it's the south end where the fire come from that came up the hill and through the ravine and got my master bedroom, master bathroom, master closets. and most of the ceiling. >> we're sorry to hear about your house. >>he whole property is completely destroyed and everybody's around it. >> now, i'm told, christopher, more importantly that you suffered some smoke inhalation, had to go to the hospital. i hear you huffing and puffing right now. >> i am. yes, sir. i'm struggling to breathe. i'm breathing better than i was yesterday in the back of the ambulance thank god. i have some minor burns on me from the shovel and the heat and from the embers burning me while i was standing out there in shorts and flip-flops trying to fight this fire to save my house and the neighbors. and they took me to the hospital, 911, i was in complete respiratory failure because i have asthma as well. but i couldn't leave the area. i had to help my neighbors. that's the way do you it in oklahoma. we help each other because we are prone to tornadoes and disasters and fires. >> certainly take care of

yourself. >> just glad they're safe and we didn't lose anybody around that area. there were people a lot worse off than we were. those are the ones that really need the help, you know, we come together as oklahomans for that reason. my wife is the real hero. this morning at the hotel she looked me up and said we need to go out and check on our house. we went out there and this is where she alerted me to the fire that was going up in the ceiling in the back bedroom. she is the one that really found the fire that damaged our master bedroom and that corner of the house because i put the fire out yesterday and the fire department did too when they showed up. they were fighting a big north fire, the really big one. this south fire they weren't even aware of until i called them about it. they had no idea. >> they've got their hands full, christopher. boy, you've had an experience to tell for years to come. our hearts go out to you. >> 115 degrees out here every day. it's killing us. we need rain. >> i hear you. >> haven't had rain in two

months. >> you're not the only ones suffering there but certainly the worst right now from the fire. we can hear it in your voice and lungs the smoke. our hearts go out to you for your loss in your home. take care of yourself and thankfully you and your family are for the most part okay. christopher carlson, victim of the noble fire there in oklahoma joining us live on the phone. thank you, christopher. oklahoma is not the only victim. it's just the latest one of this hot, dry year. it has plenty of company. here's a look at the drought monitor map. check it out closely. the version of the map updated just a couple days ago. right now more than half of all u.s. counties in the lower 48 have been designated disaster zones. last hour i talked with ernie goss who just finished a new study that shows how the drought is dragging down the economy. >> what we tracked in our two surveys for the month of july is the spilling over to other industries because obviously when consumers have less money, spend more on food, they have less money to spend on other factors.

we haven't seen all of that yet. we'll see it in the months ahead and, in fact, the next -- coming in the latter part of 2012 and into 2013. >> estimates for crop losses from the drought to top $20 billion this year. if we could only get some of the rainfall from the tropical systems up there. we have two tropical storms right now in the atlantic, one in the caribbean, the greatest threat there, tropical storm ernesto 50-mile-per-hour winds moving quickly to the west 18 miles an hour. it will miss the dominican republic but jamaica in its sights. tropical storm warnings up there. here is the forecast track from the national hurricane center. slow strengthening expected and a trajectory that should bring it close to if not into the gulf of mexico by the middle or end of next week. also on the radar and satellite is florence out there well into the atlantic just off the coast of africa. quite honestly not too terribly worried about florence at the moment. we'll keep you posted. fresh updates at the top of the

hour. now to the investigation at the aurora theater massacre. the university of colorado has hired a former federal prosecutor to internally review how the school dealt with suspected gunman james holmes. holmes was a neuro science student there. "the denver post" reported a psychiatrist who was treating holmes notified the school's threat assessment team about his behavior before the rampage happened. holmes is charged with 24 counts of first-degree murder and 116 counts of attempted murder for the shootings at a midnight screening of "the dark knight rises." 12 people were killed and 58 others wounded. joe paterno's family plans to appeal the ncaa sanctions against penn state. it hit the school with a $60 million fine along with the loss of 14 seasons worth of wins under the late legendary coach. the action resulted from the conviction of former assistant coach jerry sandusky on child sexual abuse charges. there is a problem for the

family. the ncaa says its sanctions are not subject to appeal. believe it or not there is more to the summer olympics than just sports. many countries set up hospitality houses to entertain athletes, v.i.p.s, and, yes, even fans. we'll take a little tour coming up.

the legal folks are here. gator feeding. holly give me a line he got what he paid for. he enticed an alligator and paid with his hand. >> avery? >> rob, look what happened to captain hook. is the law going to put this guy in jail? we have the answer and more coming up. >> i knew you'd bring up a pirate. back with the legal guys after this. ♪

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they are calling it super saturday at the olympics with 25 gold medals on the line. american serena williams now owns one of those. she beat russian maria sharapova for the women's singles tennis title and hardly broke a sweat. 6-0, 6-1 was the final score. and michael phelps swam his last race today the 4 x 100 meter relay, team usa won. it is his fourth gold medal of these games and 18th gold medal overall. the u.s. also racked up a gold in women's five-meter rifle marksmanship. you know, for folks visiting london right now it isn't all about watching the actual event. you can spend time checking out one of the houses that's set up by visiting countries who are sparing no expense to give athletes a refuge and show off a little bit, too.

>> reporter: there's food, fashion, history, and art. the dutch have set up a party house in a centuries old palace and the germans, well, they literally cruised on it. for some countries it's a chance to let olympic athletes and v.i.p.s mingle amidst the comforts of home. >> welcome to usa house. at any given moment you could have our legend olympians in the space, an actual competing athlete or their family. >> not everybody gets to come here. >> well, this is meant as a refuge for our olympians and their family members. >> just here to have a good time, get my mind off my races i have coming up. >> reporter: for countries like russia the national hospitality house is open to the public, a chance to attract tourists. >> we have shows, traditional russian shows, and it includes

songs, dances, and also we have for example kid zone and also traditional russian food in the cafe here. >> reporter: a place to celebrate the olympics and boost national pride, a little bit of home away from home. cnn, london. a man loses his hand to an alligator, but if that's not enough, he is getting charged for feeding it. >> adding insult to injury for the most part. the guy already got his arm taken off. what more would you want? >> our legal guys will weigh in. but first, how many times have you been doing something and had an ah ha moment? tomorrow on the next list dr. sanjay gupta profiles ben coffman who has been helping people bring their ideas to life. >> the business is to make an invention possible, to make it

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in florida it's an air boat tour one family will never forget and their captain for sure won't forget it either. the captain lost his hand after a nine-foot gator bit it off. now he faces charges for reportedly feeding it. our legal folks are back. avery friedman, los angeles, holly hughes in atlanta. adding insult to injury, 64-year-old captain, been doing

this a while. feeding an alligator and it bites off his hand. now they are charging this guy with a crime. avery, what is the legal punishment for giving your hand to an alligator? >> well, that isn't what it is, rob. i mean, the law is enticing an alligator which is unique to the everglades. he worked for captain doug. his name is wallace. they're going to give him a nickname. it won't be lefty, tell you that. the difficulty here is not only did he suffer the loss of his hand. he is going to be facing 60 days in jail, $500 fine because he enticed an alligator. so whether you work for captain doug or captain hook i think the good idea is not to entice alligators because this is what happens. he is facing a crime even though he suffered this terrible, terrible injury. >> holly, is this fair? i suspect there is a big problem with this in florida, people feeding gators. is this a fair law? why wouldn't the judge give him a break here? >> it is fair. the judge might give him a

break. you've heard the expression be careful what you do because it might just come back to bite you. well, this case is a visual aid for that, rob. it's what we call public policy law. the law is on the books to protect people, to keep people from trying to feed alligators and things like this happening, losing their hands. it's also to protect the wildlife and the animals because if they get too used to humans feeding them they lose their fear of humans. and you do have these terrible incidents happening. so the reason that the law is on the books is to protect the public and to keep other people -- it's a deterrence law, a public policy. keep other people from doing it. now, even though what avery talked about is true, he is facing up to 60 days in jail. the judge could just say to him i'll give you probation, one day in jail. the judge can do anything within that range, and given what this man has already suffered i don't think the judge is going to throw the book at him. >> so let's see how

compassionate both of you are. holly, if you were the prosecutor would you press charges in this case? >> i would press the charges but i would give him probation. >> and, avery, what would you do, drop the hammer? >> no. i would press charges, make him pay a fine. he's suffered enough. >> okay. quickly, claims against his employer, how is that? >> not a chance. >> no? >> not a chance unless the employer forced him to do it which i don't think he would. >> right. >> but if he did maybe there is a worker's comp case but that's about as good as it gets. >> i suppose if you're one of these guys you want to give your passengers, you know, a bit of a thrill. this one certainly goes down in the history books potentially. let's switch gears, guys. >> for nightmares, rob. >> yeah. for sure. if there were small children they certainly have an image that may be burned in their minds forever. speaking of children or at least students let's switch gears. there is a student, seemingly a star student. we're talking about stellar track record here.

allegedly never missed a class or reportedly but now has a c plus because he missed a class being at an adoption hearing, basically family court, and missed school that day so the teacher is penalizing him. so he and his parents are now suing the teacher and the school system i would think. avery, what do you have to say about this case? >> you know something, rob? you have a better chance of winning a gold medal in kayaking than this kid has in the federal district court. >> a low blow. >> sorry, pal. we saw what happened to you. but the bottom line is, for some reason, i studied the complaint. the lawyer brought it in federal district court claiming a civil rights case under the due process laws. it does not exist. unfortunately, i think this young man suffered injustice. we've all had teachers like this. it belongs in the state court. my prediction the federal court will dismiss it. it'll be in superior court up in alameda county a little north of here and the matter will

resolve. >> what do you think, holly? >> yeah. i'm with avery on this one. i think the matter will resolve only because it's getting so much press and the difference here is they promised this young man that he would be able to make up the test that he missed. that's what caused his grade to plummet so drastically. so there was a promise. there was sort of this oral contract where they said, hey, look, if you go to the adoption hearing don't worry. we're going to let you make it up. so i think that eventually he may get something out of this. when you talk about lawsuits you talk about are there damages? and here you're talking about what kind of college he gets into, future earnings. we see it in catastrophic injury cases where they bring on a forensic accountant to say, well, you're no longer able to earn this much and this is the damage. so we might see something worked out quietly by the school district saying we understand, it could affect you, where you get into school. what kind of job you get and how much money you'll be able to make.

i don't think it will sustain in federal court. >> avery, you want to jump in? >> yeah. no provision for damages in the statute but i think the school district is smart. get it worked out. you want to help kids, move them on their way, he was a junior when this happened. bottom line let's see him get into ucla. go, bruins. >> we did teach out for the attorney for albany unified but have not heard back from them as of this newscast. thanks very much. enjoy it. holly, avery? >> thanks, rob. well don't forget you can watch the legal guys every saturday at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. on his run for the white house presumptive gop nominee mitt romney picks up a big name endorsement. we'll show you who's the guy, one of his new supporters, coming up. ♪ [music plays] ♪ [music plays]

now to the race for the white house and the efforts for more campaign cash. mitt romney is attending a fundraiser today in indiana and picked up a big name endorsement at another fundraiser last night. actor clint eastwood. you feel lucky? huh? do you? eastwood joked with reporters as he headed into last night's fundraiser in sun valley, idaho. >> why did you decide to endorse the governor? >> i haven't endorsed the governor. oh, yeah. no. i just -- because i think the country needs a boost somewhere.

>> eastwood told the crowd at the fundraiser romney was going to restore a, quote, decent tax system. today is president obama's 51st birthday. he is spending the day at camp david. he'll hold a more official celebration in chicago next weekend. the president returns to the campaign trail on monday with two stops in connecticut. it's the size of an suv, weighs nearly a ton, and will soon be barreling toward mars at 13,000 miles an hour. a preview of the unprecedented rover mission coming up. i look at her, and i just want to give her everything.

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checking top stories in oklahoma, wind fueled wild fires have already claimed more than 60 buildings and threatened

another hundred homes right now. temperatures in oklahoma today could reach 113 degrees again in some areas. officials suspect a fire near luther was started by an arsonist. that fire burned dozens of homes and forced evacuations. in just about 36 hours nasa will attempt one of its most difficult missions to date landing its curiosity rover on the surface of mars. if curiosity makes it through the harrowing descent and landing it will begin to hunt for the building blocks of life. you can watch that historic landing live right here on cnn monday morning early or late at 1:30 a.m. eastern time. well, that'll do it for me. the cnn newsroom continues at the top of the hour with don lemon. but first, catching olympic cheaters. how some athletes are gaming the system. sanjay gupta m.d. starts right now.

we've seen world and olympic records shattered in london but no athlete has come under more scrutiny than the 16-year-old swimmer ye shiwen. she beat her personal best by five seconds and in the process broke the world record by a second as well. her final lap was faster than the last lap in the men's gold medal swim. that performance has set off whispers, some accusations about doping, some of it subtle, some not. for example, john leonard, a top u.s. coach, called the performance suspicious and, quote, not right. the ioc spokesman mark adam says the top five finishers of every event are tested to ensure clean wins. ye was no different. >> suffice to say in this case pure rumors, nothing at all of fact or substance and i have heard no word at all from our drugs testing people so i think

people should really sit back and enjoy a great performance. >> the world antidoping agency and the ioc keep a very close eye on drug use. athletes can be tested any time during the games and their samples are sent to this lab. it's in east london. it's kept open 24 hours a day during the olympics. it has a staff of 150 scientists. so with all the intense scrutiny, can you still game the system? victor conti says yes. after all, he did. he helped top athletes obtain steroids and went to prison for it. he says it's just as easy today as it was ten years ago. he now advocates for a clean competition. welcome to the program. really appreciate you being on. as you know, sir, there is zero evidence that the young chinese swimmer cheated, took any kind of performance enhancing drugs. she tested clean as you just heard. is there any reason we shouldn't believe that? >> well, the entire climate now over the