and dedicated to the virgin goddess athena.ing it today is awe-inspiring, but imagine how striking it must have looked when it was completed, nearly 2,500 years ago, in all its carved and brilliantly painted splendor. the adjacent erechtheion is famous for its porch of the caryatids -- six beautiful maidens functioning as columns. dedicated to athena and poseidon, this was one of the most important religious buildings on the acropolis. this, rather than the parthenon, was the culmination of the panathenaic procession. at the foot of the acropolis, the ancient agora, or marketplace, sprawls out from its surviving temple. this is where, for 3,000 years, athenians gathered. while the acropolis was the center of ritual and ceremony, the agora was the beating heart of ancient athens. for some 800 years, starting in the 6th century b.c., this was the hub of commercial, political, and social life. visitors wander the remains of what was the city's principal shopping mall and administrative center. exploring the agora, it's fascinating

. >> athena jones is live from washington. good morning, athena. what on earth are republicans hoping to accomplish with this vote that has no chance of passing? >> good morning, ali. of course, as you mentioned, it is all about talking points. republicans want to fire up their base. there are a lot of republican voters who don't like this health care law. despite what the supreme court has said. you might remember that right after the ruling, within hours of the ruling, they already had scheduled today as a day to take this vote. it's going to be the 33rd vote to try to take some sort of action to defund or dismantle all or part of this health care law. this is really a way to keep -- keep the democrats having to publicly support this and to drive up public opposition to a law that isn't really polling well. it's likely to pass the house, but it's not going to get anywhere in the senate, ali. >> what happens after this vote fails? >> well, it's likely to pass the house. i mean, republicans control the house. they may even get a few democrats to su

athe athena jones is live in maryland.before people get power on and the temperatures are scorching. >> reporter: that's the biggest danger here. the danger from the heat is cumulative, the more likely you are to suffer from heat stroke and that sort of thing. one sign of progress, a few hours the lights were dark and police were out with flares, not toot long ago the lights came back on. intersections down the way the lights are still out. utility crews are hard at work to get the power restored. companies say it could take until the end of the week for the power to come back to everyone and that's if the weather cooperates. i just checked figures from pepco and they say that 229,000 people are still without power, dominion, the major provider in virginia has nearly 247,000 people without power, that's way down from the million that were without power, dominion customers at the height of this power outage. the real issue is going to be the heat and how to beat it. >> athena jones, thanks very much and try to stay cool you

cnn's athena jones is live in washington. athena, the president skipped the naacp convention.ational urban league obviously, maybe, trying to make amends? >> reporter: the white house probably said this was all a long plan. there was that criticism they came under by sending vice president biden to houston to speak to the naacp. so it's going to be the president himself there in new orleans. as you said, of course the black turnout is is going to be very important this election. especially if they want to hold on to states like virginia where blacks make up nearly 20%. and north carolina where they make up 22%, according to the latest census figures. i should mention, though, that the president isn't just going to be speaking at this civil rights and social justice organization. he's also raising money in new orleans. he has two fundraisers. one in a private residence and one at the house of blues. we know that louisiana went heavily for mccain in the last election and that it's a red state. but, of course, money isn't red or blue, john. >> it's green. he needs the green. he's

>> athena, what about the polls? what do latest polls in virginia say about the president's chances to reclaim that state? >> well, the latest polls show that president obama is running ahead of romney by a few points. but it's still very, very close, which is why we're seeing this two-day trip, multiple stops, retail events. radio and tv interviews, in addition to the speeches on the stump and this is exactly the kind of thing you can expect to see more of over the next several months, fredricka. >> a very busy next few months indeed. thank you very much, athena jones at the white house. >>> meantime, president obama rival, mitt romney, is not campaigning today. he is taking it easy at his lake house in new hampshire. look at this scene, critics saying it reinforces the rich guy image that he is actually trying to play down. romney's former rival rick santorum made his first campaign appearance for mitt romney today. he opened the campaign office in greensburg, pennsylvania. another key battle ground state. and we'r

athena jones joins us from a cooling center in burke, virginia. give me a sense of what officials are saying about when power's going to be fully restored there. >> reporter: good afternoon, poppy. of course this power is just the top of enone's mine. in maryland power company officials say it is going to take up to a week for full restoration of power because of the extensibilive damage. there was a conference call here with utility companies that said in virginia it could take until saturday or sun until everyone all across virginia has their power restored. dominion hopes to have a lot of power back to 95% of the customers by thursday. but of course that all depends on if the weather cooperates. we're dealing with 100-degree-plus temperatures here and people without power are having to go to great lengths to figure out how to stay cool. nine grocery stores in the region have been handing out bags of ice. they ran out of nearly 3,000 bags of ice earlier today, they're trying to get more. they've also opened cooling centers like this one. i'm at

cnn's athena jones is live at the white house. there you see at andrews air force base just outside of d.c., air force one ready to go, just waiting for the president's arrival. what more can you tell us about the travel, the plans for the president. >> reporter: good afternoon, fredricka. the president is scheduled to leave the white house here in just about 15 minutes. he is expected to touch down at buckley air force base in aurora, colorado, just before 4:00 p.m. local time. so 6:00 p.m. our time here on the east coast. he expects to spend about two hours there on the ground. he'll be meeting with families of the victims of friday's shootingas well as local officials. we expect those meetings to take place privately behind closed doors. but it's not uncommon at events like this to see the president at some point appear on camera, perhaps make a statement to the press. as you know, he was just in colorado at the end of june to tour the damage in and around colorado springs. he certainly spoke to the press then. we'll be keeping

athena jones joins us from the white house. athena, good morning. why the white house? why is it so significant for the president? >> reporter: good morning. virginia's 13 electoral votes are very important to president obama's re-election campaign. he won the state back in 2008, but it is by no means a reliably blue state. he was the first democrat to win since lyndon johnson in 1964. so the obama campaign is hoping to keep virginia in the d column by focusing on this idea that he is going to fight for the middle class whereas mitt romney is going to be more concerned with helping out the wealthy. this is -- against john mccain. and specifically today we expect to hear the president again call on congress to extend those tax cuts for the middle class for people making less than $250,000 a year. randi. >> i would imagine mitt romney also a busy man today. >> reporter: well, actually mitt romney is spending the weekend up at his lake house in new hampshire along the shores. we are keeping an eye on him. no public schedule. if anything changes, we'll be watching him as we

cnn's athena jones is live in springfield, virginia, for us, and athena, welcome, and how is the cleanup going? >> good morning, randi. well sh well, the cleanup is going in spits and starts. you can see the debris out here in the medium that is left to be picked up. you can see behind me where a giant tree fell on the power lines here. this tree killed a 27-year-old man on friday night who was driving home from work. it is an example of the kind of thing that the cleanup crews are facing. we were in rockville, maryland, on the other side of washington, d.c. yesterday and there were people out clearing debris, and clearing these giant trees from the road and cutting them down for mulch, but it is a lot they have to do it and they have to do it in the heat today, randi. >> what are the odds that people will get the power back on today? any word on that? >> well, i don't think that you have heard anyone promise that it will be happen today. you can see that this is an extreme situation that we are dealing with something that would take several days to get back on here and having to restrin

athena jones, cnn, washington.d-c police offiier has been stripppd of his police powwrs while the secret serviceeprooee whether he threatened the first lady. lady. tonight, investiiatorssqqestioning heard theethreats... at forceewho works as a white house motorcycle escort.. so far, therr have been connlictiig reports about whether the officer actually maae a threat.. 3 margie looks amazing i wonder how she stays ssofitshe told me food stamp benefits helped active too. too.the goveenment is spendingg ffr its food stamp program.. but after these ds drewwa lottof criticism, the ads have bben removed from a ffderal websitt. the funds will now be usee to improve oversight. if you see government waste.... head to fox ourrwaste watch feature. government spending and tell us what you think. and as with all our nline content, it's totally free. gas prices... ontinue ...too...go up... for theeseconn... the... national average ... for reguuar... s... 3--39.../ uu.. &p three cents ...from last peek.../. tripll- &pa... says ..

good morning, athena. >> reporter: good morning, randi.t a few miles north of washington, d.c., and we've already seen a stepped-up police presence here at this movie theater behind me, where the first showing of "batman" was at 8:30 this morning, so a pretty early showing for this big movie. there were also a lot of police around here yesterday. just a short while ago, we saw a police cruiser pull up outside of the theater, stay there for a while and then pull away. this is the sort of thing we expect to see not only here, but around the country. in the hours just after the shooting, we spoke with some folks around here who said they were pretty shaken by the news that these people were attacked just by going to the movies. let's listen to what one of the people had to say. >> i was shocked. i mean, it's just such a senseless, senseless act of violence. i mean, people just coming -- you know, you think you're coming to see a movie, have a good time, and then you know, your friends and family members are gone the next, you know. it's insan

athena jones is live this mother. what's the situation, it sounds dire. >> reporter: it is, we're standing at an intersection where a traffic signal just got the power back not too long ago. there are several i can see down the road that don't have power. that's a big issue as people head back to work on this monday morning. we did get an update. the utility companies say the workers are out in full force working around the clock. they've got teams from 12 states and as far away as quebec, helping to get the pow are restored. the latest from pepco, a few miles north of d.c., they have 229,000 people without power and dominion in virginia, which at one point, a main provider there, 1 million customers without power are down to 247,000. so progress is being made but that's little consolation to people who still don't have power when they are dealing with high temperatures, it's supposed to be 95 and up today here. not counting the heat index. the companies say if the weather cooperates, that is to say there aren't more

athena jones joins us from the white house. the president won virginia four years ago. why is he fighting so hard to maintain support? >> well, as you remember, 13 electoral votes and very important to the president's re-election campaign and he did win in virginia back in 2008 but it is by no means a reliableably blue state. he was the first democrat to win the state since lyndon johnson in 1964. of course the campaign is trying to keep virginia in the blue column. if they can do so, it will be a big help for them going towards the re-election. they're hoping to do so by making the argument that president obama will fight for the middle class and mitt romney cares more about helping out the wealthy. it is a common theme we heard back in 2008 when the president was running against rival john mccain. specifically today we expect to hear the president again call on congress to extend the tax cuts for folks making $250,000 a year or less. he wants to see those extended for another year. it is part of the argument they want to look out for the middle class. >> what about hi

athena jones is outside the theater in silver spring maryland.g taken there and are moviegoers thinking about what happened in colorado? are they nervous or what? >> reporter: well, i can tell you, fredericka, that certainly movie theater operators all across the country say that guest safety is their top priority and that they're stepping up and reviewing their security measures. i can tell you that the theater started showing "batman," and it was showing in a dozen screens starting very early this morning. we saw a police cruiser come up. there were police outside early this morning as those movies got under way. for the most part the people we've spoken to say that what they believe happened in colorado was an isolated incident and they're not too concerned. listen to what one gentleman had to say this morning. >> no second thoughts at all. it's a shame what happened in colorado, but certainly we are here in silver spring, maryland and we certainly trust that the law enforcement authorities are taking the appropriate measures to make sure that

athena joesnes, elkridge, maryland. >>> sure, your smartphone can make calls. you can send e-mails. can play videos, but a new iphone add-on promises self-defense. can you guess what it does? will it fend off evildoers with flames? electric shocks. maybe love? that's next. >> don't forget, you can watch cnn live on your computer while you're at work or on your smartphone. just head to cnn.com/tv. this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. >> so there's a start-up company that's promisings a new interesting feature for your iphone, turning it into a stun gun. that's a tease for you. up in j moment. tech pro, job able joins me from new york where he tells me it's a monsoon. thank you for coming in. i appreciate it. let's t

economic affairs how do you assess the current economic and social situation in syria and the hey athena. last year's crisis demonstrated the degree of public resentment for the government's liberal economic policies which had been building up since two thousand and three these policies have resulted in rising social tension and eventually sparked a political implosion which we are witnessing to this day by presently we're seeing a new stage of escalation in the political crisis has resulted in a deteriorating economic situation which is affected various parts of syrian society this forces us to consider the impact of an economic downturn on our social fabric and our political landscape that we're looking at two categories of economic challenges today there are immediate issues that we need to address right away and then there are the overall faults within the syrian economy which require a new format and a new structure for the government and the state in general addressing each of these issues requires different time frames we should not deny that economic issues have an impact on the

. >> i'm athena jones at the white house.sign that the campaign season is heating up, president obama visiting two battleground states this week. she'll speak in ohio on monday and he spends thursday and friday traveling across florida, visiting four cities including orlando in a region that was central to his 2008 victory in the state. he'll hit the red state of texas on tuesday, for fund raisers in san antonio and austin. >> after fund-raising monday in mississippi and louisiana, mitt romney heads tuesday to pennsylvania and wednesday to ohio, both considered important swing states in the race for the white house. >> on the heels of new details of jpmorgan's massive trading loss and better than expected profits, citigroup, gold man sachs, bank of america and morgan stanley will report earnings. and we'll hear from heavy hitters on the dow. and tech giants microsoft, google, ibm and intel. also on wall street's radar, federal reserve chairman bernanke will testify on capitol hill. on the economicalen dar, we'll get son insig

>> the word -- it's like the word for the parthenon because athena was a virgin goddess, the word is parthenos and that's the word that appears in greek of isaiah 7:14 but it's not the order in the original hebrew. >> what's the word? >> the hebrew text says ama. >> what does that translate to. >> it's the word for young girl which has its own greek word. >> what's the greek word. >> the greek word would be nianis. >> niansus is not parthenos. >> i have three daughters, we hope that young girls are virgins but it's not the same word. >> mary is not a parthenos. >> i don't know if she was or not but the text says -- >> how do you know the hebrew was mistranslated when put into greek. >> hebrew has word for virgin. it's tula and that's not what the hebrew text is. >> all right now, she is attacking the whole notion of the virgin birth of jesus christ. when she points to this translaws, what do you say about that. >> where i would take issue professor sore fredriksen is assuming because of the greek text, because of that difference empty words between the greek and hebrew text that that

athena jones is live in forecast, virginia, this morning -- in fairfax county, virginia, this morning. virginia is one of three states declaring emergency. how many people are without power there? >> reporter: good morning. well, hundreds of thousands of people are without power still in virginia. and across the d.c. heart area. we're in springfield, which is just outside of washington, d.c. if you look behind me, you see an example of why so many people still don't have power. this is a major series of lines delivering power to the homes and businesses around here. you see a large tree fell on the lines bringing many of them down. actually it killed a 27-year-old man on friday night who was in his car when the tree fell on it. you see the transformer came down when the utility pole it was on snapped into three pieces. and so this is an example of what the worker are confronting as they try to get the power back on. we've seen utility workers out this morning at work. early this morning on the way here. across virginia, the latest numbers, 477,000 people still without power. that's wa

athena jones is just outside a theater in silver spring, maryland. what is being said there? well, outside this theater they've already had a stepped up police presence since early this morning. we've seen police cruisers come by, stay for a while, then leave. we spoke to a few movie goers who said that early this morning at the first showing at 8:30 there were police outside making sure people feel secure. this is not of course the only theater that is stepping up their police presence. this is the regal cinema group. cinemark, amc, several big movie theater operators across the country are saying safety is the top priority so they are stepping up monitoring and reviewing security procedures to make sure people feel safe. >> and the showings of this batman movie, they are taking place at that theater? >> reporter: that's right. here they began, the first showing was early this morning at 8:30 a.m. the movie is being shown on about a dozen screens at this theater, roughly every 20 minutes or so. we spoke with one movie goer today asking him what his reaction was to the events

athena jones is there. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. as you mentioned -- i'm sorry.orter: as you mentioned, the national highway traffic safety administration is looking into 730,000 of these ford escape and mazda tribute suv model years 2001 to 2004. those two car makers recalled those same vehicles, nearly 60 # 0,000 of them, back in 2004 for an accelerator cable problem. some of the new complaints allege that the failures may have been related to repairs made in response to that earlier safety recall. so a lot will be under investigation here. >> i'm sure people who owned the cars are wondering if they should drive their vehicles. >> well, you know, we spoke with ford and mazda. we reached out to ford and mazda. ford says they are cooperating with an investigation. they are not likely to say much more until nhtsa comes up with findings. if you have one of these vehicles you can subscribe on the website to a recall notification e-mail system. that way, once a decision has been made you can be notified immediately as to what to do with your vehicle. >> athena jones,

. >> i'm athena jones at the white house. president obama visits two battleground states this week. he'll be in cincinnati, ohio, on monday, and he spent thursday and friday traveling across florida visiting four cities, including orlando in a region that was central to his 2008 victory in the states. he'll hit the red state of texas on tuesday for fund-raisers in san antonio and austin. >> and i am paul steinhauser at the political desk. mitt romney heads tuesday to pennsylvania and wednesday to ohio. both considered important swing states in the rate for us white house. >>> i'm alison kosik from new york. better than expected profits, citigroup, coldman sacks, bank of america and morgan stanley will report earnings. we'll hear from heavy hitters on the dow and tech giants microsoft, google, ibm and intel. also on wall street's radar, federal reserve chairman ben bernanke will testify on capitol hill and on the economic calendar will get some insight into the stru struggling housing market and retail sales. >>> here is what we are watching this week. more continuing coverage of tom

. >> live now to athena jones at the white house. the president made his remarks about ak-47s, but he didn't go on to say we should ban assault weapons. so what was this, a trial balloon? >> reporter: good morning, carol. that's a really good question. and it's hard to say at this point. we know that the president's words last night were some of the strongest words yet on the issue of guns. we went on to emphasize the important of background checks as he did in the days after the tucson shooting last year. also talked about the importance of keeping gunning out of the hands of the mentally unbalanced, and he said these should be common sense steps that people should agree on. he blamed opposition in congress, though, for the lack of progress on this issue. but, you know, as you said, he didn't explicitly mention the need for new laws. we know that in the past he the the federal ban on assault weapons. it's interesting that he spoke so strongly last night, but it's hard to say what will happen next and what we'll really see them do in

. >> reporter: athena jones, cnn, washington. >> the program is parking its tenth anniversary this yearman accused in the colorado movie theater massacre may have revealed crucial information to a psychiatrist before the rampage. so what obligations does a medical professional have to tell authorities? but that doesn't mean we should be penalized for it. that's why liberty mutual insurance policies come standard with accident forgiveness, if you qualify. learn more at libertymutual.com. [siri] sirianother busy day today.ke? are you serious? [siri] yes i'm not allowed to be frivolous. ah ok, move my 4 o'clock today to tomorrow. change my 11am to 2. [siri] ok marty, i scheduled it for today. is that rick? where's rick? [siri] here's rick. oh, no that's not rick. now, how's the traffic headed downtown? [siri] here's the traffic. ah, it's terrible, terrible! driver, driver! cut across, cut across, we'll never make it downtown this way. i like you siri, you're going places. [siri] i'll try to remember that. thor's couture gets the most rewards of any small business credit card. your boa! [ g

athena jones has more on the complicated issue that's putting the postal service, unions and congress u.s. postal service is losing money and the situation is growing more serious by the day. something the postmaster general acknowledged on capitol hill this spring. >> we've got to get our finances stabilized. the quicker we act to get ourselves back on firm financial footing, the better for the entire industry. >> if congress doesn't act by august 1st, the service will default on a $5.5 billion payment to the federal government to cover retiree health benefits. it would be the first default in its more than 200-year history. >> the postal service has said they are going to continue to pay employees and pay their bills and subcontractors, so in some respects, this default is largely symbolic. >> but it does highlight there's a crisis here. >> correct and as they move towards september when they have to make the second payment, you're getting to a point where they are really going to run out of cash eventually to make their basic needs. >> losses from a sluggish economy and the growing

there is tough compnition, in-- competition, including melissa mccarthy and 30 rock athena -- tina faye the economy changed but certain principles never do. >> en toa's 30 rock costar alec baldwin returns, nominated for best actor in a comedy with don cheadle joining him the first time in showtime's house of lies. when it comes to the reality show competition category, fox's so you think you can dance received a nod for the show and host cat dealy and so does ryan seachristopher merry christmas doll -- for "american idol." jimmy kimmel for best advise series. >> it's exciting, especially for my staff of people that i work with. because, you know, you can't help but feel sleited when nine years go by and you're never nominated. everyone works hard. it's going to be a fun day at work. >> reporter: he'll have to save the speech for september 23rd when he -- when he steps in as host for the 64th primetime emmy awards. ashley devorkan, fox news. >> sophia vergara was nominated for her role on modern family, one of the honors this week. forbes named her the highest paid tv actress in the unit

athena jones is live in forecast, virginia, this morning -- in fairfax county, virginia, this morninghree states declaring emergency. how many people are without power there? >> reporter: good morning. well, hundreds of thousands of people are without power still in virginia. and across the d.c. heart area. we're in springfield, which is just outside of washington, d.c. if you look behind me, you see

[applause] >> please welcome ebony johnson, a member of the athena network. [applause] >> good morning. as a woman from the united states, i am pleased to welcome you back and congratulate the bold leadership of president obama to lift the travel ban. [applause] as a black woman residing in washington, d.c., where we face the highest rates of hiv and where black women are at the epicenter of vulnerability, it is a pleasure to welcome you back to be a voice and for this to be a call option. -- a call of action. it is my pleasure to introduce phill wilson, the president and ceo the black aids institute. the black aids institute is the only national hiv thinktank focused exclusively on ending the aids pandemic in black communities by engaging and mobilizing black institutions and individuals to confront a jarvey -- to confront a tidy, conducting training, providing technical assistance, and disseminating information and advocacy from a uniquely and unapologetically black perspective. he served as the aids coordinator for the city of los angeles, as the director