i want to get you up to speed for this friday, december 2nd. going to begin with encouraging news about the job market. the unemployment rate drops to its lowest level since marv 2009. that's according to november jobs report that was released just earlier today. the labor department says employers added 120,000 jobs last month. so the unemployment rate fell to 8.6%. much more ahead on the numbers and what that means for you. this better than expected jobs report, welcome news on wall street as you can imagine. the dow climbed more than 80 points in early trading. right now it is up 92 points. investors are also on at tht opc that it is on the right track. merkel reaffirmed her confidence. we expect to hear from president obama about the drop in the jobless rate just minutes from now. the president is also going to be outlining a plan to upgrade

buildings, make them more energy efficient. the administration says it will create tens of thousands of construction jobs. the president speaking about 11:10 eastern. we'll take you there live. senators trying to figure out a compromise today to extend the payroll tax cut in 2012. here's what happened. a senate blocked both democratic and republican plans last night. what's the big hang up? how to pay for an extension. without one the white house says the typical middle class family will pay 1500 more next year. herman cain will sit down with his wife. another woman, ginger white, claims she had a 13-year affair with cain something he adamantly denies. he now admits that he gave money to white but he never told his wife. >> my wife did not know about it, and that was the revelation and the surprise that my wife

found out about it when she went public with it. >> her text messages to me were asking for financial assistance because she was out of work, had trouble paying her bills, and had i known her as a friend. she wasn't the only friend that i had helped in these tough economic times. >> cane says that white sent him about 70 text messages in october and november asking to help pay for her bills. he wouldn't say how much he actually gave her. there are new developments in the suspected hazing death of a florida a&m drum major last month. we are hearing a 911 tape of robert champion's bandmates desperately calling for help when they realized he wasn't breathing. >> are you with the person right now? >> well, i'm outside the bus so i can hear you. >> okay. so he's inside the bus. >> yes, he's inside the bus. >> okay. how old is he? >> he is 25.

>> okay. is he awake? >> he wasn't responding. we thought he was breathing. he was making noises. i don't even know if he's breathing now. >> is he awake? do you know? >> his eyes are open. he's not responding. >> okay. but is he breathing? >> i have no idea. i cannot tell you that. >> okay. >> he just threw up. >> he just threw up? >> yeah. >> okay. well, like i said, i do already have help on the way. i want you to keep -- was he like shaking or anything like that prior to that. >> no, he wasn't. he wasn't shaking. >> the school has fired the band director, expelled four students. champion's family is planning to sue florida a. and mmpt for his death. there is a state of emergency in los angeles county after powerful winds blue down trees and power lines. they're known as santa ana winds and they've been hitting parts of southern california, arizona,

as well as utah. some places were 140 miles an hour. that's as strong as a major hurricane. in los angeles county more than 100,000 people lost power at one point. so, it's not quite the new coke debacle. when will coca-cola learn, don't mess with a classic. the company is pulling this year's coke can with the holiday design. why? soda drinkers are confusing the can's with diet coke. traditional red holiday cans are back in the stores. here's a gift idea for the holidays. you better have a lot of money to do this, right? i don't think i could do this. the late elizabeth taylor's jewelry and fashion collection soon will be on the auction block at kristie's in new york. one of the most glamorous pieces, 33 kairt diamond taylor got as a gift. the items will be on display beginning tomorrow and the auction starts december 13th. more on the top story.

an unexpected drop in the unemployment rate. the jobless rate fell to 8.6% in november. take a closer look at what the story is behind the numbers. alison kosik from the new york stock exchange. when you look at this, it sounds pretty good. is wall street responding? >> wall street is responding. you see all the major averages in the green. suzanne, traders are telling me this was a pleasant surprise. then you look at how the market was doing even before this jobs report was going out. you see it was higher anyway. a few other things are happening as well. germany is pushing for more concrete action to fix europe's debt problems. analysts are saying what you're seeing play out in the markets is this lingering feel-good feeling from the central bank's move that happened on wednesday to boost liquidity. the jobs picture, yes, that is playing a role in today's numbers as well. the report beating expectations, especially that unemployment rate dropping to its lowest level in almost three years. >> alison, tell us a little bit about this.

you have this dip in the unemployment rate. do we think that this is going to last or is it going to go up, down? how do we know this is the real deal? >> what i can tell you is don't be surprised if the unemployment rate rises next month. all you have to do is look behind the headline. it answers why. the labor force, it got smaller in november. what that means is people dropped out of the labor force. they stopped looking for work. they got frustrated and said, forget t i'm not doing it anymore. that is most likely the biggest reason for the big drop in the unemployment rate. people leaving the labor market. also they could be finding temporary work. we're knee deep in the holiday shopping season. retailers add on more workers temporarily. then you flip that coin over and the report shows that the economy also gained a lot more jobs in september and october than originally reported. 72,000 more. the other answer is people may be finding full-time jobs. >> where would those jobs be?

what sectors are adding jobs. >> the big winner in this job report is retail, although holiday hiring once again is a big factor. professional services, talking about accounting position, architecture, legal services. you saw additions there. there were also job additions in education, health care, leisure, and hospitality. mostly at restaurants. then you look at the big losers where the job cuts happened. those job cuts happened in local and state governments and construction. that's a sign of the economy. the states across the country, they continue to deal with these budget problems. making cuts. with construction that's largely tied to the housing market which has yet to fully recover, if at all. the good news, suzanne, i want to leave you with a nugget of good news. all of these were in the private sector. that's what's important. that's the engine of growth for our economy. >> leaving with us a little bit of good news. we like that. thank you. we're just minutes away from

remarks by president obama. he is pushing an energy initiative that's expected to create construction jobs. that is at least the hope. also, tapes just released show the critical moments of the stage collapse at an indiana state fair. >> state police, we're talking about 30 minutes or less before weather. amazing pictures. plus looking at the government see seizing a lot of property in the pursuit of justice. you'll meet a cnn top ten hero who finds wheelchairs for people who can't afford them. [ mom ] scooter? your father loves

your new progresso rich & hearty steak burger soup. [ dad ] i love this new soup. it's his two favorite things in one... burgers and soup. did you hear him honey? burgers and soup. love you. they're cute. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. yeah, i toog nyguil bud i'm stild stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your stuffy nose. [ deep breath ] thank you! that's the cold truth!

[♪...] >> announcer: now get a $250 airfare credit, plus save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. certain restrictions apply.

we're getting new insight today into what happened during the deadly stage collapse at indiana state fair back in august. cnn affiliate wthr has obtained audio tapes of emergency responders. christine romans has more on the chaos and confusion that happened that day. >> all units, all units, severe thunder storm warning until 9:45 for marion county. use your best judgment. find shelter when needed. >> reporter: that state police radio call came five minutes before disaster struck. dispatchers expressing concern for a swelling crowd of sugar land fans. >> have they released fans from the grandstands yet. >> i have no information on that. i will check and advise. >> reporter: turns out, there wouldn't be enough time. within three minutes of that

radio call, all held broke loose. >> the stage has collapsed. >> the grandstands are gone. grandstands e.m.s., i'm calling a mass casualty. >> reporter: this 11-page fire department post incident report was obtained. the city of indianapolis has blacked out the findings because of a possible lawsuit. here's what's clear from the dispatch tapes. in the moments after the stage collapse there was no clear disaster plan in place. ambulance wrs challenged getting into the fairgrounds and getting out. >> i have 13 and 27 in route, 20, 24, 31 and 61 are on property. they're trying to make their way to the grandstands and meeting gridlock. >> reporter: the scene was so chaotic one ambulance had two injured patients but no one could find the driver. >> trying to locate the drivers now.

loaded and ready. >> give me an update. we're running into is we have multiple people that are just taking off with the patients. we're having a hard time controlling getting any trucks down here closer to the stage. it would be good. we need to rethink our strategy. it's not working. we need to get the trucks down here. start working the medical scene and get patients out of here. do what we have to do. have state police open up the line. we need to get the trucks down here. we can't keep having the patients dragged across the pavement up to you. >> i'm out of transport units. they're continuing to scrounge. >> what kind of plan do you have? we're going to critical. patients are going from yellow to red. going into shock. >> seven people were killed in that stage collapse. more than 40 others were hurt. sugarland was named in a lawsuit. the suit alleges breach of reasonable care. cnn has reached out to indiana

state police for a comment. we are waiting to hear back from them. i want to ask our own chad myers about this. the lag time between those warnings that folks got and then when that stage collapsed. is that typical? how did that actually happen where they just had three minutes? >> the warning went out ten minutes ahead. there was some type of a lag between when the weather service put out the warning and when the announcement was put out. at that point in time the winds were coming down the grandstand. there seems to be a funneling effect. the warning was for that county. it was for this area. i think although it's going to take seven deaths to get this fixed, this won't happen again. people will realize that these stages are temporary facilities. they're not made to withstand hurricane force winds. when that warning was put out, even to the people in the stands, i listened word for word, we are going to continue the concert. don't worry. get out of the way. that was three minutes ahead. you can't get rid of that many people that were sitting there. that's a racetrack where they were sitting.

that's where the stage collapsed. there was so much weight on top of that stage that it literally came down. minute by minute by minute it was critical. another thing, let's go to this graphic. i'll show you what's going on. the storm and the watches were all issued. everything was right. everything was put out. watches were issued at 6:00, three hours before this. this is what the radar looked like. the rain and thunder storm activity wasn't to that purple dot yet. this was a gust front. this was wind out ahead of a thunder storm. that wind was not forecast very well so this storm arrived 15 minutes, the wind arrived 15 minutes before the rain. they were auto dialled. the watch was issued. top line 8:39. 8:49 the stage collapsed. >> we've got some rough weather on the west coast. >> i've been talking about wind. santa ana has been a critical day yesterday. today also. winds are coming out of the

mountains, right into l.a. again. winds are almost 80 miles per hour. at the time there are 225,000 customers without power in l.a. the peak wind today is 50. the peak wind tomorrow is 40. then it's over as it all moves away. thank you, chad. bernie madoff's beach house to ann hathaway's jewelry, the u.s. government making big bucks auctioning off goods. i can't wait to take 'em out, throw 'em away and never see them again. [ male announcer ] know the feeling? get the contacts you've got to see to believe. acuvue® oasys brand contact lenses with hydraclear® plus technology, keeping your eyes exceptionally comfortable all day long. it feels like it disappeared on my eye. [ male announcer ] discover why it's the brand eye doctors trust most for comfort. if you have astigmatism, there's an acuvue® oasys lens for that too, realigning naturally with every blink. ask your doctor for acuvue® oasys brand.

we're waiting comments from president obama. you're looking at live pictures now. this is sat a sight in northwest washington. the president will be announcing a proposal here, some $4 billion of federal aid as well as private sector money to help make buildings more energy efficient. it will create tens of thousands of jobs in the next few years. times are tough, but the government is bringing in big bucks by auctioning off seized property. deb farek has the story. >> reporter: name any luxury item, yanks, mansions, art collections, race cars, diamonds, even ancient artifacts, chances are the u.s.

government likely owns it. that's right, your government. it's all legal. in fact, it's justice. >> whether they're narcotics traffickers, arms traffickers, terrorists, publicly corrupt officials or your standard securities fraudsters, in every single type of case that we bring we try to make sure that we are looking at ways in which we can take the profit out of the crime and to return money to the victims. >> reporter: it's called asset forfeiture. this year alone the justice department made $1.6 billion seizing property. almost half of that money, $800 million came from cases prosecuted in new york's southern district. >> in the last fiscal year alone we have managed to bring in through the concept of forfeiture approximately $800 million in funds or property which is about 16 times what our annual operating budget is which i believe is better than most hedge funds these days. >> reporter: prosecutions of white collar crimes, ponzi

schemes and phi national fraud are at an all time high. >> reporter: the cases, bernie madoff, are you ever surprised at what certain people own? do you think, oh, my god? >> you know, not much surprises us these days. oftentimes the motivation for engaging in some of this criminal conduct is greed. the fact that some these items are so big is a reflection of what the motivation was for engaging in those crimes in the first place. >> reporter: this is a small sample of what the government has now. want a bentley? like most everything here, these two will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. ponzi schemer bernie madoff's beach home sold for $9 million. jewelry given as a gift to ann hathaway, sold for more than 63 thousand dollars. >> some people may ask do you

ever think of the cases you're going to pursue based on the amount of money you'll bring in. >> no. we pursue cases to hold people accountable for their crimes. >> reporter: the $800 million will be distributed to victims and other law enforcement programs. next year will be an equally good year financially. with the government hiring freeze it will be a bit more challenging to keep up the current pace of these intensive investigations. deborah farek, cnn, new york. hiring is up. the unemployment rate is down. that's encouraging news from the november jobs report. what does it say about the overall economy? take a look at the story behind the numbers. rance. marjorie, you've had a policy with us for three years. it's been five years. five years. well, progressive gives megan discounts that you guys didn't. paperless, safe driver, and i get great service. meredith, what's shakin', bacon? they'll figure it out.

getting you the discounts you deserve. now, that's progressive. call or click today. even if you think you can live with your old mattress... ask me how i've never slept better... why not talk to one of the 6 million people who've switched to the most highly recommended bed in america. it's not a sealy, a simmons, or a serta... ask me about my tempur-pedic. ask me how i can finally sleep all night. ask me how great my back feels every morning. did you know there's a tempur-pedic for every body? tempur-pedic beds now come insoft...firm...and everything in-between... ask me how i don't wake up anymore when he comes to bed... these are real tempur-pedic owners...ask someone you know...check out twitter, or your friends on facebook... you'll hear it all...unedited! ask me how i wish i had done this sooner. ask me how this is the best investment i've ever made. tempur-pedic brand owners are more satisfied. than owners of any traditional mattress brand... to learn more, or find an authorized retailer near you visit tempur-pedic.com.

tempur-pedic the most highly recommended bed in america.

here's a rundown of some of the stories we are working on. the unemployment rate takes a big tumble in november. we'll ask an expert if the drop is real or just a fluke. then is siri against abortion? the iphone voice app clams up if you ask about the procedure. we get apple's response to that. at 11:45 eastern i'll talk with one of the top ten nominees for cnn hero of the year. robert saint dennis gives the

disabled the gift of mobility. the nation's unemployment rate dropped to the lowest level during november of since marv 2009. employers added 120,000 jobs last month. the unemployment rate dropped to 8.6%. joining us is georgia tech economics professor, thomas boston. good to see you. it's been a little while. what do you think this means, this report? what is the significance? >> well, if i were grading this report in my economics 101 class, one that everybody loves to hate. >> good way to put it. >> i would give it a grade of 75. there were some good things that happened and there's still some challenges. on the good side, of course, the headline is that the unemployment rate went down from 9% to 8.6%. we created jobs. so if you look at it overall, this is happening despite the

fact that we have all of this crisis in europe around the debt there and we haven't gotten a compromise over the debt here. there's still some investor uncertainty. there's a lot of growth despite all of that. fundamentally the economy is strong. those are the good points. >> now, for the bad stuff. okay. >> the bad stuff. it's not really bad, but there are some challenges. in other words, we created 120,000 jobs. we need about 200,000 jobs to really make a difference in the unemployment. even though the unemployment rate went down and there were close to 600,000 fewer people unemployed, about half that number comes from the fact that they dropped out of the labor market. they're not recorded in the unemployment figures. so that's why we have to temper the kind of joy that we see about the unemployment report. >> and what does this say about the state of the economy

overall? are things generally getting better now? >> things really are better. we are at a point where we can really make a difference and put all of the bad stuff behind us if we simply act on the signals that we're getting. in other words, the fact that there was this increase in spending over the holidays, the fact that corporations are experiencing record profits and ready to invest but still a bit uncertain, the fact that we've been able to move forward given all of the problems in europe. all of that means that we can actually grow very, very robustly. i think a part of that equation has to be congress has to stop playing political football with the economies. >> okay. we are going to go to a live event that's taking place. president obama is joined by former president bill clinton. they're talking about investing in making buildings more energy

efficient and that that would create, they say at least, tens of thousands of jobs in the construction industry. let's dip in and take a listen. danny, what do you make of the president's idea that if you invest, you take federal dollars and private sector money and you invest in making buildings more energy efficient? do you think that's enough to create the kinds of jobs he's talking about? tens of thousands? >> yeah, i think it is. i think it does a number of things. one is that it addresses the whole problem of the energy crisis we have on one hand. on the other hand, it's creating employment. any time that you have an expenditure of money, whether that comes from the private sector or the public sector, there's a multiplied effect. that effect generates more jobs.

let's take a listen. i understand former president bill clinton is speaking. >> jobs council on improving energy efficiency in buildings. i think he did it because of my own climate change project have been working on these kinds of things for several years now. i believe as strongly as i can say that this is good business, creates jobs, makes us more energy independent and fights climate change. it's the nearest thing we have to a free lunch in a tough economy because all of the savings can be paid back within a reasonable amount of time -- i mean all of the costs of construction through lower utility bills. we've been working on that. the president has an announcement to make about that today. i just want to say how grateful i am to rich trumkil, randy

wooingarten for the work the labor has done in putting up the pension funds from california, some other funds they have to actually invest their own money gambling that they can get a reasonable return in putting people to work. i appreciate the support that tom has given to this because there are a lot of construction firms that will lose really skilled, gifted workers if they can't find something to do. there's not a big demand for new buildings today. therefore, the best opportunity to preserve and rebuild this sector is through greater energy efficiency. i want to thank all the people who have been involved in this. mr. president, i just want to say how grateful i am for the meeting we just attended. the president's jobs council and economic team have put together a meeting that we were present at with nearly 50 people there.

he'll tell you what they said they would do, but i hate to sound like a broken record. we could create an almost unlimited number of jobs out of this, even in this lousy economy, even with all of this embedded mortgage crisis if we can work out the financing. i am grateful to be able to support this, to offer the continued effort of our climate change project and the clinton global initiative to help the partners we have that are involved in this and anybody else that wants it. i'm especially grateful that the president didn't let this fall through the cracks. i haven't been in that job for a long time, and i'm getting older but i have some memory left, and a thousand people ask you to do a thousand things. one of the tests of whether things work out or not since you

can't do all 1,000 is whether you can actually set up a process to do things and follow up, and i am full of gratitude and praise, mr. president, for you and your whole team. not just for your commitment to green energy, but for your commitment to energy efficiency which gives you on buildings like this, averages 7,0$7,000 j for every billion invested. by far the greatest bang for the buck of any available investment i know. thank you tom, ricky, randy. mr. president, thank you for giving me a chance to work on this. >> good morning, everybody. i want to first of all thank randy and tom for their participation. i am thrilled that president clinton has been willing to take this on. as he pointed out, partly thanks to me he's home alone too often.

this has been a passion for him for quite some time so i am very grateful for his involvement. i thank everybody at trans western, all the folks who are participating here for giving us this remarkable tour. there are the equivalent of 250 full-time workers as a consequence of the project that's taking place here. it is a win for the business owners, it is a win for the tenants of this building, it is a win for the construction workers who are participating and for the property manager that's doing such a great job. so this is a great example of what's possible. as president, my most pressing challenge is doing everything i can every single day to get this economy growing faster and create more jobs.

this morning we learned that our economy added another 140,000 private sector jobs in november. the unemployment rate went down. and despite some strong head winds this year, the american economy has now created in the private sector jobs for the past 21 months in a row. that's nearly 3 million new jobs in all and more than half a million over the last four months. so we need to keep that growth going. right now that means congress needs to extend the payroll tax cut for working americans for another year. congress needs to renew unemployment insurance for americans who are still out there pounding the pavement looking for work. failure to take either of these steps would be a significant blow to our economy. it would take money out of the pocket of americans who are most likely to spend it and it would harm small businesses that depend on the spending. it would be a bad idea.

i think it's worth noting, by the way, i notice that some folks on the other side have been quoting president clinton about it's a bad idea to raise taxes during tough economic times. that's precisely why i sought to extend the payroll tax this year and next year. it doesn't mean that we locked in tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. i don't think president clinton's been on board for that for perp pe duty, but just thought that might be worth mentioning. that's why it's so disappointing last night, by the way, that senate republicans voted to block that payroll tax cut. that effectively would raise taxes on nearly 160 million hard working americans because they didn't want to ask a few hundred

thousand of the wealthiest americans to get the economy growing faster. i think that's unacceptable. we're going to keep pushing congress to make this happen. now is not the time to slam the brakes on the recovery. right now it's time to step on the gas. we need to get this done, and i expect that it's going to get done before congress leaves, otherwise, congress may not be leaving. we can all spend christmas here together. now, our longer-term challenge is rebuilding an economy where hard work is valued and responsibility is rewarded and the middle class and folks who are trying to get into the middle class regain some security. an economy that's built to compete with the rest of the world and an economy that's built to last. that's why we're here today in a place where clearly there is some building going on. president clinton, leaders of business, leaders of labor, we're all here to announce some

new steps that are going to create good jobs rebuilding america. this building is in the middle of a retrofitting project to make it more energy efficient. already this retrofit is saving this building $200,000 a year on its energy bills. when it's finished it will have created 250 full-time jobs in construction here in this building. consider president clinton's coming down from new york, the fact that the owners of the empire state building did the same thing. they are retrofitting that iconic landmark from top to bottom. it's a big investment, but it will pay for itself by saving them $4.4 million a year in energy costs. it's estimated that all the retrofitting that they're doing will pay for itself in about 4.5 years. making our buildings more energy

efficient is one of the fastest, easiest, and cheapest ways for us to create jobs, save money, and cut down on harmful pollution. it is a trifecta, which is why you've got labor and business behind it. it could save our businesses up to $40 billion a year on their energy bills. money better spent growing and hiring new workers. it would boost manufacturing of energy efficient materials. when millions of construction workers have found themselves out of work since the housing bubble burst, it will put them back to work doing the work that america needs done. so this is an idea whose time has come. that's why in february i announced the better buildings initiative. it's an ambitious plan to improve the energy efficiency of america's commercial buildings 20% by the year 2020.

i asked president clinton and my jobs council to challenge the private sector as part of the initiative to step up, make these cost-saving investments and prove that it works so that other companies follow their lead. now i believe that if you're willing to put people to work making your buildings more efficient, america should provide you some incentives to do so. that's something that would require congressal action, and we have asked congress to work with us to move on providing more effective incentives for commercial building owners all across the country to move forward on these energy efficient steps. we can't wait for congress to act. if they won't act, i will. which is why today i'm directing all federal agencies, all federal agencies to make at least $2 billion worth of energy efficiency upgrades over the next two years. none of these upgrades will

require taxpayer money to get them going. we're going tose performance-based contracts that use savings on energy and utility bills to pay the contractors to do the work. it should keep construction workers pretty busy. in fact, this is something that the chamber of commerce has said is critical to private sector job creation. the private sector and community leaders are also stepping up to the plate alongside the federal government. president clinton and the clinton global initiative have been tremendous partners in rallying to get them to join this effort. in june at cgi america we announced initial commitments of $500 million to upgreat 300 million square feet of building space. some projects are already underway. the good news is today we can announce that we're going even bigger. we've received larger commitments. we now have 60 major companies,

universities, labor unions, hospitals, cities and states, and they're stepping up with nearly $2 billion in financing to upgrade an additional 1.6 billion square feet of commercial and industrial space by our target year of 2020. that's more than 500 empire state buildings. i just had a chance, along with president clinton, to meet with representatives of these 60 institutions that are involved and hear firsthand how they can put americans back to work but also improve their bottom lines. so you've got companies like best buy, wall greens that are going to upgrade store lighting which will save them money. you have manufacturers like alcoa that will make their manufacturing plants more efficient dramatically reducing their operating costs which means they can compete more effectively all around the world. you've got property management companies that are upgrading their buildings to make the real estate portfolios more

attractive to businesses. one is already upgrading 40,000 units of military housing all across the country which will give our military families lower utility bills and a higher quality of life and all of this will create jobs. over the past decade we've seen what happens if we don't make investments like these. we've seen what happens when we don't come together for a common purpose. wages flat line, incomes fall, employment stalls and we lose our competitive edge. we've also seen what happens when we do what's right. when bill clinton was president we didn't short-change investment, we didn't say we're going to cut back on the things that we know are going to help us grow in the future, we didn't make decisions that put the burden on the middle class or the poor. we lived within our means. we invested in our future. we asked everybody to pay their fair share. you know what happened? the private sector thrived, jobs

were created, middle class grew, millions came out of poverty. we were on track to be able to pay off all of our debt. we're firing on all cylinders. we can be that nation again. that's our goal. we will be that nation again. we're going to have to fight for it. listening to president obama. his plan, $4 billion plan to invest in buildings making them more energy efficient. it will create tens of thousands of new jobs in the construction industry. danny boston joining us here. danny, first of all i thought it was interesting what president clinton said. this is the closest thing to a free lunch during tough economic times if you can get the financing. that's a big if. how real is this proposal? >> it is, but if you think about the benefits attached to the proposal, they're really many

because on the one hand you're dealing with the issue of energy efficiency. that lowers the cost of gas at the pump. secondly, by companies becoming more energy efficient, they become more productive. that increases profitability. thirdly, particularly when you're retrofitting buildings, you are using construction workers and that increases employment. so you have a stimulus that, in fact, comes as close as you can get to a free lunch. not a free lunch, it costs, but it does get close to that. so that's even better. as much as we need to invest in infrastructure because of the long-run benefits, this is even better because you have those short run and long-run benefits and it's not as capital intensive. that is, you use labor and that reduces unemployment. >> all right. i'm going to bring in paul steinhauser, deputy political director in washington. paul, we heard from the president. the job numbers, what do we suspect?

will they help him keep his job in snoef how important is that number today? >> that number is very important. suzanne, we always talk about this. the economy the number one issue with americans. been that way since december 2007. what is the most important economic minds with voters, jobs, jobs, jobs. yes, you heard the president commenting on the economic numbers and talking about them. saying more needs to be done. they were just making a pitch to continue extending unemployment benefits and also pass the payroll tax for middle class americans that he wants to be done. he's saying good news here with the unemployment numbers, but more needs to be done. as you can imagine, republicans would like to have his job in the white house criticizing him. mitt romney did that this morning. today's unemployment numbers bring to 34 months the number of months that the unemployment has been over 8%. the obama administration may have come to accept such a high level of joblessness as the new normal. i will never accept that.

suzanne, good numbers for the president. a long way away from the election next year. yes, a lot more needs to be done. we look at these numbers every month. >> paul, i don't suppose it hurts him to be having him be next to former president bill clinton when the times were really good. everybody was thriving. clearly he wants to make that connection. we'll have more after the break. [ female announcer ] lactaid milk is easy to digest. it's real milk full of calcium and vitamin d. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance...

lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk. ♪

♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of a pain free holiday. ♪ this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills. shouldn't it be given in an amazing way? ♪ the lexus december to remember sales event is here, but only for a limited time. see your lexus dealer. fantastic! [ man ] pro-gresso they fit! okay-y... okay??? i've been eating progresso and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less.

each week we profile someone who's accomplished something remarkable. despite having to overcome major obstacles. well, today's "human factor," dr. sanjay gupta introduces us to don wright. he refuses to let cancer get in the way of his passion for running marathons. >> reporter: don wright's career spanned engineering, being a company vice president, and the law. and at age 62 he discovered a new passion -- marathons. eight years ago just days after running his first 26-mile race though, he got some devastating news. >> i had gone to the doctor a couple of times for pain in my back. it was multiple myeloma. >> reporter: this is a cancer of the blood where the white blood cells invade the bone marrow causing pain, usually in the

back or the ribs, and patients are rarely cured. but wright refused to let that slow him down. even qualifying for the boston marathon. >> i got this devastating diagnosis and we just -- my family and i, we just kept on going. you know? there wasn't any reason to stop and be sorry. you know? we kept running mamarathons. >> reporter: incredibly now in the last eight years wright who's now 70 has run 60 marathons in 41 states and his wife and daughter have been by his side for most of them. his goal is to run a marathon in every state. >> finally after boston we started to pick off states. never imagining -- well imagining, yes, but never expecting to be able to finish out 50. now i'm really hoping for it. >> reporter: never expected that he could fulfill his dream because the median survival for his cancer is just five years. he's had a number of treatments that failed. for the last three years

wright's taken an experimental drug. it is just one pill at night and it's kept the cancer at bay. >> it doesn't cure the cancer. but it keeps it stable so it is not hurting me and i can still run. and i can still enjoy life and i'm riding that for all it's worth. >> reporter: he has advice to others facing what seem like insur moui insurmountable odds. take charge of your own destiny and never give up hope. dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting.

all year we've been introducing you to every day folks who are changing the world. we call them cnn heroes. i want to introduce you to one of the top ten cnn heroes for 2011. since 2008 richard st. dennis and his organization world access project have provided hundreds of wheelchairs to people who can't afford them in rural mexico. richard is joining us via

skype -- or by phone? by phone. congratulations, richard, for the amazing work that you do. top ten cnn heroes already, giving wheelchairs to those who can't afford them. what does that mean to folks there? >> there is a lot of people that can't go anywhere, they can't walk and they have no wheelchair. so it is an amazing opportunity to help people's lives and give them a new opportunity to do things that they wouldn't be able to do otherwise. >> being made a top ten hero, what is this going to mean for your world access project? >> well, we're hoping it means a lot more connections with other groups, with other organizations that we can get good quality used chairs from the united states that we can get down here around get even more wheelchairs to people -- i think there's tens of thousands of people who

need whooil wheeelchairs still. >> richard, thank you so much. congratulations already for being named in the top ten. see the top ten cnn heroes and their causes, sunday evening 8:00 eastern. an all-star tribute. having triplets is such a blessing. not financially. so we switched to the bargain detergent, but i found myself using three times more than you're supposed to and the clothes still weren't as clean as with tide. so we're back to tide. they're cuter in clean clothes. thanks, honey. yeah. you suck at folding. [ laughs ] [ female announcer ] just one cap of tide plus bleach gives you more cleaning power than six caps of the bargain brand. visit facebook.com/tide to learn about special offers.

that's my tide. what's yours? it's easy to see what subaru owners care about. that's why we created the share the love event. get a great deal on a new subaru and $250 goes to your choice of 5 charities. with your help, we can reach $20 million dollars by the end of this, our fourth year. there's no time like the present to consider all your health insurance options. does medicare alone meet your needs? would additional coverage be better for you? well, now is a good time to take a look at an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. get started by calling for your free information kit and guide to medicare.

as you probably know, medicare only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. a medicare supplement insurance plan helps cover some of it. that could save you up to thousands of dollars a year in out-of-pocket costs. and you can visit any doctor who accepts medicare patients. with medicare supplement insurance, you'll find a range of plans to choose from to fit your needs and budget. there are no networks. no referrals to see a specialist. and you could get a pretty good idea what your out-of-pocket costs will be every month. plus, these plans travel with you anywhere in the u.s. don't let this time go by without considering if an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan is right for you. it's as easy as a phone call. rates are competitive. and these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans exclusively endorsed by aarp. remember, medicare doesn't cover everything. medicare supplement insurance plans

help pay for some of the rest. you could save up to thousands of dollars a year in out-of-pocket costs. and you can choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan could be an option to get the coverage you need at a competitive rate. so don't wait another minute. be sure to call today. call now for your free medicare guide and information kit about aarp medicare supplement insurance plans, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. top of the hour. i'm suzanne malveaux. want to get you up to speed. we begin with encouraging news about the job market. the unemployment rate dropped to its lowest level since march of 2009. the labor department says employers added 120,000 jobs

last month. the unemployment rate fell to 8.6%. better than expected report was welcome news on wall street. the dow climbed more than 80 points in early trading. right now it is up by 32 points. president obama says his latest initiative is going to put thousands of americans back to work. he brought former president bill clinton with him to a construction site in d.c. where he announced $4 billion for energy saving renovations at federal as well as private buildings. now the president also ripped the senate which blocked an extension of the payroll tax cut that happened last night. >> now's not the time to slam the brakes on the recovery. right now it is time to step on the gas. we need to get this done and i expect that it is going to get done before congress leaves. otherwise, congress may not be leaving and we can all spend christmas here together. >> sounds like a threat.

if the payroll tax cut is to survive past december 31st, senators from both parties are going to have to compromise. there are now new developments in the suspected hazing death of a florida a&m drug major last night. this is a 911 tape of his band mate desperately calling for help when they realized he wasn't breathing. >> are you with the person right now? >> i'm outside the bus so i can hear you. >> okay, so he's inside the bus? >> yeah, he's inside the bus. >> how old is he? >> he is 25. >> is he awake? >> he is not even -- he wasn't responding. we thought he was breathing because he was making noises but i don't even know if he's breathing now. >> is he awake? >> his eyes are open. he's not responding. >> okay. but is he breathing? >> i have no idea. i cannot tell you that. >> okay. >> he just threw up. >> he just threw up? >> yes.

>> okay. well like i said, help is on the way. was he like shaking or anything like that prior to this? >> no. he wasn't shaking. >> the school has fired the band director and expelled four students. champion's family is planning to sue florida a&m for his death. unbelievable pictures. we're getting new insight today into what happened during that deadly stage collapse at indiana state fair back in august. cnn affiliate wthr has obtained audiotapes of emergency responders. now that storm hit within three minutes of a police radio call and then the stage collapsed. >> the stage just collapsed! >> the stage has collapsed. control, grandstand, ems, the grandstands are gone. fire control to gran stand ems,

i'm calling a mass casualty. >> seven people were killed in the collapse and dozens more were hurt. herman cain is sitting down with his wife this weekend to decide whether he's going to end his presidential bid. another woman, ginger white, rocked the campaign this week when she claimed she had a 13-year affair with cain. he denies they were anything more than friends but cain does admit he gave white money to help her out of a bind and he never told his wife. >> it may appear now that why didn't i tell her about this when it was going on. you're absolutely right. >> in retrospect. >> in retrospect. but retrospect doesn't necessarily change what we're dealing with -- >> your wife knew that you were friends anyway. >> she did not know we were friend. until she came out with this story. >> in a few minutes i'm going to talk to our senior political editor mark preston about cain's decision and the role of family in presidential campaigns. country music star is now accused of stealing her own son.

authorities say mindy mckreedy refused to return her child to authorities despite a court order to do so last week. the musician who struggled with drugs in the past does not have legal custody of the 5-year-old. a florida judge has now signed an emergency police pick-up order for the boy. parts of the west coast look like they have been hit by a hurricane. powerful winds known as santa ana winds have caused damage in southern california. they're also hitting parts of arizona and utah and in some places they are as strong as 140 miles an hour. >> sounds like hurricanes. they're scary around we couldn't sleep. >> i was listening to my little radio and all of a sudden, bam! >> wow. want to bring in chad meyers. chadding wi you are tracking all of these powerful winds. >> it came out of high pressure in the great basin by salt lake city and a low pressure that

went south near l.a. that high and low going from high pressure to low pressure will make significantly more wind. that's what we had. now we can't call the santa ana wind in utah because it came from northern utah. but it doesn't matter what you call it. these winds were 100 miles per hour. we have damage now in an area the size of pennsylvania out to the west. all the way from bountiful, utah all the way down to las vegas and even some sports here, mammoth lake, california had a gust to 150. they measured it, it was 140-mile-per-hour sustained winds. you have to understand, think about a speedometer on your car. you'd never know if you could go 220 because it doesn't go that far. the meter peaked out at 150 because that was the end of the scale. the wind gust leer at 150 may have been higher than that. centerville, utah, 102. wlit ker peak, 97 miles per hour. we get another round of wind for sunday. right now winds are 40 to 60-mile-per-hour gusts. even today with critical wind conditions, i don't think we'll

see wind over 40. it slacks off tonight. we get a decent slack-off tomorrow. but two things happen. the storm moves to the east and it will make snow in the plains. a lot of it. even in parts of oklahoma. this is for saturday. as the storm goes by. but then on sunday, believe this or not -- another storm comes in to the great basin and it will make winds again. the winds for next time probably 70 miles per hour. a problem we have right now is a lot of these branches are already broken waiting to come down with another wind gust and the wind gust is on its way. >> thank you, chad. ahead on rundown -- countries across the country are hungry for engineers but college students keep dropping out. also, a contentious ad campaign launched by the israeli government is upsetting american jews. then a frank discussion about political candidates and family values. and, a cnn correspondent looks back on his years covering the war in iraq. >> in the early part of the war,

we were able to travel what the military called unilateral. we'd go out, we'd do stories all over the country. that all changed in january of 2004, which is when we were attacked. we were down in a place called hi hilla an we were ambushed. finally, is your smartphone spying on you? we'll talk toen expert. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 there are atm fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 account service fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and the most dreaded fees of all, hidden fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, you won't pay fees on top of fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no monthly account service fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 no hidden fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and we rebate every atm fee. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck tdd# 1-800-345-2550 because when it comes to talking, there is no fee.

it's like having portable navigation. a bluetooth connection. a stolen vehicle locator. roadside assistance. and something that could help save your life - automatic help in a crash. it's the technology of five devices in one hard-working mirror. because life happens while you drive. this holiday, give someone you love an onstar fmv mirror for only 199. visit onstar.com for retailers. you can't change the way banking works. just accept it, man. free ? doesn't close at five ? try nature.

it's a bank. what do you want, a hug ? just accept it. hidden fees, fine print, or they'll stick it to you some other way. stay with the herd, son. accept it. just accept it. accept it. just accept it. accept it. if we miss this movie, you're dead. if you're stuck accepting banking nonsense, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. [ male announcer ] shopping for medicare coverage? the annual enrollment period ends december 7th. now is the time to take action. call unitedhealthcare medicare solutions today. while millions of americans are looking for work, one profession can't find enough people to actually hire. we are talking about engineers. a lot of students start out majoring in engineering but they end up dropping out and switching majors. that story from poppy harlow. >> reporter: these machines are

moving more than dirt. they're moving jobs, too. entry level engineers here rake in $65,000 a year. companies from caterpillar to google are on the hunt for engineers. you were an engineering major here. >> yes. >> and then what? >> i was struggling in the program so i decided to study something different. and right now i'm majoring in public relation advertising. >> reporter: here at city college of new york, only 35% of students who enter the engineering school graduate as engineers. with 9% unemployment and companies desperate to hire engineers, you'd think undergrads would be lining up to major in the sciences. but few are, and many who do are quitting them. >> i needed to raise my gpa to stay in the school and that's what i did so i left. >> reporter: selena has dreamed of being a signist since she was a young girl. >> about two-thirds drop out. that was actually my experience with my friends.

we started together as freshman, they switch out as a major. >> reporter: but city college is not alone. it is a national any phenomenon. 22% of students choose a stem major at some point in their college career. but only 14% finish school in a stem major. >> after finishing the assignments, you have to put in extra work so it is like maybe eight hours a day extra. >> a lot of students don't realize how much work is required to really become an engineer. after admissions professors could also do a better job of making a case if this is something you want do. >> reporter: but many say they enter college ill prepared. >> in high school i took a lot of calculus and physics and chemistry courses so it was something i was interested in. throughout my first couple semesters i was struggling with the math and sciences. >> reporter: but here at columbia, 96% of students that enter engineering graduate as engineers. >> i believe -- and a lot of people in our school believe --

that engineering is the liberal arts of the 21st century. >> reporter: the engineering dean at columbia university attributes its success to a more practical approach. >> whether you go to school and all you see is differential equations and you don't see the application of that differential equation or how it can transform into a real application of a bridge or building, you start losing interest. >> why spend so much time studying. is it worth it? >> it is worth it. >> why? >> because you become more well rounded. you look at the world differently. >> poppy harlow joins us live. so poppy, i can't imagine what grade gpa i would have gotten if i tried to major in engineering. >> me, too. >> so you got to wonder. these students, it takes longer to graduate in engineering. they see their friends getting higher gpss with less work. i moan how do you buck that trend? >> you know, i don't know if you do other than telling these kids that this is where the jobs are right now. not only a job but a really good

paying job. it is a trend i saw in my very close friends in college. they were -- some were dropping out of engineering out of the sciences because they were getting half the gpa other people were getting with double the work. it is interesting, the associate dean at city college told me on this shoot, you know, there are a lot easier ways to get bachelor's degrees and then the dean at columbia said what we need right now -- this really stuck with me -- we need a sputnik moment. just like in the '60s when there was a big push into the hard sciences. there was a national drive. we don't have that now at all. but what we are seeing across the board and what gave us the idea to do this story, in part, was ceos telling me all the time in our interviews that they are hiring but that the people they are looking for aren't out there and those are engineers. >> all right. poppy harlow, thank you. appreciate it. hiring is up, the unemployment rate is down. in fact, it is at its lowest level in two years.

christine romans joins us from new york to break down the jobs report that we released today. how significant are the overall numbers that we actually saw the unemployment rate go down? >> suzanne, it shows you that there is hiring again, slow but steady hiring. within that unemployment rate of 8.6% there's something that economists call statistic noise. there's some reasons why that number fell so quickly so fast. there are people who dropped out of the labor market, women in particular are dropping out of the labor market and that helped lower that as well, fewer people to compete with the jobs lower the unemployment rate. these were the jobs created over the past year. we had some revisions in september and on the. 200,000 jobs were created in september. we didn't expect that. that was revised from i think almost half of that. october had about 100,000 jobs. here in november 120,000 jobs created. i want to show you what this looks like over the course of the president's administration, however. of course it is political, right? the white house says immediately this shows the labor market is healing, slowly healing after

the worst labor situation since the great depression. john boehner, the speaker of the house, said obama's policies are failing. the president's policies are failing and that for 34 months in a row we've had an unemployment rate above 8%. both of them, by the way, are right. both of those statements are correct. but this is when the president first took office. remember that, suzanne? every month we reported those huge job losses. then it was stop and go in 2010. remember we thought we had some early year strength because of census hiring. then suddenly, boom, you had losses again in the summer. then this is this year. you have consecutive months of jobs growth. not necessarily enough to really, really feel like this is a gangbusters economy -- i mean don't forget, you have an economic, quite frankly, that you've lost 8.8 million jobs and about one-third of those have come back, slowly but surely coming back. so there you go. >> thank you, christine. we appreciate that. the israeli government is urging its citizens not to marry

americans. we'll get to the bottom of this unusual advertising campaign with our guest. that up next. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. nyquil tylenol: we are?ylenol. you know we're kinda like twins. nyquil (stuffy): yeah, we both relieve coughs, sneezing, aches, fevers. tylenol: and i relieve nasal congestion. nyquil (stuffy): overachiever. anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't.

conscientious ad campaign aimed at israelis living in the united states is upsetting

american jews. sandra en ddo explains why. >> reporter: these ad running in the united states look warm and fuzzy but some jewish-americans say their message is offensive. like holocaust survivor thomas and his wife rachel, his wife of 55 years. it's part of a nearly $1 million campaign by the israeli government targeting israelis living in american cities with high jewish populations. in one ad it shows a young israeli woman whose boyfriend doesn't understand the somber meaning of israel's memorial day. >> what is this? >> reporter: the couple says the ad's message implies israelis could lose their identities without an israeli partner. >> if two people are attracted to each other, if their parents say don't do it, teachers say

don't do it, the government says don't do it, it doesn't matter. >> reporter: the head of the jewish federation of greater los angeles calls the ads insensitive. >> it felt like when you watched those commercials that israeli-jews and american-jews are basically people from different planets. >> reporter: the ministry's absorption in israeli which is responsible for promoting immigration to the company funded the ad campaign. a ministry spokesperson says it is surprised and shocked at the reaction to the ads in the u.s. if anyone is offend, we're sorry. we're not in the business of offending people. it isn't our business who an israeli should or could marry. this was taken wrongfully. while critics are calling the ads misguided, they understand the intention. >> israel always fights for its existence. a large number of israelis have gone and left israel. they would like as many of those israelis to come home. >> reporter: but this long-time los angeles resident says where you live doesn't define who you

are. >> that doesn't take away from my identity as an israeli. >> reporter: sandra endo, cnn, los angeles. >> so this ad campaign is raising a lot of eyebrows here in the united states. joining me from new york, a r b rabbi who sits on the new york board of rabbis. you see this campaign by israel's ministry for immigrant absorption. what do you make of this? >> well, i'm not going to defend it. i understand there are some people who look at the threat of simulation, say the best way to confront it is to withdraw, to retreat to a particular enclave. we've heard this that from countless communities over the years. the reality is that people make choices and they choose to live in israel. to try to separate the two from one another i don't think makes a whole lot of sense and ends up offending. i understand that the prime minister of israel's going to issue an apology as well.

this doesn't help us. with all of the problems that israel is facing, it doesn't need this to compound the issues. >> are you offended by these ads? what was your initial reaction when you saw this? >> i was shocked. i was surprised. but again, i deal with different kinds of communities and i know there are some people who say, look, we dilute our identity if we choose to live in a secular society. so it is best to stay in this area. don't leave the area. that way we strengthen ourselves. but it doesn't work. i think someone said years ago if theology and biology come into conflict, biology always seems to win. the reality is we have to live within society with one another and strengthen our identity within. it doesn't really help when you say young people, don't do this and don't do that. they're not going to associate. they're not going to come closer to religious identity, israeli identity, by this negative campaign.

>> it seems as if these ads question what it means to be jewish. because you're assimilated into american culture. how do you define what it means to be jewish? >> well, we've always -- we are still wrestling with that discussion after all these years. i think it means to be part of a people. because you have people who are religious people, who are not so religious, people who believe, who don't believe. there are different places on the religionus spectrum for practice. it is part of being a people. people think if you leave israel you'll lose your connection to peoplehood. what we're saying is we can strengthen it if we work together wherever we live. >> rabbi, do you think these ads are based on fear? do you see this as discriminatory? >> i see it based on -- look, you can't say it is discriminatory in the sense. israel welcomes cambodian refugees, sudanese refugees, it is an open society, but it is concerned about losing people to

the die. i think the apology is in place. i think we have to work together. work together to strengthen our communities, strengthen the synagogues, strengthen jewish centers, strengthen jewish camping, strengthen experiences where young people from america go to israel and people from israel come here and learn from us. it has to be a true partnership. >> rabbi, thank you very much. want to bring in the israeli ambassador to the united states, joining us now. we are just getting word that you brought this to the attention of the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, that these ads are actually going to be pulled? is that correct? when are they going to stop running? >> they're already pulled down, suzanne. they're gone. >> how did that happen? >> the billboards may take a little bit longer. >> can you tell us how that happened? who made that decision? >> well, the prime minister's office knew nothing about these

ads. they weren't brought to the prime minister's office for approval. we had no knowledge of them and as soon as they were brought to my attention, i brought it to the prime minister's attention this morning and he immediately ordered them brought down. now the ministry and immigration didn't act out of any malicious intent here. israel is a very small country, less than 8 million people. every single israel is precious to us. you saw that recently in the prisoner trade, one soldier was precious to us. the ministry absorption in a laudable fashion sought to try to encourage israelis to come home and it did not take into account sufficiently american-jewish sensibilities and as you heard people were offended and we regret that. that was not the intention. in fact prime minister netanyahu is deeply committed to strengthening ties with the american-jewish communities. he values those ties.

i myself was born in this country and i value those ties. >> what was the point of the ads in the first place? because you look at these ads and a lot of american-jews are looking at them quite puzzled and offended saying that this looks like they're saying they are not jewish enough for the israelis to marry and to be with. >> well, keep in mind the ads are in hebrew. they are aimed at israelis living in this country, not at american-jews. and it was designed to say you want to strengthen your family ties, come back to israel. again, it didn't take into account mesh-jewish sensibilities and we regret that and that's why they were taken down. but the purpose was not to offend. it was to bring israelis home because we greatly value their presence back in israel. >> how is it that the prime minister wasn't aware that this ministry, this immigration absorption group in the government, that he didn't know that was actually happening, that it took place. >> well, prime minister

netanyahu has a lot on this plate, as you know. we're in the middle of upheaval throughout the world. iranians developing nuclear weapons. threats on our borders. there are many things on his plate every day and he cannot be expected to be aware of every campaign going on. the ministry of immigration has in its charge, in its mandate to bring israelis home and has various funds available to make that happen. in this case, i think again that the campaign did not take into account sufficiently american-jewish sensibilities. we regret that. but we still are committed to trying to bring israelis back home and reuniting families. again, i know what it feels like. i have children living in israel. i'm serving here. i have family living in the united states. my parents, my sisters. so i know the value of the jewish people together understanding one another and committing to themselves, committing to one another as a people. >> all right, ambassador, thank you very much.

we'll leave it there. thank you, once again. it contains your passwords, your e-mails, pictures an your secrets. so imagine, if someone was spying on your smartphone, we'll tell you how to protect yourself from cellular. ing. nouncer ] does your prescription medication give you the burden of constipation? turn to senokot-s tablets. senokot-s has a natural vegetable laxative ingredient plus the comfort of a stool softener for gentle, overnight relief of occasional constipation. go to senokot-s.com for savings. long-lasting, too. yeah, i could really use this silverado. i'm a big hunter. oh, what do you hunt? deer. fish. fantastic. ♪ this holiday, chevy's giving more. now qualified buyers can get 0% apr for 72 months on a 2011 chevy silverado. or 0% apr financing for 60 months plus no monthly payments until spring. ♪

stories we're following. we'll tell you about a special program that records every key stroke you make on your smartphone. republican presidential candidates often talk about family values, right? but what do they really mean in the 2012 race? later, an alarming report about brain altering drugs given to children across america. so, is your smartphone spying on you? there is a controversy brewing right now about a program called carrier iq. it watches, records every key stroke. the worst part, it may very well

be installed on your phone without you even knowing about it. wired.com's john abel joins us via skype to talk to us about this. john, first of all, i got my phone here. what is this all about? how does this thing work? >> sure. well in a nutshell, carrier iq is a company which provides a piece of software to your phone company. the phone company ostensibly uses this to track network issues, we all know about dropped calls and lousy 3g service. this thing is supposed to report back from the wild so they can determine how to make your service better. what they are also doing is gathering some pretty sensitive information an passing that along. we don't know what that information is -- what purpose it is being put to, if any, but it is a pretty scary thought. >> how do i know if they're actually doing this with my phone? >> well, we don't know. the companies have said what they're saying, and that is

they're either not using the software or they're using it in a way that it is supposed to be used, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. but this is an issue now between wireless companies and their customers and their customers need to go to them directly and firmly and say, what is going on, what will be going on, what has been going on, explain this to me and stop the stuff that you shouldn't be doing. >> so is that the best way to protect yourself? is there anything you can really do to make sure this is not happening? >> the answer is -- not really. because it requires a certain amount of technical expertise. this is not an app you can just delete from your phone. it spills deep into the phone's operating software. you could if you knew what you were doing get at it but ironically that might void the warrantee on your phone. the issue is you have a relationship with these companies. they shouldn't be doing things potentially. they need to stop. you need to tell them that. the senate is getting involved. that's always an ugly thing when

it comes to commerce. so this is the way to deal with this problem. it is exposure, transparency and complaining. >> i'm sure a lot of people will be complaining about this one, thank you, john. >> yes. thank you. eight years and more than a dozen trips into the war zone. a veteran cnn reporter looks back at his time spent in iraq. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation, so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond.

but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. at liberty mutual, we know how much you count on your car and how much the people in your life count on you. that's why we offer accident forgiveness, man: good job. where your price won't increase due to your first accident. we also offer a hassle-free lifetime repair guarantee, where the repairs made on your car are guaranteed for life or they're on us. these are just two of the valuable features you can expect from liberty mutual. plus, when you insure both your home and car with us, it could save you time and money. at liberty mutual, we help you move on with your life. so get the insurance responsible drivers

like you deserve. looks really good. call us at... or visit your local liberty mutual office, where an agent can help you find the policy that's right for you. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

an historic moment in baghdad today as u.s. forces hand over control of camp victory to the iraqis. the base served as the u.s. military's headquarters for much of the war. this comes just weeks before american troops complete their withdrawal from iraq. more than eight years since the american invasion, iraq has

seen its share of triumph as well as tragedy. our cnn correspondent michael holmes shares some milestones. >> reporter: it's still, you know, resonates with me as a very big part of where i've been in the last eight or nine years. i look back on those photos now an remember what that was like. i was going on an average of twice a year for a month or six weeks at a time. initially this is like day one of the set-up. you see all the wires everywhere, people everywhere, plastic chairs. this was our live shot position. this was our first post combat bureau, if you like. we were a pretty tight-knit group. it is a bit of a club an anyone who was there at the time, you never forget it. in the early part of the war, we were able to travel what the

military called unilateral. we'd go out, we'd do stories all over the country. that all changed in january of 2004 which is when we were attack. we were down in a place called hilla and we were ambushed. it was just a horrible, horrible day because, two men were killed that day. that's when embedding with the military became almost the only real safe way or safer way of getting out of the city. in '06 and '07, too, there was this absolute explosion of sectarian violence where sunni militia and shia militia were killing each other by the dozens. here's the photograph. i turned the corner, there is a body in the street. it is a bizarre reality when you think about it that way. oh, there's a body. let the police know an we'll

keep on moving. for a while you were conditioned to be looking for suspicious packages. then for a whole period of the war you find you'd be always looking up and looking around and there's a photo of these guys, that's what they're doing. they're looking out at rooftops to look out for sniper activity. in '08 we did a patrol out in the western desert. this was a place that the u.s. military hadn't even been to before. we did find a couple of car bombs. these are all bits of shrapnel coming off it. in more recent years going back, things have eased. i remember last year for the first time for me since '04 we headed out of town. we went to diyala province on our own without the military, wandered around the marketplace with iraqi soldiers -- not americans -- and i got photographs of that walking around the marketplace. and that again just shows how overall things have settled down a lot. because the reality is in iraq now, are things better?

yeah, they are a lot better than they were in '06, '07, '08, '09. are they good? no, not really. you've still got an average of 14 attacks a day. got an infrastructure that's crumbled and still is not working well. until we have sewage, roads, electricity. influence of iran, the militias, the political power play. what will happen when the americans are all gone? what's going to happen then? there is so much that remains to be seen in this story. herman cain accused of having a long-term affair, says today he is discussing the accusations with his wife and family. we'll have more on future of his troubled campaign. but first, here's some free money advice from the cnn help desk. >> time for the help desk where we get answers to your financial questions. joining me this hour, jack otter, executive editor of cbsmoneywatch.com. donna is senior editor at "money" magazine. thank you both for being here.

nan in denver colorado asks -- nan and her husband are in their late 40s, $50,000 in car loans and credit card debt. they want to know should they take their money out of their 401(k)s to pay off all that debt, then re-invest it in a new 401(k). >> it sounds very tempting but it is never a good idea to take money out of your 401(k) to pay off debt and there is a good reason. the amount of money you can withdraw from your 401(k) is limited but if they actually cash all the money out they'll pay a 10% penalty and it end up a 35% tax hit. they surely aren't paying that much on their car loans and their credit cards. that said, there are other things they can do. one thing they might consider not -- stopping the contributions to their 401(k) right now. take that savings and apply it to paying down their debt. that's a smarter option. >> yeah, absolutely. your question, jack, comes from chris in minneapolis. i have so much credit card debt thatky not new credit cards or loans. his son is starting college next

year. he doesn't want his debt to hurt their ability to take out loans for school. he is asking if he should consider offering the credit card companies a settlement. >> couple of effects of this. first of all you will hurt your credit rating with a settlement. if you have a government subsidized college loan, say a stafford loan for students, they actually don't look at your credit rating so he'd be okay there. i think the bigger issue is if he's so maxed out on debt that he can't get a credit card, i want them to be really careful about borrowing more money for school. stick with the government subsidized loans. interest rates are lower. we did some math and they borrow $24,000 for college, that would be about $276 a month on a stafford loan. do they have the cash flow to pay for that? if so, maybe make that the upper limit. but think about strategies, go to community college for the first two, then transfer to state university for the last two. >> folks, if you have a question

you want sensed, send an e-mail any time to the help desk@cnn.com. this is $100,000. we asked total strangers to watch it for us. thank you so much, i appreciate it, i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. your new progresso rich & hearty steak burger soup. [ dad ] i love this new soup. it's his two favorite things in one... burgers and soup. did you hear him honey? burgers and soup. love you.

they're cute. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. why does my mouth feel dryer than i remember it to be? there are more people taking more medication, so we see people suffering from dry mouth more so. we may see more cavities, bad breath, oral irritation. a dry mouth sufferer doesn't have to suffer. i would recommend biotene. the enzymes in biotene products help supplement enzymes that are naturally in saliva. biotene helps moisten those areas that have become dry. those that are suffering can certainly benefit from biotene.

all right. so herman cain is holding a critical family meeting today. the outcome of this conversation could determine whether or not he continues his presidential campaign or he folds the tent. senior political editor mark preston joins us. so mark, you've got the scenario, right? where cain has to explain this woman ginger white to his wife gloria. pretend you're in the room. describe this conversation. how does this unfold? >> well certainly -- well, it would be interesting to be in the room. i'm mo sure if i would want to be in the room. you would hope at this point now, suzanne, that he has already explained this to his wife. this allegation came out late on monday afternoon, shortly after mr. cain gave an interview to wolf blitzer here where he tried to preempt the news by saying another allegation was coming out. but since monday he's been on campaign trail. he hasn't been home in metro atlanta. he will be in just a couple of hours. that's where his schedule will be taking him. however in previous interviews, suzanne, he has said he's spoken to his wife several times a day

an they have discussed it, although it is very interesting that we haven't seen his wife by his side all week especially in light of these allegations. however, we haven't seen her all campaign really. she just hasn't been there. she hasn't been part of the campaign so i can't imagine what's going to happen today when they actually meet face to face. >> mark, i understand that what cain has said is that he adamantly denies that this is an affair but he does acknowledge that he did give her money for rent and other various expenses. is that right? and that his wife is not aware of that? >> and his wife was not aware of that and he says he has done this for several different people, although it just seems -- there's something that doesn't seem to add up at this point, the fact that he had this relationship, this friendship with her. he says for 13 years. she says that it was sexual in nature. something doesn't seem to add up and this is what has been so damaging to his presidential campaign. because the fact of the matter is he has not done a very good job handling this, nor has his

campaign and not just on this issue but on sexual harassment allegations which are not related to the several of them that we heard just several weeks ago. so the fact that he has not handled this very well, suzanne, has really been a big part of the story. >> why do you suppose it is so important? how does family factor into this when it comes to republican voters? >> well, for voters just in general, but specifically when you look at the republican presidential primary in a state, let's say like iowa, just in the last hour rick perry has announced he is running a 30-second ad in iowa titled "faith." when you take faith and the whole idea of social conservative voters and morals and what have you, they play a big role in the republican presidential primary. certainly in the key early states such as iowa and south carolina. so if there's any question about someone's morals that can only be very damaging and we've seen that, suzanne, in the poll. herman cain who was polling very high just a few weeks ago is now plummeting. we've seen that in a new des moines register poll that's out

this morning. we've seen that in florida, another key state. >> mark, let's look at the candidate's first go-round. they got a chance to say a little bit about themselves at the start of the cnn new hampshire debate in june. here's how they define themselves. >> hello, i'm herman cain. i am not a poll tickets. i am a problem solver with over 40 years of bips and executive experience. father of two, grand father of three, and i'm here tonight because it's not about us, it's about those grandkids. >> hi. my name is michele bachmann. i'm a former federal tax litigation attorney. i'm a business woman. we started our own successful company. i'm also a member of the united states congress. i'm a wife of 33 years. i've had five children and we are the proud foster parents of 23 great children. >> i'm mitt romney and it is an an nor to be back at st. anslem.

hopefully i get it right this year. i have five sons, five daughters in law, 16 grandkids. >> i'm newt gingrich, former speaker of the house. and when 14 million americans are out of work, we need a new president to end the obama depression. >> all right. so you recognize the theme there, mark. 6 of the 8 talk about their families. we noticed newt gingrich did not. we know that previously he's had two affairs. now you have cain's alleged affair here. how do republicans square with this idea of family values or does it make a mockery of that very idea? >> i mean, look. we should point out, too, that president clinton had that incredible episode with an intern in the white house, suzanne. of course, john edwards when he was running for president was carrying on an affair. affairs aren't exclusive. however, some would say that the republican party, at least social conservative in the republican party, demand a little bit more of their candidates when it comes to moral issues.

now the difference between newt gingrich right now and herman cain is that newt gingrich has been pretty forthright about his past. he puts up on his website questions about his past, including the affairs. herman cain's is all fresh and new. that's why it is so damaging. >> very quick -- does his campaign survive the weekend? what do you think? >> he's not going to be the republican presidential nominee. i don't know how he su virvives that. if he was going to quit his campaign you'd have thought he'd done it by now but he's standing by his guns. it seems he wants to run. he's opening up his national headquarters in atlanta this weekend. >> we'll see if his wife stands by him as well. thank you, mark. appreciate it. a report shows that young kids are being prescribed drugs that alter the brain's chemistry at alarming rates and your tax dollars are paying for some of it.su nce.

marjorie, you've had a policy with us for three years. it's been five years. five years. well, progressive gives megan discounts that you guys didn't. paperless, safe driver, and i get great service. meredith, what's shakin', bacon? they'll figure it out. getting you the discounts you deserve. now, that's progressive. call or click today.

drugs that alter the brain's chemistry are being prescribed to kids at alarming rates and our tax dollars are now paying for it. a new government report found that foster care children are being prescribed drugs at a rate that's two to four times higher than other kids. in many cases the drugs aren't even approved for use in kids who are so young. elizabeth cohen joins us. what are we talking about? what kind of drugs here? >> i got to tell you, my heart just sank when i saw this report. when you see the drugs these kids are being prescribed in large numbers, way, way more often than non-foster kids, look at what kind of drugs. so these kids are getting antianxiety drugs,

antidepressants and antisigh cottics. these are foster kids, much more likely than non-foster kids and this is even worse. some of these kids -- actually many of these kids are taking five or more of these drugs. >> how old are these kids? >> these kids are -- some of them are babies. babies under the age of 1 are being prescribed antidepressants, antipsychotics, antianxiety drugs and doctors that we talked to said there's no medical reason for that. you're not supposed to prescribe these drugs to babies. >> why are they taking these drugs? why are they giving these kids these drugs? is. >> we talked to a doctor who used to work in the foster care system. he says, look, this is the dirty little secret of the foster care system. it is just easier to deal with a sedated child than a non-sedated child. now sometimes the drugs are given for good reason. a foster child has gone through a lot of terrible things and may need and antidepressant or antianxiety drug. when you when you see these

numbe numbers, you have to think this is just way more than they should be getting. >> thank you, elizabeth. "cnn newsroom" continues with t.j. holmes right after this break.va ed aspirin. it's not the bayer aspirin you know. it's different. first, it's been re-engineered with micro-particles. second, it enters the bloodstream fast, and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. the best part? it's proven to relieve pain twice as fast as before. bayer advanced aspirin. test how fast it works for you. love it, or get your money back.

test how fast it works for you. a vacation on a budget with expedia. make it work. booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can "stitch" together a better deal. that's a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices hotels and airlines won't let expedia show separately. book it. major wow factor! where you book matters. expedia.

and last chance at medicare open enrollment, too. what do you mean? it ends december 7th. if you haven't reviewed your medicare plan choices yet, well, it's getting late. medicare gives you free cancer screenings and wellness visits, and 50% off brand name prescription drugs when you're in the donut hole... it's all part of the health care law. december 7th? i better get goin'! [ male announcer ] medicare open enrollment ends soon. call 1-800-medicare or visit medicare.gov to learn more. hello, everybody. i'm t.j. holmes. thank you for being here. randi kaye is off. let's get right to the news today. president obama is taking comfort and evye