j.c. penney today, eager to show us her picks. >> it's my favorite one because it's all colorful and it has all the decorations. >> reporter: like many adults, her father jim is worried about the weak economy, but he still plans to spend about $2,000 on back-to-school items for his four kids. that's slightly more than last year. >> there's a certain amount that we try to stick by, but, you know, i'm a dad and they're girls, and they pretty much get what they want. >> reporter: the good news for j.c. penney and other department stores is that they are expected to be big winners this back-to- school season. the national retail federation estimates that more than half of all back-to-school shoppers will shop at department stores. that's the highest percentage in at least eight years. j.c. penney says promotions are still key to bringing in customers, but store manager joe cardamone has noticed a shift in shopper priorities away from price. >> the fashion part of it is playing more of an importance.

dillards and j.c. penney were both down after reporting decent earnings, but had cautious outlooks on concerns about nervous consumers. ---(susie w/ots) and finally, devry the biggest loser in the s&p 500. a troubling sign as we head into the "back to school" season. the stock down almost 17%. despite posting better than expected quarterly earnings last night. investors spooked by a 26% drop in new undergraduate enrollments. and that's tonight's market focus. >> susie: in this tumultuous week, there is a ray of hope for a disdecimated industry. hundreds of thousands of construction workers who have been sidelined by the weak housing market might want to head out to the heartland. there's a building boom going on there in agriculture. as diane estabrook reports, farmers are producing so much grain they're running out of places to store it. >> reporter: high above fertile farmland in central illinois, a huge steel cap flies through the air with help interest a crane operator. on top of a new grain elevator, wor

j.c. penney's quarterly results. regional airline american eagle may take off from its parent company amr. american eagle would become an independent company serving american airlines and other carriers, according to today's regulatory filing. if it's spun off, amr stockholders will hold all the shares of eagle common stock, and amr would retain all of eagle's debt. amr also said an outright sale of the regional carrier is possible but not likely. leaders in jefferson county, alabama, are working to avoid the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in u.s. history. tomorrow, county politicians would decide to move ahead with that filing or announce a settlement with its creditors, which include j.p. morgan chase. creditors today made a new offer to settle the county's $3 billion debt, but jefferson is still demanding a reduction in the total amount of debt outstanding. tough money times often lead to tough personal conversations among families. tonight's "kids & cash" has some tips on including your kids in those convers

j.c. penney day rented space from first baptist church however was not paying taxes on those properties strictly for incomer business purposes brass a result, norris was taxed as rather churches at the time and j. frank norris resisted this and vowed to fight for two he got into a heated battle with the city leaders including the mayor and named of henry clay mecham. mecham airport is named after him credited to bring aviation to fort worth texas during that time. are we okay? do umney to keep going? -- to you want me to keep going? and norris would could use the newspaper and the pulpit for personal attacks and not above the where he would accuse the mayor of all sorts of things including having an affair and other things. you can imagine. before they fcc the first part did not come along until 1927. it was wide open to say what everyone to on the radio. this is that period of time and fort worth and i am on -- and took umbrage and said i will speak to the preacher to defend my friend. he went t

. >>> earnings reports come in from big retailers like macy's, kohl's and j.c. penney. at more income thanks to higher ad sales on its tv networks. >>> congress may be on its biggest recess but some big-name politicians aren't taking any time off. iowa's first presidential primary debate takes place thursday at iowa state university. >>> president obama travels to an electric car battery maker in michigan to talk about innovative technologies and creating more high quality jobs. >>> and the nfl players union approved that new ten-year contract with team owners. despite the recent lockout, the 2011 preseason is slated to kick off as scheduled this week with the seattle seahawks battling the san diego chargers. i'm sue herera. get all your business news on cnbc. >>> a reminder you can get all your business and tech news before the bell weekdays right here starting at 4:30 a.m. with my buddy, scott mcgrew. >>> 45,000 unionized verizon communications workers are on strike. verizon and the workers union cannot reach a deal by the midnight deadline overnight. verizon is askin