ali velshi and christine romans also on facebook. we read all of your questions or comments. "your $$$$$" will be back next week same time and same place. you can also logon 24/7 to cnnmoney.com. have great weekend, everybody. have a great weekend, everybody. this hour. everything you need to know for your week ahead, including a sign of just how intense this upcoming election is. a first for this president. appearing in a local campaign ad to unseat the only republican who supported his health care reform bill. we'll show you the ad. rahm's reign is done. a new white house chief of staff takes over. david gehrigen is here to talk about the first week on the job for the man who needs to help win back the american voter. it's a new day at the supreme court too. larry flynt is part of it.

and it's a sign of those tough economic times. a new way to make money for businesses and schools, and they're using your children to do it. a controversy likely to spread to your neighborhood. we'll talk this hour with parents and school board members already in the thick of it. but we start tonight with this. it's a major travel alert. both the u.s. and britain are warning citizens to be extra careful when traveling in europe. especially france and germany. the u.s. state department urges americans to use "common sense precautions." but some say the advisory are way too vague and hold little value. tom fuentes and francis townsend say it would have been better to say nothing at all. >> i'm a real believer. if these warnings -- these public warnings and alerts that get put out don't tell people specifics about either locations, timing, or what they can do to protect themselves, then we shouldn't bother.

we shouldn't scare them about something that they can't protect themselves from. >> i agree with fran. maybe even a little stronger than fran that issuing a warning like this is on the verge of being completely ridiculous. there are thousands and thousands americans in europe. everybody's going to look different to them. everybody is going to be carrying a backpack and looking strange if they were walking down the street in peoria, illinois, for example. >> they're saying the travel alerts were issued because of growing concerns that terrorists may be planning a commando-style attack in europe like the one that happened in mumbai, india in 2008. that incident lasted three days, 166 people were killed. cnn's senior international correspondent nic robertson is in germany tonight. you've been covering this story for a long time. how serious is this threat?

>> it's been taken very seriously. european governments are not changing that threat level at the moment. the spanish government is saying their threat level is one to two on a scale of one to four. the french saying theirs is red level, it could go to scarlet. but right now keeping it at the red level. it's been there since 2005. the germans here say they are not e seeing an imminent threat. the british government saying their threat level is at severe, meaning an attack is highly likely. and they're not going to change it or move any higher. yet the british home secretary did say that the threat level they have does correlate with the information being given by the u.s. state department, in this travel advisory. so there is an agreement there that there is a threat in europe, a very real threat. indeed, the british have said their nationals traveling to france and germany that the threat level there has gone up

too high. so it's being taken very, very seriously, don. however, the notion here that something is imminent or something has changed isn't there. that's the perception we're getting here right now. >> let's talk about the military. u.s. military bases in europe have ramped up security, nic. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: well, in germany in the air base a couple hundred miles from here, there was a higher security alert for troops there, told to stay on the base, a curfew on friday night and a warning following that. if you go off base, don't wear your uniform. there is perhaps a reason for that. we're not being told explicitly. but it could be -- it could be part of this heightened threat warning in the travel advisory. back in 2007 here in germany, an al qaeda-linked group planned to -- planned a series of

terrorist attacks using massive amounts of explosives. and the targets they chose back then in germany were u.s. servicemen and americans in germany at discos, at restaurants, at nightclubs, at places where they might gather. so there seems to be a history here in germany. and possibly elsewhere in europe, but specifically in germany where u.s. citizens would be the target. and specifically service personnel. that plot was thwarted here three years ago. that is not being made public here, don. >> thank you, nick. u.s. travelers on their way to europe seem to be taking the travel alert in stride. cnn spoke to some of them as they were preparing to part from newark national airport in new jersey. >> i made the arrangements six months ago.

it would probably take an incident of some sort where there was real danger. >> because you only live once. i mean, what you going to do? i can't let those people terrorize me. in other news tonight on cnn, a cash-strapped school district plans to sell ads on notices sent to parents to bring in extra money. will it work? hear from two school committee members at the center of this debate. and it could come down to the wire in the west virginia senate race. a seat held by the democrats for more than half a century. and we'll take a look at the political ticker with mark preston on that and other stories. and don't just sit there, be a part of the conversation tonight, send us a message on the social networking sites, also check out our blog on cnn.com/don and look for us on foursquare.

senate race in west virginia has become a cliff hanger. legendary democrat robert byrd held the seat for 52 years until his death this summer. and democrats didn't think they'd have much trouble holding on to that seat, but the polls have tightened kts and some pundits are saying the race is a toss-up. our dana bash live from charleston, west virginia. why is this race so tight now? >> reporter: don, it is such a fascinating race. and it really is an illustration of how mad people are at washington right now. well, we went on the parade route today with the governor who is a democratic candidate for senate. and people said they love him, absolutely love him in that job. for many of those voters, when we asked do you want him to be your senator because he is a democrat, we got a very different answer.

take a listen. >> i'm afraid he's going to be a rubber stamp for obama, harry reid, and nancy pelosi. i think he does a great job here and i voted for him both times. he ran here in west virginia. but going to washington, that scares me to death that he's going to be a rubber stamp. >> dana, here's the question. how is governor manchin handling this? what does he say when he hears people like him but they don't want him in washington? >> he knows that because he hears it. he knows that according to democratic strategists i talked to because they're seeing that in the polls. it is why things are tightening up. what he does is tries to remind people things are in pretty good shape. deficits are lower since he took office, the unemployment rate is lower than it is on a national level. but he understands there's a difference of how people think of him and how people think of democrats in washington. listen to what he told me. >> is it just a very toxic, frankly anti-democrat

environment? >> it's a toxic anti-government. and the democrats in washington are in control. so absolutely it resinates to them. the bottom line is that people don't want governments on their back and they want them out of their pocket. get off o my back and out of my pocket. that's what we did in west virginia six years ago and our economy has really done much better than most nationwide states have done. we can do the same thing. >> all right. that was a good question, good answer from joe manchin. but tell us about manchin's opponent, who is he? and how is he exploiting this dynamic? is he? >> reporter: he is trying to do it every which way he possibly can. he is a wealthy businessman, somebody who has run many times. this is the third time he's run for the senate, the fourth statewide race, he's never won. and he's actually somebody who maybe you could say he was a tea-partea party-like candidate. it was so much so that he said

the government should not say there's a minimum wage. abolish the the department of education, the department of energy. he is running ads and telling anybody who will listen to him that he believes that joe manchin that he is somebody who will be a rubber stamp for barack obama. and that is what you hear, that is the mantra in his ads. and also, don, interestingly, in the ads from the national republican party, they have decided to pour a lot of money into this state. they're running ads and we're told that they are going to spend about $3 million here because they are so hopeful that this will actually go their way that they can take the seat out of the democratic column. $3 million is a lot of money in the state of west virginia to spend on a campaign. >> it certainly is. and that's where our dana bash is reporting from. thank you very much. all right. so let's keep this conversation going about west virginia. with our senior political editor mark preston. mark is keeping an eye on the latest headlines on the cnn.com political ticker. mark, west virginia, the seat

that the late robert byrd held for 51 years. whoever thought that republicans would ever be in this spot? >> you know, don, if we were talking, having this conversation back in february of 2009, we would be talking the other way. we'd be talking about how many seats are democrats going to ad to the majority in the house? how many in the senate? but right now, don, by my count, there are probably about ten seats right now, democratic seats that could go republican if this huge wave sweeps across the nation. if that were the case, then republicans would take back control of the senate. there's obviously a lot of talk that they'll take back the house. but they could take back control of the senate. and west virginia's one of those key races they need to win. but you know, don, talking about west virginia and manchin and how the governor there, the democrat, is really running against washington kind of running against president obama in some ways. well, down in new orleans, we have a democrat who is actually embracing president obama. and just a few hours ago during the football game down there, during the saints game, we saw a

commercial air from the democrat who is running for the house seat of that new orleans district. gentleman by the name of seddrick richard is running. he's trying to take back the republican seat that is held by a gentleman by the name of joseph gou. he came out, he won it. we saw president obama in his first general election commercial television commercial. >> mark, let's take a look at that ad real quickly and we'll talk a bit more about it. >> sure. >> the city of new orleans has had its trials, but you've also had great champions fighting to see you through the tough times. cedric richmond is one of those champions. helping new orleans get back on its feet. >> you heard him talk about adrian fenty saying i can't get involved in every race, this one is particularly important to him and the democrats. >> this is one of the few house races, don, that democrats think they can actually take back. this new orleans seat which is

overwhelmingly democrat. again, they won it in a special election. william jefferson, he was a democrat who was indicted for some bribery issues up here. and, of course, lost that seat. but moving on, we talk about democrats and their problems, well the tea party could pose a problem for republicans. let's assume that republicans take back control of the house and senate. well, john the thune oversees the policy committee on c span this week and he said that if republicans do, in fact, don, take back congress and do not move quick enough to enact these policy promises, the tea party could break off and become a third party. and if that were the case, don, how disastrous that would be if the republican party heading into the 2012 presidential election. >> our thanks to mark preston. make sure you go to cnnpolitics.com. coming up, a massachusetts school district is hoping business will buy into a new plan.

a pilot program to sell ad space on notices sent home to parents. >> we have eight elementary schools, eight laboratories to work the bugs out of this. and i suspect there'll be some that will embrace it and some that will maybe not do quite as well. >> here's what the goal is to raise $24,000. will it work? we'll talk to them. and some major shuffling at the white house. rahm emanuel has stepped down and pete rouse is stepping up as the new chief of staff. we'll look at what that means for the obama administration and you.

♪ sing polly wolly doodle all the day ♪ ♪ hah

mixing the class room with the classifieds. this week the school committee voted to let its elementary schools sell ad space on the back of school notices. parents know just how much paperwork comes home with their kids. now in peabody, the back of the permission slips will look like this. covered with ads the size of business cards. dave is a committee member and told me the schools need money, but his fellow board member is worried about what ads in school could lead to. >> my biggest fear was an overall fear of overcommercialization for the

students, especially at the elementary level. and we had been going through several different proposals about advertising some of the things we're advertising signs in the athletic complex. and this came up, dave brought this suggestion in. and it did seem to be a better compromise compared to some of the other ideas we were being presented with. >> but beverly, you're not the only one who feels this way. the campaign for a commercial-free childhood gave us this response. it is not hard to imagine that students who serve as couriers for ads for pizza parlors and ice cream shops will lobby their parents to go to these locations the second they go home. participating in this scheme may cause a backlash against businesses since parents may view them as exploiters instead of community partners. david, do you -- why do you say that? what do you say to that? >> well, if their concerns are that the children are already being bombarded with advertisement, i'm afraid that

horse has already left the barn. what we're trying to do is take advantage of a blank piece of paper, that is the backside of a notice that would already be entering the home and try to utilize it in a way that's beneficial to homeowners and the school. >> and actually, i agree with dave. >> go ahead, beverly, sorry. >> i'm sorry. i actually agree with dave. i don't think it's going to create a backlash. i think most people that have spoken with us see it as a way for the businesses to further support the schools. and i think that the parents in turn will support those businesses. >> but what have parents been saying already? what's been their response? >> very positive so far. >> i've heard positive responses from the parents. certainly their concerns are not unlike the concerns that beverly and i have that the adds be appropriate. but other than that, i think they're in favor of it. they need some relief. >> our thankses to beverly and dave.

retirees are still working, the pay is growing, and the nfl is going heavy into fashion. our allison kosic has this week's getting down to business. the unemployment rate may be near 10%, but one group of people is still working. the older crowd. they say they'll continue working this year, some because they have to, but many because they want to. that's up 6% from the same poll taken more than a decade ago. look at september's unemployment numbers this friday. the age of workers is increasing and so is the pay gap. according to the u.s. census bureau, the top earning 20% of americans take home half of all income made in the u.s. that group makes more than $100,000 per year. compare that to those below the poverty line, they only earned 3.4% of all income. finally this week, the nfl

is looking to score with a new group of fans, women. the league will spend $10 million to market clothing, accessories, and even a website. try to get female fans in on the action. that's this week's "getting down to business," alison kosik, cnn, new york. a changing of the guard at the white house. pete rouse is replacing rahm emanuel as chief of staff. and the switch made for really some pretty good laughs last night on "snl." in case you missed it, we've got you covered. we'll tell you what it means for the obama administration. plus, the publisher of "hustler" magazine has a stake in what's going before the supreme court this week. >> we know we've got a gay senator. we'd like him to come out of the closet. >> potentially explosive secrets from larry flynt.

rahm emanuel has posted a video on a new campaign website saying he plans to run for mayor of chicago. take a look. >> chicago's a world class city today because of mayor daly's leadership. he deserves our appreciation, but we are facing tremendous challenges from attracting jobs, to improving our schools, to making all of our neighborhoods safer. >> well, emanuel stepped down as white house chief of staff on friday. emanuel says he plans to spend

the next few weeks visiting chicago neighborhoods. he says he wants to hear in blunt chicago terms what people think about the city. well, pete rouse takes emanuel's place starting tomorrow. and by all accounts, rouse and emanuel have totally different styles. "saturday night live" played that up for big laughs last night. >> rahm will be replaced as white house chief of staff by peter rouse -- pete hails from connecticut and is a lover of cats. come on back, pete. nothing to be afraid of. >> well, early tonight, i spoke with two former white house insiders. ed rollins and david gehrigen for their take on the change in the obama guard. >> everything i know has been on the senate side of the house of the congress. he's a good behind-the-scenes guy. what emanuel did very

effectively, he was the enforcer, he could make things happen and has good political instincts of anyone i know in the long time i've been around the game. with a month to go, everything starts to come apart in an election like this, and you need someone to make sure where the fundraiser don't want to do the things, you need someone to be the enforcer. gergen had that role in our white house. and at the end of the day, ron will be terribly missed. >> david, how much of a difference does it make who is sitting in -- you can say that seat -- is it noticeable when a presidency or an administration changes a chief of staff in the middle of the administration? >> it can be extremely important who's in that job. as ed will remember, many often thought that there were three presidencies during president reagan's eight years in office. the first was the jim baker chief of staff period when things went well and he got a

major legislative accomplishments, the second came under don regan, former ceo. things went way off track. they had the iran contra scandal and regan got fired. and the third was the howard baker, that was much more productive. >> what do you think the differences will be? >> it varied a lot. i think there's going to be a huge change in style in the office. clearly the trust level is high for both rahm on the president's part for both rahm and pete rouse. but the change in style, and i don't have any doubt that pete rouse is going to be a superb manager. people on staff love him. i've gotten to know him. he's a heck of a guy. i think the big questions are, is there going to be a pivot to the center by president obama in the next couple of years? i think that's pretty vital to his governing. people on the left thinks he needs to pivot more to the left. but i -- so far, the appointment suggests continuity of change.

>> do you agree with that? and do you think that's important? should this administration move one way? >> well, it's very important. i don't think that nancy pelosi and if harry reid survives, which i don't believe e he will, that they're going to basically let this president move, they're going to encourage him to the left. they're going to argue there are a lot of things he should've done. and unfortunately, the ones who lose are going to be more conservative. rahm emanuel when he was recruited and there are more conservative members who won congressional districts. the battleground is the 52 republican districts we lost in 2006 and 2008. and if we want a majority in those same seats. >> i'm wondering, obviously it's his job to carry out the president's mission, the president's agenda. but it's also going to be his job to help the president win back the american voter, david, and that's something the poll numbers now are showing the president definitely needs help on that end.

do you agree? >> i do. and that's why i think that the shake-up at the white house is not complete yet. the president is going to need some new people in there. david axelrod is leaving in the next few months, we don't know quite when. and david pluf is an excellent strategist as is pete rouse, but who is going to be the tough enforcer, as ed rollins said. who is the person who really puts together the communications plan? who is going to be the person that rebuilds trust with a business community, which is shattered at the moment? how do you do all of those things? i think you need some new people in there, a couple of people who have not been part of the inner circle, who are heavy weights in their own right and really can send messages to the public as well as the congress that the president is going to have a new presidency. >> and our coverage on pete rouse's first day starts tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. on "american morning." larry flynt has ties to a supreme court case involving the

military. i'll talk with him about his role in that very controversial case. plus an emotional night for students at rutgers university as they honor a student who took his own life. do what? you made it taste like chocolate. it has 35% of your daily value of fiber. tasty fiber, that's a good one! ok, umm...read her mind. [ male announcer ] fiber one chewy bars.

a new supreme court term starts tomorrow, and a case that makes many people furious is

among the first on the docket. it involves a baptist church in kansas infamous for staging ant anti-gay protests during military funerals. it probably makes no sense that larry flynt is connected to all of this. but his landmark case against the late jerry folwell is being sided by the defense. flynt isn't happy about that, but says he can't oppose it. >> what doing in terms of protesting a funeral of someone burying their dead coming home from the war, i can't think of anything more despicable, more insensitive. but justice rehnquist at my case, he was a senior supreme court justice. and he wrote the majority. and he said often things are done under the guise of the

first amendment with less than admiral intention, but the government has no right to suppress it. while we have the basic freedoms. freedom of speech, freedom of religion, right to assemble, we really can't get caught in a position -- whether it's a mosque in new york or what the issue is or burning the koran where we are compromising the basic freedoms that our nation was founded on. and as difficult cases like this one involving the protests of the funerals, the supreme court has to weigh in on. i regret that they're using my precedent-setting case with the reverend jerry folwell. >> let's talk about the senate race in my home state of louisiana. we're talking about david vitter.

how did a "hustler" interview end up in a campaign ad? >> well, we were the ones who really added vitter on this. and it wasn't a question of an indiscretion with a prosecutor in washington. but we concluded the case of the investigation and new orleans is about. this guy was like the energizer bunny. at the same time he was going around talking about abstinence, you know. he was probably one of the biggest philanderers in the senate. i'm often accused when i expose people like him just doing it to expose his sex life. nothing could be further from the truth. what i'm exposing is the hypocrih hypocri hypocrisy. >> you have offered $1 million to anyone who can come to your magazine and say they had is sex with a high-ranking official. do you have any tips yet?

>> we still do it. we've always got ongoing investigations. but they take a while. >> so no tips? >> pardon? >> no tips yet? >> i'll give you a couple clues. we know we got a gay senator. i think we'll be exposing that in the next few months if he doesn't. and i had a really great story, a very high-ranking republican talking to a woman on a cell phone. and we had the tape where he said oh, she mentioned family values to him. he said, oh, family values, that's crap. i just talk about that on television. well, we thought, boy, this is a real doosy. >> you want to give us an idea of either one of these guys? >> no, i can't do that. my attorney says you can't use the tape because it's taped in pennsylvania which requires

two-party consent. so you can't use it. so i mean, those are the kinds of things we're up against. but we constantly have interesting investigations going on at all times. and we were ready to expose the senator at one time. but then, the guy who was really his lover was actually married. and that produced it a kind of conflict that we didn't want to -- that we didn't want to go to it. we wanted better evidence. >> larry flynt. still ahead here on cnn. a vigil wrapping up at rutgers university for the freshman who took his own life. plus, welcome news for 33 miners trapped almost two months in chile. they may be freed sooner than expected.

♪ sing polly wolly doodle all the day ♪ ♪ hah

let's take a look at stories on cnn. american and british travelers in europe are being urged to use extra caution in france and germany. both the u.s. and uk today issued the travel alert because of concerns. wearing their uniforms off base. new trouble in pakistan,

gunmen attacked a fuel tanker convoy bound for nato forces in afghanistan. more than 20 tankers caught fire and three people were killed. the attack comes just days after the pakistani government closes the supply route into afghanistan being used by coalition troops. great news for those 33 trapped miners in chile. rescuers say they could reach them by the middle or end of this month. earlier they said it wouldn't happen until november. last week, a rescue capsule that will be used to pull the men to safety was tested successfully. firefighters in colorado are battling this blaze in the mountains west of frazier. more than 200 acres on fire. emergency notifications went out to nearby residents, but no evacuations have been ordered. fire officials are mobilizing three heavy air tankers and one helicopter to help battle the blaze. verizon wireless says it will refund about 15 million of the customers for overbilling. the customers were charged for data sessions on their phones that they did not initiate.

verizon says customers will be notified of credits to their accounts on their october and november bills. and in most cases, the refunds range from $2 to $6. some former customers will get refund checks. tonight, hundreds of students gathered at rutgers university to hold a candle light individual illinovigil in 18-year-old freshman who committed suicide. clementi jumped off the george washington bridge. his body was recovered from the hudson river. two rutgers students, including clementi's roommate have been charged with invasion of privacy. this case has hit a national nerve and once again reminds us of the real problem of bullying in this country. this week, cnn, cartoon network, people magazine, and the entire time warner family is taking a closer look at this problem and what can be done to end the violence. as part of our coverage tomorrow night on "ac 360," a special

report, bullying no escape, that's at 10:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. missionaries trying to help the poor overseas, but in these tough commissieconomic times, wt there more serving in america? and here's something very interesting. did you know world war i didn't officially end until today? how's that?

now we want to take a look at what will grab the headlines in the week ahead from

washington to hollywood. our correspondents had the stories to watch for. we begin with the white house. >> reporter: i'm suzanne malveaux at the white house. this week, president obama will be focusing on the economy. monday he's meeting with his economic recovery advisory board. he will highlight the critical role community colleges play in training and educating american workers. the president will also recognize "fortune" magazine's 50 most powerful women. i'm chris lawrence at the pentagon, and the big news next week is october 7th. it is the anniversary of the date in which the u.s. launched the first military action into afghanistan sort of kicking off the war in afghanistan there. the secretary of defense, robert gates is is going to posthumously award the medal of honor to soldiers' family. we're going to be taking a look back at the arc of the war. how the war has changed the military and how it's changed the lives of some of the

soldiers who fought in it. i'm poppy harlow in new york. the latest manufacturing order on monday. and retailers across the country will report their sales on thursday. we'll see if consumer spending is picking up or not. costco and pepsi slated to report their quarterly earnings midweek. and finally on friday, the all-important september jobs report. we'll get that before the market opens friday morning. and wall street is hoping to see any improvement in the unemployment rate. we'll track it all for you on cnn money. i'm "showbiz tonight's" brans, here's what we're watching. closing arguments begin monday in the trial of anna nicole smith's doctors and her ex-boyfriend on charges they contributed to her death by funneling her drugs. and facebook alert, we are bracing for big fallout from the opening this weekend of the facebook movie "the social network." "showbiz tonight" is live at 5:00 p.m. eastern and still tv's most provocative entertainment

news show at 11:00 p.m. that's on hln. >> thank you, guys. that's around the country, domestically. you're going to take all of us to o, brazil. there may be a reason to celebrate. there could be. >> exactly. voters went out to cast their ballots today and election results will be tallied in the brazilian elections. if a presidential contender wins 50% or more of the votes, she could be brazil's first female president. not only the next president, but the first female president. that's a big deal. >> that is a very big deal. just ask her. she'll probably tell you it's a very big deal. we'll be watching that closely. do you know what the chances are? is it a toss-up? >> close call. it's a very close race. again, we're going to have to wait to see what happens tomorrow. >> okay. well, you remember last year when we were announcing the nobel peace prize and it was president barack obama, now you're going to take us to

stockholm sweden. >> starting monday and going into physics, chemistry, literature, economics, and the peace prize award. and this year there's a lot of speculation as the to who could get it. a lot of people are actually saying it could be a chinese dissident, and should that happen, him and along with the oth others who win awards, the grant money is about $1.9 million. when you think of missionaries, you think of advocates working in third world countries. but in the midst of a recession, the need for missionaries right here in the united states is growing. cnn's soledad o'brien introduces us to one man who is rallying black americans to answer the call. >> i'm the jackie robinson of mission, you know. >> reporter: leroy barber is is a man with a calling. and he's the president of mission year. >> we do not see through our eyes or hear through our ears.

>> reporter: it's a year-long ministry and volunteer program for christian adults in the united states. >> there is probably another strong goal of things are not right in the world. and i want to be a part of making them right. >> how many african-americans are involved in mission years missionary work? >> generally about 5% a year or less sometimes. >> what does it matter? >> i don't think it's good for a kid growing up in an urban neighborhood to only see white faces coming to serve. >> this is where i'm standing right now. >> reporter: 22-year-old harold boyd left his chicago home to spend the year in atlanta. he lives on $12,000 that he has to raise himself. >> i do believe that with every relationship that i build that i'll be showing people that i'm in the same struggle as you are. >> reporter: he's the only minority on his team. it's not surprising when you

consider the vast majority of missionaries are white. >> in terms of the missionary percentage of african-americans, it's far less than 1%. >> reporter: jim sutherland studies missionary work and the black church. >> many black churches do a fairly good job of taking care of their local communities, but the vocation is essentially off the radar. it's basically not therement. you have evangelists in the city, they may be on the street corner and that would be evangelism, but it might not necessarily be missionary work as i would define it. >> reporter: reporting for in america, soledad o'brien, in atlanta. >> all right, soledad. the black church has fought the civil and human rights and now it's waging a war on debt. be sure to join soledad o'brien for "almighty debt" thursday, october 21st, 9:00 p.m. eastern only here on cnn.

world war i ended more than 80 years ago, right? well, not really. the war officially ended today, at least one part did. we'll explain right after the break.

every weekend we like to bring you some interesting news items you might have missed during the week. here's one, the brand new hotel's unique curve and reflective windows have made it an instant las vegas landmark. it's nice to look at. but the same features have also

turned it into a hazard to guests out by the pool. for about 90 minutes a day sunlight on the building is reflected down to the pool area as an intense, concentrated beam that is much hotter than normal. just like a magnifying glass, the beam can melt plastic and quickly burn unprotected skin. the hotel says it is aware of the problem and is working on a permanent solution. right now, though, they're providing umbrellas to try to shield the guests against those intense reflected sun rays. the last shot was fired more than 80 years ago, but world war i officially comes to an end today. that's when germany pays off its financial debt from the conflict. the final $94 million installment will wipe out the $35 billion debt imposed when the war ended in 1919. britain, france, and the u.s. set the reparations in the treaty of versilles.

most of none goes to private individuals, pension funds, and corporations holding the bonds. interesting, i did not know that. now you're up to date. i'm don lemon at the cnn headquarters in atlanta. i'll see you back here soon. have a great night and a great week. thanks a lot. good morning. thanks so much for being with us on this "american morning." it's monday, it's the 4th of october. i'm kiran chetry. >> happy monday. great to be here again. >> happy monday. your binder's on my side of the desk. >> i'm ali velshi, the new guy, john roberts is off today. an alert from the british following a weekend warning from the state department that there's a high threat of a terrorist attack overseas. we've got new information this morning about the potential ta