final fix? an operation to seal the broken bp well for good could begin today as the government releases a new estimate of just how much oil leaked into the gulf. tragedy on the bayou. six louisiana teenagers drowned while swimming in a river. and mosque controversy. a vote today could clear the way for a muslim prayer center to be built near ground zero. this is the "cbs morning news" for tuesday, august 3rd, this is the "cbs morning news" for tuesday, august 3rd, 2010. captioning funded by cbs good morning and thanks for joining us. i'm betty nguyen. bp still hopes to begin pumping mud and cement into its blownout oil well, but a test to determine the safety of the so-called static kill operation has been delayed.

meanwhile, the government has revised its estimate of just how much oil has leaked into the gulf. tara mergener is in washington with all the details. good morning, tara. >> reporter: good morning. well, the new numbers make it even clearer just how bad this oil spill really is. but bp is hoping this is the home stretch. the disaster in the gulf is officially the worst accidental oil spill in history. according to new federal estimates, nearly 5 million barrels, or about 206 million gallons of crude, gushed from the ruptured well before it was capped 19 days ago. >> i think everybody would like to have this ended as soon as possible. >> reporter: today bp plans to test a procedure it hopes will permanently seal the well. tests of the static kill were postponed monday after crews discovered a small hydraulic leak. if all goes according to plan today, engineers could slowly start pumping heavy mud and cement into the well to plug it. >> i don't think we see this as the end all be all until the

relief well is done. >> reporter: but bp's problems are far from over. according to published reports, the s.e.c. is now investigating the company for possible insider trading. officials are reportedly looking into whether anyone profited illegally by using information about the spill the public didn't have access to. bp did get some good news monday, a new epa study showed chemical dispersants used to break up the oil are no more toxic to sea life than the oil itself. but with the long term effects still unknown, local officials want more assurances. >> we have to look the fishermen in the eyes and say the federal government is committed to making sure you get your life back. >> reporter: they're calling for tests to continue to make sure their seafood is safe for years to come. and tomorrow senate lawmakers will hold a hearing on the use of those chemical dispersants. betty, back to you. >> tara mergener from washington. thank you.

now to a tragedy in northwest louisiana. six teenagers drowned at a popular recreation area in shreveport. the victims were playing in an often used swimming area, the red river, on monday. the teenagers had been wading in shallow water when they stepped off of a ledge about 20 feet deep. >> the wave pushed them out there and they tried to swim back up and then they were hollering for help and started going down. >> they had one life jacket here and as you can imagine, everybody started yelling for help. nobody could swim. >> the victims were ages 13 to 18, including three brothers from one family and a sister and two brothers from another. none of the adults with them could swim either. a 14-year-old was rescued, though. this morning the full senate begins debate on the nomination of elena kagan to the supreme court. she'd be the fourth female justice to sit on the nation's highest court. she served as solicitor general in the obama administration and would succeed justice john paul

stevens. a vote is expected this week. veteran congresswoman maxine waters says she did nothing wrong, but the house ethics panel disagrees. waters faces three charges of ethical wrongdoing and faces a house trial this fall. waters asked for federal help for a bank her husband owned stock in. waters says she was advocating for minority banks and her family did not benefit. a proposed mosque to be built near the site of ground zero here in new york city is expected to clear another hurdle this morning. the proposed islamic center would be located just two blocks from where the world trade center stood. plans for the mosque have sparked an emotional debate. critics contend its location would be unnecessary and insensitive. >> it's not about religious freedom, it's not about anything else. it's all about location. be sensitive to the families. >> we're becoming religiously

intolerant. it's hypocritical of me to tell someone else they can't practice their religion. >> this morning a new york city and buildings commission will decide whether an existing building can be knocked down to make room for the mosque. two men convicted in a plot to blow up fuel tanks at new york's kennedy airport will be sentenced december 15th. one man is a former cargo handler. the other is former member of guyana's parliament. they face life in prison and plan to appeal. prosecutors say the pair wanted to kill thousands of people outdoing the 9/11 attacks to avenge what they perceive as the u.s. oppression of muslims. violence erupted in pakistan this morning. gunmen shot to death at least 37 people in karachi. this follows yesterday's assassination of a popular lawmaker. karachi has a long history of ethnic and religious violence. meanwhile there is more rain and new flood warnings in pakistan this morning. at least 1200 people have died so far in some of the worst flooding the country has seen in decades. now one of the country's biggest

dams is threatened and nearby residents have been asked to evacuate. on the cbs "moneywatch," stocks in asia edged up this morning. ashley morrison is here in new york with the latest on that. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. well, asian markets rose following big gains on wall street monday. the nikkei added more than 1% while the hang seng also edged up. today wall street gets the very latest on personal income and home sales. on monday stocks surged after banks reported big profits. the dow soared 208 points while the nasdaq gained 40. both indexes are now in the black for the year. it's full speed ahead for financial reform. treasury secretary timothy geithner promised quick action monday in implementing new regulations recently passed into law. the top priority will be simplifying the complicated forms consumers fill out to get credit cards, auto loans and mortgages. geithner also pledged to move forward with the overhaul of

mortgage giants fannie mae and freddie mac. countrywide financial has agreed to pay $600 million to settle shareholder lawsuits. the lawsuits claim the company, once the country's leading mortgage lender, hid risks from investors. as part of the agreement, countrywide did not admit any wrongdoing. it's the largest payout so far from the mortgage meltdown. toyota may have known of at least six incidents of sudden acceleration as early as 2003, including some verified by its own technicians. that's according to court documents filed monday as part of the avalanche of lawsuits the company faces in state and federal court. toyota says it looks forward to defending itself against the allegations. once again the cadillac escalade tops the list of most stolen vehicles. this despite an anti-theft ignition system that prevents it from being started without a special key. thieves just get around that by stealing it with a flat bed truck.

one of every 100 escalades is reported stolen. and bosses, listen up. a new survey shows that nearly a quarter of the time americans are online, they're actually visiting social networking sites like facebook and online games are moving ahead of e-mail to become the second most popular online activity. but of course never on company time. but if i am, it's work-related, i'm doing research. >> i'm sorry, what did you say? i was on twitter. what, what was that? >> just a little thing about something called facebook. >> yeah, those social networking sites never work. never. all right, ashley, thank you. joining us live here in new york. ashley morrison. just ahead on the "morning news," charlie sheen pleads guilty in a domestic abuse case. plus upping the ante in mexico. police are attacked with a grenade. and it was caught on tape. you're watching the "cbs morning news." >> announcer: "moneywatch" sponsored by new lanacane anti-chafing gel. sooths and prevents chafing.

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[ sandy ] try viva® and quit the quilt. on the surface of the sun, solar storms flared up on sunday. and that means that solar plasma is shooting directly toward us. scientists say the results may be unusually colorful northern light displays tonight and tomorrow. i'm sure it's quite a sight. well, the drug war violence is escalating near the u.s./mexico border. listen to that. mexican federal officers were in a gunfight sunday with a drug gang when they were also attacked with a grenade. juarez, the city across the border from el paso, is one of the world's most dangerous places with more than 4,000 people killed there since the beginning of 2009. a mexican drug cartel reportedly has a million dollar

bounty on the head of a controversial arizona sheriff. joe arpaio says his office is investigating the threat after they were notified by the fbi. he says it won't change the way he does his job. arpaio said the last bounty against him was for $5 million and the sheriff says, quote, the economy must be bad down there in mexico. residents were angry when the city manager and police chief in bell, california resigned last month after their huge salaries were revealed. now citizens are outraged about the cost of their pensions. john blackstone reports. >> reporter: when the angry citizens of bell, california forced their overpaid city manager and police chief to resign, it may be the best thing that ever happened to the two. consider the pensions now due city manager robert rizzo -- >> life time pension will be roughly $30 million. >> reporter: -- and police chief randy adams. >> his life time pension will be more like $15 million to $17 million. >> reporter: but it's actually

taxpayers in other cities who will have to shell out. in california, every city an employee works for has to pay a share of the pension which is based on the final salary. so randy adams who worked just one year in bell at a salary of $457,000 now qualifies for an annual pension of about $448,000. but bell will pay less than $13,000 a year. glendale where adams worked for five years will contribute more than $62,000. simi valley, more than $85,000. and ventura, where he worked for 20 years, will pay more than $286,000 annually. >> it's just wrong. he took advantage of the system and now everyone's going to have to take cutbacks and all of ventura will have to pay for it. >> reporter: for city manager robert rizzo's potential $890,000 annual pension, the city of rancho cucamonga where he worked more than 20 years ago will have to pay $185,000. and hesperia more than $74,000.

>> they don't know it's hitting them until it hits them. >> reporter: the only good news for all those angered by this, california's attorney general is investigating whether the exorbitant salaries can be excluded from their pensions. john blackstone, cbs news, san francisco. >> that's quite a story you can bet we'll continue to follow that. in other news, charlie sheen got a light sentence from a colorado judge. sheen walked out of court in aspen on monday after pleading guilty to assaulting his wife during a christmas day argument. in the plea deal, he got no jail time and the most serious charges were dropped. sheen got 30 days in rehab, 30 days probation, and 36 hours of anger management classes. straight ahead, your tuesday morning weather. and in sports, a very nasty collision at home plate in boston. hi, mom.

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smaller storms can be found popping up over the southeast. and in the southern plains, high heat and humidity are gripping the region once again. in sports, tampa bay is now tied with the yankees in the american league east. matt joyce of the rays hit a two run double against the twins. tampa bay's 4-2 victory was their ninth win in the last ten games. and it ties them with the yankees for the best record in baseball. and in boston, catcher carlos santana of the indians was involved in a violent collision at home plate. check that out. cleveland's manager says he may not be seriously injured, though he will have an mri later today. the indians beat the reds 6-5. the red sox, that is. and in the national league, cincinnati is now in the central division in first place. the 4-0 shutout was cincinnati's fifth win in six games. and instant replay is being expanded for this year's little league world series.

team managers will now have the option of challenging umpire calls on force outs, tags and missed bases. the series begins august 20th. and when we return, another look at this morning's top stories. plus scheduled exit. u.s. combat troops in iraq begin their homecomings this month. their home comings this month. when i was seventeen i was not good to my skin. long summer days, and not enough sleep. what i wouldn't do for a do-over.

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communities all across the nation will be doing it. the cadillac escalade... the most stolen vehicle in america. even with it's anti-theft ignition system... how thieves are stealing the luxury s-u-vs. and who's winning the battle of the smart phone... android or blackberry. join us for cbs 5 eyewitness news early edition ... beginning at five. on the "cbs morning news," here's a look at today's weather. there are high amounts of heat and humidity gripping the southern plains and portions of the southeast. scattered storms in the southeast and severe storms in the northern plains could drop up to two inches of rain. here's another look at this morning's top stories. while bp works on permanently plugging the well, government scientists now say nearly 5 million barrels, or about 206

million gallons, spilled into the gulf before the leak was capped on july 15th. and the fate of a proposed mosque to be built near ground zero could be decided today when a new york city buildings commission votes. there are startling new statistics in the war in iraq. last month was the deadliest for iraqi civilians. 356 people died. that is the highest since last december. the uptick in casualties comes as the u.s. pledges to keep a promise to withdraw combat troops from iraq at the end of this month. whit johnson reports. >> reporter: president obama told a group of disabled veterans, all u.s. combat troops are coming home from iraq on schedule. >> by the end of this month, we'll have brought more than 90,000 of our troops home from iraq since i took office. >> reporter: on august 31st, there will be just 50,000 u.s. troops in iraq. their mission will be to train iraqi forces and provide security for u.s. facilities.

but serious questions remain about whether iraqis can stop daily attacks like this car bombing in baghdad without u.s. help. >> there are still those with bombs and bullets who will try to stop iraq's progress and the hard truth is we have not seen the end of american sacrifice in iraq. >> reporter: the president could have a tough time finding support to meet the challenges. the people we spoke to want u.s. troops to come home. >> it's way past time to be out of iraq. >> reporter: the latest cbs news poll shows most americans think things are going well in iraq, but even those who don't say it's time to pull out. >> you always say you have to wait until it becomes more stable, but is it one year, five years, 20 years? are we ever going to be able to get out of there with a stable iraq? >> reporter: the white house is also worried about stability. it's pushing iraq's politicians to stop arguing over election results and form a new government so they can deliver the basic services that could help calm things down. whit johnson, cbs news, the white house.

this morning on "the early show," dangerous dietary supplements. i'm betty nguyen. this is the "cbs morning news." in charge of bp's efforts 'm to remove oil from these waters. bp has taken full responsibility for the cleanup and that includes keeping you informed. every morning, over 50 spotter planes and helicopters take off and search for the oil. we use satellite images, infrared and thermal photography to map and target the oil. then, the boats go to work. almost 6,000 vessels. these are thousands of local shrimp and fishing boats organized into task forces and strike teams. plus, specialized skimmers from around the world. we've skimmed over 27 million gallons of oil/water mixture and removed millions more with other methods. we've set out more than 8 million feet of boom to protect the shoreline. i grew up on the gulf coast and i love these waters. we can't keep all the oil from coming ashore,

but i'm gonna do everything i can to stop it, and we'll be here as long as it takes to clean up the gulf.

there's no shortage of heroism when it comes to new york's fire department. but some say the department comes up short on the issue of diversity in the ranks. jim axelrod reports. >> reporter: new york city fire captain paul washington has a big problem with his department. >> this fire department has been all white, lilly white, for almost 150 years now. and it has to end. >> reporter: eight years ago, the fire department was 92% white and only 2.8% black. in a city that was 24% black. a disparity that remains largely unchanged. a group of african-american firefighters sued. >> the fire department in new york on the one hand is tremendously heroic and the whole world knows about its heroism.

and on the other hand, we have this kind of singular embarrassment. >> reporter: last january, a federal judge agreed ruling the hiring test to become one of new york's bravest was not just discriminatory, but illegal. he ordered the city to fix it. >> blacks don't fair as well as whites on the test probably due to the disparity in education. >> reporter: now the judge says the city has been dragging its feet and tightened the screws. >> look at los angeles. look at -- >> quotas. >> philadelphia. >> quotas. >> boston. >> quotas. >> whatever your method, they corrected a racial imbalance. >> by using quotas. and we are against quotas. >> reporter: miami in particular expanded recruitment by targeting young minorities still in public schools with high school emt training classes. today they have firefighters like maurice kemp to show for it. that's chief maurice kemp, the department's first african-american in charge. >> like all other major city departments, it doesn't come without a struggle. i mean, we have to be conscious

of the fact that we need to be diverse. >> reporter: mannix believes the current fdny test focuses too much on producing a racially diverse department and not enough on identifying the strongest candidates regardless of race. >> you're asking me to make my job more dangerous to satisfy a social engineering experiment. >> reporter: mannix doesn't officially speak for the city, but both the fire department and the mayor declined our requests for an interview. in a statement, the city said that it disagrees with the court's findings that these tests were discriminatory and intends to appeal. the city says next time it hires, the incoming class will be one-third minority, but no new firefighters have been hired in the last two years and no one knows when the city will hire again. >> i find it shocking that the fire department looks like it does today. and the city is fighting the decision and threatening appeal rather than going ahead and giving the city the fire

department that it deserves. >> i want to see black new yorkers share in this job. because as i say, it's not a good job, it's a great job. >> reporter: the only thing paul washington wants to change about this great job is the way new york city decides who gets it. jim axelrod, cbs news, new york. and that's the "cbs morning news" for this tuesday. thanks for watching. hope you'll join us later for the "early show." i'm betty nguyen. the "early show." i'm betty nguyen. have a great day. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

your realtime captioner is linda marie macdonald. caption colorado, l.l.c. comments@captioncolorado.com good morning. it is tuesday, the 3rd of august. a lot of transportation stuff going on. >> yeah. we're going to talk