committee voted along party lines to recommend citing him for contempt for failing to turn over subpoenaed documents from the botched fast and furious gun operation, documents that are now off limits to republicans, and everyone else, because the president has invoked executive privilege to keep all of those documents now under wraps. joe johns is live from washington, d.c., this morning. joe, this is the first time that president obama has used the executive privilege. i think it was president clinton that maybe used it 14 times. how rare is this, and what is going to happen next to the attorney general? >> reporter: it is rare, but on the other hand, presidents do it, and most presidents do it at least once or twice during the course of four years or so. as you said, president obama's done it once. president george w. bush six times. bill clinton, 14 times. president george h.w. bush, just once. and ronald reagan three. so all over the place, but once or twice during the course of an

administration, you'll see it. so big question, i guess, what happens next. a vote on contempt in the full house would be next, assuming there's no negotiated settlement, which is typically what happens in these cases. after that, it would be referred to the united states attorney for the district of columbia, which, by the way, is headed by attorney general holder. that's the justice department. so kind of unlikely that the justice department would agree to prosecutor its own attorney general. that, of course, means a thing like this could be thrown into the courts which could go on for years. most of the time what you see in situations like this is some type of negotiated settlement. the question would be whether disclosure of the information the committee is seeking could be arranged by letting just a few people look at it or narrowing the kinds of questions that are asked of a witness, something to that effect.

but still, given what's going on in washington, you could certainly see how this thing could start creeping toward the house floor as soon as next week, zoraida. >> republicans are accusing the white house of a cover-up. democrats are calling it a witch hunt. former presidential adviser david gergen talked to john king last night about how this sounds to americans. >> for a lot of americans who don't understand the complexities and really don't care about the complexities, i think it's one more illustration, as if we needed anymore, that washington is broken. >> it can be very confusing as you're watching this, right? congress has never held a sitting attorney general in contempt. is this political? >> reporter: people are going to say that, certainly it's an election year, and lost in all of this is the attorney general's claim that releasing this information would affect ongoing investigations, ongoing prosecutions, and that's the kind of thing a court might want

to actually weigh in on, if you will. but clearly, the sides are very far apart this year, democrats calling this a witch hunt. republicans saying they need to get to the bottom of it. they say they need to find out whether they need to pass other laws, for example, to make sure it doesn't happen again. the sides are very far apart on this one. >> and just unprecedented that eric holder is going through this as a sitting attorney general. thank you, joe johns. at 7:00 on starting point, elijah cummings will join soledad o'brien live. and then at 8:00, soledad goes one on one with senator charles grassley, the ranking member of the committee. if you live in the northeast, you know it was hot,

hot, hot. absolutely brutal. temperatures are expected to break records today. rob marciano is here for us. man, i was trying to get through it. i was trying to blow up the slip and slide for the backyard and almost passed out. >> may be better to do it today, ashleigh, because it's going to be even warmer. there were records yesterday. some of them are tough to beat because of what we've seen in the past. newark set a record of 98 degrees. richmond, 98 degrees. burlington, vermont, 95. even as far north as the canadian border. toronto set a record high. video of folks just trying to stay cool. there were cooling stations set up at some of the bigger cities. the water over the head that's always a popular number. boy, if you can get to the beach. this time of year, the atlantic up there, it's pretty chilly. it will cool you off in a hurry, that's for sure. let's look at what we saw yesterday in the big cities and what we'll see today. boston 97.

today's forecast high 98. boston, 97. today's forecast high 98. and in d.c., we may well touch 100 degrees today. i think that's a record. you couple in the humidity, and that makes it feel much warmer than it is. and you get sunlight, warmer than that. we're looking at heat indices of about 110 or better. we will see a bit of a cooldown come saturday or sunday, but today especially, and tomorrow will be hot as well, it's going to be dangerously hot. stay cool out there. >> that's the key, rob. dangerously hot. this isn't just an inconvenience. this could be lethal. >> yeah. year over year, unfortunately, heat is actually the number one weather related killer out there. check on the elderly, your neighbors that may be sick. those are the ones that are more susceptible. >> and the little ones also, you've got to keep them hydrated >> and don't lock them in the car, that's for sure. >> and your pets.

water pouring through the seats, leaving a seal on the road. torrential overnight flooding leading to the evacuation of many homes and even zoo animals. i have friend that lives in this area, and she said it's horrific. zoo workers recovered two seals and a polar bear that managed to get out. all that rain softened up the roads opening up a sinkhole that swallowed a car. so far no reports of any serious injuries. after refusing to accept his resignation in the spring, there's been a change. officials in sanford, florida, have now fired police chief bill lee. you might remember that he took a lot of heat for how he handled the trayvon martin shooting after deciding not to arrest gunman george zimmerman. the city managers in that city of sanford say they dismissed him because the people of sanford need a chief that they can trust and respect. the interim chief has been sitting in, richard myers will remain on duty.

he'll have that job while the department searches for lee's replacement. new developments in the trayvon martin case. police releasing a heart breaking 911 tape of martin's father calling them 12 hours after his son had been shot and killed. a worried tracy martin was trying to file a missing persons report after his son had failed to come home. >> my son's up here with me, and he left -- i'm in sanford. he don't know anybody up here. >> and you said it was your son that's missing? >> yes. >> how long has he been missing for? >> since last night. >> tracy martin had no idea at the time of that call that his son's body was lying in the sanford city morgue. closing arguments are set to begin in just under four hours of the child sex abuse trial of jerry sandusky. the former penn state assistant coach did not take the stand and testify yesterday before his defense team finally rested its case. sandusky is accuseded of

sexually abusing ten boys over a 15-year period. the jury is expected to begin deliberating sometime after today's closing arguments. lebron james has the chance to win his first nba championship tonight as the miami heat take on the oklahoma city thunder in game five of the nba finals. the heat lead the thunder 3-1 in the best of seven series. it's the first time the thunder have faced an elimination game during the 2012 postseason. miami's all-star trio -- lebron james, dwyane wade, chris bosh -- will try to clinch the championship tonight in front of their home crowd at american airlines arena. hang in there, oklahomans or anyone who loves that team. it could happen. it's never happened before, but it could happen. >> it's nine minutes now past 5:00 in the morning on the east coast. soaked but saved. watch this video. it is absolutely remarkable. there is a couple in a

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he lost his day job. the philadelphia pd has fired 23-year-old jonathan garcia. he's now facing, what do you know, drug and weapons charges. he sold bundles of heroin to an undercover fbi agent, which is never a good thing. never. oatmeal brought them together and made them millionaires. quaker oats workers win $241 million in the powerball in iowa. a total of 20 to claim the prize. they wouldn't give their names. here's what we do know. their ages range from 35 to 64, and they have all been working with the company for at least ten years. if the winners take the lump sum, they'll each get $5.6 million. that is after taxes. >> good for them. they can afford an air conditioner with that, i'll tell you. if you are looking for a terrific summer getaway to take a trip to the hawaiian islands, or you you could just buy one. buy one of the hawaiian islands.

>> first story i heard this morning. love this island. >> you probably heard of larry ellison, billionaire ceo. he's co-founder of the tech company oracle, and he decided to make himself a nice little purchase of 98% of lanai island. it's also called pineapple island. 32,000 people live there. it's not clear how much he had to pay for the chunk of that pineapple. but the local reports say it's somewhere around $600 million. now, you also might have heard about larry ellison buying what is the equivalent of little islands in the form of 400-foot yachts. he loves his yachts. he loves his mega yachts. now he's got something floating in the middle of the pacific that is fabulous. >> that is an incredible island. you want to go scuba diving off of that or snorkeling, it's just incredible. this morning i said he just bought heaven. a slice of heaven. for an expanded look at our top stories, go to our blog,

cnn.com/earlystart. let's get you up to date. here is christine romans with the day's top stories. good morning to you. >> good morning to you too. a house committee voting strictly along party lines, recommending attorney general eric holder be held in contempt of congress for failing to turn over documents from the botched fast and furious gun operation. documents that are now under wraps after president obama invoked executive privilege to keep them from going public. a full house vote on the contempt citation could take place next week. a hung jury in the philadelphia sex abuse trial of a catholic priest. a jury ordered them back to deliberate. they'll resume deliberations tomorrow. yesterday a jury informed a judge after 11 days of deliberation, they could not come to agreement on 4 of the 5 counts before them. a bloody day in afghanistan as the summer fighting season picks up. the last one before a significant draw down. a suicide bomber attracted u.s. and afghan forces in a busy

market in eastern afghanistan. that massive blafd killed 21 people, including 3 u.s. soldiers. in a separate blast, afghan officials say several women and children were killed when a car hit a roadside bomb planted by the taliban. dramatic video of a waterfall rescue. a husband and wife plunged 20 feet over the river in vermont. the couple was fishing when the wife slipped and fell into the water. her husband went in after her. after a current sucked both of them over the falls, witnesses called 911. they both suffered only minor cuts. u.s. automakers are producing their highest quality vehicles ever. but detroit's big three still trails their japanese competitors. according to industry analyst j.d. power, three general motors brands -- cadillac, chevy, and gm -- are all scoring higher than the industry average for quality. now the reality news. japanese made lexus tops the list for best quality cars.

followed by jaguar and porsche. cadillac finished fourth with honda rounding out the top five. is it porsche? i can't afford one, i don't know how to say it. >> so 3 of the top 5 going to foreigners? >> but when you have gm able to beat the industry average, that shows you progress in the detroit. we're making progress. >> there you go. >> guess what else we're making progress on, romans? >> what? >> gas prices. >> yea, she knows. i can never stump you. you're on it. >> they're going down, down, down. because christine knows so much about this, we're going to make her work hard on it. she's going to explain why it may sound like terrific news, but there's a catch. ami, florid. in here, great food demands a great presentation. so at&t showed corporate caterers how to better collaborate by using a mobile solution, in a whole new way. using real-time photo sharing abilities, they can create and maintain high standards, from kitchen to table. this technology allows us to collaborate with our drivers

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good morning. 22 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. we are minding your business this morning. u.s. stock futures down this morning, this after mixed markets closing yesterday. the dow losing 13 points. >> and all that because of the federal reserve saying growth is slowing. christine romans here to continue the explanation. >> it's not so surprising the federal reserve is lowering its forecast for the year for the u.s. economy. if you've been watching this program, you know we've been saying we've hit a little bit of a rough patch here, the recovery is ailing, and a lot of folks are saying, when you look at the consumer, when you look at the u.s. economy, you can see some real concerns here about what's happening. the fed basically said that too. the fed chief ben bernanke

saying, look, the labor market is improving, but it's not improving as quickly as you would like and not improving enough for anybody to improve it. he did reject the fed being out of ammunition. the fed has been doing herculean things to keep the oxygen flowing in the financial system. something called operation twist, they're going to do that, something that keeps the money pumping. but the fed chief saying that might not be the end of it. listen to exactly what he said. >> if we don't see continued improvement in the labor market, we'll be prepared to take additional steps if appropriate. >> so be prepared to take additional steps if appropriate. there are a few things maybe the fed can do, but they're not doing them right now. they're extending operation twist and lowering the growth forecast. let me tell you exactly how they lower the growth forecast. gdp 1.9% to 2.4%. that's not enough to make you feel better or grow the jobs

market. they see the unemployment rate at 8% to 8.2%. their previous forecast was the jobless rate would fall to 7.8%. but they're seeing 8% unemployment so far this year, so status quo. that's tough. and status quo and a slowing global environment means commodities are going down big. this is the silver lining, if you can call it that. gas prices are going to keep going down because oil prices are back down to $80 a barrel. $80 a barrel. remember? gas prices will probably keep going down. you've got commodities down worldwide after the fed announcement. a slowing global growth means commodities are down like gold and copper. oil is down like 15% over the past few months. we'll expect to see gas prices continue to go down as well. >> that unemployment number, that really sticks out. no modern president has been reelected with unemployment over 8%. >> 7%. the rate was 7.2%.

>> 8% unemployment is tough. it's tough in an election year. it really is. and some of those battleground states have been improving, though. maybe tomorrow or monday, i'll do this. i'll look at the battleground states and show you that most of the unemployment rate has gone up. but 59% of people, according to bank rate, say they're going to walk into the voting booth, and they're going to vote based on their personal financial situation. >> that day. >> that day. with congress threatening to step in, the nfl takes action. coming up, what the league plans to do to prevent another bounty scandal. venllingts if you're leaving the house right now, not to worry. you can take us with you. news on the go. you can catch us on our mobile phone. go to cnn.com/tv. ur olympic spit

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closing arguments today in the jerry sandusky case. coming up, what each side showed the jury to prove their case. a shocking case of road rage caught on camera, and you might be real surprised to find out what the man who's being beaten up had to say when it was over. meet the romney boys. the candidates' five sons, and they go on conan o'brien's show and talk about what it might be like if dad becomes president. >> that's a lot of boys. that's a lot of kids. coming from a mom of two boys, i can't imagine having even one more. >> feeding them. >> welcome back to "early

start." i'm zoraida somebambolin. >> and i'm ashleigh banfield. 30 minutes past the hour. closing arguments are set to begin in just about 3 1/2 hours from now at the sandusky sex abuse trial. everyone was on pins and needles because we were all waiting to find out if the former penn state football coach was going to be called to the stand to testify or not. and the answer was not. cnn national correspondent susan candiotti joining us live in bellefonte, pennsylvania. what a difference a week and a half can make. we talked going into this trial, you and i, that we were probably going to be doing this trial for the next three to four weeks or so. it's only been a week and a half, and we're already talking closing arguments. >> reporter: you know, your mind is spinning about how quickly things went here. this judge really kept things on track, and one is left to surmise that prosecutors thought they made their case. they didn't need any more witnesses, and apparently the

defense thought the same thing because, by the end of the day, this could very well be in the hands of the jury. but closing arguments beginning today, and the defense in pennsylvania goes first. here are the points they are most likely going to try to make to jurors. they're going to reiterate some of their themes they've made throughout their case that the accusers are liars, they're in this only for the money, at least some of them conspired with each other, and then they will also turn their attention, of course, to jerry sandusky himself. they will say that he suffers from a histrionic personality disorder and try to explain away what have been described as those creepy love letters, saying he's just a guy who craves a lot of attention, and that's why he wrote them. of course, they will concentrate on all of those character witnesses they brought before this jury to say, this is a good man. he did a lot of wonderful things for this community, and he could not have done something like this. and they will likely bring up dottie, his wife.

jerry didn't take the stand, but his wife did, and she said that she never saw anything inappropriate happen at the house. and then, of course, they will have to explain why jerry himself didn't take the stand. they will have to address that in some way. now, the prosecutors for their part will tell the jurors you must believe these alleged victims. you heard from eight to ten of them. they offered you riveting testimony. they never said anything in the beginning because they were ashamed, they were afraid to come forward, and that is typical of sex abuse victims. they will also turn to the eyewitnesses like mike mcqueary, who said he saw something happen in that shower, he heard sexual sounds. he didn't ask for this. he walked in on this. they will argue, listen to that janitor, who spoke to one of his colleagues, who was so shook up like jerry sandusky, that this janitor testified that his colleague -- he thought he was going to have a heart attack because of what he saw.

they will offer their own explanation for the letters, that, in their view, their expert said this shows that jerry sandusky had a psychosexual disorder and that he was highly manipulative. and, of course, finally, they will address jerry sandusky's character. yes, they will say, very likely, that a lot of people came to speak on his behalf, but jerry sandusky has a good side, and we will present to you that he has a dark side. these are the themes that they have tried to stress throughout. >> and one of the things that was not on that list is that nbc excerpted video interview that bob costas did with jerry sandusky prior to the trial. the jury heard part of it, the stuff that originally aired, but the jury did not hear the other part of it, the stuff that did not air in the original interview. let me play for our audience what that very significant piece of the interview was, and then i want to ask you about it on the other side. >> and i didn't go around

seeking out every young person for sexual needs that i've helped. there are many that i didn't have -- i hardly had any contact with who i have helped in many, many ways. >> i think -- susan, i think a lot of people will be very surprised to find out the jury did not get to see that little piece of information, and they should not have been watching nbc when they aired that last week. but why couldn't the jury see that in the courtroom? >> well, prosecutors, it's possible they did not know about that until it was eventually aired, and they subpoenaed that tape. we don't know the exact reason, but we do know this. at the point it was subpoenaed by prosecutors, experts tell us that only -- if jerry sandusky had taken the stand, they needed an opening like that in order to

bring that tape in to play for the jurors. because that didn't happen, that might be one reason why they weren't allowed to in their other testimony, in their defense case, since he didn't testify, prosecutors didn't have that kind of a reason to put it into the record. and they also, frankly, may have been worried because they didn't put him on to testify because of the troubles that jerry sandusky has had in previous interviews. something could have gone wrong if they put him on the stand. >> smart lawyers all call that beyond the scope of direct. susan candiotti, thanks very much. appreciate it. 35 minutes past the hour. a full house vote to find attorney general holder in contempt of congress could be held next week. yesterday a house committee voted strictly along party lines to recommend holder be held in contempt for failing to turn over documents from the failed fast and furious gun operation. republican congressmen darryl

issa telling reporters there's still a chance next week's vote could be called off. >> it's my position on the committee, if we're given the documents we've been seeking, that i'll ask there to be a vote on the floor. >> president obama is backing holder and invoking executive privilege yesterday to keep the fast and furious documents from being released. >> if i had a dollar for every time somebody said hot enough for you, i would not be getting up at 2:00 in the morning to come into work, let me tell you. i'm kidding. i do love being here with you. what i don't love is the heat in new york city. here's a live look at central park. it's only 35 minutes past 5:00 a.m. in new york city, and it's already 85 degrees plus. the thermometer reached 94, which doesn't include the heat index. smart people like rob marciano figure out all the time. it turned out to be over 100 degrees, rob? >> yes, and i'll do that again today. you can see that, you're wearing

it, and it's the most hot and humid stuff we've seen since july of last year. let's look across the bigger cities, boston, new york, philadelphia, d.c. 97 in boston yesterday. should hit 99 today. new york city at 94, but newark hit a record at 98. 99 degrees today. d.c. at 98. it will touch 100 today. there's a cool front coming our way tomorrow. but the problem is, as ashleigh pointed out, we're already at 80 degrees in some spots. 81 degrees the current temperature. i don't think we dipped below that in new york last night. 80 degrees in boston. impossible to cool down if you don't have air conditioning. this heat goes all the way north of the border into canada. folks that don't even have air conditioning are dealing with it as well. heat watches and warnings out for a good chunk of the northeast, about ten states in all. 83 degrees in chicago. the rest of the country is not too shabby. some of this area will

eventually get to the northeast and not until tomorrow. really not until saturday or sunday. do your best to stay cool. >> thank you very much. 38 minutes past the hour. nfl commissioner roger goodell says he is taking steps to prevent bounties for players who injure their opponents. goodell met yesterday with senator dick durbin. a new section covering bounties has been added to the nfl players handbook. senator durbin says the league's actions have convinced him to put aside plans for a hearing. and coming up later this morning on "starting point," former new york giant tiki barber will tell us if he thinks the nfl is going far enough to crack down on those player bounties. a radio talk show host is refusing to back away from a racist on air comment that she made about president obama. her name is barbara espinoza. she hosts a radio show called

"hair on fire. ft ." it's on radio station kfnx. she responds to a culler who says something about the president being the rabbit ears guy. >> i call him a monkey. i don't call him guy with rabbit ears. i call him a monkey. i don't believe in calling him the first black president. i think he should -- i voted for the white guy myself. >> whoa. okay. so she is not apologizing for this, and in a blog post, she wrote this, "unless there has been a takeover of america and free speech is no longer allowed and i can be put to death for making a remark, i refuse to take the fifth." i'm not sure anybody is asking her to take the fifth. i think they're asking her not to take the fifth and explain herself, but she won't. i need to warn you that this next video is a bit graphic.

the victim of a brutal highway beating says he is not pressing charges against his attackers. take a look at this video. it is horrific. jerry patterson says the fight escalated after he accidentally cut off a volkswagen on the i-5. this is in downtown l.a. he says he apologized, but apparently, that was not good enough. the driver of the volkswagen blocked patterson on the freeway. he says he had nowhere to go so tried to fight back. >> guys i grew up with used to beat me up worse than that. it's no big deal. they're cowards. you never kick a man when they're down. >> thank goodness. they are kicking him while he's down. seems like he's not moving. patterson says he now wishes he would have called police instead of getting out of his car. officers are currently searching for his attackers. here's something else we want to play for you. it's really tough to watch and even harder to listen to this. a group of middle school kids brutally harassing, verbally

assaulting an elderly school bus monitor. it is so bad that they make this woman cry, and one of the students decided to post the disturbing video online. have a listen. >> oh, my god, you're so fat. >> yeah, you're fat. >> you're so fat. you take up the whole dang seat. >> oh, my god, you're so fat you're frickin' sweating. >> look at her. >> i'm crying. >> we've had to edit that down, can i just tell you. this thing went on for ten minutes. the foul language that came out of these middle schoolers' mouths, the things that they said to 68-year-old karen klein, who, by the way, is a hearing impaired grandmother, who's worked for the school district in upstate new york for 23 years, can't be repeated, not on morning television, not on any television. this from middle schoolers. she couldn't even hear all of this hideous taunting until she watched the video. have a look.

>> for no reason, they just started in with us. i still don't know why. and i sat there and took it until they got off the bus. i don't know if i wanted to see them face to face again. i doubt it. >> school officials have said that all of the students involved are going to face disciplinary action. they've also referred this the matter to the police. in the meantime, miss klein has received a lot of support, not just from her school district, not just from people in new york, all over the world. there's a website that's raising money to send her on vacation. can you believe this? so far, it has raised $100,000 for karen klein. >> you know, that whole story is on cnn.com. she says one of the most painful things the kids said, they said to her that she does not have family because they all killed themselves because they did not

want to be near you. >> it is unbelievable. at first i thought this would be a teenage -- >> middle schoolers actually. >> these are middle schoolers. very sad. the language, the sexual nature of the language coming out of their mouths, the continued harassment, and those tears that you saw from this bus monitor fueled the fire. it didn't have any impact on these kids whatsoever. >> one of them actually started poking her with a book. >> they kept hitting it and tapping it. >> i hope it's not just the school district, but the parents that take action against their own children. this is remarkable. >> you really need to go online and take a look at this video on cnn.com. it might be a sign of the times about what bullying is really like and the lengths that kids think they can go with grown-ups, let alone kids. >> 43 minutes past the hour here. if you absolutely have to go to the hospital, it helps to live near a really good one. the states with the best hospitals. we have that full list for you coming up. [ phelps ] two things i need before the race.

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i told you it was perfect for you guys. literally across the street from her sister. [ banker ] but someone else bought it before they could get their offer together. we really missed a great opportunity -- dodged a bullet there. [ banker ] so we talked to them about the wells fargo priority buyer preapproval. it lets people know that you are a serious buyer because you've been credit-approved. we got everything in order so that we can move on the next place we found. which was clear on the other side of town. [ male announcer ] wells fargo. with you when you're ready to move. 47 minutes past 5:00 a.m. on the east coast. let's get you going with the day's top stories. here's christine romans. >> the committee voted along party lines to recommend that holder be held in contempt for failing to turn over documents from the fast and furious gun operation.

republican darrell issa says a full house vote on the contempt citation could be called off if the justice department agrees to turn over those documents. status update, registered sex offender? a new law now requires all sex offenders in louisiana to disclose their status on facebook and other social media. prosecutors admit the new law won't necessarily prevent sex crimes but provides another way to crack down on convicted predators who fail to register. think moms are looking a little older? actually you're right. a new report shows pregnancy rates for 20-somethings dropped nearly 18% from 1990 to 2008. abortion rates fell by 32%. the study credits the change to women delaying starting a family, combined with the use of more effective birth control. also in this report, teen pregnancy rates fell 42%, and teen abortion rates were down 59%. if you're going to get sick, live in new england.

a nonprofit group has releaseded the first ever hospital safety score, which grades hospitals from across the country. massachusetts ranked number one. 76% of hospitals getting an "a." maine was next on the list with 74%. other top states in the top five include vermont, illinois, tennessee. there are some doctors, though, criticizing this study saying, hey, the grades are flawed. according to the national institutes of health, 50,000 to 100,000 patients die in u.s. hospitals every year because of preventible safety lapses, mistakes. mitt romney's five sons making an appearance on conan, tag, matt, josh, ben, and craig romney doing the best to humanize their dad. oldest brother tag telling a story about his prank loving father pulling a fast wup on a friend who was about to tie the knot. >> the grooms outfit was there. he took pink nail polish and wrote on the first shoe, on the

sole, "he" and on the next one "lp." it was a catholic wedding. when he knelt down to be blessed by the father, the words "help" appeared. >> that's funny. romney's son josh admitted to conan, he and his brothers are nervous if their father became president. they realize it would be good for the country but not so much for them. people say he was a real prankster, but you don't get that much on the campaign trail. very focused. >> if you go online, you'll find them. a lot from his wife. coming up, do you ever click "check in" on your facebook. >> no. i don't want to do that. >> apparently, a lot of people do. >> if i did it right now, i'd be in the time warner center in new

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it's time to check what's trending on the web. prince william turns 30 today, which means he's expected to get access to a $15.5 million inheritance. >> nice. >> that was left to him by his late mother princess diana. >> holy cow. >> the duchess of cambridge going all teen romance for his birthday. she made him a scrapbook of all the time they spent together, and she made him a mix tape, or a 2012 version of it. a playlist of songs that have special meaning. it is very sweet. he looks a lot older than 30. >> i don't think so. he's got a receding hairline,

but i still think of him as that little kid coming out of the hospital with lady diana, the new princess diana. late night laughs. one of our favorite segments to go to the late night shows. last night was a zinger. alec baldwin, a really unique way to divert the attention from the pop raaparazzi shakedown mo the beat down. david letterman not wanting to be upstaged. let's just say it involves dropping of the pants, et cetera. take a look. >> i don't want to change the subject, paul. it was such an artful entrance. but you were talking about swimsuit season, and for me, i've been trying to diet. i lost so much weight. but the problem is that none of my clothes fit me so, if you put your hands in your pockets, your pants come down. >> take them off! take them off! take them off!

>> oh, man. >> i thought they were going to compare leg. are they comparing legs. >> first of all, what is with the white socks? what's with the white knee highs, letterman? >> clearly, this was an extemporaneous moment. >> good gracious. what i love is baldwin doesn't even know he's doing it. baldwin thinks he has the whole camera stage to himself. he has no idea what's going on behind him, and he turns around and finds he's being chased by an old man in his 60s. he talked about the punching incident and say he didn't punch anybody. said the cameraman had almost hit him in the teeth with his camera. hey, college football fans, the news you've been waiting for. details on the brand new playoff system. look at the car!

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it is dangerous heat as the mercury rises. records keep falling all over the weather map. washed out in minnesota, flash flooding wiping out roads, bridges, and making a very dangerous condition for a zoo. >> never been closer to a ring, lebron james takes the court with a chance to win his first nba championship win. miami heat could win, too. >> that could happen as well for all the heat fans out there. we're not talking heat outside, we're talking heat inside on the hardwood. >> good morning, everyone. thanks for being with us. >> we have the news from a to z

this morning, 6:00 on the east coast. eric holder is caught in a political cross fire this morning. he is in copenhagen this morning after a bad day for him yesterday. members of the us on oversight committee held a vote and came out along party lines to recommend citing him for contempt, all of this for failing to turn over certain subpoenaed documented from the botched fast and furious gun operation. they're now completely off limits, subpoena or no subpoena because president obama stepped in and decided to invoke executive privilege for the first time since taking office. joe jons is live in washington this morning and your legal head must have been popping right off yesterday. seriously, the developments were fast and furious themselves just for starters. what we're looking at here, joe, is for lack of a better way to describe this a legal mess. >> i think you're right. it is a legal mess. whenever you get into one of

these executive privilege fights, it is going to be that way. what seems clear is that barring some negotiated solution, this thing ends up on the house floor as early as next week. that means eric holder could get cited by the full house of representatives which is controlled by republicans for contempt of congress. after that, the process that is set in place is for all of this to go to the united states attorney's office and he would convene a grand jury. the problem is of course the united states attorney for the district of columbia is basically an employee of the justice department and head of the justice department is eric holder. it is kind of a weird situation, one way or the other it is clear if they don't figure something out, it will end up in the courts as the kind of thing that could go on for years and many other times in the past these fights have ended up being

negotiated out and they figure out how to get some of the information to congress to avoid a long protracted court battle. >> for a lot of people it starts to sound a lot like white nights, bickering, but we're talking -- when you say the legal process in the courts, we're not just talking civil here. this could have a civil outcome. this could have a criminal outcome. >> it could have a criminal outcome, and people waking up this morning who haven't focused on all of this the question is what's it all about? we have heard of this operation fast and furious. it was a gun walking operation to sort of try to figure out if you could get some big fish in the cartels south of the border by letting some guns go into criminal hands. probably not a very good idea. certainly a real question of mismanagement on the part of the people who were handling it, and the problem is it is occurring,

this controversy is, during an election year which raises the question of politics as you know and listening to some of the arguments that were made in the committee just yesterday really points it out. let's listen. >> this is a stall in the justice department i think to get by until the next election because i think there is something embarrassing politically to this administration that they want to keep out of the public's minds and that's why we have been stone walled. >> this is an election year, and i think there have been a lot of efforts on the part of our republican colleagues to embarrass this president, and i think that this is a situation today that definitely could have been avoided. >> that wasn't inside actually the hearing room of course because senator grassley wasn't there. he is on the senate side. nonetheless, you get the idea. people are saying it is

politically motivated. on the other side republicans are saying they need to get to the bottom of this because at root it was a mismanagement problem at the justice department. >> joe jons, thanks. a million other questions but we'll save that for later on. soledad o'brien will be busy this topic as well. at 7:00 eastern on starting point they'll have the two people you just saw, the democratic congressman, elijah cummings and he will be live with her and at 8 a.m. she will go one-on-one with the other guy, iowa's senator chuck grassley, the ranking member of the judiciary committee and they both have a lot to say and you can bet she will as well. the northeast sweating through high humidity and sweltering heat. temperatures expected to break records again today. this morning as i was coming in, i was on facebook, rob, and i said it feels like 80 degrees and guess what? i was right on the money. >> you were. not only that, was actually 80

degrees and the temperature didn't dip below that and the humidity bumps it up more. it is miserable and new york is not the only spot. d.c., boston, philly, baltimore, you're all in. these are the record highs. they don't include humidity. la guardia 98 to central park 94, richmond, hartford and even burlington vermont, and a lot of those folks don't have air conditioning dealing with temperatures in the upper 70s with loads of humidity as well. boston, close to 99 today. i think everybody, new york, philly, d. kr, these are the high temperatures from yesterday, the forecast highs for today. we can probably bump everything up 2 or 3 degrees today. there were records today and probably some records today and this is the warmest air we have seen since the third week in july of last year and this is the first real pulse of heat for the summer and it is always a shock to the system. heat advisories and warnings out for ten states across the

northeast and heat indices and what it does to your body, doesn't allow you to sweat. there is a little relief on the way, this front will push off to the east. already cooling down chicago and won't get to the new york, boston, and d.c. area until tomorrow or even saturday. until then, do what you have to do to stay cool. >> i blew up the slip and slide in the backyard yesterday. >> that's one way to do it. >> and i read the directions and tts if you're over 100 pounds you can't use it. >> that's why i don't read directions. >> you don't. okay. rob, you were supposed to say you're under 100 pounds. dead silence. >> a lot to learn. >> your live shot will be shorter next hour. one of these weather related stories we wanted to follow up, there was water roaring through the streets and almost a dozen zoo animals were killed leaving a seal in the street.

torrential over night flooding forcing an evacuation of a lot of low lying homes and zoo animals all happening in duluth, minnesota. zoo workers were able to safely recover two seals and a polar bear and over a dozen animals being killed in that flooding. water wiping out a bridge, all of the rain softening up roads and opening up a full sink hole that swallowed up a car. good to report there are no reports of any serious injuries in that story. >> quite a bit of damage. closing arguments less than three hours away in the sex abuse trial of jerry sandusky. the defense rested without calling the former football coach to testify. he is accused of sexually abusing ten boys over a 15 year period. the jury is expected to begin deliberating after today's closing arguments. the pedo bear made an appearance. it is the internet born bear

created to mock pedophiles. many critics say he is a mascot for men who abuse little boys. >> after refusing to accept his resignation in the spring, there has been a change of heart. officials in sanford, florida, have now fired police chief bill lee. you may remember that he came under fire for his handling of the trayvon martin shooting because he decided not to make an arrest of george zimmerman, the gunman in the shooting. city managers said they dismissed him because the people of sanford, they say, need a chief they can trust and respect. the guy doing the job, richard myers, there stay on the job until the department can find a full permanent replacement for bill lee. . >> a consensus has been reached on a college football playoff system. bcs commissioners agreed to a four-team playoff system, the semifinal games rotating around

the tradition bowl sites like the rose bowl and the orange bowl. the plan will be presented to university presidents next week for approval and could be in place by 2014. >> lebron james has a chance to win his first championship tonight because the heat are taking on the thunder in game five of the nba finals. the heat leading the thunder three games to one. they're in a pretty good position in the best of seven. it is the first time the thunder have faced an elimination game. the all-star trio of lebron james, dwyane wade and chris bosh and in front of their own crowd at american airlines arena. if it is going to happen, that would be a nice spot for them for it to happen. >> it would be great in oklahoma took it on their turf. >> you're always doing that, always coming in and cooling off the heat. >> i have to. anyway, 10 minutes past the hour.

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this is big news. i tell mike what i can spend. i do my best to make that work. we're driving safely. and sue saved money on brakes. now that's personal pricing. welcome back. 14 minutes past the hour. joe the plumber taking a lot of heat this morning for tying the holocaust to gun control in a campaign ad. he is running for congress in northern ohio, and this is a video that has a lot of people angry. >> in 1939 germany established gun control. from 1939 to 1945 6 million jews and 7 million others unable to

defend themselves. >> the national jewish democratic council is demanding he apologize for disrespecting the millions killed in the holocau holocaust. he is not backing down. instead he is putting adolf hitler in a tweet saying his agenda would not be possible unless the people were disarmed. >> i am speechless. who ever heard that argument made in the second amendment in my life? i don't think the framers in the constitution were thinking that would be a way for your own army coming to your door. >> i am pretty speechless, too. >> yeah. 15 minutes past 6. christine roman, you'll have to do the news my friend after that one. >> all right. i will. thanks, ladies. voting strictly along party lines a house oversight committee is recommending the

attorney general be held in concept of congress for failing to turnover documents from the botched fast and furious gun operation, documents now under wraps after president obama invoked executive privilege to keep them from going public. the full house vote could take place next week. dramatic video of a waterfall rescue, a husband and wife plunged 20 feet over the saxton river in vermont. they were fishing when the wife slipped and fell into the water and her husband went after her and a current sucked them both over the falls. ness withes called 911 and they were rescued clearly and suffered only minor cuts. north carolina says it will not compensate victims of the state's decades long ugenics program from the 70s. they plan to give victims up to $50,000 each. republicans say the state didn't have the money and they feared paying the victims may open the door slavely. they see the victims was

targeting the poor and the mentally disabled. starbucks is expanding the brand to include a tea only franchise. it will open this fall in seattle where the coffee giant got started. they will not sell hot and iced tea drinks and lattes and of course they will actually and there will of course be a blending station by the way where customers can create their own version of tazo tea. ashton kutcher is suing the dmv for making a mistake on the driver's license. they say they are in breach of contract. it claims the company had an agreement to fill four episodes of the of the reality show and the state run agency pulled out of the deal. they're seeking more than $1.4 million in damages from the california dmv. there you go. >> all right, christine. thank you. facebook has decided to tally up the check-ins at landmarks in 25 cities around the world.

when people post where they're hanging out. ever do it? me either. the landmark that is are most checked in on, times square in new york city, wrigley field in chicago, at&t park in san francisco, home of the giants, and over in europe here are the sites most chemz in, paris, coliseum in roam and who saw this coming, tgi fridays in norway. >> seriously? >> at this point i was with you. i can't get that. >> i smell a glitch. i am sorry. i smell a glitch on the oslo tgi friday's. >> perhaps true. >> what do you know? >> not all cars are created equal when it comes to quality. the brand new rankings are out. the cars least likely to leave you high and dry, we have that list for you coming up.

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22 minutes past 6 in the morning on the east coast. welcome back. the u.s. stock features if you're looking for a gear for the day, they're down this morning. markets yesterday closing a bit mixed as well. the dow losing 13 points. >> all because of the federal reserve saying growth is slowing. christine is here to explain. >> growth is slowing and you probably feel it at home. you know this if you are running a small business.

you know this if someone in your family is still trying to get a job and you know this if someone is graduating from college and they're having a tough time getting a job. the fed putting numbers to it. the growth forecast has been downgraded to 1.9% to 2.4%. that is not enough to solve all of those problems i was just talking about. the unemployment rate will stay at 8 to 8.2% and earlier this year they said they thought the jobless rate would fall as low as 7.8% and now they're saying that's not as likely. they will continue operation twist, keeping money flowing into the economy. there were hoping you would have more than operation twist but that's what you'll get for now and the fed chief says if something really terrible happens they will stand ready. >> know qe3. >> no qe 3 for now. he rejected the idea they're out of bullets. he says there is a lot more they can do and they're watching. 1.9% to 2.4% economic growth and in the meantime watching it is

j.d. power quality survey ought a lot of people are saying u.s. auto makers -- >> your geek is showing. >> i like cars. i am a car person. the highest quality vehicles ever and the detroit's big three with still trailing the japanese competitors. three general motors brands, chevy, cadillac, gmc, now all scoring higher than the industry average for quality. there you go, gm. that's the good news. the reality check, if you look at the top of the list, you have to have a lot of money. lexus made the top japanese followed by jaguar and porsche. never know how to say that. the american made cadillac finished fourth, the only in the top ten with honda rounding out the top five. you can take a look at all of these at cnn money to decide if you want to buy the lexus or the porsche. >> the one thing you need to know about money today, a new gallup poll shows confidence in

u.s. public schools is record low. 29% expressed a greet deal or quite a lot of confidence and along way from the '70s when 58% felt that way and why it is the one thing? if america is going to lead we have to do better in our schools. the reminder everything about our economy, our country, our future depends on how we do on schools. look at it as a rallying cry. >> it is funny you would end on that. did you see the video we showed in the last hour. >> horrifying. >> the teenagers bullying the bus monitor, a senior, an elderly woman with a hearing impairment. horrifying to say the least. we have video we'll replay in the hour and we've had a lot of reaction and this is all caught on tape. the kids ganging up on an adult monitor and this is some of the worst bullying you may ever see. you really have to see it. you have to hear what these middle school kids say to this poor woman who ends up in tears. it is coming up in a moment. [ female announcer ] did you know the average person smiles

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[ slap! ] [ slap! slap! slap! ] [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum tum tum tum tums it is the beginning of the end of the jerry sandusky trial anyway. closing arguments a few hours from now. >> smoke on the water, fire on the pier. investigators trying to figure out what caused a landmark on san francisco's water front to burn. >> and reading rainbow, going digi, long time host lamar burton here to talk live about

new act for a whole new generation. >> and seriously, you won't want to miss this. we already have it on the ipad. it is fantastic. >> i will be standing by live with a smile on my face. it is really early so we're came to talk to us live. welcome back to early, early, early start. nice to have you. >> it is 30 minutes past the hour. >> so i don't know if it is hot where you are, but it is hot where we are. here is a live picture of new york city, central park is beautiful usually this time of day. doesn't look like it is clouded by the heat and humidity, it is a virtual hot cloud. the thermometer went to 94 yesterday. last we checked as we were coming into work at 2:00 in the morning it was 80 degrees. about 81 or 82 right now in the big apple. just look at all of these tower cam shots up the hudson. down manhattan's southern tip. it is nasty. i tell you what, when it is hot in new york city, you do not

want to be in the subway. i am just saying. rob is standing by live to tell us what else about this country is hot. >> well, yeah, new york is not the only spot. boston through d.c. and this is the warmest of the year. you saw in the live pictures, especially in the morning the haze, the smog, the air quality is not good. between the heat and humidity and the pollution, you don't want to be stressing your body too much outside if you can all help it. 80 in boston. 80 in new york city. upper 70s elsewhere and this is widespread stuff even as far north as the canadian border we saw record-breaking high temperatures and a lot of folks don't have a.c. about ten states under heat advisories and warnings and with the humidity it will feel like 100 to 110. forget what the thermometer says with the humidity and especially in direct sunlight it will be brutal. there is relief in sight. a little bit tomorrow and more so on saturday and sunday as we drop down into the midto lower 80s and already starting to see that in chicago with their fair

share of heat and humidity as well and this front that brought a ton of rain across the upper part of minnesota, duluth specifically. this is slowly marching its way to the east. we'll see heat bursting thunderstorms in places like detroit today, pittsburgh, cleveland, and maybe up through buffalo and new york city and i think tomorrow. by the way, watching this little bugger here in the gulf of mexico could develop into something. we're not sure what. we do know it will bring more rain to florida. we're watching that carefully. >> all right, rob, thank you, sir. appreciate that. 32 minutes past the hour here. closing arguments less than three hours away at the child sex abuse trial of jerry sandusky. the defense rested yesterday without calling the former penn state assistant football coach to testify. sandusky is accused of sexually abusing ten boys over a 15 year period. the jury is expected to begin deliberating after today's closing arguments. >> a full house vote could find attorney general eric holder in contempt of congress and it

could be done next week. you might know that yesterday the house committee voted right along party lines to recommend that holder be held in contempt for failing to turn over additional documents from the failed fast and furious gun running operation. this is where guns were purposely put into the hands of drug cartels to track the begans and ergo track the cartel south of the border. the problem is they lost track of the guns and and then found some of those guns at the scene of a murdered u.s. border patrol agent. there is still a chance next week's vote could be called off. >> it is my position of the committee that if we're given the documents we have been seeking, that i will ask for there not to be a vote on the floor. >> those documents are problematic for the president as well because the president is backing mr. holder. he says he is invoking executive privilege. did he that yesterday to try to keep those fast and furious

documents from being released. >> this morning investigators are trying to figure out what caused a four alarm fire at an historic pier along the san francisco water front. goodness, take a look at those flames that ripped through the bulk head building causing the roof to collapse. it took fire fighters about two hours to bring the flames under control. the building was vacant at the time. no injuries were reported there. >> you see the fire fighters on the roof, too. you think they are the bravest people alive. when they go onto burning roofs, look at them. they're feet away from flames and they do this to make sure that they can try to get the flames put out. awesome people. mitt romney's five sons making an appearance on conan o'brien. tag, matt, josh, ben, craig, all of the romneys doing the best to humanize their dad and tag had a funny story about the time his dad pulled a fast one on a friend who was about to tie the

knot. >> the groom's outfit was there and he took pink nail polish and wrote on the first shoe he and the next one lp, and no one noticed and it was a catholic wedding and when he knelt down to be blessed the words help appeared. >> may not last wedding he is invited to after that little one. his john josh admitted to conan he and his brothers are nervous about what their lives could be like if their dad becomes the president. he says it would be a great thing for the country, it just may not not greatest thing for us if our dad becomes president. a victim of brutal bullying on a school bus is speaking out and she is not a teenager. they is a 68-year-old grandmother. karen kline is a bus monitor for the greece central school district in up state new york and a group of middle school kids were videotaped hurling vicious insults.

it got so bad she started to cry. >> oh, my god, you're so fat. >> you're fat. >> you're so fat. >> oh, no, look. >> oh, my god, your glasses are foggy. >> funny. >> wipe the water off your face. >> i am crying. >> oh, my goodness. it goes on for ten minutes and there are points we can't show you so we do have it at cnn.com if you want to watch the whole thing. at one point a student tells kline she doesn't have a family because they, quote, killed themselves because they didn't want to be around her. that student didn't know it. kline's oldest son took his own life ten years ago. kline who is hearing impaired says she didn't hear all of the taunting until she watched the video. >> some reason they just started in with this garbage. i still don't know why. i sat there and took it until

they got off the bus. i don't know if i want to see them face-to-face again. i doubt it. >> school officials say all students involved will face disciplinary action. they have also referred the matter to police. in the meantime kline has received support from all over the world, folks. a website is raising funds to send her on a vacation and so far it has raised over $100,000. you know, i put on facebook what i would do if my children were involved in this and i asked to you sound off about it and some people are just stunned by the situation and said what do you do in a situation like this? all the chores in the world will not help these kids. i hope something will. >> you know, obviously the school has taken action but i think what this speaks to is the largest issue of the bullying epidemic in our country. you don't always get the videotape. you don't always get to see what happens. just imagine if these kids think it is okay to speak like this to a grown up, let alone a

69-year-old woman who is not fighting back and who has a hearing impairment, it is just astounding that they feed off each other and that they feed off her tears. >> there is somebody on here julie who says maybe it is time for sensitivity training and maybe the school can use this as an opportunity to teach. maybe. maybe. >> sensitivity training for middle schoolers? they're like fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth grade. >> it is never too late. >> just one school. i think this is the bigger issue. this is just one school. where else is this happening and how pervasive is this. it is so repulsive. we couldn't air the majority of what was being said, what came out of the mouths of these kids. you should have a look to see what's actually happening these days. >> 38 minutes past the hour. president obama upped the ante when he changed the rules on deporting some illegal immigrants. later today it is mitt romney's turn to court the hispanic vote. we'll have more coming up. my cut hurt!

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nearly a week since president obama made the announcement of a new policy that's going to end the deportation of many young illegal immigrants in this country and really for his part mitt romney hasn't really responded to this. that could change later on today when the former massachusetts governor takes to the mic. he will speak to the national association of latino elect and had appointed officials in orlando. he has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to winning over the hispanic voters in the country. there is a gallup poll that shows him trailing the president in the category, like this, 42 points. that is a -- that's not trailing. that's almost failing.

cnn's political editor paul stein houser is live in washington, d.c. to talk more about this. is anyone expecting this will be the moment where he takes a stand and makes a decision how is he going to respond to what people have said is the corner he has been painted into. >> exactly, almost backed against the wall on this one to a degree. the romney campaign is tight-lipped as to what he will say. no excerpts released yet. i reached out to a bunch of campaign officials and the only thing they told me is they will focus mostly on the economy and it would touch a little bit on illegal immigration. the obama campaign is going after romney for not really responding to what he would do with the president's decision the other day, his order on legal immigration. the obama campaign's director of hispanic press saying he refused to say where he stands on the issue and now trying to soften his approach on immigration and the american people to deserve to know whether or not he would repeal the president's action.

as for congressional republicans, at least senate republicans seem to be following mitt romney's lead. take a listen to mitch mcconnell, the top republican in the u.s. senate. >> i think we're going to wait until we hear what governor romney has to say on the issue. my view is he is the leader of our party from now until november and we hope beyond and we'll wait and see what he has to say about it and be happy to respond to that at that point. >> in 2008 barack obama won two-thirds of the latino vote and as you showed from the poll from gallup, seems that's where he is right about now. >> it is a remarkable poll. i know that you get up very early in the day to compile all of this. >> not as early as you. >> don't sell yourself short. i love do you this. you get out at 6:00 and get the numbers out there and you have the numbers in florida. quite telling. >> florida is where the neily conference is being held. you mention this had a few

minutes ago. it is pretty much dead even, the president with a slight advantage right now, 4 points over romney among registered voters in florida. it was a different story last month with mitt romney with a small lead there, 29 electoral votes in florida, ashley. >> thank you, sir. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> it is 45 minutes past the hour. an entire generation of kids grew up with this man. say hello. he is here to talk about reading rainbow and reaching out to today's kids in a very special way coming up.

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it is 48 minutes past the top of the hour. let's get you up to date with the top stories. christine has been working to

come file those for us. >> by this time next week attorney general eric holder could find himself in contempt of congress. a house committee voted along party lines to recommend holder be held in contempt for failing to turnover documents from the failed fast and furious gun operation. darrell issa says a full house vote on the contempt citation could be called off if the justice department agrees to turn over the extra documents. officials in miami have given their preliminary approval for a plan to outlaw the sale of bath salts. they can be easily purchased at convenience stores. the county ban is up for final approval by miami dade commissioners on july 3rd. a new study has actually found that drinking while pregnant may not be as dangerous as we thought. it suggests that drinking one to four drinks a week, even five to eight drinks a week might be okay. however, it shouldn't be taken as a free pass. there is still no definitive answer on how much is too many.

err on the side of caution. >> thank you very much. here is a song bound to bring back childhood memories. ♪ "reading rainbow," butterfly in the sky, i can go twice as high. take a look, in a book, "reading rainbow" ♪ >> for 26 years from 1983 to 2009 the tv show "reading rainbow" fostered a love of reading for a generation of kids. when it went off the air in 2009 it had been awarded more than a dozen emmys and only sesame street and mr. rogers neighborhood lasted longer on pbs. the long time host levar burton is bringing it back as an app for the ipad and he joins us along with the ipad to demonstrate. for 26 years did you this on

television and it was the idea of bringing books to life. >> that was the mission and using the technology of the day in order to do that, to get kids interested in and excited about reading and literature. >> take us full circle to the does i guess to say, hey, i will bring it back to life on the ipad. >> pbs pulled the show off the air in 2009, and there was a surprising sort of outcry from the first generation of "reading rainbow" watchers who were adults and worried it wasn't going to be there for their kids. i thought there is something there, the brand, there is more for this brand to do. >> really a change of philosophy, wasn't it, in the way that children learned to read. they went to phone i cans >> absolutely. no child left behind, right. pbs is a government funded institution, and so no child left behind is focused on teaching children to read as opposed to fostering a love of reading. it doesn't make sense but there is no room for both in this

current situation. >> except for you because you brought it back. i want you to come over my shoulder. this morning i have to tell you a 31-year-old who is my producer decided we were going to watch this together. he was so into this, i got the music full up there, and so i want to show -- here we go. do you want to take me back to the beginning. >> you want to go back? >> i want to go to animal kingdom. >> okay. what we want to do is go -- please tell me the wi-fi is working. is this not horrible? what was the first thing you asked. >> have you been playing with it. >> i have been playing with it but in my office. >> okay. all right. there we go. it won't work. >> it won't. >> do we have this on video so we can show it while we talk about it? it doesn't want to open up here. there we go. we can talk about it why this happens. >> what we have done is created islands with themes so kids can

go and find books based on subjects they're interested in. do you want to find books about animals? go to animal kingdom island. if you like fairy tales and adventures, there is an island for that as well. >> and the books have only one interaction and simple games and rewards which let's your child really read. >> one of the things that happens because i went to this site and it allows to you download one free book. >> yes. >> and after that you have to subscribe. >> the app is free and you can explore the world that we vaeted. you can look at all the books. you can download one free book of your choosing and to unlock the full experience it is a subscription model. it is 9.99 a month for unlimited access. we launched with over 150 books. we're bringing new books and new islands on all the time. >> i have to tell you the part that is free which is pretty much everything is really fantastic. the video i wanted to show is you actually in all of these different places. >> we spent months shooting new

videos and in every island there is at least one "reading rainbow" classic from the original television series. >> i have to let you go. before i do, everybody wants to know what is next for you. when i tweeted you were coming they were like i love him from roots, oh, my god, i love him from star trek. what's next? >> i am coming back to television this summer in a series on tnt called perception with eric mccormick. >> and you will continue to do this. >> this is it. this is it. this represents the last two years of my life and a lifelong dream. >> i will tweet this out for you. i feel terrible i couldn't show you what it does. it really is just amazing. something that parents will love to do with their children. i wish you all the lock in the world. it was fabulous. thank you for joining us. >> some people tell you to fake it until you make it, right? give thaw advice. coming up, we have best advice exactly the opposite and you will find out why in a moment.

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how math and science kind of makes the world work. in high school, i had a physics teacher by the name of mr. davies. he made physics more than theoretical, he made it real for me. we built a guitar, we did things with electronics and mother boards. that's where the interest in engineering came from. so now, as an engineer, i have a career that speaks to that passion. thank you, mr. davies.

starting point less than a minute away. >> we would like to wrap it up with christine romans. >> take it or leave it when you go to work. the best advice is from emmy, the founder of emmynation.com. >> be yourself, the best advice that i have ever received has always been be yourself because if you're not, you trip up, and you are not genuine. >> she said a lot of people say fake it until you make it. she is saying no, no, no, be yourself. >> i remember in the '80s and i hate to say that when i got into this business but i got into this business 25 years ago and i remember someone saying there are a lot of anchor women who

try to sound like walter chronkite. don't do it. just be you. i am like 21 years old and people will see through this. it is okay. let's do it. >> everyone can tell when you're fake so you're hiding from no one. >> you can emulate people you respect and take little pieces of other people's styles and imitate anchorman or anchor women and i always remember that advice. >> thank you, emme, that was nice. >> that's the news from a to z. >> starting point with soledad o'brien starts now. >> the starting point, contempt or compromise. after a vote to hold attorney general eric holder in contempt of congress, we're examining the facts and looking at the odds of it actually happening. heat and high water to tell you about this morning, the northeast sweating through the start of the summer and flash floods wiping out roads, bridges and even a zoo. big moves on the gridiron, congress deciding if it was investigate the bounty scandal

and the potential playoff system and our get real, joe the plumber suggests that gun control is what caused the holocaust as he shoots a tomato. we have a packes show this morning and sylvia garcia will be with us and congressman elijah cummings will talk to you about the holder contempt vote. it is thursday, june 21st and "starting point" begins right now. welcome, everybody, the starting point, partisan politics and a sitting u.s. attorney general cot in the cross fire. eric holder is in copenhagen this morning. yesterday a house committee voted to recommend citing him for contempt of congress for not turning over documents from that botched fast and furious gun operation. you will remember that program allowed guns to end up in the