can healthy food be hazardous to your health? what an advocacy group claims. should victims of domestic violence lose health insurance? the way some states answer that question may surprise you. we'll share your views. a hot air balloon trip goes terribly wrong. find out what caused the accident and how the fallen passenger is doing. >> some of the healthiest foods we eat could make us sick is the message just out from the center for science and public interest. it's a consumer advocacy group. it looked at government data to identify foods that cause the

largest numbers of illnesses from things like e. coli or salmonella. on the list things like leafy greens, eggs, cheeses, even potato potatoes. the produce industry issued a response saying the produce industry is 100% committed to providing safe produce every bite, every time our livelihoods depend on it. the statement continues, it's never in a consumer's best interest to scare them away from the very fruits and vegetables that we should all eat more of for better health and healthier weight. raymond clark, the lab technician charged in the murder of a yale grad student in new haven appeared before a judge today but did not enter a plea. clark's attorney says he'll eventually plead not guilty to the murder of annie le. clark is accused of strangling le and stuffing her body behind a wall on the yale campus. investigators found her body on what was to be her wedding day, september 13th. she had been missing five days.

director roman polanski will stay in a swiss jail as authorities decide whether to extradite him to the u.s. prosecutors argued he might flee. polanski was charged with raping a 13-year-old girl in the 1970s at which time he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge but then fled the u.s. david letterman admits his past sexual indiscretions with with staff members caused serious problems in his marriage. he talked last night about last week's surprise announcement. he taped the show yesterday afternoon. he apologized to his staff to exposing them to intense public scrutiny and cracked jokes at his own expense but turned serious when he talked about the impact on his wife of seven months.

i'm sorry that wouldn't roll. media that wouldn't play. we'll get to it. we'll roll it eventually i promise. a cbs news producer is charged with threatening to expose letterman's affairs as part of a $2 million blackmail plot. do we have it ready? here's dave from last night. >> the other thing is my wife regeeena has been horribly hurt by my behavior. when something happens like that and you hurt a person and it's your responsibility, you try to fix it. at that point there's only two things that will happen. you make progress and get it fixed or you fall short and perhaps not get it fixed. let me tell you, folks, i got my work cut out for me. [ applause ] the extortion plot charges joe halderman. he's pleaded not guilty. the mother of the newborn kidnapped last week from the nfl

home where t nashville home is getting her children back. the attorney appointed to represent the kids said a custody hearing was canceled after an investigation determined that the parents were not trying to sell their baby. the children were placed in foster care by state child welfare officials this past weekend. he was found safe in alabama three days after being abducted. an alabama woman is in jail facing a federal kidnapping charge. the woman says somebody posing as an immigration agent came to her home and demanded the child. she says the woman stabbed her repeatedly after she refused to stand over that baby. she'll get her children back. that story just in. president obama meets with congressional leaders today to talk about what's become a major debate whether to send more troops to afghanistan, if so, how many and when? top military leaders want 40,000 more troops on the ground. they say the taliban is gaining

strength and gaining territory. others say the u.s. can fight the war with more unmanned drone aircraft and special forces teams. our sister's network christiane amanpour spoke with the defense secretary and secretary of state during a panel discussion at george washington university. >> there should be no uncertainty in terms of our determination to remain in afghanistan and to continue to build a relationship, a partnership and trust with the pakistanis. that's long-term. that's a strategic objective of the united states. >> i think what we're going through in asking ourselves we know what the goal is, is what we're doing most likely to achieve that goal is what a very decisive and intelligent commander in chief would do. we're going to come up with what we think is the best approach but the goal remains the same. >> the bodies of four u.s.

soldiers killed over the weekend in a firefight in afghanistan are back in the u.s. their flag draped coffins arrived this morning at dover air force base, delaware. they were among eight americans killed in an attack by taliban fighters on a remote outpost on saturday. that outpost was almost overrun. two afghan soldiers also died in the battle. outside the white house yesterday, several hundred people protested the wars in iraq and afghanistan. it was a peaceful demonstration. 61 people were arrested because they wouldn't move back from the sidewalk. cindy sheehan was among them. one of the major faces of the anti-war movement during the early years of the bush administration. her son was killed in iraq in 2004. the top u.s. commander for wars in the middle east was treated for cancer. the pentagon says general david petraeus was diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer in february. the radiation treatment is considered a success. his office says it did not affect his work schedule very much. petraeus kept this private but key administration officials did

know about it. brett favre has been at the helm plenty of times when minnesota and green bay squared off on the football field. this time number 4 was wearing purple and not green. find out how favre did against his longtime team turn heated rival.

welcome back. tyler perry is sharing a painful part about his past sharing details about his troubled childhood. he wanted to share that survive after watching a screening of the movie "precious" about a 16-year-old girl who is physically and emotionally abused. here's something that may surprise you. in eight states and washington, d.c., insurance companies can use domestic violence as a pre-existing condition to deny health coverage. that's according to a study from the national women's law center. some lawmakers say that it's

another reason the health care system needs an overhaul. senator patty murray says she's been trying to convince congress for a decade to address this lingering issue. one health care bill, at least one, is being considered which would prohibit using domestic abuse as a pre-existing condition. other bills would keep insurers from using any pre-existing condition to deny coverage. in a statement from today's health insurance plans, it reads in part -- we've been asking your thoughts on the topic. should domestic violence be a pre-existing condition? should the rules be changed? should victims be denied coverage? go to the phones right now. say hi to donna in pennsylvania. you're up. >> caller: i do believe that any

injury that is treated, reported, and diagnosed is definitely a pre-existing condition. whether it be through domestic abuse, a car accident, whether it's your fault or someone else as long as it is reported and stated and diagnosed. yes. that's a pre-existing condition. the more we make health care responsible for these costs, the costs are going to go up and people are upset about the costs now. it's going to make it worse. that's my personal opinion. >> aren't accidents -- how could accidents be a pre-existing condition? you didn't know it was coming, did you? >> caller: no. if you marry someone and they throw you down the steps and you had a back injury, you didn't know that was coming either. things happen. >> larry is on the line in north dakota. how are you doing? >> caller: i'm overworked and underpaid.

>> let's have your thoughts. >> caller: i have had to respond to cases of domestic violence and i have seen instances where the victim never saw it coming. had no clue it was coming. my question to the insurance companies is how can they call this a pre-existing condition if the victim had no clue it was going to happen? you know, i think they're just using it as an excuse to duck out of their responsibilities. >> all right. appreciate it. thank you for your service. thanks for your time. a lot of e-mails floating in. let's read a few. monica writes -- samantha says --

several comments on nooi my facebook page. jackie writes -- martin has a different opinion -- you have time to weigh in. what do you think about it? domestic violence a pre-existing condition if you're injured in such a situation should you be covered? call us toll free at 877-tell-hln. e-mail cnn.com/hln. you can search for chuck roberts hln on facebook or you can also text views plus your comment and name to hlntv. a veteran quarterback invited some old friends to his new home but he did not give them a warm welcome. last night brett favre faced the green bay packers for the first time since his highly publicized exit from the team he played with for 18 seasons. he led the vikings to a 30-23

victory over their division rivals. brett favre is the first quarterback in nfl history to win against every team in the league. winter is weeks away. will heating costs drop or go up? find out what the government projects.

police are cracking down on protesters in turkey. some protestors broke store

windows before taking cover. there were a couple blocks away from the meeting of the international monetary fund. delegates are discussing the economic collapse that hit turkey especially hard. encouraging news for crews fighting the massive wildfire in southern california. forecasters not only expect cooler temperatures, higher humidity and lighter winds today. those favorable calm conditions should stick around the rest of the week. fire officials say they slud this contained by thursday night. right now it is 32% contained. it burned three homes near the mountain town of rightwood in san bernardino county. a man that fell out of a hot air balloon is in serious condition. it struck a tent in albuquerque. the 70 year old has a dislocated hip. >> we saw the man cart wheel at about 35 feet. he didn't hit the tent. he landed right on the asphalt. >> the balloon rose quickly with

passenger out of the basket and then the pilot brought it down fast to check on her passenger. she was a little banged up from a hard landing as you might imagine. the balloon fiesta in albuquerque. a secret video released in a trial of two men trying to extort john travolta after his son died. his lawyer testified the video showed the meeting with one of the defendants as part of a police sting. the two men are accused of demanding $25 million from travolta. both pleaded not guilty. the vh1 tv contestant accused of killing his wife and then killing himself left a suicide note. the note reportedly said she was the love of his life. her feat and par her teeth and parts of her fingers were missing. cameras will watch the

transit system in washington d.c. investigators determined the engineer was texting while driving. >> you knew that you had a second pair of eyes watching, would you be texting while driving a train with all of those people on it? the answer, i think, is no. >> the union representing evening nears opposes the cameras and say the cameras are an invasion of privacy. "the joy behar show" airs every weeknight at 9:00 eastern on hln. here's a quick taste of what you'll get. joy's "not for nothin'" commentary. >> i have to be honest. i never thought of david letterman as a sexual being. he was always a kind of witty mr. rogers to me. when he married his long-term girlfriend it seemed sweet. they have been dating for 23

years but the kid was almost in high school by the time he married her. you can imagine my surprise to find out that dave turns out to be hugh hefner without the pajamas. i wasn't born yesterday. i know that powerful men like to screw around. clinton had lewinsky. jfk had marilyn. thomas jefferson had sex with a slave. there's even talk that the great abe lincoln may have found sexual freedom outside of marriage in the arms of a man. to which i say so long ago, so what who cares and good for her. i don't think this letterman thing would be so big if the women involved weren't dave's employees but rather his peers like oprah. although i don't see that happening. truthfully. or ellen. i don't see that happening at all. women shouldn't have to sleep with the boss to get ahead in the company. they should have the right to advance their careers like

everyone else in showbiz by stabbing other people in the back. so i say if you're going to get involved with someone in the office, don't do it with a subordinate. do it with an equal. okay. by the way, is regis fiphilbin still staround? i saw him in the green room. he's looking really hot. but that's just me. >> don't miss joy behar every weeknight at 9:00 on hln. posting calories at restaurant chains doesn't influence what people want to eat. researchers observe customers at mcdonald's, wendy's, kfc and burger king in poorer neighborhoods with high obesity and diabetes rates and only half of the customers noticed calorie counts. a fourth said it influenced what they ordered. the study suggests low income customers were more interested in cost than calories. it may cost you less to stay

warm this winter if you heat with natural gas. inventories at an all-time high. a milder winter is also forecast and prices have dropped because of the recession so there's a lot going on there to weigh down the prices. the government says people who use electric heat and propane will save a bundle this winter. only 79 shopping days left and it's not looking good for the holiday season. the national retail federation is predicting a 1% drop in total sales this year to just under $43 billion for november and december combined. it says job losses and stagnant income growth are causing americans to be more thrifty. other predictions have been alleges moa little more optimistic so far. how is your 401(k) do? we know how hard the plans hit retirement plans that millions of people count on. the report is the average 401(k) balance fell by more than $20,000 between 2007 and 2008. that's a drop of almost 25% and

the report doesn't cover '09 when stock prices reached a 12-year low. a mom reported her 14-year-old son missing to find out he was on a cross-country flight. the high tech way police tracked him down. esesesesesesesesesesess

this story just in. the mother of the newborn kidnapped from her arms standing in her door of nashville will get her four children back. the attorney appointed to represent the kid says a custody hearing was canceled after the investigation determined that the mother was not trying to sell the baby. state child welfare officials placed the child and three siblings in foster care this went when someone abused her of trying to sell the newborn. the newborn was found in alabama three days after being abducted. an alabama woman is now in jail facing a federal kidnapping charge. a composing as an immigration

agent came to the mother's door and demanded the child. she says the woman stabbed her several times when she wouldn't hand over the baby. raymond clark appeared before a judge but did not enter a plea. he'll plead not guilty to the murder of annie le. investigators found the 24-year-old owes body on what was to be her wedding day, september 13th. she had been missing for five days. clark is jailed on a $3 million bond. the judge scheduled a probable cause hearing later this month. polanski will stay in a swiss jail for now. no early release. he's somewhat of a flight risk according to court. polanski asked the swiss court to free him. prosecutors argued he might flee. he was initially charged with raping a 13-year-old girl. he pleaded guilty in 1978 to a

lesser charge and then later fled the u.s. president obama meets with congressional leaders today to talk about what's become a major debate whether to send more troops to afghanistan. top military leaders want as many as 40,000 more boots on the ground. they say the taliban is gaining strength. others say the u.s. can fight this war with unmanned drone aircraft and special forces teams. our sister network's christiane amanpour spoke with the defense secretary and secretary of state during a panel discussion at george washington university. there should be no uncertainty in terms of our determination to remain in afghanistan and to continue to build a relationship, a partnership and trust with the pakistanis. that's long-term. that's a strategic objective of the united states. >> i think what we're going through in asking ourselves, okay, we know what the goal is. is what we're doing most likely

to achieve that goal? would a decisive and intelligent commander in chief would do? so we're going to come up with what we think is the best approach but the goal remains the same. >> the bodies four of the u.s. soldiers killed over the weekend in eastern afghanistan are back in u.s. their flag draped coffins arrived this morning. they were among eight americans killed during the battle waged by taliban fighters on a remote outpost on saturday. two afghan soldiers also died in the battle. several other people protested outside of the white house today against war in general. it was a peaceful demonstration but park police reported 61 arrests because people wouldn't move back from the sidewalk. cindy sheehan among them. she was one of the major faces of the anti-war movement during the bush administration. her son, casey, was killed in iraq in 2004. those arrested were given tickets and released. the top u.s. commander for

wars in the middle east was treated for cancer. the pentagon says general david petraeus was diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer in february. the radiation treatment covered several months is considered a success. his office says it did not affect his work schedule much. petraeus kept all of this private although key administration officials knew about it. keytyler perry is sharing a painful past with his friends. on a letter in his website, he shares a troubled childhood in new orleans. he wants to share the story after watching a screening of the film "precious." it's about a 16-year-old girl that's physically and emotionally abused. here's something that surprised us. in eight states in washington, d.c., insurance companies can use domestic violence as a pre-existing condition to deny health coverage. that's according to a study by the national women's law center. some lawmakers say this is another reason that health care needs overhauling in general.

washington senator patty murray says she's been trying to convince congress to address the issue for roughly a decade. at least one health care bill now being considered would prohibit domestic abuse as a pre-existing condition. other bills would keep insurers from using any pre-existing condition to deny coverage. in a statement today from america's health insurance plans said -- some of the haet healthiest foods you can eat is make you sick. it looked at government data to identify foods that cause the largest number of illnesses from things like e. coli or salmonella. on the list things like leafy greens, eggs, cheeses, even potatoes. the group wants the fda to do

more to inspect these foods. the produce industry issued a response saying -- if you use the internet or you take pictures with a digital camera, you have this years recipients of the nobel prize in physics to thank. three men won it for their 1960s research. fiber optics was pioneered and figured out how to transmit light signals. and the digital camera's electronic eye. what was supposed to be a calm and relaxing ride turned into a frightening painful experience. see what happened after this hot air balloon accident.

police are cracking down on protesters in turkey. protesters broke store windows before rushing for cover. there were a couple blocks from the meeting of the international monetary fund and the world bank in istanbul discussing the economic collapse that hit turkey especially hard. encouraging news for crews fighting the massive 7,000 acre wildfire in southern california in san bernardino county. forecasters not only expect cooler temperatures, higher humidity and light winds. those conditions should hold for the rest of the week. it's the perfect conditions to fight a fire. officials say they do expect to contain this by thursday night. right now the fire is about 32%

contained. it's burned three homes near the mountain town of wrightwood in san bernardino county. off the streets and on the air. a homeless shelter may seem like an unlikely place to find rising tv talent but that's the ground breaking idea behind a very different kind of tv show. we're joined with more on one of the most popular stories on the website today. >> we're talking about homeless television. it's a program where everybody involved in this is either currently homeless or has been homeless and it's taking place in minneapolis-st.paul. the idea is to try to teach some marketable ideas to people and help them land jobs perhaps in television or some other field and a cable access show out of st. paul allowed these people access to a local production studio and it has just taken off. it was started by a pastor and former television reporter who says he was surprised by just how educated some of the homeless he met were.

this includes ron who shortly after being released from prison found himself homeless and riding city buses at night to avoid the cold minneapolis winter. >> get a motel and my little pocket money was exhausted and so i found myself homeless but not without hope. >> he now spends most of his nights in a shelter still but most of his days he's sitting in a control room directing voices of change. a show that focuses on some of the issues relevant to the homeless and the city's poor and the pastor there says what he's trying to do is change the stereotypes of who is homeless out there and also lift the spirits of those in that current situation. >> lift the veil as they say. great story. a cabbie working the graveyard shift with a camera in toe and a dramatic shot of people in unflattering poses. >> people who are working the

night. istanbul. it's an interesting story remembering that leaders of the world's 20th wealthiest economies will be meeting there. but very far from where they will be meeting are the prostitutes and street children and those people that are living in the streets at night. this cab driver was a cabbie who did the night shift and he started taking photographs. we'll show some of them to you. these are people he met while he was driving. he wanted to draw attention to the struggles of the city's forgotten. they are often photographs of the homeless sleeping barefoot next to unusual advertisements that just are smiling children or attractive women. he's trying to show some of the contradictions of our culture or their culture in istanbul. he's actually in galleries.

there's a showing of his art work because it speaks volumes about how the homeless are forgotten. all goes on and yet there are so many people struggling in the streets of istanbul and other cities across the world. he's not making enough from his black and white photography to live on it so he drives a cab at night. >> that's where he gets his best inspiration. thank you. that's great. good stories. thanks. "the joy behar show" airs every weeknight at 9:00 eastern here on hln. last night she chatted with regis philbin about his game show "who wants to be a millionaire." >> did you save the show? >> i did. the year it came on abc was more desperate than they are today and that's saying a lot. so any way, yes, i went on there and bang, the show was an enormous hit. >> kahtie or kelly always

said -- i don't know who it was. >> it was kahtie lee and then kelly. >> do you like kelly the best? >> do i like kelly the best? i loved them all. they're all my girls. >> don't miss joy behar every weeknight at 9:00 p.m. brett favre has been at the helm behind the quarter many times when minnesota and green bay squared off on the field. he was wearing purple and not green. we'll find out how he did against his longtime team.

i'm jane velez-mitchell. here's my issue. maybe being normal should be the red flag for law enforcement. the creep accused of videotaping erin andrews. anl insurance salesman with barely a traffic ticket. neighbors said he kept his yard m manicured and was absolutely normal. it's always a guy who seemed absolutely normal. the monster accused of shooting

up the fitness center in pittsburgh lived a normal life until he allegedly shot nine women. the truth is there is no absolutely normal. someone has no distinguishing factors is a warning sign that should not be ignored. i'm jane velez-mitchell. that's my "issue." >> find out what else jane has on her mind. "issues with jane velez-mitchell" every weeknight here on hln. a pediatrician is charged with sex crimes and so is his twin brother. he's accused of performing sex acts on three teen patients during office visits and accused of giving teens cash payments as much as $200 once they left the office. his attorney says there's no evidence in the case. mark's twin is also a pediatrician and is also charged with sex crimes involving children. his trial is set for april. an alabama judge is being tried on 83 charges of allegedly forcing inmates to have sex.

prosecutors say the judge told inmates that he would throw them back in jail if they didn't perform sex acts. others were promised leniency if they did. the judge resigned two years ago in mobile. jury selection began this week. the vh1 reality tv contestant accused of killing his wife and then hanging himself left a suicide note. they found it on his laptop. he said that she was the love of his life. her teeth and parts of her fingers were missing when she was found in a suitcase. you can't trust everything you read on the internet. are blogs you read being influenced by advertisers? what about facebook? what about twitter posts? the government is going after bloggers who get paid for content but don't tell their readers. new rules require content providers to disclose whether they get paid in exchange for a

glowing product review. violators could be forced to pay up to $11,000 in fines. many web analysts wonder how they will enforce the rules with tens of thousands of blogs and social network posts to monitor. do you trust blogger recommendations? how can you tell if they get paid? call us toll free. 877-tell-hln. e-mail cnn.com/hln. we'll air your comments beginning in just a few minutes. a man who fell out of a hot air balloon in albuquerque is in serious condition. it hit a tent yesterday and the man fell 25 feet to the ground. the 70 year old has a dislocated hip. >> you saw the man cartwheel out at 35 feet. he didn't hit the tent. he landed it looks like right on the asphalt. >> the balloon rose quickly. it was a lot lighter. the pilot brought it down fast to check on her passenger.

she was banged up from that hard landing herself. if you use hotmail for your e-mail account, you could have trouble logging in today. some reports say whoever was behind the some say whoever was behind it posted object 10,000 passwords online. the passwords have been removed and the effective accounts blocked. it may cost you less to stay warm this winter, especially if you heat with natural gas. inventories are at all-time highs. a milder winter is in the forecast and prices have dropped because of the recession. there's a lot going on here to influence prices and most of it is depressing them. the government says people who use electric heat and probane will also save big money this winter. only 79 shopping days and already analysts say it's not looking good for the holiday season. they're predicting a 1% drop in total sale this is year to just under $43 billion for both november and december combined.

it says job losses and stagnant income growth are causing americans to be more thrifty. other predictions were a bit more optimistics. how's your 401(k) doing? millions of people count on them. the employee benefit research institute reports the average 401(k) balance fell by more than $20,000 between 2007 and 2008. that's a drop of near ly 20 25%. and it doesn't cover this year when stock prices reach add 12-year low. a veteran quarterback invited some old friends to his new home. brett favre faced the packers for the first time since his exit from the team he played with for 18 seasons. he led the vikings to a win over their division rivals. favre is the first quarterback in nfl history to win against every team in the league. funnies guy jay leno, jimmy fallen and bill maher have all

taken shots at david letterman. but the latest dig is by letterman himself. how the scandal's fallout might affect you on the job.

can healthy foods really be hazardous to your health? what an advocacy group claims about fruits and vegetables and what produce growers have to say about those claims. should bloggers be required to reveal their sponsors? the government thinks you should know who's paying for those online product reviews. we want to know what you think about this. and a hot air balloon trip goes terrible ri wrong. find out what caused this accident and how the passenger who fell is doing now. my goodness. welcome to hln "news and views." i'm richelle carey. hope things are going well for you. let's get to some news.

some of the healthiest foods you eat could make you sick. that's the message just released. the consumer advocacy group looked at government data to identify foods that cause the largest number of illnesses from things like e. coli or salmonella. the group wants the fda to do more to inspect these foods. so the produce industry of course is responding. this is what it says. the produce industry is 100% committed to providing safe produce, every bite, every time, our livelihoods depend on it. here's more of the statement. -- the mother of that newborn who was kidnapped last week from his home in nashville is getting her four children back. the attorney appointed to

represent the children says today's custody hearing was canceled after investigation determined she was not trying to sell her baby. state child welfare officials placed the four children in foster care over the weekend. the infant was found safe in alabama three days after he was abducted. an alabama woman is in jail, facing a federal kidnapping charge. the mother says a woman posing as an immigration agent came to her home and demanded her child. he says the woman stabbed her several times after she refused to hand over her baby. that lab technician charged in the mother of a yale grad student did not enter a plea when he appeared before a judge today. raymond clark's attorney says his client will nench plead not guilty to the murder of annie le. mark is accused of strangling le and stuffing her body behind a lab wall. investigators found the 24-year-old's body on what was supposed to be her wedding day. that was september 13th.

she had been missing for five days. clark is jailed on $3 million bond. the judge scheduled a probable cause hearing. that's going to happen later this month. tyler perry is sharing some of his painful past with his fans. he put a letter on his website and in this letter he's revealing some pretty intimate details of his troubled childhood growing up in new orleans. he's talking about things like physical and sexual abuse. he says he wanted to share his story of survival after watching a screening of the film "precious" t movie that he co-produced with oprah winfrey. it's about a 16-year-old girl who's physically and emotionally abused. here's something that might surprise you. insurance companies can use domestic violence as a pre-existing condition to deny health coverage, according to a study from the national women's law center. some lawmakers say this is another reason the health care season needs overhauling.

senator patty murray has been trying to convince congress to address this issue for about a decade now. at least one health care bill being considered in congress would prohibit using domestic abuse as a pre-existing condition. america's health insurance plans has issued a statement saying this -- we all know that you can't trust everything you read on the internet. one big question, are the blogs you read being influenced by advertisers? what about facebook, twitter posts, the government is now going after bloggers who get paid for content but don't tell the readers that they got paid.

new rules require content providers to disclose whether they're getting any freebies or getting paid in exchange for a glowing product review. violators could be forced to pay up to $11,000 in fines. web analysts say they're not sure how that could be enforced considering tense of millions of blogs and social networking posts would have to be monitored to actually enforce it. so we want to know, what do you think? you probably maybe go to the internet to get recommendations. do you trust bloggers' recommendations? how can you tell if someone's getting paid for what they're writing? . call us. e-mail us at cnn.com/hln. you can also go to facebook, my facebook page. put a comment there. we'll air your comments in just a few minutes. president obama meets with congressional leaders today to talk about what has become a major debate. pretty important. whether to send more troops to afghanistan. top military leaders want as

many as 40,000 more boots on the ground. they say the taliban is getting stronger but others say the u.s. can fight the war with more unmanned drone aircraft. . >> there should be no uncertainty in terms of our determination to remain in afghanistan and to continue to build a relationship of partnership and trust with the pakistanis. that's long term. that's a strategic objective of the united states. >> i think what we're going through in asking ourself, we know what the goal is, is what we're doing most likely to achieve that goal? is what a very decisive and intelligent commander in chief would do -- we're going to come up with what we think is the best approach, but the goal

remains the same. >> the top u.s. commander for the wars in the middle east was treated for cancer. pentagon says general david petraeus was diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer back in february. the radiation treatment is considered to be working. his office said it did not affect his work schedule much. he did keep this all private but key administration officials did know about it. a pediatrician in southwest ohio is charged with sex crimes and so is his twin brother. mark blankenburg is accused of performing sex acts on three teen patients during office visits. he's also accused of giving the teenagers cash pams, as much as $200 as they left the office. his attorney says there's no evidence in this case. we mentioned his twin brother, dr. mark blankenburg, also a pediatrician, also charged with sex crimes involving children. his trial is scheduled for

april. an alabama judge is being tried on 83 charges for allegedly forcing inmates to have sex with him. judge herman thomas told inmates he'd throw them back in jail if they didn't perform sexual acts on him. others were promised leniency if they did. jury selection started this week. if you like to text and drive or chat on your cell phone when you're behind the wheel, be ready to face some consequences. what happened to a woman in texas accused of a deadly crash that prosecutors blame on distracted driving.

a case of distracted driving is costing a texas woman 30 days in jail, ten years probation and a $10,000 fine. she was sentenced yesterday for causing a wreck that killed a man in another car. houston prosecutors say jerry montgomery had been on her cell

phone just before the crash. >> we've been distraught for a year and a half. it's been a long, hard road to get to this point. it will never bring my son back. >> her son, 25-year-old chance wilcox, was thrown from the car during the cash. montgomery illegally switched lanes to get on a freeway ramp. prosecutors are using politics to make an example out of his client, says her attorney. from now on, cameras will be keeping an eye on engineers on metrolink trains in los angeles. the cameras were unveiled yesterday. officials decided to install the cameras after a deadly crash just over a year ago. investigators determined the engineer was texting at the time. >> if you knew that you had a second pair of eyes watching, would you be texting while

driving a train with all of those people on it? the answer, i think, is no. >> the union representing the engineers told the "l.a. times" the cameras are an invasion of privacy and will take legal action to remove them. a 14-year-old boy made it through airport security using a ticket with his mom's name on it. he hases s asburger's syndrome. when security checked him, he said his name was virginia and they let him pass. other passengers were a little surprised. >> i think there needs to be more security. >> i think there should probably be some type of id required for that because if you don't have that proof, how can they prove it's you. >> people under 18 don't need an id to board a plane. so the tsa says its agents did

follow policy even though it did seem strange. police tracked the boy to the chicago airport using the gps on his cell phone. . temperatures a cooling down. time to start budgeting for the winter heating bills. good news this year. poppy harlow is in new york. how much are heating costs going to fall? this is definitely good news. >> reporter: it's good news. a little bit. the energy department out just this morning with the prediction for your heating bills this winter. they're saying the average bill is going to be about $960. that sounds steep but it's down 8% from last winter. as you can see, it varies by how you heat your home. if you use natural gas, you're going to be a big winner this winter because your prices will be down almost 12%. those folks will save an average of $105 on that bill this winter. heating oil, electricity, you'll

see declines of about 2% in your bill. but keep in mind, these are all estimates. your actual bill depends on how big your house is, how cold it is this winter and how efficient your heating system is. good news in terms of savings. >> and even though they're coming down a little bit, there's still people that need help always. what's the outlook for that this year? >> reporter: that's a great question because we've got much higher unemployment right now than we did last winter. and that higher unemployment, what that likely means is millions more americans are expected to need help, need assistance paying those bills. many for the first time. we could see another record. last year, we saw 7.5 million americans that needed assistance paying their heating bills. what we hear from energy assistance official, this year that number could reach 9 million. they're already seeing increases in the number of people applying. and there's money set aside if you're one of those folks. $5 million has been set aside for federal heating assistance

this year. here's how you can get some help. call early if you think you do. call this number, 1-866-674-6327. also e-mail energy@ncat.org. what they'll do is refer you to your local agency for help. in terms of being eligible for the assistance, generally what the experts tell us is for a family of four, you have to make between $35,000 and $40,000 a year or less to qualify for that assistance. >> so that number you gave is the number you call no matter what state you're in and they'll tell you what the particular agency for your state? >> reporter: exactly. >> great, poppy. appreciate it. david letterman talks about his extortion case, makes apologies. was this the right time, the right place, the right approach? a.j. hammer's view coming up.

encouraging news for those crews out there literally fighting a massive wildfire. it's 7,000 acres, it's burning in southern california still. this is the good news. forecasters not only expect cool r temperatures, higher humidity and light winds. but those conditions, calm conditions should stick around for the rest of the week. that is the good news. fire officials say they expect to contain the wildfire by thursday night. right now, it's about 32% contained. it's burned three homes near the

mountain town of wrightwood. a man who fell out of a hot air balloon survived, he's in serious condition. look at this. you can see the balloon's gondola hit a tent yesterday in albuquerque. the man fell about 25 feet to the ground. he's 70 years old. he has a dislocated hip. >> we saw the man cartwheel out about 30, 35 feet. he didn't hit the tent. he landed, it looks like, right on the asphalt. >> the balloon rose very quickly with the passenger out of the basket. and the pilot brought it back down very quickly to check on her passenger. she ended up banged up a little bit because of the hard landing. david letterman apologized to his staff on last night's "late night." the host admitted to having sexual relations with some staff members after a cbs producer

threatened to expose him. "showbiz tonight's" a.j. hammer is in new york. so we can talk about this. a.j., what do you think about continuing to air something so private so publicly? >> it's really interesting because you remember when he initially came out with the statement talking about the extortion and what was going on last thursday, he said at the end of his basic statement, that's the last i'm going to have to say anything about this. last night was his first show back on the air since the story took off. and it got legs. and i think letterman was very aware of all the questions people were raising. so he went on. he felt it was appropriate to go on. i think it was a good idea to apologize to his staff and to let people know what he was dealing with at home and what he has ahead of him with his wife. let's watch what he said. >> the other thing is my wife, regina, she has been horribly hurt by my behavior. and when something happens like that, if you hurt a person and

it's your responsibility, you try to fix it. and at that point, there's only two things that can happen. either you're going to make some progress and get it ficked. or you're going to fall short and perhaps not get it fixed. so let me tell you, folk, i've got my work cut out for me. . >> i think they showed great humanity on letterman's part. but this is one of the questions we're going to ask on "showbiz tonight." should he be talking about his wife right now on the show? and should his wife come out and give her okay on all of this or will she need to do that before he can move on? the great irony is that the very people that he was hoping to protect by coming out with this information -- his wife, his staff, his family -- they're the people that have to deal with all this media scrutiny. and even letterman pointed out, the paparazzi and the press are hounding his staff. he feels like he may have been a

little shortsighted in his decision to deal with that. >> that's kind. i think that he maybe is thinking, since i humiliated my wife so publicly, that's why i owe her an apology so publicly. >> yeah. >> but i would hope that he would not continue to mention her. and i hope that she doesn't come out and say anything publicly because she hasn't been public before. i don't think something like this should make her become a public figure because then she's becoming almost the duetful political wife. >> i agree with you on that. her privacy is very value to believe him. and i think it's dave's worst nigh mair, the fact she would be getting any scrutiny or attention for this. i have a feeling as far as his wife, regina, is concerned, it's the last we'll hear on that. tonight on "showbiz tonight," it's the great dave debate, all the burning questions and the latest developments on tv's most provocative entertainment news show. see you back here at 11:00 p.m. eastern. >> see you tonight. director roman polanski will

stay in a swiss jail while authorities decide whether to send him back to the yed yesterday. polanski asked a swiss judge to release him. = they said it would never last.

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get freshness that won't fade away for 60 days. ahhh! with plugins lasting impressions. and yes, it's glade. s.c. johnson, a family company. the mother of the newborn kidnapped last week from his home in nashville, she is getting her four children back. the attorney appointed to represent the children says there was a custody hearing. it was supposed to happen today. it was canceled after an investigation that determined maria gurrolla was not trying to sell her baby. state child welfare officials placed the baby and his three siblings in foster care over the weekend. the infant was found safe in alabama three days after he was abducked. a woman in alabama is in jail facing a federal kidnapping charge. gurrolla says a woman posing as an immigration agent came to her

home, demanded her child. gurrolla says the woman stabbed her several times after she refused to hand over her baby. the lab technician charged in the murder of a yale grad student did not enter a plea when he appeared before a judge today. raymond clark's attorney says his client will eventually plead not guilty to the murder of annie le. clark is accused of strangling le and stuffing her body behind a lab wall. investigators found the 24-year-old's body on september 13th, the day she was supposed to get married. she had been missing for five days. clark is jailed on $3 million bond. the judge scheduled a probable cause hearing. that's going to happen later this month. president obama meets with congressional leaders today to talk about what's become a pretty big debate, whether to send more troops to afghanistan. top military leaders want more troops, as many as 40,000 more boots on the ground. they say the taliban is gaining

strength. but others say the u.s. can fight the war with more unmanned drone aircraft and special forces teams. our sister network's christiane amanpour spoke with the defense secretary and the secretary of state during a panel discussion. this discussion happened at george washington university. >> there should be no uncertainty in terms of our determination to remain in afghanistan and to continue to build a relationship of partnership and trust with the pakistanis. that's long term. that's a strategic objective of the united states. >> i think what we're going through in asking ourselves, we know what the goal is, is what we're doing most likely to achieve that goal? is what a very decisive and intelligent commander in chief would do -- we're going to come up with what we think is the best approach, but the goal remains the same. >> outside the white house

yesterday, several hundred people protested the wars in afghanistan and iraq. it was a peaceful demonstration. but park police said 61 people were arrested because they are you fused to move back from the sidewalk. and cindy sheehan was among them. she is one of the major faces of the anti-war movement during the bush administration. her son, casey, was killed in iraq in 2004. the top u.s. commander for the wars in the middle east was treated for cancer. pentagon says general david petraeus was diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer back in february. the radiation treatment is considered successful. his office said it did not affect his work schedule much. he did keep this all private but key administration officials did know about it. encouraging news for those crews doing their best to fight the massive 7,000-acre wildfire burning in southern california. forecasters not only expect cooler temperatures, higher humidity and light winds today. that's all good news.

they also expect all these calm conditions to stick around for the rest of the week. fire officials are expecting to have this wildfire contained by thursday night. right now, it's about 32% contained. it has, though, burned three homes near the mountain town of wrightwood. a pediatrician in southwest ohio is charged with sex crimes and as if that's not horrible enough, so is his twin brother. mark blankenburg is accused of performing sex acts on three teen patients during office visits. he's also accused of giving the teenagers cash payments, as much as $200 as they left the office. his attorney says there's no evidence in this case. then his twin brother, dr. scott blankenburg, the one who's also a pediatrician, he is charged with sex crimes involving children. his trial is scheduled for april. an alabama judge is being tried on 83 counts for allegedly forcing inmates to

have sex with him. prosecutors say that judge herman thomas told inmates he'd throw them back in jail if they didn't perform these sex acts on him. others were promised leniency if they did. the judge resigned two years ago. jury selection started this week. a case of distracted driving is costing a texas woman 30 days in jail, ten years probation and a $10,000 fine. she was sentenced yesterday for causing a wreck that killed a man in another car. houston prosecutors say gerry montgomery had been on her cell phone just before this deadly crash. >> we've been distraught for a year and a half. it's been a long, hard road to get to this point. it will never bring my son back. >> her son, 25-year-old chance wilcox, was thrown from the car during the cash. authorities say montgomery illegally switched laens and then entered a freeway ramp she missed.

she was also ordered to pay his funeral expenses. her lawyers say prosecutors are using politics to make an example out of his client. from now on, cameras will be keeping an eye on engineers on metrolink trains in los angeles. the cameras were unveiled yesterday. officials decided to install the cameras after a deadly crash just over a year ago. you'll probably remember these horrific pictures. investigators determined the engineer was texting at the time. >> if you knew that you had a second pair of eyes watching, would you be texting while driving a train with all of those people on it? the answer, i think, is no. >> the union representing the engineers told the "l.a. times" the cameras are an invasion of privacy and will take legal action to try to get them taken off the trains. we all know you can't trust everything you read on the internet.

one big question are the blogs you read being influenced by advertisers. the government is now going after bloggers who get paid for content but don't tell their readers this. new rules require content providers to disclose whether they're getting any freebies or getting paid in exchanged for writing really good reviews. violators could be forced to pay up to $11,000 in fines. so we want to know, what do you think? you probably maybe go to the internet to get recommendations. do you trust bloggers' recommendations? how can you tell if someone's getting paid for what they're writing? should they be prosecuted if they don't tell you? call us. e-mail us. you can also comment on my facebook page. search richelle carey hln. tell us what you think. we'll share your comments in just a little bit. can eating healthy actually make you sick? that's the word from a consumer

advocacy group. what it wants the government to do to protect us and what the produce industry has to say about this little study.

the mediterranean diet is often said to be the one filled with all kinds of health benefits. now researchers think it could also help those suffering with depression. here's our health minute. >> reporter: for years medical experts have touted the physical health benefits of a mediterranean diet high in vegetarian foods, fish and good fats.

now scientists say a mediterranean diet can also keep you healthy mentally by reducing the risk of depression. a study contains more than 10,000 spanish people who logged their food intake. they monitored how well the participants stuck to the diet, including high ratio of monounsaturated fatty acids, moderate alcohol and dairy conception, little meat and a lot of nuts, grains, foods, vegetables and fish. when they were followed up, they found 480 of the 10,000 had developed depression. but the participants who stuck to the mediterranean diet most closely had 30% less of a depression risk than the people with the worst mediterranean diet scores. the authors aren't sure why but say the physical health benefits, including improvements to the circulatory system, may help. and they say the combination of foods might help as well.

>> some of the healthiest foods you eat could also make you sick. that's the message just released from the center for science and the public interest, a consumer advocacy group. they looked at government data to identify foods that cause illnesses like e. coli and salmonella. the group wants the fda to do more to inspect these foods. the produce industry issued a response -- > f th stre d t very destic

use as a p-existing condition. other bills would keepsurers from using any pre-isting condition to deny coverage. american's health insurance plans said this -- president obama has declared october as domestic violence awareness month. he's asking community leaders to raise awareness about domestic violence and stresses that it can be prevented. the president says young people must be taught about healthy relationships. he was encouraging all victims and their families to call the national domestic violence hotline. the number is 1-800-799-safe. it's been called the most photographed annual event in the world, the albuquerque balloon

festive. dock antique our affiliate in new mexico reports. watch very closely. >> it was just traumatic. >> reporter: the balloon fiesta turned to chaos. >> terrible, terrible sight. >> reporter: he keeps playing the scene over and over again in his mind. >> it looked like a rag doll falling through the air. >> tumbled out head over heels, just twirling to the ground. >> reporter: you can see the top of the ten where the balloon hit. the passenger slammed about 20 feet, slamming right into this area. right after the 70-year-old was thrown from the basket, the balloon shot back up in the air, then it started to deflate. >> this was the first frame i caught. >> reporter: gary williams was on the field and caught the whole crash on tape. >> that's what i saw. i immediately turned to the people on my left and right who were officials and basically said, did everybody see that. by the time she hit the ground,

she was not on the ground maybe more than 10, 15 seconds before people were there to her aid. >> amazingly the pilot walked away. her passenger was rushed to the hospital. >> i was going, oh, god, help him. it was traumatic. >> wow. thanks to dominik garcia of krtv in new mexico for that report. the passenger that fell is in serious condition. it may cost you less to stay warm this winter. inventories at all time high according to the american gas association. prices have dropped because of the recession. the government says people who use electric heat and propane will save money this winter. funny guys jay leno, bill maher and jimmy fallon have all taken digs at letterman's sex scandal. the latest dig from letterman himself. >> don't kid yourself, things are still pretty bad. there's a possibility i'll be the first talk show host

impeached so -- not where you want to be. >> how the scandal fallout might affect you on the job.

the allegations were false. officials say the tennessee newborn kidnapped last week was never up for sale. that means maria carillo's four children are coming home. david letterman isn't the first boss to have sex with an employee, but it's nothing to joke about. and tyler perry reveals details about an abusive childhood, his. hi, everybody. i'm chuck roberts. welcome on a tuesday. the mother of the newborn kidnapped last week from her arms at her door in nashville is getting her four kids back. the attorney said the custody hearing was canceled after the

investigation determined she was not trying to sell her baby. the infant, the boy, was found safe in alabama three days after he was abducted. an alabama woman is in jail facing a federal kidnapping charge. the mother said a woman posing assen immigration agent came to the door and demanded a child. the woman stabbed her several times after she wouldn't hand over the newborn. in connecticut, the lab technician charged in the murder of a yale grad student did not enter a plea as he appeared before the judge today. his attorney says he will eventually plead not guilty. he's accused of strangling annie le and stuffing her body behind a wall on the campus. they found the body on what was to be her wedding day. she had been missing for five days. clark is jailed on a $3 million bond. the judge set a probable cause hearing for later this month for clark. director roman polanski will stay in a swiss jail while

authorities decide whether to extradite him to the u.s. polanski asked a swiss judge to free him in a request that was rejected. he was charged with raping a 13-year-old girl. he pleaded guilty in 1978 to a lesser charge and later fled the u.s. some of the healthest foods we all eat can also make us sick. that's the message just out from a consumer advocacy group. it looked at government someday to identify foods that cause the largest numbers of illnesses from things like e. coli or salmonella. on the list, yes, leafy greens, eggs, even potatoes. the produce industry issued a response saying the produce industry is 100% committed to providing safe produce, every time, every bite. it's never in consumers' best interests to scare them away from the fruits and vegetables

we should all be eating more of for better health. firefighters still battling flames in southern california getting a hand from the weather. it's turned coolers and the winds have died off. along the fire lines in the san gabriel mountains in san bernardino county. chad myers is in the weather center. how long will the good weather last? >> for at least a few days. up near wrightwood this afternoon temperatures not out of the 40s yet. morning low down to 41. thousand oaks, about 11 miles per hour. if you get up towards here, it's about 8. there's you go, san bernardino, 1 miles an hour, that's a little bit of help. the deal with the fire is not so much the fact that it's going to be hard to fight, because it's going to be one of the easier ones to get to. if you start to fly into where it is, it's in a beautiful, beautiful part of the country. i mean, this is not just in some random forest somewhere. if you drive up the canyon on up towards rightwood, this is one of the most spectacular views

you could have. in the winter you would drive up this hill, eventually getting to snow. now we're up to 6,000 feet. you would see this beautiful town of california and see all the the trees. you can hardly see any of the con dos, places to rent around here, because of all the frees. you can't see the condos because of the trees and the trees are great in the summer, great in the winter because they're really pretty. a lot of these are pine trees. they can burn rather quickly. they can be an awful lot of a problem nor the firefighters. what happened over the weekend is that right here, right along the eastern side, you have to realize now that we are kind of looking down the canyon from west to east and they made the fire line right here stopping the fires from coming into the town and into the canyons. the fight still goes on, not 100% contained by any means. the morning temperatures that are cool allow the firefighters in to work harder without getting to exhaustion. then also you get more humidity in the air.

the colder it is, your relative humidity goes up. that helps get the plants a little bit wetter. i'm not talking a lot, but a little bit. it's like a dry match compared to a damp match. a dry match will burn faster. >> that's a huge county, isn't it? when you think of san bernardino county you think of the city. but this is a long, long way away, and it's still in the same county. >> you, in georgia you can drive file miles and get to three our four counties. not in california. president obama meets with c congressional leaders today. top military leaders want as many as 40,000 more boots on the ground. they say the taliban is gaining strength. others say the u.s. can fight this war with more unmanned droned aircraft and special forces teams. the bodies of four of the u.s. soldiers killed over the weekend in a fire fight in northeast afghanistan are back in the states. their flag-draped coffins arr e

arrived in america this morning. they were killed on saturday on a remote outpost. two afghan soldiers also died in the battle. outside the white house yesterday several hundred people protested the wars in afghanistan and iraq. it was a peaceful demonstration, though park police say 61 people were arrested because they refused to move back from the sidewalk. cindy sheehan was among them. she was one of the major faces of the antiwar movement in the bush administration. her son was killed in iraq in 2004. the top u.s. commanders for the war in the middle east has been treated for cancer. general david petraeus was diagnosed with early stage pros test cancer in february. the radiation treatment is considered successful. his office says it didn't affect his workload much. petraeus kept all this private, though key administration officials knew about it. a man who fell out of a hot air balloon in albuquerque is in serious condition.

it struck a tent yesterday, and the man fell about 25 feet to the ground. the 70-year-old has a dislocated hip. >> we saw the man cartwheel out at about 35 feet. he didn't hit the tent. what he did was he landed it looks like right on the the aspha asphalt. >> you can probably see the balloon rose quickly with a passenger out of the basket. then the pilot brought it down quickly to check on her passenger. she was a little banged up from the hard lan landing. brett favre has been on the helm many of times when green bay teamed up on the football field. find out how he did against his long time team.

an alabama woman is in trouble for apparently allowing her teenage daughter to ride in a box on top of their van. police arrested 37-year-old jackie knox on sunday and charged her with endangering the welfare of the child. they told them the box was too

big to fit inside the van so she secured it on the top with a clothes hanger and told her daughter to get inside to hold it down. she is out on bond. her daughter is now staying with relatives. an alabama judge is a defendant in a criminal court. she's tried on 83 charges for forcing inmates to have sex with him. judge thomas told some inmates he would throw them back in jail if they didn't perform sex acts. others were promised leniency if they did. the judge resigned two years ago. jury selection in mobile started the week. late night tv host david letterman admits his late night affairs have caused problems in his marriage. he talked last night about the surprise announcement. he apologized to the staff for exposing them to intense public scrutiny. he also cracked jokes at his own expense, though he turned serious when he talked about the impact on his wife of seven months. >> my wife, she has been

horribly hurt by my behavior. and when something happens like that, if you hurt a person, and it's your responsibility, you try to fix it. and at that point there's only two things that can happen. either you're going to make some progress and get it fixed or you're going to fall short and perhaps not get it fixed. let me tell you folks, i got my work cut out for me. >> a cbs news producer, joe halderman is charged with threatening to expose his affairs as part of a $2 million blackmail plot. he's pleading not guilty. here's joy behar's not for nothing commentary. >> you know, i have to be honest here, i never thought of david letterman as a sexual being. he was always a kind of a witty mr. rogers to me. when he married his long-time girlfriend it seemed sweet really. not only had they been dating

for 23 years, but the kid was almost in high school by the time he married her. so you can imagine my surprise to find out that dave turns out to be hugh heffner without the pajamas. i wasn't born yesterday. and i know that powerful men like to screw around. clinton had lewinsky. jfk had mand. thomas jefferson had sex with a slave. there's even talk -- listen to this -- there's even talk that great emancipator, abe lincoln, may have found sexual freedom outside of marriage n the arms of a man. to which i say it so long ago so what, who cares and good for her. i don't think this letterman thing would be such a cause for laugh if they weren't dave's employees but rather his peers like oprah. i don't see that happening truthfully. or ellen. i don't see that happening at all. women shouldn't have to sleep with the boss to get ahead in the company. they should have the right to a

advance their careers like everyone else in showbiz by stabbing everyone in the back. the you're going to canoodle with someone in the office, do it with an equal. is regis still around? i saw him in the green room. he's looking really hot. but that's just me. >> joy behar. don't miss it tonight and every weeknight on hln. tyler perry is sharing a painful past with his fans. in a letter on his website he reveals intimate details of a troubled childhood in new orleans including physical and sexual abuse. saying he wanted to share his story of survival after watching precious. a movie he coproduced with oprah winfrey about a 16-year-old girl who is abused. a veteran quarterback invited old friends to his new home, but didn't give them a

warm welcome. last night brett favre faced if backers for the first time since his highly publicized exit from green by. he led the vikings to a division win over their rivals. first quarterback ever to win against every team in the league. will your heating costs be going up or dropping?

police are cracking down on protesters in turkey. some protesters broke store windows before running for cover. they were a couple blocks away from the meeting of the international monetary fund and the world bank. delegates are discussing the global economic collapse, which has his turkey especially hard. a man who fell out of a hot air balloon is in serious condition. the man fell about 25 feet to the ground. the 70-year-old has a dislocated hip. >> we saw the man cartwheel out at about 30, 35 feet. he didn't hit the tent. what he did was he landed, it looks like right on the asphalt. >> the balloon rose quickly with a passenger, and the passenger's weight out of the basket and then the pilot brought it down fast to check on her passenger. she was a little banged up from the hard landing. the vh1 reality tv contestant accused of killing his wife and

hanging himself left a suicide note. it was on his laptop. the note says jasmine was the love of his life but he thought she was cheating. it didn't mention her death. fiore's body was found in a suitcase in august. her teeth and parts of her fingers were missing. cameras will be watching train engineers in los angeles. the cameras will also record the scene in front of the train. investigators determine the engineer was texting while driving after a crash last year. >> if you knew that you had a second pair of eyes watching would you be texting while driving a train with all of those people on it? the answer i think is no. >> the union representing engineers opposes the idea. it says the cameras are an invasion of privacy and they'll take legal action to remove

them. this weekend baltimore be stage a funeral for edgar allen poe. he died in obscurity. that was in 1849. in honor of the 200th anniversary of his birth, their hosting a lavish ceremony on thursday. actually two of them. actors portraying poe and his friends will be there as will the great writer himself, sort of. they've commissioned a life-size replica of poe's corpse. it will go on display tomorrow. according to the founder, being in space is the greatest show not on earth and is totally worth the $35 million price tag. the canadian is the first to rock it from space. he said it's been an amazing journey so far. >> in regard of the cost of the price of coming here, yes, worth every penny and more, i believe,

because over and above doing it for myself, there's a lot of other stuff going on. >> he is hoping to raise awareness about the world's water crisis and will perform, by the way, from space on friday. that will be unusual. give credit to former house majority leader tom delay. ♪ dancing is hard enough, but he did it with injuries. he competed on "dancing with the stars" last night. performing against advice of doctors and producers of the stores. he got a score of 15 out of 30. it may cost you less to stay warm this winter. inventories at all time thihigh. prices have dropped because of the recession the government

says people who use electric heat and propane will save money this winter. 79 shopping days left and already analysts say it's not looking good for the holiday season. the national retail federation is predicting a 1% drop in total sales this year to just under $34 billion for november and december combined. it says job losses and stagnant income growth are causing americans to be more thrifty. other predictions have been more optimistic than that. calling in sick when you're not will do in a pinch if you want the day off. for some employees coming up with an excuse to skip work seems like a job in itself. the annual survey finds nearly 1/3 of american workers called in sick with fake excuses last year. here's a sample of some of the more outlandish reasons. i got sunburned at a nude beach and can't wear clothes. i woke up in canada. my buddies locked me the trunk of an abandon car after a weekend of drinking. i'm just not into it today.

and my mom said i was not allowed to go to work. one big question, are the bloggers you read every day being influenced by advertisers? what about facebook or twitter posts? the government is now going after bloggers who get paid for con tetent and the don't tell readers. violators could be forced to pay up to $11,000 in fines web analysts say they're not sure how that can be enforced considering the tens of millions of blogs to be monitored. what do you think? should the government regulate what bloggers write? should people be required to disclose if they're getting paid to post? not long ago, this man had limited mobility.

last month, this woman wasn't even able to get around inside of her own home. they chose mobility. and they chose the scooter store! if you or a loved one live with limited mobility call the scooter store! no other company will work harder to make you mobile or do more to guarantee your complete satisfaction. if we pre-qualify you for a new power chair or scooter and your claim isn't approved, the scooter store will give you your power chair or scooter free. that's our guarantee. they were so helpful and nice. they filed all the paperwork, and medicare and my insurance covered the cost. we can work directly with medicare or with your insurance company. we can even help with financing. if there's a way, we'll find it! so don't wait any longer, call the scooter store today.

bring you images in. well, first of all an update on the story we've been following for a better part of the week. that's the mother of a newborn kidnapped last week from her home in nashville. she will get her four children back. the attorney appointed to represent the kids said today the custody hearing was canceled, the investigation determining that gurrolla was not trying to sell her baby. they placed carillo and his three siblings in foster care this week. the infant was found safe in alabama three days after he was abducted. an alabama woman in is jail facing a federal kidnapping charge. gurrolla said a woman stabbed her several times when she refused to hand over the newborn

boy. this story just in. we want to take you to st. louis. this is the downtown part of st. louis where a police officer has been critically injured in an accident obviously involving a semi and a cruiser and you can see the wreckage to the right of your screen there. he had to be air lifted to an area hospital. we know very little about it. details are very sketchy. brand new video just in from downtown st. louis. local affiliates say the officer is in critical condition. we'll bring you any updates as they come along. in connecticut, the lab technician charged in the murder of a yale grad student didn't enter a plea today. raymond clark's attorney says his client will eventually plead not guilty to the murder of annie le. he's accused of killing le and stuffing her body behind a lab wall. investigators found the 24-year-old's body on what was to be her wedding day. she had been missing for five

days. the judge said a probably cause hearing for clark will be later this month. a pediatrician in southwest ohio is charged with sex crimes. so is his twin brother. mark is accused of performing sex acts on three teen patients during office visits. he's also accused of giving the patients cash payments as they left the office. they say there's no evidence in the case. mark's twin is also a pediatrician and is also charged with sex crimes involving children. his trial is set for april. an alabama woman is in trouble for apparently allowing her teenage daughter to ride in a box on top of their van. police arrested 37-year-old on sunday and charged her with endangering the welfare of a child. she told them the box was too big to sit inside the van so she secured it to the top and told her daughter to get inside to hold it down. she is out on bond. her daughter is staying now with

relatives. a case of distracted driving is causing a texas woman ten days in jail. she caused a wreck that killed a man in another car. houston prosecutors say jerri was on her cell phone just before the accident. >> we've been distraught for a year and a half. it's been a long hard road to get to this point. it will never bring my son back. >> a 25-year-old man was thrown from the car in the crash. she illegally switched lanes to enter a freeway ramp she missed. she was order to pay the funeral expenses. prosecutors are using politics to make an example out of his client, if lawyers say. from now on cameras will keep an eye on the engineers running the metro trains in los angeles. cameras were unveiled yesterday.

>> if you knew that you had a second pair of eyes watching, would you be texting while driving a train with all of those people on it? the answer, i think, is no. >> the union representing engineers tells the l.a. times the cameras are an invasion of privacy and they'll take legal action to have them removed. congressional leaders are meeting with the president to talk about what's becoming a major debate, whether to sent more troops to afghanistan. they want as many as 40,000 more boots on the ground. they say the taliban is gaining in strength and is gaining territory. others say the u.s. can fight the war with more unmanned drone aircraft and special forces teams. outside the white house yesterday several hundred protesters were there to weigh in against the wars in afghanistan and iraq. it was a peaceful demonstration. though park police say 61 people were arrested because they refused to move back from the sidewalk. cindy sheehan was among them.

she was a major face of the antiwar move during the bush administration. her son was killed in iraq in 2004. the top u.s. commander for the wars in the middle east has been treated for cancer. the pentagon says general david petraeus was diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer in february. the radiation treatment is considered successful. his office said it did not affect his work schedule much. key administration officials did know about it. a 14-year-old boy made it through airport security using a ticket with his mom's name on it. his mom says he used the credit card to book an airport shuttle and a one-way flight to chicago. he said his name was virginia. and they let him pass. other passengers at the portland airport were surprised. >> i think there should be more security. >> there should be an i.d. required for that.

how can they prove it to you? >> did you know people under 18 don't need an i.d. to board a plane? the tsa says agents followed procedure. police tracked down the boy at the the chicago airport using the gps on his cell phone. encouraging news for the crews fighting that massive 7,000 acre fire in southern california. forecasters not only expect cooler temperatures, higher humidity and light winds today, those favorable calm conditions should stick around the rest of the week. fire officials say they expect to contain the wildfire by thursday night. right now the fire is about 32% contained. well, we all know you can't trust everything you read on the internet. one big question, are the blogs you read regularly being influenced by advertising? how about facebook or twitter posts? the government is now going after bloggers who get paid for content but never tell their readers. new rules require content provide providers disclosing if they're getting freebies or getting paid. violators could be forced to pay up to $11,000 in fines.

can eating healthy make you sick? that's the word from a consumer advocacy group.

you don't expect to find a car sitting on top of the equipment at a hospital. but that's what happened in amarillo. a car crashed into the building, smashing through two walls. and destroying the million dollar medical device. police are still trying to figure out what happened. but nobody was hurt. in suburban maryland a mini van smashed through a wall and into an apartment bedroom. one man was trying to teach another to drive and lost control. neither had a driver's license.

the guy says the the minivan slammed into his bed right after he got up. according to the founder, being in space is totally worth the $35 million price tag. speaking from the orbitting international space station, the canadian says the rocket ride and being in space has been an amazing journey so far. he's hoping to raise awareness about the world's water crisis and will take off for space on friday. some banks will let you spend as much as you want, but there is a catch. clark howard says it will cost you way more than you're willing to pay. here's clark. >> a lot of people because they've been burned by credit cards have switched in recent years to debit cards. when you use it it takes money directly from your checki ining account. do you know that most banks will

allow you to use your debit card even when it will cause you to overdraw your account. why would they do that? because they want you to overdraw your account so that they can hit you with massive overage charges. what should you do? ask your bank or credit union to not permit overages, where you can't get hit with an overage if you would overdraw your account. the other thing, if you can't track your balance do everything with cash instead. i'm clark howard. for more ways for you to keep your wallet shipshape, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> clark howard on saturdays and sundays at noon and 4:00. he'll help you save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. some of the healthiest foods we eat every day can also make us sick. the message just out from the center of science and public interest, a consumer advocacy

group. it looked at government day to identify foods that cause the largest numbers of illnesses from salmonella or e. coli. on the list, things like leafy greens, eggs, cheeses and even potatoes. the group wants the fda to do more to inspect the foods. the produce industry has responded saying in part the produce industry is 100% committed to providing safe produce, every bite, every time. our livelihoods dependent on it. the statement continues. it's never in consumers' best interests to scare them away from the very foods we should all be eating more of for better health and healthier weight. posting calories on menus at restaurant chains does not much influence what some people choose to eat. researchers observed customers at mcdonald's, wendy's, kfc and

burger king. about 1/4 say it influenced what they orders. low-income customers were more interested in cost than calories. an upcoming movie executive produced by tyler perry deals with abuse. who knew the issue would hit so close to home for the filmmaker himself.

alabama judge tried on 83 charges for forcing inmates to have sex with him. they told inmates he would throw them in jail if they didn't perform sexual acts. the judge resigned two years ago in mobile. jury selection began this week. comedian, actor and producer tyler perry is sharing painful past. he reveals intimate details of his troubled childhood, including physical and sexual abuse. he said he wanted to share his story of survival after watching a screening of the film "precious" the movie he coproduced with oprah winfrey.

here's something that may surprise you in eight states and washington, d.c. insurance companies can use domestic violence as a preexisting deny condition to deny health coverage. according to a national study some lawmakers say this is another reason the health care system needs overhauling senator patty murray said she's been trying to convince them to look at this for a decade. other bills would keep insurers from using any preexisting condition to deny coverage. in a statement today america's health insurance plan said no one should be denied coverage because they're a victim of domestic abuse. health plans strongly support the national association of insurance commissioners' model legislation that prohibits discrimination against victims of abuse and we're urging all states to promptly adopt it. president obama has declared october as domestic violence awareness month.

he's asking community leaders to raise awareness about the issue and stresses it can be prevented. he says young people must be taught about healthy relationships. he's encouraging all victims and their families to call the national domestic violence hotline. 1-800-799-safe. a woman in woportland has a busy life. author, musician, stripper, breast cancer survivor. she talks about going back to work after a masectomy and breast reconstruction. >> at first i thought i would never dance again. it was very scary. then i warmed up to the new body. >> viva las vegas is a college graduate and her new book releases today. four people went fishing off the coast of miami and came back with a 750-pound shark. they spotted it circling a dead sword fish. after they hooked the shark they said it took three hours to haul

it on the to the boat. now they're packing their freezers with shark steak. some hotmail users are having trouble logging in today. some e-mail accounts were the targets of a phishing scam. whoever behind the scam posted 10,000 passwords online. microsoft isn't saying how many there were. the passwords have been removed and the affected hotmail accounts, blocked. with temperatures now cooling, it's time to begin budgeting for the winter heating bills, and there's good news this year, you're all getting a break. poppy harlow in new york explains how much heating costs will fall. poppy? >> some people getting a bigger break than others. these numbers, these estimates on your heating bills just in today from the department. it looks like the average bill will be down about 8%. as you can see on the screen in front of you it differs depending on how you heat your home. if you use natural gas your

savings will be more than 11% compared to last winter. you'll save $105 on your heating bill. let's say you heat with heating oil or electricity. you're going to save about 2%. big difference there. but these, remember, are just estimates. your actual bill, chuck, is going to depend on the size of your house, how efficient your heating system is, and how cold it is this winter, of course. >> last year a record number of people applied for help with their heating bills. what's the outlook now? >> that's right. we could see another record. we have much higher unemployment than we did a year ago. that means millions of americans are expected to need some help from the government to pay energy bills. last year we saw 7.5 million americans getting assistance on the bills. this year officials tell us it could be more like 9 million people. what they're already seeing issen increase in the number of people applying for the aide. federal government has put aside $5 billion to help folks. if you need help, here's what you should do. do it as soon as you can if you think you're going to need help.

call this number. 1-866-674-6327. can also e-mail energy@ncat.org. what they'll do is refer you to the agency right in your area that can help you. to be eligible that differs in terms of your household income from state to state. generally, what we're hearing is for a family of four if you make less than $35,000 to $40,000 a year then you should qualify for that assistance. >> that'll help a lot of people. thanks, poppy. you get a lot more business news right there at cnn money.com. check it out. gold hit an all-time high today at $1,045 an ounce as the u.s. dollar weakens. the weak dollar is pushing up commodity prices. that helps stocks overall. the dow industrials with about eight minutes to go, make it nine minutes, is on the plus side 115 points at 9714. police are cracking down on protestors in turkey. police had launched pepper gas and hosed the crowds with water. some protestors broke store windows before running for

cover. they were only a couple blocks from the meeting of the international monetary fund and the world bank in istanbul. they're discussing the global economic collapse, which has hit turkey especially hard. 79 shopping days left and already analysts say it is not looking good for the holiday season. the national retail federation predicts a 1% drop in total sales this year to just under $43 billion for both november and december combined. it says job losses and stagnant income growth are causing americans to be more thrifty. other predictions though were slightly more optimistic. funny guys jay leno, jimmy fallon, and bill maher have all taken shots at david letterman and his sex scandal but the latest dig at dave is from david letterman himself. >> don't kid yourself. things are still pretty bad. there's a possibility that i'll be the first talk show host impeached, so --. not where you want to be. >> how the scandal's fallout

might affect you on the job. they said it would never last.

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a tennessee mother who lost her baby to a kidnapper and then to the state child welfare agency gets some good news. a solemn home coming for four fallen soldiers. also, can a healthy food really be hazardous to your health? what an advocacy group is claiming about fruits and vegetables and what produce growers have to say about those claims. this is hln "news and views." hello. i'm richelle carey. thanks for your time. let's get to the news. the mother of a newborn kidnapped last week from his home in nashville is getting her four children back. the attorney appointed to represent the children says today's custody hearing was canceled after an investigation found maria gurolla was not

trying to sell her baby. state child health karau figuress placed the children in foster care over the weekend. the infant was found safe in alabama three days after he was abducted and an alabama woman is in jail facing a federal kidnapping charge. gurolla says the woman posing as an immigration agent came to her home and demanded the child. she stabbed her several times after she refused to hand over the baby. again, she is back with her four children. the lab technician charged in the murder of a yale grad student did not enter a plea when he went before a judge today. raymond clark's attorney says his client will eventually enter a not guilty plea to the murder of annie le. clark is accused of strangling le and stuffing her body behind a lab wall. investigators found the 24-year-old's body on september 13th. the day is important because that's the day she was supposed to be married. she had been missing for five days. clark is jailed on a $3 million bond.

the judge scheduled a probable cause hearing that will happen sometime later this month. director roman polanski will stay in a swiss jail while authorities decide whether to send him back to the united states. polanski asked a swiss judge to free him. that appeal was rejected. prosecutors argued he might flee. polanski was initially charged with raping a 13-year-old girl. he pleaded guilty in 1978 to a lesser charge, then he fled the u.s. president obama met with congressional leaders today to talk about what has become a major debate, whether to send more troops to afghanistan. top military leaders want more troops, as many as 40,000 more boots on the ground. they say the taliban is gaining strength. others, though, say if the u.s. can fight this war with more undroend aircraft and more speci special forces teams. we spoke with the defense secretary and the secretary of state during a panel discussion at george washington university.

>> there should be no uncertainty in terms of our determination to remain in afghanistan and to continue to build a relationship, a partnership and trust with the pakistanis. that's long term. that's a strategic objective of the united states. >> i think what we're going through in asking ourselves, okay, we know what the goal is. is what we're doing most likely to achieve that goal? is what a very decisive and intelligent, you know, commander in chief would do? so we're going to come up with what we think is the best approach but the goal remains the same. >> and the bodies of four of the u.s. soldiers killed this weekend in a 12-hour firefight in afghanistan are back in the united states. their flag draped coffins arrived at dover airforce base in delaware this morning. they were among eight americans killed during an attack by taliban fighters on a remote

outpost saturday. two afghan soldiers were also killed in that battle. outside the white house yesterday several hundred people protested the wars in afghanistan and iraq. it was pretty much a peaceful demonstration but park police said 61 people were arrested because they refused to move back from the sidewalks. cindy sheehan was among them, one of the major faces of the anti-war movement particularly during the bush administration. her son casey was killed in iraq in 2004. and happening right now a st. louis police officer has been critically injured in this crash that you see here. this is actually tape. this involved a semi. this officer had to be air lifted to the hospital. at this point we don't have details on how this officer is doing. we know this happened on the city's south side. the officer was on duty when this collision happened. it looks pretty bad. our local cnn affiliate says the officer is in critical condition. that's what we do know about his

condition. we just don't know what caused all this. we're keeping an eye on the story and will bring you more updates when we get them. thousands of california residents were forced to get out of their homes because of this wildfire and are now being told they can return. evacuation orders were lifted just a short time ago. firefighters battling the flames in southern california are getting a helping hand from the weather. it's turned cool. the winds have died down. that is a great combination. this is all along the fire lines in the san gabriel mountains. let's check in with chad myers for more on how long the conditions are going to stay this way, chad. >> it looks like two or three days. looks like pretty good shape. don't get the santa ana winds blowing out of the valleys and the deserts. we'll be okay. it doesn't look like that's going to happen. morning low temperatures in writewood where t wrightwood where the fire is, 41 degrees this morning. that doesn't put a fire out but certainly helps firefighters

work harder before they get exhausted. also right now at 60. l.a. 69. even the winds aren't bad. over here to glendale, that's about three miles per hour right there and we'll take you all the way up here. that's three. a couple gusts out of the west, maybe a little bit here to ten or 11 miles per hour but i'm really not concerned about the wind today. i think a bigger concern is actually the potential for severe weather. they had some severe weather just to the north and east of dallas. that weather has now moved away. we'll be into arizona and also into arkansas depending on the ar or the ak depending on where you want to go because in arizona we are going to see winds pop up. in arkansas we are going to see the potential for severe weather. we'll take you back over here to dallas/ft. worth. dfw, for a while, richelle, all of these planes were in a big circle out here circling trying to wait for the storms to go by. they have gone by. things look a whole lot better here. one last thing i wanted to bring your attention to is melor. looks like melor.

it's still a very dangerous typhoon. typhoon/cycle/hurricane, all the same thing, just different first names because of different oceans. 125 miles per hour. right there is tokyo and this is going to turn and make a run at tokyo but the good news is by the time it gets there there should be enough shear up through here, enough wind right here that'll tear the storm apart and make it only an 80-mile-per-hour storm. that's tongue in cheek 80 miles per hour. tokyo a gigantic city with all those suburbs around and have 80-mile-per-hour sustained winds in tokyo bay. could certainly be an event. we'll watch it for you for tomorrow. >> still less than the 125 you're talking about. >> it was 155 yesterday. >> all right. nice wrapup there, chad. appreciate it. >> you bet. the government is regulating what people put on the internet. what the new rules mean for bloggers and your views on this issue.

all right. we all know you can't trust everything you read on the internet. i'm not going to drop ten pounds by tomorrow. just not going to happen. one big question. are the blogs you read being influenced by advertisers? what about facebook or all those tweets on the twitter? well, the government is now going after bloggers who get paid for content but don't tell the readers. new rules require content providers to disclose whether they're getting freebies or getting paid in exchange for a glowing review about some products. violators actually could be forced to pay up to $11,000 in fines. web analysts say they're not sure how that can be enforced considering tens of millions of blogs and social networking posts actually have to be monitored to enforce it. we're asking for your thoughts. do you even trust the bloggers?

how can you tell if they're getting paid for a pitch? should they be prosecuted if they're not telling you they're getting paid? to the phones, barbara is calling us from palmer, alaska. all right. barbara, do you trust what you read on the blogs if someone is telling you what they think about a product? what's your take on this? >> caller: well, i have. actually, just recently i bought a brand new car and i consulted the blogs on the internet for advice as to what was good or bad about the vehicle and never considered that they might being paid for that information. i guess i'm naive but i trusted them. >> well, did you -- was that your sole source of information or did you just use that as one source of information? >> caller: it was just one source but i did take it to heart because i thought this was the average american like me. >> i think a lot of people do that. i'll be honest. i bought a new car not long ago and went to the internet as well. i asked friends and other people as well so maybe it's about putting it in perspective.

so thanks for your phone call. i appreciate it. tammy is calling us from tampa, florida. are you incredibly skeptical about the internet or how do you use it to get opinions? >> caller: i actually have used the internet for approximately 11 years. blogs have always been used to make money. the only problem i have is more people are not making money using blogs. you have a group of people that put all of their time and effort on the internet into generating cash flow and then you have another group of people who get on there in their spare time and they don't understand this and they consider the working people a nuisance and that's how come these laws are becoming an issue because you have a whole bunch of people who are on the internet simply wasting time and they have a lot of time to complain when they should be learning how to make money on the internet. a lot of money to be made in the

blogs. >> okay. thank you for your phone call. i got a lot of comments on my facebook page because, clearly, people who have interest in blogs are on the internet so they just made a comment. clifton put, i enjoy blogging but should you trust what i say? this is what clifton says. wait for it. absolutely not. skepticism is what i preach. don't believe a word from my blog until you research it on your own. clifton is all about again putting it in perspective. cedrick thinks this would go beyond what it's intended. he writes, i think that our uncle sam needs to stop meddling and i believe this is a ploy to justify monitoring our conversations with each other. so he's not feeling this. jeanne thinks this. trust is a hard won commodity in today's world so no i don't care whether they're paid or not. we launched the internet without any laws or safety protocols or guidelines and it proves we had

little regard for the consequences and wanted to cash in quick before it catches up. it is time for it to catch up. pay up. lots of interesting comments. i appreciate it. thanks to everyone who called in, e-mailed, texted, facebooked today. you know the deal. "prime news" is coming up in a little bit and more topics there to comment on. check them out. cnn.com/prime news. you've had a lot of comments on this as well. the letterman affair raises thorny questions for hln's "joy behar." here's her "not for nothing" commentary. >> you know, i have to be honest here. i never thought of david letterman as a sexual being. he was always a kind of witty mr. rogers to me so when he married his long-time girlfriend it seemed sweet really. not only had they been dating for 23 years but the kid was almost in high school by the time he married her. so you can imagine my surprise to find out that dave turns out to be hugh heffner without the

pajamas. now, i wasn't born yesterday. and i know that powerful men like to screw around. clinton had lewinsky. jfk had marilyn. abe lincoln may have found sexual freedom outside of marriage in the arms of a man to which i say it's so long ago so what, who cares, and good for her. i don't think this letterman thing would be such a cause celeb if the women involved weren't dave's employees but rather his peers like oprah though i don't see that happening. truthfully. or

with the boss

comedian actor producer tyler perry is sharing some of his painful past with his fans. he put a letter on his website and in his letter he reveals pretty intimate details of his troubled childhood. he wanted to share his story of survival. this is a movie that he coproduced with oprah winfrey about a 16-year-old girl who's physically and emotionally abused. a man who fell out of a hot air balloon, fell out, is in serious condition. this is what happened. you can see this. the balloon's gondola hit a tent yesterday in albuquerque. this man fell. that's about 25 feet, all the way to the ground. he's 70 years old and now has a dislocated hip. >> we saw the man cart wheel out about 30, 35 feet.

he didn't hit the tent. what he did was he landed it looks like right on the asphalt. >> the balloon rose quickly with the passenger out of the basket, then the pilot brought it down very quickly to check on her passenger. she's a little banged up from the hard landing. according to the billionaire founder of cirque du soleil being in space is the greatest show not on earth and totally worth the $35 million price tag. he is the first professional artist to rocket into space. all right. speaking from the international space station he said it's been an amazing journey so far. >> with regard to the cost of coming here, yes, it's worth every penny. over and above doing it for myself there is a lot of other stuff going on. >> liberte is hoping to raise awareness about the world's water crisis and will perform from space on friday.

some of the healthiest foods you eat could also make you sick. that's the message from the center for science in the public interest, a consumer advocacy group. it looked at government data to identify foods that caused the largest numbers of illnesses from things like e-coli, salmonella, and you can see some of the things on the list. leafy greens, eggs, cheeses, potatoes. well, the group wants the fda to do more to inspect these foods. the produce industry obviously responded and this is what it says. it says the produce industry is 100% committed to providing safe produce every bite, every time. our livelihoods depend on it. the statement goes on to say it is never in a consumer's best interests to scare them away from the very foods that we should all be eating more of for our better health and healthier weight. the first week of trading in october is off to a strong

start. we have the trading details as usual. that's what we like, a good start. >> if this is the way the fourth quarter is going to be everyone will be okay with it. the dow industrial posted a triple digit gain for the second day in a row. signs surged of economic improvement. that sent the dollar lower but gold soared to a record high. the gains were broad based. all 30 dow components looking higher. looks like mountains. the dow is back above the 9700 level. nasdaq added 1.37% and the s&p 500 gained 1.3%. the price of gold hit two records today. an intraday high of $1,045 an ounce and an end of the day price of $1,039.70. one reason was a report that the u.s. dollar could be replaced as the international currency for trading oil even though several key nations denied the report, richelle. >> wow. all right. thank you. >> sure. david letterman speaks out again about sleeping with women

on his staff. could the affairs be considered sexual harrassment? jane velez-mitchell will join us live in atlanta in the studio with her take on this. eseseseses

brutal videos of dog fighting and other animal cruelty led to sharp debate during the supreme court session that ended just a little while ago. this is the issue. a law designed to stop the sale and marketing of these types of videos. supporters of the law say it has done much to stop people from profiting from the torturing of animals. opponents believe the law violates free speech. it can make a crime out of everything from deer hunting magazines to ernest hemingway's novels about bull fighting. some very pointed, oral arguments justice scalia asked how the law affects people who like animal fights and justice roberts wondered how you separate these from things like animal cruelty campaigns by peta and other organizations.

justice sotomayor asked how you can separate banned videos from serious news articles and document ris. she pointed to the anti-dog fighting video "off the chain" saying it actually shows more graphic cruelty than any of the illegal videos. a decision is expected by the spring. the lab technician charged in the murder of a yale grad student did not enter a plea. he did go before a judge today. raymond clark's attorney says his client will eventually enter a not guilty plea to the murder of annie le. clark is accused of strangling le and stuffing her body behind a lab wall. investigators believe the 24-year-old's body -- they found her body rather on september 13th. that would have been her wedding day. she had been missing for five days. clark is jailed on a $3 million bond. the judge scheduled a probable cause hearing for later this month. the mother of that newborn kidnapped last week from his home in nashville is getting her kids back, all four of them.

the attorney appointed to represent the children says today's custody hearing was canceled after an investigation found maria gurrola was not trying to sell her baby. the infant was found safe in alabama three days after he was abducted. an alabama woman is in jail facing a federal kidnapping charge. gurolla says a woman posing as an immigration agent came to her home and demanded the child. gurolla says the woman stabbed her several times after she refused to hand over the baby. director roman polanski will stay in a swiss jail while authorities decide whether to send him back to the united states. polanski asked the judge, the swiss judge to free him but that appeal was rejected. prosecutors argued he might try to flee. polanski initially was charged with raping a 13-year-old girl and pleaded guilty in 1978 to a lesser charge and later fled the u.s.

president obama met with congressional leaders today to talk about what has become a major debate, whether to send more troops to afghanistan. now, top military leaders want more troops. they want as many as 40,000 more boots on the ground. they say the taliban is getting stronger but others say the u.s. can fight this war with more unmanned drone aircraft and more special forces teams. on our sister network cnn christian amanpour spoke with the secretary of state and defense secretary during a panel discussion at george washington university. >> there should be no uncertainty in terms of our determination to remain in afghanistan and to continue to build a relationship, a partnership and trust with the pakistanis. that's long term. that's a strategic objective of the united states. >> i think what we're going through in asking ourselves, okay, we know what the goal is. is what we're doing most likely to achieve that goal?

is it what a very decisive and intelligent commander in chief would do? so we're going to come up with what we think is the best approach but the goal remains the same. and the bodies of four of the u.s. soldiers killed this weekend in a firefight in afghanistan, a 12-hour firefight, they are back in the united states. their flag draped coffins arrived at dover airforce base in delaware this morning. they were among eight americans killed during an attack by taliban fighters on a remote outpost saturday. two afghan soldiers also died in that battle. we all know you can't trust everything you read on the internet. you know this. one big question, are the blogs you read being influenced by advertisers? the things you read on facebook, things you read on twitter? well the government is now going after bloggers who get paid for content but don't tell you they're getting paid.

new rules require content providers to disclose whether they're getting any freebies or getting paid in exchange for writing a glowing review of these products. violators could actually be forced to pay up to $11,000 in fines. web analysts say they're not sure how this is going to be enforced because there's tens of thousands of blogs and social networking posts that would have to be monitored. you've been asking all day, your thoughts on this. do you trust bloggers at all? how can you tell if they're getting paid for their pitch? should they be prosecuted? if they're not being up front. i received a lot of responses on my facebook page. we picked a few to share. this is what jeff wrote. jeff says i trust blogger recommendations about as much as i trust reviews from websites that allow reviews for products. i think it all comes down to consumers doing their own home work. clifton feels this way. i enjoy blogging but would you trust what i say? absolutely not. skepticism is what i preach. don't believe a word from my

blog until you research it on your own. cedric thinks this would go beyond what it's intended. he writes, i think our uncle sam needs to stop meddling and i believe, this is what he says, this is a ploy to justify monitoring our conversations with each other. he's very, very skeptical. jeanne feels this way. trust is a hard won commodity in today's world so no i don't care whether bloggers are paid or not. tina feels this way. the fact we've launched the internet without any laws, safety protocols, or guidelines proves we have little regard for the consequences but wanted to cash in quick before it catches up. it is time for it to catch up. pay up. thanks for the facebook comments, the e-mails, the phone calls today. you can keep doing all that when "prime news" starts in a few minutes at the top of the hour. if you'd like to text and drive or chat on your cell phone when you're behind the wheel, be ready to face the consequences. what happened to a woman in texas accused of a deadly crash

that prosecutors blame on distracted driving.

a pediatrician in southwest ohio is charged with sex crimes and so is his twin brother. mark blankenburg is accused of performing sex acts on three teen patients during office visits and also accused of giving the teenagers cash payments, as much as $200, as they left the office. blankenburg's attorney says there is no evidence in this case. and now his twin brother, dr. scott blankenburg, also a pediatrician, is charged with sex crimes as well involving children.

his trial is scheduled for april. a case of distracted driving is costing a texas woman 30 days in jail, ten years' probation, and a $10,000 fine. she was sentenced yesterday for causing a wreck that killed a man in another car. houston prosecutors say she had been on her cell phone just before the crash. >> distraught for a year and a half. it's been a long, hard road to get to this point. it'll never bring my son back. >> 25-year-old chance wilcox was thrown from a car during the crash. authorities say montgomery illegally switched lanes to enter a freeway ramp she had missed and was also ordered to pay wilcox' funeral expenses. her lawyers say prosecutors are using politics to make an example out of his client. from now on cameras will be keeping an eye on engineers on metrolink trains in los angeles. the cameras were unveiled yesterday. officials decided to install the

cameras after this horrific crash that happened just over a year ago. you probably remember it because of the pictures. investigators determined the engineer was texting at the time. >> if you knew that you had a second pair of eyes watching, would you be texting while driving a train with all of those people on it? the answer i think is no. >> the union representing the engineers told "the l.a. times" the cameras, they see them as an invasion of privacy and are going to take legal action to get the cameras off the trains. off the streets and on the air. a homeless shelter may seem like an unlikely place to find rising tv talent but that's the ground breaking idea behind a very different kind of tv show. cnn.com's virginia cha is with us for this story that's getting a lot of attention on dot com

today. and understandably so. it strikes you at first, virginia. >> yes, an interesting concept. voices for change is a tv production where just about everyone involved is either homeless now or has been homeless. the idea is to teach them marketable skills to help them land jobs but also to give them a voice. it's a cable access show out of st. paul, minnesota. it's allowed access to a local production studio. it was started by pastor and former tv reporter himself, luis alvarenga who says he has been surprised by how well educated some of the participants are. one of the participants, ron, became homeless shortly after being released from prison and even rode city buses all night to avoid the cold, minnesota winter. >> last year i stayed a few days in a motel and my little pocket money was exhausted and so i

found myself homeless. but not without hope. >> that is one of the goals. ron says he still spends most night in a shelter but spends his days running the control room for voices for change. that show focuses on issues relevant to the homeless as well as to the poor in that city. now, the program's host says he hopes that it not only lifts up homeless people but it helps change perceptions about them as well. you can get more details at cnn.com/u.s. >> all right. an interesting story. another story, there's this cabbie who works the graveyard shift i guess that can seem kind of boring until you pick up a camera? >> yeah. this one actually speaking of the plight of the homeless, there is an interesting juxtaposition going on in turkey right now. turkey is hosting the annual meeting of the world bank and the international monetary fund. turkey is one of the world's 20 wealthiest economies. now, not far away in the same city of istanbul you will find the homeless, the poor, street kids, and you'll also find the

cabbie you mentioned, richelle. five years ago he began stepping out of his cab late at night when he did the graveyard shift to take the occasional picture of istanbul's poor. well, now his photos are hanging in an art gallery. he says once he started working the night shift he was shocked at what he saw and wanted to take pictures to draw attention to the struggles of the city's forgotten. he strives to capture the contradictions. for example, the happy, smiling faces on a billboard with the person who's unhappy lying next to it just trying to sleep. his exhibit by the way is titled "the other side of the night" and is on display at that gallery which is also in istanbul but those photos aren't earning him much cash at this point so he still drives that cab to earn a living. by the way, you can get a look at more photos if you go to cnn.com/europe. >> i hope people do for sure. virginia, thank you. we've got some news just in to pass along, some streets in

uptown charlotte are blocked off. police are investigating a suspicious, cylinder shaped device near the parking deck. this is up by the government center so the charlotte mecklenburg police department bomb squad is checking this out. you can see a robot was used to remove the device and detonate it and now they're inspecting the debris to see what it was to begin with. so police have closed other parking decks in the area just as a precaution. we're now hearing literally as i'm speaking that all streets have, and parking decks, again, everything has now reopened and they've gotten the all clear that everything is okay that happened as i was telling you that story. all right. it was supposed to be a calm, relaxing ride but turned into a frightening and painful experience for a man in a hot air balloon. watch the incredible video and the pilot's dramatic reaction when hln continues.

our time is coming up in a little bit. let's check in with mike. top of the agenda, ron and musty

cummings getting a divorce. this is not about gossip. this is important because their child, the child is still missing. >> you just hit it. >> this is why it matters. >> that's what should be front and center but again, somewhat the side show that takes center stage. you laid it out there for us. that's what we're finding out that ron and misty cummings are divorcing. now, we were stunned when they got married in the first place. they get married five weeks after little haleigh goes missing so in the midst of that traumatic event you're going to get married? okay. we'll backtrack and get this allayed out there because still at the heart of this misty cummings is the last person to see little haleigh and there is still no consistent timeline. from what most say, she still has not told a straight story about what happened the night that little girl went missing and it's sad to say she's been now gone for almost ten months. we'll update you on that and want to hear from you. 1-877-tell-hln is the number. update on this story. remember george sodini went into that "la fitness" and shot and killed three women, shot another

woman who was pregnant and still is but now she's suing his estate. we'll look into that. what kind of -- on what grounds do you sue? does this case have merit? is there precedent on her side? other victims might be joining in as well so we'll update you on that. also, david letterman, all right. now he apologizes. this continues to have legs. people continue to talk about it. he apologized to his staff and to his wife. hopefully this is the end because we're now gathering, you look at this. you weren't sure what kind of relationship david letterman had with his long-time partner and now wife. now we find out he has hurt her and as he said horribly hurt her. i hope he stops talking about it. it's done. you're talking about hurt. i couldn't imagine that playing out on the national stage if you are her. >> right. >> and little harry will hear about it, too, some day, their son. want to hear from you on that one. e-mail to cnn.com/prime news or text us at hln tv coming your way in ten minutes. >> you would hope he wouldn't get any more material out of

this. you know? >> exactly. >> i understood at first. >> the more you talk about it now people are -- >> now people are digging what's the timeline, when were you seeing these women? how many relationships. are there others to come in. >> uh-huh milliated her publicly and apologized publicly, done. all right. thanks, mike. all right. let's talk about this, a wildfire evacuation order lifted now mandatory orders are done with and this is the wrightwood area of california. people who live in about 2,000 homes that were under this mandatory order can go back. the houses threatened by a 7,000-acre wildfire, they had been threatened, fire officials expect this under control by thursday night. forecaster expect cool temperatures, high humidity and light winds today and those conditions should stick around for the rest of the week. the man who fell out of a hot air balloon, wow, is in serious condition. the balloon's gondola hit a tent yesterday in albuquerque. the man fell 25 feet to the

ground. the 70-year-old has a dislocated hip. >> and we saw the man cartwheel out at about 30, 35 feet. he didn't hit the tent. what he did was he landed, it looks like, right on the asphalt. >> the balloon rose quickly with the passenger out of the basket then the pilot brought it down quickly to check on her passenger. she was a little banged up from that hard landing. if you use hotmail for your e-mail account you could have trouble logging in today. microsoft says some accounts were targets of a fishing scam. some reports say whoever was behind it post ad an estimated 10,000 passwords on line. microsoft isn't saying how many there were you they have been removed and affected accounts blocked. brett favre at the helm many times and minnesota and green bay squared off on the field but this time he was wearing purple, not green. find out how he did against his

lon long-term team-turned-heated rival.