amanda knox case enters its final days in italy. today, her lawyers begin their final argument. and down to the wire. an epic ending to baseball season with the last two playoff spots determined by a rally, a walkoff, and a pair of historic september collapses. captioning funded by cbs this is the "cbs morning news" for thursday, september 29th, 2011. good morning everybody. thanks for joining us. i'm betty nguyen. a massachusetts man is in custody this morning on charges he plotted terror attacks on washington, d.c. and the pentagon using remote control aircraft. rezwan ferdaus is a 26-year-old citizen, a college graduate with a degree in physics. he told authorities he wanted to attack the enemies of allah. susan mcginnis is in washington with much more on this. good morning, susan. >> good morning, betty.

>> reporter: ferdaus started planning this attack early this year, after being convinced that america was evil. according to a federal affiliated he planned to hit the pentagon and blow the u.s. capital to smithereens. a van with dark windows drove ferdaus away from a courthouse outside washington, hours after for plotting the u.s. capital and the pentagon. authorities say ferdaus, who graduated from northwest university with a physics degree, planned to fly model planes like these stuffed with explosives into the building. >> definitely could have been some fatalities but i don't think you would have seen hundreds or thousands of deaths. i think in many ways this individual was probably looking for some type of psychological victory. >> reporter: undercover agents posing as al qaeda operatives handcuffed ferdaus on wednesday at this storage facility. investigators said he bought what he thought was plastic explosives, grenade and automatic assault rifles.

ferdaus had been allegedly plotting for months. he snapped this picture of the pentagon and hoped to launch his attacks from a nearby park. authorities insist ferdaus supposed not a real threat because he was under surveillance the entire time. still, he repeatedly told agents he was driven to kill americans. he lived in this quiet community of ashland where neighbors couldn't believe the news. >> it's scary that, apparently, normal people want to do these things. >> absolute shocked this would happen. one of the most exciting things in ashland is seeing a squirrel cross the street. >> reporter: ferdaus will be back in court on monday for a detention hearing. if convicted, he could face more than 50 years in prison. this is just the latest in a string of domestic terror plots that have been thwarted since 9/11. al qaeda is trying to radicalize groups and individuals inside the u.s. as an alternative of bringing them in from other countries. >> thank you, susan mcginnis, for that report.

nearly 300 criminals vr rounded up. a huge crackdown by the u.s. immigration agency. the operation code named cross-check spanned seven days. in all, 50 states. both legal and illegal immigrants were taken into custody. more than half had been previously arrested on felony charges. a federal judge has upheld key parts of a controversial alabama immigration law that goes into effect today. they include provisions that authorize schools to check the citizenship of students and allow police to verify the status of anyone they pull over. the judge also upheld provisions that give police the power to hold suspected illegal immigrants without bond. it's reported that pakistan has released a senior al qaeda leader who once served as osama bin laden bodyguard. amane al hawk had escaped from afghanistan with bin laden in 2001. he was detained by pakistan's intelligence agency three years ago. a senior security official tells britain's daily telegraph that

al hawk had been arrested by mistake and was set free. also in pakistan, there has been more anti-american protests and triggered by recent comments by the outoutgoing chairman of the joint chiefs, admiral mike mullen. he said thhey are supported by pakistan's spy agency. adding to the tensions between the u.s. and pakistan, secretary of state hillary clinton says the u.s. may soon officially brand the haqqani network a terrorist group. a verdict in the amanda knox case is expected by the end of the week. knox is the american student convicted of killing her british house mate and sentenced to 26 years in prison. her lawyers begin their closing arguments today and monique reports from perugia, italy. >> reporter: amanda knox's sister sobbed as she and her family made one of their last prison verdicts before the verdict. next time they enter this italian jail, they hope they are taking her home. >> we just love her and here to support her.

>> reporter: defense lawyers for knox and her ex-boyfriend raffaele sollecito say the prosecution's case is crumbling. >> translator: there was no evidence against raffaele and amanda. everything including the investigation and the murder verdict is based on nothing. >> reporter: knox is serving a 26-year jail sentence for killing her roommate meredith kercher. the seattle native will make her final appeal to the jury the next few days urging them to set her free and her family says it will be painful to watch. >> this from the perspective of, you know, essentially pleading for your life and that's a tough thing to deal with as a 24-year-old. >> reporter: lawyers have attacked knox's character calling her a manipulative and evil liar who plays a nice girl in court. knox's mother says her message to her daughter has been the same from the beginning. >> what we have been saying for four years, it's going to be okay. hang on and you will get out of there. >> reporter: a verdict could

come as soon as saturday. monique minlaveen, perugia, italy, for cbs news. back in this country. a florida man accused of killing a police officer was executed last night. manuel valua shot the officer at a traffic stop. he was the first florida prisoner executed with a new mix of lethal drugs. in arizona, federal judge has ruled that alleged shooter in the tucson shooting rampage jared loughner may one day be mentally competent to stand trial. love loughner pleaded not guilty. he had been found mentally unfit for trial but, yesterday, experts testified loughner's mental health can be restored. it appears president obama's health care overhaul is headed to the supreme court. several lower courts have dismissed parts of the law. the administration is appealing a ruling by an atlanta court which struck down a requirement that all americans must buy health insurance. just ahead on the "morning

news," a wild shoot-out caught on tape. plus, it's a twister somewhere you don't really expect. this is the "cbs morning news." d to recovery. proper nutrition can help you get back on your feet. three out of four doctors recommend the ensure brand for extra nutrition. ensure clinical strength has revigor and thirteen grams of protein to protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. and immune balance to help support your immune system. ensure clinical strength... helping you to bounce back. ensure! nutrition in charge!

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silk vanilla in their cereal over dairy milk and love that it has fifty percent more calcium than milk. i think it's great. taste for yourself switch silk for milk in your cereal. it's a tornado. >> oh, my gosh! >> look at that. when a tornado swirled out of the clouds out of western michigan yesterday, most residents headed for their basements, but one woman grabbed a camera and caught it on video. the twister was dramatic as you see here, but it caused no injuries and only minor damage. tyson meats is recalling more than 131,000 pounds of ground beef because of e. coli contamination. four children of an ohio family became ill this month after eating the tainted beef and one was hospitalized for nine days. it includes beef sold at the following stores.

the beef has a 73/27 lean to fat ratio. and is labeled with a best before date of september 12th. it also has the number 245d on the packages. a new york teenager is hospitalized after being shot outside a mcdonald's. an incident tuesday that was caught on tape. it shows one young man passing a gun to another in a white shirt who goes inside. now, he passes it on to a young man in a red jacket who comes out of the door firing four shots at the 18-year-old in the white tank top and shorts. the victim rolls away from the gunman and is now in critical, but stable, condition. on the cbs "moneywatch," mixed results on asian stock markets following a down day on wall street. inez is here in new york with the latest on that. >> asian markets were mixed today on increased doubts europe can contain its debt crisis. tokyo's nikkei gained 1% and hong kong's hang seng down about 1%.

later in germany lawmakers expected to approve new powers for the u euro zone bailout fund. a major step in the effort to contain the region's debt problems. today, wall street gets the latest readout on the housing market. wednesday's stock snapped a three-day winning streak. the dow fell 180 points, but stayed above 11,000, and the nasdaq dropped 55. fed chief ben bernanke says long-term unemployment is a national crisis. during a speech on wednesday, he called the country's labor woes, quote, unheard of and suggested congress take further action to spark the jobs market. the head of the central bank also called for lawmakers to do more to support the housing recovery. gm factory workers have approved a new four-year contract with the automaker. it provides profit sharing instead of pay raises for most workers and also promises at least 5,100 new jobs.

one day, your car could be driving you around. nissan is teaming up with swiss scientists to design a car that can read a driver's mind and predict their next move by measuring brain activity and monitoring eye movement. if they can make the system work, they think it will improve road safety, but caution any possible breakthrough is far in the future. also, the ipod classic and shuffle models may be headed the way of the apple 2c. the unofficial apple web log says in addition to unveiling the new iphone next week, apple will announce the older ipod models are getting the ax in favor of the sleeker models like nano and touch. the ipod line counts for 7% of apple's overall revenues. and there will be refunds from reebok. the reason is these commercials which claimed reebok's toning shoes help reshape your backside and tone your legs. the federal trade commission found the claims to be false. to settle the charges, reebok

will pay $25 million in customer refunds. betty? >> the claims are false? no way! i was going to go buy some of those shoes. >> can you believe that? >> i'm kind of disappointed. too good to be true. inez, thank you. saves me a little bit of money, i guess. there is a new entry in the race to knock apple's ipad off the tablet computer throne. this one from amazon and is called the kindle fire. it is smaller than the ipad with a 7-inch screen and less storage space and no camera, but it does what amazon thinks are the most important things. web browsing, e-mail, and games. and its price is under $200. the ipad starts at $500. straight ahead, your thursday morning weather. and in sports, amazing comebacks. walkoff wins and historic collapses, as baseball heads to the playoffs. ♪ ♪

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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 clear skies in the west. the gulf coast has a few passing storms. but later today, bands of showers will move through the northeast with a chance for heavy rains in isolated patches. scattered clouds and a few storm clouds will linger over the gulf coast.

cooler weather is headed south in the plains, while the west coast is warming up. all right. in sports, a stunning last night of the major league baseball season. in the bottom of the 12th inning in florida, tampa bay's evan longoria hit a flyball down the left-field line for a game-winning walkoff home run. the 8-7 come-from-behind win over the yankees gave the rays the wild card spot in the american league. and just moments earlier in baltimore, the orioles robert andino hit a single that carl crawford could not catch. the orioles eliminated the stunned red sox 4-3. boston's collapse makes it the first team ever to miss the postgame after holding a nine-game lead heading into september. the red sox manager put it this way. >> i don't know how to evaluate it. every time you lose, it hurts. when you go home before you're ready, it hurts. as tough as it's been this last

month, we want to go home when you dictate it. not when somebody makes you. it's extremely disappointed. the american league divisional playoffs start friday. in the national league, st. louis completed five runs early to come back. chris carpenter threw 8-0 shutout of houston. the cardinals then had to wait to find out if they face a tiebreaker game today for the wild card. but in the 13th inning in atlanta, philadelphia's hunter pence hit a blooper that brought the home to the winning run -- brought home the winning run. the phillies beat the braves 4-3. atlanta's collapse was nearly as bad as boston. the braves had 8 1/2 game wild card lead at the start of september. the national league divisional playoffs start on saturday. here is what it looks like. milwaukee hosts arizona and philadelphia hosts st. louis. when we return, another look at this morning's top stories. the trial of michael jackson's doctor. prosecutors say he covered up jackson's declining health. i got married first... i had children first...

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recent history. but now investigators have caught a break. how the law might finally be catching uo a suspected killer in northn california. a planned terror attack maye been foiled. the man under arrest - and the disturbingt he's accused of. and the new weapon meant top protect bart officers. join us for cbs 5 early edin ... beginning at 4:30. ".i feel scared. but i know they are good at what they - but he is better at what he does. but they will find him eventually..",,,,

on the "cbs morning news," here's a look at today's weather. thunderstorms will press eastward, as a storm system over the great lakes finally starts to move. the southeast will be partly cloudy with a few stray storms and cooler air is moving into the central plains. here is another look at this morning's top stories. a massachusetts man is under arrest for allegedly plotting to attack the pentagon and the u.s. capital with remote-controlled planes. rezwan ferdaus was caught in an fbi sting and he allegedly planned to follow the bombings with an armed assault. in italy, amanda knox's lawyers begin their closing statements today in an appeal to overturn her murder conviction. a verdict is expected by the weekend. at the manslaughter trial of michael jackson's doctor in los

angeles, prosecutors are focussing on dr. conrad murray actions the day jackson died. kendis gibson has more on that. >> reporter: michael jackson's personal assistant told jurors he got an urgent call from dr. conrad murray that the singer had, quote, a bad reaction. and at no time during that phone call did he ask you to call 911? >> no, sir. >> reporter: murray is accused of giving jackson a lethal dose of propofol. he describes the scene in the bedroom, with dr. murray trying to revive the pop star. >> he appeared very nervous. he was on his side. he was sweating. >> reporter: according to the testimony, murray asked the guards if they knew cpr. mohammed testified two of jackson's children were right outside the room. >> paris was on the ground, balled up crying. and prince, he was standing there and he was just -- you know, he was having real shock, you know, just slowly crying type of look on his face. >> reporter: the defense has

claimed that dr. murray and michael jackson were friends and that it was jackson who self-administered that fatal dose of propofol. the day before jackson's death, dr. murray was negotiating with concert giant aeg to join jackson on tour as his personal doctor. >> dr. murray told me repeatedly that michael jackson was perfect healthy and in excellent condition. >> reporter: murray would have been paid $150,000 a month except michael jackson never lived to sign the contract. members of the jackson family left court to chants of justice for michael. his sister la toya tweeted it was another day of sadness. kendis gibson, cbs news, los angeles. this morning, on "the early show," the latest on the foiled terror plot. i'm betty nguyen. and this is the "cbs morning news." fight plaque and gingivitis and invigorate your way to better dental check-ups. crest pro-health invigorating clean rinse.

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,,,,er of we.ensure! it's time for you to raise your hand, go to serve.gov and get involved in something you believe in. in a back to school speech at a high school in washington, president obama told students america needs their ideas and passion.

mr. obama said he didn't love every class he took, but if he had tuned out, he would have missed things he now enjoys that are important to his life. in california, schools are paying the price of an enormous state deficit. education funding has been cut by $18 billion. teachers are being laid off and class sizes have mushroomed. ben tracy has more. >> so they have different sizes. what else did they have? >> reporter: marlene handorff has been teaching at signal hill elementary school for 18 years. but now, 30 kids are crammed into her second grade classroom, five more than last year and ten more than the year before. >> it's hard to meet with 30 kids and they will slip through the cracks. i think our kids will suffer. >> reporter: 7-year-old kylie did your happen ham told us how all of those extra kids are affecting her. >> when they are talking and the teacher's directions because there's more voices.

>> reporter: the long beach school district is the city's largest employer. state cuts forced the district to slash $330 million from its budget in the past three school years. 1,000 positions have been cut and more than 13% of its work force. it also cut computer classes and summer school. schools such as burroughs elementary have been closed. that is where andrew martinez goes. >> i'm sorry. >> reporter: he now goes to signal hill and misses his friends. >> they were nice people! and then they just closed it down! >> reporter: and things here in long beach could soon get worse. california's new budget contains triggers. come january, if the state is not taking in enough revenue, $1.5 billion in new and automatic cuts to education take place. that could cost this school district another $30 million. >> that's unacceptable. we have to stop this. >> reporter: chris steinhauser is the long beach school district's superintendent.

>> we are going to pay big time five, ten years from now when we don't have an educated work force and more people going to prison and unemployment. people have got to think in the long term. >> reporter: yet all andrew martinez can think about is what he has lost. >> i like this school, you know, but i just can't feel the love that i felt over there. >> reporter: further budget cuts could force california to shrink the school year by as many as seven days. ben tracy, cbs news, long beach, california. coming up later on "the early show," the latest on the alleged terror plot involving model airplanes packed with explosives and aimed at the u.s. capital. then meet one of the dare devil engineers inspecting the washington monument for earthquake damage. debunking the claim that a shoe could shape your derriere by just walking. i wish it was true. that's the "cbs morning news" for this thursday.

thanks for watching, everybody. 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. i feel scared but i know they are good at what he do but they will find him eventually. >> wanted for murder it on the