claudette is on the move after pounding the florida panhandle as the first atlantic storm of the year to make landfall in the u.s. where it headed now and what about bill and ana? milwaukee's mayor is in the hospital after a vicious attack. how mayor tom barrett became a crime contradivictim himself tr stop another crime. a story of guy man being abused and killed. what country is singled out for doing nothing to stop the violence. i hope you had a good weekend. thank you for kicking your week off here for us. we appreciate your company as always. suddenly hurricane season just got busy. tropical storm claudette slammed into florida's panhandle

overnight quickly loss steam. the storm came ashore near ft. walton beach. surfers enjoyed the waves ahead of the storm but about the time claudette was downgraded to a tropical depression this morning, bill formed over the atlantic. winds are up to 90 miles an hour there now. the national hurricane center says it could become a major hurricane with 110-mile-per-hour winds over the next couple of days. we're also keeping an eye on tropical depression ana in the caribbean. the big question, of course, you storms headed? meteorologist bonnie schneider has been looking at the trajectory of all of these storms here. the map looks like a nightmare. >> unusual to have all three letters of the alphabet happen in one weekend. one already made landfall. we have claudette. you can see that here in the gulf of mexico that came on as a tropical storm and now a depression bringing heavy rain to florida. we have ana and the first

hurricane of the season, bill. and so it's really been a very active time as well. all right. we're tracking this system that we have right now with some heavy rain coming in with claudette as that storm made its way onshore and really the main threat is flooding around areas along the gulf coast. we're also tracking ana. this storm is pounding puerto rico right now with very heavy rain. particularly in the san juan area. tropical storm watches posted for san juan and the dominican republic here. the last big one on the map is the first hurricane of the atlantic season. hurricane bill. a powerful hurricane. it is forecast to grow in intensity. however, the latest track has the storm working its way toward the u.s. but then curving away. this is days away for this to happen. the models are on different paths for what will happen with bill. we're tracking it right now to come around this region here in the central atlantic and then curve away. it's something that has to be watched so closely because it

could change at any time. these storms really can move depending on what's happening with the upper level or steering winds with the storms and that could change the path dramatically. also, we have wind shear that can break down the storms or steer them in another direction. a lot is happening with all three storms on the map. it's an active and busy time in the tropics and just the beginning because the peak of the season is going to be in the first part of september so now that we're in the latter half of august, not surprising we're so busy but expect more of this as we continue on this atlantic season. >> wow. all right. we'll be watching. thank you so much for keeping us updated. as she said, changes constantly. a possible tornado ripped up trees and tossed around cars in southern florida. according to local reports, 23 homes in cape coral were damaged. >> the power was out. we couldn't close the garage door. things were flying in the garage and sucking out of the garage. crazy. >> everything swirled and flapped around and things from

over there are over here. this is not my stuff. >> three fires were also reported and blamed on lightning strikes. two caused minor damage. one house had more serious damage in the attic as well. let's talk about the government run insurance plan. the so-called public option. apparently it will not be a make or break aspect to health care reform. that's word from president obama. he's even hinting that he would be willing to forego a federal insurance plan for co-opco-ops would compete with private insurance. the white house will consider all proposals that include choice and competition. >> what we don't know is exactly what the senate finance committee is likely to come up with. they have been more focused on a co-op and not for profit co-op as a competitor as opposed to a straight government run program. it was important with choice and competition. i'm convinced at the end of the day the plan will have both of

those. that's not the essential element. >> some high profile democrats such as howard dean are not on board with the white house here. the former chairman of the democratic party insists that true health care reform must include a public option. the man accused of attacking milwaukee's mayor with a metal pipe is scheduled to make a court appearance today. police found the 20-year-old suspect and the alleged weapon yesterday. police say it started when the suspect got into a fight with his daughter's grandmother on saturday night. mayor tom barrette heard her creaming for help as he was leaving the state fair. he began dialing 911 and that's when the man turned on him and started hitting him with a pipe. doctors are evaluating the mayor today to see if he'll need another night in the hospital. >> tom is in stable condition. i have talked to him personally. he's still got his good sense of humor.

he's a great brother and he's in good shape. he'll be fine. he did sustain some pretty significant injuries. >> very emotional obviously there. police say the mayor was hit in the head and the torso and also broke his hand when he punched the suspect. chicago is closed today to save money. it sounds odd, doesn't it? the first day of three reduced service days. no street sweeping. city offices are closed. you can't get to the library. employees will not be paid here. local media report says this could save the city more than $8 million bucks over the three day period. the other days are later in the year. emergency services like the police and fire departments, however, obviously not affected. we have some positive news to report on the global financial crisis. japan's economy is showing signs of improvement. the world's second largest economy expanded last quarter

after a year long recession thanks to a booming export business and government stimulus. the country's unemployment is rising and incomes are falling. economists and politicians say recent gains may not last. the news from japan is another indication that the global economy may be recovering. last week germany, france and hong kong reported growth in the second quarter. the united states economy shrank 1% in the second quarter. still, some economists say the recession is ending in the u.s. as well. are you seeing signs of that? if the economy does rebound, will you go back to your old spending and saving habits or has the recession really changed you for good at this point? give us a call and let us know. 1-877-tellhln. we'll air your comments throughout the day. you can test ux views, comments and your name. thank you so much. we appreciate it. dry weather and strong winds are making it dangerous for firefighters across california right now.

11 fires are burning in that state. you're looking at the heavy smoke over the santa cruz mountains. hundreds of people returned home yesterday when an evacuation order was finally lifted but that fire burned 10 square miles and it's only 65% contained. two off-duty police officers are taken into custody after leading authorities on a short chase. why were they on the run?

new information coming into us in the case of georgia death row inmate troy davis. the supreme court is ordering a new hearing for davis who spent 18 years on death row for killing a police officer 20 years ago. supporters say davis is innocent and zdeserves a new trial and several witnesses have recanted their testimony. davis' lawyers say new evidence proved their client was a victim of mistaken identity. a claimed victims right

advocate, nancy grace, host one of the most popular shows on tv. she's now with a new book called "the 11th victim" about a district attorney's whose feeiae is murdered a couple weeks before the wedding. today robin meade talked about similarities between her and the main character in the book, haley dean. >> both prosecutors, both fiances were murdered and at some point moved to manhattan. she's so much smarter than me. she thinks her way out of problems. she's never rash. always calm, cool and collected. she gets angry and punches a cop in the mouth. that happens. wanted to. usually the person son the other side of the satellite so i can't get my fingers around her neck but all of her friends start dropping like flies. dead in the same m.o. as her

last serial murder prosecution. it's a very unique m.o. and then the cops frame her. they don't frame her they believe she did it. >> you can catch nancy every night at 8:00 and 10:00 eastern here on hln. two out of town police officers saw the inside of nevada's county jail this weekend. kntv report they were arrested for doing drugs in a local park. the officers were in town for the police olympics. park police say they noticed a van parked illegally saturday night and when they went to investigate, two men took off first in the van and then on foot. once they were caught, officers say they found unspecified narcotics inside that vehicle. police haven't released the suspects' names or what police department they're with. michael vick said he cried in prison because of the guilt he felt being involved with dawg fight i dogfighting.

he understands why people despise him. he said the light bulb went off for him once he was locked up. >> first day i walked into prison and they slammed that door, i knew, you know, the magnitude of the decisions that i made. there's no way of explaining the hurt and guilty that i felt and that was the reason i crashed so many nights. >> vick was back on the practice field. there he is. this weekend in fact after signing with the philadelphia eagles last week. be sure to watch "showbiz tonight." the controversial football star speaking out for the first time since his return to the nfl. his brand new explanation for the dogfighting ring that sent him to prison. the american humane society now says vick deserves a second chance. should he get one? a michael vick debate tonight on tv's most provocative entertainment show, 11:00

eastern there. guy men have been a target of a string of murders in iraq. where the violence has been the worst coming up.

president obama is in phoenix today to address the national convention of the veterans of foreign wars. that happens in about an hour and a half at this point. according to white house spokesman robert gibbs, the president will talk about the efforts in iraq and afghanistan. both sides of the health care debate are on hand outside of the arena in phoenix. opponents of the plan turned out with signs as you see and bullhorns. a large group of supporters of the president are there as well. the president and his family will return to washington after that speech. starting today doctors at va hospitals will start offering routine hiv tests to veterans to get medical care. under the new policy the vets would have to verbally consent to the tests rather than just

signing a consent form and they may also decline but the va hopes the new process will encourage more people to get tested. a group of veterans got the welcome that they missed when they returned home from vietnam. can you imagine how they felt? this special ceremony was held at ft. campbell, kentucky, yesterday. when the vets originally returned from vietnam they were met by angry demonstrators. what a switch there? a spokesman from ft. campbell says he hopes that there are more ceremonies like this at other bases. it is official. senator kay bailey hutchison declaring herself a candidate for texas governor today. she faces a tough primary against fellow republican and current governor rick perry. he's been the governor of texas since 2000 and many say the battle for the job once held by form former president bush could divide the state gop.

iraq's government is urged to crackdown on groups that are allegedly torturing and killing gay men. i don't know if you have seen this video yet. a group called human rights watch is reporting hundreds of men have been tortured in iraq in recent months and it accuses authorities of doing nothing to stop the killings. it's particularly bad apparently in baghdad's sadr city neighborhood. earlier this year several gay men's bodies were found there with derogatory terms written on their chest. a woman was stranded in kenya for three months because officials said she didn't look like her passport video. she showed several forms of i.d. officials agreed to a dna test to prove her identity. >> i'm really happy to come home. i'm really, really happy. i'm glad my own nightmare is over. >> she's canadian.

she's been canadian from day one. she feels canadian now. >> she says it's an ordeal she would like to forget at this point. a florida woman might have thought her wedding and enga engagement rings were lost forever. apparently a friend of the owner saw the story. >> hi. no. no. no. no time to talk. i just saw your ring on channel 25. what? i'm asking her just to keep the chain going and just do something good for somebody else. >> the owner says her faith in people is restored. good for her. motor city got revved up for a trip down memory lane. engines purred and crowds oohed. organizers of the dream cruise

say more than a million people came to see them on saturday. this celebrates the hay day of detroit's big three. if you sell stuff online, we have a warning for you. clark howard says you should know about a very unfriendly act called friendly fraud and how to protect yourself from it. >> i have a special warning for you if you are a business person who has an e-commerce site. there's a new hot rip-off going on that's being referred to as friendly fraud. i don't see anything friendly about it. i don't even know how they came up with that expression. this is how it works. you sell something to someone on your e-commerce site. you send it to them and then they dispute the charge with their credit card company saying they didn't receive the merchandise even though they did. this is also happening according to "the wall street journal" to expedia. the people are buying airline tickets and then later saying i

can't go on that trip. then they dispute it saying they never bought a ticket. here's what you need to know as a merchant. if you send expensive merchandise you need to send it with tracking and tracing and have it signed for so there's no question later on if it is disputed whether you sent the goods or not. i'm clark howard. for more ways to protect yourself, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> get more great consumer advice from clark howard every saturday and sunday at noon and 4:00 p.m. eastern here on hln news and views. he'll help you save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. if you think last week's crash between a small plane and sightseeing chopper would hurt business for new york helicopter tourists. how congested is the hudson corridor? a little too close for comfort. we flew over the skies of the hudson to find out. )$)$)$)$)$)$$

>> we are just talking about hurricane season because it has gotten quite busy. tropical storm claudette slammed into florida's panhandle overnight. quickly lost steam as the storm came ashore near ft. walton beach. it announced its impending arrival by kicking up surf there. claudette is now moving northwest expected to move across southwestern alabama and into northeastern mississippi later today. look at what's stacked up behind it. about the time claudette was downgraded to a tropical depression this morning, that's hurricane bill circled there that strengthened over the atlantic. winds are up to 90 miles an hour now and the national hurricane center says it could become a major hurricane with 110-mile-per-hour winds over the

next couple of days. we're also keeping an eye on tropical depression ana. that's in the caribbean circled there. ana should move west-northwest we believe today and break apart as it crosses the island but not before dumping as much as 6 inches of rain. a possible tornado ripped up trees and tossed around cars in southern florida. according to local reports, 23 homes in cape coral were damaged. >> the power was out. we couldn't close the garage door. things were flying into the garage and sucking out of the garage. >> everything swirled and things from over there are over here. these are not my stuff. >> three fires were also reported and blamed on lightning strikes. two caused minor damage. one house had more serious damage particularly in the attic. a government run insurance plan, so-called public option, will not be a make or break aspect to health care reform. this is the word from president obama right now. he's even hinting that he would

be willing to forego a federal insurance plan for co-ops competing with private insurance. kathleen sebelius says the white house will consider all proposals that include choice and competition. >> what we don't know is what the senate finance committee is likely to come up with. they've been more focused on a co-op and not for profit co-op as a competitor opposed to a straight government run program. i think what's important is choice and competition and i'm convinced at the end of the day the plan will have both of those. that's not the essential element. >> some high profile democrats like howard dean are not on board with the white house on this. he says true health care reform must include a public option. at a town hall meet in philadelphia, senator arlen specter echoed the president's sentiments saying successful health care reform does not rely

on any single element. >> the debate is present as to whether there will be a public option or whether it will be exclusively in the private sector. if there's a public option, the private sector will remain. some of the objections to the public option may be answered by having a co-op which is a little bit different. it's not been written yet. it's being considered by the finance committee and the united states senate and the morning news is that the administration may be willing to take a co-op instead of a public plan. >> senator specter says a government backed insurance plan should be one of the options. president obama meanwhile is in phoenix today. he's addressing the national convention of the veterans of foreign wars which happens in

about an hour from now. according to robert gibbs, the president will talk about the u.s. efforts in iraq and afghanistan but health care certainly coming up there. this is outside of the arena in phoenix. opponents turned out with their signs and bullhorns. a live picture. a large group of supporters of the president also there. they're singing "america." the president and his family will return to washington after their speech today. a big nice, solid group of people there. starting today, doctors at va hospitals will start offering routine hiv tests to veterans who get medical care. under this new policy, the vets would have to verbally consent to the tests instead of just signing a consent form. they also decline. va hopes the new process will edge coura encourage more people to get

tested. police found a 20-year-old suspect and the alleged weapon yesterday in the attack of milwaukee's mayor. the suspect got into a fight with his daughter's grandmother saturday night. mayor tom barrett heard her creaming for help as he left the state fair. he began calling 911. that's when the man allegedly turned on him and started hitting him with a pipe. doctors are evaluating barrett today to see if he'll need to stay another night in the hospital. >> tom is in stable condition. i've talked to him personally. he's still got his good sense of humor. he is -- he's a great brother and he's in good shape. he'll be fine. he did sustain some pretty significant injuries. >> still emotional there. police say the mayor was hit in the head and torso and that he broke his hand when he punched

the suspect. dry weather and strong winds making it real dangerous for firefighters across california right now. 11 fires are burning in that state. this is heavy smoke over santa cruz mountains today. hundreds of people returned home yesterday when the evacuation order was lifted. this fire is only about 65% contained at this point. i want to show you some photos from i-report eer deana boyer. she said she's used to the fires and frequently photographs them but the tourists and campers who stopped were amazed and shocked at the size of this one. at the time boyer said locals were extremely concerned because they weren't getting information as to whether their homes had been burned or when they might be able to return and when the mandatory evacuation was over, there were many who were worried

about livestock they had. most of the homeowners are allowed back. dina, thank you for sharing that perspective with us. when you have pictures or video of breaking news and stories from your part of the world, go to ireport.com. you'll find instructions on how to submit your stories. thank you for doing so. we love to see it through your eyes. two off-duty police officers spend the night in jail after leading authorities on a short choice. we'll tell you what led to their arrest.

new information coming into us with want to share with you in regard the troy davis. the supreme court is ordering a new hearing for davis who spent

18 years on death row for killing a police officer 20 years ago. supporters say davis is innocent and zdeserving a new trial because several witnesses have recanted their testimony and davis' lawyers say new evidence proves their client was a victim of mistaken identity. we'll keep you posted. the california mom accused of raping and killing 8-year-old sandra cantu will be back in court this afternoon. melissa huckaby was to return to court next month but proceedings were moved up to today she's accused of killing cantu who was her daughter's playmate. the girl's body was found stuffed inside a suitcase in a pond back in april a month after she disappeared. huckaby faces a number of charges including murder and rape and has pleaded not guilty. a claimed victim's right advocate, hln's nancy grace, hosts one of the most popular programs on tv. she has a new novel out called "the 11th victim." it's about a district attorney

whose fiance is murdered a couple weeks before the wedding. this morning on "morning express," robin meade talked to nancy about similarities between her and the main character in the book, haley dean. >> both prosecutors. both fiances were murdered and at some point moved to manhattan. she's so much smarter than me. she thinks her way out of problems. she's never rash. she's always calm, cool and collected. except once she gets angry and punches a cop in the mouth. a big bloody -- the nose blood. that happened. wanted to. usually the person on the other side of a satellite so i can't quite get my finger around their neck. all of her friends start dropping dead in the same m.o. as her latest serial killer prosecution. cops believe she did it.

>> you can catch nancy here at 8:00 and 10:00 eastern on hln. two out of town police officers saw the inside of nevada's clark county jail this weekend. a las vegas affiliate is reporting they were arrested for doing drugs in a local park. here's what they say happened. the officers were in town for the police olympics. park police say they noticed a van parked illegally saturday night and when they went to investigate, two men took off. first in the van and then on foot. once they were caught, officers say they found unspecified narcotics inside the vehicle. police haven't released the suspects' names nor have they said what police department they're actually with. talk about david bethis. did this unknown golfer win or did tiger lose? made for drama yesterday. the 110th ranked player in the world took the lead from woods

who let from day one until that shot. tiger's shots weren't dropping. you can see the frustration. yang is a first asian born player to win a major tournament and he got a hug from his wife and a phone call from the president of south korea. love that reaction. don't you. that's something. except to tiger fans. sorry. more than 4,000 pages detailing apparent ufo sightings have been posted online. included is an american officer's alleged encounter nearly 29 years at a u.s. air force base. there were sightings in britain in 2006. what a human rights group is accusing the iraqi government of and we'll tell you about some of

the worst.

. iraq's government is being urged to crackdown on groups allegedly torturing and killing gay men. a group called human rights watch says hundreds of men have been tortured in iraq in recent months and accuses authorities of doing nothing to stop the killings. it's particularly bad in baghdad's sadr city's neighborhood. several bodies were found with derogatory terms written on their chests. one person is dead after two russian air force jets collided in mid air. the planes were part of an elite flying group rehearsing some maneuvers for an upcoming air show near moscow. one of the pilots were killed and two others were safely able to eject. one of the planes slammed into vacation homes after the collision and russian media say one woman on the ground was seriously injured. an american made sentenced to seven years hard labor in miramar has been freed. he was taken to a hospital after arriving in thailand yesterday. his family says he's diabetic

and three months in prison took a toll. senator jim webb negotiated the release. he's the first american official to meet with the military regime's leader. he spoke to our sister network, cnn, this morning. >> i have not seen him since he got off the plane. he has a delegate medical condition. i didn't go specifically to obtain his release. this was part of a series of issues that we raised with the people in the government there. i really regret what mr. yettaw did. he may have been well intended but he hurt a lot of people. >> he was arrested in may for swimming to the home of a pro democracy leader. he's said god sent him to myanmar to protect the nobel prize winner but since she was under house arrest, she was sentenced to more captivity for letting him stay. she insists she never invited

him to visit her.stranded in kenya for three months because officials said she didn't look like her passport photo. she showed several i.d.s including a driver's license. officials agreed to a dna test to prove her identity. >> i'm really happy to come home. i'm glad my own nightmare is over. >> she feels more canadian today than ever before. she's canadian. she's felt canadian from day one. she feels canadian now. >> she says it's an ordeal that she really would just like to forget at this point. a world famous movie star says he was detained because of his last name at a airport in new york. he was questioned for two hours because his last name raised a flag on his computer. >> they say it's because your name is common.

i was too polite to ask common to what? >> khan was in the u.s. promoting a movie. it's taken the issue up with the u.s. embassy. they say questioning was part of a routine process. sightseers are clamoring to see new york city from the air. never mind the crash from last week. this is a busy airspace here. here's a firsthand look. >> just like driving northbound i stay to the right. >> this is the backside. is he coming around right turn? >> i'm looking. got you down low. >> right. i got him. if we didn't talk to each other i wouldn't have seen him. >> a tourist helicopter and a small plane collided in mid air killing nine people.

the faa formed a group to recommend air traffic changes in that area so they have two weeks now to come up with suggestions. this sounds like an odd statement but chicago's chicago save money. it's the first of three reduced service days, no trash pickup or street sweeping. of course, employees won't be paid. a local media are report could save the city 8 million bucks. the other two days are later in the day. but emergency service, like the police and fire department, those are obviously not affected. >> we do have positive news to report on the global financial crisis. japan's economy is showing signs of improvement now. the world's second largest economy after a year long recession, thanks to a booming export business and a government stimulus, the country's unemployment is rising and incomes are falling, apparently. economists and politicians say

that recent gains may not last, though. the news from japan is other indication that the global economy may be recovering. last week, germany, france, and hong kong reported growth in the second quarter and the united states economy grew 1%. still, some economists say that another recession is ending in the u.s. as well. we want to pose this question to you. are you seeing signs of that? and if the economy does rebound, do you think you're going to go back and revert to your old habits or has the recession really changed you for the long haul? call us at 877-tell-hln. we'll air your comments throughout the day. text the word "views," your comments, and your name to hlntv. standard text rates do apply. we'd love to hear from you. thank you. okay. what would you do if you found a set of lost diamond wedding rings. >> i know that person has to be

looking for this ring and she must be pretty sick about it. >> and that was enough for this woman to hunt down the owner herself. moment.

claudette is on the move. it makes landfall in the u.s. and where is it headed now? milwaukee's mayor is in the hospital after a vicious attack. he became a crime victim himself after trying to stop the crime. and the win decity is taking the day off.

and about the time that claudette was brought to a hurricane formed after the atlantic, forming up to 90 miles an hour. >> it's absolutely the first one that made landfall, chuck, as you mentioned. claudette continues to pound the panhandle with a lot of heavy rain. some of the rainfall rates are two to three inches per hour. that's a tremendous amount of rain at one time. we have ana and bill. we have a live picture of pensacola, florida, an area getting hit with rain right now. this is courtesy of the cnn affiliate weretv. we are looking at the weather across the pensacola area. here's a look at the heaviest

rain that has made it on shore. and sudden downpours and very strong winds, the depression is showing a lot of wind. to show you the rest of florida, as it looks towards the south, scattered showers for west palm beach through miami, all eyes are on another storm. the flood threat also persists. these counties along the gulf coast are under flash flood warnings, meaning flash flooding has already occurred. that's in the mobile area and alabama. and looking off well to the east, we have a big hurricane developing. bill, this is the first hurricane of the atlantic season. gusts up to 115 miles per hour. and bill is on the move and forecast to grow and strengthen but will it hit the u.s. or turn away? the models are fluctuating. so it's something to keep a close watch on. check this out. already a major hurricane, category 3 intensity winds by the time we get to wednesday. we'll be tracking the storm very

closely because once you start getting further out, there can be a lot of fluctuation in terms of where bill will go. but even more bill gets closer to the u.s., we still have ana to contend with. the tropical depression was once a tropical storm. ana seems to be changing its mind quite a bit. it's bringing very heavy rain to puerto rico in and around the caribbean. for tropical depression ana, the wind is 35 miles per hour. it could intensify again. also, you can see the storm track take straight up to the west-northwest moving at a pretty rapid intensity, again bringing very heavy rain. those of you traveling to the caribbean, here's a look at the southeast and you can see heaviest rain coming on shore to coastal alabama and florida. all of the moisture is heading up to the north. it's going to affect travel and

i want to show you the latest conditions with the airport delay. three fires also reported and blamed on lightning strikes to cause minor damage but one more house had serious damage. >> a government-run insurance plan won't be a make or break aspect to president obama and those speaking for him.

he's even hinted that he would be willing to forego a plan for co-ops. health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius, says that all proposals include choice and competition. >> well, what we don't know is exactly what the senate committee is likely to come up with. they have been more focused on a co-op, not for profit co-op, as a can competitor as opposed to a state government-run program. what is important is choice and competition. i'm convinced that the plan will have both of those. but that is not the essential element. >> so high-profile democrats like howard dean are not on board with the former democratic party chairman insisted that it has to include a public option. the white house is going to change the way people sign up to get its e-mail after some complained about getting unsolicited updates about health care. they say that they will work

from signing people up for e-mails without their permission. some groups are putting people on the e-mail list if they did something like sign a committee. >> the man accused of a metal pipe, the alleged weapon yesterday, police say it started when the suspect got into a fight with his daughter's grandmother saturday night. mayor tom barrick heard all of the screaming for help as he was leaving the state fair and went to help rescue her. he began dialing 911 and that's when the man turned on him and started hitting him with a pipe. doctors are evaluating the mayor today to see if he will spend another night in the hospital. >> tom was in stable condition. i talked to him personally. he's got a sense of humor and he's a great brother and he'll

be in good shape. he'll be fine. he did suffer some pretty significant injuries. >> police say the mayor was hit in the head and torso and also broke his hand when he punched the suspect. chicago just down the road from milwaukee is closed today to save money. the first of three reduced service days this year. that means no trash pickup, no street sweeping. city officials and city offices are home and closed. you can't even go to the library today. employees will not be paid. this could save the city more than 8 million bucks over the next three furlough days, the others being later in the year. emergency services like the police and fire departments are not affected. positive news to show signs of improvement. the world's second largest economy expanded last quarter after a year-long recession thanks to a booming export business and a government stimulus package. but the country's unemployment rate is rising and incomes are falling. the economists and politicians

say recent gains may not last. the news from japan is another indication that global economy may be recovering. last week germany, france, and hong kong reported growth in their second quarters. call 1-877-835-5456. e-mail us at cnn.com/hln or text hlntv with your views. president obama is in

phoenix. ed, what can we expect? >> reporter: well, chuck, what is interesting is that the president will be speaking to the troops about iraq and afghanistan. they are telling me it's, in particular, they want more details from the president about the mission's in afghanistan. that's sort of winding up as the war in iraq is winding down. troops are starting to come home. there are real concern to the veterans and others voted for john mccain. either way they express concern that they don't know enough about the mission. how long does the president plan to keep troops there. one person who voted for the president fears that afghanistan is becoming another vietnam. they think there's some pressure on the president to lay out a little more, spell out what his vision of success in afghanistan will be. another issue for the veterans is health care.

not just and supporters saying we want health care now, there's a smaller group near them of anti-obama folks yelling socialism and things like that. and obviously they are against the president's approach on health care. what is fascinating, though, is that while the president is inside the convention center at my right, speaking right now on national security issues, just across the street this raging health care debate is playing out on the streets of phoenix. so no matter where he goes, you can't get far from that health care debate. >> that's right. ed henry with the president. appreciate it. some residents are heading home but firefighters still have a lot of work to do to get california wildfires under control. an i-reporter takes us to the front lines of the blaze.

great weather and strong wrinds causing wildfires in california. it's about 65% contained. i-reporter forced the evacuation and this started midweek and really got out of control quickly. she said she's used to the fires and frequently photographs them the the tourists and campers who were there were amazed and shocked. lawyers were concerned because they weren't getting information on whether their houses had been burned or whether they would be able to return soon. many were concerned about their live stock. most of the homeowners allowed back. our profuse thanks to a greats

i-report and when you have pictures of breaking news or great stories, go to ireport.com. click on the upload link and you'll get answers on how to report your stories. the melissa huckaby was supposed to return to court next month but the proceedings were moved up to today. the former sunday school teacher is accused of killing can tu, who was the lawyer's playmate. she was found in a suitcase in a pond. huckaby facing a number of charges including murder and rape. she's pleaded not guilty. a group from texas will start a new search for missing florida girl hail lee cummings. weather conditions at that time will make the search easier.

haleigh cummings will turn 6 years old today. out with a new book, the novel called the eleventh victim. it's about a d.a. whose fiancee was killed. >> both prosecutors were murdered and at some point and so much smarter than me. she thinks her way out of problems. she's never rash. she's always calm, cool, and collected. except she gets pretty angry and she gets popped in the mouth. you know when your nose, blood happen, wanted to but usually the person on the other side of

the satellite and then all of her friends, robin, stop dropping like flies dead and as the prosecution. it's a very unique m.o. and then the cops frame her. they don't frame her. they believe she did it. >> the 11th victim. don't miss nancy grace tonight. 8:00 and 10:00 eastern right here on hln. >> two off duty police officers were taken into custody after leading authorities on a chase. why were they on the run?

it's a step forward for supporters of same-sex marriage as today the obama administration filed court papers saying the 1996 doma against the sexual community. the administration urges the appeal of that law and in the meantime it will continue to defend it as a law on the books.

two out of town police officers saw the inside of nevada's clark county jail this weekend. our las vegas affiliate reports that they were arrested for doing drugs in a local park. the officers were in town for police olympics. a van was parked illegally saturday night and when they went to investigate, the two men took off. first in the van and then on foot. once they were caught, officers found "unspecified narcotics inside the vehicle. police have not released the suspect's name or what police

department they are affiliated with. >> michael vick said that he cried in prison because of the guilt of being involved in dogfighting. vick says he blames himself for bad decisions and that he understands why people despite him. he said the light bulb went off for him once he was locked up. i knew the magnitude of the decisions. there's no way to explain the hurt and the guilt that i felt and that was the reason that i cried so many nights. >> michael vick is back on the practice field this weekend for the eagles. first time in two years he signed with the philadelphia team last week. >> the michael vick debate in the controversial football star speaks out for the first time with his return to the nfl. the american humane society says that vick deserves a second

chance. should he get it? the michael vick debate. the most provocative tv show at 11:00 eastern and pacific time right here. former gop house majority leader tom delay will compete on the next season of dancing with the stars. the texan will be going up against celebrities like donny osmond and kelly os bourne and former nfl wide receiver michael irvin. we're all feeling the pinch of a shaky economy. clark howard is here to help. submit your i-report. you could be selected to be profiled on our network. some say there are signs of the economy beginning to rebound. are you feeling them? will the recession change how you use your finances? are you changed forever by this? your views on money matters. that's next.

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call the number on your screen for free information. these are pictures from the veterans of the foreign affairs. he considers the men in uniform to be a national resource. and says that he will not send troops unnecessarily. he promises that the military will get the resources to carry out the missions safely and successfully. if you'd like to watch more of the speech and it's still underway, streaming live at cnn.com/live. a government run insurance plan, the so-called public option, will not be a make or break option for health care reform. that's the word from the white house and sur gates from

president obama. his speech prompted protestors gathered outside the venue. they are voicing their opposition to their health care reform proposals. those supporters of the president and the policy are also out in substantial numbers today. only today the president hinted that he would be willing to undergo a foreign insurance plan for co-ops that would compete with services. kathleen sebelius will consider all proposals that include choice and competition. >> what we don't know is exactly what the senate finance committee is likely to come up with. they have been more focused on a not for profit co-op as opposed to a government run program. what's important is that it's choice and competition. i'm convinced that the plan will have both of those. but that's not the essential element. >> howard dean, the former democratic chairman is not on

board with the white house. dean insists that it has to include a public option. suddenly hurricane season has gotten pretty busy. tropical storm claudette has slammed into the florida panhandle and has quickly lost steam and status. about the time that it was down graded to a tropical depression, winds are now up to 90 miles an hour and a national hurricane center says bill could become a major hurricane in the next 48 hours or so. in addition, we're keeping an eye on a tropical depression ana in the caribbean. bonnie schneider is here to tell us where the storms are headed. it's kind of weird that claudette struck first. it's out of order, isn't it? >> it is out of order. ana was a tropical depression. and then it got intense enough to be the first tropical storm. it's confusing. three storms up there with names, it hasn't happened since

1984. we've got a busy start to a slow start of the atlantic season. you're looking at the three storms on the map to show you where they are real estate what is happening. let's take a closer look at what is going on. and very heavy rain is falling and we're looking for wet weather to persist through that region as we go through the afternoon as well as alabama. just spotty areas of rain. it's worse up in the panhandle. watch it right here across alabama and go to mobile ee then once you start heading into florida as well, watch out for that sudden flooding. rainfall rates are as strong as 2 to 3 inches per hour.

and that's a little uncertain l. it head towards the u.s. or curb away into the northern atlantic. stay tuned because we're going to have to track that one. we're still days away. finally, we're also tracking ana and it's pronounced ana. a tropical depression out in puerto rico bringing very heavy rain. this storm bears watching for the u.s. because look at this. and that could bring heavy rain and downpours and strong winds. it's getting very active and we're seeing cloud coverage associated with this system.

claudette is creeping up to alabama, even working towards georgia. the low clouds associated with ana is actually -- claudette, rather, is bringing about changes in the travel and 11 fires are burning in the golden state. that's the heavy smoke over the santa cruz mountains. hundreds of people were able to return yesterday when an evacuation order was lifted. that fire has burned about ten square miles and it's about 55% contained. chicago is closed today to save money. that's the pun lick sector we should point out.

japan's economy expanded after a year-long recession, thanks to a booming export business and government stimulus. the unemployment rate is rising and incomes are falling. the economists and politicians say recent gains may not last. the news from japan is another indication that the global economy may be recovering. last week germany, france, and hong kong all reported growth in the second quarter. the u.s. second quarter, gdp actually shrank but only 1% in the second quarter. still, some economists say the recession appears to be ending in the u.s.

are you seeing any signs of that? any green shoots yet for you? and if the economy does rebound, are you going to go back to your old spending ways and spending habits? or has this changed you for good? call us at 1-877-tell-hln. click under your views or text the woushd views plus your name and comment to hlntv. standard text rates apply. we'll air your responses all day. there are disturbing reports of gay men being abused and killed. which country is being singled out for doing virtually nothing to stop the violence?

if murphy, north carolina, she vanished from union county six days ago walking down the road and talking to her boyfriend on her cell phone. he heard her say, please, don't take me. and then the line went dead. cornwell's cell phone was found near the carolina line. authorities believe she was abducted. this morning, on abc's good morning america, her mother pleaded to let her daughter go. >> i want them to know that we love her very much and we need her back. >> i need my baby back. we all need her back. and we believe we're going to get her back. >> anyone with information is asked to please contact and the

family set up a website called kristicornwell.com. it's a step forward for supporters of same-sex marriage, sort of. today the obama administration filed court papers saying the 1996 defense of marriage act discriminates against the homosexual community. they urge the appeal of a law but in the meantime will continue to defend the law as one on the books. the justice department attorneys issued court papers in an effort to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the defense of marriage act. the group called human watch act has been especially in baghdad sadr city neighborhood. brook joins us with more. hi. >> reporter: that's right. it's getting a lot of traffic right now. iraqi police really cracking down on the attacks, not only

the attacks killing gay men in baghdad, it's gone back, according to some of the victim who is have spoken with cnn, as far back as 2010. some of the bodies have messages scrawled across their chest. they say the government does not condone such attacks. they demand the names of gay men. the army militia in sadr city, very active there, has joined in the attacks and defended the ways calling the iraqi men, according to one report. a government spokesman is trying to push this education effort to educate police that there is no

tolerance of this, be it gay or non. this kind of attacks and of course killings are not allowed in iraq. all right. i'm sure it's garnering a lot of interest on the web. tell us what sells getting a lot of traffic at cnn.com. >> well, a lot of traffic in the world of weather. the first hurricane in the 2009 atlantic hurricane season, bill, sort of swirling along out in the atlantic, we've been watching that. that should be strengthening over the next 24 to 48 hours. also, we're watching claudette. it was once a tropical storm where she made landfall right around 1:15th morning. around the panhandle of florida now downgridded to a tropical depression. the thing here is what we're talking about is people aren't really prepared, despite all of this. according to one poll, 30% of the people polled said they wouldn't start preparations until the hurricane warning was issued. 85% of people polled had no intention of strengthening their homes against a hurricane and even looking back and saying,

the 2005 season, before hurricane wilma, katrina hit, they had no disaster plans or survivor kits. why the complacency? people say they have been through it so many times and most of the time the big one doesn't hit them. >> it doesn't hit them. >> chuck, back to you. >> thank you very much, brooke baldwin. >> how the mayor tried to stop a crime and became a victim himself.

grandmother he's a great brother and a -- he's been in good shape. he'll be fine. he did sustain some pretty significant injuries. >> police say the mayor was hit in the head and torso. he also broke his hand when he punched it the suspect. the california mom accused of killing and raping 8-year-old sandra cantu will be back in court today. melissa huckaby was supposed to return to court next month but the proceedings were moved up to today. huckaby is accused of killing cantu, who was her daughter's playmate. her body was found stuffed inside a suitcase in a drainage pond about a month after she went missing. huckaby faces a number of charges. she has pleaded not guilty. a group from texas will search for the missing florida

girl, haleigh cummings. a spokesman explaining that's when the weather and vegetation will improve. she turns 6 today. she's been missing for six months. nancy grace hosts one of the most popular programs anywhere on television and is also a best-selling author. she has a new book. it's a novel. it's called "the eleventh victim." today on hln with robin meade, she spoke to her about similarities between her and the main character in the book and why it was tough to write some of these passages. >> it was very difficult when i wrote about what she went to and the suffering and it was a big blur for me during that time, before and after his murder. and then at the very end when she's trying so desperately to

get out from under that, to get away from that, and the heartache and away from criminal law that just saturated her because every murder is like reliving that murder again and if she tries to get away but the killer will not let her get away. watch nancy grace every night at 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. on hln. in an interview with 60 minutes last night, vick says he blames himself for bad decisions and understands why people despite him. he says the light bulb went off for him once he was locked up. >> the first day i walked into prison and he slammed that door, i knew, you know, the magnitude of the decisions that i made. there's no way -- you know, explaining, you know, the hurt and the guilt that i felt. and that was the reason i cried

so many nights. >> vick was back on the practice field over the weekend. he signed with the philadelphia eagles last week and will be back up for donovan mcnabb. don't miss "showbiz tonight." more on the michael vick debate. the american humane society says he deserves a second chance. so does he? tonight tv's most provocative entertainment news show 11:00 eastern and pacific. if you sell stuff online, there's a warning for you. hln money expert clark howard says you should know about a very unfriendly act called friendly fraud and how to protect yourself from it. here is clark. >> i have a special warning for you if you are a business person who has an e-commerce site. there's a new, hot rip-off going on that's being referred to as friendly fraud. i don't see anything friendly about it. i don't even know how they came up with that expression. but this is how it works. you sell something to someone on your e-commerce site. you send it to them, and then they dispute the charge with

their credit card company saying they didn't receive the merchandise even though they did. this is also happening to expedia, that people are buying airline tickets and later saying i can't go on that trip, and then they're disputing it saying they never bought a ticket. here is what you need to know as a merchant. if you're sending expensive merchandise, you need to send it a method with tracking and tracing and have it signed for so there's no question later on if it's disputed whether you sent the goods or not. i'm clark howard. for more ways to protect yourself, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> he's got a lot of ways. don't miss clark on saturdays and sundays noon and 4:00 eastern on hln "news and views." last week's crash between a small plane and sightseeing helicopter has not hurt business for new york helicopter tours. so could it happen again? >> he might be on the tower.

>> we flew in the skies over the hudson to find out how congested the skies really are. a a a a a

president obama addressed veterans at a vfw convention in phoenix. what he had to say about afghanistan and iraq and a look at some protests going on outside over health care. plus, a trio of major storms, look at them lined up here. claudette has already hit florida. it's getting weaker, but where she's on the way and what ana and bill have in store for us possibly. also, the windy city is closed for official business. why chicago workers had to take the day off. i'm going to say happy monday to you because i don't know that you have been able to take the day off even if you're at home. that's work in itself, isn't it? i'm christi paul. thank you for being with us.

president obama says thank you to the country's veterans. he made the comments at the national convention of veterans of foreign wars in phoenix. the president also says he considers the men and women in uniform to be a precious national resource and vowed to tackle the mental health issues plaguing those returning from iraq and afghanistan head-on and without delay. >> the vfw well knows for so many veterans the war rages on, the flashbacks that won't go away, the loved ones who now seem like strangers, the heavy darkness of depression that has led to too many of our troops taking their own lives. post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury are the defining injuries of today's wars, so caring for those affected bithem is a defining purpose of my budget. billions of dollars more for treatment of mental health, screenings to reach our troops on the front lines and more mobile and rural clinics to reach veterans back home.

we are not going to abandon these american heroes. we are going to do right by them. >> the commander in chief also promised military will get the resources to carry out its mission safely and successfully. of course, also on a lot of people's minds is health care. a government-run insurance plan, the public option here, won't be apparently a make it or break it aspect to health care reform now. that's the word from president obama. his speech to the vfw prompted protesters to gather outside that venue though, there they are, voicing their opposition to the health care reform proposals. but supporters of president obama are out in full force as well. just today the president hinted he'd be willing to forgo a federal insurance plan for co-ops that would compete with private insurance, but some high-profile democrats such as howard dean aren't on board with the white house. the former chairman of the democratic party insists true health care reform must include a public option. all of a sudden we're

talking hurricane season, and very busy, too. tropical storm claudette here slammed into florida's panhandle overnight. quickly lost some steam but came ashore at ft. walton beach. we start seeing hurricane bill forming over the atlantic. winds are up to 90 miles an hour now. the national hurricane center says it could become a major hurricane with 110-mile-per-hour winds over the next couple of days. and in addition to bill we've got tropical depression ana. we're keeping on eye on that in the caribbean here. meteorologist bonnie schneider, she's been all over the place today trying to keep track of these three storms, this trio. what have you learned at this hour? >> we're still watching all three because all three pose different threats, and remember it's still a very active time. we have the first three letters of the alphabet in one weekend

all happening. it is hurricane season and we tend to start getting very active in august and early september during the peak of the season when you start seeing things like this. three storms on the map, three names, "a," "b," "c." south florida doing okay, but ana might be a rainmaker for south florida in the days to come. the immediate threat right now is for flooding. i'll tell you why. because we not only have heavy rain coming up over the panhandle, but we also have runoff from streams and rivers in the region. so we're going to see that threat for flooding looking ahead all the way up into montgomery, alabama, and cloud coverage extending further north as well. here it is, the first hurricane of the atlantic season. bill is a very strong-looking hurricane. we have convection here mainly to the southeastern quadrant of the storm, but this storm is forecast to grow and intensify as it works its way further off to the west. but which way will bill go? some of the models are taking it a little closer to the u.s. mainland where others are

turning it away from the u.s. entirely. bermuda still very much threatened by bill as its forecasted to become a major hurricane, meaning category 3, and that's just in the days to come. and finally, ana pounding the dominican republic. puerto rico will see heavy rain for cuba. we'll see whether ana stays together and whether it becomes a rainmaker for south florida. what a busy time in the tropics. three storms and we're watching all of them. >> we're glad you are. bonnie, thank you so much. >> sure. meanwhile, a possible tornado ripped up trees and look what it did to cars here, tossing them around. this in southern florida. according to local reports, 23 homes in cape coral were damaged. >> and the power was out. we couldn't close the garage door. stuff was flying in the granl and sucking out of the garage. it was crazy. >> as everything swirled, things from over there are over here. this is not my stuff. >> now, three fires were also reported and blamed on lightning strikes. two caused minor damage, but one

house had more serious damage apparently to the attic. and the white house is apparently going to change the way people sign up to get its e-mails after some complained about getting unsolicited updates about health care. the white house says it will work on stopping advocacy groups from signing people up for the e-mails without their permission. some groups were putting people on the e-mail list if they did something like sign a petition. we do have some positive news to give you on the global financial crisis. japan's economy is showing some signs of improvement. the world's second largest economy expanded last quarter after a year-long recession thanks to a booming export business and a government stimulus, but the country's unemployment is rising. incomes are falling. economists and politicians say recent gains may not last. now, the news from japan is another indication that the global economy may be recovering. last week germany, france, and hong kong reported growth in the second quarter. the united states economy shrank though 1% in the second quarter,

but still some economists say the recession is ending. in the u.s. as well. so we want to ask you, are you seeing signs of that, and if the economy does rebound let's say, will you revert back to your old spending and saving habits or has the recession just changed you for the long haul? give us a call at 1-877-tell-hln. or e-mail us at cnn.com/hln. we're going to air your comments, of course, throughout the day. that's what this segment is all about. it's "your views." or your text us your views, your comments, your name to hlntv. standard text rates do apply, by the way, and thank you. it's a step forward for supporters of same-sex marriage. sort of. today the obama administration filed court papers saying the 1996 defense of marriage act, or doma discriminates against the gay and lesbian community. they urge the repeal of this law but in the meantime they say they will continue to defend it as a law on the books. justice department attorneys

issued the court papers in an effort to dismiss a california lawsuit brought by a gay couple challenging that act. some residents are heading home but firefighters still have so much work to do to get california wildfires under control. an i-reporter takes us to the front lines of the blaze.

dry weather and strong winds are really making it tough for firefighters across california right now. there are 11 fires burning in that state, and this is some of the heavy smoke over the santa cruz mountains, too. about 2,000 people were told that they could return home to the area, but several hundred are still being told, you know what? you got to stay away. that fire has burned about ten squire mai square miles and it's only 65% contained. i hate to tell you prices are going up but it seems like we have to do that all the time. but electric bills may actually be falling, at least for some of you. stephanie elam joins us from the cnnmoney.com newsroom in new

york. well, it would be welcome news. >> yeah, it would be, christi. for some people this is good news, right? not maybe for everybody, but the recession is pushing industrial demand for electricity way down leading to a drop in prices at the wholesale level. for the first half of the year, demand is down 4.4% and the country's largest wholesale power market, that serves 13 states east of the rockies. that sent wholesale prices down 40% in that market. in 2009 this year is on track to post the sharpest drop in electricity demand in more than 50 years. >> okay. so obviously that's wholesale rates. we want to clarify there. makes people wonder, okay, when is my electric bill going to decline? >> right, and that's really what most people care about. you're so right. it could really take some time. a lot of customers pay based on long-term contracts. so changes at the wholesale level won't show up immediately. but bills are already falling in some places. in fact, here in new york city, utility company con ed says

electric bills this month are down 30% from a year ago. a lot depends on where you live. prices for electricity are heavily regional. here in the northeast there's lots of natural gas and so those prices have fallen more sharply than sources of electricity more prevalent in other parts of the country. >> i have noticed, too, just talking to some people that they're actually seeing bills rise, and why would that be? >> that's true. it depends again on your utility. a lot of power companies generate their own lek trielect. we talked to duke energy and it's asking for rate increases of 7% in south carolina and 12% in north carolina. i know a lot of people would be like why is that? duke says it needs to replace and upgrade power plants. it also is spending money on environmental equipment and new smart grid technology. in the end whether your electric bill falls will really depend on the overall economy. wholesale prices could spike if ta factories pick up the pace.

for now a lot of people are seeing they're paying out a little less. >> take it while you can, and if you get it because i don't think we're getting it here in atlanta. i can tell you that right now. >> you're like i noticed my bill. >> it's not going down. not going down. thank you very much. have a great day. >> you too. >> you can get much more of today's business news on cnnmoney.com there. well, two off-duty police officers are taking into custody after leading authorities on a short chase. why they got to see the inside of a cell.

the man accused of attacking milwaukee's mayor with a metal pipe made a court appearance. police counseled the 20-year-old suspect and the alleged weapon yesterday. police say the man hit mayor tom barrett as he was leaving the state fair saturday night. apparently barrett tried to break up a fight between the suspect and the grandmother of the suspect's daughter. >> tom is in stable condition. i have talked to him personally.

he's still got his good sense of humor and he is a -- he's a great brother and he's in good shape. he'll be fine. he did sustain some pretty significant injuries. >> obviously, still a real emotional time for them. police say the mayor was actually hit in the head and torso and broke his hand when he punched the suspect. barrett could leave the hospital tomorrow. and the california mom accused of killing and raping 8-year-old sandra cantu will be back in court this afternoon. that's melissa huckabee there. she was supposed to return to court next month, but the proceedings were moved up to today. former sunday school teach ser accused of killing cantu who was her daughter's playmate. the girl's body was found stuffed inside a suitcase in a pond back in april, a month after she disappeared. huckabee faces a number of

charges. a group will start a new search for hail leigh cummings. weather and the vegetation conditions at that time will make the search easier. haleigh turned 6 years old today and she's been missing for six months now. the search for a missing woman from georgia now spreading into north carolina. police have scoured many wooded areas in union county, georgia. so now they're expanding the search across state lines. kristi cornwell disappeared six days ago. her mother made an emotional appearance this morning on abc. >> i want them to know that we love her very much and we need her back. i need my baby back, and we all need her back. and we believe we're going to get her back. >> certainly hope so. nancy grace, by the way, is going to have the latest on the

cornwell disappearance on her show tonight. meanwhile, nancy grace hosts one of the most popular programs on tv, as you know. she's also a best-selling author and she has a new govern out called "the eleventh victim." today on "morning express" nancy told robin about the similarities between her own story and the main character. >> it was very difficult when i wrote about what she went through and the suffering and just the time is a big blur for me during that time before and after his murder, and then at the very end when she's trying so desperately to get out from under that, to get away from it and the heartache and away from criminal law that has just saturated here because every murder is like reliving that

murder again, and she tries to get away, and the killer will not let her get away. >> you can catch nancy every night at 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. eastern right here on hln. two out of town police officers saw the inside of na s nevada's clark county jail. they were arrested for doing drugs in a local park. the officers were apparently in town for the police olympics. park police though say they noticed a van parked illegally on saturday night. when they went to investigate, the two men took off first in the van, then on foot. and once they were caught, officers say they found unspecified narcotics inside the vehicle. police haven't released the suspects' names or what police department they happened to work for. have you bought stuff online? if you do, we have a warning you need to know about. clark howard says you need to know about an unfriendly act called friendly fraud.

>> i have a special warning for you if you are a business person who has an e-commerce site. there's a new, hot rip-off going on that's being referred to as friendly fraud. i don't see anything friendly about it. i don't even know how they came up with that expression, but this is how it works. you sell something to someone on your e-commerce site. you send it to them, and then they dispute the charge with their credit card company saying they didn't receive the merchandise even though they did. this has also happened to expedia. people are buying airline tickets and then later saying i can't go on that trip and then they're disputing it saying they never bought a ticket. here is what you need to know as a merchant. if you're sending expensive merchandise, you need to send it a method with tracking and tracing and have it signed for so there's no question later on if it's disputed whether you sent the goods or not. i'm clark howard.

for more ways to protect yourself, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> get more great consumer advice from clark howard every saturday and sunday at noon and 4:00 p.m. eastern right here on hln "news and views." he'll help you save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off. chicago is closed today. yes, the city, to save money. it's the first of three reduced service days this year, which means no trash pickup, no street sweeping, city offices are closed. you can't even go to the library, in fact, and employees won't be paid. local media reports this could save the city more than 8 million bucks over the three days. the other two days are coming later in the year. but emergency services such as police and fire departments are obviously not affected. some say there are signs that the economy is in a recovery. are you feeling it? will the recession change how you use your finances and manage them? your views on money matters, next. dddddddddddddd

texas lawmakers are holding a series of health care forums over the next few days, and one of them hosted by republican congressman joe barton should be wrapping up here shortly. ed laven daandera is there. pretty fiery or not so bad today? >> reporter: far from what we've seen in other parts of the country but probably has a great deal to do with the fact that this joe barton is a long-time republican congressman from this district here, two hours south of dallas, halfway between dallas and houston in the small town of markay. what's interesting about this one is that there weren't necessarily a whole lot of

pointed questions about specifics in the health care plan. there is a great deal of mistrust and uncertainty about the democratic plan here which we heard over and over from this crowd. so it was a little bit of the choir preaching to themselves here, so there weren't a lot of specific questions, but congressman barton had pulled out one of the interesting points was he had culled out a flowchart of how this new plan would work, and one of the more interesting moments is when he pulled out the actual initial bill that has been proposed by democrats on the house side, that 1,000-page behemoth of a bill and it was interesting because as the crowd pulled it out, the crowd kind of gasped at its size here. really most of this meeting was kind of kept to broad thematic themes. what we heard over and over from the crowd is there's a great deal of anger and distrust over the democratic plan and what will happen to it here in the coming months. that's not to say that they're incredibly happy with the way the republicans have been

handling all of this in this debate as well there. were several speak whose came out saying they weren't happy with the way republicans had been kind of battling on the opposite side of this. congressman barton leaving this gathering this afternoon in texas with an ear full. christi. >> congress men and women seem to be under the gun. i have heard people talking about the fact they don't think our congressmen and women will actually read this bill fully and thoroughly. was that brought up at all or is there just a general distrust amongst everybody there? >> reporter: well, you know, it was one the first things congressman barton had talked about. he knew if he was going to pull out that bill someone was going to ask him if he read it. in his words he said he has read most of it, but it was -- he hasn't been able to get through all of it. he says he has looked at least at every page, but that's the way he left it here with the crowd. >> all right. it will be interesting to see how it pans out. hey, ed, thank you so much. we appreciate it, as always. president obama today is

saying thank you to the country's veterans. he made the comments at the national convention of the veterans of foreign wars today in phoenix. the president told the crowd he considers the men and women in uniform to be a precious national resource. >> whether you wear the uniform today or wore it decades ago, you remind us of a fundamental truth. it's not the powerful weapons that make our military the strongest in the world. it's not the sophisticated systems that make us the most advanced. the true strength of our military lies in the spirit and skill of our men and women in uniform. >> now, the president promised the military will get the resources it needs to successfully carry out its missions and he vowed to tackle the mental health issues plaguing those returning from iraq and afghanistan head-on and without delay. now, the president's speech to the vfw prompted some protesters to gather outside of

that venue. they're voicing their opposition to the health care reform proposals. supporters of president obama were in full force though, too. just today the president hinted he would be willing to forgo a federal insurance plan for co p co-ops that would compete with private insurance. kathleen sebelius says the white house will consider all proposals that include choice and competition. >> what we don't know is exactly what the senate finance committee is likely to come up with. they've been more focused on a co-op, not for profit co-op as a competitor as opposed to a straight government-run program, and i think what's important is choice and competition, and i'm convinced at the end of the day the plan will have both of those. but that is not the essential element. >> now, some high-profile democrats such as howard dean apparently aren't on board with the white house. the former chairman of the democratic party insists true health care reform must include a public option.

boy, it just seems to have hit us out of nowhere, didn't it? hurricane season. getting really active. tropical storm claudette slammed into florida's panhandle overnight. quickly lost steam here, but the storm came ashore near ft. walton beach. it announced its impending arrival by kicking up the surf. right about the time claudette was downgraded to a tropical depression this morning, hurricane bill formed over the atlantic. winds are up to 90 miles an hour now. the national hurricane center says it could become a major hurricane with 110-mile-per-hour winds over the next couple of days, and in addition to hurricane bill and tropical depression claudette, we have our eye on tropical depression ana that's churning in the caribbean. meteorologist bonnie schneider has been really busy looking at this trio that's all lined up here. it does look pretty nasty. >> "a," "b," "c" in one weekend. hasn't happened since 1984 and it's back again. what's good is only one of these is going to be a major

hurricane, at least that's the forecast right now. things can change all the time when you're talking about the tropics. we have claudette made landfall early this morning at ft. walton beach. around 12:10 local time. then ana and behind it bill. bill is the first hurricane of the atlantic season. so definitely a lot happening in a short amount of time. let's go ahead and take a look at what's happening. we've been tracking a lot of rain, especially across much of florida, and that rain will persist as we go through a good portion of the afternoon. we'll see the potential even for flooding, particularly in and around the panhandle of florida. then you have ana. this storm here is a tropical depression. it's pounding puerto rico, very heavy wind and waves to the island, and, of course, all the rain i mentioned from claudette across florida. so taking a look at southern florida, doesn't look too bad, but ana might be a rainmaker for south florida in the days to come as it gets closer. the immediate threat for flood something right here in the panhandle and then further north into alabama. that's where we have flash flood watches and warnings in effect

straight into the evening hours as all that rain advances in. also, you have runoff, and that could lead to more flooding as well. maybe not immediately, but eventually as the runoff flows into the streams and rivers. here is what we're looking at, hurricane bill. first storm upgraded all the way to hurricane status for this season so far and bill is forecast to intensify and grow as it advances towards areas possibly close to the u.s., so the track is showing the storm as it works its way further inland intensifying and possibly curbing away from the u.s. mainland t looks like bermuda is going to have to watch very closely as it is in that cone of uncertainty. bill is forecast to be a major hurricane of category 3 intensity. we're also tracking ana, a big rainmaker for the dominican come. it is a rainmaker with winds at 35 miles per hour. and finally you can see a lot of the moisture associated with

claudette continues to pound alabama and even georgia. that does affect air travel. ground delays 20 minutes but keep an eye to the sky. we may see more delays as some of the moisture rides up into northern georgia. an active time in the tropics and it's just beginning. the peak of the season, first week of september. >> all right, thank you so much, bonnie. just the opposite on the west coast. some real dry weather there. making it tough for firefighters across california. 11 fires are burning in that state, and this is some of the heavy smoke over the santa cruz mountains. hundreds of people returned home yesterday when an evacuation order was lifted that. fire has burned about ten square miles but it's only 65% contained. there are disturbing reports of gay men being abused and killed. which country is being singled out for doing virtually nothing to stop that violence?

chicago is closed today. i know it sounds odd, doesn't, it but it's to save money. the first of three reduced service days this year, which means no trash pickup, no street sweeping. city offices are closed. you can't even get to the library, and employees won't be paid. local media reports this could save the city more than 8 million bucks over the three days this will happen. the other two are later in the year. emergency services though such as the police and fire departments are not affected obviously. have some positive news for to you report on the global financial crisis. japan's economy is showing signs of improvement. the world's second largest economy expanded last quarter after a year-long recession thanks to a booming e port

business and a government stimulus. economists and politicians say recent gains may not last. the news from japan is another indication though that the global economy may be recovering. last week germany, france, and hong kong reported growth in the second quarter. the united states, by the way, our economy shrank by 1% in the second quarter. some economists say this recession is ending in the u.s. as well. are you seeing signs of that is what we want to know from you today. if the economy does rebound, will you revert back to your old spending and saving habits or has this recession in particular really changed the way you think overall? call us at 1-877-tell-hln. or e-mail us at cnn.com/hln. we'll air your comments throughout the day and you can text us the word "views" your comments and name to hlntv. standard text rates apply, and thank you so much. we love to hear from you. it is a step forward for supporters of same-sex marriage in a way here. today the obama administration filed court papers saying the

1996 defense of marriage act or doma discriminates against the gay community. in that filing the administration urges the repeal of the law but it says in the meantime it will continue to defend it as a law on the books. justice department attorneys issued the court papers in an effort to dismiss a california lawsuit brought by a gay couple that's challenging the act. now, the group human rights watch is reporting that hundreds of gay men have been tortured in iraq in recent months. it's particularly bad apparently in baghdad sadr city neighborhood and cnn.com's nicole lapin has some details with us. nicole, i have to tell you, i watched this report and it's so disturbing. >> it's so disturbing and horrific, christi, you're right. men around baghdad's sadr city are being found dead with derogatory anti-gay words on their chests. now, this is something that has not just started. it can be traced back to 2004,

but in the last six months this has really ramped up, and we have seen more and more of these types of attacks. nowhere seems to be safe. we have been seeing reports of these issues happening in hospitals, in the morgues. men have been threatened with so-called honor killings by relatives that are worried that their so-called unmanly behavior will ruin the family's reputation. this was the piece you were talking about, christi. this is from cnn's arwa damon and a government spokesman now says there's a push to really try to educate the police force about human rights and that they are trying to emphasize that any attacks against civilians, including gays, are not allowed. but it is definitely generating a lot of conversation right now online. it is one of the most clicked on stories right now. >> i know a lot of people, too, though as we switch gears here, another real popular story is

all the activity in the tropics at the moment. >> we just saw bonnie schneider giving you guys an update. it's fascinating a lot of folks in the hardest hit areas do not do anything until they see bonnie on the tube. there's a new poll that's face nating. a mason dixon poll that found 30% of people are not prepared. they do not want to be prepared. they do not actually think it's going to hit them. we're coming on almost four years since katrina, christi. can you believe it? looking back to 2005 in the katrina, wilma, and rita era, 50% of people say they have no disaster plan, christi, and no survival kit. can you believe that? >> no. after katrina i kind of thought people there would have a change of heart, i guess. >> yeah, they just think it's not going to happen to them. >> all right. well, we'll see. i hope it's not the case. thank you so much. we appreciate it, nicole.

you heard about milwaukee's mayor? he's in the hospital after one vicious attack. how mayor tom barrett tried to stop a crime and then became a victim himself.

the man accused of attacking milwaukee's mayor with a metal pipe is scheduled to make a court appearance today. police found the 20-year-old suspect and the alleged weapon yesterday, and they say it started when the suspect got into a fight with his daughter's grandmother on saturday night. at that point reportedly mayor tom barrett heard her screaming as he was leaving the state fair. he began dialing 911, and that's when the man allegedly turned on him and started hitting him with a pipe. doctors are evaluating barrett today to see if he'll need to spend another night in the hospital. >> tom is in stable condition. i have talked to him personally. he's still got his good sense of humor and he is -- he's a great brother and he's in good shape. he'll be fine. he did sustain some pretty significant injuries.

>> police say the mayor was hit in the head and torso and also broke his hand when he punched the suspect. well, the california mom accused of killing and raping 8-year-old sandra cantu will be back in court this afternoon. it's melissa huckaby. she was supposed to return to court next month, but the proceedings were moved up to today. the former sunday school teacher is accused of killing cantu, who was her daughter's playmate. now, the girl's body, remember, was found stuffed inside a suitcase in a pond back in april. that was a month after she'd disappeared. huckaby faces a number of charges, including murder and rape, and she's pleaded not guilty. we've learned that a group from texas will start a new search for missing florida girl haleigh cummings. that search is expected to begin in about four to six weeks and a spokesperson for the search group said weather and the vegetation conditions at that time will make the search easier. here is the thing. haleigh turned 6 years old today and she's been missing for six months now. michael vick says he cried

in prison because of the guilt he felt about being involved in dogfighting. in an interview with "60 minutes" last night, vick says he blames himself for his bad himself for his bad decisions and he understands why people despise him. he says a lightbulb went off for him when he was locked up. >> the first day i walked into prison and they slammed that door, i knew, you know, the magnitude of these decisions that i made. there's no way of explaining the hurt and the guilt that i felt. that was the reason i cried so many nights. >> vick was back on the practice field this weekend for the first time in two years. he signed with the philadelphia eagles last week. "showbiz tonight" is looking at the michael vick debate. the controversial football star speaking out for the first time since his return to the nfl. his brand new explanation for the dogfighting ring that sent him to prison. the american humane society says

vick deserves a second chance. should he get one? the michael vick debate tonight. 11:00 p.m. eastern and pacific. "showbiz tonight" there for you. talk about david beating goliath. a little known player beat tiger woods in a major tournament. did woods lose, or did the unknown golfer win? i know it sounds crazy, but it made for incredible drama. yang, 110th ranked player in the world took the lead from woods who led from day one until this shot. his shots just weren't dropping. you see the frustration in him. yang is the first asian born player to win the tournament. he got a hug from his wife and a phone call from the president of south korea. what would you do if you found a set of lost diamond wedding rings? >> i know that person has to be looking for the rings.

she must be pretty sick about it. >> that thought was enough to convince this woman to hunt down the owner herself. find out how she did it. dddd

the president addresses veterans in phoenix. what he had to say about iraq and afghanistan. and a look at protests going on outside over health care. we've been watching a trio of major storms. claudette has already slamm eme florida. it's getting weaker. where bill and ana are headed. the windy city is closed for official business. why chicago workers had to take the day off. hln news and views. hi, everybody. i'm chuck roberts. welcome. president obama says thank you to the country's veterans. he made a comment at the convention of the veterans of foreign wars in phoenix. he considers the men and women

of uniform a precious national resource. he told veterans affairs secretary that reducing the number of homeless vets is top priority in his administration. he promised to tackle the mental health issues plaguing those returning from duty in iraq and afghanistan. >> the vfw knows the war goes on. the flashbacks who won't go away, the heavy darkness of depression that has led to too many of our troops taking their own lives. post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries are the defining injuries of today's wars. so caring for those affected by them is a defining purpose of my budget. billions of dollars more for treatment of mental health screenings to reach our troops on the front lines and more mobile and rural clinics to reach veterans back home. we are not going to abandon these american heros.

we are going to do right by them. >> the commander in chief promised the military will get the resources to carry out the mission safely and successfully. he repeated his plan to have all brigades out of iraq by the end of next august. one year from now. pennsylvania senator arlen specter told a crowd of veterans their medical benefits would not change if health care reform passes. in fact, the general told them he would modernize the system. he also distilled his message to seven words, we are working as fast as we can. >> we have to go after education. we have to go after jobs. we have to go after substance abuse. we have to go after mental health issues. unless we're solving and attacking all of those things, homelessness continues to be the

end. >> the department budget is a getting a 15% boost next year. hurricane season got real busy. tropical storm claudette slammed into the panhandle of florida overnight and quickly lost steam. the storm came ashore there and not far away from pensacola they got a big rain. also the impending arrival picked up a surf about the time it was downgraded to a tropical depression. hurricane bill and tropical depression ana. bonnie schneider is here to show us where the storms are headed. the cones of uncertainty. >> it is uncertain. once you start getting past 72 hours, chuck, you have a more widespread outlook of where the storms will go. we'll break it down for you. as you can see t three storms all in one weekend. "a", "b", "c." it's still happening now. gulf coast.

posted for this reason. i took a closer look to show you where the rain and winds are. notice the wind direction out of the southeast. a lot of tropical moisture from claudette. there's the thunderstorms. hitting atlanta right now. all related to claudette. so is montgomery, alabama, facing flooding from rain coming in and runoff from streams and rivers. now out to the eastern atlantic for our brand new first hurricane of the atlantic season, hurricane bill. category 1 right now. the forecast for bill is to grow and intensify in size and strength. possibly becoming a category iii major hurricane in the next couple of days. take a closer look at the track for bill. the storm is on the move. west, northwest at 16 miles per

hour. there is a cone of uncertainty. bermuda is in there. that means that the computer models, some of them are shifting it more to the north. others perhaps further to the west. so it's pretty widespread towards the weekend. we really have to monitor, bill. by the time we get to saturday still a major hurricane. where it heads off that, it remains to be seen as we get closer. just keep a watch here on hln. we will always keep you up to date on the latest weather information. if two isn't enough, we have three. here's ana pounding puerto rico. this storm is working its way up the caribbean right now. it's a depression. it could intensify again. winds at 35 miles per hour. but it is a rainmaker. we're expecting heavy rain across haiti and cuba and possibly south florida. this is something to be monitored as we go through the next few days.

you can see cloud cover and rain. it does affect your air travel. more airport delays to develop. we've had them in atlanta for today. look for more of that through the afternoon. claudette, the first to make landfall. it's just going to get more extreme in the next few weeks. >> bill could head up to fort new england. >> it's too early to say. anyone along the eastern seaboard needs to monitor bill. 23 homes in cape coral were damaged. >> the power was out. we couldn't close the garage door. stuff was flying in the garage and sucking out of the garage. it's crazy. >> as everything swirled and flew around, thicks are over there. not my stuff. >> three fires reported blamed on lightning strikes.

dry weather and strong wind making it dangerous for firefighters across california. 11 fires now burning in california. here's the he was heavy smoke over the mountains. hundreds of people able to return home yesterday when an evacuation order was lifted. it's about 65% contained. she said she's used to the fires and frequently photographs them. it grew so fast. locals were extremely concerned at the time because they weren't getting information on whether their houses were burned or when they might be able to return. most homeowners were allowed back in.

thanks to dena boyer for a great i-report. if you have pictures from where you are, go to ireport.com. get the instructions on how to submit your story. two offduty police officers are taken into custody after leading authorities on a short chase. why were they on the run?

the public option will not be a make it or break it aspect. that's the word from the white house. his speech to the vfw prompted protesters to gather outside the venue. their voicing their opposition to health care we form proposals. supporters of the president showed up in significant numbers today. . co-ops would compete with private insurance. health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius says the white house will consider all proposals that include choice and competition.

>> we don't know exactly what the senate finance committee is likely the to come up with. they've been more focused on a co-op. not for profit co-op as a competitor as opposed to a straight government-run program. i think what's important is choice and competition. i'm convinced at the end of the day the plan have both of those. but that is not the essential element. >> howard dean insists true health care reform must include a public option. chicago, official chicago. public chicago. is closed today to save money. first of three reduced service days. city offices have closed. employees will not be paid. it could save the city $8 million over three days. the other two are scheduled for later in the year.

emergency services like police and fire protection obviously not affected. we have positive news to report on the global financial crisis as japan reports its economy is showing signs of improvement. the world's second largest economy expanded last quarter after a yearlong recession thanks to a booming export business and a government stimulus package. but the country's unemployment is rising and incomes are falling. global economy may be recovering. still, some economists say the recession seems to be ending in the u.s. as well. are you seeing a sign of that? will you go back to your old spending and saving habits? time? e-mail at cnn.com/hln. click under your views. text views plus your comment and

name to hlntv. standard text rates apply. we'll air your responses in just a couple of minutes. michael vick said he cried in prison because of the guilt he felt about being involved in dogfighting. in an interview on "60 minutes" he says he blames himself for his bad decisions and he understands why people despise him. he says the light bulb went off for him once he was locked up. >> if the first day i walked in prison and he slammed that door, i knew the magnitude of the decisions that i made. there's no way of explaining the hurt and the guilt that i felt. >> michael vick was back in the practice field over the weekend. he signed with the eagles last week. for more people pandas are the symbols of the conservation movement. now that group says pandas could

be on the verge of extinction in the wild because of extension housing developments. now fewer than 1,500 pandas in the wild. the wwf says they could be gone in two or three generations. china may want to give up some of its infrastructure. disturbing reports that gay men in iraq are being abused and killed. why are they being singled off? and why is iraq doing virtually nothing to stop the violence?

disturbing and graphic details emerging about the death of that florida couple in the panhandle in escambia county, gunned down in the home they shared with several adopted special-needs children. documents just release that had include results of autopsies on byrd and melanie billings. they indicate byrd billings was shot in both legs, the back of the head.

his wife melanie multiple times in the chest and face. nine of the couple's children were home when they were killed. several suspects have been arrested. pamela wiggins was free on bail. this morning when the judge agreed to put her bail at $500,000. the man accused of attacking milwaukee's mayor with a metal pipe made a court appearance today. police say the man hit the mayor tom barrett as he was leaving the state fair saturday night. he tried to break up a fight between the suspect and the grandmother of the suspect's daughter. >> tom is in stable condition. i've talked to him personally. he's still got a good sense of humor. and he is great brother. he's in good shape. he'll be fine.

he did sustain significant injuries. >> police say the mayor was hit in the head and torso. he broke his hand as he punched the suspect. the mayor could leave the hospital tomorrow. now the search has expanded to cherokee county, north carolina. christi kornwell went missing six days ago. her mother made an emotional appearance this morning on abc. >> i want him to know we love her very much and need her back. her son needs his mother back. and i need my baby back. we all need her back. and we believe we're going to get her back. >> nancy grace will have the latest on the cornwell disappearance tonight on her show. 8:00 and 10:00 eastern here on hln. a group from texas will begin a new search for haleigh

cummings that may begin in four or six weeks. that's when the weather and vegetation conditions will be optimal for a search to continue or to resume. haleigh cummings turns 6 years old today. a claims victims rights advocate. well, nancy grace is also a best selling author. she has a new novel. "the eleventh victim." similar to nancy grace's own real life story. today on hln's morning express with robin meade she talked about similarities between her and the main character in the book, hailey dean and why it was tough to write some of the passages. >> it was very difficult when i wrote about what she went through with the suffering. it was a big blur in the time before and after his murder.

at the very end when she's trying so desperately to get out from under that, to get away from that the heart ache and away from criminal law that saturated her. every murder is like reliving that murder again. she tries to get away, and the killer will not let her get away. >> don't miss her every weeknight here on hln. two off-duty and out of town police officers saw the inside of a clarke county jail in nevada over the weekend. our las vegas affiliate ktnv reports they were arrested for doing drugs in a local park. park police noticed a van parked illegally saturday. when they went to investigate the two men took off, first in the van. thn on foot. officers found unspecified narcotics in the vehicle. they've not released any names of any suspects or what police deeptd they're affiliated with.

today the obama administration filed court papers saying the 1996 defensive marriage act discriminates against the gay and lesbian community. in the meantime, they are the law. and they will continue to defend it. attorneys issued the court papers. brought by a gay couple challenges the doma act. iraq's government is urged to crack down on groups torturing and killing gay men. hundreds of men were tortured in iraq in recent months. it accuses authorities of doing nothing to stop the killings. earlier several day men's bodies were found there with derogatory terms written on their chest. some say there are signs the economy is recovering. are you feeling those signs? )d)d

all of the sudden hurricane season got busy. tropical storm claudette slammed into the panhandle in florida and quickly lost steam. a whole big area is getting rain. they announced the impending arrival by taking up surf. also on the move and on the map, hurricane bill sen tropical storm ana. and it's ana, not anna. bonnie schneider joins us with more on that. >> hi, chuck. we are definitely watching a trio of storms. ana is pounding puerto rico. around 12:10 this morning across fort walton.

you can see the rain sliding up to georgia. look at the thunderstorms working their way towards the atlanta metropolitan area. affecting air travel right now. we still run the risk for flooding across a good portion of alabama. flood watches will continue in the evening hours. some places reporting four inches of rain as a result of claudette. now way to the eastern atlantic. this is hurricane bill, the first one of the atlantic season with winds at 90 miles per hour. however, bill is expected to grow and become a category 3 as early as wednesday. then the models are divergent. will it affect the eastern atlantic seaboard or curve back out to sea in the northern atlantic? keep watching because this track could change and anyone who lives on the eastern seaboard needs to be monitoring bill for

sure. this storm is pounding the dominican republic and puerto rico with heavy rain right now. it's a tropical depression. once a tropical storm. and it's likely to stay with the intensity. especially as it interacts with the mountains of cuba. still a rainmaker and strong winds at 35 miles per hour. that's intense. let's look back at the southeast. new orleans is getting clouds and showers as a result of claudette. we have some of the rain stretching well off to houston and the south western perishes of louisiana. the cloud coverage extends far north. it's affecting atlanta. we are seeing travel delays because of all the moisture and cloud coverage that's working its way across the southeast. that's definitely a concern. for those of you that have perhaps had a trip and are connecting in atlanta, you may have a problem with the airport delays the there. we'll take a closer look and see claudette brings rain to the region and cloud coverage to alabama. also seeing the clouds stretching far up into the

northern sections of north carolina. airport delays. a ground stop in the atlanta are area. >> that's the two worst words you can have as an air traveler. ground stop. going nowhere. the public option will not be a make or break aspect of health care reform. president obama's speech to the dfw prompted opposers, to gather. supporters of the president showed up also in significant numbers today. only today the president hinted he would be willing to forego a federal insurance plan for co-op. health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius says the white house will consider all and any proposal that includes choice and competition.

>> we don't know what the senate finance committee is likely to come up with. they're focused on a not for profit co-op as opposed to a straight government run program. what's importance is choice and competition. i'm convinced at the end of the day the plan will have both of those. but that is not the essential elemen element. >> some high profile democrats disagree. true health care reform requires a public option. the president is saying thank you to the country's veterans. he made the comments at the national veterans of foreign wars conference in phoenix. he considers the men and women in uniform to be a precious natural resource. he said reducing the number of homeless vets is a top priority for his administration. he promised the v.a. will tackle the mental health issues plaguing those returning from duty in iraq and afghanistan.

>> for so many veterans the war ranges on. the love d ones who now seem like strangers. the darkness of depression that has led to too many troops taking their own lives. these are the defining injuries of today's wars. caring for those affected by them is a defining purpose of my budget. billions of dollars more to reach our troops on the front lines and more mobile and rural clinics to reach veterans back home. we are not going to abandon these american heros. we are going to do right by them. >> the commander in chief also promised the military will get the resources to carry out its mission safely and successfully. and he plans to have all u.s. combats out of iraq in a year from now. arlen specter and the

veterans affairs told a crowd of veterans the medical benefits won't change if health care reform passes. he told them he would modernize the system. he also distilled his message to seven words. those words being: we're working as fast as we can. >> we have to go after education. we have to go after drugs -- jobs. we have to go after substance abuse. we have to go after mental health issues. unless we're attacking all of those things, homelessness just continues to be the end. we have to do all of that. >> he noted the department's budget is getting a 15% boost next year. iraq's government is being urged to crack down on groups that are allegedly torturing and killing gay men. a group called human rights watch reports hundreds of men have been tortured in iraq in recent months and accuses authorities of doing nothing to stop the killings. it's especially bad in sadr

city. it's a step forward for supporters of same-sex marriage. sort of. today the obama administration filed court papers saying that the 1996 defense of marriage act, doma, discriminates against the gay and lesbian community. the administration urges repeal of the law but says in the meantime it will have to defend a law that's on the books. justice department attorneys issued court papers in an effort to dismiss a california lawsuit brought by a gay couple challenging that doma act. a high ranking judge in texas who presided over countless cases is finding herself on the other side of the defendant. judge sharon keller faces misconduct. the trial began today. she's accused of closing her court, the night a convicted killer was put to death two years ago. lawyers for michael wayne richard were trying to file a last-minute appeal before he was executed. that never happened. judge keller refused, saying the

clerk's office closed at 5:00 p.m. she refused to accept an appeal that was perfectly legitimate. for her to say we close at 5:00 when a man's life is on the line, that's so wrong. she has violated legal ethics and i think she should get her. >> still nothing was done. we have disturbing and graphic details. brand new. just in on the florida couple guns down in their home. the one they shared with several special needs children they've adopted. documents are out that include results of optionses on byrd and melanie billings. they reveal byrd billings was shot in both legs and the back of the head. and his wife melanie was shot multiple times in the chest and face. nine of the couple's children were home when they were killed.

several suspects have been arrested in the billings death. one of them, pamela wiggins was free on bail until this morning. last week she was indicted on first-degree felon charges. the search for a missing woman from georgia has spread into neighboring north carolina. police have searched through a lot of wooded areas in union county, georgia. now the search has expanded to north carolina. kristi cornwell went missing six days ago. her mother made an emotional appeal this morning on abc. >> we love her very much and we need her back. her son needs his mother back. and i need my baby back. we all need her back. and we believe we're going to get her back. >> nancy grace will have the latest tonight at 8:00 and 10:00 eastern. a group from texas will

start a new search for the missing florida girl, haleigh cummings. it may begin in four to six weeks. a spokesperson for the search group said weather and vegetation conditions at time will improve to make the search easier. haleigh cummings turned 6 years olds today. she's been missing for six months. con vservationists called pandas -- all that attention may not be enough to save this from distinction.

a possible tornado ripped up trees and tossed around cars in southern florida. according to local reports 23 homes were damaged in cape coral.

>> the power was out. we couldn't close the garage door. stuck was flying out of the garage. it was crazy. >> as everything swirled and flopped around, things were over there, these are not my stuff. >> three fires also reported. they were blamed on lightning strikes. two caused minor damage. one house had more serious damage in the attic. dry weather and strong wind making it dangerous for firefighters across southern california. 11 fires are burning in the state. heavy smoke over the santa cruz mountains. hundreds of people returned yesterday when an evacuation order was lifted. the fire burned about ten square miles, but it's 65% contained. michael vick said he cried in prison because of the guilt he felt about being involved in dogfighting. in a "60 minutes" interview on cbs last night he said he blames himself for bad decisions and he understands why people despise him. >> first day i walked into

prison and he slammed that door, i knew, you know, the magnitude of the decisions that i made. there's no way of, you know, explaining, you know, the hurt and the guilt that i felt. and that was the reason i cried so many nights. >> vick was back on the practice field this weekend for the first time in two years. he signed with the philadelphia eagles last week. he could play in the regular season in october. for many people pandas are the symbol of the conservation movement. it's a logo on the world wildlife fund. now that group says pandas could be on the verge of extinction in the wild because of developments of housing in china. there are now fewer than 1,600 pandas in the wild. and the wwf says they could be gone within two or three generations. the group says china may have to give up infrastructure if it wants pandas to have the freedom to move from territory to territory. the freedom they need to mate. two off-duty police officers are taken into custodies after

leading authorities on a short chase. why were they on the run?

we're always telling you about prices going up. electric bills may be falling. stephanie elam joins us from new york. good news, stephanie. >> yeah, i don't think people will be mad about this one. the recession is pushing demand for electricity way down, leading to a drop in prices at the wholesale level. demand is down 4.4% in the country. that serves 13 states just east of the rockies. that sends whole sale prices down 40% in that market. >> wholesale rates going down. how about retail rates? when will consumers see their bills get smaller? >> right, when is it going to affect us? it could take some time. a lot of customers pay based on long-term contracts. changed are not going to show up immediately in your bill. bills are falling in some

places. here in new york city utility company says electric bills this month are down 30% from a year ago. so really comes down to where you live. in most cases. prices for electricity are regional. here in the northeast, lots of natural gas. those prices have fallen more sharply than sources of electricity more prevalent in other parts of the country. >> people are seeing their prizes rise. >> those are not the lucky ones. it depends on your utility. a lot of power companies generate their own electricity. they aren't buying it wholesale. we talked to duke energy. they're asking for a rate increase of 7% in south carolina and a rate increase of 12% in north carolina. duke says they need to replace and upgrade a power plant. so it will also depend on the overall economic situation. wholesale prices could spike if factories pick up the pace and

demand comes roaring back. some people will welcome the extra change to keep in their pocket from the dropping prices. >> new yorkers are getting good deals. >> it's good around these parts. >> yeah! stephanie, thanks. a lot more business news up to the minute at cnnmoney.com. there's a good chance you're carrying cocaine in your wallet or purse and don't know it. researchers say there are traces of cocaine in 90% of the paper money in the u.s. that's 20% up from two years ago. the findings are based on the largest of its kind survey. scientists have known for years paper money can become contaminated with cocaine during drug deals and drug use. the apparent increase could be related to people turning to drugs in a tough economic time. two out of town police officers saw the inside of a clarke county jail in nevada over the weekend. they were arrested for doing drugs in a local park.

they were in town for the police olympics. park police say they notice ad van parked illegally saturday night. when they went to investigate two men took off. first in the van, and then on foot. once they were caught the once they were caught the officers said they found unspecified narcotics inside the vehicle. police have not released any names. they haven't even disclosed what police department they're with. federal prosecutors have turned to miami man try to steal information on 130 million credit card accounts. they say alberto gonzalez conspired with two unnamed people to steal the information from 7 eleven and another convenience store. do you have something to say to the alien next door if there is one? a new website is gathering text messages to be beamed to a planet known as gleath 581 d.

the website called hello from earth.net will be taking suggestions for another weekend or so. 160 characters or fewer. some of the messages submitted so far, we don't want to be alone. come on. and the opposing view, hello, please do not respond to any message. we're not yet ready. another asks, are you on facebook? more than 4,000 pages details apparent ufo sightings have been posted online by britain's national archives. included, an american officer's detailed alleged encounter 29 years ago at a u.s. air base in england. about 800 alleged encounters during the '80s and '90s are mentioned. there was a huge spike in sightings in britain in the 1990s when they were 690 reports in 1996. big names like eric clapton, keith richards and the edge. i-reporters are showing you

don't have to be famous to appreciate paul's contributions to rock or make beautiful music with his classic guitar.

claudette is on the move after pounding the florida panhandle. where it's headed now and the latest on two other named storms, bill and ana. one could become a major hurricane. as the president addresses veterans at the vfw convention about the wars in iraq and afghanistan, outside debate over health care reform, that is raging in the streets. court documents give chill deg tails of what happened inside this florida home the night byrd and melanie billings were murdered. here's the latest from hln news and views. i'm richelle carey. thanks as always for your time. suddenly the hurricane season got really busy. tropical storm claudette slammed into the florida panhandle overnight.

quickly, though, it lost steam. the storm came ashore near ft. walton beach. it announced its arrive by kicking up surf. it was downgraded to tropical depression. also on the move, hurricane bill and trop ka depression ana. meteorologist bonnie snyder is here to tell us where these storms are headed. >> it hasn't been since 1984 when he had three storms, a, b, c, all within one weekend. that's exactly what happened within a 33-hour period. we had our first three named storms of the atlantic season. after what was considered to be a slow start, things really got off with a bang. claudette formed and made land fall very soon after. it's still bringing a lot of rain to the gulf coast. you have ana behind it pounding the dominican republic and puerto rico. finally our first major hurricane that's about to become a major hurricane, our first hurricane of the atlantic season, that would be bill in the eastern atlantic.

closer look at a lot of rain to florida. that's the panhandle of florida. 12:10 local time. across florida and on into alabama. this is really a huge rainmaker, because we are anticipating the threat for flooding as we go through the day today. now the thunderstorms are rolling into the atlanta metropolitan area, across georgia, and even to the west we are seeing them pop up in louisiana and mississippi. here are the flood watches and warnings. these continue straight into the evening hours. warnings are down here. some new ones just issued in and around some of these southwestern parishes of louisiana. new orleans, that's red where flooding exists, could see my yor flooding as the storm pulls away and moves to the northeast. here's another one. hurricane bill, the first hurricane of the season is forecast to intensify to major hurricane status. that means going from category

one to two to eventually a three. when we take a look at the track, it's interesting to note some of the models are not all in agreement as to what's going to happen with bill. where will it go and how much will it intensify? so let's put this into motion. here's bermuda. bermuda definitely threatened by bill because it is in that cone of uncertainty. notice the cone kind of widens out adds we go into the future. that's because some of the models are taking it close tore the eastern sea board of the u.s. while others are curving it back out to sea. bill is something to monitor. even if you live up in nova scotia, keep an eye on bill. ana is pounding the dominican republic right now with heavy rain. about four inches in the forecast, another few inches expected toward haiti. more rain already working towards cuba and jamaica. in kingston a lot of rain. it may bring the threat for rain and possibly some strong winds for south florida. three storms all affecting different places at different times. but this is the beginning of now a busy start to the tropical

season, the peak of the season is in september. we anticipate activity in the weeks to come. >> you need to learn how to talk fast, bonnie, don't you? that was a jam packed report. firefighters are finally making progress. it's been quite a few days, they're making progress against the large northern california wildfires. looking at heavy smoke over the santa cruz mountains. 500 residents are still waiting for the sign that they can maybe go back home. about 2,000 were allowed back in yesterday. this fire has burned about 11 square miles. but it is 65% contained. it's just one of 11 wildfires burning across that state. an i-reporter took pithese pictures of the lockheed fire. she says she's used to the fires and often takes pictures. but the tourists and campers who stopped were amazed and shocked

at the size of this one. she says locals were extremely concerned at the time because they weren't getting enough information to know whether or not their houses had been burned or when they might be able to return. many worried about their livestock when they were ordered to evacuate. most of those homeowners have now been allowed back. if you have pictures or video of breaking news or cool stories from your part of the world, always safety first, but go to i-report.com and click on the upload now link. there's instructions there on how to submit your story. president obama has a message for the country's veterans. thank you. speaking today at the national convention of the veterans of foreign wars in phoenix, the president says veterans are a precious national resource. the commander in chief is promising the military will get the resources it needs to successfully carry out missions. and he's repeating plans to have all u.s. combat brigades out of iraq by the end of next august.

that's a year from now. >> that's why i've made this pledge to our armed forces. i will only send you into harm's way when it is absolutely necessary. and when i do, it will be based on good intelligence and guided by a sound strategy. i will give you a clear mission, defined goals, and the equipment and support you need to get the job done. >> while the president was speaking, there were protesters outside the venue. they voiced their opposition to many of the health care reform proposals currently up for debate, especially those that include a government-backed plan. supporters of the president and his health care reform also turned out. they chanted obama's campaign cry, yes, we can. the president himself has been going on the defense against some of his opponents' claims like death panels. >> i just lost my grandmother last year. i know what it's like to watch

somebody you love who's ageing deteriorate. and have to struggle with that. so the notion that somehow i ran f public office or members of congress are in this so that they can go around pulling the plug on grandma? >> well, the president is now saying that a government-run insurance plan, a so-called public option is not a make or break aspect to this health care reform. he's even hinting he'd be willing to forego a federal insurance plan for co-ops that could compete with private insurance. kathleen sebelius says the white house will consider all proposals that include choice and competition. it's a step forward for supporters of same-sex marriage, sort of. today the obama administration filed court papers saying the 1996 defensive marriage act discriminates against the gay community.

in its filing the administration urges the repeal of the law. it says in the meantime it will continue to defend it as the law on the books. justice department attorneys issued the court papers in an effort to dismiss a california lawsuit brought by a gay couple challenging the act. iraq's government is being urged to crack down on groups that are allegedly torturing and killing gay men. a group called human rights watch reports hundreds of men have been tortured in iraq in recent months. it accuses authorities of doing nothing to stop the killings. it's especially bad in baghdad sadr city neighborhoods. earlier this year several gay men's bodies were found there with derogatory terms written on their chests. the windy city is closed for official business. why chicago workers had to take the day off.

chicago is closed today. to save money. it's the first of three reduced

service days this year, which means no trash pickup, no street sweeping, city offices are closed. you can't even go to the loi brar library. employees will not be paid. local media reports this could save the city more than 8 million bucks over the three days. the other two are later in the year. if anyone has any shady intentions, emergency services like police and fire departments are not affected. some positive news to report on the global financial crisis. japan's economy is showing signs of improvement. expanded last quarter a booming export business and a government stimulus. the country's unemployment is rising and incomes are falling. economists and politicians say recent gains may not last. the news from japan is another indication the global economy may be recovering. last week germany, france and hong kong reported growth in the second quarter. the united states' economy shrank 1% in the second quarter.

still some economists say the economy here in the u.s. is looking up as well. so what do you think? do you feel like at the end of the tunnel, has the recession permanently changed your spending habits? let's get to the phone. dena is calling us from south carolina. are you buying what you're hearing, that we're almost out of this tunnel? >> no, i'm not. i'm a 54-year-old single parent. i own my own plumbing business in upstate south carolina. and not new construction. it's service and repair of water heaters, faucets, toilets, that type of thing. this month, i usually get about 10 to 15 calls a week at least. that's when it's slow. this month i've had zero. as of today i've had zero service calls come from for 30 days. >> you're on the front lines, and you're saying that it's just not trickled down to you in any kind of way? >> the government's forgot about the small businessman, too. it's really sad. we don't get any unemployment or anything like that. the small businessman is either

going out of business right now or he's like right now i wrote my last bit of money i had in a check for a bill this morning. that's it. >> dean, i hope things turn up for you really soon. thank you for your perspective. we need to know these types of things. thank you for calling. >> thank you very much. >> lauren is calling us from detroit. we know detroit has been taking it right on the chin. lauren, what do you think? >> caller: i think that the economy, it's really 50/50 for me. because, see, i'm 16, ands i live with my grandma and my mom. >> you said 16? >> caller: yeah, i'm 16. >> all right. keep going. >> caller: my mom is like, well, 42 and stuff like that. she still hasn't had a job. i mean, she kept a steady job, everybody was helping her out and stuff. but it's like now -- it's like once she gets a job, then i know the recession is over. >> i definitely understand your

perspective. you need to see it in your household to believe it. i understand that, loren. we wish the best for your mother. thanks for calling in. pretty big of you, pretty mature. we appreciate it. will calls us from erie, pennsylvania. how are things in pennsylvania? >> caller: people are slowly gets laid off here. i work for a big company. a lot of jobs are going overseas. i don't know for sure if i'm going to have a job next year because, you know, with the orders. >> but you do right now, though, right? >> caller: yeah. i work right now. but, you know, who knows am i going to be working next year. >> let me ask you this. because you're not certain about your employment future, have you tightened up on how you spend? >> caller: yes, i have. >> okay. i can certainly understand that. will, thank you for your phone call. a lot of people still seem kind of skeptical with what the economists are saying. let's get a few more comments on my hln facebook page. this is what erin wrote --

earn was -- erin was determined to get something out of this. jeff wrote this -- christopher wrote this on my facebook page -- a lot of people still not convinced just yet that we're done with this. thanks for all your e-mails and your phone calls today and your comments on my facebook page. we still want to hear from you at hln news and views. "prime news" starts at the top of the hour. lots of topics there you will want to comment on. including a pair of high school administrators who may face jail time for praying on school property. is that a fair punishment? send us your e-mails to

cnn.com/primenews.

prosecutors have charged a miami man with trying to steal information on 130 million credit and debit card accounts by hacking into retails sites. they say albert gonzalez conspired with two other people, they did not name these people, conspired to steal the information from 7 seven and another store and from a credit card processing center in new

jersey. he's already in jail waiting to be tried in another hacking case. we have some disturbing and graphic new details about the deaths of the florida couple gunned down in their home, the home they shared with several of their adopted special needs children. documents released today include results of autopsies on byrd and melanie billings. they indicate birth was shot in both legs, the back of the head as well. his wife melanie was shot several times in the chest and the face. nine of the couples' children were home when all this happened. several suspects have been arrested in the case. one of them was free on bail until this morning when a judge agreed to increase her bail to half a million dollars. last week a grand jury indicted her on first-degree felony charges. the california mom accused of killing and raping 8-year-old sandra cantu is back in court this afternoon. melissa huckabee was supposed to

return to court next month. they were moved up after a secret grand jury met last month. if indicted, her case goes straight to trial. she's accused of killing sandra, who was her daughter's playmate. sandra's body was found stuffed inside a suitcase in a pond back in april, a month after she went missing. huckabee has pleaded not guilty. a group in texas will start a new search for missing florida girl haleigh cummings. it's expected to begin in four to six weeks. the spokesperson for the search group says weather and vegetation conditions at the time will make the search easier. she turned 6 years old today. missing for six months now. let's lighten the mood. here comes the hammer. power house on the floor of the u.s. house of representative wills compete on the next season of "dancing with the stars." the 62-year-old texas and former majority leader will be going up

against donny osmond and former nfl receiver michael ervin. there's a good chance you're carrying cocaine in your wallet. blame it on your money. researchers say there are traces of cocaine on up to 90% of paper money in the united states, especially in big cities. almost a 20% jump from two years ago. the findings are based on what's being described the largest analysis of its kind. stocks extendsed friday's losses with a sour start to the week. stephanie elam is in new york with a look at the numbers and other stories affecting your wallet. >> it's one of those days. stocks tumbled as worries of consumers weighed on the market. analysts feel a recent runup in stock prices could set the stage for a double dip recession. that wasn't what people wanted to hear. a light day on the economical endar. wall street awaits a series of rofrts later in the week. with all that to wait for, the dow fell 186 points to 9135.

worst loss in seven weeks. look at that picture there. the graph all red. on a percentage bases, other major averages were worse. nasdaq slit 2 3/4%. lowe's recorded quarterly earnings that fell 19%, worse than expected. they say poor weather and the continuing slump in consumer spending dragged down sales. they issued a forecast short of what analysts were estimates. on tuesday the government reports on july housing starts and building permits as well as july producer prices. a measure of inflation at the wholesale level. we always have tomorrow, right richelle? maybe we can do it a little bit better tomorrow. >> i like how you do it. ominous words from a single mother who disappeared. please don't take me. now her family is stepping forward to plea for her safe return. jane velez-mitchell's take on the strange case. don't go anywhere. ñññoññ 

president obama has a message for the country's veterans. it's thank you. the president said he considers the men and women in uniform to be a precious national resource. >> whether you wear the uniform today or wore it decades ago, you remind us of a fundamental truth. it's not the powerful weapons that make our military the strongest in the world. it's not the sophisticated systems that make us the most advanced. the true strength of our military lies in the spirit and skill of our men and women in

uniform. >> the president promised the military will get the resources it needs to successfully carry out its missions and he vowed to tackle the mental health issues plaguing those returning from iraq and afghanistan head on and without delay. the president's speech prompted protesters to gather outside the venue. supporters of the president and his health care reform also turned out. they chanted obama's campaign slogan there, yes, we can. the president is now saying a government-run insurance plan, the public option, won't be a make or break aspect to health care reform. he's even hinting he'd be willing to forego a federal insurance plan for co-ops that would compete with private insurance. health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius says the white house will consider all proposals that include choice and competition.

right now we are taking a look at an accident. this is a school bus, as you can see. this is in grayson, georgia, about 30 miles northeast of downtown atlanta. you can see it appears that a car is trapped under the bus. authorities say a person was trapped inside of the car. they're going to have to go to the hospital, take a look at them, see what kind of shape they're in. so far no reports on any injuries on the school bus in grayson, georgia, there. the hurricane season got really, really busy. prop cal storm claudette slammed into the florida panhandle overnight. quickly it did lose steam. it caused some damage there. the storm came ashore near ft. walton beach. look at the storm kicking up some csurf there right about th time it was downgraded a tropical depression. hurricane bill and tropical depression ana. that is a lot. let's check with meteorologist bonnie schneider to show us

where the storms are headed next. we've already gotten a pretty good chunk of the alphabet covered in a short period of time. >> within 33 hours three named storms, a, b, c. these storms continue to churn in the atlantic and across areas of the gulf coast. claudette, ana and bill. bill is the hurricane now. ana a tropical depression. most of it on shore in terms of the heavy rain. we still run the risk for flooding because this storm is producing such heavy downpours. at the height of the storm between two and three inches of rain per hour. that's intense. as you can see, right here from tallahassee all the way across i-10 towards mississippi, we are getting very frequent, heavy downpours. that's why we're tracking the threat for flooding. also the thunderstorms are riding up to atlanta, georgia. winds are strong here at biltmore beach. we have a flood watch for

alabama. that will continue. flood warnings as far to the west as louisiana. take a look at the first hurricane of the 2009 season. the first hurricane may turn out to be a major hurricane, getting all the way to category 3 status. that is bill. on track possibly towards the u.s., but it looks like most of the models are turning it. we still have to monitor the storm. still aways away from knowing exactly what it'll do. one thing we can tell you now is ana is pounding the caribbean islands. all facing the wrath of ana. possibly even towards florida. i'll have more on that. we're monitoring all this weather here on hln, richelle? >> we appreciate it, bonnie, very much. listen to this. a possible tornado ripped up trees and tossed around cars. this is southern florida. according to local reports 23 homes in cape coral were damaged. >> the power was out. we couldn't close the garage door. stuff was flying in the garage

and sucking out of the garage. crazy. >> as everything swirl and slapped around and flew around, things are over there, over here, these are not my stuff. >> pretty scary. three fires also reported. they're being blamed on lightning strikes. two caused minor damage but one house had more serious damage in the attic. firefighters are finally making progress against a large wildfire burning in northern california. take a look at the heavy smoke over the santa cruz mountains. 500 residents still waits for the sign they might be able to go home. 2,000 folks were allowed back in yesterday. this fire has burned 11 square miles. it is 65% contained. it's only one of 11 wildfires burning across the state. the california mom accused of killing an raping 8-year-old sandra cantu should be back in court about now. melissa huckaby was supposed to return to court next month. that was moved up after a secret grand jury met last month to

hear evidence. if indicted, huckaby's case goes straight to trial. the former sunday schoolteacher is accused of killing sandra, her daughter's playmate. sandra's body was found stuffed inside a suitcase in a pond back in april, a month after she went missing. huckaby has pleaded not guilty. pretty graphic new details about the death of a florida couple gunned down in the home they shared with several of their special needs children. these children were adopted. documents released today indicate -- rather include results of autopsies on byrd and melanie billings. they indicate that byrd was shot in both legs, in the back of the head. his wife, melanie, was shot several times in the chest and face. nine of the couples' children were home when their parents were killed. several suspects have been arrested in the case. oneover them, pamela wiggins, was free on bail until this morning until the judge agreed to increase her bail to half a million dollars.

last week a grand jury indicted her on first degree felony charges. a group in texas will start a new search for a missing florida girl, haleigh cummings. that search should begin in four to six weeks. a spokesperson for the group said weather and the vegetation conditions at that time will make the search easier. she turns 6 years old today and has been missing for six months now. disturbing reports of gay men being abused and killed. which country's being singled out for doing virtually nothing to stop the violence?

it's a step forward for supporters of same-sex marriage, sort of. today the obama administration filed court papers saying the

1996 defensive marriage act discriminates against the gay and lesbian community. in its filing the administration urges the repeal of the law. it says in the meantime it will continue to defend it as the law on the books. justice department attorneys issued the court papers in an effort to dismiss a california lawsuit brought by a gay couple challenging the act. a group called human rights watch is reporting hundreds of gay men have been tortured in iraq in recent months. especially bad in the sadr city neighborhood of baghdad. cnn.com's catherine callaway joins us with these really sad, horrifying details. >> reporter: it is a disturbing report. we have all the details for you here at cnn.com. what it essentially is, there have been the bodies of several gay men have been found in sadr city with derogatory terms written on their chest, which is how they know they were targeted

because they were homosexual. the attacked victims actually spoke to cnn saying the attacks go back as far as 2004 but they have intensified in the past few months. iraqi officials acknowledge that the nation's culture stigmatizes homo sexuallity, but says it certainly doesn't condone attacks. the attackers are apparently targeting people on the streets and in storm homes trying to get out of them the names of suspected gay men. of course, many of those men end up in the hospital or worse, they end up dead. now there are reports that many men have been threatened with honor killings. of course, we know that that is honor killings by relatives that are worried their unmanly behavior might ruin the family's reputation.

the the militia defends the moves and says it's their way of defending the civilization of human men. trying to edge courage the iraqi government to do more than they they don't condone it, but get out in the streets to try to prevent it. more details on cnn.com. >> trying to call them out for lack of a better phrase. we're going to definitely keep an eye on those developments. tell us what else is gets a lot of attention on cnn.com today. >> you know it's that time of year. what we're keeping an eye on is the atlantic. >> yes. >> if you've looked at the satellite, you know we've got three storms out there spinning around right now. we have the first hurricane, in fact, with bill. and a lot of people actually are a little complacent about this. the reason we bring this to your attention is we did a poll. we want you to look at the results on cnn.com of the mason-dixon poll conducted. it says 30% of the people polled say they would not start preparations for hurricane unless a hurricane warning is

issued, which is a bit surprise ing, richelle, when you consider before katrina, rita and wilma in 2005 only 50% said they were complaisant. now as many as 85% said they had no intention of strengthening their homes. >> don't understand that. don't get it. >> you know, i guess they're saying so many times they prepare and nothing happens. >> i understand. i've lived that. i'm from texas. i get it. but i don't get not -- i don't know. >> after that devastation of katrina, you got to wonder if some people are thinking, hey, if we're in the line of fire there's not much we can do to save our homes. we'll see. maybe when those hurricane warnings are issued they'll get to work. >> absolutely. federal prosecutors have charge add miami man with trying to steal information on 130 million credit and debit card accounts by hacking into a retailing site. they say that that would be a record hacking case. they say that albert gonzalez

conspired with two unnamed people to steal the information from 7 leeleven and a credit ca processing center. how mayor tom barrett tried to stop a crime and became a victim himself.

all right. "prime news" comes up in just a few minutes. time to check in with mike. you've got a preview of what's coming up at the top of the hour. he comes down with notes to tell us some of the stories we're focused on today. there's a family in pain right now. >> we're talking about kristi cornwell. 38-year-old mother of a 15-year-old. she went missing. it's a chilling story. this is her routine. every night she took a walk at 9:00 near her parents' home. she's on the phone with her boyfriend. she tells her boyfriend she's suspicious about car nearby. the last words he hears from kristi cornwell, please don't take me. she has not been seen since. the cell phone has been found. we'll tell you about that.

what kind of a clue, how important is that. we'll get you updated on the search for kristi cornwell. call us with your thoughts. i know we're going to hear from you on this one. a principal and athletic director in trouble for praying at a high school luncheon. it's gotten to the point where this could be a criminal offense. are we at that point where two men could go to jail for praying? call in. 1-877-tell-hln is the number. here's another talker. a doll made it on to store selves at costco. a little african-american baby with a title on a hat and next to a monkey that says little monkey. you're wondering how does that get to store shelves? how does that make it through some levels of people, some checks and balances. now the toy maker says it was a pack of three, there was a hispanic, white and african-american baby all with the monkey. personally, in delving in a little deeper, was it intent, racism, maybe not? lack of sensitivity, definitely. we'll pick it up from there. want to hear from you.

>> you're going to get a lot of phone calls on that one. >> i think we will. coming up, the man accused of attacking milwaukee's mayor with a metal pipe scheduled to make a court appearance today. police found the 20-year-old suspect and the alleged weapon yesterday. police say it started when the suspect got into a fight with his daughter's grandmother saturday night. the mayor, tom barrett, heard her screaming for help as he was leaving the state fair. he started dialing 911. that's when the man turned on him, started hitting him with the pipe. doctors are evaluating barrett today. expected to spend another night in the hospital. >> tom is in stable condition. i've talked to him personally. he's still got his good sense of humor. and he is a -- he's a great brother and he's in good shape. he'll be fine. he did sustain some pretty significant injuries. >> police say the mayor was hit

in the head and the torso. he also broke his hand when he punched the suspect. two out of town police officers saw the inside of nevada's clark county jail this weekend. our las vegas affiliate ktnv reports they were arrested for doing drugs in a local park. the officers are apparently in town for the police olympics. park police say they noticed a van parked illegally saturday night. when they went to investigate, two men took off, first in the van, then they took off running. once they were caught, officers they they found unspecified drugs inside the vehicle. police have not released the names of the suspects or what police department they are with. michael vick says he cried in prison because of the guilty he felt about being involved in dog fighting. in this interview on "60 minutes" last night vick says he blames himself for bad decisions and he understands why people despise him. he says a lightbulb went off for him once he was locked up. >> the first day i walked into

prison, and he slammed that door, i knew, you know, the magnitude of the decisions that i made. there's no way of explaining, you know, the guilt that i felt. and that was the reason i cried so many nights. >> vick was back on the practice field this weekend for the first time in two years. he signed with the philadelphia eagles last week. be sure to watch "showbiz tonight" tonight. michael vick debate. the controversial football star speaks out for the first time since his return to the nfl. his brand new explanation for the dogfighting ring that sent him to prison. the american humane society now says vick deserves a second chance. should he get one? the michael vick debate on tv's most provocative news show. talk about david beating goliath. a little known player beat tiger woods in a major tournament.debated has been did tiger woods lose or did this unknown golfer win.

it made for incredible drama, whatever you think. y.e. yang, the 110th ranked player in the world took the lead from woods who led from day one till that shot you just saw. tiger's shots were not dropping. you could see his frustration. yang is the first asian born player to win a major tournament. he got a phone call from the president of south korea. look at him. chicago is closed today to save some money. yes, i said chicago, the city. it is the first of three reduced service days this year. that means no trash pickup, no street sweeping. city offices are closed. you can't go to the library. employees will not be paid. local media reports this could save the city more than 8 million bucks three days. the other two days come later this year. emergency services like police and fire departments are not affected if criminals thought they had something up their sleeve. what would you do if you found a set of lost diamond

wedding rings? >> i know that person has to be looking for these two rings and she must be pretty sick about it. that thought was enough to convince this woman to hunt down the owner herself. 8 not long ago, this man had limited mobility.

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