nine more nato deaths make this the deadliest year in the nine-year war. recession over. the economic downturn may have ended but for millions of american, the tough times are still here. and sudden collapse. more than 100 racing fans are injured after the bottom faulgz out of the bleachers. this is the "cbs morning news" for tuesday, september 21, 2010. and good morning, everyone. i'm terrell brown in for betty nguyen. in afghanistan this morning, a deadly helicopter crash has claimed the lives of nato service members in the southern part of the country. nine coalition troops were killed. it's the deadliest year for nato in the nine-year war. mandy clark is in kabul with more. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. according to nato sources, early reports indicate that the dead

were americans and on a special forces mission. now, the crash happened at 4:00 a.m. in southern afghanistan. many of these covert operations happen at night and the goal is to disban taliban operations, either hunting commanders or sevening for caches of drugs and weapon. there was no enemy fire when the helicopter crashed in the region, so the cause of the crash is being investigated. according to sources, it happened in zabul province, north of kandahar and a taliban-dominated area. unfortunately, helicopter crashes have happened in the past. last october was one of the deadliest with two crashes leaving 14 americans dead. terrell? >> it's a crash we will certainly be following. mandy clark in kabul for us. thank you. later today the senate is expected to vote on whether to repeal don't ask, don't tell. the house has already passed a

military. on that. >> reporter: good morning. today's vote could be a close one. in any case, supporters call it a critical moment for gay rights. the senate today could move one step closer to repealing the military's don't ask, don't tell policy, a law that bans gays from sevening openly. serving democrats need 60 votes to push it through and all eyes are on a hafl of lawmakers who could cast the deciding vote. in maine monday, pop sen tasati lady gaga urged republican senators olympia snowe and collins to break and support the bill. >> doesn't it seem to you that we should send home the prejudice, the straight soldier who hate the gay soldier? >> reporter: she even had her own policy to propose.

>> our new law is called, if you don't like it, go home. >> reporter: the proposal to repeal don't ask, don't tell is part of a larger defense bill. today's voed is to end the debate and bring the bill to the floor. democrats argue the move is long overdue. >> repeal it. it's absurd. >> reporter: on the street the feelings are mixed. don't ask, don't tell was enacted in 1993 by president clinton. under the policy more than 13,000 soldiers have been discharged. it could take time before the issue is resolved. while today's vote is a critical step, a final vote isn't expected until after november's midterm elections. republicans are also bashing language in the bill that would lift a ban on abortions at hill

tear hospitals and legalize illegal immigrants who go to college. >> tara mergener in washington for us. thank you. turning now to the economy and news that the recession is officially over. in fact, according to the national bureau of economic research it ended in june of 2009. but if that is over, if the recession is over, that's news to a lot of americans who feel worse off since the recovery began. anthony mason reports. >> reporter: the official declaration of the recession's end won't mean anything to the nearly 17% of americans who were either out of work or have been forced to take part-time jobs. people don't just feel poorer, they are. as real estate values have tumbled, household net worth has plunged 19% from its peak in 2007. the economy may be in the recovery room -- >> however anyone who's been in a recovery room knows that it still really hurts when you're in the recovery room and there's a lot of healing that still has to take place.

>> reporter: economists says we have recovered about 70% of our economic growth. and about 40% of the business and retail sales that were lost, but only 9% of the private sector jobs wiped out in the recession have come back. from here, looking forward, what do you say in. >> continued slowly in the economy. >> reporter: this slowdown is typical he says, but the more than 7 million jobs lost in the great recession are not. >> that time of having unemployment down at 5% or 4%, it's going to take a long time, maybe a decade, before we see anything like that again. >> reporter: while the economy is still fragile, leading indicators have started edging up again, he says, and we'll know by to later than thanksgiving whether the economy is headed for a so-called soft landing or for another recession. anthony mason, cbs news, new york. president obama said the recession may be over but he realizes times are still tough

for most americans. during a town hall discussion yesterday, he assured americans he understood their frustration with the slow pace of the economy. >> even though economists may say the recession officially ended last year, obviously for the millions of people still out of work, people who have seen their home values decline, people who are struggling to pay the bills day to day, it's still very real for them. >> the president also defended his administration's economic record and challenged republicans to come up with a better approach. on the "cbs moneywatch," in asia stocks were mostly higher. with that is ashley morrison. >> asian markets advanced. japan's nikkei closed about a quarter of a% while the hang seng was higher. the dow added 145 points yesterday in it's highest close since may while the nasdaq gained 40. and today's federal reserve meeting the slowed recovery for

economy and double-digit unemployment numbers are likely to top the agenda. investors are looking for some hint about the fed's next move. one possibility, buy large amounts of government debt. that would lower mortgage rates and corporate loans. this is the fed's last meeting before the november election. a key concession from bp. a requirement that wage earners buy oil spill clean-up workers be subtracted from lost claims of revenue has been waived. bp set up a $20 billion fund to compensated gulf workers. since august bp has received more than 68,000 claims. the holiday season is closer than you think. that means holiday presents, particularly toys. to toys "r" us follows them to follow as cute, cheap and collectible. analysts expect toys sales to do slightly better than last year when they were down 1%.

and walmart is looking for ways to grow. walmart wants a bigger presence in nation's bigger cities, meaning squeezing into smaller spaces. real estate executives says walmart has been scouting sites in urban markets including new york and san francisco. it's important to note that target, terrell, has also been doing the same thing. so, hopefully we'll see some competition here with target and walmart in new york city. >> oh, i know. ashley morrison in new york. thank you so much. the commander of utah's army national guard is taking the plame for a wildfire in salt lake city. the fire has claimed three homes so far. practice rounds on the utah army national guard sparked the blaze sunday and is blamed for about 20% -- only 20%. the live fire training was despite high wind warnings. 1600 homes were evacuated. streets in southern texas

were flooded, partly from rain from hurricane karl. nearly 7 inches fell in a 234-hour period. at least one person is missing and more rain expected through tomorrow. just ahead, an arrest warrant for actress lindsay lohan. genetically engineered salmon may be coming to your dinner table. first katie couric. campaign ads are back, many of them are paid for by groups who don't have to tell you where their money is coming from. so, who's really pulling the strings? we'll investigate tonight only on the "cbs evening news." a to. with so many to choose from it's hard to see the difference. but this is the way his dentist chooses a toothbrush. fact is, more dentists brush with an oral-b toothbrush than any other brush. ♪ if you could see what your dentist sees, you'd reach for an oral-b toothbrush too.

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an investigation is under way to determine what caused that collapse. the fda has to decide whether genetically modified fish should be approved for americans to eat suspect critics charge there needs to be more testing. wyatt andrews report. >> reporter: the salmon would grow twice as fast as normal but taste the same and cost much less. the question is, should we eat it? >> it's very scary. what are they putting in this stuff? >> reporter: the industry invented the salmon by taking a single gene from an eel-life like fish which grows year-round and spliced it into a farm-raised salmon to keep the salmon's growth hormones on overdrive. >> when you have -- >> reporter: expert after expert told the fda panel that that genetic change did not change the salmon itself. that the flesh and nutritional content is no different from normal salmon, just as the company growing the fish has claimed. >> it means it's the same as the traditional fish.

it's indisdish twingeable. >> keep it out of the food supply. >> reporter: several environmental groups say the fda has failed to study this fish outside the lab or in any kind of clinical trial. >> the fda hasn't done the necessary safety tests to make sure these fish are safe for human skumgts. >> reporter: another concern is they could escape from the tanks and be predators. >> there's absolutely no way you can contain these salmon. if they get out it's a threat to wild salmon. >> reporter: several of the outside experts also questioned the fda's conclusions and now the fda has 6 0 days to rule, if this fish should be sold as food and if it should be labeled. even with approval, however, it could still be years before the first gene-altered salmon is on the table. wyatt andrews, cbs news, washington. actress lindsay lohan has to go back to court. her probation was revoked and a formal warrant was issued for

her arrest. she failed a court-ordered drug test. if these found to have violated probation, she could be sent back to jail. paris hilton pleaded guilty to cocaine possession. she was fined $2,000 and ordered to compete 200 hours of public service. straight ahead, your tuesday morning weather. in sports, a cliff-hanger ending on monday night football. we'll show you next. [ female announcer ] it's not always easy to get the calcium we need from our diet. caltrate delivers 1200 mg of calcium plus vitamin d to help reduce your risk of osteoporosis. it's never too late for caltrate. and now big news -- the same caltrate comes in a new, smaller, easy to swallow pill. when pain keeps you up, nothing is proven to help you fall asleep faster than advil pm liqui-gels. rushing real liquid relief to ease you to sleep fast. for nighttime pain, make advil pm your #1 choice.

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here's a look at the weather in some cities around the current. miami, thunderstorms, 88. chicago, thunderstorms, 84. 78 and partly cloudy in los angeles. let's get a check of the national forecast. the latest satellite picture shows a large area of storm cludz through the northern plain. skies are cloudy over the northwest. clear skies over the eastern seaboard and southwest. later today, heavy showers will continue to impact parts of texas. a few severe thunderstorms could bother the northern plains and great lakes regions. the cool, autumn air is moving into parts of the country with some places only getting into the 50s. in sports, we begin with a tragic story. denver broncos wide receiver kenny mckinley apparently took his own life. they say his body was found in his colorado home.

he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. the 23-year-old was on the broncos' injured reserve list. monday night football, new orleans pulled out a dramatic win. score tied. drew brees of the saints, 30 yard completion to get close enough for a field goal. garrett hartley will kick it. new orleans beat the 49ers 25-22. yankees extended their lead over tampa bay. curtis granderson. two home runs against the rays. the yankees win 8-6. that victory gives them a game and a half lead in the american eagle least. in philadelphia, right fielder jason hayes made an error that led to the philadelphia go ahead run. by the way, in the seventh inning of that game, a fan ran onto the field in a red costume. atlanta left fielder matt diaz tripped up the fan. security guards took him away. diaz got an ovation from the phillies' crowd out there.

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on the "cbs morning news," here's a look at today's weather. summer wraps up, the heat still hangs on to the southern half of the country. autumn is felt in part of the northern plains and scattered storms could move to the great lakes and southern plains. here's another look here is another look at this morning's top stories. nine trips were killed making it the deadliest for nato in the nine year war and the recession has been officially declared over, but president obama is warning americans the road to recovery is a long one.

a new study out today finds that being obese is not only unhealthy, it's expensive. the annual cost of being an overweight woman is more than $8300 in higher medical bills, employment sick days and the value of years lost due to premature death. for man it's more than 6500. the reason for the difference is obese women earn less. the woman who claimed that a stranger through acid on her face later admitted her wounds were self-inflicted. >> the filing of those felon theft charges and i think the criminal justice system needs to react and is reacting to her behavior. >> court records showed she spent $1500 on dinner for parents and clothing. her parents say all the money

raised will be returned. france's first lady is coming to the defense of mrs. . obama. she said she never said she could not stand her job and says she doesn't know where that alleged quote came from. this morning on the early show the latest from the bedbug summit in chicago. words alone aren't enough. our job is to listen and find ways to help workers who lost their jobs to the spill.

i'm iris cross. we'll keep restoring the jobs, tourist beaches, and businesses impacted by the spill. we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund. i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right.

good morning. here are some stories we're following for you. today the senate holds the key procedural vote on a proposal to repeal the military's don't ask, don't tell. the fbi is investigating a shooting at the fort bliss army base near el paso, texas.

the shooter was killed by responding officers. a crispness in the air as you wake up this morning. >> temperatures in the 40s in many areas. we're holding onto 60 at reagan national and 63 on the bay. eastern shore you're 52. it's going to warm up very nicely today. it's going to warm up so much our computer is going to wake up too. the bay will be cooler. even into the lower 80s. this nice dry air that cooled off so nicely last night heats up quickly. looking at today at a glance, 64 by 9. 74 beautiful at noon.

enjoy because heat is coming. angie. >> reporter: heat wave. that sounds so odd. let's talk about the construction. no surprise here. we're going to be dealing with this until about 5:00. 95 westbound watch for it at pattern mill. 270 headed southbound looks like we have set up at montgomery village avenue. 66 you are all clear. by now you probably heard about that delaware senate candidate who says she dabbled with witchcraft when she was a child, but we enchanted by the prospect of finding witches here in d. c. it didn't take us long to conjure some up. >> no. there's been no witchcraft

since. >> reporter: fascinating though. >> i think someone was having fun at her expense. there is no way a real witch was trying to sit her on a altar. >> reporter: she helped preside over a ritual with the fall equinox. >> these represent a path to the holy land or a path to your soul. they represent a sacred journey. it's the work of the wise. it basically means that we're working with the world. that we honor the air, the fire, the water, the earth. we honor off life. we honor the season. >> do witches cast spells? >> i always liken spells to prayers. i was raised catholic. we blessed animals and houses and children and the folk who is were dying. witches do the same thing.

>> reporter: with a sense of humor we found a broom on her porch that was used as a may pole. >> the next year it was used to sweep snow off the porch. >> you don't ride that broom? >> no, no. i wish it could fly like in harry patter but it does not. >> a wiccan pedestal is allowed on military graves. the priestess in our story estimated there's a couple thousand wiccans in the d. c. area. good morning and welcome to 9 news now. today is tuesday, september 21st. we begin