are forced out by a fast-moving wildfire. there's no way to know when they can go home. former vp dick cheney is working on a book. will the author has not so fond feelings about his former boss. bizarre to see a man standing in the waves calling for help. a crash survivor has one incredible story. we'll share it with you. happy friday eve. i'm christi paul. so glad to have you. let's talk about this wildfire that's burning in the santa cruz mountains. this is in northern california. it's been declared a major natural disaster by fema. here are some of the most recent pictures.

the so-called lockheed fire started yesterday evening. it sense has burned 1200 acres. now, of about 600 people near the town of bonny doon were told to leave their homes. the fire is burning in timber and really heavy brush. officials say it is threatening 250 structures right now. more health care reform town hall meetings being held today. six states, from -- attracting jam-packed crowds here. president obama plans one, in fact, tomorrow in montana. there will be another one with him in colorado saturday. we will be watching today's action and bring you any new developments. also, we're learning more about what really happened when police escorted a woman out of a town hall health care meeting. this is the video we've been showing you. from missouri senator

mccaskill's forum. the police tried to take a sign from her that said "rosa parks, first lady of civil rights." a new youtube video shows a different angle. we'll try to highlight it. a man actually went over to her and ripped the sign out of her hands. so police ended up leading both of them away. that woman, by the way, maxine johnson, is giving her side of the story. she said she went to the forum to represent her primarily african-american neighborhoods who do not have health insurance. she said she went through security, several guards saw the sign. she comply with instructions not to unroll it. but a reporter asked to see it and johnson says people in the audience were the problem. >> and there i asked another, i said, what was the problem. it was rosa parks, a historical figure, the woman said, ma'am, it wasn't rosa parks. you were the threat.

they took a report. they say, ma'am, we cannot guarantee your protection. you must leave. you don't know these people. they're nasty. it was clearly racial. >> the man, by the way, who snatched johnson's sign was arrested and held on suspicion of misdemeanor assault. a lot of voters are concerned about a provision that includes end of life counseling. that's former alaska governor sarah palin you see there. she introduced the term death panel when referring to it. now there's rulers about y erru. they would pay doctors for voluntarily end of life counseling. that counseling would explain things such as living wills and hospice care to patients. still, palin is not convinced and posted these comments last night. quote, it's misleading for the president to describe this section as an entirely voluntarily provision that simply increases the information offered to medicare.

recipients, the issue is the context in which that information is provided and the coercive affect those consultations will have in that context. the many politicians are taking issue with palin's comments. pennsylvania senator arlen specter called the rulers of death panels vicious and malicious. medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta of cnn joined anderson cooper last night to clarify this issue. >> the specifically looking that the idea of a medical profess n professional and a senior sitting down talking about living wills and different provisions, will they want certain measures taken near the time of death. all these sorts of things which sometimes happen in doctors' offices during routine office visits but sometimes don't, sometimes they're misunderstood and sometimes they're acted upon. i think that's what they're talking about here. having said that, we've been doing a lot of research on this particular issue. one thing that comes out and this came out of an article in

the journal of the medical medical association. what is the impact of having this discussion, of a physician sitting down and having a discussion with a senior saying here are the various options near the end of your life. what the article concluded is people who have a discussion like that do tend to be less aggressive about their care after a physician spells out all of the different options. >> the aarp is running ads to dispel myths about that provision. the organization hasn't endorsed the house proposal but says it does favor the end of life counseling provision, particularly since it is voluntary. we have this just in we want to share with you. affiliates in pensacola, florida, say that six men charge with the killing of a florida couple have now pled not guilty. the grand jury indicted them earlier this week. the first murder charges give prosecutors the option of seeking the death penalty here. the couple who had adopted 13 children with special needs were gunned down in their home last

month. this is some of the surveillance cameras footage at the billings home that captured images of masked suspects running up in a red van and stealing a safe from the home. six men pled not guilty at their arraignment today. usually when rick pitino steps in front of the microphones to talk about baseball. yesterday the louisville coach talked to the media about the scandal surrounding an extramarital affair he had six years ago. in a news conference pitino admitted he had consensual sex with a woman in the louisville restaurant. he also said he thought it was better to admit what happened than lie. >> if you tell the truth, your problem becomes part of your past. if you lie, it becomes part of your future. and i made a very difficult decision to tell the truth to the federal authorities, the local authorities, to university officials, and most important, the people that love me the

most, my family and friends. i love the game, love my players, love this university as well as this community. i don't want to coach nowhere else. i don't believe in anything as much as i believe in this university and this state. as long as they'll have me, as long as they'll have me i'm going to coach here. >> the woman pitino said he had sex with has been charged with trying to extort $10 million from him. a lot of reaction to this story all day, too. he says, i feel pitino should be terminated right away. he's a role model for the young men he coaches. he has failed his players, his school and society. he must go. martha disagrees here. we've had, you know, different sides to this all day. he said, we all want mercy when the mistake is ours. we are much more willing to be tough when it is someone else's. time to forgive and move on. won't you chime in on this and tell us what you think? text us at hlntv. here are your options. type views a if you think pitino

should be fired. views b if you think he should resign. or views c if you believe he should be allowed to continue coaching. standard text charges apply. federal officials may have found a town willing to house suspects from guantanamo bay. the prison could close soon, putting 350 people out of work. local politicians are under pressure to save the jobs. residents favor housing at ga guantanamo detainees if it means saving the employees. others are not comfortable having terror suspectses so close. no final decisions have been made. but we would like your thought on this story. do you think detainees from g n guantanamo should be moved to this michigan prison in order to keep the prison from closing? give us a call at 1-877-tell-hln or e-mail us at cnn.com/hln or

text us your views at hlntv. your opinion is important to us. thank you for letting us know how you feel. the public wake for eunice kennedy shriver will begin in about an hour from now. thousands are expected to pay their respects to the woman behind the special olympics. the service is being held at a roman catholic church on cape cod. shriver, the sister of john kennedy, died tuesday at the age of 88. dick cheney, of course, was president bush's right-hand man but was that close enough for him? he's god a new memoir coming out and some of the revelations could surprise you. we just

paul has died. the 94-year-old jazz guitarist became famous in the 1930s for les paltry oh. they performed on bing crosby's

show. he invented the les paul electric guitar. it was among the first of its kind, along with the fender electric. the mayor of new jersey said paul may have died from pneumonia but that has not been confirmed. the police say, get this, the crew of popular tv crime show was the first to get big stories because the host ordered killings to boost ratings. authorities in brazil are investigating the host who they say is also a drug dealer. now, authorities also contend he would order the killings of criminal krooirivals and his tv would be the first on tv. >> reporter: in truth he went as far as creating facts and ordering the crimes be committed to generate news for the program. >> translator: in all, investigations made by the public ministry and the police. so far they have not been able to present any proof of any kind. >> former tv host is also a

state lawmaker, and says his political opponents and drug dealers are setting him up. he insists he got scoops on big crime stories because he has good sources. a group of rollers who were out to break a record decided that they had more important mission when they watched a plane ditch into the irish sea. one of the rowers said he was certain he had just witness somebody die. amazingly, look at this, a pilot who was the only person on board survived and was able to crawl out of the plane. after an unsuccessful rescue attempt the rowers had to radio for help but they did hoist the pilot for safety. aside from some cuts, he was okay. isn't that something? looks like former vice president dick cheney's memoir is going to be a tell-all. "the washington post" says he's expected to discuss how he began turning away from bush's advice and giving into public precedent during his second term. according to cheney's biographer he says he has strong feelings alkts what happened and he

doesn't have any reason not to, quote, forthrightly express those views, unquote. cheney also says he always publicly supported bush even when he didn't agree with him. cheney's memoir, by the way, is due out in 2011. a typhoon dumps close to seven feet of water on taiwan in a single weekend and that caused treacherous mudslides and floods the creative way now that rescue crews are getting people to safety.

so good to have you with us. for a second straight day, u.s. marines are in an intense battle to secure towns in southern afghanistan that have been controlled by the taliban for years now. there it is. the fierce battle sound even more intense last night. marines are trying to cut off smuggling routes and secure areas around voting stations ahead of next week's presidential elections. taliban militants have threatened to disrupt the vote and warn people to stay away from polling centers on election day. rescuers in taiwan meanwhile using chairs on ropes. look at this. bringing typhoon survivors to safety. the government says troops can't reach many remote areas because roads and bridges have collapsed. the typhoon dumped as much as 80 inches of rain on the island this weekend. more than 100 people are dead

and dozens are still missing. despite the terrible conditions though, the government says nearly 14,000 people have been rescued so far. boy, great efforts there. several aid organizations in the u.s. and around the world are moving to assist the victims of this typhoon in taiwan. china and the i'philippines. find out how you can help p. go to cnn.com/impact and find a list of agencies. have an update to a story that's just in to hln. all seven now, all seven of the suspects in the florida couple murder has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first degree murder and home invasion robbery. all seven of them now, including that juvenile you see there who is 16 years old whose picture we can't show you. a grand jury indicted the men earlier this week in the deaths of melanie billings. the first three murder charges do give prosecutors the option of seeking the death penalty

there. so you see pamela wiggins there, she was not in court today. her case was passed forward to a bond hearing next week as she's charged with accessory after the fact. but the couple who had adopted 13 special needs children were gunned down in their home last month. and this is some of the video from surveillance cameras at the billings home. they captured images of masked suspects driving up in the red van and stealing a safe from the home. once again, seven men pleading not guilty at their arraignment today. starting saturday, airlines may ask you for your birthday and gender when you book a flight. this is the latest expansion of a program called secure flight. next year the airlines will transfer all passenger id checks to the transportation security administration. the tsa says the extra information will help them avoid stopping innocent people whose names are similar to suspected terrorists. it's like all you can eat buffet for travel evers. a chance to fly as much as you

want for one price. $599, sound good to you? jetblue airline is offering unlimited flights for one month. jetblue says there are no blackout dates. you can get any open seat. the deal only runs between september 8th and october 8th, however. new indications today the economy is still on pretty shaky ground. report out showed retail sales dipped unexpectedly by .1 of a percent after two months of gains. so analysts had expected an increase here. the cash for clunkers program offset by little or no spending in other sectors. first-time unemployment claims rose to 558,000 last week. that's up about 4,000 from the week before. analysts again were expecting a dip this time around. continuing claims dropped more than expected, from just over 6.3 million to 6.2 million. but one analyst said that could

reflect people falling off rolls because their unemployment benefits had expired. more people are losing their homes, i hate to tell you. the number of foreclosure filings rose dramatically last month. this is the third month in a row where a number of home in some stage of foreclosure hit a record high. one out of every 355 u.s. homes or 360,000 properties had a foreclosure filing last month. foreclosure can range from the first notice in the mail to repossession. just so we're clear. a lot of life insurance companies are raising their rates. you can still protect your loved ones for less. hrks clark howard tells you how to find those deals. >> i have a special tip for you about insuring your life. both consumer reports and the "wall street journal" are report that a number of life insurers have been racing rates recently on my favorite kind of life insurance, known as term life

insurance. term life insurance doesn't have any kind of fancy investment side to it or savings account. it's simply a benefit that pays out to your beneficiaries at the time of your death. well, a number of insurers have not been doing real well with their investments in either real estate or the stock market or things like that. some of them have been raising rates. the key for you? there are still lots of great deals out there on term insurance. go out and shop the market. with term you buy for 10, 15, 20-year periods. pay a set premium every year for that time you want to insure. if you shop around well, you will still save a ton, even with the increases that are out there. i'm clark howard, for more ways for you to be smart with your wallet go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. watch clark every saturday and sunday at noon and 4:00. you know it's the 40th anniversary of woodstock this weekend so we wanted to catch up

with one of the famous musicians who took the stage. you may be surprised at what that means to him. eeeeeee

we're starting with this story just in to hln "news and views." update you, all seven of the suspects in the killings of a florida couple have pleaded today not guilty to two counts of first degree murder and home invasion robbery. now, a grand jury indicted the men earlier this week in the deaths of the billings. the first three murder charges though give the prosecutors the option of seeking the death penalty. pamela wiggins there was not in court today. her case was passed to a bond hearing next week. she's charged with accessory after the fact. this couple, remember, who had adopted 13 special needs children were gunned down in their home last month. this is surveillance camera video outside the billings' home. it captured the images of masked

suspects driving up in a red van and stealing a safe from their home. once again, seven men pleaded not guilty at their arraignment just a short while ago. also we just learned a guitar pioneer les paul died from severe pneumonia, according to his publicist. 94-year-old jazz guitarist became famous in the 1930s where les paul trio performed. he created the les paul electric guitar. it was first of the kind along with the fender electric. the head of gibson guitars says that les paul's musical charm was extraordinary and his techniques unmatched anywhere in the world. a wildfire burning in the santa cruz mountains in california has been declared a major disaster. lockheed fire started last night and burned 2,000 acres. that's a new number for us here, 2,000 acres now.

600 people near the town of bonny doon were told to leave their homes. so far there's no word on what may have caused it but the fires burning in timber and heavy brush. officials say it's threatening 250 structures. louisville coach rick pitino is used to taking teams to the big dance, the ncaa basketball turn mp turn chlt, of course. yesterday he admitted an extramarital affair that took place six years ago. larry smith joining us now onset to talk more about pitino. he didn't have much of a choice here, did he? >> he kind of had to come out at this point. he wants to get it behind him. you're right, his resume is one that is above par. the only coach to take three different schools to the final four. one of the most successful college coaches. that record has been tarnished with this admission of an indiscretion. pitino does cast a large shadow in the common wealth of kentucky where basketball is king.

the 56-year-old married father of five hopes to put this behind him and focus on rebuilding his reputation. >> if you tell the truth, your problem becomes part of your past. if you lie, it becomes part of your future. and i made a very difficult decision to tell the truth to the federal authorities, the local authorities, to university officials, and most important, the people that love me the most, my family and friends. >> the woman involved, 49-year-old zypher" is accused of trying to eggs tort $10 million from him. she pled not guilty to both. pitino now sets his right tons job at hand, and that is coaching louisville basketball. >> i love the game, love my players, love this university as well as this community. >> i won't coach nowhere else. i don't believe in anything as much as i believe in this university and this state. as long as they'll have me, as long as they'll have me i'm going to coach here.

>> pitino is linked to jobs in the university of arizona and last spring when word of the allege of the extortion attempt became public. since that happened his son who was an assistant coach of the team left the program. pitino's admission was the right thing to do but he stopped short of talking about the coach's future. we've been weighing in on this topic all morning. here are a few e-mails. amanda writes, i think he should be fired. he is supposed to be a role model for college students and youth alike. and this is obviously not something we want his students to mimic. from just outside louisville, i think he should be possibly fined over the years i have seen what he has done for the basketball program and the kids that are flowed through his program. he is a very concerned and caring coach. we want to keep him. a couple thoughts people have today. >> but it makes you wonder what this means for the program, too because this is a guy who is a recru recruit. what does that mean? >> goes out and people's living

rooms. >> right? >> i want you son to play basketball for me. i will be the role model and take care of your son for the next four years. you should trust me. i mean, that's something he's going to have to overcome. if you listen to his statement, he tried doing that in talking about putting this in the past and looking toward the future. >> amazing how something six you. know, there many years later. and pretty amazing it didn't come out before now, really, at the end of the day. >> extension attempt is when he contacted the fbi. that charge -- not going to talk about that case because he really can't. it's a legal issue now. that really kind of began this thing to a point now he wants to clear the cloud and move on. >> well, we'll see what happens. all right. larry, thank you so much. we do want to give you an option of weighing in on this as well. text us regarding what you think should happen next. hear are your options. text views a if you think pitino should be fired. views b if you think he should resi resign. or views c if he should be allowed to continue coaching.

standard text rates, by the way, do apply. thanks again to larry smith. more health care reform town hall meetings being held across the country today. six states from oregon to new jersey, in fact, and some spots in between, have forums scheduled. the meetings are attracting jam-packed crowds here. president obama, in fact, plans one tomorrow in montana. and another in colorado saturday. we'll be watching today's action and we'll bring you any other new developments with it. also learning more about what really happened when police escorted a woman. we've been showing you this video. the original report said the woman was angry because police tried to take a sign from her that read "rosa parks, first lady of civil rights." a new youtube video shows a different angle. we're going to drop the ticker here so you can see what's happening. the spot is highlighted. there's a man in the crowd who walked over to her and ripped that sign out of her hands.

she got up to try to get it back and police ended up leading both of them out. that woman is maxine johnson. he's giving her side of the story now. he said she went to represent her primarily african-american neighborhood, many of whom do not have health insurance. she said she went through security, several guards saw the sign and she complied with instructions not to unroll it but that a reporter asked to see it. and johnson says, people in the audience were the problem. >> and there i asked another, i said, what was the problem. it was rosa parks, a historical figure, why is it such a threat. the come said, ma'am, it wasn't rosa parks. you were the threat. you were a black woman. they took a report. they say, ma'am, we cannot guarantee your protection. you must leave this town. we cannot protect you. you don't know these people. they're nasty. it was clearly racial. >> the man who snatched johnson's sign was arrested and held on suspicion of misdemeanor assault. a public wake for eunice

kennedy shriver will begin at the top of the hour in about 20 minutes. thousand will pay their respects. the services are being held at a roman catholic church on cape cod. shriver, of course, the sister of former president john f. kennedy, died tuesday at the age of 88. all right. let's just face it here. in the television world, ratings are huge. we all know it. sometimes networks go to great lengths to be number one, but dying for ratings? this popular tv host is now facing some pretty shocking allegations. what police say he did to get rid of the competition and drive up the ratings.

oh, listen to this one. police say the crew of a popular tv crime show was the first to get big stories because the host ordered killings to boost ratings. authorities in brazil are investigating the host who they say is also a drug dealer. they go on to contend that he would order the killings of criminal rivals, then his tv crew would be first to arrive on the scene. >> translator: in truth, he went as far as creating facts and ordering the crimes be committed to generate news for the program. >> translator: in all investigations made by the public ministry and the police, so far they have not been able to present any proof of any kind. >> the former tv host is also a state lawmaker. he says his political opponents and drug dealers are setting him up and he insists he got scoops on big crime stories because he had good sources. a group of rowers who were out to break a record decided they had a more important

mission when they watched a plane ditch into the irish sea. one of the rowers said he was certain that he had just witnessed someone die. but look at the pilot. the only person on board, he survives. and was able to you out of his plane. it looks like he's walking on water there. after unsuccessful rescue attempt the rowers had to radio for attempt. helicopter hoisted the pilot to safety. here's that video. aside from some cuts, he was okay. looks as though former vice president dick cheney's memoir will be a tell-all. "the washington post" says he's expected to discuss how he believes president george w. bush began turning away from his advice and giving into public sentiment during his second term. according to cheney's biographer, cheney said he had strong feelings and he doesn't have any reason not to record forthrightly the views. cheney also says he always publicly supported bush even when he didn't agree with him. the memoir is due out in 2011.

tough economic times taking a toll on historical black college where's a lot of students rely on financial aid. with families struging to get loans and enrollments dropping, schools are being forced to cut back and laying off faculty mid semester. sarah endo talked to school officials in atlanta. >> reporter: sophomore williams found a perfect fit at spelman college. >> this place is meant for me. >> reporter: when the tough economy hit her and her family hard, she packed her bags, ready to drop out. >> i wasn't able to get loans. neither were my parents. >> reporter: it's a familiar story at colleges across the country. but especially at historically black colleges and universities, where in some cases up to 95% of students rely on financial aid to fund their education. president barack obama has moved to increase financial aid with stimulus and budget funds, but still, many black colleges expect enrollment rates to keep shrinking as families and students struggle in the

economic downturn. >> many students want to come. will they be able to afford to come? >> reporter: since 2004 $238 million of federal funding were earmarked annually for historically black colleges. in the last two years those institutions also benefited from an extra $85 million each year under the college cost reduction act, which ends in may of 2010. to those institutions, may feel the squeeze even more. >> we are underresourced. we try to keep our costs as low as possible. that means that our margins are always very tight. >> reporter: in the atlanta area alone, moore house college laid off 25 adjunct professors. clark atlanta university's budget ax fell with 70 no fessers and 30 staff members let go. the white house budget office says president obama's budget combed for a 5% increase in permanent funding for historically black colleges. >> ware saying you're moving in the right dress, but

unfortunately in these tough times, not far enough. >> reporter: for williams, a scholar ship came through at the last minute and she says the struggle to stay at a historically black college was worth it. >> i was completely relieved. and now i'm focussing on my studies. >> reporter: sandra endo, cnn, atlanta. . >> best of luck to her. tough economy, obviously there are great examples of that. for more of our series, watch our sister network cnn tonight at 8:00 eastern. typhoon dumps close to seven feet of water on taiwan in a single weekend, which caused treacherous mudslides and floods. the creative way rescue crews are getting people to safety now.

i'm jane velez-mitchell. it never fails when toxic secrets invade a family it's

always easy to blame the messenger. perfect example. billy mays, official cause of death was heart disease but the family was ticked off because the toxicology report was released showing mays had used cocaine in the days leading up to his death. the family was claiming they were nerve aware of the drug use and even considering a second autopsy. turns out they don't need that anymore. famous forensic pathologist is now saying not only a drugs were in his system but a cocktail of drugs probably killed him. instead of blaming the doctor, the family should also be looking at themselves asking, how did we not know? i'm jane velez-mitchell, and that's my issue. >> tonight on "issue" an officer harassed over his playboy wife. ohio police officer is suing a columbus suburb. local police department and officials claiming he was harassed on the job when his wife appeared nude in "playboy." for more, watch "issues with

jane velez-mitchell" right here on hln. brand new video i want to show you right now just in to hln "news and views." all seven of the suspects of the killing of a florida couple pled not guilty to two counts of first degree murder and home invasion robbery. a grand jury indicted them earlier this week in the deaths of the billings. the first degree murder charges give prosecutors the option of seeking the dealt penalty here if they so choose. pamela wiggins was absent in court today. apparently her case was passed forward to a bond hearing next week. but she's charged with accessory after the fact. but this is some of the video, some of the other seven men, the other suspects. the couple, remember, who had adopted 13 special needs children were gunned down in their home last month. a surveillance camera is at the billings home captured images of masked suspects driving up in a red van and stealing a safe from their home. but once again, you're looking

at one of the seven men who pleaded not guilty at an arraignment today there in florida. federal officials federal o found a town willing to house terror suspects from guantanamo bay. now, this prison could close soon, which would put about 350 people out of work. local politicians under pressure to save those jobs. some favor housing guantanamo detainees there, others aren't so comfortable having terror suspect so close. this is an option they're considering, no final decisions have been made. we want your views on this. do you think the detainees from guantanamo should be moved to a michigan prison in order to keep that prison from closing? call us right now at 877-tell-hln or e-mail us at cnn.com/hln or text the word views, comments and name to hlntv. we'd love to hear from you.

we'll air your comments throughout the day. look at this video using chairs on ropes to bring typhoon survivers to safety. the government says troops can't reach a lot of the remote areas because bridges and roads have collapsed. triggering the worst floods and mudslides in 50 years. more than 100 people are dead and dozens are still missing, though. despite the terrible conditions, the government says nearly 14,000 people have been rescued thus far. so, wow, pretty impressive rescue efforts there. several aid organizations in the u.s. and around the world are moving to assist the victims of the typhoon to find out how you can help, go to cnn.com/impact. you'll find a list of agencies providing aid. you know it's that 40th anniversary of woodstock this weekend. we wanted to catch up with one of the most famous musician who took the stage there.

still considers himself counterculture but you may be surprised to learn what that means to him. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

a fast-moving wildfire forces hundreds of northern californians out and there's no way to know whether they might be able to return home. louisville cardinals coach rick pitino gives his side of the scandal. what he says about the extra marital affair and his futon the court. guantanamo detainees might be sent to a u.s. prison. where they might go and your voice on having terror suspects on american soil. hln news and views i'm chuck roberts on a thursday. welcome. all seven suspects in the killing of a florida panhandle couple have pleaded not guilty of home invasion robbery. the first degree murder charges give prosecutors the option of seeking the death penalty in the deaths of byrd and melanie

billings. pamela long wigens was not in court today she is charged as an accessory after the fact. byrd and melanie billings have adopted 13 special needs children. they were gunned down in their home last month. surveillance cameras at the billings' home captured images of masked suspects driving up in a red van and stealing a safe from their home. a wildfire burning in the santa cruz mountains in northern california north of santa cruz north of monta ray has been declared a natural disaster area by fema. 600 people were told to leave their homes. davenport is also very much in peril. the lockheed fire began last night and since burned 2,000 achers and no word yet on what might have caused this fire. it is burning timber and heavy brush and officials say they have zero containment. about 225 structures have burned so far. more health care reform town hall meetings being held across the country today. six states from oregon to new jersey and spots in between have

forums scheduled. the meetings are attracting jam-packed crowds and president obama plans one tomorrow in bozman, montana, and another one on saturday in grand junction, colorado. we'll watch today's hearing and bring you any new developments. what really happened when police escorted a woman out of a health care town hall in missouri. this is from video earlier this week. the original report said the woman was angry because police tried to take a sign from her that read, rosa parks, first lady of civil rights. but a new youtube video shows a different angle. you see a man in the crowd walking over to the woman and ripping the sign out of her hands and then ripping it apart. police led both of them out. that woman maxine johnson is now giving her side of the story. she said she tweent the forum to represent her primarily african-american neighborhood, many of whom, she says, don't have health insurance. she went through security,

several guards saw the sign and johnson says people in the crowd were the problem. >> and then i asked another, i said what was the problem? it was rosa parks, historical figure. she says, ma'am, it wasn't rosa park. you were the threat, you were a black woman. they said, ma'am, we cannot guarantee your protection. you must leave this town. we cannot protect you. you don't know these people, they're nasty. it was clearly racial. >> the man who snatched johnson's sign was arrested and held on misdemeanor assault. many voters are concerned about a provision in the health care that includes end of life counseling. sarah palin introduced the term death panel, referring to it. now rumors about euthanasia persist at town hall meetings nationwide. the proposal states that medicare would pay doctors for

voluntary end of life counseling and that counseling would explain things like living wills, hospice care and such to patients. still, palin isn't convinced and posted these comments on her facebook page last night. it's misleading, she wrote, for the president to describe this section as an entirely voluntary provision that simply increases the information offered to medicare recipients. the issue is the context in which that information is provided and the coercive effect these consultations will have in that context. many taking issues with palin's comments, though. arlen specter calls rumors of death panels vicious and malicious. chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta one of our cnn correspondents joined anderson cooper last night to talk about the issue. >> specifically looking at this idea of a medical professional and a senior sitting down and talking about all sorts of things. living wills, different provisions, they want certain measures taken near the time of death.

all these sorts of things which, sometimes, you know, happen in doctor's offices during routine office visits, but sometimes don't. sometimes they're misunderstood and sometimes they're not acted upon. having said that, anderson, we have been doing research on this particular issue and this came out of an article in the journal of the american medical association, what is the impact of having this discussion. of a physician sitting down and having a discussion with a senior and saying here are the various options near the end of your life. people who have a discussion like that do tend to be less aggressive about their care after a physician sort of spells out all the different options. >> the aarp is running ads to dispel any myths about the provision. the organization has not endorsed the house proposal, but does favor the end of life counseling provision sincility it's voluntary. daunte stallworth has been suspended by the season by the nfl. he can't participate in any

activities he pleaded guilty to killing a pedestrian while driving drunk in march. stallworth was sentenced to 30 days in jail and recent undisclosed financial settlement with the reyes family. usually when rick pitino steps in front of the microphones it is to talk basketball but yesterday he talked to the media about the scandal surrounding an extra marital he had six years ago. he admitted he had consensual sex with a woman in a liouisvile woman and he felt it was better to admit what happened than lie. >> if you tell the truth, your problem becomes part of your past. if you lie, it becomes part of your future. i made a very difficult decision to tell the truth to the federal authorities, the local authorities, to university officials and, most important, the people that love me the most, my family and friends.

i love the game, love my players, love this university, as well as this community. i don't want to coach anywhere else and i don't believe in anything as much as i believe in this university and this state. for as long as they'll have me, i'll coach here. >> the woman pitino said he had sex with. connie in kentucky said rick lost his integrity, how can he stand in front of his team and teach character and integrity. he lost his credibility and it's time for him to leave. our text poll is going in a different direction with a whopping 91% of viewers saying rick pitino should keep his job. what do you think? text hlntv views "a" if you think the coach should be let go. views "b" if you think he should resign or "c" if you think he should be allowed to stay. standard text rates apply. the icons of rock 'n' roll are bowing their heads today.

the men who invented the first electric guitar has died. brooke anderson tells us not only was paul an inventor, but a heck of a guitar player, as well. >> mr. les paul. >> reporter: les paul may have been a legendary guitar player, but his impact went beyond chords and riffs. he changed the way people listened to music. born in 1915, paul began his career as a teenaged country act before turning his talopportunities jazz and pop music. in the 1940s he married singer mary ford and while their marriage eventually ended in divorce -- the partnership produced a string of hit, including "how high the moon." les paul's other career was as an inventor and his mechanical

creations overshadow his musical talent. he was ahead of his time when he took a piece of wood and some wire and created a solid body wire guitar. he knew it was years of the electric guitars on the market so he took it to the gibson guitar company and they said, no thanks. >> for ten years i was a laugh. i kept pounding at them and pounding at them and say, hey, here's where it's at. here's where tomorrow this is it. you can drown out anybody with it. and you can make all these different sounds that you can't do with a regular guitar. >> reporter: when the fender company produced their version of the electric guitar in the early '50s gibson came running and soon the gibson les paul was the guitar of choice. still one of the most popular guitars on the market, but he wasn't done creating. >> this is my baby. this is where it started. >> reporter: he recorded tricks like overdubbing and guitar

tricks like reverse. >> just machine after machine after machine. >> reporter: he also invented 8-track recording in the 1950s. several sources into one recording and 50 years later it is still the most common way of recording pop music. his guitar and gadgets earned him a place in the rock 'n' roll hall of fame. the inventor's hall of fame and even the songwriter's hall of fame. >> i do know what i did, but i don't go around reminding people about it or bragging about it or thinking about it. i just did it mostly because i had to have something and it wasn't there so i couldn't go down the street and buy it, so i built it. >> reporter: but inventor or not, he was still a guitar player's guitar player and he perform under to his 90s with the biggest names in music and the biggest names in music used his inventions and played his guitar.

>> wow. les paul, that was brooke anderson reporting. he was the guitarist and inventest of the electric guitar has died at the age of 94.

federal officials may have found a town willing to house terror suspects from guantanamo bay. they're touring a prison in mexico today and the prison could close soon and put 350 people out of work. local politicians are under pressure to save those jobs. others aren't comfortable having terror suspects so close by. no final decisions have been made. we've been asking your views on all this. do you thin the detainees from guan tain mows should be moved to a prison on the mainland in michigan to keep that prison from closing?

e-mail at cnn.com/hln or text views plus your comment and name to hlntv standard text rates apply. we'll air your responses in a couple minutes and all day today. for a second straight day, u.s. marines are an intense bat tool secure towns in southern afghanistan controlled by the taliban for years. the fierce battle got even more intense last night. the marines are trying to cut off smuggling routes and secure areas around voting booths. taliban militants have threatened to disrupt the vote and warn people to stay away from polling centers on election day. it appears former vice president dick cheney's memoir will be a tell all. the "washington post" says he is expected to discuss how george w. bush began turning away from his advice and giving into public sentiment during his second term. according to cheney's biograp r

biographer, he has strong feelings about what happened and he doesn't have any reason not to "forth rightly express those views." cheney also says he always publicly supported bush when he didn't agree with him. cheney's memoir is due out in 2011. rush hour in downtown hampton, virginia. the only thing that was rushing was the flood water in the streets. an important tunnel had to be closed and that backed up traffic for hours. nearby fire crews joined transportation workers trying to pump out what they could, but by the time they moved their equipment into place, the water was already receding. in taiwan, rescuers used chairs on ropes to bring typhoon survivers to safety. troops can't reach many remote areas because the roads and bridges have collapsed. the typhoon dumped as much as 80 inches of rain this past week in the island triggering the worst floods and mudslides in 50 years. more than 150 dead and dozens still missing. nooerly 14,000 people have been rescued so far. an oklahoma man just started

his 59th year as a teacher. >> really, i stay here all the years because i didn't have any particular reason to leave. >> you got to hear how he touched the lives of thousands of students.

scotland says no decision has been made on releasing the man who bombed pan am flight 103. they will decide next week

whether to form the libyan agent who is dying from cancer. or let him finish his sentence in libya. the pan am flight exploded over scotland as it headed from london to new york christmas week 1988. the libyan national was convicted of the bombing, but he claims he's innocent. the foster father of a missing 5-year-old boy who has cerebral palsy has agreed to take a polygraph that's from a lawyer who says he has been advising him. the foster father told police he left the boy in the car to unlock a building door and when he came back hasanni was gone. starting on saturday airlines might ask you for your birth date and gender when you book a flight. next year the airlines will transfer all passenger i.d. checks to the transportation security administration. the tsa says the extra information will help them avoid stopping innocent people whose names are similar to suspected

terrorists. it's like an all you can eat buffet for travelers. the chance to fly as much as you want for one price. $599, no limit. jetblue is offering unlimited flights for a month. it says no blackout dates and any open seat. the deal runs between september 8th and october 8th. new indications today that the economy is still on shaky ground. a report showing retail sales dipped unexpectedly 0.1% that despite gains. the cash for clunkers program helped out the auto industry, but that was offset by little or no spending in other sectors. first time unemployment claims rose to 558,000 last week, that's up about 4,000 from the week before. analysts expected a dip. continuing claims dropped more than expected, though, from just over $6.3 billion to 6.2 million. one analyst said that could reflect falling off the rolls

because their unemployment benefits have expired. many life insurance companies are raising the rates, but you can still protect your loved ones for less. hln money expert clark howard tells you how to find the best deals. >> a special tip for you about insuring your life, both consumer reports and the "wall street journal" are reporting that a number of life insurers are raising rates recently on my favorite kind of life insurance known as term life insurance. term life insurance doesn't have any kind of fancy investment side to it or savings account, it's simply a benefit that pays out to your beneficiaries at the time of your death. well, a number of insurers have not been doing real well with their investments and either real estate or the stock market or things like that, so some of them have been raising rates. the key for you, there are still lots of great deals out there on term insurance. go out and shop the market, with term you buy for 10, 15, 20-year

period and pay a set premium every year for that time you want to insure and if you shop around well, you will still save a ton, even with the increases that are out there. i'm clark howard, for more ways for you to be smart with your wallet, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> and you get great consumer advice from clark every saturday and sunday at noon and 4:00 eastern right here on hln news and views. clark will help you spend less, make more and avoid getting ripped off. $9.99 for a 52 inch high def tv. shoppers jumped online to order, but the deal was, as you might imagine, too good to be true and they won't get the bargain. the company says it was a pricing airer and they will refund people's money. best buy reserves the right to correct errors. a right to break a record to make a rescue. a horrified group of rowers watched a plane go down into the

sea before their eyes. the pilot got out, but that wasn't the end of the story.

wildfire burning in the santa cruz mountains of northern california has been declared a natural disaster. 6,000 people were told to leave their homes. this is the lockede fire it started last night and has since burned 2,300 acres. so far no word on what may have caused the fire it is burning in timber and heavy brush and officials say they have zero containment. so far 225 structures have burned. all seven of the suspects in the killings of a florida panhandle couple have pleaded not guilty to two counts of first degree murder and home invasion robbery. the first degree murder charges give prosecutors the chance for

the death penalty. pamela wigens was not in court today. she was charged as an accessory after the fact. byrd and melanie billings who adopted 13 special needs children were gunned down in their home last month. surveillance cameras that billings' home captured images of masked suspects driving up in a red van and stealing a safe from their home. we have brand-new dramatic video. this is from detroit early this morning around 7:00 eastern. we have to warn you up front these pictures many will find disturbing. it involves a fatality during a police chase. with that caveat, police say they were chasing a pickup truck stolen in a suburban detroit area and here's what happened. there's the explosion and they had already gone through several communities and finally on the detroit west side it came to that abrupt end. the truck was hit by an suv and flew over to the side and hit another vehicle, a telephone pole and burst into flames. by the way, it occurred right in front of diners at the telway hamburger cafe just in front of

them. the man in the truck died at the scene and the drivers of the other two vehicles suffered minor injuries. more health care reform town hall meetings are being held across the country today. six states from oregon to new jersey and spots in between have forums scheduled. in fact, one is happening right now. the health care meetings are attracting jam-packed crowds. president obama plans one tomorrow in bosman montana and another one saturday in grand junction, colorado. we'll watch today's action and bring you any new developments. we're learning more about what happened as police escorted a woman out of a town hall meeting in missouri. the woman was angry because police tried to take a sign from her that read rosa parks, first lady of civil rights. a new youtube video has been posted. here's a different angle, you can see at the bottom of the screen, a man who walks over to the woman, grabs the sign and

tears it up and police led both of them out. that woman, maxine johnson, is now giving her side of the story. she went to the forum to represent her primarily african-american neighborhood, many of whom, she says, don't have health insurance. she went through security, several guards saw the sign and that she complied with instructions not to unroll it, but a reporter approached her and asked to see it. johnson said people in the crowd were the problem. >> and then i asked another, i said what was the problem? it was rosa parks, a historical problem why such a threat? the woman said, ma'am, it wasn't rosa parks, you were the threat. you were a black woman. they said, ma'am, we cannot guarantee your protection. you must leave this town. we cannot protect you. you do not know these people, they're nasty. it was clearly racial. >> well, the man who snatched the sign was arrested and held on suspicion of misdemeanor assault. many voters concerned about

end of life counseling. former alaska governor sarah palin introduced the term death panel when referring to it. now, rumors about euthanasia persist at town hall meetings nationwide. the proposal states medicare would pay doctors for voluntary end of life counseling to explain things like hospice and living will. palin isn't convinced and posted this comment on her facebook last night. it's misleading for the president to describe this section as an entirely volunteer provision that increases the information offered to medicare recipients. the issue is the context in which that information is provided and the coercive effect these consultations will have in that context. many politicians are taking issue with palin's comments. call rumors of death panels vishes and malicious. chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta of our sister network cnn joined anderson cooper last night to talk about

the issue. >> specifically looking at this idea of a medical professional and a senior sitting down and talking about all sorts of things, living wills, different provisions, they want certain measures taken near the time of death. all these sorts of things which, sometimes happens in doctor's offices. during routine office visits but sometimes don't and sometimes misunderstood and sometimes not acted upon. i think that's what they're talking about here. having said that, anderson. we have done research on this particular issue and one thing that sort of comes out and this came out of the journal of the american medical association, what is the impact of having this discussion of a physician sitting down and having a discussion with a senior and saying here are the various options near the end of your life. what this article concluded is that people who have a discussion like that do tend to be les aggressive about their care after a physician spells out all the different options. >> the aarp is running ads to dispel myths of the organization. it does favor the end of life

counseling provision, especially since it's voluntary. louisville basketball coach rick pitino has confessed to a extra marital affair that took place six years ago. what it could mean to pitino's tenure at a very important basketball venue. are his days numbered? what do you think? >> very good question. certainly the university's president saying the admission is the right thing to do, he did stop short of giving a thumbs up to pitio remaining as coach at louisville. but pitino is a winner on the court, the only coach to take three schools to basketball's final four. now he hopes after seeing this he can restore his reputation where hoops is king. >> if you tell the truth, your problem becomes part of your past. if you lie, it becomes part of your future. and i made a very difficult

decision to tell the truth to federal authorities, to local authorities and to university officials and, most important, the people that love me the most, my family and friends. >> the woman involved, 49-year-old karen sypher is accused of trying to extort $10 million. now the cloud of her charges remain, pitino sets his sight on the job at hand, which is coaching louisville basketball. >> i love the game, i love my players, love this university as well as this community. i don't want to coach no where else, i don't believe in anything as much as i believe in this university and this state. as long as that'll have me, for as long as they'll have me, i'll coach here. >> pitino was linked to job openings to the sacramento kings back in april when it first became public and denied any interest in those jobs. his son was assistant coach and he left over the summer.

you've been weighing in on this topic all during the day. here are just a couple e-mails we received. amanda in virginia writes, i think he should be fired. he should be a role model for college students and this is not something we want his students to mimic. barbara comes in with this, i think he should be fined. over the years i have seen what he has done for the basketball program and the kids that have flowed through his program. he has a very concerned, caring coach and we want to keep him. right now, again, just a couple thoughts of what people are going through. i saw the poll earlier. 91% say he should just continue. >> you know, i mean, other coaches have faced much less, much worse consequences for much less serious infractions. larry -- >> he was drinking on an opposing campus. this is back again where some pictures were taken of him drinking there, getting beers out of the fridge and end up losing his job.

that's iowa state larry satashi. big basketball rick pitino, big basketball name. we'll see how the merits are handled by those in charge. >> has louisville come out with any statement? >> in his mind he's the coach and the president did not say as much. he wants to talk to the athletic director first. we'll see once that conversation happens and come out with another statement saying he will be here forever or we may go another direction. >> larry smith, thank you. electric guitar pioneer les paul has died from severe pneumonia. the jazz guitarist became famous back in the '30s. they performed on bing crosby's radio show. he invented the les paul electric guitar. among the first of its kind along with fender electric and the head of gibson guitar says les paul's musical charm was extraordinary and his techniques unmatched anywhere in the world.

guantanamo detainees may soon be sent to a u.s.-based prison. where they might go and your views and the prospect of having terror suspects on american soil.

house terror suspects from guantanamo bay and they're touring a prison in standish, michigan, today. local politicians are under pressure to save those jobs and some residents do favor housing gitmo detainees say it saves jobs and others are uncomfortable having terror suspects so close. no final decisions have been made. we have been asking your views on this. do you think the detainees from

guantanamo bay should be moved to a michigan prison to keep the prison from closing. call us toll free 877-835-5456. e-mail us at cnn.com/hln or text your views and comments and name to hlntv. we will air your responsealize day today. looks like the former vice president dick cheney memoir will be a tell all. how he believes george w. bush began turning away from his advice and giving in to public sentiment during his second term. according to cheney's biography, cheney said he has strong feelings about what happened and he doesn't have any reason not to "forth rightly express those views." he always publicly supported bush, even when he disagreed with him. cheney's memoir is due out, but not until 2011. children in 120 countries around the world watch a version of the muppets on sesame street. the creators of the show are

trying to teach the kids how to bridge cultural differences. cnn.com's melissa long joins us now with details. this is fascinating. >> it is, chuck. they call it puppet diplomacy and essentially muppets with a message for the children. in palestine they have a specific version geared just toward the children and their parents and the thought is that the children can sit there and watch television with their moms and with their dads and learn about other cultures in the comforts of their own home. this is part of a larger special you can read on our website by christiane amanpour called "generation islam." there is a journalist from palestine that says 3, 4, 5 year olds are exposed to propaganda but this helps them to understand main messages of peace. and this is in contrast to hamas television, which runs a weekly program for children that sometimes preaches violence resistance. so, clearly, an alternative for the children to watch. it has some funding by the u.s. state department and guidance

from u.s. producers, but it is uniquely palestinian. it actually comes with live action segments filled in the west bank and filmed in gaza and the muppets have names that are appropriate for the children and the programming and, again, it's the puppets sending home these messages to children as young as 3. >> "sesame street" knows no boundaries. the madden nfl game, the tenth version is coming out tonight. >> they are calling it a madden holiday. if you're not at work tomorrow, chuck, we know why. a lot of people snapping this up and the creators, the producers of it say people will play it long into the night, long into tomorrow and possibly missing work tomorrow. you can go to cnn.com to learn more about the new technology, the animation which is pretty spectacular. it has the classic helmet-to-helmet game play but

broadcast out presentation and the ability to manage the play calling, manage your controls and allow them to actually have the roster control in the draft picks and essentially more control of the game. this is a very successful franchise and it's first created and first released in 1989 and sold more than 180 million units and, again, if you're not at work tomorrow, we know where you are. you're playing this game for the madden holiday. >> it looks realistic, looks great. in the tv world, ratings are huge and sometimes networks go to great lengths to be number one. but dying for ratings. this popular tv host is facing shocking allegations. what he did to get rid of the competition and drive up ratings.

police say the crew of a popular tv show was the first to get big stories because the crew ordered big killings. investigating the host who is also a drug dealer. he would order the killings of criminal rivals and then his tv crew would be the first to arrive at the scene. >> translator: in truth, he went

as far as creating facts and ordering that crimes be committed to generate news for the program. >> translator: in all, the investigations made by the public ministry and the police, so far they have not been able to present any proof of any kind. >> the former tv host is also a state lawmaker. he says his political opponents and drug dealers are setting him up and he insists he got scoops on big crime stories because he had good sources. scotland says no decisions have yet been made on releasing the man who bombed pan am flight 103 over lockerbie, scotland. they'll decide next week to free the former libyan agent who is dying of cancer. the pan am flight exploded over scotland as it headed from london to new york in december 1988. the foster father of a missing 5-year-old boy who has cerebral palsy has agreed to take a polygraph exam.

hasanni campbell disappeared wednesday. he left the boy in the car to unlock a building door that would have helped him get in easier. he said when he came back the boy was gone. a public wake for eunice kennedy shriver is being held right now at our lady of victory roman catholic church in centreville, massachusetts, on cape cod. family, friends, and admirers, and there's a picture of the late kennedy family icon, friends and admirerers paying respects to the woman behind the special olympics. a private service for kennedy and shriver families was held just before the wake. senator ted kennedy is not planning to attend the services for his sister. he is battling brain cancer. she died on tuesday at 88. rush hour in hampton, virginia. the only thing rushing was the floodwater in the streets. an important tunnel had to be closed. nearby fire crews joined transportation workers in trying to pump out what they could but by the time they moved your equipment into place, the water

was already receding. in taiwan rescuers used chairs on ropes to bring typhoon survivors to safety. roads and bridges have collapsed. the typhoon dumped 80 inches of rain on the island this past weekend triggering the worst floods and mudslides in 50 years. more than 100 people are dead. dozens are still missing. despite the terrible conditions, the government says nearly 14,000 people have been rescued so far. several aid organizations of the u.s. and around the world are moving to assist typhoon victims in china, taiwan, and the philippines. you can help by going to cnn.com/impact. you will find a whole list of agencies providing aid. a pilot in distress made an emergency landing at sea. he was able to get out of the plane and to his luck, a group of rowers came speeding to the rescue. but it took a little more help than they could offer to get him to safety.

>> i saw you. i saw you. i'm amazed you're still alive!

we have a developing situation happening right now in los angeles. we're watching what is stayed to be a standoff with a cornered suspect who apparently led officers on a high-speed chase on the freeway. this is near the westwood federal building. officials say two suspects were originally inside the red volkswagen you see on the left. both were wanted on a number of warrants. shortly after the chase started, one of the suspects jumped out. that suspect was immediately taken in custody. the second suspect drove into this parking lot, and that suspect is still inside the car at this time. we will keep an eye on this situation for you and give you

upstates just as soon as we get some. right now a wildfire is burning in the santa cruz mountains in northern california. it's been declared a major natural disaster by fema. 600 people near the town of bonny doon were told to leave their homes. the lockheed fire started last night and since then has burned 2,300 acres and about 225 structures. that's a massive fire. it is burning in timber and heavy brush and officials say no containment right now at this time. there's no word on may have caused that fire. all seven of the suspects in the killings of a florida couple have pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and home invasion robbery. the first three murder charges give prosecutors the option of seeking the death penalty in the death of byrd and melanie billings. wiggins is charged with accessory after the fact. byrd and melanie billings

adomented 13 special needs children and they were gunned down in their home last month. surveillance captured images of masked thieves driving up in a red van and stealing a safe from their home. some dramatic video to show you out of detroit this morning. we're going to warn you up front, you may find these pictures disturbing. they involve a fatality during a police chase. here is how it started. police say they were chasing a pickup truck that was stolen in suburban detroit early this morning. it went through several communities, and then on detroit's west side it came to an abrupt end when the truck was hit by an suv. it flew -- after that it flew to the other side of the pole and then burst into flames. affiliate wdiv says the drivers in the two other vehicles had minor injuries. that was a terrible crash to watch. we have learned that the electric guitar pioneer les paul

has died. the 94-year-old jazz guitarist became famous in the 1930s for his les paul trio. they performing on bing crosby's radio show. about that time he invented what would later become known the les paul electric guitar. it was among the first of its kind along with the fender electric and the rickenbacker. in a statement his publicist says paul died from complications from pneumonia. he's in the rock and roll hall of fame, the inventors hall of fame, and the song writers hall of fame. the public wake for eunice kennedy shriver is now under way. family, friends, and admirers are paying their respects to the woman behind the special olympics. the private service for the kennedy and shriver families was held before the wake. senator ted kennedy, who is battling brain cancer, is not planning to attend today's services for his sister. shriver died tuesday at the age of 88.

parents are going to want to check your child's toy box. the little tykes cap is recalling about 1.6 million toys due to a choking hazard. the u.s. consumer products safety commission announced the recall of the little tykes workshop sets and trucks. the agency says an 11-month-old boy got a plastic nail lodged in his throat. the boy made a full recovery. the company said the toys are meant for children over 2. is someone trying to get away with murder in an around rocky mountain, north carolina? forensic psych koltologists thi. the body of five women all african-american believed to be prostitutes were found together in a wooded area. the fifth victim known to her friends as sunshine was found. her friends and family publicly demanded justice and local police and the fbi asked for help. investigators say two of the victims were strangled, one was

stabbed and beaten. they're also looking into the disappearances of three other rocky mountain women who police say are not prostitutes. more health care reform town hall meetings are being held across the country today. six states from oregon to new jersey and spots in between have forums scheduled. a forum inarkatexarkana, ar -- arkansas is expected to begin soon. many voters are concerned about a provision in a house health care reform proposal that includes end of life counseling. former alaska governor sarah palin introduced the term death panel when referring to it. now rumors of euthanasia persist at town hall meetings nationwide. the proposal states medicare would pay doctors for voluntary end of life counseling. that counseling would explain things such as living wills and

hospice care. palin posted these comments on her facebook page last night. its misleading for the president to describe this section as an entirely voluntary provision that simply increases the information offered to medicare recipients. the issue is the context in which that information is provided and the coercive effect these consultations will have in that context. many politicians are taking issue with palin's comments. pennsylvania senator arlen specter calls rumors of death panels vicious and malicious. chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta of cnn joined anderson cooper last night to talk about the issue. >> they're specifically looking at this idea of a medical professional and a senior sitting down and talking about all sorts of things, living wills, different provisions, would they want certain measures taken near the time of death. all these sorts of things which times happen in doctor's offices during routine visits, but

sometimes not. i think that's sort of what they're talking about here. having said that, anderson, we've been doing a lot of research into this particular issue. one thing that sort of comes out, and this came out of an article in "the journal of the american medical association," what is the impact of having this discussion, saying here are the various options near the end of your life. what this article concluded was that people who have a discussion like that do tend to be less aggressive about their care after a physician sort of spells out all the different options. >> the aarp is running ads to blast myths about the provision. the organization is not endorsing the house proposal but says it does favor the end of life counseling provision, especially since it is voluntary. a grieving husband is warning others about the dangers of swine flu and pregnant women. kenny's wife was six months pregnant when she developed a fever and a deep cough. the washington state woman took three flu tests, all came back

negative. her condition deteriorated at home and she eventually took a say lynn test that confirmed she had the h1n1 virus. >> i blame this cheap test. the cheap test needs to be tossed out by the health care providers. they just need to get rid of it. i want especially pregnant women to go to their doctor and get the right test. if they come down with flu symptoms. people are dying. it's nothing to joke about. and no one should have to go through what i and our family as a whole has had to go through. nobody.

>> katy flyte died this week at the age of 27. before she died, she gave birth through c section to a baby girl who is still in the hospital in the intensive care unit. mixed news on the economy sent mixed messages to the stock market this morning. for most of the morning they were trading flat. while they rose a bit earlier this afternoon, they're not moving much right now. today the labor department announced the number of people filing for first-time unemployment claims rose to 558,000 last week. analysts were expecting a dip. and onloan foreclosure marketer reality at threaltytrac said 36 more properties entered foreclosure last month. this is in contrast to the news that the economy is on the mend. right now the dow jones industrial average is down almost 13 points. we're at 9348. look at the numbers again.

an increase from jobless claims released previously. getting those benefits is not a simple matter. cnnmoney.com's poppy harlow has our breakdown from new york. i hate these numbers so much, poppy. these are people we're talking about. >> exactly. every person of those hundreds of thousands you hear about every week is a different person. it's one thing to lose your job, then have a big hassle trying to get unemployment benefits. it's not what always happens, but it does a lot of time. here is what you need to know. if you're unemployed, you will get 26 weeks of those benefits to start off with. the eligibility depends how long you worked, how much you made before you were laid off. now, there are two extensions available for up to 53 more weeks. you'll get 79 total weeks in the state of michigan. 46 weeks total in the state of utah. so they really vary from state to state. now, getting that final extensi extension, that can be tricky. we talked to folks at the national employment law project. they called them crazy rules, and they estimate only about

half the people who should be getting their benefits right now are because of all the complications. one example of that, you've got to prove, richelle, that you've looked for work in three different places every week to try to qualify for these. also, to do that, to register, you can do it online or over the phone, but if you have a claim that needs explaining, they tell us it can take hours to get through to someone. the situation apparently is improving. the stimulus bill put $500 million to the states so they could staff up in these offices. so a little bit of help, but apparently it's quite a headache. >> good information. let's keep this information coming. what else can delay or even jeopardize people's benefits, poppy? >> let's focus on that jeopardizing issue because sheri wrote into my facebook page talking about getting laid off from her defense contracting job. she said i was able to accept a much lower paying job, but by the time i paid the health insurance, taxes, and gasoline to get to work, i was actually making less than unemployment.

now i'm worried i'll be kicked off unemployment because i left that job. he's exactly right. she could lose her unemployment legally because you're not allowed to collect unemployment if you got fired or if you quit your job. now, when you file a claim, your previous employer is notified. they can challenge that. that's a big issue. employers pay into the unemployment fund, so they have an incentive to try to dispute these claims, and what we're hearing from experts again, about 25% of unemployment claims are challenged because even if you make it through, the process gets delayed, you have to get statements from both parties, you need someone to investigate, et cetera. so the bottom line if you lost your job, file for those unemployment benefits immediately and be aswear ware the things that can get in way of you receiving those benefits. when you get these numbers, you have to remember how to file for those benefits. >> great information. poppy, thanks. i know people appreciate that. we continue to follow this tense situation happening in los angeles. again, this is what happened.

police cornered a suspect that apparently had led them on a high-speed chase on a freeway. we see this happening a lot in los angeles. we don't see this happening very much though. our affiliate there, ktla, is reporting the nearby westwood federal building is now being evacuated because of the situation. officials say two suspects were originally inside this red vw, the bug. both apparently wanted on a lot of warrants. after this chase one of the suspects jumped out of the car. that suspect immediately taken into custody. the second suspect though drove into this parking lot. still right now as we speak sitting inside this car as police try to defuse the situation. we'll keep you posted.

more and more of us try to

do our part for the environment. it's important to get a real sense of our impact, the impact of our green deeds. driving a hybrid car is environmentally sound, but as we found out on this week's ecosol lugs, lugs, decisions at the dinner table can make a big impact. >> who is more green, a vegan that drives an suv or a meat eater that drives a hybrid. it's being debated on several online green forums. the main issue in question is the environmental impact of producing meat. recently former beatle sir paul mccartney launched a new campaign which encourages the public to ignore their carnivorous cravings for one day a week. it's called meat-free monday. they say cutting down your red meat intake is an important step to tackle climate change. >> we encourage people to not eat meat for one day a week,

monday, when they have overdone it on the weekend possibly. it's very beneficial for the environment. >> let's take a closer look at the numbers. cows produce high levels of methane gas through belching. according to the u.s. environmental protection agency, methane is a powerful greenhouse gas. it's actually 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide. a booming demand for beef means a staggering 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions come from livestock. according to the u.n. while the entire transport sector only makes up 13% of all greenhouse gas emissions. another issue is the water, land, and food resources needed to raise livestock. so how much good does it do to cut meat out of your diet only once a week? biologists for the environmental group greenpeace says going meat-free one day a week would cut agriculture greenhouse gas emissions by 10% to 20%. and now to answer the question,

according to a study by the university of chicago a vegan driving an suv is actually more green than a meat aet eater who drives a hybrid based on a typical american diet and typical car usage. changes to your et eating habits will have a bigger impact than the car you drive. let's get you back to the situation we're following in los angeles. we understand police have cornered a suspect who reportedly led officers on a high-speed chase on the freeway. this is what you're seeing now. they have brought in a robot to get close to the situation to take a look at the person who is still not gotten out of that red vw. ktla is reporting that the nearby westwood federal building is being evacuated obviously for the safety of everybody in that building. the officials say the two suspects were originally inside that red volkswagen. they were both apparently wanted

on various warrants around then shortly after the chase one of those people jumped out, one person still in the car. we'll keep you posted on this situation.

usually when rick pitino steps in front of the microphones it's to talk about the basketball. but yesterday the louisville coach talked to the media about the scandal surrounding an extramarital affair he had about six years ago n a news conference pitino admitted he had consensual sex with a woman

in a louisville restaurant. he also says he felt it was better to admit what happened than lie. >> if you tell the truth, your problem becomes parts of your past. if you lie it becomes part of your future. and i made a very difficult decision to tell the truth to the federal authorities, the local authorities, to university officials, and most important to people that love me the most, my family and friends. i love the game, love my players, love this university as well as this community. i won't coach nowhere else. i don't believe in anything as much as i believe in this university in this state. so as long as they'll have me for as long as they'll have me, i'm going to coach here. >> karen sypher, the woman he said he had sex with, a charged with trying to extort $10 million from him. what should happen next? an overwhelming number of viewers are telling us he should be allowed to keep coaching at louisville.

92%. do you agree with that? weigh in by texting us at hlntv. vie standard text rates apply. more to come on hln news and views.

cnn, headlines news, or msnbc are locked on your favorites? if they are i've got the gift for you. i'm gonna richardson and my next guest is ken pullson. a pleasure to have you here. >> good to be with you >> what is the museum. most people know. >> sometimes there you an a museum in articling ton, virginia called the museum. it was an effort to remind americans of the value of news

gathering in america and a nod to the first amendment. we did so well there so we decided to take it where the action is. we have a brand new museum called a the museum on pennsylvania avenue. it's a -- it's a 45 word sign out front with the words of the first amendment 'em blazed there. we think it's healthy for them to read that says congress shall make no law. we're attempting to put it in neon. >> it is flashing? >> it's not a tribute to journalists. we had a blogger say i'm not going to set foot in that museum until they do an extra special to copy editors. it is not about you. it is a museum of history but a different kind that reports what happened over the last several

centuries through the eyes of journalists. so you get contemporary coverage of the assassination of kennedy and arrival of the beatles and the civil war and fascinating >> exactly. what have the visitors reactions been for the first year? exciting. we see the full range of course. tremendous amount of school groups and a lot of tourists visiting washingt washingto was. we bill ourselves as the world's most interactive museum. young people can play the part of a reporter or an editor or a journalist. we can even stand up in front of what you and your business called blue screen, to tape a broadcast announcement for their friends and family and then send it out to friends at home. amazing exhibits there. i well tell you, i can say this

with some degree of humility. i just joined the museum in february, i've been the editor of u.s. a. today for the last five years. we have the largest piece of the berlin wall in north america. you can go there and see that and the guard tower in collaboration and partnership with the f.b. i.we celebrate their 100th anniversary and we have phenomenal artifacts. we have the unibomber's cabin believe it or not. and depending on your age, some of your viewers probably remember patty hurst and her tenure with the liberation army. we have the gun she used in the bank robbery and the leather jacket she wore. we have can coverage including

dillinger's death mask and the bullet pruf vest he zn wear on that night >> with you have so many different exhibits. what do you have planned for us your second year? >> one of the great things about working for a museum where news is in the title we're updating and reflect the headlines in the museum. not long ago when there was an uproar in iran we covered the social network and the twittering. when newspapers have collapsed and some markets we quickly reported that. upcoming exhibits include: throughout the next year you'll be able to see manhunt exhibit about the assassination of abraham lincoln and barack ob a obama. >> i'm so sorry. we've run out of time but everyone has got and go and see the museum.

>> thank you very much >> my guest has been ken pullson >> my guest has been ken pullson president of imagine... one scooter or power chair that could improve your mobility and your life. one medicare benefit that, with private insurance, may entitle you to pay little to nothing to own it. one company that can make it all happen... your power chair will be paid in full. the scooter store. hi i'm dan weston. we're experts at getting you the scooter or power chair you need. in fact, if we pre-qualify you for medicare reimbursement and medicare denies your claim, we'll give you your new power chair or scooter free. i didn't pay a penny out of pocket for my power chair. with help from the scooter store, medicare and my insurance covered it all. call the scooter store for free information today. call the number on your screen for free information.

we have some major developments in the killings of byrd and melanie billings, the florida cup whol adoouple who a special needs kids and were gunned down in their home. susan candiotti is following the case live and she joins us now. >> reporter: hi. i'm up in new york but have covered this case down in florida. today's development, it is major, but it is no surprise. seven men charged in this case are entering not guilty pleas to both shooting and robbing byrd and melanie billings in their home in pensacola, florida, just last month. a safe was taken, but the

escambia county sheriff says that was not the likely target. instead, there was a second safe in the house that contained more than $160,000, but the suspects he said never got to that safe. a key piece of evidence is going to be the suspects that were captured on surveillance cameras that were set up outside and inside the home. if the case goes to trial more of what those cameras saw will likely be seen by jurors. a source with knowledge of the investigation says authorities are working under the theory that the murders were also a contract hit, but by whom and why remains a mystery. meantime, the sheriff arrested yet someone else last week that he's calling a person of interest in this case. he's another used car dealer by the name of henry "cab" tice, however he's not charged in the murders. he allegedly wrote $17,000 worth of bad checks to byrd billings, and police say he also owed

billings more than 30 grand. the sheriff says that tice has admitted that he's linked to organized crime in mexico, but tice has denied any role at all in the billings' murders. the sheriff says this case is not over yet and promises by the time it's over with the makings of a hollywood script. we'll have to see. >> it really is almost like you need a flowchart to follow this case, and it's just so tragic, susan. thank you for continuing to help us connect the dots. we appreciate it. >> reporter: you're welcome. we continue to follow the situation in los angeles. again, police still have this suspect cornered in this red vw. the suspect that apparently led police on a high-speed chase on the freeway. they're still using this robot because they think this is the safest way to try to get a look at this person who will not come out of his car. we're trying to get more information and one of our

affiliates, ktla, is continuing to help us telling us they're evacuating the westwood federal building because they're right near that building where all this is happening. they say there were actually two people who were inside this red volkswagen. these people, apparently the chase maybe started because they knew for sure there were a lot of warrants on these two people. after the chase started, one of the people jumped out of the car. police immediately arrested that person. the second person though took off in the car and ended up in this parking lot and this person has not come out of this red vw, so police are trying to assess the situation and they've brought in a robot to help them with that. we continue to give you updates on that situation which can clearly be dangerous. police are trying to figure out who it is they're dealing with. right now a wildfire continues to burn in the santa cruz mountains in northern california. it's been declared a major natural disaster by fema. 600 people near the town of bonny doon were told to leave their homes. how sad is that? these are live pictures for you.

the lockheed fire started last night and since then has burned 2,300 acres and 225 structures. it's burning in timber and heavy brush. officials say they have zero containment. still no word on what caused that fire, but obviously the key thing right now is to keep people safe and to try to get some sort of containment. we have learned electric guitar pioneer les paul has died. the 94-year-old jazz guitarist became famous in the 1930s for the les paul trio. he invented the les paul electric guitar, it was among the first of its kind along with the fender electric and the rickenbacker. the gibson guitar company says paul died of complications from knew moan ya.. the public wake for eunice kennedy shriver is now under way.

friends, family, and admirers are paying their respects for the woman behind the special olympics. senator ted kennedy who is battling brain cancer is not planning to attend today's service for his sister. shriver died tuesday at the age of 88. mixed news on the economy sent mixed signals to the stock markets this morning. for most of the morning they were trading flat, but as the session has worn on, they have managed to crawl, crawl into positive territory. today the labor department announced the number of people filing first-time unemployment claims rose to 558,000 last week. analysts were actually expected a dip. an online foreclosure marketer realtytrac says 360,000 more properties entered foreclosure last month. both numbers are in contrast to yesterday's news from the federal reserve that the economy is on the mend. remember that? right now the dow jones industrial average is, let's take a peek, it is down about 8

points. we're at 9353. we'll keep you posted on that. usually when rick pitino steps in front of the mike, it's to talk about basketball, but yesterday the louisville coach talked to the media about that scandal surrounding an extramarital affair he had six years ago n this news conference pitino admitted he had consensual sex with a woman in a louisville restaurant. he also says he felt it was better to admit what happened than lie. >> if you tell the truth, your problem becomes part of your past. if you lie it becomes part of your future. and i made a very difficult decision to tell the truth to the federal authorities, the local authorities, to the university officials, and most important to people that love me the most, my family and friends. i love the game, love my players, love this university as well as this community. i won't coach nowhere else. i don't believe in anything as much as i believe in this university and this state. so as long as they'll have me for as long as they'll have me,

i'm going to coach here. >> karen sypher, the woman pitino says he had sex with, she's been charged with trying to extort $10 million from pitino, and been getting a lot of reaction to this story today. this is what vince in akron wrote. i feel pitino should be terminated right away. he's a role model for the young men he coaches. he has failed his players, his school, and society. he must go. but we gave you a chance to voice your opinions with text poll. that is going in a completely different direction. an overwhelming 92% of viewers are declaring pitino should be allowed to keep coaching at louisville. so do you agree? weigh in by texting at hlntv. type views "a" if you think pitino should be fired. views "b" if you think he should resign. or views "c" if you think he should be allowed to stay. got to remind you though, standard text rates apply. an american invention is

popular in the middle east. how elmo and his friends are teaching kids in palestine alternatives to violence.

children in 120 countries around the world watch a version of the muppets on "sesame street." creators for the show in palestine are trying to use the muppets to teach children's understanding of how to bridge cultural differences. reggie aqui joins us with the details on this. reggie, i love this. i love it. >> i love this, too. to be honest, for a man my age i have an unusual knowledge of the muppets, but i still didn't know

they had this muppet show over there teaching palestinian kids, and it's sort of like what we see here on "sesame street." it has a totally different name, but the muppets are basically relatives of ernie and bert and folks. they just sound a little different and look a little different. but the message they're trying to portray by having the show over there is to kind of interfere with some of the propaganda that kids might otherwise see on television and expose them to a wider world of ideas. a palestinian journalist says that, you know, for 3, 4, and 5-year-olds, that they need to catch them at an early age so they don't risk losing them to conservative or fundamentalist messages they might otherwise get. hamas has its own television show for kids that sometimes preaches violent resistance. so this is an alternative to that. there is some funding provided by the u.s. state department to this muppet show, but it

definitely has a palestinian voice. you will see live action segments like you see here filmed in the west bank and gaza. you see other parts that are on a set that look like a palestinian street. they have characters named hanin and kareem. as you may or may not know, there have been social messages throughout "ses si streame stres including right here in u.s. in the south in the 1960s they actually banned the show because of its progressive message in race relations. in south africa so many people are infected with hiv, they have a muppet who is also hiv-positive to teach kids and families about that. very interesting. >> i did not realize just how progressive the muppets were. good stuff. i love that. incredibly popular. something else that, it may not be your thing, reggie, but i'm telling you, madden nfl is one of the most popular video games

ever, and it's coming out tonight. >> look, i got the muppets covered, you have the football covered. that's how this relationship works. this is the 21st installment of the madden game. they're saying it's going to be the end all, be all for all football games. they have upped the ante when it comes to the graphic power. electronic arts is behind it. i had no idea that 80 million units have been sold of jan -- john madden. some people are calling this a madden holiday because they expect when the game comes out tonight, people will call in sick with madden flu tomorrow. >> i actually am off tomorrow, but that was already planned. muppets. >> thanks, reg. top economic times are taking a toll on historically black colleges where many, many students rely on financial aid, but with families struggling to

get loans and enrollments dropping and schools are being the middle of the semester, we talked to students and school officials in atlanta. >> reporter: sophomore zacia found a perfect fit at college. but when the tough economy hit her and her family hard, she packed her bags ready to drop out. >> i wasn't able to get loans. neither were my parents. >> reporter: it's a familiar story at colleges across the country, but especially at historically black colleges and universities where in some cases up to 95% of students rely on financial aid to fund their education. president barack obama has moved to increase financial aid with stimulus and budget funds, but still many black colleges expect enrollment rates to keep shrinking. as families and students struggle in the economic downturn. >> many students want to come, will they be able to afford to come?

>> reporter: in the last two years, institutions benefits from an extra $85 million under the college cost reduction act which ends in may of 2010. those institutions may feel the squeeze even more. >> we're under-resourced. we try to keep our costs as low as possible. that means our margins are always very tight. >> reporter: in the atlanta area alone, moorehouse laid off 25 adjunct professors. clark atlanta's ax fell with 30 staff members let go. the budget calls for a 5% increase in permanent funding for historically black colleges. >> we're saying you're moving in the right direction, but unfortunately in these tough times, not far enough. >> reporter: for zikiya williams

a scholarship came through at the last minute. she said the struggle was worth it. >> i was completely relieved and now i'm focusing on my studies. >> sandra endo, cnn, atlanta. how to survive in a tough economy. people are doing it. for more of our series "money and main street" watch cnn tonight at 8:00 eastern time.

more health care reform town hall meetings are being held across the country today. six states from oregon to new jersey and spots in between have some of those forums scheduled. in fact, a forum in texarkana, arkansas, is expected to begin at the top of the hour, and president obama is planning one tomorrow in montana and another one in colorado saturday. of course, we'll be watching what happens today. we'll bring you any new developments. in the past four years, six

women, all last seen alive in the same north carolina town, have all been found dead within a few miles of one another. could it be the work of a serial killer? >> reporter: if someone were looking for a place to get away with murder in north carolina, edgecome county's seven bridges road might be the place to go. >> nothing, nothing but trees and pastures. >> reporter: since 2005 the remains of five women, all african-american and suspected prostitutes have been found here among miles of woods and krofts. there are any number of places you can call off here like this spot right here. you can just drive off and disappear into the woods in a matter of seconds. that's what's been happening to these women. they disappear never to be seen again. is this the work of a serial killer? >> yes, i believe it is. yeah, i think the fact that the bodies have been found close together really would argue for a serial killer. >> reporter: michael teague was once the state's top forensic

psychologist and believes the killer is someone who could have a lot in common with his victims. >> their economic the same rac. so i think it's a person that would fit very easily within the environment. >> reporter: all of the victims were last seen in the town of rocky mount. he went to where they came from, an area where prostitutes work neighborhood streets. >> typically this is the area. >> reporter: but we found the streets deserted, cleared by fear. prostitutes are easy targets for killers, living fragile lives on society's fringes. still councilman an dry knight says it shouldn't have taken years for the town to take notice. >> is it just a matter of race or is it possibly because of what they do for a living? >> i think it's a combination of both. because even what a person does, they still have human rights. >> reporter: a turning point in public awareness and the investigation itself was the fifth victim.

jarnese known to her friends as sunshine, friends and family publicly ghabded justice. local authorities asked the fbi to assist. like the other victims, she disappeared from rocky mount, her body found off seven bridges road. from the streets of rocky mount, it's only about a 15 minute drive to get it to places just like this this. for all practical purposes, it's the middle of nowhere. and this is where investigators say that the victims are being killed. they won't give us a lot of detail, but they do tells us that two of the victims were strangled, one was stabbed and beaten. three other rocky mount women who police say are not prostitutes are currently missing. the sheriff of edge comb county calls this a critical time in the investigation, leading many to hope that this lonely country road will soon lead to a killer. david mattingly, cnn, rocky mount, north carolina. an oklahoma man just started

his 59th year as a teacher. >> i didn't have any particular reason to believe. >> you have to hear how he's touched the lives of thousands of students.

hundreds of northern californians are forced out by a fast moving wildfire. to way to know when they can go home. dick cheney working on a book. le offer some not so fond feelings about his former boss? >> and a man stand management waves calling for help. a crash survivoring with an amazing story to tell. i'm chuck roberts. welcome to "hln." we're following a developing situation in the heart of los angeles, westwood to be exact. and police have cornered a suspect who reportedly led officers on a high speed freeway chase and it's come to this standoff basically right now in the western part of the city right along the 405 right off

wilshire boulevard. police are using a robot on-to-get as close as they can to the person in the car. originally there were two suspects, both want orded on vas warrants. one got out and was quickly taken into custody, but the second suspect drove into a parking lot and then apparently wept out on to this highway, actually a surface street right along wilshire and veteran if you note intersection and is still in the car. we'll keep our eye on that story and see how it develops. a wildfire is burning in the santa cruz mountains of northern california north of santa cruz, north of monterey. it's been delayed a major natural disaster area by fema. the entire town of bonny doon is under a mandatory evacuation order. more than 2400 residents in the santa cruz mountains have already left. it's called the lockheed fire. it started last night. and has already burned 2300 acres and 225 structures. it's burning in timber and heavy

brush. there's a lot of fuel for this fire. they reportedly have zero containment so far. no word on what might have caused it. joining us now to discuss the situation and bring us up to speed is julie hutchinson. what's the latest, how are the winds and what's the progress in fighting the fire? >> the latest is this will be challenging for us, but i want to correct one thing. we do not have any structures damaged or destroyed which is a good thing. it is very rugged terrain, the fuels are stressed due to drought conditions and this is a very large fire for the santa cruz area in this area closest to the beach. it's definitely affecting a lot of residents. we're getting some winds pushing it towards a community of bonny doon and going to be a lot of work here for a while. >> you can get ground personnel in there or is it just too remote? >> it's our hand crews that work this con skrunks with the cal came department of corrections

and rehabilitation, those folks are in there on foot. we're trying to get dozers in where we can and then we're using aircraft and engines to supplement that and get in around those homes. >> are the winds in your favor? >> not right now, they're not. they're blowing pretty steady out of the northwest and pushing the fire towards the community of bop bonny doon. it's 2300 acres and we have no containment, so no perimeter line around it. so a lot of potential depending on which way the wind goes that we have open line that can push the fire in multiple directions. >> does the state budget crisis affect you at all, have all the resources that you need been deployed? >> yes, the budget crisis is not affecting us at all. our job is to put out fires and we are mobilizing all of our resources here with local government and our federal cooperators and everybody to deal with the fires that are happening statewide. >> and fire season is just about to peak, isn't it? >> we're at our highest fire

danger time and we did anticipate the central coast area and northern california had a lot of threat due to the lack of rainfall they've had. it is definitely turning true, but we got a lot more months to go because the winds will head down south and fall. >> you have your hands full. i appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. call the best. thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. other new, all seven of the suspects in the killing of a florida panhandle couple have pleaded not guilt it to first-degree murder. they give prosecutors the option of seeking the death penalty in the deaths of byrd and melanie billings. they had adopted 13 special needs children. they were gunned down in their home just west of pensacola last month. more health care reform town hall meetings are being held across the country today. now six states from oregon to new jersey with stops in between have forums scheduled. there's a round table happening right now in texarkana.

one in grand junction on saturday. we'll be watching today's action and bring you any new developments. a development new, federal officials have found a town willing to house terror suspects from began tan knguantanamo bay. they're touring a prison in standish, michigan. shall residents are okay with housing the get mow detainees there, if it means saving the jobs. others are not comfortable having terror suspects so close. no final decisions have been made. but we've been asking your views on this. do you think the detainees should be moved to a michigan prison in order to keep the prison from closing or for any other reason? call us toll free. e-mail us cnn.com/hln or text.

standard text rates apply. usually when coach rick pitino steps in front of a microphone, it's to talk about basketball, but yesterday he talked to the media about the scandal surrounding an extramarital affair he had six years ago. in a news conference, pitino admitted he had sex with a woman in a closed louisville restaurant. he also said he felt it was better to admit what happened than lie. >> if you tell the truth, your problem becomes part of your past. if you lie, it becomes part of your future. and i made a very difficult decision to tell the truth to the federal authorities, the local authorities, to university officials, and most important to people that love me the most, my family and friends. i love the game, love my players, love this university as well as this community. i want to coach nowhere else and i don't believe in anything as much as i believe in in university and this state. so as long as they'll have me, i'm going to coach here.

>> karen sypher, the woman pitino said he had sex with, has been charged with trying to extort $10 million from pitino. so what should happen next? an overwhelming number of viewers tell us he should be allowed to keep coaching at louisville. 9d 0%. do you agree with that? you you can weigh in and join this text poll. here's how you perform the test, if you will. just type views a if you think the coach should be fired. views b if you think he should resign. views c if you think he should be allowed to stay. standard text rates apply. electric guitar pioneer les paul has died. the 94-year-old became famous pack in the '30s. they performed on the bing crosby radio show. he had what was known as the l even s paul electric guitar.

he died of complications from pneumonia. he was in the rock and hall hall of fame, the investors hall of fame and the songwriter 00 hall of fame. he was a legend. an attempt to break a record turned into an attempt to make a rescue. a horrified group of rowers watched a plae goen down into sea before their eyes. the pilot got out, but that wasn't the end of the story.

record, a group of rowers might have hoped they'd make the news. they did, and it had no nothing to do with a record set. phil shows us their unexpected turn to their day. >> reporter: when will saw a plane ditch in the irish sea, key barely believe his eyes. but the rowers found not only a plane, but the pilot who survived.

>> are you all right? i saw you. i'm a hiz maded you're still alive. >> reporter: after making a may day call to the coast guard, they tried their own rescue attempt, which failed. fortunately a helicopter was on its way and just in time. takes arrived, the aircraft which pilots john o'shaugnessy had been flying wales to wexford was disappearing under his feet. thanks to the relatively calm conditions, they were able to pluck him from the wreckage. the pilot escaped with a few scratches to his head. if the rowers hadn't seen the crash, it could have been a very different story. the rowers hoping the breaking

the record have now been dashed, but they say they didn't give it a second thought when it came to saving the man's life. >> wow. does the proposed health care bill really advocate so-called death panels? a look at the facts. and dick cheney is not holding his tongue any longer. ahead, a sneak peek at what's likely to be a juicy mem war.

these are the remains of navy pilots michael scott spiker. finally being returned to his home state of florida. he was on board that plane shot down during the opening of the 1991 gulf war and after years of speculation about his fate, was he a prisoner of war, did he survive, speicher's remains were found only late last month in iraq. local affiliates report that the casket was prut to jacksonville. he was promoted to the rang of captain in the navy during this long ordeal. a brief memorial service will be head tomorrow. governor charlie crist will will attend. speicher is to be buried in a private ceremony at a jacksonville cemetery. looks like former vice president dick cheney's memoir will an tell-all. the "washington post" says he's expected to discuss how he believes president george w. bush began turning away from his advice and giving some to public

sentiment. cheney said he has strong feelings about what happened and he has no reason to not, quote, fort rightly express those views. cheney always had said he publicly assumed bush even when he didn't agree with him. cheney's memoir is due out in 2011 before. many voters are concerned about a provision included in one health care reform proposal on the table. it deals with end of life counseling and that has many americans wondering exactly what the phrase means. mary snow takes a look. >> reporter: former alaska governor sarah palin introduced the term death panel when she was discussing end of life counseling as part of proposed health care reform and now rumors about you've naz i can't persist at town hall meetings. >> what it says is as a 74-year-old man, if you develop cancer, we're pretty much going to write you off. >> well, you're just not right. nobody 74 will be written off because they have cancer.

that's a vicious, malicious, untrue rumor. >> reporter: at issue is a provision in the house health care reform bill dealing with end of life counseling. what it does state is that it would allow for medicare to pay doctors for voluntary counseling sessions to explain it to patients things such as making a living will to state your own wishes about care. the measure also includes services for families on advanceded care planning and for patients who are terminally ill, information about hospices. what would change? doctors would get paid for counseling sessions every five years and the american medical association supports it because counseling now isn't reimbursed. >> what this does is to recognize that that's a deficiency in medicare law and it expands coverage so that these can be compensated so that physicians can al lot adequate amounts of time to provide this kind of service to their patients. >> reporter: and the aarp, the american association of retired

persons, is running ads to dispel myths about the provision. the organization has gone out of its way to say it's not endorsed the house health care reform bill, but it does favor the end of life counseling provision. and says it does not have a problem with it because it's voluntary. >> instead of having a requirement for a hospital to here's a form, fill it out, to have a more personalized conversation with your doctor about what your wishes really are. >> reporter: critics of the provision include the national right to life committee. it says it opposes the measure out of concern that these counseling sessions would pressure older americans and patients to reject treatment. but all of these counseling sessions are voluntary. mary snow, cnn, new york. sarah palin still not convinced and she's posted comments on her facebook page. and here they are. "it's misleading for the president to describe this section as an entirely voluntary provision that simply increases the information offered to medicare recipients.

the issue is the context in which that information is provided and the coercive effect these consultations will have in that context." we're learning more about what really happened when list escorted a woman out of a town hall meeting in missouri. this is video from earlier in the week. it's missouri senator claire mckas sill's forum. the original report said the woman was angry because police tried to take a sign from her that read rosa park, first lady of civil rights. well, here's another angle. a youtube video showing a different perspective. you can see a man in the crowd, watch at the bottom, walks over to the woman, rips up her sign. police led both of them out. the woman, maxine johnson, is now giving her side of the story. she said she went to the forum in missouri to represent her primarily african-american neighborhood. many of whom she says do not have health insurance. she said she went through security, that several guards saw her sign and that she complied with instructions not to unif you recall it, not to unroll it, but a reporter approached her and asked to see

it. johnson says people in the audience were the problem. >> and then i asked another, i said what was the problem? it was rows sarosa parks. she said you were the threat, and you were black woman. and they said, ma'am, we cannot guarantee your protection. you must leave this. you don't know these people. they're nasty. it was clearly racial. >> the manap who snatched the sn was arrested and held on misdemeanor assault. people who were -- mayor is calling for a blanket pardon for anybody arrested violating segregation laws and he wants to send them a check if they paid the fine. officials say nearly 1100 demonstrators were arrested in the spring of 1963 alone. >> i know they're trying to help people get jobs, but it's too late for those who have already

had an opportunity to work in certain places. >> sometimes you do you certain things because it's the right thing to do. and in this particular indicate, it was the reet thing to on do. >> the healing process doesn't start for any of us until we acknowledge a wrong done to someone else. >> violators were typically fined $10 to $30. those who protested segregation spent time in jail 37. a grieving husband is warning others about the dangers of swine flu in pregnant women. kenny's wife was six months pregnant when she developed a fever and deep cough. the flu test kas back negative. her condition deteriorated at home and she eventually took a saline test that confirmed shed that the virus. >> i blame this cheap test, it needs to be tossed out by the

health care providers. they just need on get rid of it. i want especially pregnant women to go to their doctor and get the right test. if they come down with flu symptoms, people are dying. it's nothing to choke about. and no one should have to go through with what i and our family as a whole has had to go through. nobody. >> katie died this week at the age of 27. before she died, she gave birth via caesarean section to a baby girl who remains hospitalized in the icu. the public wake is being held for eunice kennedy thrive shriver on cape cod. thousands expected to pay respects to the woman.

shriver, the sister of former president john f. kennedy, died tuesday at the age of 88. >> so should detainees at gitmo be moved to a prison at michigan? that's one position being considered. we'll get your views next.

northern california's lockheed wildfire has been dlired a major natural disaster. it's already burned more than 2400 acres. firefighters are v. not yet been able to craig it. craig is live with more from the scene. what's the latest? >> reporter: i'm at a town called davenport which is about 25 miles south of san francisco. and down here we're nest to the beaches about 60 degrees, but behind me in the town of bonny doon, there's about a 80 degrees up there, very hot, very dry, and windy. perfect conditions for the fire. this fire has burned rapidly since this morning. cal fire, which is the managing agency managing all the fire crews out here, this morning had the fire burning only 1200 acres.

now it's 2800 acres. that's quite a jump in just a few hours. it got started last night around 1k7 15 in bon thi dupe. the wind helped push it overnight between 10:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. this morning, the fire went from 1,000 acres to 1900 acres. that's also quite a big jump. cal fire is about 750 firefighters working on this fire. but they're being hampered in two way, one because of the winds and, two, because the smoke from the fire is basically getting in the way of any aerial efforts they're trying to make, either observations or water dropped from helicopters. they severally can't see and they can't fly over the area. there are about 300 structures threatened by the fire so far. we've learned that two have been damaged or destroyed. haven't confirmed that yet. it's remarkable that only two have burn sod far. nobody's been injured and that's a good sign, as well. they still don't know what the cause is. they're looking for a cause. they just know where it started, near a road called empire grade.

cal fire has about 15 to 17 strike teams up here. those are fire engines in different parts of the state that come out and help, mutual aid situation, if you will. and they're hoping that they can get at least one% of this thing controlled by the end of the day. >> timber is burning, right? >> a lot of stuff up there burning. cal fire spokesperson said that there's a lot of dry fuel up there from brush to timber to dry grass and she said that everything is ready for burn. there hasn't been a fire -- >> i'm sorry, we lost the satellite. craig, thank you you if you can still hear me. it is growing as he just said, it's now up to 2800 acres. we have dramatic video to show you out of detroit. this occurred around 7:00 eastern today. we have to warn you, a lot of people will find some pictures, these pictures, disturbing because they involve a fatality. that's the wrong picture, guys. that's l.a. we'll talk about l.a. in a

minute. what i'm going to show you now is a fatality that showed you during a police chase. it started this way. police said they were chasing a pickup truck that was stolen in suburban detroit this morning 37 it went through several communities and then finally came to an abrupt end and right here, that's how it ended. crashes in to a pole after being basically t-boned by an suv and runs into a pole and burst into flames and the driver died at the scene. wgiv said the drivers of the other two vehicles had minor injuries. one other point, that occurred right in front of a cafe filled with customers eating breakfast about 7:00 this morning. all seven suspects in the killing of a florida couple have pleaded not guilty. the first-degree murder charges give prosecutors the option of seeking the death penalty in the deaths of byrd and melanie billings. that's the couple who had adapted 13 special needs children. they were gunned down in their home last month.

surveillance cameras captured the images of mass suspects driving up in a red van and stealing a safe from their home. atlanta police say they've arrested a man who shot and killed vernon forrest. he was arrested after trailing him for miles. he was wearing a wig. he has been charged with murder and other charges. usually when coach rick pitino steps in front of microphone, it's to talk basketball, but yesterday he talked to the media about the scandal surrounding an extramarital affair he had six years ago. in a news kfrpts, he admitted he had con essential all sex in w. a woman in a closed louisville restaurant. he also said he felt it was better to admit what happened than lie. >> if you tell the truth, your problem becomes part of your past. if you lie, it becomes part of your future. and i made a very difficult decision to tell the truth to the federal authorities, the local authorities, to university

officials, and most important the people that love me the most, my family and friends. i love the game, love my players, love this university as well as this community. i don't want to coach anywhere else and i don't believe in anything as much as i believe in in university and this state. for as long as them's have me, i'll coach here. >> one of the most successful coaches in the nation. and this is the woman, karen sypher, pitino said he had sex with her. she has been charged with trying to extort $10 million from coach rick pa tie know. so what do you think should happen next in we have a text poll up and running. you type views a if you think he should be fired, views b if you think he should resign, or views c if you think he should be allowed to continue coaching. hope to hear from you. standard text rates apply. more heflt care reform town hall meetings are being held across the country today, six states are involved from oregon to new jersey and spots in between. they all have forums scheduled. there's a forum under way i think still in texarkana,

arkansas. president obama is planning one tomorrow in montana and another one on saturday in grand jupgs, colorado. we'll be watching all the action and bring you any new developments about. many voters are concerned that includes end of life counseling. former alaska governor sarah palin introduced the term death panel when referring to it. now rumors about euthanasia persist nationwide. the proposal states medicare would doctors for voluntary end of life counseling. counseling would explain things like living wills and hospice care to patients. still, palin isn't convinced. she post this had on her facebook page last night. "it's misleading for the president to describe this section as an entirely voluntary provision that simply increases the information offered to medicare recipients. the issue is the context in which the information is provided and the coercive effect these consultations will have in that context." many politicians are taking

issue with palin's views. arlen specter called rumors of death pan panels vicious. dr. sanjay gupta joined anderson cooper last night to talk about this very issue. >> specifically looking at this idea of a medical professional and a senior sitting down and talking about all 10r9s of things. living wills, different provisions, would they want certain measures taken near the time of death. all these sorts of things, which sometimes happen in doctor's offices during routine office visits. but sometimes don't. sometimes they're misunderstood and sometimes they're not acted upon. so i think that's sort of what they're talking about here. having said that, we've been doing a lot of research in this particular issue. one thing that sort of comes out and this came out of an article in the journal of the american medical association, what is the impact of having this discussion, of a fish sitting down and having a discussion with a senior and saying here are the various options near the end of your life. what this article concluded was that people who have a

discussion like that do tend to be less aggressive about their care after a fish sort of spells out all the different options. >> the aarp is running an ad to dispel myths with the provision. the organization is not endorsed the house proposal, but it does say the end of life counseling provision, especially since it's voluntary, is a good idea. a pilot in distress made an emergency landing at sea. he was able to get out of the plane and on to the plane and luckily a group of rowers came speeding to the rescue. but it took a little more help than they could offer to get him to safety.

gtsz

many wlf insurance companies are raising their right rates, but you it still protect your

loved ones for less before clark howard tells you how to find a good deal. >> i have a special tip for you about insuring your life. both consumer reports and the "wall street journal" are reporting that a number of life insurers have been raising rates just recently on term life insurance. term life insurance doesn't have any kind of fancy investment side to it or savings account. it's simply a benefit that pays out to your beneficiaries at the time of your death. well, a number of insurers have not been doing real well with their investments in either real estate or the stock market or things like that, so some of them have been raising rates. the key for you, there are still lots of great deals out there on term insurance. shop the market. pay a set premium for that time you you want to insure and if you shop around well, you will still save a ton even with the

increases that are out there. i'm clark howard. for more ways for you you to be shart with your wallet, go cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> get more great consumer advice from character howard saturdays and sundays right here noon and 4:00 eastern on "hln." he'll help you save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. parents, check out your toy box before little tykes is recalling workshop sets and trucks. the agency says an 11 month old boy got a plastic nail lodged in his throat. me a full recovery. the company says the toys are meant for children over two. a grieving issues warning others about the dangers of swine flu in pregnant women. kenny's wife was six mnt pregnant when she developed a fever and deep cough. she took three flu tests, they all came back negative, but her condition detearer ratesed at home.

eventually she took a saline test that confirmed she had the h1n1 virus. >> i blame this cheap test, the cheap test needs to be tossed out by the health care providers. they just need to get rid of it. i want especially pregnant women to go to their doctor and get the right test. if this they come down with flu symptoms. people are dying. it's nothing to joke about. and no one should have to go through with what i and our family as a whole has had to go through. nobody. >> katie died this week at 27. before she died, she gave birth

via caesarean section to a baby girl who remains hospitalized in intensive care unit. a group of rowers who were out to break a record decided they had a more important mission when they saw a plane ditch into the irish sea. one of the rowers says he was certain he'd just witnessed someone die, but amazingly the pilot, the only person on board, survived and was able to crawl out of the plane and stand there waiting for rescue after the first attempt failed, the rowers radioed for help and a coast guard helicopter pulled the pilot to safety. aside from some cuts, he was okay. the right place, right time. a large bear was spotted taking a stroll through a southern california neighborhood. check it out. it was scaling walls and racing through several backyards. one report says it even took a dip in a swimming pool. well, why not? it was hot. animal control officers fired rubber bullets to try to stop it, but eventually the bear just scampered away. in the television world, ratings are everything and sometimes networks go to great lengths to be number one, but dying for ratings?

had this popular tv host is facing shocking allegations. what police say did he to get rid of the competition and drive up the ratings.

558,000 americans filed first file jobless claims last week, but getting those benefits is no simple matter. what do you need to though? poppy harlow joins us now with all the break down from new york. >> reporter: it's one thing to lose your job and then you could have a tough time getting your benefits. here's what you need to though. you've got 26 weeks it start off in most states of unemployment benefits. then there are some extensions, all your eligibility fending on how long you've worked, how much make you at your job. of the two extensions available, it depends which state you live in in terms of how long they are. you've got up to 79 weeks in michigan because it has the highest unemployment rate in the country. that's versus about 46 weeks in the state of utah. now, getting the final extension, what we have heard is really tricky. the national employment law project tells us there are crazy rules. those are their words. estimating only about half of

the people that should be getting their benefits are actually getting them. one example of this is you have to prove every week that you looked for work in three different places in terms of qualifying. now, you can do it over the phone, you can do it on line. but if you have a special claim, you have to explain it. it can get hours to get through to someone. the situation is starting to improve through that stimulus package, $500 million is being put towards the state so is they can staff up those unemployment offices. obviously as more people line up for those benefits. >> what keels this delay getting benefits? >> reporter: in termses what have could jeopardize it, we asked a lot of folks what they're experiencing. sherry wrote in and said she has this job as defense contractor and here's what she wrote in, she said i was able to accept a much lower paying job, but by the time i paid health insurance, taxes and gasoline to get to work, i was actually making less than unemployment. now i'm worried that i'll be kicked off unemployment because i left that job. and she's right, legally she

could lose her unemployment benefits because she left the job. when you file a claim, your previous employer is notified. they can challenge that claim. and you can't get unemployment if you've been fired or if you've quit your job. so employers paid those taxes that fund unemployment so they can dispute the claims. about 25% of all unemployment claims are actually challenged. so that's a lot that you need know. >> good information. thank you so much. what a catch 22 for that woman, too. much more business news right there at cnnmoney.com. so check it out. choppy day a wall street. looks like it will go home a winner. 25 points on the plus side or so. improved economic outlook by the federal reserve and strong demand for the latest government debt auction was tempered by twhaerng expected retail sales and higher jobless claims. there's the big board. dow going home maybe 20 points plus from where it started at 9383 with about ten minutes left.

four nato troop, three britains and one american within killed in southern afghanistan today where u.s. marines began a major operation to secure towns controlled by the taliban for years. secure towns controlled by the taliban for years. the fierce battle got even more intense last night. the marines are trying to cut off a smuggling route and secure areas around voting stations. the afghanistan presidential election is next week. federal officials may have found a town willing to house terror suspects from guantanamo bay. they are touring the prison in standish, michigan, today. that prison could close soon and put 350 people out of work. local politicians are under pressure to save the jobs. son-in-law residents favor housing the gitmo detainees there. it means saving jobs. others are not comfortable having terror suspects so close. no final decisions have been made. we've been asking your thoughts on this. do you think the detainees from guantanamo should be moved to a michigan prison in order to keep that prison from closing?

should they be moved anywhere into the continental u.s.? call us now toll-free at 877-835-5456 or e-mail at cnn.com/hln. either way we'll air your view shortly. the crew of a popular tv crime show was the first to get big stories because the host order killings to boost ratings. authorities in brazil are investigating the host who they say is also a drug dealer. they say he would order the killings of criminal rivals and then his own tv crew would be the first to arrive at the scene. >> translator: in truth, he went as far as creating facts and ordering that crimes be committed to generate news for the program. >> translator: in all, the investigations made by the public ministry and the police. so far they have not been able to present any proof of any kind. >> the former tv host is also a state lawmaker. he says his political opponents and drug dealers are setting him up. he insists he got the scoops on big crime stories because he has

great sources. les paul may not have invented rock 'n' roll but she sure defined the instrument that made it louder. the guitar legend has died. how he's being remembered. ♪ bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb

. six men and a 16-year-old boy accused of killing florida couple byrd and melanie billings entdser please on murder and robbery charges. hundreds of northern californians are forced out by a fast-moving wildfire. as of right now, there's no way to know when they can finally go home. and louisville coach rick pitino gives his side of the scandal. what he says about his extra marital affair and his future on his time on the court. i'm richelle carey. we're following a developing situation happening right now in los angeles. we understand police still have a suspect cornered, a suspect who reportedly led officers on a high-speed chase on the freeway.

police are using a robot to get a close look at this person who is stilling sitting in this car and will not come out. officials say two suspects were originally inside this red volkswagen. that's the car they are really focused on. both apparently wanted on various warrants shortly after the chase again. one of the suspects jumped out of the car and immediately police took that person into custody, but the second suspect drove into this parking lot, and as we noted apparently that person still waiting it out with police. the seven suspects coosed in the killings of byrd and melanie billings were in court today facing murder charges. the florida couple known for adopting several children with special needs, they were gunned down at home last month. susan candiotti has been following this case, and she joins us now with the latest with all the details that are really difficult to follow, susan, this case. >> really. there are so many tentacles to

this case. haven't seen anything like it in a long time. six of seven men entering not guilty pleas in the fatal shooting as well as robbing byrd and melanie billings while their seven children or rather 13 special needs children were at home in pensacola last month. a seventh defendant, a 16-year-old who is being charged as an adult, he will be arraigned next week. now a safe was taken but the escambia county sheriff's department says that was not the target of this robbery. instead, there was a second safe that contained more than $160,000 that the suspects were probably after, the sheriff says, but they never found that second safe. a key piece of evidence here, surveillance cameras that caught suspects wearing black and dark masks going inside and outside of the billings' home, and a source with knowledge of the investigation says that robbery is not the only likely motive here. cnn has learned from authorities that they are working under another theory that the murder

was also a contract hit, but by whom and why remains a mystery. meantime the sheriff also arrested last week another person he is calling a person of interest in this case. he is another used car dealer. his name is henry cab tice. he's not charged in the murders. he allegedly wrote more than $17,000 worth of bad checks to mr. billings, and he owed him, according to the sheriff, more than $30,000, but tice has denied any role in the billings' murders. the sheriff says this case is not over yet, and by the time this is all said and done this will have the makings of a hollywood script. >> i know this would be speculation, i do understand that, but since the sheriff says it isn't over, might we expect even more arrests? what do you think? >> well, he has said that he does expect more arrests.

he wavers on how many additional arrests there may be, and he's talking about additional charges in this case against the existing suspects. put your seat belt on. we'll have to wait to see where it goes from here. >> what a sad, sad, sad case. susan, thank you for wrapping that up for us. appreciate it. right now wildfires burning in the santa cruz mountains in northern california. it has been declared a major natural disaster by fema. the entire town of bonnie doon is under a mandatory evacuation and more than 2,400 folks in the santa cruz mountains have already had to lead. the lockheed fire started last night, and since then it's burned 2,300 acres. it is burning in timber and heavy brush, and officials say they have zero containment, zero. also no word on what may have caused that fire >> narrator: got some dramatic video to show you out of detroit. we are going to warn you up front these pictures will probably find them disturbing.

they involve death during a police chase. this is how it started. police say they were chasing a pickup truck that was stolen in suburban detroit early this morning. it went through several communities and then on detroit's west side it came to an abrupt end when the truck was hit by an suv. it flew over to the side, hit another vehicle and then a telephone pole and then burst into flames. the man at the truck died at the scene. wdiv says the drivers of the other two vehicles only had minor injuries. the jury in corp pus christie, texas, has convicted a man for his involvement in a fight club. listen to this. in this fight club mentally disabled residents of a state facility were goaded into fighting each other. you might recall the fight club came to light when a cell phone with video of the fights was discovered. jesse salazar was found guilty of causing injury to a disabled person. he faces up to ten years in prison. five other former employees of the corpus christi state school

face charges for their involvement in this fight club. is someone trying to get away with murder in and around rocky mountain, north carolina? forensic psychologists think so. he says since 2005 the bodies of five women all african-american, all believed to be prostitutes, have been found close together in a wooded area off a single road. a majoror turning point in public awareness in the investigation itself came when the fifth victim known to her friends as sunshine was found. her friends and family publicly demanded justice and local police asked the fbi for help. investigators say two of the victims were strangled. one was stabbed and beaten. they are also looking into the disappearances of three other rocky mountain women who police say are not prostitutes. federal officials may have found a town willing to house terror suspects from guantanamo bay. they are touring a prison in standish, michigan, today. the prison could close soon. that would put about 350 people out of work.

local politicians are under pressure to save those jobs. some residents are okay with housing the guantanamo detainees there if it means saving those jobs. other people aren't comfortable having terror suspects so close. no final decision has been made about this. we want your views on this. do you think detainees from guantanamo should be moved to this prison in michigan in order to keep the prison from closing? here's what you can do. call 1-877-tell-hln or e-mail us at cnn.com/hln. also post a comment on my facebook page as well, text us as well. text the word views and comment. standard text rates apply. we will air your responses in just a little bit. cleveland browns wide receiver dante stallworth has been suspended this season by the nfl. the league says stallworth cannot participate in any team activities until his reinstatement. that will be after next year's super bowl. you might remember stallworth pleaded guilty to killing a

pedestrian while driving drunk in march. the man he killed was 59-year-old mario reyes, a crane operator who was leaving work in miami. stallworth was sentenced to 30 days in jail and reached an undisclosed financial settlement with the family. usually when rick pitino comes up to the mike to talk about pitino but yesterday the louisville coach talked to the media about the scandal surrounding an extra marital affair that he had about six years ago. in a news conference pitino admitted he had consensual sex with a woman in a restaurant in louisville. he also says that he felt it was better to admit what happened than to lie about it. >> if you tell the truth, your problem becomes part of your past. if you lie, it becomes part of your future. and i made a very difficult decision to tell the truth to the federal authorities, the local authorities, to the university officials and most important to people that love me the most, my family and friends.

i love the game, love my players, love this university as well as this community. i want to coach nowhere else. i don't believe in anything as much as i believe in this university and this state, so as long as they will have me, for as long as they will have me i'm going to coach her. >> karen sypher, the women pitino says he had sex with, she has been charged with trying to extort $10 million from pitino, so i know you have an opinion on this. what do you think should happen next? we have been asking all day, and our text poll, and an overwhelming number of viewers say let pitino keep coaching at louisville, 88%. thanks to all of you who weighed in today with your opinion. the family of a u.s. navy pilot has waited 18 years, 18 for closure. today they have his remains for a proper burial. it's the last chapter in a gulf war mystery.

welcome back. we've got some new information on this standoff we've been keeping you up to date on, the standoff happening in los angeles. this is the one where police have cornered a suspect who reportedly led officers on this high speed chase on the freeway. a source close to the investigation is telling cnn the person inside this red vw is suspected of making threats against the white house. that's what a sort is telling us. police have been using a robot to get a close look at this person inside the car who has been in there for a few hours now. officials say two suspects were at first inside this red volkswagen. both of them apparently wanted on various warrants, and after the chase began, after a little bit one of the suspects jumped out. police have that person in custody, but the second person drove into this parking lot and has been in this car since then, and, again, the source is telling us that that person is suspected in making threats against the white house.

also this information just in from the associated press. the secret service is investigating a man who authorities say held a sign reading death to obama outside a town hall meeting. one of those town hall meetings on health care reform. this meeting in particular in western maryland. he was detained by deputies yesterday afternoon. the sign also held a threatening message for the first lady, michelle obama, and also the obama's two children. again, this person has been detained. that information coming from the associated press. wanted to pass that along to you. the long wait is over for the family of navy pilot, of the navy pilot who has been listed as missing in action since the first gulf war. the remains of captain michael scott speicher finally arrived in jacksonville, florida, this afternoon. you might remember his plane was shot down over iraq on the first day of the war back in 1991. an iraqi man led u.s. forces to

where he had been buried near ramadi and central iraq. marines recovered the remains last month and identified them by dental records. speicher will be buried tomorrow in a jacksonville ceremony. it will be a private ceremony at a cemetery in jacksonville. rush hour in downtown hampton, virginia, and the only thing that was rushing was the floodwater in the streets. look at that. an important tunnel had to be closed, and that backed up traffic for hours. nearby fire crews joined transportation workers in trying to pump out what they could, but by the time they moved the equipment into place, the water was already receding. we have learned that electric guitar pioneer les paul has died. the 94-year-old jazz guitarist became famous in the 1930s for the les paul trio. they performed on bing cosby's radio show. about that time he invented, later became known as the les paul electric guitar.

it was among first of its car along with the fender electric and the rick and rocker. the statement said paul died from complications from pneumonia. paul is in the rock 'n' roll hall of fame and the inventors hall of fame and the songwriters hall of fame.

welcome back. we're learning more about what really happened when police escorted this woman out of a health care town hall. we showed this video earlier this week. this is from missouri senator

claire mccaskill's forum. the original report said she was angry because police tried to say a sign from her, but a new youtube video shows a slightly differentage. you can see a man in the crowd actually walked over to the woman and ripped the sign out of her hands. police led both of them out. well, that woman maxine johnson is now, you can see it right there. her name is maxine johnson and she's giving her side of the story. she said she went to the forum to represent her primarily african-american neighborhood. many people in the neighborhood she says they don't have health insurance. she says went through security. several guards saw the sign and that she combined with instructions not to unroll it, but a reporter walked up to her and asked to see it. johnson says people in the audience were the problem. >> and then i asked what was the problem. it was rosa parks, a historical figure. why is that such a threat? they said it wasn't rosa parks.

you were a black woman and they said, ma'am, we cannot guarantee your protection. you must leave this hall. we cannot protect you. you don't know these people. they are nasty. it was clearly racial. >> the man who snatched on some sign was arrested and held on suspicion of misdemeanor assault. many voters are concerned about a provision in the house health care reform proposal that includes end-of-life counseling. former alaska governor sarah palin introduced the term death panel while referring to it and now rumors of euthanasia persist around the town hall meetings across the state. medicare would pay doctors for voluntary end-of-life counseling. that counseling would explain things such as living wiles and hospice care to patients. still palin isn't convinced and posted these comments on her facebook page last night.

many politicians are taking issue with palin's comments. pennsylvania senator arlen specter calls rumors of death panels vicious and malicious. chief medical correspondent dr. sbupta of our sister network cnn joined anderson cooper last night to talk about the specific issue. >> they are specifically looking at this idea of a medical professional and a senior sitting down and talking about all sorts of things, living wills, different provisions. they want certain measures taken near the time of death, all these sorts of things which sometimes happen in doctor's offices, you know, during routine office advice its but sometimes don't, sometimes are misunderstood and sometimes are not acted upon so i think that's sort of what they are talking about here. having said that, anderson, you know, we've been doing a lot of research on this particular issue. one thing that comes out, and this came out of an article of

the "journal of the american medical association," what is the impact of having this discussion of a physician sitting down and having a discussion with a senior and saying here are the various options at the end of your life. people who have a discussion like that do tend to be less aggressive about their care after a physician spells out all the different options. >> the aarp is running ads to blast the provision. the organization has not endorsed the house proposal but says it does favor the end-of-life counseling provision especially since it's voluntary. so can the momentum from yesterday's rally keep going? we'll talk to stephanie elam for the latest on an announcement from ford. hey. >> hey, yeah, that's indeed a case. a roque session for stocks today after a mixed bag of news. walmart beat expectations but a pair of troubling economic reports weighed on investors. new claims for jobless benefits rose by 4,000 to 558,000.

well, that's worse than what economists were expecting. the number of people who continue to receive unemployment benefits for one week or more did drop to 6.2 million. that number is still very high, however, a sign that the overall jobs picture remains fairly bleak, and retail sales unexpectedly fell by .01 percentage. gains from the cash for clunkers program were overshadowed by weakness from furniture and clothing stores. the dow gained 36 points to 9,398 and the nasdaq picked up half a point and the broader s&p 500 added six points. ford is ramping up production as a result in suffrage for demand for the government's cash for clunkers program. the automaker says it plans to build nearly 500,000 vehicles in the third quarter. that's up about 10,000 from its previous forecast. this is the third time ford has tweaked its output which now will be nearly 20% higher than the same period last year. >> all right.

all right. good news. >> yeah, it is. >> thank you, stephanie. >> should the detainees of guantanamo bay be moved to a prison in michigan? your views next. 8

look at this. this is a wildfire burning right now in the santa cruz mountains in northern california. this has been declared a major natural disaster by fema. the entire town of bonny doon is under a mandatory evacuation order. we're talking about 2,400 folks who had to get out of that area, and weary hearing 150 more homes and ranches have been ordered -- those homes and ranches have to be evacuated. the lockheed fire started last night, and since then 2,300 acres have burned. it is burning in timber, heavy brush, and officials say they have zero containment. there's no word on what caused this fire. i want to bring you up to

date now on that standoff we've been keeping an eye on in los angeles. police have cornered a suspect who reportedly led officers on a high speed chase on the freeway. a source close to the investigation is telling cnn a person inside, right there, that red volkswagen beetle, it's expected of making threats against the white house. you can also see the police have been using robots to get a close look at the person inside that car. also several members of the s.w.a.t. team were there in full gear about 40 yards from the car. people on the scene say you can hear that they are talking to this person in the car basically saying, you know, trying to calm them down saying you know you want to talk to us. they are trying to reach out to this person, and the person inside the car, they are trying to get them to answer his cell phone, trying to start some sort of situation to keep the situation calm. officials say two suspects were originally inside the car at first. apparently both of them wanted on various warrants, but one person after this chase started,

one person actually jumped out. they have that person in custody, but, again, they are still trying to establish communication with the one person who has been trying to wait this out with police officers in that red vw for cite some time now. at least i'm going to say maybe about three hours now is about how long this has been going on. we'll keep an eye on that for you. the father of a missing 5-year-old boy who has cerebral palsy has agreed to take a polygraph. that's what a lawyer who says he's been advising him. asani campbell disappeared in oakland, california, monday. the foster father told police he left the boy in the car to unlock a building door that would have helped the 5-year-old get in easier. he says when he came back, the boy was gone. all seven of the suspects in the killings of a florida couple have pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and home invasion robbery. the murder charges have prosecutors give them rather the option of seeking the death penalty in the deaths of byrd and melanie billings.

the couple had adopted 13 special needs children were gunned down in their home last month. more health care reform town hall meetings are being held across the country today. six states from oregon to new jersey and spots in between had some of these forums schedule. president obama is planning one tomorrow in montana and another one in colorado saturday. of course, we will keep an eye on all those things for you and bring you any new developments from those forums in anything happen. four nate ore troops, one briton and three others were killed by a road saad bomb in southern afghanistan where an operation was begun to control nearby towns controlled by the taliban for years. things got even more intense last night. the ma reasons were trying to cut off smuggling routes in areas around voting stations. the presidential election is next week. we've got some dramatic

video to show you. it comes to us from detroit. we're going to warn you these pictures are disturbing. they involve a death during a police chase. this is how it started. police say they were chasing a pickup truck that was stolen in suburban detroit early this morning. the chase went through several communities and then on detroit's west side it came to an abrupt end when the truck was hit by an suv. you can see it flew over to the side, hit another vehicle and hit a telephone pole and just burst into flames. the man at the truck died at scene. affiliate wdiv said the drivers of the other two vehicles only had minor injuries. a grieving husband is warning others about the dangers of swine flu and pregnant women. kenny white's wife was six months pregnant when she developed a fever and a deif cough. the washington woman took three flu tests and they all came back negative. her condition got worse at home, and she eventually took a saline test that confirmed she had the h1n1 virus.

>> i blame this cheap test. the cheap test needs to be tossed out by the health care providers. they just need to get rid of it. i want especially pregnant women to go to their doctor and get the right test if they come down with flu symptoms. people are dying. it's nothing to joke about. and no one should have to go with what i and our family as a whole has had to go through, nobody. >> katie flyte died this week. she was 27 years old. before she died she gave birth by c-section to a baby girl who

is still in the hospital in the intensive care unit. the long wait is over for the family of the navy pilot who has been listed as missing in action since the first gulf war. the remains of captain michael scott speicher finally arrived in jacksonville, florida, this afternoon. his plane was shot down over iraq on the first day of the war in 1991. an iraqi man led u.s. forces to where he had been buried near ramadi in central iraq. marines recovered the remains last month and identified them by dental records. speicher will be buried tomorrow in a jacksonville cemetery in a private ceremony. mixed news on the economy sent mixed messages for the economic world today. today the labor department announced the number of people filing first-time unemployment claims rose to 558,000 last week, but analysts had been expecting a dip. an online foreclosure marketing reality track says 360,000 more

properties entered foreclosure last month. both numbers are in contrast to yesterday's news from the federal reserve that the economy is on the mend. as for the dow jones industrial average, it finished the day at 9,398, up 36.5 points. consumer groups want the transportation department to crack down on dealerships they say are duping car buyers under the cash for clunkers program. they say some dealers are pressuring customers to sign agreements that would make the buyers repay their clunkers rebate is the dealership doesn't get reimbursed. other car buyers say they were pressured to accept less favorable terms. this is what's happening to some of the old clunkers. clunkers are getting crunched in south florida. under the program the old car can't be resold, and they have to be disposed of properly so this dealership decided to put on a show with a five-ton monster truck doing the honors. an american invention is

popular in the middle east. howell mow and his friends are teaching kids in palestine alternatives to violence.

we have learned electric guitar pioneer les paul has died. the 94-year-old jazz guitarist became famous in the 1930s for the les paul trio. they performed on bing crosby's radio show, and about that time he invented a little something that would become known as the les paul electric guitar. it was among the first of its kind along with the fender electric and the rickinboxer and the statement says that paul died from complications from

pneumonia. paul is in the rock 'n' roll hall of fame, the inventors hall of fame and the songwriters hall of fame. children in 120 countries around the world watch a version of the muppets on "sesame street." creators of the show in palestine are trying to use the muppets to teach children understanding and how to bridge really the cultural differences. cnn.com's catherine calloway joins us with the details on this. i love this, because this kind of gives us a little snippet into something that most of us really don't see. >> no, and who couldn't love a muppet? >> right. >> what's not to love? well, actually there is a palestinian version of the month show, and the creators say that it actually gives palestinian parents and children a chance to explore other cultures sort of in the safety their own home free of being criticized for it. and we have a story of christiane amanpour on cnn.com called "generation islam" and

they take a look at this as the muppets are apparently very effective communicators. we've heard them say that any idea that they transmid the the children actually accept it. they absorb, it and "sesame" has a great way of teaching the palestinian children who desperately need an alternative to some of the harsh lessons that they are absorb be where they live. in fact, a palestinian journalist says that he would say that 3, 4 and 5-year-olds, if they don't catch them at that early age, then they risk losing them to all kinds of propaganda that the children rex posed to. just for an example. hamas television runs a weekly program for kids that sometimes preaches violent resistance, so this clearly, this "sesame street" clearly an alternative to that, and it does have some u.s. funding interestingly enough from the state didn't and some guidance by u.s. producers, but indeed most of it is filmed in the west bank in gaza on a set that looks like a palestinian street, so it's very

interesting. even some of the characters you see their names are hanin and karin so the children can really relate to that. >> i love that. i love it. i hope people go check that out. we're learning some muppets can bring people together. >> yeah. >> perhaps not as profoundly, but let's be honest. sports can bring people together as well. i mean, guys around the world love video games. we know this. >> right, and, boy, are they going to be flocking to the stores tonight, because madden nfl 10 is coming out tonight, right, and they are going to be saying they are buying it for their little boys and their little girls but you know they are playing the game, and what they are saying is that this game has a lot more controls on managing play calling, roster control, draft picks. in all, it's just better control of your team and all 30 teams are involved in it. alot of people, especially football fans, love this game. madden has sold 80 million units since it started in '89 so fur don't have stock in that, you

should this afternoon. >> you should. you better get on board for sure. thanks. >> that's right. tough economic times are taking a toll on historically black colleges. students there really rely on financial aid, but tamulis struggling to get loans, enrollment is dropping and schools are being forced to cut back and even laying off faculty in the middle of the semester. a conversation with school officials in atlanta. >> reporter: this sophomore found a perfect fit at spellman college. >> this place was meant for me. >> reporter: but when the tough economy hit her and her family hard, she packed her bags ready to drop out successfully wasn't able to get loans, neither were my parents. >> reporter: it's a familiar story at colleges across the country, but especially at historically black colleges and universities where in some cases up to 95% of students rely on financial aid to fund their education. president barack obama has moved to increase financial aid with stimulus and budget funds, but

still many black colleges expect enrollingment rates to keep shrinking as families and students struggle in the economic downturn. >> many opportunities want to could. will they be able to afford to come. >> reporter: since 2004 $238 million of federal funding was earmarked annually for historically black colleges, and in the last two years those institutions also benefited from an extra $85 million each year under the college cost reduction act which ends in may of 2010. so those institutions may feel the squeeze even more. >> you're underresourced. we try to keep our costs as low as possible. that means that our margins are always very tight. >> reporter: in the atlanta area alone, morehouse college laid off 25 adjunct proves source and spellman is eliminating 3,500 jobs and clark atlanta's budget ax fell with 70 professors and 30 staff members let go. the white house budget office

says president obama's budget calls for a 5% increase in permanent funding for historically black colleges >> we're saying you're moving in the right direction, but, unfortunately, in these tough times not far enough. >> reporter: for zakiya williams a scholarship came through at the last minute, and she says the struggle to stay at an historically black college was worth it. >> i was completely relieved, and now i'm focussing on my studies. >> reporter: sandra endo, cnn, atlanta. >> how to thrive in a tough economy. people are doing it. for more of our series "money and main street" watch our sister network cnn tonight at 8:00 eastern time.

"prime news" is combing up in just a few minutes. let's check in with mike so he can give you topics so you can be prepared to call in and listen. the first topic, the families spoke up to make sure they got

some justice because there may be a serial killer. >> in north carolina. when you're talking about small town, five dead in four years, something's up here. >> yeah. >> now we're getting the fbi in on the investigation. we're going to ask that question why did it take so long, and what do we have here? do we have any suspects? here's three other women that are missing. that's the link here? we'll lay that all out for you and take your calls. keeping you updated on michael jackson. the "los angeles times" reporting that michael jackson's personal doctor gave him the powerful anesthetic propofol and then left the room to make some phone calls. when he came back michael jackson was in distress and we know he later died. this is a report again from "the los angeles times" and they have sources close to the investigation so we'll delve into all of that and take your calls on that as well. and day two of rick pitino the question remains what does the university of louisville do with their basketball coach? know you've talked a lot about it. we've had people texting in. rick pitino admitting he had the

affair, had sex in a restaurant on a table with another woman. she gets pregnant. >> you wanted to be clear of the circumstances. >> let's get it all out all ou. this is a man who is supposed to be a pillar of the community, role model, mentor for young men, 18-year-olds coming into his midst. if i'm a mom or dad and thinking, you're going to be taking care of my young man to become a man -- >> it's not even close, 88% of people are like, dude, let him do his job. that's what they're saying so far. >> part of the job, though, and he has a morals clause is to be a man of upright more or less. think of this, that table at that restaurant, probably going to be a tourist stop now. i'm sure the people at louisville are proud of that. call in, 1-877-tell-hln. >> he paints the whole picture. then ask for your input. >> especially if i think it's going my way. >> i'll be there. thanks, richelle. listen to this, federal

officials may have found a town willing to house terror suspects from gitmo. it's in standish michigan today. local politicians are under pressure to save jobs. no final decision has been had. we've been asking if you like the idea of moving guantanamo bay inmates to michigan. mandy wrote this on my facebook page. i think it's a great idea. if the prison is set to be closed, it's like recycling the building. john also put a comment on my facebook page. gitmo is closing because of politics. put them in michigan until it becomes a political issue, too. then what? carl wrote this. maybe if they are stateside, the officials will be compelled to follow federal law. if not international law in the treatment of the prisoners. lots of comments today. thank you very much for your input. listen to this story. an oklahoma man just started his 59th year as a teacher.

>> really, i see all the years. i didn't have any particular reason to leave. >> you have to hear how he's touched the lives of thousands of students.