it's tuesday, september 15th. this morning, stricken star. patrick swayze's cancer battle ends. the romantic lead of iconic films is dead. we'll look at his recovery. and phone concern what years of cell phone use may and phone concern what years of cell phone use may mean for your health. captions paid for by abc, inc. good morning. thanks for joining us. after a public battle with pancreatic cancer, patrick swayze has died. >> abc's barbara walters had a friendly relationship with swas si for decades.

she also conducted the last tv interview he would ever give. >> he was a dancer. he was a cowboy. he was a movie star. >> nobody puts baby in the corner. >> reporter: but above all, he was a fighter. >> will you stand up with me? will you snd up to cancer. >> reporter: patrick swayze, defiant, but definitely sick. was far from the hearthrob that boogied into the hearts of a generation, with his tate mark moves in 1987's "dirty dancing." ♪ i never felt this way dfr >> reporter: but the role that sealed his destiny, among the top romantic actors of all-time, involved a pottery wheel, a grieving widow, played by demi moore and a ghost. >> i love you, molly. i've always loved you. >> ditto. >> reporter: but recently, he

found fame in a new role, cancer patient. in march of 2008, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. a notoriously lethal disease. he said he first knew something was amiss, as he was celebrating new year's eve with his wife, lisa. >> i tried to have champagne. and it would be like pouring acid, you know, on an open wound. and then, my indigestion issues got gigantic and constant. and i started thinking, i'm getting skinny. >> reporter: how much weight did you lose? >> i dropped about 20 pounds in the blink of an eye. >> reporter: but swayze continued to work, despite the cancer. are you scared? >> i don't know. i will be so either truthful or stupid, as to say no. but immediately, when i say that, i have to say, yes, i am. >> his memoirs will be called

"time of my life." a nod, of course, to the song from "dirty dancing." >> among the co-stars issuing statements about their friend, is jennifer grey. >> when i think of him, i think of being in his arms when we were kids, dancing. >> there, of course, will be more later on "good morning america." and tonight at 10:00 eastern, barbara walters returns with her special, "patrick swayze, the last dance." in connecticut, investigators are closing in on the possible killer of yale med student, annie le. last night, hundreds of people assembled for a candlelight vigil. jim dolan of new york station wabc reports from new haven. ♪ >> reporter: a sea of grief on the yale campus, where students came together to mourn the

death, a brutal, violent murder of one of their own. natalie powers was annie le's roommate. >> she was as good a human being as you'd ever hope to meet. she was always kind, generous, honest. oh. caring. and the list just keeps going. >> reporter: annie le was just 24 years old. the pharmacology student at yale. five days ago, she disappeared. her body was found in a campus building only accessible to university employees. >> it's also so very frightening to think in our safe community, something like this could happen. >> reporter: in silence, the students stood, trying to bring light to the darkness. and meaning to the senseless. >> that this horrible tragedy happened at all, is incomprehensible. but that it happened to her, i think is infinitely more so. >> again, that was jim dolan

reporting. police don't believe a fellow student was involved in le's murder. president obama hits the road again today, this time talking about economic recovery to workers in ohio and pennsylvania. he'll try to assure them the economy is coming back. john hendren is live in washington with more. good morning, john. >> reporter: good morning, jeremy and vinita. yesterday, president obama was on wall street, talking financial responsibility. today, it's all about jobs. today, president obama turns to the nation's workers. at a roundtable with general motors workers in ohio, and in a speech to the afl-cio in pittsburgh, the president will talk jobs, as tim geithner cold abc, on an interview that will air on "good morning america" today. >> people back to work. >> reporter: that message comes a day after the president told wall street to get ready for tighter oversight and better times ahead. >> the work of recovery continues. and though i will never be satisfied while people are out

of work and our financial system is weakened, we can be confident that the storms of the past two years, are beginning to break. >> reporter: the president will talk directly to workers, including the nearly 6 million who have lost their jobs and aren't feeling that recovery. workers like rick hirst. he lost his job at microsoft. so did his wife. >> i did everything right. i got schooling. i stuck with my jobs. i did my best. i didn't lie, cheat or steal. why am i not among the ranks of the employed? >> reporter: last week, they turned over the condo to the bank. the president's promise to workers like the hirsts, help is on the way. >> jobs tend to be a lagging indicator. they come last. so, we are focused on how do we create jobs in this environment, without adding to the deficit. >> reporter: still, with unemployment at nearly 10%, its highest level in nearly 26 years, the president says he's not inclined to ask for a second economic stimulus.

jeremy? >> john hendren in washington. the house could vote on a resolution scolding respective joe wilson for his heckling of president obama. dozens of protesters gathered outside wilson's office to demand the congressman publicly apologize, something he has vowed not do. and now, for this morning's weather from around the nation. another wet day across much of the south, with heavy rain and flooding from florida to east texas. those storms stretch north to oklahoma, kansas and missouri. showers d thunderstorms in the rockies, with a chance of hail and gusty winds, from wyoming to arizona. >> phoenix climbs to 100 today. sacramento, 86. it's 77 for seattle. 85 in boise. 79 in st. louis. and the 80s for chicago, detroit and minneapolis. a warm 76 in boston. 83 in new york. and 80 in atlanta. new orleans hits 87. and 82 degrees for dallas. and coming up, the latest effort to root out al qaeda in

the heart of new york city. plus this -- >> don't tell me to be quiet. i don't -- >> another tennis tirade. the outburst at the u.s. open, involving the world's number one player.

it is a quiet morning for overseas markets, exactly one year after stocks went into a tail spin because of the credit crisis. tokyo's nikkei average climbed

0.1% today. hong kong's hang seng is lower. in london, the ftse opened slightly higher. wall street starts the day with the dow at 9626, after rising 21 points yesterday. the nasdaq added almost 11 points to close at 2091. taxpayers could see a return on their investment in troubled banking giant citigroup. citi has held preliminary talks with the treasury department, on ways to reduce the government's stake in the bonk. that wld include the government selling citi stock as early as next month. the government's shares of the bank have gained about $10 billion. wells fargo, one of the nation's largest banks, has fired a senior vice president, aused of using a foreclosed home in malibu as her home. the charge came that the employee had been throwing lavish parties at the beach house. on the brink of using millions of rev new in a year, eli lilly is slashing its

workforce. it hopes to cut costs by $1 billion a year. in the next few years, lilly will lose patents on several drugs that account for more than half of its current revenue. holiday shopping season is right around the corner. and toys "r" us is planning for a big year. it is opening nearly 350 temporary stores inside malls and at babies are us locations. customers will be able to make returns and exchanges at any toys "r" us store. two of the top rental car companies are banning smokes. starting october 1st, avis and budget will have smoke-free fleets. they are the first major rental car companies to enact a ban like this. customers caught smoking in those cars will be charged a hefty cleaning fee of up to $250. expensive cigarettes right there. you can read more stories online at abcnews.com. and coming up on this

tuesday, preventing a plot in new york. police and federal agents and their latest raid. and cell phones possibly causing cancer

welcome back. these are the latest headlines from abc news. actor patrick swayze is being remembered by colleagues, after losing his battle with pancreatic cancer. e "dirty dancing" star was 57 years old. hundreds of people gathered on the campus of yale university, to honor annie le, whose body was found in the lab where she worked. police say her murder was not a random act. and president obama speaks to the nation's workers today. first, gm employees in ohio. then, to the afl-cio in pittsburgh. near in new york, members of the terrorism task force, local police, and the fbi, have raided several apartments, looking to break up a possible terror

attack. >> they were apparently tracking a suspect linked to al qaeda who just arrived in new york, after travels to pakistan. here's our chief investigative correspondent, brian ross. >> reporter: it was just after midnight when new york police and federal agents raided this apartment house and several other locations across the river from manhattan, in the borough of queens. officials said they had expected to find bombmaking materials. but none was discovered. >> there is very good reason to believe that there is a connection to al qaeda or to al qaeda supporters. yes. this does not appear to be self-starters. >> reporter: some authorities fear there might have been a connection to the latest osama bin laden tape, which was posted on the internet last night, at the same time authorities were going to court for a search warrant. the internet posting included an image of the new york city skyline. >> they did not move as quickly as they would, if they did not believe there was real potential and more than that. >> reporter: new york police have disrupted numerous plots against the city's subways and

airports since 9/11. the latest alleged target of this latest plot has not been disclosed. >> the fact that the general assembly of the united nations opens this week. and dozens of presidents of foreign countries will be in town. brian ross, abc news, new york. in california, a judge has set bail at $30 millllion for t man accused of kidnapping and holding a girl for 18 years. phillip garrido and his wife, nancy, have pleaded not guilty to 29 counts in the jaycee dugard case. the judge set the high bail because the charger are so serious. lawmakers are vowing to investigate links between cell phone use and cancer. worries about the possible use, are being raised by a environmental group. here's diana alvear, on the latest warnings. >> reporter: with every call you make, your cell phone emits radiation. radiation that a new study says is more dangerous than previously thought. the environmental working group

warns, using a cell phone for ten years or more, significantly increases a person's risk for certain types of brain cans per p. >> the studies are showing 50% to 90% increased risk for those rare tombers. >> reporter: their study shows children are especially at risk. >> their skulls are thinner. they absorb about twice the radiation of an adult. >> reporter: industry groups and medical experts, including abc's own dr. richard besser, have their doubts. >> the best science does not show a connection between cell phone use and cancers of any kind. republican o. >> reporter: however, increasing concern over such a connection, prompted monday's hearing on capitol hill. researchers from the national institutes of health described a long-term study, in which rats will be exposed to levels of cell phone radiation, similar to those of hummes. >> the things we're most concerned about is chronic effects. long-term. after long-term use. and things that may take many, many years to develop. >> reporter: diana alvear, abc news.

more health news this morning. swine flu may be contagious for a longer period than initially believed. new research showed those infected may be able to spread the virus for a week or more after symptoms first appear. patients were being told to avoid contact with others for a day after their fever breaks. health officials now they say should wait for their coughing to stop. and coming up this morning, a fiery and frightening landing for people onboard this airliner. plus, why we might not be seeing much of kanye west. four dress . the reason that i picked alli was because its approved by the fda, it was safe. it will block 25% of the fat that you eat and keep it from being absorbed. that's got to be better for you than something that is absorbed into the system. alli is not only just a pill but it is a total program. it's a way of teaching yourself to eat more healthy. it does force a lifestyle change. (announcer) join the millions of people who are losing weight with alli.

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missing almost all of last season with a serious knee injury, tom brady rallied the patriots for a win over the buffalo bills in the final minute. and in san diego, the chargers scored a touchdown with 18 seconds left to beat the oakland raiders. now, here's anish shroff, with highlights from the historic u.s. open men's tennis final. >> good morning. we start with a classic five-set final in the u.s. open. roger federer, going for his sixth-straight title. facing argentina's juan martin del potro. third set, tied 4-4. federer serving. del potro's forehand would go wide. del potro decided to challenge a little wait for federer. and federer said you waited too long to challenge. he was upset. >> no. stop. come on. over the line challenge after two seconds. the guy takes like ten.

any rules in there? don't tell me to be quiet, okay? i don't give [ bleep ] what he said. i'm saying it was way too long. those are the rules. i wouldn't challenge -- after one second. he takes ten seconds. >> federer, losing his cool. he would still win that game. won the third set. but del potro won the fourth set. fifth set, del potro with championship point. and what do you know? roger's reign of king of queens, is over. it breaks 40-consecutive u.s. open match wins. it's del potro's first u.s. open title. that does it for this espn news update. now, let's send it back to "america this morning," with jeremy and vinita. well, that uncharacteristic

outburst by federer came on the day that serena issued a second apology for talking to the u.s. open line judge. >> in the postgame interview, serena acknowledged that the judge she clashed with on saturday, was only doing her job. speaking of apologies, kanye west apologized for the third time in two days to taylor swift for interrupting her acceptance speech at the video music awards. west also announced he needs to step out of the spotlight for a while. >> i don't try to justify it because i was just in the wrong period. after this, i need to take some time off and analyze how i'm going to, you know, make it through the rest of this life. how i'm going to improve. >> west said he knew what he did was wrong, as soon as he handed the microsoft back to swift on sunday night. >> unt comfortable moment. >> it sure was. for some of you, your local news is next. >> for everyone else, "america this morning" continues after

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well, a new book is providing fresh insights into pat tillman's u.s. army service. tillman was the former nfl player who died in afghanistan. >> for the first time, we're hearing tillman's own thoughts about his missions.

and they come from tillman's own writes. here's bob woodruff. >> reporter: he had it all. a pro football contract, worth millions. a beautiful, new bride. and after 9/11, he gave it all up to serve his country. but pat tillman had grave doubts about his first deployment to iraq. >> i hope this war is about more than oil, money and power. i doubt that it is. >> reporter: tillman's private letters and journals, revealed in jon krakauer's book, "when men win glory," show there was more to this army ranger than managed. >> it strokes my vanity enough to fool me into thinking it's important. >> reporter: even though pat and his brother, kevin, who enlisted with him, had doubts about iraq, they never doubted how they would fight. >> if kevin and i are part of a situation where we must fight, everyone part of my soul will fight harder than anyone ever has.

>> this mission will be a p.o.w. rescue. a woman named jessica lynch. i do believe this to be a big public relations stunt. >> reporter: tillman told his platoon mates, he feared if something were to happen to him, he, too, would be used as a prop gan to tool for the army. >> i'm afraid, if i die, they're going to make me this symbol and parade me through the streets. don't let that happen. >> reporter: in april 2004, pat tillman finally got a chance to fight the war he signed up for, in afghanistan. but two weeks after he arrived, he was gunned down by friendly-fire. >> someone at the highest levels of government, said let's try to keep a lid on the friendly-fire aspect. but we'll turn lemons into lemonade. we're going to turn him into a hero. >> reporter: all patillman wantedas to serve his country. bob woodruff, abc news, new york. and stay with us for "good morning america" and our exclusive interview with serena williams.