tax attacks. prominent republicans join democrats calls for mitt romney to release more of his tax returns. slowing always mimers, alzheimer's, a limited study of a new drug shows promise in the mind robbing disease. the last word. a utah man pens his own obituary and makes surprising admissions a utah man pens his own obituary and makes surprising admissions about his life. captioning funded by cbs this is the "cbs morning news" for wednesday, july 18, 2012. and good morning everybody. good to be with you. i'm terrell brown. here we go. mitt romney back on the campaign trail and digging in his heels against democratic calls to release more of his tax returns. even some prominent republicans are urging to him to disclose. romney says he will not give in

and stepped up his attacks on president obama's economic leadership. tara mergener is in washington with more. good morning, terrell. that's right. mitt romney insists the obama camp will not be happy no matter how many tax returns they see. he says they are trying to distract voters from the real issue, president obama's record. mitt romney will head from pennsylvania to ohio today for a series of events. >> i need pennsylvania and ohio both. >> romney unveiled a new attack tuesday criticizing a comment president barack obama made at a campaign event in virginia last friday. >> if you've got a business, you didn't build that. somebody else made that happen. to say something like that is not just foolishness. it's insulting to every entrepreneur, every innovator. in america. it's wrong. >> the obama campaign says romney is taking the president's words out of context. >> somebody helped to create this unbelievable american system that we have that allows

you to thrive. if you've got a business, you didn't build that. somebody else made that happen. >> the romney campaign has been looking to change the narrative of the campaign away from outsourcing bain and taxes to the president's record. but the obama camp is doing its best to keep up the pressure. >> the president released a new ad tuesday that questions why romney won't release more of his tax returns. >> makes you wonder if some years he paid any taxes at all. >> there are a number of republicans now calling on him to hand over more than the two years he's already agreed to make public. >> no matter who you are or what office you're running for, you should be as transparent as you can be. >> senator john mccain saw 20 years worth of romney's tax filings when he was being vetted to run as his vp in 2008. he says he's seen nothing in them that would prevent romney from being president. while campaigning in texas, the president touted a $1 billion plan for math and science teachers.

the goal, to reward academic achievement and teachers with salary stipends, terrell? tara mergener, thank you so much. the united nations security council is scheduled to vote on a new plan to end the violence in syria. but russia, which holds veto power, opposes part of the plan which could lead to the use of military force. rebel forces are holding their ground in the capital damascus in tense and sustained fighting is reported. the mandate of u.n. observer force in syria expires friday. north korean leader kim jong-un has a new title. marshal. kim has ruled now for seven months. this cements his position as overall commander of the military. he already has the title of supreme commander of the korean's people's army. on monday, the chief of north korea's army was dismissed. back in this country, the fda approved a second weight loss drug yesterday. the drug was approved for overweight patients who have one

weight-related condition, like high blood pressure other diabetes. it's expected to be available by the end of this year. in other medical news, a drug that may help slow the advance of alzheimer's disease. the research is based on a very limited study. but it's the first report of a treatment that might stabilize the disease and doctors are encouraged. dr. jon lapook reports. six years ago joyce williams was given the diagnosis of a disease with no cure. her sus sterling said at first sticking with daily routines helped her cope with the symptoms. >> she gets up and makes breakfast every morning. she does the clothes, she irons. >> we're from a cooking family. >> williams is part of a group of people to slow the progress of the disease. it's called ivig and contains antibodies from people who don't have alzheimer's. the antibodies appear to attack amyloid, the plaque that damages the brain, the hallmark of alzheimer's.

of the 24 patients in the study, 11 showed less decline than the placebo group. doctors were also trying to determine the best dosage and they may have found it in four patients who showed a surprising result. no decline in cognitive function over three years. this doctor led the study. >> patients in this stage of alzheimer's disease typically, if they're untreated, will decline below where they start in three to six months. >> the initial results are positive, but the drug is costly. treatment is at least $50,000 a year. >> this may not be the ultimate solution in terms of its cost and availability. but if it points the way towards a less expensive and more widely available treatment, then we'll be winning the battle against the disease. >> the fact that it her deterioration has slowed so much, i think it's all because of this study. so i'm thankful every day. >> with such a small study, the

benefit could just be from chance. so we really need to wait for the results of a larger trial that's already under way. those are expected within a year. dr. jon lapook, cbs news. new york. penn state university will respond to a request from the ncaa for more information regarding the sex abuse scandal. the ncaa is considering penalties, including shutting down the football program. the school also says it will decide the fate of the joe paterno statue that stands outside the football stadium. critics want it removed. a small plane flew over the campus yesterday with a banner saying take down the statue or we will. cbs "moneywatch" time now. bleak economic news from the chairman of the federal reserve and yahoo's new ceo arrives with a bonus. it's not what you think. ashley morrison with more. good morning. >> no, it's not. good morning, terrell. fed chair ben bernanke will be back on capitol hill today testifying before the house financial services committee. yesterday he delivered some sobering news to the senate banking committee. bernanke says if congress allows

automatic tax increases and spending cuts to go into effect, the economy will go back into a recession. however, senator charles schumer urged bernanke to take steps to bolster the economy. >> given the political realities, mr. chairman, particularly in this election year, i'm afraid the fed is the only game in town. and i would urge you to take whatever actions you think would be most helpful in supporting a stronger economic recovery. >> bernanke says the fed will take action if economic growth does not improve but he did not specify what steps the central bank would take. bernanke's words didn't inspire the asian market this morning. the nikkei fell slightly and the hang seng dropped just more than 1%. on wall street, stocks rose. on stronger than expected corporate earnings. the dow added 78 points while the nasdaq gained 13. today we'll get second quarter reports from ibm and e-bay. yahoo's earnings report did not do much to excite investors. the struggling internet company

says the net income fell 4% from a year ago. yahoo is playing catch-up with web powers, google and facebook. yahoo's report came on the same day it welcomed its new ceo, marissa mayer. she spent 13 years as an executive at google. along with her experience, she's bringing along something else new to the job. the 37-year-old announced she's six months pregnant with her first child. this comes as no surprise, but the majority of workers say they have experienced road rage while commuting to and from work. a study by career builder finds 58% of commuters felt rage at other drivers and nearly one in ten workers say they have actually gotten into a fight -- >> what? >> -- with another driver. terrell, i don't have road rage. i think i'm driver that causes it. >> that means there are some crazy people on the road. >> yes. they're always yelling at me. >> you would be the one. ashley morrison in new york. ashley, thank you so much. let's take a quick break on a wednesday morning.

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its retinol formula visibly reduces wrinkles in one week. why wait if you don't have to. neutrogena®. this is not how your car is supposed to wind up in a parking garage unless, of course, you're in new york city. this happened yesterday. a garage attendant drove a lexus into an open elevator shaft and plunged four stories to the bottom. firefighters eventually pried the attendant loose. he wasn't seriously hurt. can't say the same for the lexus, though. pretty much a total loss. following a two-year review, the boy scouts of america reaffirm their policy of excluding gays from the organization. an 11-member special committee formed in 2010 voted unanimously to keep homosexuals out citing widespread support by parents. the policy ruled legal by the supreme court in 2000, applies to scouts and adult scout leaders. there's been another bomb

threat in detroit. police say an anonymous caller said there was a bomb at comerica park during the game between the tigers and the angels last night. bomb squad searched the stadium and the game continued, and no bomb was found. ha threat follows two similar incidents during which police shut down a tunnel and bridge connecting detroit to canada. authorities in utah are trying to determine why an airline pilot wanted for murder in colorado stole a plane and attempted to escape. he took his own life before getting off the ground. bigad shaban has that story. >> work crews repaired the fence at utah's st. george airport tuesday, hours after a murder suspect tried to make a high-flying get away. 40-year-old brian hedglin a pilot for skywest airlines, breached airport security and tried to steal a 50-passenger jet. hedglin was wanted for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, whose body was found in his colorado springs apartment friday. that prompted skywest to put him on administrative leave and revoke his security cards.

it was just before 1:00 a.m. tuesday when a police officer patrolling the airport noticed an abandoned motorcycle with its engine still warm and a rug thrown over a razor wire perimeter fence. police say that's how hedglin got in. apparently made his way on to the skywest jet and started the engines. >> he knew exactly what he was going for, he knew how to get into the cabin. apparently there's multiple systems that you have to be familiar with to get it to move. >> as the plane taxied away, it clipped a jet way and terminal. it rolled into parked cars collapsing the nose gear of the plane. when police entered the plane, they found hedglin alone and dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. voice recorder is being analyzed for clues to hedglin's behavior and police say they will review airport security measures. bigad shaban, cbs news. the fbi has joined the investigation into how needles got into sandwiches served to

passengers on a delta flight from holland to the u.s. airline officials say sewing needles were found sunday in sandwiches provided by a major airline catering firm. on four flights from amsterdam. the needles were an inch long but at least one passenger suffered a puncture wound. dutch officials will tighten food security at the amsterdam airport. coming up next on a wednesday morning, your weather forecast. in sports, he drove knicks fans crazy with lin sane in new york. we're doing this all over again. can jeremy lin do it again with the houston rockets. >> i've been training all year for the big race in chicago, but i can only afford one trip. and i just found out my best friend is getting marrie in l.a. there's no way i'm missing that. then i heard about hotwire and i realized i could actually afford both trips. see, when really nice hotels have unsold rooms, they use hotwire to fill them. so i got my four-star hotels for half-price!

>> men: ♪ h-o-t-w-i-r-e ♪ hotwire.com >> announcer: save big on car rentals too, from $12.95 a day. if you're thinking about shopping just anywhere for home appliances, think again. think sears. with more selection. more innovation. more capacity. and more speed. think the only store that gives you the top 10 advantage. with all ten of the top ten brands. and the home of america's number one brand, kenmore, at the number one appliance store. sears. the only store that can guarantee the best price on all top ten brands. so, if you're still thinking of going anywhere else for home appliances think again. sears. number one in appliances. [ male announcer ] every time you say no to a cigarette

you celebrate a little win. nicorette gum helps calm your cravings and makes you less irritable. quit one cigarette at a time. here's a look at the weather in some cities across the country. thunderstorms, 96 in new york, thunderstorms, 90 in miami. thunderstorms, 85 in chicago. sunny and 98 in dallas. mostly cloudy skies, 76 in los angeles. let's check your national forecast. oppressive heat will continue in the plains and mid-mississippi valley. thunderstorms across much of the country. storms will be common in the south from texas to the carolinas and along the gulf coast of florida. scattered thunderstorms, some severe popping up from the dakotas to the ohio valley. and kentucky. to the west, widely scattered storms with isolated heavy downpours and local flash flooding in the southern rockies. in sports this morning, the question of the day. can lin-sanity be moved from the big apple to the heart of texas. that's because jeremy lin is headed to houston.

as expected, the new york knicks said they will not match his deal with the houston rockets. we'll see if the 23-year-old point guard can turn texas into the lin star state. that was a good one, bruce. nice job. to baseball now. philadelphia at los angeles. bottom of the second. the dodgers luis cruz hit an rbi to left. giving l.a. a 2-1 lead. that's where it stayed until the 8th. the phillys hunter pence smacked a single to center driving in two. the phils won it 3-2. in denver, andrew mccutchen hit a long solo home run. it gave pittsburgh the lead with an rbi single to the right. the pirates clinched their 50th win of the year, 6-2. when we come back, another look at this morning's top stories and the man who wrote his own obituary and confesses to a crime. wait until you hear what else he confesses to. and his wife swears it is all true. confesses to. and his wife swears it is all

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here's a look at the forecast in some cities around the country. in d.c., thunderstorms, 98. thunderstorms as well in atlanta, 90 degrees. same deal in st. louis, 100 degrees. degrees. and partly sunny skies, 74 in seattle. this next story is a testament to a mother's devotion no matter what species. earlier this month, a mother dolphin was spotted carrying her dead calf through rough water in a chinese bay. on her back. the baby fell off several times but the mother wouldn't give up. researchers observed this behavior in other dolphins and say it can sometimes last for days. here's a question this morning. what would you have to say about yourself if you got a chance to write your own obituary. hear me out here. a utah man who passed away last week used his obituary to look back on his life, say a final goodbye to loved ones and make

some surprising admissions. >> from his self-penned obituary published in the salt lake review, val rocky patterson told of the many adventures he fit into his 59 years. i enjoyed one good life he wrote, traveled to every place on earth that i wanted to go, had every job i wanted to have. learned all that i wanted to learn, eaten everything i wanted to eat. my life motto was, anything for a laugh. patterson used this farewell to come clean about a few things. as it turns out, i am the guy who stole the safe from the motor view drive-in back in june 1971. to disneyland. throw way that ban for life you have against me. i'm not a problem any more and sea world san diego too, if you read this. it didn't stop there. patterson, who described himself as a science and mechanics lover, got something else off his chest. i really am not a ph.d. patterson explained he received a doctoral diploma in the

university of utah in the mail two weeks after a worker made a clerical error and that he never actually graduated from the school. i never did even learn what the letters ph.d. even stood for, he wrote. the obituary wasn't all laughs, though. patterson, who died of throat cancer, said he regretted his decision to smoke in the time he now won't have with his wife of 33 years. i have robbed my beloved mary jane of a decade or more of the two of us growing old together and laughing at all the thousands of simple things we have come to enjoy. patterson seemed to know that strangers would end up reading his obituary. thanking them for reading it through to the end. >> a lot of people have read it. so many people tried to view the memorial video, it crashed the website. patterson's memorial service is scheduled for this sunday and we're told casual dress is encouraged. i would have done the same thing but i would have told everybody else's business too. put all the skeletons out there. coming up after your local news on cbs, conquering one of the world's worst diseases.

how scientists are using dna to create malaria-proofquitomosqui. i'm terrell brown. this is the "cbs morning news." now you can apply sunblock to your kids' wet skin. neutrogena® wet skin kids. ordinary sunblock drips and whitens.

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4 before 5:00 wednesday morning. it seems hot already. sdmrsz well >> -- >> well, it is hot already. 94 at lunch going to a high of 98, another heat index in the low 100s. the significant weather story is going to be the possibility of very gusty weather from 4:00 through midnight. don, take it away. sgrtd here's -- here's what we have our eye on today. firefighters from all over are in town for a convention which includes training classes in several areas. >> a local barber is featured in a national magazine. >> dream act talks are expected to launch the educating maryland kids.

>> already in the news this morning, the dangerous templeture. temple -- temperature. >> the water main mess continues downtown. long it will take to fix it. >> a new number one and it's not john hopkins hospital. >> more news, first warning weather and your first traffic report of the morning in a couple of minutes. ,,,,,,,, what makes a sleep number store different?

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