racial divide. the harvard professor and the policeman who arrested him agree to disagree in a white house meeting. and summer of storms. unrelenting severe weather pummels the eastern united states. captioning funded by cbs good morning. thanks for joining us. i'm michelle guillen. turns out clunkers are good for business. the cash for clunkers program designed to boost auto sales did so well that it ran right through its $1 billion budget in just a week. this morning the white house is scrambling to keep the program funded. tara mergener is in washington with the latest. tara, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, michelle. this program was supposed to run through november 1st. however, there are too many clunkers and just not enough cash. americans are turning their clunkers into cash much quicker than anyone expected. the $1 billion program has been so popular there's concern it

will run out of money less than a week after it began. >> kind of like renigging on the deal, i think. >> reporter: but in a white house statement, the white house tried to calm fears, saying its evaluating all options to keep the program covered and all transactions will be honored. consumers like michelle say the government needs to pump more cash into the program and keep it running until november as planned. >> in the long run, i think they should find the money somewhere and do it. they're already in debt. what's another $1 billion? >> reporter: congress approved the cash for clunkers program last month to boost sagging auto sales and remove inefficient cars and trucks from the road. drivers can get up to $4,500 by trading in their old vehicle for a more fuel efficient model. the plan has become a victim of its own success. there's already a significant backlog of orders in the government's computer system. >> it's unbelievable.

32 years in business -- i've been here 17 years -- and i've never seen the business like this before in my life. >> reporter: congress could vote to add more money into the program, but lawmakers have to act fast. the house adjourns later today for a month long vacation. and this program was working so well dealerships across america saw a surge in sales just hours after it started. michelle, back to you. >> tara, how much money is left in the fund? >> reporter: michelle, they've already gone through $96 million. that only leaves $4 million left to go and thousands of these deals still pending. whether it turns out to be enough, probably not. back to you. >> incredible. tara mergener in washington. tara, thanks. on the "cbs money watch" stock markets in asia got a lift this morning. claire leka has the details. >> asian stocks ended the week on an up note. japan's benchmark nikkei jumped nearly 2% 37 hong kong stocks surged 1.7%. on wall street, the dow jones

industrial average starts the day up 83 points. the nasdaq gained 17. dow components chevron reports earnings before the start of trading. meanwhile, new york's attorney general says, while wall street firms were taking in taxpayer bailout money last year, they were sending it out just as fast in the form of bonuses. for example, goldman sachs received $10 billion in t.a.r.p. money and paid about half that amount in employee bonuses. morgan stanley also got $10 billion and paid out $4.5 billion in bonuses. citigroup and merrill lynch received a combined $55 billion in bailout money. they lost almost as much but still handed out $9 billion in bonuses. so the economy now will get our first read today on what it was doing in the second quarter of the year. the recession most likely loosened its tight grip in the spring. many economists predict the

economy shrank at a 1.5% pace since june. president obama says the country has, as he put it, stepped away from the precipice. >> we have seen a significant slowing down of the contraction over the last several months. there are a lot of indicators out there that tell us that, you know, job losses, although still way too high, are not at the pace we were seeing in january and february. >> and there was another sign of that yesterday while another 584,000 americans signed up for unemployment benefits last week, the line is getting shorter. the number collecting has fallen to the lowest level since mid-april. and jcpenney makes its big apple debut today. penneys is moving into manhattan

at a time when big retailers like macy's, sax fifth avenue have been pummelled by the recession. consumers have become addicted to deep discounts. the department store is in the newly spruced up manhattan square mall, ironically in macy's backyard. michelle? >> a neighbor competitor. all right. claire leka here in new york. claire, thanks. have a great weekend. all right. there was beer and no tension, but no apologies either. an african-american harvard professor and the police officer who arrested him meeting with president obama at the white house say they will meet again. as joel brown reports, both sides agree to move forward. >> this is three folks having a drink at the end of the day and hopefully giving people an opportunity to listen to each other. >> reporter: it was the round of drinks heard around the world. president obama invited cambridge, massachusetts police sergeant james crowley and harvard professor henry louis

gates for beers at the white house thursday evening. vice president biden also sat down with the men for a conversation the president called friendly and thoughtful. professor gates applauded the meeting, saying he hoped it led to education, not recrimination, and there were no apologies. >> this was a positive step in moving forward as opposed to reliving the events of the past couple of weeks. and an effort not just to move the city of cambridge or two individuals past this event, but the whole country. >> reporter: the two munched on peanuts and pretzels and sipping beer while sitting on a patio in the rose garden. gates' arrest sparked a national debate about police profiling. the sergeant says the past couple of weeks are still a blur. >> i'm not really sure this is happening. i'm not caught up with this. >> reporter: both men brought their families to the white house. they took a tour and then sat down with the president in the oval office before they headeded to the rose garden. the controversy began when crowley arrested gates in his own home after a neighbor reported a suspected burglary.

the president invited both men for a meeting after he admittedly made matters worse at a news conference. >> the cambridge police acted stupidly. >> reporter: president obama says the incident could serve as a teachable moment for the nation. the police officer and the professor say they're already planning a second meeting to reach an even greater understanding. joel brown, cbs news, the white house. just ahead on the morning news, severe storms wreck the east. plus a fire at a chemical plant in texas forces thousands to evacuate. first, katie cure i can has a preview of tonight's "cbs evening news." >> the most detailed view of where the economy stands. the gross domestic product numbers are set to be released today. we'll have a report card, including a reality check on whether the worst is actually over. tonight only on the "cbs evening news."

an evacuation order has been

lifted for thousands of people who live near a texas chemical plant that caught fire. the plant is in bryan, texas, 100 miles northwest of houston. the fire began yesterday and was brought under control last night. the plant makes ammonium night rate, a potentially explosive chemical. more than 90 people were treated for minor injuries. some people were evacuated to the reed arena at texas university. the cause of the fire has not been determined. the massachusetts woman accuseded of cutting the baby from the womb of a friend is being held on $2 million bail. julie corey was arraigned in new hampshire yesterday through video from a jail. corey is accused of kidnapping an infant carried by darlene haynes, who was 8 months pregnant. haynes was found dead monday in her worcester apartment. corey was found with the baby in a homeless shelter on thursday. the baby is said to be in good condition. more rough weather is forecast up and down the atlantic coast. the rough weather is a repeat of the last few days that's racked

the region with flooding rain, powerful thunderstorms, and ge daing tornadoes. a massive storm pounded memphis yesterday afternoon. as many as three tornadoes were reported and more than two inches of rain fell. no one was seriously injured, but there was extensive damage. at least 50 homes were hit. power lines and trees were toppled. at one point 12,000 people lost electricity. a tornado also touched down near shreveport. >> sitting in the living room, heard a loud noise, come out here and seen my barn being took across the field. i could see the tornadoes. >> the fast-moving tornado was a stretch of rough weather moving up and down the east coast. folks in new jersey are cleaning up following a powerful tornado that hit wednesday with winds exceeding 120 miles per hour. >> our buildings were flying in the air. >> another twister hit a farming community in the pocono mountains of pennsylvania. >> was the house shaking? >> i don't know about the house, but i was. >> and in seattle the heat wave

is blamed for the death of a 66-year-old man yesterday. it's the first death due to the latest round of hot weather in the northwest. the u.s. navy shot down one missile with another last night near hawaii. the nsf interceptor missile was fired from a navy destroyer, successfully tracking and destroying a short range ballistic missile launched from the island of kauai. it was the 19th success out of 23 missile defense tests. straight ahead, your friday morning weather. and in sports, big papi's big surprise. another baseball star tarnished by a drug report. every day about 30 women in the u.s. learn that they have cervical cancer. that's why i chose to get my daughter vaccinated. i chose to get my daughter vaccinated when her doctor and i agreed that the right time to protect her is now. because it's about prevention. (nice) gardasil is the only cervical cancer vaccine that helps protect against four types of hpv. two types that cause seventy percent of cervical cancer and two more types that cause other hpv diseases. i chose to get my daughter

vaccinated because the cdc recommends that girls her age get vaccinated. gardasil does not treat cervical cancer or other hpv diseases. side effects include: pain, swelling, itching, bruising, and redness at the injection site, headache, fever, nausea, dizziness, vomiting, and fainting. gardasil is not for women who are pregnant. gardasil may not fully protect everyone and does not prevent all kinds of cervical cancer, so it's important to continue routine cervical cancer screenings. i chose to get my daughter vaccinated because i want her to be one less woman affected by cervical cancer. one less. gardasil. ask your daughter's doctor about gardasil. to a deep micro-clean. olay deep cleansers reach the micro-particles of dirt some basic cleansers can leave behind for a clean so deep its micro-clean. olay deep cleansers.

here's a look at weather in some cities around the country. new york, thunderstorms, 80 degrees. miami, 91. chicago, sunny and 78. denver, mostly sunny, 69. los angeles, sunny and 78. time now for a check on the national forecast. the latest satellite picture shows that skies are turning gray once again over the northeast. thick clouds continue to cover ohio and the tennessee valley. and it's a clear and pleasant morning across the midwest and central plains. later today, much of the east can expect another round of flooding downpours. powerful thunderstorms are expected to develop everywhere from the deep south to northern new england. if you're traveling by air, expect significant delays along the atlantic coast. the midwest will enjoy a nice sunny day. late day storms are likely

across the dakotas. and finally cooling off a bit across the west. temperatures should only be in the 80s in both portland and seattle. in sports, boston's slugger david ortiz insists he's surprised at being linked to steroid use. "the new york times" quotes lawyers saying that big papi and his former teammate manny ramirez are among 104 players who test positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. the following year and again in 2007, ortiz and ramirez led boston to the world series championship. ortiz said he needs more information before speaking out. >> my whole life, my whole career i've been around here, and i've been what i am, you know. like i say, honestly, i'm going to go to the battle with this, and you guys are going to hear from me the next few days. >> on the field before making that statement, ortiz slammed a three-run homer helping the red sox to an 8-5 victory over oakland. in the national league,

chicago's jake fox and milton bradley hit back to back homers at wrigley as the cubs battered the astros. the 12-3 win moved chicago into the central division lead. and in san francisco pablo sandoval had four rbis, including a homer that sailed clear out of the park to splash down in mccovey cove. the giants beat the phillies 7-2. what a catch. when we return, another look at this morning's top stories. and -- >> i heard that on the way here they were suspending the program at midnight. so i barely made it. >> drivers swooping in for deals before the cash for clunkers program runs out of gas. or 100 pringles. both cost the same, but only the new pringles super stack can makes everything pop. the choice is yours. 100 of these... or 100 pringles. same cost, but a lot more fun.

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on the "cbs morning news," here's a look at today's weather. powerful thunderstorms will erupt over much of the east. it will remain stormy across aed good portion of the south. it will finally turn a bit cooler along the northwest coast.

here's another look at this morning's top stories. another round of severe weather is expected up and down the east coast today following days of damaging storms. three tornadoes touched down in the memphis area yesterday. and another twister struck louisiana. and at president obama's so called beer summit, harvard professor henry louis gates and the police man who arrested him, james crowley, agreed to disagree. they plan to meet again. as we reported, the federal government's cash for clunkers program is a smash with car buyers. in just a week, it burned through its $1 billion budget. the white house denies reports it's suspending the program, but some buyers scrambled to beat the rumored deadline. our san francisco station kpix has more. >> reporter: roland was laughing all the way to the dealership. >> you barely made it. >> i heard that on the way here that they were suspending the program at midnight. so i barely made it.

>> reporter: with hours left until the deadline, roland is buying a brand new toyota tacoma. his '944-runner with 148,000 miles and busted transmission would have been lucky if it got $1,000 at trade-in. >> that's why you're smiling? >> that's why i'm smiling. >> these are all clunkers. >> reporter: customers have been trading in their old gas guzzlers for up to $4,500 to a new fuel efficient vehicle. fremont toyota hasn't seen sales this brisk in years. at one point people were waiting up to five hours in line. the feds thought the $1 billion set aside for the program would last until november, but it proved so popular the money is running out after six days. >> i mean, what can we do now? >> we're looking at our sales board for today. what we've done as of 10:00 this morning when we opened up. as of now, we have about 19 deals we're rolling on the streets right now. >> reporter: with a rush of last-minute deals across the

country, sales manager rick santos is a bit worried. any concern at all you guys won't get paid by the government for the clunkers? >> we're a little bit scared, but as car dealers@.e're aggressive. >> reporter: for hubert lau and family, they've been sitting on the fence all week with the family's old mazda mpv. is it fair to say you will buy a car tonight? >> probably we'll be buying one. like i said before, can't beat the deal. >> reporter: the dealership has been told that any deals that are signed tonight will still be good, and the white house is assuring everyone that any deals that are pending will still be honored. whether or not the cash for clunkers program will be good for tomorrow or beyond, stay tuned. in fremont, cbs news. here's another clunker. in the western new york town of lockport, a tow truck driver who was apparently texting and talking was charged with reckless driving. police say the tow truck hit a car and landed in a swimming pool at a nearby house on wednesday.

>> we do have some admissions and some preliminary information that the driver of the tow truck was talking on a cell phone and potentially texting as well, using two cell phones at the same time. >> eyes on the road. the driver of the car and her passenger suffered minor injuries. the tow truck driver was not hurt. this morning on "the early show," preparing for the possible h1n1 flu outbreak as school reopens in the fall. i'm michelle guillen. this is the "cbs morning news."

19. this is wjz and wjz.com, baltimore. good morning, maryland. now, don scott, marty bass, breaking news with mary bubala, your first-warning weather and wjz traffic control with sharon gibala. it's wjz, maryland's news station. it's friday. it's 5:00 and it's also back to really humid this morning after yesterday's one day reprieve. we've had some trou