high school coach insists he is not to blame for player's collapse. the teen's father and teammates describe the football practice that ended in death. night patrol along what is called the most dangerous road in the world. also a salute to the most trusted man in america going on right now. live pictures for you. top leaders remember water cronkite. good wednesday morning to you. this is hln "news and views." we start in california where it appears a human bone was found near the place where a girl was held captive and raped for 18 years. her alleged kidnapper,

assaulter, phillip garrido, he once took care of the neighbor's yard where the bone was discovered. experts are conducting dna testing on it right now. garrido and his wife nancy are charged with abducting jay see dugard when she was 11. police say he fathered two daughters with her while she was his prisoner. they want to know if garrido is involved in other two unknown cases. two girls vanished in the late 1980s. 6-year-old kidnapped by his own mother and kept in a crawl space won't be reunited with his mother just yet. ricky chekevdia was found hiding in his room on friday. ricky's mother hid him from his father for two years. >> my son has been traumatized. i will go out there when the proper counselors and right -- when you said a meeting, you always set the conditions. the conditions have not been set yet. >> the boy and his mom

disappeared back in 2007 in the middle of a custody dispute. she is now in jail and has a preliminary hearing in two weeks. we are learning more about the murders committed in a georgia mobile home park on august 29th. it happened in a mobile home there in brunswick, georgia. police say the suspect guy heinze jr. acted alone. . he faces eight counts of first degree murder for the brutal beatings. his father, the 22 denies any involvement in this case. officials have not commented on a motive yet. they did cia heinze's father recently won $20,000 in a civil lawsuit. he had yet to receive the money due to an appeal. we'll have a live report on that story just ahead. meanwhile, the jury is hearing more testimony today in the trial of a former kentucky high school football coach. david jason stinson is facing charges in the death of a player following a practice during a hot day last summer. mary snow has been following the trial.

>> reporter: jeff described the afternoon in august 2008 when his 15-year-old son max collapsed on a football field. the teen died three days later. prosecutors charge that max's coach, jason stinson, is responsible for running what they call a barbaric practice, forcing players to run sprints with little water. he recalled getting to his son's brachis late that day that it was hot and he saw players in full equipment. >> did you see your son throw up on the field that day? >> yes, i did. as well as other players. he wasn't the only one. >> reporter: prosecutors also questioned a team member who played with max gilpin. his identity is shielded because he's a minor. the players said he saw some kids try to get water. >> did you hear anything that coach stinson said to those players? >> get back here. you're not finished running. >> reporter: gilpin says when his son collapsed he and others tried to cool him down and stinson was not with them as another coach dild 911. >> is he breathing?

>> yes, he's breathing. yeah. he's -- he's going -- he's kind of going in and out on us though. >> reporter: gilpin said at first he didn't see anything wrong with the practice but changed his mind after hearing from others. initially he didn't blame coaches in an interview he did with a reporter two months after his son's death. >> do you recall telling her that they, being the coaches, did everything that they could, that i would have done? >> yes. >> reporter: gilpin testified his son took the drugged a do l doral. and said his son had also teen creatine used to stimulate muscle growth. they're rying to prove that other factors may have played a role in the teen's death, summing up their case during last week's opening arguments. >> this has been nothing but a witch hunt by these people. >> reporter: stinson pled not guilty of charges of reckless homicide and want on the endangerment. he faces up to ten years in prison if found guilty. with his training he should have known not to subject his players with those brutal conditions.

>> he put competition and winning, winning his first game as a head football coach, ahead of safety. >> stinson is getting the backing of other coaches who says a max's death was a tragic accident. organizations from across the country has been contributing to a defense fund for coach stinson. mary snow, cnn, new york. to a story about a 350-pound man. he is a accusing southwest airlines of not letting him on a flight because of his weight. he says he and his wife was headed down ramp to board when an employee asked him if he could sit in a seat with the arm down. he said yes but they weren't allowed on the plane. the couple says they were embarrassed and humiliated. >> when we were stranded, we were shocked. what were we going to do? just -- just kind of stressed out, lost. >> pretty heartless, the way they treated us. >> southwest airlines says fellow passengers became upset over his tone and actions and

that is why he wasn't allowed on the plane. the company also says it will refund the unused ticket. right now in new york, a fond farewell to the most trusted man in america. several friends and colleagues of walter cronkite lining up to speak. from former president bill clinton to astronaut buzz ald dron to music jimmy buffet are expected. there are also tributes. again, rick kaplan there. they all call the legendary anchor man, a friend. >> the transformation of this country. i was personally witness to that as a teenager in the remote reaches of the great plains, i didn't see television until i was 15 years old and it was a small black and white, sat in the corner of our dining room. but it changed my life because in many ways walter cronkite and all those early pioneers lifted a lamp and showed us the wider

world. >> that, of course, is tom brokaw. there again, rick kaplan from cbs. president obama will address the memorial service in just a few minutes. cronkite died in july at the age of 92. the white house calls president obama's speech tonight the big test. the president will tell a joint session of congress and the american people what he wants in a health care overhaul package. the white house says the president is still working on the speech right now. press secretary robert gibbs says he will layout ways to provide insurance coverage for all americans and hold down costs as well. he will also explain how a government-run shoourns plan known as the public option would work. >> the president is going to talk about the public option and talk about the value of bringing through a public option choice and competition to the private insurance market. i think that's going to be a big part of what the president will talk about. it's not going to be all of what the president talks about because it's not the totality of health care reform.

>> the president is getting heavyweight support. the american medical association is urging congress to overhaul health care this year. but as you know, most congressional republicans are lined up against overhauling the system. just three gop senators have been involved in the latest negotiations. one of them, iowa's chuck grassley, told our sister network cnn what he wants to hear tonight. >> if he does come out with specifics, probably would make up for that criticism that i gave during august that they were all over the ballpark, and they were all over the ballpark. >> you can watch the president's address tonight live at 8:00 eastern on cnn and also cnn.com. tune in for that. when football players are on the playing field they are supposed to drink lots of water. we all know that. but is the water some high school football players got off the field stirring up controversy. how members of a football team ended up getting baptized and why it's got some of their parents really angry. what are we waiting for?

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take a look at this dramatic video here of a fire at a florida gas station home video. you can see the flames tear right through car if you look closely there. there it is. the attendant department fire from spreading to the pumps by hitting the emergency stop button. the driver was treated for burns to his hands and face. there are mixed reports about what may have caused this. could have been much worse. scientists are now able to track five great white sharks swimming in the atlantic. researchers hope to laern more about their migratory habits with the monitoring. they were spotted off the coast of cape cod. there's one of them there. this is the first time the sharks have been tagged successfully off of massachusetts. a big feat. this guy's apparently gotten pretty creative to avoid speeding cameras and really frustrating cops. they know exactly who he is.

the problem is they say he wears this get-up. look closely. that was a monkey mask, or he wears a giraffe one so they can't match these pictures to his driver's license to prove he's the one driving. >> he just has a blatant disregard for public safety, in my opinion. >> officers say he has racked up at least 40 tickets. we have been talking about this girl for a couple of days now, tennis teen sensation, melanie oudin. she and her mom were kicked out of their manhattan hotel room because they didn't reserve the room long enough. they didn't expect they would be there that long. the 17-year-old from georgia has upset four top russian players and will play in the quarterfinals tonight. we're looking forward to that. there's another amazing story to tell you about at the u.s. open. kim clijsters is back after taking two years off to have her first baby. she faces serena williams in the semifinals. 26-year-old defeated serenseren

sister venus on sunday. some great tennis. how would you feel if your son came home from a football team function and told you that he had been baptized? that's exactly what happened to some parents in kentucky. the coach of breckenridge county hi school took his team to church to a baptist revival, you could say. although the trip was voluntary, no permission slips were required and a school bus was used to transport the players. at the event, 47 people including 9 football players were baptized. >> they took my son without my knowledge or my consent, they say it's not a school function but they took him anyway. >> the twist is, that a coach brought a bunch of guys here to get them baptized. there's no truth in that at all. the coach brought guys here to be encouraged that night and out of the process of that god called people to have a relationship with him. >> pastor davis says the church usually gets the parents' permission before baptizing their children. we know you have an opinion on this one. we want to hear your view.

what do you think about the coach's decision to take his players to church and let them be baptized? give us a call. tell us what you think. 877-tell-hln. e-mail us at cnn.com/hln. we're taking your text messages today. just text views and your comments and name to hlntv. we'll air your responses throughout the day today. a snapshot of the fight against the taliban in afghanistan, reporter michael weir was riding in an afghan police truck when the mission took a terrifying turn. >> you all right? >> terrifying moment there's. roadside bomb goes off just ahead. more on michael's convoy.um and . that's where their favorite cereals can help. general mills big g is the only leading line of kid cereals that has calcium and vitamin d. help them get more of what they need with general mills kid cereals.

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the pre-dawn military raid to rescue him. there's a shot of him report ing there. nato commandos stormed the room where steven ferrell was being held, triggering a fierce fun fight. ferrell says his afghan interpreter who was kidnapped with him also died in a hail of bullets. they were abducted by taliban militants on saturday. the kidnappings have been kept quiet out of concern for the men's safety. farrell's abduction and rescue underscores just how dangerous the situation is in afghanistan. cnn journalist michael weir and his photographer recently went on night patrol with afghan police in taliban-controlled kandahar. look at what they went through and why they are lucky to be alive. take a look. >> reporter: a hidden tell ban roadside bombing, ied, is about to hit this afghan police gun truck. a cameraman and i are riding in it. by some miracle it detonates a heartbeat too soon. otherwise we would all be dead.

instead, gravel rains over us. >> you all right? >> yeah. >> reporter: then comes the shooting, so-called death of police firing aimlessly to ward off further attack. >> now, michael ware was reporting from highway 1 which connects kabul to kandahar in southern afghanistan. it is considered one of the most dangerous roads in the world. ware says people have been pulled off bus tones road and executed by the taliban. we are happy he is safe. a california couple found a glimmer of hope in the ashes of their burned out home. the woman says she lost her wedding ring in the rush to leave ahead of that wildfire there. but a friend found it while sifting through the rubble on monday. >> took the diamonds out, melt out the gold. we have a bunch of other jewelry we found and maybe i'll create new ring out of that. take what we have and instead of going out and buying something new. >> yeah. >> rebuild something. >> amazing when you see how

badly that home is damaged. the woman and her husband hope to be the first on the block to rebuild their house. a south carolina man was laid to rest in his car. the whole car. the 91-year-old's wish was to be buried in his 1973 pontiac. they had to use a crane to put the car in the ground. >> this was mr. holloway. he didn't do anything halfway. you know, if he going to have to do it, he'll have to do it right or don't do it at all. >> they say you can't take it with you. >> you may not carry it all of the way but you can take it a little ways on the road. >> local media's reporting he also wanted his rifles and handguns buried with him, so they wouldn't get into the wrong hands. for hard core apple fans the anticipation is certainly building. they can hardly wait to find out what, if any, new products will be revealed today at the mysterious event. within the hour they will know

today's event is in san francisco. it is prompted speculation that ceo steve jobs may make an appearance. though that's highly unlikely since he's still recovering from a liver transplant. others are keeping their fingers crossed the beatles music will finally be made available on itunes. we will keep you posted. check your grocery receipt because prices have been inching down for meat, milk products, bread, fruit, veggies almost every month this year. that is good news in a bad economy. americans are being careful with their budgets, spending less, of course, buying store labels these days. and food companies are reacting to this with lower prices for ingredients and lower gas prices. it is costing them less to truck and ship the food across the country so they can get lower prices. it is certainly a welcome relief from last year when a lot of the food prices, as you may remember, went up, went to record highs. there is a hot property coming on to the market in new york. futures for fireplaces.

rapid round terrorists with a spectacular view of manhattan and crime scene tape as well. we're talking about the penthouse where wall street swindler bernie madoff was arrested and the u.s. marshal service is getting ready to sell it. before he went to prison, madoff claimed the 4,000 square foot duplex was worth $7 million. >> we're here on the 11th floor of the penthouse. this is the lower level of the fent house. this is bernard madoff's study. we're surrounded by cherry wood, from the walls to the molding. bernard madoff's desk is where he did his work and spent the last few days of his life. >> they will be selling this little get-away in palm beach florida. madoff put its value at $11 million. $2 million yacht. proceeds will go to madoff's victims. a trip organized by a high school football coach in kentucky have a lot of parents

livid. this trip has nothing to do with how you play the game. wait until you hear where the coach took the football team without the parents' permission. are you outraged? for all the moments that make every day special. fancy feast introduces an entirely new way to celebrate any moment. fancy feast appetizers. simple high quality ingredients like wild alaskan salmon, white meat chicken, or seabass and shrimp in a delicate broth, prepared without by-products or fillers. new fancy feast appetizers. celebrate the moment.

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>> well, i'm a devout christian. the first amendment protects me and my faith from the government and the zealous of other religions. the government including public school is a referee for religions not an advocate for any one of them. president obama have been accused of manipulating his students -- what about the specific case though? what about this specific case? >> i was just going to say. i was just going to say this coach and the superintendent actually did manipulate them and it offends me. it arms the mission of the christian faith but not respecting the rights of others. the parents of the school and the union should take immediate legal action. >> thank you. we appreciate your views. ted in milwaukee, the last of the phone lines. at 12:30 eastern time. ted, what about your view? >> my view is, i love god and,

you know, the coach, i feel he is wrong because he should -- the parents, instead of just taking the kids without the parents knowing. >> do you think he did it on purpose over the heads, kind of, of the parents involved? >> well, i don't think he did -- i don't think he meant any harm. he still should have got the consent before he took the kids on the field trip. what if something could have went wrong. >> a lot of parents agree with you, ted. we're getting plenty of passionate e-mails today. wilma in michigan writes this. coaches and superintendents of public schools should not take students to religious services. the school system cannot go over the parental rights. and force religious pressure on students. jenny in tulsa writes this. the coach did nothing wrong and these boys are old enough to decide if they want to be baptized. just because some parents may or may not be christians doesn't mean their child doesn't want to be. we also have jim in pennsylvania he says, what if they had come back muslims?

we separate church and state for a reason. this is a terrible breemp of trust. the principal and the coach should both be fired. and our viewers are fired up about this. keep the views coming in. what do you think about the coach's decision to take his players to church and let them be baptized without notifying the parents? let us know what you think. 877-tell-hln. e-mail us us, cnn.com/hln. beer ta we're taking your text messages. standard text rates apply. we'll air some of your responses today. ♪ the beatles are back and going on a whole new adventure in sound. remastered versions of their entire catalog, the entire catalog are on sale today. surviving members of the band say it is the closest reproduction of how their music sounded in the studio, also on sale is the beatles rock band video game. we've been telling you for i

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we are learning more about the murders committed in a georgia mobile home on august 29th. brunswick police are saying the suspect acted alone. our affiliate wjxt in florida is joining us now with the latest here. dan, some gruesome details coming out. >> yes. the details, susan, have been few and far between. but we did find new information yesterday as you just mentioned. a lot of it comes in the arrest warrants that were issued in the arrest of guy heinze jr. on the specific murders. he, of course, was in jail last week afterwards for other charges unrelated to the murders themselves.

he was arrested at the mobile home that morning but it was on charges involving drugs and allegations that he lied to police. and basically tried to hide some evidence. but yesterday we got the arrest warrants after he was arrested friday night, they finally gave us the arrest warrants on murders. eight arrest warrant on that, ninth one for the 3-year-old who is still fighting for his life, and now as far as the arrest warrants themselves, what we discovered was that basically they're saying that blunt force trauma was used or blunt force instrument, that he hit them with something, all the bodies over and over again, all eight victims apparently died from blunt force trauma and the little boy was apparently hit many times. right now, again, is in critical condition. still in the hospital in savannah. that was the new information. some other little details that, the police chief there saying that gunshots were not involved. there was no gun involved, no shooting. maybe even mentioning that

because the piece of evidence that he was -- guy heinze jr. was in the original arrest of taking out of the mobile home was a shotgun. so maybe that's why he mentioned that yesterday. there is also the possibility of more than one weapon was used. again, they're not saying what kind of weapon was used, or kind of weapons. they're saying most of them was used -- >> and, dan, you're cutting out a little bit here. i don't know if you can still hear me. horrifying all of the way around, especially went you talk about that young boy fighting for his life. and i believe we've just dan levetin live in jacksonville, florida. thank you for that report to dan. it appears that a human bone was found, following up on another story that you know about -- near a place in california where a girl was held captive and raped for 18 years. this man, phillip garrido, he once took care of the neighbor's yard where that bone was found. experts are now conducting a dna

test on it. garrido and his wife nancy are charged with abducting jaycee dugard when she was just 11. police say he fathered two daughters with her while she was a prisoner. investigators want to know if garrido is behind other solved cases. two other young girls vanished in the late 1980s in nearby areas. a 6-year-old allegedly kidnapped by his own mother and kept in a crawl space won't be reunited with his father just yet. a judge ruled that ricky chekevdia will remain in custody while going through counseling. ricky's mom hid him from his father for more than two years. >> my son has been traumatized. i will go out there when the proper counselors and right -- when you set a meeting you always set the conditions. the conditions are have not been set yet. >> the boy and his mother disappeared in 2007 in the middle of a custody dispute. she is in jail and has a

preliminary hearing in two weeks. it's happening tonight at the white house is calling president obama's speech the big test. the president will tell a joint session of congress and the american people what he wants in a health care overhaul package. the white house says the president is still working on that speech. press secretary robert gibbs says he will layout ways to provide insurance coverage for all americans and hold on costs as well. he will also explain how the government-run insurance plan known as the public option, would work. >> the president is going to talk about the public option and talk about the value of bringing through a public option choice and competition in the private insurance market. i think that's going to be a big part of somewhat the president will talk about. it's not going to be all of what the president will talk about because it's not the totality of health care reform. >> the president is getting heavyweight support. the american medical association is urging congress to overhaul health care this year. but congressional republicans are all but yoou nan mouse in opposing any of the health care

reform proposals put forward so far and the loose effort to bring some on board may have just ended. senate finance chairm bacchus hs been trying to convince gop members of his committee of a reform plan. sourcing now tell cnn that he will propose his plan next week whether republicans support it or not. in the house, they're standing firm on their opposition to the overhaul. >> we welcome the president to the capitol tonight and we look forward to hering what he has to say. but the question i have is, has the president been listening to the american people? i think the american people have made it pretty clear that they don't really want another lecture, they want a new plan. >> meanwhile, sarah palin is blasting democratic plans for health care reform as well. in a "wall street journal" editorial, the former alaskan governor says the current proposals would increase the deficit and lower wages. she also offered suggestions like letting people buy health

insurance across state lines and giving vouchers to medicare patients so they can buy their own coverage. again, from sarah palin. there is a public hearing in boston today to consider all allowing to governor of massachusetts to appoint a temporary replacement to fill ted kennedy's senate seat. they would serve until a january election. since 2004 state law has called for special elections when lawmakers step down or pass away. supporters say the state needs two senators now to handle health care and other legislation as well. opponents say it's just a power grab by democrats. this "new york times" reporter kidnapped in afghanistan has been freed. several others were killed in the pre-dawn military raid to rescue him. nato commandos stormed the room where stephen farrell was being held. a british commander was killed. his afghan interpreter kidnapped with him also died in a hail of

bullets. they were abducted on saturday. the kidnappings have been kept quiet out of concern for the men's safety. farrell's abduction and rescue underscore just how dangerous the situation is in afghanistan. cnn journalist michael ware and his photographer recently went on night patrol with afghan police in taliban-controlled kandahar. when a roadside bomb exploded too close for comfort. here it is. >> you all right? >> yeah. >> michael ware was reporting from highway 1, some scary 340e789s there. it connecting kabul to kandahar in southern afghanistan. it is considered one of the most dangerous roads in the world. and you saw why in that video. ware says people have been pulled off buses on the road and executed by the taliban. but again, michael ware is doing okay. those california wildfires we have been telling you about

have destroyed 78 homes since they started burning two weeks ago. but one woman who went back to sift through the ashes made an incredible find.

right now in new york, a fond farewell to the most trusted man in america, walter cronkite. the president is speaking at the tribute. less listen. >> you don't need to confirm it, my wife is watching the whole thing. needless to say, walter made the call and even as the program manager took the air himself to broadcast the unfolding tragedy, walter discovered that it had been nothing more than a small fire that hadn't result nedney injuries. he lost his job.

but he got the story right. walter wasn't afraid to rattle the high and the mighty, but he never dared compromise his integrity. he got along with elected office sho shuls, even if their wary of motives. one politician once remarked, walter, my friend, you've got to believe me fully 85% of everything i told you today is the absolute truth. he shared a complicated relationship with presidents of both parties who wanted him on their side, even as they were convinced that he wasn't. president johnson called walter after the evening news from time to time to voice his displeasure over a certain story, but walter knew that if he was receiving those complaints from both sides, he must be doing his job. his endless inquisitiveness

about our world, i can imagine came from a mother who sold encyclopedias for a living. as a boy walter spent countless hours getting lost in their pages, getting side tracked by new entries that branched off from one another, fascinating by the world around us around how it worked, and that's the way he lived his life, with curiosity, exploring our planet, seeking to make sense of it, and explaining it to these. he went everywhere and he did everything. he raised cars and boats. he traveled everywhere from the amazon to the arctic. he plunged 8,000 feet below the sea, trekked 18,000 feet up into the himalayas, and experienced weightlessness in the upper reaches of our atmosphere, all within one mission, to make it come alive for the rest of us. >> president obama telling fond stories there of walter cronkite.

this dedication of getting it right, he told a fond story saying he lived his life to the fullest and was well liked. he lived it with curiosity. former president bill clinton, astronaut buzz alderon and jimmy buffet as well. some colleagues and competitors as well. they all call the legendary anchor man a friend. walter cronkite died in july at the age of 92. a reward for any information on someone who set one of the worst wildfires in california's history. it is now at $150,000. l.a. county has added $50,000 to the state's $100,000. the fire has been burning for near ly two weeks. killed two firefighters. right now the fire is 60% under control. a good story out of this fire. a california couple found a glimmer of hope in the ashes of their burned out home. the woman says she lost her wedding ring in a rush to get

out from that wildfire. but a friend found it while sifting through the rubble on monday. >> get the diamonds out and melt out the gold. we have a bunch of other jewelry we found. maybe i'll just create a new wedding ring out of that. save what we have instead of going out and buying something new. >> yeah. >> rebuild something. >> pretty amazing when you see the damage there, just how devastating it was. the woman and her husband hope to be the first on the block to rebuild. we want to tell you about a 350-pound man accusing southwest airlines of not letting him on the flight because of his weight. he said he and his wife were headed down the ramp to board when an employee asked him if he could sit in his seat with the arm down. even though he said yes, they weren't allowed on the plane. they were embarrassed, humiliated. southwest airlines said fellow passengers became upset over his tone and actions and that is why he wasn't allowed on. the company says it will refund the unused ticket. when football players are on the playing field they are supposed to drink lots of water.

we all know that. it is water that some high school football players got off the field that is stirring up the controversy we're talking about today. how members of a football team ended up getting baptized and why it's got some of their parents really upset. r ingtone ♪ ♪ who knew the store would go and check my credit score ♪ ♪ now all they let me have is this dinosaur ♪ ♪ hello hello hello can anybody hear me? ♪ ♪ i know i know i know i shoulda gone to ♪ ♪ free credit report dot com! ♪ that's where i shoulda gone! coulda got my knowledge on! ♪ ♪ vo: free credit score and report with enrollment in triple advantage.

tennis team sensation melanie oudin surprised her own family. she and her mother were kicked out of their manhattan hotel room because they didn't reserve it long enough. they, of course, didn't expect a big win. the 17-year-old from marietta, georgia, have upset four top russian players and will play in the quarterfinals tonight. we are wishing her well. you know there's another amazing story to tell you about. kim clijsters is back after taking two years off to have a baby. clijsters wasn't even ranked but now faces serena williams for the semifinals. she defeated venus on sunday. great tennis stories. here's a question for you, what if your child webts to a high school function and came home baptized? that is what happened to some members of a kentucky high school football team. bill alexander with affiliate

wdrb tell us about the incident and why some parents are furious. >> reporter: football practice at brecken rinlg county high school has a few distractions these days. in between the sprints and passes, some of the parents are yelling offsides. >> they took my son without my knowledge or my consent, they say it's not school function but they took them anyway. >> reporter: two weeks ago after football practice several players boarded a bus. they were told by their coach they were going out for a stake dinner and a motivation a speech. before the night was over, eight or nine of the players had been baptized. michelle says she's upset because a baptism is a private moment for the entire family and she's upset because she didn't know anything about the field trip. they were taken across county lines to this church. the franklin crossroads baptist church. >> the twist is, that a coach brought a bunch of guys here to get them baptized. and there's no truth in that at all. the coach guys here to be encouraged that night. out of the process of that god

called people to have a relationship with them were the superintendent of the schools was in attendance the night of the baptisms. she released this statement. it was my understanding the parents knew the nature of the field trip and participation was voluntary. annonsays what the school dikt was wrong and they need to be reprimanded. >> they both need to be -- i'd like to see both of them gone. >> our thanks to bill alexander reporting for wdrb. by the way, pastor davis says his church usually gets the parents' permission before baptizing their children. we know you are fired up about this story. you have a view on it. what do you think about the coach's decision to take his players to church and let them be baptized without their permission? without the parents' permission? e-mail us at cnn.com/hln. of course, you don't want

tax increases taking a huge junk out of your retirement, right? clark howard tells you about an account that keeps on giving. >> >> okay. i am obsessed with something known as a roth account. a roth account is where you get to save money for retirement with after tax dollars but then when you retire, the money you have contributed plus everything you earned is yours tax free. now, i love the roth because it is my guess that tax rates are likely to go higher over the next generation. but i've had people argue with me that congress will try to figure out a back door way to seize your roth money and all that. i'm not into the conspiracy theory. i will tell you that. really a roth and a regular i.r.a. have the same math. i like for you to get the tax bill out of the way up front. let me tell you about something called rothretirement.com. it has a calculator where you can run the numbers on your age,

your situation, what you contribute to a roth, and you'll find most of the time you'll end up with much more money over time doing the roth. i'm clark howard. for more ways to save dough, go to cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> clark has great advice and to get more of it, tune in every saturday and sunday at noon and 4:00 p.m. eastern time right here on hln news and views. he'll help you save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. wait until you hear this story. san antonio's mayor was going door to door telling school dropouts to get back to class. he and the school superintendent went to students' homes yesterday and told them about options to get back to school. >> we have 50 kids that went back and got their diploma last year. she should be one of those. >> students should know they can get back on track. that's one way to do it. there is something you may not know about al franken. give him a marker, a piece of

paper and two minutes. you'll wind up with party trick you have to see to believe. this is hln. achoo! (announcer) what are you going to miss when you have an allergy attack? achoo! (announcer) benadryl is more effective than claritin at relieving your worst mptoms. and works when you need it most. benadryl. you can't pause life. - hello! - ha! why don't you try a home cooked meal... with yummy hamburger helper?

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>> reporter: al franken isn't just a senator. bet you can't do what he did the other day at the minnesota state fair. minnesota public radio put it to music. senator franken starts with the state he represents, minnesota. draws a map of the u.s. from memory in under two minutes. he's got cape cod. okay. he seems to any every cape, every panhandle. this is senator franken's party trip. he's been doing it for decades. 22 years ago he did it on "letterman." >> al franken, go. the united states. >> reporter: usually he auctioned off the maps for anywhere from 200 to 5,000 bucks

but the $64,000 question -- >> why did you learn to do this? >> a bar bet. >> reporter: in college he bet someone he could name all of the states. forgot one. >> the west is easier. >> reporter: and started drawing a map so he would never forget again. finished 13 seconds under two minutes this in a country where five out of ten 18 to 24 year olds can't find new york state on a map. >> it's got to be between here and here. >> reporter: that's pennsylvania. >> here's new york right there. >> that's new jersey. >> here's new york. >> no. yes. >> reporter: compared to that, al frank season a geography god. he knows the states of the united states but could he draw a map of the provinces of canada. i ask because unfortunately i couldn't. i made them mortifying error of saying a squirrel who maim an

international sensation was from british columbia instead of alberta. deepest of apologies. the swirl should have spanked me. g al franken can draw a map and banter about why minnesota is so windy. >> wisconsin sighs. >> reporter: so do jokes about geography. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> impressive. all right. liibovitz is working to resolve issues with her lender. she used the copy rights to photos to borrow 24 million. payment was due by midnight last night. neither side is saying what will happen next. tests reveal another dark ve

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another twist in the california kidnapping case. it appearsing a human bone was found near the place where a california girl was found captive and raped for 18 years. her alleged kidnapper and assaulter once took care of the neighbor's yard where the bone was found. experts are conducting dna tests on it right now. garrido and his wife, nancy, are charged with abducting jaycee dugard when she was just 11 years old. police say he fathered two daughters with her while she was his prisoner in his backyard. investigators want to know if garrido is behind other unsolved cases. two other young girls vanished from nearby areas back in the late 1980s. we have a report that prison

life is not going so well for the former sunday school teacher charged with raping and killing sandra cantu. she was 8 years old. her body was found stuffed in a suitcase dumped in an irrigation pond. we hear about melissa huckaby's strange behavior behind bars. >> 28 year old melissa huckabee is charged with kidnapping and rape. her strange birthday in august prompted four different incident reports in jail. among them on august 12th, a custody officer writes, i found huckaby laying on the floor next to her bed. she stated she felt dizzy and passed out. a half hour later huckaby was sitting next to her bed with a trash can. when i asked her what was wrong, she said i took pills. three days later, inmate huckaby

was hiding behind her mattress with a blanket around her neck. a gag order kept the autopsy report sealed which keeps secret the cause of sandra cantu's death. gag orders and grand jury indictments are more frequent tools. over the last eight months, the district attorney has gone to the grand jury four times for indictments. the court has issued gag orders in three of those cases. the latest motion was to file for more evidence to be turned over but so far has not put in moti motion. the district attorney indicated it is trying to speed this case along and may seek a trial date. the district attorney's office may announce soon as to whether or not they will seek the death penalty. >> more former and current football players from a local kentucky high school are

testifying now about the tet of a teammate. the former coach is on trial here. the player collapsed during practice last year and died three days afterward. the coach, his name, david stinson, charged with reckless homicide. two of his players have testified that on the day the player collapsed, stinson made the team do an unusual amount of running. >> how many would you normally run? >> like normal practice, like, six. >> was this more than normal? >> yes, sir. >> was it difficult to run that many sprints? >> yes, sir. >> did you ever try to get water? >> no, sir. >> did other players try to get water? >> no, sir. >> did they try to get water after the sprints? >> a few. >> was something said to them? >> yes, sir. >> what was said to them? >> he said i didn't tell you all

to get water. you get water when i tell you all to. >> did you try to get water at that point? >> i did but he stopped me. >> that player is unlder the ag of 18 which is why you're not seeing his face. players did confirm there was a lot of running during the practice in question. how would you feel if your son came home from a football team function and said, mom, i got baptized? that's what happened to some players in kentucky. the coach took his team to his church for a baptist revival. although the trip was voluntary, no permission slips were required and a school bus was used to transport the players. at the event 47 people including nine football players were baptized. >> they took my son without my knowledge or my consent. they say it's not school function but they took him any way. >> the twist is that a coach brought a bunch of guys here to

get them baptized. there's no truth to that. the guys were brought here to be encouraged and god called people to have a relationship with them. >> pastor davis says the church usually gets the parents' permission before baptizing the children but the story creating a bit of buzz here. we want to hear your views. what do you think about the coach's decision to take his players to church and let them be baptized. this is a violation of church and state here. call us. e-mail us. we're taking text messages. text views plus comments. don't forget your name. send it to hlntv. standard text rates will apply. we'll air your comments coming up in this hour. a teen tennis sensation has taken the u.s. open championships by storm. on her way to a birth in the quarterfinals she's upset four

ranked opponents so far including number four seed. >> realizing i could win was my key thing. realizing in the first set that she with a no better than me and i was right there and whether i won or loss the match like at that point i knew that i was right there with her and i can compete with her. >> coming up tonight, oudin faces a ninth seed. the winner then advances to the semifinals. good luck to them. a makeover for a world champion athlete is at the center of a gender controversy. here's a cover-shot. she was forced to take a gender test. in this new interview she's calling the controversy a joke and says god made her the way she is. track officials say the results of the test are expected to happen within days.

the white house is calling president barack obama's speech tonight the big test. the president will tell the joint session of congress and all of you the american people what he wants in a health care overhaul package. the white house says the president is still working on the speech here just still in the hours ahead of the 8:00 eastern time that he's scheduled to speak and press secretary robert gibbs says he will lay out ways to provide insurance coverage for every single one of you. every american. and hold down those costs. the president is also supposed to explain how a government run insurance plan otherwise known as a public option might work. >> the president will talk about the public option and talk about the value of bringing through a public option choice and competition to the private insurance market. i think that will be a big part of what the president talked about. it's not all about what the president talks about because it's not the totality of health care reform. >> the president is getting heavy weight support.

the american medical association urging congress to overhaul health care this year. congressional republicans are all about unanimous in opposing any of the health care reform proposals but put forward so far and in the last effort to bring some on board may have just ended a few minutes ago. senate finance chairman max baucus trying to convince three gop members of his gang of six to support a health care reform plan. he spoke a couple minutes ago and baucus has formally proposed his plan next week whether republicans support it or not. >> i very much hope and i expect there will be some republicans when i issue the next week. my door is open. irrespective of whether republicans do think there will be, i will move forward. we have to move forward and i

told chuck grassley that about an hour ago. i expressed that to other key senators a short while ago. we will have a mark. we'll put out a mark next week and i very much hope and do expect republicans will be on board. if there are not any, i'll move forward in any event. >> senator baucus says he'll move forward. one republican is very vocally not convinced of the need to overhaul health care. you know her name. former alaska governor sarah palin taking to the pages of "the wall street journal" to denounce the reform effort claiming it would empower government bureaucrats. palin repeats her allegation that the proposal includes what she calls death panels that will decide which patients live and which patients die. palin does not identify where the legislation that she actually finds such a provision. it's the second time palin has used the death panel accusation to attack this current reform effort. all right. most of us drive, right?

here's a little bit of advice. don't sit behind the wheel and monkey around when you're driving. take a close look. that's not keeping the arizona driver from infuriating law enforcement there. what they are saying about the man in the monkey mask. kelly saunder's nature valley. ♪ the place that inspires her to go faster... ♪ and slower. ♪ elk mountains, colorado. where's yours? 100% natural nature valley granola bars. the taste nature intended. your hair mixes with pollen and dust in the air. i get congested. my eyes itch. i have to banish you to the garden. but now with zyrtec-d®, i have the proven allergy relief of zyrtec®, plus a powerful decongestant. i can breathe freer with zyrtec-d®.

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we only work with the big talent. [all coughing] welcome to the ladders-- a premium job site for only $100k-plus jobs and only $100k-plus talent. dramatic pictures at a florida gas station. you can see the flames and some smoke there. this happening yesterday. the attendant kept the fire from spreading by hitting the emergency stop button. there's mixed reports on how the fire started in the first place. catching drivers who speed always a huge priority for police, right? well, one speeder in arizona is driving the state's department of public safety bananas.

>> he just has a disregard for public safety in my opinion. >> reporter: strong words from a spokesman today. words aimed at the person behind this monkey mask. a lead footed motorist with the flare for the thee at theatric. he is 37 violations and activation of the code enforcement cameras. most along highway 17. >> reporter: lieutenant harrison says the man wearing this disguise is actually a valley resident, a flight attendant cited at work last month after he was put under surveillance and watched as he had put on and took off the monkey mask.

>> we conducted surveillance on him and we noticed that he wore a blue shirt. there was a certain lapel pin. he's a flight attendant for a local airline and most of the photographs he appears to wear the same clothing even though you may not be able to see his face. during our surveillance officers observed him put on and take off a mask as he went through each of the four code enforcement zones. >> reporter: no answer at the north phoenix home today but was quoted saying it's not me and i'm not paying. >> obey the speed limit. that's all we're asking. drive the speed limit and if you receive a citation like any other citation we expect to you take care of it and accept your responsibility. >> that has to be frustrating for police. by the way, the arizona department of public safety says it has 40 pictures of the man in

the monkey mask caught speeding. silly, stupid and you may call the cat does it and you probably see it on the internet. websites floeoverflowing of cat playing a piano. one group says enough is enough. >> the time has come for change. cats will take over the internet websites no more. well at least for one day. as representatives of blogs about weird web stuff, we are calling for a peaceful ban. >> we'll give cats the rest they deserve. rest from being exposed, exploited and filmed and posted on the web for ourselv selfish enjoyment. >> so. this is what the web would like like without felines. cat, no cat. you decide.

we a "the new york times" journalist takie ining captive e taliban is free. his daring rescue was not without bloodshed. getting an early flu shot is the best thing you can do... to protect you and your loved ones from the flu. it's also one of the easiest things you can do... because walgreens is now offering seasonal flu shots... every day of the week with convenient hours guaranteed. so you can just stop in. our 16,000 dedicated pharmacists... and take care clinic nurse practitioners... are waiting to help you beat the flu... in neighborhoods nationwide. at walgreens we want you to know, there's a way to stay well.

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in afghanistan this "new york times" reporter has been freed but several were killed. nato commandos triggered a fierce gun fight. a british commando was killed. farrell said a translator was also killed. they were abducted on saturday and the kidnappings were kept quiet over concern for the men's safety. farrell's abduction and rescue underscore just how dangerous the situation is currently in afghanistan. you've seen our own journalist always in hot zones covering wars around the world. he and his photographer recently

went on night patrol with afghan police in taliban controlled kandahar. take a look at what they went through just recently and why they're lucky to be alive today. >> reporter: a hidden taliban roadside bomb and ied is about to hit this afghan police gun truck. a cameraman and i are riding in it. by some miracle it detonates a heartbeat too soon otherwise we would all be dead. instead gravel rains over us. then comes the shooti ining wit police firing to ward off further attack. >> michael ware reporting from highway 1. it is considered one of the most dangerous roads in the world. ware says police have been pulled off buses on the road and executed on the spot by the taliban. in new york today a fond farewell to the most trusted man in america.

walter cronkite. take a look at the faces in the audience. speakers included former president bill clinton and musician jimmy buffet. there were comments from former competitors and prior colleagues and they call him a friend. the final word was reserved for the president. >> he went everywhere and he did everything. he raced cars and boats. he traveled everywhere from the amazon to the artic and plunged 8,000 feet below the sea and tracked 8,000 feet into the himalayas and experienced weightlessness in the upper levels of the atmosphere all with one mission. to make it come alive for the rest of us. as our world began to change, he helped us understand those changes. he was forever there reporting through world war and cold war.

marches and milestones. calmly and telling us what we needed to know. >> cronkite died in july at the age of 92. some of us love our cars but a south carolina man was laid to rest in his car. the 91 year old's wish was to be buried in his 1973 pontiac. they had to use a crane to put the car in the ground. >> he didn't do anything halfway. if he was going to have to do it, he would do it right or not at all. >> they say you can't take it with you. >> you can take a little bit of your own. >> local media is reporting he wanted his rifles and handguns buried along with him in that car so they wouldn't get into the wrong hands. one woman ran her suv off the road and wasn't found for 19 hours. imagine. the north carolina highway patrol says she crashed down

this embankment early sunday morning and could not be seen from the road and the woman was able to crawl somehow out of a recked car there. some kids riding bikes saw her and called 911.or and called 911.or she is dehydrated but okay. stay here. hln come up right after the break.ai tylenol rapid release gels... release medicine fast. so you can stop headaches... and feel better fast. i'm more active, i eat right,

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charleston, west virginia. got a call in from lansing, michigan. susan, do you have children? >> caller: i have four. >> would you be up in arms over hearing your kids after the fact went and got baptized out your permission? >> caller: i would be very upset. there are so many doctrines and religions in the united states that's a right for a parent to make the choice of where their child goes to church and what the child does. for the school to make that choice and take them on a field trip to any temple, synagogue, mosque, any church, this sort of thing, it's infringing on my right as a parent on how i teach my child and how my child is brought up. they're still of the age of needing a parents' guidance. >> thank you.

deon, one of the mothers said they felt like her child was being brainwashed. what do you think? >> caller: i don't think it has anything to do with brainwashing. i just have a problem because baptism is something serious. it's not something that you just go do. there's a meaning behind it. there's a reason for doing it. i'm wondering if that was explained to the kids what baptism entails and what it's really about. that's the problem i have with the whole issue. >> that's an excellent point. excellent point. thank you for calling in. we're also getting a bunch of e-mails about this. we'll read you one from laura in georgia --

we want to hear your views on this. we're talking about it throughout the rest of today. what do you think about the coach's decision in kentucky to take his players to church and have them be baptized? call us. e-mail us and text us. just text views plus your comments and name to hlntv. standard text rates do apply here. we'll continue to put your views on the air throughout the day. there is a hot property coming on the market there in new york. it features four fireplaces, a wrap around terrace and maybe crime scene tape as well. this is the pent house where bernie madoff was arrested.

we'll take you inside and continue talking about this story and others right here on hln. pnip]p]

have you been following the story out of antioch, california? how about this? a human bone was found near the place where a california girl was held captive and raped for 18 years. her alleged kidnapper and assaulter phillip garrido once took care of the neighbor's yard where this bone was found. experts conducting dna testing on it. garrido and his wife are charged with abducting jaycee dugard when she was just 11. police say he fathered two daughters with her while she was held prisoner in a shack in a tent in his backyard. investigators want to know if he's behind any other unsolved cases. two other young girls vanished from that area in the late 1980s.

more current and prior football players are testifying about the death of a teammate. the former coach is on trial and the player here collapsed during practice last year and he died three days later. the coach, david stinson, is charged with reckless homicide. two of his players testified that on the day the player collapsed, stinson made the team do an unusual amount of running. >> do you remember how many sprints you ran? >> 30 or something. >> how many would you normally run? >> normal practice, like, six. >> was it more than normal? >> yes, sir. >> was it difficult to run that many sprints? >> yes, sir. >> did you try to get water? >> no, sir. >> did they try to get water after the sprints? >> a few. >> and was something said to them? >> yes, sir. >> what was said to them? >> he said you don't get water

until i tell you to. you get water when i tell you to. >> did you try to get water at that point? >> i did but he stopped me. >> there were questions as to whether that coach withheld water to their players. the players did confirm there was a lot of running during the practice in question. how would you feel if your son came home from the football team meeting and told you, mom, i also got baptized. that happened to parents in kentucky. the coach took his team to church for a baptist revival and although the trip was voluntary, no permission slips from parents were required and a school bus was used. 47 people including nine players were baptized at that event. >> they took my son without my knowledge or my consent. they say it's not a school function but they took them any way. >> the twist is that a coach

brought a bunch of guys here to get them baptized. there's no truth to that. the coach brought guys to be encouraged. >> pastor davis says the church usually gets parents' permission before baptizing the children. what do you think if you have a child that came back from practice and they got baptized? would you be happy? call us. 877-tell-hln or send us an e-mail at cnn.com/hln. it was off school property. no big deal. you can also text us to hlntv. standard text rates apply and we'll broadcast your responses throughout the afternoon today. the white house is calling president obama's speech tonight the big test. the president will be speaking to a joint session of congress and speaking to the american people as well here as to what he wants in a health care overhaul package. the white house says the president is still working on the speech today here in the

hours before he'll be speaking on the hill. press secretary robert gibbs says he'll lay out specific ways to provide insurance coverage for all americans and how to hold down some of these high costs. he'll also explain how a government run insurance plan talked about this as a public option, and how this would work. >> the president will talk about the public option and talk about the value of bringing through a public option choice and competition to the private insurance market. that's a big part of what the president talks about. it's not all of what the president talks about because it's not the totality of health reform. >> the american medical association is urging congress to overhaul health care this year. tonight as we mentioned, huge speech 8:00 eastern time for the president. he'll detail specifics of what he wants to say in the final health care bill. the deputy political director has been talking a lot about

health care here the last few days and really weeks joining us now from washington with more. i know white house sources say the president has to come out strong but a lot of questions as to how specific he will be tonight. what are you expecting? >> reporter: that's the key. how specific he'll be. we hear from white house officials he'll have a lot of energy much like he was on monday at that labor day rally he attended in cincinnati. the key is specifics. you heard robert gibbs said the president will have specific ideas. the chief of staff to president bill clinton and advised this president was on "american morning." take a listen. >> he's got to talk to the members of congress and let them know where he sees the deal. he's got to be specific about how to bring this thing home. >> the key word is specifics. even the president himself on an interview that ran on abc this morning say he's been too vague in the health care debate and tonight you'll hear him tell more about what exactly he wants in a health care reform bill. >> we heard from max baucus within the hour saying i'm

moving forward with this bill next week. hopefully i'll have gop support. what are republicans saying right now? >> that's interesting about max baucus. he's the democratic chairman of the senate finance committee. the last group working toward a bipartisan group. mostly republicans while first of all are dead set most of them against this public option we keep talking about, which is a government run insurance plan that would compete with private insurance because they say it will drive out private insurance and lead to a republican takeover of health care and that's something they say they do not want. take a listen to the house minority leader john boehner speaking this morning on cnn. >> we welcome the president to the capitol tonight and we look forward to hearing what he has to say. the question i have is has the president been listening to the american people? the american people have made it pretty clear they don't want another lecture. they want a new plan. >> paul, we've seen a lot of

vocal opposition to the president's efforts over the last month. we've seen the ruckus that's been created by some of these town halls. we've seen the tea parties. what have they accomplished if anything here? >> that's a great question. while there's been a lot of passion, it's only from a small sliver of americans who have shown up to the rallies or town halls. we had recent polling and we asked did the media attention of the rallies and protests change your mind about health care reform. 6 in 10 said no. it hasn't changed their mind. the flip side to that is opposition to the president's plans on health care has risen over the last couple of months. maybe they've had some effect but not the effect that we thought they may have had. one other thing you heard the house minority leader saying that republicans want to start over. polling suggests that one in four want to start over but half of americans still think that some kind of bill should be passed with changes. >> hopefully through this whole

thing no matter what you think or how you feel, what side of the i'aisle you come from, most people are more passionate about politics as a result of this. paul steinhouser, thank you. >> thank you. one other pretty prominent republican here voicing her opposition to the need for a health care overhaul. sarah palin is taking to the pages of the "wall street journal" to denounce the reform effort saying it would empower government bureaucrats. she says the proposal would include death panels deciding which patients live and which patients die though palin doesn't identify where she finds such a provision. that's the second time she's used the death panel phrase to attack the effort. steve jobs got a standing ovation today as he made his first public appearance in months. he took to the stage in san francisco. jobs who looked even thinner

than before really received a liver transplant in the spring and thanked everyone for their support. jobs said he received the liver of a 20 year old who died in a car accident and urged the crowd to become organ donors. the presentation still happening so far apple has announced an update to apple's itunes software and a minor update to the iphone software. a journalist is free but his rescue not without bloodshed. if you feel fraud or identity theft only happens to other people, then don't bother watching this commercial. i've taken precautions all my life to protect my identity. i've been in law enforcement all my life... and my identity was stolen. did you know that identity theft has topped... the federal trade commission's list of consumer complaints...

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has freed. several others were killed in the predawn raid to rescue him. nato commanders triggered a massive gun fight. they were abducted by taliban militants on saturday and kidnappings have been kept quiet out of concern for the men's safety. in new york today a fond farewell to the most trusted man in america, walter cronkite. there were also tributes pouring in from former cbs news colleagues and former competitors. they all the legendary anchorman a friend. bill clinton reflected on the qualities that made walter cronkite a fixture in american homes. >> he had the most trusted news program because he had an inquiring mind and a caring

heart and a careful devotion to the facts and because you really sensed that in the words of his own autobiography he had a deep aversion to group conformity. he was always looking for the story and not the story line and there's a big difference. >> cronkite died at the age of 92 in july. here's a story you don't hear about often. a south carolina man laid to rest in his car. the 91 year old's wish was to be buried in his 1973 pontiac. there's the crane that was used to put the car in the ground. >> this was mr. holloway. he didn't do anything halfway. if he going to have to do it, he'll do it right or don't do it at all. >> they say you can't take it with you. >> you may not carry it all the way but you can take it a little

ways up the road. >> local media reports he wanted his rifles and handguns buried with him in the car so they wouldn't get into the wrong hands. remember this video here? video from yesterday. that fire engine fell into a sinkhole in los angeles and they were able to pull it out. a water main break the fire department responded to. no one was injured. amazing pictures out of l.a. an i-reporter was on the scene in time to see crews working to get that fire truck out of there and she woke with an l.a. county public information officer about the incident. >> there was an emergency 911 call made by some civilian in the neighborhood. they couldn't see the water with the darkness. they had crossed their safely once. now they were backing out and as they were backing out now the

deterioration of the soil from the six-inch main. >> mentioned that six-inch main is a cast iron pipe and that cause the sinkhole after it ruptured. ellerton said it took nearly seven hours to remove the 22-ton fire truck. first attempts to pull that out of there with a cable, didn't exactly work. the truck just too heavy. eventually they did succeed lifting it out with a crane and once they got it out of there, the truck oozed mud from the doors, the broken windows, our i-reporter said it was an incredible sight to witness. thank you, julie, for getting on the scene to grab that i-report for us. if you have stories from your part of the world go, to i-report for us. click on the upload now link where you find complete instructions on how to submit your stories. the beatles version of rock band premieres today. we'll look at the game coming up.

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a proposal to open a monkey farm taking these animals from their wild and use them for experimentation. we broke the story a few months back and there's a call to arms in puerto rico. people have taken to the streets and are protesting and there will be a major hearing about this proposal later this week. in this day in age, it's barbaric to use primates for this kind of animal testing when there are alternatives available. we have to speak after the a creatures because they can't ú speak after themselves. full coverage of this tonight. >> find out what else jane has on her mind. watch "issues with jane velez-mitchell" right here on hln. a 350-pound man is upset wi with an airline because of his weight.

the couple said they were embarrassed and humiliathumilia. >> just kind of stressed out and lost. >> pretty heartless the way they treated us. >> what's the airline saying? southwest airlines says fellow passengers got upset over his tone and actions and that's why he wasn't allowed on the plane. the company also says they will be refunding the unused ticket. >> we've been reporting on the horrific wildfires burning in california. a california couple has been going through ashes of their burned out home. the woman lost her wedding ring in a rush to evacuate from a fire. amazing she found this. a friend found it while sifting through the rubble just on monday. >> get the diamonds out and melt out the gold. we have a bunch of other jewelry we found. maybe i'll just create a new wedding ring out of that. just take what we have instead of going out and buying

something new. rebuild something. >> the woman and her husband hope to be the first on the block to rebuild. he has often made the top of the has often made the top of the sexiest men in america list. george clooney has broad appeal. look at what happened when he was answering reporters questions at the venice film festival. >> i agay, george. >> here it comes. >> jorm, tai me, choose me, george. george, may i kiss, you please. >> it's hard when you take a big chance and it doesn't really work. it is embarrassing when you take one swing for the fences and it doesn't fly. good try. teen tennis sensation melanie oudin has taken the u.s. championships by storm. on her way to a berth in the

quarterfinals, the 17-year-old upset four ranked opponents including elena dementieva. >> realizing i could win was my key thing, in the first set that she was no better than me. i was right there. whether i won or lost the match at that moment i knew i was right there with her and could compete. >> she is 17. >> coming up tonight oudin has a match and the winner goes on to the semifinals. a makeover for a world champion athlete is the center of a gender controversy. this is caster semenya. in this new interview, in the magazine, she is calling this controversy a joke and says god made her the way she is. track officials say the results

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a former high school football coach says he is not to blame for a player's death. now the boy's teammates are testifying about what happened during and after that doomed practice. the white house is calling president obama's speech to a joint session of congress tonight "the big test." will the president get a passing grade? and still recovering from a liver transplant apple's chief executive takes the stage. what did steve jobs say? a lot of anticipation there. it is september 9, 2009, so glad you are with us. are watching hln "newses and views." we want to start you out about

two very different descriptions of a football practice where a player collapsed are heard. max gilpin died. the players said coach pushed them hard making them run hard without water. >> do you remember how many sprints you ran? >> like, 30 or something. >> how many would you normally run? >> normal practice like six. >> was this more than nor central. >> yes, sir. >> was it difficult to run that many sprints? >> yes, sir. >> did you ever try to get water? >> no, sir. >> did other players try to get water? >> no, sir. >> did players try to get water after the sprints? >> a few. >> was something said to them? >> yes, sir. >> what was said? >> he said i didn't tell you all to get water. you get water when i tell you all to get water.

>> did you try to get water? >> i did but he stopped me. >> four other players testified today. they denied he withheld water from them. it appears a human bone was found near the place in california where a girl was found captive and raped for 18 years. phillip garrido once took care of the neighbor's yard where the bone was. experts are conducts dna tests now. garrido and his wife nancy are charged with abducting jaycee dugard when she was 11. investigators want to know if garrido is behind other unsolved cases. two other girls vanished from nearby areas in the late 1980s. the white house called president obama's speech tonight the big test. the president will tell a joint session of congress and the american people what he wants in a health care overhaul package. the white house says the

president is still working on the speech. press secretary robert gibbs says he will lay out what ways he will provide health care for americans and how a government-run insurance plan known as the public option would work. >> the president's going talk about the public option and the value of bringing through a public option choice and competition to the private insurance market. i think that is going to be a big part of what the president talks about it. it is not all the president talks about it. it is not the totality of health care reform. >> the american medical association is urging congress to overhaul health care this year. the congressional republicans are unanimous in opposing health care reform. senate finance chairman max baucus has been trying to convince three member of his committee to support a plan.

he will propose his plan next week whether republicans support it or not. >> i very much hope and i expect there will be some republicans when i issue the mark next week and when we go to markup the following week. my door is open. irrespective of any republicans do think they will be, i am going to move forward anyway. i very much hope and do expect the republicans will be onboard. if there are not any, i will move forward in any event. >> you can watch the president's address life on cnn and cnn.com tonight 8:00 eastern. apple ceo steve jobs got a standing "o" today. he took the stage in san francisco a short time ago. you see him there. he looked thinner than before. he received a liver transplant in the spring.

jobs said he received a liver of a 20-year-old who died in a car accident and urged the crowd to become organ donors as well. jobs just announced the new ipod nano will have a built-in video camera and microphone with one clip and you can send the video to youtube. there is an update to i tune software. it is possible we will hear big announcements later and we will bring this to you. this "new york times" reporter kidnapped in afghanistan has been freed. several were killed to rescue him. stephen ferrell says his afghan interpreter died in a hail of bullets. they were abducted by taliban militants on saturday. the kidnappings were kept quiet for concern of their sift. the abduction and rescue

underscores how dangerous things are in afghanistan. take a look at what they went through and why they are so lucky. >> reporter: a hidel ta taliban roadside bomb an ied is about to hit this afghan police gun truck. we are riding in it. by some miracle it detonates a heartbeat too soon otherwise we would all be dead. instead gravel rains over us. then comes the shooting, a death blossom, police firing aimlessly to ward off further attack. >> michael ware is so lucky there. he was reporting from highway 1 which connects kabul to kandahar. it is considered one of the most dangerous roads of the world where people have been pulled

off buses on the road and executed by the taliban. it looks like scientists are able to track five great white sharks swimming in the atlantic. they want to learn more about their migratory habits with electronic monitoring. they have been spotted off of cape cod. this is the first time sharks have been tagged successfully off of massachusetts. tennis teen sensation melanie oudin's run apparently surprised her own family. they were kicked out of their manhattan hotel room because they didn't reserve the room long enough. she has upset four top players and will play in the quarterfinals tonight. we wish her well. when football players are on the playing field they are supposed to drink lots of water. it is the water some players got off the field is stirring up controversy. why they ended up getting

baptized and why some of their parents are really angry.

here's a question for you. how would you feel if your son came home from a football team function and told you he had been baptized? that is what happened in kentucky. a coach took his team to a church for a baptist revival. no permission slips were required and a school bus was used to transport the players. 47 people including nine football players were baptized. >> they took my son without my knowledge or my consent. they say it is not a school function but they took him anyway. >> the twist is a coach brought a bunch of guys here to get them baptized. there is no truth. the coach brought guys to be encouraged out of the process god called people to have a relationship. >> the church usually gets the parents permission before

baptized their children. what do you think about the coach's decision to take players to church and let them get baptized without the parents permission? 1-877-tell-hln. you can e-mail us at cnn.com/hln. and your text messages, text views plus your comments and name to hln tv. standard text rates apply. we will air some of your responses. one of the biggest questions about health care reform is how are we going to pay for it. one proposal would tax insurers on their most expensive plan. how will it work? poppy harlow joins us with much more. that is the big question. hi, poppy. >> we may find out. the president's primetime speech, of course, on health care tonight. a lot of ideas floated, debate on capitol hill. the committee chairman of the senate finance committee max baucus is floating a plan that includes a 35% tax on shy-cost

insurance premiums. the insurance companies would have to pay that tax. the idea it would keep down costs for all of us. what is considered high cost under this proposal? $8,000 a year for individual coverage. to put that in perspective, the average american right now on their employee-sponsored health care plan is $4,700. much higher. for family coverage this would be considered high if the plan is $21,000 or higher. the 35% tax to the insurance companies. the average family plan that is employer sponsored $12,600. those are significantly higher. >> will the tax mainly fall on what are called cadillac plans? >> right. >> the pricey, upper tier plans. >> that is exactly right. those cadillac plans or gold plated plans would be affected.

these are plans that top corporate executives have, no co-pays, no deductibles, no restrictions on prescriptions or doctors visits. those can exceed $40,000 a year. which is staggering. to be fair, health care experts say not all premiums are high because of lavish benefits. sometimes employers have older sicker workers. smaller businesses have higher premiums than larger companies. a plan like this could end up trickling down and negatively affecting average workers or union workers with major benefit plans and not just the super wealthy. the bottom line, there is a concern insurers may eliminate some types of coverage if they have to pay the 35% tax or raise the rates on all their plan and pass it to consumers. advocates say fewer lavish plans will cut down on medical waste

in terms of spending. it is a heated debate. i want to point out our latest story on cnnmoney.com. pull it up on your screen. we will be listening to what the president says tonight at 8:00 eastern. >> poppy, thanks. we want to tell you about a plane crash in arizona happening right now. there is the aftermath. the debris. live pictures there. it involved two small planes in arizona. that is what we know so far. the faa says one person onboard the single engine cessna was killed. it occurred in coolidge near a baseball field. again, there is the aftermath of the crash. i understand one person is killed. live pictures from kpnx. we will bring you more information as it becomes available to us. john gosselin opens up. jon and kate dad says he can't trust kate. he doesn't like her.

a.j. hammer analyzed jon's new confessions. e i have asthma. and when my symptoms-the coughing, wheezing, tightness in my chest came back- i knew i had to see my doctor. he told me i had choices in controller medicines. we chose symbicort. symbicort starts to improve my lung function within 15 minutes. that's important to me because i know the two medicines in symbicort are beginning to treat my symptoms and helping me take control of my asthma. and that makes symbicort a good choice for me. symbicort will not replace a re0=ue inhaler for sudden symptoms. and should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol may increase the chance

of asthma-related death. so, it is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on other asthma medicines. see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. i know symbicort won't replace a rescue inhaler. within 15 minutes symbicort starts to improve my lung function and begins to treat my symptoms. that makes symbicort a good choice for me. you have choices. ask your doctor if symbicort is right for you. (announcer) if you cannot afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help.

in new york a fond farewell to the most trusted man in america. walter cronkite, of course. speakers included president obama, buzz ald ron and a funeral around lincoln center. there were tributes from his news colleagues and competitors as well. they called the legendary anchorman friend. the final word was reserved for president obama. >> he was forever there, reporting through world war and cold war, marchs and milestones, scandal and success. calmly and authoritatively telling us what we needed to know. >> cronkite died in july at the age of 92.

san antonio's mayor was going door to door telling dropouts to get back to class. they told them about evening classes and other options to get back to school. >> we have 50 kids who went back and got their diploma last year so she should be one of those. >> maybe it is working. the mayor says the students should know they can still get back on track. we are hearing more from jon gosselin's new interview. the jon part of "jon and kate plus eight." a.j. hammer is in new york. he is pretty angry. >> a lot of people fired up. our viewers on both sides of jon's case, a lot of detractors are letting us know how he feels. he has his defenders. first, let's listen to some of what jon gosselin told chris cuomo about his love for his 22-year-old girlfriend versus

the love for the mother of his eight children. >> love her. >> love her. big word. >> huge word. >> i don't know, when you look at her, my heart pounds. i get sweaty. i feel like i love her more than i did kate. polar opposite from kate. i get encouragement from her. i get respect from her. two things a man needs. this is someone that, i mean, like should mate. people joke about that. i'm not joking. >> so he loves her. this is his 22-year-old girlfriend. she is the daughter of the doctor who did kate's tummy tuck plastic surgery. separate from that, susan, it is astounding to me he is talking about this woman in a way that seems very inappropriate considering his kids at least the older kids may, in fact, hear this interview. it is just astounding to me. >> it seems there is a tug of war going on with jon and kate to get the public's approval.

how is that interview being received do you think it backfired. >> i do think it is. jon is saying let's not feed the frepzy and there he is doing the interview and feeds the frenzy. "showbiz tonight" viewers are fired up. caren, oh, give me a break. grow up, jon. she didn't let me see my mommy. i couldn't drag dirt into the house. get a life. you don't deserve to be kate's husband. she already has eight kid. sindy is on jon's side. i agree that some of the things that kate did to him can be counted as abuse. if i ever spoke to my husband the way she spoke to him then should leave, too. i do not think it is appropriate anyone should be treated as one of the children as she did to him. when this marriage was first falling apart a lot of people were siding with jon because of

what they saw on the television show. for my money, they both need to stop talking, please. coming up on "showbiz tonight," we have a lot to dissect. jennifer aniston's romance revelations. one-on-one with jen anniston. we have comments on finding love and keeping it. 11:00 p.m. eastern and pacific for show business tonight. >> a.j., looking forward to it. nasa is going to need more money to go to the moon and especially mars. the agency needs another $3 billion a year. billion. former president bush proposed going back to the moon by 2020 and to mars. the first steps on the moon. space exploration would be better if it includes other countries and private companies. a trip organized by a

football coach has parents livid. wait until you hear where the coach took the team. some are outraged. we'll hear your views on this story. that.

why is it you don't need parental consent when a 12-year-old wants birth control or has an abortion? i mean, where is the balance there? >> you are saying they need balance. martha, appreciate your view. fred in maine. what do you think? were you shocked to hear this story? >> caller: well, i was shocked. one of the things i was concerned is most of the players were already baptized. what purpose would it serve to be baptized a second time. apparently the school did this before because permission slips were had before. it is a violation of church and state. some of the players felt compelled to be baptized to

please the coach or ensure their starting or playing time on the team. where did the funds come from to pay for the gas, the driver the maintenance of the bus and get all concerned there. i feel the school superintendent who was there as well as the coach and as well as anyone else who knew about this not just being a steak dinner and a motivational speech, i feel they should be fired because, you know, it pretty much goes against the grain of being true to form with what you are doing to someone's children. >> someone needs to be held responsible. denise in montgomery, what do you think? what is your view? >> caller: i think we should praise the coach for taking the children to church. as a mother, i would like to be there with my children. instead of being upset i would be thanking god for my child and other children r who accepted jesus christ as their personal lord and savior.

how do we know this is not their one and only chance. when the lord calls you should follow. >> what if one of the players is not religious and the family is angry? >> caller: it doesn't matter. if god on that child to bring him in his heart, thank god. >> what do you think about the coach's decision to take his players to church and get baptized? 1-877-tell-hln. cnn.com/hln. we are talking your text messages, views plus your comments to hln tv. standard text rates apply. we appreciate you calling, texting or e-mailing us. tests reveal another dark secret near phillip garrido's back yard. they found something near where he lives. the question is did he have anything to do with it?

investigators want to know. pp

live pictures there. that's in arizona. two small planes collided over coolidge, arizona, 40 miles south of phoenix. one person died, aboard that single engine cessna. the pilot of the other plane landed safely in a field about two miles away from where that cessna you are looking at went down. no one on the ground was injured. the cause of that crash is under investigation. to louisville where in a courtroom two very different descriptions of what happened at a high school football practice where a player collapsed going

on. max gilpin died. two teammates said the coach pushed the players' heart on that day, making them run without breaks for water. >> do you remember how many sprints you ran? >> like 30 or something. >> how many would you normally run? >> ran like normal practice like six. >> was this more than normal? >> yes, sir. >> was it difficult to run that many sprints? >> yes, sir. >> did you ever try to get water? >> no, sir. >> did other players try to get water? >> no, sir. >> did they try to get water after the sprints. >> a few. >> was something said to them? >> yes, sir. >> what was said to them? >> he said i didn't tell you all to get water. you all get water when i tell you all to get water. >> did you try to get water at that point? >> i did but he stopped me. >> the reason why you are not seeing that player's face is he is a minor. the coach david stinson is

charged with reckless homicide and twoon endangerment. four other players testified and denied stinson withheld water from them. a bone was found near where a girl was held captive for 18 years. experts are conducts dna tests on that. garrido and his wife nancy are charged with abducting jaycee dugard when she was 11. investigators want to know if he is behind other unsolved cases. two girls vanished in the late 1980s nearby. we are learns about the murders commit in a georgia mobile home. guy heinze jr. acted alone. he faces eight counts of first-degree murder murder for the brutal beatings.

the 22-year-old denies any involvement in the case. officials have not commented on a motive. heinze's father won $25,000 in a civil lawsuit. he had yet to receive the cash due to an appeal. it is happening tonight. the white house is calling president obama's speech the big test. the president will tell a joint session of congress and the american people what he wants in an overhaul health care package. press secretary robert gibbs says he will lay out ways to provide insurance for all americans and hold down costs and explain how a government-run insurance plan known as the public option will work. >> the president is going to talk about the public option and the value of bringing through a public option choice and competition to the private insurance market. i think that is going to be a big part of what the president talks about. it is not going to be all of what the president talks at because it is not the totality

of health care reform. >> the president is getting heavyweight support. the american medical association is urging congress to overhaul health care this year. congressional republicans are all but unanimous opposing any of the proposals put forward so far. they have spoken out on that. the last effort to bring some on board may have ended. max baucus has been trying to convince three gop members. he will formally propose his plan next week whether republicans support it or not. >> i hope there will be some republicans when i issue the mark next week and we go to markup the following week. my door is open. irrespective of whether or not any republicans, i do think there will be, i will move forward any way. >> i hope and expect the republicans will be onboard. i don't know how many. if there are not any, i am going

to move forward in any event. >> watch the president's address live tonight at 8:00 eastern time. right here on cnn and cnn.com. apple ceo steve jobs got a standing ovation today as he made his first public appearance in months. he took the stage in san francisco. jobs received a liver transplant in the spring and thanked everyone for their support. he received the liver of a 20-year-old who died in a car accident and urged the crowd to become organ donors as well. the presentation is still going on. jobs just announced the new ipod nano will have a built in video camera and microphone and you can send with a click to youtube. there is an update to eye tunes software. in new york, a fond farewell to the most trusted man in

america, walter cronkite. speakers included president obama, buzz ald ron, jimmy buffet and a new orleans style funeral around lincoln center. there were tributes from cbs colleagues as well. some of his former competitors were there. they called the legendary anchorman a friend. they reflected on the qualities that made him a fixture in american homes. >> he was a good man. yes, he was a great journalist and he lived a fascinating life which made him long to know and understand and to share his knowledge and understanding. he was almost painfully honest. one of the most interesting things about his autobiography and personal conversations we had in his role of trying to

advance public discourse was what he thought about the limitations of television news. what he spent his whole life doing. he said i did the best i could but i think people should read more newspapers. can you imagine anyone else fessing up to that? >> he died in july at the able of 92. this is justice sonia sotomayor first official day on the bench of the supreme court. the court held a special session. the court banned the documentary style hillary the movie from being shown last year. and the individuals who funded it sued. they heard a case that banned corporations from funding candidates or political messages. >> this "new york times" reporter kidnapped in afghanistan has been freed.

several others were killed in rescuing him. stephen ferrell was being held, triggering a fierce gun fight. a british commando was killed. farrell says his afghan interpreter died in a hail of bullets. they were abducted by taliban militants on saturday. the kidnappings were kept quiet for concern of their safety. this underscores how dangerous the situation in is afghanistan. michael ware and his photographer recently went on nice patrol when a roadside bomb exploded too close for comfort. >> you all right? >> yeah.

>> you can hear the hail of gun fire. michael ware was reporting from highway 1. it is considered one of the most dangerous roads in the world. people have been pulled off buses on the road and executed by the taliban. we want to tell you about a man who weighs 350 pounds. he says he was getting on his flight when an employee pulled him aside. the man says it is because of his weight. the other side of the story, hear the airline side. interesting grooming. thanks. i did it to let the judges know that my dog is the right choice. i got the idea from general mills big g cereals. they put a white check on the top of every box to let people know that their cereals have healthy whole grain, and they're the right choice... just like buttercup. (announcer) general mills is the only leading cereal company to put healt whole grain in every box.

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a 350-pound man acues southwest airlines of not letting him on a flight because of his weight. an employee asked him if he could sit in a seat with the arm down. even though he says allowed on plane. the couple says they were embarrassed and humiliated. >> we were stranded and shocked. what were we going to do. just stressed out. lost. >> pretty heartless. the way they treated us. >> southwest says fellow passengers became upset over his tone and actions and that is why he wasn't allowed on. the company says they will refund if unused tickets. lots of big beatles news today as the fab four invade on rock band and digitally remastered box sets. is it worth shelling out for songs you may have?

cnn.com has a comparison. reggie is here with a whole bunch of the features on that site. >> there's all sorts of beatles mania going on at cnn.com today. emi, that is the label that represents the beatles. they took the old recordings and handed them over to engineers and said clean this up. make it sound as good as you can make it with today's technology. this started 4 1/2 years ago. how did it come out. we will let you get a sample of the sound in a second. we will preview the new box sets. here is the classic "money," the original and the new version. ♪ the best things in life are free ♪

♪ the best things in life are free ♪ ♪ but you can keep them for the birds and bees ♪ >> okay, so, susan, this is where we have a real disadvantage because we are hearing it in our mono earpiece. trust me for the people who have good stereo systems, there is a big difference. i was listening to it on my chur speakers on my desk and they cleaned up the sound to make it pop. >> it took four years. >> yeah. for people who are audiophiles, they won't be disappointed. >> people have been waiting four years. hopefully they won't be disappointed. >> go to cnn.com/showbiz and you can hear the side by side.

there is a timeline of the band's music and the history. pictures, video, trivia, all the way from the cavern club to today when they released rock band from the beatles. a lot of people are picking up. you will listen to this 1963 performance of "twist and shout" now. ♪ shake it up baby twist and shout ♪ >> also want to play this clip of john lennoning wi being interviewed. >> i was just saying it as a fact. and it is sort of the truth that more for england than here. i'm not saying we are better or greater or comparing us with jesus christ as a person or god. i said what i said and it was

wrong or taken wrong and now all this. >> 9/9/09 a big day for beatles fans. there were rumors they were going to give access to apple itunes. after steve jobs address there was no mention. that is not happening today. >> they have the new sound after four years. reggie, thanks. you probably shouldn't monkey around when driving. this arizona driver infuriating law enforcement. (announcer) everything you need to stretch out on long trips. residence inn.

(announcer) everything you need to take a breather on long trips.

residence inn. welcome back. catching drivers who speed is always a huge priority for law enforcement officials. one driver is driving the department of public safety bananas, you could say. our affiliate in phoenix has the story. >> he just has a blatant disregard for public safety in my opinion. >> reporter: strong words from lieutenant steve harrison today. words aimed at the person behind this monkey mask.

an allegedly lead footed motorist with a flare for the theatrical. lieutenant harrison says has triggered photo radar cameras dozens of times in the last few months. >> he has 37 notice of violations, activations of the cameras. most of them on interstate 17. >> reporter: indeed lieutenant harrison says the man wearing the disguise is 46-year-old valley resident david von tessmer, a flight attendant at sky harbor who was sighted at work after dps put him under surveillance and watched as he put on and took off the monkey mask. >> we did conduct surveillance on him and we noticed that he wore a blue shirt that was a certain lapel pin. he is a flight attendant for one of the local airlines. most of the photographs he

appears to be wearing the same clothing even though you may not be able to see his face. during our surveillance officers observed him as he went through each of the four code enforcement zones. >> no answer as his north phoenix home today, but he has been quoted as saying it's not me, and i'm not paying. >> obey the speed limit. that's all we're asking. drive the speed limit. if you receive a citation like any other citation we expect you to take care of it and accept your responsibility. >> a bizarre story. that was mike watkins with ktkv in phoenix. they say they have 40 pictures of the man in the among key mask speeding. a reward for any information on who set one of the worst wildfires in california's history is now $150,000. l.a. county is adding $50,000 to the state's $100,000.

right now it's 62% under control. a tennessee town has a simple message for its citizens. keep your hands to yourself. the mayor wants everyone in the town to stop shaking hands for the next six months to help prevent the risk of a major flu outbreak. viruses can spread through physical contact like shaking hands. the town is urging residents to offer neighbors a smile instead of a handshake. the mayor says she is leading by example. she stopped shaking hands with voters last week. parents are on high alert this flu season trying to keep their children germ-free. that's why a couple in florida is selling the tags with these message, wash your hands before touching baby. they can be clipped on a stroller or car seat. they came up with the idea because people always wanted to touch their 1-year-old frtriple. there's something you may not know about comedian turned senator al franken.

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>> reporter: al franken isn't just a senator. he's a cartographer. bet you can't do what he did at the minnesota state fair. minnesota public raid you put it to music. senator franken starts with the state he represents, minnesota. and draws a map of the u.s. from memory in under two minutes. he's got cape cod okay. he seems to know every cape, every panhandle. the blogs have taken to calling it senator franken's party trick. he's been doing it for decades. >> stupid human trick. >> reporter: 22 years ago he did it on letterman. >> al franken, go. the united states. >> reporter: here's where he auctions off the maps at fund-raisers from anywhere from $200 to $5,000. but the $64,000 question --

>> why did you learn to do this? >> bar bet. >> reporter: in college he bet someone he could name all the states, forgot one -- >> the west is easier. >> reporter: and started drawing the map so he would never forget again. finished 13 seconds under two minutes. this in a country where 5 out of 10 18 to 24-year-olds can't find new york state on the map. >> it's got to be between here and here. >> that's pennsylvania. >> there's new york right here. >> no, that's new jersey. >> i mean here's new york. >> no. >> here. >> yes! . >> reporter: compared to that al franken is a geography god. sure he knows the states of the united states. but could he draw a map of the provinces of canada. i asked because unfortunately i couldn't. i made the mortifying error of saying a squirrel who became an internet sensation hailed from british columbia instead of alberta. deepest apologies, alberta.

the squirrel should have spanked me. but geography whiz al franken, not only can he draw the u.s. map in under two minutes. he can banter why he does it. asking why is minnesota so wi y windy? so do jokes about geography. jeanne moos, cnn, new york? what's that? >> an ohio cat may have spent a couple of its nine lives surviving for months under a structure fire. when her fire broke out her owner was forced to leave without her. 26 days passed and wrecking crews spotted eyes peeking through the debris. she was dehydrated but okay. conflicting testimony today. what witnesses are saying about the 2008 practice that left a player dead from heat-related

distress.

a high school coach insists he's not to blame for a player's collapse. the team's dad and teammates described the football practice that ended in his death. can you imagine being there? a night patrol. the most dangerous in the world. that's what one of our journalists did. and a salute to the most trusted man in america. top leaders remembering walter cronkite today. welcome to hln "news and views." check the date. 9-9-09. hi i'm in today for chuck roberts. a new twist in the case out of

california. a human bone was found near the place in california where a girl was held captive and raped for 18 years. phillip garrido once took care of the neighbor's yard. experts conducting dna testing on it. garrido and his wife nancy are charged with abducting jaycee dugard when she was 11 years old. police say he fathered two daughters with her while she was kept prisoner in the backyard. investigators want to know if garrido is behind other unsolved cases. two other young girls vanished from nearby areas in the late 1908s. right now a courtroom two different descriptions as to what happened at a high school football practice where a player just collapsed. the athlete, max, did three days later. two of his former teammates told the jury the coach made him run a lot in the august heat without

breaks for water. >> do you remember how many sprints you ran? >> like 30 or something. >> how many would you normally run? >> around like -- normal practice like six. >> was this more than normal? >> yes, sir. >> was it difficult to run that many sprints? >> yes, sir. >> did you ever try to get water? >> no, sir. >> did other players try to get water? >> no, sir. >> did they try to get water after the sprints? >> a few. >> and was something said to them? >> yes, sir. >> what was said to them? >> he said, "i didn't tell y'all to get water, y'all get water when i tell y'all too." >> did you try to get water at that point? >> i did but he stopped me. >> the coach has been charged with reckless homicide and endangerment. four other players testified and denied that he withheld water from them. how would you feel if your

son came home from a football team function and told you he'd been baptized. that's what happened in here. although the school says the trip was voluntary, no permission slips went to parents, none were required, and a school bus was used to transport the players. at the church event 47 people, including 9 of these players, were baptized. >> they took my son without my knowledge or my consent. they say it's not school function, but they took them anyway. >> the twist is that a coach brought a bunch of guys here to get them baptized. the coach brought guys here to be encouraged that night. in the process of that god taught people to have a relationship with him. >> pastor davis says the church usually gets the parents' permission before baptizing their children. we want to hear what you think about this? what do you think about the coaches decision to take his players off school grounds, take

them to a church, and let them be baptized? call us. there's the number. send us an e-mail. the e-mail address is cnn.com/hln. and grab your cell phone and send us a text message to views plus your comment and name to hlntv. we'll air some of your responses throughout the day today. we're learning more and more about the murders committed in a georgia mobile home back on august 29th. you know the story. brunswick police say that the suspect, guy heinz jr., acted alone. we're talking eight people murdered. they say he acted by himself. he faces eight counts of first-degree murder. the victims include his father. 22-year-old denies involvement in the case. officials have not commented on any kind of motive. they did say that heinz's father recently won $25,000 and had yet to receive the money due to an appeal. news happening now.

two small planes collided in midair over coolidge, arizona. that's about 40 miles south of phoenix. one person on board the single engine cesna was killed. a second person has been air lifted to a hospital. the pilot of the other plane landed safely in a field about two miles away from where the cesna went down. no one on the ground was hurt. the cause of the collision under investigation. iowa senator tom harkin will take over the chairmanship of the senate health committee, a position formally held by late senior senator ted kennedy. harry reid announced the move in afternoon. senator chris dodd had decided against taking the seat left vacant with kennedy's death. kennedy knowning for being a champion of health care legislation. that's what the president will be talking about to a joint session of congress this evening. the white house calling his speech this evening the big test. the president will speak to a

joint session of congress, and of course you, the american public, as to what he wants in the health care overhaul package. the white house says that the president is still working on that speech. white house press secretary robert gibbs says he's lay out ways to provide insurance coverage for all americans and hold down the higher costs. he's also expected to explain how a government-run insurance plan, otherwise known as public option, might work. >> the president is going to talk about the public option and talk about the public option, choice and competition. i think that will be a big part of what the president is talking about. not all of what the president is talking about. it's no the totality of health care reform. >> the president is getting heavyweight support here. the ama, the american medical association urging congress as well to overhaul health care this year. as for republicans, most congressional republicans are lined up against many of the current proposals to overhaul the health care system. just three gop senators have

been involved in the latest negotiations. one of them is iowa's chuck grassley. he told sister network cnn that -- what he wants to hear tonight. >> if he does come out with specifics, probably would make up for the criticism that i gave during august that they were all over the ballpark. and they were all over the ballpark. >> now grassley and two other republicans on the senate finance committee might have missed their chance to join a bipartisan reform plan. the chair of the senate finance committee, max baucus, is also on the gang of six. he's trying to convince them to get on board and will normally show his plan next week whether republicans support it or not. >> i hope and suspect there will be some republicans when i issue the mark next week. and when we go to mark up the following week. my door is open.

irrespective of whether or not any republicans -- i do think there will be, i'm going to move forward anyway. i hope and do expect republicans will be on board. i don't know how many. if not any, i'm going to move forward in any event. >> you can watch the president's speech tonight at 8:00 eastern time on cnn. and you can watch it streaming live at cnn.com. one republican very vocal here. she's not convinced of the need for an overhaul of our health care system. she is former alaska governor sarah palin. she's taken to the pages of the "wall street journal" to denounce the reform effort claiming it would empower bureaucrats. she's repeating allegations that the proposal includes death panels that decide which patients live and which patients die. palin does not identify in this piece here n the journal, where in the legislation she finds such a provision. this is the second time palin has used the death panel accusation to attack the reform

effort. most of us drive to work, to school, who knows where. you probably shouldn't be monkeying around behind the wheel. it's not keeping one arizona driver from infuriating law enforcement. so i don't necessarily believe that anything is going to work but i was like, hey, this actually works. (announcer) only rogaine foam is shown to regrow hair in 85% of guys. i'll check it out and i'm like, nice., (announcer) rogain foam. stop losing. start gaining. of calcium and vitamin d. that's where their favorite cereals can help. general mills big g is the only leading line of kid cereals that has calcium d vitamin d. help them get more of what they need with general mills kid cereals. why is dick butkus here? i hired him to speak. a lot of fortune 500 companies use him. but-- i'm your only employee. we're gonna start using fedex to ship globally-, that means billions of potential customers. we're gonna be huge. good morning! l... you know business is a lot like footb i just don't understand...

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you know, this is proof that gasoline and fire really just don't mix. look at the dramatic picture fls a gas station in florida there. you can see some of the flames ripping through a car in florida. the gas station attendant kept the fire from spreading by hitting the emergency stop button. the driver was treated for burns on his hands and face. there are mixed reports what started the fire. this guy is apparently gotten pretty creative to avoid beating camera. he's really frustrating police in the area. they know exactly who he is. that's the thing. but the problem is police says he wears a mask.

a monkey. he's wearing the mask so they can't match the pictures to his driver's license to effectively prove he was the one behind the wheel. >> he just has a blatant disregard for public safety in my opinion. >> officers say he's racked up at least 40 speeding tickets. have you been following the u.s. open? they've been calling her the cinderella story. melanie oudin surprise run at the u.s. open apparently even surprised her family. she and her mom were kicked out of their manhattan hotel room because they didn't reserve the room long enough. they didn't think she would do this well. but sure is showing them. the 17-year-old from georgia has upsit four top russian players and will play in the quarter finals tonight. silly or stupid. if a cat does it, yep, we have seen it on the internet. websites apparently overflowing with photos and videos of cats. now a group of bloggers with perhaps a little bit too much time on their hands say enough

is enough. at least for a day. >> the time has come for change. cats will take over the internet websites no more. as representatives of blogs about weird web stuff. we're calling for a peaceful ban. >> we will give cats the rest they deserve. rest from being exposed, exploited and objectified. >> okay. this is what the web would look like without any cats. there you see one. on the other you don't. still to come a new york times journal ips taken captive by the tapp taliban is free. details of the mission next.

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kidnapped in afghanistan has been freed. several others were killed in the predawn raid to rescue him. nato commanders stormed the room where he was being held captive triggering a fierce gunfight. he says his afghan interpreter who was kidnapped with him also died in a hailstorm of bullets. they were abducted by mill tait on sunday. his abduction and his dramatic rescue underscored how dangerous the situation now currently is in afghanistan. our own journalist both michael ware and a photographer went on night patrol with afghan police and taliban-controlled kandahar. take a look at what they went through recently and why they are lucky to be alive. >> reporter: a hidden taliban roadside bomb, an i.e.d., is about to hit this afghan police gun truck. a camera man and i are riding in it.

it detonates a heartbeat too soon, otherwise we would all be dead. instead gravel rains over us. you all right? then comes the shooting. a so-called death blossom. police firing aimlessly to ward off further attack. >> michael ware was reporting from highway 1, the highway that connects kabul to kandahar. it's considered one of the most dangerous roads in the world. they could be executed on the spot by taliban. walter cronkite. a memorial service held today. speakers included president obama, buzz aldrin. also tributes from former cbs news colleagues and former

competitors as well. they all called the legendary anch anchorman a friend. >> as a teenager in the remote reaches of the grate plains i didn't see television until i was 15 years old, and it was a small black and white set in the corner of our dining room. but it changed my life. they allowed us to understand it more clearly and coherently. >> cronkite died in july at the the age of 92. switching gears. talking money here. even if you're one of the people who save, you love to splurge sometimes. consumer psychologists say indulging can really relieve stress and help motivate you through a tough time. of course, though, the ideal splurge varies for person to person. how do you sprurj splurns -- how

how do you splurge wisely? we're talking about budgeting a splurge. is that realistic? >> the you're talking impulse buys, that's where you're goingp to feel guilty. budgeting is going to force you to think about where you want to spend your money. whether vacations, a new camera, fancy dinners out. whatever you're interested in splurging on. plus you can look forward to the splurge as well as appreciate it while it's happening and after the fact. >> i'm a big fan of that. really you talk about looking for a daily impact. what do you mean by that? >> well, that one is important because if you're splurging on something you're going to use regularly, you're repeatedly appreciating it. you're going to be happier about it longer. for women that can be buying a lipstick or handbag. a handbag you can carry every day. it will be more exciting for

you. or maybe you like to cook. improving your daily life by getting a new pot or pan or a nice chef knife will make you happier than something else you won't use regularly. >> and splurging to splurge is one thing. but you say check the motivation. >> you really need a reason to splurge. otherwise you're going to feel guilty after the fact. having a good reason gives you something to tie it to. >> now i'm going to buy that handbag. fireplaces, a wrap-around terrace with a majestic view of manhattan. also crime scene tape. this is the penthouse where wall street swindler bernie madoff was arrested. the u.s. marshal service is

getting ready to sell it. he claimed the 4,000 square foot duplex was worth $7 million. another home in palm beach, florida, and a yacht will be sold. proceeds will go to his victims. one woman ran her suv off the rote road. she wasn't found for 19 hours. the north carolina highway patrol says she crashed on sunday morning down an embankment and couldn't be seen from the road. she was able to crawl out of the car. some kids riding bikes saw her and call eed 911. >> it's truly remarkable. as hot as it was and the area she was in. there was possibility for snakes. of course, yellow jackets, ticks. there's a number of things that could have happened. >> after 19 hours the woman was dehydrated but she should be okay. a trip organized by a high school football coach in kentucky has a lot of parents perturbed.

it had nothing to do with how to play a football game. wait until you hear where the coach took the football team without the parents' permission.

choice. barbara, what do you think? >> caller: i'm glad someone has realized that we've gotten away from god. we've raised a nation of hooligans and we haven't had a decent set of kids come out of this sent they took gods out of their lives. they stopped spanking the children and teaching them about god. i'm glad the coach took them somewhere other to the movies or a destructive place where they could have gotten into trouble. >> so barbara is okay with the coaches taking them to church. >> even though i am a christian.

this is clearly a breach of our constitutional rights. as parents with e need to feel confident when send our kids to school that they won't be indoctrinated by someone else's faith. it's wrong for them to do that. >> would you not want to be consulted? you have a son at football practice and the coach wants to do this, would you want to be asked? >>. >> caller: absolutely. absolutely. >> rita from charleston, west virginia. what are your thoughts? >> yes. if that were my child. i would be praising god first thing. the next thing i would do, i would thank the coach. then i would get down on my knees and i would prayer that it takes root and grows. i believe the biggest problem we have in the world today is when they took prayer out of school and started to practice abandonment of spiritual guidanc

guidance. >> so a lot of great opinions. we're also getting e-mails. first e-mail from manning in south carolina. another e-mail from pete in kentucky writing in. another e-mail from missouri. these kids have constitutional rights. we have been telling you for more than a week now about the eight people killed in a georgia

mobile home. we will delve sndeeper into theu story and see what police are saying about the suspects next.o . an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by united healthcare insurance company. it can help cover some of what medicare doesn't... so you could save up to thousands of dollars... in out-of-pocket expenses. call now for this free information kit... and medicare guide. if you're turning 65 or you're already on medicare, you should know about this card; it's the only one of its kind... that carries the aarp name -- see if it's right for you. you choose your doctor. you choose your hospital. there are no networks and no referrals needed. help protect yourself from some of what medicare doesn't cover. save up to thousands of dollars... on potential out-of-pocket expenses... with an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by united healthcare insurance company. call now for youfree information kit... and medicare guide and find out... how you could start saving.

breaking news. we have confirmed an airliner from cancun has been hijacked in mexico. live pictures there. the hijacking apparently happened there on the tarmac at the mexico city airport. the plane is a boeing 737 jet. it is carrying 104 passengers. we're told there are at least two hijackers on board. they have demanded to speak to mexican president felipe calderon. three hijackers. check that. three hijackers on the plane. they say if they don't get to speak to him, they are warning

they will blow up the plane. witnesses on the plane are saying there is a bomb on board in a box. these are all reports coming in as we're giving them to you there from inside of this plane three hijackers on board demanding to speak to the mexican president or threatening they will blow the plane up. some of the passengers being released right now. some of the passengers being released right now. hopefully getting off that plane and getting to safety. the latest number we have is three hijackers on the plane. came in from cancun carrying 104 passengers. passengers on board are

reporting they have spotted a bot or what they believe to be is a bomb in a box on the plane. as soon as we get more information, we'll bring it to you live here on hln. jurors in a louisville courtroom are getting two very different descriptions of what happened at a high school football practice where a player collapsed. the athlete died three days later earn later, and two of the former teammates told the court that the coach pushed them hard on that day. making them run hard in that hot august heat without breaks for water. >> do you remember how many sprints you ran? >> like 30 or something. >> how many would you normally run? >> around like -- normal practice, like 6. >> was this more than normal? >> yes, sir. >> was it difficult to run that many sprints? >> yes, sir. >> did you ever try to get water? >> no, sir. >> did other players try to get water? >> no, sir. >> did they try to get water after the sprints? >> a few.

>> and was something said to them? >> yes, sir. >> what was said to them? >> he said, i didn't tell y'all to get water. y'all get water when i tell y'all to. >> did you try to get water at that point? >> i did, but he stopped me. >> the coach is charged with reckless homicide and endangerment. four other players denied that he withheld water from them on that hot august day. it appears a human bone was found near the place where a girl was held captive and raped for 18 years. her alleged kidnaper once took care of the neighbor's yard where the bone was found. you can bet right now experts are conducting dna tests on the very bone. some background, garrido and his wife nancy charged with abducting jaycee dugard when she was just 11. police say he fathered two daughters with her while she was the prisoner.

investigators want to know if garrido is perhaps involved in other uninvolved cases. two other young girls vanished from nearby areas in the late 1980s. we're learning more about the horrific story of brunswick, georgia, about the murders committed in a georgia mobile home on august 29th. the police there say the suspect, guy heinz jr., acted alone. he faces eight counts of first-degree murder for the brutal beatings. the victims include his father. the 22-year-old denies any involvement in the case. and officials have yet to comment on any possible motive. but they did say that heinz's father recently came into $25,000. the amount he won in a civil lawsuit. though he had yet to receive any of the money due to an appeal. the white house is calling @ obama's speech tonight the big test. the president will be talking to a joint session of congress and addressing you, the american people, in what he wants in a health care overhaul package. the white house says the

president is still, in fact, working on the speech. we heard from press secretary robert gibbs saying the president will lay out ways to provide insurance coverage for americans and still hold the costs down. the president will also explain how public option, that's a government-run insurance plan, how that might work. >> the president is going to talk about the public option and talk about the value of bringing through a public option choice competition to the private insurance market. it's not all of what the president is going to talk about. it's not the totality of health care reform. >> the president is getting heavyweight support. the american medical association also urging congress to overhaul health care this year. congressional republicans are all but unanimous in opposing the health care reform democrats have proposed thus far. the last effort to bring some on board might have ended. senate finance chairman max

baucus is trying to convince three members of his gop committee to support his plan. and you can watch watch the president's big address at 8:00 eastern time on cnn. we'll stream it live on the web on cnn.com. one republican very vocal here. not at all convinced of the need for an overhaul of the health care system. you know her. sarah palin. in an editorial in the "wall street journal". the former alaska governor is denouncing this reform effort. she is claiming it would quote/unquote empower unelected bureaucrats. she is repeating this allegation that the proposal includes what she is referring to as death panels that would decide which patients live and which would die. this is the second time she's used a death panel accusation. she says the vouchers to buy

their own coverage or reform from medical malpractice lawsuits. ♪ in new york today, a fond farewell to the most trusted man in america, none other than walter cronkite. he was honored with this new orleans styled funeral around lincoln center. speakers including president obama, astronaut buzz aldrin and musician jimmy buffett. also tributes from his former cbs news colleagues and former competitors. they all called the legendary anchorman a friend. cronkite died at the age of 92. big day in washington for justice sonia sotomayor. her first official day on the bench of the u.s. supreme court. the court held a special session to hear arguments in a case sparked by a movie, critical of once presidential candidate, now secretary of state, hillary

clinton. courts banned the documentary style "hillary: the movie" from being shown last year. the conservative corporations said individuals who funded it sued. but the case has gotten even bigger. today the court heard arguments as to whether or not to overturn existing campaign frinance restrictions that ban them from funding political messages. right now a public hearing is going on in boston to consider allowing the governor of massachusetts to appoint a temporary replacement to fill ted kennedy's seat. the interim senator would serve until a january election would be held to replace the late democrat. in fact, since 2004 state law has called for special elections. the lawmakers step down or perhaps pass away. supporters say the state needs two senators now to handle health care and other legislation. but opponents come back. they say it is just a power grabby the democrats.

want to take you back to the developing story happening in mexico city. it is a tense situation. at the mexico city airport. may be headed for some kind of resolution, we're hearing. at least 100 airline passengers have been released. they have been released by hijackers who have taken over the plane. the number we were hearing is three hijackers on board. the plane was carrying 104 people. the three hijackers threatened to blow it up if they don't get to speak to the president of mexico. we want to talk more about what's happening on the tarmac. i have don clark on the phone with me. don clark, apologize. i'm trying to understand what's happening. tell me who you're with, where you are. >> caller: i'm in houston, texas. i'm former head of the fbi down here at houston. working with a law firm now.

>> what do you make of the situation? what's the latest you're hearing? >> this reminds me of back in the '70s when planes were hijacked and taken to cuba. all people wanted to do was get there and get off. i'm really sort of taken back and happily so to know that they have allowed the people to go off. which means their agenda is something beyond harming people in a terrorist type attack. >> now, don, we're hearing the three hijackers have made a request to somehow speak to mexican president felipe calderon. what might their message or motive be? >> caller: it's hard to say. obviously for them to want to speak to the president, they obviously feel -- i shouldn't say they obviously feel. it's my opinion they may feel that there's some message that

either they feel very strongly about and the president has not given it attention. or it's something they want to bring to the attention of the president, and they feel -- which i think is a weak way to do it -- but this is the way they should go about doing it. >> we are hearing at least 100 passengers have been released. you mentioned that's a good sign, perhaps sign. we are hearing the pilot is still in the cockpit. when you reference instances like this in the past, perhaps people trying to get to cuba or get out of cuba. how in those examples in the past, how long did this kind of hijacking take? >> caller: well, again, i reflect back to the cuban days. the hijacking did really not take long except for the distance of the flight. many of them -- well, you're probably too young. but many of them were from florida going right over to cuba. so it was a short flight. so they just happened to take it

right then, and then they got off and let the plane return to the u.s. that became, as far as the fbi is concerned, young fbi agent at that time. just on a system of how we investigate these things. they're going to get to cuba. everybody is going to be safe. the people will return to the u.s. we'll interview them and find out who these people are. this seems to me like they have issues with the president. over there. and that they want to have some conversation with them. so they may be inclined not to let the pilot go for a while until some concessions are made. >> right. right. don clark, great insight, don clark. a former special agent from houston, texas. we're understanding 100 passengers released from the plane. the pilot still in the cockpit. (announcer) time brings new wisdom

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oh, precious cargo. protecting what matters most to you. now, that's progressive. call or click today. a 350-pound man is accusing southwest airlines of not letting him on the flight because he was too heavy. he said he and his wife were headed down to the ramp to board the plane when an employee with the airline asked if he could sit in the seat with the arm down. even though he says he said yes they were not allowed on the plane. the couple says they were embarrassed and humiliated. >> when we were stranded we were shocked. what were we going to do? just -- just kind of stressed out. lost. >> pretty heartless, the way they treated us. >> southwest airlines is responding here. they say fellow passengers became upset over the man's tone and actions and that's why he wasn't allowed on the plane. the company also says it will refund the unused ticket.

a reward for information on who set one of the worst fires in california history is now set at $150,000. l.a. county is adding the extra $50,000 to the state's $100,000. fire has been burning for nearly two weeks and has killed nearly two firefighters. right now it's about 62% contained. and some dramatic picture of a fire at a florida gas station. look at the flames there. just ripping through a car, some of the gas pumps. apparently the attendant kept the fire from spread to the pumping by hitting the emergency stop button. scary situation for the driver of the car. he was treated for burns on his hands and face. mixed reports as to how the fire got started. and the "hubble" space telescope is back out. now new pictures for the refurbished hubble. they released colorful

multiwavelength pictures of far, far away galaxies. they say the pictures are sharpen than the ones taken of the same area before the overhaul. back to story out of mexico city. that's the plane. reports of hijacking on board plane at the mexico city airport. the three hijackers threatened to blow it up if they do not get to speak to the president of mexico, felipe calderon. the hijacker's demands. ♪ bicycle, what are we waiting for? the flowers are blooming. the air is sweet. and zyrtec® starts... relieving my allergies... 2 hours faster than claritin®. my worst symptoms feel better, indoors and outdoors. with zyrtec®, the fastest...

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want to take you back to the developing situation. you're looking at a plane on the tarmac in mexico city, where there are reports of three hijackers still on board. it is a boeing 737 air mexico jet. there was 104 passengers on board. reports that 100 passengers have been released but that three hijackers are still on board, as is the pilot.

i want to bring don clark back to the conversation. don, you were a former fbi special agent. talk me through what might be happening right now on right no onboard this plane with the hijackers and the pilot. >> i think there are two dynamics going on here. number one, certainly what's going on with the hijackers there, and i suspect if all they have left is one of two pilots, there's probably very little communication between those hijackers and those pilots at this particular time because they want to get the attention of the parties outside of the airplane so that then there's another side of this, brooke, and that is that the law enforcement officials now, they have got to really ramp up their speed as to how they get in place to try to bring this to a safe and harmless end to this by not letting anyone get hurt, and i think they have to get negotiators in place and they have to establish some contact with these people without saying, yeah, we'll let you talk

directly to the president because that's probably not going to happen. >> don, we're hearing, though that tv azteca, one of the affiliates in mexico city, they're reporting that president calderon was at the airport in mexico city at the time of the hijacking and canceled his flight. so is it possible that this hijacking was carefully orchestrated because we know that the three hijackers are demanding to speak to the president? >> well, i think so. i think knowing that they want to speak to the president is probably best to kind of keep the president in place for the time being there and not that you want to acquiesce to the hijackers, but this is number one for a safety type of situation because, in all reality, it's not likely that the president is going to make that decision immediately and not at this point of a hijacking that, okay, i'll stand around and let them talk to me. i think you will hear the first thing that's going to happen is there have to be trained negotiators to try to establish a conversation and a dialogue

with these people. >> don, do me a favor. stay on the phone. we'll continue the conversation well into the 4:00 hour. we've got to take a quick break. we will be right back. it's not always easy living with copd, but i try not to let it hold me back... whether i'm at the batting cages... down by the lake or... fishing at the shore. i'm breathing better... with spiriva. announcer: spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled maintenance treatment for both forms of copd, which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

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continuing with the breaking news of the day. we are being told passengers and crew have been released in a hiejing aing. this is happening in mexico city. we are told the hijackers have surrendered. this is a live look at the tarmac where apparently all of the passengers and crew, that's 104 people on this aero-mexico flight. three hijackers were planning to blow up the 737 if they didn't get to speak to the president of mexico. the president is felipe calderon. he was in the presidential hangar in the airport preparing to depart when all of this started to happen. he canceled his planned flight, but again, it appears that this

situation is beginning to calm down now. we are going to check in now with former n.y.p.d. hostage negotiator walter zeins. you've dealt with hijackers which we don't hear about very much, what did you think when you were hearing about this in mexico? >> it was like daysha vow. it's the same procedures worldwide. >> okay. >> it is very complex. you get a hijacking of an airliner coming into jfk or an airport like right now, you're dealing with many different agencies, you're dealing with the faa, you're dealing with air traffic controllers, you're dealing with the airline and different law enforcement, city, state and federal. back in the '90s we had a lufthansa jet coming in from africa where a passenger took the plane hostage and that was an incident that i was involved in and n.y.p.d. was called and fortunately our training at

n.y.p.d. we train with the fbi and we train with the port authority so we're all on the same page and what took place was that when the plane came into the corridor, the northeast corridor the air traffic controllers turned it over to us to talk to the pilot. the -- the hardest part of the whole negotiation wasn't with the hostage negotiator -- with the hostage person, it was with the airlines. the airlines wanted the captain to do the negotiation, but fortunately, we were able to work that out and we were fortunate that the city, state and federal all worked together in the past and we were able to get a negotiation and everyone off the plane similar to this incident. >> wally, are you surprised that three people were able to storm a plane in mexico city? >> that tells me when three people were able to storm this and do this it tells me that there's more to the picture. there's more that's going to probably pop up. there might have been other people involved, other employees of the airlines or at the airport. this is a --

>> wally, actually i'm going to stop you because the question i just asked actually isn't a truthful question because we just got new information. i asked about people storming the plane, that, in fact, is not what happened. we just got clarified information that this hijacking happened in the air. are you even more surprised? >> well, if it happened in the air it makes me put more credence that it's not just the three involved. it makes me think that there are others involved, maybe ground crew or other employes. >> we are hearing that in fact, there are five people. >> the bottom line is this is not a simple get on the plane. you've got to remember that in today's environment we have a lot of security worldwide at all the airports, in fact, and the fact that they can get on the plane and say they have a bomb that shows that there's a lot more than just the three. on the other side of the coin, there will still be a major investigation. they still have to search that plane to make sure you tell someone there's a bomb on the

plane you go with the premise that there is a bomb on the plane until you can prove differently. another thing which is very important on this particular incident and we had it at jfk is every passenger has to be debriefed and has to be searched. you don't know if any of those other passengers might have been part of the group that hijacked the plane. so there is a lot of stuff that still has to be done and a lot of investigating that has to take place on the worldwide level. >> great point. wally, this does seem to have been resolved fairly quickly for how long it could have lasted. what does that is a to you that they seem to have surrendered so quickly? >> it tells me that there is coordination between the different levels of law enforcement and government. it tells me that they have had training because to get the -- when i started doing the hostage negotiation is you never lie. if you lie you lose valuable time. the important thing in hostage negotiation is to develop a

rapport with the hostagetaker. developing that rapport means you have to be honest and if that person turns around and said i want the letter m taken out of the dictionary and you say okay, i can do it, you're lying to them. you're losing valuable time. the fact that they were able to get the right people to gain credibility and that is to get the president to talk to them, that was an encouraging part to show that dialogue and trust was gotten. >> former nypd hostage negotiator wally zeins giving us his take on what happened. this plane from cancun to mexico city was hijacked in the air. at least five hijackers. all passengers and crew have been freed. the hijackers surrendered. we'll continue to follow the situation, but we are hln and that means we'll also bring you the headlines of the day and we'll move on with more and we'll get back to you when we touch base on that particular story as well. we have a live story as well, a florida judge is

considering whether or not to force the casey anthony's parents to testify. zenaida gonzalez is asking the judge to compel the anthonies to answer questions they refused to answer questions during the deposition that zenaida is accused of killing her daughter caylee. gonzalez is suing casey because she says that anthony hurt her reputation. caylee anthony remains were found last december less than a mile from her home. it appears a human bone was found in california where a girl was held captive and raped for 18 years. her alleged kidnapper phillip garrido once took care of the neighbor's yard where this bone was found. experts are conducting dna tests on it. garrido and his wife nancy are accused of abducting jaycee dugard when she was just 11 years old. police say he fathered two daughters with her while she was his prisoner. investigators want to know if garrido is behind other unsolved

cases. two other girls vanished from nearby areas in the late 1980s. the second major storm of the season is picking up steam in the mid-atlantic, but apparently it plans to stay there. let's check in with chad myers. he is tracking the storm for us as he always does. all right, chad. teach us something. you always do. >> another big storm out of the way. another name out of the way, fred, f-r-e-d, category 3 at 120 miles per hour, look at that beautiful eye right there. nothing makes a weather man happier than a category 3, 4 or 5 hurricane that will not hit anything. this will will completely move to the north and it will become the angel of death up here in this cold water that we are going to see and it will kill it in probably less than three or four days. hurricane need very warm water. they need the steam and energy from the warm water to grow. when you get up here into the colder areas of the north atlantic you lose that steam and you lose that energy and you lose all sense.

here are our friends at stormpulse.com. i kind of want to give you an idea, that side over there, that's africa. that's fred and i can touch miami still 3488 miles away from the u.s. and obviously, richelle, not coming here. good news. >> thank you, chad. always appreciate your perspective on stuff. all right. the white house calls president obama's speech tonight the big test. the president will tell a joint session of congress and the american people what he wants in a health care overhaul package. the white house says the president is still working on the speech. press secretary robert gibbs says he will lay out ways to provide insurance coverage for all americans and hold down costs and he will also explain  how a government-run insurance plan is a public option. he'll explain howe exactly how that would work. >> the president's going to talk about the public option and talk about the value of bringing through a public option choice

in competition for the private insurance market. i think that's going to be a big part of what the president will talk about. it's not going to be all of what the president talks about because it's not the totality of health care reform. >> the president is getting some heavy support. the american medical association is urging congress to overhaul health care this year. a trip organized by a high school football coach in kentucky has a lot of parents livid. this trip had nothing to cowith how to play the game. wait until you hear where the coach took the football team without the parents' permission. some are outraged. are you? we'll hear your views.

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feel the love. breaking news giving you updates on this hostage hijacking situation in mexico city that has been resolved. at least five hijackers have surrendered on the tarmac in mexico city. they released the passengers and the crew of this flight. they hijacked -- this hijacking happened in mid air. the plane was coming from

cancun. the hijackers announced they had a bomb and they would blow up the plane if they didn't get to speak to mexico's president felipe calderon. there were 104 passengers onboard this aeromexico 737. the president felipe calderon was actually in the presidential hangar in the airport preparing to depart when all of this happened. he canceled his planned flight. the plane landed in mexico and moved to a remote area where this surrender was negotiated. again, all of the passengers and crew, they are all safe. all five hijackers have surrendered. we'll keep you up-to-date on that. how would you feel if your son came home from a football team function and told you he'd been baptized? that's exactly what happened to parents in kentucky. the coach of breckenridge county high school took his team to a church for a baptist revival. all of the trip is voluntary, no permission slips are required

and a school bus was used to transport the players. at the event, 47 people including nine football players were baptized. >> they took my son without my knowledge or my consent. they say it wasn't a school function, but they took him anyway. >> the twist is that a coach brought a bunch of guys brought them here to get them baptized. the coach brought the guys to be encouraged that night. god called people to have a relationship with him. >> the church usually gets parents' permission before baptizing their children. we want your views on this. do you agree with the coach's decision or do you think parents have the right to complain? let's get to the phones. darnell is calling us from phoenix. karnel, what are your thoughts on this story on what happened with the coach and the players getting baptized? >> hold on, jackie. >> darnell, are you there? >> yes, i'm here. go ahead. what are your thoughts on this?

>> well, i believe that it was okay for anybody to participate in any field trip that the school authorized or if it was okay with the parents or, you know, it was a field trip. and if the kids wanted to participate in it, if they was of age old enough to act on their own then it should be okay, but if it was under age can then they should have got a consent form. >> okay, darnell, thank you for your phone call. let's stay in arizona, sam is calling us from wilcox, arizona. what's your take? >> i'm an ordained minister down here. >> okay. >> and i think the superintendent and their pastor needs to start looking at the ten commandments and stop giving false testimony because those parents saying they didn't know about it and the superintendent

said i thought they did, the superintendent should know good and well, i don't think anybody especially a school, should take kids to a church. did they happen to have baptismal during that time or what? >> oh, so you think the school wasn't completely forthcoming. >> i don't think the church was either. i don't think the minister is not telling it straight up. he needs to examine his heart. did it happen to be a baptism day or what? you know? >> okay. >> schools shouldn't have anything to do in churches. they don't allow church in the schools so why take them to the church? >> i appreciate your comment very much. >> rolls is calling from miami. what's your take? >> well, i think the coaches are supposed to notify the teachers, the mothers and the parents and everybody else before they take those kids to the church and better yet, to baptize their parents. i think that's wrong, but i

don't think they should be getting fired over that situation. they need to address that better next time. >> okay. so you think everybody should do better next time? >> rolls, thank you for your phone call. thanks for everyone who called and e-mailed today. you're still fired up about some other topics. "prime news" starts at the top of the hour. lots of topics you can comment on and talk about and hash out. check them out at cnn.com/primenews. all right, everyone. to give you another update on the hijacking that happened in mexico city, so don't go anywhere. stick around. i have asthma.

and when my symptoms-the coughing, wheezing, tightness in my chest came back- i knew i had to see my doctor. he told me i had choices in controller medicines. we chose symbicort. symbicort starts to improve my lung function within 15 minutes. that's important to me because i know the two medicines in symbicort are beginning to treat my symptoms and helping me take control of my asthma. and that makes symbicort a good choice for me. symbicort will not replace a re0=ue inhaler for sudden symptoms. and should not be taken more than twice a day.

symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol may increase the chance of asthma-related death. so, it is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on other asthma medicines. see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. i know symbicort won't replace a rescue inhaler. within 15 minutes symbicort starts to improve my lung function and begins to treat my symptoms. that makes symbicort a good choice for me. you have choices. ask your doctor if symbicort is right for you. (announcer) if you cannot afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. okay. this is what's happening now. we have new information to pass along about this hijacking that happened in mexico city. the most urgent information to get to is that the passengers and the crew, 104 people on this aeromexico 737, they're all okay. they've all been released and the five hijackers are in

custody. we have new information. a mexican official says there was no bomb on the plane because apparently this hijacking actually started in the air and it appears that you can reason that the passengers and the crew thought there was a bomb on the plane, but apparently there was no bomb. it was a box, and some passengers said that one of the hijackers held a package that resembled an explosive device. so the plane landed and it was on its way from cancun, it landed in mexico city and they were able to negotiate a surrender. all five of the hijackers are in custody. they were demanding to speak to president felipe calderon. that did not happen. the situation has not been resolved and clearly an investigation is under way as well. we wanted to get you the new information that we had. the bulls continue to rule on wall street and the federal reserve ways in on the economy. stephanie elam joins us from new york with a wrap-up of the day in business.

hello, miss stephanie. >> well, hello miss richelle. guess what? another nice rally for stocks as all of the major averages are on four-day winning streaks. the dow industrials were flirting with 2009 highs before retreating from their highs of the day. the dow rose 49 points to close at 9547. the nasdaq gained more than 1% and the s&p 500 added 3/4 of a percent. steve jobs got a standing ovation before unveiling new rays. so apple's stock finish 1d% lower. however the company's shares have more than doubled since the start of 2009 and the federal reserve says the economy continued to stabilize despite stagnant retail sales. the so-called beige book on regional economic activity also shows signs of recovery and residential housing. it says consumer spending remained sluggish. richelle, you're not doing your part. get out there and do some spending. >> oh, girl, i'm trying!

>> maybe we should team up. >> thanks, stephanie. big night tonight for team tennis sensation, melanie oudin. she's a 17-year-old from murrieta, georgia, she has upset four-ranked opponents including number four seed elena dementeyeva. >> realizing that i being win realize that she was no better than me and that i was right there and whether i won or lost a match, like, at that moment i was right there with her and i could compete with her. >> tonight oudin faces niekt seed caroline woziacki, and the winner advances to the semifinal. shocking new details in the georgia mobile home slayings. what police are saying about the prime suspect and also how the victims died. we'll talk to jane velez-mitchell about that issue. that is coming up. don't go anywhere. ♪

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eight members of his extended family which included five grown men. without those five grown men getting together in that trailer and fighting back. nobody can understand it. so some questions have emerged. is it possible that they were all drugged? now, we do know that the accused man, 22-year-old guy heinze is the one that called 911 and said my entire family's dead and now he's the one charged with eight counts of murder plus one count of attempted murder for the bludgeoning of a 3-year-old boy who remains in critical condition. this is such a horrific, horrific crime that everybody is wondering why, if in fact he did this, which he says he didn't, but why if police are right why would he have done such a thing

to his own family, including one of the victims being his own dad, senior. a couple of motives are emerging. his kid brother said he didn't have anything to do with it. his older brother is innocent, but suspects drugs were at the hear of this. he knew there was drug activity going on in the home. the other possible motive is there is talk that senior, the father who was murdered had just won a lawsuit and that either a settlement had come in or he was in line for a settlement in the range of $25,000. was that a factor in these are all issues we are going to dive deep into tonight on "issues." we have a forensic pathologist, one of the nation's best, to tell us how do you figure out when somebody dies from blunt-force trauma. there is so much to go through in this horrifying case. >> the police haven't laid out their theory of the case, their timeline whether everyone was home at the same time, if people came over over a period of time, do you know what i'm saying? they don't know what the timeline is. >> there are so many unanswered

questions, but nevertheless, when you're talking about eight victims and you're talking about one 22-year-old guy and you're talking about five grown men ranging in age from his age all of the way up to late 40s, you have to wonder how, how was this accomplished this heinous act and that's the big mystery. >> it is. we're about out of time and also you're going to be talking to a woman who claims to be bernard madoff's hift res. she's preparing to write a book. >> she's claiming to have a sexual affair and despite that he ripped her off completely leaving her with nothing and ripped off her charity to the tune of millions. it's a mind-boggling story and we'll get into the mind of bernie madoff the master ponzi schemer tonight on "issues." catch "issues" with jane velez-mitchell every week night here on hln news and views. we have amazing video of the hijacking that shut down all air traffic into and out of mexico city this afternoon. the latest on this breaking story coming up in just two

minutes.

a peaceful ending as at least five hijackers surrender right there on the tarmac in mexico city. they released passengers. they released the crew of this flight. they hijacked the plane that was coming from cancun when the hijack eros this plane, they made an announcement that they were going to blow the plane up if they didn't get to speak to mexico's president felipe calderon. an official announced there was no bomb on the plane, although one of the passengers said that one of the hijacker his a package that resembled an explosive device. 104 passengers were onboard this

boeing 737 aeromexico plane. they and the crew are all safe. felipe calderon was in the presidential hangar in the airport preparing to leave when all of this was going down. he canceled his planned flight. the plane landed in mexico city and they moved the plane to a remote area moving away from the airport and they were able to negotiate this surrender. joining us on the phone now someone who has had experience negotiating in a situation like this, don clark, former special agent and he joins us on the phone. don, i guess my first reaction was how do people storm the plane? because that's the first information we had is we thought that these hijacker his stormed the plane and then we found out that that's not what happened. they appeared, it seems that they faked people out on the plane and made them think they had a bomb. you're right. in most of the countries,

richelle, you're not going to find the hijackers, not two or three trying to storm a plane. it's just too much security there that's going on and from what i know of this information of this activity right now is that it was a hoax right from the beginning and the idea is to put fear into those passengers who were sitting right next to them. now, i don't know what a -- i've got a feeling what they sense was that looked like a bomb. perhaps that would have been something that was wrapped up and it looked like maybe dynamite sticks or something of that nature that would explode that would cause someone to say that it looks like a bomb. >> okay. and you obviously act like, you treat this like it's a bomb. so how do officials start to settle this situation down because it's resolved. i'm a lay person, but it seems to have been resolved fairly quickly for how it could have gone wrong. >> particularly on how the authorities would have handled

it and they must have done a decent job of bringing it to a safe and sound conclusion here, but what i think they really did was once they got the passengers off and quickly talked to some of these people to see what was actually going on that way then i think that gave them a better idea to get the negotiators to try and talk to some of these people because certainly they weren't going to let them talk to the president at that stage. and these folks are in as much trouble as if they'd had a real bomb. >> you got it. they are in as much trouble as if they had had a real bomb because there's no such thing as we were just playing, we were just kidding or cog all this or that, it doesn't make a difference. the law is going to apply and thank goodness they didn't have a real bomb, but the punishment could be very much, very close to the same. >> these people are just as scared either way. >> exactly. >> don clark, former fbi special agent in charge. thank you. appreciate it. >> continuing with the day's news, a florida judge is considering whether or not to

force casey anthony's parents to testify in the civil suit. intren ada gonzalez is asking a judge to compel the anthonies to answer questions they refused to answer during the deposition. we have live pictures of what's happening in the courtroom. their daughter casy is accused of killing her daughter caylee. before her arrest casey anthony said she left caylee with the woman named zenaida gonzalez. gonzalez is suing her because she says that anthony hurt her reputation. caylee anthony's remains were found last december less than a mile from her home. apple ceo steve jobs got a standing ovation today. this is his first public appearance in months. he hit the stage in san francisco, he looks even thinner than before. he just had a liver transplant in the spring and thanked everyone for their support. jobs said he got the liver of a 20-year-old who died in a car accident and he urged the crowd to become organ donors.

then he got down to business. he announced the new ipod nano will have the built-in video camera and microphone. with one flick you can send the video to youtube and also to apple itunes software. garrison keillor is recovering from a stroke. he had a minor stroke sunday. a hospital spokesperson says the longtime host of prairie home companion is using his laptop computer. he says keillor should be released friday and can return to his normal schedule by next week. the new season of his national public radio program is set to begin the 26th. the white house called president obama's speech tonight the big test. the president will tell a joint session of congress and the american people what he wants in a health care overhaul package. the white house says the president is still actually working on the speech. robert gibbs says he will lay out ways to provide insurance coverage for all americans and

also hold out the cost. he will also explain how a government-run insurance plan, that's the public option. he'll explain how it will work. >> he'll talk about the value of bringing choice and competition to the public insurance market. i think that's going to be a big part of what the president is talking about. it's not going to be all of what the president talks about because it's not the totality of health care reform. >> the president is getting some heavyweight support. the american medical association is urging congress to overhaul health care this year. congressional republicans are all, but unanimous in opposing any of the health care reform democrats have proposed so far in the last effort to bring some onboard may have ended. max baucus has been trying to convince three gop members of the committee to support his reform plan. the office will formally propose his plan next week whether republicans support it or not. >> i very much hope, and i expect there will be some

republican republicans when i wish them next week and when we go to markup the following week. my door's open irrespective of whether or not because i do think that there will be, i'll move forward anyway. i very much hope that the republicans will be onboard. i don't know how many, but if there are not any i will move forward in any event. >> okay. you can watch the president's address live tonight at 8:00 eastern on cnn and cnn.com. ♪ ♪ ♪ a fond farewell to the most trusted man in america. walter cronkite, speakers at the memorial service included president obama, astronaut buzz aldrin and musician jimmy buff

sxet there was a new orleans style funeral procession around the lincoln center hall. there were tributes from his former cbs news colleagues and some of his competitors as well. they all called the legendary anchor man friend. the final word was reserved for president obama. >> he was forever there, reporting through world war and cold war, marches and milestones, scandal and success, calmly and authoritatively telling us what we needed to know. >> cronkite died in july at the age of 92. it appears a human bone was found near a place in california where a girl was held captive and raped for 18 years. her alleged captor phillip garrido once took care of the neighbor's yard where this bone was found. experts are conducting dna tests on it. garrido and his wife nancy are charged with abducting jaycee dugard when she was 11 years old. police say he fathered two

daughters with her while she was his prisoner. investigators want to know if he's behind two other unsolved cases. two other girls vanished from nearby areas in the late 1980s. we continue to follow developments after a hijacking in mexico city's airport. the suspected hijackers are now in custody after threatening to blow up an aeromexico jet. the latest just ahead. 75% of kids don't get the recommended amounts

of calcium and vitamin d. that's where their favorite cereals can help. general mills big g is the only leading line of kid cereals that has calcium and vitamin d. help them get more of what they need with general mills kid cereals. big, big beatles news today, the fab four invade once more on rock band and digitally remastered box sets.

if it isn't worth shelling out a lot of money for albums and songs you might already have. cnn.com has the comparison. dot com live's nicole lapin is here with that with a bunch of other cool things and things on dot com. all right. this is like a listening test, nicole? are you ready for it? >> if you believe the hype, they never sounded so good because it took four and a half years to go back to the tune "clean it on up" and the goal was basically to make it sound like you were in the room, richelle, when the band was recording so let's listen to the test to the beatles classic to the original and then the new version. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ the best things in life are free ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ the best things in life are free ♪ ♪ >> okay. so, what do you think? i've got to tell that i don't have great speakers and it's hard to tell with this earpiece. if you don't have a big speaker in front of your face, i don't know why you would have that in front of the studio, but all of the scratching was gone and it was a lot cleaner. okay, if that doesn't convince you, we'll take you back to 1963. we also have this whole retrospective and a nice mosey down memory lane and their performance of twist and shout. we're having too much beatles fun right now.

♪ ♪ ♪ >> being interviewed in 1966, richelle, after that firestorm ignited and the beatles were more popular than jesus. >> i wasn't putting it down. it was a fact and it was more for england than here, you know? i'm not saying that we're better or greater or comparing us with jesus christ as a person or god as a thing or whatever it is, you know? i just said what i said and it was wrong and now there's all this. >> oh, dear! >> a lot of beatles for you, richelle. >> i'm on the beatles beat today. that's a fun beat. >> i know, i'm not complaining. one little tidbit for you. there was some rumor that the beatles songs would be available on itunes. you can get them right now.

apparently apple made no such announcement today. so you'll have to take the cds and put them on into the computer. or go to cnn.com. >> go to cnn.com. we have fantastic stuff. good job, nicole. the song's in my head now. >> keep it in all day. thanks, richelle. this story will keep you smiling. an ohio cat may have spent a couple of its nine lives surviving for nearly a month under the fire. when a fire broke out her owner was forced to leave without her. 26 days passed and then a wrecking crew spotted an eye peeking through the debris and there he was. dehydrated, but alive and living up to her name. what a gorgeous cat. we continue to follow the huge breaking news of the day. a hijacking. this plane was headed to mexico city. hijackers threatened to blow the plane up in the air, this

aero-mexico jet, they didn't get to speak to the president of mexico. we'll update you on where the situation stands right now.. your hair mixes with pollen and dust in the air. i get congested. my eyes itch. i have to banish you to the garden. but now with zyrtec-d®, i have the proven allergy relief of zyrtec®, plus a powerful decongestant. i can breathe freer with zyrtec-d®. so, i'll race you to our favorite chair. i might even let you win. zyrtec-d® lets me breathe easier, so i can love the air™. zyrtec-d®. behind the pharmacy counter. no prescription needed.

we've got new information for you in this hijacking. officials say first of all, no bomb found on the plane. the plane was hijacked over mexico, but this is new information. now up to eight hijackers are said to have surrendered to authority in mexico city's airport. all 104 passengers are safe, the crew is safe. the hijackers threatened to blow the plane up in the air if they didn't get to speak to mexico's president felipe calderon. he was at the airport at the time that all of this was happening. again, the situation has been resolved. eight hijackers arrested. "prime news" is a few minute away. we'll check in with mike to see what's at the top of the agenda and see if we can reach out to calls and e-mails. >> you know the number, 1- 77-tell-hln. jaycee dugard, this is great

information we're getting through "people" magazine. we all wondered how would that reunion be? it's been a couple of weeks just about. hearing that, that she is so happy. more on what she could be going through and we'll update you on a bone fragment found near philip garrido's home that's been ruled likely human. what about other cases? could he be linked? we'll tell you about that. this story is just gruesome. we remember telling you of a massacre of a family in georgia, now the guy who made the 911 call saying my whole family is dead, he is now accused in the murder of all people. one survivor, a 3-year-old. we'll keep you updated on that one. here's one, a gentleman, 6 feet, 300 pounds, flies from chicago to las vegas, no trouble. getting ready to board from vegas to chicago, he's getting ready to board and the flight attendant says do you need two seats? what happens there? you have two different stories and he ends up not flying at

all. the airline says he became belligerent and he says they were rude. we'll get to the bottom of that. >> people will want to talk about that. people want to talk about this, son came home from a football team function and told you he he had been baptized? that happened to some parents in kentucky. the coach took his team to his church for a baptist revival. the trip was voluntary, no permission trips required and a school bus was used to get the players there, roughly 47 people including nine football players were baptized. >> they took my son, without my knowledge, or my consent, they say it's in the school function but they took him anyway. >> the twist is that a coach brought a bunch of guys here to get them baptized and there's no truth in that at all. the coach brought guys here to be encouraged that night and out of that process god called people --

>> we've asked for your views, do you agree with the coaches decision, do you think the parents have the right to complain? very passionate e-mails from you. just a few of them. sue in sumter, south carolina wrote this. if they're big enough to play high school football, they're big enough to decide whether or not they choose to believe. at least our government doesn't force them to learn ofnl one religion and one way of life. ruth in geneva, ohio, this is what she thinks, if folks are upset about football players getting baptized on a field trip, i understand. what i don't understand why no one everybody complains about the last-minute attempt at points in a football game being called a "hail mary." all right. bruce. karen in con stantine, michigan -- this country was founded on freedom of religion. if anyone has noticed our country went to hell in a handbag when they took religion out of school. kudos to the coach. john opening up about his new

relationship in an interview and says he can't trust kate. a.j. hammer analyzes his new confession. pothole:h no...your tire's all flat and junk. oh, did i do that? here, let me get my cellular out - call ya a wrecker. ...oh shoot...i got no phone ...cuz i'm a pothole...so....k, bye! anncr: accidents are bad. anncr: but geico's good. with emergency road service. ding!

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big word. >> huge word. i don't know it's like when you look at her, i don't know, my heart pounds, i get sweaty, i don't know. i feel like i love her more than i did kate. polar opposite of kate. i get encouragement from her. i got respect from her. two things that a man needs. this is someone that, i mean, like soulmates, like peel joke about that but i'm not joking about that. i love her more than i do kate, in the same interview where he said he depiess kate. richelle, again i keep coming back to this. it doesn't seem like the kinds of thing you want to be putting out there particularly knowing your older children will probably hear this, your younger children will probably see it one day, a gip in the same interview also said, let's stop feeding the frenzy. what do you doing, jon, this interview, you are feeding the

frenzy. >> he said sweaty palms or did i imagine that, he said that, right? >> sweaty palms. >> that's infatuation but let me stop. talk about how others are receiving this interview. let me stop. >> yeah. some of the "show biz tonight" viewers, from both sides, first a strong detractor karen writing on our facebook wall, give me a break grow up, jon -- she wouldn't let me jump with the kids on the bed. i couldn't drag dirt in the house. get a life. you don't deserve to be kate's husband, she already has eight kids. she certainly doesn't need a juvenile delinquent, too. however he has a defender in sin dree writing on the facebook wall. i agree some of the things kate did to him can and should be counted as abuse. if i ever spoke to my husband the way she spoke to him, then he should leave, too. i do not think it appropriate for anyone to be treated as one of the children the way she did to him. and i actually find that interesting. what cindy is writing there

because from the beginning, richelle, you remember when this marriage was falling apart, people were initially pointing fingers at kate saying, wow, you really shouldn't talk to your husband the way she talks to him. obviously, a lot to dissect on "showbiz tonight" in addition to jennifer aniston's revelation going one on one with the megastar about finding love an keeping it. we'll see you for tv's most provocative entertainment show. >> a great show teed up for tonight. good stuff, a.j., appreciate it. >> thank you. listen to this a chicago couple headed back from a trip to vegas, headed home, pulled from the flight, the reason, according to them, the airline said they were too overweight to board the plane and left them high and dry. but what is the airline's side? "prime news" has the "whole" story. pnip]p]