disturbing taste from the king of pop. a costume controversy. why this mascot's outfit is putting one ice cream parlor's sales into a deep freeze. this is the "cbs morning news" for wednesday, september 28th, 2011. captioning funded by cbs good morning, everybody. thanks for joining us. i'm betty nguyen. new jersey governor chris christie said no, yet he appeared to leave the door open for a presidential run. he spoke in california last night stoking speculation he still might join the republican field. susan mcginnis is in washington with the latest. all right, susan, will he? won't he? i don't think we are really sure. >> i know. good morning, betty. >> reporter: governor christie continues to that he has changed his mind about running. it was his speech yesterday at the reagan library that started

fueling this fresh speculation. new jersey governor chris christie keeps fending off calls for a presidential run. >> it is extraordinarily flattering but, by the same token, that heartfelt message you gave me is also another reason not for me to do it. that reason has to be inside of me. >> reporter: audience members asked him if he would reconsider joining the gop race but the first term governor would only point to his past answers. >> what do i have to do short of suicide to convince people i'm not running. >> reporter: he slammed congress and president obama. >> insisting that we must tax and take and demonize those who have already achieved the american dream. that may turn out to be good re-election strategy, mr. president, but it is a demor demoralizing message for america. >> reporter: the governor is

under growing pressure to throw his hat into the ring, especially from republicans unhappy with the current gop field. >> there are a lot of republicans who want him or someone else to run. >> reporter: according to the latest cbs news/"the new york times" poll only 43% of republican primary voters say they are satisfied with their choices. 50% want more options. time is running out for christie and other republican stars like sarah palin to make up their minds. registration for competing in the florida primary closes at the end of next month. now, that event marked the last of a four-day fund-raising trip that christie made across the country. betty, that may have fueled some of the speculation he may be jumping in. >> susan mcginnis in washington for us, thank you. president obama is back in washington after a three-day western campaign swing. today, he'll deliver a back to school speech at a d.c. area high school. in denver yesterday, the president cam

adviser told an audience, we have the wind in our face. this is going to be a titanic struggle. now to the listeria outbreak linked to a deadly canted lope. the deadliest this country was sheen in a decade. the cdc reports outbreaks in 13 states and 13 people have been died and local investigators are investigating other possible deaths, three of them and 72 people have been sickened. it has been trace to do a farm in california which recalled the tainted fruit earlier this month. the trial of dr. conrad murray in the death of michael jackson resumes today after an emotional beginning. the opening arguments yesterday included haunting audio recordings and some disturbing images. ben tracy reports. >> it was dr. murray's repeated incompetent antiunskilled acts that led to mr. jackson's death.

>> reporter: in opening statements, prosecutor called conrad murray grossly negligent. a dr. for hire willing to give michael jackson what he wanted, the powerful anesthetic propofol. it killed the singer on june 25th, 2009. prosecutors played an audio recording dr. murray made just weeks before jackson's death. they say the singer was clearly under the influence of something. >> when people leave my show, i want them to say, i've never seen nothing like this in my life. >> reporter: prosecutors also showed the jury this photo. michael jackson's dead body lying on a gurney. they argued he ended up there because over the course of two months, they say dr. murray gave him propofol almost every day. they say he left him in the

bedroom after giving him the drug that is normally only used in a hospital. >> he left him, abandoned him to fend for himself. >> reporter: dr. murray admitted giving michael jackson propofol and other sedatives but they say jackson killed himself while murray was in the bathroom. >> dr. murray administered a dose of propofol that with the lorazepam made a perfect storm in his body. >> reporter: they say it was too late to save jackson. >> he died so rapidly, so instantly, he didn't even have time to close his eyes. >> reporter: dr. murray who charged jackson $150,000 per month was emotional as his lawyers talked of his friendship with the singer. members of the jackson family

were also in court, including michael jackson's parents and his sister janet. ben tracy, cbs news, los angeles. the two children of that missing utah woman susan powell have been placed in her parents' care. the boys had been living with her husband josh powell and his father steven but removed last week when steven was arrested on charges of possessing child pornography. josh powell argued he is a loving father and his children should remain of him. >> i had no knowledge of any wrongdoing, nor any indication that there could have been any wrongdoing on my father' aid and

passengers released and the plane flew to albuquerque -- pl outfit and learns that not everyone is a fan. this is the "cbs morning news." alka-seltzer plus liquid gels ] fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your stuffy nose. [ deep breath ] thank you! that's the cold truth! use the hand towel analyzer at kleenex.com and find out what could be on your cloth hand towel. [ ribbits ] upgrade to kleenex hand towels for a clean, fresh towel every time.

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health insurance premiums. anez is here with more on that. >> reporter: asian markets finished mix today after the head of the european union said the debt crisis is the biggest problem in eu history and pleaded with member nations to come together to confront it. japan's nikkei edged up a fra fraction. hong kong's hang seng lost less than 1%. today, wall street hears from fed chief ben bernanke. tuesday stocks soared but lost some team late in the day when the bell rang, the dow was up 146 points. the nasdaq gained 30. the cost of health care premiums has doubled for american families since 2001. a new report finds the average annual family premium is just over $15,000. that's up 9% from last year. costs are up 113% from 2001, while wages have increased only 34%. and flying this holiday season is going to cost you extra.

expedia.com says it will be 4% more than last year, with the average domestic air fare for thanksgiving and christmas just over $380. airlines are flying fewer routes to cut costs and flights are fuller than ever. apple fans are circling their calendar. according to widespread reports, the company will introduce a new iphone next tuesday in california. the iphone 5 will include a better camera and faster processor. the event will be the first major product unveiling since apple cofounder steve jobs resigned as ceo last month. amazon is expected to unveil its new tablet computer today and it should retail for less than apple's ipad and come in two sizes. one with a 7-inch screen, another with a 10-inch screen. experts believe amazon will sell between 3 million and 5 million tablets during the holiday shopping season. >> all of these gadgets on the market, i have a lot of catching up and shopping to do, too.

a florida ice cream shop got in some hot water over its store mascot. many customers took the costume of a vanilla cone with sprinkles as a hooded member of the ku klux klan. the owner says sales dropped as soon as they started using it, though, it took her a while to figure out why. some customers understood and others weren't so sure. >> can you see where people would be a little bit confused about it? >> yeah, he is kind of waving like that. >> i mean, it is kind of pointy. >> i know what a kkk outfit looks like and that is not one at all. well, the sprinkles are on it! i've never seen a kkk guy with sprinkles on his head! >> reporter: well, the shop has dropped the costume. the owners are from puerto rico and say they didn't know what the klan was. a new list of nominees for the rock 'n' roll hall of fame is out.

women nomted finated for the fi time include joan jett, heart, and chaka khan. still eligible are the beastie boys, red hoted chilly peppers. they will be nominated into the hall of fame in october. good luck to all of those. pop star rihanna got a dressing down from a farmer in northern ireland. rihanna was shooting a video in a field east of belfast monday wearing a flannel shirt and not much else. going topless at one point. and, well, the farmer told her that if she didn't stay within his dress code, she would have to leave. she apparently agreed and was allowed to stay. the farmer later said he didn't know who rihanna was. straight ahead, your wednesday morning weather. and in sports, boston red sox try to hold off what is looking like a historic september collapse. avoid a playoff collapse. extraction unit can be a rush!

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separated from your own life... when the only thing you can be sure of is migraines with 15 or more headache days a month, you're living a maybe life. and you may be living with chronic migraine. but knowing that this thing you're going through has a name, means knowing you can find treatments that are right for you. go to mychronicmigraine.com to find a headache specialist. and don't live a maybe life. here's a look at the weather in some cities around the country. time now for a check on the national forecast. the latest satellite picture shows clouds swirling around a storm system near lake michigan. showers and thunderstorms reach all the way to the mid-atlantic states. later today, though, there will

be a threat of heavy rain in pennsylvania and thunderstorms in the mid-atlantic states. the northeast will be hazy and humid. the northwest turns drier and cooler. today is the last day of baseball's regular season and four teams are still fighting for the two wild card spots in the playoffs. as boston tries to battle out of its september collapse, rookie catcher blasted a home run off the orioles and the red sox pulled out an 8-7 victory. the sox remain tied with tampa bay for the american league wild card. here in new york, the surging rays pulled off a triple play against the yankees and matt joyce hit a three-run homer to beat the yanks 5-3. if the rays and red sox are tied after today's final games, tampa bay would host a one-game tiebreaker thursday afternoon. the a.l. division series starts on friday. in the national league, atlanta lost again, allowing st. louis to tie up the wild card race. philadelphia's hunter pence

blasted a long home run as the phillies beat the braves 7-1. it was the braves fourth straight loss. in houston, st. louis made a dramatic comeback in the seventh inning and the cardinals went on to beat houston 13-6. now, if the cards and the braves are still tied after their final game, st. louis would host atlanta in a tiebreaker thursday night. the n.l. division series begins on saturday. got that all straight? when we return, another look at this morning's top stories. and the end of an era! as andy rooney gets ready to sign off from "60 minutes." >> have you noticed how often we are worn? is any adult really going to eat this detergent accidentally? on your cloth hand towel. [ ribbits ] whae upgrade to kleenex hand towels for a clean, fresh towel every time.

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join us for cbs 5 early edition ... beginning at 4:30. a deadly sho,,,, >> t on the "cbs morning news," here's a look at today's weather. a stalled storm system over the great lakes should start moving eastward bringing rain to the northeast. scattered storms will pop up along the cold front in the southeast and rain will slowly

taper off in the northwest. here is another look at this morning's top stories. in opening arguments, prosecutor said dr. conrad murray caused michael jackson's death. prosecutors played a recording of jackson sounding slurred from apparent drug use. and new jersey's republican governor chris christie told an audience last night he is not running for president, but he left the door open just enough to change his mind. nearly every sunday evening for the past 33 years, andy rooney has the last word on "60 minutes" but this sunday will be a little different. andy, who is now 92, will deliver his own last word as a regular weekly observer of our life and times. here is scott pelley. >> you're looking at one of the places i like to be best. right here at this desk in my office.

>> reporter: andy rooney has put the exclamation point on almost every edition of "60 minutes" with his unique brand of commentary. >> i wish there was something we could all take to cure of us stupidity. >> reporter: a war correspondent for "stars and stripes" during world war ii, andy joined cbs in 1949, writing for such legends as arthur godfrey and garry moore and harry reasoner. then in july of 1978, he began writing for himself. >> if you like this kind of show, i'll be doing more of them. >> reporter: you did and he did. writing more than 1,000 original essays to close our sunday evening broadcast on every imaginable subject under the sun. >> there is no doubt about it, dogs are nicer than people. >> reporter: and despite all the fame "60 minutes" brought him as a television journalist, andy never let it go to his head. >> i draw the line when it comes to trimming my eyebrows. you work with what you got. >> reporter: and he always considered himself, first and

foremost, a writer. he has authored 16 books and countless newspaper columns. his commentary at the end of sunday's broadcast will be number 1,097. >> i've said it and i'm glad. >> that was scott pelley reporting. andy rooney's commentary this sunday will follow a special segment from morley safer on andy's remarkable career. "60 minutes" right here on sunday night on cbs. this morning, on "the early show," how you can get a tax write-off for the cost of your job hunt. i'm betty nguyen. and this is the "cbs morning news." even with bath tissue. that's why i buy new charmin basic. it's very reasonably priced. and it holds up so much better than the leading competitive brand. new charmin basic has a duraflex texture... that's soft and durable.

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♪ our time is short ♪ this is our fate ♪ i'm yours [ singing scat ] take a look at this. in arizona, another huge dust storm rolled over phoenix. it wasn't quite as thick as the one we saw this summer, but

visibility was bad enough to cause a multicar accident on an interstate highway. five people were injured. in economic news, some signs of a recovery in the housing market. home prices were up in july. that's the fourth straight month that's happened. detroit, chicago, and minneapolis posted the biggest gains. a just released report finds home prices in 20 cities rose 0.9 of percent in july but prices are still down 4.1% from last year, and down nearly 31% since the market peaked in 2006. anthony mason has more. >> reporter: in their ferndale, michigan home, ray and briana scott are under water, deep under water. >> it's terrible. it's -- it's not the way it should be. >> reporter: six years ago, they brought the house they are raising their two sons in for $132,000, but even with a slight increase in value in recent months, it's now worth only about $80,000.

>> we are $50,000 roughly in the hole. we're probably never going to get that back. >> reporter: not at this rate. the case shiller survey found in 18 of 20 metropolitan areas, house prices have declined over the past year. only detroit and washington, d.c. have seen slight gains. what will it take for a housing recovery? >> why is there going to be a housing recovery? >> reporter: gail economist robert shiller has tracked home values back to 1890. >> home prices are not high any more, but they are not low either by historical standards, so if confidence were to slip more, home prices could fall further. >> reporter: shiller's chart shows that leaving out the housing slump during the great depression and the housing bubble before the great recession, home prices historically have only risen at about the rate of inflation. >> so i don't know why people are all thinking when is the housing recovery coming. i don't -- i don't plan on that at all. >> one more!

>> reporter: which leaves families like the scotts under water and out of options. >> it's not that we hate where we're at. it's just at this point, we really can't do anything else but be here. >> reporter: the scotts worry that another recession could knock even more value off their home. robert shiller says rather than a recovery in house prices, the best to hope for would be just stability. anthony mason, cbs news, new york. coming up on "the early show," what we learned on the first day of dr. conrad murray's trial for the death of michael jackson. then new jersey governor's chris christie's big speech leaves a question, will he join the race. guns 'n roses or joan jett? who will be the next person in the rock 'n' roll hall of fame? that's the "cbs morning news" for this wednesday. i'm betty nguyen. have a great day.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com i'm betty nguyen. have a great day.

your realtime captioner is linda marie macdonald. a deadly shooting in a bay area motorcycle club.