making news this morning, another food recall. >> cantaloupe, beef, tomatoes. now, lettuce. questions of food safety, just as the government cuts back on food inspectors. and the nation's biggest bank, unleashing a huge, new fee on something that used to be free. will other banks do the same? and what a survival story. a driver plummets off a mountain road, discovered alive six days later. and the most chilling part is who found him. good morning, everyone. i'm tanya rivero. >> and i'm rob nelson. from killer cantaloupes to contaminated burger meat, barely

a day goes by without hearing about another food that makes us sick. >> overnight, we heard that a california grower concerned about listeria, is recalling about 90 million car tins of romaine lettuce. here's john hendren. >> reporter: it's enough to make you lose your appetite. >> the third most deadly foodborne outbreak in the united states. >> reporter: attorney bill marler represents about a dozen people made sick from eating cantaloupe. just one food crisis in a spate of others that recall beef, lettuce and tomatoes. that's everything in a burger but the bread. >> people die. we all will. but you shouldn't die from eating cantaloupe. you shouldn't die from eating food. you shouldn't die from having a meal with a friend. it just shouldn't be that way. >> reporter: perhaps the most frightening of the most recent outbreaks, is listeria in cantaloupe, killing at least 16

people, making it the most deadly food crisis in the united states in 10 years. it's believed the cantaloupes came from here, jensen forms in holly, colorado. the cantaloupes were supposedly shipped from july 29 th to september 10th. because you haven't shown symptoms doesn't mean you're in the clear. >> you ingest a small amount of listeria. it doesn't make you feel sick right away. >> reporter: it can take two months before you feel symptoms. antibiotics can treat you. but without the treatment, the symptoms can leave victims incapacitated and unable to speak. the fda is getting hit with a 10% bite. john hendren, abc news. for the most up-to-date information on food contaminations and recalls, which now include chopped romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, ground beef and cantaloupe, go to abcnews.com. to politics now.

and major changes in the republican race for president. the latest poll finds rick perry is no longer at the front of the pack. abc's karen travers has more from washington. >> reporter: as rick perry meets with republican donors. a new fox news poll shows him in second place behind mitt romney. is romney the front-runner again? maybe not. perry has dropped ten points since august. but romney's support is basically unchanged. he hasn't seemed to benefit from perry's recent stumble. campaign ads from the perry campaign slams romney as a flip-flopper. romney responded. >> if you don't change your view, you get fired for being suborn and stupid. >> reporter: republicans who were hoping for a chris christie campaign may have to keep holding their breath. but the window for the new jersey governor and sarah palin may be closing. the filing deadline to get on the ballot in key early states are all within the next month. some strategists say it's not

too late for christie to run. >> i don't think it's too late for him. i can make an argument that rick perry actually got in too early, after what happened with him and the stumbles and all that. there's a legal issue. he has to get on the ballot. but if he really wants to run, i think he could wait until the end of this month and do well. >> reporter: there are challenges for that short time line. it could be hard for christie to catch up on fund-raising, set up campaign organizations in key states and meet with republicans in the early voting states. rob and tanya? >> karen, thanks. democrats, are turning up the pressure on supreme court justice, clarence thomas. at issue is thomas' failure to disclose that his wife got thousands of dollars from groups that wanted the new health care law repealed. democrats are demanding a justice department investigation. a sensitive issue since the court is expected to rule on that law next year. and a satirical newspaper sparked an investigation after posting a gag article and false tweets about a standoff on

capitol hill. the big story on "the onion" website, showed a photo of house speaker john boehner holding a gun to a little girl's head. it claims that congress had taken little schoolchildren hostage. the article said that boehner and the others were willing to kill all the kids if they didn't get $12 million. the nation's intense crackdown on illegal immigrants has taken effect in the state of alabama, despite lawsuits and protests against it. [ chanting ] civil rights activists are furious about this, saying the controversial new law gives the state power to track down and detain virtually anyone for almost any reason. at least three lawsuits aimed at striking down the law are still pending. and we are just learning about a dramatic rescue in the los angeles area. a 67-year-old grandpa has been found alive after being stuck for six days at the bottom of a ravine. even more amazing, family

members were the ones that discovered david lobo. lisa lobo said her father had used his debit card. and so, she conducted a search. >> we stopped at every ravine. we kept screaming. and we heard dad say help, help. and there he was. >> they say laveau survived by drinking stream water and eating leaves. his first request when they found him was for a chocolate milkshake. he has broken bones and bruises. but he's expected to be okay. >> amazing story. used a debit card to find out where he was. >> she has a career of a detective ahead of her. now, for this morning's weather from around the country. cooler in the midwest and ohio valley, with showers from milwaukee to pittsburgh. drying out in the northeast, with scattered morning showers from new jersey to the carolinas and from new orleans to san antonio. also, thunderstorms in florida and in the rockies. and late-day showers in the

pacific northwest. >> 70 in seattle. 82 in sacramento. 101 in phoenix. kansas city gets up to 72. 70s also from boston to atlanta. and fall has come to detroit, just 53 degrees. and coming up next, get this, the ceo awarded with an eight-figure golden parachute after crippling his company. and he only worked there for a year. >> oh, my goodness. the fee free-for-all, with the biggest bank in america announcing a new charge for many of its 57 million customers. and also this morning, the photos creating a frenzy. a bargain shopper in disguise. why do

the nation's biggest bank has a new way to make some big money. bank of america will soon charge its debit card users $5 a month to make purchases. and other banks, now, are testing the waters. the change coincides with new rules that limit how much banks can charge merchants when customers use those debit cards. and it comes when more people are using mrasting instead of cash. >> make a lot of people angry. we may have escaped a double-dip recession yet. revised numbers show the economy grew slightly faster than estimated in the spring. up 1.3% in the second quarter. and last week, the number of people collecting unemployment benefits fell to a five-month low. that could be a sign that layoffs may be slowing down. but the summer's economic turmoil has made ceos service. a survey shows about one-third

of them plan to hire in the next six months. that's down dramatically from three months ago, when nearly half of the executives of the largest companies said they would create jobs soon. asian stocks weren't thrilled by the conflicting reports. tokyo's nikkei was unchanged. but the hong kong's hang seng fell 2 1/2%. yesterday, the dow surged in late trading, ending up 143 points. the nasdaq fell about 11 points. of course, losing your job is miserable for most everyone. but hewlett-packard's latest ceo, is walking away with $13 million in cash and stock. during his 11 months on the job h.p. actually lost nearly 40 billion, with a "b," dollars. >> how does that math work out? >> wrong business. >> right. where are your parachutes, rob? next on this friday morning, which time of day are we

happiest? twitter has the answer. >> i'm guessing friday. and new talks to prevent an nba lockout, as one of the league's stars agrees to play overseas if he can't play here. oh, you want to touch it? go ahead and touch it. nicely. nice froggy. [ female announcer ] there was a time when poker night... was what you looked forward to all week. - oh, wow! cool! cool! - whoa! so who'd have ever thought boys night out... wouldn't hold a candle to boys night in? having a baby changes everything. i took some steep risks in my teens. i'd never ride without one now. and since my doctor prescribed lipitor, i won't go without it for my high cholesterol and my risk of heart attack. why kid myself? diet and exercise weren't lowering my cholesterol enough. now i'm eating healthier, exercising more, taking lipitor.

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[ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? woah! [ giggles ] welcome back, everybody. just a little relief for drought-stricken texas. parts of the houston area got up to an inch of rain yesterday, the most in three months. but the downpours came with lots of lightning and gusty winds and knocked out power to 100,000 people. >> sure they're not complaining too much. they need some rain. all right, morning showers will make for another slick commute on i-10, from houston to austin. and i-35, from san antonio to loredo. wet on i-90 albany, new york, to buffalo. i-80, from buffalo to chicago. and i-70, from pittsburgh to indianapolis. >> if you're flying, a couple of weather-related delays are possible in chicago and detroit. and there was more dramatic

testimony in the manslaughter case of michael jackson's doctor yesterday. we hear from the first person, actually, to call 911. >> and jackson's personal chef also took the stand. abc's jim avila reports from los angeles. >> nothing but the truth, so help you god. >> yes, ma'am. >> reporter: alberto alvarez might be the key witness in the case against michael jackson's doctor. first in the room where dr. conrad murray was desperately working to bring their boss back to life. it was alvarez who finally dialed 911. >> we have a gentleman here that needs help. and he's not breathing yet. he's not conscious. >> where is he at now? >> he's on the bed, sir. he's on the bed. >> reporter: for the prosecution, alvarez makes it clear, the doctor, who is a cardiologist, is not doing cpr correctly. pumping his chest on the soft surface of jackson's bed, instead of the floor. and he puts dr. murray firmly in control of the scene. >> the doctor is the only one here. >> okay, the doctor see what

happened? >> doctor, did you see what happened? he is pumping his chest. but he's not responding to anything, sir. please. >> alvarez rushes to jackson's second-floor bedroom, minutes after dr. murray first called staff. >> he was laying on his back, with his hands extended out. >> reporter: dr. murray tells him to call for an ambulance. but alvarez is distracted by a scream. it's the children. >> they were right behind me. and paris screamed out, daddy. >> reporter: so, alvarez rushes them out of the room and is about to call 911, when there's yet another delay, 15 minutes in all. and dr. murray asked him to do something else first. a critical request prosecutors contend shows dr. murray's guilt. >> he reached over and grabbed a handful of vials. and then, he reached out to me and said, here. put these in a bag. >> reporter: then, alvarez said that murray pointed to an i.v.

bag and ask that that be put away. in that bag was a milky white appearance. and the clock is ticking down on the amanda knox case in perugia, italy. the defense has wrapped up its final arguments, insisting that knox was wrongfully convicted of murder and there's no evidence against her. today, prosecutors will have a chance to offer a rebuttal. then, on monday, amanda knox will deliver her own personal statement to the court when she will ask to be set free. nba players and owners get together today, in a last-ditch effort to ensure that the basketball season will start on time. both sides are committed to talking through the weekend if that's what it takes. but they're still far apart on two, big issues. salaries and the players' guarantee of basketball-related income. and we learned this morning that lakers star, kobe bryant, has inked a deal to play in italy if there's a lockout. 3 million bucks for 40 days work.

we're in the wrong business. more sports from espn news. >> i'm don bell with your espn news update. undefeated south florida taking on pittsburgh. second quarter we go. pitt trails 14-13. first and ten from the 13. ray graham. up the gut he goes, dragging defenders in the end zone. 9 touches on the 14-play drive for 64 yards. lebron james was impressed. he tweeted watching the pittsburgh/usf game and ray graham is a beast out there, running the ball and catching out of the backfield. panthers led 20-17 at the half. third quarter, up 27-17. graham, running right. huh-uh. decides to reverse field. making it happen. 29 yards on the play to the usf 5 yard line. that led to another pitt touchdown. 34-17 at that point. fourth quarter now. graham again. exploding for 31 yards. the junior from el beizabeth,

new jersey, making it happen. a small guy. he had 226 yards rushing in this game, along with those touchdowns. panthers win, 44-17. other news and notes for you. the yankees say that jorge posada will be the d.h. for the alds. also, matt moore, the rays' rookie will get the start against the rangers. and kerry collins did not participate in practice on thursday for the colts. heeds recovering from concussion-like symptoms. and that is all for your updates. i'm don bell. and for the latest sports news, tune in to espn news. >> all right. some new research this morning from the twittersphere. scientists at cornell university have used twitter as a global mood ring, let's say, to monitor the world's feelings. and there's amaying similarities in the 500 million tweets. >> most people generally wake up in a good mood. but it goes downhill from there. and not surprisingly, their outlook improves once friday afternoon rolled around.

it is friday, is it not, rob? >> it's friday. we made it. >> we're in a good mood. coming up next, "the pulse." some celebrity photos you've got to see, including a certain v.i.p. spotted at where? target. [ female announcer ] find yourself sometimes cleaning up after your dishcloth? bounty extra soft can help. it's super durable, and in this lab test bounty extra soft leaves this surface three times cleaner than a dishcloth. even with just one sheet. super clean. super soft. bounty extra soft. in the pink pack. and try bounty napkins. living with the pain of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis... ...could mean living with joint damage. help stop the damage before it stops you... ...with humira. for many adults with moderate to severe ra,... ...humira's proven to help relieve pain and stop joint damage.

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(telephone ring. pick up) usa prime credit. my name ...peggy. you got problem? peggy? third time i've called, it's time i speak with a supervisor. supervisor is genius...i transfer. transfer! transfer! transfer! transfer! transfer! hello...my name is... peggy? come on!!! hello? want better customer service? switch to discover. ranked #1 in customer loyalty. it pays to discover. time, now, for "the pulse." and a bunch of photos you have got to see, starting with this one. that there is first lady michelle obama behind the

sunglasses and baseball cap, shopping at, you got it, target. >> first lady spent about half an hour browing through the alexandria, virginia, store unnoticed until a photographer snapped these photos as she checked out. the white house called it a routine error. mrs. obama mentioned how she actually liked target before she moved into the white house. the difference now, secret service had to scope out the store first. >> i'm dieing to know what the first lady picked up at target. what's in those bags? >> we still don't know. good to see people that high up doing normal, human, everyday folk things. >> must have been a big relief for her to get out. for any of you who might be skeptical about reincarnation, we have pictures that may convert you. >> look at this old photo from the civil war days. does that face look familiar to you? we think it looks a lot like nicolas cage. now, check this one out. ding, ding, ding. it is the spitting image of john

travolta. isn't that amazing? >> if you're thinking photo shops our colleagues at abcnews.com talked to an expert who insist the old photos are, in fact, authentic. >> i guess certain facial features. >> looks just like those two guys. impressive. here's an interesting one. for some men, love really is a drug. researchers at harvard found looking at a beautiful woman can give men the same rush they get from cocaine. rob, what do you think about that? >> wow. they point to model rosie huntington whitely has having the features that get men going. prominent curved, forehead, eyes, nose and mouth relatively low. large eyes, round cheeks and a small chin. she's a victoria's secret model. >> and a great figure. >> she was in the movie "transformers 3." i'm more megan fox. >> your ideal is a little different. >> women and narcotics the same.

>> visual creatures. >> that's right. and for some of you, your local news is next. >> for everybody else, your friday funnies. accept it. you can't change the way banking works. just accept it, man. free ? doesn't close at five ? try nature. it's a bank. what do you want, a hug ? just accept it. hidden fees, fine print, or they'll stick it to you some other way. stay with the herd, son. accept it. just accept it. accept it. just accept it. accept it. if we miss this movie, you're dead. if you're stuck accepting banking nonsense, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense.

and finally on this friday

morning, we're wrapping up the week with the best medicine possible, a little laughter. >> something we like to do around here. >> for sure. >> no one was off-limits as the funny men of light-night tv, took on reality tv to politics. >> when the republicans gathered in florida for the fox news google debate, the 83rd such debate so far this year. following the cnn tea party debate, the reagan library debate, the history channel civil war debate, the "tron" debate, the are you afraid of the dark debate, and the don't tell rick santorum we're cancelling the debate debate. santorum still came in fifth in that. >> they're having trouble luring governor christie into the presidential race. they've tried everything. they had phone calls. people have called -- all the republicans tried to get him. please. and i thought, have you tried

pie? have you? >> a long island college student faces a year in prison for taking seven high school students' s.a.t.s for money. >> 19-year-old sam eshaghoff allegedly accepted thousands of dollars from high school students to take their s.a.t. tests. and it doesn't end there. he is also accused of taking tim geithner's economics 101 exam, conrad murray's medical licensing exam, and snooki's driving test. >> i was wondering today if anything intelligent would come out of an episode of "jersey shore." it turns out the answer is yes, but only after a lot, and i mean a lot of editing. like this. >> really? negative. >> do your friends. >> you will be heartbroken. >> so, let me dance. >> okay. so, i think there's something we