♪ big and small! there's fun for all! ♪ it's tuesday, july 14th. in the news, frightening flight. a southwest airlines jet makes an emergency landing with a football-sized hole in the fuselage. question time for supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor. some republicans want answers about what she has said in the past. and there it goes. baseball's biggest bats swing away in st. louis, ahead of baseball's biggest bats swing away in st. louis, ahead of tonight's all-star game. captions paid for by abc, inc. we are following a developing story this morning. southwest airlines has been busy inspecting nearly 200 of its

737ed. they're trying to figure out why a football-sized hole broke up on one of the planes in mid flight. >> the passengers onboard the flight from nashville to baltimore, were remarkably calm, even though they could see the sky through the cabin. the southwest flight was about 30 minutes outside of nashville when passengers said they heard a loud pop. the 373 was flying at about 35 feet when the hole broke open. it caused the cabin to depressurize. and masks dropped from the ceiling. the 126 passengers and 5 crew members kept their cool for another 20 minutes before making an emergency landing at the parpt in charleston, west virginia. >> obviously, we made the option to divert and get that airplane on the ground as quickly as possible. >> reporter: this sort of incident is highly unusual. but last summer, a quantas airways flight from london to australia, was forced to land after a hole broke up on a cargo

area. it happened on a boeing 747. it stayed in the air for 15 minutes before making an emergency landing. the federal aviation administration and the national transportation safety board are on scene, investigating the incident. southwest airlines operates 181 of the 737 300s. the planes make up about one-third of the airline's fleet. and southwest says the overnight inspections on their jets should not cause any flight delays this morning. to capitol hill, now, where the supreme court nominee, sonia sotomayor, begins her second day of confirmation hearings. while there were contentious moments, while a top republican admits the nomination is in hand. >> reporter: good morning, vinita. the introductions are over. the tough questions will begin, as sonia sotomayor enters day two of this very public job interview. when supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor returns to her nomination hearing today, she

will face questions from senators weighing her personal story. >> i grew up in modest circumstances in a bronx housing project. >> reporter: against political consequences of a lifetime appointment. >> let no one demean -- let no one demean this extraordinary woman. >> you're a reflection of who he we are as a country. >> the task of a judge is not to make law. it is to apply the law. >> reporter: republicans promised to question sotomayor's impaschialty, based on her 2001 comment, that a wise latina's experience could reach wise decisions than a white males. >> for example, in one speech, you doubted that a judge could ever be the -- ever be truly impartial. >> call it empathy. call it prejudice, or all it sympathy. whatever it is, it's not law. >> reporter: even critics admit the hearings may have a foregone

conclusion. >> unless you have a complete meltdown, you're going to get confirmed. >> reporter: but that won't stop a long day of pointed questions, as senators take their opportunity to publicly judge a potential supreme court justice. sonia sotomayor's prepared remarks yestery only amounted to about eight minutes of the entire day's hearing. today, she'll be doing much more of the talking. vinita? >> emily schmidt in washington this morning. the murdered florida couple who cared for 12 disabled children will be buried on friday. and police say they are zeroing in on as many as eight suspects thought to be killing bud and melanie billings. >> we have another one in custody. this one's name is gary lamont sumner. he was one of the black males were were searching for. we expect nor arrests to be imminent in this case. we're very proud to announce that we hope to bring all of the

suspects that we have identified early on in this case to justice very shortly. >> reporter: investigators say home security cameras helped break the case wide-open, capturing video of the command toe dhoef type assault. they wired every room in 2 house to keep a close eye on their special needs children. so far, police say robbery is just one of the possible motives. residents living near indiana state prison are being warned to be extra careful, after three, dangerous convicts broke out. escaped murderer, charles smith is back behind bars after being caught at gunpoint. but a convicted murderer and a convicted rapist are on the loose. prison officials say the men appear to have escaped in underground tunnels. more than 50 law officers are searching for the men mere the michigan border. o marines killed in afghanistan. some 4,000 marines, hundreds of

nato troops and afghan fighters are in the middle of the biggest military operation in that area since 2001. and abc news has learned that in the days of 9/11, the cia hatched a secret plot to target osama bin laden and other top al qaeda leaders. it could have dispatched military hit squads to go after the terror leaders. congressional lawmakers were apparently kept in the dark on orders from vice president cheney. the plot was never carried out. and it was canceled by the cia director last month. supreme court is extra tight this morning in the western chinese city after government forces opened fire on earth nick protesters. sonia gallego has defamous. >> reporter: the city the scene of last week's deadly riots, is again witness to heightened tensions. on monday, police shot and killed two ethnic men.

the police fired warning shot, which they did not respond to. then, they shot at the men. the city has been in a high state of alert since the violent protests began. clashes, vowing for revenge of each attack. the violence sent in tens of thousands of paramilitary forces to the capital of the xinjiang chinese government is keeping in order. 2 muslim minority in the region have long complained of repression, and of being unable to practice thr religion. despite the crackdowns, the latest deaths highlight how fraught the situation is in xinjiang. and while the chinese are blaming foreign sources for the unrest, the authorities are pulling out all of the stops to prevent further turbulence in the region. sonia gallego, abc news. last night's liftoff was

scrubbed again because of bad weather. "endeavour" will try to blast off again tomorrow evening, carrying the final section of a new lab for the international space station. and now, for this morning's weather from around the nation. it will be stormy in the middle of the country. hail, gusty winds and a chance of tornadoes from kansas, missouri and into the dakotas. periods of rain and thunderstorms for the northern rockies, especially in montana. scattered showers and thunderstorms in the gulf coast states. key heat advisories from texas into the southwest. 96 for albuquerque. 113 in phoenix. chicago, detroit and minneapolis hover just around 80. 76 for seattle. 85 in boise. a warm 83 here in new york city. 77 for boston. and 89 in atlanta. and when we come back, the federal deficit hits a record level. and we're not talking about hundreds of billions of dollars anymore. and president obama introduces his pick for surgeon general, while wishing a warning to cri

stock markets are rallying overseas this morning, picking up where wall street leftoff. tokyo's nikkei average soared nearly 2.5% today. hong kong's hang seng is up big. in london, the ftse opened higher. wall street starts the day with the dow at 8331, after surging 185 points yesterday. the nasdaq jumped 37 points to close at 1793. the nation's top lender to small and mid-sized businesses

could be on the brink of getting a government bailout. cit group are in advanced talks to receive federal aid. potentially dealing a devastating blow to the economy. the recession and two wars have helped push the federal deficit to a new record. the deficit has now topped $1 trillion for the first time ever. government efforts to fight the recession, a downturn in tax revenue and the wars in iraq and afghanistan are big reasons for all that red ink. the deficit is intensifying fears about higher interest rates and inflation. gas prices have fallen again, dropping at 8 cents in the past week to an average of $2.53 a gallon. a year ago, prices averaged $4.11 a gallon, almost 40% higher than today. exxon mobil is hoping the fuel of the future can be found in water. the oil giant is announcing a major investment today in producg fuels from algae.

"the new york times" reports exxon will invest about $600 million in the project. exxon claims algae can produce ten-times more fuel per acre than corn. how much is facebook worth? a russian investment firm is buying up $100 million worth of facebook shares from the company's employees at about $15 a share. that values the biggest social networking company at about $6.5 billion. not bad for a 5-year-old company launched in a dormroom. >> wish i was the guy who thought of it. >> we all do. remember, you can get the latest business news anytime on our website, abcnews.com. and coming up, the mystery about michael jackson's death could be cleared up very soon. details coming up. it's big, old, and now on displa

welcome back. these are the latest headlines

from abc news. senators get their chance to question supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor during day two of their confirmation hearing. southwest airlines is trying to figure out what caused a football-sized hole to open in mid flight on one of its aircraft. the plane was forced to make an emergency landing. and four men are in custody for the murders of a pensacola couple that were caring for 12 disabled children. for now, police say robbery is just one of several possible motives. president obama is pushing lawmakers to get busy on health care reform before they take their august break. he's asked senate leaders to have legislation ready for the finance committee by friday. and house democrats could introduce their bill today. as jake tapper reports, there's still a loft grumbling on capitol hill. >> reporter: the occasion was president obama's introduction for his surgeon general nominee. the president took the chance to call out members of congress on

health care reform. >> there was a lot of chatter during the week that i was gone. we are going to get this done. >> reporter: republicans and moderate democrats have been increasingly expressing concern about the price tag of $1 trillion over a decade. liberals worry the president might abandon his proposal for a government-r plan to compete with private insurers to drive costs down. the president had one message for all of them. >> for those naysayers and cynics who think this is not going to happen, don't bet against us. >> reporter: the new surgeon general nominee, was immediately enlisted to pass a health care reform bill. even for her confirmation. >> dr. benjamin is going to help us get there. >> reporter: benjamin is the immediate past-president of alabama state medical association. and in 1995, was a "world news

tonight" "person of the week." >> sometimes i can do everything that the textbooks taught me and the school taught me. and the patients can't buy their medicine. and it's all for nothing. >> reporter: in recent years, benjamin fought to rebuild her clinic after it was destroyed in 1998, 2005, and in a recent fire. >> our public health care system cannot continue on the path we're on. >> reporter: the democratic leaders with whom the president met, all left the white house pledging they would have health care reform bills passed. in anty pelosi says the democrats will introduce their bill on the floor tuesday morning. the senate plans are murkier. and the senate is where the real challenge for this president lies. jake tapper, abc news, the white house. federal investigators are calling for new safeguards following last month's deadly metro crash in washington. the ntsb is urging transit officials in washington, d.c. and across the country, to update their train control

systems with a continuous backup system. the backup would kick in case of equipment failure. the mystery behind michael jackson's death could be solved as early as this week. the los angeles coroner's office says toxicology tests are almost complete. those results could confirm or dispel talk the pop star was abusing prescription drugs. among the items investigators removed from jackson's home was the powerful sedative diprivan. admitted ponzi schemer bernard madoff is getting used to his new home this morning. madoff has been moved from the manhattan jail cell to the butler medium security prison in south carolina. he will be evaluated at the prison's medical center. in addition to swro deucing his surgeon general nominee yesterday, president obama was also talking about the economy. >> he was in mid-thought when it all went wrong technically. check it out. >> that's one reason why we took

swift and aggressive action, in the first months of my administration, to pull our economy -- oh, goodness. sto sorry about that, guys. to pull our economy back from the brink. >> reporter: the crash was one of the president's teleprompter screens falling to the floor. after the brief pause, he kept going off the second screen and a written speech. they. >> gary: going high and far and mostly out of the park last night, in baseball's home run derby. night, in baseball's home run derby. we'll have a new champion, next. where getting a new vehicle is easy. because the price on the tag is the price you pay on ! remaining '08 and '09 models. you'll find low, straightforward pricing. it's simple. now get an '09 malibu 1lt with an epa estimated 33 mpg highway. get it now for around 21 thousand after all offers.

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ask your doctor about lyrica. wellbeing. we're all striving for it. purina cat chow helps you nurture it in your cat... with a full family of excellent nutrition and helpful resources/ purina cat chow. share a better life. baseball's all-star game is tonight in st. louis. roy halladay of the toronto blue jays is the starting pitcher for the a.l. and the san francisco giants lincecum gets the start for the national league. >> the world series representative gets home field advantage come october. >> very important. >> president obama will throw

out the first pitch tonight. >> last night, they held the home run derby. details from jonathan coachman of espn news. >> good morning. it's all-star break. with that comes festivities, including the state farm home run derby. ail burt pujols, the hometown favorite in st. louis. he would be in a swingoff, though, just to make it into the second round with carlos pena and joe mauer. this home run, he advances the tototal l for the first round. carry-over to the second round. nelson cruz, prince fielder and pujols in the second round. nelson cruz, from the texas rangers. impressing everyone. a coming-out party for cruz. 16 home runs total. he reaches the final. prince fielder, he had 11 home runs in the first round. this one, 503 feet. he said it was the first-ever home run he hit over 500 feet. 17 home runs total to make it to the finals. it's fielder and cruz. fielder needing one more for the win.

that one good for 423. 23 total home runs. prince fielder, your first milwaukee brewer ever to win the home run derby. number one overall draft pick, blake griffin, debuts in summer league play in vegas. he's on the workout schedule, running up the hill with weights. you can tell. rock-solid. and s ga, looking just as good. 16 points, 5 rebounds in the first half. more griffin, showing the handle. he would finish with 27 point, 12 rebounds. clippers go on to win 93-82. that will do for now for this espn news update. now, back to jeremy and vinita and abc's "america this morning." well, size apparently does matter in tokyo. the city now has bragging rights to a replica of the world's biggest dinosaur skeleton. >> it's the 150-foot long sign dinosaur. the original bones were

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finally from us this morning, remembering the end of an era that went out with a bang. >> it was 30 years ago that disco unceremoniously crashed and burned in a single day. it took place at chicago's comiskey park, spear-headed by a radio disc jockey. more from diana alvear. >> reporter: july 12th, 1979. it's known as the day disco died. in an inferno, dreamed up by a chicago deejay. >> i was expecting disco demolition to be a failure. >> reporter: angry his station had switched to a disco format, steve dahl quit in disgust. then, dahl h an idea. disco demlation between games at a chicago doubleheader. ed a admit tense, 98 cents and a disco report for demlation. promoters expected a few hundred people, not the 90 thousand that

swarmed the stadium. >> it's packed. it's like "blade runner" out there. there's cops on horses. it smells like pot. >> reporter: dahl marched to the middle of the field, dressed in military gear, and led a chant of thousands, of disco sucks. minutes later, hundreds of disco records exploded. shrapnel rained down. and the fans went nuts. >> the field was on fire. people were running around on the field. basically a full-scale riot. >> reporter: the city finally quieted down. but disco's days were numbers. barely managing to stay alive past the early '80s. >> the bee gees blamed me for killing disco. >> reporter: today, the old comiskey park is gone. records rhettics of days' past. i'm diana alvear.