tony harris takes it from here. >> kyra, have a great day. live from studio 7 at cnn world headquarters, the big stories for monday, september 20th -- igor's roaring winds and crashing waves side-swiped bermuda. african-american families struggling to close the every-widening wealth gap with white american. the divide has increased fourfold since the reagan era. location, location, location -- chinese firms snapping up offices in a south-facing office tower. it's all about the positive energy of feng shui. >> as we do more international business, not only asians coming to this country but people this country honoring the time honored tradition. >> those stories and your comments right here right now in the cnn newsroom.

breaking news, now, the recession is over, so says a group of economists tracking it. let's get straight to poppy harlow in new york. poppy, i got to tell you here, it doesn't feel like the recession is over for a lot of folks in america right now, particularly if you don't have a job right now. >> it's exactly the point, tony. news flash -- the recession is over. we certainly don't fee it's over but this comes from the only group in this country that says we are officially in a recession and officially out of a the recession, the national boor reof economic research, the biggest nonprofit group of economists in the country, and they declared back in 2007, december of that year, that we were in a recession. that said it began then. they didn't tell us that until a year later, and now they're telling us the recession ended in june of 2009. so more than a year ago. you have to say, why does it take so long?

they take a while to come out with the numbers so they can pore through all of the economic data. this is being called the great recession. that is, tony, because officially now it lasted 18 months, the longest recession weaves a seen in this country since world war ii and the great depression. many people say it feels like we had a downturn. in june, 2009, when apparent the recession officially ended, our unemployment rate was 9.5%. now it is 9.6%. not only did the situation not get better from an unemployment standpoint. it got worse, that maybe more people coming into the workforce looking for jobs but overall the job picture hasn't improved. the housing picture hasn't improved or the consumer spending. so in june 2009, it ended. >> bottom line, this is all about a bunch of economists with

this nonprofit technically scoring this period in time here. >> right. >> this is not about or even taking into account consumer sentiment on the issue at all, right? >> not at all. this a group of economists that came together. they had a meeting yesterday. they made this decision yesterday. but i want to point out that they issued think long report that i scribbled all over here. they say the committee decided that any future downturn of the economy would be a new recession. so there is the chance that this group could come now a few months, in a year and say that we thought the recession ended in june 2009. it looked like it took another downward turn that could mark the beginning of in new recession. that's what you heard so many people referring to as a double-dip. most of the people surveyed by us at cnnmoney don't think that's going to happen. the employment picture hasn't gotten any better, and it's the job picture that matters to every single american family when they talk about whether or not they are in a recession.

this technically speaking, not actually speaking when it comes to the sentiment around the country. >> that's our focus. turning to utah where crews report significant progress against a wildfire in salt lake city. this fire in herriman, utah has caused an evacuation for about 5,000 homes. as. as 1,600 had been evacuated in national guardsmen practicing at a nearby firing range sparked the fire. the mayor, shua mills is here. we appreciate your time. if you would, give us an update on the efforts right now to contain the fire. >> you know what, the unified fire department has gone out. they worked tirelessly last night to build through fire lines and suppression techniques, pulling back the brush away from the houses, and

we went up in a helicopter this morning to get a bird's eye view of the area, and there's actually places where the fire has come up to the fences of homes, and the firefighters were able to battle it and save those homes, and so they have been dawn great job throughout the night and this morning to really get in control on the part of the fire that's really affecting the area closest to the residence. >> what does significant progress mean? your crews are reporting significant progress. what does that mean? >> basically, like i said, about getting control of the fire where it affects the residential area. there's still areas where the fire is burning up into basically back into the hill area, where it doesn't affect, you know, human life as much. >> got ya.

have the people heeded the evacuation orders? often times people wait until the last minutes because people don't want to leave their homes and contents behind. are people heeding the evacuation orders? >> predominantly they have, there have been a few, i guess, standouts. the police department said they weren't going to force anyone out of their homes, but they went to -- they went door-to-door evacuated homes, and they had some negotiations with some individuals encouraging them to evacuate. but predominantly people were interested in getting out and getting their precious things and taking them with them, you know, but people understand, you know, a home's a home, but it can be replace. >> got to save a life. i imagine the utah national guard is pretty sick about this. we understand that the fire was started with a training session with a machine gun at a range. how is the utah national guard

helping you manage the situation right now? >> you know, they've been here -- the fires happen. we border what is camp williams, the utah national guard camp and they have fires there several times over the summer. most of them are caused by lightning, and they have great fire suppression over there, and so they are on top of things all of the time. this, i guess they got on top of it yesterday and thought that it was pretty well taken care of until the wind kicked in and started pushing it our way. and so they have been putting bulldozers to make the fire lines and all of their -- all of what they have available fighting it from the other side. they have been a great partner. >> here's the question, though, and maybe a lot of the folks in your community would be interested in the answer. should your unified fighting authority been contacted earlier, earlier than, what, the 3 1/2 hours that it took for

reporting on this incident? does the national guard explain the delay? >> the national guard, we had a press conference earlier, and he said that their -- there pio said that in hindsight, yes, they probably should have contacted unified fire sooner, but in -- hindsight's 20/20. so, yeah. >> at least they're being honest about it and they should have reported it earlier. mayor mills, appreciate your time. thank you. a community says thank you to its firefighters. they battled the most destructive wildfire in colorado history. it destroyed more than 160 homes but no lives were lost. yesterday residents held a parade in honor of the firefighters who fought to protect them and their property. >> i was like, yeah, our stuff is okay, and the fire could have hit our house, and if there was no firefighters. >> it's a.m. mazing feeling.

of a last week when no one was here because they were all evacuated, to see the community out today i know it means everything. i didn't lose anything in the fire, but to the ones that did, it's got to mean a lot. bermuda was spared a direct hit from hurricane igor but the island took quite a lashing. reynold wolf was there throughout. how's it going to islanders this morning? >> reporter: well, i'll tell you, if someone just woke up after a couple of days, it looks just fine for the time being in terms of the sky conditions. the weather is quite pleasant but we have the video to show you what happened about 24 hours ago. let's go to it and show you the worst of the storm coming through. it really began to intensify, tony, yesterday and late afternoon through the evening hours, and by midnight and early

morning, the storm reached its zenith. it doesn't intensify, just a category 1 when it came just to the west of the island but it caught that northeast corner of the storm, really lashed the coastline with incredible winds and pounding surf that was unimaginable how big the wave happensed to be. this morning we are out at elbow beach, looking at the resort property and spoke with the jinl manager and he was very happy for what he was able to see. >> i'm happy. on a quick cursory inspection, looks like minimal damage, a couple little dividers down here. the beach erosion is a a little intense down there. we still have lots of beach. compared to fabian, this is a good outcome. >> reporter: now, he mentions fabian. i have to tell you, bermuda was

founded back in scene 09, and fabians one of the worst storms in the history of the island. that hurricane was very powerful, caused four deaths, untold damage across the sbild in some locations took up to three weeks to restore power. at this hour, no fatalities, no injuries. that's the best news of all. bad news, though, the island is strewn with broken branchs. the causeway leading out to the airport is still closed, and power outages for the 67,000 people who call bermuda home, two-thirds without power. >> better than we feared. more incredible images from some of our i-reporters. we have this video as the hurricane was closing in yesterday afternoon. look at how fierce those winds are there. talk about pounding surf. we have images here that show

that for you pretty vividly. jamie lawson is a kite surfer who lives in smiths parish, and all she could say was wow. one more here, miguel richardson said the high winds and rain made it tough to get around the south shore. the beaches were in a word crazy. where will igor go next? bonnie schneider tracking weather for us. >> we have strong gusts at 85 miles per hour, maximum winds at 75. the storm is breaking out as it moves to the north-northeast. the storm is on the move. we are watching julia, not much of that storm right now. plus, we'll take a look at what's going on with the fire threat out west. that's coming up straight ahead on cnn newsroom.

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television. 43 days until election day and south carolina senator jim demint is warning the gop it must cut through. he is bubbing the republican establishment by backing candidates favored by tea party activists. >> i'm talking about common common sense people who don't think balancing a checkbook is a radical idea. the people in washington have gotten out of control. when you have $13 trillion in debt, you have a big problem. that's what america is asking for right now. i came into the senate in the majority, candy, 55 senators, large majority in the house, bush in the white house, and republicans didn't do what we said we were going to do. we spent too much and borrowed too much. frankly, if we get the majority again, even in the house, and we don't do what we say, i think the republican party is dead. >> democratic party chairman, those are strong words.

tim kaine argues that republicans aren't serious about debt reduction. he says if they were, they would let the bush era tax cuts expire for wealthy americans instead of fighting to keep them. >> the republicans want to extend the tax cuts and make them permanent to the wealthy, and the cbo says that would double the deficit estimates going forward for the next decades. what i think that the democrats have been doing -- that number that you mentioned we have been talking about a temporary extension for those at the top end. this is a hot debate in congress between now and the end of the congressional session but there isn't any reason why if anyone agrees that the tax cuts should go to middle class and small businesses we can make that happen. >> let's look at the tax cuts and how they affect you personally. josh levs has been crunching the numbers. we have no idea how to this battle is going to play out.

there's so many months ahead and this november election in front of us. let me show you the latest coming from a group of economists that cnnmoney has reached out to, and 60% of these economists, when given a list of options, what should you do. 60% say extend tax cuts for all taxpayers including the wealthy. out of 31, 18 said the number one thing swhoe do is extend for all taxpayers. we have more details on the website. there will be more surveyses in the future but the idea is you have democrats and economists saying they think it's a good idea to extend for the wealthy. others saying you have to tackle the debt. i want to show you individuals would be impacted and we get to visit our favorite friendly avatars. i will show you how to find out how this will impact you. starting off with the group called the tax policy center says is the middle of the middle in america.

when they look at middle america for a couple, they say $57,000 is the mill income. right now, if they pay $3,400 in taxes, if the cuts go away, they would pay $2,000 more. everyone wants to leave that in place. even if they make $1006,000, it would go up to over $12,000. but that would stay in place if congress does something. they vent actually extended the cuts but we assume they will for these brackets. this is the wealthier ones. they're making a lot of money, up near $400,000. if president obama's plan were to come into play, you would find them paying about $6,000 more every year. finally, the millionaires, big buzzword in the debate, millionaires.

take a look at the pic, bling, fancy bag, dropping cash around the streets. if their cash is up here around 1.75 mill, if the president's plan comes into place, look what happens to their taxes, they are paying another $70,000 every year in taxes, and this is an example of where the debate comes in. do you leave that extra money in the hands of private folks who might spend it, invest it or give to the government to pay for some of the programs we have going? do something about the debt and deficit. i want you to know you can do this yourself. take your information -- it's incredibly complicated. it's the tax policy center website. you plug in your income, basic information. do you have kid, anyone going to school. it will show you under different scenarios what would happen to your taxes. >> i want to see the pie chart again? this was war,ed up by our

friends at cnnpolitics.com. >> 31 were interviewed and 18 said they believe that we should extend tax cuts for all taxpayers. >> i want to know for how long and i want to know what the economists that we interviewed what their view is as to whether or not extending the kax tuts for however long a period of time would add to the deficit. that's all i want to know. >> i have a lot of questions. someone who does the stimulus test we had a government that said it made sense to spend $862 billion on stimulus which gives us a trillion-dollar deficit. not a brand new idea. >> saving and investing, not even a topic for discussion in many african-american house holds. stephanie,that true? stephanie elam breaks that down.

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♪ [ male announcer ] every business day, bank of america lends billions of dollars, to individuals, institutions, schools, organizations and businesses. ♪ working to set opportunity in motion. bank of america. amassing wealth in america. i got to tell you there is a huge gap -- we all know this -- between white and black families. however, there are exceptions. stephanie elam discusses it with a family in maryland. >> reporter: chris rock has joked about black people and

their money. >> shaq is rich! the white man that signs his check is wealth where! wealth is passed down from generation to generation. >> reporter: there's a sad truth if his humor. studies show black people tend to chronically make less, save less, and pass less money onto the next generation than their white counterparts, and if you don't have assets, you can't pass them on. >> give us lord our daily brady. >> reporter: marvin and kathy dickerson are making sure their family doesn't follow the same pattern. >> one or two bad moves. >> reporter: married for nine years, the couple started planning their finances well before welcoming their children. >> we knew when to invest because we knew one day we were going to have kids. and we wanted our kids to have more than what we had. >> reporter: the dickersons developed a budget, paid off

debt, began investing and set up a will, a trust, and 529 plans to pate for their kids' college educations. >> we can pass that wealth or those assets onto our kids with a $1.5 million tax exemption. >> reporter: but this family is the exception. according to the brookings institution, the median net worth of black americans is about $28,000, compare that to $140,000 for the median house hold nationwide. what were your parents saying to you to make sure it was so important. >> you work, you save. >> reporter: while marvin is a spender, kathy is a saver, so the couple makes all big financial decisions together. >> kathy had this guiding principle if she spent $100 he got a headache. as we got married and had more resources, you can add another zero, a few thousand dollars. >> reporter: valerie coleman

morris, who focuses on finances for young people and people of color points to a couple of reasons black americans are so behind on passing on wealth. >> money is a very off-limits topics in the american family but in black americans, it's almost taboo. the 401(k), we are no participati participating, and we we do it is far less than others. we need to become more financially literate, and we aren't. >> i'm not talking about rich. i'm talking about wealth. >> reporter: it is more than just talk for the dickersons. it's a way of life. you take a look at what chris rock is talking about there, tony, and it really does ring true for a lot of people. a lot of families are just not talking about it. we need to see more of an ownership and dialogue within the black community on how to make sure that they have assets and taking part of all of things they need to 0 to have something

to leave onto the next generation, tony. >> stephanie, you have to have the money to have the conversation, and if the average black family is making $28,000. that's not a lot of money. there's not a lot you can do with kids. >> that's scary. >> that's the low end of what we consider middle class here in america. is the suggestion that even at that level we can do better than what african-american families have done traditionally? >> you have a few problems. the unemployment rate in this country, for black americans recession or no recession, the unemployment rate is always at recessionary levels, 50% higher for blacks than whites regardless of your said occasion level. there's more part-time workers within the black community, which means they don't have access to 401(k)s, and for those that do, there are less of them that take advantage of them. so there's nor saving that needs

to happen, more dialogue, but for the poor families in this country, they don't have more money to put away in savings whereas the more money you bring in, the more likely you are to save. we need a shift and we need families to talk about it. s valerie coleman morris said to me, families can talk about it now or fight about it later. that pertains to everybody, black, white, hispanic. black folks, we need to do better. >> get the skill set to increase your learning and earning potential. >> talk about it with your kids. let them know that there's a difference between needs and wants. we don't always do that. >> stephanie, good to see you. thank you. if you think there is less in your house hold piggy bank, black, white, asian or hispanic, you are ready. fighting a financial crisis from the pulpit.

the black church has fought for civil and human rights, and now it is waging a war on debt, almighty debt, a black in america special coming on thursday, october 21st on cnn. my mom, my business partner,

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we see this every time a hurricane closes in, people heading to the surf. i guess we under it, but, man it is a little dangerous, right? they just can't let go of the big waves. you don't want to let them go to waste. be careful! our i-reporter jamie larsen caught these folks trying to kite surf in bermuda with hurricane igor just offshore. most of them were tossed all over the place.

what's next? >> igor is moving over cooler water, so it's breaking down, maximum winds right now at 75 miles per hour. the gusts are up to 85. the storm is moving fast to the north-northeast, and it's on the move coming over extra tropical waters and losing the tropical characteristics in the next day or so. some areas in newfound land with face tropical force winds and some rough surf for bermuda. what you see here, kind of what's left of tropical storm julia. not much. the tomorrow is breaking down fast and will lose it's tropical characteristics. good news there. we are watching the fire danger that's occurring across five states right now, mainly in utah where the fire is burning now. red flag warnings in effect for all afternoon, up to 7:00 tonight. it will be warm in denver.

we are looking at the fire in herriman, the temperatures in the 70s. the fire burning right now will see more intense wind today than yesterday. so that's going to cause more of a threat as we go through the afternoon hours. you can see the fire threat nor areas of west. otherwise, windy in parts of the midwest and very nice conditions, so certainly hot here. temperatures in atlanta ten degrees higher than normal. we may shatter a record. look at the moisture coming in. this is moisture-enhanced from karl, the storm system that hit mexico. it will cause more problems for south texas. we are watching for flooding as we go through the afternoon, possibly 1 to 3 inches of rain. this part of texas has seen a lot of wet weather and more unfortunately to come today. our monday focus on fixing our schools, what to expect when meeting with your child's

teacher. his is a big one. a principal educates us on prepares for parent/teacher con friends. that's next. ♪ ♪ i was young and i was stupid ♪ i had just turned 17 ♪ a harmonica and a box guitar ♪ ♪ in a canvas-covered wagon stuffed... ♪ [ male announcer ] while the world's been waiting on the electric car, maybe the whole time, the electric car has been waiting for this... the wattstation from ge. it's going to change the way we get to where we all want to go. ♪ i didn't think much of it till i took it apart ♪ we need directions to go to... pearblossom highway? it's just outside of lancaster. sure, i can download directions for you now. we got it. thank you very much!

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let's see here. fix our schools. those three words driving much of what you see on cnn every monday during this hour because as america's children return to school, cnn has a mission to

document america's education crisis. we are shining a light on success stories that can empower our children through getting oh much more than they are getting today. today our focus is on the empowered parent. our guest is going to talk about how to get the most out of a -- boy -- potentially tricky engagement, the conference with the child's teacher. we have the principal of stonewall tell elementary school. walk us through this. when we walk into that classroom for that parent/teacher conference, you know, it can be anxious. >> it can. >> anxious moments here. should we expect as parents that the teacher will lead that conversation or are we expected to lead that conversation with our child's teacher? >> well, i think, for the most part, it is the expectation that the teachers will, in fact, lead that. >> good. >> when parents are coming in, they're looking to teachers for

answers, however, there are things that parents need to be aware of going into the conference specifically but i do think it's incumbent upon us to make sure that we provide parents prior to the conference certain information. we become educational partners. so when we provide parents with information -- information should be very specifically in terms of what the crick limb is. at the end of this particular marking period, i expect your child to master what specific standards. what do i expect of them and we have to be very, very clear about that. >> let me pick up on that note you mentioned a moment ago. you mentioned that what we want here is a positive home/school relationship. >> correct. >> give me more detail on that. >> i think we learned from the effective school research from decades ago that there is a statistically effective relationship between school and home. the national board of professional teacher standards say teachers are committed to

students in their learning. we are schaefering with parents what we have found about students so when we call them in, we don't want to call them in just because there is something not happen wig their child either academically or behaviorally. traditionally if you get a call from a teacher, oh, my god, i got a call from the teacher, what have you done? we have to put ourselves in a position to call them and invite them in and share good things as well as not so good things to make sure we have an ongoing relationship. >> love it. one of the questions that the parents should be prepared to answer is -- what motivates your child? and why is that an important question? what is a teacher looking for in asking that question? >> well, specifically, parents know their children a lot more than we do as educators because they have given birth to them, they have raised them but while the child is with us, we become their parents. we are looking for information

in terms of if i have certain practices in my classroom if i'm a stern disciplinarian, that may work for 95% of the kids but what about the child that will shut down. we need that information. i may be firm but with that child i may need to address him or her in a different manner. this is why we have to establish those relationships. >> you also tell us that we should as parents be open to surprises in the conference process, and be open to the conversation going in different areas than you might have anticipated? >> that is correct. even though we have a pro-conception wallized idea, these are the things we want to ask. don't limit yourself in a box because in that conversation there may be situations that the conference leads us into other areas, and the parent will say, oh, i had no idea or sometimes it works the other way, parents will provide us with information, and we may say, oh, my goodness, i had no idea.

this is a better way to meet that child's needs. >> here's a moment where the conference can go sideways. i want you to help us, guide us to keep the conference on track. the parent says something like, are there any deficiencies in my child's learning experience? are we having any problems with my child meeting core lesson cri curriculum expectations. what about what the teacher says, there is this matter of? >> that is a sensitive issue. no one wants to hear that their child is struggling academically, especially if it's to the point where the implications may imply specific services that may lead to implications of special education. we know there's an overidentification of special education especially among african-american males. it's been my experience once parents understand that you want, similar to them, what's

best for their child, it is a lot easier to get that point nover a very tactfully manner than every time you hear from me as a teacher, i'm talking about something negative with my child. so, again, it is based upon preestablished relationships. i can tell you, your child is having some issues. but more specifically, what are we doing as educators to be able to fill the gaps. that's the important part when parents feel we are doing our part and we are educational partners. >> at a minimum, how much time should we anticipate in this parent/teacher conference setting to get all of this material covered? i mean, c'mon. >> there is not general guideline what for that. it depends on the nature of the conference, when it is for the purpose of discussing disciplinary concerns, educational concerns. it is very child specific. . >> we put up a sign that said 15 to 20 minutes. does that feel right?

>> that feels right. we can talk about this for an extended period of time. >> but we can't today. one group says the recession is over. what do you think? we're back in a moment. host: coulswinto geico really save you 15% or more on car insuranc did the little piggy cry w wee all the wahome? piggy: weeeeeee, weeeeeee, weeeeeee, weeeee weeeeeeee.

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paris hilton gets a deal and dodges jail. the celebrity socialite and sometimes actress -- i guess so -- pleaded guilty to drug possession in las vegas a couple of minutes ago. she faces a $2,000 fine be community service and drug rehab. she was caught when a gram of cocaine spilled from her chanel purse. a wildfire in utah may be out by the end of the day. it has burned about 10,000 achers and gutted at least 4 homes. hurricane igor moving away from bermuda. the u.s. is not in its path, but officials say it could trigger deadly rip currents along the east coast. bp's ruptured well is finally dead. five months after an explosion set off a disaster in the gulf of mexico, pressure tests over the weekend confirmed the well is permanently sealed. c s.

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>> time now for your cnn equals politics update. dana bash joins us live from our cnnpolitics.com desk. what's crossing right now? >> reporter: when i walk around the capitol, you hear president obamas saying you have to extend the bush era tax cuts so small businesses will be heard. democrats say you can't do that because it will hurt the economy more. if you check out cnn.com/politicalticker, you will see the people from cnnmoney giving a fact check on

that. there are shades of gray in both arguments. second, want to talk a little bit more about the story we first reported last hour from our congressional reporter deidre wall, and me. this is on the ticker now, that house republicans will unveil their agenda for governing, if they should get the majority. the thing to keep in mind, thas been one of the key missing ingredients. you talk to republican strategists in their effort to take control. for the most part it's been vote against the democrats. they are doing a bad job in the majority. this will give voters, they hope, on the republican side, a better sense what they would do for voters if they would be in control of congress. lastly, there is going to be a big vote tomorrow afternoon on the whole question of the pentagon's policy on don't ask, don't tell. the policy on gays in the military. lady gaga is heading to the state of maine today, tone pip she's going to hold a rally to try to pressure the state's two moderate republican senators.

collins and snowe, undecided whether or not they will help give a vote, and this is a vote just to get a bill that includes this on the senate floor. it's unclear if that will happen. a big question mark and she is trying to get involved more than she always has on this issue. >> thank you. your next political update in an hour. you know where to go. cnnpolitics.com. the nation working its way back from the bottom. with word at the recession's end, what's happening with your income?

let's get you to cnn money poin com. a big day for cnnmoney.com. you just heard dana mentioning a piece moved to the ticker as well so you could find this piece both places. cnnmoney.com and on the tick perp longest recession since world war ii. let's see. the great recession officially ended in june of 2009, but the question we keep asking this morning, how do you feel about that? does it make a difference in your life? that official declaration that the recession is over jer good news so far for stocks. dow up in triple digit territory. up close. up 99 points. nasdaq as well, up 24 points.

we have the official word. right? the recession is over. and it ended in june of 2009. but most people still aren't feeling it, and here to explain is alison kosik on the floor of the new york stock exchange. good to see you. run through the numbers for us, if you would, please. >> it's no shocker americans have less money now, that we are out of the recession, in fact, household net worth fell by $1.5 trillion from april through june. that's about a 3% drop and i'm talking about the money, and the assets that make up your personal balance sheet. so the question is, what took the biggest hit? no surprise here. your instrechlts investments. the value of stocks, retirement and mutual funds all fell. exacerbating this, of course, unemployment. millions of people are out of work. they don't have money coming into their house holders. mortgage also dropped, not because it's good, but -- not because they paid off loans but because they lost their homes.

homes into for closure. a positive side to this, tony. home values are inching higher ever so slightly, and americans are cutting their debt. they're saving more. it's really becoming the new normal after being so burned during this recession people are learning to save more and really pay off their bills on time. tony? >> that is a bit of good news there, but the broader question, i guess, can we really bounce back here? >> an legitimates are being positive about this. they say, yes. the bounceback will be slow. in fact, we're already seeing it, though. the s&p 500 is already up about 9% for the quarter. keep in mind your 401(k) mirrors the s&p. this is good news. a long way to go to come back to the net worth we had before it's recession. before the recession we at $65 trillion. now about $53 trillion. it will take time to get back there. >> alison, appreciate it. see you next hour. speaking of next hour a story so unsettling it can make you itch. traveling bedbugs shutting down

big businesses and office buildings. what can you do about them? send your thoughts too. cnn.com/tony or tweet us, right? and then our facebook page. find out more in the next hour of "cnn newsroom" and the so-called frankenfish, moving closer to your dinner table. the fda weighs in on genetically altered salmon. back in a moment. what's this option? that's new.

personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. it began with a bang five months ago, and it has ended with a whimper. bp's ruptured gulf oil well is officially dead. engineers pumped cement under the ocean floor this weekend to permanently seal the well. a top seal came in early august. cleanup continues. >> it's going to go on as long as it takes to get the marshes

and beaches clean. detail plans we've negotiated with the states and the parishes in louisiana, to determine if you will how clean is clean. and in some areas we're going to stay with this for quite a while. the marsh areas in the bay, for instance, down by south pass still have oil in them. still need to work on it. and some place swres to negotiate when we agree nothing further can be done and we'll sigh that's it. but right now we're still at it. >> 11 workers lost their lives in that explosion. hello again, everyone. i'm tony harris. top of the hour in the "cnn newsroom" where anything can happen. today's top stories -- it's happened again. another new york business closes because of bedbugs. >> two years ago, probably five calls a year. today we're probably getting five calls a day. >> would you eat fish if it was genetically engineered to grow faster? the fda is considering whether such fish will be allowed. you're online right now. we are, too. josh is following what's hot. josh?

>> tony, a mexican newspaper, an open letter to drug cartels calls them the de facto authorities and asking this -- what do you want from us? we have details at cnn.com. >> appreciate it. lead story right now -- it may not feel like it to many of you but the longest and most severe economic downturn the u.s. has seen since the 1930s is officially over. the cnn money team's poppy harrell l harlow joining us live. when did the great recession officially end? >> a while ago, tony. we found out from the only group that can tell us we're in a recession or out of one, that's the national bureau's economic research. they said they think that this recession ended all the way back in june 2009. now, many americans right now would question that heavily. we hear more and more talk about fears of a double dip. they say this group, a nonprofit organization, many economists say that is when, june 2009, this economy took a turn for the better.

as you said, this is the longest recession, 18 months long, we've seen since world war ii. really the longest recession we've seen since the great depression. what they do to measure whether we're out of it or not, the gdp. look at employment, production by manufacturing companies. they look at income, and they also look at sales. how much is being sold with this country. how much is being exported. they say all-in, it looks like the economy hit its worst point in june 2009 and since then it rebounded. i have to say, tony, because this is very important for anyone watching that says, well, i certainly still feel like we're in a recession. here's what this group said. they acknowledged the risk of a double dip recession and they said they do not conclude that economic conditions in this country since june of 2009 have been favorable or that the economy has returned to normal. that's really critical here, tony. it ended june 2009, but if they determine later on that we're in a new recession now, they will call that a new recession, not a

continuation of the recession that started all the way back in december 2007. tony? >> i'm going to cut through that and ask the people's question here. if it's over, poppy, why does it still feel like a recession? >> okay. it is only officially over. this is a group of economists that say it's over. we don't feel like it's over. here's why. start with jobs. the most important thing in this economy in the turnaround. look at that. when they say the recession ended, our unemployment rate at 9.5%. it's up since then. now at 9.6%. guess what? since the recession officially ended, unemployment in this country actually topped 10%. unemployment got worse after the recession ended. that's why many feel it's not over. housing at the crux of this. also the housing woes that have not really allowed us to recover from the crisis. 219,000. your median home price in this country when the recession started. in 2007 when the recession

ended, in 2009, it was about 172,000. it has only gone up slightly since then. again we don't have a housing recovery. we don't have a jobs recovery, but i'll tell you, for people that talk about double dip recessions, most economists we surveyed said that's probably not going to happen. the last one we saw, 1981. we'll keep an eye on it. the official end of the recession, not feeling it's over. >> poppy, thank you. say it with me here. night, night, sleep tight. don't let the bedbugs bite. right? the creepy-crawlies, bedbug, ooh, invade niketown. it is new york's newest front line in escalating battle against the little critters. the infestation of nike's flagship store is big enough to prompt the athletic clothing and shoemaker to close shop. really close shop. indlechbtly. windows covered in brown paper as the store prepares to exterminate the bugs. company execs say they're primary concern is the well-being of consumers, and sales associates.

bed burgs have been discovered recently in other new york stores. a theater. office buildings, housing projects and posh apartments. cnn kate bolduan reports on the federal government's effort to tackle the problem. >> i feed them once a week. >> reporter: you're one of the rare people who wants healthy bedbugs? >> to test. if they're sick -- >> reporter: the sight of them, even the thought of them can make anyone's skin crawl that would qualify as a lot of bedbugs. >> reporter: bedbugs are making a big comeback. according to a survey by the national test management association, 95% of pefk control companies faced bedbug infestations in the past year. up from less than 25% in the year 2000, and this doctor is at the forefront of the federal government's attempt to take on the pests. his mission, find the chemical that consistently kills the blood suckers. >> at first we looked at

compounds that the bedbug produced themselves to see if that could be used, but as the problem has gotten larger and larger, we've looked at new chemistry, which are synthesized by our in-house chemists and we're starting to examine existing chemistries. >> reporter: the doctor has been studying bedbugs about two years for the scientific research arm of the usda. the pest control industry welcomes this from washington saying a widespread coordinated effort is needed to wipe them out. >> two years ago, probably five calls a year. today, probably five calls a day. >> reporter: jason is on the front lines. an exterminator in the washington region. >> i've seen them in the best hotels, in the worst hotels. i've seen them in cruise ships. i've seen them in homes and in any neighborhood we have in d.c." >> reporter: last year the environmental protection agency hosted a bedbug summit epa along

with the centers for disease control and prevention issued a statement, alarming resurgence in bedbugs. back in the doctor's lab, the painstaking search for a solution continues. >> right in the thick of it. i would much prefer giving an interview saying, this is what you want to use, then, we're right in the middle of it right now. >> reporter: so where are the biggest problems? according to a survey by terminix, new york and philadelphia, the most bedbug infested cities and the very city where the federal government trying to tackle 9 problem, washington, d.c., is also up there. kate bolduan, cnn, washington. >> so, boy, is this a perfect story at lunchtime? we want to hear from you. have you encountered bedbugs? what can you tell us about them? send your thoughts. cnn.com/tony, or you can tweet us. drop us a note on facebook. we'll share your comments a little later in this news hour. bermuda taking stock after

getting battered by hurricane igor. first, though, a random moment in 45 seconds.

our random moment of the day is making moves. i'm not kidding. cincinnati's october fest means beer. lots of it can make awe funky chicken. we're we go. good stuff. cincy native rich franklin led festival goers in the chicken dance. the chicken dance billed as the world's largest, it's certainly among our oddest ran ddom momen of the day. you exercise and eat right, but your blood sugar may still be high, and you need extra help. ask your doctor about onglyza, a once daily medicine used with diet and exercise to control high blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. adding onglyza to your current oral medicine may help reduce after meal blood sugar spikes and may help reduce high morning blood sugar. [ male announcer ] onglyza should not be used to treat type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. tell your doctor if you have a history or risk of diabetic ketoacidosis.

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take you to new york for breaking news. wide with this shot and then get closer to take a better look it's a what's going on here. fd and y. fire department new york, a significant fire. see it for yourself there. a fire near a metro north railroad bridge over the harlem river. right in -- from that pic, everything checks out. okay. information matching pictures here. this is on the harlem side of the bridge. we understand all trains are out right now, suspended. all trains out of grand central terminal. that makes sense. suspended for now, until they can get this under control. look at it there. we have a -- global earth map maybe we can put up as well? do that, scott.

we don't have any indication of injuries and no idea what caused the fire. as we continue to gather information on this, but fire department in new york is confirming that they are on the scene of a pretty significant fire, as you can see here. metro north railroad bridge over the harlem river. i think you can imagine for yourself how precarious that can be. and this, of course, is on the harlem side of the bridge, and all trains out of the grand central terminal suspended. pretty dramatic stuff, isn't it, right there? we've got another view of it here. okay. so the coast guard, as you would imagine, responding as well. can we -- yeah. there you go, as it widens out you can see the coast guard boat in relation to the fire and the smoke. how intense that smoke is right now. thick, black smoke. just billows of smoke at this point. no word yet on what caused that. a closer view, you can see how

intense the flames are right now. okay. i think we're working just to get more information. beeper someone from the fire department to talk to us about that. okay. so you turn the hoses from the coast guard vessel on to that fire and try to get it under control. looks like it's going to be a while, though. we certainly don't know what the fuel is on that. but it is worth watching. all right. chad, so what do you think as you take a look at these pictures here? it's a significant fire. >> these fire boats, they're used to, like, to bring the -- when they get a cruise ship in or some kind of hero in, they use these fire boats and squirt their water the air as a celebration. you rarely get to see a boat like this do its thing. but this is the water pumping out of the river right on to the fire itself. and just a little closer, i think. maybe the captain can see because it's in the spray, but

he'll get directed that way. there's a significant fire there. completely engulfed. could be anything. you could be talking about the tar that could be on these cinders, on these boards. you know, the creosote, i can't even tell what that is under there. >> i can't eve either. let me ask the national desk and folks in the control room. any indication at all as to what's burning? >> it could also just be the embankment. this thing is attached to. >> true. >> you get anything? >> nothing. nothing. but we're working at it. trying to get a spokesperson from the fire department to help us out on this, but no word yet. >> this is like 126th street. way up there on the east side. >> we'll keep an eye on it and squeeze it there. >> there you go. there's the bridge. >> there you go. keep an eye on it and try to get additional information. no indicate anyone is injured or hurt, as to a cause for this, no indication whatsoever. amazing pictures.

intense fire. look at all of that smoke, and a coast guard fire boat on the scene as well trying to do its best. we'll keep an eye on it and get information and circle back on it. crews in utah reporting significant progress against a wildfire near salt lake city. officials say the fire there destroyed at least four homes and has burned about 10,000 acres. evacuation ordered are still in place for about 5,000 homes. as many as 1,600 had been evacuated. the national guardsmen practicing at a nearby firing range apparently sparked the fire. near hurricane force winds pounding surf. talking about heavy, heavy rain. reynolds wolf has weathered it all in bermuda. not quite -- reynolds, not quite as bad as some people feared, as the forecast seemed to indicate. this, heading into the weekend. >> absolutely, tony. talking about a major hurricane possiblyhitting here just a few days ago.

all signs pointed to that occurring. right before it came onshore or came close to the island, a few hour, the eyewall began to collapse. it lost intensity. it passed west of the area. good news. bad news that front right quadrant, strongest of the storm, brought in immense waves and very, very rough action. a bit of a contrast. cnn photojournalist steve behind the camera. pan out to the left, or at least to my right. voe the viewers the beautiful view. blue waters here. almost a turquoise blue. now let's go back in time 24 hours for the benefit of our viewers to show what occurred here just yesterday. take a look at this video. the wind, relentless. incredible gusts that came onshore. tropical storm force winds along much of bermuda for at least 24 hours. stronger gusts. hurricane force pounding the coastline. the wind, well it caused the water to help pile it up. i'm telling you, monster waves hitting the coastline.

not only that, heavy rainfall. combination of all of that caused all kinds of damage in terms of tree damage, power outages for two-thirds of the population of bermuda. the same time, a lot of structural damage. roof damage. luckily, though, things are fine in terms of the people who live here. there were no fatalities. no major injuries. that's certainly good news. the manager of this pacific property got out, had the opportunity to look at the property this morning. he was happy with what he found. >> i'm happy. on a quick cursory it looks like minimal damage. a couple dividers down here and there. the beach erosion is a little intense down there. as you can see, we've still got lots of beach. compared to fabian, this is a good, good outcome. >> reporter: tony, he's talking about fabian. fabian was a storm that struck this area back in 2003, and that's a storm that, the hurricane killed four people along the causeway of bermuda,

caused all kinds of damage, power out in parts of bermuda up to three week. again it could have been an entirely different story. they're very thankful the storm passed a bit to the west of bermuda and did not cause the kind of damage did fabian did in 2003. >> reynolds, appreciate it. thank you so much, sir, and come on back home to us. circling back to the fire at the harlem river. chad, come on in here. >> information. >> perfect. no, no, no. take it away. >> metro north spokesperson says these are actually wood pilings that are surrounding the piling itself for the bridge, basically to protect the pilings from getting hit by a boat or a barge, and these are just the pilings that are on fire. it's on the manhattan side of the harlem river, and it is -- it's on fire. service is suspended until further notice on all three lines. the fire is not under control, clearly. no word when it will be.

i can see the versicle nature of the piling. had that wood which is treated and treated and treated with like a train track, with the creosote, very flammable. when it catches on fire it's like trying to put a tire fire out. >> right. right, right. i believe we've got -- sam, are you on the line with us? >> caller: i am, yes. >> sam, what's your last name? >> caller: sam bureau. >> a spokesman. pilings are on fire? >> caller: that is correct. there is a fire under the bridge. 138th street bridge. it's on the manhattan side, and as you indicated, of course, because of that there is no service into or out of grand central. this bridge carries all four tracks. all four metro tracks out of manhattan. so at this point, there's no service going in or out of grand central, and we ask our customers just to look for the

services information we'll be putting out about this. >> sam, that's a pretty significant fire and it's leading to some very significant repercussions for your system. any idea what caused it? >> e don't have a cause for the fire, of course it is under investigation and, of course, the main thing that we need to do once the fire is under control is to assess the damage and to see how that's going to impact service further. >> sam you know, you get on the train. you take the train downtown. you don't know what bridge you go over. people trying to get in from connecticut, what lines are effected? what number, letters, so on and so forth? >> of course, it affects all of the metro north lines coming in, however, trains at outlying points, of course, are still operating. it's those that are in the vicinity of the bridge that will be held, and will not be able to go over the bridge.

either coming into the city or going out. >> you could be talking about a pretty significant suspension here of service, right? you've got to check the integrity of everything around that structure now. right? >> caller: will, i wouldn't want to speculate at this point. first steps are that the fire needs to be, get under control, and then to assess the damage. >> okay. sam, appreciate it. it does look like you're going to have a significant suspens n suspension -- well, at least for a few more hours and maybe into the afternoon and evening rush. sam, appreciate it. thank you. >> caller: very good. >> no idea how hot those lines or rails could be. they have to make sure they're still parallel. you don't want to put a train on two rail lines that aren't parallel anymore. >> sam didn't want to add to that, that seems to make sense. common sense. you've got to take time to do a real assessment. >> big time. >> make sure everything is okay. take a break. back in a moment. ♪

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a handle on the flames portion of this, but there is clearly a lot of work to be done here. and we're talking about a fire over the harlem river pilings there on fire. and that's what it is. chad, right? what we're talking about? we're talking about pilings here? >> yeah. kind of the support structure there being protected by these wooden pilings, just in case some barge gets out of control. you lose the pilot, whatever it might be, you don't want the barges bumping into the real pilings of the bridge. so they make these surroundings out of wood that are a little bit flexible, but also very -- go to google. i'll show where you it is and can you see the city of manhattan, hoboken, fly you to the north. this line really goes up towards connecticut and up towards westchester. there's the bridge. take you right in. there's the wooden structure, right there, that's on fire. >> very good. >> then below that, you can't see the versicleness of this bridge. when you see it from the helicopter you see vertical

piling going straight up. google is not showing me this. that's okay. this is the bridge and that is what's on fire right there. you can see how the boards, the fire almost in between the vertical boards next to the word breaking news. is that an old picture? >> perfect. that's better. that's good. >> yeah. that's old tape. the fire is much more under control. hard to see because of the smoke and the steam coming off of the fire, but that's it. and there's a lot of pictures. >> terrific. okay. and, again we have no indication yet. we just, you know, we talked to the spokesman from from the mta. no word on the cause, and, boy, we're looking at a significant suspension of service here. all of the trains out of the grand central terminal have been suspended and that, of course, makes sense. and it looks like it will be that way for some time, once the fire is out. now, you've got to check the integrity of everything surrounding that fire, and -- before you can put the trains in motion again. that's going to be quite a

lengthy period of time, i would think, into the rush hour. don't you think? >> man, a tough week for commuters in new york, from the tornado. just heard this from bonnie schneider, lived on long island most of her life. the long island trains were basically shut down because of the tornado. right? obviously had to check all that out. now this is the north line towards westchester and towards connecticut and no trains are going over that for a while. maybe all day. i don't know. we'll have to see. depends on -- you think about sometimes you get a fire on an expressway, and it's a big tanker truck, and it catches fire. if it catches fire under a bridge, sometimes that bridge is no good anymore. i'm not saying that's going to happen here. that didn't appear to be that hot of a fire, but certainly sparks from a train went overtop, maybe fell down on something that was dry. hasn't rained since the tornado. >> i walls waalways want to che with you. earlier, thick, black smoke. we could really see the fire. now it looks like with the white smoke that firefighters are getting a handle on it, starting to control it a little better ,

because this was the scene earlier. right? >> that's the creosote. think about -- you know when you get close to a train track and the train the not there, you can smell tar, smell the petroleum. that's flammable, but that is very good at keeping a piece of wood from rotting. so that -- that stuff, that petrifies the wood basically that creosote. that was on fire, making such a black smoke. >> i don't know how long it's been ablaze, from the moment we jumped on it and put it on the air, the firefighters really went to work. >> what's the score? >> new yankee stadium? >> yeah. what's the score? >> i don't see anybody in there. >> the firefighters from the moment we jumped on the pictures and put it on air, telling the story, really got to work on it. it looks like it is at least coming under control. not completely under control. >> that fire boat puts up a lot of water. >> yeah. appreciate it, chad. >> thank you, sir. this going to sound a big

fi bit fishy. the fda could announce today whether a super type of salmon is coming to your supermarkets. scientists tinkered with the salmon's gene. our senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen is here. tinkered with the genes. oh, explain -- first of all, good to see you, elizabeth. >> good to see you. >> so explain this to us. what's been done here? >> this is very interesting. here is the issue with salmon. i bet you probably never flew was an issue with salmon, but here's the issue with them. they don't grow as fast as fish farmers would like. they only have growth hormones in their system during the warmest months of the year. wouldn't it be great if they grew faster and had growth hormone year-round instead of a few months. that led to this. this is a salmon. this is spg called an ocean pouch. you probably never heard of it, because -- i know. doesn't look so good. >> no. >> apparently it used to be eaten. it's been eaten by humans, not currently on menus commonly in

this country anymore. what they did, scientists took a gene from the ocean pout. they have goethe hormone all year long. scientists said, isn't that cool? take the all year long growth hormone gene out of this fish, put it in this fish. this fish now grows a whole lot faster. about twice as fast. and so they say that's good for business, and they say the fish looks and tastes the same. >> okay. so i'm wondering if the scientists have -- should we get to the beeper now? all right. elizabeth, let me -- yeah. let me get to the beeper that we have. getting the latest information on -- i apologize elizabeth. we'll try to circle back. let's get the latest information that we can on this fire. under a bridge, the harlem river. on the phone with us, a former new york fire commissioner. tom, thanks for your time. >> caller: welcome. >> have you seen some of these pictures? >> caller: yes. >> what's going on? what's your assessment?

>> caller: i think we're going to be lucky, depending on the wire underneath the train tracks. looks like the fire was going pretty good before the guys got there. they did a great job. got a great angle. came in under the bridge, up wind, a lot of water on the fire very quickly. you can see it's really knocked down all of those piers, that heavy lumber really gets going. you need a lot of water. need to get it pretty quickly. they did that. now you have to wait and see when metro north gets there, just to see if there's any wires or anything underneath the tracks that will prohibit them from running the trains later on today. >> we don't get these kinds of fires in this kind of an area every day. i have to ask you the question, any idea what might have started this? does arson come to mind? what are your thoughts? >> who knows. >> caller: who knows. >> electrical? >> caller: could have been workers. sometimes guys welding underneath the tracks, fire gets going and they don't realize it. too early to speculate. >> gotcha. the point at which the fire is under control and they put it

out, what's the next step? talk to us about the investigation, and checking on the structural integrity of everything around that area? >> caller: i think the integrity will be fine. what i would imagine is that mta needs to get their engineers and technicians up there toe see if damage has been done to the technology that's underneath the tracks. it's an old system. i'm sure there's a lot of upgrades made to it that are outside the structure, that could easily have been damaged by that fire. a tremendous amount of fire early on. so depending how long it was going before all the guys got water on it and what kind of damage maybe the water did. you could have long-term effects, i think. as far as it could have been, if the guys had been delayed in getting there or aren't able to get water on it that quickly, could have been a lot worse. >> tom, i don't know if you've been watching the same feeds we've been showing folks at home. i've got to tell you, from the moment -- i don't know when it started -- but from the moment at which we were aware of it and able to get pictures of it, looked like firefighters and the

coast guard jumped on it quickly and did a really good job on it? >> caller: yes, but a lot of fire was roaring right underneath that track. that was the first place they went to. the first part of the fire they put out. you really don't know until somebody gets up there and examines it how much damage was done. >> tom, appreciate it. tom van essen, a former new york fire commission perp thanks for your time. a quick break and we'll update this story. -$-$-$-$-$-$-$

all right. let's show you the latest pictures. these are picture, thanks, scott from earlier of this fire underneath a bridge here. the metro north railroad bridge just over the harlem river. there was a fire here burning intensely for a good period of

time here. i guess we've been on the story for about 20, 25 minutes or so. pilings on fire there. all around the supports for the bridge there, but it looks like, at least, the latest pictures -- we're going to do this. you've seen the pictures from earlier where the fire was really burning really hot, and then we're going it loop in some pictures where it looks like things are beginning to be -- well, firefighters are getting a handle on it, really. we don't have a live picture right now to show you, but we can tell you as we look at these pictures from earlier, the most recent information is that firefighters are really getting a handle on this thing now and we heard a couple of moments ago from tom van nesn, we might get lucky here. the firefighters were able to get at it, get at the source of the fire. a lot of water on it, you heard tom say. so what happens next is that the moment that that fire is out, completely out, under control, you can get some inspectors and engineers from the mta there to take a look at any real damage

there, because as you know, all trains out of the grand central terminal have been suspended, and with good reason. that fire was really burning intensely. we had no idea wa caused it, no reports of injuries at this point but will continue to follow it and give you a look at the updated information as we get it right here in the "cnn newsroo newsroom". thaets lick a break. back in a moment. all right. we were actually thinking, maybe... we're going to hike up here, so we'll catch up with you guys. [ indistinct talking and laughter ] whew! i think it's worth it. working with a partner you can trust is always a good decision. massmutual. let our financial professionals help you reach your goals. i but i justve my 5 employcan't afford it.ance, i have diabetes. i didn't miss a premium payment for 10 years. and i'm worried if i lose my job, i won't be able to afford insurance.

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with 110 days until the bush -- do this first. the cnnmoney.com. talk to jean in a moment. cnnmoney.com. it is your place for the latest financial news. the dow quickly here. 91 points. in positive territory. we are off session highs but it's still looking good. we're in positive territory. three hours into the trading day. the bush tax cuts. boy, a hot topic. right? set to expire. the debate on whether to extend them really raging right now on capitol hill. but the impact felt on main street and the bank accounts of millions of americans. jean, senior writer, jean, explain the argument that goes extending the tax cuts would help preserve the recovery. we know a new survey of a group of economists showing support for extending them. doesn't it? >> reporter: right.

we surveyed about 31 economists. 60% said the most important thing congress can do to help the economy extend tax cuts for everyone. not just the middle class like the president wants. the economic argument is basically, don't rock the boat. the recovery may not be very strong, but if you pull the tax cuts away now, you raise tax bill, less money to spend and that will make it worse. that's the general thrust of the argument. >> let me ask this -- does extending the tax cuts for anyone add to our national deficit? >> oh, yes. by a lot, and by a lot minus a little, if you don't do it for the upper income folk. treasury numbers suggest that it would cost abouts 3.7 trillion over ten years to extend them permanently for everybody. i highly doubt that's going to happen, because there's too many parties arguing against that at the moment. what's more likely to happen, if anything happens, extend it for the middle class. a $3 trillion hit to the

deficit. but people who say we still have to extend the cuts say, we can't afford not to do it right now, because if we don't extend the tax cuts we go into double dip recession possibly and that by itself could add to the debt, an that's also why some people are saying, let's make do one or two-year extension. that's cheaper. >> yeah, well -- got you. jeanne, want to be clear, because you know the politics of this, and then there are the economics of this. so if you want to do something right now, right now, that would help reduce the deficit, because we hear a lot of that in the political discourse. would you let the tax cuts expire? >> i think it's a tough call. you know, the president and administration has said let them expire for the upper income folks. that would raise $700 billion in revenue and a down payment on deficit reduction. in the short term, use the money to help pay for stimulus items. it's not -- it's not that black and white. i mean, there are a lot of

economists who are worried we will go into a double dip recession or we're too fragile at the moment to risk it. why do it? if you just do one or two-year extension and the markets understand that, they think, maybe that's okay. >> right. >> but if you want to reduce the deficit now, on paper you can do that, but if it sends us into a double dip recession, the government may have to spend a lot more money to help unemployed and do other things. >> one last one. isn't it also true that the reality here is that at some point, something is going to have to be done on the tax side? so you don't want to do it now, because you've got concerns about a double dip, but you may have to do it later? >> reporter: yeah. basically, the debt situation for the country is such that every fiscal decision that congress will be making from now on will be the rock, between the rock and hard place. should we extend the tax cuts, reduce debt or let it go and hurt the economy. it's going to be like that for a number of years now. the fiscal commission reports on december 1 back to congress and

to the president with suggestions about how we deal with this issue. people are saying if we get a plan in place so that it's phased in gradually over time, that that could be the solution. and, yes, taxless have to be a part of it. even people who don't like taxes say that. >> jeanne, thank you as always. a break. you're in the "cnn newsroom." ♪ [car horn honks] our outback always gets us there... ... sometimes it just takes us a little longer to get back. ♪

okay. we want to get you the latest information available to us at this time on that fire in new york. harlem. underneath the harlem bridge. the harlem side of the bridge, metro north railroad bridge. over the harlem river on the harlem side of the bridge. these are pictures from earlier. we've heard from an mta spokesman. and that was important, because we getting an update on the fact all trains out of the grand central terminal have been suspended. let's see. i had a note here. we're talking about the harlem line. the hudson line, the new haven line. right? and then we spoke to tom van essen, chad, former new york fire commissioner, who gave us some information as well. but you've got some information to share? >> i think it's going to be quite the nightmare for people that came in on the train from

poughkeepsie and yonkers. they're going 0 have it try to get to yankee stadium to get on the train. these trains would go all the way down, do their turnaround and go the other way. now they're not going to be able to get across that bridge. they're going to have to stop at probably either yankee stadium or melrose. the other one, probably mt. vernon and if you went from new haven to bridgeport, took any one -- took that train in from those areas you are stuck downtown right now. you're going to have to get a cab, a car, something. something to get you across the river to get you to a station to the east of there, unless there's going to set up a bus service. i've been on the website looking. i don't have anything yet new how they're going to get the commuters over that bridge to get to the other stations. clearly, you can get from greenwich to new haven. that train would still be open. that line would still be okay. it's that bottleneck to get you from grand central to

poughkeepsie, to chappaqua, to new haven. you can't get over that bridge to get there now. >> we've heard from folks on beeper lines, on the phone from us. haven't heard from anyone on the ground at the scene of the fire until now. mahr hs marsha biggs, one of our producers. you okay? you with us? >> caller: i'm here. >> give an assessment. what are you looking at? what do you see? >> caller: a bullhead pier under the bridge. according to the fire department of new york caught on fire at 11:38 a.m. by 11:45 there were quite a few firefighters on the scene. at this point, about 60 firefighters. i counted ten fire trucks as we were driving up. the fire appears to be being contained. i'm seeing a little bit of a flame on the left side, and i'm still seeing a bit of smoke, but nothing like that blast billowing smoke we saw earlier. so the spokesman also told me

that fire's not spreading and they're containing it and no injuries. >> can you explain, because we don't have a good relationship shot of this area and how it relates structurally to the bridge itself. >> caller: well, it's certainly not the bridge. >> right. >> caller: it's a section adjoining the structure that holds the bridge up. >> uh-huh. >> caller: from what we heard from metro north, the wood pilings in the river, meant to keep boats away from the bridge's support structure that caught on fire. that appears to be what i'm seeing. the bridge appears to be intact. it's not on fire, and appears to be being contained. >> okay. and no indication at least from anyone you've spoken with as to what might have caused all this? as we look at the -- you know, at least moments, at the height of the fire when it was burning intensely and we have thick, black smoke billowing out of the area. any indication what might have

caused this? >> caller: they have reticent to tell us. the fire chief is due to speak to us in a few minutes and hopefully give us a few answers. >> marsha, appreciate it. thank you. it was brought up earlier that maybe even -- maybe the train tracks are fine. control wires. may be all kinds of other things under that track that have been damaged by the fire. you don't think about what -- you burn through 16-gauge copper wire. that thing was controlling the switches up and down this line. all of a sudden you have a longer delay. >> i keep askings question, because it's what we do. we ask the questions, do you have any idea. it's early in this thing and could have been anything. could have been the electrical situation you and tom discussed. it could be workers working in the area. we just don't know. but we ask the question because it's what we do. >> plan for a late arrival of a loved one today. >> that makes sense. thank you, sir. >> you bet. take a break. back in a moment. you're in the "cnn newsroom." host: coulswinto geico really save you 15% or more on car insuranc

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all right. time for your cnn kwaem 9 politics update. paul steinhauser, with the best political team on television joining us from washington, d.c. good to see pup what's crossing right now? >> -- start with the race in delaware. that hot center race up in delaware. less than a week ago christine o'donnell won will. big upset over mike castle, longtime moderate republican. didn't take democrats long to go up with brand new ads in

delaware against o'donnell, doing that yesterday. guess what? just learned today the tea party express, the tea party organization, spent about a quarter million dollars helping o'donnell in the primary going up with brand new ads in support of her and we learned senator jim demint's action committee up with new ads. ad wars heating up in delaware. talk about the president and vice president. they're both on the campaign trail today. later today the president goes to philadelphia trying to help the depic party raise big bucks and helping out joe sestak, congressman from pennsylvania now the senate nominee up there who faces a tough battle to keep that seat in party hands and the vice president going to ohio today teaming up around now with the governor, ted strickland facing a tough re-election. a couple things going on. over to mark for more stuff. >> tony, of course, viewers know i tend to get serious until i talk about serious subjects. point something out with a little fun. check out the picture on cnnpolitics.com.

you can see, it says rr100. what that is, the sealers on the "uss ronald reagan" they are spelling out his initials, and 100 to signify his 100 birthdays. the late president, of course, was born 100 years ago. come february they plan a year-long celebration to honor his life and his legacy. so, of course, this picture right here, we see it on cnnpolitics.com, taken last week. a shoit out to dillon mccord, the u.s. navy sail here took that picture, tony. kind of a cool thing to check out on our website. >> high, i love that. wish we could take it full. that looks terrific, but we can certainly direct everyone to the website. gentlemen, appreciate it. very good. thank you. your next political update coming up in one hour for the latest political news, just go to cnnpolitics.com. imagination and reality have merged. because of one word, a new generation-- a fifth generation--

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fight for his life. barbara starr talks to a soldier fighting for hit limbs. >> reporter: chief warrant officer roamy and his team were ambushed in afghanistan in september 2008. roamy was shot in the neck. this motorcycle-loving special forces commando instantly paralyzed from the neck down. >> i want to get better. i want to be able to hug my

children, and i want to be able to hug my wife. >> reporter: still on active duty, he has a new mission. convincing the army to pay for an innovative surgery has might help him regain some movement and the maybe even walk again. >> i was told that when special forces, i may be the first ones into a mission, that i guess this is the mission that i'd be sent on for the other soldiers. >> reporter: he and his wife gabriela scoured the internet looking for help. >> we started researching. found out that a doctor was doing this procedure. >> reporter: doctor carlos lima in portugal has been performing leading edge surgeries placing cells from the back of the nose on to injured spinal cords. it's worked in several cases. we spoke to dr. lima via skype. >> what i'm talking about recovering, i'm talking about

patients walking with a walker again, and movement after years of paralysis. >> reporter: but military officials say it's not an approved procedure in the u.s. roamie recently made his case to a panel of military specialists asking them to approve $60,000 in costs. army is still reviewing his proposal. lima has told him he'll have to be in rehab for years. a soldier still working out getting conditioned. >> so for him to say that the physical therapy's the most important part. >> reporter: that doesn't scary? >> not at all. >> reporter: it's what you do. >> right. >> raise this flag over ground zero for him. >> reporter: a former buddy stops by to say hello. neil and others have built this motorcycle side car so roamie can ride again. it's the roamie spirit.