it's monday, july 27th. this morning, citizen sah.ra no longer governor. but no less in the spotlight. was this farewell really the start of presidential run? the president, the professor and the police officer, meeting for beers this week. and the president put this race controversy on ice. and superswell. surfers and spectators lured by and superswell. surfers and spectators lured by the biggest waves in years. captions paid for by abc, inc. good morning. and thanks for being with us. well, as one alaskan admitted, the state's new governor may be boring. but at least it is back to politics as usual. >> sarah palin stepped down yesterday, taking the media spotlight and its distractions with her. another family will now live in the governor's mansion. >> so far, palin has been vague about her future. and that's only fueling the guessing game about what is next for her. linsey davis is here with the

full story. >> reporter: there's lots of talk about a book deal. that palin may host a radio or a tv show. or even run for president. bottom line, it's all speculation. sarah palin has sa all along, she's a maverick. what happened sunday night in fairbanks, alaska, was further confirmation. >> it is because i love alaska this much, sir, that i feel it is my duty to avoid the unproductive, typical, politics as usual, lame duck session in one's last year in office. how does that benefit you? >> reporter: sarah palin officially stepped down as alaska's governor without defining her next step. >> i will be an interested observer. i do want to see a woman elected president. i hope it's a democratic woman. >> reporter: many of her supporters would like to see her on the 2012 republican presidential ticket. her political action committee has raised more than $1 million this year. >> what she's heading to is a

lot of money and continuing fame. so, she's not givingp anything. she's gaining a great deal. >> reporter: nearly 20 ethics complaints have been filed against palin. when she announced her resignation, she said she was tired of unfair treatment and focus on her family. former lieutenant governor, shawn parnell, was officially sworn in as the new governor at a picnic, wherthe outgoing female governor served up hot dogs and some advice. >> wherever the road may lead you, we have that steady, great north star to guide us home. let's all enjoy the ride. and i thank you, alaska. >> reporter: and with that, palin walked away from the podium. as far as the spotlight, that's another question. all we know for now is next month she's scheled to appear at a gop event at the reagan library. palin said she wants to campaign for political candidates from coast-to-coast. likely, we have not heard the last of sarah palin. >> i think we're safe on that

one. thank you. palin's somimes outspoken father claims he has no idea what's next for his daughte >> everybody asks what's her game plan? chuck jr. and i have no idea what her game plan is. we spauk sports and family. we don't talk politics. >> when asked if she would run for president, the father and brother said they couldn't answer that. but that she is getting pressure to, quote, throw her hat in the ring. and we'll have more on sarah palin's future, coming up later this morning on "good morning america." president obama will hit the road again this week, stumping for health care reform. democrats in the senate say they're going to need help from across the aisle in order to get anything done. and then, there is senator ted kennedy. one voice that is missing from the debate. here's john hendren. >> reporter: senator edward kennedy is the missing man in the battle for health care reform. on capitol hill, nearly everyone agrees things would be different if the liberal lion were here. >> he's the only person i know

who can corral them and get them to do what's right. >> reporter: as he stays home in massachusetts for treatment of a brain tumor, and an occasional sail, colleagues say kennedy is closely monitoring the health care debate on c-span and e-mail. but his influence is said to be limited by his increasing difficulty communicating. on kennedy's rare returns to washington, even the president takes notice. >> to sir edward kennedy. that's the kind of greeting a knight deserves. it is thrilling to see you her teddy. >> reporter: when health care reform comes to a vote, friends say, if kennedy has the strength, nothing will stop him from returning to the capitol. >> if they can get a bill put together, he'd be one of those who'd want to be there. >> reporter: kennedy has come back to vote several times since his diagnosis. but it's been three months since the last return of the senator from massachusetts. president obama has set a new deadline. he now wants a health care

reform on his desk so he can sign it into law by the end of the year. john hendren, abc news, washington. four american diplomats will be traveling in the middle east this week, with the aim of working toward a comprehensive arab/israeli peace system. defense secretary gates arrived this morning for talks with his israeli counterpart. and president obama's special envoy, george mitchell has been in three countries so far, syria, israel and egypt. french president, nicolas sarkozy, is getting over a health care that forced him to spend the night in the hospital. sonia gallego has the details from london. good morning, sonia. >> reporter: good morning, jeremy. president nicolas sarkozy expected to leave the hospital this morning, after what could be a blow for his athletic image. as he collapsed while jogging on the grounds of verslles. the 54-year-old president, described as a fitness freak,

had begun to feel unwell of a 45-minute grueling run in hot weather. the french leader was then rushed to a military hospital for tests. his wife, the former supermodel, carla bruni, was with him at the hospital, as the medical examinations were being carried out. according to government spokespeople, those results have so far showed no signs of health problems. they denied that the president was suffering cardiac problems. but sarkozy had been on a demanding health and exercise regime. sarkozy has been conscious of maintaining an image of a man of action, as it were. he's frequently invited the press to photograph him jogging. but perhaps this time, the french leader may have overstepped his own limits to prove his fitness. jeremy? >> all right. abc's sonia gallego in london. thanks, sonia. authorities outside new york city, are trying to figure out why a driver was going the wrong way on a parkway, triggering a crash that killed her and seven others, four of them children.

a woman driving a minivan with five kids, slammed into an suv. then, hit another car, before the van burst into flames. one man survived. finally, weather that ripped through new york is tapering off this morning. but it is leaving a big mess behind. torrential downpours, hail, lightning and winds battered the area yesterday, knocking down trees and power lines. saturday, a tornado touched down in upstate new york, damaging more than two dozen homes there. and now, for this morning's weather from around the nation. strong storms around the great lakes, from illinois to minnesota. humid, with pop-up s showers fr new york to d.c. showers and thunderstorms in the southeast, and along the gulf coast. thunderstorms also in the southern rockies. and the heat wave incouents in the pacific northwest. >> a high of 98 in portld.an 92 in seattle. phoenix hits a scorching 113 grdeanees. sacramento, 10de2. 84 for chicago. 83 in detroit. 86 for the twin cities. 80s also from boston, down to atlanta.

90 in new orleans. and 89 in dallas. and coming up this morning, billionaire warren buffett takes his financial lessons to a whole, new audience, your kids. then, travel bargains. the hotel chain slashing rates in half. and later, disaster on the water. a boat goes airborne. and it is all caught on tape.

stocks are surging overseas this morning, ahead of another

important week on wall street. tokyo's nikkei average jumped 1.5% today, to climb back above the 10,000 mark. another batch of corporate earnings will help decide if the rally will continue. the dow added 350 points last week. and is now up more than 11% over the last two weeks. federal reserve chairman ben bernanke is on a campaign to bring transparency to what the central bank does. bernanke said he had to hold his nose over the bank bailout. but argued, it was necessary to avoid a major meltdown of the financial system. bernanke also said it's too early to judge the government's stimulus package. one of the largest hotel groups in the world may trigger a price war. starwood hotels is cutting room rates up to 50% at more than 600 of its nearly 1,000 locations. the promotion is good through october 12th. the hotel industry is experiencing one of its steepest downturns ever. harry potter's magic appears

to have run out. "g force" took over the top spot at the weekend box office, with more than $32 million in ticket sales. the 3-d movie is about an elite squad of guinea pigs. "harry patter and the half-blood prince" finished in second. warren buffett wants to help kids form healthy financial habits. buffet is lending his voice and message to a new series on aol this fall. it will cover the value of investments and the risks of credit cards. there will be a series featuring martha stewart and gisele bundchen. >> always good to take advice from a billionaire, in a motter what age you are. you can get the business news at our website, abcnews.com. and coming up, new deail tass of the president's call to the officer who arrested that harvard professor. will all three really meet this week for a beer? and high surf, high danger,

welcome back. these are the latest headlines from abc news. sarah palin begins her day as a private citizen. palin has stepped down as the governor of alaska. but her future plans still remain a mystery. french president, nicolas sarkozy, spent the night in a hospital after collapsing during a jog in hot weather. sarkozy never lost consciousness. d today, hillary clinton and treasury secretary, timothy geithner, hold high-level talks with chinese government leaders in washington. harvard professor henry louis gates and james crowley, the police officer who arrested him, could soon be sharing a beer at the white house. >> both men have accepted the president's invitation. ne yi de nies has more on the call that set it all in motion.

>> reporter: this is sergeant james crowley on friday, taking an unexpected phone call. >> all these guys are looking at each other going, is this a hoax? >> reporter: david runs tommy doyle's bar, a cambridge police favorite. crowley was here when the president called out of the blue, verify comments about crowley's arrest of professor gates. the two spoke for five minutes. when he hung up, the bar went wild. >> the roar went up. people were high-fiving. sergeant crowley was probably the quietest man in the bar at that time. you know? i looked over at his face. what i saw was, like, a cocktail of emotions. >> reporter: perhaps inspired by the setting, crowley suggested that he, the president and gates meet for a beer. the white house says they'd like that meeting to happen in the next few days. >> the beer at the white house starts the conversation. >> reporter: cambridge mayor, denise simmons, will continue that conversation in a forum on race, set for later this month.

>> we'veve all been talking abo this. you know, what can we do? how do we not focus on what happened? but what we need to take place so it doesn't happen again? >> reporter: so, while not everyone can go to the white house, plenty of people have something to say. yunji de nies, abc news, cambridge. the cdc is sponsoring its first-ever conference focusing solely on the fight against obesity. three days of meetings titled weight of the nation, start today in washington. and it will highlight progress and problems in prevention and control of beesty. shuttle "endeavour" astronauts are performing their fifth and final spacewalk before heading home. they undocking from the space station tomorrow. a purify system to remove carbon dioxide from the air had shut down. but nasa managed to patch it. this weekend, beaches in southern california were bigger than usual, when ts of

thousands came out to see the biggest waves in years and the extreme surfers who ride them. that's are the conditions that surfs dream of. waves 20 feet high that happen once in a decade. at the surf spot called the wedge at new port beach, experienced surfers couldn't resist. >> it's really tiring. >> reporter: but with the extreme waves came extreme danger. one surfer was killed when waves threw him into a rock jetty. not everyone who went in was ready for the rough water. >> probably the biggest i've surf. just scared the hell out of me. >> he knew the hand signals to give. once his arm went up, they knew he needed help. and they went out and helped him. >> reporter: at nearby beaches, lifeguards reformed hundreds of rescues this weekend, compared to 30 on a normal summer day. about ten miles up the coast, the huge waves added drama to one of surfing's biggest events,

the u.s. open of surfing. 140,000 people jammed huntington beach to cheer on the world's be. and to watch the waves that only come along once every few years. and as for why surfers brave these massive waves, some say the biggest the wave, the bigger the adrenaline rush. >> must have been some big adrenaline there. coming up, another rush on the water. a boat takes off. and the driver can't wait to get back behind the wheel. bar. but kellogg saw an opportunity to plus things up. we took out their peanuts... because adding almonds would be a plus. we'd be better off with less sugar. we traded milk chocolate... for the delicious taste of drk chocolate. also a plus. then we added 35% of your daily fiber... plus antioxidants, vitamin e, and zinc. ♪ fiberplus bars from kellogg. fiberplus ! so much more.

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well, the roster at the baseball hall of fame has two more left fielders. rickey henderson and jim rice were two more inducted yesterday. henderson is the all-time leader in stolen bases. rice was the only major leaguer to have 35 home runs and 200 hits in 3-straight seasons. for the second time, spanish cyclist, alberto contador, is

the winner of the tour de france. contador and the rest of the field finished the grueling race in paris yesterday. he beat lance armstrong by more than five minutes. armstrong finished third overall. not the type of cars you expect to be rolling around in indianapolis. the details from jonathan coachman at espn news. >> good morning. it's one of the special days of the year in the world of nascar. it's the brickyard 200. 50-year-old mark martin sitting on the pole. jimmie johnson, you know how good he is. a two-time winner at the brickyard. lap five. the first lead change of the race. juan pablo montoya passes martin. he would dominate for most of the afternoon. montoya, a sizable lead. clearly, the fastest car. lap 100, montoya, still dominating. he led 92 of the first 100 laps. 116 laps total. 35 laps to go. montoya coming in to the pit.

a five-second lead. montoya penalized for speeding out of the pit by nascar. he had to re-enter pit road. and he could not believe it. >> there's no way. i was only -- three green lines, from the fourth. maybe 30 yards before the line. thank you, nascar, for screwing my day. >> montoya would finish 11th. he's tenth in the points. dale earnhardt jr. his year goes from bad to worse. he would not finish. done for the day. a few laps later, jimmie johnson, mark martin, battling for the lead. seventh different leader was johnson. still martin, trying to get around johnson. he's not a three-time ries champion for nothing. final lap, johnson wins his third brickyard 400 in 4 years. he's going to be someone to be reckoned with. that will do it for now. jeremy and vinita, back to you. well, the nascar guys weren't the only ones going fast

yesterday. some hydroplane boats were racing on washington's columbia river when it all went wrong for one of the racers. >> look at that. his boat came off the water and flipped over several times in the air. amazingly, the driver was not serely injured. he was taken to the hospital, but only as a precaution. and one of his team members says, he should be ready to race again soon. >> wonder if he will, though, is the question. >> probably. i wouldn't. but probably. for some of you, your local news is up next. >> and for everyone else, "america this morning" will continue after this.

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finally from us this morning, some men in blue rolling in the dough. >> they've pooled their resources to get in on a business deal. now, they're enjoying a big bite out of the profits. in downtown claire, michigan, a half-dozen stores have recently closed their doors.

the latest casualty, the local doughnut shop, set to shut down after 113 years in business. at least it was, until a group of loyal customers stepped in at the last minute and saved the place. and they already knew a thing or two. >> no calories added. >> reporter: -- about doughnuts. >> it's a cute idea. and now, i know where all the cops are. so -- >> reporter: the claire police department, now protects and serves -- doughnuts, ignoring that old cliche, risking punch lines. earlier this month, they bought the bakery. >> if it were farmers and doughnuts, it wouldn't have that big draw to it that it does. since we had to take advantage of ts so-called stereotype, we had to people are drawn to it. >> reporter: t-shirt records are pouring in from all over the world. >> you have the right to remain glazed. >> reporter: they had to hire 15 employees. the store only used to need two.

and the line, it's almost always out the door. >> they know where the good doughnuts are. >> reporter: they're the ultimate experts huh? >> they are. and now, we have them here. >> on days off, we're not home. we're here. we're having so much fun with it. >> reporter: back in the kitchen, they're now rolling out 120 dozen long johns, fritters and fry cakes every day. and can barely keep up. >> i always wanted to be knee-deep in dough. but i didn't think i would be a baker. >> reporter: they're fielding calls from entrepreneurs, wanting to franchise their idea. but for now, the officers are content to save their own hometown, one doughnut at a time. they like to say they frisk their fritters. and then eat them. stay with us for "good morning america." ten years after his death, one of jfk jr.'s closest confidants opens up for the first >> just moments away.