it's wednesday, july 15th. in the news this morning, getting personal. supreme court pick sonia sotomayor, faces tough questions about her judgments and her personality. >> do you think you have a temperament problem? >> no, sir. i believe i ask the hard questions. dangerous dive. a stunt plane gets way too close for comfort. and a family almost pays the ultimate place. and still streaking. american leaguers use some late-inning drama so keep an american leaguers use some late-inning drama so keep an undefeated streak alive. captions paid for by abc, inc. good morning. thanks for joining us on this wednesday. we begin on capitol hill, where

there's another day of drama ahead for supreme court nominee sonia sotomayor. >> she will be pressed again, on abortion, and gun control, and whether she can set her own feelings aside when deciding a case. >> reporter: good morning. sonia sotomayor is returning to capitol hill for day three of these hearings. she's explained her words of the past, so senators can get a better idea of how she may judge in the future. two words kept coming up through nearly seven hours of questioning for judge sonia sotomayor. the words were wise latina. >> no words have i ever spoken or written, have received so much attention. >> reporter: her 2001 statement that a wise latina, would reach a better conclusion than a white male, was meant to be inspirational. but failed. >> you do believe that the backgrounds will affect the result in cases. >> at no point in time have i

ever permitted my personal views or sympathies to influence an outcome of a case. >> reporter: sotomayor avoided sharing her views on many issues. on abortion, she says the supreme court has set a precedent on the right to privacy. on gun rights, she would not get specific. >> like you, i understand that how important the right to bear arms is to many, many americans. >> reporter: republican lindsey graham read anonymous critical evaluations from lawyers that appeared before sotomayor. >> do you believe you have a temperament problem? >> no, sir. i believe that my reputation is such that i ask the hard questions. but i do it evenly for both sides. >> reporter: democrats praised sotomayor's judicial skills. >> anybody who's been over and watched justice roberts, justice scalia, justice breyer, talk to the pointed questions, nobody's critical of that.

>> reporter: president obama told americans not to be distracted by the political back and forth of these hearings. you can certainly expect more volleying today with another full day of questionings. jeremy? >> all right. emily schmidt in washington this morning. thanks, emily. the black boxes of a damaged section of a southwest airlines jet are expected to arrive in washington today for inspection. investigators are trying to figure out how a small hole opened in the plane's fuselage during flight. passengers had to put on oxygen masks as the plane made an emergency landing in west virginia. >> we definitely knew that something was going on because we kept going further and further down. and we koud see the trees. when belanded, everybody started clapping. the pilot came out. and people came out and were hugging him. >> the incident is raising new questions about the safety of aging aircraft. this jet was 15 years old. southwest defended its record saying it had inspected all of its 737 300s and found no

problems. in florida, police have announced three more rests in the murder of a wealthy pensacola couple, known for adopting children with special needs. that puts seven men behind bars in the shooting deaths of byrd and melanie billings. police say the main motive was robbery. a safe was one of the items taken from the house. and near chicago, the search continues for a killer and a rapist. officials say booher and lance battreal escaped through a tunnel at a prison in indiana. a third escapee was captured monday near the vacation home of mayor richard daley. while officials are searching for remains of burr oaks cemetery. the sheriff says he has gotten about 65,000 requests from relatives with loved ones buried in the historic graveyard. identifying the remains is a labor-intensive job. >> we're conducting a great

search of the cemetery. we have more personnel out here. they're going to go shoulder-to-shoulder to comb every inch of the cemetery. >> i keep on coming, hope i can find some kind of closure. i'm not finding anything. i can't get nothing over the phone. and hopefully, every time i come, maybe it will be something different. but i see it's not. >> four workers have been arrested for digging up remains and reselling the burial plots for cash. and big changes may be in store for the national color-coded terror alert system. the obama administration has set up a bipartisan panel to review the system, to determine if it's the most effective way to convey terrorist levels. both republicans and democrats have complained that it's too vague. a study out this morning indicates that fetuses actually develop memories while in the womb. it claims that 30 weeks into pregnancy, the fetus can form memories that last at least ten minutes.

and by 34 week, it can remember information for at least 4 weeks. researchers used a monitor that slightly startles the fetus. then, used it again later, to see if the fetus remembered the sensation, by not reacting to it. after five delays, space shuttle "endeavour" will try again to blast off tonight. tonight, there is a 60% chance the launch will cooperation. "endeavour" will have to wait another ten days while russia sends supplies to the space station. powerful thunderstorms from the central plains, tall way to the ohio valley today. hail, gusty wind, heavy rain and flooding for places like chicago, milwaukee, st. louis and kansas city. scattered thunderstorms from new orleans to orlando. and triple-digit heat in parts of texas and the southwest. >> a scorching 110 in phoenix. and 102 in dallas and sacramento. portland climbs to 90. and seattle 81. omaha, indianapolis. seasonable in the northeast. 80 in boston.

4 in new york. and 88 in baltimore. all right. when we come back, one of the nation's biggest defense contractors, boeing, says it's about to shed jobs. business news, straight ahead. and the democrats are rolling out their health care proposals. the president supports it. the republicans are ready for a fight. has progress taken us to a better place? i'd say it's taken us for a ride. honestly, what thanks "do we owe progress?, we're up to our necks n landfill, and down to the wire in esources and climate change is out to get us. that's why progress #plays no role inside post shredded wheat. here we put he "no" in innovation., post original shredded wheat is still just the one, simple, honest ingredient which naturally comes with vitamins, minerals and fiber. all we did was make it spoon size. did we go too far? i felt this deep lingering pain that was a complete mytery to me.

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combines two powerful medicines for fast relief of your diarrhea symptoms, so you can get back out there. imodium. get back out there. stocks are higher across the board this morning. tokyo's nikkei average ticked up 0.1% today.

hong kong's hang seng is up big. and in london, the ftse opened with solid gains. wall street starts the day with the dow at 8359, after adding 27 points yesterday. and the nasdaq rose 6 points to close just below 1800. computer chipmaker, intel, could help keep the momentum going on wall street today. the company's shares are set to rise, after reporting much stronger-than-expected sales for the second quarter. intel also provided an encouraging outlook for the rest of the year. intel's results are closely watched because they reflect the health of the technology industry. there are no signs of a recession at wall street power house goldman sachs. the company earned nearly $3.5 million last quarter. that means big bonuses for its workers. goldman has set aside $11 billion for compensation so far this year. cutbacks at the pentagon are leading to layoffs at boeing. the company's defense division is eliminating about 1,000 jobs.

in january, boeing said it would eliminate 10,000 jobs this year through attrition and layoffs. the auto industry appears to be in the middle of another rough month. general motors chief executive is warning that july sales are weak compared to the same month last year. but ceo fritz henderson says he's optimistic about the second half of the year because most of the government's economic stimulus has not yet kicked in. gm's former ceo is retiring at the end of the month. rig wag rick wagoner is getting a pension package of more than $10 million. discount airlines appear to be locked in something of a fare war. southwest is offering trips for $39 this year. air tran goes as low as $39. and major carriers are matching

many of the fares. i can almost hear you scurrying to your computer. while you're there, check out our website for the latest business news anytime, abcnews.com. and when we come back, a long trip to a new prison comes to an end for stock swindler, bernard madoff. and the president takes to the mound in st. louis. the ball or strike call, next in sports. my name is louise and his is my eggo.

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welcome back. these are the latest headlines from abc news this morning. sonia sotomayor is defending herself against accusations that she's too biased to become a supreme court justice. there will be more questions today on capitol hill. the black boxes and the damaged portions of a southwest airlines jet arrived in washington, for a closer look by the ntsb. investigators want to know what caused a hole to break open in the plane's fuselage. and a total of seven men are

in custody in the murder of a florida couple with adopted children. police are still looking for one more suspect. president obama moved quickly to endorse a health care plan endorsed by house democrats. almost as quickly, house republicans promised to fight it. but the question about how to pay for it is still very much up in the air. here's jonathan karl. >> reporter: house democrats claimed their bill would guarantee health insurance for 97% of americans. >> this legislation is landmark legislation. and this is a defining moment for our country. >> reporter: the sweeping changes to the health system would include a mandate requiring all americans buy health insurance or pay a fine. subsidies to help households with less than $88,000 in income, by the insurance. eliminating co-payments and deductibles for preventative care, including physicals. no denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions. and creating a government-run insurance prom, to compete with

private insurance. the price tag, more than $1 trillion over ten years. to help pay for it, the bill would slap a new surtax of up to 5.4% on those with incomes of over $400,000 a year. most republicans are already vowing to oppose the plan. >> what we really have here is a bill, that without any question, will kill jobs, will limit access to health care, will raise taxes and will lead to a government takeover of health care. >> reporter: and abc news has learned that senate democrats are considering something entirely different. new taxes on health insurance and pharmaceutical companies. the new taxes could bring in more than $100 billion. but would be haughtily opposed by the health industry. democrats are scrambling to get health bills passed in the house and the senate by august. but even if they succeed, the tougher challenge will come in the fall, when they try to resolve the major differences between the house and senate versions of the bill. jonathan karl, abc news, capitol

hill. in beverly hills, investigators searched the office of michael jackson's dermatologist, looking for medical records. it is the latest effort to determine if prescription drugs caused his death. and outside the london arena where jackson would have began performing this week, hundreds of fans gaterred for the tribute. bernard madoff is spending the first full day of the rest of his life in a north carolina prison. after a stopover in atlanta, the ponzi mastermind who wasn't flew by private jet, arrived in a bus from new york, handcuffed and in a prison jump suit. the prison may not have been the hamptons. but he could have done a lot worse. >> he's hit the inmate lottery, as far as being designated to the best place he could possibly hope for. >> he manages to always get what he wants. and always have control over everything. and seeing that he's going to this facility shows you that

he's managed to get into a rather comfortable, you know, conditions. >> still, madoff will be serving his 150-year sentence with convicted terrorists and mobsters. scientists have a new way to keep an eye on the nation's most active volcano. the tough, little pods called spiders are being dropped into mount st. helen's. they have pressure gauges and lightning detectors, manage other equipment. they may be the most effective way to predict eruptions. southern california voters head to the polls today to make a possibly confusing decision. they are picking a replacement for former congresswoman, hilda solis, who is now the secretary of labor. the candidates, judy chu, and betty tom chu. they are cousins by marriage. "the l.a. times" calls judy chu, the heavy favorite in a democratic district. >> can't wait for that family

reunion. a fresno, california, woman nearly instantly became a million dollars richer. she checked her bank account. and her balance was more than $850 million. she resisted the temptation to go on a shopping spree. instead, she alerted the bank to fix the error. and sadly, the money is now john. but she says it was fun being an almost billionaire for a day. now, to another bank error, on the other end of that spectrum. this one left a new hampshire man with a debt bigger than the -- a debit bigger than the national debt. josh got the shock of his life, after using a bank card to buy cigarettes at a mobil gas station. instead of a few buck, he was charged 23 quadrillion dollars. >> it's a lot of money in the negative. something i couldn't afford to

pay back. grandchildren. nothing like that. >> they bought europe. to make matters worse, the bank charged him that $15 overdraft fee. it took a trip to the gas station and two hours on the phone with the bank to straighten out the error. >> that's a lot of numbers. >> yeah. coming up on "america this morning," the stunt plane flight that nearly cost several people their lives. it turned out less serious than anyone could have imagined. 7 i don't always let my bladder problems... or the worry my pipes might leak...

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midsummer classic, here's jonathan coachman at espn news. >> good morning. all eyes on the 88 80th all-star game from st. louis. the man throwing out the first pitch. there he is in relief. gets it over. the president, wearing his white sox gear. where's the politics? none whatsoever. prince fielder, laces one left. ground rule double. scores the go-ahead run. 3-2. national league. it's joe mauer at the top of the fifth. an rbi double. jeter scores. we're all tied up at 3-3. bottom seven, still tied. jonathan papelbon, on the mound, facing brad hawpe. deep to left. but not deep enough. call crawford, making the great catch. bases empty, one out. curtis granderson. and granderson hits one deep to left.

over the head of justin upton and off the wall. granderson, hustling around. and he's safe at third with a triple. two batters later. adam jones, going the other way with it. sac fly. he'll take that. granderson runs. a.l. takes the 4-3 lead. bottom eighth, ryan howard. the st. louis native. strikes out swinging. joe nathan gets the a.l. out of the jam. mariano rivera to close the door and gets miguel tejada to pop out. rivera, the most saves in all-star game history with four. that will do it for this espn news update. now, back to jeremy and vinita. real quick, we have dramatic video of a near-disaster. it happened at an air show near frankfurt, germany. the plane went into a spin. >> the pilot managed to pull out, barely missing spectators