this morning, running on empty. the nation'sweek-old plan to get older cars off the road runs low on funds. is it a victim of its own success? the meeting between the professor and thes after officer who arrested him. the beer was frosty. but what about the discussion on race? and recession reality. one family's lonely life as the only residents of a 32-story one family's lonely life as the only residents of a 32-story high-rise. captions paid for by abc, inc. good morning. thanks for being with us on this friday. well, the government's billion dollar cash for clunkers program is so popular, it's already out of gas. >> so, now, the white house is scrambling to come up with more money. and to reassure dealers and buyers that all deals will be honored. >> emily schmidt is in washington with the latest on this. >> reporter: good morning. cash for clunkers was funded until november, or until that $1 billion in government funding

ran out. whichever came first. now, it seems they may be out of cash three months before expected. car lots across america tell the story. plenty of just traded in clunkers reflect a program that may have run out of cash. >> there's a feeding frenzy out there. >> reporter: the deal kicked off one week ago. trade in a gas guzzler from 1984 or later, buy something more fuel-efficient, get up to $4,500 from the government. >> we made a decision within -- really 12 hours. >> reporter: so did thousands of others. >> there's no doubt about it. there's an increase in floor traffic in itself, just translates into -- at least the 20% increase in sales. >> reporter: the government had hoped the financial incentive program would lure buyers to 16,000 dealers nationwide. it did. much faster than expected. by late thursday, $850 million of the program had been used. paperwork jams make it hard to track how many more vehicles had been sold. >> i just got my first one

submitted today, which took me about five hours. >> reporter: after talk of suspending the program, the white house says it will keep cash for clunkers in place while it assesses the situation. white house press secretary robert gibbs should say dealers and buyers know that all sales up to this point will be honored. here's one way to gauge, how quickly the cars are flying off the lots. every dealership in the country would have to sell more than a dozen vehicles to reach that $1 billion government spending limit. jeremy and vinita? >> emily schmidt this morning reporting from washington. thanks. it was the highest profile happy hour in house history. president obama sharing beers with police sergeant james crowley and harvard professor henry louis gates. the meeting ended amicably. but without an apology on either side. >> reporter: the drinks with the president and vice president did not appear chumy.

then, professor gates said sergeant crowley profiled him. and crowley says he did nothing wrong. after their meeting, sergeant crowley said no one had apologized. but called it a frank and private conversation, that was cordial and had no tension. >> this is a positive step forward, as opposed to reliving the events of the past couple of weeks. in an effort to move not just the city of cambridge or two individuals past this event. but the whole country. to move beyond this and have meaningful discussions in the future. >> reporter: president obama said he was, quote, fascinated about the fascination about his drinks with gates and crowley. the president said instead of anger and hyperbole, he hoped tonight would bring self-reflection. a fact lost amidst the hype. >> you lose sight of just the fact that these are people involved, including myself. all of whom are imperfect. >> reporter: with their

families, gates and crowley flew from massachusetts to washington, d.c. gates has said he wants an apology. and crowley? >> what do you hope to accomplish today at your meeting at the white house? >> hoping to move on and get back to work. >> reporter: jake tapper, abc news, the white house. >> professor gates say he and sergeant crowley hit it off well. saying, when he's not arresting you, quote, sergeant crowley is really a nice guy. there will be a working weekend for the president and his cabinet. they're meeting tonight and tomorrow across the street from the white house, fora bonding session, and to look at the agenda going forward. every administration since the 1950s has done the same. turning overseas to iran, where police and military forces are on alert against renewed anti-government protests. that comes a day after police went after protesters in a cemetery. they were mourning those killed in the violence that flared, following last month's presidential election. afterward, the violence became more widespread, as government

forces cracked down across iran's capital, tehran. in iraq, a top army adviser says the u.s. should, quote, declare victory and go home next here. colonel timothy reese says iraqi forces are good enough to defend their government. reese says u.s. troops should be out of iraq next august, 16 months earlier than scheduled. by the way, in month is on track to be the least deadly for american forces since the war began. a massachusetts woman accused of stealing a pregnant woman's baby from her womb is being held on $2 million bail this morning. julie corey was arraigned yesterday in new hampshire, where police say she fled with the baby girl. the four-pound infant is in good condition and is expected to survive. she is in the custody of child protective services. and a custody deal between michael jackson's mother and his ex-wife means katherine jackson will raise the singer's children. the agreement means jackson's

79-year-old mother and debbie rowe, the mother of his two oldest children, will not fight over the youngsters. no money is involved. rowe will be avowed to visit the kids under supervision of a child psychologist. authorities in central texas are monitoring the air after a chemical plant fire forced the evacuation of an entire city. the el dorado chemical warehouse in bryan went up in flames yesterday. as residents fled, an 89-year-old woman was left behind, trapped in her home next to the plant for six hours. >> it started bothering you, the smoke? >> because i didn't know what was going on. i was just there. >> more than 30 people were taken to the hospital, mainly for smoke inhalation. by last night, most of the redents were allowed to return home. it seems tornado alley isn't seeing as much action this year. experts say it's been an unusually mild season, from texas to minnesota.

there were 26 confirmed twisters through june. that's about 100 fewer than the 3 previous years. and in the height of the season, no tornado watches for issues anywhere in the country. now, for this morning's weather from around the nation. thunderstorms from new england to tennessee, with a chance of hail and gusty winds w rkneyon new york, philadelphia, cincinnati and nashville wretheam ilerseve wre fearothe to nebrarta. and scattered showers fra.om montana to michigan. >>eshwng down a bit in t t. but still hot. the high in seattle dips below 90 for the first time since sunday. it's 92 in portland. and 96 in boise. low 80s in chicago, detroit and st. louis. 80s also for much of the east coast. 91 in dallas and new orleans. coming up this morning, the stock market on a roll. about to have the best july in decades. and steroid admission. rocking one of baseball's most famous franchises. plus, florida's condo crisis, turning one family's dream inside-out. they are the only residents in a

300-unit high-rise.

it's bliss., wall street is looking for morere evidence today that the economy is no longer in a freefall. a report out this morning is expected to show second-quarter gdp shrink 1.5%. huge improvement from the previous six months. the stabilizing economy has helped stocks. beararing any major surprises, wall street is set to close its

best july in 20 years. it closed up 83 points to clo at 9154. the rally on wall street is boosting asian markets this morning. tokyo's nikkei average surged nearly 2% today. hong kong's hang seng is higher. in london, the ftse opened slightly lower. a new report seems to find no real link between wall street earnings and bonuses. nine banks that received some of the biggest taxpayer bailouts handed out nearly $33 billion in bonuses last year, despite losing a combined $81 billion. nearly 5,000 workers at firms, including goldman sachs and citigroup, took home more than $1 million each. southwest airlines has entered the bidding for frontier airlines. the low-cost carrier has submitted a bid for the bankrupt frontier. a deal would strengthen southwest in denver and help it move into other markets. at least one airline has made an

offer for frontier. continental airlines is hoping to attract more customers by offering live tv on its flights. the carrier has installed directv on 18 planes already, with plans to expand to about 220 in 2 years. it costs $6 in coach. it is free for first class passengers. a summer slump for the video game business should leave savings for shoppers. nintendo and sony reported on thursday that console sales are dropping. and last week microsoft said its x-box division lost money last quarter. that could force the companies to cut the prices on their consoles or add extras. here's one example of how bad the condo crisis has gotten in south florida. there's just 1 family living in this 32-story luxury high-rise in ft. myers. the garbage service is spotty. the power has been shut off to all of the other floors. the owners say they're actually worried about their safety after recent break-ins.

but their mortgage lender will not let them move. and the building's owner says there's nothing they can do about it. >> unbelievable. >> got to get pretty lonely in there. >> like a ghost town. coming up next on this friday morning, smoothing over racial tension. what americans are saying about the events that led to last night's white house happy hour. and reunited. the cast behind one of tv's most successful shows plans a new

welcome back. these are the latest headlines from abc news. the cash for clunkers program is so popular, it is out of cash, after less than a week. the white house is now scrambling tcome up with more money. a u.s. army adviser says american troops should be out of iraq by next august. 16 months ahead of schedule because iraqi forces are now capable of defending their government.

and the anticipated happy hour at the white house has ended on a cordial note. police sergeant crowley and harvard professor gates agree to meet again for lunch. that meeting will take place far away from the media spotlight, which has burned brightly since the story began two weeks ago. >> it begs the question, did last night's get together lead to the teachable moment president obama hoped for. it depends on who you ask. >> reporter: on talk radio in boston, some callers refused to accept there's some takeaw, some national lesson on race, that came from the arrest of professor gates. >> the teachable moment was lost when the professor's mother didn't teach him the lesson that every responsible parent teaches their kid. and that is, if you have an issue with a cap, it's yes, sir, no, sir. and you keep your damn mouth shut. >> exactly. >> reporter:t this black barbershop in atlanta, there was a different take. >> the man who has the badge, has the power.

that's the big lesson. >> the lesson learned is, just do what the officer is asking you to do. you know, you live to see another day. >> reporter: both the president and the attorney general have suggested the country could use more conversations about race. and the gates incident brings that. >> this i think presents us with that opportunity. and i hope the nation takes advantage of it. >> reporter: but the dialogue hasn't always been polite or pretty. in boston, the police officer took sides in an e-mail. >> black folks and white folks in america can look at the same incident and come away with entirely different impressions. >> reporter: on television, host glenn beck said the president only sided with the black professor because of his deep-seeded hatred of white americans. >> this guy is, i believe, a racist. >> reporter: there was little agreement on whether the incident was truly a national lesson. >> i don't think there was as much of a teachable moment in what happened in cambridge.

i think there's a teachable moment in how we all reacted to it. >> americans of all colors wanted to avoid talking about race after barack obama won. maybe we've moved beyond race. but it's still there. >> reporter: but the meeting at the white house certainly had a lot more meeting than a few guys sharing a beer. steve osunsami, abc news, atlanta. well, the president has announced his first lists of medal of freedom recipients. among the 16 people receiving the award is massachusetts senator ted kennedy, who is fighting brain cancer. sandra day o'connor, the supreme court's first female justice is also on the list. also is civil rights leader, joseph lowery. mr. obama said the recipients were selected for being agents of change. the medal of freedom is the highest civilian honor. the cast of "seinfeld" will be back together again. the reunion will take place on his hbo show, "curb your enthusiasm."

jerry seinfeld, julia louis-dreyf louis-dreyfus, and jason alexander will appear on "curb," and come together for the finale. pope benedict has signed a record deal. record label officials say it will appeal to a wider audience, and not just those who are religious. the record will drop at the end of november, just in time for christmas. >> who would have thought the pope would have a record that would drop. it will probably do pretty well. >> i'll bet it will, too, yeah. coming up, a bull on the loose. it wasn't in spain. this was in idaho. and steroid shocker. a baseball sup th. the latest to admit to testing positive for drug use. the great taste

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it's the chevy open house. and now, with the cash for clunkers program, a great deal geteven better. let us recycle your older vehicle, and you could qualify for an additional .$3500 or $4500 cash back... on top of all other offers.. on a new, more .fuel efficient chevy., your chevy dealer has more eligible models to choose from - more than ford, toyota, or honda. so save gas... and money... now during the shuttle "endeavour" astronauts could be back on effort by lunchtime. nasa cleared the crew to land at cape canaveral after a final check of both the wing and the

nose. the 16-day mission was one of nasa's longer flights. former boston red sox teammates david ortiz and manny ramirez are at the center of the latest chapter of baseball's steroid scandal. both are players that tested positive in 2003, according to a report in "the new york times." ortiz is confirming the tests. and he said he was surprised to learn out the results. big papi is also vowing to learn what triggered those results. just as the ortiz story was breaking, the red sox were taking on the a's. kevin connors at espn news has all the highlights and the other sports. >> good morning. we start with, what else? baseball and controversy. red sox and a's. david ortiz on the field. there's rumors he took performance-enhancing drugs back in 2003. first at-bat after receiving a warm ovation from the fans in fenway. off the monster in left. base jason bay moves to third.

that would take the lead on a jason veritek single. 5-3, when ortiz gets into one. 14th home run of the season proved to be the game-winner. red sox win it 8-5. manny ramirez says he's unaffected by the performance-enhancing rumors. his team taking on the cardinals. top ten. it's matt kemp. two-rbi single to left. jonathan broxton saves it. money goes 0 for 5. and dodgerwin it, 5-3. tiger woods back in action for the first time after missing the cut at the british open. playing in the buick open. 13th tee. we saw a lot of that at the british open. tiger, unhappy about his drive. and you see why. he would, however, recover and save par. 14th green. after the nice sand shot. rolls in the five-footer for birdie to move 2 under. but on 15 for par. tiger finished the first round,

tied for 128th on putts inside 10 feet. he called it, quote, probably one of the worst putting days i've ever had. as for the irons on 16, not exactly great. into the beach it goes. he would par the hole. finished 1 under for the day. steve lowery, the leader at 9 under. jeremy and vinita, back to you. >> all right. it was a little like the running of the bulls. this time, it was in the middle of idaho. >> watch out pamplona. a bull broke loose from its pasture and wandered around a residential neighborhood for about an hour and a half. police and animal controlam ce ose to cornering the bull several times. but it was undeterred. they finally managed to tranquilize the bull. thankfully, no one was hurt.

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well, much has been made this week about last night's chat at the white house. the president and the vice president, plus harvard's henry louis gates and cambridge police officer, james crowley, meeting two weeks after the initial confrontation. >> some called it a beer summit, over which the president chided reporters. >> it's a -- it's a clever term. but this is not a summit, guys. this is three folks having --

having a drink at the end of the day. and hopefully, giving people an opportunity to listen to each other. and that's really all it is. >> to the president, it was a few guys having drinks. but to the late-night comedians, it was so much more. >> here's a few of the things they had to say last night. >> it looks like they were having fun. you can see here. they're in the white house, just on the edge of the rose garden there. they have their beers. and even played a little quarters. so, that looks all right, right? tomorrow morning will here to forbe known as racial harmony hangover day. >> i think we're excited about all this. the big kegger down in washington at the white house. they're having the beer party to celebrate the last day of finals. things really went nuts at the kegger. and -- at 8:00, everybody was a little tipsy.

and they drunk-dialed ben bernanke. >> obama wants to make this a regular thing. he's invited ahmadinejad over for appletinis. thank you. >> the men met and talked at the white house. and each was served his own preferred brew. nothing says unity like three men sitting down together and insisting on three, differen brands of beer. >> i think he was brown-bagging while he was delivering that story. wonder if they considered beer-pong. >> quarters seems like it was fun enough. >> next time. stay with us for "good morning america." could new help be on the way for 30 million americans who suffer migraines? we'll show you a simple forehead surgery showing some promise just moments away, a suspect in one of the district's most infamous murder mysteries is due in one of the district's most infamous murder mysteries is due in cou