this is the last day on the job for the governor of alaska. where does she go from here? another former boxing champion is dead. what police are saying about the deaths of forrest. an 11-year-old girl with diabetes did not get insulin, she got a prayer. her father is on trial for reckless homicide. how he defends his decision not to call a doctor during a test of faith. you're watching hln. i'm natasha curry. just after 7:00 p.m. eastern time today, sarah palin will be the ex-governor of alaska. she is officially passing the torch this evening to the lieutenant governor after her surprise resignation announced a

few weeks ago. supporters gathered for a picnic sendoff yesterday in ank raj. many suspect the resignation is to prepare a 2012 white house run. she may have an uphill climb. an abc/"washington post" poll released friday said 57% of americans surveyed have a negative view of palin and don't think she's able to understand complex issues. her ratings are significantly better among republicans. this just in, we're getting reports as many as seven people have been killed in a traffic accident? west chester county, new york. associated press reports a van going the wrong way on a state parkway struck another vehicle. a third car was also involved in this wreck. ap says the dead include three children who were in the van as well as the van's driver. harvard professor henry lewis gates is ready to move on from lts controversy surrounding his arrest. the african-american scholar was

arrested at his home in cambridge, massachusetts, by a police officer responding to a burglary report. there was no burglary, though. in a statement, gates said it's time to move on and to assess what we can learn from this experience. he echos president obama's comment that the arrest can be teaching moment. he's accepted an invitation to meet the officer at the white house with the president for a beer. a southwest airlines on its way to orlando was divert when smoke reported in the cabin. it happened this morning. a plane with 130 passengers and crew of five detoured to long island and landed safely. a southwest airlines spokesman says a flight attendant complained of having breathing trouble. no one else reported breathing problems, though. they were put on another plane and continued their flight later in the morning. police in atlanta say former boxing champion and u.s. olympian vernon forrest was killed during a possible robbery

last night. his girlfriend's young son was sitting in the car at the time. local media say it may have been an attempted carjacking. the 38, forres, was shot several times in the back. the child was unharmed. forres won 41 professional bouts. alberto contador won his second tour de france in five years. american former champ, lance armstrong, also has reason to celebrate. he finished his come bak race in third place. nicolas sarkozy was taken to the hospital today after feeling faint during a morning job, according to local media. associated press reports a french official says sarkozy actually passed out for a while but then regained consciousness. the president's a regular runner and cyclist. his last medical exams were called normal by french officials.

during his campaign, sarkozy pushed for more transparency of presidential health bulletins. several previous french leaders concealed problems from the public. however, when he made a brief hospital stay in 2007, it was concealed for three months. the chairman of the senate budget committee warns health care reform can't pass the upper house of congress without republican vote. north dakota's kent conrad tells abc's "this week," a democrats-only plan is not possible and desirable. so far senate republicans are united in opposing any health care reform proposal from democrats. the house is a different matter though as nancy pelosi made clear on cnn's "state of the union." >> are you worried your family is coming apart on this and may not have the votes on the floor? >> absolutely positively not. when i take the bill to the floor, it will win. we will move forward.

this will happen. americans, again, with pre-existing medical conditions are concerned about losing their jobs or changing their jobs or what the health care that is available for their children and their families with the big dose of prevention and the rest can take heart and comfort in knowing this bill will pass. >> committees are working on their own versions of health care reform both aimed to expand coverage to all americans without adding to the deficit. something president obama has pledged as well. the white house says when it comes to figuring out what the final version of reform bill will have, they're 80% there but a final bill will require bipartisan support and the senate minority leader says the only thing bipartisan about the measure so far is the opposition to it. >> i can pretty safely say there aren't any senate republicans who think a government plan is a good idea. we have 1,300 health insurance companies now robust competition

among them. we know if we create a government plan, there won't be any more private health insurance companies and there won't be any competition. i don't know a single member of my conference in the senate, not one, who doesn't want to pass health care reform. right. this is a huge, huge issue. it e%s 16% of our economy. >> vice president joe biden says the administration is on track in battling the recession. in "the new york times," biden says, quoting here, clearly we're closing to recovery today than in january. recover act has been critical to that progress. the vice president goes on to write critics are wrong to suggest the $787 billion stimulus package is going to pet programs. he says the largest amount, more than a third, is in tax cuts. some of what the vice president said in an interview with "the wall street journal" is raising

eyebrows. biden was asked about russia. he said, they have a shrinking population base. they have a withering economy. they have a banking sector and structure that is not likely to be able to withstand the next 15 years. they're in a situation where the world is changing before them and clinging to something in the past that is not sustainable. "the new york times" reports an adviser to russia's president said biden's comments were perplexing to relations between russia and u.s. have improved since president obama took office. he says, quote, if some members of obama's team and government don't like this atmosphere, why don't they say so? the melbourne international film festival has become the target of hackers with an agenda. the australian festival is screening "the ten conditions of love." it profiles an exile member of the uighurs. hackers are hacking into the website.

demand they apologize to the chinese people for showing that film. the attack was tracked to shanghai. the online attacks appear to be part of a campaign to suppress the film. a wisconsin man saw his young daughter's illeness as a test of his faith. he could serve jail time for her death.

a break in the shooting death of a u.s. border patrol agent. mexican police arrested four people. the suspects are part of an immigrant smuggling ring. they won't say what evidence they have against them. police do say one of the suspects told them a man arrested friday was actually the shooter. agent robert rosas was killed on thursday while investigating a report of an illegal boarding cross near san diego. u.s. investigators say some of his attracters may have been injured in the shooting. they asked u.s. and mexican hospitals to report people with suspicious injuries.

a vote on supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor could take place on tuesday. senior republican senator on the judiciary committee says he's made up his mind how to vote. jeff sessions of alabama won't publicly say how he's going to vote. yesterday he told a crowd at a gop fund-raiser he's troubled by sotomayor's responses at her recent confirmation hearings. with a democratic majority in the senate, it's virtually guaranteed that president obama's nominee will be confirmed. the trial resumes tomorrow in the case of a man charge with homicide in the death of his sick daughter by praying for her and not seeking medical help. prosecutors told a wisconsin jury that dale newman saw his daughter's illness as a charge of his faith. she died of undiagnosed diabetes. his lawyers insist the man had no idea his daughter had the disease and strongly believed his prayers would help her.

the girl's mother has been convicted of reckless homicide. a domestic partnership law was supposed to take effect today in washington state, but now it's on hold. people who opposed the law are trying to force officials to allow the public to vote on it. yesterday they turned the signature to force the issue. the domestic partnership won't take effect until the signatures are counted. that could take up to a month. a look at your forecast across the nation. two big weather stories we're following today. one is the chance of severe weather, the second is unusually warm temperatures in parts of the nation. first and foremost, let's tackle the chance of severe weather. we can see it in two key spots. one in parts of the northeast including new york, perhaps even philadelphia, even maine before the day is out and as well as new hampshire and vermont. we could see a chance of severe storms in the portions of the south, mid-mississippi valley and tennessee valley and then of

course we've got very hot weather in tap for parts of texas and the part of the pacific northwest. pretty unusual to see in the pacific northwest this time of year. excessive heat warnings will be in effect through wednesday for places, portland, even long view before the day is out. or highs could reach the 90s. but all the way through wednesday, possibly exceeding the triple digits. for the rest of the nation, still hot in parts of texas and of course the four corners. dallas going into 96, houston with 96 degrees. 109 in phoenix, 103 in las vegas. 69 for san francisco. 80 in chicago. 87 degrees in washington, d.c., and 90 in miami. that is a look at your forecast across the nation. i'm reynold wolf for "hln." a machine for removing carbon dioxide from the international space station has been fixed. for now. the device shut down yesterday with a record 13 people aboard the linked station and shuttle "endeavour." nasa says even if the system isn't fixed soon, "endeavour" can stay linked until tuesday's scheduled undocking.

astronauts will perform a fifth and final space walk tomorrow. a law school graduate is going to work just so that they can take her bar exam. the test is tuesday, so time's running out for sarah granda. california state bar refused to seat granda because her registration fee was sent by check instead of credit card. she's on disability and it was the state that sent the check. a deputy executive director says it's the student's responsibility to maneuver the high-tech process and the bar isn't in the business of makes exceptions to the rules. >> they said that there was no grievance or appeal process because they can't take new applica applicants. but i started my application in november. >> tomorrow, her lawyer plans to ask the state supreme court to order the bar to test granda and she has governor arnold schwarzenegger's support. he released a statement noting that granda, who was paralyzed in a car accident, has already overcome a lot. he said, quote, government should work for the people, not against them. i'm calling on the state bar to

allow sara granda to take next week's test. he went on to say, quote, sara is a fighter and i'm with her all the way. these people look like they're having fun, but this is also a serious competition here. it's arkansas' annual cardboard boat race. 34 boats competed for trophies and bragging rights yesterday. among other things, they fought for best design and best sinking title. the biggest party of the year in cuba. why aren't these people smiling? ♪ guinea pig special agents work their own spell over harry potter. g-force bunked harry potter and the half blood prince out of the top spot. the harry potter movie was a close second, down 61% from last week. romantic comedy, "the ugly

truth," debuted at number three.

this is the biggest holiday of the year in cuba. the celebrations are less than festive. the global economic crisis is casting a long shadow over cuba's revelation day this year. the holiday commemorates a 1953 attack by fidel castro's rebels on the army of the previous regime. the raid was a disaster for castro, but it has become a landmark in the history of his revolution. castro's brother, raul, claims

there are tougher economic times ahead. he says cubans should blame themselves and not the u.s. embargo because they haven't embraced economic reforms. the deposed president of honduras is setting up camp on the border and demanding he be reinstated. manuel zelaya and hundreds of his supporters are rallying in a town just across the border in nicaragua. he's sitting there through the weekend in order to pressure the interim honduran government. zelaya was ousted by the army a month ago. he's calling on the united states to impose harsher sanctions on those who deposed him. >> what do we want? >> peace! >> when do we want it? >> no! >> people around the world held rallies against iran's government yesterday. they called on the government to release hundreds of people arrested after last month's presidential elections. in washington, d.c., there were rallies near the capitol and the white house. in new york, protesters marched from times square to the u.n. the protesters want the u.n. and western governments to do more

about reported human rights abuses in iran. >> the basij militia have been raiding people's homes, dragging them out at night. we know that people are being denied access to even lawyers, who are being chased away from representing people. we know that in custody, people are facing beatings to try to force out confessions of error or confessions of loyalty to the regime. >> these are pictures of demonstrations here in paris. in iran, thousands of people protested the result of the presidential elections and security forces cracked down on them. iran says only protest organizers are still behind bars. iran's military chief says his country will strike back if israel hits iranian nuclear facilities like this one. yesterday, the leader of iran's revolutionary guard warned iran could stage a counterattack against israel's nuclear facilities. israel believes iran's nuclear program is a considerable threat. israel's prime minister has said in the past, his country reserves the right to defend

itself. britain's last surviving veteran of world war i has died. a british nursing home says harry patch passed away quietly yesterday at the age of 111. patch didn't speak of his experiences until much later on in his life, and then he said the human cost of the war was not worth it. france and germany have no surviving veterans from that war. the last-known u.s. veteran, frank buckles, is 108 years old. tonight on hln, a special edition of "showbiz tonight." the life of michael jackson. remarkable untold stories about michael of his early years of stardom and his tragic death. michael jackson's incredible life and legacy. 11:00 p.m. eastern and pacific. are you overpaying on rent? now you can find out for sure if you are. hln money expert, clark howard, shows you how. >> i'm a landlord and i can't believe i'm going to spill the

beans on this. but 1/3 of americans rent. and there's a website called rent o meter. what a neat idea. is it 100% accurate? no. but this thing will really give and you good indicator. here's what do you. you put in where you're renting, what kind of place you're representing, what rent you're paying. and then rent o meter will let you know are you paying at market, above market, or below market? you find out that you're paying currently way above market, listen to what it will do. it will pinpoint other properties available for rent near you and what rents they're available at. now, one of the things about renting right now, there's so many vacant apartment and condos for rent. if you just sit tight and don't go out and shop the marketplace when your lease is coming up for renewal, you're crazy. take advantage of the marketplace and go shop and save, save, save.

i'm clark horde. for more money and saving tips, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. and for a whole lot more money saving advice, don't miss clark's show at 4:00 this afternoon right here on "hln." there's a way to look for a new home without spending all day in your car driving from one open house to another.

nowhere does quick access to care mean so much. from tri auj to life-saving medevacs, medical practices born on the battle field continue to shape emergency trauma care at home. beyond the comfort zone and in the labs of researchers, a new wave of military medical advancement have the potential to once again change health care. >> i'm confident this will be used in the military and hopefully in physicians' offices and hospitals around the world. >> military, medical technology. in this edition of "vital signs." hello, welcome to "viting signs," a global look at health that knows no boundaries. i'm dr. sanjay gupta, cnn's

chief medical correspondent and practicing neurosurgeon. when you think of military surgeon, you think turn kits over high-technolo technology. they're developing robots that will help doctors treat troops around the world. they talk, they walk, they even take pictures. so as my and other doctors' jobs in jeopardy? let's find out. an explosion in iraq, combat medics are among the first to arrive. the clock is ticking, and they have less than happen hour to stabilize the wounded. doctors on the frontline know the challenges in emergency medicine. now they're using lessons on ground to advance medical technologies. we're here at the brooke medical center in the burn icu. i'm making rounds with an unusual rounding partner today. he makes rounds just like this

is an icu like this. we're going to get an idea of how this work. how is the patient doing? >> doing great today, sir. we're adjusting his fluids to match the increase. >> okay. what are settings right now? >> 400 -- 30% regular 15 -- >> dr. chung regularly sees patients via the wireless robot. he can portal inside a patient's room from just about anywhere. okay. so let's go live. we're here controlling this robot in santa barbara. we're here in texas. dr. chung does this all the time. could be controlling the robot in this hospital or anywhere around the world, right? >> anywhere around the world. >> the robot moves freely and pretty fast. with three motorized wheels. there are sensors around the torso that signal obstacles in the way.

and a high-quality camera allows the robot to move its head from side to side and record images from angles. there's a laptop and lets the doctor zooms in to check the patient's pupils, vital signs and examine their brain scans remotely. >> i had ha situation in iraq and i was the only neurosurgeon out there, didn't have nurses, they asked me to take off my journalist cap and put on my surgeon cap and perform operation. >> say the general surgeon had never done that particular procedure you performed, theoretically, that person as quickly as they're able to pick up the phone, call somebody, have them log into a robot that's prepositioned at that location -- >> let me take a look at the vent real quick, again. >> a surgeon could talk someone through an operation as if they were doing it themselves in real time. >> make an incision like this behind her hairline.

something like this. >> right. they would see that on the robot. >> drill a hole here and do a crane yotmy, something like this. >> that's pretty -- >> that's a powerful component to this technology. so it's particularly useful in that kind of situation when you're doing surgery or any type of procedure. >> chung used the robot while deployed in baghdad to fetch updates on critically injured soldiers who treated and returned to the united states. like a big morale booster. >> it was. to see the patient in a bed with stable vital signs half way around the world, that did wonders to see that for the staff. >> the patient was in baghdad, two days later you're looking at that patient on a robot in the hospital in the united states. remarkable. this technology isn't quite ready for primetime yet. here's the problem that happens sometimes. i think we may have just lost wireless -- >> hit a dead spot.

>> hit a dead spot in the highway which happens sometimes. they just went into stand by mode. that's going to be a limitation of a robot like this even within a big hospital. dr. chung? hello? chung says despite the occasional hiccup in technology, he has successfully treated over 200 patients thanks to the robot. based on what you know, are we going to see robots everywhere within ten years? in hospitals like this? >> i think this type of technology is highly valuable and at some point you're going to see, you know, as we try to stretch our expertise, our assets, to different places around the country, this type of technology will help you with that. >> scientists hope these critters will steal their secret. how is the salamander able to

regenerate their body parts? the u.s. department of defence granted $6 million team hoping to tap into this regeneration. sal manders can grow tissues, allowing them to recreate a complete structure like a limb. here's the way at which an amputated limb grows over the course of 90 days in a salamander. an animated simulation of what's going on inside the body. here's a salamander with a completely new limb. looks perfect. it has inside bone, it has nerves, muscle, can even wiggle. if the limb is severed, it grows back. we see the wound healing. now a look at what the salamander can do that we cannot do. cells are streaming into the area of the room forming what we call a blast ma, a group of cells that are like stem cells. they're multicolored because they come from skin, muscle,

even from cartilage. they have a miraculous memory of what they used to be and are able to form a perfectly functional limb. researchers hope mapping the salamander genome allows them to view which genes undergo the repair process. the goal is to one guy gain the ability to emulate this process for human burn victims and amputees. sonar, universal naval technology on board ships and subs detecting enemy vessels, capable of picking up the smallest of mines in the largest of oceans. in a few months, another use researchers hope will become just as universal. breast cancer detection. using software developed by the u.s. nave to enhance images of undersea mines, aie has translated to the imagery to improve photographs of dense tissue in mammograms.

hopes it will improve other devices like ultrasound and mri. soon to be 68,000 troops in afghanistan combat ready, that's the job of the highly-trained military doctors. rebuilding the health care system decimated from conflict, that's going to take much, much more.

these images are from kabul, afghanistan. it's a place where the average life expectancy is only 43 years. a location where health is continually crippled by conflict. 70% of the medical services come from the outside. u.s. military, countless aid organizations, still the statistics are shocking. according to the united nations development program, more than 13% of babies die shortly after birth. 26% of children die before reaching the age of 5. the maternal mortality rate is one of the highest in the world. in the search for the basic human right of health care, we find a story of strength and hope in a land that desperately

needs it. >> reporter: a massive chemical fire erupted in the center of a bazaar we believe had been controlled by the taliban. >> the war in afghanistan may no longer be forgotten. but the true victims always are. women and children continue to pay the ultimate price after decades of conflict, simply because their lives are considered not precious enough to save. afghanistan is a country where ignorance and misguided cultural pride often prevent men from allowing women to see a doctor because the doctor may be a man. a woman dies every 29 minutes due to childbirth complications in afghanistan. that's the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world. newborns also pay the ultimate price, 20% of them dying because of the lack of health care and medical facilities in their cities and villages.

this is the midwifery training center in kabul, where role-playing gives these future mid-wives a glimpse into what to expect. dying. midwifes step-by-step attempt to save the baby's life. but in the end, reality takes over when the baby dies. and the women have to cope with the loss. although they were just acting, this scene is played out in real life all too often in hospitals and homes throughout afghanistan. it's very heartbreaking, she tells me. today, she plays the mother. when her training is over, she'll play the care giver in real life. the reason she wants to be a midwife is to offer something new to afghan women after years of war, depression, and isolation.

the women here come from various places and are of varying age. they are learning skills that will help other women. sympathy for women in afghanistan is the biggest motivator shared among the students here because they know what it's like to big noered and forgotten. these women are in their second semester of training and have two more to go. some days are spent in the classroom, others in the

hospital with real patients. they do things like inserting i.v.s and checking blood pressure. all the while, reassuring the scared mothers. even at this privately funded hospital in kabul, these women work with just the basics. right now they are counting the heart beat of the baby. they're using my watch because every is very bare bones here. there aren't very many machines. there's one i.v. they don't have an ultrasound machine. these women are trying their best to make sure this woman has a healthy delivery. see the rudimentary clinic they have here, this is a hospital, they don't have enough equipment for these mothers, for those children. this is why the mortality rate at birth from both mothers and children is so high in afghanistan. in many cases it's not just women who die due to childbirth-related issues. it's young girls forced into marriage before they reach

puberty. their still forming bodies can't handle the intricacies of childbirth. it will take many years to change the aspects of mortality and male domination. these train to be midwifes in afghanistan, are taking the initial steps needed to bring forth change in hopes the next generation than fix the plus stakes of the last. for "vital signs," cnn, kabul, afghanistan. stunning story. i can tell you there's a lot more to it. so we asked atia to provide the stories behind the stories. find that on our website, cnn.com/vitalsigns. you're not going to want to miss her reporter's notebook. i'm dr. sanjay gupta. see you next time when our team heads to brazil. thanks so much for watching.

you're watching hln. i'm natasha curry. just after 7:00 p.m. eastern time today, sarah palin will be the ex-governor of alaska. she is officially passing the torch this evening to the lieutenant governor after her

surprise resignation announced just a few weeks ago. supporters gathered for a picnic sendoff yesterday in anchorage. he's been vague about her future plans. many suspect the resignation is to prepare white house run. but she may have an uphill climb, an abc/"washington post" poll released friday said 57% of americans surveyed have a negative view of palin, and don't think she's able to understand complex issues. but her ratings are significantly better among republicans. this just in, we're getting reports that eight people have been killed in a tragic traffic accident in westchester county, new york. law enforcement tells cnn it happened when a van going the there were no survivors. police in atlanta say former boxing champion and u.s..vernon forest was killed during a possible robbery last night.

his girlfriend was sitting in forrest's car at the time. local media say it may have been an attempted carjacking. the investigators say the 38-year-old man was shot several times in the back. forrest won 41-45 professional bouts and was expected to fight next saturday. spanish cyclist, alberto contador has worn the tour de france. american former champ, lance armstrong also has reason to celebrate, he finished his comeback race in third place. there's a way to look for a new home without spending all day in your car driving from one open house to another, just get on your bicycle. house-hunting takes a turn for the green on hln news and views. i'll clean the pool if you clean the windows.

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