breaking news. in the hours surrounding the memorial for music icon michael jackson, the mystery surrounding his sudden death intensifies. as 20,000 people packed the staples center arena l.a. with millions around the world looking on, questions mount on jackson's sudden death. his half a billion dollar empire and more important custody of the star's three little children. jackson's 14-karat gold, bedecked promethean casket on full display in front of his 11-year-old little girl, paris, during her heart-wrenching tribute to her father. but just a few miles away, legal eagles and homicide investigators working around the clock.

bombshell tonight. investigators reveal the superstar's veins riddled with track marks. many of his veins actually collapsing from iv use. this confirming an autopsy report surfacing last week, many people branded as a fake. multiple vials of drugs found in jackson's home. drugs banned for consumer use and only kept behind locked doors in the hospital o.r. jackson's skin paper-white, white as a t-shirt. his head bald. his body emaciated. all in direct contrast to private video released of jackson just hours before his death at a full dress rehearsal. this as the location of jackson's embalmed body still a mystery.

how? how do you lose a gold-bedecked promethean casket with 20 helicopters hovering and thousands watching the casket exit staples arena? was he even in the casket? the jackson camp infighting over where to inter the body. a part of jackson's brain still withheld for testing. reports emerging jackson ingesting 10,000 prescription pills in just six months. five specific doctors under suspicion of drugging an addict who happened to be a music superstar. >> we have a gentleman here that needs help and he's not breathing. >> a source involved with the investigation tells us jackson

had, quote, numerous track marks on his arms. and that those marks, quote, could certainly be consistent with the regular iv use of a drug, like diprivan. >> i said, look, this is a very serious drug. at first, i wondered if he understood what he was telling me. and he said, "yes, i know exactly what it is, i've had it before." and i said, "this is not a safe medication." he said, "no, my doctor assured me that it's safe. there's no side effects," he said, "it is safe." i said, "michael, it isn't." >> some of the marks, the source said, appeared fresh. others older. in fact, some of the newest marks could have been caused when emergency medical personnel rushed into the house and used their own ivs in an effort to save him. >> it's a cocktail of drugs. i know that there are injection sites in michael's body. >> he's not breathing and we're trying to pump him but he's not -- >> okay. >> the source also said jackson's veins were "collapsed" in both arms, suggesting

frequent intravenous drug use. and tonight, the search for a little washington girl scout who vanishes into thin air after leaving a friend's house. 11-year-old lindsey's father desperate to find her. he is being sent to serve his country in iraq in just days. will he have to leave with her still missing? tonight, where is 11-year-old lindsey baum? >> a girl is missing, and her father is supposed to head off to iraq in the coming weeks. >> my name's scott baum. i'm lindsey's father. >> mr. baum is in the national guard. he's with a unit in tennessee. >> what i'm here today to do is to appeal to everybody out there watching, please bring my daughter home. >> where is lindsey baum? she was taken just a short walk

from her friend's house to her home in mccleary, washington. she never made it. >> i'm fixing to deploy to iraq. i would love nothing more than to see my daughter before i have to go. >> police haven't found any evidence to explain her disappearance. >> nothing that was found on the computer or on her cell phone has led to anything definite. it has afforded us the opportunity to talk to some more people, but nothing specific about her disappearance. >> and her dad is getting desperate. >> please, if you know anything, contact the hotlines. contact any 911 centers. please, bring my daughter home before i have to leave. i thank you. >> good evening. i'm nancy grace. i want to thank you for being with us. the mystery surrounding the sudden death of music superstar michael jackson intensifies. >> yes, he's not breathing, sir. >> okay. and he's not conscious either. >> he's not conscious, sir. >> okay. >> dr. murray found mr. jackson in his bed, unconscious, with a faint pulse, not breathing, there in his room.

>> new disturbing details are surfacing now about the condition of michael jackson's body on the day he died. a source involved in the investigation said the singer's arms were riddled with marks and veins in both arms had collapsed. >> a source would not confirm if diprivan had been found. with jackson. but he told us numerous bottles of prescription medication had been found in jackson's $100,000 a month rented mansion. he described them as "dangerous drugs." similar to those found in a hospital setting. yes. we have a personal doctor here with him, sir. >> you have a doctor there? >> yes, but he's not responding to anything. to no -- he's not responding to cpr or anything. >> as for jackson's body, the source described it as "lily white from head to toe." his final note, the body was emaciated. despite the vigor jackson showed onstage during his final rehearsal just 36 hours earlier. ♪ they don't really care about us ♪

>> straight out to paul vercammen, cnn producer. on the scene. he was there at staples center arena. paul, what can you tell me about losing a gold bedecked promethean casket? how with 20 helicopters hovering over the staples center arena can we not know where jackson's body is? >> well, obviously, nancy, these are masters at the art of deception, and they have been throughout this case. there's been reported infighting within the jackson camp and there have been many ideas as to where his final resting place should be. in los angeles, there's so many places that you could possibly have taken this body. that that is one of the reasons why no one knows where it's going to go right now. and of course still in the mix is they could cremate this body and bring it to neverland. there's a lot of options out there still. >> i don't understand that. how did it get out of an arena and nobody knows where it was? did you see that crowd? you were there. there were thousands of people on the inside, thousands of

people on the outside. there it is. it's on video. leaving the staples center. how can it just disappear? >> well, exactly. i think that those people were very much part of the deception. i mean, it's a chance for them to kind of have everyone look the other way, focus on the event and then there are plenty of tunnels in and out of staps, by the way. quite a few of them. you may recall we went in there and watched that jackson video by going through if you will the bowels of staples. they had options. by the way, i wouldn't put it past anybody in these types of events to run out a dummy here's or put out any other smoke screen that they can. >> are you suggesting, paul vercammen, there's not one but two 14 karat gold-bedecked promethean caskets draped with red flowers? >> i'm not suggesting that at all. what i am suggesting is the jacksons or anybody else involved with them could have easily gone off and thrown up

diversions and possibly moved that casket as far away as 100 miles if they wanted to. >> paul vercammen joining from -- us from staples center in l.a. ellie jostad, cnn producer. infighting within the jackson camp. do we know, was jackson actually in the casket? has he been cremated? is it true, he wiellie jostaw, a portion of his brain is not in his body? >> well, yeah, i'll start with the brain. there are some a.p. reports that part of the brain or samples from the brain are still being held by the coroner for further testing. or for results of testing. and as far as the body goes, this was a closed casket event. so, technically, we don't know if the body was in that casket. and apparently the family is fighting. some of the family members want the body to go to neverland. katherine jackson says, absolutely not. >> joining me right now, chris meyers, senior executive editor at radaronline. chris meyers has obtained more of the private chef's interview.

you can find it at radaronline.com. and here, before we go to chris, you're going to hear, in addition to the new sound from jackson's personal chef, sound about oxygen tanks, waist-high oxygen tanks, normally used with iv drug usage, being taken in and out of jackson's home. this as we learn his body, his arms riddled with track marks. many of his veins collapsing from iv usage. take a listen to radaronline's sound of jackson's personal chef. >> dr. murray was on the property five nights -- at least five nights a week. and my understanding was he was there all night to monitor mr. jackson. there was a couple of occasions during my time of employment that i noticed dr. murray

exiting the kitchen area through a side door to the driveway area, carrying a couple of oxygen tanks. there was occasions where i noticed during my time of employment that in the security mobile unit that was located in the driveway in the back of the house area, that there was a few oxygen tanks there as well. the oxygen tanks were waist high from my height. the upper top portion of the tanks were green. the latter part of the tanks were silver. heavy-duty tanks. you know, i had a cautious feeling inside. but, you know, by a doctor being there, you know, that kind of, you know, passed by me. initially when i got the call from my agent head hunter, it was specifically mentioned to me

that they wanted an african-american chef. once i arrived at the property, i was instructed to drive around for about five minutes and then return. once i got in, he apologized to me. and he mentioned that mr. joe jackson had showed up at the property, and he wasn't allowed to enter the property. and he was very upset about it. to that degree, they said, you know, he either shook the gate or hit the gate. and i think when he left, he was frustrated about something. you know. they didn't tell me what the situation was.

>> thank you for all of your love, all of your support.

michael will always live in all of our hearts. >> you're seeing video from tmz.com of jackson's sister speaking to the fans at the nokia theatre l.a. we are taking your calls live. first to chris myer, senior executive editor radaronline.com. that interview with his personal chef is pretty astounding. now that we are hearing about his veins collapsed from iv use and to use that particular drug, you apparently have to have oxygen on the standby. >> that's right, nancy. this could be a smoking gun. this chef when we interviewed him, i don't think he realized the significance of these oxygen tanks but he was questioning why is a doctor there five nights a week spending the night? as you know when you're in the emergency room, diprivan, a drug that sources close to the investigation tell us was found in the home, diprivan, when you use it in the o.r., you need oxygen to be administered to

monitor your vitals and to keep basically your heart beating. so the fact that there was oxygen tanks inside that home raises all kinds of red flags. like why are oxygen tanks in there? well, now we know that that could be a vital piece of the investigation. >> with us chris myer from radaronline.com. ellie, today, developments are astounding, and the one i'm concerned about right now is the gang of five. five medical doctors apparently under suspicion for enabling an addict which is completely against the law to continue to give drugs, specifically this drug, to someone that is a known addict. do we know who they are? >> we don't know who any of the doctors are. we know that the lapd has talked to dr. conrad murray, the doctor that was with michael jackson when he collapsed. but we don't know if these are five additional doctors or if he is one of the five. >> take a listen to one of the

doctors that many people thought were one of the five. he denies it. >> there was even one report that you were the biological father of the children. do you know who the father is? >> not to the best of my knowledge. all i can tell you is, best of my knowledge, i'm not the father of these children. i'm telling you, if push comes to shove, i can't say anything about it but to the best of my knowledge, i'm not the father of these children. >> to the doctors you suspect are complicit in the addiction of someone like michael jackson, what do you say? >> i say they're criminals. i say that anyone who makes someone an addict or gives a person potentially dangerous substances directly to them to use like propofol is a criminal and becomes nothing more than a manslaughter or something like -- worse than that. this is a most loving human being and i grieve immensely for his loss of his life.

>> you're seeing dr. arnold klein, long-time friend of michael jackson's on "good morning america." that is the arnold kline that was his dermatologist. remember, the mom of two of his children was an assistant to klein, debbie rowe. so it's all interconnected. let's unleash the lawyers, gloria allred, fames victim's rights attorney l.a. mike brooks, former fed with the lauren lake, saying that defense attorney out of detroit, joe lawless, defense attorney and author, prosecutorial misconduct out of philly, gloria, he didn't know if he game a sperm sample? >> that's incredible. just say let me at him or let nancy grace at him to cross-examine him. this is incredible. well, you know, i don't know why he couldn't say a simple no or a simple yes. maybe he's given other sperm samples. >> maybe he signed a confidentiality agreement.

>> that's possible, as well. >> why do we care? why do we care? because of all of the money on the line that will go to whoever gets those children? >> one of the issues is going to be who's the biological parent of the children at some point and that's probably the reason the question was asked. i remember every sperm sample i've ever given. i don't see why he couldn't. >> lauren lake, what about it? >> oh, that's absolutely ridiculous, nancy. he knows whether he gave a sperm sample or not. this is just a mess. >> karen lynn madoff also joining us. how will it affect the disposition of the will? >> well, whether or not he gave a sperm sample should not affect the disposition of the will. what's really going to affect the disposition of the will is whether or not there were assets that weren't placed into his trust or whether or not -- >> so, you're saying who the biological father is of the children is will not make a difference? >> i don't think at this point it will.

it was reportedly found inside the house. the question now, was it inside the singer? diprivan is administered by a steady drip, usually through an iv. stop the drip, the medication almost immediately loses its effect. but when in use produces an almost comatose state. >> a nurse who worked for jackson told cnn he begged for the powerful sedative just a few months ago so he could go to sleep. >> he said i really just need something that's going to help me to sleep. and when he -- he was very persistent about it. >> i'm a person that i believe in the highest of excellence.

if i'm not satisfied, i won't let it go unless i get exactly what i want. >> he said, i wanted to drop -- i want an i.v., because i know that the first drop when i look at it and i see the first drop hit my vein, i'm asleep and i sleep very well. and i just need to sleep. >> the infighting over where to inter the body. ellie jostad, the family apparently at odds over where to bury the body. what's happening? >> right. well, apparently, according to reports, jermaine, joe jackson are interested in having michael jackson either buried there at neverland or his body cremated and the ashes spread there. katherine jackson believes that michael jackson never wants to return to neverland. that he felt the place was tainted after the police raided it back in '05, and so there's this fight over where he is going to end up. >> to dr. karen starks, psychologist joining us out of new york. dr. karen, i'll just tell you

what that seems to be about. those that are vying to have his body or his remains buried at neverland want to create another graceland like where elvis' estate is so they can make off of it. everyone that knows anything about jackson even from 2,000 miles away has heard him say that after the police raid following child molestation charges he felt he never wanted to return to neverland. end of story. so why? why else would they insist on burying him there? >> well, nancy, i think so much of it is about money. that's what the family wants. it looks like those members of the family, yes, they are definitely interested in money. and when you think about his addiction, nancy, where did that come from? that's also from people who, he has money, he has power, they want to be around him. and so people do what they want. it doesn't have anything to do with michael jackson anymore. >> what about the fact that

these doctors that were feeding him these drugs were making money off of him. look at all the stars ta that have died because people enabld them. i mean it, goes all the way back to marilyn monroe. you've got heath ledger. the list goes on and on and on. >> lindsay lohan, anna nicole smith. >> lohan's not dead. >> she's not dead -- >> correction. >> if you remember, nancy, she had a problem with drugs and people hanging around her. >> true. >> whenever they were trying to get her to stop. that's the problem. there are so many sycophants. there are so many people -- >> remember elvis presley apparently had a whole tackle box full of drugs everywhere he went. i mean, they just fed the addiction and that is what somebody is going to end up being charged with, mike brooks. >> that's why the dea is involved with the lapd because keep in mind, every prescription

that is given, there is a dea number on that. they can go back and find out, okay, what drugs were given to whom, when, by what name. the dea also rules the pharmacies. they run the pharmacies. so they're going to go bab and take a look at all these records these doctors, the five doctors on the list. and i think some of the ones that would be right up front, dr. ratner, dr. klein and dr. murray. >> klein was on "gma" denying the whole thing. he also had no knowledge of giving a sperm sample. >> uh-huh. >> to carolyn in massachusetts, hi, carolyn. >> caller: good evening, nancy. thanks. >> hi, dear, thank you for calling in. what's your question? >> caller: thank you. quick comment and then the question. as an r.n., there were two socioeconomical classes that have received the worst medical treatment, the privileged and the poor. why will it be so hard to bring these doctors to justice? >> that's my question, joe lawless. will they be charged?

we saw charges for instance in the anna nicole smith and the wrestler benoit's case. what about this one? >> it's a state or federal criminal offense to illegally prescribe prescription drugs and a prescription drug is prescribed illegally -- >> we know that, joe. we know it's an offense. >> right. >> will there be charges? >> i think in this case there's going to have to be. the visibility of michael jackson will cause law enforcement to look at this a little more harshly. and if you believe what's being taken out of the house, the volume here is sthauch it you is something that just can't be shrugged off or overlooked. >> lauren lake? >> i have to agree there with joe. at the same time, nancy, just because we have a little evidence coming around doesn't mean it's going to be proved in court. that's the bottom line. >> so, lauren, keep the picture up, please. lauren, this diprivan, do you know where it is kept? under lock and key in the o.r. at the hospital. so, how did it mysteriously fly

through the air and get into michael jackson's i.v.? >> you know what? i have to be the defense attorney here and just say we do not know. we just truly don't know how it got there. until it can be proven and if it can be proven or if not -- >> that's the first time i've laughed all day. thank you. >> i'm sorry. i live to make you laugh. >> after that last answer i believe that. out to karen lynn madoff, probate and trust attorney. karen lynn, thank you for being with us. now, debbie rowe in the mix for claiming she's the bio mom, not just the surrogate. you've got the grandmother, katherine jackson, 79 years old. you've got diana ross as the backup guardian, and you've got the family obviously fighting, and apparently siblings already have their hand out to katherine jackson for the money. now, if the money has gone to her, at least 40% of it, can she dole it out as she wishes? because apparently, at the end

of her life that money is to go to jackson's three children. can she spend it at will? >> it depends on what kind of control and what type of terms are in the trust. for example, it could say the money is for her benefit. and therefore the trustees will pay for things that she wants. she may be required to submit a budget for things that she wants. or it may be outright distribution to her. we'll just have to wait and see. if the trust ever comes to light. >> to ellie jostad, our chief editorial producer. all the nuts are coming out of the woodwork. now we learn there are reports that jackson was never a pedophile. he was pressured into that $20 million settlement with one alleged child victim. the one that disappeared to australia and couldn't be reached at the time of the criminal trial. and now the claim is going to come out next week that michael jackson was gay and had a gay

lover. listen. i don't care how many confidentiality agreements were signed, that's not the kind of thing you can keep under a lid. if that's true, which i do not believe that about michael jackson, if there's a confidentiality agreement, that is out the window at the time of his death. where are these reports coming from? >> right. well, in halperin has a new book coming out. it's going to be a bombshell. he claims that not only was michael jackson gay, he had a lover, an adult male lover in las vegas that he met with repeatedly -- >> i don't believe that. i don't believe that. gloria allred, if any of that were true and there had been a confidentiality agreement, doesn't that end with death? i mean, the state wouldn't sue this alleged lover postmortem? >> well, is, the confidentiality clause might not end with death. and also, let me say, nancy. it doesn't matter who the

biological father of the two children are because since those two children were born during the marriage of debbie rowe and michael jackson, they are as a matter of law the children of debbie rowe and michael jackson and it was never challenged in the first two years so that's the end of the story. it's interesting from a discussion point of view but not from a legal point of view. >> i hope you're right. you usually are. quickly, natisha lance. when are we going to get the official cause of death? >> a few more weeks, nancy. toxicology results could be back in up to a week and at least a week. >> at least a week. >> everyone, very quickly, over 14 million americans out of a job in this economy. safety tips to protect yourself from online job scams. never, ever reveal all your personal information on your online resume. don't give potential employers your bank account numbers, your personal i.d.s or credit card information. why do they need that? beware of suspicious job

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a 10-year-old girl vanishes just blocks from her home. >> a heart-wrenching story. a missing girl and a father set to be deployed to iraq in a few weeks. where is lindsey baum?

>> i'm lindsey's father. i would love nothing more than to see my daughter before i have to go. please bring my daughter home. >> vanished out of thin air is what it appears to be. there's nothing. >> it's very frustrating because we are not able to rule anything out because we have no evidence to point us in any specific direction. >> here's what detectives have to work with. 10-year-old lindsey baum was last seen walking home from a friend's house. she never made it the half mile to her house. >> we've activated a lot of search and rescue resources. we have between 50 and 60 searchers from counties throughout western washington. it's becoming highly unlikely that she is still in mccleary. the word's out. it's not out here just in washington but the word's been spread throughout the country that we're looking for lindsey, and we're trying to keep her picture and her face in everybody's mind. >> the father of this missing girl, set to be deployed to iraq in just days. out to jacob jones with the daily world.

what is the latest in the search for now, 11-year-old lindsey baum? >> considering that yesterday was her birthday, authorities wanted to get started off with a big push this week. they brought back out dozens of volunteers to search nearby off-road vehicle park just a few miles away and then they brought out -- the father stepped forward with his public plea for any new information on monday. since then, they've suspended the search, but they've got about 12 to 15 deputies and detectives that are doing more specific searches and interviews with different people. >> out to matt zarilla, our producer on the story. matt, take me back to the time she was missing. what happened? >> she was with friends six blocks away from her house. it's in a small community just west of seattle. she's walking home about six blocks away, she never makes it home. there's a gas station in the middle of her walk that has surveillance video. she's not seen on the surveillance video. she is sighted walking a few blocks from the house, never makes it home.

>> and between the time she is sighted i believe by a neighbor about three blocks from her own home, and this is about 9:30 at night. i am a little confused about who would send a child out to walk home alone at 9:30 at night, but that aside, how long between that sighting by the neighbor and the time she was reported missing by her mother? >> it was about an hour later. mom said she went out and looked for a few minutes and then called cops and then went out looking again. >> mom has taken and apparently passed a poly, right? >> yes, she has. >> why did she want to take the poly? >> she didn't want the finger pointed at her. she said i wanted to step forward and make sure everyone knows i had nothing to do with this. my daughter is missing. help me find her. >> mike brooks, former fed with the fbi, weigh in, mike. >> it's unusual as matt said because that shell station is right on the way. in fact, there were two other people -- it's a very small community. everybody knows everybody else. there was two people that saw her on the way home and said we saw her walking on the way and then she just vanished into thin air.

but it is close to an interstate, so there's always a possibility that she could have been abducted and somebody just jumped on the interstate and took her out of the area. >> how close is it to an interstate and do you know what interstate it is? >> no. i was talking to one of my sources, and they said that it is very, very close to an interstate. i wish i could tell you what the route number is, but apparently it is very accessible to the interstate nearby. >> what about it? back to jacob jones. tell me about how close it is to an interstate. what interstate is it and where does it head? >> it's within minutes. i mean, maybe five minutes of a couple of different interstates. there's the 108 running north and south. and then there's highway 8 that goes in between gray's harbor and olympia. there's a lot of ways out of town within a close proximity. and i know that that's a concern to authorities. >> let's assume she's still alive. out to the lawyers. to joe lawless, what would you

advise whoever has lindsey baum? >> obviously, i would advise them to turn her into a police station right away. i mean, that's the only thing you can advise. the circumstances under which they do it is up to them. the longer they have her the deeper trouble they're going to get in, and god help them if anything happens to that child. >> lauren? >> that's exactly right. all you can do is tell them come to your senses, get a grip, turn her in to the police and then beg for some kind of mercy. >> gloria allred, i've seen it argued many, many times at trial. he turned himself in. he came to the cops. and believe it or not, it does make a difference to juries and prosecutors. >> it does make a difference. even if the person doesn't want to turn himself in, perhaps he could make an anonymous call to the police and say where she is. and that would be very important to the family and to the police. >> out to the lines, angie in new hampshire. hi, angie. >> caller: hi, i love you. i can't believe i got through. >> thank you for calling, dear.

what's your question? >> caller: thank you so much for all you do for these kids. because who would be there? but anyway, i want to say god bless you and then i want to ask a question. this little girl, we have seen so many on your show, dear, that are just walking home from a friend's house. i mean, was she living with her mom and dad? you know? i think they think that they're at a friend's house. they'll be safe walking home. you know, i'm old-fashioned. i used to walk my kids to the friend's house and pick them up and walk them back. i was wondering who was in charge of her, and if you could get the word out, walk the kids to the friend's house. i feel so bad when i hear this. i wanted to know your opinion on that. >> i agree with her, mike brooks. i remember as a child if we went anywhere, our parents would take us, pick us up, or it was usually just across the street. and they would open the door and watch as we walked home.

>> oh, absolutely. i mean i didn't get that one block. and if my father wilfed i knew that was the time to come home. but nancy, you know in a small community like this, a lot of people probably never lock their doors because nothing ever happens like this. people get lulled into a false sense of security. >> we are taking your calls. this father set to go to iraq to be his countries while his 11-year-old little girl is missing. the tip line 866-9158299. to read about our cold cases especially one about a missing mom of two, she van anywheres during a divorce. that disappearance still a mystery. go to cnn.com black/nancy grace and then click on cold case.

[ music ] >> welcome to comcast local edition, i'm donna richardson, and my guest this hour is christine bergmark who is the executive director of the southern maryland agricultural development commission. welcome, christine, it's good to have you here. >> thank you for having me. >> that's a big mouthful, and i know that you're working on an extremely exciting program, bi-local challenge. >> it is an initial that we launched two years ago, and essentially what it is is the last full week of july we ask everyone across the state of maryland and beyond to take a pledge, and the pledge is eat something or drink from a farm every day during that week.

>> oh. so where do we get the information about where to find the farms or how do we sign up for this pledge? >> well, there's a website. it's www.by-local-challenge.com that website will give you all sorts of information why to buy local and where to buy local and it connects you to other statewide initiatives that are going on at the same time. if you go to the website, we've added a count. people used to say, where do i sign up? normally you have to go buy, eat something from a local farm. this year we decided to add a counter to the website. when you are' counted, you can receive a certificate with your name on it that you can put up in your office or your home or wherever. >> which is very, very important. it's reduces your carbon foot print because you're driving hopefully a shorter distance,

you have access to local products that are available, and also it helps the farmers. >> well, and in fact, our theme this year is healthy plate, healthy planet. all kinds of benefits to buying local, benefits for you, healthy, nutrition, it's fresh, and preserving our farms survive, we keep clean water, we keep clean air, we reduce the carbon footprints from things traveling 1500 miles, and it tastes good. >> exactly. now for those people who may not cook, how can they be a part of this? >> yeah, sometimes people say, well, i hate to cook. that's okay. you can go to a store or to a restaurant that features local farm products, and there are more and more restaurants every year, some of them are on our website, and you can click throughout to find out who they are,. >> what kind of items can we acquire localfully.

>> during the last week of july, there is so much product available. there's sweet corn, blackberries, all kinds of tomatoes and melons are in season, and of course, there's always wine, cheese, eggs, meatss. >> so we do have a wide variety of things we can get. say that i go and i go to a local farmer's market and purchase something, what is a vegetable that i'm not quite familiar with, how did i find a recipe. >> excellent question. there are recipes on our website. people can post their own recipes of their own events and own blogs by why they buy local. some of the things i wanted to mention is the economic benefits. we talked about the planet, we talked about the fact that it tastes good, and it's fun, but there's also the benefit of

supporting our farms, and if every household in the state mucofmaryland were to buy just 2 worth of products for 8 weeks, basically the summer season that, would put $200 million straight back into the pockets of our farmers. that would do a lot to keep our farmers thriving. >> which is so important. i know we have less than 30 seconds, but you have some partners that you wouldn't typically think of who have now joined in. >> yes. hospitals are joining in this year. fact, they're looking to do a competition to see how many people they can get involved. >> have you exciting. christine, thank you very much for coming in today. >> thank you. >> my guest today has been christine bergmark with the southern agricultural commission. if you're interested in what comcast is doing in your area, go to on demand and click get local. for comcast local edition, i'm donna richardson.