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right now on msnbc saturday, health care clears a hurdle on capitol hill. a new win for the obama administration overhaul plan. but a big showdown remains. cash for clunkers running out of cash. the latest on the strings being pulled to get it to last. a jaw-dropping catch during a snake hunt. a 17-foot python caught in the wild. honk in you're a hybrid, coming to a mall near you. good morning to all of you. i'm alex witt. we have all that, plus another

attempt to smooth things over in the flap over the arrest of a harvard professor, this time it's flowers instead of beer. first, the health reform bill which made it through the last house committee, much later than the white house expected. also, the house of representatives approved $2 billion for cash for clunkers program that just ran out of money a mere week or less after it started. nbc's vike mike viqueira is liv >> reporter: the health care vote in the house of representatives was a big hurdle but there are miles to go before anybody here who is pushing the reform effort can rest. they wanted to have this -- the president, the deadline that he gave congress, let's have it voted in the full house and senate by the time you go on recess. the house, jet fumes are wafting up from reagan national airport as they left town, not return until labor day. they have to get three committee bills together in september, and then bring it to the floor when they return from vacation.

the senate here for another week, but they're not going to meet their deadline either. they might not even have -- probably won't have their committee vote before then. it's slow going, a difficult fight. now, members go home to face town hall and ad campaigns put on by people who want reform and people who don't want reform. very interesting to see how that takes effect when they get back here in september. now, in terms of the economy, and the cash for clunkers, the president said it was a successful program. you remember the program they gave it $1 billion, supposed to last until november 1st. turned out after a week they were going to run out of money. the house acting yesterday, before they left to give it another $2 billion. the senate has yet to act. there's concern between the time the senate acts, if they act next week, before they leave, whether or not there's going to be enough money left in the program because people apparently are just rushing in to showrooms to take advantage of the incentive to turn in your low mileage vehicle for a higher mileage vehicle, the idea is both the kick start detroit and

the economy in that area, of course, michigan has a 15% unemployment rate, and to try to clean up the air. so it's a two fer. so far, it's one of the programs where you can say, this thing works. >> absolutely. given the demand for more money for it. quick with the cabinet, the six-month checkup, that's pretty -- that's standard operating procedure these days, right? >> reporter: well, that's what we're told, that every administration since the eisenhower administration has done this, get together after six months. it was a nice picture. president and vice president walking across the street to blair house for a dinner meeting. lasted four hours. the president returned late at night, 10:00 with robert gibbs in tow and said, press corps, don't you have anything better to do than standing in the middle of the street? the meet willing continue today. it will move back into the white house. the president himself is expected to go to camp david and will not be participating. >> the answer to that, no, the white house press corps, no life

at all. thank you, mike viqueira. for more on what's been said at cabinet retreat, joined by john decker, washington correspondent for reuters. >> good morning. >> topping the agenda at cabinet retreat, what do you think it is it's the economy, no doubt about it. the president realized, when he took office, this is a major issue on the minds of so many americans. as we've seen the unemployment rate go up to 9.5%, 3 million people put on the unemployment roles as the president signed his stimulus plan into law mid-february, it's an issue concerning him, concerning the white house, and it's something that he wanted to sort of get an assessment on from other cabinet members for more than a normal cabinet meeting which may last an hour or so. an opportunity for him to have talks with some cabinet members that have had some direct roles in trying to turn around the u.s. economy. >> okay. the latest nbc news/"wall street

journal" poll together. the president's approval on economic issues is slipping, 49% like the way he's handling the economy but in april the number comes in 55%. what's behind the drop? >> well, i think it's clearly the economy. and clearly it's the fact that every friday the first friday of every month, we'll have another report this coming friday, we get the unemployment numbers. and despite the fact there's been some good news, at least some news that the administration can point to as showing some signs that the economy's turning around, the gdp rate is going down 1% notice second quarter, for instance, we heard that yesterday. the fact is, it doesn't really reflect or have the kind of impact on voters that the unemployment numbers do. this is something that's felt by 15 million men and women every day and it's difficult for them to get their heads around the fact that the economy is slowly turning around. >> let's get to sarah palin. it's been a week since we were talking about her.

it's about time we do it again, right? just kidding. stepped down as governor and since then, there's been no tweets, facebook posts, something she was doing routinely throughout her being governor. she says she's not going to appear at a reagan library event she was scheduled to go to. what do you think is behind all of this? >> as far as the tweets go, as far as her twitter account from what i understand, an account that was run by the alaskan state government. she needs to get a new account set up under her names a private citizen. i think what the former governor of alaska is doing is perhaps taking advice of so many people that have tried to give her advice over the past few months since the presidential election winddown and that is to lie low, to essentially learn about some things that you may not be that familiar with and then gear up for a reintroduction to the american voters trying to win backseats in the house of representatives, campaign with house members that are trying to

win re-election and also help members that are trying to defeat democrats that currently hold seats in the house. so perhaps it's time to reflect for her and just sort of take some time off, after being in the spotlight for so long and for so many weeks. >> all right. do john decker, thank you so much weighing in as always. watch "meet the press," the guest larry summers director of the national economic council this sunday on "meet the press". breaking news, out of laguardia airport here in new york, authorities have evacuated one of the terminals there, that's terminal c. waiting for an official statement from police. our reporter wnbc says one person is detained by police, and the bomb squad has been called in to examine the person's backpack. we'll keep you up to date. if you're flying in or out of laguardia, check with your airlines because there are delays, we don't know of any

cancellations but it's a good idea to check with them first. meantime, today, filipinos are mourning the death of their former president corazon aquino. she rose to power after 1983 assassination of her husband becoming that country's first female leader. she led an uprising in 1986, that ended the repressive 20-year regime of marcos. she stepped down as president in 1992. aquino died early saturday after a year-long battle with cancer. she was 76. today a new twist in the murder of a florida couple killed in a home invasion earlier this month. the man heading up the investigation now says he is looking into the possibility that the murders could have been a contract killing. >> part of this process is for me to assure you that we are, in fact, looking at this we want to assure the citizens of escambia county we are not taking that possibility or probability off

the table. >> byrd and melanie billings had 17 children, many with special needs. so far police have arrested eight people involved. on monday a judge will be set to finalize katharine jackson's guard januariship of the three children. the stage is set for a battle who will get control of michael jackson's estate. hearings will address both issues. msnbc.com entertainment correspondent courtney hazlett is joining me live with the latest. it's only 5:00 in the morning and this is the second time you've been with me. you get brownie points here. >> reporter: that's right. anything for you. >> the battle of control over the estate, where's it going? >> this is what we're dealing with on monday, and that is the situation we have now is just temporary, right after michael jackson died it was totally apparent that you needed somebody controlling any sort of financial deal that might transpire after his death, one

of the deals would be the book deal. remember, we're going to see that one autobiography re-released in object. that financial arrangement had to be taken care of by someone, appointed two people who would control all matters but it expires monday. so what we're going to see either an extension of the two, maybe a perm situation now, and also katharine jackson's been trying to get her name listed as well since she's related and definitely has the argument for having a say in how the estate is managed and michael jackson's name and image is represented in the future. >> let's get to the custody agreement. it's a done deal, it would seem, between katharine jackson and debbie rowe. what happened? >> pretty much a done deal, two parties did do this somewhat ammicbly, from everything i'm being told from my sources. we're going to have meaningful visits set up between debbie rowe and the two older children,

prince and paris. important word, meaningful visitation, it's in the presence of a child psychologist who will make sure the frequency of the visits are appropriate, the visits themselves are conducted in a way that's beneficial to the kids. this is all about making sure prince and paris have the best possible situation that they can and i think it's great that they figured out a way to do this without dragging one party or another, you know, through some sort of bad press or anything like that. they took care of it behind the scenes and moving forward, we're going to see the two older kids get to know their biological mother on a meaningful level, if that's what they want moving forward. at least the stage is set. >> that's great. courtney hazlett, thanks. now, to the weather. at least five northeast states a big cleanup's under way. strong storms knocked down trees and limbs in beverly, massachusetts. the rough weather knocked out power from 30,000 residents. heavy rain flooded several neighborhoods in upstate new york, trapping residents.

nbc meteorologist bill karins has more on what to expect today. bill? >> yes, severe weather was really bad in many areas of the country yesterday, even a couple tornadoes out there. today will be calmer, the front that brought heavy rain to the east pushed off the eastern seaboard and is that means a beautiful saturday. a beach saturday, maybe heading to the lakes from new england southward to southeast. travel trouble spot early today heading through arkansas, owe za ozarks, oklahoma. scattered showers and storms. that will continue throughout the afternoon. a lot of the heavy rain will shift into areas from mississippi to alabama. notice the ohio valley starting your august off pretty nice. as far as west coast goes, denver's looking great. phoenix is looking hot and warm in seattle this weekend. temperatures upper 80s to low 90s. but nothing compared to the record heat you saw a couple days ago. >> see you later. follow the forecast from your computer by logging on to

weather.com or watch the weather channel on cable. coming up -- a teaching moment or a missed opportunity. a critical look at beer summit at white house. and snakes alive. the struggle against a python in the sunshine state. one that didn't get away. that's a big one right there. ♪ take me home ♪ take me home ♪ to my family ♪ ♪ i need to be surrounded by ♪ the ones who care for me [ female announcer ] clean you can see. softness you can feel. tide with a touch of downy. ♪ take me home the moisturizer in other body washes sits on top of skin. only new dove has nutriummoisture... which can nourish deep down.

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llnow that's progressive.ll call or click today. what's the most you've ever paid for new tunes? a federal jury in r. rhode island is ordering a grad student to pay $675,000 for illegally downloading and distributing 30 songs. the defendant says to him the punishment seems a bit harsh. >> i fine it hard to believe

that my person until effect was $6775,000 worth of damage or that it's going to take $675,000 to adequately punish me or deter me. >> apparently turns out the judge went easy on him because according to the law, jurors could have ordered him to pay $4.5 million. right now, the trial of american student amman anda kno on a break. there are new questions being raised how that trial's been conducted. joining me live is clint van zandt, a former fbi profiler and msnbc analyst. clint, i understand you went over there and did studying on your own, too, right? >> yeah. well, i went over with dennis murphy and nbc "dateline" crew and we had unique access, you know, we went to the house, we went to the real italian csi and showed us photographs.

dennis and i had a real firsthand look at time what the evidence was. how that's changed is a whole other story. >> let's talk about the prosecution and defense. they've rested now. if you were counseling them, what kind of focus would you have them bring back with them when they come back in september for closing argue mbmentes? >> i think it's going to be a couple of things done. number one, the prosecution is going to try to say, this is what physical evidence suggests, they're still hammer away with the dna amanda knox and kercher. amanda's blood and meredith's blood and other physical evidence. the defense has to refute that. they have make that, like in the o.j. simpson case, they have to show the glove, or the evidence doesn't fit in this particular case. and they've also got deal with the lies or the various stories that amanda knox, the american,

her boyfriend has told, as you know, early on, amanda implicated her former boss, said i was in the house, he was in the bedroom, i heard screams, shouts, banging, he must have killedler. amanda implicated this guy and turned out he was totally innocent. you and i look at these over the years and we've learned if you lie about little things, do you lie about the big things? and that's something else the jurors have to consider. >> in your mind, is there enough physical evidence too convict amanda and/or raphael and if not the circumstantial evidence, when you put it altogether, how are you reading it? >> yeah. i think between the physical evidence, depending how you interpret it, realize there's always experts on both sides, i think the circumstantial evidence the demeanor of the subjects, i think the stories they've told, if the jury goes

in there saying, let's get these two, let's punish them, i think there may be enough there for them to find a verdict of guilt. but if they go in with, say the american standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, i think there's, at this point, reason to doubt. so alex, you know, i wouldn't bet on the verdict of this jury because i think it could go either way. and it may be based upon what the jury, realize unlike in america, this jury meets one or two days a week, then go home, read the newspaper, the tabloids, talk to their neighbors, they watch television, so they've got a lot of impressions go on in their head, and i don't know how they separate that from what they actually hear in the jury room. >> i was going to say, that is just so different than the way we do justice here. how much is all of that extra information coming from outside the courtroom, how will that weigh on the jury? >> imagine you and ion a jury,

say when you go home, watch tv, read the papers, talk your neighbors but don't let that affect your opinion. well, duh, it's going to affect your opinion one way or the other. >> sure. >> realize this prosecutor has got his own baggage. he's come up with this story of this bizarre sex game that meredith kercher the british exchange student was a victim of. he's got amanda knox putting the knife through the victim's throat, two other guys holding the vick estimate at time. it's got drugs money. it's everything that tabloids love. it has unfortunately been the story that keeps on giving. but we know we've got one otherwise innocent woman dead and lives of two young people, including an american, sitting there in jail right now waiting for their fate to be decided and there's a lot of factors other than evidence that's going to play into that verdict. >> yeah. absolutely right.

clint van zandt, as always, great to talk with you, buddy. coming up -- the sunshine state dealing with unwelcomed visitors of the slithering kind. more next on msnbc saturday. ] introducing the latest body wash from olay. tone enriching ribbons. two separate ribbons. the white cleanses. the gold moisturizes and has a touch of mineral shimmer to enhance skin's tone. olay tone enriching body wash. for skin that shimmers.

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promptly tell your doctor if you develop severe bone, joint or muscle pain, or if you develop dental problems, as serious jawbone problems have been reported rarely. call now for a free trial offer of once-a-month actonel. and help reverse bone loss. more now on florida's snake problem. here's a picture that tells a story, this is a python, weighed in at some 200 pounds. it is 17 feet long. florida's python problem has gotten out of control, last month it started issuing permits to hunt the snakes on state land. joining me on the phone, spokesperson for the florida fish and wildlife conservation. good morning good morning. >> the picture of the python that we're showing was a python caught not through this program, it was caught independently. overall, the hunt, how is it going? how effective has it been? >> so far, due to the permit

system, we've captured five pythons in the everglades and issued seven permits to folks who are reptile experts and they've been doing an efficient job in two weeks. >> okay. and so when you give them a permit, that means they can go out and catch the pythons and then what? what's they're directive? >> they can only capture the pythons on state land. the florida fish and wildlife conservation commission managed state lands around the everglades and they can go out and capture and destroy the pythons on site in managed lands. >> i mean do they have to do it humanely, are there tactics which they have to follow that? >> of course. it's prohibited these permit holders use firearms or traps use hand held instruments and again that's why we hand-picked these seven guys, because they know what they're doing. >> okay. >> and there are some guidelines that the american veterinarian medical association has set as

objective and of course those are followed, but when you're in the while, you have to do the best that you can. >> yeah, sure. you know, can you imagine coming up against a monster snake? i mean i don't know if you can see what we're talking about, but i'm sure you've seen it, 200-pound snake. i mean, how long was that snake? any guess in the wild? >> we believe, alex, that this particular python that you're referring to from okeechobee co was actually someone's pet. they do not tend to get that big in the wild because they do have predators. so we do believe that at some point this is illegally released. again, that is against the law in florida. our agency has been charged with issuing permits for folks who own these pets and they must microchip them. in this case, that snake in okeechobee did not have a microchip. it may have been released before the law went into effect enforcing the microchip. >> best of luck with all of

this. thanks for talking with us on msnbc saturday. new proof today you can never underestimate the power of a nice smile. special schools a new generation of young people in japan to win friends, get ahead in business and attract the opposite sex. in the past, it's been inappropriate to show emotion in your face. planning a trip, get your grins ready. smiling is no longer frowned upon in japan. (announcer) sleep is your body's strongest ally. it can lift your mood, help rebuild muscle...

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billion more for the program. no vote yet from the senate. joined live from d.c. by a political reporter for thewashingtonpost.com and writes the federal blog, federal iblog and joined by a staff writer for "roll call" writes the column heard on the hill. good morning. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> this program, the entire budget in less than a week, is it legitimate for americans to be worried this could happen to government health care? look at one program, heres how than working let's use it as a prototype of another. >> something law makers are didn't anticipate would be successful. it's the ultimate stimulus package. get americans thinks about the car they wanted to get rid of, give them $4500 to get a new one, car dealer gets to keep his employees employed you get a new energy-efficient car. this was the ultimate example of what a stimulus project is supposed to do.

lawmakers were tone deaf not realizing it was going to be successful because americans have been looking do this stuff, unload the gas guzzler, get rid of the old one they've had since the '80s for '90's they are thatting health care through more than thinking through this. again, this is just an example of something that did so well so quickly to lawmakers. >> what do you think, emily in terms of deeming this program a success, is it? or is it something that would have happened anyway, people buying new car or trying to get through energy efficient. also the timing that was right for this? >> well i think a lot of things did come together, but this was a big success. whether it continues to be a success will depend on whether congress ponies up more money. you mentioned the house passed an extension of it. senate has just this week, until they go way for august recess to do the same. and there's some concern in the senate. a company members of the senate who are saying, look this was a success, but what we need to do

is raise the standards higher and get more fuel efficient cars out on the highways. and you know maybe we are too broad in the way we crafted it the first time around. let's narrow it down a bit and that might make it less appealing to the average consumer. but it might achieve more of what congress meant to do. i think they're going to be hard pressed not to do it see as what a success it's been with consumers and dealers. >> okay. let's move on to health care. so with you, ed, the health care bill having passed three house committees, looks look a full house vote after the break, how badly does the president need to to pass politically speaking? its not the end of his presidency if he doesn't get it. there's still three years to go and plenty of other issues of concern. i think actually this could be a blessing in disguise because unlike the t.a.r.p. measure last fall, unlike the stimulus project earlier this year, those things were rushed through quickly without some time for reflection and actually reading

the details of the plan. i think this is going to give lawmakers time to go, hear from their constituents, read through details and, frankly, when they come back in september they may have to rethink some aspect of the bill before it gets voted on. what's the harm in doing that? that is exactly, it seems what americans want lawmakers to be doing because polling shows, they've been displeased with the fact big spending bills moved through without much thought and deliberation. the fact that this is something that would tear up 17%, 18% of the american gdp is something that deserves reflection and some time. but keep an eye on especially democrats that go home over this recess. they're going to get an earful from constituents who are concerned about various aspects. >> oh, ray, and advertisers. i want to talk with you about that. "the washington post" is detailing ads run to turn seniors against the bill. end of life care, some ads say it would mean the government would decide how people die. it's even being called attempt

to, quote, kill granny. is that what we're in for for the next five weeks? >> i think the president has tried to sort of knock down some of those rumors because they really are false. and i think their scare tactics. a lot of advertising on both sides of the issue. because you're dealing with sensitive issues and dealing with older people, there is the, you know, potential for these kind of misleading and scary kind of things that we might hear and will hear over the august recess. you'll see a lot of ads on both sides of this. harry and louise are back, remember them from 1993? they're back in some ads too. so there's a big ad war, you know, both campaign committees, democratic and republican are pulling out the stop on this one, too. so i think the ads -- the airwaves will be full of ads on both sides of this issue. >> it's going to be fun. we'll be talking about it for the next three weeks. ed, emily, we'll talk to you again. for your daily dose of

politics on the web, straight to the nbc news political unit, logon to firstread.msnbc.com. police in idaho say new evidence indicates a missing 8-year-old boy may have been the vick estimate of a tragic event. reported missing last friday. investigates carrying out an overnight search of his mother's apartment in boise, they're not saying what new evidence the search turned up and so far are not named suspects in the boy's disappearance. the stage is set for a courtroom battle over michael jackson's estate. on monday a los angeles judge will address katharine jackson's legal battle for control over her son's estate. so joining me live to talk about it, karen de soto, defense attorney and former prosecutor. >> hello. >> we talk about the estate battle right now, what's the bottom line here in terms of what you think katharine jackson's bringing this to court for what's at stake? >> money, that's what's at stake. >> image, too. >> absolutely.

but, well, when talking about image, he did leave two people in charge that were longtime friends of his and i think that they would probably be just as respectful if it's a friend you're talking about for 20, 30 years not only are they professionals and in the business, but i think that they're going to respect that you know there's no bobbleheads or you know commercials for inappropriate products with his music. i think that he probably left the right people in charge for that. >> what do you think is the likelihood, based on that statement that she will get some sort of inroad to helping manage? >> she won't. i mean she is the mom and they're going to listen to her and she does have some interest in the property because she is in control of the trust. however, they can distribute his property any which way they want but out of respect and somebody's mom, i'm sure it would be good business to at least speak with her and talk to her about some of the moves that they're making. >> talking about those put in charge. >> absolutely. >> just you know, run it by katharine as well. >> exactly. two professional people, one's an attorney, one is in the

industry in the record business, i'm dating myself by saying record business. >> that's okay. >> so they know the business and they have known katharine probably for years. these are longtime michael jackson friends. so i think it's disrespectful for people to say that they're going to do michael jackson bobbleheads and things that are inappropriate for his image the custody battle with the kids. seemingly a done deal. the judge still has to approve that? it's not done yet until the judge says yeah. >> he does have to approve it, but the biological mother can decide whoever she wants to give custody to. if she's decided katharine jackson is in the best interest, one of the reasons for all of the secrecy because they don't want the details to come out about really what was going on behind the children. you can actually read a couple of my articles on msnbc.com in reference to those issues. and i think the secrecy around it is let's just keep it a secret. nobody wants details. michael jacksons a huge star and you know the details about these

children, maybe not so much you want people to know about. >> he certainly tried to do his best to shield them from the public. >> who wants to open up a can of worms. >> so closed and then all of a sudden everything out there. >> reaching adolescence, a difficult time for them. do you want people to know details? why wasn't there a legal adoption? what was really going on? what was his behavior? these are details she's been called an incubatoincubator. these are details you don't want to have the children. i think it's probably in the jacksons' interest and the estate's interest to keep everything quiet. >> a group of high school students back home in oregon today, after being quarantined in china. dozens of students were allowed to return to the u.s., after being cleared by chinese health officials. th placed under quarantine after showing symptoms of the swine flu virus.

>> i've been to china before this trip, and i've seen all of the things we're going to see i felt bad for all of my classmates, their first trip and didn't et gget to see the stuffy wanted to see. >> 12 students are still in china and will remain there until they test negative for the virus. fdic is shutting down five banks in five states. integrity bank of jupiter, florida, first bank in elizabeth, new jersey, people's community bank in west chest, ohio, first state bank of altas in oklahoma and mutual bank of harvey, illinois. so far 69 banks have failed nationwide. it will cost over $900 million. on the heels of that, the economy overall. the latest look at housing market shows sale and prices starting to stabilize. why do many analysts predict the rate of foreclosures to continue to go up? let's get the latest from msnbc financial analyst, vera gibbons.

>> good morning. >> these numbers seem to conflict here. explain what's go on? >> they do conflict, because you have signs of stabilizing as you pointed out with new and existing home steals going up. great, prices are stabilizing, actually rising in a handful of areas. the big, dark cloud hanging over the housing market, foreclosure 1.5 million in the first 6 months of the year. we're on track for 3 million for 2009. >> why are we seeing high rates? >> unhigh unemployment. we had the first wave of the foreclosures due to bad loans. now we're in the second wave of foreclosure where you've got rising unemployment. we have a third wave of foreclosures in the pipeline here, talking to the guy from realty track, he was saying we're moving towards phase three. you have option arms due to reset. another wave of foreclosures not out of the woods. >> interesting for me because you had areas where we saw high foreclosures, stabilizing a bit. >> a bit. >> it's going to other areas.

>> it's going to other areas. look at oregon, for example, an area you wouldn't think would be foreclosures, that's made the list of foreclosures up 100% over the past 6 months, and that's because people there losing jobs, unemployment rate is over 12%. you also see more foreclosures than those usual spots, california, florida, arizona, nevada. las vegas, i mean this number is just astounding. 7.5% of households receiving notice. i mean that's just crazy, crazy, crazy number. 60% from a yearing that's six times the national average. >> more surprises in store. >> more surprises in store. as we move into the third wave of foreclosures we'll see unexpected areas get hit unfortunately. >> vera gibbons, thanks very much, i think. >> please! >> coming up -- an in-depth look at repercussions of president obama's beer summit at white house. i never thought it could happen to me... a heart attack at 53. i had felt fine. but turns out...

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today, the woman whose 911 call set off the controversy involving a harvard profess somewhere cam bridge police sblt is calling the nows are sent to her by profirst gates a quote, gesture of gratitude. gates sent the flower as long with a note to the house. no word on what the note said. earlier this week, tapes of 911 call revealed she never described gates or his driver as being black. today, thursday's so-called beer summit getting new attention on the op-ed page of "the new york times" "the washington post." "the new york times" writes, the president of the united states has suggested that we use this flare-up as a teachable moment but so far exactly the wrong lessons are being drawn from it especially for black people. the message that has gone out to the public is powerful african leaders will be publicly slapped down for speaking up and speaking out about police m misbehavior. in "the washington post," unfortunately obama the

politician trumped obama the law professor and punted on the opportunity to teach an important less son to the american people about the first amendment, police pows are and citizens' rights. and it is bound to be a topic of conversation at national urban league's annual confence taking place in chicago. live from chicago, the president and ceo of the national uriban league. good morning. >> good morning. >> i want your reaction, first, to all of this to the two op eds i read and the opportunity overall. do you think something was missed. >> i think there's still ample opportunity to take what occurred and to make it something that's going to be positive for the nation at large. i'm here in chicago, national urban league conference is taking place and while there is discussion about the incident and what happened, there's a lot more focus on the economy, on

housing, on school reform, and a whole myriad of substantive issues taking place in cities across america. >> yeah. >> and the reason why i think there's still an opportunity to move forward is that solving difficult and challenging problems can't be done with one conversation with one week or with a handful of editorials. i think it's going to take some substantive steps. >> absolutely correct. mark i want to talk about your experience of maybe the mayor o new orleans, a city that has large african-american population. one more bit from bob herbert's column, black people need to roar out anger at such treatment, lift up voices and demand change. anyone count counseling a less militant approach is counseling self-defeat. your take on that? has this controversy got ain't lot of fodder at your conference or focused on issues that you

were just addressing earlier? >> well, people -- i think what we hear, because this has been our focus, we hear a lot of people, and what we've asked for is that the congress pass the end racial profiling ability. this is a teachable moment for people to understand where the line should be drawn with the police, what the relationship between police and citizens should be. but it can't be solved, we can't move forward unless there's something substantive. the end racial profiling ability, proposed in 2001 by senator fine goal and representative conyers, lost w momentum after 9/11. we think it's time congress pick that up, it would ban racial profile, set up a data collection system, it would encourage the use of things like cameras, and i think that is the kind of step that we should take. and i believe that the congress should see this as an

opportunity for bipartisanship, a chance to pass a law. the end racial profiling act, originally, president bush in his first state of union speech i believe it was spoke about ending racial profiling. that's how you take the step. but people here in chicago at national urban league conference truly have been much more focused on jobs, focused on housing, focused on children. but they see what occurred as just an example of some of the indignities that people face in cities across america. >> you talk about this end racial froe profiling ability. is that the most important thing you address the conference because with that being effectively addressed and perhaps implemented into our society, does that help with this other thing you're talking about, the health care, the employment, housing, all of the other issues that you have on your plate? >> i mean i think there has to be a recognition that, while the

nation is making great strides we have very important steps to take. we disparities to confront. and that these issues require an important time in this important time, require substantive steps. dialogue is important. we support the idea of dialogue. but concrete steps are more important. i would say this about police community relations. i think king may have put his finger on something very important, and that is the need for all americans to understand what the first amendment is all about, understand, in fact, what the police can do and what police cannot do. the power of a police officer is not unlimited. and for people to understand that in this particular case in my own view, the police may have crossed the line in arresting professor gates. but let's go beyond that, let's

take the next step. let's take a step to end racial profiling, but also recognize that with unemployment at almost 15% in african-american communities, 10% overall, foreclosures rising, as your previous guest talked about related unemployment, we have to confront those issues and those are the issues that are dominating the conversation here at the national urban league conference in chicago. >> marc, thank you for giving us the rundown on what's going on here. a texas town is trying to give residents another good reason to switch to fuel efficient hybrid vehicles. special parking privileges at mall and downtown. the idea may be gaining traction with local government but some residents are really ticked off because they say they'll happily park their suv in those spots just to make a point.

good statistic saturday morning. i'm bill karens. rain and thunderstorms in the east is clearing out. should be a nice day today from new england down through the mid-atlantic even down to florida, not bad. a stray shower or two. thunderstorms, the problem area, oklahoma through texas and that will move into louisiana later on. ( sighs ) ( music throughout ) hey bets, can i borrow a quarter? sure, still not dry? i'm trying to shrink them. i lost weight and now some clothes are too big. how did you do it? simple stuff. eating right and i switched to whole grain. whole grain... studies show that people who eat more whole grain tend to have a healthier body weight. multigrain cheerios has five whole grains... and 110 calories per lightly sweetened serving. more grains. less you. multigrain cheerios.

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four ceos found out no such thing as a free lunch at white house, charged for midday lunch meeting with president obama. this white house lunch written in politico.com. good morning. i'm curious, is it standard practice to charge guests for meals at white house? >> you know it hasn't been standard practice until now, but the obama administration says, they are, from time to time, charging people who have lunch with the president of the united states even as in this case they had lunch just a few steps away from the oval office. they say they're doing that because they want to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest. this is sort of a new ethics policy they've put in place. i talked to people from some past administrations who really saw this as a head scratcher. they didn't quite get why they would do that and one former white house social secretary said she thought this was gauche to be