up in flames. a wind-driven wildfire forces a thousand homes to evacuate in colorado. a burning debate. plans by a florida church to burn the koran sparks protest and a warning about the safety of u.s. troops. and without a net, a daredevil scales a san francisco skyscraper right into the arms of the law. this is the "cbs morning news" for tuesday, september 7th, this is the "cbs morning news" for tuesday, september 7th, 2010. captioning funded by cbs and back to work today on this tuesday. good morning, everybody. good to see you. i'm terrell brown. and right now firefighters are battling a wind-driven wildfire in northern colorado. it's unclear what started the fire monday morning. residents of a thousand homes

have been forced to evacuate. nearly six square miles have been burned. it's unknown the number of buildings destroyed. sandra hughes has our report. >> reporter: the smoke is so dark and thick it can be seen all the way to denver. fire crews have had to attack the blaze which is ten miles northwest of boulder on the ground because high winds had kept air tankers grounded until late afternoon monday. >> some of the structures lost or destroyed actually belong to firefighters that were currently working on the incident. >> reporter: officials don't know how many structures the blaze has burned, but anna and tom know their home is gone. tom stayed back to fight the fire, but had to give up. >> i was putting out the spot fires, but once that firestorm hit and the trees just ignited, the flames were up about 200 feet in the air. >> reporter: some desperate homeowners who were away when the fire broke out were trying to get back up to the area. >> i'll be back down here in 20 minutes. my dog's in that house and i'm not going to let my dog burn.

>> reporter: roads coming down from the foothills were jammed. others stayed behind to make a stand. >> i got my dogs, all the stuff in my room. >> reporter: people who live in the area are used to wildfires, but say this is something they've never seen before. >> the people, the houses, the pets, all the wildlife. it's devastating. >> reporter: the cause is not yet known. sandra hughes, cbs news. this morning tropical storm hermine is pounding south texas with heavy rains. it could cause life threatening flooding. hermine crossed in to south texas this morning northwest of brownsville. up to a foot of rain is possible in some areas. hermine came ashore late monday in northwest mexico. more than 3,000 people were forced to evacuate. schools in brownsville are closed today. plans by a church here in america to burn copies of the koran have triggered a warning from the top u.s. commander in afghanistan. the reverend terry jones, pastor

of an evangelical church in gainesville, florida. the church describes islam as an evil religion and plans to burn copies of islam's holiest book. >> on september the 11th, we are going to have an international burn a koran day because this book, this book is not a book of peace. this book is responsible for 9/11. >> general david petraeus says burning the koran could endanger u.s. troops. on monday, there were protests outside a mosque in kabul, afghanistan. american flags were burned and the crowd chanted death to america. republicans wasted little time in attacking president obama's jobs program. even members of his own party weren't so enthusiastic about the $50 billion transit plan. tomorrow the president proposes a tax cut for businesses. tara mergener is in washington with more. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, terrell. well, the president as you know

is under a lot of pressure to bring this economy back to life. but critics say his latest plan will be ineffective and expensive. the white house is putting the finishing touches on a tax plan it hopes will help businesses add jobs. tomorrow president obama is expected to unveil the package of tax incentives that would allow businesses to write-off all new investments in plant and equipment through 2011. the potential savings, $200 billion. >> i'm going to keep fighting every single day, every single hour, every single minute, to turn this economy around. >> reporter: monday the president rolled out a new $50 billion program to create jobs, rebuilding the nation's roads, railways and runways. he assured a milwaukee crowd the plan would not add to the federal deficit. >> this is a plan that will be fully paid for. >> reporter: but republicans are skeptical. gop leaders say the last thing the nation needs now is more

government stimulus spending. president obama blasted republicans monday, blaming their policies for triggering the recession and their proposed solutions for making the economy worst. >> when it comes to just about everything we've done to strengthen our middle class, to rebuild our economy, almost every republican in congress says no. >> reporter: with midterm elections just weeks away, some political observers say even democrats may have a tough time supporting any new plan associated with spending. >> at the end of the day, it probably won't pass congress. and if it does pass congress, it won't create any jobs until next year, long after the midterm elections. >> reporter: and long after the battle for control of congress is over. now, to pay for the infrastructure program, the president will ask congress to close tax breaks for oil and gas companies and multinational corporations. terrell, back to you. >> tara mergener in washington for us this morning. tara, good to see you. thank you.

it will be a rough commute in london this morning. workers on the subway system are on strike. up to 10,000 underground workers walked off the job last night to protest job cuts. they plan to strike for 24 hours. more than 3.5 million people use the tube daily. and during world war ii, the tube provided shelter and safety to millions of londoners during the german bombing campaign known as the blitz. rare color film of the devastating bombing campaign has been released. the blitz began 70 years ago today, september 7th, 1940, and lasted until may of 1941. at one point london was bombed 76 consecutive nights. 43,000 civilians were killed. on the cbs "moneywatch" th morning, stocks in asia broke a winning streak. ashley morrison is here in new york with more on that. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning to you, terrell. well, asian markets saw profit taking today after four straight days of gains. the nikkei gave back nearly 1% while the hang seng was also mostly lower. wall street gets back to

work today after the long holiday weekend. last week was the market's first winning one in a month. the dow gained about 3% while the nasdaq almost 4%. businesses are holding the line on adding new jobs. a survey out this morning from manpower shows 5% of employers plan to hire new workers in the fourth quarter. that's about the same as last quarter, but up from a year ago. according to the survey, the strongest growth will be seen in the northeast while the weakest is expected out west. today the white house launches its latest plan to rescue the housing market. first announced back in march, the program will focus on reducing balances for homeowners who are current on their mortgage but owe more than their property is actually worth. government hopes to help up to 1.5 million homeowners in trouble. you may want to hit facebook or twitter before you book your next trip. "usa today" is reporting that hotels and airlines are ramping up their exposure to social networking sites in a bid to

help build brand loyalty. the site's offering a way to communicate directly to potential customers, some chains are offering discounted deals through the sites before they are available anywhere else. and a new study argues that money can buy happiness to a point. researchers found that as your income rises, so does your emotional well-being but only until you hit about $75,000 a year. after that they say your sense of success may grow, but more money will not make you happier. and among its other earth-shaking findings, terrell, is that people are happier on weekends. go figure. >> apparently i wasn't a part of that study. give me the money, let me decide if it makes me happy. >> i think i could get really happy if it went way above $75,000. shoes and bags. >> ashley morrison here in new york, appreciate it, thank you. just ahead on the "morning news," the latest twist in the john travolta extortion case. plus cancer patients see a hair lightening effect from an

experimental drug. this is the "cbs morning news." so, we set out to discover the nutritional science at purina one, we want your cat to be as healthy as possible in some of nature's best ingredients. that's how we created purina one with smartblend. nutritionally optimized with real salmon, wholesome grains and essential antioxidants, for strong muscles, vital energy, a healthy immune system, and a real difference in your cat. purina one improved with smartblend. discover what one can do. that can take so much out of you. i feel like i have to wind myself up just to get out of bed. then...well, i have to keep winding myself up to deal with the sadness, the loss of interest, the trouble concentrating, the lack of energy. [ male announcer ] if depression is taking so much out of you, ask your doctor about pristiq®. pristiq is a prescription medicine

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in the new red bottle of wisk. in stores now! it's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll and the same goes for climbing a skyscraper. this guy calls himself skyscraper man. on monday, he used high tech suction cups to climb a 58-story glass tower in san francisco. at the top, firefighters helped him unfurl a flag, and you know how this goes, police arrested him when he got there. he was released a couple of hours later. in los angeles, a protest against sunday's failed police shooting of a guatemalan immigrant turned violent. it started last night in a neighborhood with a large central american population. protesters refused orders to disperse and started throwing bottles at riot police and setting fires in trash cans. no word on injuries or arrests.

in medical news, an experimental drug to treat advanced melanoma is on the fda's fast track for approval. while only one in five responds to the treatment, in some cases the results are startling. manuel gallegus has more. >> reporter: gavin is only 51, but his hair is already white and he couldn't be happier about it. >> i said, oh, my goodness, this is great, i'm alive to see it. >> reporter: his dark hair started turning white several months ago as a side effect of an experimental drug he took to treat his stage four melanoma. surgery and chemotherapy didn't work. and he was running out of time. >> all my options had been tried and i felt that this was the best opportunity, that i was willing to do at that point because i figured i had nothing to lose. >> reporter: the drug is called ipi for short, a recent study found in about 20% of patients who took it, it added nearly a year or more to their lives. it works by supercharging the

body's own immune system to fight the cancer. it didn't work for everyone, but the patients treated here at nyu whose hair and eyelashes turned all white later had their cancer tumors shrink completely, giving them their lives back. >> this is clearly your immune system that's attacking melanocytes and they're the cells that cause melanoma and cause you to have pigmentation. >> reporter: now considered disease free, gavin's new favorite color is white. but for tracy, who is also considered disease free, the white is something she wants to cover up. >> i'm only 38. i shouldn't have white hair yet. >> reporter: but she admits dying her hair is something she can live with. manuel gallegus, cbs news, new york. a bahamas judge has dismissed charges against two people trying to extort $25 million from john travolta. travolta testified in the first of the two trials which ended in a mistrial last october. the judge says the actor didn't want to put his family through

the stress and pain of a second trial. finally this morning, we'll keep this very short, meet the world's shortest man. he is 24-year-old edward hernandez from colombia who stands just over 27 1/2 inches high, declared the shortest in the world yesterday by the guinness book of records. coming up, your tuesday morning weather. and in the sports, the red sox go home happy at fenway. they're stirring up the pennant pot in the american league east. pot in the american league east. [ male announcer ] prilosec otc traveled to fairbanks, alaska. home of one of the coldest, longest nights on the planet. and asked frequent heartburn sufferers, like carl, to put prilosec otc's 24 hour heartburn protection to the test for two weeks. the results? i can concentrate on everything i'm doing, not even think about it anymore. since i've been taking it, i've been heartburn free, which is a big relief for me. [ male announcer ] take your 14-day challenge. ♪ prilosec otc. heartburn gone. power on.

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here's a look at the weather in some cities around the country this morning. sunny, 89, new york. miami thunderstorms. chicago, sunny, 75. denver sunny, 80, los angeles, 75 and sunny. time now for a check of the national forecast. the latest satellite picture shows cloudy skies throughout much of the northern plains while skies over the southwest are clear. later today, more rain is coming ashore over the gulf of mexico. the heat returns to the eastern seaboard for the day and cooler weather finds its way into the northwest. in sports, the yankees beat tampa bay, but couldn't get any ground in the al east. that it's because the rays were in boston and the red sox unleashed the long ball. david ortiz and adrian beltre had back to back homers in the first. and a grand slam in the fourth, the sox went on to win this one 12-5. to the national league, the rockies got off to a rocky start

against the reds, but a triple to tie the game at four in the third. another homer in the fifth. colorado wins this one 10-5. to tennis now, roger federer who is a step closer to playing for a sixth u.s. open title, he made it look easy. 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 win last night. and finally, we've got college football this morning playing in sight of the u.s. capital in maryland, boise state up 17-0 over virginia tech early, the hokies make a comeback, but a 71 yard touchdown in the third quarter gave boise state the win. they take it 33-30. when we come back, another look at this morning's top stories and unions under fire. e come back, another look at this morning's top stories and unions under fire.

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a man scales 58 floors of san francisco's millennium tower. coming up at five: why he did it... and what he said after being released from police custody. two miles of the petaluma river... tainted with oil. the project that caused the leak. and dozens of homes destroyed in a wildfire burning out of control near boulder, colorado. 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. soaking rains and gusting winds in texas are a result of hermine moving inland. northern plains, shower activity is coming from fast moving thunderstorms. the west coast cools down and the east coast warms up. and here's another look at this morning's top stories. a wind-driven wildfire north of boulder, colorado has destroyed dozens of homes and forced a thousand others to be evacuated. 5 1/2 square miles have been charred, but so far no injuries are reported. and a florida church plans to burn copies of the muslim holy book the koran on the anniversary of september 11th. the u.s. commander in afgh istan says that could endanger u.s. troops. back home, president obama's job creation plan comes as the unemployment rate hangs near 10%.

it's been tough times for americans who have been out of work for a long stretch. meanwhile, ununionized workers -- or unionized workers, rather, are facing cuts. elaine quijano reports. >> reporter: for more than three months, michelle has been picketing the plant where she's worked for 15 years, mott's apple juice in western new york. 300 union members are locked in a heated dispute, symbolizing a new shift in the power struggle between management and labor in america. companies typically ask for labor concessions when they're losing money. but mott's parent company, dr. pepper snapple, is making record profits, more than half a billion dollars. yet workers are being asked to take a $1.50 an hour wage cut and a pension freeze. >> we need the fair share. if you're making half a billion after expenses, we should share in that.

>> reporter: the company claims mott's workers make far more than their counterparts. >> when there's a situation that you have wages and benefits out of line with the local market, it's something that we have an obligation to address. >> reporter: labor experts say generally the longer a strike drags on, the more likely it is a company will get its way. but these workers say they'll continue to hold out until the company comes up with a better offer. replacement workers arrive daily doing the jobs union members used to do. the company says it has no plans to reopen talks. holding out is hard for michelle and her son. >> he didn't have a birthday cake. >> reporter: she realizes this could be a lost cause. >> i'll fight with everybody until the end and then i'll move on. >> reporter: elaine quijano, cbs news, williamson, new york. this morning on "the early

show," more on the devastating colorado wildfires. i'm terrell brown. this is the "cbs morning news." [ female announcer ] your precious eyes. when allergies make them itch, don't wait for your pills to kick in. choose alaway, from the eye health experts at bausch & lomb. it works in minutes and up to 12 hours. bausch & lomb alaway. because it's not just your allergies, it's your eyes. because it's not just your allergies, no oil has flowed into the gulf for weeks, but it's just the beginning of our work. i'm iris cross. bp has taken full responsibility for the clean up in the gulf and that includes keeping you informed. my job is to listen to the shrimpers and fishermen, hotel and restaurant workers and find ways to help. i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. bp is gonna be here until the oil is gone and the people and businesses are back to normal... until we make this right. to finish what you started today. for the aches and sleeplessness in between, there's new motrin pm. no other medicine, not even advil pm,

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♪ you'll never walk alone an emotional jerry lewis last night ending his 45th annual telethon with the traditional singing of you'll never walk alone. this year contributions totaled more than $58 million. that's slightly down from last year. lewis attributed that to the rough economy. some 40 million viewers tuned in to the 21 1/2 hour event. for many people, spending time at the beach can make for a relaxing afternoon, but for young patients with a debilitating disease, the ocean is a lifesaver. hattie kauffman reports. >> reporter: though he hits the beach every opportunity he gets, caleb is not your average surfer dude. surfing is helping you live.

>> exactly. i now surf to live. >> reporter: the ocean helps him with something we all take for granted, breathing. caleb has cystic fibrosis. nearly 30,000 americans suffer from the disease which causes thick mucous to build up in the lungs and the digestive track, making it difficult to breathe and to break down food. cystic fibrosis patients undergo a rigorous routine, including breathing treatments, and twice a day therapy in a vest that fills with air to help break up mucous in the chest. >> the treatments, i have to put them on every day, but it's not really tough for me. >> reporter: there is no cure for the disease, but the ocean is a natural treatment. research has shown that salty mist from the water can help break up thick mucous in the lungs and make breathing easier. >> after surfing, i can sit on the beach and take a deep breath. >> reporter: doctors suggest that cystic fibrosis patients

living near the coastline take advantage of the health benefits found in the salt water air. inhaling a high salt containing liquid into the lungs helps draw fluid out of the tissue and create a surface lining that these children would not have. >> the key to learning to surf -- >> reporter: the cystic fibrosis foundation of orange county puts on surf camps. >> as a parent, you don't know what it's like for your kid to say, oh, i can breathe. >> reporter: even just playing in the waves can help. >> it feels like i was going to fly into the air. >> reporter: caleb discovered the curative ocean air only a year ago when he moved from illinois to california. along with helping him breathe, he says surfing is an opportunity to show others how to overcome the disease while they wait for a cure. >> we're normal, we're just like everyone else, just have to start our day and end our day a little differently. >> reporter: what better way to start than catching the perfect

wave. hattie kauffman, cbs news, huntington beach, california. nothing like a trip to the beach. that's the "cbs morning news" for this tuesday. thanks for watching. we hope you'll join us later on "the early show." i'm terrell brown. take care, have a great day, i'm terrell brown. take care, have a great day, everybody. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

your realtime captioner is linda marie macdonald. caption colorado, l.l.c. a stunt on a san francisco high-rise, why "skyscraperman" scaled this building to make a point. crews still cleaning up an oil sheen stretching two s