay in the big leagues. that's very human and very true of anyone who gets to the top of

the athletic profession. >> i just heard that, as anybody would hear that. it's so simple and you totally get it at that point. >> yeah, these are choices. difficult choices that were taking place in every single locker room, and as we look at it. we live in a pharmacological culture. we take pills to do better in the bedroom or to go to sleep or wake up and suddenly we're shocked when our best players take it. not to excuse it, but to understand the kind of way in which the culture influences baseball and baseball influences the culture. we think by giving you more information, you can understand, and the good news is, the steroid scandal is over. 50-home run season is a rarity. and, again, it only disrupted home run totals and lengthen pitcher's careers. no one had a 56-game hitting streak. no pitcher won 30 or 35 or 40 games in a season. a .300 hitter mains t eter mean

thing to my daughter olivia as it does to my great, great grandfather abraham burns who fought in the civil war. nothing you can say about that in american life. baseball is a comforting presence in our lives. >> not that anyone wants to excuse it and say it's okay, when you talk about cheating. you talk about a lot of beautiful highlights in the sport of baseball, but one of the low lights, the cheating. but an interesting line, your narrator says you can go to the hall of fame "despite doctoring the ball." if this was so ingrained, what's the big deal particularly right now with derek jeter and the baseball bat is that really so ingrained? can you bring that to this current situation? >> we do, indeed. of course you can. and that's a really good point. steroids are quality taketively and quality taketively more. set the steroids aside. that's cheating.

all through the history of the game, we love the lovable rogues like derek jeter putting on the academy performance that it hit his hand, and not the bat. he was wonderful in that. and perry and ford are in the hall of fame. we know they gunked up the ball. this is a game where you steal bases. what we felt in the steroids era is that it crossed the line. since the beginning of the national game in the mid 19th century, people have been saying -- we had a quote from a guy in 1858, named pete o'brien, they don't play baseball the way they used to when i was a kid. he was worried about people being paid to play. we had gambling, amphetamines, african-americans out of the game. if you want to attach asterisks, which i don't believe of, you have to add them to every other era of the game. >> thank you for taking the time

to talk about "the tenth inning." >> my pleasure. thank you. >> airs september 28th and 29th on pbs. check local listings. > guinness world record fans, wacky new entries. one of them involve this feisty jack russell terrier. aren't all jack russells feisty? and looking for someone ugly to date? we have just the place for you. i didn't miss a premium payment for 10 years. the minute i got sick, i lost my insurance. not anymore. america's healthcare reforms change lives for the better. to find out how it can help you, visit us at americasfairhealthcare.org i'm ahmed mady and i'm a homebuilder. my father brought me up to give back to society... felicia jackson promised her late sister that she would take care of her children. but she needed help. i used my american express open card

to get half a million points to buy building materials to help build the jackson family a new home. well, i know if my dad was still around, he would have told me, with no doubt... he would have told me it's a no brainer and i knew that from the start. it was an honor. booming is moving forward by giving back.

everything you need to stretch out on long trips. residence inn. ♪ everything you need to stay balanced on long trips. residence inn. iaiaiaiabetes. and i'm worried if i lose my job, i won't be able to afford insurance. not anymore. america's healthcare reforms change lives for the better. to see how it can help you, visit us at

americasfairhealthcare.org okay. the people who keep track of interesting and sometimes weird lists have released the guinness world record 2011 edition. it has some whacky entries. that's where josh levs comes in. we count own you for the whacky. the stuff to make us laugh. >> this is my like dessert. i look forward to doing this

show. i get to pick the most fun stuff. one thing on here, the animal at least likely to be named fluffy. longest snake in the world. take a look at the picture. that is one python. >> no. >> it's a reticulated python from the columbus zoo in powell, ohio. it is 24 feet long. 7.3 meters long. one snake. >> that's huge. my god. >> what's fluffy about it? i don't see the fluffy. >> that's the name? that's hilarious. >> i love it. >> something more likely to be named fluffy this little jack russell terrier. >> that's more likely. but that's not really a good name for a terrier, you know. >> take a look at this terrier. this terrier, named anastasia, in the book for popping 100 balloons in 44.49 seconds. they'll add a record for anything. apparently when anastasia sees a

balloon in public, she goes crazy. >> i'm sure that can be misinterpreted. mad dog, mad dog! they have a lot of energy. and now there is a record for popping balloons if you're a terrier. >> is that a category created for this one? surely there was not a previous record that this dog broke? that has to be a one-time thing. >> now there will be competition. everyone with a terrier will try to beat it. this is pretty cool. one you wouldn't think would be in there. the oldest acrobatic salsa dancer in the world this is a grandmother named patty jones. >> go, mama. >> from star bridge in england who scooped the title. 76. retirement home in spain and she apparently has been on an argentinean show on dancing. soon to be a great grand in the guinness book of world record. >> she's amazing. oh, my gosh. go! 76. >> go, grandma.

>> brilliant. >> i'm so proud of her. >> and the whole list on facebook and twitter. maybe you'll be inspired to break one of them. and fast. >> acrobatic salsa. >> acrobatic salsa. 76 years old. about to be a great grandmother. >> forget the tango. that's too mellow for me. >> you didn't know you would be inspired. >> i am inspired by her. maybe not the terrier, but i am inspired by her. >> i'm flying to ohio to meet fluffy. >> there you go. that's a good source of inspiration too. josh, thank you, appreciate it. good to see up. mick wro on soft's new web browser and a video game breaking sales records and creating plenty of buzz in the tech world. we'll tell you why.

whoo! whoo! this is why we do this! freedom! the open road! no doubt! and progressive has great coverage and policies starting at just $95 a year. i dig that! most bikers do -- that's why progressive is number one! whoo! whoo! let's renew up. yeah, that sounds good, man. do i have any bugs in my teeth? no, you're good. number one in motorcycle insurance.

now, that's progressive.

okay. a new entry in the niche dating market. who knew? ugly shucks.com. wine lovers meet.com and music mates. you get the idea. ugly shmucks is a dating site for those who consider themselves unattractive. it's the brainchild of a

canadian who wants to meet others just like himself. let's take a look at tech time. we're taking a look at several new products that could change how you work and play online. joining us via skype from toronto, high-tech guru marc salzman. let's start off with internet explorer nine. >> speaking of ugly canadians, of course, i love the segues. >> cutie pie canadian. how about that? >> okay. onto our tech news of the week. let's get our geek on. i'll put the glasses on with the tape of the middle. internet explorer nine debuted this is mick wro soft's attempt to regain lost market share to the likes of firefox, chrome and safari. first thing, it's much, much faster. first commercially available web browser that taps into your computer's hardware and uses hardware acceleration or

graphics scarred to speed up performance. secondly, you have the ability to pin websites to our task bar at the bottom of windows. for example, cnn.com. if you drag and drop the website onto the task bar, not only does it give you one-click access, you can right mouse click and choose what section you want to go to. as opposed to going to the browser and so on and third thing, since it uses html 5, there is really nice aesthetics, the new bing search site has video playing in the background if you like, instead of a static picture. a lot of bells and whistles, the only catch. you have to be riding window vista or windows 7. go to beauty of the web.com. >> twitter. it has added new features to make it a little more high-def. >> right. if you're one of the 160 million twitter users or tweeters, there are a few new features unveiled

this week. much anticipated. one is a right pane, navigation window on the right side of the screen that gives you information such as who you follow, who follows you, your favorites, and perhaps more importantly, now media is embedded in that window. previously if you received a picture or youtube video via twitter, when you clicked on it it opened up another website and you had to open up youtube. it is embedded in the window, which is clever. you also have the ability to see tweeting or chat window by scrolling down. some new stuff for twitter users. >> very fun stuff. keeping it fresh, cutie pie canadian, marc saltsman, appreciate it. >> thank you. we hope to hear from the american hiker who is back on u.s. soil after her year-long ordeal in iran. a live update, up next.

123450 a really big bone. a really big bone. we're talking huge. they dig it up, put it in the natural history museum and we get to name it. sethasauraus. really. your points from chase sapphire preferred are worth 25% more on travel? means better vacations. that's incredible. believe it...with chase sapphire preferred your points are worth 25% more on travel when booked through ultimate rewards. words alone aren't enough. our job is to listen and find ways to help workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. we'll keep restoring the jobs, tourist beaches, and businesses impacted by the spill. we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund. i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right.

time for a cnn equals politics update. we're keeping an eye on the political ticker. here is what's crossing right now. lisa murkowski says she was the victim of a smear campaign by the tea party movement. she lost the republican senate primary to joe miller. miller was backed by the tea party express. murkowski says the group

influenced the race with campaign lies. and jim demint says he is having a positive influence on the republican's chances for regaining the majority. he directed money to christine o'donnell's campaign in delaware. there is important new energy behind the upstart candidates. and president obama says time for action is now for americans to mobilize ahead of the mid term elections. he spoke at the congressional black caucus' annual awards gala and says he needs lawmakers to invigorate constituencies to support democrats in tough races. now the latest on sarah shourd's return to the united states. the hiker arrived at washington's dulles airport early this morning. and is scheduled to make a statement in new york in a few minutes. let's go to susan candiotti.

>> hi, fred. the plan is for sarah shourd and her mother to make prepared comments and to leave the room. whether they will change that plan, we don't yet know. after that, the mothers of sarah's two come pannians, her fiance shane bower and josh fattal will take questions. whether sarah will stray from prepared comments, we don't know. she did arrive at the hotel and cnn captured a very poignant moment as she walked into the hotel, holding hands with her mother and the other two mothers as well. she made no comments as she walked by. now, in her statement, we'll have to see whether she will continue to be very cautious and not excellent on the fate of shane bauer and josh fattal. will she talk about her treatment in prison? will she address at all what happened before all three were arrested as they were hiking

near that border in iran? and exactly what she saw and she heard in her more than 13 months in an iranian prison? we'll find out the answers to all of those questions at the top of the hour. fred. >> we'll look forward to that. we'll be checking in with jacqui jaras coming up as well. we'll look at the workweek in weather and see how hurricane igor is doing as well. right after this. in 2008 i quit venture capital to follow my passion for food. i saw a gap in the market for a fresh culinary brand and launched behindtheburner.com.

we create and broadcast content and then distribute it across tv, the web, and via mobile. i even use the web to get paid. with acceptpay from american express open, we now invoice advertisers and receive payments digitally. and i get paid on average three weeks faster. booming is never looking for a check in the mail. because it's already in my email. good gravy, bill. our insurance company doesn't have anything like it. magnificent, isn't it? with progressive, it's easy to cover all of your favorite rides. progressive has truck insurance? number one in truck and motorcycle. is that a golf cart? yep. we also cover rvs, boats, atvs. anything else i can help you with? can i take a ride? you need a ticket -- i'm first! and that's by the water slide. okay. no running. oh, dear. save on all your rides. now, that's progressive. call or click today.

all right. president barack obama is pricing a milestone in the gulf oil daisaster. the makonda well is officially dead. it has been cemented shut and thad allen means that means the well no longer poses a threat to

the gulf. this five months after the worst oil disaster in u.s. history. jackqui jaras, hard to believe after all this time. finally some resolution to end that of the problem. >> i think that will make a whole lot of people happy today, won't it? >> anything else that will make people happy? >> nervous. a lot of good weather across the u.s., but as you know, we don't do good weather. we do extreme weather here in the cnn weather center. >> let's see what's happening. >> we don't call it the hurricane headquarters for nothing. we'll start out with our hurricane. that's what's going on today. this is really huge, huge storm. there you can see igor, producing 85-mile-per-hour winds now. this is a category 1 hurricane. done a fair amount of weakening in the past 24 hours. that's great news. but this is still a huge storm and certainly impacting bermuda. we've been seeing tropical storm force winds pretty much all day long already. and we're going to continue to

see those, and the hurricane-force winds can really arrive any time. we had a few gusts, but the sustained hurricane-force winds will be arriving shortly. based on everything i have seen, best estimate, not a sure thing. we're talking about later on today. best estimate, i think it will stay just to the west of bermuda. they'll get lashed with winds and waves have been incredible. and here is one of the things i've been looking at. give you an idea from the bermuda weather service. thanks to them for letting us use their radar. this is the center of circulation. bermuda is over here, and the storm moving north. those are signs i like to see. signs i don't like to see, i'll take a trip to taiwan. take a look at these pictures, this was a typhoon bonape, struck taiwan earlier this morning. winds at 120 miles per hour.

more than three feet of rain in taiwan. that's moving northward toward china. we'll continue to track that system as well. >> violent storms. >> three feet of rain. >> extraordinary stuff. >> amazing. >> that's very extreme. all right. thank you so much, jaqqui. >> okay. they are off. 67 balloons flying high above st. louis, missouri. you are looking at the 38th annual great forest park balloon race. high winds kept the balloons from straying too far. nearly 1 50,000 people turned out to watch. nice day for that. sarah shourd is scheduled to make a statement at any time. in fact it is happening. she is being introduced. she arrived by way of oman to dubai and washington dulles airport. and then to new york. we saw pictures earlier where