visitors to a california zoo saw an unexpected addition to the grizzly bear exhibit. how they got the intruders out of harm's way. and it's not the only close call with animals we're going to tell you about. >> grabbed around the eye socket area and gave me a hand hold, and put my hand in the eye socket, which i guess he didn't like that. >> the kind of alligator wrestling you don't want to see and the smooth move that helped that woman get away. and a high school student gets the ultimate lesson in giving, but not in the classroom. this lesson took place in the hospital.

you're watching hln "news and views" on this last sunday in september. so glad you are. i'm susan hendricks. we want to get you caught up now. oscar-winning film maker roman pulans ask i is in a swiss jail. he has been a fugitive since 1978, when he fled the u.s. to avoid a prison term. pulanski entered a guilty plea to a charge of having sex with a 13-year-old girl. after serving two days in a california prison, he thought he was a free man, but the judge overturned the plea deal and was ready to send the director to prison again. he left los angeles for europe, and has never returned. police arrested him on a 30-year-old u.s. warrant when he entered switzerland to attend the zurich film festival. actress towny ketain has been arrested on the suspicion

of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. she appeared on "celebrity rehab" with doctor drew. the husband of a congresswoman died while on a mountain climbing trip in tibet. aides to carolyn maloney said he died after reaching the fifth highest mountain. carolyn maloney has served in congress since 1993, and recently announced she was giving up her bid for the senate. despite condemnation over its secret nuclear facility, iran tested a missile-launching system earlier today. now, tv isn't giving too many details but says two types of missiles were fired. in may, iran said it tested a missile capable of reaching parts of europe. today's tests are part of an exercise expected to go on for the next ten to eleven days. robert gates says iran's nuclear

facility is likely meant fer developing a nuclear weapon. gates refused to rule out a military strike on the facility, but he said a diplomatic solution should be attempted first. >> we have been watching its construction of this facility for quite some time, and one of the reasons that we waited to make it public was to ensure that our conclusions about its purpose were right. this is information shared among ourselves, the british, the french, as we have gone along. and i think that certainly the intelligence people have no doubt that this is an illicit nuclear facility. >> secretary gates also said it will take more time to analyze the situation in afghanistan, and whether or not the u.s. will send more troops. gates says any new additional combat troops could not be deployed to afghanistan before january of next year. now, we also said setting a time

line for leaving afghanistan would be a mistake. trading the world stage for a national one, president obama is once again making his case for health care reform. fresh from their appearance at the g-20 meeting in pittsburgh, the president and first lady went to the congressional black caucus foundations annual dinner in washington last night. in his speech to the group, the president emphasized the need for meaningful health care reform. >> with all the barriers still standing in 2009, few are more unjust, few are more entrenched, few are more inhuman to the barriers of a healthy life and education. for the sake of every american living today, and for the sake of every american yet to be born, we must bring about a better health care system in this country. not in ten years. not in five years. not in one year. this year. >> so far, democrats on the

senate finance committee have fought off republican attempts to kill a health care reform bill offered by chairman max baucus. americans have not supported attempts to pass the bill out of committee. although there are several other health care bills in congress, the balk baucus bill is considered one of the most important. the last time the government tried to vaccinate a large part of the u.s. population against swine flu, things didn't go so well. back in 1976, several hundred people who got the vaccine also came down with a type of paralysis. now, no one knows whether the vaccine caused the problem or not, but people stopped getting the shots. the government hopes to vaccinate at least half the u.s. population against swine flu this year. it will run at least three different programs to track any possible side effects. they will monitor millions of patients and should be able to pick up any patterns pretty quickly. nearly 1,800 people got some

free medical care this weekend, courtesy of talk show host dr. oz. dr. oz set up a free clinic in houston, which provided check-ups, tests and minor procedures. last night, the doctor appeared on our sister network, cnn, to talk about the clinic and what he thinks a health care reform bill should include. >> the system i like the most -- i have in germany or switzerland, where they actually afford patients the opportunity to get insurance from many different companies. but they have to buy one type of insurance or another. so we don't have the option as consumers to not have coverage, but the government has the obligation and so do insurance companies of providing coverage for us of. i think we can make this happen in america. i don't care what system you pick, none of them will work in america unless we reduce the amount of money we spend on health. and the way for us to do that is to take health into our communities and living rooms. >> doctor ounce oz says he

hopes they left with the sense that someone cares about the uninsured. i'm here with a look at your forecast across the nation ofment gray skies in parts of the southeast, looks like we will see some of that in the northeast. and great fall colors. in fact, take a look at these shots we have for you, these i-reports from concord, vermont, just beautiful pictures. if you happen to go out, enjoy the beautiful sights you're going to see up there with all of the fall colors, but also look out for scattered showers that will stick around for a good part of the day. back to the weather maps, and as we do so, it looks like a chance of not only rain but possibly severe thunderstorms in the great lakes. frontal boundary moving through places like milwaukee, back into chicago, eventually through gary, indiana, maybe even detroit before the day is out. so you'll have a chance of severe weather, possibly some damaging wind, large hail, maybe even some heavy rainfall. and an isolated tornado is also a possibility. could see some strong winds across parts of the central plains. in fact, some wind gusts happening 60 miles per hour. in the desert southwest, the big

story is the extreme heat. temperatures again in the triple digits. if you want proof of that, take a look at some of the temperatures. 107 for phoenix, 102 in las vegas, 86 in salt lake city, 60s into portland, but 81 in san francisco, 87 in los angeles, 82 in kansas city. 83 in dallas. low 90s in houston. 89 in tampa, 69 in new york, and 69 in boston with scattered showers by fenway park. that is a look at your forecast. i'm reynolds wolf for hln. you probably already know you can recycle paper and plastic to help the environment, right? but how do you keep your old prescription meds from becoming an ecological hazard?le r an suv♪ ♪ too bad i didn't know my credit was whack ♪ ♪ 'cause now i'm driving off the lot in a used sub-compact. ♪ ♪ f-r-e-e, that spells free credit report dot com, baby. ♪ ♪ saw their ads on my tv ♪ thought about going but was too lazy ♪ ♪ now instead of looking fly and rollin' phat ♪

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entire towns were swamped. authorities say army troops and volunteers have rescued more than 4,000 people. some from their rooftops. take a look right here at one of our i-reporters captured in manila, thigh-deep water and submerged cars. this is the worst flooding the country has seen in 40 years. this is not your average pothole. check this out. how huge it is. heavy rain in north georgia helped open up this sinkhole in the middle of the road, just outside of atlanta. police had to block off the intersection, but someone moved the cones, and this driver crashed right into the hole. formally, the driver just surrendered suffered minor injuries in the incident. an atlanta radio station has come up with a great unique way to help victims of the recent flooding there. 104.7, the fish, wfsh fm is using facebook to connect those who can help. the contemporary christian radio station is asking families affected by the flood or of

those who know of families affected to share their stories and needs. the station is also asking those that can help to post their information and what they can do. and it seems to be helping. so far, listeners have offered everything from clothes to places to stay for the flood victims. most people take medication to feel better. but when those drugs make it into the water supply, it can make the environment sick. michelle mcclintock with wibb in new york tells us about a program that helps people dispose of their old pharmaceuticals. >> reporter: the cars kept coming and going. >> this was very easy. you didn't even get out of your car. >> reporter: they were recall doing their part to recycle unwanted pharmaceuticals. this is the second year that st. mary's hospital has played host to the prescription drug drop-off. >> before in the past, i would dissolve them in water and dump them down the drain, but i don't know if that's the proper way to dispose of it. >> reporter: she is right. it's not how you're supposed to get rid of unwanted drugs. >> looking out for future generations.

>> reporter: it can cause damage to already fragile water systems. >> they're working their ways into the waterways, and it's going to cause a problem. >> they're actually finding that there were only female fish in some of the streams, because of high levels of estrogens in the water. >> reporter: and it's not just the environmental element. prescription drugs are often getting into the wrong hands. no one knows that more than joanne hodek i from kids escaping drugs. >> a lot of kids on oxycontin and vick dins. >> last year, more than 300 pounds of pharmaceutical drugs were collected and in ken more. when mercy hospital organized the same event. an event like this takes a lot of planning, permits and red tape. but lawmakers are hoping to change things to make it easier for communities to hold drop-offs like this. >> we're hoping that legislation will change, that it will make it -- maybe can be easier. like dropping unused off at a pharmacy, which would make

sense. >> for now, health officials say they're going to try to host drop-off days like this one several times a year. michelle mcclintock, news 4. a new york teacher has received one of the state's highest honors for going out of her way to help a student. she gave him one of her kidneys. yesterday, jennifer periti received the liberty medal. the teacher said she never set out to be an organ donor, but a former student called to ask if she would donate a kidney to him. >> she is great. amazing. >> she is not a relative, not a mother, not a sister. she has gone out of her way, it's an extraordinary step, it's a big operation, and she has saved a life. >> i was willing to do what i needed to do to help a student, and now a friend for life. >> without jennifer's help, kevin o'brien could have had to wait as long as eight years to get to the top of the list for an organ transplant. there is a chance he could have died before finding a match.

some things you can say out loud on tv, and other things you really can't. what a "saturday night live" cast member said that just may land her in hot water. and this. ♪ families who have lost loved ones in combat gather for the annual time of remembrance. thousands showed up this year. we'll tell you which hollywood celebrity attended to help share in their grief. bicycle, what are we waiting for? the flowers are blooming. the air is sweet. and zyrtec® starts... relieving my allergies... 2 hours faster than claritin®. my worst symptoms feel better, indoors and outdoors. with zyrtec®, the fastest... 24-hour allergy medicine, i promise not to wait as long to go for our ride. zyrtec® works fast, so i can love the air™.

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we've got something new to tell you about, starting this tuesday. joy behar is coming to hln with her own show. and we'll tell you up front, she isn't shy about speaking her mind. >> this week, we've got the season premier of "dancing with the stars," and right from the start it is fabulous, macy gray, donny ozment and even marie ozment returned to the scene of the crime. who was sitting with marie? germane jackson. he is everywhere, like smog. my favorite contestant is tom delay, the former house majority leader who may soon be dancing behind bars. he was wearing a tiny brown vest with glitter. he looked like one of the flying monkeys from the wizard off oz. at the beginning of the show, he seemed uncomfortable with russian immigrants and gay men. he had that, what, am i the only one here under federal indictment look on his face.

but once the competition started, he loosened right up. in fact, i don't think a republican has had that much fun tapping his toes since larry craig worked the men's room in the minneapolis airport. i thought tom danced okay, even if the judges were a little rough. hey, wait until he gets up in front of a real judge. i hope that tom sticks around all season, i just can't wait for little bruno to nail the hammer. but that's just me. and there is more joy on the way for you, the "joy behar show" premiers this tuesday right here on hln. families who have lost a loved one in combat gathered to remember them. the annual time of remembrance ceremony was held in washington yesterday. it honors the families of fallen servicemen and women, and allows them to share their pride and pain and collectively cope with their loss. >> each of you has lost someone special in your life. there are no words that anyone, least of all me, can say that will heal your terrible hurt.

but i want you to know that my thoughts and the thoughts of our country are with you. i'm left thinking of a quote that i heard once, which assuredly applies to each and every one of you here. to the world, he was one. but to me, he was my world. thank you. thank you for your sacrifice. >> actor kevin bacon there, paying tribute. more than 4,000 families of lost loved ones in iraq since it began in 2003. the war. another 840 families lost someone in afghanistan. this florida woman pulled a three stooges-like move to escape from the jaws of a gator. diane blackwood was walking her dogs near a lake when a seven-foot gator came after her and did this. she slipped when trying to get away and the reptile clamped down on her leg. she says what happened next was pure instinct.

>> grabbed around the eye socket area, that gave me a hand hold, and put my hand in the eye socket, which i guess he didn't like that. >> yeah, luckily, it worked. wildlife officials say the gator probably came after blackwood because it was attracted to her dogs or someone fed it and it was no longer afraid of people. here is something you don't see every day. a frog that eats birds. in fact, no one had had ever seen it until last year of the. it's a brand-new species, one of 163 during 2008 in the region of southeast asia. among the finds are 100 new plants, 28 new fish, 18 new reptiles, including i gecko with leopard-like markings. plus new species of amphibians and mammals and even a new bird. you can see a gallery of the discoveries at cnn.com. the greater may con region ex fends through china, myanmar, laos, thailand, cambodia and vietnam.

to the soccer field, president obama and the first lady michelle spent set morning watching their 11-year-old malia play in northwest washington. and their dog bo did a little tugging, as well. who knows, maybe he wanted the soccer ball. president obama spent about a half hour at his daughter's game. no word on why he did it, but a man snuck into the grizzly bear exhibit at the san francisco zoo yesterday. lucky for him, a zoo visitor tipped off the staff. they fired a warning shot to keep the bears at a safe distance from the man. he was rescued and had no apparent injuries. a "saturday night live" new bee dropped the f-bomb on the comedy show's season premier and it's all over the internet. now the question is, was it a slip of the tongue? take a listen to the new cast member, jenny slate. >> you know what? i fricking just through an ashtray through of butts at my head. you know what, you stood up for

yourself and i [ bleep ] love you for that. >> you're in my heart, babe. you're in my heart. >> according to "entertainment weekly.com, snl cast member charles rocket got in trouble for using the f-word on the show, as well.

>> welcome to comcast local edition. my guest this hour is dr. faye williams, national chair of the national congress of black women. thank you so much for joining me. >> it's always great to be here. >> now, for those that may not know, what's the mission of the national congress of black women? >> well, we are an organization that works with the community, mainly with young people. we have a program for 9-12 years old where we teach them about the wonderful vocations there are in life. we bring in ambassadors, athletes, and we want them to

know that they can be more than a singer, dancer, or football player. we have another program for which comcast is our media partner on young ambassadors. we try to teach young adults to navigate life. we teach conflict resolution, about vocations, and about going to school, the importance of time management, discipline, that kind of thing. >> thou, you have an anniversary awards luncheon coming up. you recognize numerous women for their wonderful accomplishments. when is the luncheon? >> sunday, september 27th. people remember it by the sunday morning following the congressional black caucus. it's at 11:00 this year, which is a change of time. >> where is it located? >> this year at the united states naval yard, sixth and m street southeast. we're looking forward to having

a wonderful time. there's a beautiful view of the water there. >> and in celebrating your 25th anniversary, congratulations, by the way. >> thank youia who are some of our honorees? there's an extensive list. >> we always honor first our founding chairs and fathers. we want to salute them first. janet lange heart corn, we have several other women, we always honor the newly elected blank congresswomen. that will be marsha fudge this year. we have a judge from michigan, judge denise langhart mars, and

i'm sure we have a couple of more, a general manager of a car dealer, ms. craft from the area, and of course, our wonderful chair, president of the northern verge urban league laverne chapman. regina kelly, the subject of the movie american violet. >> you have an extensive list of women that touch us in so many areas of our lives. >> we have a good mother award. this year it's being received by peter harvey. we are honoring him, because as an attorney general, he worked very hard on domestic violence. that's one of our projects. we honored him. last year we were honored that have kami brown. >> thank you for honoring him.

>> we are probably the only organization in town that has a $75 fundraising ticket. that's the general admission. there are corporate tickets, member tickets, and general membership tickets, general public tickets. they are selling pretty fast this year. when they hear about the honorees, people want to bring their young children, especially young women to meet these people. they can meet the young lady that flew across the country. >> thank you for joining me. >> we hope to see you there this year. >> my pleasure, definitely. my guest has been dr. faye williams national chair of the national congress of black women. if you're interested in what comcast is doing in your area, go to on demand and click local.

for comcast local edition, i'm donna richardson.

visitors to a california zoo saw an unexpected addition to the grizzly bear exhibit. and this one was walking on two legs, not four. how zoo workers got the intruder out of harm's way. and it's not the only close call with animals we're going to tell you about. >> grabbed around the eye socket area, and gave me a handhold and put my hand in the eye socket, which i guess he didn't like that. the kind of alligator wrestling you don't want to see. and the smooth move that helped that woman get away. >> and a high school student gets the ultimate lesson in giving. but not in the classroom. this lesson took place in the hospital.

you're watching hln "news and views" on this last sunday in september. so glad you are. i'm susan hendricks. we want to get you caught up now. roman polanski is in a swiss jail and maybe on his way to an american prison. the french-born director has been a fugitive since 1978 when he fled the u.s. to avoid a prison term. polanski entered a guilty plea to a charge of having sex with a 13-year-old girl after serving 42 days at a california prison, he thought he was a free man. but the judge in the case overturned a plea deal, and was ready to send the director to prison again of. polanski left los angeles for europe, and has never returned. police arrested him on a 30-year-old u.s. warrant when he entered switzerland to attend the zurich film festival. actress tawney kutane has been arrested in california. she is seen her with her husband and one of her daughters. police say they pulled her over

yesterday under the suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. she recently appeared on "celebrity rehab with doctor drew." the husband of a congresswoman died while on a mountain climbing trip in at the bit. aides to carolyn maloney says cliffton maloney died in his sleep after reaching the summit of the world's sixth highest mountain. the 71-year-old was a millionaire investment banker. carolyn maloney has served in congress since 1993 and reasonable announced she was giving up her bid for senate. despite condemnation over its secret military facility, iran tested earlier today. state-run tv isn't giving many details, but it says two types of missiles were fired. in may, iran said it tested a missile capable of reaching parts of europe. today's tests are part of an exercise that is expected to go on for the next 10 to 11 days. defense secretary robert gates says iran's nuclear facility is likely meant for developing a nuclear weapon.

appearing on cnn, gates refused to rule out a military strike on the facility, but said a diplomatic solution should be attempted first. >> we have been watching the construction of this facility for quite some time, and one of the reasons that we waited to make it public was to ensure that our conclusions about his purpose were right. this is information shared among ourselves, the british, the french, as we have gone along. and i think that certainly the intelligence people have no doubt that this is an illicit nuclear facility. >> secretary gates also said it will take more time to analyze the situation in afghanistan, and whether or not the u.s. will send more troops. gates says any new additional combat troops could not be deployed to afghanistan before january of next year. now, he also said setting a time

line for leaving afghanistan would be a mistake. trading the world stage for a national one, president obama is once again making his case for health care reform. fresh from their appearance at the g-20 meeting in pittsburgh, the president and first lady went to the congressional black caucus foundation's annual dinner in washington last night. in a speech to the group, the president emphasized the need for meaningful health care reform. >> of all the barriers still standing in 2009, few are more unjust, few are more entrenched, few are more inhumane, than the barriers to a healthy life and a good education. for the sake of every american living today and for the sake of every american yet to be born, we must bring about a better health care system in this country. not in ten years. not in five years. not in one year. this year. >> so far, democrats on the

senate finance committee have fought off republican attempts to kill a health care reform bill offered by chairman maximum baucus. republicans have offered numerous amendments, and not supported baucus's attempts to pass the bill out of committee. although there are other several other bills in congress, the baucus bill is considered most important. the last time the government tried to vaccinate a population against swine flu, it didn't go so well. back in 1976, several hundred people who were vaccinated came down with a type of paralysis. no one knows whether it caused the problem or not, but people stopped getting the shots. the swine flu vaccination will have three different programs to track side effects. they will monitor millions of patients and should be able to pick up any patterns pretty

quickly. nearly 1,800 people got some free medical care this weekend courtesy of talk show host dr. oz. he set up a free clinic in houston, which provided check-ups, tests, and minor procedures. last night he appeared on our sister network, cnn, to talk about the clinic, and what he thinks a health care reform bill should include. >> the systems i like the most are the kinds of systems they have in germany or switzerland, where they actually afford patients the opportunity to get insurance for many different companies. but they have to buy one type of insurance or another. you know, so we don't have the option as consumers to not have coverage. but the government has the obligation, and so do the insurance companies, of providing coverage to us. i can we can make this happen in america. but let me just say one thing that is sort of big and important. i don't care what system you pick, none of them will work in america unless we reduce the amount of money we spend on health. and the way to do that is gore us to take health into our communities, into our living rooms. >> dr. oz says he hopes patients

left with the sense that someone cares about the uninsured. it's called a silent killer. the symptoms are often barely noticeable in the early stages. ovarian cancer. so many women never know they have the disease until it's too late. a senior medical correspondent, elizabeth cohen reports in today's "health for her," states are trying to change that by promoting public awareness, and raising research money to fight this deadly disease. >> carla markel knows she can make a difference. as first lady of delaware, markel, a breast cancer survivor, is using her office to highlight another deadly disease, ovarian cancer. >> one of the most important things we can do is alert people what the signs and stochls are, so they have a better chance of discovering it early. >> reporter: according to the national cancer institute, more than 21,000 american women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year, while more than 14,000 u.s. women will die from the disease. that's why markel, along with other first ladies across the

country, are trying to raise the nation's awareness about ovarian cancer. joe halfdock was diagnosed six years ago, and is shocked a lot of women don't recognize the seriousness of the illness. >> since the symptoms are so subtle, you have to really know what they are. >> and that's not always easy, doctor james larson a gynecologist says the most common symptoms can be confused with more benign health concerns. >> people can have abdominal bloating or discomfort or pain, or they can can get full easier. >> reporter: other symptoms, loss of appetite, bloating, back pain and urgency to urinate. the markels hope to raise more money for research . delaware governor allowed some to donate on their tax forms. a step to help conquer this silent killer. elizabeth cohen, cnn, atlanta. ever worn your clothes in the shower?

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this is what happens when more than a month's worth of rain falls in just 12 hours. now more than 100 people are dead or missing in the philippines. a tropical storm triggered landslides and massive flooding there. entire towns were swamped. authorities say army troops and volunteers have rescued more than 4,000 people. some from their rooftops. take a look right here at one of our i-reporters captured in ma nilla, thigh-deep water and submerged cars. this is the worst flooding the country has seen in 40 years. this is not your average pothole. check this out. how huge it is of.

heavy rain in north georgia helped open up this sinkhole in the middle of the road just outside atlanta. police had to block off the intersection, but someone moved the cones, and this driver crashed right into the hole. fortunately, the driver just suffered minor injuries in the incident. an atlanta radio station has come up with a great, unique way to help victims of the recent flooding there. 104.7, the fish, wfsh fm is using facebook to connect listeners in need with those who can help out. the contemporary christian radio station is asking families affected by the flood or those who know of families affected to share stories and needs. the station is asking those that can help to post information and what they can do. and it seems to be helping. so far, listeners have offered everything from clothes to places to stay for the flood victims. a u.s. drone crashed into the headquarters in northern iraq. the u.s. military says the drone went down friday in the city of

mosul. it crashed into the roof of the iraqi islamic party, the largest sunny political water in iraq. they say it was only a coincidence. a new york teacher received one of of state's highest honors for going out of her way to help a student. she gave him one of her kidneys. yesterday she received the new york state senate's liblt medal 678 she said she never set out to be a organ donor, but a student called and asked if she would donate a kidney to him. >> she is great. she is amaidsing. she is not a relative. she is not a mother, a sister. she has gone out of her way, an extraordinary step, it's a big operation, and she has saved a life. >> i was willing to do what i needed to do to help a student, and now a friend. for life. >> without jennifer's help, kevin o'brien could have had to wait as long as eight years to get to the top of the list for

an organ transplant. there's a chance he could have died before fining a match. for the next two years, social security will be paying out more money thank it's taking in. it is the first time this has happened since the 1980s and officials sigh a spike in early retimplt claims from laid off seniors is a huge contributor. there is some good news here. officials say the deficits won't effect payments to retirees, because social security has a surplus from previous years. but this will add to the overall federal deficit. some things you can say out loud on tv, and other things you really can't. what a "saturday night live" cast member said that just may land her in hot water. and this. ♪ families who have lost loved ones in combat gathered for the annual time of remembrance. thousands showed up this year. we'll tell you which hollywood celebrity 25e7bded 25e7bded to help share in their grief. cheez-it® bakes so much real cheese...

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no word on why he did it, but a man snuck into the grizzly bear exhibit at the san francisco zoo yesterday. lucky for him, a zoo visitor tipped off the staff. they fired a warning shot to

keep the bears at a safe distance from the man. he was rescued, and had no apparent injuries. a florida woman is lucky she is still here after being chomped on by an alligator. reporter carson chambers of our affiliate wfts tells us how she managed to get away. >> come on. >> reporter: diane blackwood's dachshund are well trained pets and hunting dogs, but when she took them for a walk monday, they were the ones being hunted. >> she was sniffing down by the shoreline, close -- right next to the water. and i saw the water swirl, and realized that was a gator. >> reporter: we spotted lots of big gators in the st. pete lake today, but one had his eyes on what looked likes easy prey. wildlife first say he attacked blackwood for one of two reasons. it was either attracted to her

dog, or somebody fed it and it wasn't afraid of people. blackwood said she called to her dogs and started up the hill away from the water's edge. >> but i tripped and fell. she kept running. and kind of glanced back, and the gator had had made a first lunge and was out on the bank. >> reporter: the gator lunged again, locking powerful jaws around her left calf, tugging her slowly into the water. then she says it let go and japed down a second time on her thumb. >> actually, there's three separate puncture wounds. >> reporter: 2,000 pounds of pressure left deep teeth wounds on her lower leg. tonight she says she knows it was pure instinct that helped her get away alive. >> so grabbed around the eye socket area. that gave me a handhold, and put my hand in the eye socket, which i guess he didn't like that. >> well, luckily that, did would she much our thanks again to carson chambers of affiliate wfts for that report. now, trappers did catch an

alligator the day after the atta attack, and it appears to be the animal involved. here is something you don't see every day. a frog that eats birds. inform, no one had ever seen it until last year. it's a brand in species, one of 163 found during 2008, in the greater macon region of southeast asia. among the finds are 100 new plants, 28 new fish, 18 new reptiles, including a gecko with leopard-like markings. plus new species of amphibians and mammals, and even a brand-new bird. you can see a glal re of the discoveries at cnn.com. the greater macon region extends from china, myanmar, laos, thailand, cambodia and vietnam. from the fields of politics and world affairs to the soccer field, president obama and the first lady michelle spent saturday morning watching their 11-year-old daughter malia play in northwest washington. and their dog bo did a little tugging, as well. who knows, maybe he wanted the soccer ball. president obama spent about a half hour at his daughter's

game. a set night live newbie dropped the f-bomb on the season premier and it's all over the internet. the question is, was it a slip of the tongue? of course we have bleeped it out, but take a yourself to the cast member, jenny slate. >> you know what? you know what? you stood up for yourself and i [ bleep ] love you for that. >> here in the heart. >> according to entertainment weekly.com "snl" cast member got in trouble for using the f word on the show as well. the stock market can certainly be confusing if you don't know where to invest your funds. hln money expert clark howard tells us how to make money without the hassle. >> i want you to know something. i'm obsessed with something known as index funds.

how can someone be obsessed with something like that? it's a thing. it's a good thing for you. what's an index fund any way? it's where instead of you buying an investment in individual stock or buying a mutual fund where some brainiac tries to figure out what to buy and sell and how much to get and in an index fund it's simple. you buy all of the big companies in the country. there will be 500 of those or buy the total stock market which is thousands of companies where you own slices and dices of them. the advantage of an index fund? you don't need a brainiac to figure out what to buy and sell. they buy everything. so what you're charged in management fees is tiny. big news from "wall street journal" finds that for bonds 90% of the time an index fund will beat a manager for stocks? 60% of the time. i'm clark howard. for more ways for you to pack a punch in your wallet, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward.

>> for more great advice, don't miss clark's show at 4:00 p.m. eastern. he'll help you save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. hail to the kings of leon. we'll do a sound check and go one-on-one with one of the hottest groups on the planet. (announcer) romano's macaroni grill has a way to get things cooking..... at home. they're macaroni grill dinner kits, the restaurant favorites that'll ignite your senses. you get thpasta, special sauces and seasonings. add your grilled chicken, cook for 20 minutes then top with our cheeses. for a meal that'll make any night feel special. romano's macaroni grill dinner kits. the restaurant favorites that let you.... stay in, and go all out. it's not always easy living with copd, but i try not to let it hold me back... whether i'm at the batting cages... down by the lake or... fishing at the shore. i'm breathing better... with spiriva. announcer: spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled maintenance treatment for both forms of copd,

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visitors to a california zoo saw an unexpected addition to the grizzly bear exhibit. and this one was walking on two legs, not four. how zoo workers got the intruder out of harm's way. and it's not the only close call with animals we're going to tell you about. >> grabbed around the eye socket area, and gave me a handhold and put my hand in the eye socket, which i guess he didn't like that. the kind of alligator wrestling you don't want to see. and the smooth move that helped that woman get away. >> and a high school student gets the ultimate lesson in giving. but not in the classroom. this lesson took place in the hospital. you're watching hln "news and views" on this last sunday

in september. so glad you are. i'm susan hendricks. we want to get you caught up now. roman polanski is in a swiss jail and may be on his way to an american prison. the french-born director has been a fugitive since 1978 when he fled the u.s. to avoid a prison term. polanski entered a guilty plea to a charge of having sex with a 13-year-old girl after serving 42 days at a california prison, he thought he was a free man. but the judge in the case overturned a plea deal, and was ready to send the director to prison again. polanski left los angeles for europe, and has never returned. police arrested him on a 30-year-old u.s. warrant when he entered switzerland to attend the zurich film festival. actress tawney kutane has been arrested in california. she is seen here with her former husband and one of her daughters. police say they pulled her over yesterday under the suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

the 48 year old recently appeared on "celebrity rehab with doctor drew." the husband of a congresswoman died while on a mountain climb be trip in tebette. aides to carolyn maloney says cliffton maloney died in his sleep after reaching the summit of the world's sixth highest mountain. the 71-year-old was a millionaire investment banker. carolyn maloney has served in congress since 1993 and recently announced she was giving up had her bid for the senate. despite condemnation over its secret military facility, iran tested a missile firing system earlier today. state-run tv isn't giving many details, but it says two types of missiles were fired. in may, iran said it tested a missile capable of reaching parts of europe. today's tests are part of an exercise that is expected to go on for the next 10 to 11 days. defense secretary robert gates says iran's nuclear facility is likely meant for developing a nuclear weapon.

appearing on cnn, gates refused to rule out a military strike on the facility, but said a diplomatic solution should be attempted first. >> we have been watching the construction of this facility for quite some time, and one of the reasons that we waited to make it public was to ensure that our conclusions about his purpose were right. this is information shared among ourselves, the british, the french, as we have gone along. and i think that certainly the intelligence people have no doubt that this is an illicit nuclear facility. >> secretary gates also said it will take more time to analyze the situation in afghanistan, and whether or not the u.s. will send more troops. gates says any new additional combat troops could not be deployed to afghanistan before january of next year. now, he also said setting a time line for leaving afghanistan

would be a mistake. trading the world stage for a national one, president obama is once again making his case for health care reform. fresh from their appearance at the g-20 meeting in pittsburgh, the president and first lady went to the congressional black caucus foundation's annual dinner in washington last night. in a speech to the group, the president emphasized the need for meaningful health care reform. >> of all the barriers still standing in 2009, few are more unjust, few are more entrenched, few are more inhumane, than the barriers to a healthy life and a good education. for the sake of every american living today and for the sake of every american yet to be born, we must bring about a better health care system in this country. not in ten years. not in five years. not in one year. this year.

>> so far, democrats on the senate finance committee have fought off republican attempts to kill a health care reform bill offered by chairman maximum baucus. republicans have offered numerous amendments, and not supported baucus's attempts to pass the bill out of committee. although there are other several other bills in congress, the baucus bill which doesn't include the public option is considered one of the most important. the last time the government tried to vaccinate a large part of the population against the swine flu, it didn't go so well. back in 1976, several hundred people who were vaccinated came down with a type of paralysis. no one knows whether it caused the problem or not, but people stopped getting the shots. the government will run three different programs to track possible side effects. they will monitor millions of patients and should be able to pick up any patterns pretty quickly. nearly 1,800 people got some

free medical care this weekend courtesy of talk show host dr. oz. he set up a free clinic in houston, which provided check-ups, tests, and minor procedures. last night he appeared on our sister network, cnn, to talk about the clinic, and what he thinks a health care reform bill should include. >> the systems i like the most are the kinds of systems they have in germany or switzerland, where they actually afford patients the opportunity to get insurance for many different companies. but they have to buy one type of insurance or another. you know, so we don't have the option as consumers to not have coverage. but the government has the obligation, and so do the insurance companies, of providing coverage to us. i can we can make this happen in america. but let me just say one thing that is sort of big and important. i don't care what system you pick, none of them will work in america unless we reduce the amount of money we spend on health. and the way we do that is for us to take health into our

communities, into our living rooms. >> dr. oz says he hopes patients left with the sense that someone cares about the uninsured. we've been talking about gray skies in parts of the southeast. we'll be seeing some of that in the northeast. not only gray skies but great fall colors. look at these shots sent in from concord, vermont. beautiful pictures. if you happen to go out, enjoy the beautiful sights you'll see with fall colors. scattered showers through a good part of the day. back to the weather maps, we'll see a chance of not only rain but possibly severe thunderstorms in parts of the great lakes. a frontal boundary will move through places like milwaukee back into chicago and eventually through gary, indiana, and maybe detroit before the day is out. you'll have a chance at severe weather possibly some damaging wind, large hail, and maybe even heavy rainfall and isolated tornado is also a possibility. could see some strong winds across parts of the central plains. some wind gusts happening 60 miles an hour in the desert southwest the big story will be

extreme heat. temperatures again going back into triple digits. if you need proof of that, look at the temperatures we'll see there. 107 for phoenix. 86 in salt lake city. 81 degrees in san francisco. 87 in los angeles. 82 in kansas city. 93 in dallas. low 90s in houston. 89 in tampa. 69 for new york. 65 for boston with scattered showers out by fenway park. that's a look at your forecast. i'm reynolds wolf for hln. you probably already know that you can recycle paper and plastic to help the environment, right? but how do you keep your old prescription meds from becoming an ecological hazard? ♪

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>> you didn't need to get out of your car. >> they were doing their part to recycle unwanted pharmaceuticals. it's the second time st. mary's hospital played host to the prescription drug drop-off. >> before i would dissolve them in water and dump then down the drain. i don't know if that's the proper way. >> reporter: it's not how you're supposed to get rid of unwanted drugs. >> we're looking out for future generations. >> reporter: they can cause damage to already fragile water systems. >> they're working their ways into the waterways. >> they were finding there was only female fish in some of the streams because of high levels of estrogen in the water. >> reporter: it's not just the environmental element. they are often getting into the wrong hands. no one knows that more than joanne from kids escaping drugs. >> there are kids on the campus on oxycontin and vicodin and all of that. >> reporter: last year over 300

pounds were collected and just last weekend over 10,000 doses issues of controls substance was collected when mercy hospital organized the same event. the whole event takes a lot of planning, a lot of permits and a lot of red tape. lawmakers hope to change things to make it easier for communities to hold dropoffs like this. >> we're hoping that legislation will change that will make it easier like dropping unused off at a pharmacy which would make sense. >> reporter: for now health officials say they will try to host drop-off days like this one several times a year. a new york teacher has received one of the state's highest honors for going out of her way to help a student. she gave him one of her kidneys. yesterday jennifer received the new york state senate's liberty medal. the teacher never set out to be an organ donor but a former student called and asked if she would donate a kidney to him.

>> she's great. she's amazing. >> she's not a relative. she's not a mother. she's into the sister. she's not a brother. she's gone out of her way. an extraordinary step. a big operation. she has saved a life. >> i was willing to do what i needed to do to help a student and now a friend for life. >> without jennifer's help, kevin o'brien would have had to wait eight years to get to the top of the list for an organ transplant. there's a chance he could have died before finding a match. this is what happens when more than a month's worth of rain falls in just 12 hours. now more than 100 people are dead or missing in the philippines. a tropical storm triggered landslides and massive flooding there. entire towns were swamped. authorities say army troops and volunteers have rescued more than 4,000 people. some from their rooftops. take a look here at one of our i-reporters captured in manila

showing submerged cars. this is the worst flooding the country has seen in more than 40 years. this is not your average pothole. check out how huge it is heavy rain in north georgia helped open this sinkhole in the middle of the road outside of atlanta. police had to block off the intersection but someone moved the cones and this driver crashed right into the hole. fortunately the driver just suffered minor injuries in the incident. an atlanta radio station came up with great way to help victims of the recent flooding there. they are using facebook to connect listeners in need with those who can help out. the christian radio station is asking families affected by the flood or those who know of families affected to share their stories and their needs. the station is also asking those that can help to post their information of what they can do and if seems to be helping. so far listeners have offered everything from clothes to places to stay for the flood

victims. some things you can say outloud on tv and other things you can't. what a "saturday night live" cast member said that may land her in hot water and this -- ♪ >> families who have lost loved ones in combat gather for the annual time of remembrance. thousands showed up this year. we'll tell you which hollywood celebrity attended to share in their grief. [ woman ] dear cat. gentle cat. your hair mixes with pollen and dust in the air. i get congested. my eyes itch. i have to banish you to the garden. but now with zyrtec-d®, i have the proven allergy relief of zyrtec®, plus a powerful decongestant. i can breathe freer with zyrtec-d®. so, i'll race you to our favorite chair. i might even let you win. zyrtec-d® lets me breathe easier, so i can love the air™. zyrtec-d®. behind the pharmacy counter. no prescription needed. over health care reform, aarp has chosen a side-- yours.

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right from the start it was fabulous. donny osmond and even marie osmond return to the scene of the crime to support her brother. who was sitting with marie? jermaine jackson. the man is everywhere. he's like smog. my favorite contestant this year on "dancing with the stars" is tom delay. the former house majority leader who may soon be dancing behind bars. tom was wearing a tiny brown vest with glitter. he looked like one of the flying monkeys from "wizard of oz." he seemed uncomfortable sitting with guy men and illegal

immigrants. once the competition started he loosened up. i don't think a republican had that much fun since larry craig worked the men's room in the minneapolis airport. i thought tom danced okay even if the judges were a little rough. wait until he gets up in front of a real judge. i hope that tom sticks around all season. i can't wait for bruno to nail the hammer. that's just me. >> there's more joy on the way for you. this tuesday, don't miss it, 9:00 p.m. eastern here on hln. families who have lost a loved one in combat gathered to remember them. the annual time of remembrance ceremony was held in washington yesterday. it honors the families of fallen service men and women and allows them to share their pride and pain and collectively cope with their loss. >> each of you has lost someone special in your life. there are no words that anyone, least of all me, can say that will heal your terrible hurt.

but i want you to know that my thoughts and the thoughts of our country are with you. i'm think of a quote i heard once which applies to each and every one of you here. to the world he was one. but to me, he was my world. thank you. thank you for your sacrifice. >> actor kevin bacon paying tribute. more than 4,000 families have lost loved ones in iraq since in began in 2003, the war. another 840 families lost someone in afghanistan. no word on why he did it. but a man snuck into the grizzly bear exhibit at the san francisco zoo yesterday. lucky for him, a zoo visitor tipped off the staff. they fired a warning shot to keep the bears at a safe distance from the man. he was rescued, and had no apparent injuries. this woman escaped from the

jaws of a gator. diane blackwood was walking had her dog near a lake when an alligator came out of the water after her and did this. blackwood slipped trying to get away. she says what happened next was pure instinct. >> grabbed around the eye socket area to give me a hand hold and put my hand in the eye socket, which i guess he didn't like that. >> luckily it worked. wildlife officials say the gator probably came after blackwood because it was attracted to her dogs or someone fed it and it was no longer afraid of people. a "saturday night live" actor dropped the f-bomb. was it a slip? check it out. >> you know what? you know what?

you stood up for yourself and i [ bleep ] love for you that. >> you're in the heart. >> according to entertainment weekly.com back in 1981 "snl" cast member got in trouble for using the f word on the show as well. you might call it bossologiy 101. scholars from around the world are discussing this guy, bruce springsteen. glory days of springsteen coincides with the 60th birthday of the legend. hail to the kings of leon. we'll do a sound check and go one-on-one with one of the hottest groups on the planet. ring ring ring ring

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visitors to a california zoo saw an unexpected addition to the grizzly bear exhibit. and this one was walking on two legs, not four. how zoo workers got the intruder out of harm's way. and it's not the only close call with animals we're going to tell you about. >> grabbed around the eye socket area, and gave me a handhold and put my hand in the eye socket, which i guess he didn't like that. the kind of alligator wrestling you don't want to see. and the smooth move that helped that woman get away. >> and a high school student gets the ultimate lesson in giving. but not in the classroom. this lesson took place in the hospital. you're watching hln "news and views" on this last sunday

in september. so glad you are. i'm susan hendricks. we want to get you caught up now. oscar winning filmmaker roman polanski is in a swiss jail and may be on his way to an american prison. the french-born director has been a fugitive since 1978 when he fled the u.s. to avoid a prison term. polanski entered a guilty plea to a charge of having sex with a 13-year-old girl after serving 42 days at a california prison, he thought he was a free man. but the judge in the case overturned a plea deal, and was ready to send the director to prison again of. polanski left los angeles for europe, and has never returned. police arrested him on a 30-year-old u.s. warrant when he entered switzerland to attend the zurich film festival. actress tawney kutane has been arrested in california. she is seen here with her former husband and one of their daughters. police say they pulled her over yesterday under the suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

the 48 year old recently appeared on the vh1 reality show "celebrity rehab with doctor drew." the husband of a congresswoman died while on a mountain climb be trip in tibet. aides to carolyn maloney says cliffton maloney died in his sleep after reaching the summit of the world's sixth highest mountain. the 71-year-old was a millionaire investment banker. carolyn maloney has served in congress since 1993 and recently announced she was giving up her bid for senate. despite condemnation over its secret nuclear facility, iran tested earlier today. state-run tv isn't giving many details, but it says two types of missiles were fired. in may, iran said it tested a missile capable of reaching parts of europe. today's tests are part of an exercise that is expected to go on for the next 10 to 11 days. defense secretary robert gates says iran's nuclear facility is likely meant for

developing a nuclear weapon. appearing on cnn, gates refused to rule out a military strike on the facility, but said a diplomatic solution should be attempted first. >> we have been watching the construction of this facility for quite some time, and one of the reasons that we waited to make it public was to ensure that our conclusions about his purpose were right. this is information shared among ourselves, the british, the french, as we have gone along. and i think that certainly the intelligence people have no doubt that this is an illicit nuclear facility. >> secretary gates also said it will take more time to analyze the situation in afghanistan, and whether or not the u.s. will send more troops. gates says any new additional combat troops could not be deployed to afghanistan before january of next year.

now, he also said setting a time line for leaving afghanistan would be a mistake. trading the world stage for a national one, president obama is once again making his case for health care reform. fresh from their appearance at the g-20 meeting in pittsburgh, the president and first lady went to the congressional black caucus foundation's annual dinner in washington last night. in a speech to the group, the president emphasized the need for meaningful health care reform. >> of all the barriers still standing in 2009, few are more unjust, few are more entrenched, few are more inhumane, than the barriers to a healthy life and a good education. for the sake of every american living today and for the sake of every american yet to be born, we must bring about a better health care system in this country. not in ten years. not in five years. not in one year. this year. >> so far, democrats on the

senate finance committee have fought off republican attempts to kill a health care reform bill offered by chairman maximum baucus. republicans have offered numerous amendments, and not supported baucus's attempts to pass the bill out of committee. although there are other several other bills in congress, the baucus bill that doesn't include the public option is considered one of the most important. the last time the government tried to vaccinate a large population against swine flu it didn't go so well. back in 1976, several hundred people who were vaccinated came down with a type of paralysis. no one knows whether it caused the problem or not, but people stopped getting the shots. the government hopes to vaccinate half of the population against swine flu this year. the swine flu vaccination will have three different programs to track side effects. they will monitor millions of

patients and should be able to pick up any patterns pretty quickly. nearly 1,800 people got some free medical care this weekend courtesy of talk show host dr. oz. he set up a free clinic in houston, which provided check-ups, tests, and minor procedures. last night he appeared on our sister network, cnn, to talk about the clinic, and what he thinks a health care reform bill should include. >> the systems i like the most are the kinds of systems they have in germany or switzerland, where they actually afford patients the opportunity to get insurance for many different companies. but they have to buy one type of insurance or another. you know, so we don't have the option as consumers to not have coverage. but the government has the obligation, and so do the insurance companies, of providing coverage to us. i think we can make this happen in america. but let me just say one thing that is sort of big and important. i don't care what system you pick, none of them will work in america unless we reduce the amount of money we spend on health. and the way to do that is gore us to take health into our communities, into our living rooms. >> dr. oz says he hopes patients left with the sense that someone cares about the uninsured.

frequent flyers can pick up good deals right now. >> perhaps the most valuable benefit right now that airlines offer elite customers are waivers of those baggage fees. >> reporter: some airlines are making cashing in your rewards easier. >> united just recently permanently waved the fee it charged frequent flyers to redeem points at the last minute. >> reporter: elite miles can be rolled over from one year to the next. >> delta added a new layer to its elite level called diamond. these people fly 125,000 plus miles per year. the best benefit there is free membership to the sky club. >> jetblue is also making changes including no blackout dates. >> jetblue overhauled the frequent flyer program and what made it it different this time around is the program is based on how much you spend versus how many miles you fly. for all the moments

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superior natural nourishment for your skin. this is what happens when more than a month's worth of rain falls in just 12 hours. now more than 100 people are dead or missing in the philippines. a tropical storm triggered landslides and massive flooding there. entire towns were swamped. authorities say army troops and volunteers rescued more than 4,000 people, some from their rooftops. look at one of our i-reporters captured in manila. this is the worst flooding the country has seen in more than 40

years. this is not your average pothole. check out how huge it is heavy rain in north georgia helped open up this sinkhole in the middle of the road outside of atlanta. police had to block off the intersection but someone moved the cones and this driver crashed right into the hole. the driver fortunately just suffered minor injuries in the incident. an atlanta radio station has come up with a great unique way to help victim of the recent flooding there. 104.7 is using facebook to connect listeners in need with those who can help out. the christian radio station is asking families affected by the flood or those who know of families affected to share their stories and their needs. the station is also asking those that can help to post their information of what they can do and it seems to be helping. so far listeners have offered everything from clothes to places to stay for the flood victims. a u.s. drone crashed into the headquarters of iraqi

political party in iraq. the drone went down in the city of mosul crashing into the roof of the iraqi islamic party. the largest sunni political party in iraq. no one was injured. the pentagon said the crash into the roof of the building was only a coincidence. a new york teacher received one of the state's highest honors for going out of her way to help a students. she gave him one of her kidneys. yesterday she received the new york state senate's liberty medal. a former student called and asked if she would donate a kidney to him. >> she's great. she's amazing. >> she's not a relative. she's not a mother. she's into the sister. she's not a brother. she's gone out of her way. an extraordinary step. it's a big operation. and she has saved a life. >> i was willing to do what i needed to do to help a student and now a friend for life. >> without jennifer's help kevin

o'brien could have had to wait as long as eight years to get to the top of the list for an organ trance pla transplant. social security will pay out more money than it is taking in. it's the first time this has happened since the 1980s and officials say a spike in early retirement claims from laid off seniors is a huge contributor. there is good news here. officials say the deficits won't affect payments to retirees because social security has a surplus from previous years but this will add to the overall federal deficit. the stock market can certainly be confusing if you don't know where to invest your funds. hln money expert clark howard tells us how to make money without the hassle. >> i want you to know something. i'm obsessed with something known as index funds. how could someone be obsessed with something like that? it's a thing. well, it's a good thing for you. what's an index fund any way?

it's where instead of you buying an investment in individual stock or buying a mutual fund where some brainiac tries to figure out what to buy and sell and how much of it to get, in an index fund it's really simple. you just buy all of the big companies in the country. there could be 500 of those. or you buy what's known as total stock market which is generally considered to be thousands of companies with slices and dices of them. advantage of an index fund, you don't need a brainiac to find out what to buy and sell. they buy everything so what you're charged in management fees is tiny. here's the big news. new report from "the wall street journal" finds that for bonds, 90% of the time an index fund will beat a manager. for stocks, 60% of the time. i'm clark howard. for more ways for you to pack a punch in your wallet, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. for more great advice, don't miss clark's show at 4:00 p.m.

eastern. he'll help you save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. some things you can say out loud on tv and other things you really can't. what a "saturday night live" cast member said that just may land her in hot water and this -- >> families who have lost lost ones in combat gather for the annual time of remembrance. we'll tell you which hollywood actor attended to help share in their grief. you can make it in just 14 minutes mmmh, orange chicken. great. i didn't feel like going out anyway (announcer) wanchai ferry. restaurant quality chinese your ocer's eezer

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families who lost a loved one in combat gathered to remember them. the annual time of remembrance ceremony was held in washington yesterday. it honors the families of fallen service member and women and allows them to share their pride and pain and collectively cope with their loss. >> each of you has lost someone special in your life. there are no words that anyone, least of all me, can say that will heal your terrible hurt. but i want you to know that my thoughts and the thoughts of our

country are with you. i'm left thinking of a quote i heard once that applies to each and every one of you here. to the world he was one but to me he was my world. thank you. thank you for your sacrifice. >> actor kevin bacon paying tribute. more than 4,000 families have lost loved ones in iraq since it began in 2003, the war. another 840 families lost someone in afghanistan. no word on why he did it but a man snuck into the grizzly bear exhibit at the san francisco zoo yesterday. lucky for him a zoo visitor tipped off the staff. they fired warning shot to keep the bear at a safe distance from the bear. a florida woman is lucky she's still here after being chomped on by an alligator. we hear how she managed to get away. >> come on.

>> reporter: diane blackwood's dogs are well trained pets and hunting dogs. when she took them for a walk in s sawgrass lake park, they were the ones being hunted. >> she was sniffing down by the shoreline next to the water. i saw the water swirl. realized that was gator. >> reporter: we spotted lots of big gators but one had his eyes on what looked like easy prey. wildlife officers say the seven-foot gator attacked blackwood for one of two reasons. it was either attracted to her dog or somebody fed it and it wasn't afraid of people. blackwood says she called to her dogs and started up the hill away from the water's edge. >> i tripped and fell. she kept running. and kind of glanced back and the gator had made a lunge out on the bank. >> reporter: he looked his

powerful jaws around her left calf tugging her slowly into the water and then it let go and snapped down a second time on her thumb. >> there's three separate puncture wounds 2,000 pounds of square pressure left deep teeth punctures. tonight she knows it was pure instinct that helped her get away alive. >> so grabbed around the eye socket area, that gave me a handhold and i put my hand in the eye socket, which i guess he didn't like that. >> luckily that did work. our thanks again to our affiliate carson chambers. they did catch an alligator a day after the attack and it appears to be the animal involved. here's something that you don't see every day, a frog that eats birds. in fact, no one had ever seen it until last year. it's a brand new species, one of 163 found in 2008 in the area of

southeast asia. among the finds, 100 new plants, 28 new fish, 18 new reptiles including a gekko with markings and a new species of mammals and a brand new bird. you can see the gallery at cnn.com. it extends through myanmar to cambodia. she dropped the f-bomb. of course we have bleepd it out but take a listen to the new cast member jenny slate. >> you know what? y you through an ashtray of butts. >> you're in me heart, babe. >> according to 1991, a cast member got in trouble for using

the f word as well. hail to the kings. we'll do a sound check and go one on one with one of the hottest groups on the planet. this is hln. ring ring ring ring. hey, your chicken noodles ringing. ring ring. progresso. hi, may i speak to my oggy please? thank you. i'm sorry, who? my grandma. this is obviously her chicken noodle soup. only hers tastes like this. just put my oggy on the phone. thanks so much. hold one moment please. another person calling for her grandmother.

she thinks it's her soup huh? i'm told she's in the garden picking herbs. she is so cute. okay well i'll hold. she's holding. wha? she's holding. tell her its karen. (announcer) progresso. you gotta taste this soup. and when my symptoms-the coughing, wheezing, tightness in my chest came back- i knew i had to see my doctor. he told me i had choices in controller medicines. we chose symbicort. symbicort starts to improve my lung function within 15 minutes. that's important to me because i know the two medicines in symbicort are beginning to treat my symptoms and helping me take control of my asthma. and that makes symbicort a good choice for me. symbicort will not replace a re0=ue inhaler for sudden symptoms. and should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol may increase the chance of asthma-related death. so, it is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on other asthma medicines. see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. i know symbicort won't replace a rescue inhaler. within 15 minutes symbicort starts to improve my lung function

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visit ores to a california zoo saw an unexpected addition to the grizzly bear exhibit. this one was walking on two legs not four. how they got the intruders out of harm's way. and it's not the only close call with animals we're going to tell you about. >> grabbed around the eye socket area and gave me a handhold, and put my hand in the eye socket, which i guess he didn't like that. >> the kind of alligator wrestling you don't want to see and the smooth move that helped that woman get away. and a high school student gets the ultimate lesson in giving, but not in the classroom. this lesson took place in the hospital.

you're watching hln "news and views" on this last day in september. so glad you are. i'm susan hendricks. we want to get you caught up now. oscar-winning film maker roman polanski is in a swiss jail and maybe on his way to a federal prison. he has been a fugitive since 1978, when he fled the u.s. to avoid a prison term. polanski entered a guilty plea to a charge of having sex with a 13-year-old girl. after serving two days in a california prison, he thought he was a free man, but the judge in the case overturned the plea deal and was ready to send the director to prison again. polanski left los angeles for europe and has never returned. police arrested him on a 30-year-old u.s. warrant when he entered switzerland to attend the zurich film festival. the husband of a congresswoman died while on a mountain climbing trip in tibet. aids to new york representative carolyn maloney said he died

after reaching the fifth highest mountain. he was a millnary investment banker. aides to carolyn maloney said he died after reaching the fifth highest mountain. carolyn maloney has served in congress since 1993, and recently announced she was giving up her bid for the senate. despite condemnation over its secret nuclear facility, iran tested a missile-launching system earlier today. now, state-run tv isn't giving many detail as, but it says two types of missiles were fired. in may, iran said it tested a missile capable of reaching parts of europe. today's tests are part of an exercise expected to go on for the next ten to eleven days. defense secretary robert gates says iran is nuclear facility is likely meant for developing a nuclear weapon. appearing on our sister network cnn, gates refused to rule out a military strike on the facility, but he said a diplomatic solution should be attempted first. >> we have been watching its construction of this facility for quite some time, and one of

the reasons that we waited to make it public was to ensure that our conclusions about its purpose were right. this is information shared among ourselves, the british, the french as we've gone along, and i think certainly that the intelligence people have no doubt that this is an illicit nuclear facility. >> secretary gates also said it will take more time to analyze the situation in afghanistan, and whether or not the u.s. will send more troops. gates says any new additional combat troops could not be deployed to afghanistan before january of next year. now, we also said setting a time line for leaving afghanistan would be a mistake. trading the world stage for a national one, president obama is once again making his case for health care reform. fresh from their appearance at the g-20 meeting in pittsburgh, the president and first lady went to the congressional black caucus foundations annual dinner in washington last night.

in his speech to the group, the president emphasized the need for meaningful health care reform. >> with all the barriers still standing in 2009, few are more unjust, few are more entrenched, few are more inhumane to barriers of a healthy life and a good education. for the sake of every american living today and for the sake of every american yet to be born, we must bring about a better health care system in this country. not in ten years. not in five years. not in one year. this year. >> so far, democrats on the senate finance committee have fought off republican attempts to kill a health care reform bill offered by chairman max baucus. republicans have offered numerous amendments and not supported baucas's attempts to pass the bill out of committee. although there are several other health care bills in congress,

the baucas bill is considered one of the most important. the last time the government tried to vaccinate a large part of the u.s. population against swine flu, things didn't go so well. back in 1976, several hundred people who got the vaccine also came down with a type of paralysis called guillain-barre syndrome. now, no one knows whether the vaccine caused the problem or not, but people stopped getting the shots. the government hopes to vaccinate at least half the u.s. population against swine flu this year. it will run at least three different programs to track any possible side effects. they will monitor millions of patients and should be able to pick up any patterns pretty quickly. nearly 1,800 people got some free medical care this weekend, courtesy of talk show host dr. oz. dr. oz set up a free clinic in houston, which provided checkups, tests, and minor procedures. last night, the doctor appeared on our sister network, cnn, to talk about the clinic and what he thinks a health care reform bill should include.

>> the systems that i like the most are the kinds of systems that they have in germany or switzerland where they actually afford patients the opportunity to get insurance from many different companies, but they have to buy one type of insurance or another. so we don't have the option as consumers to not have coverage, but the government has the obligation and so do insurance companies of providing coverage for us of. i think we can make this happen in america. but let me say is something that's important. i don't care what system you pick, none of them will work in america unless we reduce the amount of money we spend on health. and the way to do that is to take health into our communities, into our living rooms. >> dr. oz says he hopes they left with the sense that someone cares about the uninsured. i'm reynolds wolf with a look at your forecast across the nation. gray skies in parts of the sneeft. looks like we will see some of that in the northeast.

and great fall colors. in fact, take a look at these shots we have for you, these i-reports from concord, vermont, just beautiful pictures. if you happen to go out, enjoy the beautiful sights you're going to see up there with all of the fall colors, but also look out for some scattered showers. they're going to be sticking around for a good part of the day. back to the weather maps, and as we do so, it looks like a chance of not only rain but possibly severe thunderstorms in the great lakes. we've got this frontal boundary that ee going to be moving through places like milwaukee, back in through chicago, eventually through gary, indiana, maybe even detroit before the day is out. so you'll have a chance of severe weather, possibly some damaging wind, large hail, maybe even some heavy rainfall. and an isolated tornado is also a possibility. could see some strong winds across parts of the central plains. in fact, some wind gusts happening 60 miles per hour. in the desert southwest, the big story is the extreme heat. temperatures again going back a in the triple digits. if you want proof of that, take a look at some of the temperatures that we're going to be seeing there. 107 for phoenix, 102 in las vegas, 86 in salt lake city, 60s into portland, but 81 in san francisco, 87 in los angeles, 82 in kansas city. 93 in dallas. low 90s in houston.

89 in tampa, 69 in new york, and 65 in boston with scattered showers out by fenway park. that is a look at your forecast. i'm reynolds wolf for hln. well, you probably already know that you can recycle paper and plastic to help the environment, right? but how do you keep your old prescription meds from becoming an ecological hazard?riwa he did. well that's great. you haven't seen him... my other can is ringing. progresso. hey can you tell my wife to relax and enjoy the view? (announcer) progresso. you gotta taste this soup. new carefree ultra protection liners, with wings! absorb ten times more, like a pad but feel thin and comfy, like a liner. new carefree® ultra protection™

most people take medication to feel better. but when those drugs make it into the water supply, it can make the environment sick. michelle mcclintock with wibb in new york tells us about a program that helps people dispose of their old pharmaceuticals. >> reporter: the cars kept coming and going. >> this was very easy. you didn't even get out of your car. >> reporter: they were all doing their part to recycle unwanted pharmaceuticals. this is the second year that st. mary's hospital has played host to the prescription drug drop-off. >> before in the past, i would just dissolve them in water and

dump them down the drain, but i don't know if that's the proper way to dispose of it. >> reporter: she is right. it's not how you're supposed to get rid of unwanted drugs. >> looking out for future generations. >> reporter: john sorreto says it can cause damage to already-fragile water systems. >> they're working their ways into the waterways, and it's going to cause a problem. >> they're actually finding that there were only female fish in some of the streams, because of high levels of estrogens in the water. >> reporter: and it's not just the environmental element. prescription drugs are often getting into the wrong hands. no one knows that more than joann hodeki from kids escaping drugs. >> a lot of kids on oxycontin and vicodins and lore oh tabs and a lot of that. >> last year, more than 300 pounds of pharmaceutical drugs were collected and in ken more. when mercy hospital organized the same event. to hold an event like this takes a lot of planning, a lot of permits, and a lot of red tape. but lawmakers are hoping to change things to make it easier for communities to hold drop-offs like this.

>> we're hoping that legislation will change, that it will make it -- maybe can be easier. like dropping unused off at a pharmacy, which would make sense. >> for now, health officials say they're going to try to host drop-off days like this one several times a year. michelle mcclintock, news 4. for the next two years social security will be paying out more money than it's taking in. this is the first time it's happened since the 1980s and officials say a spike in retirement claims is a contributor. they say it won't affect payments to retirees because social security has a surplus from previous years but this will add to the overall federal deficit. some scientists are warning that global warming is changing the landscape of greenland. a man went along to report on

the glacier. here's today's eco-solutions. >> reporter: this is in southeastern greenland, and this beautiful remote environment, the greenpeace ship arctic sunrise and its crew are providing lodgist science. >> does the beauty of it hit you. >> i think, oh, my god. unbelievable. >> doctor hamilton is a glaciologist. from a helicopter he shows us why greenland has a potential to change life on this planet. the vast greenland ice sheet is an ancient reserve of frozen fresh water. its size is difficult to

comprehend. >> it stretches for several hundred miles and reaches thicknesses of 2 inches thick in the center. in terms of the volume, if you were to melt it, six meters. >> the ice sheet feeds into outlet glaciers like this one. >> you can see it now. it's over here. >> the blue line marks the front of the glacier where icebergs carve off. it's huge. but like many it's retreating. it's five miles or eight kilometers shorter than it was ten years ago and dr. hamilton's research shows that it's flowing into the ocean much faster. >> some scientist s believe what's happening is a natural cycle but others say human activities are drastically

changing the land as cape with consequences that can be felt around the world for more on this story and other environmental news head to our website cnn.com/eco-solutions. ♪ mmm. oh gosh. oh dear. big deal. you're delicious. so what. i've got news for you., there's no such thing... ...as a bear sheriff. you think i'm afraid of you? hey what? you don't have to be mean to the cake. i do. you don't. i do. just eat yoplait light. they have great flavors like..., boston cream pie, raspberry cheesecake., even though i work here, i've lost weight. wow. yeah. carry on.

(announcer) 28 delicious flavors at around 100 calories each. [ engine powers down ] gentlemen, you booked your hotels on orbitz. well, the price went down, so you're all getting a check thanks. for the difference. except for you -- you didn't book with orbitz, so you're not getting a check. well, i think we've all learned a valuable lesson today. good day, gentlemen. thanks a lot. thank you. introducing hotel price assurance, where if another orbitz customer books the same hotel for less, we send you a check for the difference, automatically. received one of the state's highest honors for going out of her way to help a student. she gave him one of her kidneys.

yesterday jennifer peretti received the liberty medal. the teacher said she never set out to be an organ donor, but a former student called to ask if she would donate a kidney to him. >> she is great. she's amazing. >> she's not a relative. she's not a mother. she's not a sister. she has gone out of her way, it's an extraordinary step, it's a big operation, and she has saved a life. >> i was willing to do what i needed to do to help a student, and now a friend for life. >> without jennifer's help, kevin o'brien could have had to wait as long as eight years to get to the top of the list for an organ transplant. there is a chance he could have died before finding a match. no word on why he did it but a man snuck into the grizzly bear exhibit at the san francisco zoo yesterday. lucky for him a zoo visitor tipped off staff. they fired a warning shot to keep the bear at a safe distance from the man. he was rescued and had no

apparent injuries. a florida woman is lucky to be here. she tells us how she managed to get away. diane beachwood's pets, she took them for a walk in the park on monday, they were the ones being hunted. >> she was sniffing down by the shoreline next -- right next to the water and i saw the water swirl, and realized that was a gator. >> we spotted lots of big gators in the st. pete lake today but one had his eyes on what looked like easy prey. they say the 7'gator attacked her for one of two reasons. it was either attracted to her dog or somebody fed it and it wasn't afraid of people. blackwood said she called to her

dogs and started up the hill away from the water's edge. >> i tripped and fell and she kept running. i glanced back and the gator had made a first lunge and was out on the bank. >> reporter: the gator lunged again locking its jaws around her calf tugging her slowly into the water. then she says it let go and snapped down a second time on her thumb. >> actually there's three puncture wounds there. >> reporter: it left deep punctures on her lower leg. tonight she knows it was pure instinct that helped her get away alive. >> so i grabbed around the eye socket area. that gave me a handhold and i put my hand in the eye socket, which i guess he didn't like that. >> well, luckily that did work. our thanks again to carson chambers of our affiliate wfts for that report. they did catch an alligator the day after the attack and it appears to be the alligator

involved. here's something you don't see every day. it's a brand new specieses one of 163 found in 2008 in the greater region of southeast asia. among the finds are 100 new plants, 28 new fish, 18 new reptiles including a gekko with leopa leopard-like markings plus new species of amphibians, mammals, and even a brand new bird. can see a gallery of discoveries at cnn.com. it extends through myanmar, c cambod cambodia, and vietnam. president obama and the first lady michelle spent saturday morning watching their 11-year-old daughter malia play in northwest washington. and their dog bo did a little tugging as well. he spent about a half hour at his daughter's game. a "saturday night live" new

by dropped the if bomb. was it a slip of the tongue? take a listen to the new cast member jenny slate. >> you know what? >> you frigen just through an ashtray of butts at my head. you stood up for yourself. >> you're in my heart. >> years ago a cast member got in trouble for using the "f" word as well. scholars from around the world are in new jersey for discussions and panels on this guy, bruce spring street. glory days coincides with the birthday. discussion topics include springsteen and psychology and springsteen. we'll do a sound check and go

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yep. four tasty new soups with 28% of your daily fiber. but i like this chicken tuscany., i like it too. but it has fiber in it. that's right. fiber? yeah. but i like it. (announcer) progresso. you gotta taste this soup. ♪ welcome to comcast local edition. i am donna richardson and my guest this hour is colonel george f. johnson iv superintendent of the maryland natural resources police. colonel, thank you for joining me. >> great to be here with you. >> in addition to being with the maryland natural resources you are president of the maryland police chief association, and who in addition to chief are your members? and who is working with you? >> it is comprised mostly of chief of police from all over the state and state government and law enforcement chiefs and county and municipalities that

exist in all of the state of maryland. >> i know as a group i know there are several initiatives taking place. there is a new one. checkpoint strike force. >> yes, it is a research based-multi-state situation where we pick and we go out there and we look for drivers that are impaired and work to get them off of the road and we do that through our sobriarity checkpoints and our saturation patrols. >> and so, which jerse - jurisdiction, one specific area or all of the jurisdictions now involved? >> all throughout maryland, the chiefs of police have signed on. every jurisdiction signed on in some way shape or form to participate in the checkpoint strike force. >> and so do you find that the checkpoints are helpful in

hopefully lowering traffic fatalities? >> absolutely. fatalities have been reduced 20 percent in the areas where we are doing the checkpoints . it proves to be extremely beneficial to us in many different ways. >> and do you find that the residents are supporting the checkpoints and do you have partner necessary this effort? >> yes, we do. as you know, it is a powerful organization of mothers against drunk drivers. we work with them chosely in this endeavor and other organizations. their surveys indicate 85 to 90 percent of the people they talked to support the checkpoints. >> do you do these at specific times of year or are the checkpoints ongoing initiative. >> they are ongoing initiatives. they will be taking place every week and everywhere and where you think that it is the best

possible opportunity to deploy the work force and effective use knowledge of our people in this endeavor. >> as you are having the checkpoints and i know initially you are looking for impaired drivers, but are you finding other things when you are pulling over the impaired drivers? >> oh, yes. people are very surprised what we run into on the checkpoints. the main focus is to get the impaired drivers that use alcohol off of the streets and identify them. but we are running into people who have warrants on them. their licenses are suspended, some people have drugs in the vehicle this we were able to detect and find. there is a whole gamut of things and seat belt usage. it helps us with the seat belt initiatives and child safety

seat. we are able to make different observations and of course, we put a lot of emphasis on the seat belt usage and child safety seat as well >> i know some jurisdiction or most of the them, there is zero tolerance if you don't have your seat belt on, it is amazing that people are still driving without them. >> it is with the seat belt usage, if you are involved in an accident with the impaired drivers that use alcohol that gives you that much more of a chance to survive. >> how can citizens assist with the checkpoint strike force? >> we need them to be our eyes and ears out there. as with many thing necessary law enforcement and we ask citizens to do. if they see a person driving erratically or aggressively and feel they are under the influence of alcohol. pick up the cell phone and dial the number 911 or what ever it is that they feel comfortable in

using. >> thank you, colonel for joining me. >> donna thank you for helping us. >> thank you for watching comcast local edition. i am donna richason.

hello. i'm gerri willis. this is "your bottom line." the show that saves you money. medical tourism could save your money and your life, but is it ever a smart alternative? the state of your job with so few openings, we'll tell you how to make sure it's your foot that gets in the door. plus, holiday shopping in september. well, you'd better believe it. we'll show you how to cut back now so you can afford the gift- giving for your family and friends. "your bottom line" starts right now. well, it's a story we've been talking and talking and talking about, over-the-top overdraft fees, and now there is action.

change is coming to a couple of america's biggest banks, change that could keep you more in the black rather than in the red. amid backlash against bank policies, bank of america and jpmorgan chase are cutting back on overdraft fees. overhauling checking account options. you'll have the option of refusing overdraft protection, and they'll limit fees if you do overdraw. let's see if the other banks follow bfa and chase. rising unemployment in part led the u.s. credit card charge-off rate to a record high in august. this index, according to moody's stands at 11.5%, measures credit card loans the banks do not expect to be repaid. and consumer protections were scaled back in a bill that could create the protection agency. it sparked the promise to make it safer for all of us. such an agency could have prevented the sub prime financial crisis. we'll be sheer to stay on top of all of the developments and bring them right here to cnn and

cnnmoney.com. now, wherever you are in the country you had to see the deadly flooding in georgia. it's likely been a concern for most homeowners until now. we're going to give you all the tools you need to deal with this type of disaster. bruce is with the federal alliance for safe homes. welcome. great seeing you. >> thanks for having us. we also enjoy being here. >> i really want to drill down on this becauset's been a horrible disaster, some $250 million in damages. some people have actually died in this. you were there. you say this is now a very dangerous time as people go back into their homes. what do they need to know? >> well, they need to know about safety. the first thing people see is people are really worn out, stressed out and overwhelmed what's happened to them. they need to pay close attention. when you go back to your home, make sure the power is turned off, make sure that any gas, natural gas or otherwise is not in the house. the other thing to be important is the water. it's toxic, quite frankly.

so you need to be aware of that as you try to remove it out of your household. >> and so be careful around that water because you could really hurt yourself. >> i want to talk about what you've got on your website which can be helpful to people out there. i want to show them a tool at flash.org, it tells you what kind of damage you can expect if you have flooding. now first off i want to say what if you had three inches of flooding? well, you can see right here what it would look like. you can see the water rising right here. and on your website you show us exactly the kinds of things that might have to be replaced and their costs from baseboard molding, clean-up materials and total cost of about $8,000. >> you have to replace everything that was on the floor, if you have wood flooring, carpeting, they need to be cleaned or replaced. this is only for a 900-square-foot house. if you have larger home, you'd have to multiply the amounts. >> let's look at ten inches. you're seeing the water rising. the tool is fantastic i have to tell you. now look at all the changes

you're going to have to make in the house right here. now we're talking about replacing kitchen and bath cabinetry, new kitchen appliances, living room furniture. the total, almost $20,000. and one question i want to ask you here. we're seeing the insurance levels, particularly in the georgia area where we've had so much devastation are extremely low. people are going to be paying this out-of-pocket. >> most people don't think if their mortgage company doesn't require them to have a flood policy that they don't need one which is really not true. most of us live in a low to moderate flood area, but one out of four times that's where flooding occurs, and that's exactly what happened in the georgia area. >> let's look at another part of your website. a lot of people want to know how much would it cost me to get covered and you can find out on this website. right here you can see we put in an address in north carolina, yanceyville, and what do we see here? low to moderate -- >> that's where most of us live is low to moderate and these types of flood policies can be very affordable. in our economic times a lot of people are deciding they can't

do this, and it's really a big mistake. >> look at this. this is not really expensive. this is cents on a day to protect your home. building only, under $1,000 a year to get that coverage. we should say you actually get it through the federal government. floodsmart.gov is a great way to go. >> they'll direct you where an agent could be and what flood zone you're in. >> you can ask your existing agent because they're selling the insurance on behalf of the federal government. another great part of your website here, i just have to point out -- i'm so excited about the website. if you want more information on floods, you can find it right here at flash.org, all kinds of great stuff to look at. you worked hard on this. >> gerri, there's actually a tool kit on what to do during, before, after a flood. there are animations on how to elevate your furniture and other equipment in your home so that it's not damaged by a flood. >> that's one of our favorite websites. great stuff. thanks so much for your help today, terrific information.

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and to receive your paper shredder, call now and mention "shredder." call now and mention "shredder." call now or visit lifelock.com. ♪ hundreds of thousands of americans will travel abroad for medical treatment this year. some simply can't afford the cost of american health care. others like denise fisher, a medical professional with great health insurance, can't get the alternative cancer treatments she feels she needs. cnn photojournalist john toragowie travels with denise across the mexican border in search for a cure. >> how have you been? >> pretty good. >> yeah? >> hanging in there. >> my name is denise fisher, and i'm from alamo, california, which is in the bay area.

i've just arrived at the san diego airport and going to be going to oasis of hope hospital in tijuana, mexico. people sent me an article about americans being killed in tijuana, other people called and said the swine flu is way too dangerous and you shouldn't go there. we really felt safety was not going to be an issue. >> here we are. this way. >> home sweet home. i am a nurse an is the tift. my husband david fisher is a general surgeon. in 2005 they found a big chest mass, a tumor. thomas is starting an iv and he'll hook up the first thing i'm getting is genocil a low dose chemotherapy. my husband said to me one night i feel like you've given up. ♪ i feel like you're just going to accept it and die, and if these what you want to do, i'll support you in that, but i really want you to fight. when i first was diagnosed and my oncologist gave me this long line of chemos that would eventually kill me, i was not happy.

when i came to mexico, he basically said i hate mexican clinics. >> hi, denise, how are you doing? >> good. >> so good to see you again. we have been working very diligently in changing the image of quackery in mexico especially in tijuana and i'm sure there are some but there are some quacks all over the world. what we're doing here and done for the last 46 years is scientifically-based therapies. >> alternative cancer treatment encompasses many different approaches that different people define dichlkt differently, but basically there are to some extent unproven therapies. there's a little denise in all of us, we sometimes challenge the status quo when our backs are against the wall and we don't like the options we have. >> she's really strong. she's been a ray of great support to me. >> there were people from south africa, australia, and all over the united states. >> i live in north carolina. >> i'm from new zealand. >> i started having nonhodgkins lymphoma in 1996.

>> i've got aggressive bladder cancer. >> can't say enough about this place. it's the only hospital you cry when you leave. >> now, after this being my third trip, i associate this whole area just with healing, with getting well. i think that my kids give me the will to live. they've got a lot of growing up to do, and they need a lot of mothering between now and when they're adults, and i believe i'll be there to do it. i have a strong faith. i believe that god gave me my kids and that he will allow me to raise them, and i look forward to that. >> our heart goes out to denise. her hospital called oasis of hope touts their survival rates over conventional cancer treatment, but denise must pay in full for all of her treatment up front. today she's paid more than $35,000 out of pocket for her three treatments and while denise's treatment is for alternative medicine some americans with and without health insurance are exploring

medical tourism as a cost-cutting option. avery comereaux is a senior writer for "u.s. news and world report." avery, welcome. >> thank you. welcome. >> i just want to ask you, you know. some 750,000 americans are going out of the country for health care, for surgeries, all kinds of is this a safe alternative? treatment. >> it depends on what sort of treatment they're having, where they're having it, and all sorts of other things too complicated to predict. you know, that 750,000 figure is probably a little bit inflated. it's probably more like 50,000 or so americans who are having serious things done abroad, and those are the people who really need to know. >> right. >> and it's very difficult. you can go to an accredited hospital abroad, one that's accredited by the joint commission international, but that's not a guarantee. >> all right. so coverage sort of varies depending on where you go and what kind of treatment you're getting obviously, but i want to show our viewers what the

attraction is, and it has to do with cost. i want to show them some numbers right now. take look at these numbers. in the united states for heart bypass surgery for example, you'd pay $135,000. in singapore, $16,000. how important are these cost differentials to people who may have no health insurance, may have inadequate health insurance, avery? >> i don't think that it's any surprise that if you go into a hospital and you're told that it's going to cost you $100,000 or $135,000 bypass surgery and you say can that amount be cut, and they say well, not by very much, then you're not going to have the surgery, and that's what it is for a lot of people. it's a yes or no decision. >> wow. okay. so when you do look at the decision of whether to go overseas or not or out of the country or maybe just across the border into mexico, what kinds of things should you be considered? how should you shop for that hospital? >> well, you do want to look for

that accreditation i mentioned a minute ago, the jci accreditation, not bulletproof, but it's much, much better than nothing. you want to look for a hospital that has some sort of affiliation with a u.s. hospital. in the far east, for example, there are a number of hospitals that are affiliated with the harvard medical system, with johns hopkins, with the cleveland clinic. that's a good thing because there's feedback in both directions, and you definitely want to talk to patients. all of these hospitals are more than happy to give you names of former patients. you need to talk to not just one or two, but as many as you can, more, depending on how serious the procedure is you're getting. well, you know, denise obviously a fan of the hospital, really likes the hospital she's at, and presumably there are lots more who like where they go as well. there are some downsides and i'm thinking that often when you're going overseas there's a language barrier.

if you're in a hospital, it's difficult for you to talk and communicate anyway. what are some of the other downsides, avery? >> well, let's give you real concrete one. a lot of people go abroad for hip or knee replacement, and if you go abroad for let's say to have a hip replaced, you're having problems with your hip and it's causing you pain. if you are sitting in a plane going to india for 14 hours, it's not exactly going to relieve your pain. >> even once you wrap in the costs of travel you're still paying a lot less money than you would if you were doing the service in the u.s. typically. >> well, there's what one medical travel expert refers to as the $6,000 rule. if the cost of care here is at least $6,000 more than the cost of all of the expense of having it abroad, the flight, the procedure, whatever incidentals there are, then it probably would make sense for you to at least consider going abroad. if it's just $1,000 or $2,000,

it obviously is not. >> avery, i'm going to put you on the spot a little bit. would you travel for some kind of health care, some kind of surgery, some kind of treatment? >> having now visited a hospital in india and several in singapore, and talking to a lot of people about this, i have to say -- and also having had two bypass surgeries myself, one in 1983 and one in 1999, that i would not hesitate to have had that procedure done, knowing what i know now about those hospitals. that does not mean that i'd feel the same way about every hospital abroad, but the hospitals that i looked at, and i looked at everything from their blood banks to the water supply, and everything in between, i would do it. >> avery, great information. thank you so much for helping us out today. >> you're welcome. thank you. where the jobs are. it's must have information right now.oo we're not just going to tell you about those jobs. we're going to tell you.

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back in february president obama signed the stimulus plan promising to create over 3 million american jobs. tom is the managing finance editor of yahoo!

jobs. >> one thing you can do is look in certain industries. look in construction, look in the government, look in energy, particularly renewable energy projects. those are getting a lot of stimulus funding. so if you have skills that can translate to those industries, then you're in a good position. like i said, they're hard to find. >> are there many of them so far? >> there are some. some have not yet been created because it goes through a process. the projects are announced, they receive funding, and they go out to bid. so the companies are putting together their projections, their bids. once they get the bids, you're basically following the news to find out who's getting them and target those companies. >> great idea. all bad news has a silver lining somewhere, right? >> that's right. so few jobs out there for folks a lot of people are starting their own business. now, what do you see in that arena? >> right. there's a lot of

entrepreneurship going on. in some ways it's great because people are recognizing there's opportunity in this situation i'm in. i've got an opportunity to do something business, you know, with a hobby or whatever. a lot of people find they can succeed in something like that. unfortunately a lot of people are accidental entrepreneurs, people who have tried very, very long to find a job, would prefer to have a full-time job but can't find one so they look inside themselves, isolate a skill they can use and try and go out and whether it's baby sitting or looking after pets or going taxes for other people. they're doing what they can to be resourceful to make money. >> that makes a lot of sense. may not be your first choice but at the end of the day if it gets you through the economic downturn it's the right thing to do. let's talk about the process of looking for that job and the kinds of things you go through. a lot of people out there haven't been in the job market for a long time. when it comes to the interview

process they don't know what to expect. what are you seeing? >> we're seeing a lot of people, also trying some extreme things, you know, they're renting billboards or they're, you know, asking people to do finder's fees to help them find a job. that's kind of wacky. also people are starting to use social networking sites a lot to help them find a job. >> does that work? >> sometimes it does. you have to be resourceful on how you use it and be careful about what you say, post, if you're using these sites for profession that reasons for finding a job, recruiters are going to then look at those things. make sure what you post, what you say passes the grammar test. you're not going to be embarr s embarrassed if your grandma sees it. >> that's a high hurdle. tom, thank you so much for coming back and chatting with us. >> thank you, great to be here. holiday spending is expected to be flat versus a year ago.

consumers remain cautious. deloitte's retail group expects holiday sales from november to january to total $810 billion. up next, we'll give you the early bird special. cuts back on your spending now.

it seems the landscape is shifting right under our feet. good and bad. there's new good news about your debts and other news about your future. i'm going to share with you today. you give me this 30 minutes and i promise i'm going to help you take better control of your future. ever since i can remember, i've been fascinated by money -- making it, saving it, studying it. by the time i was 31, i'd earned enough to retire. so i embarked on a new mission, helping you take care of your money so you can save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off.

are you out of work snp had your hours cut back? i want you to know that the economy is step-by-step getting better, and even after the pointy heads say we're out of a recession, jobs are a trailing indicator. jobs will come along later, but they are going to come back. one thing i am concerned about is a trend we've already had in america before the recession, i think is going to get bigger. i think how employers treat us and how they hire us is going to change. i think you're going to have something that is similar to what goes on in a lot of countries in europe where employers will offer you a full-time job, but not a permanent full-time job. think we're going to have a lot of them that come as contract, either as an independent contractor, either as an employee where they might sign you up for one, two or three years at a time. every year you might have to sweat it out a little. essentially, what it means is you, as a worker, are going to

have to have the mentality of being much more entrepreneurial than before, and in addition, this is a great time for you to be an entrepreneur. if you have a business idea, you can use the skill or experience you have. maybe this is the time that you get out on your own and start your own business. that's where the real money is made. how can i be of help to you? what questions do you have for me? alice is with us. hello, alice. >> caller: hi, clark, how are you doing? >> doing great. thank you, alice. you're having a disagreement with a doctor? >> caller: right. a pa die tryst. he had me sign paperwork about -- i'm responsible for the co-pay if i get any ore nottics for my foot. subsequent to that i actually talked to the reception list/insurance person. she handled the insurance

information and she assured me they would two ahead and waive the co-payment. i got that confirmed at least twice, and now what happened is that the office manager is overruling and said, well, that lady is wrong, and you owe us theco payment. >> how much money are we talking? >> caller: we're not talking about much. vy a really good fico score, like over 800. i always pay my bills. this is a matter of principle. >> you always have to be careful of matters of principle versus practicality. how much money is it? >> caller: it's $55 for the co-pay and they added on, like, $25 for, you know, to put it through collections right now. >> oh. it's in hands of a collection agency? >> caller: yeah. >> how long's it been since it was turned over to collection? >> caller: probably about a month. >> uh-oh. that's a key period of time because you are given 30 days to

challenge a collection. if you don't challenge in that 30 days it's considered to be valid and the collection agency can put it on your credit report. >> caller: how does that affect my -- >> devastates it. it doesn't hut rt it, tears it apart. i'm not going to sugar coat it. you're between a rock and hard place now. i'm going to advise you that you should pay that bill. the reality is the podiatrist rendered service and the bill exists, and fighting over that co-pay is a losing battle that could, in fact, harm you for seven years. nelson, you're trying to buy a house with wa short sale. tell me. >> caller: i'm buying a house we put a bid on accepted by the seller that's $60,000 lower than

the asking price and it's been 43 days since we put the bid on and we haven't heard anything from the bank. >> you haven't heard an acknowledgement they received your short sale request? >> caller: correct. >> you know that's a violation of the industry guidelines? the guidelines are they are supposed to acknowledge you within four days and give you an answer in 45. >> caller: the answer within -- is that 45 business days or 45 -- >> 45 calendar days. >> caller: we're at 43 days now. >> remember, that's a guideline. if they haven't even acknowledged your submission of a request for a short sale and that's the story people are repeating all over the country that lenders lose the request, they ask you to resubmit, you resubmit, they lose it again, and it is an exercise in frustration and it's almost a

numbers game that you might have to submit a number of short sale offers and the one that they offer first that's acceptable to you, that's the one you buy. >> caller: are you saying on multiple products? >> on multiple properties. multiple homes because it is very, very, very difficult to get -- even when it's in a bank's best interest, to accept the short sale. it seems to be hard to get them administratively to get it done. >> caller: is there any leverage we have? >> the only leverage is if there's a very experienced real estate agent involved in the transaction, either on the buyer's side or seller's side, having an experienced agent who navigates for you is the likeliest chance, but i'll tell you, if you want to do the short sale route, you cannot focus on a single home. you have to find more than one that looks acceptable and keep trying even at the same time.

next, on "clark howard," -- >> i do nothing to manage my stock market account. i've got a financial adviser who is assigned to my account and i don't speak to him to be honest. >> you put in your user name and password and get there and it's like, the joke's on you. they've got what they want which is your credit card number, checking account, and, bam, if they're not eating up all your money. it hard to breathe.

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may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. we had a great day, grandpa! we sure did. ask your doctor how advair helps improve lung function for better breathing. (announcer) find out how to get your first full prescription free at advaircopd.com. you know, as you're flipping through channels with your remote and you might pick up a little bit of what i said, you missed something else, don't worry about it. just go to cnn.com/clarkhoward and i'll bring you up to speed. see the websites i've talked about and more information abou@ any topic you kind of caught on@ the show but want to know more about. hello, tammy.

>> caller: how are you. >> good, you doing well? >> caller: so far so good. >> what are you thinking of doing? >> caller: well, i -- recently one of our local tv stations posted on their website a link about working from home, and as a stay at home mom, of course, i'm always looking for avenues of making some extra money, but the article described posting web links to google. of course, i'm very leerily of the internet, so i wouldn't know a scam if it came up and looked me right in the face. i wanted your opinion. >> well, this organization in particular, and i would say that probably somebody at the tv station didn't know that they were getting swindled by having this outfit in a story, but this company uses multiple names all with google in them somehow claiming that they have a special method for you to get wealthy tied in with google, and what they do is once they get

your credit card number or checking account number, they never stop charging your credit card or debiting your checking account. there are so many complaints about them, and so what they do is they come up with one name after another after another so every time people kind of get the deal that this isn't legitimate, they then come up with a new name. the funniest thing about their website, they use what looks like a mock google logo to make you think it is directly either operated by google or somehow in business with google as a partner. google has nothing to do with them. then even sneakier or sleazier, you can't get any information on them about what their supposed magic is, so i have a guide at clarkhoward.com that as best we can tell are legitimate work at home opportunities, and we check them as well as we can.

check it out. do you have a question for me? it's so easy to ask it. all you do is go to cnn.com/clarkhoward and click to submit a video question. who knows, next thing you might see is you with me on tv asking away. just like ashley has done. >> hi, i'm ashley, and i need a money coach. i created a stock market account, sadly, after my father passed away and wanted to pretend that i didn't know i was getting that money, handed it over and opened up what, at the time, was the best and most aggressive kind of stocks you could get into. i do nothing to manage my stock market account. i feel like i stay out of managing the stock market account because i have no idea how it works. i feel like if i did start to become involved i would become obsessed and be, you know, tracking trends online and that sort of thing. my question is, i've got a stock market account. should i get more involved or

leave that to the pros? >> ashley, okay, here's my deal on having a stock market account. if you're going to have a brokerage account and buying and selling stocks you have to be involved. i don't like the idea of you turning your money over to somebody and saying to him or her, you make the decisions, you decide what to buy or sell. that's a recipe for disaster. so then the question is, how much do you want to get involved? and if you do want to get involved a lot, i have a strategy for you and for others. buying individual stocks requires that you be involved all the time doing research. i mean, serious research into companies before you buy them and when you sell them. as an alternative, i love for you to look at buying mutual funds, where a professional decides what to buy or sell or my favorite, favorite, a type of mutual fund called an index fund

where you own little tiny slices and dices of all american capitalism. the most popular of all is when you own little pieces of the 500 little stocks in the country. that way you ride along with capitalism atrather than tryingo make an individual decision one stock at a time. next on "clark howard." -- >> going from one end of japan to the other like that, doing it with a japan rail pass. the japanese rail system is so efficient, and really so affordable for us as americans. okay, time's up. here ya' go ! that's a nice one, i made that. that's a piece of junk. yeah. i want the red truck. well, you can't have the red truck. see, that was a limited-time offer only. it's, ah, right here in the fine print. even kids know it's wrong to hide behind fine print. why don't banks ? we're ally, a new bank who always gives you a great rate, with nothing buried in the fine print.

it's just the right thing to do.

when i want to know more about what's going on with money, i go to cnnmoney.com. you should too. right now, let's check in with poppy harlow. >> layoffs and falling home prices obviously hurting a lot of american families right now. some are even seeing the value of their home fall below what they owe on it. here are things that can help you keep up with the mortgage payment. it's outlined on knmoney.com. if you're facing a pay cut or job loss, consider alternative ways to make money, tutoring or giving a lesson in your field, such as music lessons or starting a small business on the side that won't be too capital intensive. if you took out a line of credit to fix up your home, make it a priority to pay that down.

make a budget and stick to it. look to refinance now. interest rates are very low. check out our loan center at cnnmn.com. find interest rates there. more on this, check out our money makeover. it is right and only at cnnmoney.com/moneymagazine. hi, angela. >> caller: hi, how are you doing? >> i'm having a great day. thank you. sounds like you're not because somebody's playing dirty pool with your wallet. >> caller: that's what i'm curious about. i had a -- the college credit card that always gets kids in trouble, and shortly after i got out of college i wound up with pretty severe health issues that threw all of my finances out of whack. >> how are you doing now? >> caller: i'm doing fine now. >> great. >> caller: this was around 2000-2001. of the two cards, one of which i settled on at the time, the other i purchased payment

insurance. after i did that, i didn't get anything from them. no bills, no nothing. they had my correct addresses, and out of the blue they call me and said, by the way, we want our money, and it has not been on my credit report for so long. i have had no communication with them since 2002. >> all right. well, you have two things working for you here. so i have good news for you. >> caller: okay. >> okay. first thing is that this cannot appear, legally cannot appear on your credit report. >> caller: okay. >> because a delinquent debt can only appear on your report for seven years. second thing, it cannot be an item that you are sued on except in a very small handful of states because of statute of limitati limitations. >> caller: okay. >> all right. next thing, a collector even outside of those two factors, statute of limitations and also

the period of time it can appear on your credit report is free to still call you to attempt to collect the debt until you write them and tell them that they are not to contact you further. i would say in the letter i would add two additional sentence to yours. one is that even if i did owe this debt, which i do not acknowledge, it is outside a statute of limitations and it cannot be place the on my credit report, just so you make it clear to them that you are well aware of your rights under the law. my wife and i came to japan during the summer. why? because it's one of the easiest places for you to be able to redeem frequent flyer miles. we're here for nothing. we're here on the bullet train in japan. we're going from one end of

japan to the other, like that. doing it with the japan rail pass. the japanese rail system is so efficient, and really so affordable for us as americans, but one rule, you have to buy your japan rail pass before you leave the united states. i'm here in osaka central station and i've got to tell you, it is really difficult at first for an american or a european, because of the japanese everywhere. there are platforms all over this baby, but i'll tell you something. once you get yourself ore ore yen nated. read the english subtitles. you're fine and it's cheap and easy. okay, back in the 1930s during the great depression, it was also prohibition and a lot of people put in home stills, but the home stills they were putting in were to make illegal alcohol.

today, what kind of still are people looking at putting in their home? believe it or not, their own gas station, where they make their own fuel for their cars right at their home. now, this has been a pipe dream for people in engineering for a long, long time. people being able to take their own trash, their own waste at their home, and put it into a productive use as energy for vehicles, but now that may actually happen. there's even one company that's out there struggling, trying to make a go of it. their technology is called the microfueler. thing's expensive. 10 grand. federal tax credits means it pays back in about two years. next on "clark howard." >> in japan you go to the 100 yen store. turns out to be about $1.07 for each item you buy. all our souvenirs for everybody right here in this bag.

you're going to stick with your discipline system of withdrawals and you say we're going to go from really a 30% increase in vacation spending. what else is sacrificed over the year so you can come up with that $3,000? )d)d)d)d)d)d)d)d)d)d

ever since i can remember, i've been fascinated by money -- making it, saving it, studying it. by the time i was 31, i'd earned enough to retire. so i embarked on a new mission, helping you take care of your money so you can save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off. all right. i am really excited. why? because i'm a travel nut, and if you are a travel nut, too, and you can afford to go somewhere and you have the time, this fall is your friend because the travel business flat out doesn't have any customers.

i saw a report recently from the website hotels.com that the average hotel rate in the united states is down by 17% this year from the year ago. that is a huge drop in price. i've even gotten some rooms recently using priceline and hot wire that are in the 30s per night and these aren't flea bags. every sector of travel you look at is a real deal in the time period leading up to before thanksgiving. you want to fly somewhere? the bargains are everywhere, and especially not just in the united states, but to the carribean and to europe. how about cruises? the fall is always value time on cruises, but especially this year. one thing that's not a bargain right now? car rentals. car rental rates are actually going up, but maybe you could walk once you get to your @@ destination. now it's time for your @@ questions. what's on your wallet's mind?

henry is with us. henry, supposedly we're out of recession and it doesn't feel like it to you today, does it? >> caller: no, sir. our company filed chapter 11 bankruptcy. what does that mean for our 401(k)? >> all right. 401(k) asset should be in the hands of a 401(k) add straiter a and the money you have in the account is your money and cannot be seized as part of your employer's chapter 11. i will tell you, though, your last couple payroll deductions from your 401(k) may not have made it to the 401(k) plan a administrator but that money they be lost in state. your actually 401(k) account, you get a same from an outside company, right, for your 401(k)? >> caller: yes, sir. >> that money stays with them

and is at no risk from the employer filing bankruptcy. >> caller: the thing that concerns me with the 401(k) is we all quit contributing to our 401(k) in july and we cannot get any answers about how we can move our money to a, you know, to wherever -- >> your money -- if you had stopped contributing back in the summer then you don't have to worry about what i said about how some of your money may have been lost. the administrator for the plan continues to administer the plan as they did before, and so you cannot move your money from them as long as you stay employed with the employer. if the employer were to later not make it in bankruptcy and they shut down, then your 401(k) money becomes available to each of you and that's when you can move to wherever you want in an i.r.a. >> caller: yes, sir, okay.

>> so that part is nothing to worry. that money is safe, and that money will be there for you with the bank and then ultimately for your retirement. ashley is with us on the "clark howard show." ashley, how are you? >> caller: i'm fine, clark, good to talk with you. >> good to have you along. i understand you have a mortgage dilemma you want to run by me. are you buying a property or refiing one? >> we are thinking of buying a new property. >> so you are the one person in america thinking of buying a home. >> caller: right. we're going to have to sell our home first, so that may be a challenge. assuming we can sell our home we are on the market. the problem that we're having is that i've talked with several mortgage brokers and they have told me in the price range we're looking for we are going to need to make a down payment of 20% because it's in the jumbo loan range. so it's frustrating because we

feel like we can definitely afford the monthly payment and we've got enough for a down payment that would be in excess of 10%, but getting across the 20% mark would definitely be probably beyond what we could do immediately. now, i have had one broker subject that we could do sort of a piggyback loan where you have a first mortgage up to just under the jumbo loan limit and then you put a second mortgage on top of that, but that would be an extremely high rate, like he suggested it would probably be, like, 9%. >> all right. well, i don't see that as an outsize risk on your part. >> caller: okay. >> i don't see that as a horrible thing. what other options are you looking at? >> caller: i got one other suggestion, i think i know what your response to this suggestion will be. one of the brokers i spoke to

said i ought to borrow money from my 401(k) to try to get across the 20% mark. >> as long as the borrowing rate is reasonable on the 401(k), i hope that lightning doesn't strike me down right now, i think that that would be an acceptable way for you to get to 20%, but i don't dismiss out of hand what you're thinking of doing because if you had called me up and said we have no down payment money at all but we can come up with to borrowing from our 401(k), that would show me no discipline and no habit of saving money on your part and i would say no way you should do that. because it helps you close a gap, i think that would be a reasonable way for you to get it done. next on "clark howard." >> i want to be financially secure. that would mean no mortgage, cash in the bank, where i would be able to live off of my investments. >> they said that in seven years they have never failed to return

somebody less than how much money? >> caller: $53,000. like -- >> you hear the manure coming out of that cow, right?

lisa's with us. hi, lisa. >> caller: hay, how are you? >> lisa, you're doing things in the right order. you want to run something by me to make sure it's not a scam. >> caller: yes, i do, very much so. >> what is it you've had the offer of? >> caller: well, i got contacted by an agency that told me basically that if i give them

$2,000 that they'll fill out the paperwork and do all the work of finding grants for me and they are -- out of the seven years they've been working or whatnot, they have never returned less than $53,000 worth of grants to somebody, and i've already kind of gotten ripped off by a grant writing company, so i'm not very quick to jump at this. >> so they said in seven years they have never failed to return somebody less than how much money? >> caller: $53,000. it's like -- i got the buzzer. [ mooing ] >> you hear the manure coming out of that cow, right? full manure. in fact, if they've been scamming people for seven years, that seven years is too long. this is an old timemy scam with organizations who say they have

secret inside scoops on grants and that you just pay them the money and they're going to get that money for you many times over. and that has been around as an oldie but baddy. they don't have your credit card number or checking account number, do they? >> caller: no, negative. definitely not. >> all right. i just breathed a whole lot easier at that point. this is completely bogus and if the clown calls you back again, tell whoever it is who calls you, tell that person that i said they were a crook, that they should be ashamed of themselves. spell my name and give that hoodlum my phone number and i'm happy to say right to that individual, what a creep they are and i'm so glad that you're staying out of harm's way. do you want me to be your money coach? well, here's what you got to do. go to cnn.com/clarkhoward and

then you'll see our video submission button. submit your question to me and wau law, you might be on the tv with me like chris. >> hi, may name is chris and i need a money coach. i hope to retire in nine years. i need to know where to put my money. i've been saving money for the past several years. i have some money in an ira with bandguard and several other iras and i've managed to save cash on the side. i don't have any debt. i want to be financially secure. that would mean no mortgage. cash in the bank where i would be able to live off of my investments. my question is, how do i protect what i have while being somewhat aggressive and planning for the future? >> krirks you are handling much so well. think about this, by the time you plan to retire, you will have no mortgage. you carry no credit card debt or

other personal debts and you've been saying money like clockwork saving for the future. did you ever make me nervous by saying do i need to more aggressive with my investments? here's what i want you to think about. if you look at how many years you are away from retirement, you can't be too aggressive because you wouldn't have time to recover if the markets tanked. at your age, you should have somewhere around 40% to 50% of all your savings in stock-type choices. the other half needs to be conservatively invested in bond-type choices, cds, savings accounts so you don't put yourself too much at risk. let's say you're in your 20s or 30s in a completely different position and situation. it's fine for you to overwhelmingly, and you should, actually, go into the stock-type choices available to you in a retirement plan at work, like a 401(k) or if you do a roth

account, a form of retirement account that you use after tax dollars. and the most important thing if you're younger, save like a maniac. you'll be amazed how much money you'll end up with by the time you do decide you don't want to work anymore. next on "clark howard" -- >> well, all that stuff is going to take seven years from not when you turned 18, but when you stopped paying on all of these things. it will be seven years before those things completely stop harming you. ? >> caller: wow, that's not good. you know what's complicated? shipping. shipping's complicated. not really. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service shipping is easy. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. that's not complicated. come on. how about...a handshake. alright. priority mail flat rate boxes only from the postal service.

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and once-daily spiriva. jason joins us. hi, jason. >> hey, clark, how are you? >> i'm doing great, thank you. you want to go back to your teenage years? >> caller: that is correct. when i was 18, 19, i took out some student loans. i also took out a personal loan from a credit union. and also had purchased a vehicle with my grandfather as a

co-signer. however, i let all those things get away from me because i decided to get into music and did the musician thing and i didn't end up paying for a lot of them. my credit is not in the best of shape. i need to figure out because i have no idea how to get it back on track with a good credit score. i haven't had any credit cards or anything like that. >> all right, well first, on the student loans, you know you have to bring the student loans current. of the -- >> caller: okay. >> of the things you mentioned, the student loans are the one thing that will follow you the rest of your life if you don't make amends on those. >> caller: okay. >> so as the first step to getting your credit on the right path -- >> caller: mm-hmm. >> -- you need to go meet with a default counselor. i would get started with that. now you said your granddad co-signed the car loan. >> caller: yes, sir, the car got repossessed. >> oh, it did get repossessed. but you're paying off the -- >> caller: the balance. >> well, that's good. you're cleaning that up.

all that stuff is going to take seven years from not when you turned 18 but from when you stopped paying on all these things. it will be seven years before those things completely stop harming you. that means you're not far away from the negative of these things disappearing from your report. although the items stay on your report for seven years, the good news for you is that once you pay them off, that instantly raises your score a lot. but i have no worry about you, jason. because you made no excuses. you took full responsibility. and now you're making good on the money. i think you're going to be fine with how you handle money the rest of your life. john, how are you doing? >> caller: i'm doing well, how are you? >> good, thank you, john. you are a landlord like me, is that right? >> caller: i am a landlord just within the past two years.

i have two three units, two tri plexs which i have a leased option on. and i'm two years in to that. and the remaining units i have through seller financing. >> wait, wait -- you are such a good salesperson that you have convinced all these people to sell you places and finance the purchases for you? >> caller: yes. only two different individuals and the term is great. but the terms i've got 3% at -- on a 15-year. and i've got a five-year balloon. so my question is, you know, well, one, i would like the seller to be able to report to a credit agency on my behalf. >> because you're trying to establish a track record so that you, then, can qualify for a loan when the balloon hits? >> caller: correct, right. >> right. i have a suggestion for you.

because it's going to be hard for you to make that happen. you're trying to get a square peg to fit in a round hole. you need to get with a local community bank where you go and you meet with the president of that bank. you meet with the president of that bank. >> caller: okay. >> you might want to go to two or three of them and you go in and you sit down with the president of the bank and you lay out for him or her what it is you're doing. you have your financials for them. and you tell them what your needs are. >> caller: okay. >> that is how you as an entrepreneur build up a long, successful relationship with the bank. because you're never going to make that happen with one of the giant banks. and i think that it's really exciting that you've been able to be so persuasive to get people to owner finance. i think you'll be equally as successful persuading banks to be your partner.

i hate to ever talk about a problem to which i can't offer you an easy remedy or solution. but there's something going on out there that i feel i just got to tell you, and then there are precautions you should take to protect yourself. do you know, according to the "washington post," you can hire companies, that's a strange term for it, you can hire hackers on the web for $30 or more to crack somebody else's e-mail password so that you can go into their account and snoop around. who's doing this the most often? well, it's a spouse or boyfriend or girlfriend who's worried that somebody's cheating. but it could also be used for any of a number of dishonest purposes, including corporate espionage, or for finding out information about your finances. so here's what you need to know. the hackers are going to be able to break in if somebody's determined, but you need to be careful what you store in your e-mail they could gain access

to. next on "clark howard." >> now i'm in my new profession, but i need to build it up a lot quicker with only 25 years left to work. how do i go about doing that? >> well, you have a double opportunity here. ( laughs, click ) when you hear a click, ( clicking ) you know it's closed and secure. that's why hefty food bags click closed. hefty! hefty! hefty! so you know you've helped lock in freshness and lock out air... to help prevent freezer burn. be sure it's secure with hefty food bags. just one click and you know it's closed. hefty! hefty! hefty! ( click, click, click )

visitors to a california zoo saw an unexpected addition to the grizzly bear exhibit, and this one was walking on two legs, not four. how zoo workers got the intruder out of harm's way. and it's not the only close call with animals we're going to tell you about. grabbed around the eye socket area. that gave me a handhold and put my hand in the eye socket, which i guess he didn't like that. >> the kind of alligator wrestling you don't want to see and the smooth move that helped that woman get away. and a high school student gets the ultimate lesson in giving, but not in the classroom. this lesson took place in the

hospital. you're watching hln news and views on this last sunday in september. so glad you are. i'm susan hendricks. we want to get you caught up now. oscar-winning filmmaker, roman polanski is in a swiss jail and maybe on his way to an american prison. the french-born director has been a fugitive since 1978 when he fled the u.s. to avoid a prison term. polanski entered a guilty plea to having sex with a 13-year-old girl. the judge in the case overturned a plea deal and was ready to send the director to prison. polanski left los angeles for europe and has never returned. police arrested him on a 30-year-old u.s. warrant when he entered switzerland to attend the zurich film festival. the husband of a congresswoman died while on a mountain-climbing trip in tibet. aides to new york representative carolyn maloney says clifton maloney died in his sleep after

reaching the summit of the world's sixth highest mountain. the 71-year-old was a millionaire investment banker. carolyn maloney has served in congress since 1993 and recently announced she was giving up her bid for the senate. despite condemnation over its secret nuclear facility, iran tested a missile launching system earlier today. now, state-run tv isn't giving many details, but it says two types of missiles were fired. in may, iran says it tested a missile capable of reaching parts of europe. today's tests are part of an exercise that's expected to go on for the next 10 to 11 days. defense secretary robert gates says iran's nuclear facility is likely meant for developing a nuclear weapon. appearing on our sister network, cnn, gates refused to rule out a military strike on the facility, but he said a diplomatic solution should be attempted first. >> we've been watching the construction of this facility for quite some time and one of the reasons that we waited to

make it public was to ensure that our conclusions about its purpose were right. this is information shared among ourselves, the british, the french as we've gone along. and i think that, certainly, the intelligence people have no doubt that this is an illicit nuclear facility. >> secretary gates also said it will take more time to analyze the situation in afghanistan and whether or not the u.s. will send more troops. gates says any new additional combat troops could not be deployed to afghanistan before january of next year. now, he also said setting a time line for leaving afghanistan would be a mistake. trading the world stage for a national one, president obama is once again making his case for health care reform. fresh from their appearance at the g-20 meeting in pittsburgh, the president and first lady went to the congressional black caucus foundation's annual

dinner in washington last night. in a speech to the group, the president emphasized the need for meaningful health care reform. >> of all the barriers still standing in 2009, few are more unjust, few are more entrenched, few are more inhumane than the barriers to a healthy life and a good education. for the sake of every american living today and for the sake of every american yet to be born, we must bring about a better health care system in this country. not in ten years, not in five years, not in one year, this year. >> so far, democrats on the senate finance committee have fought off republican attempts to kill a health care reform bill offered by chairman max baucus. republicans have offered numerous amendments and not supported baucus' attempts to pass the bill out of committee. although there are several other health care bills in congress, the baucus bill, which doesn't

include the so-called public option, is considered one of the most important. the last time the government tried to vaccinate a large part of the u.s. population against swine flu, things didn't go so well. back in 1976, several hundred people who got the vaccine also came down with a time of paralysis called guillain-barre system. the government hopes to vaccinate at least half the u.s. population against swine flu this year. it will run at least three different programs to track any possible side effects. they will monitor millions of patients and should be able to pick up any patterns pretty quickly. nearly 1,800 people got some free medical care this weekend courtesy of talk show host dr. oz. dr. oz set up a free clinic in houston which provided checkups, tests, and minor procedures. last night the doctor appeared on our sister network, cnn, to talk about the clinic and what he thinks a health care reform

bill should include. >> the systems that i like the most are actually the kinds of systems they have in germany or switzerland, where they actually afford patients the opportunity to get insurance from many different companies. but they have to buy one type of insurance or another. so we don't have the option as consumers to not have coverage, but the government has the obligation and so do insurance companies of providing coverage to us. i think we can make this happen in america. but let me point out one thing that's big and important. i don't care what system you pick, none of them will work in america unless we reduce the amount of money we spend on health. the way to do that is for us to take health into our communities, into our living rooms. >> dr. oz says he hope this weekend's patients left with the sense that someone cares about the uninsured. i'm reynolds wolf for hln with a look at your forecast across the nation. we've been talking about gray skies in parts of the southeast. looks like we're going to be seeing some of that in the northeast. not only gray skies, but great fall colors. take a look at these shots we have for you.

these i-reports in from mike dakota in concord, vermont. just enjoy all the beautiful colors and look out for scattered showers. back to the weather maps we do. looks like we'll see rain and possibly severe thunderstorms in parts of the great lakes. frontal boundary that will be moving through places like milwaukee, chicago, eventually gary, indiana, maybe even detroit before the day is out. you'll have a chance at some severe weather, possibly some damaging wind, large hail, maybe even some heavy rainfall and an isolated tornado a possibility. some wind gusts, 60 miles per hour. in the desert southwest, the big story is the extreme heat. temperatures again going back into the triple digits. take a look at some of the temperatures we're going to be seeing there. 107 in phoenix, 86 in seattle. but 81 in san francisco. 87 in los angeles.

93 in dallas. low 90s in houston. 89 in tampa. 69 for new york and 65 in boston with those scattered showers out by fenway park. that is a look at your forecast. i'm reynolds wolf for hln. well, you probably already know that you can recycle paper and plastic to help the environment, right? but how do you keep your old prescription meds from becoming an ecological hazardev?re tionshr pride ♪ ♪ it's the credit roller coaster ♪ ♪ and as you can see it kinda bites! ♪ ♪ so sing the lyrics with me: ♪ when your debt goes up your score goes down ♪ ♪ when you pay a little off it goes the other way 'round ♪ ♪ it's just the same for everybody, every boy and girl ♪ ♪ the credit roller coaster makes you wanna hurl ♪ ♪ so throw your hands in the air, and wave 'em around ♪ ♪ like a wanna-be frat boy trying to get down ♪ ♪ then bring 'em right back to where your laptop's at... ♪ ♪ log on to free credit report dot com - stat! ♪ vo: free credit score and report with enrollment in triple advantage. with your help... ...yoplait will donate 10 cents for every pink lid sent in. help us win. we've been fighting the war

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this is what happens when more than a month's worth of rain falls in just 12 hours. now more than 100 people are dead or missing in the philippines. a tropical storm triggered landslides and massive flooding there. entire towns were swamped. authorities say army troops and volunteers have rescued more than 4,000 people, some from their rooftops. take a look right here at one of our i-reporters captured in manila. it shows thigh-deep water and submerged cars. this is the worst flooding the country has seen in 40 years.

this is not your average pothole. check this out. how huge it is. heavy rain in north georgia helped open up this sink hole in the middle of the road just outside of atlanta. police had to block off the intersection, but someone moved the cones and this driver crashed right into the hole. fortunately, the driver just suffered minor injuries in the incident. an atlanta radio station has come up with a great, unique way to help victims of the recent flooding there. 104.7 the fish is using facebook to connect listeners in need with those who can help out. the contemporary christian radio station is asking families affected by the flood or those who know of families affected to share their stories and their needs. the station is also asking those that can help to post their information and what they can do. and it seems to be helping. so far, listeners have offered everything from clothes to places to stay for the flood victims. most people take medication to feel better, but when those

drugs make it into the water supply, it can make the environment sick. michelle mcclintock with our affiliate in new york tells us of a program that helps people dispose of their old pharmaceuticals. >> reporter: the cars kept coming and going. >> this was very easy. you didn't even get out of your car. >> reporter: they were all doing their part to recycle unwanted pharmaceuticals. this is the second year that st. marys hospital has played host to this prescription drug drop-off. >> like before, in the past, i would just dissolve them in water and dump them down the drain, but i don't know if that's the proper way to dispose of it. >> reporter: she's right. it's not how you're supposed to get rid of unwanted drugs. >> we're looking out for future directors. >> reporter: niagara county legislator says they can cause damage to already fragile water systems. >> they're working their way into the waterways and it's going to cause a problem. >> they were actually finding there were only female fish in some of the streams because of high levels of estrogen in the water. >> reporter: and prescription drugs are often getting into the

wrong hands. no one knows that more than joann from kids escaping drugs. >> a lot of kids on the campus that are on oxycontin and vicodin and all that. >> reporter: last year, over 300 pounds of pharmaceutical drugs were collected. and just last weekend, over 10,000 dosage units of controlled substances were collected in kenmore when mercy hospital hosted the same event. to hold a event like this takes a lot of planning, a lot of permits, and a lot of red tape. but lawmakers are hoping to change things to make it a little easier for communities to hold drop-offs like this. >> we're hoping that legislation will change, that it would make -- it maybe can be easier. like dropping unused off at a pharmacy, which would make sense. >> reporter: for now, health fishes say they're going to try to host drop-off days like this one several times a year. >> reporter: michelle mcclintock, news 4. ( sighs )

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we've got something new to tell you about. starting this tuesday, joy behar is coming to hln with her own

show. and we'll tell you up front, she isn't shy about speaking her mind. >> this week, we got the season premiere of "dancing with the stars" and right from the start, it was fabulous. macy gray, michael irvine, donny osmond, even marie osmond returned to the scene of the crime to support her brother, donny. who who was sitting with marie, jermaine jackson. the man is everywhere. he's like smog. my favorite contestant this year on "dancing with the stars" is the hammer, tom delay, the former house majority leader, who may soon be dancing behind bars. tom was wearing a tiny brown vest with glitter. he looked like one of the flying monkeys from twir"the wizard of" at the beginning of the show, he seemed uncomfortable sitting there with all those russian immigrants and gay men. he had that, what, am i the only one here under federal indictment look on his face. but once the competition started, he lastened right up. in fact, i don't think a republican has had that much fun tapping his toes since larry

craig broke the men's restroom in the minneapolis airport. wait until he gets up in front of a real judge. i hope tom sticks around all season. i just can't wait for little bruno to nail the hammer. that's just me. >> there's more joy on the way for you. "the joy behar show" premieres this tuesday right here on hln. families who have lost a loved one the combat gathered to remember them. the annual time of remembrance ceremony was held in washington yesterday. it honors the family of fallen service men and women and allows them to share their pride and pain and collectively cope with their loss. >> each of you has lost someone special in your life. there are no words that anyone, least of all me, can say that will heal your terrible hurt. but i want you to know that my thoughts and the thoughts of our country are with you. i'm left thinking of a quote

that i heard once, which assuredly applies to each and every one of you here. to the world, he was one, but to me, he was my world. thank you. thank you for your sacrifice. >> actor kevin bacon there, paying tribute. more than 4,000 families of lost loved ones in iraq since it began in 2003, the war, another 840 families lost someone in afghanistan. no word on why he did it, but a man stuck into the grizzly bear exhibit at the san francisco zoo yesterday. lucky for him, a zoo visitor tipped off the staff. they fired a warning shot to keep the bears at a safe distance from the man. he was rescued and had no apparent injuries. a florida woman is lucky she is still here after being chomped on by an alligator. reporter carson chambers tells us how she managed to get away.

>> reporter: diane blackwood's dachshund and hunting dogs took her dogs for a walk, but they were the ones being hunted. >> she was sniffing down to the shoreline close to the water and i saw the water swirl and realized that was a gator. >> reporter: we spotted lots of big gators in the st. pete lake today, but one had his eyes on what looked like easy pray. florida fish and wildlife officers say the seven-foot gator attacked blackwood of one of two reasons. it was either attracted to her dog or somebody fed it and it wasn't afraid of people. blackwood said she called to her dogs and started up the hill away from the water's edge. but i tripped and fell, she kept running. and kind of glanced back and the gator had made a first lunge and was out on the bank. >> reporter: the gator lungeed again, locking its power jaws

around her left calf, tugging her slowly into the water. then it let go and snatchered down a second time on her thumb. >> there's three separate puncture wounds there. >> reporter: 200 pounds per square inch of pressure left deep wounds on her left leg. tonight she knows it's pure instinct that helped her get away alive. >> grabbed around the eye socket area. that gave me a hand handhold, at my hand in the eye socket, which i guess he didn't like that. >> well, luckily, that did work. our thanks gen again to carson chambers for that report. trappers did catch an alligator the day after the attack and it appears to be the animal involved. from the fields of politics and world affairs to the soccer field. president obama and the first lady, michelle, spent saturday morning watching their 11-year-old daughter, malia, play in northwest washington. and their dog, bo, did a little tugging as well. who knows, maybe he wanted the soccer ball. president obama spent about a

half hour at his daughter's game. a "saturday night live" newbie dropped the f-bomb on the comedy show's season premiere and it's all over the internet. now the question is, was it a slip of the tongue? of course, we have bleeped it out, but take a listen to yourself to the new cast member, jenny slate. >> you know what, you freaking just threw an issue trey full of butts at my head. you stood up for yourself, and i [ bleep ] love you for that. >> according to entertainment weekly.com back in 1981, "snl" cast member charles rocket got in trouble for using the f-word on the show as well. you might call it bossology 101. scholars from around the world are in new jersey this weekend for discussions and panels on this guy, bruce springsteen. glory days of bruce springsteen's symposium coincide with the 60th birthday of the

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hello and welcome to "vital signs." this month we hit the ground in japan, bringing you the latest health and medical stories from the country. i'm dr. sanjay gupta, cnn's chief medical correspondent and a practicing neurosurgeon. the fastest growing elderly population and ever dropping fertility rate and a shrinking labor force. japan is barreling down a demographic path expected to place unprecedented strain on the country's pension and medical systems. it's worth mentioning, most of the countries in the world are following suit. it's just that japan is getting there before the rest of us. so we travel to japan to witness an innovative approach in response to the challenge. who knows? in the future, this concept might be coming to a town near you.

at a government subsidized center in the heart of tokyo, women bring their children for free day care. it's part of the government's push to encourage women to have babies. with a dwindling young workforce and a growing number of senior citizens, japan is facing a fiscal squeeze. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: some say there's a segment of the population overlooked, but key to the country's economic survival. ] [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: she works the spice stand that's been in her family for nearly 100 years. in primary school, she helped her mother grind the sesame seeds. now she works alongside her son

and his wife. believe it or not, centenarians, aged 100 and above, are the fastest growing population in japan. and toki is actually younger than this group, at a spry 83. some population experts say toki and others like her working well past the 60-year-old retirement age show how the elderly population can remain vital while utilizing their working potential for the economy. >> they're forced to retire. our ageing problem is actually almost a human disaster, in the institution it created. i find that and many other persons are healthy. but they're not working. why? because of retirement age. >> reporter: it raises the question. as japan takes a closer look at the issue of retirement and its workforce, will they offer an updated approach that can be embraced by the rest of an ageing world? in many countries, governments have not adjusted retirement age to match a rise in life expectancy. >> all the countries of the

world will be suffering from the ageing problems. the 20th century was a century of population explosion, but the 12st century is a century of population ageing. >> reporter: we hear about a lush mountain village on the japanese island of shikoku where we're told we'll see the wave of the future. this 80-something couple high in the japanese mountains provides a glimpse of what the rest of an ageing world might look like in the coming years. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: at first, i was afraid to touch the machine, i was afraid i would break it, she says. a specially designed mouse and keyboard allow elderly hands to navigate. in a modest house outfitted with business technology, they are

among some 200 elderly who are the backbone of this agricultural company. almost half the 2,000 residents in the town of kamikatsu are 65 and older. i don't have time to get sick, i don't have time to go to the hospital, the work is busy, she says. she and her husband package the tiny leaves that will garnish plates of food in restaurants around the country. patient and meticulous, they're well suited for the gentle work. this company has revitalized the town financially, supplying 60% of the decorative leaves purchased by japan's hotels and restaurants. here the elderly are key to an innovative source of revenue. the company's founder says older villagers were willing to do the work that didn't interest younger people. his town is proof, he says, that giving older people a roll can do two things, give them purpose

and generate wealth. elderly people have accumulated knowledge and experience through many years of their lives. we just need to know how to make the best use of their talents, he says. a quick stop at the central loading area in town, and the leaves are headed for japan's fine city restaurants. back in tokyo at the government's office on ageing society, the enterprising seniors hard at work in kamikatsu are getting attention. the director calls the village an interesting case. we must change our perception, she says, that everyone 65 and older is elderly. a gradual raising of the retirement age from 60 to 65 is already in the works. >> i think that in this country, that people think that japan's future is very miserable and no hope. but i have hope. depending how we treat these

people, policy wise, encourage them to save, encourage them to work longer and the japanese future will be extremely different. >> reporter: different for young and old alike and possibly a model for the rest of the world. close on the heels of japan's unchartered population path. [ woman ] dear cat. gentle cat. your hair mixes with pollen and dust in the air. i get congested. my eyes itch. i have to banish you to the garden. but now with zyrtec-d®, i have the proven allergy relief of zyrtec®,

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in a trendy tokyo neighborhood, this is home to one of the latest japanese quick fix health fads, the iv cafe. here, visitors look to get their vitamins intravenously, no appointment necessary. each pack is said to contain saline solution and particular vitamins and materials to target a particular health concern or beauty concern. she is a 20-something, a regular customer. i used to take vitamin supplements, but changed to the iv drip because i feel the

effects more quickly, she says. she tells us she gets the iv for better skin, another one to burn fat, and a third to boost her energy. there are ten different varieties to choose from. the orange touts anti-ageing properties loaded with antioxidants. . prices range from about $20 to $30 per injection. this nurse tells us she treats about 30 to 40 people a day. her typical patients, many are japanese businessmen who work in the same office building. [ speaking foreign language ] >> i see a lot of businessmen who say they don't have time to sleep. they take a break from working and get the vitamin drip for an extra kick of energy. blue is the most requested vitamin pack for these men, it claims to offer relief from exhaustion. registered nurses and doctors administer the drips, but there's no conclusion medical evidence to back up the health claims and japan's national

health insurance won't pay for the treatments. the iv cafe and its marketing of what it calls instantaneous health is considered a trend in japan, a country known for all kinds of fads. welcome back to "vital signs." our spotlight this month is on japan, but wherever we are, it's our job to bring you our "medical myth buster" segment, sifting through conflicting health information to shed light on the truth. like, myth or reality? testosterone helps fuel financial profits. reality. a cambridge university team measured the testosterone levels in a group of male traders in london's financial district. when their testosterone levels were high, they were more likely to make bigger profits. researchers think the so-called male hormone makes them more confident and focused. here's another one. refrigeration preserves nutrients. myth. fruit and vegetables can lose up to half their vitamins when refrigerated for more than a few

days. one reason, produce is often spent days in transport and on shelves before you even buy it. so look for produce grown local local locally. here's one final myth buster, fish is brain food. reality, we know a diet rich in fish is good for the heart. new evidence reveals it may also ward of dementia. a study of 15,000 older adults in asia and latin america found the more fish they ate, the lower their risk. those eating fish a few days week were 20% less likely to develop dementia than those who ate none at all. a toast of local flavor in japan now. we couldn't travel to the health-conscious country and not bring you back some fresh insights, perhaps, on their nutrition. the country's appetite for health food remains strong. these vegetables have been cooked with black vinegar made

from brown rice and available in asian food stores. so-called black foods have always played a prominent role in japanese cuisine. they've been eaten for hundreds of years for their taste, but now people are buying them for their marketed nutritional value. black ingredients are added to many beverages in japanese. black vinegar drinks are promoted a as lowering blood sugar levels. there's black sesame seeds and of course, black seaweed. is there truth to the health claims? it's sort of a mixed bag. often, foods are black or deeply colored because of natural plant pigments. studies suggest these antioxidants have anti-inflammatory properties and might offer some protection against heart disease and cancer. black rice is a whole grain rice and contains more fiber and nutrients than white rice. here's a healthy dietary choice popular in japan that you're probably already familiar with.

green tea. a ten-year study suggests drinking five or more cup day can reduce the risk of early death from heart disease by up to 25%. chemicals in green tea have strong antioxidant properties and are known to neutralize the effect of free radicals in the body, which attack healthy cells. that's our wrap of news vital to your health with a special look from japan. be sure to visit our website, cnn.com/vitalsigns. there you can learn about these final images we lead you with from our visit. tiny buddha statues outside a temple in tokyo. i'm dr. sanjay gupta. thanks for watching. join yoplait in supporting the fight against breast cancer.

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visitors to a california zoo saw an unexpected addition to the grizzly bear exhibit, and this one was walking on two legs, not four. how zoo workers got the intruder out of harm's way. and it's not the only close call with animals we're going to tell

you about. grabbed around the eye socket area. that gave me a handhold and put my hand in the eye socket, which i guess he didn't like that. >> the kind of alligator wrestling you don't want to see and the smooth move that helped that woman get away. and a high school student gets the ultimate lesson in giving, but not in the classroom. this lesson took place in the hospital. you're watching hln news and views on this last sunday in september. so glad you are. i'm susan hendricks. we want to get you caught up now. oscar-winning filmmaker, roman polanski is in a swiss jail and maybe on his way to an american prison. the french-born director has been a fugitive since 1978 when he fled the u.s. to avoid a prison term. polanski entered a guilty plea to a charge of having sex with a 13-year-old girl after serving 42 days at a california prison, he thought he was a free man,

but the judge in the case overturned a plea deal and was ready to send the director to prison again. polanski left los angeles for europe and has never returned. police arrested him on a 30-year-old u.s. warrant when he entered switzerland to attend the zurich film festival. despite condemnation over its secret nuclear facility, iran tested a missile launching system earlier today. now, state-run tv isn't giving many details, but it says two types of missiles were fired. in may, iran said it tested a missile capable of reaching parts of europe. today's tests are part of an exercise that's expected to go on for the next 10 to 11 days. defense secretary robert gates says iran's nuclear facility is likely meant for developing a nuclear weapon. appearing on our sister network, cnn, gates refused to rule out a military strike on the facility, but he said a diplomatic solution should be attempted first.

>> we've been watching the construction of this facility for quite some time, and one of the reasons that we waited to make it public was to ensure that our conclusions about its purpose were right. this is information shared among ourselves, the british, the french as we've gone along and i think that certainly the intelligence people have no doubt that this is an illicit nuclear facility. >> secretary gates also said it will take more time to analyze the situation in afghanistan and whether or not the u.s. will send more troops. gates says any new additional combat troops could not be deployed to afghanistan before january of next year. now, he also said setting a time line for leaving afghanistan would be a mistake. this is not your average pothole. check this out, how huge it is. heavy rain in north georgia helped open up this sink hole in the middle of the road just

outside of atlanta. police had to block off the intersection, but someone moved the cones and the driver crashed right into the hole. fortunately, the driver just suffered incident. >> no word on why he did it. but a man snuck into the grizzly bear exhibit at the san francisco zoo. a zoo visitor tipped off the staff and they fired a warning spot and he was rescued and had no apparent injuries. >> this florida woman escaped from the jaws of a gator. diane blackwood was walking her dogs near a lake when a -foot al gator did this. she shipped triting to get away. that's when the reptile clamped down on her leg. what happened next was pure instinct. >> grabbed around the eye sokt area, gave me a hand hold and put my happened in the eye sokt,

which i guess he doesn't like that. >> the gator probably came after her because it was attracted to her dogs or someone fed it and it was no longer afraid of people. a new york teacher received one of state's highest honors for going out of her way to help a student. she gave him one of her kidneys. yesterday jennifer perretty received the new york liberty medal. she never set out to be a an organ donor but a former student asked if she could donate a kidney to him. >> she's great. she's amazing. >> not a relative. not a mother or sister or brother. she's gone out of her way. it's an extraordinary step. it's a big operation. and she has saved a life. >> i was willing to do what i needed to do to help a student. and now a friend for life. >> without jennifer's help kevin o'brien could have waited as

long as eight years to get to the top of the list for ap organ transplant and a chance he could have died before finding a match. hail to the kings of leon. we'll go one on one with one of the hottest groups on the plan e this is hln. [ engine revving ] [ engine powers down ] gentlemen, you booked your hotels on orbitz. well, the price went down, so you're all getting a check thanks. for the difference. except for you -- you didn't book with orbitz, so you're not getting a check.

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