making news this morning, jobs, jobs, jobs. >> the president renews his focus on jobs on this, his 50th birthday. the dire news offering little to celebrate. also tropical trouble. emily gets ready to deluge haiti's quake victims and their tent cityies with up to 20 inches of rain before it moves closer to the u.s. a family's ten hours of terror. a wealthy teen targeted, a supposed bomb placed around her neck. this morning her parents speak out. and good morning, everyone. i'm rob nelson. >> and i'm tanya rivero. we're getting new indications of the dire straits of the u.s. economy. >> check out these new numbers. there are now more people on food stamps than ever before.

nearly 48 million americans, that is 15% of the population. another stat, layoffs last month hit a 16-month high affecting industries like drug companies and retailers that have largely avoided layoffs. >> numbers like that are forcing washington to put a laser focus back on job creation. scott goldberg joins us live with details on this special day for the president. good morning, scott. >> reporter: good morning, rob and tanya. president obama will spend his 50th birthday here in washington after a quick fund-raising trip to chicago last night, but there is not much to celebrate as he now turns his attention to the economy and jobs. at a fund-raising bash celebrating his 50th birthday in chicago, the president who sounded so beleaguered during the debt ceiling debate was back in campaign trail mode. >> when i said change we can believe in, i didn't say change we can believe in tomorrow. not change we can believe in next week. we knew this was going to take time. >> reporter: president obama said he's turning his focus back

to job creation and plans to take a bus tour later this month to talk about his ideas. first, there is an immediate jobs problem at the nation's airports. 4,000 faa employees and some 70,000 construction workers are out of work because congress failed to extend funding before lawmakers left on summer vacation. >> everybody wants to play hard ball and hard ball hurt us. >> reporter: the problem, house republicans passed a bill to reauthorize most of the money but cut funding for rural airports. democr >> it's the issue of hostage . taking and that is not fair and that is not right. >> reporter: speaker john boehner said there wouldn't be a problem if the senate simply accepted the house cuts which saves $16 million a year, but while the standoff continues, the government is losing nearly $30 million a day because the faa can't collect taxes on airline tickets. >> this is a lose/lose/lose

situation. >> reporter: if congress doesn't find a way to reauthorize the money before lawmakers come back from vacation in september, this impasse could end up costing the government more than a billion dollars. rob? >> scott goldberg reporting. thanks, scott. well, haiti is in the crosshairs once again as tropical storm emily beaea down on that devastated nation. the storm is now j jt south of the dominican republic moving slowly after stalling for hours yesterday. it is expected to bring up to 20 inches of rain to haiti, and that could spell some major trouble for more than 600,000 earthquake victims still living in flimsy shelters there. abc's matt gutman stopped by one of those tent cities before the storm. >> reporter: the u.n. and aid organizations know that these people can't afford to move out of here, so they're trying to alert them by putting up these flags to tell them floods may be coming. they're also publishing newsletters like this. this is the biggest

newspaper, 500,000 copies alerting people in cartoons how to avoid the danger of storms and to try to get away. but for most of these people there is simply nowhere to go and all they're telling us is that they're going to wait out the storm and pray for the best. matt gutman, abc news, port-au-prince, haiti. emily is on track to hit the tip of cuba and the bahamas, but it's no longer expected to make landfall here in the u.s. before eventually turning back out to sea. the killer heat wave is getting even deadlier as temperatures soar again today from dallas to atlanta. more than a dozen states are trapped under that sweltering dome of hot, sticky air and for many cities it's not letting up any time soon. more from abc's steven portnoy. >> reporter: the heat has been brutal. emergency rooms are swamped. heat-related calls are pouring in. more than 100 people have died. just this week, two football players from georgia died from excessive heat exposure, 16-year-old forrest jones --

>> he was such a great kid. >> reporter: -- and high school junior d.j. searcy. >> it won't be the same. >> reporter: some scary moments at the philadelphia eagles training camp when mike patterson suffered a seizure, possibly heat related. he is in stable condition in the hospital. scorching weather is affecting 165 million people in 18 states. 2,700 all-time heat records were broken in july, and more are being smashed this month. temperatures have topped 100 degrees in dallas for 32 straight days. dozens, mostly elderly, have died with no air-conditioning. 92-year-old amy johnson's bedroom was sweltering. 106 to 121 degrees. the health department gave her a free air-conditioning unit. the national weather service issued a heat advisory for southeast texas through thursday night. record heat is putting record demand on power grids. utilities are asking customers to cut back on electricity to avoid rolling blackouts. trains are running at reduced

speeds this week for fear rails might buckle in the extreme heat. steven portnoy, abc news. and we will have live updates on all of today's severe weather, texas and haiti on "good morning america." in other news now, the justice department says an international child porn ring has been broken up after a 20-month investigation. investigators says the online site traded tens of thousands of images and videos of children under 12 being abused. theyeyay that in many cases the victims were in obvious and intentional pain. and polygamist leader warren jeffs is set to call more witnesses today as he continues defefeing himself against charges that he sexually abused two girls. this a 30-minute opening statement yesterday, jeffs made reference to the civil rights movement and reminded jurors about their constitution's guarantee of religious freedom. the only witness jeffs called was a member of his church. and a south california teenager is recuperating after spending 20 minutes trapped

under tons of sand. the teen had earlier dug the hole which rescuers estimated to be seven feet deep when the walls caved in. lifeguards frantically started to dig him out but it took firefighters to finally free the boy. let's take a look at weather around the country on this thursday morning. thunderstorms from kansas city to st. louis and from des moines to madison. heather spotty showers along most of the east coast including boston, new york, d.c. and atlanta. heavy monsoon storms from albuquerque to cheyenne and meanwhile, showers and thunderstorms in the dakotas. mostly 80s from fargo to the twin cities and detroit. a mild 75 in boston. 80 here in new york and 95 in new orleans. just shy of 110 in dallas and phoenix. boise gets up to 94. sacramento, 84 and seattle, 77. and coming up next this morning, can playing video games actually be fatal? new evidence just out. then it's the most popular prescription drug on earth and may soon be available over the counter. and it's like a movie plot,

a teen targeted, ordered to hold a bomb around her neck. a nation riveted to that story.

overseas markets are mixed today. tokyo's nikkei average gained 22 points. hong kong's hang seng is down in late trading, and in london the ftse opened higher. meanwhile, on wall street, the dow rallied late and gained 29 points yesterday

breaking that eight-day slide. the nasdaq index mixed up 23 points. cargill is recalling 36 million pounun of ground turkey. the company also stopped all production at a plant in arkansas. an investigation is underway to determine if a salmonella outbreak began there. the outbreak has killed 1 person and made 76 sick in 26 states. this particular strain of salmonella is very resistant to tibiotics. pfizer reportedly hopes to sell lipitor over the counter. the anti-cholesterol medication is the world's best-selling drug, however, pfizer needs a way to keep making profits when its patent expires in november. the company would have to convince the fda that people can properly use lipitor without consulting a doctor. and good news for blackberry fans. at&t and sprint have announced they'll be selling several new models later this year. most noteworthy are the new torch models which ditch blackberry's signature signature keyboard in favor of a full touch screen.

blackberry's maker, research in motion, has been losing ground to apple and android devices. anheuser-busch unveiled this sharp-looking new budweiser can hoping to revive sinking sales. this is the 12th new can for budweiser, which was first available in cans 75 years ago. >> ah, that looks good right about now. all right, next on this thursday morning, the major thing that will be missing from this year's jerry lewis telethon. and then the beluga and the band taking a liking to mariachi music. >> then the beluga and th taking a liking to mariachi music. telethon. >> then the beluga and the band taking a liking to mariachi music.

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it's so refreshing, your taste buds will thank you. mm... oh, you're welcome. what? my taste buds -- they're thanking me. uh-huh. [ bottle #2 ] i heard it came from space. no. from a very clean alien civilization. that's crazy. crazy clean. what?! come on. [ male announcer ] mr. clean magic eraser bath scrubber. its clean is out of this world. [ male announcer ] mr. clean magic eraser bath scrubber. the best approach to food is to keep it whole for better nutrition. that's what they do with great grains cereal. they steam and bake the actual whole grain while the other guy's flake is more processed. mmm. great grains. the whole whole grain cereal. there are easier ways to bake your biscuits. our team covering the historic heat in dallas let mother nature open these biscuit cans on a dashboard so hot, it popped open the cans in mere minutes. >> oh, man. a few weeks ago one of our reporters cooked a steak on

that dashboard. man, speaks to the heat, doesn't it? all right. let's take a look at your morning road conditions on this thursday, flooding on i-70 from denver to st. louis. it'll be wet on i-80 from cheyenne in des moines, on i-25 from albuquerque to denver and on i-15 from salt lake city to helena and also slick on parts of i-95 around new york, d.c. and philly. and on i-20 from bismarck to atlanta. if you're flying, airport delays are possible in denver, phoenix, kanans city, memphis and atlanta. a bizarre story here. police in australia are trying to unravel details behind an elaborate bomb hoax involving a teenage girl. >> when they arrived at madeleine pulver's home in a wealthy suburb, they found what looked to be an explosive device tied around her neck. bomb experts spent hours trying to remove the device which was a dud much to the relief of her worried parents who spoke to reporters earlier today. >> i can tell you that we as parents are extraordinarily proud of maddie. she has woken up this morning in

pretty good spirits. she's a little tired, a little sore from holding this damn device in place for about ten hours, but she is now, as we are, eager for her to get on with her life. >> police say they're treating this as an attempt ed extortion but are not sure why this particular well-to-do family was targeted. casey anthony can stay wherever she is for now. she hasn't been seen since leaving prison since after being acquitted of murdering her daughter and a judge ordered she doesn't need to go back to florida to serve probation for hearing tomorrow.es not need to investigators have taken away a pickup truck owned by the stepfather of israel and they also re-entered her home seeking new evidence about her disappearance and death. her body recovered monday a week after she disappeared. a labor day tradition has come to an end. jerry lewis is not appearing on

this year's muscular dystrophy telethon. the comic legend has been dropped as the chairman had announced this would be lewis' last telethon appearance, but the organization says, that's not so. lewis had been a fixture on that show for decades. a sober new warning about video games this morning. they could actually kill you. it's not the games themselves but the real danger is sitting still too long. a 20-year-old british man just died after spending all night on his xbox. doctors blame it on deep vein thrombosis. that's a condition that causes a clot to travel to the lungs and block blood flow. kids playing video games are advised to very simply just take some breaks. alex rodriguez of the new york yankees can expect some tough questions when he meets with major league baseball investigators. they want to know if a-rod has been involved in illegal poker games. rodriguez's publicist says he has not been. it is the second time a-rod will have faced questions about his gambling habits, the first back in '05. as for some on the field

baseball news, including how a-rod's teammates were doing, here's adnan virk at espn news. good morning. tim wakefield, 45 years of age and still trucking for the boston red sox looking for his 200th win in a boston uniform as they were taking on the cleveland indians. top of the seventh up 3-2. runner on third for ezekiel cabrera. ground rule double and chisenhall scores. wakefield would leave after that. he would not get that victory. jacoby ellsbury, i'm walking here. i'm walking here. second straight walkoff hit. ellsbu ellsbury'sate of the year. red sox win, 4-3. robinson cano and the new york yankees try to win their sixth straight. cano, see ya. off of gavin floyd. 17th of the year. yankees up 4-0. top of the third, yankees up

8-1. bases loaded for derek sanderson jeter. he had a five-hit game. that scores two more. yankees bludgeon the white sox, 18-7 your final. johnson to snap a five-game losing streak. bottom of the fifth, already leading it 4-0. cabrera down the line and sandoval scocos. having trouble digging it out of the left field corner. carlos beltran sliding home safely. giants win, 8-1 and move back into sole e ssession of first in the n.l. west. ryan howard and the phillies faci colorado rockies. off of rex brothers. oh, brother, where art thou. his 24th homer of the season. phillies go on to win, 8-6. you are up to date for now. and don't forget, for all of your highlights join us on the highlight express on espn news.

and a playful beluga whale at a connecticut museaquarium ss he knows how to move with the music. ♪ >> that's quite a dancer. this mariachchband is performing at a wedding when they decided to serenade juneau. >> the whale responded and put on quite an underwater performance complete with head bobs. beluga whales are known as the canaries of the sea due to their musical vocalization. who doesn't t ve a good mariachi band. >> right. it's a universal truth. up next the stories we'll follow later on today. >> including how the president plans to celebrate his 50th birthday todod. we'll be right back. hday today. we'll be right back. y. like new splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweeteners. this bowl of strawberries is loaded with vitamin c. and now, b vitamins to boot. cofofe doesn't have fiber. unless you want it to. new splenda® essentials™ are the first and only line of sweeteners with a small boost

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it repels most ticks before they can attach and snack on us. frontline plus kills but doesn't repel. any tick that isn't repelled or killed may attach and make a meal of us. [ male announcer ] ask your veterinarian about k9 advantix ii. now a look ahead at the stories we'll be watching this thursday. tropopal storm emily is taking aim at haiti this morning. heavy rain could lead to deadly flooding in tent cities that still house about 600,000 earthquake victims. the storm is no longer expected, though, to hit the u.s. and fresh off his prebirthday fund-raiser in chicago last night, president obama celebrates his 50th birthday at the white house today. staffers will toast their boss during a midday party in the blue room. tonight there's a birthday dinner for family and friends in the rose garden. thousands of workers face another day off the job because lawmak funding for the faa. president obama has urged congress to return from their month-long vacation to address the issue. and the trial of former

egyptian president hosni mubarak enters its second day. millions of egyptians were transfixed yesterday by images of the once powerful mubarak on a hospital bed inside a specially built cage. mubarak is charged with ordering the deaths of anti-government protesters. tiger woods makes his return to the pga tour today when he starts playing in a tournament out in ohio. the former world numbebeone, of course, has been sidelined for about three months letting injuries to his left leg heal. he says he's as healthy as he's been in years and he expects to win. a good time should be had by all tonight when season four of the mtv smash hit "jersey shore" debuts. this time the tanned, toned crew is in florence, italy. how popular is the show? well, more viewers are expected than the over 8 million who watched in season three premiere. they are fist pumping their way all the way to the bank. >> i am constantly amazed. for some of you local news is next.

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next on abc7 news -- ending the housing mystery. the hotel now used to solve crisis campus at san jose state. 36 million pounds of ground turkey recalled after a northern california man died and dozens more are sickened nationwide. what you need to check in your freezer this morning. mike nicco has the forecast. >> the drizzle is out there and widespread. the cool breeze will drop and finally this morning, exclusive new details reviving the legend of d.b. cooper. >> an oklahoma city woman has come forward hoping to shed light on the 40-year-old mystery. she claims to be related to the man behind the nation's only

unsolved hijacking, and she sat down with abc's pierre thomas. >> reporter: this woman says she holds the key to one of the fbi's great mysteries. who do you think that d.b. cooper is? >> he was my uncle, lynn doyle cooper. >> reporter: wow. >> who we called l.d. cooper. >> reporter: the fbi has been hunting for d.b. cooper since 1971 when a man going by that name hijacked and threatened to blow up a passenger jet. the hijacker demanded $200,000 in small bills and a flight to mexico, but during the flight he took the money and jumped out of the speeding 727 into a raging storm over the pacific northwest. he disappeared despite a massive manhunt. but this cold case has now been. reignited by marla cooper. she showed us this 1972 polaroid picture of her uncle. >> that my father made a comment about his long lost brother, my uncle, l.d., and said that he thought that he was still alive

but hiding from the fbi. and i questioned why he would be hiding. and he said, don't you remember, he hijacked that airplane. >> reporter: marla was told her uncle died in 1999. and what happened to that $200,000? nearly a decade after the hijacking, some of it was found, bundles of $20 bills deteriorating on a riverbed. fbi sources tell abc news they believe marla's story is credible. the reason, her uncle fits the profile they've been seeking. he has a military background. he lived in the pacific northwest, and he was obsessed with this 1960s comic book. the fbi has spent months looking into marla's story chasing the most promising lead in decades in a case that still captivates the nation. pierre thomas, abc news, oklahoma city. >> big mystery. >> we'll see how it plays out. >> that's right, and that's what's making news in america this morning. stay with us for "good morning america" and thanks so much, everybody, for watching. have a great thursday. we'll see you tomorrow.