my legs was i was in -- i was an 18-year-old kid sitting on the back of a truck, working for a landscaping job, and i got knocked off by an 18-wheeler when he tried to pass us. and as a result, i lost both legs. >> reporter: after years of operations, scott had just about given up all hope, until he spotted another amputee in a magazine. it was sarah reinertsen. she was the first single amputee woman to enter the hawaii ironman competition. >> i was very inspired by her story, that she was able to use her life to really do extraordinary things and impact young women. >> reporter: scott thought maybe he could become an inspiration to others. >> i saw a lot of our military men and women that were coming back from the war, and they were missing limbs. and i felt like if i could do an ironman, then i could help inspire those men and women who, in service, who put themselves in harm easily way for our freedom. >> reporter: not only did scott finish the ironman race, he came in under the required 17 hours. in addition to wounded soldiers, scott hopes his determination also inspires teens. >> my stor

one company specializes in labor for construction, industrial, and landscaping in cleanup jobs, and often provide same-day service. it also prescreens applicants and takes care of all payroll costs. the owner tells us so many people are applying, they are having to turn people away. we are live in the company's office in denver. >> good morning, and yes, he has been here in the city for 25 years. lately, things have been on a backslide. they usually have a 30% growth rate every year, but things started to go back. can you tell me about the range of applicants walking in? >> we're getting everyone from homeless people to carpenters we have seen a backslide one company part of the industry, the largest stand- alone appliance store in the nation. sales topping more than $300 million annually. that is where we have carina she is in illinois. she is in illinois. joining us now is the general manager here. what does this mean? we have seen our market share to increase in the store and on the website. >> are they buying the products? i think that builders' sales definitely took a hit because of

landscape has actually changed. the economy got worse than we thought, more job losses, so we need you to ramp it up because without these modifications we're going to be in real trouble. the question i have, though, which nobody has yet to answer, is are these modifications working because they're all in the trial period. they're all these three-month trials. we don't have the data yet of how many of these are redefaulting. and what's so interesting, what the mortgage bankers told me yesterday, is even now with all the media attention on this, borrowers facing foreclosure, 50% of them will not talk to their servicers. that's when the servicers are going after them, sending them letters, even going to the property, saying we're here to help, we want to try to modify. 50% of those borrowers don't want any part of it. >> but diana, you follow this story so closely. why do you think we're not seeing more modifications? i mean, it seems like the banks want to do this because they want to keep someone in the home and paying, even if it's at a lower rate, because inevitably it seems that's more cost effective than forecl

of interior with the responsibility of investing $3 billion to create jobs, restoring america's national parks and treasured landscapes, building clean driing water infrastructure for earl communities, fixing and upgrading aging schools and taking on critically important projects for the nation. we are making these investments swiftly. on the 18 month timeline established by congress. we are also making these investments responsively. we want to make sure that we get it right as you would want us to do. we want to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not going to waste. every project must be worthy of the public's expenditure. every contract must be completed and a fair and open manner and everything we do must be transparent and open to public scrutiny. we are meeting these goals and i am proud of the results that we have seen so far. since congress passed the recovery act, in tear and its agencies have identified 3,382 projects which meet the high standards that we have set. that is 3,382 projects which we are overseeing. 90% of the $3 billion we are investing is helping us meet the long deferred payments built up in re

job. looking out for consumers across the financial services landscape. as secretary geithner has said protecting consumers is important in its own right and also central to safeguarding our financial system as a whole. we must restore honesty and integrity to our financial system. that is why president obama personally feels so strongly about creating this new consumer financial protection agency. i understand the committee's concerns that have been expressed today with respect to boundary issues, jurisdictional issues, and the role of the ftc. i think as we work together on those issues, it's important to keep in mind the central goal we all share. having one agency for one marketplace with one mission protecting consumers. the new agency will have the authority and the resources it needs to set consistently high standards for banks and nonbank financial providers alike. to put an end to regulatory arbitrage, to put an end to unregulated corners of our financial system that inevitably that weaken standards across-the-board. this agency will be accountab

jobs. >> you're right. he is working all the time. >> he'll retire at 40. >> here's a story about people who don't want get paid to work. this comes from the nation's capital where hundreds of landscapers answered the call to honor our nation's fallen soldiers. 400 volunteers arrived at arlington national cemetery at dawn to beautify the grounds. the project has donated $2 million in work over the last 13 trees, from cabling trees with lightning protection to mulching and fertilizing. they gave all they can to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. that's great. >>> i'm kristen welker. this is "early today." your first stop of the day, today on your nbc statio >>> 4:54 is the time right now, 67 degrees. looks like a pretty day again as we get a little early dawn light on this tuesday morning, the 14th of july. good morning. welcome to "news 4 today." i'm joe krebs. >> and i'm kimberly suiters in for barbara harrison. we want to start things off this morning, as we always do, with a look at weather and traffic. >> here's tom kierein for our first forecast. tom? > it is fresh and olco,co low humidity still in place. d-.lyjumie it for hooafgofnn i t iounheerth s ati prepitaon arnd th

to establish a financial regulatory agency charged with just one job, looking out for consumers across the financial services landscape. as secretary geithner has said protecting consumers is important in its own right and also central to safeguarding our financial system as a whole. we must restore honesty and integrity to our financial system. that is why president obama personally feels so strongly about creating this new consumer financial protection agency. i understand the committee's concerns that have been expressed today with respect to boundary issues, jurisdictional issues and the role of the ftc. i think as we work together on those issues it's important to keep in mind the central goal we all share, having won agency for one marketplace with one mission, protecting consumers. the new agency will have the authority and resources it needs to set consistently high standards for banks and non-bank financial providers alike. to put the and to regulatory arbitrage, to put an end to on regulated corners of the financial system that inevitably weaken standards across the board. this agency will be accountable for

of everybody's tongue of the thousands of jobs, he is saying very few should be lost in this next move. it's really hard to predict where the political landscapewill be this time next year, because there are so many unknowns about the economy at-large and in these various jurisdictions. it is really hard. >> jim, when you talk about jobs in prince george's county as well as some of the other counties, they have been dancing around that word, furlough. so that affects jobs. if you have a two-week furlough, that could really hurt? >> it is highly likely things will not be much better then than they are now. the question is, who will the republicans put up to oppose o'malley? what will his program be? will he make a convincing case he could do it better. any republican could have a real challenge. speaking of challenges, he may not only face a republican challenge. he will, of course. he may also face a democratic challenger. challenge for the democratic nomination. >> that's possible. based on what i can see, unless you have talked to somebody that i haven't, i think he appears to be very, very solidly encased in his office. >> i would suspect h

landscape, looking at the top of the ticket. mitt romney, newt gingrich, they do not have day jobs. they can write books, raise money, go on fox news. that is what sarah palin needs to do, come down here and get serious, get a weekly radio address, do some research herself. she needs to raise money for herself and other candidates. she needs to write a book on something of substance. she needs to get some think in her passport. she needs to sharpen her attack against barack obama. there is a huge leadership vacuum in the republican party. the old guard is over and sarah palin is part of the new guard and she realizes it. stepping down to become the next conservative oprah winfrey or president of the united states, now is for town -- her time. megyn: you think that she is delusional, bob? >> the idea that you leave the only job that you have that gives you any kind of standing of substance, and at the same time being disingenuous by saying that all lame-duck governors -- every governor is eventually a lame duck. she quit her job, most of them do their job. if the idea is that this wi

will be the role of the ftc and this new landscape and how much of that new role will be duplicative of this proposed agency? you guys have been doing a good job you know, we are appreciative of that. >> and we appreciate and are heartened by what you said about our agency. i think we do a good job. could commissioners who are also committed. you know, we will still have all of their competition authority, our antitrust authority. we will continue to do all of the other things we do whether it is fraud, or privacy outside of the financial context, or you know, advertising and marketing practices and then we will continue to stay involved here. i think especially during the transition period and hopefully beyond, with concurrent jurisdiction. look, there are as we know in this room and as you guys know better than anybody else, there are lot of bad actors out there who are trying to rip off the american consumers so by growing the federal ability to go after these malefactors, you know, that can only help the playing field. what we do with the ftc and we do it really well, but it is a sort of triage, right? we look at different cases, potential

landscape and we have spent a century preserving. and, of course, we want the hundreds of thousands of green jobs that can come from renewable energy but we don't want to do it in a way that kills tens of millions of red, white and blue jobs that most of us work in. we don't want to run our manufacturing and technology, high tech companies overseas looking for cheap electricity because of the strategy we take for clean energy. well, the strategy that's coming from the house, the democratic proposal; a high-cost strategy, $100 billion a year burden on the economy which is unnecessary. it's high taxes. and it's more mandates and a new utility bill for every american family. what republicans want to say is, there's a different approach. that will get us to about the same place and i actually think it will get us there faster. this approach starts with 100 new nuclear power plants. that means we'll have electricity that's cheap enough so that cars can be build in michigan and ohio as well as tennessee instead of mexico and japan. it means we would be producing more of our energy at home. it means our air will be cleaner. nuclear power is 7