brooke baldwin has his story. >> reporter: jordan thomas plays a serious golf game. it's par for the course for this talented athlete who spent his childhood excelling at sports, even on family vacations jordan would show off his fishing skills but four years ago, in the florida keys the family's annual boating trip went terribly wrong. >> a wave pushed him behind the boat. i remember hearing, being under the boat and hearing the motor go, i knew immediately what happened. >> the propellers slashing his legs. jordan spent the next two weeks in a miami hospital undergoing multiple surgeries surgeries but while recovering he visited a wing where children who also lost limbs were being treated but their families couldn't afford expensive prosthetics. >> i found that insurance companies put a $5,000 cap on your leg. mine are $22,000. what do do you? >> reporter: at age 16 with his family's help he started the jordan thomas foundation, helping disadvantaged kids getting the prosthetics they need. it's since raised $350,000 which pays for prosthetics for three children. on

. >> good morning to you, i'm brooke baldwin sitting in for betty this morning. thank you for hopefully sticking around with us. >> yes. well, vice president joe biden. what am i going to say next? he has said something that some say maybe he shouldn't have said. some candid comments about russia. now the white house scrambling to do a bit of damage control this morning. we'll have more on the story and exactly what he said coming up. >>> plus, she is packing up. we've seen the -- not necessarily moving on. alaskan governor sarah palin leaving state's top seat as governor, but most likely remain in the spotlight. >> how do you think she should remain in the spotlight? do you even think she should? what should sarah palin do next? you can talk us on twitter, facebook, on our blog, and cnn.com/newsroom. but first, the vice president talking and saying that the administration is on track in battling the recession. this is what he said in an opinion piece written in today's "new york times." he says "clearly we are closer to recovery today than we were in january. th

i'm brook baldwin, fareed zakaria, "gps" is next. >>> this is "gps," the global public square. welcome to all of you in the united states and around the world. i'm fareed zakaria. this week we're coming to you out of london with an in-depth conversation with david miliband, the 43-year-old prime minister of great britain. he's the odds-on favorite to be the next labor party leader and the next prime minister of the country. he has to confront the problem arrested nine iranians who worked in the british embassy. western countries face a difficult set of choices with iran. should they return to the negotiating arena with iran? wouldn't that mean glossing over the rigged election and accepting president mahmoud ahmadinejad as the head of its government? yes, but it isn't clear what the alternative would be. the problem with iran's nuclear program remains, and we're negotiating with them to see if some agreement can be reached. that program continues to grow, and refusing to negotiate will not do anything to stop it. and, yet, it seems odd to act as if the extraordinary events of t

holmes. >> i'm brooke baldwin in for betty.hank you for starting your day with us. >>> the president is on the phone. seriously. that guy you see there on the right is sergeant crowley. he was the one in the middle of that mess with professor gates you see from harvard. the president called yesterday to tell him, sorry about some of those comments i made and wanted to really make an impression that he wasn't trying to degrade the officer or the police department. the president came out yesterday saying he sounds like a good man and outstanding officer after having the conversation. this is more of what the president said in a surprise to us all when he stepped out yesterday for the daily briefing. >> i want to make clear that in my choice of words i think i unfortunately gave an impression that i was malining the cambridge police department or sergeant crowley specifically. i could have calibrated those words differently. >> the president said it certainly is a testament to how big of an issue race is in this country. after he

cnn's brooke baldwin spoke on the phone a short time ago with an eyewitness to the crash who provided these pictures as well. >> there was like a family on the train coming from epcott. the actual first train, the first cart. >> were they getting off easily? did you see ems? did you see emergency crews on the scene? is were they able to walk away. >> when we got upstairs we were there for 10 minutes, 15 minutes before police and fire rescue got on the scene. we got up stairs, we got doors open and the family was able to come out. they were just shooken up. they were -- they don't know what was going on because you couldn't see forward. they came out. the kids were crying. there was about want to say a family of six. mother, father and the kids. >> again two monorails at walt disneyworld in florida collided earlier this morning killing one of the drivers. stay with hln for the very latest information as it comes in. >>> a postal worker who defied a bank robber got shot in the face. robert norman was at an indianapolis bank when the gunman walked in. norman tried to run but found himsel

i'm brooke baldwin. >>> can you imagine, it is especially shocking because disney world seems so perfect. famed monroe rail system at disney world in orlando, florida is shut down today after an overnight crash that killed the operator of one of those two trains. the victim we're now told identified as a 21-year-old austin winenburg. it happened around 2:00 this morning. i talked to an eye witness who told me a moving train ran into the back of a train that was stopped on the tracks there at that station. >> the picture you're looking at now is actually once you brought trains back to the loading dock. what we first saw we were just getting off the ferry. we were probably one of the last families in disney because it closed today at 1:00 in the morning. we were trying to -- we were actually leaving the park and we got off the ferry, we were going towards the exit to eventually get the tickets. we were about to the end and we heard a loud explosion. when we all looked back, the two trains had crashed and pieces of the monorail were actually falling to the floor beneath it. people were run

brook baldwin reports for us tonight. brook? >> a lot of people may be googling pork today, as that is what we are talking about, pork literally. according to the government's website, recovery.gov, designed to give americans a road map on federal spending. helping to stimulate the economy by -- take a look, spending $1.1 million on ham. another number for you here? $5 million going to pay for cheese and one more here. more of the money, more than $350,000 spent on upgrading dumbwaiters -- you know what a dumbwaiter is? it takes food and up and down, like an elevator, the brooklyn center here in new york. how does that stimulate the economy, you ask? according to a spokesman for veteran affairs, dumbwaiters at the brooklyn v.a. help to transport medical supplies throughout the 18-story building. as for the agency, awarding all the cheese and the ham, that is the u.s. department of agriculture. take a look at their explanation here. here is what they said today, quote, while the principle purpose is to provide food to those hit h

. >> i'm brooke baldwin in for betty. >>> we've been talking about this. we just got word of two monorail trains that crashed at disney world. one driver was killed and a statement the officials saying the monorail has been shut down. they're working with law enforcement officials to determine what happened. no disney guests were injured in the crash. >>> police in gaffney, south carolina, looking for this man. take a close look at this sketch. they believe a serial killer is on the loose. the latest victim a 15-year-old girl shot thursday along with her father at a family-run furniture store. she died yesterday. >>> an autopsy for former nfl star quarterback steve mcnair. he was found shot to death inside a nashville condominium just yesterday, a gun and body of a young woman were also found nearby. it's still not clear exactly what her relationship is with mcnair but we're told she is not his wife. so far no arrests have been made. >>> a showdown to take place today. the ousted president is scheduled to return between 1:00 and 2:00 this afternoon. he was

hello, i'm brooke baldwin sitting in for fredricks whitfield today. you are in the cnn newsroom. >>> begin this hour with more on the death of nfl quarterback steve mcnair. heard from nashville police a short time again on cnn, officially classified mcnair's death as a homicide but not ready to say whether or not it was a murder/suicide. mcnair's body was found in a downtown national condominium just yesterday along with the body of sa hay la dozen zblummy, described as a woman mcnair was dating for several months. both had died of gunshot wounds. >> while it was it is clear that steve mcnair's death is a homicide as a result of being shot four times, the police department is not yet classifying ms. dozen zblummy's death. she has a single gunshot wound to the side of the head but there is more investigation required. going to be interviewing persons throughout the day today and probably for the next several days. i expect it would be days before the classification is placed on the death. >> this avenues waitress at a local restaurant and worker says m

brooke baldwin has an inspiring story that may move you to impact your world. >> reporter: jordan thomas plays a serious golf game. it is par for the course for this talented athlete who spent his childhood excelling in sports, even on family vacations. four years ago, in the florida keys, the family's annual boating trip went terribly wrong. >> a wave pushed me behind the boat and i remember hearing -- being underneath the boat and i nigh knew what had happened. >> reporter: slashing the legs. jordan spent two weeks in a miami hospital undergoing multiple surgeries. but while recovering, he visited a wing where children who lost limbs were being treated but they couldn't afford expensive prostettics. >> a lot of insurance companies put a $5,000 cap on the legs and like i said mine are $22,000. $17,000. what do you do? >> reporter: at age 15, she started the jordan thomas foundation getting kids the prostettics they need. they have raising $350,000 paying for 3 children. one of them, 6-year-old noah pardon. his parents primary insurance funded the first prostettic leg but it had no knee.

brook baldwin, cnn, chicago. >>> the space shuttle fleet soon to be retired. should its service life be extended or should u.s. astronauts start hitching rides with the russians? >>> and jack cafferty is asking will the truth about michael jackson's death ever come out? >>> time to check back with jack cafferty. hi, jack. >>> the question, john, this hour is will the truth about michael jackson's death ever come out? the coroner in l.a. now says the results of the autopsy will be postponed indefinitely. here is some of what you wrote. jackson being an obvious addict does not absolve dr. murray from charges of recklessness in a maug case. there are millions of dead drunks and users and jackson has joined them. the only truth is he did it to himself. gregory in miami, florida writes, no one person will ever know the truth of his death because so many people played a role in it by enabling his vices nor will we ever learn the truth of his life for some of the same reasons. between the complexities and secrecy of his life the idea of ever learning the truth about

brooke baldwin with our report. >> reporter: mayors busted. assemblymen, busted. prosecutors in new jersey name 44 suspects in a wide-ranging corruption investigation. >> for these defendants, corruption was a way of life. >> reporter: americans elect our leaders to lead. but time and time again, according to one watchdog group, lawmakers act as though they are above the law. >> they think getting a job with the public trust is like winning the lottery and use it to align their own pockets as opposed to protect the taxpayer. >> reporter: there's disgraced illinois governor rod blagojevich accused of trying to sell obama's senate seat. former detroit mayor kwame kilpatrick pled guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice. and william jefferson, $90,000 in cash was found in his freezer. he pled not guilty to charms of racket earring and bribery. it is not just corruption. last month south carolina governor mark sanford was caught and confessed to an affair with a woman in argentina. presidential hopeful john edwards admitted to cheating on his cancer-stricken wif

. >> i'm brooke baldwin, in your betty. 10:00 a.m. here in atlanta. 9:00 a.m. in chicago. 7:00 m for folks waking up bright and early in los angeles. let's talk health care. an issue we've been talking about this past week, affecting every single one of us. our health, our health care and how do we pay for it? president obama trying to push hard to push his plan and focusing with challenging in his morning's radio address. >> turning this into health care, another issue, you know it now. cambridge police versus a black harvard professor. well, everybody's got him backing down, the president trying to calm everybody down, but charles ogletree the attorney for the professor involved spoke to me yesterday and again trying to tell everybody, calm down. this isn't really all about race. >> he's feeling this sense of indignity that people feel every day and if has nothing to do with race. there are people who feel powerless when they've done everything they can legally to protect themselves. >> not all about race. we'll get into that a little more a little later. >>>

one witness spoke to brooke baldwin earlier. >> the first train -- the first car. >> were they getting off easily? did you see ems? did you see emergency crews on the scene? were they able to walk away? >> when we got upstairs we were there about 10, 15 minutes before police and fire rescue got kids. >> disney officials in orlando say they're working closely with law enforcement to find out what exactly happened. >>> investigators in tennessee want to know more about the relationship between former nfl super star steve mcnair and the woman he was found with. both he and the woman >>> roger federer has made history at the men's final tennis match at wimbledon. he just defeated andy roddick for the championship. it was his sixth wimbledon title and record 16th grand slam crown. he has broken a tie with pete sampras for the most grand slam wins in history. >>> british cyclist al cavenbish won the second leg of the tour de france. armstrong returned to professional cycling after a 3 1/2 year break. this is his first town defrance appearance since 2005. >>> alaska lieutenant governor is giv

brooke baldwin has his story. ♪ >> reporter: specialist kyle dunnigan 1st brigade combat team, 82nd airborneivision. >> we learn how to lead pts, instruct it, like the walk each other through the different exercises. >> reporter: he is in leadership training, the warrior leaders course, his first step in becoming a noncommissioned officer in the u.s. army. nearly one year ago, he returned from his first deployment as a combat medic. >> we were in southern iraq, going off to baghdad, running logistical convoys. so, we moved food, moved water, moved fuel, building materials. >> reporter: in august of 2007, two months into his tour, insurgents attacked one of his convoys. >> we were -- had just delivered one of our logistical convoys up to a base called balad. >> reporter: a convoy of 50 military and contracted civilian vehicles. >> i mean, you never see it coming. sometimes you have no idea. out of nowhere, you know, an attack kicks off. the insurgents conducting a conflict attack on our convoy. >> reporter: the trucks were stopped at a highway overpass and exposed to enemy fire. >> i was ridi

. >> reporter: brooke baldwin, cnn. >> our thanks to specialist dunigan and all our brave men and womenhat serve this nation in uniform. >>> up next, rick sanchez in for >>> up next, rick sanchez in for campbell brown. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> tonight, here the questions we want answered. the president shocks the press corps with a surprise appearance to back off his earlier comment that a white police officer acted stupidly in arresting a black harvard professor. >> cambridge police are not stupid. >> i could have calibrated those words differently. >> is that enough? and who really prejudged who? did the cop prejudge the black professor, or did the black professor repprejudge? is it enough to calm the police officers? we'll ask them. and the sergeant in the middle of it all speaks again. >> i really didn't want to have to take such a drastic action. >> is it even fair to suggest that america's new surgeon general is overweight? late-night comics think it is. >> her food pyramid calls for three to five servings of mcribs. >> a judge that's fit for the job. you'll hear

brook baldwin, thanks very much. >>> one-way tickets out of town.hat's what new york's mayor, michael bloomberg, is offering to homeless. and tanning bed warnings. and as a progressive customer, you get to use any of our concierge claim centers. so i can just drop off my car and you'll take care of everything? yep, even the rental. what if i'm stuck at the office? if you can't come to us, we'll come to you in one of our immediate response vehicles! what if mother won't let me drive? then you probably wouldn't have had an accident in the first place. and we're walkin'! and we're walkin'... making it all a bit easier -- now that's progressive! call or click today. >>> right back with jack cafferty. . and. >> what's behind the dropoff of president obama's approval ratings. down below 60% during the latest gallop polls. during the month of july his numbers are as low as any in his presidency so far. jack writes two things. health care and the crowley-gates incident. if terms of health care eshgs comes across to me as not knowing what is even in the bill

i'm brooke baldwin. >> good to have you with us this morning.eekend, 7:00 here where we sit, 6:00 a.m. in nashville. thank you so much for being here. a lot of news this morning. shocking news we got yesterday. the word of, you'll recognize the name and the face, former nfl superstar quarterback former nfl mvp, steve mcnair is dead. police say he was shot a number of times, including once in his head. his body was found inside a nashville condo. also found in that same condo was the body of a 20-year-old woman and neck hxt to her body a gun. >>> i want to get you and update on our breaking story we're following for you out of orlando. two monorails collided at disneyworld early this morning. right now we're hearing one of the monorail drivers was killed. the other was not injured. there were five or six guests riding this monorail, essentially, public transportation system sort of between the park and the hotels, about five or six people on board at the time. we're watching this story. we'll let you know more as soon as we can. if you were there

brook baldwin, cnn, chattanooga, tennessee. >>> for more on jordan, what he's doing, his foundation goo our website, cnn.com,/impact. you can find a wide variety of resources there that will help you impact your world. >>> reality tv may have a bunch of new stars in the making. the so-called octomom has a contract for a tv show. and it's going to pay off for her kids. each one of them. >>> the mother of octuplets has signed a contract to star in a reality tv show with her kids. each of nadya suleman's 14 children will get $250 a day during the filming, each. that means her family will get a quarter million dollars over three years. suleman signed with the european company that made "the biggest loser" and filming is expected to start in september. she gave birth to the world's longest surviving octuplets in january. >>> investigation is on to find out if employees at the l.a. coroner's office illegally leaked descriptions of michael jackson's body to the tab lloyds. vivid descriptions of the pop superstar's corpse were published by tabloid newspapers in the days after his death. at the

brook baldwin is here to explain. what is going on? >> i had no idea.you think of bangkok, thailand and what do you think of? amid this sort of concrete jungle there are elephants, as you mentioned, lumbering along. here's pictures we're getting. we're get aggregate piece written by our own dan rivers. they are begging for money and you give them a couple bucks and you can pet the animal. the practice has a name. it's called elephant begging. and tourists are compelled to give a dollar or two because the elephants look hungry. but it's illegal to do this. it's illegal to bring the elephants into the city but the law is ignored because the fines are very small. cash is usually pocketed and animal rights groups claim they are often abused. here's a new development. there is a new government that is trying to crack down on this elegant begging. people have tried in the past unsuccessfully and they really just kind of abuse them. they treat it like an investment. but the new plan is to severely fine anyone bringing an elephant into the bangkok city limits.