professor, you say look, bankruptcies are the tip of an iceberg for what you call failing american cities. >> yeah. 95% of the cities in america are having trouble. bankruptcy is literally the tip. every major city because of the economy is having pressure now on wanes and on pensions. potholes being filled and schools and police and fire. the tragedy is you can't fix this problem locally. the only thing you can do is manage a shrinking pie. over the last decade our economy

we'll take ,, >> pelley: tonight attacking crime and corruption in a great american city. the federal government moves in to oversee the new orleans police. chip reid has that. byron pitts talks to the city's crime-fighting mayor. >> if the ku klux klan killed 200 black kids on the streets of america, there would be hell to pay. >> pelley: barry pederson has search for clues in the theater massacre as a wounded man fights for his life his wife today gave birth to a son. david martin investigates serious weapons. israel is handing out gas masks. and we remember a remarkable postal clerk. it's not what he deliver that made him special. it's what he collected. >> you know, mike, this is one of our most famous pieces.

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and it served as a prototype for many american cities, including pittsburgh and new york. man: new york city went to philadelphia and said, "you know, we're thinking of developing a hudson river water supply -- what do you suggest we do?" and they said, "we've had "a lot of problems on the schuylkill. "don't go to the hudson river. go to the upland and work by gravity." and that's what new york city did. they first went to the hudson highlands, but 150 years later, it went to the delaware highlands. and really diverted the water that normally went to philadelphia to new york city. i don't think they anticipated that. narrator: the majority of new york city's drinking water comes from watersheds in upstate new york. a watershed is the area of land where water from rain or snow melt drains downhill into a body of water. mountains act as a funnel to feed rivers and lakes. and in this case, reservoirs. in the new york city system, water is collected and stored in 19 reservoirs, which can hold more than a year's supply -- over 580 billion gallons of water. almost all of the syst

file for bankruptcy to talk more about this is mccalla krauser she's a contributor for the next american city welcome there so i mean would you say this is a trend can we expect more cities across the u.s. to file. well i think that that's actually what a lot of people are wondering their concern and that was my my city going to cast efforts to not anytime soon. and most experts are saying that's not what's going to happen basically half of states actually make it nearly impossible for cities to file for bankruptcy so harrisburg is included harrisburg recently we found that out i plan to have some for a lot of us filing for chapter nine and also basically a lot of cities know that filing for chapter nine is no way i'm going to wipe their slate clean at. different pension costs that city will. be taishan will definitely king fall so city is definitely where i'm from. and i mean that's the thing the cities they file for bankruptcy they're hoping that it will provide them this clean slate and give them some relief but i mean to what extent is that true i mean it's definitely not this carol that

stockton, california, the all-american city. $26 million in the hole. the way, bankrupt by way the largest american city to file bankruptcy protection ever. mammoth lakes, california, beautiful lakes, fishing, skiing, hiking, fishing. little town, big problems. $43 million in the hole. now bankrupt. san bernadino, california. the anchor of california's inland empire. $46 million in the hole. and the latest, bankrupt. one more. america. once the most prosperous country in the world where freedom and opportunity thrive. four years of obamanomica, $15.8 trillion in the hole. and now -- bob, this is a scary, scary thing going on in california. cities going bankrupt. >> bob: it is. >> eric: other thing to point out because of the pension problems -- >> bob: let me make a point. the united states is not bankrupt. you included that, that was cute to do that. as usual, that was a bankrupt statement. look, the cities were in trouble before obama got in office. the big question in my mind who covers the debt when they go under? you got pension, right. is there a

captioned by closed captioning services, inc >> bret: american cities going broke. is yours next?." ♪ ♪ >> bret: good evening. i'm bret baier. another california city is seeking bankruptcy protection. san bernadino makes three in less than a month in that state. is it part of a growing national slide for municipal insolvency. enveloping communities all over the nation. big areas including chicago and detroit, said to be considering some kind of move. another city that could be on the list soon, place vice president biden calls home. tonight we'll talk about the economics and the politics of american cities drowning in the sea of red ink. first up, chief washington correspondent james rosen. >> everything important to my life i learned i learned in scranton. >> his hometown of scranton, pennsylvania, dear to president's heart cannot obscure how dire the financial crisis is. >> i can't pay money i don't have. >> the mayor, doherty, democrat, and the democrat controlled city council cannot agree how best to make up the $16.8 million in red ink the city faces leaving doherty to slash

some people are warning the same perfect storm that hit san bernardino could hit a lot of other american cities. our report tonight from nbc's mike taibbi. tuesday night another depressing city council meeting with bad news from city manager andrea miller. >> we have an immediate cash flow issue. >> followed by the worst news that seeking bankruptcy was the only way the city can even meet its payroll in the next few weeks. city services have already been trimmed. with temperatures in the mid-90s, will public pool hours be cut back. will seniors like ollie williams learn there will be fewer hours and fewer programs at the funded senior citizen center. >> they can't do away with these centers either. these people need somewhere to go. >> mayor morris doesn't have the answers yet. >> you don't know and the citizens of this city won't know for a while exactly what the impact is going to be? >> that's true. >> the signs have been there for years, declining revenues in the deep recession and skyrocketing cost, mostly for city employees and their pensions. in may this region had the third highest fore

all -- i do not have the statistics at my fingertips, but we are in a situation where in every american citylly 90% of people living in it are third-generation a suburban raised. so getting in the car is the first instinct. whether it is to take the kids to school are anything else. so keeping public transportation at a high standard, not just being on time but making sure nobody feels like they are in an unsafe situation in a bus, starting with the kids. it is an incredibly important goal. because it keeps the middle class on the bus. then it truly is a safe place to be. the nobody has a bias against taking the bus or against funding the bus. that is ultimately were the but stops. supervisor avalos: we can add to that free muni for years as well. >> it is a separate topic but -- >> related. ñ1k3'sçñ . >> we will close public comment. this was an information item, so we can go on to item number 11. >> one bay area grant program update,g> good morning, again. principal transportation planner for the authority. i have a quick overview of the onebayarea program. we h

city's proclamation. and a new chapter in asian pacific american history when he was elected as the city's first asian-americanentlemen -- all right, join me in welcoming mayor edwin m. lee. [applause] you have your own crowded back there. the m. in your middle name stand s for ma. >> thank you all for coming. i'm glad to be here on the eighth time we've celebrated this, and want to give a thank- you for helping us put this on. thank you! and of course, i join here as part of an official city family. thank you for being here. he is joined by supervisors carmen chu, jane kim, and eric mar. our elected officials, jeff adachi, the public defender, the recorder assessor, hydra mendoza, and emily murase. we're also thankful for the chief of police, thank you. i would like to also acknowledges someone that has been a very special friend of mine, someone that has given me a lot of support and advice over the years. and also someone who has not missed one of these asian pacific heritage month associations, mayor willie brown. >> this evening, we are celebrating our communities from all over the world. i am so lucky to

all -- i do not have the statistics at my fingertips, but we are in a situation where in every american city of people living in it are third-generation a suburban raised. so getting in the car is the first instinct. whether it is to take the kids to school are anything else. so keeping public transportation at a high standard, not just being on time but making sure nobody feels like they are in an unsafe situation in a bus, starting with the kids. it is an incredibly important goal. because it keeps the middle class on the bus. then it truly is a safe place to be. the nobody has a bias against taking the bus or against funding the bus. that is ultimately were the but stops. supervisor avalos: we can add to

applause ] and the state of colorado wishes to thank them for they are what makes aurora an all-american citytion to remember aurora not for this tragic event but for the way aurora is a city united responded to this tragedy. our city will be stronger and greater because of our adversity. and our citizens and our city will survive, prevail and prosp prosper. aurora's responded well because of its tremendous leadership, by chief oates, chief garcia, mayor hogan and others. [ applause ] by the well trained service providers and most importantly by our concerned, caring and supportive citizens like all of you here tonight. [ applause ] aurora is and will always remain an all-american city. your presence here tonight is most appreciated and welcomed because it helps to start the healing process for all our american city of aura wurora an our great state of colorado. threat heal process begin. [ applause ] our prayers are extended to all of those who have been directly or indreektly affected by this unforgivable tragedy. may god bless them, embrace them and may he be with us all during this time o

american cities running out of money. we told you wednesday that some communities aren't able to support basic public safety needs. frightening reality. in san bernardino, california, where the city filed for bankruptcy this week, the local police chief is trying desperately to keep the public's faith in them. >> we'll continue to provide emergency services and do the best we can to provide those emergency services to our community. you'll continue to see police officers and firefighters responding to calls day and night. our priority will be it has been and it will always be to respond first to emergency calls for service and then do follow-up investigations on violent crimes and property crimes in that order. >> we start with kim ruben, senior fellow at the urban institute tax policy center. you write that one of california's problems is that the three strikes law ballooned the inmate population and bumped the correctional budget up 3 billion from what it was. is this another example of why the war on drugs is failing a

city. in this act is a uniquely american tenant establishing that the united states olympic movement, including the bid and host city process, is an entirely independent private sector entity. however, as this report points out, the american taxpayer has now become by far the largest single underwriter of the cost of hosting the olympics. this is not about private voluntary giving to the olympic movement. nor is it about corporate sponsorships. this is about a cocktail of fiscal irresponsibility made it congressional pork barreling. as i outlined earlier, the taxpayer funding has increased dramatically in recent years. in the 1984 summer olympics, $75 million in federal support. most notable about this figure aside from how low it is a brother -- compared to atlanta and salt lake is what it was used for. 91% was used to provide safety during the planned staging of the games. only $7 million were for naught security related services. providing safety and security support is a proper role for the federal government. no one would dispute what the federal government should provide whatever support

the city's 43rd mayor and the city's first asian-american mayor in the city's history. he is from seattle, i'm from tacoma, and we have that together. he is known as a job as mayor and an innovation mayor for his focus on job creation and economic development. ladies and gentlemen, san francisco mayor, ed lee. [applause] mayor lee: thank you. good morning, everybody. welcome. it is great to be reunited with my long-lost brothers, separated at birth. david lee, his younger brother.

american city bankrupt. what is a good campaign manager to do?ve the debate away from jobs and economy. create buzz elsewhere. boos. bain and bank accounts, buzz. they're so obvious. >> i'm going to ask you flat out. do you think romney went to houston, do you think he went to houston to gin up a racist vote? do you think so? yes or no? yes or no? >> i can't say yes, but i cannot dismiss it. >> ask themselves why does an american businessman need a swiss bank account and secretive investment like that? >> oh, boy. obama campaign is shaking shiny objects over, there but did they cross the line here? >> either mitt romney threw his own words and his own signature was misrepresenting his position at bain to the sec, which is a felony. or he was misrepresenting his position at bain to the american people to avoid responsibility for some of the consequences of his investmen investment. >> eric: really? they don't want to talk about the economy now, do they? what about this? >> greg: i love the idea of linking romney to felonies when you consider where

a few people spent the night at the american city diner on connecticut avenue northwest near the

captioned by closed captioning services, inc >> bret: american cities going broke. is yours next? what does all of this mean for the presidential campaign? this is "special report." ♪ ♪ >> bret: good evening. i'm bret baier. another california city is seeking bankruptcy protection. san bernadino makes three in less than a month in that state. is it part of a growing national slide for municipal insolvency. enveloping communities all over the nation. big areas including chicago and detroit, said to be considering some kind of move. another city that could be on the list soon, place vice president biden calls home. tonight we'll talk about the economics and the politics of american cities drowning in the sea of red ink. first up, chief washington correspondent james rosen. >> everything important to my life i learned i learned in scranton. >> his hometown of scranton, pennsylvania, dear to president's heart cannot obscure how dire the financial crisis is. >> i can't pay money i don't have. >> the mayor, doherty, democrat, and the democrat controlled city council cannot agree how bes

an increasing number of american cities are facing the prospect of bankruptcy. nd as peter barnes reports tonight some majorrcities -- are among those on the brink. &pbrink. -------------------------------- &p------------------------------ -------------------------------- -------------------------------- -------------------------------- -------------------------------- -------------------------------- -the otor city may be on the roaa to bankruptcy --in june -- the debt ratinn company moody's downgrrded more than $5 biilion in detroit's ddbt to junk bood status.the city's pinancial problems have been fuuled by years of government corruption aad mismanagement -- the rrcession and bankruptcies of two of its largest emmloyers in 2009 -- generallmotors and chrysler -- only revved up its fiscal problees.frasee says: "there are some parallels between detroit and greece so greece is an aaea where thhy really have no economic activity very very weak structurally they really dont have a lot of options."of the 20 or so 2008 -- most have been smaller communities.but now mor

some unthinkable places american cities are selling ads to make some much needed cash. >>> back now with a sign of the times. local governments across the country getting creative to raise much needed revenue. some of them have started selling advertisements in unusual public places and as you might imagine it is not without controversy. >> reporter: like many cities baltimore has long sold ad space on trains and buses. now politicians here are seeing red. how unusual is it? >> it is unusual. >> reporter: councilman pete welsh is behind a proposal to sell ads on fire trucks to stop the cash strapped city from closing three stations for good. >> it's not selling out. having advertising puts control in the hands of the fire department itself. >> please don't shut down these companies. >> reporter: the city council just voted to support the measure. >> when i first heard about the bill i thought it was idiotic. why look like nascar? why do we want to look like a bus going down the street. after the shock wore off this shows how far we have to go to think outside the box. >> reporter: appare

we're in stockton this evening because it is the largest american city to declare bankruptcy ever. oins a growing list of cities that through bad debts, bad investment, or bad management have been forced to declare bankruptcy. there are many more cities or counties that seem headed in that direction. california is hard hit. most seem to surround long-term contracts made in the boom years there is a lot of focus on city overspending. people here in stockton are livid about the city borrowing money to fund this multimillion dollar arena right behind me. also a city parking gar ran. minor league ballpark. down the delta, marina. all of these city assets were supposed to make money here. they never did. we'll talk more about what it's like to live in and run a bankrupt city. that is a bit later. we begin 6,000 miles from here with mitt romney in europe. the boat agrees. the reviews of the trip have been in the main stream media, mostly bad. today, governor romney and his people had plenty to say about that. not all of it suitable for television. we're just told that the governor just la

professor, you say look, bankruptcies are the tip of an iceberg for what you call failing american cities. >> yeah. 95% of the cities in america are having trouble. bankruptcy is literally the tip. every major city because of the economy is having pressure now on wanes and on pensions. potholes being filled and schools and police and fire. the tragedy is you can't fix this problem locally. the only thing you can do is manage a shrinking pie. over the last decade our economy is growing at a third of the rate it did in five decades. a guy like ron the firefighter, he can't have a job unless you also have manufacturing jobs generating good wages and having that ripple through. >> here's the issue on top of that. that's a fact that there is a strong argument that those jobs and that growth that we saw that would explode for decades is not coming back to the united states. some of that manufacturing is coming back, but it's not coming back in the way it did. what do city dos and what can be done to help the cities? >> what can be done on a national level, trade reform with china. what the heck

have a better shot at than, say, other places where large distances have to be traversed in most american cities to kind of get to the places you want to get. here in san francisco, we have been blessed by the geometry where our trips are short where 40 years ago we realized that this was the way we will have to kind of meet our future. the iron call part of that is at the same time europe also discovered that and they made strides to towards actually implementing these alternative choices, we have found it very difficult to kind of wean ourselves from the convenience of being able to. i say it is still convenient to drive. as long as the alternatives are not just as convenient, we won't be able to make our case about our travel modes as contribution to the detriment of the environment or to the detriment of our health as we all know the sun is by date getting madder at us and angle grier at us and we are getting fat. we got to do something about it. this is the time to do it. we have the best opportunity here with these four guests from the german marshall fund and i was hoping that supervisor

tonight another american city goes broke as accusations swirl about corrupt politicians cooking the books. plus, republicans take another shot at dismantling president obama's healthcare overhaul. >> 21 tax increases in this law. >> this is about politics, not policy. >> tonight, republicans' new argument against the law and why some democrats say the vote today could backfire. >> plus, airplane turbulence wild enough to send people to the hospital. >> the noise and the bumps you just think it's going. >> we will hear from passengers who say they thought they were going to die. >> and a a train loaded with chemicals jumps the tracks and explodes in flames in ohio's capital city. tonight, evacuations and why firefighters said they couldn't even get near this thing. >> shepard: first from fox this wednesday night, house republicans treed a new argument in an attempt to yet again overturn ronn's healthcare overhaul. republicans voted to repeal the president's plan. >> the yays 244 and nays 185. the bill is passed. >> shepard: this is the 33 time lawmakers tried to dismantl the healthcare ove

stockton is the largest american city to seek protection from it's creditors. nbc's ron allen has more tonight. >> reporter: at a city council meeting residents berated the city council leaders. >> the decisions that you are making tonight are throwing a grenade in my life. >> many why city retirees. >> reporter: cuts to pensions and health insurance. >> the world is watching so they can see we are victims of a society that is failing us. >> stockton officials say bankruptcy was the only option left to deep with tens of thousands of dollars of debt. 300,000 live in the city which that has cut 25% of police, 30% of fire and 30% of staff. >> there aren't enough fingers on your hand to count the people to blame for this. >> reporter: during better times a housing boom attracted investors from as far as san francisco, 80 miles away. stockton borrowed heavily and built up the downtown and then the bust. so many foreclosures the city ran bust tours to attract buyers. the police warned of soaring crime rates. forbes magazine declared it the most miserable city in amer

. >> aurora is and will always remain an all-american city.d welcome because it helps to start the healing process for all our american city of aurora and for our great state of colorado. let the healing process begin. our prayers have been extended to all of those for this tragedy. may we embrace them and be with them during the time of adversity, reflection, and healing. may peace and tranquility per veil among us all as we go forth from this evening. thank you all. [ applause ] now, it is my distinct pleasure to introduce bishop james conley. bishop? >> mayor hogan, members of city council of aurora, esteemed clergy, my brothers and sisters, tonight we come together to pray and to be with one another. some of us are survivors, family members, or friends of those who suffered through this senseless and evil act of violence which took place early friday morning. all of us in this local community were affected by what happened here on friday and we will never be the same. this senseless and evil act of violence has left many of us wondering ho

the american city diner on connecticut avenue northwest near the chevy chase cirque is open so people can cool off. managers let people spend the night there and charged their electronics. >>> coming up in 15 minutes, we'll talk to a montgomery county man who's had some bad luck with the storms just weeks after he finished repairing his home from hurricane irene, he has to clean up all over again after this weekend's storms. >>> loudoun county's board of supervisors will finally decide today whether to give the green light to metro's silver line. the board is expected to approve joining phase two of the project which would bring metro into loudoun county. opponents have said it's too expensive but county leaders met last week to discuss a financing blan. it appears the board is poised to back the project. >>> montgomery county investigators are looking into what caused yet another fire on a ride-on bus. this happened along new hampshire avenue near adelphi road ansd silver spring. the maryland department of transportation now investigating the cause of that fire. this is at least the

. >>> coming up, revising downward on wall street, american cities going bust, and which of the united states is the best for doing business? your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. >>> plus, tom cruise may have started a mission impossible, but if katie holmes could play the real-life cvesecret agent leading up to her stunning surprising divorce filing. >> coming up, lake griffin strikes it rich, an all-star blowout and what do san francisco giants fans know that the rest of us don't? you're watching "early today." blowout and what do san >>> good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry, and here are some of your top headlines this morning. with the penn state report on the jerry sandusky scandal set to be scheduled for today, they're questioning the integrity of the inquiry and said paterno did not know sandusky was a pedophile. he's expected to be sentenced in september. >>> attorneys for lance armstrong refiled the lawsuit seeking to stop the u.s. anti-doping agency of stripping the scribe list of his seven tour de france titles. the agency annou