officer dana hall pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and failure and to stop and remain at the scene of an accident, resulting in death. prosecutors wanted a seven-year sentence. >> i think the responsibilities that come with being a police officer and leaving the scene of the accident, and someone being killed in the accidents was worth more than 18 months. >> the question is not what is the value of the life of a horse all that has been killed -- of a poor soul, as much as how you punish someone who has killed someone whose life is invaluable? >> he resigned from his job in april. he was off duty and had just left a party at a officer's home. more than a five hours after the crash, his blood alcohol level was slightly higher than the legal limit. in court, hall apologize to the victim's family, telling them and the judge, i do not know what happened. i dozed off before impact, and it was a huge mistake not to investigate further. the judges seem to take into account his police work. >> he is immensely grateful that the judge did not include a period of incarceration in the division

. >> dana, let's do this, when we get together the next hour, the president has the town hall and we'll assume we will have more time. dana bash, thanks. >>> as we mentioned, president obama has a full agenda today focusing on health care reform. his town hall meeting is scheduled to start within the hour. 11:55 a.m. eastern time, air force one landing just moments ago. live coverage in the "cnn newsroom." at 4:00 p.m. eastern time his meeting with grocery store workers in bristol, virginia. we will have republican reaction following the president's town hall meeting in raleigh. eric canter the minority whip will join kyra philips during the 1:00 p.m. eastern hour. >>> remember last summer when filling your gas tank drained your wallet? we'll see what the feds are doing today to keep it from happening again. >>> weather is really turning downward across the northeastern corridor. show you a picture out of new york city right now. take a look at the gray skies. we were talking. this is about starting at a $3 million view here. you can see gray overcast skies and the rainfall beginning to

following that part of the story for us if you would talk about the president's call-in town hall later today. >> dana brings up a good point, it is all about marketing. certainly, the president is all about marketing his plan and what he feels is necessary and the main thing is just get something done, put pressure on members of congress that the status quo is not acceptable. so, what are we seeing here today in about an hour or so, he's going to go before the aarp, older americans, senior citizens and they'll have a tell-a-town-hall and 1,000 or so people on the telephone that are linked into this town hall to listen to what the president has to say. some can ask questions of the president through a moderator and what their concerns are, what their demands are and we expect the president will talk about a number of things. one of them a deal that was made with drug companies that would allow them to provide for prescription drugs and medicare for certain senior ship zn eniot are not covered in a specific income bracket. this is not seen as process story involving washington, but that it involves pla

dana bash, we've wrabd pped up in time. thanks a lot. >>> president obama trying to sell his health care plan. the president trying to convince older americans to support his health care proposal at a town hall teleconference organized by the aarp. dan has the report from the white house. >> reporter: 86-year-old army veteran has no complaints about his health care coverage but he does worry about what an overhaul will mean for his kids and grandchildren. >> the load that's going to be put on them financially, i'm not sure that they know what they are doing because they are not straightforward. this is not stuff that should be fed. they need to know what the truth is. >> reporter: others are worried not only about their children but about their own health care coverage. president obama heard from some of them at an aarp town hall meeting including carolyn from illinois. >> will there be fewer hip and knee replacements? >> my interest is not getting between you and your doctor. >> reporter: margaret wanted to know if under the overhaul she would be able to keep the same coverage she enjoys. >> this is a guarantee i make, if you have insurance you like, then you will be able to keep that insur

dana from the "washington post" is upset. there are many instances where there are people inside town halls who are actually obama volunteers.st: hold on.  seems to me that people who say obama is taking on too much are afraid he will succeed. comment? guest: i was asked to answer a strategic question. and i really believe that presidents who succeed take on a few big things and that it is a mistake to try to do too much. and presidents like jimmy carter or presidents who try to do little things here or there -- guest: i would disagree. i think f.d.r. was forced to take action on the economy and world war ii. guest: let me get back to your point. the obama press shop is just like any other in terms of its discipline, coordinated effort, rationale to appeal to certain demographics, et cetera. but at the same time there's unprecedented information on line. and so whether you would have seen that from senator mccain, i don't know. but i think that is a promise he ultimately kept. guest: one of the promises -- guest: you can upload the stimulus promises on line and see what's actually happening. and that's really unprecedented

hall appearance next hour. while back in d.c., disgruntled lawmakers in both parties rushed between news conferences and close closed-door negotiations. dana bash joins us on the phone. what do you have? >> hi there, kyra, i came from a press conference from the majority leader, the democratic leader in the senate, who made abundantly clear, said point-blank for the first time that the full senate will not vote on the president's top priority, health care reform, until it comes back from the august recess. he said that he believes it's better to have a product and one that is based on quality and thoughtfulness rather than trying to, quote, jam something through. so, you know, we have been reporting all day, and frankly for the past couple of days, that this is where it was heading. that the senate would probably leave and come back and have a full vote then, but this is the first definitive word from the guy in charge, the senate majority leader, harry read. what he did say, he hopes in the key committee, the senate finance committee, that we've been standing outside of their offices for days, he hopes that the they can come up with a dea

dana from the "washington post" is upset. there are many instances where there are people inside town halls who are actually obama volunteers.st: hold on.  seems to me that people who say obama is taking on too much are afraid he will succeed. comment? guest: i was asked to answer a strategic question. and i really believe that presidents who succeed take on a few big things and that it is a mistake to try to do too much. and presidents like jimmy carter or presidents who try to do little things here or there -- guest: i would disagree. i think f.d.r. was forced to take action on the economy and world war ii. guest: let me get back to your point. the obama press shop is just like any other in terms of its discipline, coordinated effort, rationale to appeal to certain demographics, et cetera. but at the same time there's unprecedented information on line. and so whether you would have seen that from senator mccain, i don't know. but i think that is a promise he ultimately kept. guest: one of the promises -- guest: you can upload the stimulus promises on line and see what's actually happening. and that's really unprecedented

dana perino, great to see you on a monday. thanks for sharing your time with us this morning. >> see you later. brian: ben bernanke held unprecedented town hall last night. is he looking to get reappointed or does very something else up his sleeve? steve: cash. is it possible women are getting more and more beautiful while men not having the same genetic luck? scientists are on the case. we will report. brian: scientists are on the case? gretchen: i bet they are all men. brian: where is my beaker? steve: new study from finland. straight ahead. the great taste of splenda® no calorie sweetener and added a little fiber? sweet! sweet! (together) sweet! (announcer) now for the first time, a gram of healthy fiber in every packet. sweet! (announcer) splenda® with fiber. beauty editors and research institutes are seeing results. [ male announcer ] best cleanser, essence magazine. hydrates better than the $350 cream. [ female announcer ] most importantly, women are seeing results. and still no drastic measures. olay regenerist. you have high blood pressure... and you have high cholesterol. you've taken steps to try and lower both your numbers. but how

hall meeting today by saying keep the heat on congress. what's interesting, of course, the heat on congress, that's the democratic leaders, want just the republicans. >> dana're in the senate where things are clearly slowing down. what about the house? >> you know, there is still a deep divide within the president's own party, own democratic party, in the house as well. those conservatives, those blue tog democrats saying their party doesn't do enough to control medical costs, among other things. there is a delay there. we learned, wolf, of a pretty contentious meeting among house democrats today trying to figure out if they should follow the senate's lead and delay their vote until the fall, but right now house leaders say that they are determined not to do that. they're determined to press on. the reason they pretty much admit is going home for an entire month would be politically devastating. they're even talking about staying, you know, delaying their august recess or even cancelling it altogether if they have to. >> ed, i waumpd the president's town hall meeting in cleveland. one of the suburbs of cleveland right now. in his opening statement i got a