we do have an explanation for what was up with al roker. he wanted to see how long he could hold the pose and the director egged him on. so it wasn't really a glitch in the matrix. like i initially thought. one thing is for sure, whatever you do, do not challenge al roker to a staring contest because you will most certainly lose. "early start" begins now. tropical storm isaac is headed towards florida. is the public national convention ready. also, isaac, not the rnc's only threat next week. this growing concern has security teams in tampa on edge. 'meant it when he said it. ♪ i'm gonna knock you out ♪ mama said knock you out

>> a burglar gets himself in big trouble when he breaks into l.l. cool j.'s home and comes face to face and probably face-to-arms with the actor. >> i was expecting to see ll cool j in here, instead i get you, berman. >> good morning, it's "early , but i thought, my hip is going to hurt at the end of the nigh isaac could become a churricane by tomorrow. people in the state are stocking up, preparing for the storm. in about three hours, governor scott will give an update on the state's readiness plan. isaac could create serious problems for the republican national convention in tampa. 50,000 people expected to visit

that city during the event. we had an update from the national hurricane center just seconds ago. let's go to cnn hurricane headquarters and rob marciano. what's going on? >> this just came in off the wires. i'm going through it on air with you as i do so. it looks like we're knocking down the intensity a little bit as we go through time. problem with this thing, it's got a few things working against it other than the obvious, which is a little bit of lan mass that it's going to interact with. the problem with puerto rico and the island of hispanola. the lack of mountains will be problem number one for the locals. problem number two or the u.s. and land masses beyond that, that's going to mess with the intensification forecast, the strength of this thing. here's what our forecast models have been doing over the past 12 hours. each line represents an individual computer. they've gotten clustered as far as the track is concern. the track becoming a little more

confident, that brings it across cuba and maybe the southern tip of florida. we consolidate that average now, put it in expertise in the national hurricane center forecast, updated for 5:00 a.m. shows you this. actually, this doesn't look like it's updated yet, guys. the track is similar. what i'm reading here off this discussion is that it may not become -- it may not be forecast to become a hurricane at this point. we have to wait and see how it interacts with those mountains and interacts with other things going on in the atmosphere. we'll get a fresh graphic for you in the next 30 minutes. you'll be able to get a better grip on what we expect to see. dangerously close, that's the track for sure through the western peninsula of florida. back over to you. we want to get you updated on the latest political news. federal law enforcement hoping for the best but preparing for the worst at the republican and democratic national conventions.

an intelligence bulletin warns of violence of anarchist extremist groups, citing concerns over bridges and infrastructure in tampa and charlotte. that's where the democrats will be holding their convention. mitt romney and paul ryan have been pulled into the abortion debate, forced to explain their positions. >> mitt romney is the top of the ticket and mitt romney will be president and he will set the policy of the romney administration. and policy of the romney administration is that abortion exceptions will exist for rain, increst and life of the mother. >> paul ryan also said he cold congressman akin to drop out of his senate race but akin is running his own campaign. a new dnc video is slamming republicans over their anti-abortion stance and tieing the comment to the campaign.

listen to this. >> i stan by my pro life record. >> delegates in florida are voting to include strong anti-abortion language in the party platform to be presented in tampa next week. there are no exceptions included for rain or increst. >> would you have supported the constitutional amendment? >> absolutely. >> as you can see, even though mitt romney and paul ryan have both distanced themselves from the todd akin comments, that ad trying to tie them evermore to the abortion debate. moving on, a campaign event in new york featuring current and former nba greats. president obama took some shots at missouri republican congressman todd akin for those comments on rain and abortion. the president telling the crowd while akin sits on the house science and technology committee, he somehow missed science class. that's a quote from president obama. former new hampshire governor and mitt romney

surrogate john sununu. >> the hhs memo goes well beyond what governors asked for. and in fact invites them to offer alternatives to the traditional work requirement. that's the issue that's here. and the alternatives that had been discussed as possible substitutes are things such as self-training in the home, reading books that motivate you to work and so on. >> now, cnn politifact and other is. he told wolf he hopes sanity will prevail and that akin will leave the senate race. of course, this morning todd

akin very much still in the senate race. i saw tweets from him all night trying to raise money and fund his campaign still. >> here's my question, you being the big political poll nerd that you are. when you look at "the wall street journal"/nbc polls and you see the lead that president obama has in terms of female voters, you have to wonder what romney can do to chip, chip, chip away at that. >> he was hoping to use the convention to begin to make his case to particularly suburban women voters. this makes it more difficult and romney speaking on monday night, that's part of their plea. >> yes. moving on, seven minutes past the hour here on this thursday. i want to get you up to date on rest of the top stories. graham spaniard is speaking out for the very first time on the jerry sandusky child sex case, the report that accused him of helping cover it up and his own past as a child abuse victim. here's what he told abc news about whether he did enough to help the victims of jerry

sandusky. >> do you feel like you failed those kids? >> i wish in hindsight that i would have known more about jerry sandusky and his terrible, terrible hidden past so that i could have intervened, because it would have been my instinct to do so if i would have known more about him. but did i not. >> his attorneys blasted that louie freeh report, calling the university-funded review a flat out distortion of facts infused with bias and innuendo that accused spaniard of being complicit in the alleged cover-up of the child sex abuse scandal. he faces a maximum of 55 years in prison if convicted in the family research council shootings. he opened fire in the d.c. headquarters last week. the building manager was shot in the arm but still managed to wrestle the suspect to the ground. according to the criminal

complaint, corkens targeted the fic for their anti-gay policies. new developments in the case of 21-year-old travis carter who arkansas police say fatally shot himself while hand cuffed in the back of a police cruiser. his girlfriend said carter called her from the car saying he had a gun with him and that he was frightened. an autopsy ruled his death as a suicide this weekend. many questions still remain unanswered. this is how she rolls. nasa rover curiosity making its first test drive on mars. there are the tracks to prove it. there they are. nasa's lead rover driver said the trip lasted roughly 16 minutes. curiosity rolled about 15 feet, an epic 15 feet, maybe a 120 degree turn in place and then backed up five feet and took some more stunning pictures along the way.

you picked the wrong house to rob. rapper and actor and owner of very large muscles, ll cool j scuffled with a burglar who tried to break into his los angeles home early yesterday morning. police say he was able to take down the suspect and, quote, unquote, physically detain him until they arrived. ll cool j shares the home with his wife, their four kids, one of his daughters called police while he took care of, you know, the physical stuff. >> i bet he did. >> i bet he did, too. you do not mess with ll cool j. >> it has to be scary to have someone break into your house. >> yes. >> even if you are ll cool j and have those arms. >> how about this one? a school event called senors and senoritas. it went on for three years. we'll tell you about this and the major backlash, coming up next.

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welcome back to "early start," 14 minutes paragraph the hour. i'm brook baldwin. >> and i'm john berman. glad you're with us. >> let's get an early read, some of the local news making national headlines here this morning, including offensive caricatures of mexicans. i'm talking about students dressed as gang members, pregnant women pushing a baby stroller, all part of senior

week. remember senior week in high school? this is high school perhaps not like you experienced. this is anaheim, california. take a look at this picture. this is the cover of the "l.a. times" this morning, canyon high school taking a lot of heat for allowing these demeaning costumes during something called senors and senoritas day. it happened for three years at the school. along with sombreros, fake mustaches, some dressed up as border patrol agents and tear drops. the event will be placed with an international week next year. administrators will undergo diversity and sensitivity training and the school will offer an ethnic studies class. >> i can't believe this is going on for three years. >> now it matters. they're saying thanks but no thanks. chattanooga, a group called freedom from religion is going after a local high school football program and its coach. they're accusing richland high

school's head coach of violating the players' first amendment rights by taking his team to church for meals and service and by putting bible verses on team equipment and leading team prayers. there's been no comment from the district or head coach. the separation of church and state is the issue here. you like licorice? >> sure. >> sure. maybe not this licorice. the contra costa times reporting beware of the black licorice. people are being warned against eating black licorice candy produced by the easty bay. a lot of redvine black licorice twists had a lead level exceeding the state standard. it's marked from a best before february 13, 2013. remember that. >> remember that number. >> memorize that. >> pregnant women and parents of children are being told to talk to their doctors. the company behind the candy

company voluntarily asked for the recall. >> that's kind of a bummer. >> black licorice, you can find others out there. for an expanded look at our top stories, go to cnn.com/earlystart. 16 minutes after the hour. we want to get you up to speed with the headlines. christine romans is here. tropical storm isaac ready to make a mess of the republican national convention. it could make landfall as a hurricane by late sunday or early monday. florida's governor will announce readiness plans in about three hours. right now a hurricane warning is in effect for haiti and the southern dominican republic. an airline passenger said to be distraught is in custody in baton rouge, louisiana. authorities say he pushed past crew members, ran down the jetway and locked himself in the cockpit of an empty american eagle plan. this man identified as andrew alescy surrendered after several hours of negotiating when police

cut power to that aircraft. virginia tech university battling environmentalists over a plan to build an indoor practice facility right next to its football field. built in an area known as stadium woods. the university has now accepted a committee recommendation to ditch this plan. some trees in stadium woods are 300 years old. the blueprint called for at least 60 of them to be torn down. and more porn actors have syphilis. the industry is requiring all actors take antibiotics. a public health official says there are nine confirmedications among porn actors in l.a. county. now to an unusual case of animal abuse. people in oceanside, california neighborhood spotted a box turtle duct taped to balloons and it was stuck to a tree. >> what? >> just as fire rescue crews got there on sunday, a gust of wind blew the balloons down. if no one claims this box turt,

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here we go. welcome back to "early start" here. christine romans is with us, minding your business this morning. cbo report. >> i know. fiscal cliff, fiscal cliff, fiscal cliff. the cbo, the congressional budget office out with a new formula for what happens if your elected officials don't get their acts together. and what happens is you could lose your job. no matter who is president next year, in congress doesn't act on a fiscal cliff, no matter who is president, whose policies, you will see people lose jobs. a recession next year, a big recession the beginning part of the year overall, a tough year and unemployment rate of 9%. it would improve the u.s.'s horrible debt position, yes. but at a cost of really crushing the economy next year. so that's where we stand now if congress doesn't act on the fiscal cliff. what is new about this, i haven't heard the cbo yet give

an unemployment rate target. 9% is the target. >> they warned of a recession before. >> they've warned of a recession. this is a lot of pain up front. this is because congress kept punting, right, and kept not doing its job. it couldn't figure out last year in the whole debt ceiling debate. it put out this worst case scenario. >> you're frustrated. >> i'm very frustrated. a lot of people are frustrated. be prepare, this is a really big deal. are you seeing any move, john, they're going to fix it? >> hardly any chance it will happen before the election. >> 78 days until the election, 136 days until the fiscal cliff. the a.c.t., they're out with college readiness, a look for all those college ready kids that took the a.c.t. report. 60% are at risk of not

succeeding in their college career. some did not meet any of the four college benchmarks in english, math, reading or science, suggesting there are a whole lot of kids who will struggle in college. if you go to college not ready you'll be taking catch up classes in english and math in your first year, pay maybe $25,000 to do that for your first year and five years to graduate. you are behind by tens of thousands of dollars if you do graduate. there you go on that. third, i wanted to tell you some good news. i'm the angel of darkness this morning. >> housing market. >> yes, mortgages and the housing market, fewer people are under water. yesterday we told you home sales rose in july. that was good news. zillow and midnight released a negative equity report, showing that fewer people are under water. 30% of u.s. home owners with mortgages are under water, down from over 31% in the first quarter. >> good. >> i know. there you go. >> thank you for that, christine

romans. 25 minutes after the hour right now. a gun range is getting sued over a promotion. what's the promotion? women only. were they discriminating against my people, men, or just trying to drum up new business? men or women, you can watch us anytime on your desktop or mobile phone. go to cnn.com/tv.

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all eyes on this. preparations already under way in florida as tropical storm isaac is picking up steam. the storm could reach florida by early next week. we do have new information as far as tracking this thing goes. we'll check in with rob marciano

and see if and when this could affect the rnc in tampa. >> isaac not the only thing, only possible storm the rnc is weathering with the convention just days away now, is mitt romney being overshadowed by congressman akin and those legitimate rain comments? and ladies night, sure, it's a popular promotion at all kinds of bars and clubs but one gun range under fire for their women only -- the women only special. some say hey, that's not fair to guys. we shall see. it is half past the hour here on a thursday. welcome back to "early start." i'm sitting in for zoraida. i'm brooke baldwin. >> i'm john berman. 5:30 in the east standing up for guys everywhere. tropical storm isaac potentially heading towards florida as it makes its way through the caribbean this morning. take a look once again. this hurricane warning has been issued for the island of hispaniola. isaac is threatening to reach florida by early monday morning. here's the big if.

if it becomes a hurricane by next week, that could cause all kinds of problems. isaac could be interrupting the republican national convention in tampa. at least there will be 15,000 journalists to cover it if in fact that happens. for the latest forecast, let's go straight to rob marciano and the cnn hurricane headquarters. rob, you were getting updated information this morning. it sounds like maybe it's weakening in intensity as far as a national hurricane is concerned. >> it has weakened overnight a little bit, max winds one of recon missions showing 27 miles an hour. they bumped it down. this satellite picture looking healthier. it has warm water to deal with. the more i read into the real discussion of isaac, it looks like we're not changing it a whole lot from where we were last time. it's going to strengthen somewhat over the next couple days. might not do it much today. it's going to do it enough to where they issued hurricane warnings for the island of

hispaniola. that gives you confidence as to what we think will happen with the strength of this thing. the forecast track, there's more confidence in this this morning than there was yesterday. i'll explain why in just a second. here's your intensity levels as web. we get through cuba and somewhere along the florida keys, the straits, the southern tip of florida. as we get towards early sunday -- early monday morning, late sunday night and getting into the eastern gulf of mexico likely during the day on tuesday. that of course hasn't changed much. it's going to be close to tampa. the reason we're getting more confident, john, our computer models, we had a bunch that were going well to the east yesterday. now they're going to consolidate heading towards the eastern gulf of mexico and if this track verifies regardless of a direct hit on tampa, it willing on the rig right side of the storm and we'll get stormy conditions at the very least. >> rob, back to you. >> no, i'll take it, rob marciano. >> they were looking at me. >> sorry. all you, berman.

apologies. >> thank you very much. rob, talking about tropical storm isaac which is going to be headed at least towards the national republican convention, we will be there. >> bringing your red storm team jacket with you? >> i am. >> i just got here. they haven't given me that jacket yet. >> eventually. >> there's the todd akin controversy and president obama weighing into that controversy last night. there is a lot to talk about, republicans on edge this morning in tampa. that is where we find cnn's political reporter peter handy in tampa. you have your raincoat? can you see people getting ready for this storm? are there visible signs of preparation right now. >> it's all over the local news, talk radio. people have been talking about it. it's been raining a lot which is normal at this time of year in tampa. i talked to a delegate from new jersey who is staying in st. pete on the beach. he's cranky that the weather might be bad, even if the storm

misses we'll get a lot of rain. you know, the republican national committee, the host committee here, they're saying that they have contingency plans in place. they're not revealing what those are. they don't want to make this a bigger story than it is at the moment. it's a story in terms of practical impact we're still kind of in a holding pattern. >> i get the sense republicans are crankier about this ongoing controversy involving todd akin. now the democrats trying to make hay with this. we do have a new ad, really a video out from the dnc overnight. let's take a look at this. >> i'm proud of my pro life record and i stand by my pro life record in congress. it's something i'm proud of. >> delegates in florida were voting today to include strong anti-abortion language in the party platform to be presented in tampa next week. there are no exceptions included for rain or incest. >> would you have supported a constitutional amendment? >> absolutely.

>> that would have supported life at inception? >> absolutely. >> i couldn't help but notice paul ryan's face in this video. tell me the strategy behind this. what are democrats trying to do? >> paul ryan might be the achilles heel for mitt romney right now. paul ryan has a similar voting record in the house of representatives to todd akin. they've co-sponsored bills together with language about abortion that doesn't include exceptions for rain. so the democrats have been running tv ads about this. they're going to keep talking about this even more. they know this is the central point of discussion in the presidential race. i think you'll hear more about paul ryan's record on abortion as they try to tie him to mitt romney and keep the discussion off the economy in the week heading up to the convention. >> before the todd akin thing broke earlier this week, we were talking about medicare. there are fresh polls out

minutes ago which shed some light a little bit on where this debate is headed. explain them to me. >> yes, "the new york times" and quinnipiac did polls in three different states, ohio, florida and wisconsin. and poll numbers there are actually tightening which is good news for the romney campaign but they surveyed the question of medicare. medicare has been thrust into the center of the debate since paul ryan was picked because of his controversial budget reform plan. take a look at some of the numbers on medicare. they asked the question whether medicare should continue as it is or medicare should be changed in the way that paul ryan has suggested in the house, basically for people under the age of 55 moving toward a voucher system. in florida, 62% of voters say medicare should continue as it is. in ohio, 64%, wisconsin 59%. the people who think medicare should be changed in florida, that's only 28%, john. that's a big deal. if mitt romney loses florida, if democrats could convince voters in florida that this plan would

hurt voters medicare there, mitt romney loses 29 electioral vote. the only thing barack obama has to do is win a small state, new hampshire, idaho, for example. and it's game over. the task is up to both campaigns to sort of get the message out there of what each campaign is going to do. >> and the task is frame the discussion the way they want to. peter hamby in tampa. buy your raincoat. thanks very much. cnn is gearing up for special coverage of the republican national convention. this sunday night, cnn's coverage kicks off at 8:00 p.m. eastern with a profile of mitt romney and then monday morning, "early start" and "starting point" will broadcast live from tampa and monday night you have to join us live for coverage of the republican national convention from tampa beginning at 7:00 p.m. eastern time. >> swing on by in the afternoon. i'll be there, too. >> of course. swing by cnn grill.

hang at the grill. 2340 coincidence that the rnc is in florida, speaking of what hamby was talking about. the ntsb says the crew of a train that derailed near baltimore did not apply the emergency brakes just before that accident. investigators say the emergency brakes were triggered automatically, possibly because of a ruptured air line. rose mayor and elizabeth nash, both 19 years of age were on the bridge where the train derailed tuesday. they died when coal spilled in the derailment and buried them. a memorial mass is scheduled for tomorrow and a funeral is planned saturday for mayer. john lennon's convicted killer seeking parole again. this is mark chafd chapman's seventh attempt at freedom. two or three members of the parole board reportedly interviewed chapman before making their decision. it's still unclear exactly what they will hand down. lennon gunned down outside of his manhattan apartment back in 1980. the transportation security

administration ordering officering nationwide to undergo retraining after allegations of racial profiling at several airports. the tsa says behavior detection officers trained to identify potential threats will be required to take a refresher course. the action comes after complaints from agents at boston's logan airport who said minorities were being targeted for questioning based on race and ethnicity. karen klein, a 68-year-old bus monitor is putting her donations to good use. she's starting her own anti-bullying crusade. the karen klein anti-bullying foundation. >> i'm hoping to get other people to put money in it and this is going to be for education, for people that are bullied, for people that -- just people that need it for the situation. >> klein received an outpouring of support and donations when

the clip went viral back in june. of the $700,000 raised, $100,000 is going to the campaign. she was going to use some of the other for a campaign. >> vacation. ladies day at the gun range. sounds like a heck of a promotion but now this maryland small arms range is being sued. why? >> just because i'm a man doesn't mean that, you know, i should have to pay more. two ladies came up behind me. he told them they were free. i asked him, i said why did i have to pay to use the range and they didn't? >> the owner of the maryland gun range says if what he's doing is illegal, so are discounts for seniors, churn aildren and the military. >> i don't hear too many guys complaining about ladies night at the bar. >> i want cheap drinks. there is a big, big controversy brewing overnight. >> yes. >> everyone's talking about it this morning. he says he was there when osama bin laden was killed.

now a former navy s.e.a.l. is writing a tell-all book about this historic raid. a lot of questions to be asked here. a live report from the pentagon, next. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. until i got a job in the big apple. becoming a fulltime indoor cat wasn't easy for atti. but he had purina cat chow indoor. he absolutely loved it. and i knew he was getting everything he needed to stay healthy indoors. and after a couple of weeks, i knew we were finally home! [ female announcer ] purina cat chow indoor. and for a delicious way to help maintain a healthy weight, try new purina cat chow healthy weight. exclusive to the military, and commitment is not limited to one's military oath.

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well, would you look at the time... what's the rush? be happy. be healthy. what's the♪rush? (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. happy thursday. you with me, berman? >> i'm here. >> i'm brooke baldwin. >> i'm john berman, thanks for being with us. >> good to know. >>. this is a first account of the raid that killed osama bin laden from someone who was

there, so we think. a man who claims he was a member of the u.s. navy s.e.a.l.s is coming out with a book about some of the most thrilling 38 minutes in modern military history. just like the raid, no one saw this book coming. its release date, september 11th of this year. barbara starr is at the pentagon. barbara, i thought this was entirely confidential. how is it even possible that he can write this book? i imagine it totally caught the pentagon off guard. >> it did catch them off guard. by all accounts, military officials tell us they did not know until the last few days that this book was in the works and by all accounts it is by a navy s.e.a.l. who was there. he is going to go by the name of mark owen as the author of that book. they are saying that is not his real name. he's champing his name for purposes of the book, changing the names and the descriptions of the other s.e.a.l.s that he was with that night to preserve

confidentiality and classification. by all indications the book is the real deal. he's working with a well-known author, kevin mower, who is well known to the special rations community. they believe this is the real deal, they just didn't know about it. he is expected to talk about being with that helicopter that crashed that night on the compound, about going in, about making the radio call back to washington that bin laden had been killed. the question, of course, is going to be when everyone finally sees the book, what is in it, how much detail in the military will take a close look, we are told, to make sure there have no classified information in it. >> once the book comes out, as you mention, all these private moments, what about the other s.e.a.l. team 6 members who are still out and about? are they fearful? >> this is very interesting. this is now the key question for the u.s. military. since the bin laden raid, public

fascination, everybody seems to be writing books about it, s.e.a.l.s have acted in a hollywood film called "act of valor." there is that website that we've been reporting on where former s.e.a.l.s are coming out in public and criticizing the amount of information out there. now another one writing a book. inside the s.e.a.l. community, inside the special operations community, a lot of concern about this. because you know, there are a lot of guys still out there on the line, being the quiet professional, that's their saying, who are not out there, working frankly for very little money. there are tragically widows out there, families of the fallen in the special ops community. what do they think about this, what do they think about so much publicity and money being made off what they do. brooke? >> i'm sure we'll talk about this more when the book is released. and a film "zero dark 30" coming

off after the election. they areare printing a lot copies. let's get you up to date on the top stories. christine romans is here. tropical storm isaac is moving through the caribbean and florida still in its path. it could hit by late sunday or early monday. organizers for the republican national convention in tampa have preparations under way. las vegas gets a drenching. flooding roadways and turning storm channels into raging rivers. emergency crews had to respond to dozens of calls yesterday for accidents and stranded drivers. envy energy reporting 14,000 customers lost power in northeast las vegas for several hours. power has since been restored to just about all customers there. next time you catch a flight you may have even less wiggle room. jetblue and canada's west jet

say they're cutting about an inch of leg room on some of the nonpremium seats. they say they're increasing leg rooms in higher priced sections. oh, of course. west jet says it hopes the roomier seats will attract more business travelers. the changes are expected by the end of the year, you guys. >> great. >> thank you, tall ladies. >>. >> it's hard to be tall on an airplane these days. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. old meets new. if you love, cool, hip, modern technology like the ipad but are nostalgic for things of the past, i.e., a typewriter, there's a way to blend the best of both worlds. that's next. ntgomery and abigail higgins had...

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welcome back. 52 minutes after the hour. brooke baldwin, john berman, good to see you. here's what's trending on the web right now. you're going to love this. >> you're going to love this. >> you don't have to look at actual real stuff anymore.

why? because lg is unveiling its new 84 inch ultradefinition flat screen tv. this can show 8 million pixels per frame, that is four times the quality of current high definition broadcasts, probably like 100 times more than your eye can actually see. it goes on sale next month for the low, low price of $22,000. if you think it's pricey, it's even pricier considering there's nothing you can watch on it yet. although the bbc broadcast from olympic events in uhd. >> here's your next ipad accessory. an attachment that turns your tablet into a typewriter. they're calling it the itypewriter for people who prefer the clickty clackty surrounds, the feel of typing.

it doesn't connect to the ipad. it touches the keys on the screen. >> i do like the typing, i like the noise. >> it will sell like hot cakes, i tell you. she meant well but this is what happened when an elderly parishioner took it upon herself to restore a classic fresco jesus. it's worse than i thought. an 80-year-old neighbor of the parish acted in good faith but she didn't have permission to touch the 19th century painting. it's the only known work of a local artist who painted it over 100 years ago. >> we were joking, sort of. let me retouch that blue up there in the sistine chapel. don't do it. prince harry, this may also fall under the don't do it category. raising a royal ruckus in sin city and getting all kinds of late-night reaction. watch. >> good news today, it was

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all eyes on isaac. tropical storm isaac, gaining strength and possibly headed towards florida. if it becomes a full-blown hurricane by monday morning, will the republican national convention be a washout? also we have now learned, this is from the cdc, officially one of the biggest outbreak of the west nile virus in the under the circumstances ever. more on that and how you can protect yourself, just ahead. >> scary for a lot of people. he said he was there when osama bin laden was killed. now a former navy s.e.a.l. is writing a tell-all book about that historic raid. good morning. welcome to "early start," i'm brooke baldwin sitting in for zoraida. >> i'm john berman. 6:00 a.m. in the east. we are glad you're with us. we are on storm watch this morning. >> we are on storm watch this morning. >> tropical storm isaac is

soaking san juan, puerto rico and isaac could become a category 1 hurricane by friday. it is threatening to reach florida by monday. and people there already stocking up, preparing for the storm. in just about two hours now, florida's governor, rick scott, will give an update on this state's readiness plan. if this becomes hurricane by nek isaac could create serious problems for the republican national convention in tampa. 50,000 people expected to visit the city during the event including 15,000 journalists. for the latest we'll go to rob marciano and we have new information this morning. >> we do. the advisory moves it a little to the south and now it is in the eastern caribbean. winds right now 40 miles an hour, westerly movement at 12 miles an hour. right now about 250 miles south of san juan, of part reek owe,

will miss to the south and some of the rain bands are showing up on the radar, mostly to the south and there are tropical storm warnings posted for the northern islands of the caribbean including puerto rico through the u.s. virgin islands, and the hurricane warnings have been saved and posted for the island of espanol and that's where it is expected as the storm takes shape. the strengthening of this is not going to be explosive. okay? it looks likes it is going to get through the florida keys and these computer models are beginning to consolidate. a little more confidence in at least the forecast track as we go through the next few days and does continue to bring it to the eastern gulf of mexico by monday and tuesday potentially towards tampa. back up to you. >> rob marciano and you were saying before even if it is not a hurricane, even if it is not a direct hit on tampa, tampa is going to get weather next week. that will affect politics for

sure. >> yes. >> there is other politics news. we want to update you on all of that. president obama is releasing a new campaign ad that features former president bill clinton. in it clinton says president obama is building the economy from the ground up while clinton says mitt romney and paul ryan want to go back to top-down economics. look at had this brand new ad out seconds ago. >> this election to me is about which candidate is more likely to return us to full employment. this is a clear choice. the republican plan is to cut more taxes on upper income people and go back to deregulation. that's what got us in trouble in the first place. president obama has a plan to rebuild america from the ground up. >> federal law enforcement gearing up for potential violence darkening the upcoming rnc in tampa. an intelligence bulletin obtained by cnn warns of violence by anarchist groups possibly using ie ds and it

cites concerns over bridges in tampa and where the dnc will be held in charlotte. >> we have is new details about the cast if you will. mitt romney has asked kenneth hutchens, a retired police chief to give the invocation on the final day of the festivities. he served as a counselor to romney when he was an lds church president in boston. we also learned timothy dolan will did i have the conviction on the night he accepts the presidential nomination. >> president obama mocking missouri republican todd akin over his quote, unquote, legitimate rape remark. he was attending in new york and this is yesterday and the president took his best shot. what he did is told this crowd that while congressman akin kits on the house science and technology committee, he, quote,

somehow missed science class. >> the president trying to keep this in the news as long as he possibly can. >> yes. >> three minutes after the hour. the new "new york times" poll is any indication, the ron paul plan to ryan romney plan is deeply unpopular in states. they found 6 in 10 voters want medicare to continue providing health insurance to older americans the way it does now. less than a third say medicare should be changed in the future to assist in which government gives the elderly fixed amounts of money to buy health insurance or medicare insurance. >> it is incredible how we were talking so much about medicare in the news and what happened in missouri with todd akin and totally shifted the conversation now. >> very quickly. >> former penn state president graham spanier speaking out for the first time to the jerry sandusky child sex case, the report that accused him of

helping cover it up and his own past as a child abuse victim. he told abc news when jerry sandusky acted suspiciously with a boy in the team showers, that was back in 2001, the notorious incident, he said he was only made aware that sandusky engaged in quote, unquote, horseplay. >> didn't you have a moral obligation to find out who that child was and find out what happened? >> i didnconjure up anything mo than i thought of simple horseplay. i didn't think of anything more than that. >> former fbi chief louis freeh came out with his independent report in which spanier totally blasted the attorneys and blasted as well calling the university funded review a, quote, flat out distortion of facts infused with bias and innuendo and accused spanier of being complicit in the alleged coverup of the child sex abuse scandal and we'll talk to jeff

t toobin later this hour. >> interesting stuff. jeffrey has a lot of information. five minutes after the hour. 28-year-old floral corkens faces 55 years in prison. they say he opened fire in the ec headquarters last week. the building manager was shot in the arm but he was able to wrestle a suspect to the ground. according to the criminal complaint he targeted the frc because he didn't like its positions regarding the gay community. >> jerry brown declares a state of emergency in three northern california counties because of wildfires there. these wildfires have burned about 25,000 acres, destroyed 50 buildings as they're burning to the edge of the towns, precariously close to where people live and the emergency declarations do clear the way for the use of more state resources to fight the fires. >> new developments in a case we're watching closely, the case

of travis carter who arkansas police say fatally shot himself while handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser. investigators say his girlfriend told him carter had called her from the car saying he had a gun with him and that he was scared. an autopsy report ruled his death a suicide. police say they twice searched him for a weapon. carter's family believe police fired the fatal shot and many questions remain unanswered. check this out, how she rolls, the nasa mars rover curiosity making its first spin on the red planet, and there are now new pictures to prove this nasa's lead rover driver, by the way, 16 of them, say this trip roughly lasted 16 minutes. it went about 15 feet, made a 100-degree turn in place and then backed up eight foot, took more stunning pictures along the way. quick trivia, on the wheels of the curiosity rover is morse code and translates to jpl, the

jet propulsion laboratory where they were doing the fist pumps and the high five's when it landed. there you go. >> news you can use this morning. seven minutes after the hour and a big controversy, an ex navy seal catching the pentagon completely by surprise, a man that claims he was a member of the u.s. navy seal team six is coming out with a book about the raid that killed osama bin laden. the title," no easy day," the release day september 11, 2012, and they say it is a pen name and the author they say is no longer on active duty. we'll have a live report coming up later in the hour. it is one of the biggest outbreaks of the west nile virus in this country ever before. we'll tell you what you need to know next. becoming a fulltime indoor cat wasn't easy for atti. but he had purina cat chow indoor. he absolutely loved it. and i knew he was getting everything he needed to stay healthy indoors.

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welcome back to "early start." 11 minutes after the hour. glad you're with us. >> i am brooke baldwin and we have to talk to something a lot of you are talking about, the west nile virus. we may be in the middle of the worst ever outbreak of west nile virus period. the cdc saying it is seeing the highest number of cases ever reported by the third week of august, and cases they are trending upward. i want to bring in elizabeth cohen who is following this so closely and just in the last 24 hours we're learning in terms of deaths arkansas added to this list. this is very serious. >> it is very serious. brooke, this jump in just one week has been so dramatic. i want to show you those numbers. last week the cdc was telling us about 26 deaths so far this west nile season. this week now that number is up to 41.

that's a big jump for just one week. as far as illnesses go, 693 last week and now that number is 1,118, and, brooke, most states are reporting some west nile cases, but they're really focused on a couple of states. there are five states that are the hot spots, and so those would be south dakota, mississippi, louisiana, oklahoma, and texas has been the epicenter of the outbreak. >> i have a dog. say i go out in the evening, walking my dog, two minutes later mosquitos love me so i will have five different bites. how frightened should i be? >> we want to put this in perspective. i understand why mosquitos love you because are you so sweet. you are standing there, and you have all of these mosquitos around you. >> they love me. >> if you have a chance, count them. probably only about 1% of them have west nile virus, brooke,

that's how unusual this is. even so, that's not good. let's say you got bit by one of those west nile mosquitos. 80% chance you would not have any symptoms at all. you would be totally fine and wouldn't get sick. 20% chance you would get mild symptoms like a fever or nausea and only 1 out of 150 people have paralysis, coma or die. those people will most likely be over the age of 50. >> 1 in 150 with severe symptoms. i know talking to the mayor of dallas wearing his deet and we should be wearing our d. tell me the four d's. >> get a repellent with deet. the second thing, dress in long sleeves and pants out there with your dog and also at dusk and dawn be especially careful. that's when they like to come out and party and also drain standing water.

mosquitos love to breed there, kiddy pools, bird fountains, get rid of the water. >> dually noted. thank you. >> a lot of questions and a lot of people talking about this this morning. a lot of people in the country concerned. 14 minutes after the hour. we want to get you up to speed on all the headlines and christine romans is there. >> tropical storm isaac ready to make a mess of the republican national convention, headed toward florida and the governor will announce readiness plans in about two hours. we'll keep you posted. the dark knight mass are ker suspect due in court this afternoon, hearing about whether university records can be turned over to prosecutors. prosecutors are seeking copies of 100 pages of education records. holmes is accused of killing 12 people and wounding 58 others in the aurora theater shootings. jerry springer, of course, no stranger to controversy, the talk show host and former cincinnati mayor talked politics with piers morgan and still thinks missouri senate hopeful

todd akin has a shot. >> he is not going to step down because he is going to be a sympathetic figure for the far right within missouri, so i am not sure he is out of it, in other words, i still think he has a chance of winning as crazy as it was what he said. springer also said he thinks mitt romney is irrelevant, that the election is actually between president obama and paul ryan because the house already passed ryan's budget. a virginia college student got a free car make over from his repair shop. his car was vandalized four times between march and may and keyed with homophobic slurs and even the word die. the shop spent more than 100 hours on repairs that would cost more than $10,000. a free makeover for his car. that is cool. >> that is cool.

>> thank you, christine. >> the middle class, talking about this, it has been shrinking. new evidence showing it is falling behind. that's next. for an expanded look at all of our top stories that we know you need to know, go to our blog cnn.com/earlystart. 16 minutes past the hour. and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. with our award winning apps that allow you to transfer funds, pay bills or manage your finances anywhere, anytime. so that wherever your duty takes you, usaa bank goes with you. visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different.

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we are minding your business this morning. there is a new study out from the pew research center, very

interesting, talks about the middle class and shows the middle class is falling behind the past ten years. christine romans is here diving into this very big report. >> it is big, very big. >> what's inside? >> it is called fewer, poorer, glammier, the lost decade of the middle class, the end. no, that's what it is it really quantifies what's happened to all of you and all of you are saying what happened to the middle class in the country. middle class families are poorer, lower incomes than ten years ago and it is the first time this happened since world war ii. what we lived there, the with its own name, the great recession. middle class net worth. they put this into stark relief. you can see it is down over the next decade. i will keep vamping and tell you bring up the middle class net worth. i don't see it. it goes like this. middle class income also has fallen dramatically, 69,487 is the net income, down from a peak

above 72,000 and middle class lifestyle, 85% of you say it is more difficult now to maintain your lifestyle compared with ten years ago, 85% saying it is harder to stay in the middle class. who is to blame? this is so interesting as well. most -- almost two-thirds of the middle class blames congress. congress and congressional policies over the past decade or so. congress receives a lot of the blame. banks and financial institutions, more than half of you say blame the banks. large corporations and their policies for shareholder value, 47% of you, the bush administration, 44% of you say it is their fault. foreign competition, 39%, the obama administration, 34%. >> interesting. >> it is interesting. i think this is really interesting politically overall. a couple of things i found really fascinating. two third of the middle class still say you can with hard work you can get ahead. you're rewarded for hard work in this country. i think that's important. the number one finding about

education, it is the single most critical factor for staying in the middle class is a college education. >> college, college, college. >> it is hard when you tell this to gen-y people. all of these studies show they're working crazy low pay jobs and not getting jobs in their field and really the lost generation. over and over you look at longer term the right investment in a college education is what is so critical, so critical to stay in the middle class. >> you were telling us quickly a woman in her early 40s is the -- >> when you look at the demographics, it is like married women with a college education have the most financial security, married couples. other studies have shown that it is now men who gain the advantage from marrying, not women, which is interesting. for years it was women who married and got financial security and they were sort of the net beneficiary financially of marriage. now it is men who are marrying. there is really interesting changes going on. this report, the lost decade of the middle class, it was a rough

decade. inside that report there is i think some sign posts for how we can try to stay in the middle class and strengthen the middle class. >> a lot to know. is there one more thing we need to know? >> the one thing you need to know about your money for today, stock futures are trading higher. minutes from the last federal reserve meeting show it is weighing options to stimulate the economy. those big fed people sitting around that board are very closely watching what's happening and what has been a subpar recovery, trying to figure out if they need to do something. we'll continue watching that. futures are higher. >> thank you. sounds like a bit of a movie but it was very much reality for one family. how they got stuck in an airport. how? for five days. >> five days? >> five days. their story is next. also if you're leaving the house now and heading off to work and taking the kids to school, you can watch us any time on your desktop or mobile phone. go to cnn.com/tv. 24 minutes past the hour. there's big news.

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and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but with their raymond james financial advisor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable. and they danced. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. florida, florida could be in for a beating here from tropical storm isaac. all eyes on this picture, a hurricane might, let me i tall size, bold, might be hitting tampa, the site of the republican national convention that starts next monday. that's not the only storm brewing for the gop. >> speaking out, penn state's former president is giving his side of the story and claiming he had nothing to do with the

jerry sandusky coverup. >> and, look, who loves being at the airport for too long? imagine this family stuck there for five days. one family's nightmare ahead. >> five days. >> five days. five. >> welcome back ck to "early start." >> it is 28 minutes past the hour. let's talk isaac, shall we? we cover the rnc and here is what i can tell you, this is san juan, already the rain really coming down here. isaac heading towards florida this morning, winds 45 miles per hour. look at the map with me. you can see right now isaac could become a category 1 hurricane by friday. it is threatening to reach florida by early monday morning. folks in the state are already stocking up. they are preparing for the storm here, and just a head's up, about 90 minutes from now rick scott will be giving an update on the state's readiness plan and the big if, if it becomes a

hurricane by next week, isaac could soak the republican national convention in tampa. let's talk to rob again, following all of these updates. i know so many people are following them as well as we mentioned 15,000 journalists potentially covering this next week in tampa. rob, talk to me. what do you see? >> they already have had a ton of rain in tampa so far this week. this could bring more. here is the latest, winds of 40 miles per hour, westerly movement 12 miles per hour, 50 miles south of puerto rico and weakened a little over night but the overall picture looks to be fairly healthy. tropical storm warnings posted for the northern islands of the caribbean including puerto rico, and then hurricane warnings now have been posted in anticipation of this thing strengthening for espanola. the computer models are tightly packed as we get towards the later part of this period. we think it will go over and including haiti and thousands of

people there without shelter and we could see 10 to 15 inches of rain so that's a big story and over cuba into the florida straits and a lot of warm water and conditions more favorable and probably will become a hurricane somewhere in this direction late sunday into monday and then getting into the eastern gulf of mexico and of course tampa is in the cone, the florida panhandle, potentially new orleans if it shifts to the west but as far as the red jacket is concerned, brook, you may want to pack that. at the least, you get a little rain and wearing the color red at the republican national convention a little more access, you know. >> i feel like if i bring it it won't happen. i am of that belief. we shall see. >> typically that does happen. pack it. >> rob, thank you. >> florida counting on brooke's red jacket and also on the vast preparations. rick scott is expected to speak at 8:00 this morning about that state's preparations ahead of isaac. convention organizers and city officials are setting up emergency call centers, ramping up safety precautions around the

city, and of course mitt romney is still weathering a very different storm today. he is trying to deflect the controversy around fellow republican todd akin as he prepares to accept his nomination. joining me to discuss this is alex duel. thanks for being with us and tweeting all about us this morning also. it is great to see you. >> great to be with you. >> i want to ask you about comments that president obama made last night at a fundraiser here in new york city. seems to me he is doing what he can to keep this todd akin story in the news. to this fundraiser during the speech he said about akin, this is an individual who sits on a house committee on science and technology but somehow missed science class. making light, i suppose, a little bit of this controversy, but seems to be strategy behind this. why do you think the president wants to keep this in the news and do you think it is effective, alice? >> he wants to keep it in the news because he wants to keep his record out of the news. the democrats and liberals will continue to talk about this.

i can tell you i was at a fundraiser in little rock with governor romney, and he talked about what people across this country are concerned with. he talked about free market policies and putting faith and confidence back in our economic system so that this country can grow, and he understands what people in the room there in arkansas and across the country need. they need confidence in this economy and they understand it is not big government, it is free market enterprise that's going to help things grow and that's what he is doing. he is taking the message from one state to the next to the next and it is being effective. >> alice, this controversy does raise some questions about the stance that mitt romney and paul ryan have had on abortion and in some cases paul ryan's record seems very similar to that of todd akin. is there a difference on the issue of abortion between paul ryan and todd akin. >> the romney-ryan ticket made it quite clear they disagree with the statements. they say they're very irresponsible and disrespectful. they're a pro-life ticket but do support abortion in cases of

rape, incest, and life of the mother. they said that repeatedly. they will do with what they do best, stick with the issues the voters are talking about. they're in a dialog with the people across the country and they want to talk about jobs and the economy. >> just to be clear, paul ryan made clear it is the position of the ticket which he will support but his position in the past is he does not support that. >> the romney-ryan ticket supports cases in rape, incest and life of the mother. >> i give you credit for being on message here. i am glad you're here this morning. there is an ad that came out from the obama team using bill clinton. i want to take a quick look at this ad. >> this election to me is about which candidate is more likely to return us to full employment. this is a clear choice. the republican plan is to cut more taxes on upper income people and go back to deregulation. that got us in trouble in the first place. president obama has a plan to rebuild america from the ground up. >> what i am curious about is as a republican is the use of bill

clinton somehow threatening? how does he affect voters in a way that may be challenging to republicans? >> i don't think it will be a challenge to republicans. what it will do, it will serve as a reminder to the fact we had economic prosperity during the clinton years and certainly don't have that now. in contrast to that ad, the rn of the c but out an ad yesterday talking about it never happened, it was bill clinton, his own words 16 years ago when the welfare including work program was instilled and he talked about the importance of the government providing opportunity but in turn you had some responsibility. well, president obama has gutted that, and people don't like that, so there is going to be a strong contrast between how president clinton was able to bring about economic prosperity and how president obama has brought about economic despair. >> thank you very much for joining us. we'll see you on twitter. >> sounds good. thanks, john. >> cnn is gearing up for special coverage of the republican national convention. our shows will broadcast live from tampa monday morning and

join us for live coverage of the convention from tampa beginning at 7 p.m. eastern time. in other news, 35 minutes past the hour. british prime minister david cameron follows president obama's lead warning syria against threatening to use chemical weapons in the on going slaughter saying it could trigger a military response. along with frajs's president they're calling on more countries to step up the aid. a network of opposition groups says at least 73 people have been killed in fighting across the country today. even after a supreme court ruling, the fight over arizona's tough immigration crackdown is not over. listen to this. a federal judge is now looking at arguments over the whole so-called show me your papers provision in that law, the part that requires police to check immigration status of anyone deemed suspicious. now, opponents say they have new evidence that it is quote, unquote, infected with racial discrimination and say they have e-mails from the law's author to

show it was racially motivated. show me your papers was the only major part of that law that was up peld by the nation's highest court. this is a story we almost can't believe. stranded in salt lake, a family of four believe it or not have been stuck at the airport for five days now. >> five days. >> five days. >> the family is flying with buddy passes. they have a big discount but don't guarantee seats. you have to be at the terminal hoping there is extra room and right now the problem is there is none. >> just sitting. we just sit and walk around and wait for our flights. we have been here for five days and we're still tomorrow morning, we have been here for every flight, rolled over every flight and still at the bottom of that list. >> there is a lot of people walking by and staring at you and i understand could of laughing at you and it doesn't feel very good. >> i bet it doesn't feel good after five days. officials say the family has refused offers of lodging and

vouchers for food. >> you have two kids. >> right. >> can you imagine schlepping your two kids back and forth trying to entertain them for five days waiting for a deal? >> i could not stand in an airport for five minutes with them let alone five days. he is accused of covering up the jerry sandusky child sex abuse scandal. penn state university president graham spanier is speaking out about the past, and also about his own shocking tales of child abuse. he talked to jeff toobin. toobin went out there for two days to pennsylvania. we'll get insight on what he shared with our senior legal analyst next. [ male announcer ] when this hotel added aflac

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41 minutes past the hour on

thursday. welcome back to "early start." i am brooke baldwin. >> we're glad you're with us. there is big news, the former president of penn state is finally speaking out. he is addressing accusations that he concealed allegations against jerry sandusky. graham spanier is not charged with a crime but he was cited in that report by former fbi director louis freeh who says spanier empowered sandusky to attract victims to campus ultimately failing to protect children for more than a decade. >> obviously all kinds of questions about what it was he knew and when he knew it, especially after this very notorious incident, the 2001 shower incident sandusky spotted in the shower with a young child. he of course was asked about that from multiple sources including last night on abc. >> didn't you have a moral obligation to find out who that child was and find out what happened? >> i didn't conjure up anything more than i would have thought of simple horseplay.

i didn't think of anything more than that. >> he says jeyou can read this on how many pages here, the new yorker. >> it is on the website. >> it is on the website, and so you're there, two days. two days more or less, five hours, this discourse back and forth. just right now what is his mindset? >> his mindset is i am unjustly accused. he feels like, look, jerry sandusky was an evil, evil man, but i didn't know he was abusing children, and more to the point, it is not fair to assume i should have known. that's the heart of the controversy about the management of penn state is what should they have known about what jerry sandusky was doing and he goes through chapter and verse about why he should not have known. >> you ask specifically about the two different incidents and you have in incident in 1998 where sandusky took this 11-year-old boy back to penn state, back to the showers,

mother found out about this, disturbed, that was never prosecuted by the d.a. 2001, that was the big mike mcqueary, assistant grad assistant there, describing it in horrific detail in the grand jury report, the rhythmic slapping sounds in the shower. you asked him specifically about that incident. what did he say? >> that's the key incident in the whole story. mike mcqueary with the red hair and he tells the dramatic story in the grand jury and at trial of walking into the shower and catching a glimpse of this horrible scene. what spanier says is that as the story was reported to me, mike mcqueary's name was mentioned and it is just someone saw sandusky engaging in horseplay. that's all i heard about. you can ask the question and i certainly asked the question, what did you think horseplay was? he says i don't know. i just was told horseplay and that's all i knew.

that did not trigger the kind of suspicion that the detailed horrible story that mcqueary told to the jury would have triggered. his story is all i knew was horseplay and so i did not treat it as if it were a sex abuse issue. >> so part of that is this e-mail. this is from 2001 in terms of how the university should handle this incident. he writes and he has been very much so criticized because of this, the approach is acceptable to me, the only downside for us is if the message isn't heard and acted upon. and we then becomeville initial for not having reported it. but then he goes on the approach you outline is humane and a reasonable way to proceed. i want to play what he told you about that e-mail specifically. let's roll that. >> i think what people want to read into it is it was humane for us not to turn him in for being a known child predator. i never, ever heard anything about child abuse or sexual

abuse or my antenna raised up enough to even suspect that. >> remember, this is 2001. >> yeah. >> jerry sandusky is no longer an employee of penn state. he left. >> out for a couple years. >> out for a couple years. >> their plan was reported to the second mile, the charity where sandusky worked. >> and let them handle it. >> he says report it. there was no crime to report as far as i was concerned. my antenna was not up. i think he we can all agree his antenna should have been up. >> is he trying to save his reputation or save himself from going to jail here? >> i think his reputation, john. i don't think there is a criminal case based on the evidence to be made against spanier. his two top aides, curley and schultz, they are under indictment now and they'll go to trial. spanier is not charged. he is still exposed. he could be charged. i think it is really about his reputation at this point. this guy was one of the most prominent people in all of

higher education a year-and-a-half ago and he is in total disgrace now and starting to fight back. >> he still has tenure. >> he has tenure, a sociology professor at penn state and remains that way. >> thank you. >> it is worth it. trust me. >> toobin, thank you. it is 46 minutes past the hour. update on the morning's top stories including isaac. there he is, tropical storm isaac churning through the caribbean, florida, very much so still in its path. it could be a hurricane by friday, could hit florida by early monday. that's what so many are fearful of, organizers for the republican national convention in tampa. they say they already have preparations under way. >> a top adviser to john kasich under fire for a comment about the fight for early voting in the state. critics calling them flat out racist. i feel we shouldn't contort the voting process to accommodate

the urban african-american voter turnout machine. the executive director of the ohio republican party told the paper that he thought his comments were off the record. >> how would you like to break into a home and, you know, bump into this guy, ll cool j, the incredibly tough rapper and actor trying to scuffle with a burglar that broke into his los angeles home early yesterday. they say he was able to take down the suspect and physically detain him until he arrived. l.l. cool j shares the home with his wife and four children and one of his daughters is the one who called police while l.l. made sure this guy wasn't going anywhere. >> well equipped to deal with the issue. >> well equipped to deal. >> attack a man who has written a workout book. >> mama said knock you out, don't mess with him. >> good morning to both of you. obviously hurricane warnings in effect for haiti as isaac is turning closer to the state of florida. we're expecting to hear from florida's governor, rick scott.

he will be holding a briefing. we'll take that live during our program right at the top of the hour to find out how they're preparing there for isaac. also, we'll talk to the fema administrator. he will join us live and as always we'll check in with meteorologist rob marciano that gives us the forecast for isaac. that path looks all morning long of the also this morning the backlash against congressman todd akin continues. going to talk to a woman who has an incredibly personal story that she is now sharing. her that i am is shauna pruitt, and she says she became pregnant after she was raped as a 21-year-old in college. she ended upkeeping the baby. her ordeal doesn't end there. we'll tell you what she has to say right at the top of the hour as we start "starting point" at 7:00. >> see you then. thank you. >> he says he was there when osama bin laden was killed in pakistan. the former navy seal, member of a seal team 6 writing the book about the raid. we'll take you live to the piers morgan and see what they're saying next. ♪

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it is the first account of the raid that killed osama bin laden from someone who was there, we think. a man who claims he was a member of the u.s. navy seal team, seal team 6, now coming out with a book about some of the most thrilling 38 minutes in modern military history and just like the raid no one saw the book coming. the release date september 11th of this year. barbara starr working the story from the pentagon. what the heck is the pentagon thinking about this, barbara? >> well, they said they didn't know until the last few days this book was in the works. here it is. here is the cover of the book no

easy day by the navy seal that calls him mark owen. that's not his realtime. we're told he is using a pen name working with another author well known to the u.s. military and said to be very respected so by all accounts this is the real deal and navy seal who was on the mission that night who will talk about the helicopter that crashed, talk about making the call back to headquarters, that they got osama bin laden. it is expected to be full of details and the human angle and about himself, his career, what it takes to be a navy seal and what everybody wants to see and what everybody wants to read, what was it like that night? did he possibly come face-to-face with osama bin laden? the big question classification. the military says the book was not submitted for classification review. they don't know if there is any inadvertent disclosures of classified information in there. they say they would very much

like to see a manuscript. brooke. >> i can't help but wonder about the family members of some of these seal team 6 and the guys themselves. what are they saying, anything? >> you know, that's really a question that is now dogging the special operations community across the board including army special ops, air force, marines, these people have the motto they are the so-called quiet professionals. they don't talk about what they do. now everybody seems to be talking. there are hollywood movies. there are websites. there are people out on tv talking about people who shouldn't be talking about this. all of this getting a lot of attention. key question, morale. what does it mean to those still serving very quietly and not making a lot of money doing it and the families and even of course the widows of those who have fallen in battle, they're not getting a lot of publicity these days. >> i just can't help but think about them right along with you.

thank you so much. 55 minutes after the hour, coming up, our best advice this time comes from a lawless actor, dane deon. stay with us. ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom! let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go.

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-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com just before the hour. >> we wrap it up as always with best advice from christine romans. >> not my best advice. today's best advice is from dane dehon, star of lawless. >> the best advice i ever received is when someone shows you who they are, believe them. >> when someone shows you who they are, believe