track tragedy. two-time indy 500 winner dan wheldon dies in a fiery 15-car pileup during a race in las vegas. rescue. an ailing american worker stranded for months at the south pole is on her way home at last. and a dream deferred. after serving half of his life in prison, a 52-year-old boxer finally gets his first professional fight. captioning funded by cbs this is the "cbs morning news" for monday, october 17th, 2011.

a very good morning to you. happy monday. appreciate you joining us. i'm terrell brown, in for betty nguyen. a veteran race driver said it was a crash that left him numb and speechless. a crash that will claim the life of two-time indianapolis 500 winner dan wheldon. the fiery multicar wreck spread wreckage across the track at the las vegas motor speedway. even before the race, drivers had expressed concern about the safety at that track. practice speeds alone were hitting nearly 225 miles per hour. manuel gallegus has our report. >> reporter: in a matter of moments, several indy cars collided and burst into flames. >> multiple cars involved! >> reporter: british driver dan wheldon was killed when his car was caught in a fiery 15-car pileup on the 13th lap. it flew over another vehicle and landed in a catch fence just outside turn two. three other drivers were hurt in the pileup. wheldon was working his way forward from the back of the

pack. the camera on his car, number 77, shows the crash as he approaches it. another driver's camera captured number 12 flipping over and catching fire. >> even if you're 300 yards behind that, you cannot stop these cars. >> reporter: 33-year-old wheldon won the indy 500 twice, including this year's race. sunday's race was his 134th career start, but only the third of the season. indy car canceled the race and announced wheldon's death. >> our thoughts and prayers are with his family today. >> reporter: fellow indy drivers where visibly shaken by wheldon's passing. >> one minute you're joking around about the driver's intros and the next, dan is gone. >> we are all going to miss him. a little bit of everybody in indy car racing died today. >> reporter: they participated in a five-lap salute to wheldon. mourning the race's first death in five years. manuel gallegus, cbs news. >> dan wheldon is survived by a wife and two small children.

his father-in-law said he spoke to wheldon shortly before the race. driver, but a great human being. he was always a very, very positive and always had something to say good about everybody and very polite. all englishmen are, but he was specifically polite and i can't believe he is no longer with us. >> reporter: even though he was the defending indianapolis winner, wheldon had only been racing part-time this season but yesterday morning, he had signed a multiyear contract with one of the major racing teams. in philadelphia, three people are charged with kidnapping and imprisoning four mentally disabled adults. the victims, three men and a woman, were locked in a basement. they were sufferinging from malnutrition. police say the suspects were stealing their social security checks and disability checks as well. >> the mere fact that, you know, individuals would treat disadvantaged people like this

is just ridiculous and simply makes us sick. >> reporter: one of the suspects identified as linda ann weston previously serving eight years in prison for holding a man in closet until he starved to death. the fbi is investigating the death of a newborn baby found aboard a carnival cruise ship. the fbi says the baby's mother is being questioned, describing her only as a 20-year-old u.s. citizen. so far, no charges have been filed. in missouri, 25 military police officers from the national guard have joined the hunt for 10-month-old lisa irwin. they searched the wooded area near her house in kansas city yesterday. her parents say lisa vanished from her home on october 4th. authorities say they have no suspects or any major leads. president obama is taking his jobs show on the road today. it's a three-day bus tour to rally troops. the president will stop in north carolina and virginia, both states important to his re-election hopes next year. we go to susan mcginnis in

washington this morning. susan, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, terrell. the president has been traveling for weeks pushing this jobs plan, but the areas, if you look at them, that he has been focusing on, largely swing states that show this could be as much about votes as it is about jobs. president obama heads to north carolina this morning to turn up the pressure on congress. >> that's what is at stake. putting people back to work. i'm going to travel all over the country over the next few weeks so we can remind congress that that is the most important thing. >> reporter: he'll visit the state as part of his three-day bus tour, aimed at building support in his jobs fan. senate republicans blocked the 447 billion dollar package last week, forcing democrats to now fight for the bill in pieces. the president will urge lawmakers to pass the first part $35 billion in aid to help states save jobs this week. >> the american people support every single plank of that bill and we are going to vote on every single one of them. >> reporter: the white house insists the trip is about the

president's job plans, not his re-election campaign. still the tour takes him through north carolina and virginia, two states the president won in 2008, but could lose in 2012. >> we want the president to work with us. we want him to stop the campaigning. >> reporter: sunday, house majority leader and virginia congressman eric cantor urged the president to find common ground with republicans. >> i guess a lot of the folks on the other side of the aisle want to boil this down to personality and it's really not about that. the differences that we have with this president are policy based. >> reporter: but president obama will try to convince conservative voters that his ideas for creating jobs are the best solutions for everyone. now, the white house convened a conference call on sunday and reiterated and stressed that these trips are not about votes, and actually said the president's election campaign

did not fund that trip. that trip was fully funded by taxpayers. terrell? >> susan mcginnis in washington for us, susan, thank you. "occupy wall street now." huge demonstrations span the world. arrests are growing. more than 40 people who refused to disperse were arrested in phoenix late sunday and about 175 people who refused to leave a chicago park were also taken into custody. many of the largest weekend protests were overseas. tens of thousands of demonstrators marched in rome and left behind nearly $1.5 million in damages. thousand of protesters turned out in london. from frankfurt, germany. a rescue this morning at the bottom of the world. renee nicole douceur has been stranded for months at the research station at the south pole. now tv new zealand says she has left and on the way home. she suffered an apparent stroke in august and been trying to get out since, but flights were impossible because of bad weather. take a quick break. coming up on the morning news, a

plan to end shockingly high cell phone bills. plus, going gaga over turning 65. bill clinton gets a belated hollywood birthday party. we will show it to you next. this is the "cbs morning news." ♪

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don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. i found answers about fibromyalgia. then i found lyrica. ask your doctor about lyrica today. i just thought we all would get caught up in a little bill romance. >> she said she was channeling marilyn monroe. that could have been trouble. lady gaga stole the show at this weekend's star-studded salute to bill clinton. hollywood came out to celebrate the former president's 65th birthday which was actually in august. part birthday bash and part fund-raiser. the party marked the tenth anniversary of his nonprofit clinton foundation. >> how cool is it to be 65 and you get lady gaga? come on. >> reporter: other performers included motown legend stevie wonder, usher, and rock icons youtube. former president was among dozens of invited guests.

who teneded a private memorial service on sunday for apple cofounder steve jobs. it was held in memorial church on the stanford university campus just a few miles northwest of apple's silicon valley headquarters. security was tight and reporters and cameras were kept well away. let's turn now to cbs "moneywatch" time now. stocks in asia were up. a warning that coffee prices may be headed way up. ashley morrison is here in new york with that and more. >> reporter: asian markets finished higher today encouraged by europe's renewed effort to contain its debt crisis. japan's nikkei gained 1.5%. hong kong's hang seng was up 2%. today, wall street gets another round of earnings with ibm leading the pack. stocks are looking to build off their big gains last week. the dow gained almost 5%, while the nasdaq was up more than 7.5%. those gains capped the biggest two-day rally for the market in more than two years. just a couple of weeks ago, the

s&p 500 was staring into the jaws of a bear market. the dow is now in the black for the year. the other major indices remain in the red. the days of the cell phone sticker shock could be over. today, wireless carriers and the fcc are expected to announce a new program that warns customers when they are reaching their monthly limits on minutes, text, or data. 97% of consumers will be covered. last year, the s.e.c. found 1 in 6 mobile users had seen unexpected jumps in monthly bills with nearly a quarter of those suffering increases of a hundred dollars or more. the iphone 4s looks like a bigger hit than expected. apple stores were packed over the weekend with customers lining up for the upgraded device. analysts estimated 4 million of the smart phones were sold bringing in more than $1.2 billion in revenue. at the movies, a split decision.

the robot boxers of real skill took in more than $16 million to win the weekend box office, but right behind was the remake of "footloose." it's so close, those two films could trade spots today when the final numbers come out. "the thing" opened in a distant third. brace yourself, we may be looking at a coffee catastrophe. starbucks says climate changes threatening the world's coffee supply and that is the situation could be dire just a couple of decades from now. the company is trying to convince world governments to act before it's too late. and, terrell, the only comfort i can take in that is maybe two decades from now, i won't coffee at this hour in the morning! i hope! >> but we are going to start hoarding it around here after awhile. just trying to save it up. >> i know. put it in my freezer! >> ashley morrison in new york, appreciate it. thank you so much. coming up, your weather forecast. and in sports, the st. louis cardinals break out the bubbly after dashing their way to the world series. >> she had to do it on the road. world series.

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in sports this morning, the st. louis cardinals are going to the world series. last night against the brewers in milwaukee, david freese launched a three-run blast and put the cards up 4-0. freese was named the national league championship mvp. cards rallied the brewers 12-6 and capture their 18th national league pennant. of course, bring out the bubbly. a wild champagne celebration in the clubhouse. game one of the series wednesday night, the cardinals facing texas in st. louis. in football last night, the bears crushed the vikings. leading the charge was devin hester in the first quarter. hester grabbed a 48-yard td pass from jay cutler. in the third, turned on the burners. a 98-yard kickoff return. chicago over minnesota 39-10. in foxborough, massachusetts, dallas cowboys thought they had the patriots on the ropes. not quite, though. tom brady just intercepted. tie game in the fourth. brady kept a final charge. game-winning 8-yard pass coming

up. the final. patriots 20, cowboys 16. in detroit, a grudge match. a safety nailed. visiting 49ers nailed the lions. matthew stafford for a safety in the second quarter. stafford got some payback in the fourth. he tossed a td pass. the battle continued. the coaches got into a scrap after the game and had to be separated. when we return, another look at this morning's top stories. and dedicating washington's newest memorial to a great american. the reverend martin luther king jr. >> announcer: sports sponsored by just for men. for mustache and beard. keep your edge. >> announcer: sports sponsored by just for men. keep your edge. ♪

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he " on the "cbs morning news," here's a look at today's weather. the southeast will enjoy warm and sunny weather except in south florida where it will be a rainy day. northeast will have partly cloudy skies with a few areas of light rain. a storm system in the plains is spreading from missouri to

wyoming. here is another look at this morning's top stories. two-time indianapolis 500 winner dan wheldon was killed in a fiery multicar crash during a race in las vegas. wheldon's car flew over another vehicle and slammed into a fence. he was 33 years old. a sick american who has been stranded at the south pole for months is finally on her way home by way of new zealand this morning. renee nicole douceur suffered a apparent stroke in august, but bad weather delayed her evacuation. two months late thanks to hurricane irene, but president obama and thousands of americans gathered in washington on sunday to dedicate the memorial to dr. martin luther king jr. susan mcginnis was there. >> as i was walking, i was feeling tears well up inside of me. >> reporter: paulette jones iman joined tens of thousands for the dedication of the martin luther king jr. memorial on the national mall.

dr. king is the first african-american to be honored here with a monument. the centerpiece features a 30-foot likeness of the civil rights leader. >> this is not just a celebration for african-americans, but for americans and citizens around this world! >> reporter: among those who worked alongside dr. king, georgia congressman john lewis. >> just one man, just one man! not only free of people, but he liberated a nation! >> reporter: president barack obama was 6 years old when king was assassinated in april of 1968 at the lorraine motel in memphis, tennessee. >> that is why we honor this man, because he had faith in us, and that is why he belongs on this mall, because he saw what we might become. that is why dr. king was so quintessentially american. >> free at last!

free at last! thank god almighty, we are free at last! >> it is so wonderful that we are able to move this country in a direction of freedom. >> reporter: a monument to a man who helped integrate the nation at the national mall. susan mcginnis, cbs news, washington. one man lived his dream this weekend. we told you about dewey bozella on friday. a man freed from prison after serving 26 years for a murder he did not commit. his dream was to become a professional boxer. saturday night he got his chance facing an opponent 22 years his junior. he landed a hard right cross at the winning bell and earned a unanimous decision. >> i would like to say that dreams do happen if you never give up hope and always believe in yourself. don't let anybody tell you what you can't do. >> he said that would be his

first and last night. dewey bozella retires undefeated at 1-0. it doesn't matter how old you are, he looks like he could beat up about anybody. this morning, on "the early show," president obama hits the road on a three-day bus tour promoting his jobs plan and hunting for votes. i'm terrell brown. and this is the "cbs morning news." at bayer, we're re-inventing aspirin for pain relief. with new extra-strength bayer advanced aspirin. it has microparticles, enters the bloodstream faster and rushes relief to the site of pain. it's clinically proven to relieve pain twice as fast. new bayer advanced aspirin.

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prove it. enough's enough. d-con baits are specially formulated to kill in one feeding, guaranteed. d-con. get out. >> >> good morning, everyone, good morning don. it's definitely a mild day. temperatures already in the 60s. we are at 61 degrees. 41 the cool side, down in ocean city. and 68 -- a little chilly to our north, but we are getting warm air courtesy of high pressure onshore, hoping to pull some of that in, our daytime high goes up to 75 degrees. periods of clouds and sun,

we'll have the complete first warning forecast coming up very shortly. don? thank you. >> the president kicks off a three day bus tower aimed at his jobs initiative. today, he will be in north carolina. >> >> the governor opens a special session -- . already in the news, the search for an 11-year-old continues. he disappeared after his mother's murder. montgomery county is searching two parks. . it is a purple monday. highlights for you, more news, first warning weather. your first warning traffic report in just a moment. ,,,,,, ♪ we were skipping stones and letting go ♪

♪ over the river and down the road ♪

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