captioning funded by cbs mitt romney's campaign will go high-tech using a smart phone application to announce his pick for running mate. the best ever. michael phelps becomes the most decorated athlete in olympic history. taking two more medals at the london games. and the check is in the mail. the federal health care law is requiring insurance companies to spend part send part of their profits back to consumers. this is the cbs morning news for wednesday, august 1st, 2012. good morn, everybody. good to be with you. president obama campaigns in ohio today, one of the critical states if he gets to keep his job. mitt romney is back in the

united states after a trip overseas and plans to go high-tech to announce his vp choice. susan mcguniess is with us this morning. >> mitt romney announcing his viet presidential pick is his next big thing, although he is doing some damage control right now beforehand after his trip overseas. from the president hood, he heads to ohio. president obama will board air force one this morning and head to the swing state of ohio for campaign events in mansfield and akron. the president lans to focus on the economy targeting the middle class. >> the president is not satsz fied with where the economy is. >> this is the president's second stop in akron in less than a month. he visited the northeastern ohio city during his bus tour in july. back from his foreign policy tour, mitt romney returns to the campaign trail tomorrow. the next big focus of his campaign? his choice for a running mate.

romney helped fuel speculation that his campaign said he'll release a name through a smart phone app. >> reporter: romney had some business to wrap up from his foreign policy trip. >> reporter: in an off ad for the national review, romney defends his statement that culture explains the economic differences between israel and the palestinian people. he wrote economic freedom is the only force that has consistently succeeded in listing people out of poverty. many palestinians were not happy with romney's comment. >> in this region, we call this racism. and mr. romney's knowledge about the palestinian economy not reaching its potential. >> reporter: both candidates are now focused on the three-month stretch to the election. now, the obama campaign also announced a new app. now, both sides are going to be using these to raise money. so if you sign up, expect to be hit up.

also, the obama campaign has announced a keynote speak. terrell. >> susan, thank you so much. in the texas senate primary, the tea party scored what may be itsz biggest victory of the campaign season. ted cruz, the tea party favorite, is leading lieutenant dewhurst. he becomes the overwhelming favorite. a united airlines flight was diverted to boston last night after an unclaimed camera was found by a flight attendant. united flight t 956 departed with 157 passengers and 11 crew members. a camera was discovered in a seat back pocket. the 767 landed safely in boston, escorted by two f-15 fighters. one of the jets had an in-flight emergency of its own and had to return to its base.

another unite ed flight landed safely after it was hit by a bird. the 737 was about 25 miles on a flight from dallas when it hit the bird. you can see the large dent and hole in the plane's nose after it landed. there were 151 passengers on board, no one was injured. the republican report on the botched gun tracking operation is fighting drug cartels. the justice department says those tactics date back to 2006 and the bush administration. overseas, now the battle for syria's largest city. overnight, syrian forces used artillery and fighter jets to strike forces in aleppo. neither side is in full control of this city. charlie dagat filed this report. >> reporter: we drove down empty streets and back roads to try to reach aleppo.

the main highway is too dangerous. the syrian army set up check points for the city. the rebels called ahead constantly to other fighters to make sure the road was still safe. >> is everything okay? >> not today. >> no, he told us. fighting has broken out and nine of our fighters have been killed. he said they had taken a wrong turn straight into an ambush by government militia. >> this is an army check point. they told us not to go any further, it's just too dangerous. rebels coming in the other direction reported seeing snipers. and there's also the presence of the shaviha, the feared militia that's loyal to the assad ree jeem. >> we found a group of refugees. his family had fled the constant shelling in aleppo. the attacks came from the sky, he said, everybody was crying.

some of the children even fainted from the fear. >> what do you think would have happened if you stayed? >> translator: it was a death zone. >> we found more refugees hidden away in a house in a nearby village. they told the same story, how the fiercest fighting was right in their neighborhood. we were really scared for our children. this woman told us she blamed the government thugs for the violence. she was trying to get her family out of the country and into turkey. aur r away from the fighting, men from this village helped those from earlier in the day before heading back. cbs news inside syria. >> this morning, the power is back on in india followi inin i world's largest black out. an estimated 200 million people

lost power. the day before, another blackout left over 300 million indians in the dark. >> gore vidal was an author. ef enven if you never read one f his books, you probably knew he he was. he included the best-selling novels lincoln and "the city and the pillar." a fixture on tv talk shows, he marks religion and opposed all war and says he has sampled every major drug. gore vidal was 86 years old. vidal was 86 years old. we'll take a quick break. >> when we come back on a wednesday morning, a dramatic rescue caught on camera. plus, a new york city apartment with a breathtaking view and a breathtaking price. how much do you think this pad is worth? turns the next person e into john stamos for five seconds.

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flash flooding from hvy flash flooding from heavy rains in arizona. stranded at least six people last night. firefighters rescued them all, including at least one child. the monsoon storm dumped 2-4 inches of rain in a matter of hours. a room with a view and a $100 million price tag. ashley morrison here in new york. >> it's a bit pricey. good morning, terrell. the federal reserve wraps up a two-day policy meeting. bernanke says the central bank will take action if unemployment remains high. but experts say the economy has not slowed enough for the feds to provide stimulus. and keeping an eye on the policy meeting this week. markets overseas were sluggish.

japan's nikkei lost half of a percent. on wall street, the dow lost 54 points but stayed ahead ahair. a rare show of bipartisan cooperation agreed to keep the government running when the kumpbt budget year ends on september 30s. the deal ends the threat of a shut down and keeps the government running for six months after the deadline. and want to see what a hundred million bucks can get you? that is the asking price for the three-story penthouse in midtown, manhattan. the home boasts six bedrooms, nine bathrooms and wrap around terraces on all three floors. the terraces are believed to be the highest out door residential spaces in new york city. >> i think i could get kind of comfortable there. >> i was going to say it's really nice of you to show pictures of your apartment on television this morning. that's raemly nice of you.

>> thanks. >> invite me over sometime, would you? >> thank you so much. we'll take a quick break. coming up on wednesday morning, we'll have weather. and in sports, the olympic pull power of michael phelps, now the greatest olympian of all time and he is not done yet. st olympian of all time and hep is not done yet. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8. ♪ [ male announcer ] food you eat [ sizzling ] is a blt. but food you love ♪ is a blt with hellmann's. nothing tastes like it.

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sunny, partly sunny skies in los angeles, 82 degrees. let's check your national forecast. your record heat is in the lower mississippi valley. thunderstorms will develop on the east coast from new england to north florida with heavy showers likely in coastal carolina. the west coast will remain dry. in sports this morning, there's not much lefts to say in praise of swimmer michael phelps. he won two more medals yesterday, his 18th and 19th to submit his claim to the greatest olympian of all time. mark phillips in london now has the story. >> for someone with this many olympic medals, you wouldn't think getting a couple more would be that important, but it was. michael feped had 16 in his collection before going into this game and showed them to

anderson cooper on 60 minutes. some of them he keeps wrapped in an old t-shirt. >> that's not one of my normal activities. >> and after the u.s. silver medal in the relay the other night, his cap was up to 17. the stlesh hold of something that had never been done before. only a russian gymnast had ever won more. and she told phelps that she thought he'd surpass her and she still considers herself the greatest o lirp yan ever. phelps was in two races, first, the 200 meter butterfly. he was leading until his last stroke. he was beaten by .05 of a second. still, the silver tied for the all-time olympic record. in the second race, a free style relay, there was no suspension. just domination.

phelps swam the anchor leg in a convincing u.s. victory. another gold. his fifth to go with two silvers and two bronzes. 19 medals. american fans knew they had seen something no one had ever seen before and may never see again. phelps almost didn't make it to london after his record 8 golds in beijing, he fell off the training wagon, was once photographed taking a nonperformance-enhancing drug. but the thought of becoming the world's most medaled olympian in history was enough to draw him back for one hr game. >> i kind of feel like myself again. swimming times, like i used to. everything is kind of coming back to me. >> the u.s. relay win wasn't so much a race as it was a procession. and a fitting one. michael fell p's olympics aren't over. he has three more races. it's 19 medals and counting.

mark phillips, cbs news, london. >> and phelps and his relay members weren't the only teams to attain gold. and back in the pool, allison schmidt won the gold. but the con ro ver si of the day involved china. they appeared to throw their match to avoid playing another chinese double team in the elimination round. china and the u.s. are tied with 23 medals. japan is third with 13 total. when we come back on wednesday, you can get a present surprise from your health insurance provider where they might be sending you a check. provider? why they may be sending you a check. wrinkles? neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. its retinol formula visibly reduces wrinkles

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a look at the weather in some cities around the country. thunderstorms in at lan that, partly sunny skies. denver, 91. mostly cloudy skies, 72 degrees in seattle. the obama administratioadmi mandate to provide free birth control coverage goes into effect today rksz but only for new policies. it's one of the contentious parts of the president's health care law. dozens of lawsuits believe the new mandate violates their believes. the health care reform law contains a little noenl rule to contain hundreds, even thou sabd sa thousands of dollars. the checks could already be in the mail. >> it's confirmation that sneer insurance companies took too much of what i paid.

>> earlier this month, he got a check from the insurance company for more than $4,000. >> what we got back was a very small per san taj of our overall premium. >> anthem blue cross fell short of the 80/20 rule. it requires insurance companies to spend 80% of what they collect on premiums in actual medical care. no more than 20% can be spent on salaries, bonuses and advertising. in krae kra, anthem says it spent 79.9% in health care. so they had to refund.1% of premiums. the idea was to force health care administrators to get rising costs under control. that's not the problem. >> what we're paying for physician services, hospital services, new medical technologies, prescription drugs, that's what's really driving the rise in insurance premiums. >> overall, 14% of insurance companies owe rebates, including some of the largest, aetna,

cigna, humana and united health care. >> most of us get health insurance through employers, so hay get the bulk of the money in their pocket. >> jamie plans to put his $4,000 back in his business back account. the largest insurers will have to pay out more than $1 billion. the average rebate is $151. >> 7 suspects are being held in sydney australia after a half billion dollar drug bust. australian federal police seized methamphetamine and heroin valued at $525 million. the drugs were hidden in a shipment of teracotta pots. coming up on "cbs this morning"

the battle over the swing state. this is the "cbs morning news." try this. it's oikos greek yogurt. it's creamy, nonfat, and it turns the next person you see into john stamos for five seconds. honey! i think i'm getting burned! heh! eat. ♪ tastes pretty good, huh? ♪ best yogurt ever. yeah! [ men grunting ] open!

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4 minutes before 5:00 on this wnz -- wednesday morning. welcome to august. >> deft initely starting off pretty much the way july ended. we have a pretty mild start to the day. we have 70 degree temperatures out there already. 72 bwi marshall, 70 elkin, 75 ocean city. there's a pretty good potent storm getting ready to hit ocean city. this one is going to have some tremendous downpours. this is what we can expect as we move into the beginning of this month. temperatures around 90 today, some sun, a couple of thunderstorms. over night low 72 with a couple thunderstorms

in spots. much the same tomorrow, 92, hot and humid with clouds and sun. don. >> thank you very much. in the news this morning, local and world history made in london. michael phelps becomes the most decorated oh limp yankees of all time. more on that. >> bge releases an internal report. what it reveals about the utility's response time. >> saying good-bye. after 31 years city police commissioner fred bell felled retires today. . >> more news, weather and your first traffic report of the,,,,,

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