tonight on "nightline," pregnant and in peril. new evidence that pregnant women may be the most at risk for the rapidly spreading swine flu. as scientists scramble around the clock on a vaccine, why expecting mothers should be first in line. turning the corner with first glimmers of hope in the housing market, it's the "nightline" insider's guide to real estate deals that sound to good to be true. plus, america's top cop. from defending against the recent rash of home grown terror threats to his own efforts being

profiled by police, we turn to eric holder. it's an abc news exclusive. captions paid for by abc, inc. good evening, i'm terry moran. we're going to begin tonight with the h1n1 swine flu. it's a global pandemic that's shown no signs of slowing down and may be putting pregnant women at particular risk. a vaccine rushed into production should be available this fall and today the government said that expectant mothers should be among the first to get it when it is available, but many have questions and concerns about what they should do. and the human toll remains painfully real.

>> tonight the cdc says pregnant women should be at the front of the line for h1n1, 15 have died so far. but what should pregnant women do before then, before a vaccine is ready? the cdc says they must remain vigilant. >> i think the pregnant women are often hesitant to take medicati medications but we doing nothing can result in severe illness. >> of the pregnant women who died, the cdc said they were not given antivirals early enough like tamiflu and the cdc said that could have made a difference. when we first met brian and aubrey opdyke, she was in the hospital with swine flu and brian told us then of his wife's

fighti fighting spirit. >> she's fighting and strong. i told her this is one time to be stubborn. >> this interview was interrupted by call from the hospital. >> hello? this is brian. >> doctors were trying to lift brian's wife out of a medically induced coma. they knew if they could keep her alive another week that they could give her an emergency cesarean. >> thank you. um, her lung collapsed. so they have to put a tube in. so they need me to -- they need me to get to the hospital. >> two days later, the baby died. the mother survived. brian has been at that hospital by his wife's side ever since and just days ago his wife opened her eyes for first time. we talked to brian tonight.

>> she's doing much better, she is moving arms and legs a little bit. she is still unable to communicate. >> it has been a exyocruciating time for the family, to not only lose the baby, but for her to suffer from the swine flu and the complications. >> she's still got a long way to go. improvements are improvements. we are hopeful every day, we keep praying. and' what next day -- and see what the next day begins. >> brian is not surprised when the cdc uses strong language to help the other women. pregnant women made up 13% of swine flu deaths in the u.s. womens in their second and third trimester are most at risk. >> what the body sends out is a message that sends don't get rid of me so you don't reject the fetus. >> but then the weakened immune system gets overtaxed, leaving

her at greater risk for complications. even knowing that, will pregnant women will willing to take the vaccine this fall? many are asking what is most at risk for the baby? tonight the prenatal center in new york, expectant mothers told us they aren't sure what to do. >> i want to know more about the vaccine before i'd run right out and get it. >> again, -- >> but in not taking it, they are aware of the other risks too. >> you think, my gosh, i'm am i one of the pregnant women who got the spawine flu? >> the medical community isn't convinced the women want to take the vaccine and it will contain thiomersal and even though extensive studies have proved it is safe. >> you have to ask for it, and make sure that you get it.

>> some doctors though believe once the fall flu season hits there will be a rush for the vaccine. >> if i look at the crystal ball what will happen is once the virus hits and we get a lot of illness there will be a huge interest in the vaccine. >> the ck -- cdc hopes to have more ready for the fall and rachel fingeroot is hoping she won't have to decide whether to take it or not. did you ever think you'd have to worry about swine flu? >> no. >> in the final weeks of pregnancy, she was hoping to be breathing easier. instead, one concern that won't go away -- swine flu. for "nightline," i'm david muir in new york. >> high stakes indeed and among the highest risk, healthcare workers and adolescents who will soon return to school. when we return, we turn to

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well, believe it or not there are actually signs of improvement in the real estate market. new home sales jumped last month. well beyond expectations. and in many cities home prices are starting to show an uptick as well. this follows months of plummeting home values an those tempted many perspective buyers into action. there's what happened in south florida as jeffrey kofman reports on "realty check". >> talk about prime real estate. when the regent bal harbour condos went on the market it fetched the highest prices in miami.

>> $1,200 a night. >> only millionaires need apply until now. when it crashed, realtor peter zalewski started condo vultures and it was no joke. >> we are going up to a unit. look at that view. that's -- >> this is a nice hotel. >> nice hotel room. you know, you have great brand of nuts over here. >> but what is -- so somebody owns this and then it's ruented out as a hotel? units sold for $550,000 back in 2005. last week, the same condos sold for $32,000 when an investment bond fought 51 heavily discounted units from the bankrupt builder. you're saying this was worth $1,100 a square foot? when it will worth that again?

>> i don't think i will have will be alive? >> ever? >> i might seette worth -- see it worth $500 a square foot. >> it was a one of a kind deal, but the news is that prices are so falling so far that properties are beginning to move. the regent is one of nine bulk sales that have seen vulture funds scoop up hundreds of condos at 50 to 90%. last night we sat in on a seminar for first time home buyers and it sounded like what we he were -- what we heard during the boom. >> if you don't own a home, you need to buy one. >> we find carlos bergouignan. he doesn't need to be convinced. carlos is just grateful that he and his wife resisted buying during the boom. >> i have got to believe that you and your wife sit there and

say something like, wow. who knew we were so smart? >> yeah who knew that procrastinating would pay off and it did. i again couldn't be happier about having stayed now. >> so now it's like you have had a -- got a second chance. >> yeah. now that the market is correcting itself to the prices they should be. it's definitely the time to get. in. >> others seem to share that view. after four years the real estate market showing early signs of recovery. at the height of the market in 2005, 21,000 homes were sold here. last year, just 9,000. this year, sales are on track to hit 12500. how much more time do you think it will be before we hit bottom here? >> i think we're looking at least the middle of next year, 2010. >> another year? >> oh, yeah. absolutely. >> that's jack mccabe, one of the leading housing analysts in

florida. >> we talked about in 2005 that we were going to see blood in the streets in miami. that was when people were camming out to buy as many condos as they could and now it's pretty ugly. >> oh, 2005, when it seemed everyone wanted a piece of the action and condo flippers were making fortunes overnight. how quickly times change. take a look at icon bricknell. built in the heart of downtown miami at the tail end of the boom. this building is one of the legacies of the boom. how many units there? >> 1,600 condominium units and another 154 hotels. >> how many have closed? >> a total of 31 closings in the seven months since it has been finished. >> 31 out of 1,600? >> that's correct. >> it's empty? >> it's ghost town in the sky.

>> but it's beginning to clear. just a bit. carlos bergouignan told us that just last week, he and his wife put in an offer on this home blocks from downtown miami. he's confident that at $330,000 he got a good deal. this is typical of what is selling, 86% of the homes and condos that have sold this year are going for under $350,000. >> what do you have here? >> this is a duplex. this is a two two on one side, one one on the other. >> so you're live in one and rent the other? >> correct. >> how does that cover your mortgage? >> it will clear a substantial portion, about half of it. >> if people say to you at the time, should i get in the miami market now, what's your answer? >> i would say, yes, absolutely. >> for first time homeowners absolutely. for people who want to speculate, that's a whole other, you know, animal itself.

>> coming from an amateur that is probably good advice. listen to the expert. who should be looking at buying and who should stay away at this point? >> i think if you're looking for your own home and you have a five, seven-year or longer time horizon that you're going to be, now is a good time that you'll be looking. there are early deals that do make sense. if you think you'll make money in the next three to five years i'd say you're better off in the stock market because it will take a long time because these prices come back up to where they were. >> recovery is still a long way away. i'm jeffrey kofman for "nightline" in miami. >> slowly returning to normal. there thanks to jeffrey kofman for that. from the future of gtmo to

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he made history as the nation's first black attorney general and he took control of the justice department at a critical moment with ongoing legal controversies about guantanamo bay and how our country interrogates prisoners. and keeping americans safe, our senior justice correspondent pierre thomas with attorney general eric holder. >> just before 8:00 a.m., the attorney general is greeted by the security detail. he heads to the capital, and eric holder is well aware of the daily threat matrix, in the way that terrorists are planning to kill us. >> that's a way to start your day. >> you typically don't find good news in the reports or in the meeting. it is in some ways the most

sobering part of the day. >> overnight, the fbi and homeland security has sent out a bulletin about those training overseas and returning home and it's a new, emerging threat. >> this whole notion of the radicalization of americans. leaving this country and going to different parts of the world and then coming back. this whole notion of radicalization, it's something that did not loom as large as it did a few months ago. that's the shifting nature of threats that i think keeps you up at night. >> vice president cheney had made some comments that he doesn't think that the obama administration is taking it as serious. we understand that keeping that americans safe is the most important job. the most important thing there the president does -- that the

president does and that i do. the idea that we dropped the ball is not accurate. inconsistent with what i do on a daily basis. >> terrorism, espionage, all on the plate for the nation's top cop. as a result, working with allies and foes on capitol hill, a job requirement. >> probably the toughest job there is, because it's one part of the cabinet where certainly you have to reflect the president, but you've got to be independent. >> you anticipate there will be moments in his tenure where he has to say no to the president. >> there are moments that it would be very up usual. >> this summer, holder faces a series of critical decision, whether to investigation the bush administration about the terrorism suspects. holder said that's real possibility.

>> i said that waterboarding is torture. one looks at the history of that practice, i don't see how you can reach any other conclusion. i think the department -- at least some of the people who work here simply lost their way. we will not criminalize policy differences. we will follow facts in the law wherever that takes us. >> do you think you have the indpen dense to make that call? >> yes. >> during lunch, holder was blunt. >> i'm not the secretary of justice. i'm the attorney general of the united states. and there's a fundamental difference between what i have to do and what any other cabinet officer has to do. i have a responsibility of enforcing the laws. we have to be in a neutral and detached way for the very distance that's placed to question, and you can't have a justice department like that. >> holder acknowledges some of the security tips that the bush administration took made the country safer, but make no

mistake, the obama team is on a decidedly different force. holder says many guantanamo bay detainees will be prosecuted in military courts and a significant amount will be imprisoned on american soil. >> i'm confident that we can safely hold the people and not endanger them in the communities in which they'll be held. >> but as he took a television crew for the first time into his bullet proof secure office, he laid it down. >> you can say i'm right or you can say i'm wrong. but i drew a line. and when you start to say that i'm dishonest or that you question my integrity, then you have a fight on your hands. >> and holder as attorney general often finds himself at the intersection of divisive issues beyond the beltway, like race and policing, which exploded back into national headline with the arrest of a black professor at his home by a

white police officer. while he declined to take sides, holder acknowledged he too had been racially profiled. >> i was driving from new york to washington, stopped on a highway and told to open the trunk of my car. the police officer said he wanted to search it for weapons. i remember as i got back in the car and continued on the journey how mew milluate -- humiliated i felt. >> he said that more needs to be done in race relations. >> i think you have two individuals in which i suspect that the situation could have been resolved in a different way. >> have we reached the point that justice is color-blind? >> no, not yet, but in a much better place than we were at. >> he remembered standing next to the president when the fireworks went off.

>> in the quintessential american day and to look over and see this very bright young man, who's african-american, who has been president -- who is now president of the united states. >> that is america, amid conflict, as holder knows better than most. for "nightline," i'm pierre thomas in washington. >> there are many challenges ahead for the attorney general. when we come back, tonight's "closing argument." honey honey honey honey honey!

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