as angry voices are raced at town hall meetings across the country. >> as we draw closer to finalizing and passing real health insurance reform defenders of the status quo and political point scorers in are going fiercer in opposition. some have been using misleading information to defeat what they know is the best chance of reform we have ever had. >> mike, with another good morning. >> reporter: good morning. >> let's talk about the president's message. how are you reading it? >> reporter: i think it's interesting that the president is hitting back and specifically noting some of what he characterize as misleading information out there on the internet and arriving in people's e-mail box as we get lawn cutting going -- oh, street sweeping bright and early on saturday morning at white house -- he says misleading information, and he specifically mentions one that is particularly gone viral, probably heard about it over the

last week, as have viewers the bill would lead to youth in asia as the president phrased it. page 425, section 1233, of the mesh would require medicaid recipients to consult with doctors every five years about how they want to die. that's simply not true. we've read the bill, know it's not true. other rumors going around of a generic sort, samer sort saying that take away your choice of doctors. the president's saying that's not true. you'd have a choice of keeping your doctor or going to another one, going to another plan. there's debate of how that will play out. what's interesting about the address today he used positive economic numbers yesterday in terms of unemployment rate kicking down for july from 9.5% to 9.4% and turned that around to try to build momentum for his health care plan which, frankly, alex, is floundering in congress. >> mikmike, i want a sense of y

from the level of concern from the white house about town hall meetings, images of angry folks across the country. they've got a month to go through visuals until everyone gets back in congress after labor day. >> reporter: two minds about it. visuals may be disturbing and it's evident of the fact the change in people's health care delivery strikes a cord incites anxiety, give people credit for thinking on their own and not marching on the order of some nef nar yus groups, there's some legitimate concern. the extent the white house can portray this is a a mob infringing, they're not happy this is working out. more -- less concerned about who's outshouted and they'll be outvoted if they are outvoted when congress returns and get down to brass tacks on some hard votes in both the house and the senate on health care reform.

>> mike viqueira, thank you for that. that street sweeper, slightly less annoying than a leaf blowing. >> reporter: they keep it nice around here. >> thank you very much. as we said, lawmakers continue to face angry protests from opponents as they hold town hall meeting. a street fight broke out in st. louis following another tonight hall held by russ car carnah carnahan. >> you're going to jail. >> joining me live in studio where it's safer, democratic congressman gregory meeks of new york. thank you. good morning. >> good morning, alex. >> fear assessment, i want to get from you on what your constituents are saying. obviously some opposed to the health care plan that's out there. >> some are concerned. they want to know what's in the bill. they want to understand the bill. i think think that's legitimate when you're trying to make a major change. that's a reason why a lot of members are congress were trying

to have town hall meetings to explain what's in the bill. and once people understand the bill and read facts and hear the facts for themselves, then they know it is going in the right direction. the problem is, people are shouting it down as opposed to listening and trying to find out facts as to what's in the bill. >> see, i want to ask you how frustrating that is trying to reach people, for instance, the example that mike viqueira gave, he talked about the rumor people knocked on doors, talked about oout youth irn asia, people walk tith physicians every five years and say, what are my options? i mean, that is a far cry from oout euthinasia. >> individuals who don't know what's in the bill trying to make a political statement, the artificial turf are shouting it down because, in fact, we could

have a normal conversation to explain what's in the bill, i think that people would know that we're moving in the right direction. >> i want to listen to what president obama's saying in his weekly radio address. let's take a listen to that together. >> this isn't about putting government in charge of your health insurance. it's about putting you in charge of your health insurance. under the reforms we seek if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan. >> so, okay, representative meeks, if you move from one job to another, are you forced into a public health care system or will you be able to get your employer's new health benefits, if you choose? >> absolutely. this business options. it writes more options for the american public. thereforing you can keep your private insurance that you have with your employer, when you move, you can move to your new employer's insurance. it's your choice. so therefore, more people get covered. also making sure that if you

have a precondition, that you will not be denied. there's caps that's being put on over the years. so, there are things that are in the bill, the bill is substantially making america healthier as well as bringing the cost of health care down which is tremendously important. >> that said, with a handful of bills circulating out there even within the house in term of variation, got to be some dissension by congress persons such as yourself. what don't you like about the bill? >> you have -- you're right, you have three bills, we've got to try to work them out. we want to make sure, as far as i'm concerned, part of the deal, there is a public choice. so, some are arguing, you know, we should eliminate the public choice, that's not for me an option. an option is we need public choice because the public choice then will give everybody an opportunity to be covered but as well as the average everyday middle class person who has the

health insurance, is able to make sure that they're able to manage their bill and their bill doesn't go up and they don't continue to subsidize payments to medicares or others that are overspending. >> do you think the president has not done a good enough job as explaining all of this? he was described earlier by one of my political analysts as having the biggest pulpit from which to speak. you'd think that if he could go through these things, people would say, all right, this is what the -- this is a guy who has a good ability to speak plainly, directly to people. he doesn't mince words and doesn't put flowery stuff in there. why hasn't that been done? >> people will be listening to the president he is the one -- as you said he has the bully pulpit but knows how to communicate. he will be talking to individuals. he understands what some people are trying to make this as hit waterloo. they're not talking about the

facts of the bill. as you just saw, the president will be calmly, and other members will be talking about, the fact ofs the bill and getting facts out. there was a big article in "the washington post" putting the facts out. what i'm urging individuals to do, not just listening to rush limbaugh, pull out facts, get nonpartisan groups, talk to them, talk to hops and health care provider, et cetera because for the first time everybody's invested in this. the president's had pharmaceutical company, health care providers, hospitals, community health centers all work on this together to make a difference and that's why i believe, and know that we're going to pass a bill that will take us in the right direction that's going to cover more americans for health care, make sure that people that have preconditions that are not denied for and forcing people in bankruptcy and bring down the cost. >> an interesting month

listening to you and your swaernts. >> a family spokesperson says eunice shriv is critically ill. a spokesman for arnold schwarzenegger says the golf governor is there with the family in cape cod. 88-year-old shriver a champion for the disabled about best known for her work to establish the special olympics. the widow of tv pitchman billy mays says she's angry over the speculative conclusions of the florida medical examiner's autopsy report. that autopsy released friday, found that cocaine use contributed to the heart disease that suddenly killed mays. the family saying they're considering getting an independent analysis of the autopsy. billy mays died of a heart attack in his sleep june 28th. a new report by federal aviation officials reveals the problem that might have caused air france flight 447 to crash back in june may be more

widespread than previously believed. speed censors failed on at least a does recent north west flights making it impossible for pilots to know how fast they were flying. all the malfunctions occurred on airbus a-330 jets and this could help investigators who are trying to piece together what happened to flight 447. let's go now to the weather. a live look at new york city across the big apple. a sigh of relief from the recent heat wave and the hazy, humid conditions but then there's month. nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> good morning to you, alex. two big weather stories, flash flooding from overnight, minnesota into wisconsin and what's go on with hurricane felicia in the pacific, heading for the hawaiian island chain. still a long ways to go. probably get closer to the hawaiian islands on tuesday. as you can see, it doesn't look as impressive as it has the last couple of days. still has a tiny eye. a weakening trend expected, at

worst, maybe tropical storm force winds and some gusts through the hawaiian islands. as far as flash flooding, heavy thunderstorms from minneapolis to lacrosse, back over through central wisconsin. a lot of heavy rain existing minneapolis. you're improving. but it's shifting to south inbetween lacrosse, madison. wet morning in chicago. forecast for the eastern half, warm, dry. chicago and detroit, storms later today. heat in the mid of the nashnati 90s from kansas. sarah palin taking aim at president's health care plan. why she's calling it evil. plus -- the plan for schools this fall and winter, should another outbreak of swine flu hit the students hard. >> first, happy birthday to >> first, happy birthday to "abbey road." r motorcyc insurance. you're good.

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sarah palin is calling president obama's health care plan evil. the former alaska governor posted thoughts on her facebook page friday and says, quote the america i know and love are not ones which my parents or baby with down sin dome will have to stand in front of obama's death panel so bureaucrats can decide whether they are worthy of health care. such asome is downright evil. white house secretary robert gibbs calls the shouting match at town hall meetings shocking. opponents of president obama's health care system are voicing concerns across the country. >> we want barack obama. >> hear our voice.

hear our voice. >> activists vowing to keep up the fight insisting part of a ground-level move nan represents frustration and growth. john decker, washington correspondent for reuters. good morning. >> good morning. >> we heard the shouters. let's listen to what the president is saying about all of this in his weekly address this morning. >> so let me explain what reform will mean for you and let me start by dispelling the outlandish rumors that reform will promote euthanasia or cut medicaid or bring about a government takeover of health care. that's simply not true. >> are all of rumors outlandish? will the president's voice be heard over the cries from the town hall meetings? >> well, a lot of questions there. i think there's a concern among many american people about whether or not this public option will be included in the bill that comes before the

president. i think this is a concern for some people that are showing up at these town hall meetings, as is the concern that the size of the plan, the scope of the plan $1 trillion plan, will blow up the deficit. so you two issues at hand here. and i think that what we're seeing with all of these protests that are happening, in so many districts across the country, it has gotten attention of the white house. this is the reason why the president chose his saturday morning address on this particular topic. i think that that, in addition to a new poll which is coming out -- which has come out, i should say, indicating that 52% of the american public is concerned or unhappy with the way the president is going about health care overhaul. >> what do you think, in terms of the way the president has communicated, i mean, has the administration not done a good enough job of explaining this plan? >> you know, you can't fault the

president. every day it seems for the past month he's had an event focus on health care. he's been very focused. the white house has been very focused as well. what we're seeing the protests have gotten the attention of local television and a lot of people pay attention to what happens on local newscasts, perhaps even more so than what happens on cable television. and in addition to that, you have people that do pay attention to talk radio, and they have indeed stoked the fire here, causing so many people to go out make their voices heard and known at these town hall meetings. >> with everything being said, legitimate or not out there, in terms of people shouting the loudest, you think there might be something to the fact get the researchers in the white house, within the health care projecten side the administration, get them to maybe go point by point through these things. i mean the president did a little bit of that in the radio address but might there be a place for a larger forum to do that and dispel the rumors?

>> he's done that. in fact, last week he had another town hall meeting, i'm sure he'll have this week as well, and what the president is trying to do is address concerns that people have across the country about what may emerge from the house and the senate as it relates to health care overhaul. keep in mind, three different bills that exist in the house. a very different bill that's being put forward in the senate. so we don't know what the final version of health care reform will look like and that's part of the difficulty, even when you have members of congress talking about a bill, there is no a bill that they're talking. there are several bills and i think that what that has led to is so many rumors and misinformation about what's working through congress, alex. >> john decker, thank you for the perspective. let's go to the deadly wrong way crash here in new york that claimed eight live. latest is a time line emerging about what the long island

mother was doing in the hours before she plowed into an suv, after driving two miles in the wrong direction. nbc jeff rossen has the very latest. >> reporter: the tragedy that ruined so many lives just took another turn. witnesses now tell police diane schueler stopped at mcdonald's and seemed fine. so if she was drinking when did she start? if she was smoking marijuana, when did she light up? hours late, the suburban long island mother drove the wrong way on the parkway, killing her own daughter, three nieces, three men, in other car, and herself. but something had to happen. this is not a woman who would jeopardize five children. >> reporter: but police say the toxicology report doesn't lie and shows her blood level 0.19% twice the legal limb it and high on marijuana. the family attorney says diane may have been disoriented because of medical problems. >> one of them was an abscess

which was almost two months old. she had diabetes at various levels. >> reporter: but the crime lab has ruled out a stroke, heart attack or other medical conditions. the family's legal team has a new theory about a bottle of vodka found at the crash scene and they laid it out on "today." >> they were known, because they were not drinkers to carry the same bottle of vodka for the whole season back and forth because daniel liked to have a drink every once in a while at home. >> reporter: according to the "new york post," one of diane's friends said, quote, her marriage seemed a bit rocky. i wouldn't say she was an alcoholic but she liked her drinks. her husband says, that's not true. >> i go to bed every night knowing my heart is clear, she did not drink, she's not an alcoholic. >> reporter: a disturbing trend, the number of women driving under the up fluence spiked 29% from 1998 to 2007, while the number of men arrested has dropped by 7.5%.

>> a lot of people with adirections lead a secret life. they keep it from those people that are closest to them and at times probably keep it from themselves. >> reporter: child protective services has launched a full investigation now into figure out exactly what happened and how much daniel shuler now about his drinking and drug use. >> still ahead -- more on this case and abuse of alcohol in women. drunk driving arrests among women are rising while the number is falling in men. what happens behind those numbers? we'll take a look on "msnbc saturday". mr. evans? this is janice from onstar. i have received an automa you've been in a front-end crash. do you need help? yeah. i'll contact emergency services and stay with you. you okay? yeah.

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perhaps the most famous photo of the beatles turns 40 today. the beatles on the crossing outside of the abbey road studios august 8th, 1969 and scores of fans have been visiting the crossing and re-creating the pose.

tom aspell in london with more. good morning. what is it that keep as tracking beatles fans four decades later? >> reporter: i think it's just the music, alex. beatles fans, young, old, in between, have been remembering the day, 40 years ago, when john, paul, george, ringo crossed this busy london street for the cover photograph on their album "abbey road." >> going to get one chance. here we go. >> reporter: beatlemania all over again. music lovers from around the world gathering all morning outside the london studio where the beatles made history in 1960s. a walking tribute to the street made time faimous by the most successful pop band of all time. 40 years ago, london was the epicenter of the swinging '60s. fashion, peace and love, and most of all, music.

and nobody played it better than the beatles. ♪ let it be let it be♪ >> reporter: in 1969, they recorded the soundtrack for the film "let it be" but they delayed its release and made "abbey road" instead. the iconic photograph on the cover was shot on a crosswalk outside the studio. >> you can walk. >> reporter: richard porter leads tours of street for $10 a head. >> the picture taken by a guy stand on a step ladder in the middle of the road. it's about here. >> reporter: 40 years on, it's a cherishes spot for fans to imitate idols to walk the walk. brian mcshane from philadelphia did it as a tribute. >> i'm a beatle fan. and it's kind of cool. >> reporter: abbey road shot to number one on both sides of the atlantic and sold more than 20 million copies giving huge air play for tracks like "something".

♪ something in the way she moves♪ >> reporter: "here comes the sun." >> ♪ here comes the sun and "maxwell silver." less than two years after "abbey road" the beatles broke up but decades later that album and famous street remain symbol of the soundtrack of an era. there are other iconic beatles landmarks, strawberry fields in new york, penny lane in liverpool. but abbey road longs to london where the beatles all of their great music. >> are you a beatles fan? >> reporter: i was monday to friday, during the week a beatles fan but on the weekends i was with the rolling stones. >> very diplomaticancer. thank you, tom aspell. a birthday party for barbie. barbie turns 50 this year, back

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health care town hall turning ugly as members of congress return to their districts to hear from constituents, some greeted with shouting crowds opposing president obama's health care reform plan. that's raising the question, is it good old fashioned citizen democracy or something else? kelly o'donnell has more. >> reporter: temperatures rising across the country from florida to michigan, texas to colorado. the town hall meeting is democracy 101. >> we're not a member of the mob. >> reporter: forums for free speech. >> i actually have read this

bill. >> reporter: but many have turned into free for all. >> obama. >> one point it felt like people were worried about drawn drowning each other out than listening. >> reporter: the crowd shouting to get in and where members of congress, like michigan democrat john dingell, get shouted down. much of the passion and protest comes from conservative voices opposed to the democrats' plan for a government-run objection for health care. the democratic national committee, in a web video, charged these protests are staged. >> now, desperate republicans and their well-funded allies are organizing angry mobs. >> reporter: some anger on display gets stoked by the megaphone of rush limbaugh who went so far as accusing democrats to of wanting to socialize medicine of nazi germany. >> it's danm close to a nazi

swastika. >> reporter: acknowledged they sent e-mail alerts to members but argue the anger is real. >> i think as a politician should be careful easily dismissing this man r. people showing up and participating in the process. >> reporter: jim moran expects to get an areaful. >> it's fine to be opposed. i don't think it's fine to come in with objective of disrupting the town hall meetings. >> reporter: kelly o'donnell, nbc news, washington. >> coming up in an hour from now, i'll talk with john dingell of michigan. he's the lead sponsor of the health care reform bill before the house. he's also greeted by shouting crowds at his town hall meetings. growing concern for parents as they get ready to send kids back to school. new guidance about the swine flu. the center for disease control and prevention urging most schools to stay open this fall, even if they have case of swine flu. new research shows someone should stay home 24 hours after a fever has subsided not seven day as recommended months ago.

>> it is now clear that closure of schools is rarely indicated even if h1ni is in the school but you increase the number of kids unsupervised. you may add social stresses in the community. there's a definite balancing in this decision of whether or not to close a school. >> as far as vaccine, the first trials are beginning and researchers should know more about its effectiveness in six weeks. if all goes well the swine flu vaccine should be available mid-october. a north dakota woman has been given a six-month sentence for breast-feeding her baby while drunk. the judge says the 26-year-old can serve time through inpatient care or work release program. police say she was so drunk when they came to her home, she was holding the baby upside down. she apologized in court for her behavior. we're going to get more on the tragic aftermath of the car crash on the highway that killed eight people p toxicology

reports vreveal the woman was drunk and high, though her husband wants a second autopsy, saying he doubts that she was impaired in that way. diane shuler drove nearly two miles in the wrong direction before colliding with another vehicle. eight people, including shuler, her daughter, three nieces, and three men in the other vehicle, were all killed. and the revelation has sparked an important discussion of women and alcohol. we're going to do that now. joined by psychologist pelusi. >> men are still the biggest offenders but women are closing the gap. i think what we're seeing is that women are feeling a sense of pressure, loneliness and alcohol is a tricky thing because it helps you feel better in the moment but it has a very negative spiral. so people start getting more and more dependent on it and it's hard to tell, you know. you can hide it.

you can hide your alcohol dep d dependenc dependency. >> to the point of almost leading a double life, which is what is suggested by the toxicology reports on diane what what her husband witnessed. is it that possible to hide it? >> it seems strange, but it doesn't surprise me she might be able to get away with it. remember the driver for princess diana henri paul had a blood alcohol level of three times the legal limit which tells me that people can get away with it. so what happens is an internal effect and external effect, people get better and better masking the external but internally never get coping skills and strategies to get bet. >> again, diane's husband questioning al of this. he says it makes no sense that she would do this, knowing she was driving children, her children, her loved ones children, responsible for all of that. is there something a lack of synapse there that you can see that would say, well, i mean,

what happens the reasoning here. >> judgment gets impaired over time we have a short-term effect and we lose our judgment but there's a long term physiological effect especially on women. women are affected physiologically, and you know if you look at what's been happening a recent report says 27 million americans are on prescription medication and so it seems that as a culture, we're saying i must feel better immediately, i can't stand that i can't cope, and people lose the ability to learn how to cope. >> are you also seeing enough uptick in women drunk driving arrests with women whom you speaks a result of economic pressures out there? is it stress that will send people to the bottle? >> accumulation of stresses and the economy is one of those things. but in spite of twitter and cell phones, people feel a sense of loneliness, isolation. they don't talk to people who are able to help them.

they don't seek help as much as they could or believe that they just can't do it. and alcohol is an immediate relief. and that's why it's so dangerous. >> okay. dr. pelusi, thank you so much. the latest on what could be a major development in the war against the taliban. it is believed taliban's top commander in pakistan is dead, both the u.s. and pakistan believe u.s. drone missile attack on wednesday killed mehsud and his wife. >> once the gun verification reconfirms, which i think is almost confirmed, we'll be 100% sure. >> maside sued blame for a wave of suicide attacks, beheadings and assassinations, including the assassination of bhutto. joining us nbc news bureau is a national security reporter to talk about this. good morning. >> good morning. how are you? >> i'm great, thanks.

i picked up in your "the washington post" article that mehsud had become an obsession for the cia. can you explain that? >> yeah. he was the public enemy number one for pakistan, for quite some time. in last few months the c. a really had it for this guy and tried several times to get him. they narrowly missed in june when he was at a funeral for a bunch of taliban fighters. they fired a missile on that occasion but he just left the scene briefly before the missile hit. he had gotten away a number of times but this time their timing was right, details came together and they got him in a spectacular way that was right out of a hollywood movie. >> what does it mean to be the most wanted man by a cia? how hot is the heat? >> he was a bad guy as we've heard. he was involved in all of these attacks inside pakistan, very spectacular suicide bombings, was the lead suspect in the death of the prime minister, former prime minister, benazir

bhutto. more than that, he was the unifying, charismatic figure that brought together different taliban groups and made them a cohesive force that had really, you know, much more aagregs, muh plans, so he was a dangerous individual and cia had a high price on his head. >> you've got to think that part of what led to this successful resolution of going after this guy was human intelligence and increased good human intelligence. does that mean we can take that kind of thing and bartter for information about bin laden, where he is? are we closer to getting him? >> well, we're clearly getting better and better. in this case, this guy was probably one of the most careful, most cautious, people in the taliban world, he never stayed the same building more than one night at a time but had the achille's heeling a medical problem, he's i diabetic, gone to a house owned by his father-in-law for medical treatment, hooked up to i.v.

machine when the cia zeroed in on this guy and sfiredfired a m killed him. that's shows you how specific the intelligence was. >> okay. joby warrick, good to see you. thank you. >> you too. coming up next -- the sent for a killer who is breaking heart of horse lovers in south florida. quite a story. very disturbing. a live report. also the historic date the supreme court judge sonia sotomayor ready to be sworn in as a justice. but what is she like when she's not on the bench? we'll hear from one of her friends next on "msnbc when i ally liked to be outside, i did not like suffering from nasal allergy symptoms like congestion. but nasonex relief may i say... bee-utiful! prescription nasonex is proven to help relieve indoor and outdoor nasal allergy symptoms like congestion, runny and itchy nose and sneezing. (announcer) side effects were generally mild and included headache. viral infection, sore throat, nosebleeds and coughing.

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chapping dean of the social justice program and close friend of sotomayor. any doubt when you heard that she was nominee that we would be where we are today a couple hour as a from her being sworn? >> no, never had any doubts, begin her background, begin qualifications for the job, given her mainstream judicial approach. i couldn't imagine there would be any objection to her. >> okay. the judge becomes just the third woman, the first latina, ever to serve on supreme court. what do you think it is about her that got her to where she is? >> well, first of all, i'd like to say it's been a long time coming that there's only three women and the first hispanic. but i think she's an extraordinary person to be the first person because of her entell against, because of her drive, because of experiences she's had ranging from very excellent education to being a district attorney to being a

lawyer for corporations, to being a judge. she has the longest judicial record of anybody who has ever gone to the supreme court. so she's been very, very well-prepared. plus her intelligence and her personality. hard to imagine anybody who would be bettor be the first. >> i'm curious about how you see all of this because what most americans have seen of judge sotomayor is her confirmation hearings. you taught a class with her i believe in 2000. what kind of person is she in that role or when she's not being a judge overall in. >> well, she's an extraordinary friend and an extraordinary teacher. in the classroom she's very, very intent upon making sure that the students understand that they learn that they get ready to be the best lawyers they can be. as a friend she's gracious and warm and interested in other people, wants to take care of the world, wants to take care of her friends. she's just really pretty

terrific. >> i'm curious about all that was made about her wise latina remark both in the media, during confirmation hearing as well which you watched carefully. how do do you think that affected her. >> the confirmation hearing questioning about it? >> yeah, the questioning about it. in other words, how did she respond to controversy? >> oh, i think she is used to controversy. she was expecting controversy. i think she understood that, to a large extent, it had nothing to do with her, at least that's my understanding, that you know, she was there and people were not listening to her answers, persisting in asking this question she had already answered and after a while it was theater. it wasn't a serious deliberation about her qualifications to represent the people of the united states on the supreme court at all. >> seeing as you're the dean of social justice program at columbia's law school in new york, you're in washington, you're attending the ceremony

today. enjoy it as you watch your friend on this historic day. thank you so much for your time. >> thank you very much. secretary of state hillary clinton getting into the swing of things, during her tour of africa. second clinton shows off her moves on the dance floor there. this video take wednesday in nairobi, kenya. the light moment came ahead of a moving meeting between hillary clinton and former president nelson mandela. she's doing a great job. look at her. still ahead -- more on the town hall meetings getting ugly. a look at what's fueling the frustration. also in our next hour the new sci-fi movie hitting theaters next week and why this stands apart from all of the others coming up. good morning, i'm bill karens. your forecast for today, heavy

overnight rain, flash flooding problems from minneapolis into wisconsin. heavy rain's going to head over lake michigan and through michigan during the day. that's kind of our travel trouble spot. otherwise, hot in the middle of the country. dry in the west coast. what a beautiful saturday it will be from d.c. to boston. have a great day. kelly saunder's nature valley. ♪ the place that inspires her to go faster... ♪ and slower. ♪ elk mountains, colorado. where's yours? 100% natural nature valley granola bars. the taste nature intended. i switched to a complete multivitamin with more. only one a day men's 50+ advantage... has gingko for memory and concentration. plus support for heart health. that's a great call. one a day men's.

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a sbat spate of horses butchered.

carcasses left on roadside. live to jeff bernside who broke this developing story. what is motive behind this? >> reporter: the horse meat, alex. the horse meat, for human consumption. congress banned the consumption, commercial consumption meat in the u.s. some people believe that's brought a small black market. 18 horses, not just livestock, but many of them pets, stolen from their stables, a cull of them even found in their own stalls, still tied up by their own brooidals. police are dumbfounded at this point. >> dumbfounded and horrified. what about the poor horse owners? what are they doing? >> reporter: a lot of them are beefing up their security. one person put in some cameras, another person has installed extra locks. a lot of the stalls and stables are in remote locations so it's easy pickings. happens overnight, on the weekends. but there have been citizen

patrols organized now. a couple of community meetings. another one next week. a lot of the horse owners, the horse lovers and animal lovers are genuine horrified. >> the whole thing is horrifying. but what is the money value to what they're doing? i mean, how much money can be made? >> reporter: yeah, it's that black market, as we said. the police have told me, off the record, that the horse meat can sell for as little as $3, $4, a pound but as high as $20 a pound. where that horse meat is going is difficult to say. making its way into rural grocery stores and restaurants? probably not. it's more likely being sold or consumed at weekend barbecues where everybody knows everybody else. these are difficult places for police to infiltrate. >> anything viewers can do to help police? >> reporter: certainly. tropical storm a website that the south florida society for the prevention of cruelty to animals has put together called helpthehorses.com. the humane society of the united

states doubled the reward, up to $5,000, and taking more donations for that. of course local police here taking tips from the public. but the police told me the other day they need more tips. i will tell you one thing, alex, we just learned from law enforcement sources that police have two pens of interest this case. they're not naming those names publicly because those two may not know they're under investigation. she's slaughters happen on the weekend. it's the weekend again. everybody here is holding their breath. >> wtvj, jeff burnside, thank you. panda mania comes with a price. the new baby panda, such a big hit. the camera feed crashed. the blogs went down right about the same time and the camera didn't get back up again until last night. in case you missed it, video posted on the zoo's blog shows the moment of birth on wednesday. the baby is the fifth cub, 14th panda in the united states. ( upbeat music playing )

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president obama fighting back against critics of his man for health care as more proto t retesters disrupt town hall. john dingell says he won't be intimidated at those meetings. alaska's former governor sarah palin has a few choice word of her own for health care. new retail numbers out. not as positive as unemployment numbers but could mean great deal for back-to-school shopping. a look that the for you. new details about billy mays' death. which drug may have play aed role. good morning. i'm alex witt. 9 km a.m. on the east coast. president oesh bama on the offe.