hampton, knew that doug hampton had been essentially recommended to them, nod, nod, wink, wink, for employtheir company and they knew they had the teenage son of that couple on the payroll of the nrsc in some sort of policy role. has the republican party ever explained why they had this teenager on the payroll? >> well, mike slanker when i talked to him several weeks ago, rachel, said he hired the doug hampton son as he would any other intern. that it was no big deal. again, this revelation, you know, raises all kinds of other questions. what mike slanker told me today when i confronted him with the e-mails was he never meant to mislead the media but he meant he didn't know about the affair when he hired doug hampton for november, inc. so that version of events if true and by the way that comports with what doug hampton told me, that john ensign's wife, listen to this, john ensign's wife, darlene ensign, called mike slanker and said do you know why essentially you were told to hire doug hampton? it's because of this affair. think about how sordid and tawdry that is and think about this, to

at the happened exactly at the same time that john ensign says doug hampton and cindy hampton packingrom d.c. and back to las vegas. some gift. >> we mention senator vitter and with this logic shouldn't he in fact be calling for vitter to either resign or to be removed forcibly because if it's a question of your affair being illegal or legal, your infidelity being legal or illegal or legal, prostitution in washington is still illegal, even if you are a senator, right? >> indeed, it is, keith. at least technically. so i guess you would say that he should be calling for vitter to be out of office too. he's already defended vitter saying he wasn't convicted of anything yet but, again, john ensign clearly has different standards for democrats or republicans who solicit gay sex than he does for himself or his pal david vitter. i just don't know why he would continue to talk about this and try to say that my affair was less bad than other people's and first of all, as i said, what he is saying is patently false about why he called for bill clinton to resign. he did not call for him to resig

, husband of ensign's mistress and staff member cindy hampton.e and lindsay were working for ensign when he was chairman of the national republican senatorial committee. mike claimed he knew nothing about the affair until june 16th of this year. but take a look at this e-mail from july of 2008 from cindy's sunday doug to him. it says the one conclusion we have to come to is that when john finally admitted to having feelings for cindy that started over a year ago and then acted on them last december, the relationship was forever changed. to explain what this means, jon ralston, columnist for "the las vegas sun." thanks for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> where does it stand right now? obviously a lot of details about when it started, who knew what, when. what role would it play for any re-election bid by ensign? >> i find it hard to believe that john ensign is going to actually run for re-election in 2012. as you know, he's announced he's going to, which was probably the only thing he could say, but it doesn't really mean anything right now. but th

cnbc's hampton pearson with the details. hampton?> reporter: this afternoon the fdic took an outside the box approach to stop the drain on its insurance fund triggered by an almost epidemic wave of bank failures. 81 and counting so far this year. the worst wave since 1992. bank closings so far this year have cost the fdic an estimated $21 billion. moments ago the fdic approved new rules that will make it easier for private equity firms to buy failed banks. the key change, lowering the tier 1 capital requirement from 15% to 10%. the standard for a well-capitalized bank is 5%. the fdic board says the policy change strikes a balance. >> i do think that the compromise position that we've struck today is a good and balanced one, and based on certainly what i've seen so far i think private equity will continue to bid with this criteria. >> reporter: a controversial source of strength which would have put more private equity on the -- that was dropped. the fdic says these new guidelines will be reviewed every six months. >> we get more now

joining us now with the details hampton pearson, cnbc and washington, d.c., hello, hampton. >> reporterd quarter and that problem list of banks reached a 15-year high, 416 banks in trouble with assets of just under $300 billion. fdic insured banks had a $357 billion net loss. 28.3% did not make a profit. 48.9 billion compared to 26.4 billion this time last year. noncurrent loans, more than 90 days past due are at a record level, $41.4 billion, up 14% in the second quarter. >> one of the these of today's quarterly profile, performance is, as always, a lagging indicator. the banking industry, too, can look forward to better times ahead but for now the difficult and necessary process of recognizing loan losses and cleaning up balance sheets continues to be reflected in the industry's bottom line. >> now as far as the help of the fdic insurance fund itself, it declined by $2.6 billion. the second quarter with $42 billion in reserves. larry? >> all right, hampton. thank you very much. hampton, i just want a quickie, miss bair, i'm picking up on this, seems to have a slightly optimistic spin

hampton pearson has more from washington. hi, hampton. >> hi, trish it appears the ubs -- excuse me, the u.s. government and switzerland have reached an agreement whereby ubs will reportedly turn over the names of at least another 5,000 swiss bank account holders. a justice department spokesperson i talked to said the details of that agreement could come any day now, certainly expected by the end of the week. it is part of what is emerging as a global probe of tax havens around the world. on friday, u.s. attorney's office in los angeles reached a plea agree well a malibu man, john mccarthy, who admits to moving at least $1 million through a ubs swiss bank account held in the name of a hong kong entity and there by avoiding paying at least $200,000 in taxes. he will make his first court appearance in mid september. the chief of the irs criminal investigation division says that case is just the tip of the iceberg. remember back in february, ubs turned up some 250 names to the government as part of the preliminary investigation.

hampton pearson in d.c. tonight. emerging markets have been red hot this year, meanwhile, but are they still as attractive as they were a year ago with a 45% run-up in '09? are you better off putting your money in more established economies? more mature economies? we'll check it out next. i'm racing cross country in this small sidecar, but i've still got room for the internet. with my new netbook from at&t. with its built-in 3g network, it's fast and small, so it goes places other laptops can't. i'm bill kurtis, and wherever i go, i've got plenty of room for the internet. and the nation's fastest 3g network. gun it, mick. (announcer) sign up today and get a netbook for $199.99 after mail-in rebate. with built-in access to the nation's fastest 3g network. only from at&t. >>> the imf says that the global recession is over and the world economies are on the road to recovery. this is already evidenced in the positive gdp growth we've seen in china, japan, korea, france, and germany. or is it? where are the opportunities

. >> don hewitt died of pancreatic cancer in bridge hampton new york today. he was 86 years old. >>> in other news, the sound of solve chain saw an repair crews are reverberating through a capital heights apartment complex. it is the result of a large tree that was knocked down by last night's powerful storm. the mature oak crashed on a garden apartment building in the 4100 block of southern avenue in capital hehts. there were no injuries, but one apartment on the top floor was damaged along with some windows. several dozen residents were forced out of their homes until it was determined it was safe for them to return. >>> repairs to a water main break are causing headaches in alexandria today. the 12-inch main opened up around 6:35 this morning in the 100 block of south reynolds street. several businesses, the washington suites hotel and the residential building are all affected. repairs to the water main are expected to last all day and could run until tomorrow. service will be restored once the repairs are finished. >>> prince georges county plans to appea

>> all right, hampton, thanks very much. hampton pearson in washington.till uncertain about the shape of the economic recovery. up next we're talking about whether there will be a subdued return to growth or if a strong recovery could be on the horizon in 2010. stay with us. >> announcer: here's a look at some of today's winners and losers. welcome to the now network. population: 49 million. right now 1.2 million people are on sprint mobile broadband. 31 are streaming a sales conference from the road. eight are wearing bathrobes. two... less. - 154 people are tracking shipments on a train. - ( train whistles ) 33 are im'ing on a ferry. and 1300 are secretly checking email... - on a vacation. - hmm? ( groans ) that's happening now. america's most dependable 3g network. bringing you the first and only wireless 4g network. sprint. the now network. deaf, hard of hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com. >>> welcome back. there are hints. hints of optimism on the economy in a new reuters poll the majority of economists say that th

as you mentioned doug hampton said on my program that was certainly severance.lanation through his lawyer it's $96,000 as you derisively point out in gifts is just not credible because first of all they left out one of the kids, what's wrong with one of the kids? was he a badly behaving boy or something like that, keith. of course not. this just isn't credible and the timing. make sure people know when the gifts occurred. at the happened exactly at the same time that john ensign says doug hampton and cindy harsh n toning packing from d.c. and back to las vegas. some gift. >> we mention senator vitter and with this logic shouldn't he in fact be calling for vitter to either resign or to be removed forcibly because if it's a question of your affair being illegal or legal, your infi deal being legal or illegal, prostitution in washington is still ill lean even if you're a senator, right? >> indeed, it is, keith. at least technically. so i guess you would say that he should be calling for vitter to be out of office too. he's already defended vitter saying he wasn't c

was anybody surprised down there, hampton? >> the timing, yes, overall, probably not, president obama interrupting his martha's vineyard vacation to make the announcement appointing ben bernanke as second term of federal reserve. the president said ben bernanke has already made history. >> good morning, everybody. as expert on the causes of the "great depression," i'm sure ben never imagined he would be part of a team responsible for preventing another but because of his background, his temperament, his courage and creativity, that's exactly what he has helped to achieve. that is why i am reappointing him to another term as chairman of the federal reserve. >> and for his part, the fed chairman sounded like he was warming up for his senate confirmation hearing. >> mr. president, i commit today to you, and to the american people that if confirmed by the senate, i will work to the utmost of my abilities, with my colleagues at the federal reserve and alongside the congress and administration, to help provide a sample lloyd foundat

however, we have invited cnbc hampton pearson to give us the inside scoop. hello, hampton, cash for clinkers, cash for clunkers, what do you make of it. >> clinkers or clunkers, president obama summoning the democrats to the white house dachlt they emerged after a pep talk from chief and harry reid saying the senate would add legislati legislation, adding billions more for the cash for clunkers this week. the real focus of that white house meeting was to brace lawmakerses to face the wrath of voters over health care return when they return home on the month of august. majority leader harry reid said the president fired them up. >> the president didn't get one standing ovation but several of them. he was really kind of reminded me of the days when i was an athlete. and the coach was giving you a pep talk before the game, you came out of that pep talk that the coach gave you, ready to take on the world. >> got to love it. lawmakers expect to get an e earful about insurance plans and the federal deficit and white house recovery and when it comes to health plans

we have hampton pearson in washtd, bob pisani with the market reaction. but hampton, let's begin with you. >> well, first, here at the fdic, its second quarter banking profile tells us that by the end of june, its list of so-called problem banks was at a 15-year high, some 416 institutions with combined assets of just under $300 billion. fdi-insured banks had a $3.7 billion aggregate net loss in the second quarter, two out of three institutions reporting lower quarterly earnings than a year ago. 28.3% were unprofitable. net chargeoff rates, set a quarterly record. $48.9 billion versus $26.4 billion a year ago. the noncurrent loan rate now at a record level. 41.4, up 14% in the second quarter. fdic chair sheila bair says banks are setting aside more reserves to deal with loan losses, but they will be a headache long after the economy recovers. >> in the second quarter, loss provisions were ten times what they were three years ago. the obvious reason for this is the ongoing need to bolster reserves in the face of rising levels of troubled loans. these credi

cnbc's hampton pearson is in washington with the details. hampton. >> reporter: hi, melissa. the july jobs report was good news for wall street, main street, and especially here at the white house. >> today we're pointed in the right direction. we're losing jobs at less than half the rate we were when i took office. we pulled the financial system back from the brink and a rising market is restoring value to those 401(k)s that are the foundation of a secure retirement. >> reporter: employers shed just 247,000 jobs last month, the fewest in a year. the unemployment rate dropped to 9.4%, the first decline in 15 months. but long-term unemployment increased by 584,000, and 5 million americans have now been out of work for six months or longer. 6.7 million jobs have been lost since the recession began. key factors in the july turnaround, employers stopped laying off workers. those with jobs are working more hours. and wages even nudged upwards. >> we have a lot further to go. as far as i'm concerned, we will not have a true recovery as long as we're losing jobs, and we won't rest u

. >> reporter: sergeant hampton and the other two marines suffered burns and shrapnel wounds from the explosion. >>> a man hunt is underway in israel for a gunman who opened fire at a youth club for gay teens. a 17-year-old girl and a 26-year-old man were killed in the shooting late last night in tel aviv. 11 other people were injured. police are treating the attack as a hate crime. and israel's only openly gay lawmaker agrees with that approach. >> we didn't expect such a murderous attack. this is the first time something like that is happening in israel. and we are not going to sit quietly and let this pass away. we're going to fight for our freedom. >> the shooting has come to a shock to many in israel where gays and lesbians are allowed to openly serve in the military and actors and musicians are some of the most popular in the country. >>> president obama has ordered the detention center at guantanimo bay closed in january. and for the first time, we're finding out what might happen to the terrorism suspects detained there. senior officials say the administration plans to transfe

hampton? >> hi, michelle.ell, first of all, for taxpayers the only real money in the bank is the interest and dividends being repaid by tarp recipients. and for that matter the billions repaid by at least ten major banks to get out of the tarp program altogether. but as of the end of june we are told that treasury has received more than 6.8 billion in dividend and interest payments according to the tarp inspector general, including 1.1 billion from bank of america, 1.38 billion from citi. citi officials also pointing out the government's investment in common shares has gained 7 billion in value since the market has rebounded. but the jury is still out on those long-term investments in warrants and preferred stock. the citigroup breakdown looks something like this. and they're not alone in this conundrum. 50 billion in tarp funds in three separate fichlts. october 28th preferred stock and warrants worth about 25 billion. under the capital purchase program. december 31st trust pefrd preferred securities, another

hampton, always busy on fed day. >> yes indeed.and as you and bob were just talking about, the open market committee tweaked what it said about the economy since its last meeting at end of june. it reassured market and fed watchers about the future of monetary policy and it provided a date certain for ending at least one of its asset purchase programs. here are the highlights. as we mentioned, economic activity's leveling out. conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the fed funds rate for an extended period. inflation will remain subdued for some time. the purchase of $300 billion in treasury securities, the fed anticipates the full amount will be purchased by the end of october. now, while financial markets have rebounded, leading economists and former fed officials say the key to a main street recovery is jobs and a rebound in consumer spending. >> i think it is important because, again, unemployment is still a serious problem and it's growing. more and more people continue to lose jobs. even though it's slow

it's not pa of this hampton scene, you sto going out there for a while. but frankly i started going out again a couple years ago and it's nice to get out of the city ani know all of the strts and i can walk down main strt and superimpos my own '70s and '80sag harbor on e present glitzy sag hbor and it still a real home for me. rose: we're in a polical agand we have an afric erican president for theirst time, enormously popular here and around the world so people are beginning t talk abouthe post-rial world. are we in a post-racial world? >> no. think, you kno that's sort of nice and the's reason to be timistic for many reans. i know that my dauter w's four is growing u in a new worl i don't really wear ties much but i'm wearing ties becau i'm leaving the house. and.... >> rose:ecause you're leaving the hoe? >> and iut on a tie few months ago d she sa "you look just likehe president." so her idea a man who wears a tie is africa american.. >> rose: so wh does she y abouthe president? >> well, she was aig hilla supporter. >> rose: how old is she? >> she four

jim, when you touch down at hampton, you wake up a winner. that's right, tracy.ir complimentary hot breakfast -- omelets. sausage. french toast sticks. i love french food... and sticks. ♪ >> the a.p. released its preseason rankings saturday, defending champion florida your number one. 58 of 60 first place votes, a new a.p. preseason poll record. we asked lou holtz what stands out to you from the top 10? >> when i look at the top 10, the first thing that jumps out at me is three teams from the big 12 are ranked in the top 10 -- i'm telling you, the big 12 south. texas, oklahoma and oklahoma state are all from the big 12 south. they're going to have to play one another. who was the best team in the big 12 north? kansas, which comes in at number 25. that doesn't seem fair to me. >> thank you, dr. lou. don't forget, beginning september 5th, 3:00 eastern, "college football overdrive" returns. >> professional football, jeremy shockey and the saints taking on texas, shockey got into a training-camp scuffle with the texans. shockey can work and play well with others. sho

. >> sergeant hampton and the other two marines suffered burns and shrapnel wounds from the explosion. >>> if you ever posted your child's picture on facebook or personal blogs, listen up. a massachusetts couple says someone took their son's photo from their website, and used it in an adoption scam and she might never have known about it if a good samaritan hadn't alerted her. >>> a manhunt is under way in israel for a gunman who opened fire at a youth club for gay teens. a 17-year-old girl and a 26-year-old man were killed in the shooting late last night in tel aviv. 11 other people were injured. police are treating the attack as a hate crime. and israel's only openly gay lawmaker agreed with that approach. >> we all -- we didn't expect such a murderous attack. this is the first time something like that is happening in israel. and we are not going to sit quietly and let this pass away. we're going to fight for our freedom. >> the shooting has come to a shock to many in israel where gays and lesbians are alloweded to openly serve in the military. and openly gay musicians and actors ar

. >> hampton, let's talk about the new credit card accountability act that takes effect this week. it's supposed to help folks avoid late fees, but why could this end up hurting credit cardholders? >> this is almost a you've got to be kidding me kind of story. a leading consumer advocate is saying that cardholders better get used to higher interest, lower credit limits and higher fees. the credit card act places new restrictions on credit card lending and eliminates some of the fees. it looks like what's happening, however, is banks are being creative and finding new revenue streams to replace what's being outlawed. now by regulators. especially before the full effect of that new law takes effect in february. lasteek, american express told cardholders it's hiking the percentage rate and its late payment fee. citigroup plans to charge an annual fee on some cards, believe it or not, if the hold doesn't use them often enough. we also got new data on credit card default rates. b of a, citigroup, jpmorgan and discover say their charge-off rates went down. capital one reported a slight i

the overall price for the hamptons property, a mere 35 million big ones. >>> from who channel 13 in des moines, iowa, one woman is getting the most out of this year's state fair. she's attempting to eat her way through all 54 food on a stick offerings. from hot baloney to chocolate cake on a stick, she's targeting it all. it will not be cheap on the wallet or body, costing $300 and about 1,400 calories. >>> well, i'm christina brown. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> top of this thursday morning to you. we hope your doing well with this act of weather pattern. the more intense storm activity is still to our west. it will not make it through here until sunday morning. we will be tracking this warm, moist tropical air mass. we will see chances of scattered showers and storms each and every afternoon. right now it is 76 degrees downtown. 81 degrees in ocean city. a 7 degrees-92 degrees throughout the day. -- 87 degrees

and which driver took advantage of a which driver ♪ook advantage of a jim, when you touch down at hamptona winner. that's right, tracy. thanks to their complimentary hot breakfast -- omelets. sausage. french toast sticks. i love french food... and sticks. ♪ i always feel like (announcer) it's right here, it's easy... ♪ somebody's watching me. ...it's the money you could be saving with geico. ♪ who's watching? ♪ tell me who's watching. (muffled music) (announcer) it's right here, it's easy... ♪ i always feel like somebody's watching me. ♪ it's the money you could be saving with geico. when your engine's running clean... you feel it. ...and pennzoil motor oil actively cleans out up to 15 percent of sludge the first time you use it. so feel the clean. not just oil, pennzoil. hum, well there's 40 shots in this bottle. (announcer) calling all captains. drink responsibly. >> nascar sprint cup making a stop in bristol -- that's tennessee, not connecticut. mark martin won the pole. starting his 1,000th race. lap 11, this was the view from joey logano's car. reed sorenson in the 43 car fighting fo

let's check in with cnbc's hampton pearson with more on today' developments and big news. let's start out with this reappointment by ben bernanke today as fed chairman. did it have an impact on the market? >> it did. generally positive. among many things about this, timing of the president's announcement was a bit of a surprise. ben bernanke's term as fed chairman not up until january but by making the announcement now the president puts the end to speculation that he was going to replace bernanke with summers. washington needs a proactive fed to finish the job of getting this economy out of the worst recession in decades. wall street liked the news and central bankers around the world were also pleased. bernanke does have to be confirmed by the senate and there was a reality check for both he and the president today. the whi house raising its ten-year cumulative budget deficit estimates to $9 trillion. that's $2 trillion higher than previous forecast. and congressional budget office had a similar forecast. >> a bit of surprise in the latest information about consumer conf

and which driver took advantage of a which driver ♪ook advantage of a jim, when you touch down at hamptonke up a winner. that's right, tracy. thanks to their complimentary hot breakfast -- omelets. sausage. french toast sticks. i love french food... and sticks. i never thought i'd get this far. but i learned how to motivate people, to put the team first and to never stop learning. i started to expect more of myself, and of others. and where did i learn all this? as an officer in the u.s. army reserve. (announcer) an officer leads by example. can you? find out at goarmy.com/officer see i told you there were forty shots in there. but you also said there'd be a reverse ventriloquist act here. excuse me guys. (announcer) calling all captains. drink responsibly. >> nascar sprint cup making a stop in bristol -- that's tennessee, not connecticut. mark martin won the pole. starting his 1,000th race. lap 11, this was the view from joey logano's car. reed sorenson in the 43 car fighting for position with logano, bumps logano from behind, logano spins out and bumps into the wall, he would head to th

recently he took a girlfriend to france, spent a week in the hamptons, bought a bmw, and rented an apartment in new york. >>> finally, escape artist david blaine is denying reports he had to be rescued by lifeguards after he drifted out into waters churned up by a passing hurricane. >>> well, i would have to say he would certainly get some bragging rights if he was able to withstand something like that. >> what was he doing? maybe he was out there not for a stunt. maybe he got too close to the water, learning how to surf. >> or perhaps it was all just one big illusion. >>> this comes from king 5 news in seattle, where in nearby shelton, the sky's the limit for one great grandmother's birthday. rambo had never been sky diving so, hey, for her 9 0e birthday, she decided she was going to jump out of a plane. now, joined by her daughter, grandson but also great grand daush daughter, the elderly thrill seeker took the plunge. with three generations by her side, the daring great grand mother led her family to a soft landing. it was a safe landing and of course that's all that matters, right? >> yo

hampton is on capitol hill with the latest. >> reporter: top a regulators asked today by senators about the reported geithner rant testifing before the senate banking committee. one of the persons in the room at that time said the session was, quote, a candid conversation and a lot of what has been reported was true, but nobody showed up with transcrip transcripts. at this point, specifically senator richard shelby, what he wanted to know as far as their criticism of the obama administration regulatory reform plan, would whatever the treasury secretary said impact their independence as regulators. >> does the testimony that you've been -- you've given here today, that you provided, is that your own views such as it was, not in any way influenced by secretary geithner's tirade the other day? >> we do not clear our statements through the treasury department and we take that independent function very, very seriously. >> reporter: and they tip to fire away at the obama regular reform plan. the target today, the call for a single national bank regulator. >> we think having multiple voices ca

hampton pearson joins us now with more on this. how do we interpret this? is this another sign that the economy is improving? is this just clearing one of many, many hurdles to come? >> some economists e saying there's still the possibility although remote of a so-called double dip recession and in other words another downturn before we have a recovery. the consensus for that matter the fed's forecast is for slowdowns of the rest of the year and return to positive growth next year and slowing the loss of jobs and really a bottom in the housing market are the keys to go along with the rebound and financial markets we are see. >> what about the consumer -- have we taken their temperature lately? are they starting to get back into the game? >> when you look at the -- among other things, earnings reports from retailers and it is a kind of mixed bag, you know, we know for example like the cash for clunkers program is happening -- tapping into pechbt-up demand for new cars. folks are worrying that could mean fewer sales in future months. on the retail side today

those calls and e-mails were not returned. >> thank you, hampton. let's talk more about whether or not small banks should get a helping hand. joining us is cassandra teroy and stephen hagan buckle, managing partner at tara cap partners. also on the board of a small bank, landmark bank in ft. lauderdale. stephen, you're on the board of a small bank. do you need a handout? >> no, we don't. i think getting into banking was made too easy when we started landmark bank 11 years ago, you only needed $5 million and someone with a banking background. i think today the challenge is that a lot of these smaller community banks took on very risky loans. the reason we don't need any helping hand is because we did not do any developer or builder loans or any residential loans. and as a result of that, we're the second most profitable bank in the state of florida in our asset class. >> good for you because sandra, let me ask you this. a lot of people will be watching and saying you give all the big banks money. you can't give the small banks money? >> i think there

, virginia, where i spent time -- anybody from hampton? yeah. it's a small city. but where they decided that they were dealing with this issue of the disaffection of youth. so they brought all the social service agency heads together and said, what are re going to do? they said if we bring the same people around this table and have the same conversation, we're going wind up with the same social service response and ultimately not change anything fundamentally. say said we need to have young people around the table. so this entire city is dedicated to what they call a youth engagement system, whether it's fourth graders who take civic klaas, every high school has a youth committee that advises the principal. could we have a city planning department? there are youth planneres on the -- in the department of planning, and a youth commission that has decisionmaking power. and there was -- the mayor then had come to this youth commission, and i think this sums it up, and he wanted support for a trade school that he wanted to establish that would

jim, when you touch down at hampton, you wake up a winner. that's right, tracy.s to their complimentary hot breakfast -- omelets. sausage. french toast sticks. i love french food... and sticks. >> nascar sprint cup making a stop in bristol -- that's tennessee, not connecticut. mark martin won the pole. starting his 1,000th race. lap 11, this was the view from joey logano's car. reed sorenson in the 43 car fighting for position with logano, bumps logano from behind, logano spins out and bumps into the wall, he would head to the garage for repair. lap 256, kurt busch on pit road, his crew can't get the tear-off off the windshield before busch drives away, then it comes off and starts blowing in traffic, blows away before doing any damage to the other cars. lap 317, jimmie johnson battling with mark martin for the lead, johnson passes martin on the outside so johnson is the new race leader. lap 423, johnson's crew having issues in the pits, they drop a jack while adjusting his right-rear tire. johnson a bit wobbly coming out of the pits, almost collides with david r

have been tongues wagging, so to reports for exa north post page six that rihanna was seen in the hamptons. with a guy who had a connection to chris brown. we have no confirmation. it may not be true. but what over explanation is there that you want to lift the restriction? >> i hope he can become fully rehabilitat rehabilitated. i look at the plolice report an look at how he punched from the face. there is the photograph from tmz. let's real quick listen to the most recent apology. with all that said, we think he's got it. this is part of the most recent apology. let's listen, jane. >> i wish i had the chance to relive those moments again. but i can't. i'm not going to sit here and make excuses. i take great pride in me being able to exercise self control and what i did was inexcusable. >> he read the right things off the cue cards there. do you think he understands? >> listen, i think he is 20 years old and came from an environment where he saw this. i think we need to teach kids peaceful conflict resolution before they get in this kind of trouble. this is happening all over the country.

hampton pierson has more of the details. >> hi, michelle. inquiring minds wanted to know just what it was it that treasury secretary be tim geithner said last friday about their on going criticism of the obama financial reform plan. >> regarding the meeting on friday and generally speaking, did it capture the essence of the attitude in the meeting? >> senator, with candid conversation about institutions, i mean our agency's different views on the different subjects. >> was it generally fair article? >> a lot of it was true. >> now, the reported expletive deleted rant seemed to have in front of the banking committee. the topic, the administration called for a single national bank regulator. >> we think having multiple voices can strengthen regulation and guard against regulatory capture. if you have a single monopoly regulator, there's not going to be another one saying we're going to have a higher standard or be stronger or we're going to question that. i think you lose that with a single regulator. >> at the end of the day, if you put every

hampton's son, teenage son, on the payroll of the national republican senatorial committee during at fair. he also helped her husband, who also work forward senator ensign, find a job. and he convinced his own parents to give nearly $100,000 in gifts to his miss stress' family. now the fourth estate, particularly the las vegas son, has helped senator ensign come more completely clean about this affair. the senator is ready after 63 days of not being seen in public to finally be seen in public. on thursday he will hoet the annual tahoe summit, the summit focused on protectsing lake tahoe. do you think he will be taking questions from the media? please, please, please, please, please? speaking of senator ensign, the marquee slate for republicans in election in 2010 and 2012 took sort of a big hit. ensign was supposed to be a contender and so was mark sanford, whose road to the white house apparently did not run through the appalachian trail, and former alaskan governor and former vice presidential candidate sarah palin, well, yes. there's form area las can governor and former vice pres

hampton, did they solve the problem? >> reporter: not even close. they've agreed that it's very complex. as a matter of fact, the last day of those hearings ended with two well-known fund managers that invest heavily in energy commodities telling the cftc not to set limits. leading the charge, billionaire hedge fund manager john arnold. >> hedge exemptions on the physical futures contracts is a pandora's box and once you open it up and allow one counterparty to have a hedge exemption then it's hard to stop and not let much of the industry have hedge exemptions. >> reporter: a similar view from john highland, who manages one of the largest natural gas exchange traded funds. he said last summer's big spike in oil prices had nothing to do with trading activities by big tracking funds but representatives for major manufacturers and energy users had a different view. >> we are not dragging prices higher by our buying in the last run-up in natural gas. we're not driving prices lower in this current bout. >> the creation of the futures market was not inten

there is a waiting list but a similar complex is in the works for baltimore's hampton neighborhood. here. >>> here's a look at camden yards from last night. we will remember the gutsy pitching performance of david hernandez. we will remember the home run from melvin mora. we will also remember the mammoth home run off the bat of brad wheaters. we'll remember the bad pitch that gave up the game-winning home run to the cleveland indians, a game they should not have won but they did. stay tuned tonight. >>> what would you do with $325 million? come on. no megamillion winners on tuesday. the jackpot is just swelling out of control right now. now it's up to $325 million. come on. what will do you with that? go to your tv screen at 11:00 and who knows. >> it's been a while since maryland's hit. >> how about somebody from funkstown out in washington county. >> i like it. >> or kent county. >> i say baltimore. >> graysonville. >> flint stone. >> out in western maryland. give me a town. where? parkton? they live enough. >> crownsville. >> there you go. come on. all right. keep it in the stat

our hampton pearson joins us with the details. good to see you. >> and it looks like tyler, they're going after switzerland. the u.s. and swiss government have reached an agreement that could lead to the u.s. turning over at least 5,000 names of americans with secret swiss bank accounts reportedly used when paying taxes. the justice department tells us details are coming any day now. back in february, the world's secretary largest wealth manager turned over 250 accounts and paid a $780 million fine to settle charges on nearly $20 billion in off shore accounts. experts say this next stage agreement opens the door to a possibly wider probe. the irs is offering to reduce penalties and lessen the prosecution if you come in on september 23 already.y. they officially wanted 50,000, now they'll get at least 5,000. >> if you don't come forward now, and make yourself compliant, you do run the risk of a criminal allegation against you, and that leads to all kinds of possible jail consequences, as well. so it's really a no-brainer. if you ha

the overall price for the hamptons property, a mere 35 million big ones. >>> from who channel 13 in des moines, iowa, one woman is getting the most out of this year's state fair. she's attempting to eat her way through all 54 food on a stick offerings. from hot baloney to chocolate cake on a stick, she's targeting it all. it will not be cheap on the wallet or body, costing $300 and about 1,400 calories. >>> well, i'm christina brown. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day >>> tom is here to tell us what we can expect from the weather. tom? >> well, headline, hurecneedasby just a little bit. let's take a look at what's been happening outthe.er howe, it is still a very powerful hurricane. thankfully now just passing to the northeast of puerto rico. still has winds near 130, gusts to 155.e. th's only dn by about 7 mi hles our. ill continue to pass to the f bermuda, it appears, this morning. gotew f srs fweho southwest of e fredericksburg. they may roll into the southern surbs in a couple of hours. forecast for today coming up in just a couple of minutes. stay tuned. >> than

>> okay, hampton pearson, thank you so much. we do want to point out the secretaries locke and sebelius will be on "power lunch" this afternoon. so stay tuned for that. meanti meantime, iing, big question, will the consumer spend this year, or save for better times? joining me in a first on cnbc interview to discuss is connie kuhlman president. good to see you. >> good to be here. of. >> what's the answer? >> the answer is, americans are going to be spending less. it looks like about $300 this year, and on average, that's down from previous years. the expectation is that they're just not going to spend as much, especially on conspicuous kinds of goods, right? nothing kind of fancy, right? no luxury kind of items. >> it's interesting, because we have this debate almost every day here on this program. you know, where exactly does the consumer stabbed nd in all of t and there have been a lot of bulls out there that say that things are getting better, and the american consumer has a psyche that wants to be moving forward. that is, i

hampton pearson is live in washington with what the fdic is planning on doing.y. >> good morning, larry. 81 bank failures, including 17 so far this month, the fdic is dealing with the biggest number of collapses since 1992. now, during this current crisis, the fdic has been working with acquiring banks to share in those losses. the guarantee bank collapse in texas will cost the agency more than $3 billion. in an attempt to attract more buyers for failed banks, wednesday afternoon, the fdic board is expected to relax restrictions on private equity firms, private equity firms buying collapsed firms, details worked out. as far as the fund, regulators say look for more special assessments, as was the case during the s & l crisis. >> this happened in the late '80s, and banks will be assessed to replenish the fund. that is normal reaction. i think it is important to understand that going forward in good times, in good times, we should be allowed to make that fund much, much larger. >> remember, last year, the mortgage melt down saw the fdic dealing with, among other t

mcdonald's opponent will be in richmond and hampton roads this weekend. a conference call was held with reporters today. representatives blasted mcdonald's stance on abortion. >> we are changing the time of this show. saturday night 7:30 p.m. and sunday mornings at 11:30 p.m. >>> if you plan to ride metro this weekend give yourselves extra time. repairs an maintenance work will cause delays. this weekend the fort totin station will be closed for repairs. now to the orange line. metro will replace some of the track between the vienna and west falls church station and that could add 30 minutes to urel. avme >>> and here is a s foo drive through the e rnn'cos erarea of th beltway. v t do will close the southbound i-25 exit ramp on to cambridge road. detour sides will guide you around the closed ramp. >>> the weather on the weekend. what's in store for us today, topper, or for the weekend? >> we are in pretty good shape actually. temperatures have fall undown. pretty nice evening i have heard. overnight partly cloudy. we had a couple of orst earlier this even