eye on isaac. the tropical storm churns across the gulf of mexico and it's expected to reach hurricane force by the time it makes landfall. fleeing the storm. thousands along the gulf coast get out of town before isaac arrives, while others hunker down as the storm gets closer. >> we're out here, it's going to hit us direct, and if not, we're going to stay and ride it out. and stopping in. mitt romney arrives in florida today as the republicans officially make him their presidential nominee. captioning funded by cbs good morning, everybody. good to be with you. i'm terrell brown. this morning, tropical storm isaac is gaining strength, headed towards the gulf coast, taking dead aim at new orleans.

isaac expected to become a hurricane later today. its outer edge is approaching the coast by tonight. isaac is a massive, slow-moving storm with sustained winds of 70 miles per hour, tropical storm winds extend more than 200 miles from the storm's center. besides potentially destructive winds, a dangerous storm surge and extreme rainfall pose a threat. a hurricane warning is in effect from morgan city, louisiana, to the alabama/florida border, including new orleans. evacuations have been ordered in some low-lying areas. meteorologist david bernard of our miami station wfor has the latest. >> as it continues to move through the gulf of mexico, and all indications are that isaac will continue to make landfall on wednesday, potentially as a category 1 hurricane and it will slowly move across the mississippi river valley late wednesday into thursday before finally weakening. the satellite picture is indicating that isaac is very close to becoming a hurricane, and that should happen overnight into the morning hours. and as we continue to look at

the threats that the storm is going to pose, storm surge will be a big threat, anywhere along the louisiana coastline, mississippi to alabama and even places as far east as the florida panhandle could have a problem with storm surge inundation. in addition to that, rainfall will be a major threat because the storm is so slow-moving. we could see up to a foot of rain in some areas. locally in extreme cases, rainfall amounts could preach 20 inches. that is your update on isaac. for cbs news in miami, david bernard. >> we have two reports coming up this morning. susan mcginnis is in tampa covering the gop convention, which narrowly missed a direct strike by isaac, but we begin with bigad shaban in new orleans. bigad, good morning to you. >> reporter: so far, there is no mandatory evacuation orders here in the city of new orleans, but mayor mitch landrieu is telling residents who live outside the city's levee protection system to leave home for higher ground.

plywood is popping up all over new orleans in preparation for isaac. >> right now, it feels all right. we're very much protected. >> reporter: forecasters predict isaac could hit as a category 2 hurricane as early as tonight, a day before the seventh anniversary of katrina. >> we're out here, it's going to hit us direct, and if not, we're going to stay and tough it out. >> reporter: interstate 10 heading out of town was packed yesterday with evacuees. >> i made the mistake of staying for katrina and said i wouldn't do it again. >> reporter: new orleans airport is also busy. all flights are canceled today. it was the sun before the storm in plaquemines parish where some areas are under a mandatory evacuation, an eerie reminder of seven years ago. >> it's crazy. brings back a lot of memories. i lost a lot of stuff down home and i'm hoping for the best. >> reporter: more than 50,000 people in low-lying areas have been told to evacuate, but not everyone will listen, confident the rebuilt $14 billion levee

system will hold and keep them safe. >> we're going to ride it out. >> reporter: the water community of venetian isles is outside of the levee system. almost all of the 1,000 residents are leaving. >> we had a couple people stay here for katrina, believe it or not, and it was very, very scary for them. and once i've asked them, are you going to stay again? they said absolutely not. >> reporter: it was the failed levees that flooded new orleans after katrina, killing more than 1,800 and leaving more than $81 billion in damage, but officials say this time the city is ready. and new orleans will not operate any shelters of last resort, but four locations, terrell have been added to protect the homeless here. >> bigad shaban in new orleans for us this morning, thank you so much. to tampa now and the weather-abbreviated republican national convention. mitt romney traveled there today. that's where susan mcginnis is this morning. susan, good morning to you. >> reporter: hey, good morning, terrell. the now three-day republican

national convention gets under way today. there is a lot on today's agenda, all of it an effort by the gop to win votes for their candidates. mitt romney has worked for years for this moment. he will be officially nominated as his party's presidential candidate tonight. >> have a great convention ahead. >> reporter: romney is expected to make an unannounced visit to tampa to watch his wife's speech. ann romney's message is seen as critical to softening his image among americans. >> republicans have already lost one day of the convention. monday's session lasted only 32 seconds because of tropical storm isaac. the delegations from louisiana, mississippi and alabama have sent some people home to prepare for the storm. and while isaac could steal the spotlight from the convention, some say that's okay. >> because it will overshadow what's going on here, but when you have something dangerous going on, it probably should overshadow this. >> reporter: there's something else that has the potential to

steal attention from the proceedings here. president obama is breaking with tradition and will be heading out on the campaign trail. >> how are you? >> reporter: the president will be in iowa and colorado today. the obama campaign sees this as an opportunity to get face time with voters in key battleground states. at the same time, he'll be sharply criticized at the gop convention. >> we've seen what the president has offered. we have seen the path he has placed us on. it's a nation in debt, it's a nation in doubt, it's a nation in decline. >> reporter: and the romney campaign will use these three days to try to convince america their candidate can change that. now, giving the keynote address here tonight, new jersey governor chris christie. also speaking here, former presidential candidate rick santorum. terrell? >> you took the thought right out of my mouth, susan mcginnis in tampa this morning. susan, thank you. you can see ann romney's speech and chris christie's keynote

address on cbs. we will be anchoring live coverage from tampa beginning tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern. republicans will officially nominate mitt romney to be their presidential candidate today. some socially conservative republicans continue to have their doubts about romney. he may have added to their concern yesterday. in an interview with scott pelley, romney was asked if he agrees with the republican platform banning all abortions. >> my position has been clear throughout this campaign -- i'm in favor of abortion being legal in the case of rape and incest and the health and life of the mother, but recognize, this is the decision that will be made by the supreme court. the democrats try and make this a political issue every four years, but this is a matter in the court. >> when romney ran for senate in massachusetts, he backed abortion rights. now he says the decision to legalize abortion, roe versus wade, should be reversed. meanwhile, another republican senate candidate raised eyebrows with his comments on abortion. tom smith, running for the u.s. senate in pennsylvania, opposes all abortion. during a broadcast interview

monday, smith was asked, what would he say to a family member who had been raped and became pregnant? >> i lived something similar to that with my own family. she chose life and i commend her for that. fortunately for me, i didn't have to teach those. it wasn't rape, but similar. >> similar how? [ inaudible ] that's similar to rape? >> no, no, but put yourself in a father's position. i mean, it is similar. >> last week, congressman todd akin running for senate in missouri said victims of what he called legitimate rape rarely become pregnant, as he discussed his opposition to all abortions. take a quick break on the "morning news." coming up, a hollywood ending. a smoking helicopter makes an emergency landing in the heart of tinseltown. this is the "morning news." ayin]

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what you are seeing is not a hollywood stunt. this is the real deal. smoke started pouring out of a tv news helicopter in los angeles yesterday. the smoke got into the cockpit, but the pilot did an amazing job landing his chopper in an empty hollywood parking lot. no one was injured. officials say the smoke came from an apparent oil leak and there was no fire. a high school student in maryland is in critical condition after he was shot by a fellow classmate on the first day of school. it happened yesterday morning in the cafeteria of a baltimore county high school. police say teachers grabbed the 15-year-old alleged shooter before he could get off any more shots. his father claims his son was bullied. prosecutors may charge him as an adult. "cbs money watch" time. after a lawsuit victory, apple told a judge it wants some samsung products pulled off the shelves. and isaac disrupts oil production in the gulf of mexico. ♪ reunited and it feels so good ♪ ashley morrison back with us this morning. ashley, good morning to you. >> good morning, terrell. i don't think you want me to

sing along with you, no. good morning, everyone. oil prices are remaining stable, even though isaac has forced most of the production in the gulf to shut down. about 1 million barrels per day of oil production has been stopped, and nearly 350 oil rigs evacuated because of the storm. production is expected to pick back up after the storm passes. meanwhile, a major fire continues to burn at one of the world's largest oil refineries. flames at the venezuelan facility spread to a third fuel tank yesterday. an explosion at the refinery over the weekend killed at least 41 people. overseas markets were mostly lower on concerns of china's slowing economic growth. tokyo's nikkei lost 0.5%, while hong kong's hang seng gained a fraction. wall street investors will get economic data today. the latest consumer confidence data will show whether americans are spending more freely and the case-shiller who show property values increasing on monday.

the dow lost 33 points while the nasdaq gained 3 points. apple shares hit another all-time high on the first day of trading since the company won a landmark lawsuit against samsung. on monday, apple gave a judge a list of eight samsung smartphones it wants pulled from shelves and banned from the u.s. last week, a jury ruled samsung violated patent laws in copying apple's design for the iphone and ipad. apple is also asking the judge to triple the damages samsung must pay to more than $3 billion. samsung is planning an appeal. and today's the day gamers and football fans wait for each year. electronic arts releases this year's version of the madden video game. the 2013 version features detroit lions' calvin johnson on the cover. they sold more than 5 million copies of last year's game, but overall, sales of the "madden" series has slipped each of the last five years. a lot of happy people out there today, terrell. >> looking forward to that, yes.

and good to see you, too, ashley. take care. coming up on your tuesday morning, your weather forecast. and in sports, the los angeles dodgers make a deal and it gets off to a very rocky start. from progressive, but don't just listen to me. listen to these happy progressive customers. i plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance. with snapshot, i knew what i could save before i switched to progressive. the better i drive, the more i save. i wish our company had something this cool. you're not filming this, are you? aw! camera shy. snapshot from progressive. test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today. you won't run into deals this big just anywhere. head to sears labor day event right now.

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let's check your national forecast. isaac will hit the gulf coast later today, dumping up to 6 inches of rain in some areas. isolated thunderstorms will pop up from texas to north carolina. the cold front bringing showers and thunderstorms moving to the northeast. and farther into the plain states, we'll see record highs with mercury hitting around 100 degrees. in sports this morning, josh beckett made his debut as a dodger and got rocked with the first batter he faced. tyler colvin hits one high and deep. in 5 2/3 innings, beckett gave up five runs. colorado ran away with it in the eighth. rockies decimate l.a. 10-0. the dodgers are now 2 1/2 games behind san fran in the national league west. seemed like a good idea at time. pitcher kyle lowe tries to score from first but is easily thrown out in the sixth. matt halladay smacks his 24th homer of the season. st. louis takes down the pirates 4-3. rangers break out the bats against the rays in the second. adrian beltre blasts a solo homer to left. next batter, nelson cruz, goes deep to center to tie the game.

beltre back to the plate in the third, spots a two-run double. he went 3 for 3 on the night. rangers over tampa bay 6-5. torioles move forward. the first homer in years. and he was playing aaa ball last month, with the sweet swing and the two-run blast. orioles battled back to beat the white sox 4-3. first round now of u.s. open tennis does see roger federer looking for his 18th major. had an easy time taking on donald young. a stylish maria sharapova served up five aces. she made some amazing shots against melinda singh. it took her just over an hour to beat the hungarian, 6-2, 6-2. and appearing in her last open, kim clijsters defeated the youngest player in the field, the 16-year-old american. when we come back on this tuesday, another look at this morning's top stories, and breast cancer recovery. a look at the link between

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here's a look at the weather in some cities around the country. in d.c., morning thunderstorms, 89. same deal in atlanta, 82. mostly sunny skies in st. louis, 86. mostly sunny skies in denver, 92, and partly sunny skies in seattle, 72 degrees. top stories now on a tuesday morning. tropical storm isaac is gaining strength as it approaches the gulf coast. the massive storm is headed directly towards new orleans. landfall is expected some time late today or tomorrow as a strong hurricane, and it's the first working day of the storm-shortened republican convention in tampa. mitt romney arrives today as his party officially makes him its presidential nominee. obesity has been linked to

diabetes and heart disease, but now a new study also links it to breast cancer. patients who are overweight run a higher risk of the disease returning. >> reporter: when gail brown learned she had breast cancer in 2007, she decided to face it with a positive attitude. following surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, brown, now 65, decided to try something else, weight loss. >> i had heard that obesity can bring on, maybe, breast cancer? >> reporter: she went from 193 pounds to a much healthier 163 pounds. >> i'm very proud of her. >> reporter: oncologist dr. joseph sperano is brown's doctor and a new leader of a study on breast cancer. for those who receive the most up-to-date treatment, being obese increased the risk of occurrence by 25% and death by 37%, but the increased risk was limited to women whose tumors were fueled by estrogen. >> it could be related to higher hormone level, higher insulin

level due to inflammation, which can drive the risk of recurrence. >> reporter: the study also showed an increased risk not just for obese women but for those who were simply overweight. >> so, paying attention to weight, diet, exercise can have some long-term beneficial effects, not only in terms of reducing the risk of occurrence, but also secondary health benefits. >> reporter: there's no proof that losing weight reduces the risk of getting cancer, but shedding those extra pounds certainly makes sense, especially since obesity has been linked to other tumors, including ones in the esophagus, colon, kidney, pancreas. and koala bears are cute, cuddly, and apparently can swim. check this out. the lull furball swimming to a canoe in australia. this one actually hitched a ride on the canoe. his new friends took him to a local country club and let him go. would have had no idea what that was in the water. coming up after your local news

on "cbs this morning," an interview with former presidential candidate rick santorum from the rnc convention in tampa. i'm terrell brown. this is the "cbs this morning." of new light & fit greek? morning donut cookies chips, chips,...! silence those tempting thoughts with new light & fit greek. its creamy thick texture helps satisfy you. it has twice the protein of regular lowfat yogurt. and at 80 calories it's the lightest greek yogurt with fruit. cupcake! it's not gonna happen. new light & fit greek. be light and fit and satisfied. [ music playing ] [ music playing ] used dishcloths. they can have a history that they drag around with them. try bounty extra soft.

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is important to us, and we're proud to work with all those who are making our communities stronger. . good morning. welcome to 9news now. do is tuesday, august 28. i'm andrea roane. i'm mike hydeck. we started a little bit behind but we're catching up fast. i d. the computer was on the floor. >> oh, that.

hi, monika samtani. how are you? >> good. >> good morning, howard. >> good morning. we have a couple of showers in the forecast. the afternoon is going to get better once the front pushes through. tomorrow looks fantastic. thursday looks nice as well of the here's a look at your day planner this tuesday morning. i know tuesdays are tough days but we're going to make it through. a couple of showers this morning. by noon, though, we start to clear out. 88 at 5:00 p.m. with a high around 9 90. the humidity levels will be dropping as the wins turn northwest at 5 to 10. in the 60s in oakland but 70s cumberland and hagerstown. frederick 72. 78 in annapolis. 74 in la la plata. even bill in newland checking in with 72. the showers, you can see them to our north and west. right now they're moving from the west to the east. the front is slowly sagging our way. so we expect these showers to be coming through a little bit later but frederick back toward

winchester this morning in toward west virginia, martinsburg now, seeing some of those showers approaching loudoun county. they'll be in montgomery county in another hour or so. this will be the problem for the morning and southern maryland you're in good shape so far. once we get the front through, the sun comes back. mid-80s places like hagerstown and martinsburg. up toward 90 here, maybe 91 toward manassas before the day is over. monika samtani, it's 4:26. you ran into some construction on your way in. >> i did. i have a camera shot of it. i got stuck in construction traffic early this morning. i'm going to get to that in just a minute. first of all on the west side of town, of course there's construction and there's several separate stretches of it through the tysons area, through annandale and even down in springfield that may slow you down as well. that's the beltway. my route in is not a major thoroughfare. we'll take you to a live look on the northbound side of 95. this is what it looks like in newington. looks like everything is fine heading toward springfield and

95. back over to the maps over to 95 northbound where again it's looking good from dale city as i said up into springfield and on to 395. now let's take a look at falls road and river road. a couple of colleagues complained about a paving operation in this intersection as well. you can just about see some activity here but it may slow you down. i'm on it. i'm making calls to mdot trying to find out how long that operation will be there. i'll get back to you in a few minutes with that as well. today prince george's county police officer adrian morris will be laid to rest. officer morris died last week in the line of duty. >> his cruiser crashed on i-95 when he and another officer were pursuing two suspected car thieves. yesterday family and friends and fellow officers paid their respects at a wake in beltsville. armando trull has more. >> he's like family. anybody who joins this agency is like family. >> reporter: there was an outpouring of respect for

fallen prince george's county police officer adrian morris. >> when you lose a police officer, especially in this type of senseless death, that you really -- you feel it in your heart. >> reporter: hundreds of fellow officers and their families came to pay their respects to the 23-year-old policeman. >> he came to this country from jamaica with his mother, became a citizen in 2009, police explorer. so you couldn't write a script that could depict a young person so dedicated to public service. >> reporter: it wasn't just law enforcement officers but also people whose lives morris touched in one way or another. this woman owns a restaurant where morris had breakfast every morning. >> he's so kind, very home boy. he always smile. the first time i met him, i said you are too smart to be officer. >> reporter: morris died after being ejected from his cruiser. the car flipped several times