all of a sudden the stuff is fell right in front of my van and i couldn't move, all the wires were on it and everything sparking and -- >> what a mess and some scary is moments. this is is what a storm left behind in the boston area. hear more for some is people who actually got stuck right in the middle of the storm. a lot of cracking down on protestors arrested after a disputed presidential vote. very serious charges. we'll have the details. the cash for clunkers program is supposed to last through the weekend but car dealers are being told to proceed with caution. is you're watching hln this

saturday so, glad you are. i'm susan hendricks. we'll have all of those stories in a moment but start this morning with health care reform. just before the house broke for august recess yesterday, its energy and commerce committee passed a comprehensive health care reform bill giving the government-run insurance option the ability to negotiate lower prices with the insurance industry. representatives are prepping for heavy campaigning for and against the bill while they're at home. democrats are deeply divided over this bill and its fate is uncertain in the senate where a vote was postponed until after the august recess. check out this huge mess, a storm left behind in massachusetts. it literally split trees in half yesterday. some of them crushing homes. power lines were knocked down and caused small fires in certain areas a. whole lot of people got caught right in the middle of it. >> i heard a lot of wind and, when we went outside, the trees were like crushed. >> the branches, everything

going like really fast, just flying off trees, breaking off. you look over, you go to the field over there and just all the trees split apart. >> it got pitch black all of a sudden and the rain came out of nowhere. i go upstairs to shut off my fans and stuff -- >> came quick some. drivers got trapped in their cars and imagine this, one person said they had to swerve to get out of the way of a huge tree that was coming at their car. about 100 iranians went on trial this morning for protesting after their presidential elections. that is from two iranian news agencies. the defendants were charged from everything from attacking military facilities to beating security forces. the defendants include key opposition leaders including a former vice president. hundreds of protestors were arrested when they accused the government of stealing the vote. last month's protest was the biggest challenge for iran jeez regime in 30 years. the house agreed to give the

cash for clunkers program another two billion dollars but the senate hasn't made a move yet. the white house is denying reports the program was suspended because money was running out quicker than expected. now, the program offers rebates for exchanging old gas guzzling cars for more efficient ones and supposed to last through the weekend. car dealers are being advised, though, not to close any more deals until the program's fate is determined. some good news for your stocks in this bad economy, the dow was up 17 points yesterday, closing at 9171, the highest level since november. overall, the market posted its best july numbers in two decades. president obama's critics are grading his performance for his first six months in office and so is his administration. dan lothian looks at the president's hits and misses. >> reporter: with the economy on

life support when mr. obama came into office six months ago, the administration is taking credit for bringing it back from the brink of disaster. >> we were in a position where we could have gone into a great depression. i think those fears have abated. >> reporter: one reason, they say, a $787 billion stimulus plan. >> this and other difficult but important steps that we've taken over the last six months have helped us put the brakes on the recession. >> reporter: but that stimulus plan which republicans thought was wasting taxpayer dollars is perhaps the biggest example of what hasn't happened so far. widescale bipartisanship. mr. obama vowed to change the way washington works. >> surely, there's got to be some is capacity for us to work together. >> reporter: but has had to fall back on his own party to get things done. >> he was not under the illusion that change was going to come to this town easily. >> reporter: the president has pulled back in iraq, fulfilling a campaign promise. troops are now fighting extremists in afghanistan. he's announced the closing of

the guantanamo bay detention facility but making that happen has been sticky as had his push for health care reform. some say if he fails could undermine his presidency. politico's mike allen says that's way overstated. >> the chance some health care bill is going to define his presidency is zero but at the moment he's way out on that limb and needs a win. >> reporter: if the white house is keeping track of wins and losses, some say image would be in the "w" column. >> he's made americans feel better about themselves and he delivered on his campaign promise of giving america a different face overseas. >> reporter: and to than point, the white house believes the president's speech in cairo had a major impact in the muslim world but they admit there's still a lot of work to be done. dan lott yaen, cnn, the white house. pretty powerful stuff. did you see and hear that? well, a florida man was videotaping an incoming storm thursday when that happened, a

bolt of lightning struck right next door. everyone was fine but if you can imagine, the guy taping it said it gave him a good scare. we've been talking about the wild weather in and around boston but is there a chance for more severe weather today? august 1st. that's the question we go to meteorologist reynolds wolf. hi, reynolds. >> there will be a chance of severe weather donl think in boston today but one of our two big weather stories, the chance of severe weather and unseasonably warm temperatures in parts of the pacific northwest starting with the rough weather first. parts of the central plains you'll see a frontal boundary extending from kansas city southward to oklahoma city to the east of amarillo at this hour. later into the day we can expect a chance of storms in places like st. louis perhaps memphis, even little rock, arkansas before all is said and done. of course, dallas, if you are flying into dallas you may have delays at love field and dfw. the other parts of the big weather story has to do with warm temperatures we've been dealing with especially in parts of the pacific northwest.

take a look at this map we have for you showing the issue with the jet stream, a trough in the eastern half of the country and circling in parts of the central plains back into the west. we have the high, dry conditions with the big ridge and high temperatures well above normal 89, the expected new seattle. 61 in san francisco. 94 in salt lake city, 78 in kansas city. 89 in atlanta. boston, new york, checking in with highs in the low to mid 80s. that is a look at your forecast across the nation. i'm reynolds wolf for hln. it may have seemed like a good idea, relaxing, refreshing but what do you do when you don't want it anymore? >> this is strong, very strong. you could park a truck on this. >> you can save a lot of cash, how one man is saving big on monthly bills putting his pool out of commission.

here is another way to save some cash, why not retire your pool, get rid of it as christopher sign from our affiliate shows us, one man is saving big on his water and electric bills now that he's turned his pool into a deck. >> we came from new york and we had to have a pool. >> reporter: but these days, len wright spends much of his time indoors instead of the water. >> we've been in it probably in 20 years, ten times. >> reporter: feeling the heat financially, he covered the pool and showed me his bills to prove it helped. this time last year, he used 4500 more gallons of water. his electric bill was around $181, most of it spent operating that pool pump. this year, his electric bill sank. >> it's about 10% less. >> reporter: not to mention the cost of chemicals, fighting the green pool effects of the monsoon. what len did is referred to as retiring a pool. >> this is the middle of my pool, what used to be my pool. >> reporter: covering it with a composite material decking.

>> this is strong, very strong. you could park a truck on this. >> reporter: it cost him about $6,000 to do this. >> just pick it up and lay it on there. watch this. >> reporter: there's the pool. >> what's left of it. >> reporter: but len's move isn't permanent. the space underneath could be used as storage and it's all reversible. >> for the next buyer who wants to buy this house, if he insists he needs a pool, i'll be prepared to take this out, replaster it for him and bring it back to the pool even with the economy dropping our business is is increasing. >> reporter: his company is doing this to pools across the valley for homeowners who no longer use their pools. >> we have a structural engineer licensed by the state has has designed all our components we use. >> reporter: and by design, rainwater does go into the pool but an automatic pump removes it. >> we use the existing lines through the skimmer -- >> reporter: covering the pool

takes about five days and the company says removing it takes one day. in scottsdale, christopher sign, abc-15 news. authorities in southern california are trying to figure out why more than 20 horses were poison the on purpose. apparently, they were given leaves from a highly toxic plant at a ranch in the san diego area. officials say they found the leaves in stalls when they got to work thursday morning but all of the horses are expected to survive. if you are thinking about scrapping those vacation plans to florida maybe because money is tight, you may want to hold off on that. hln money expert clark howard says the summer is full of bright deals in the sunshine state. >> okay. money's tight this summer. and people are responding, as you might expect. they're not taking vacations like they have in past summers. in fact, all across the state of florida, which is always been a

summertime playground for families, bookings are way down. listen to these stats from the orlando sentinel. in central florida, disney, the orlando area, the typical hotel in the last monthly reporting period filled slightly more than half of the rooms that were available on a typical night. that means heavy discounting and rooms widely available. that also means that the amusement parks have better and better deals. you go to the coast to go to the beaches, you are going to find great deals available on your accommodations. just about anything you want to do for a family vacation to florida this summer. so, you didn't think you could afford a trip? how about hotel rooms as low as $35 a night? i'm clark howard for more ways for you to save dough, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. you don't want to miss it. you can get much more advice from clark today at noon eastern. in this struggling economy, clark will help you save more,

spend less and avoid getting ripped off. the u.s. put men on the moon but soon won't be able to send anyone to space without help when the shuttle fleet retires. the u.s. will need other countries to send its astronauts to space. stay with hln.

. more photos being released

of the air force one flight over new york city, remember that? it caused quite a panic three months ago. the airports released these pictures of the incidents. they were put together in sort of a flip book way to show you what happened, hence the movement of the plane there. the photos show the boeing vc-25 making three passes by the statue of liberty accompanied by an f-16 fighter jet then making a steep bank not usually seen with passenger aircraft. that move may have contributed to the panic on the ground. the united states has been sending astronauts, as you know, to space since the 1960s. but that is about to come to an end, at least for a for you years. the u.s. won't be able to launch astronauts to space on its own. brian todd explains why. >> reporter: a flawless landing for the space shuttle "endeavour."

but, only seven more shuttle flights are slated before the fleet is retired. and nasa scientists say the next generation of manned space flight is still years away. >> so, i think we got a good feel on the what. the question is the when. >> reporter: sally ride, america's first woman astronaut now on a presidential panel reviewing the future of manned space flight. this week ride said the program to replace the shuttle called "consist tell lation" likely two years late, its first launch at the earliest 2017. that would mean roughly six years with no american manned space program. >> for me, the biggest challenge is maintaining the capabilities that we need for the future during this gap. >> reporter: sally ride says the space shuttle program could be extended to cover part of that gap, but that means more risk. the program's had two deadly accidents out of 137 flights. nasa has contracts with the russians to take american astronauts to the space stalsts.

but, relying on another country for space travel, especially for a number of years, is politically unpopular. >> all of it has to do, at some level, with the sense that we are the leading nation of the world. and the united states should not have to rely upon another country, especially one that we defeated in the cold war, for space access for our astronauts. >> reporter: more popular with americans, nasa's plan to go back to the moon. those missions will come in that "consist stel lation" program replacing the shuttle. >> generally speaking the public is in favor of these things, they like this, they like space flight, they want to go back to the moon. they just don't want to spend a lot of money to do this. >> reporter: he says the way it's budgeted now manned flight to the moon about a decade away but he says that's with some shortcuts. he says realistically they may have to build two launch vehicles in the "constellation" program. one of them has had problems in the test, shaking violently at

lift-off and drifting into the launch tower. brian todd, cnn, washington. as u.s. troops are withdrawing from iraq, one man is staying behind. our cnn hero of the week is a civilian contractor trying to bring hope to hundreds of desperate children and their families. >> disabled children, they're really the forgotten ones in this war. they're in the back rooms, often not seen in society. i came to iraq as a civilian contractor. there were a lot of children that either dragged themselves on the ground or had to be carried. there were so many kids out there with a need and so many people willing to reach out and touch the lives of these kids. in 30 days, we had 31 pediatric wheelchairs that had hit ground. my name is brad vloster, i bring

bead trick wheelchairs to iraqi children in need. people donate on my website. the wheelchairs are brought over and i distribute them to the different military units and help get these children into wheelchairs. the experience for me in the first distribution was awesome, to see the smile come across their face and look over at mothers and fathers, they've definitely been changed. >> it's all about humanity. he wanted iraqis to feel humanity in america. what makes us happy to see such a thing. >> there's no paycheck. it's not really safe here. but, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity knowing that you've done something for someone that nobody else has done before and made a difference in the life of these families. definitely the sacrifice has been worth it. >> if you know someone like brad who should be a cnn hero, just go to our website and let us know. tell us about them. that's cnn.com/heroes.

you can see exclusive footage and updates on facebook. just go to: a tough one here, how do you help kids who have lost someone really close to them? well, one major league baseball player is sending grieving kids to a special camp and he has big plans to help even more kids in the future. >> hi there, i'm robin meade. we salute the troops every weekday on "morning express with robin meade" and on the weekends. you've heard of celebrating christmas in july our salute today from a woman planning for it but for another reason. >> good morning, robin. my name is taylor and i wanted to salute my boyfriend steven, christopher chad henderson. he's been on tour since may and he's currently in somalia. but, i won't be home until christmas. and i wanted to let him know that we miss him and love him

and to tell the other sailors on the ngo that we support you and to come home soon. >> thank you so much. if you have somebody in the service, go to cnn.com/robin and watch for the salutes every morning on "morning express with robin meade" from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. eastern. all of a

just fell right in front of my van and i couldn't move. all the wires were on it and everything's sparking and -- >> what a mess and some scary moments, this is what a storm left behind in the boston area. hear more from some people who actually got stuck right in the middle of this storm. iran is cracking down on protestors arrested after a presidential vote. very serious charges. we'll have the details. the cash for clunkers program is supposed to last through the weekend but car dealers are being told to proceed with caution. you're watching hln on this saturday, so glad you are.

i'm susan hendricks. we'll have all of those stories in a moment but start this saturday morning with health care reform. just before the house broke for august recess yesterday, its energy and commerce i can passed a comprehensive health care reform bill. representatives are prepping for heavy campaigning for and against the bill while they're at home. democrats are deeply divided over this bill and its fate is uncertain in the senate, where a vote was postponed until after the august recess. check out this huge mess a storm left behind in massachusetts. it literally split trees in half yesterday, some of them crushing homes. power lines were knocked down and caused small fires in certain areas. a whole lot of people got caught right in the middle of it. >> i heard a lot of wind and, when we went outside, the trees were like crushed. >> the branches, everything like

going like really fast just flying off trees, breaking off, you look over, you go to the field over there and just all the trees split apart. >> got pitch black all of a sudden and the rain came out of nowhere. i go upstairs to shut my fans off and stuff. >> came quick. some drivers got trapped in their cars and imagine this, one person said they to swerve to get out of the way of a huge tree that was coming at their car. about 100 iranians went on trial this morning for protesting after their presidential elections. that is from two iranian news agencies. the defendants were charged with everything from attacking military facilities to beating security forces. the defendants include some key opposition leaders, including a former vice president. hundreds of protestors were arrested when they accused the government of stealing the vote. last month's protest was the biggest challenge to iran's regime in 30 years. the house agreed to give the

cash for clunkers program another two billion dollars. but the senate hasn't made a move yet. the white house is denying reports the program was suspended because money was running out quicker than expected. now, the program offers rebates for exchanging old gas guzzling cars for more efficient ones. it is supposed to last through the weekend. car dealers are being advised, though, not to close any more deals until the program's fate is determined. some good news for your stocks in this bad economy. the dow was up 17 points yesterday, closing at 9171. that is the highest level since november. overall, the market posted its best july numbers in two decades. a border agent killed on duty was buried in california yesterday. members of the border patrol took part in the memorial service for robert rojas, shot nine days ago while patrolling

alone about 60 miles east of san diego. a relative said he had a lot of dreams for his children. >> he envisioned himself coaching our son in t-ball. he wanted to ascend in his job and hopefully our son would want to follow his footsteps and that he would so proudly pin him at his academy. we talked about how some day he would have to walk our daughter down the aisle and he would have to dance with her. we would laugh because dancing was not something he liked to do. >> mexico has arrested five people in connection with this case but the fbi hasn't publicly released any suspects. president obama's critics are grading his performance for his first six months in office and so is his administration. dan lothian looks at the president's hits and misses. >> reporter: with the economy on life support when mr. obama came into office six months ago, the administration is taking credit for brinking it back from the

brink of disaster. >> we were in a position where we could have gone into a great depression. i think those fears have abated. >> reporter: one reason, they say, a $787 billion stimulus plan. >> this and other difficult but important steps that we've taken over the last six months have helped us put the brakes on the recession. >> reporter: but, that stimulus plan which republicans thought was wasting taxpayer dollars is, perhaps, the biggest example of what hasn't happened so far. widescale bipartisanship. mr. obama vowed to change the way washington works. >> surely, there's got to be some capacity for us to work together. >> reporter: but has to fall back on his own party to get things done. >> he was not under the illusion that change was going to come to this town easily. >> reporter: the president has pulled back in iraq, fulfilling a campaign promise. troops are now fighting extremists in afghanistan. he's announced the closing of the guantanamo bay detention facility but making that happen has been sticky. as is mr. obama's push for

health care reform, which some say if he fails could undermine his presidency. politico's mike allen says that's way overstated. >> the chance that some health care bill is going to define his presidency is zero but, at the moment, he's way out on that limb and he needs a win. >> reporter: if the white house is keeping track of wins and losses, some say image would be in the idz with" column. >> he's made americans feel better about themselves and he delivered on his campaign promise of giving america a different face overseas. >> reporter: and to that point, the white house believes that the president's speech in cairo had a major impact in the muslim world but admit there's still a lot of work to be done. dan lothian, cnn, the white house. honda is re-calling an additional 440,000 cars because of a potentially deadly airbag defect. the company is saying this affects some honda accords, civics and accuras made in the early 2000s. the driver's side airbag can overpressurize and rupture and

actually throw pieces of metal around. honda says at least one person died, six others were injured because of this. if your car is affected, you will get a re-call notice in the mail. honda had a similar re-call back in november. pretty powerful stuff. did you see and hear that? well, a florida man was videotaping an incoming store thursday when that happened, a bolt of lightning struck right next door. everyone was fine but as you can imagine the guy that taping it, it gave him a good scare. we've talked about the wild weather in and around boston but is there a chance for more severe weather today? august 1st. that's the question. we go to meteorologist reynolds wolf. hi, reynolds. >> hi, susan. a chance of severe weather i don't think in boston today but one of our two big weather stories, the chance of severe weather and unseasonably warm in the pacific northwest. as we take a look at parts of

the central plains, you'll see a bit of a frontal boundary extending from kansas city southward to oklahoma city and to the east of amarillo, at this hour. later into the day we expect a chance of storms in places like st. louis, perhaps memphis, even little rock, arkansas before all is said and done. of course, dallas, if you are flying into dallas you may have some delays at love field and dfw. the other big part of the weather store has to do with warm temperatures we've been dealing with especially in the pacific northwest. in fact take a look at this map we have for you here showing the issue we have with the jet stream, a bit of a trough in the eastern half of the country circling in parts of the central plains and back into the west. we have the high and dry conditions with the big ridge and high temperatures well above normal. 89 expected new seattle, 61 in san francisco, 94 in salt lake city, 78 in kansas city. 89 in atlanta. boston, new york checking in with nice the low to mid 80s. that's a look at your forecast across the nation. i'm reynolds wolf for hln. getting a pool may have seemed like a good idea,

relaxing, refreshing, but what do you do when you don't want it anymore? >> this is strong, very strong. you could park a truck on this. >> and you can save a lot of cash, how one man is saving big on his monthly bills by putting his pool out of commission.

the pool that one arizona couple was so excited to get 20 years ago, it has now been covered up and turned into a deck. since len wright and his wife decided to retire their pool, they have saved on their electric bill and used, get this, 4500 less gallons of water since last july. wright says whoever moves into the house next still has the option of bringing the pool back. >> for the next buyer who wants to buy this house, if he insists he needs a pool, i'll be

prepared to take this out and replaster it for him and bring it back to a pool. >> but it was pretty pricey. the cost the wrights spent, $6,000 to retire it. the space underneath can be used for storage, but the wrights chose to keep it empty. authorities in southern california are trying to figure out why more than 20 horses were poisoned on purpose. apparently they were given leaves from a highly tox zik oleander plant at a ranch in the san diego area. officials say employees found the leaves in stalls when they got to work thursday morning. but, all of the horses are expected to survive. hope you are doing well this saturday morning. almost a year after his record-setting performance in the olympics flying in the water, more domination at the world championships in rome. phelps and his american teammates set a new record in the four by two00 fullystril relays, his third gold in the competition and goes for another

tonight. another weird test in this death, his body was exhumed at the family request. they want a new autopsy after brazilian officials ruled it a suicide and let hitfy his wife out of jail. she had been the prime suspect. remember this, skate boarder jake brown in a 46-foot freefall. hit so hard his slews blasted from his feet. now, fast forward. this time, brown was awesome. his run included a backside olly, 360, no handed and backside 540. if that sounds like i'm talking in a foreign language, trust me brown shredded. winning his first x-games gold and fortunately no one needed an ambulance this time. on your marks, get set, go, the president versus the perogis. the running joke teddy roosevelt never wins. they made sure. a huge boetd check, no respect

for our 26th president. that's hln sports. the u.s. put man on the moon, but soon it won't be able to send anyone to space without some help when the shuttle fleet retires, the u.s. will need other countries to send its astronauts to space. stay with hln.

more photos being released of the air force one flight over new york city, remember that? it caused quite a panic three months ago. well, the air force released these pictures of the incident in a flip book way to show you what happened, hence the movement of the plane there. the photos show the boeing vc-25 making three passes by the statue of liberty accompanied by an f-16 fighter jet then making a steep bank not usually seen with passenger aircraft. that move may have contributed to the panic on the ground. the united states has been sending astronauts, as you know, to space since the 1960s. but that is about to come to an end, at least for a few years. the u.s. won't be able to launch astronauts to space on its own. brian todd explains why.

>> reporter: a flawless landing for the space shuttle "endeavour." but, only seven more shuttle flights are slated before the fleet is retired. and nasa scientists say the next generation of manned space flight is still years away. >> i think we've got a good feel on the what. the question is the when. >> reporter: sally ride, america's first woman astronaut, is now on a presidential panel reviewing the future of manned space flight. this week, ride said the program to replace the shuttle called "constellation" is likely to be two years later. its first launch coming at the earliest in 2017. that would mean roughly six years with no american manned space program. >> for me, the biggest challenge is maintaining the capabilities that we need for the future during this gap. >> reporter: sally ride says the space shuttle program could be extended to cover part of that gap. but that means more risk. the program's had two deadly

accidents out of 137 flights. nasa has contracts with the russians to take american astronauts to the space station. but, relying on another country for space travel, especially for a number of years, is politically unpopular. >> all of it has to do, at some level, with the sense that we are the leading nation of the world and the united states should not have to rely upon another country, especially one that we defeated in the cold war, for space access for our astronauts. >> reporter: more popular with americans? nasa's plan to go back to the moon. those missions will come in that "constellation" program replacing the shuttle. >> generally speaking, the public is in favor of these things. they like this, they like space flight, they want to go back to the moon. they just don't want to spend a lot of money to do this. >> reporter: roger launius says the way budgeted now man's flight to the moon is about a decade away but says with shortcuts. he says realistically, they may

have to build twoo launch vehicles in the "constellation" program. one, the "aries 1" rocket has had problems in the test. brian todd, cnn, washington. building a home on a budget if you've tried you demo means making careful decisions in today's ecosolutions we're introduced to a family that found ways to be green and keep costs low. >> reporter: when they built their house, they planned every detail. environmental impact was a priority. but, money and time were limited. >> because both of us are working so we only have short time to be here in house and so it is very difficult to keep ecofriendly when it requires long time. >> reporter: so they opted for low-maintenance ways to be

green. faucets that use less water, double-paned in glass for better efficiency and solar panels. living in one of japan's big cities, one of the main challenges, how to deal with limited space. they found a way to deal with that challenge that's both ingenious and, well, green. the rooftop garden keeps the house cooler, meaning they use less air condition iing. >> and water brought up by the solar energy so that we can use it on the bath, in the kitchen. >> reporter: solar panels heat nearly all the water they need in summer, though they have to use a boiler in winter when there's less light. keiko says she would like to reduce carbon emissions to zero but had to balance that with other needs. what if cost were no object? pan sonic set up this model home to show latest ideas on eliminating carbon emissions.

inside, an energy management network reduces consumption. >> oxygen and hydrogen goes into the stack and reacts here to electricity. >> reporter: while fuel cells combine with solar power and batteries to provide what power is needed. it's an elegant vision of future. but in the present, they say building an ecofriendly house means making hard decisions. >> i have to decide which one to introduce and which one i cannot introduce it. i have to decide every time. >> reporter: she says the important thing is the house is not just ecofriendly but also comfortable and that's not easy to plan. morgan neil, cnn. for more on this innovative story and other important environmental news you're interested in head to our website cnn.com/ecosolutions. a tough one here, how do you help kids who have lost someone really close to them?

one major league baseball player is sending grieving kids to a special camp and he has big plans to help even more kids in the future. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

all of a sudden the stuff just fell right in front of my van and i couldn't move. all the wires were on it and everything sparking and -- >> what a mess and some scary moments. this is what a storm left behind in the boston area. hear more from some people who actually got stuck right in the middle of the storm. iran is cracking down on protestors arrested after a disputed presidential vote. some very serious charges. we'll have details. the cash for clunkers program is to last through the weekend but car dealers are told to proceed with caution. you're watching hln on this saturday, so glad you are.

i'm susan hendricks. we'll have all of those stories in just a moment but we start this saturday morning with health care reform. just before the house broke for august recess yesterday, its energy and commerce committee passed a comprehensive health care reform bill that gives the government-run public insurance option the ability to negotyalt lower prices with the insurance industry. representatives are prepping for heavy campaigning for and against the bill while they're at home. democrats are deeply divided over this bill and its fate is uncertain in the senate, where a vote was postponed until after the august recess. breaking news to tell you about this this morning, a terminal of new york's laguardia airport has been evacuated and the port authority tells us they took one man in custody. again, evacuated and one man is in custody. new york police, port authority and the bomb squad are investigating that person's bag. but, it's still not clear what prompted the search. the port authority says all of the central terminal is

evacuated. it is unclear when they will reopen it. we, of course, will find out that information and get it back to you. check out this huge mess, a storm left behind in massachusetts. it literally split trees in half yesterday. some of them crushing homes. power lines were knocked down and caused small fires in certain areas. a whole lot of people got caught right in the middle of it. >> i heard a lot of wind and, when we went outside, the trees were like crushed. >> the branches everything like going like really fast, just flying off trees, breaking off. you look over, you go to the field over there and just all the trees split apart. >> it got pitch black all of a sudden then the rain came out nof where. so, i go upstairs to shut my fans off and stuff -- >> it came quick. some drivers got trapped in their cars and imagine this, one person said they had to swerve to get out of the way of a huge tree that was coming at their car. about 100 iranians went on trial

this morning for protesting after their presidential elections. that is from two iranian news agencies. the defendants were charged with everything from attacking military facilities to beating security forces. the defendants include some key opposition leaders, including a former vice president. hundreds of protestors were arrested when they accuse the government of stealing the vote. last month's protest was the biggest challenge to iran's regime in 30 years. the house agreed to give the cash for clunkers program another two billion dollars. but the senate hasn't made a move yet. the white house is is denying reports that the program was suspended because money was running out quicker than expected. now, the program offers rebates for exchanging old gas guzzling cars for more efficient ones. it is supposed to last through the weekend. car dealers are being advised, though, not to close any more deals until the program's fate is determined. honda is re-calling an

additional 440,000 cars because of a potentially deadly airbag defect. the company is saying this affects some honda accords, civics and acuras made in the early 2000s. the driver's side airbag can overpressurize and rupture and actually throw pieces of metal around. honda says at least one person died, six others were injured because of this. if your car is affected, you will get a re-call notice in the mail. now, honda had a similar re-call back in november. some good news for your stocks in this bad economy. the dow was up 17 points yesterday, closing at 9171. that is the highest level since november. overall, the market posted its best july numbers in two decades. a border agent killed on duty was buried in california yesterday. members of the border patrol took part in the memorial service for robert rojas, shot

nine days ago while patrolling alone about 60 miles east of san diego. a relative said he had a lot of dreams for his children. >> he envisioned himself coaching our son in t-ball. he wanted to ascend in his job and hopefully our son would want to follow his footsteps and that he would so proudly pin him at his academy. we talked about how some day he would have to walk our daughter down the aisle and he would have to dance with her. we would laugh, because dancing was not something he liked to do. >> mexico has arrested five people in connection with this case, but the fbi hasn't publicly released any suspects. president obama's critics are grading his performance for his first six months in office and so is his administration. dan lothian looks at the president's hits and misses. >> reporter: with the economy on life support when mr. obama came

into office six months ago, the administration is taking credit for bringing it back from the brink of disaster. >> we were in a position where we could have gone into a great depression. i think those fears have abated. >> reporter: one reason, they say, a $787 billion stimulus plan. >> this and other difficult but important steps that we've taken over the last six months have helped us put the brakes on the recession. >> reporter: but, that stimulus plan, which republicans thought was wasting taxpayer dollars, is perhaps the biggest example of what hasn't happened so far, wide-scale bipartisanship. mr. obama vowed to change the way washington works. >> surely, there's got to be some capacity for us to work together. >> reporter: but has had to fall back on his own party to get things done. >> he was not under the illusion that change was going to come to this town easily. >> reporter: the president has pulled back in iraq, fulfilling a campaign promise. troops are now fighting extremists in afghanistan and announced the closing of the

guantanamo bay detention facility but making that happen is sticky as is his push for health care reform. some say if he fails could undermine his presidency. "politico's "mike allen says that's way overstated. >> the chance that some health care bill is going to define his presidency is zero but, at the moment, he's way out on that limb and he needs a win. >> reporter: if the white house is keeping track of wins and losses, some say image would be in the "w" column. >> he's made americans feel better about themselves and he delivered on his campaign promise of giving america a different face overseas. >> reporter: and to than point, the white house believes the president's speech in cairo had a major impact in the must world but they admit there's still a lot of work to be done. dan lothian, cnn, the white house. new word michael jackson was shopping around for a doctor to give him a powerful anesthetic. he asked hollywood doctor allen meth ger for diprivan, according to the doctor's attorney who says metzger refused to give it

to michael jackson. a source told cnn think another doctor, conrad murray, gave michael yak son the drug in the 24 hours before he died. a coroner's report on jackson's death has been postponed indefinitely. pretty powerful stuff d. you see and hear that? well, a florida man was videotaping an incoming storm thursday when that happened, a bolt of lightning struck right next door. everyone was fine but, as you can imagine, the guy who was taping it says it gave him a good scare. we've been talking about the wild weather in and around boston but is there a chance for more severe weather today? august 1st. that's the question. we go to meteorologist reynolds wolf. hi, reynolds. >> there will be a chance of severe weather don't think in boston today but that is one of our two big weather stories, the chance of severe weather and unseasonably warm temperatures in parts of the pacific

northwest starting with the rough weather first, parts of the central plains you will see a frontal boundary extending from kansas city southward to oklahoma city and east of amarillo at this hour. later into the day we expect the chance of storms in places like st. louis perhaps in memphis, even little rock, arkansas before all is said and done. of course, dallas, if you are flying into dallas you may have delays at love field and dfw. the other part of the big weather story has to do with warm temperatures we've dealt with especially in the pacific northwest. in fact take a look at this map for you here showing the issue with the jet stream, a trough in the eastern half of the country and circling in in parts of the central plains and back into the west. we have the high and dry conditions with the big ridge and high temperatures well above normal, 89 the expected new seattle, 61 in san francisco, 94 in salt lake city, 89 in atlanta. boston, new york checking in with highs in the low to mid 80s that. is a look at your forecast across the nation. i'm reynolds wolf for hln. >> getting a pool may have seemed like a good idea,

relaxing, refreshing, but what do you do when you don't want it anymore? >> this is strong, very strong. you could park a truck on this. >> you can save a lot of cash. how one man is saving big on his monthly bills by putting his pool out of commission.

the pool that one arizona couple was so excited to get 20 years ago, it has now been covered up and turned into a deck. since len wright and his wife decided to retire their pool, they have saved on their electric bill and used, get this, 4500 less gallons of water since last july. wright says whoever moves into the house next still has the option of bringing the pool back. >> the next buyer who wants to buy this house if he insists he needs a pool, i'll be prepared to take this out and replaster

it for him and bring it back to a pool. >> reporter: but it was pretty pricey. the cost the wrights spent, $6,000 to retire it. the space underneath can be used for storage but the wrights chose to keep it empty. authorities in southern california are trying to figure out why more than 20 horses were poisoned on purpose. apparently they were given leaves from a highly toxic oleander plants at a ranch in the san diego area. officials safe employees found the leaves in stalls when they got to work thursday morning. but, all of the horses are expected to survive. good morning. to see tiger woods at the top of the buick leaderboard after day one you had to turn your head like this, tied for 95th but you knew it wouldn't last long. by far his best round of the year. look at this tee shot, he started bishd drdie, birdie, ea birdie.

he chips in a nine under 6, 3 four strokes back now. he was 25 strokes better than john daly yesterday who shot an 88 and his koches worried he had lap band surgery on his stomach months ago and lost 80 pounds. x-game fans wanted to see him in the best trick finals. he said he would do the impossible but, ouch the back flip with a 360 spin did not work out well for wonderboy. he was so sore after this he didn't even make his second run. we showed you this video a couple days ago a chinese soccer player chasing and attacking a ref after he was booted from a game. now china's soccer association banned the player for life and his team won't be allowed to play in the national xip tournament this fall. great stuff last night in baseball but probably the best, this goes deep to center. jacoby ellsbury robs him of the home run and the sox won 6-5.

fishing, boating, history and relaxation, take your pick, it sounds good, doesn't it? you can find them all in one destination. islamorada in the florida keys to a great weekend get away. >> reporter: a unique destination in florida's upper keys. the waters around it are home to some of the world's most coveted sports fish. >> it's unusual because of our location every fish that actually swims in this hemisphere can be caught from these shores. >> reporter: guided boat tours of the indian key state historic site are a chance to catch a glimpse of the past. >> this is the last known resting place of the founder of indian key. >> indian key very interesting to visit. what's interesting there are old european ruins.

>> reporter: or rent a i could acor canoe and explore on your own. accommodations range from old florida style with budget-friendly prices. >> -- one of the destination resorts we call here in the keys. >> reporter: to secluded luxury. >> wanted to truly create the keys, the haydays of the keys and it's a great place.

more photos being released of the air force one flight over new york city. remember that? it caused quite a panic three months ago. well, the air force released these pictures of the incident put together in sort of a flip book way to show you what happened, hence the movement of the plane there. the photos show the boeing vc-25 making three passes by the statue of liberty accompanied by an f-16 fighter jet. then making a steep bank not usually seen with passenger aircraft. that move may have contributed to the panic on the ground. three american tourists are

believed to be in iranian custody from a security spokesman in the kurdish part of iraq. he says the americans went hiking in the mountains and may have mistakenly crossed the iranian border. the spokesman says the hikers told their friends in iraq they were surrounded by iranian troops before communication was cut off completely. the state department says they're investigating. hundreds of pounds of explosives and detonation cords were stolen from a storage facility in walla walla, washington. officials believe the theft happened sometime after july 23rd, that's what they know right now. it was discovered monday when washington state troopers were doing a routine inspection. photos of the items released in hopes someone will tip authorities. as u.s. troops are withdrawing from iraq, one man is staying behind. our cnn hero of the week is a civilian contractor trying to bring hope to hundreds of

desperate children and their families. >> disabled children, they're really the forgotten ones in this war. they're in the back rooms, often not seen in society. i came to iraq as a civilian contractor. there were a lot of children that either dragged themselves on the ground or had to be carried. there were so many kids out there with the need and so many people willing to reach out and touch the lives of these kids. in 30 days, we had 31 pediatric wheelchairs that had hit ground. my name is brad blauser. i bring pediatric wheelchairs to iraqi children in need. people donate on my website. the wheelchairs are brought over and i distribute them through the different military units and help fit these children into the wheelchairs. the experience for me in the first distribution was awesome to see the smile come across their face and look over at mothers and fathers, they've

definitely been changed. >> for us, it's all about humanity, he wanted iraqis to feel there is humanity in america. it makes us happy to see such a thing. >> there's no paycheck. it's not really safe here. but, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity knowing that you've done something for someone that nobody else has done before. and made a difference in the lives of these families. definitely, the sacrifice has been worth it. >> if you know someone like brad who should be a cnn hero, just go our-to-our website and let us xhoef. tell us about them. that's cnn.com/heroes. and now, you can ski exclusive heroes footage and get updates on facebook. just go to: a tough one here, how do you help kids who have lost someone really close to them? well, one major league baseball player is sending grieving kids to a special camp. and he has big plans to help

even more kids in the future. >>

we want to get you caught up on this, we have learned there are no flights going in or out of laguardia airport right now. the port authority says its central terminal was evacuated this morning, the central term mall. one man was taken into custody. port authority along with new york police and the bomb squad are searching that person's bag. the person that is in custody. it is still not clear what prompted that search. we, of course, will bring you more details as we get them into hln. about 100 iranians went on trial this morning for protesting after their presidential elections. that is from two iranian news

agencies. the defendants were charged with everything from attacking military facilities to beating security forces. the defendants include some key opposition leaders, including a former vice president. hundreds of protestors were arrested when they accused the government of stealing the vote. last month's protest was the biggest challenge to iran's regime in 30 years. check out this huge mess, a storm left behind in massachusetts. it literally split trees in half yesterday. some of them crushing homes. power lines were knocked down and caused small fires in certain areas. a whole lot of people got caught right in the middle of it. >> i heard a lot of wind and, when we went outside, the trees were like crushed. >> the branches, everything, like going like -- like really fast, just flying off twees, you know, breaking off. you look over, you go to the field over there and just all the trees split apart. >> it just got pitch black all of a sudden then the rain come

out of nowhere so i go upstairs to shut my fans off and stuff. >> yeah, it came quick. some drivers got trapped in their cars and imagine this, one person said they had to swerve to get out of the way of a huge tree that was coming at their car. the house agreed to give the cash for clunkers program another two billion dollars but the senate hasn't made a move yet. the white house is denying reports that the program was suspended because money was running out quicker than expected. now, the program offers rebates for exchanging old gas gus zelling cars for more efficient ones. it is supposed to last through the weekend. car dealers are being advised, though, not to close any more deals until the program's fate is determined. honda is re-calling an additional 440,000 cars because of a potentially deadly airbag defect. now, the company is saying this affects some honda accords, civics, and acuras made in the early 2000s. the driver's side airbag can

overpressurize and rupture and actually throw pieces of metal around. honda says at least one person died, six others were injured because of this. if your car is affected, you will get a re-call notice in the mail. honda had a similar re-call back in november. some good news for your stocks in this bad economy. the dow was up 17 points yesterday, closing at 9171. that is the highest level since november. overall, the market posted its best july numbers if two decades. a border agent killed on duty was buried in california yesterday. members of the border patrol took part in the memorial service for robert rojas. he was shot nine days ago while patrolling alone by 60 miles east of san diego. a relative said rojas had a lot of dreams for his children. >> he envisioned himself

coaching our son in t-ball. he wanted to ascend in his job and, hopefully, our son would want to follow his footsteps and that he would so proudly pin him at his academy. we talked about how someday he would have to walk our daughter down the aisle and he would have to dance with her. we would laugh, because dancing was not something he liked to do. >> mexico has arrested five people in connection with this case, but the fbi hasn't publicly released any suspects. we are getting new word that michael jackson was shopping around for a doctor to give him a powerful anesthetic. he asked hollywood doctor allen metzger to diprivan according to the doctor's attorney who says metzger refused to give it to him. investigators think another the doctor, conrad murray, gave him the drug in the 24 hours before he died. a coroner's inquest into his

death has been postponed indefinite jool before the house broke to recess yesterday a committee passed the comprehensive health care reform bill. some democrats who voted for that health care bill now have to sell it back home and, as dana bash reports, that may be a tough sell. >> reporter: after the last vote, the exodus, house members rushing home for the entire month of august and, if you're a vulnerable democrat, prepare for the political tsunami on health care. >> they are going to get the first shot, in the 30-second attack but the more people know, the more they like what we're doing and that's going to be good for us over the long term. >> reporter: this freshman democrat only won his conservative virginia district by two-tenths of one percentage point and is undecided about his party's health care plan and will use august with his constituents to decide. >> 18 counties, 18 towns -- road testing this. i haven't committed on the bill. >> reporter: democratic leaders

hope to defend democrats like him from withering attacks arming them with a media strategy from powerpoints to simple message ideas, hold insurance companies accountable, remove them from between you and your doctor. to get their message out democratic leaders suggest using town halls, twitter, facebook. this pennsylvania democrat rolls his eyes at those instructions. >> the house bill is, in my opinion, flawed. >>fy. >> reporter: he's a vulnerable democrat who voted against his party's health care plan in committee and says democratic leaders have put democrats like him from conservative districts in a tough spot by including controversial proposals in their health care plan, like a tax increase. >> go back to the district and explain to their constituents why they took the politically unpopular vote. it just was tone deaf to me. >> reporter: he insists he's not worried about the onslaught of ads, calls and protests that await him at home. >> at least it's encouraging debate. we didn't ram this through. we took the august recess to

allow the country's voice to be heard. >> reporter: talk to just about democratic lawmaker and they will tell they were elected to reform the health care schl and believe at the end of the day it will happen but the key is to regain the message back from the republicans in the words of one lawmaker explain what they are doing for you, not you to and very much treating this like a political campaign. in fact one democratic leader said they are determined not to get swift voted during recess. dana bash, cnn, capitol hill. pretty powerful stuff. did you see and hear that? well, a florida man was videotaping an incoming storm thursday when that happened. a bolt of lightning struck right next door. everyone was fine but, as you can imagine, the guy who was taping this says it gave him a good scare. we've talked about the wild weather in and around boston but is there a chance for more severe weather today? august 1st. that's the question. we go to meteorologist reynolds

wolf. >> there will be a chance of some severe weather, don't think in boston today but one of our two big weather stories the chance of severe weather and unseasonably warm in parts of the northwest starting with the rough weather first. as we take a look at parts of the central plains you will see a bit of a frontal boundary extending from kansas city southward to oklahoma city and east of amarillo at this hour. later on into the day we can sdpekt a companies of storms in places like st. louis perhaps memphis, even little rock, arkansas before all is said and done, of course, dallas, if you are flying into dallas you may have delays at love field and dfw. the other big part of the weather story has to deal with warm temperatures especially in the pacific northwest. take a look at this map here showing the jet stream, a trough in the eastern half of the country and circling in parts of the sfrl plains, back into the west, the high and dry conditionsed with the big ridge and high temperatures well above normal. 89 degrees the expected high for seattle, 61 in san francisco, 94 in salt lake city, 78 in kansas

city, 89 in atlanta. boston and new york checking in with highs in the low to mid 80s that. is a look at your forecast across the nation. i'm reynolds wolf for hln. getting a pool may have seemed like a good idea, relaxing, refreshing, but what do you do when you don't want it anymore? >> this is strong, very strong. you could park a truck on this. >> and you can save a lot of cash. how one man is saving big on his monthly bills by putting his pool out of commission.

here is another way to save some cash. why not retire your pool? get rid of it. as christopher sign from affiliate kmxv shows us one man is saving big on his water and electric bills now that he's turned his pool into a deck.

>> we came from new york and we had to have a pool. >> reporter: but these days len wright spends much of his time indoors instead of in the water. >> we've been in it probably, in 20 years, ten times. >> reporter: feeling the heat financially, he covered the pool and showed me his bills to prove it helped. this time last year, he used 4500 more gallons of water. his electric bill was around $181, most of it spent operating that pool pump. this year, his electric bill sank. >> about 10 percent less. >> reporter: not to mention, fighting the affects of the monsoon. what len did is referred to as retiring the pool. >> this is the middle of my pool, what used to be my pool. >> reporter: covering it with a composite material decking. >> this is strong, very strong, you could park a truck on this. >> reporter: it cost him about $6,000 to do this. >> pick it up and lay it on there. watch this. >> reporter: there's the pool. >> there's the pool, what's left

of it. >> reporter: but his move isn't permanent. the space underneath could be used as storage and it's all reversible. >> for the next buyer who buys this house if he insists he needs a pool, i'll be prepared to take this out and replaster it for him and bring it back to a pool. >> even with the economy dropping our business is increasing. >> reporter: his company, deckover, is doing to pools across the valley for homeowners who no longer use their pools. >> we have a structural engineer, licensed by the state, that has designed all of our components that we use. >> reporter: and by design, rainwater does go into the pool but an automatic pump removes it. >> we use the existing lines of the -- in through the skimmer and it pumps over to where the pump is. >> reporter: covering the pool takes about five days. the company says removing it takes just one day. authorities in southern california are trying to figure out why more than 20 horses were poisoned on purpose. apparently they were given

leaves from the highly toxic oleander plant at a ranch in the san diego area. officials say employees found the leaves in stalls when they got to work on thursday morning. but, all of the horses are expected to survive. everybody wants to save more and spend less, right? we have the money to help you. join clark howard at noon eastern he will show you ways to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off at noon eastern on hln. >> hope you are doing well this saturday morning. almost a year after his record-setting performance in the olympics se flying again in the water. more domination at the world championships in rome. phelps and american teammates set a new world record in the four by 200 freestyle relay. his third gold in the competition. he goes for another tonight in the 100 butterfly. another weird twist in the death of this boxing champ. his body was resumed.

they want a new autopsy after brazilian officials ruled his death a suicide and let his wife out of jail, she had been the prime suspect. remember this 46-foot freefall? he hit so hard the shoes blasted from his feet. he suffered a broken vertebrae, bruised lung and bleeding in his liver. now, fast forward, this time brown was awesome. his run included a backside olly, 360, no handed and backside 540. if that sounds like i'm talking in a foreign language, trust me brown shredd, in fact won the gold, his first x-game gold and fortunately no one needed an ambulance this time. on your marks, get set go, the version of perogis and the running joke with fans teddy roosevelt never wins. they made sure last night. a huge body check no. respect for our 26th president. that's hln sports. one family thought they were

getting their dream home in florida but it hasn't turned out that way. >> our dream was to live in a resort type of building and the oasis was going to be it. >> instead of living the dream they live alone in this, a 32-story building.

more photos are being released of that air force one flight over new york city, remember that? it caused quite a panic three months ago. well, the air force released these pictures of the incident. they were put together in sort of a flip book way to show you what happened, hence the movement of the plane there. the photos show the boeing vc-25 making three passes by the statue of liberty accompanied by an f-16 fighter jet. then making a steep bank not usually seen with passenger aircraft. that move may have contributed to the panic on the ground. three american tourists are believed to be in iranian custody, that is from security spokesmen in the kurdish part of iraq. now, he says the americans went hiking in the mountains and may have mistakenly crossed the iranian border. the spokesman also says the

hikers told their friends in iraq they were surrounded by iranian troops before communication was cut off completely. the state department says they're investigating. can you imagine having an entire condominium complex to yourself? it may sound great but one family says it's actually kind of dangerous and as christina ba bailey from our affiliate explains the family got the kind of condo they wanted but now want out. >> the new jersey fire captain and his wife dreamed of retiring in southwest florida and ultimately leaving this riverfront condo to their children. >> we sold a house up in new jersey and used that money as the down payment for this building. so, this is everything we got we put into this. >> reporter: but an oasis it is not. eight months after closing the family are the only ones who live in this 32-floor tower, a building they expected to become a bustling be community. instead, isolation. >> it's very eerie, like a scary

movement. >> reporter: saying health and safety hazards abound. this trash outside their door, a dark and hazards abound. >> this has been out of service. we had an intrusion june 29th. somebody came into the building somehow and were pounding on the door the room next to where my children are. >> they sell a lifestyle. and that lifestyle has kind of fizzled. >> reporter: their attorney is working to get them what they paid for or get them out. >> what we're looking for is to step up to the plate. >> reporter: i called a vp with the miami-based developers to voice the family's concerns. >> we have not discontinued the service or done anything that would make life uncomfortable for them. >> reporter: she told me the family could move to the second

tower while they try working out a transition with their lender to buy next door. after months of back and forth, the family wants to be settled or be free. is the related group willing to buy back their condo so it can be a clean break? >> at this point, one, we don't have a contractual obligation to do so. >> reporter: instead, they feel all they'll ever see here is a mirage. >> original plans for the complex called for five towers to be built. two towers are up and the rest of the project has been put on hold. hundreds of pounds of explosives and detnation cords were stolen from a facility in walla walla, washington. photos of the items have been

released in hopes that someone will tip authorities. more addicts these days are flocking to pharmacies for prescriptions for their pain fixes. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

then all of a sudden the stuff fell right in front of my van. i couldn't move. all the wires sparking. >> hear more from some people who actually got stuck right in the middle of the storm. iran is cracking down on protesters, arrested after a disputed presidential vote. it's accusing them of very serious charges. we'll have the details. and the cash for clunkers program is supposed to last through the weekend. car dealers are being told to proceed with caution.

you're watching hln on this sides. we begin with an update on that breaking news story. we are learned passengers are being let back into new york's laguardia airport after the central terminal was evacuated earlier this morning. officials are saying they have one person in custody and are searching the person's bag. we of course will bring you more details as we get them. we do know that people -- passengers, that is, are being allowed back into laguardia airport. a small victory for president obama in his goal of health care reform. just before the house broke for august recess yesterday, its energy and commerce committee passed a comprehensive health care bill. it gives the government the option the ability to negotiate lower prices with the insurance industry. representatives are prepping for heavy campaigning before and against the bill while at home perform democrats are deeply divided over the bill and its fate in the senate, where a vote

was postponed until after the august recess. check out this huge mess a storm left befind that massachusetts. it literally split trees in half yesterday, some of them crushing homes. power lines were knocked down and caused small fires in certain areas. a whole lot of people got caught right in the middle of it. >> i heard a lot of wind. when we went outside, the trees were like crushed. >> the branches, everything going like really fast, just flying off trees, breaking off. you look over, you go to the field over there and just all the trees split apart. >> it got pitch black all of a sudden and the rain came out of nowhere. i go upstairs to shut off my fans and stuff -- next thing you know trees down all over the place. >> it came quick. drivers got trapped in their cars and imagine this, one person said they had to swerve to get out of the way of a huge tree that was coming at their car. about 100 iranians went on trial this morning for protesting after their presidential elections.

that is from two iranian news agencies. the defendants were charged from everything from attacking military facilities to beating security forces. the defendants include key opposition leaders including a former vice president. hundreds of protestors were arrested when they accused the government of stealing the vote. last month's protest was the biggest challenge to iran's regime in 30 years. the house agreed to give the cash for clunkers program another two billion dollars but the senate hasn't made a move yet. the white house is denying reports the program was suspended because money was running out quicker than expected. now, the program offers rebates for exchanging old gas guzzling cars for more efficient ones and it is supposed to last through the weekend. car dealers are being advised, though, not to close any more deals until the program's fate is determined. honda is recalling an additional $440,000 because of a

potentially deadly air bag defect. the company is saying this affects some accords and civics the air bag can rupture and throw pieces of metal around. one person died and six others were injured because of this. if your car is affected, you will get a recall notice in the mail. honda had a similar recall back in november. some good news for your stocks in this bad economy, the dow was up 17 points yesterday, closing at 9171, the highest level since november. overall, the market posted its best july numbers in two decades. a border agent killed on duty was burieded in california yesterday. members of the border patrol took part in the memorial service for robert rosas, shot nine days ago while patrolling

alone, 60 miles east of san diego. a relative said rosas had a lot of dreams for his children. >> he envisioned himself coaching our son in t-ball. he wanted to ascend in his job and hopefully our son would want to follow his footsteps and that he would so proudly pin him at his academy. we talked about how someday he would have to walk our daughter down the aisle and he would have to dance with her. we would laugh because dancing was not something he liked to do. >> mexico has arrested five people in connection with this case, but the fbi hasn't publicly released any suspects. president obama's critics are grading his performance for his first six months in office and so is his administration. dan lothian looks at the president's hits and misses. >> reporter: with the economy on life support when mr. obama came into office six months ago, the administration is taking credit for bringing it back from the brink of disaster.

>> we were in a position where we could have gone into a great depression. i think those fears have abated. >> reporter: one reason, they say, a $787 billion stimulus plan. >> this and other difficult but important steps that we've taken over the last six months have helped us put the brakes on the recession. >> reporter: but that stimulus plan which republicans thought was wasting taxpayer dollars is perhaps the biggest example of what hasn't happened so far. widescale bipartisanship. mr. obama vowed to change the way washington works. >> surely, there's got to be some capacity for us to work telling the. >> reporter: but has had to fall back on his own party to get things done. >> he was not under the illusion that change was going to come to this town easily. >> reporter: the president has pulled back in iraq, fulfilling a campaign promise. troops are now fighting extremists in afghanistan. he's announced the closing of the guantanamo bay detention facility but making that happen

has been sticky as has mr. obama's push for health care reform. some say if he fails could undermine his presidency. politico's mike allen says that's way overstated. >> the chance some health care bill is going to define his presidency is zero but at the moment he's way out on that limb and needs a win. >> reporter: if the white house is keeping track of wins and losses, some say image would be in the "w" column. >> he's made americans feel better about themselves and he delivered on his campaign promise of giving america a different face overseas. >> reporter: to that point, the white house believes the president's speech in cairo had a major impact in the muslim world. but they admit there's still a lot of work to be done. >> we are getting new word that michael jackson was shopping around for a doctor to give him a powerful anesthetic. he asked hollywood doctor, allen

me metsker for the powerful drug, diprivan. he refused. they think another doctor, dr. conrad murray, gave him the drug 24 hours before he died. a coroner's inquest has been postponed indefinitely. pretty powerful stuff. did you see and hear that? well, a florida man was videotaping an incoming storm thursday when that happened, a bolt of lightning struck right next door. everyone was fine but if you can imagine, the guy taping it said it gave him a good scare. we've been talking about the wild weather in and around boston but is there a chance for more severe weather today? august 1st. that's the question. we go to meteorologist reynolds wolf. hi, reynolds. >> there will be a chance of severe weather. don't think it will be in boston today. as we look at the central plains, you'll see the frontal

boundary extending to oklahoma city and the east of amarillo at this hour. later on in the day, we can expect the chance of storms in st. louis and memphis and little rock, arkansas before all is said and done. of course, dallas, if you're flying in, you may have delays at love field and dfw. the other part of the big weather story has to do with the warm temperatures, especially in the pacific northwest. look at this map we have for you here showing you the issue that we have with the jet stream. the trough in the eastern half of the country and certainly in parts of the central plains and back out into the west. hot, dry conditions and that big ridge. 89 degrees the expected high for seattle. 61 in san francisco. 94 in salt lake city. 78 in kansas city. 89 in atlanta. boston and new york checking in with highs in the low to mid-80s. that is a look at your forecast across the nation. i'm reynolds wolf for hln. getting a pool may have seemed like a good idea. relaxing, refreshing. but what do you do when you don't want it anymore?

>> this is strong, very strong. you can park a truck on this. >> you can save a lot of cash. how far one man is saving big on his monthly bills by putting his pool out of commission.

the pool that one arizona couple was so excited to get 20 years ago has now been covered up and turned into a deck. since lin wright and his wife decideded to retire their pool they have saved on their electric bill and used 4,500 gallons less of water since last july. wright said whoever moves into the house next still has the option of bringing the pool back. >> for the next bigger, if he insists he needs a pool, i'll be prepared to take this out and replaster and bring back the pool. >> $6,000 to retire it. the space underneath to be used

for storage. but the wrights chose to keep it empty. >> good morning. i'm jeff fischel. you see tiger woods at the top of the buick alrealeaderboard, had to turn your head like this. tiger tore it up yesterday. look at this tee shot. birdie, birdie, eagle. woods said he putted horribly thursday. why not avoid the putter altogether? tied for fifth, four strokes better. 20 strokes better than john daly. his coach is worried. daly had lap band surgery and has lost 80 pounds. x games fans were waiting for this. they wanted to see travis pastrana in the finals. the back flip with the 360 spin did not work out well for wonder boy. he was so sore after this he

didn't make his second run. a chinese soccer playing chasing and attacking a ref. china's soccer association banned the player for life and his team won't be allowed to play in the national championship tournament in fall. great stuff last night in baseball. this was probably the best. the orioles' luke scott deep to center. red sox' jacoby ellsbury robs him of the home run. if you're thinking about scrapping those vacation plans to florida maybe because money is tight, you may want to hold off on that. hln money expert clark howard said the summer is full of bright deals in the sunshine state. >> okay. money is tight this summer. and people are responding, as you might expect. they're not taking vacations like they have in past summers.

in fact, all across the state of florida, which has always been a summertime play ground for families, bookings are way down. listen to these stats from the orlando sentinel, in central florida, disney and the orlando area, the typical hotel in the last monthly reporting period filled slightly more than half of the rooms that were available on a typical night. that means haeeavy discounting d rooms widely available. and the amusement parks have better deals. you go to the coast, you'll find great deals on accommodations. anything you want to do for a family vacation to florida this summer. so you didn't think you could afford a trip? how about hotel rooms as low as $35 a night? i'm clark howard for more ways for you to save dough. go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> you don't want to miss it.

you can get much more advice from clark today at noon eastern. in this struggling economy, can clark will help you save more, spend less and averified getting ripped off. the u.s. put men on the moon. soon it won't be able to send anyone to space without some help. the u.s. will need other countries to sends its astronauts to space.

more photos being released of the air force one flight over new york city, remember that? it caused quite a panic three months ago. the airports released these pictures of the incidents. they were put together in sort of a flip book way to show you what happened, hence the movement of the plane there. the photos show the boeing vc-25 making three passes by the statue of liberty accompanied by an f-16 fighter jet then making a steep bank not usually seen with passenger aircraft. that move may have contributed to the panic on the ground. three american tourists are believed to be in iranian custody. that is from security spokesman in the kurdish part of iraq. he said the americans went hiking in the mountains and may

have mistakenly crossed the iranian border. they said the hikers told friends in iraq they were surrounded by iranian troops, before communication was cut off completely. the state department said they're investigating. hundreds of pounds of explosives and detonation cords were stolen from a storage facility in walla walla, washington. officials believe the theft happened sometime after july 23rd. that's what they know right now. it was discovered on monday when washington state troopers were doing a routine inspection. photos of the items have been released in hopes someone will tip authorities. the united states has been sending astronauts, as you know, to space since the 1960s. but that is about to come to an end, at least for a few years. the u.s. won't be able to launch astronauts to space on its own. brian todd explains why. >> reporter: a flawless landing for the space shuttle "endeavour." but, only seven more shuttle flights are slated before the fleet is retired.

and nasa scientists say the next generation of manned space flight is still years away. >> so, i think we got a good feel on the what. the question is the when. >> reporter: sally ride, america's first woman astronaut now on a presidential panel reviewing the future of manned space flight. this week ride said the program to replace the shuttle called "constellation" is likely to be two years late, its first launch at the earlierest, 2017. that would mean roughly six years with no american manned space program. >> for me, the biggest challenge is maintaining the capabilities that we need for the future during this gap. >> reporter: sally ride says the space shuttle program could be extended to cover part of that gap, but that means more risk. the program's had two deadly accidents out of 137 flights. nasa has contracts with the russians to take american astronauts to the space station.

but, relying on another country for space travel, especially for a number of years, is politically unpopular. >> all of it has to do, at some level, with the sense that we are the leading nation of the world. and the united states should not have to rely upon another country, especially one that we defeated in the cold war, for space access for our astronauts. >> reporter: more popular with americans, nasa's plan to go back to the moon. those missions will come in that "constellation" program replacing the shuttle. >> generally speaking the public is in favor of these things, they like this, they like space flight, they want to go back to the moon. they just don't want to spend a lot of money to do this. >> reporter: he says the way it's budgeted now manned flight to the moon about a decade away but he says that's with some shortcuts. he says realistically they may have to build two launch vehicles in the "constellation" program. one of them has had problems in the test, shaking violently at lift-off and drifting into the launch tower. brian todd, cnn, washington.

here's a tough one here. how do you help kids who have lost someone really close to them? one major league baseball player is sending grieving kids to a special camp. he has big plans to help even more kids in the future. they said it would never last.

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the house is in recess for the month before representatives took their break yesterday, their energy and commerce committee passed a comprehensive health care reform bill. it calls for the government-run public insurance option to be reimbursed on rates determined by negotiations with the insurance industry. the philippines' first family leader has died. aqeino was 76-year-old. senate chris dodd has been diagnosed with colon cancer. he hopes to have surgery after

the senate breaks for a brief recess next week. president obama, vice president biden and senior officials are meeting to discuss the administration's progress over the last six months. several hours of meeting are set to take place at the blair house, across the street from the white house, today. the president is not expected to attend those meetings. he will be at camp david. you're watching hln on this saturday. we begin with an update on the breaking news story we've been telling you about. we want to get you caught up now. we have learned passengers are being allowed back into new york's laguardia airport right now after the airport's central terminal was evacuated earlier this morning. officials are saying they have one person in custody and are searching the person's bag. we of course will bring you more details as we get them. we do know that people -- passengers are being allowed back into laguardia airport. just before the house broke for august recess yesterday, its

energy and commerce committee passed a comprehensive health care reform bim. some of the democrats that voted for the health care bill now have to sell it back home. as dana bash reports, that could be a tough sale. >> reporter: house members rushing home for the entire month of august. and if you're a vulnerable democrat, prepared for the political tsunami on health care. >> they're going to get the first shot in, the 30-second attack. the more people know, the more they'll like what we're doing. >> reporter: this is a freshman democrat who only won his conservative virginia district by 0.2 of one percentage point. >> 18 counties, 18 meetings with elected officials and doctors and others road-testing this. i haven't committed on the bill. approximate. >> reporter: democrats are hoping to defend the bill by

arming them with powerpoints to simple message point idea. hold insurance companies responsible. remove them from between and you your doctor. democrats suggest using town halls and facebook. this pennsylvania democrat rolls his eyes at those instructions. he's a vulnerable democrat who voted against his party's health care plan in committee and said democratic leaders have put democrats like him from conservative districts in a tough spot by leading controversial proposals in their plan like a tax increase. >> go back to their districts and explain to their constituents why they took an unpopular vote. >> reporter: he insist he's not upset about the flood of calls and e-mails that await him at home. >> we took the august recess to allow the country's voice to be heard. >> reporter: talk to any democratic law enforcement and they'll tell you they were

elected on a call to reform the nation's health care system. the key is to regain the message back from republicans and explain what they're doing for you, not to you. they're treating this like a political campaign. one democratic leader said they're determined not to get swift-boat during recess. dana bash, cnn, clip. >> iranian protesters have been charged with everything from attacking military facilities to beating military officials. hundreds of protesters were arrested when they accused the government of stealing the vote. last month's protest was the biggest challenge to iran's regime in 30 years. check out this huge mess a storm left behind in

massachusetts. it literally split trees in half yesterday, some of them crushing homes. power lines were knocked down and caused small fires in certain areas. a lot of people got caught right in the middle of it. >> i heard a lot of wind. when i went outside, the trees were crushed. >> the branches, everything, going like really fast, just flying off trees. breaking off. you look over, you go to the field over there and just see the trees split apart. >> it got pitch black and the rain came out of nowhere. >> some drivers got stuck in their cars. one person said they had to swerve to get out of the way of a huge tree coming at their car. honda is recalling an additional 440,000 cars because of a potentially deadly air bag defect. the company is saying this effects some hondsa accords,

civic civics, saying the air bag can rupture and throw pieces of metal around. one person died and six people were injured because of this. honda had a similar recall back in november. the house agreed to give the cash for clunkers program another $2 billion, but the senate hasn't a move yet. the white house is denying reports the program was suspended because money was running out of money sooner than expected. the program is supposed to last through the weekend. car dealers are being advised not to close any more deals until the program's fate is determined. some good news for your stocks in this bad economy. the dow was up 17 points yesterday, closing at 9171. that is the highest level since

in which. overall, the market posted its best july numbers in two decades. a border agent killed on duty was buried in california yesterday. members of the border patrol took part in the memorial service for robert rosas. he was shot nine days ago, while patrolling alone about 60 miles east of san diego. a relative said rosas had a lot of dreams for his children. >> he envisioned himself coaching our son in t-ball. he wanted to ascend in his job and hopefully our son would want to follow his footsteps and that he would so proudly pin him at his academy. we talked about how someday he would have to walk our daughter down the aisle and he would have to dance with her. we would laugh because dancing was not something he liked to do. >> mexico has arrested five people in connection with this case, but the fbi hasn't publicly released any suspects. >> we are getting new word that

michael jackson was shopping around for a doctor to give him a powerful anesthetic. he asked hollywood doctor alan metsker for the drug known as diprivan, according to the doctor's attorney, who said he refused to give it to jackson. a source told cnn investigators think another doctor gave michael jackson the drug in the 24 hours before he died. a coroner's report on jackson's death has been postponed indefinitely. pretty powerful stuff. did you see and hear that? a florida man was videotaping an incoming storm in st. augustine beach thursday when that happened. a bolt of lightning struck right next door. everyone was fine, but as you can imagine, the guy who was taping it said it gave him a good scare. getting a pool may have seemed like a good idea. relaxing, refreshing. but what do you do when you don't want it anymore? >> this is strong, very strong.

you can park a truck on this. >> you can save a lot of cash. how one man is saving big on his monthly bills by putting his pool out of commission.

here is another way to save some cash. why not retire your pool? get rid of it. as our affiliate shows us, one man is saving big on his water and electric bills now that he's turned his pool into a deck. >> we came from new york and we had to have a pool. >> reporter: but these days, lynn spends much of his time indoors instead of in the water. >> we've been in it probably in 20 years, ten times. >> reporter: feeling the heat financially, he covered the pool

and showed me the bills. this time last year he used 4,500 more gallons of water. his electric bill, most of it spent operating that pool pump. this year his electric bill sank. >> it's 10% less. >> reporter: not to mention the cost of chemicals, facing the effects of the monsoon. >> this is the middle of what used to be my pool. >> reporter: covering it with a composite material decking. >> this is strong, very strong. you can park a truck on this. >> reporter: it cost him $6,000 to do this. >> pick it up and lay it over there. watch this. >> reporter: there's the pool. >> there's the pool. what's left of it. >> reporter: lynn's move isn't permanent. the space underneath could be used as storage and it's all reversible. >> for the next buyer who wants to buy this house, if he insists he needs a pool, i'll be prepared to take this out and replaster and bring it back to a

pool. this company, deckover, is doing this to pools across the value for homeowners who no longer use their pools. >> we'll have a structural engineer licensed by the state that has designed all of the components we use. >> reporter: by design, rainwater does go into the pool, but an automatic pump removes it. >> we use the existing lines in through the skimmer and it pumps right back over to where the pump is. >> reporter: covering the pool takes five days. removing it takes just one day. >> hope you're doing well this saturday morning. i'm jeff fischel. almost a year after michael phelps' record-setting performance in the olympics, more domination at the world championships in rome. he and teammates set a new record in the 4 x 1,200 replay.

another weird twist in the death of boxer miguel gatti. his, had been the prime suspect in his death. a 46-foot free fall. hit so hard the shoes blasted from his feet. he suffered a broken vertebrae and bleeding in the liver. this time, brown was awesome. he had a back side 5.40. trust me, brown shredded. he won the gold. his first x games' gold. and no one needed an blauns this time. it was the presidents versus the perogis, a huge body check.

no respect for the president. that's all for sports. >> one family thought they were getting their dream home in florida. but it hasn't turned out that way. >> our dream was to live in a resort type of building and the oasis was going to be it. >> they are living alone in this 32-story building. our salute today is for a woman planning for it but for another reason. >> good morning, robin. my name is taylor. i want to salute my boyfriend, seaman christopher chad henderson. he's been on tour since may and is currently in somalia.

he won't be home until christmas. i wanted to let him know we miss him and love him and to tell the other sailors that we support you and to come soon. >> thank you so much. if you have somebody in the service, go to cnn.com/robin. look for the salutes every weekday.

more photos are being released of that air force one flight over network city. remember that? it caused quite a panic three months ago. the air force released these pictures of the incident. they were put together in a flip book way to show you what happened, hence the movement of the plane there. the photos show the boeing making three passes by the statue of liberty accompanied by an f-16 fighter jet. then making a step bank not usually seen with passenger aircraft. that move may have contributed to the panic on the ground. three american tourists are believed to be in iranian custody. that is from security spokesmen in the kurdish part of iraq. he says the americans went hiking in the mountains and have have mistakenly crossed the

iranian border. the hikers told their friends in iraq they were surrounded by iranian troops before communication was cut off completely. the state department is investigating. can you imagine having an entire condominium complex to yourself? it may sound great but one family said it's kind of dangerous. as our affiliate explains, the family got the condo they wanted, but now they want out. >> reporter: new jersey fire captain victor and his wife, kathy, dreamed of retiring in southwest florida. and ultimately leaving this river front condo to their children. >> we sold the house up in new jersey and used that money as the down payment for this building. everything we got we put into this. >> reporter: eight months after closing the family are the only ones who live in this 32-floor tower. a building they expected to become a bustling community amidst restaurants and a marina.

>> it's very erie, like a scary movie. >> reporter: they said health and safety hazards abound. this trash outside their door. a dark and deserted parking garage and lack of promised a f official, has been out of service. we had an intrusion on june 29th about a month ago from today. somebody came into the building somehow and were pounding on the door where the room next to where my children are. >> they saw a lifestyle, and that lifestyle has kind of fizzled. >> reporter: their attorney is working to get them what they paid for or get them out. >> what we're looking for from the group is to kind of step up to the plate. >> reporter: i called betsy mccoy, a vp with the miami-based developer, the related group, to voice the family's concerns. >> we have not discontinued the service or done anything that would make life uncomfortable for them. >> reporter: she told me the family could move to the second tower while they try working out

a transition with their lender to buy next door. but after months of back and forth, the family wants to be settled or be free. is the related group willing to buy back their condo so it can be a clean break? >> at this point, no. up with, we don't have a contractual obligation to do so. >> our dream was to live in a resort type of building and the oasis was going to be it. >> reporter: now all they feel they'll see here is a mirage. >> our thanks to christina bailey from our affiliate wftx with that report. original plans call for five towers to be build. two towers are up and the rest of the project has been put on hold. hundreds of pounds of explosives and detonation cords were stolen from a storage facility in wall a walla, washington. it was discovered when troopers were doing a routine inspection. photos of the items have been released in hopes that someone

will tip authorities. more addicts are flocking to clinics for prescription pain fixes. we'll look at so-called pill mills in south florida and what police are doing to shut them down. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com then all of a sudden, the stuff just fell right in front of my van, and i couldn't move. all the wires were on it and everything is sparking and -- >> what a mess and some scary moments. this is what a storm left behind in the boston area. hear more from some people who actually got stuck right in the middle of the storm. iran is cracking down on protesters arrested after a disputed presidential vote. it's accusing them of some very serious charges. we'll have the details. and the cash for clunkers program is supposed to last through the weekend, but car dealers are being told to proceed with caution. you're watching hln.

i'm susan hendricks. we begin with an update on a breaking news story out of new york. passengers have been allowed back into laguardia airport after the airport's central terminal was evacuated earlier today. authorities had stopped flights from taking off or landing, but the faa says by around 9:00 eastern this morning, flights were beginning to resume. officials are saying they have one person in custody now, and they're searching the person's bag. we of course will bring you more details as we get them into hln. a small victory for president obama and his goal of health care reform. just before the house broke for august recess yesterday, its energy and commerce committee passed a comprehensive health care reform bill. it gives the government the ability to negotiate lower prices with the insurance industry. now, representatives are pressing for heavy campaigning for and against the bill while they're at home. democrats meanwhile are deeply divided over the bill, and its fate is uncertain in the senate where a vote was postponed until

after its august recess. check out this huge mess a storm left behind in massachusetts. it literally split trees in half yesterday, some of them crushing homes. power lines were knocked down and caused small fires in certain areas. a whole lot of people got caught right in the middle of it. >> i heard a lot of wind, and when i went outside, the trees were like crashed. >> the branches, everything, like going like really fast, just flying off trees, breaking off. you look over, you go to the field over there, and just saw trees split apart. >> it got pitch-black all of a sudden, i shut my fans off and stuff, next thing you know, the power's out and trees are down all over the place. >> some drivers got trapped in their cars. and one person said they had to swerve to get out of the way of a huge tree that was coming at their car. about 100 iranians went on trial this morning for protesting after their presidential election.

that is from two iranian news agencies. the defendants were charged with everything from attacking military facilities to beating security forces. the defendants include some key opposition leaders, including a former vice president. hundreds of protesters were arrested when they accused the government of stealing the vote. last month's protest was the biggest challenge to iran's regime in 30 years. the house agreed to give the cash for clunkers program another $2 billion, but the senate hasn't made a move yet. the white house has been denying reports that the program was suspended because money was running out quicker than expected. the program offers rebates for exchanging old gas-guzzling cars for more efficient ones. it is supposed to last through the weekend, but car dealers are being advised not to close any more deals until the program's fate is determined. honda is recalling an additional 441,000 cars because

of a potentially dangerous air bag defect. this includes accords, civics and acuras made in the early 0s. the air bag can overpressurize and throw pieces of metal around. one person died, six others were ju injured. if your car is involved, you will get a notice in the mail. honda had a similar recall back in november. some good news for your stocks in this bad economy. the dow was up 17 points yesterday closing at 9171. that is the highest level since november. overall, the market posted its best july numbers in two decades. a border agent killed on duty was buried in california yesterday. members of the border patrol took part in the memorial service. he was shot nine days ago while patrolling alone, about 50 miles

east of san diego. a relative said he had a lot of dreams for his children. >> he envisioned himself coaching our son in t ball. he wanted ascend in his job, hopefully our son would follow in his footsteps and he would pin him in the academy. he talked about walking our daughter down the aisle and he would have to dance with her. we would laugh because dancing was not something he liked to do. >> the fbi hasn't publicly released any suspects. president obama's critics are grading his performance for the first six months in office, and so is his administration. dan lothian looks at the president's hits and misses. >> reporter: with the economy on life support when mr. obama came into office six months ago, the administration is taking credit for bringing it back from the brink of disaster.

>> we were in a position where we could have gone into a great depression. i think those fears have abated. >> reporter: one reason, they say, a $787 billion stimulus plan. >> this, and other difficult but important steps we've taken over the last six months have helped put the brakes on the recession. >> reporter: but the plan which republicans thought was wasting taxpayer dollars is perhaps the biggest example of what hasn't happened so far. wide scale bipartisanship. president obama vowed to change the way washington work. >> surely there's got to be some capacity for us to work together. >> reporter: but has had to fall back on his own party to get things done. >> he was not under the illusion change was going to come to this town easily. >> reporter: he has pulled back in iraq, and now fighting extremists in afghanistan. he's announced the closing of guantanamo bay detention facilities but doing that has been sticky.

as has the push for health care reform, which some say if fails could undermine his presidency. >> the chance that some health care bill is going to define his presidency is zero. but at the moment, he's way out on that limb and he needs a win. >> reporter: if the white house is keeping track of wins and losses, some say image would be in the "w" column. >> he's made americans feel better about themselves, and he delivered on his campaign promise of giving america a different face overseas. >> reporter: to that point, the white house believes the president's speech in cairo had an impact in the muslim world but admit there's a lot of work to be done. dan lothian, the white house. we are getting new word that michael jackson was shopping around for a doctor to give him a powerful anesthetic. he asked hollywood doctor allan metzger for the drug known as drip pri van, according to the attorney, which says metzger refused to give it to jackson.

a source told cnn that they think another doctor, conrad murray, gave jackson the drug in the 24 hours before he drug. a coroner's report on the death has been postponed indefinitely. pretty powerful stuff, did you see and hear that? well, a florida man was videotaping an incoming storm in st. augustine. when that happened, a bolt of lightning struck next door. everyone was fine, but the guy who was taping says it gave him a good scare. we have been been talking about the wild weather in and around boston, but is there a chance for more severe weather today, august 1st? that's the question. we go to meteorologist ren ald wolf. >> there will be severe weather, but don't think it will be in boston. the chance of severe weather and unseasonably warm temperatures in the pacific northwest. let's start off with the rough weather first. in the plains you'll see a frontal boundary extending to

oklahoma city and just to the east of amarillo. we could see storms in st. louis, memphis, even little rock, arkansas, before all is said and done. of course, dallas, if you're flying into dallas, you may have delays. the other part of the big story has to do with the warm temperatures we've been dealing with, especially parts of the pacific northwest. in fact, look at this map we have for you here, showing you the issue with the jet stream. a little bit of a trough in the eastern half of the country and certainly in parts of the central plains and west. we have the big ridge, with high temperatures well above normal, 89 in seattle, 94 in salt lake city. 89 in atlanta. boston and new york checking in with highs in the low to 80s. i'm reynolds wolf. getting a pool may have sounded like a good idea, but what do you do when you don't want it anymore?

>> it is strong. very strong. you could park a truck on this. >> and you could save a lot of cash. how one man is saving big on his monthly bills by putting his pool out of commission.

here is another way to save some cash. why not retire your pool? get rid of it. as christopher sign from affiliate knxv shows us, one man is saving big on his water and electric bills now that he's turned his pool into a deck. >> we came from new york and we had to have a pool. >> reporter: but these days, he spends much of his time indoors instead of in the water. >> we've been in it probably in 20 years, ten times. >> reporter: feeling the heat financially, he covered the pool and showed me his bill to prove it helped. this time last year, he used 4500 more gallons of water. his electric bill, most spent operating the pool pump. this year it sank. >> it's about 10% less. >> reporter: not to mention the cost of chemicals, fighting the

effects of the monsoon. what he did was refer to, retiring a pool. >> this is the middle of my pool, what used to be my pool. >> reporter: covering it with a composite material. >> this is strong. you could park a truck on this. >> reporter: it cost him about $6,000 to do this. >> just pick it up and lay it over here like this. >> reporter: there's the pool. >> there's the pool, what's left of it. >> reporter: but the move isn't permanent. the space underneath could be used as storage and it's all reversible. >> for the next buyer who wants to buy this house, if he needs a pool, i'll be prepared to take this off and replast ter for him. >> reporter: the company, deckover, is doing this across the valley for homeowners who no longer use their pools. >> we have a structural engineer licensed by the state that has designed all of our components that we use. >> reporter: by design, rain water does go into the pool, but

an automatic pump removes it. >> you use the existing lines through the skimmer and it pumps right back over. >> reporter: it takes about five days, removing it takes one day. in scottsdale, christopher sign. authorities in california are trying to figure out why more than 20 horses were poisoned on purpose. apparently they were given leaves from the oel yander plant. officials founl the leaves in stalls thursday morning. but all of the horses are expected to survive. hello, michael phelps is so big he dised the pope. he is in rome and invited to see the pontiff today, but he pas d passed. phelps says he really needs to rest before the final. you think you'd go for divine

intervention. last night he picked up his third in the four by 200 meter relay, setting a new world record. this is katrina matthew, the second tournament after giving birth, and talk about drama, her apartment burned down two weeks ago. but she's got her golf game together. the hole in one, matthews tied for the lead. looking for a deal on ebay? a firm has been hired to sell this team, but he did not like seeing it on ebay. he said, quote, this is not a second hand bike we're talking about. remember two years ago at the x games, a 46 foot free fall, he suffered broken bones, internal bleeding. now fast forward. this time brown was awesome, in fact he won the gold. it's his first x games gold medal. and no one needed an ambulance at this time.

last night the pirates/national game, and the running joke is roosevelt never wins. i guess this time neither wins. no respect for a president. that's hln sports. the u.s. put men on the moon, but soon it won't be able to send anyone to space without some help. when the fleet retires, the u.s. will need other countries to send its astronauts to space.

more photos are being released of that air force one flight over new york city, remember that, it caused quite a panic three months ago. the air force released these pictures of the incident. they were put together in sort of a flip-book way to show you what happened, hence the movement of the plane there. it shows the boeing making three passes by the statue of liberty accompanied by an f-16 fighter jet. then making a steep bank not usually seen with passenger aircraft. that move may have contributed to the panic on the ground. three american tourists are believed to be in iranian security, that is from a spokesman in the kurdish part of iraq. he says the americans may have

mistakenly crossed the iranian border. they also say the hikers told their friends in iraq we were surrounded by iranian troops before communication was cut off completely. the state department says they're investigating. hundreds of pounds of explosives and detonation chords were stolen from a storage facility in walla walla, washington. authorities believe it happened after july 23rd. it was discovered on monday when washington state troopers were doing a routine inspection. photos of the items have been released in hopes that someone will tip authorities. the united states has been sending astronauts, as you know, to space since the 1960s. but that is about to come to an end. at least for a few years. the u.s. won't be able to launch astronauts to space on its own. brian todd explains why. >> reporter: a flawless landing for "endeavour." but only seven more shuttle

flights are slated before the fleet is retired. and nasa scientists say the next generation of manned space flight is still years away sally ride, america's first woman astronaut is on the panel reviewing the future of man's space flight. it is likely to be two-years late, the first launch coming in 2017. that would mean roughly six years with no american manned space program. >> for me the biggest challenge is maintaining the capabilities we need for the future. during this gap. >> reporter: sally ride says the space shuttle could be extended to cover part of that gap, but that means more risk. the program has had two deadly accidents out of 137 flights. nasa has contracts with the russians, but relying on another

country for space travel, especially for a number of years, is politically unpopular. >> all of it has to do at some level with the sense that we are the leading nation of the world. and the united states should not have to rely upon another country, especially one that we defeated in the cold war, for space access, for our astronauts. >> reporter: more popular with americans? nasa's plan to go back to the moon. those missions will come in the consolation program replacing the shuttle. >> generally the public likes space flight, they want to go back to the moon, they just don't want to spend a lot of money to do this. >> reporter: roger lonnie says the way it's budgeted now, man's flight to the moon is about a decade away. he says that's with short cuts. he says realistically they may need to build two launch vehicles in the consolation program. one, the arie s1 has had problems, shaking violently on

liftoff. brian todd, washington. how do you help kid who's have lost someone close to them? one major league baseball player is sending grieving kids to a special camp.

passengers have been allowed back into new york's laguardia airport after the airport's central terminal was evacuated earlier this morning. the port authority says one man was taken into custody. the philippine's first female leader has died, former president corazon aquino battled colon cancer for more than a year. she was 76 years old. chris dodd is expected to undergo surgery for prostate cancer. he was diagnosed in june after an annual physical. 65-year-old dodd hopes to have his surgery after the senate breaks for recess next week. and the house is in recess for the month, before representatives took their break

yesterday their energy and commerce committee passed a comprehensive health care reform bill. it calls to be reimbursed by negotiations with the insurance industry. those are some of the stories making headlines this saturday morning. i'm susan hendricks. some of the democrats who voted for the health care bill now have to sell it back home. as dana bash reports, that may be a tough sell. >> reporter: after the last vote, the exodus. house members rushing home for the entire month of august. and if you're a vulnerable democrat, prepare for the political tsunami on health care. >> they're going to get the first shot in the 30-second attack. the more people know, the more they like what we're doing. >> reporter: tom perriello won his district by .2%.

use undecided and will use the time off to decide. >> time with meetings with officials and doctors, road testing this. i haven't committed on the bill. >> reporter: democratic leaders are arming them with media strategy from power points to simple message ideas. hold insurance companies accountable. remove them from between and you your doctor. to get their message out, democratic leaders suggest using town halls, twitter, facebook. pennsylvania democrat jason altogether alt myer rolls his eyes. >> it is flawed. >> reporter: he vogted against his party's health care plan in committee and says democratic leaders have put democrats like him from conservative districts in a tough spot, by including controversial proposals in their health care plan, like a tax increase. >> go back to the districts and explain to the constituents why they took the politically unpopular vote, it just was tone

deaf to me. >> reporter: he says he's not worried about the protests that await him at home. >> at least it's encouraging debate. we didn't ram this through. we took the august recess to allow the country's voices to be heard. >> reporter: talk to any lawmaker and they will tell you they were elected on a promise to reform the health care system and they believe at the end of the day it will happen. but the key is to regain the message back from republicans. explain what they're doing for you, not to you. and they're very much treating this like a political campaign. in fact, one democratic leader said that they're determined not to get swift boated during recess. dana bash, cnn, capitol hill. about 100 iranians went on trial this morning for protesting after their presidential election. that is from two iranian news agencies. the defendants were charged with everything from attacking military facilities to beating security forces. the defendants include some key opposition leaders, including a former vice president. hundreds of protesters were

arrested when they accused the government of stealing the vote. last month's protest was the biggest challenge to iran's regime in 30 years. check out this huge mess a storm left behind in massachusetts. it literally split trees in half yesterday. some of them crushing homes. power lines were knocked down and caused small fires in certain areas. a lot of people got caught right in the middle of it. >> i heard a lot of wind, and when we went outside, the trees were like crushed. >> the branches, everything, like going like really fast, just flying off trees. breaking off. you look over, you go to the field over there and you just saw the trees split apart. >> it got pitch-black all of a sudden and the rain came out of nowhere. i go upstairs to shut my fans off and stuff. next thing you know, the power's out and trees are down all over the place. >> some drivers were trapped in their cars. and imagine this, one person said they had to swerve to get out of the way of a huge tree

that was coming at their car. honda is recalling an additional 440,000 cars because of a potentially deadly air bag defect. now, the company is saying this affects some honda accords, civics and acuras made in the early 2000s. the driver's side air bag can overpressurize, rupture and throw pieces of metal around. one person has died and six people injured. if your car is affected you will get a recall notice in the mail. honda had a similar recall in november. and the white house is denying reports that the cash for clunkers program was running out of money quicker than expected. exchanging gas guzzlers for more efficient ones is supposed to last through the weekend. car dealers are being advised

not to close any more deals until the program's fate is determined. some good news for your stocks in this bad economy. the dow was up 17 points yesterday, closing at 9171. that is the highest level since november. overall, the market posted its best july numbers in two decades. a border agent killed on duty was buried in california yesterday. members of the border patrol took part in the memorial service for robert rosas. he was shot nine days ago while patrolling alone, about 60 miles east of san diego. a relative said rosas had a lot of dreams for his children. >> he envisioned himself coaching our son in tee ball. he wanted to ascend in his job and hopefully our son would want to follow in his footsteps and he would so proudly pin him at his academy.

we talked about how some day he would have to walk our daughter down the aisle and dance with her. we would laugh, because dancing was not something he liked to do. >> mexico has arrested five people in connection with this case, but the fbi hasn't publicly released any suspects. we are getting new word that michael jackson was shopping around for a doctor to give him a powerful anesthetic. he asked hollywood doctor allan metzger for the drug known as diprivan. a source told cnn investigators think another doctor, conrad murray, gave michael jackson the drug in the 24 hours before he died. a coroner's report on jackson's death has been postponed indefinitely. pretty powerful stuff, did you see and hear that? well, a florida man was videotaping an incoming storm in

st. augustine. a bolt of lightning struck right next door. everyone was fine, but the guy taping it says it gave him a good scare. getting a pool may have seemed like a good idea, relaxing, refreshing, but what do you do when you don't want it anymore? >> this is strong. very strong. you could park a truck on this. >> and you could save a lot of cash. how one man is saving big on his monthly bills.

here is another way to save some cash. why not retire your pool? get rid of it. as christopher sign from affiliate knxv shows us, one man is saving big on his water and electric bills now that he's turned his pool into a deck.

>> we came from new york and we had to have a pool. >> reporter: but these days, len spends much of his time indoors instead of in the water. >> we've been in it probably in 20 years ten times. >> reporter: feeling the heat financially, he covered the pool and showed me his bill to prove it helped. this time last year he used 4500 more gallons of water, his electric bill was around $181, most of it spent operating that pool pump. this year, his electric bill sank. >> it's about 10% less. >> reporter: not to mention the cost of kmem cals, fighting the green pool effects of the mon seen. what len did is referred to as retiring a pool. >> this used to be my pool. >> reporter: covering it with a composite material decking. >> this is strong. very strong. you could park a truck on this. >> reporter: it cost him about $6,000 to do this. >> just pick it up and lay it over like this. >> reporter: there's the pool. >> what's left of it. >> reporter: but len's move

isn't permanent. the space underneath could be used as storage and it's all reversible. >> for the next buyer who buys this house, if he insists he needs a pool, i'll be prepared to take this out, replaster it for him and bring it back to a pool. >> even with the economy dropping our business sin creasing. >> reporter: jeff goetz's company, deckover, is doing this across the valley for homeowners who no longer use their pools. >> we have a structural engineer licensed by the state who has designed all the components we use. >> reporter: rain water does go into the pool but an automatic pump remove it's. >> you use the existing lines in through the skimmer. >> reporter: covering the pool takes about five days. the company says removing it takes just one day. in scottsdale, abc 15 news. hello, tiger woods can't be struggling again, can he? he didn't make the cut at the british open and yesterday he

began the second round of the buick open in 95th place. tiger, is that really you? he tore it up in the second round, yesterday, the best round of the year. he started it birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie. woods says he putted horrible so why not avoid it altogether. the chip-in, good. four strokes back now. dara tore eares switched su to a high-tech model, and sure enough, she was one of the fastest in her next race. she had to cover the logo because she is sponsored by a different company. x fans all wanted to see the back flip with a 360 spin, but the wonder boy crashed. he was so sore after this he didn't even make his second run. check this out. road racing in finland, and this

point of view just might make you a bit queasy. i feel like toonsis is driving. the leader drives the ford focus. great stuff in baseball, orioles luke scott deep to center, red sox deep for the home run. the sox win 6-5. if you're thinking about scrapping those vacation plans to florida maybe because money is tight, you may want to hold off on that. hln money expert clark howard says this summer is full of bright deals in the sunshine state. >> okay. money's tight this summer. and people are responding, as you might expect. they're not taking vacations like they have in past summers. in fact, all across the state of

florida, which has always been a summertime playground for families, bookings are way down. listen to these stats from "the orlando sentinel". the typical hotel in the last reporting period filled slightly more than half of the rooms available on a typical night. that means heavy discounting and rooms widely available. it also means that the amusement parks have better and better deals. you go to the coast to go to the beaches, you're going to find great deals available on your accommodations. just about anything you want to do for a family vacation to florida this summer. so you didn't think you could afford a trip? how about hotel rooms as low as $35 a night? i'm clark howard. for more ways for you to save dough, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. and you don't want to miss it, can you get much more advice from clark today at noon

eastern. clark will help you save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off. one family thought they were getting their dream home in florida. but it hasn't turned out that way. >> our dream was to live in a resort-type of building, and the oasis was going to be it. >> instead of living the dream, they are living alone in this 32-story building.

more photos are being released of that air force one flight over new york city, remember that? it caused quite a panic three months ago. the air force released these pictures of the incident. they were put together in a flip-book way to show you what happened, hence the movement there. it shows the boeing making three passes by the statue of liberty, accompanied by an f-16 fighter jet. then making a steep bank not usually seen with passenger aircraft. that move may have contributed to the panic on the ground. three american tourists are believed to be in iranian custody. that is from security spokesmen in the kurdish part of iraq. he says the americans went hiking in the mountains and may

have mistakenly crossed the iranian border. the spokesman says the hikers told their friends in iraq they were surrounded by iranian troops before communication was shut off completely. the state department is investigating. can you imagine having an entire condominium complex to yourself? one family says it's dangerous. as affiliate wftx explains, the family got the condo they wanted, but now they want out. >> reporter: new jersey fire captain victor and his wife kathy dreamed of retiring in southwest florida and leaving this river front condo to their children. >> we sold our house in new jersey and used the money for the down payment. everything we got we put into this. >> reporter: an oasis, it is not. the family are the only ones who live in this 32-floor tower. a building they expected to become a bustling community amidst restaurants, a movie

theater and marina. instead? isolation. >> it's very eerie. it's like a scary movie. >> reporter: he says health and safety hazards abound. this trash outside their door, a dark parking garage and lack of promised security. >> the fire alarm system, which is my business as a fire official, has been out of service. we had an intrusion a month ago from today. somebody came into the building somehow and were pounding on the door where the room next to where my children are. >> they sell a lifestyle, and that lifestyle has kind of fizzled. >> reporter: their attorney, jonathan ewing, is working to get them what they paid for or get out. >> what we're looking for from the related group is to step up to the plate. >> reporter: i called betsy mccoy, a vp with the miami-based developer, the related group, to voice the family's concerns. >> we have not discontinued the service or done anything that would make life uncomfortable for them. >> reporter: she told me the

family could move to the second tower while they try working out a transition with their lender to buy next door. after months of back and forth, the family wants to be settled or be free. is the related group willing to buy back their condo so it can just be a clean break? >> at this point, no. one, we don't have a contractual obligation to do so. >> our dream was to live in a resort-type of building and the oasis was going to be it. >> reporter: instead, all they feel they'll ever see here is a mirage. >> our thanks to christina bailey from wftx for that report. the original plans for the complex call for five towers to be built. two towers are up and the rest of the project on hold. hundreds of pounds of detonation cords and explosives were stolen from a storage facility in walla walla, washington. officials believe it happened after july 23rd. it was discovered monday when washington state troopers were doing a routine inspection.

photos of the items have been released in hopes that someone will tip authorities. more addicts these days are flocking to pain clinics for prescription pill fixes. we will look at how so-called pill mills have popped up all over south florida.

then all of a sudden, the stuff just fell right in front of my van, and i couldn't move. all the wires were on it and everything is sparking and -- >> what a mess and some scary moments. this is what a storm left behind in the boston area. hear more from some people who actually got stuck right in the middle of the storm. iran is cracking down on protesters arrested after a disputed presidential vote. it's accusing them of some very serious charges. we'll have the details. and the cash for clunkers program is supposed to last through the weekend, but car dealers are being told to dealers are being told to proceed with caution. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com you're watching hln. i'm susan hendricks.

we begin with an update on a breaking news story out of new york. passengers have been allowed back into laguardia airport after the airport's central terminal was evacuated earlier today. authorities had stopped flights from taking off or landing, but the faa says by around 9:00 eastern this morning, flights were beginning to resume. officials are saying they have one person in custody now, and they're searching the person's bag. we of course will bring you more details as we get them into hln. a small victory for president obama and his goal of health care reform. just before the house broke for august recess yesterday, its energy and commerce committee passed a comprehensive health care reform bill. it gives the government the ability to negotiate lower prices with the insurance industry. now, representatives are pressing for heavy campaigning for and against the bill while they're at home. democrats meanwhile are deeply divided over the bill, and its fate is uncertain in the senate where a vote was postponed until after its august recess.

check out this huge mess a storm left behind in massachusetts. it literally split trees in half yesterday, some of them crushing homes. power lines were knocked down and caused small fires in certain areas. a whole lot of people got caught right in the middle of it. >> i heard a lot of wind, and when i went outside, the trees were like crushed. >> the branches, everything, like going like really fast, just flying off trees, breaking off. you look over, you go to the field over there, and just saw trees split apart. >> it just got pitch-black all of a sudden, then the rain came out of nowhere. i go upstairs to shut my fans off and stuff. next thing you know, the power's out and trees are down all over the place. >> some drivers got trapped in their cars. and one person said they had to swerve to get out of the way of a huge tree that was coming at their car. about 100 iranians went on trial this morning for protesting after their presidential election. that is from two iranian news

agencies. the defendants were charged with everything from attacking military facilities to beating security forces. the defendants include some key opposition leaders, including a former vice president. hundreds of protesters were arrested when they accused the government of stealing the vote. last month's protest was the biggest challenge to iran's regime in 30 years. the house agreed to give the cash for clunkers program another $2 billion, but the senate hasn't made a move yet. the white house has been denying reports that the program was suspended because money was running out quicker than expected. the program offers rebates for exchanging old gas-guzzling cars for more efficient ones. it is supposed to last through the weekend, but car dealers are being advised not to close any more deals until the program's fate is determined. honda is recalling an additional 440,000 cars because of a potentially deadly air bag

defect. the company is saying this affects some honda accords, civics and acuras made in the early 2000s. the driver's side air bag can overpressure rise and rupture and throw pieces of metal around. honda says at least one person died, and six others were injured because of this. if your car is affected, you will get a recall notice in the mail. honda had a similar recall back in november. some good news for your stocks in this bad economy. the dow was up 17 points yesterday closing at 9171. that is the highest level since november. overall, the market posted its best july numbers in two decades. a border agent killed on duty was buried in california yesterday. members of the border patrol took part in the memorial service. for robert rosas. he was shot nine days ago while patrolling alone, about 50 miles

east of san diego. a relative said he had a lot of dreams for his children. >> he envisioned himself coaching our son in tee ball. he wanted ascend in his job, and hopefully our son would want to follow his footsteps and that he would so proudly pin him at his academy. we talked about how some day he would have to walk our daughter down the aisle and he would have to dance with her. we would laugh because dancing was not something he liked to do. >> mexico has arrested five people in connection with this case, but the fbi hasn't publicly released any suspects. president obama's critics are grading his performance for his first six months in office and so is his administration. dan lothian looks at the president's hits and misses. >> reporter: with the economy on life support when mr. obama came into office six months ago, the administration is taking credit for bringing it back from the brink of disaster. >> we were in a position where

we could have gone into a great depression. i think those fears have abated. >> reporter: one reason, they say, a $787 billion stimulus plan. >> this, and other difficult but important steps we've taken over the last six months have helped us put the brakes on the recession. >> reporter: but that stimulus plan which republicans thought was wasting taxpayer dollars is perhaps the biggest example of what hasn't happened so far, widescale bipartisanship. president obama vowed to change the way washington works. >> surely there's got to be some capacity for us to work together. >> reporter: but has had to fall back on his own party to get things done. >> he was not under the illusion change was going to come to this town easily. >> reporter: he has pulled back in iraq, fulfilling a campaign promise, and troops are now fight being extremists in afghanistan. he's announced the closing of guantanamo bay detention facilities but making that happen has been sticky. as has the push for health care

reform, which some say if fails could undermine his presidency. politico's mike allen says that's way overstated. >> the chance that some health care bill is going to define his presidency is zero. but at the moment, he's way out on that limb and he needs a win. >> reporter: if the white house is keeping track of wins and losses, some say image would be in the "w" column. >> he's made americans feel better about themselves, and he delivered on his campaign promise of giving america a different face overseas. >> reporter: to that point, the white house believes the president's speech in cairo had a major impact in the muslim world but admit there's still a lot of work to be done. dan lothian, the white house. pretty powerful stuff. did you see and hear that? a florida man was videotaping an incoming storm in st. augustine thursday. when that happened a bolt of

lightning struck right next door. everyone was fine, but as you can imagine, the guy taping says it gave him quite a scare. is there a chance for more severe weather today for august first? we go to meteorologist reynolds wolf. >> there will be a chance of severe weather, not in boston. the chance of severe weather and unseasonably warm temperatures in the pacific northwest. let's start with the rough weather first. as we look at the central plains you'll see a frontal boundary extending from kansas city to oklahoma city and east of amarillo at this hour. later on today, weed is see storms in st. louis, memphis, even little rock, arkansas. the temperatures in the pacific northwest, take a look at this map showing you the issue with the jet stream. we'll look at the trough in the eastern half of the country and

certainly parts of the central plains and back out in the west. we've got the hot, dry conditions with the big ridge, with high testifies well above normal. 94 in salt lake city. 89 in atlanta. boston and new york checks in with highs in the low to mid-80s. that is a look at your forecast across the nation. i'm reynolds wolf for hln. getting a pool may have seemed like a good idea, relaxing, refreshing, but what do you do when you don't want it anymore? >> it is strong. very strong. you could park a truck on this. >> and you could save a lot of cash. how one man is saving big on his monthly bills by putting his pool out of commission.

the pool that one arizona couple was so excited to get 20 years ago, it has now been covered up and turned into a deck. since lynn wright and his wife decided to retire their pool, they have saved on their electric bill and used, get

this, 4500 less gallons of water. wright says whoever moves into the house next still has the option of bringing the pool back. >> for the next buyer who wants to buy this house, if he insists he needs a pool, i'll be prepared to bring this out, replaster it for him. >> the wrights spent $6,000 to retire it. the space can be used for storage, but the wrights chose to keep it empty. authorities in southern california are trying to figure out why more than 20 horses were poisoned on purpose. apparently they were given leaves from the highly toxic oleander at a ranch in the staying area. employees found the leaves in the stalls thursday morning. all the mores are expected to survive. >> michael phelps is so big, he dised the pope. the champ is in rome for the swimming world championships and he was invited to see the pontiff today but he passed.

phelps says he really needs to rest before tonight's 100 butterfly final. you think out of fear he might go just to avoid divine intervention in retribution. last night he picked up his third in the 4 by 200 free style. he and his teammates set a new world record. this is katrina matthew, the second tournament after giving birth, and talk about drama, her apartment burned down two weeks ago. but she's got her golf game together. the hole in one, matthews tied for the lead. looking for a deal on ebay? a british soccer team is for sale for $10 million, and the owner is not happy. sure he's hired a firm to sell the team, but he did not like seeing it on ebay. he told a local paper, quote, this is not a secondhand bike we're talking about. remember two years ago at the x games jake brown in a 46-foot free fall. watch his shoes blasted from his feet. he suffered broken bones,

internal bleeding. now fast forward. this time brown was awesome, in fact he won the gold. it's his first x games gold medal. and no one needed an ambulance at this time. last night the pirates/national game, and the running joke is roosevelt never wins. i guess this time neither wins. a huge body check. no respect for our 26th president. that's hln sports. the u.s. put men on the moon, but soon it won't be able to send anyone to space without some help. when the shuttle fleet retires, the u.s. will need other countries to send its astronauts to space.

more photos are being released of that air force one flight over new york city, remember that, it caused quite a panic three months ago. the air force released these pictures of the incident. they were put together in sort of a flip-book way to show you what happened, hence the movement of the plane there. it shows the boeing making three passes by the statue of liberty accompanied by an f-16 fighter jet. then making a steep bank not usually seen with passenger aircraft. that move may have contributed to the panic on the ground. three american tourists are believed to be in iranian custody, that is from security spokesman in the kurdish part of iraq. he says the americans went hiking in the mountains and may have mistakenly crossed the

iranian border. they also told their friends in iraq they were surrounded by iranian troops before communication was shut off completely. the state department says they're investigating. hundreds of pounds of explosives and detonation chords were stolen from a storage facility in walla walla, washington. authorities believe it happened after july 23rd. that's what they know right now. it was discovered on monday when washington state troopers were doing a routine inspection. photos of the items have been released in hopes that someone will tip authorities. the united states has been sending astronauts, as you know, to space since the 1960s. but that is about to come to an end. at least for a few years. the u.s. won't be able to launch astronauts to space on its own. brian todd explains why. >> reporter: a flawless landing for the space shuttle "endeavour". but only seven more shuttle flights are slated before the fleet is retired. and nasa scientists say the next generation of manned space

flight is still years on the way. >> the question is the when. >> reporter: sally ride, america's first woman astronaut, is on the panel reviewing the future of man's space flight. this week, she said consolation is likely to be two years late, the first launch coming at 2017. that would mean roughly six years with no american manned space program. >> for me the biggest challenge is maintaining the capabilities we need for the future. during this gap. >> reporter: sally ride says the space shuttle program could be extended to cover part of that gap, but that means more risk. the program has had two deadly accidents out of 137 flights. nasa has contracts with the russians to take american astronauts to the space station. but relying on another country for space travel, especially for a number of years, is

politically unpopular. >> all of it has to do at some level with the sense that we are the leading nation of the world. and the united states should not have to rely upon another country, especially one that we defeated in the cold war, for space access, for our astronauts. >> reporter: more popular with americans? nasa's plan to go back to the moon. those missions will come in the constellation program replacing the shuttle. >> generally the public likes space flight, they want to go back to the moon, they just don't want to spend a lot of money to do this. >> reporter: roger lonnie says the way it's budgeted now, man's flight to the moon is about a decade away. he says that's with short cuts. he says realistically they may have to build two launch vehicles in the constellation program. one of them, the aries 1 rocket has had problems during the test, shaking violently at liftoff and going into the tower. brian todd, washington.

should your child take medication for adhd? elizabeth cohen has questions parents should z before making that tough decision. we all like to get something for nothing but consumer reports has an article out this month that questions whether you want to get free medications for your child with adhd. the article explains that when your doctor hands you a free sample of any medication, chances are it's for a very expensive drug. so while it might be free for the one month or so that he's given you supplies for, later you're going to have to pay for that drug. and there are lots of generic drugs out there for adhd and many generic drugs out there that are less expensive and many doctors say are just as good as the brand-name drugs for adhd. now, whether or not your child should go on these drugs to begin with is a question that many parents have. so here's the advice that child psychiatrists give. first of all, talk to your

child's teacher and ask them about how your child's behaving at school. then take your child to the doctor and ask your doctor these questions. first of all, ask them, what can i expect an adhd drug to do for my child? some parents think the drugs are going to do more than they actually can do. secondly, ask are there any alternatives to drugs. we've talked to families who say they gave their child counseling, taught them study skills, and that that worked instead of drugs, or sometimes in addition to drugs. also, ask your doctor what are the downsides to this drug. adhd drugs can have side effects, including psychiatric side effects, such as aggressive behavior, and can also lessen your child's appetite. for more information on choosing treatments for your child's adhd drug, look at my empowered patient's column, cnn.com/empoweredpatient. here's a tough run here.

how do you help kids who have lost someone really close to them? one major league baseball player is sending grieve being kids to a special camp and he has big plans.

passengers have been allowed back into new york's laguardia airport after the airport's central terminal was evacuated earlier this morning. the port authority says one man was taken into custody. the philippine's first female leader has died, former president corazon aquino battled colon cancer for more than a year. she was 76 years old. >> connecticut senator chris dodd is expected to undergo surgery for prostate cancer. he was diagnosed in june after an annual physical. 65-year-old dodd hopes to have his surgery after the senate breaks for recess next week. and the house is in recess for the month, before representatives took their break yesterday their energy and

commerce committee passed a comprehensive health care reform bill. it calls for the government-run public insurance option to be reimbursed on rates determined by negotiations with the insurance industry. those are some of the stories making headlines this saturday morning. glad you're with us. i'm susan hendricks. some of the democrats who voted for the health care bill now have to sell it back home. as dana bash reports, that may be a tough sell. >> reporter: after the last vote, the exodus. house members rushing home for the entire month of august. and if you're a vulnerable democrat, prepare for the political tsunami on health care. >> they're going to get the first shot in the 30-second attack. the more people know, the more they like what we're doing. that's going to be good for us over the long-term. >> reporter: tom perriello won his conservative virginia district by 0.2%. he's undecided about the party's health care plan and will use

august with his constituents to decide. >> 18 town meetings, road tested this, i haven't committed on the bill. >> reporter: democratic leaders are arming them with media strategy from power points to simple message ideas. hold insurance companies accountable. remove them from between and you your doctor. to get their message out, democratic leaders suggest using town halls, twitter, facebook. pennsylvania democratic jason altogethermyer rolls his eyes. >> it is flawed. >> reporter: he voted against his party's health care plan in committee and says democratic leaders have put democrats like him from conservative districts in a tough spot, by including controversial proposals in their health care plan, like a tax increase. >> go back to the districts and explain to the constituents why they took the politically unpopular vote, it just was tone deaf to me. >> reporter: he says he's not

worried about the onslaught of ads, calls and protest that's await him at home. >> at least it's encouraging debate. we didn't ram this through. we took the august recess to allow the country's voices to be heard. >> reporter: talk to any democratic lawmaker and they will tell you they were elected on a promise to reform the health care system, and they believe at the he believed of the day it will happen. but the key is to regain the message back from republicans. in the words of one lawmaker, explain what they're doing for you, not to you. and they're very much treating this like a political campaign. in fact, one democratic leader said that they're determined not to get swift boated during recess. dana bash, cnn, capitol hill. about 100 iranians went on trial this morning for protesting after their presidential election. that is from two iranian news agencies. the defendants were charged with everything from attacking military facilities to beating security forces. the defendants include some key opposition leaders, including a former vice president. hundreds of protesters were

arrested when they accused the government of stealing the vote. last month's protest was the biggest challenge to iran's regime in 30 years. check out this huge mess a storm left behind in massachusetts. it literally split trees in half yesterday. some of them crushing homes. power lines were knocked down and caused small fires in certain areas. a whole lot of people got caught right in the middle of it. >> i heard a lot of wind, and when we went outside, the trees were like crushed. >> the branches, everything, like going like really fast, just flying off trees. breaking off. you look over, you go to the field over there and you just saw the trees split apart. >> it got pitch-black all of a sudden and the rain came out of nowhere. i go upstairs to shut my fans off and stuff. next thing you know, the power's out and trees are down all over the place. >> yeah, it came quick. some drivers got trapped in their cars. and imagine this, one person said they had to swerve to get out of the way of a huge tree that was coming at their car.

honda is recalling an additional 440,000 cars because of a potentially deadly air bag defect. now, the company is saying this affects some honda accords, civics and acuras made in the early 2000s. the driver's side air bag can overpressurize, rupture and actually throw pieces of metal around. honda says at least one person died, six others were injured because of this. if your car is affected you will get a recall notice in the mail. honda had a similar recall in november. the house agreed to give the cash for clunkers program another $2 billion, but the senate hasn't made a move yet. the white house is denying reports that the program was suspended because money was running out quicker than expected. the program offers rebates for exchanging old gas-guzzling cars for more efficient ones. it is supposed to last through the weekend. car dealers are being advised not to close any more deals until the program's fate is determined.

some good news for your stocks in this bad economy. the dow was up 17 points yesterday, closing at 9171. that is the highest level since november. overall, the market posted its best july numbers in two decades. a border agent killed on duty was buried in california yesterday. members of the border patrol took part in the memorial service for robert rosas. he was shot nine days ago while patrolling alone, about 60 miles east of san diego. a relative said rosas had a lot of dreams for his children. >> he envisioned himself coaching our son in tee ball. he wanted to ascend in his job and hopefully our son would want to follow in his footsteps and he would so proudly pin him at his academy. we talked about how some day he would have to walk our daughter

down the aisle and he would have to dance with her. we would laugh, because dancing was not something he liked to do. >> mexico has arrested five people in connection with this case, but the fbi hasn't publicly released any suspects. we are getting new word that michael jackson was shopping around for a doctor to give him a powerful anesthetic. he asked hollywood doctor allan metzger for the drug known as diprivan. that is according to the doctor's attorney, who says that metzger refused to give it to michael jackson. a source told cnn investigators think another doctor, conrad murray, gave michael jackson the drug in the 24 hours before he died. a coroner's report on jackson's death has been postponed indefinitely. pretty powerful stuff, did you see and hear that? well, a florida man was videotaping an incoming storm in

st. augustine beach thursday. when that happened, a bolt of lightning struck right next door. everyone was fine, but the guy taping it says it gave him a good scare. getting a pool may have seemed like a good idea, relaxing, refreshing, but what do you do when you don't want it anymore? >> this is strong. very strong. you could park a truck on this. >> and you could save a lot of cash. how one man is saving big on his monthly bills. by putting his pool out of commission.

the pool that one arizona couple was so excited to get 20 years ago, it has now been covered up and turned into a deck since lynn wright and their wife have decided to retire

their pool, they have saved on their electric bill, using less than 4500 gallons of water since last july. wright says whoever buys the house next, he will be prepared to replaster it. >> i'll be prepared to bring it back to a pool. >> it was pretty pricey. the wrights send $6,000 to fix it. the space underneath can be used for storage, but the wrights have kept it militant. authorities are trying to figure out why more than 20 horses were poisoned on purpose. apparently they were given leaves from the highly-toxic oleander plant. employees founl the leaves thursday morning, but all of the horses are expected to survive. tiger woods can't be struggling again, can he? remember, he didn't make the cut two weeks ago at the british

open, and yesterday he began the buick open in 95th place. tiger, is that you? he tore it up in the best round of the year yesterday, birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie. woods said he putted horribly thursday, so why not avoid it altogether? this chip in, good. tiger tied for fifth just four strokes back now. dara torres switched suits to a high-tech model, and sure enough, she was one of the fastest in her next race. she had to cover the logo on the new suit because she is sponsored by a different company. x game fans were all waiting for this, a back flip with a 360 spin, but the wonder boy crashed. he was so sore after this he didn't even make his second run. check this out. road racing in finland, and this point of view just might make

you a bit queasy. i feel like toonsis is driving. the rally is still going right now. the leader drives the ford focus. great stuff in baseball, this was the best. orioles luke scott deep to center, red sox win 6-5. one family thought they were getting their dream home in florida, but it hasn't turned out that way. >> our dream was to live in a resort-type of building, and the oasis was going to be it. >> but instead of living the dream, they are living alone in this 32-story building.

more photos are being released of that air force one flight over new york city, remember that? it caused quite a panic three months ago. the air force released these pictures of the incident. they were put together in a flip-book way to show you what happened, hence the movement of the plane there. the photos show the boeing making three passes by the

statue of liberty, accompanied by an f-16 fighter jet. then making a steep bank not usually seen with passenger aircraft. that move may have contributed to the panic on the ground. three american tourists are believed to be in iranian custody. that is from security spokesmen in the kurdish part of iraq. he says the americans went hiking in the mountains and may have mistakenly crossed the iranian border. the spokesman says the hikers told their friends in iraq they were surrounded by iranian troops before communication was cult cut off completely. the state department is investigating. can you imagine having an entire condominium complex to yourself? it may sound great, but one family says it's actually kind of dangerous. as christina bailey from affiliate wftx explains, the family got the condo they wanted, but now they want out. >> reporter: new jersey fire captain victor and his wife kathy dreamed of retiring in

southwest florida and leaving this riverfront condo to their children. >> we sold our house in new jersey and used the money for the down payment. everything we got we put into this. >> reporter: an oasis, it is not. eight months after closing, the family are the only ones who live in this 32-floor tower. a building they expected to become a bustling community amidst restaurants, a movie theater and marina. instead? isolation. >> it's very eerie. it's like a scary movie. >> reporter: he says health and safety hazards abound. this trash outside their door, a dark and deserted parking garage and a lack of promised security. >> the fire alarm system, which is my business as a fire official, has been out of service. we had an intrusion june 29, a month ago from today. somebody came into the building somehow and were pounding on the door where -- the room next to where my children are. >> they sell a lifestyle, and that lifestyle has kind of fizzled. >> reporter: their attorney, jonathan ewing, is working to get them what they paid for or

get them out. >> what we're looking for from the related group is to step up to the plate. >> reporter: i called betsy mccoy, a vp with the miami-based developer, the related group, to voice the family's concerns. >> we have not discontinued the service or done anything that would make life uncomfortable for them. >> reporter: she told me the family could move to the second tower while they try working out a transition with their lender to buy next door. after months of back and forth, the family wants to be settled or be free. is the related group willing to buy back their condo so it can just be a clean break? >> at this point, no. one, we don't have a contractual obligation to do so. >> our dream was to live in a resort-type of building and the oasis was going to be it. >> reporter: instead, they feel all they'll ever see here is a mirage. >> our thanks to christina bailey from wftx for that report. the original plans for the complex call for five towers to

be built. two towers are up and the rest of the project has been put on hold. building a home on a budget, if you've tried, you know it means making careful decisions. well, in today's ecosolutions, morgan neil introduces us to ways to be green and keep costs low. >> reporter: when this couple built their house, they planned every detail. environmental impact was a priority. but money and time were limited. >> because both of us are working, so we have only short time to be here in house. so it is very difficult to keep ecofriendly when it requires long time. >> reporter: so they opted for low maintenance ways to be green. faucets that use less water, double-paned glass for better

efficiency. >> one of the main challenges is how to deal with limited space. they found a way to deal with that challenge that's both ingenious and, well, green. ingenius and green. the rooftop garden keeps the house cooler, meaning they use less air conditioning. >> this is our solar panels, we can use it in the kitchen -- >> reporter: solar panels heat all of the water they need some mer. they have to use a boiler in winter when there is less like. she would like to reduce the carbon emissions to zero, but had to balance that with other needs. what if costs were no object? pan sonic show casing its latest ideas on eliminating carbon emissions. >> you can see lights are turned on. >> reporter: inside a network reduces consumption.

>> oxygen and hydrogen reacts here. >> reporter: fuel cells combine with solar power ap accumulator batteries to provide what power is needed. it's an elegant version of the family. building an ecofamily house means making hard decisions. >> which one i can reduce and which one i can't. >> reporter: the important thing is the house is not just ecofriendly, it's also comfortable. that's not easy to plan. cnn, japan. head to our website, cnn.com/ecosolutions. more addicts are flocking to pain clinics, we'll look at how pill mills have popped up all over south florida and what

police are doing to shut them down.