teachers are finding out from lockheed martin. there were the first to participate in the 2009 summer program with lockheed martin, the goal to provide teachers a better understanding of the educational needs for tomorrow's high-tech work force. they hope the program will help them prepare their students for careers in math, science, and technology. >> fire officials are investigating arson at a high school football field. the field was burned early monday morning. because $75,000 in damage. officials say the field was doused with some kind of fluid. >> summer vacation just got a week longer for some howard county students. the official start date is august 31, not the 24th. tim tooten is alive in the newsroom. >> howard county school officials say the start date was always tentative. it will be long before students crowd the hallways and schools across howard county, but some students and parents had already marked their calendars to come back for august 24 only to learn that the first day of school is actually a week later on au

the lockheed fire did not spread overnight, but it's just 15% contained.'s destroyed eight square miles since wednesday. 2400 people are under mandatory evacuation. meantime, two fires sparked a yuba county fire. firefighters in california are also working at least two other active wildfires. >>> police in wisconsin are looking for a teenager who has a close call on a drawbridge. here it is. look at that. the bridge was raised pre prematurely thursday night. the young woman behind the wheel was trapped. the girl just drove off. they are looking to talk to her about the incident. >>> lucas shook took part in a ceremony. he did something doctors told him he would probably never do again. he was severely injured in iraq. several months of rehab in germany and a stubborn will helped him back on his feet. he lives with nerve pain every day. it's a small price to pay for walking. >>> about 40 mothers showed up at a restaurant in florida to breast-feed their babies. it was an informal protest. last week, a manager there asked a nursing mom to cover up after custo

the lockheed fire did not spreed over night, but is just 15% contained. it has destroyed some eight square miles since wednesday. 2400 people are under mandatory evacuations. meantime, two fires friday sparked another growing fire. massive smoke bluplumes can be n over 100 miles away. >>> president obama is keeping up his fight to extend health insurance to millions of americans. he's holding another town meeting today. this one in colorado. he's facing tough criticism of the plans to overhaul the health care system. in his weekly radio and internet address, hes it's time to lower the volume. >> for all the chatter and noise, what every american needs to know is this. if you don't have health insurance, you will finally have quality options. if you have health insurance, we will make sure no insurance companies or government bureaucrat gets between you or the care you need and we will deliver this in a fiscally responsible way. i know there's concern out there and in a time of economic uphooefl, the idea of change can be unsettling and there are some beli

it's called the lockheed fire. it started last night. and has already burned 2300 acres and 225 structures. it's burning in timber and heavy brush. there's a lot of fuel for this fire. they reportedly have zero containment so far. no word on what might have caused it. >>> joining us now to discuss the situation and bring us up to speed is julie hutchinson. what's the latest, how are the winds and what's the progress in fighting the fire? >> the latest is this will be challenging for us, but i want to correct one thing. we do not have any structures damaged or destroyed which is a good thing. it is very rugged terrain, the fuels are stressed due to drought conditions and this is a very large fire for the santa cruz area in this area closest to the beach. it's definitely affecting a lot of residents. we're getting some winds pushing it towards a community of bonny doon and going to be a lot of work here for a while. >> you can get ground personnel in there or is it just too remote? >> it's our hand crews that work this con skrunks with the

this is the lockheed fire.t's only 5% contained, and 2,000 residents have been forced to leave their homes. the fire has been burning since wednesday in very rural and rugged terrain affected by drought. >>> president obama is bringing his health care message out west as well. he's holding a town hall meeting this afternoon in a conservative montana suburb. the president will likely talk about a provision in one proposal that's designed to prevent insurance companies from dropping or limiting coverage for people with serious illnesses. now, i don't know if you've heard yet, but a keep group of senators have apparently dropped an end of life counseling provision in the health care reform proposal. it would have paid doctors to spend time talking with their parents about advance directives like living wills and hospice care options, but sarah palin claimed the idea would lead to, in her words, death panels. iowa senator chuck grassley says the provision is off the table because it could be misinterpreted and impl

lockheed will eliminate positions in colorado and california.eed is starting with a voluntary layoff plan to minimize the number of people that have to be let go. >>> help for people looking fo jobs in arlington, virginia after the employment guide.com job fair. candidates met with employers and got expert help with their resumes. >> we are hoping to see 800 to 1200 job seekers and the employers among us today. we have 21 on hand and they are pleased with today's event and find the help they are looking for. >> reporter: the job fair is over but you have another chance at a bigger fair set for fedex field on october 14th. 60 employers are expected. head to www.myfoxdc.com for a link to reg preregister for the fair. >>> in chicago, it implemented a city wide shut down today to help with budget issues there. all city workers except police and firefighters got the day off without pay. the so-called reduced services day is part of a strategy to cut the $330 million deficit combined with two more closes in co ngmintcoming months they o pect to save $

. >> never able to launch the virtual classroom and had help from lockheed martin, and northrop grumman and a physics lab. >> they will be critically analyzing data and making decisions based on the data they have received so that they know what the next up is. >> the more opportunities we've put youngsters in a position to learn by doing, obviously, the retention rate is a lot stronger. the military has been using this concept for years. airline pilots trained this way. >> they will help to improve the math and science curriculum and may go a long way to preparing students for a high-tech future. >> one thing that we can see today as we cannot hire enough u.s.-born engineers to complete the work that we need. they're doing digital technology. >> school officials also plan to use the new technology to teach social studies and english. >> the virtual classroom as part of a two-year partnership between baltimore county and engineers from major defense contractors. >> stay with us, there is more on and wbal tv news at 63 >> what happened to him here on the softball field, you will not beli

people living near the lockheed fire that store through the santa cruz mountains had the firefighters to, well, a barbecue. it charred 7800 acres. happy home acres gathered around the little fire, controlled fire with their heroes. >>> i'm dan kloeffler. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. >> top of the morning to you. hope you're doing w. we have an active h.d. doppler, butt not over the central part of the state, more so around virginia and southern maryland. that's where you have the best shot of seeing showers today. but it does look like in baltimore, high pressure is going to build in. our temperatures are basically a little cooler this morning, in the 60's. we're going to go up into the mid 80's, which is near normal for this time of the year. but it's not going to be as humid. we were so steamy and very tropical over the weekend. that trend is going to change. as we take a look at our water vapor imagery, you see air starting to infiltrate the area. that means we'll see a nice drying trend. that trend is going to last through at le

condition cans and the tough, mountainous terrain not helping the fire crews with the so-called lockheed fire. ten square miles of santa cruz county have been blackened since wednesday. thousands of residents under mandatory evacuation orders. but not everyone is heeding the call to leave. >> there is nothing more we can do about it it we could turn our backs and leave but we are not gonna do that just keep watching the weather. go by that and good communication with all of to us. >> we have another wildfire near santa barbara blamed on drug traffickers. officials say the fire was sparked by cooking at a marijuana camp. >>> taiwan's president is trying to get out in front of a fire storm of criticism surrounding his handling of the disaster surrounding the typhoon. he is accepting blame for the slow response and he is apologizing to the victims. john russian is in southern taiwan with more on the latest. >> reporter: helicopters bringing in the last of the stranded villagers, relatives and friends waiting here for days there is relief. for others there is the anguish of not knowing. help

meantime, we're watching bethesda-based lockheed martin. lockheed is close to signing a major logistical services contract with the danish shipping company. finally, wal-mart is getting into glam rock. the largest retailer says it will offer a c.d. set with kiss's first new music in 11 years. the deal typically give an artist more money. at the new york stock exchange, i'm jane king, bloomberg news reporting for wbal-tv 11 news. >> thank you. 6:18. it's 71 degrees. another check on weather and traffic is straight ahead. >> and don't forget to e-mail your answer to our "watercooler question of the day." what do you think of an australian court's decision to grant the man the right to die? email your response to watercooler@wbaltv.com. >> good morning. let's see what's going on out there. a few problems to watch for. ab accident at whitehall road. the harrisburg expressway, we're in the green. that's from the maryland line all the way down to the beltway. if you're heading out anywhere else, we're doing pretty well. as far as our speed sensor

schwarzenegger met with firefighters at the lockheed fire in the santa cruz mountains. this fire has blackened close to 8 square miles of remote wilderness since wednesday. some 2400 homes and several wineries are under mandatory evacuations, and the mountains of communities of swanton and bonny doon. here's abc's pam coulter. >> reporter: strong winds could ignite more wildfires in parched areas of california. >> this is a little scary. because of the wind. >> we're very concerned about the winds and the heat that are coming in the next few days. >> the worst fire is around santa cruz. >> we have declared the state of emergency for santa cruz county. >> altogether, 2600 buildings are threatened by 11 fires in california. >> we have people around homes that are in the immediate area, where if the fire does -- they will be there and do their best to protect the structures. >> the state has mobilized vast forces to battle the flames but battling them is taking its toll. >> over 700 engines and 68 helicopters, five shelters, and there's 25 firefighters that have been injur

they could not get to the lockheed fire yesterday because of what you see there. see how that smoke just sat there? you think oh, i don't want wind, but if you don't get some wind, you can't blow the smoke away and the firefighting helicopter efforts and the big airliners can't get in. they didn't get any help. 2,000 people on the ground fighting that fire there, 65% contained. they expect to have the rest of the containment without any big problems by the end of this week. >> chad myers, nobody can cover four stories at a time better than you. >> with this wall, we can do it. >> it's all about the wall. thanks, buddy. >>> the world's second biggest economy is doing something special. we'll tell you where it is and we'll tell you whether they had a stimulus plan to get themselves out of recession and into recovery. wouldn't that be great if it was us? maybe. should obama, by the way, be pointing to that and saying it works. don't know. we'll ask the experts. >>> later, cocaine, cocaine, cocaine. lots of it. you handle it every single day of our life. how do you ha

the lockheed fire has already scorched 3,000 acres and is growing. kpix reports. >> reporter: all day long firefighters have been waiting, waiting for the fire to burn down the rugged terrain and come to them. well, here it is. do you think you'll be able to save this house? >> we'll give it our best shot. that's all we can do. >> reporter: for most of the day, the only safe way to fight the flames was from the air. >> we have a steep hillside here. there's no way we could get up there and fight the fire. >> we're helping another community out. other residents, this is their home, this is their neighborhood. just like if it was my home, we come out here and do the best we can with what we have. >> reporter: the strategy now is to remove debris and combustibles from around the home so that, if the fire comes this far, there's less to burn. wet everything down, and there's a chance the house will make it. break, toss, spray. at this point, it's all about defense. >> we've really given it a good chance. we have the fire engines here with the hose, so we

people living near the lockheed fire that store through the santa cruz mountains had the firefighters to, well, a barbecue. it charred 7800 acres. happy home acres gathered around the little fire, controlled fire with their heroes. >>> i'm dan kloeffler. this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today tod your nbc station. >>> our time right now is 4:54, 71 degrees here in the nation's capital. actually right out there, ronald reagan washington airport at which we are looking at this very moment, all lit up and ready for a workweek here in washington, d.c. good morning. welcome to "news 4 today." i'm joe krebs. >> and i'm eun yang in for barbara harrison this morning. we want to start things off as we always do with a look at weather and traffic. >> meteorologist tom kierein joins us now for our first forecast. >> we have some thundershowers rollin. gtin'son.th that's severe thunderstorm warning this morning for southeastern st. ry's county. those areas of red on radar, that's where we are getting the thunder and lightning. there is one thundershower showing up. you see t

. >> in spirit of full disclosure, you advised lockheed martin among them, but what does this last week mean and what do these decisions mean? >> what we're seeing here is the obama defense priorities are prevailing. lot of people weren't certain that would happen. but they managed to pull it together and to prevail both in the upper and lower chambers that means secretary gates will have more latitude for reorienting the nation's defenses weren't to basically cut more programs as we go forward. >> we were told that there will be more cuts coming after the quadrennial defense is complete. >> it gets repeated oftentimes if you spread enough defense contracting work around your program is immune from cuts and that was certainly virtually every story on the f-22 had that in there. doesn't this decision basically dispute that? >> not entirely. if you look at the vote in california and in connecticut and georgia where there were a lot of jobs on the line, those senators and those representatives lined up behind the program. you had two things that were different this year. first of all the a

the lockheed martin did not fight for it because they will buy more f35s which they make. some pieces of the iron triangle fell away before this went to bat. i think it's a victory but i think there will be real tough fights ahead. >> will be there a veto over presidential helicopter? no? >> no. not with the democrat controlled congress and the democrat president. i think they will do at all cost a veet over the defense bill. >> not waste a veto on something like that. >> especially when he got the most important one that he wanted and solved in congress. >> symbolically the president has a lot say. the money is not much. it's not worth the huge fight over it. >> a lot of the helicopter which was paid for already is usable and strip out the services from the thing. >> that's the best example. half of the money is spend and you have what, nine helicopters right now in inventory that are perfectly useful. let's go to the question of the larger army. the force has been growing. there was another authorization of. 2,000-- 22,000 strength to the army. is this just the tip of th

the path of the lockheed fire. the winds picked up.s fire is only 30% contained and could be weeks before it's out. dan. >> laura marquez in california. thank you. >>> overseas a brazen bombing in afghanistan five days before elections there. 7 people killed, 91 injured. bombers passed through several check points before blowing up their car in the middle of kabul. first attack in the capital city in months. jim sciutto is in afghanistan tonight. >> bombers struck at the heart of bomber's heavily guarded diplomatic district. powerful blast, shootered bodice and stripping trees of their branches. on the kreechb, we heard anger and frustration. why didn't coalition fors capture the bombers, one eye witness asked us. they spent so much money on security. the attack appeared to be well planned. police believe there were two men inside the car to distract guards who focused on loan drivers due to the suicide threat. they passed security check points, making it to the u.s. embassy where the u.s. commander, generally stanley mcchrystal has hi

the lockheed fire has blackened about six square miles of wilderness, nearly 700 firefighters are on the scene and more than 2,000 people have been told to evacuate. now a name from the past, lynette "squeaky" fromme was just 26 years old, a follower of charles manson, when she pointeded a gun at president gerald ford back in 1975. she was sentenced to life for that assassination attempt. she's now 60, and today she was released on parole. manson is still serving his life term for the 1969 slaughter of actress sharon tate and eight others. coming up next right here on the cbs evening news, u.s. marines fighting house by house, clearing the way so afghans can vote next week. what's the #1 mascara launch in recent history? it's lash blast! for the biggest, boldest lashes of your life! this big brush doubles the size of lashes. 6 million women have doubled theirs. try lash blast. only from easy, breezy beautiful... covergirl. and albacore tuna, crab, salmon and ocean fish flavors. i'm working on my digestive health. whatcha eatin'? yoplus. it's a yogurt for digestive health. here... bla

the most troublesome fire is known ats lockheed fire burning just south of the san francisco bay area, michael okw joins us with more. >> good evening, lester. firefighters here have intensified their air assault, trying to contain a spot fire that has ignited on southwestern are flank of this blaze. firefighters keeping watch early this morning, guarding fragile containment les around the wildfire's western flank. reinforcement, strike teams from around the state arrived today preparing for the worst, a forecast of hot, dry, offshore winds. >> with these winds are going to come higher temperature, lower humidities and very strong winds that could fan these flames out towards the residencresidences. >> 6,800 firefighters are battling almost a dozen fires across california. officials here in santa cruz county have declared a tate of emergency. today, governor arnold schwarzenegger visited the fire zone. >> 15% is contained, but the way they're working, i think they have a good chance the fire will be put out as quickly as possible. >> reporter: 2,400 residents are still under mandatory

this is called the lockheed fire. this is the largest fire. it's burned some 7,000 acres in the santa cruz mountains and forced nearly 3,000 people to evacuate. firefighters say it's about 30% contained, but today's temperature changes, that could pose new challenges. >>> and the story we've been talking about this morning, american john yettaw free today in thailand. >> he was in a press conference about 30 minutes ago. there he is walking in. we thought, maybe, we might see mr. yettaw, but, of course, we've been talking he's not in the best of shape, best of health. he was being checked out by medical staff. but webb has secured the release of yettaw. webb is the first congressman to visit in myanmar in over a decade. he had been on a private visit in 2001. he e had gone himself. this is him addressing reporters. listen to what he said just a short time ago. >> we are fortunate that the government honored my request to allow him to come back here to thailand with me. he was on the aircraft with me. he's not a well man. he had a medical emerg

folks in davenpor california held a cookout for those who helped fight the lockheed fire. no homes were destroyed. all evacuation orders were lifted. the firefighters hard work is the reason they have homes to return to. >>> losing weight is hard work, as we know. a lot of americans need to do it. most obese people don't know where or how or have the motivation. brittney takes us to louisiana where a community weight program has a 100% success rate. >> reporter: this is home to 37-year-old karla and her family. her heart is in the mission that she participates in as friendship volunteer. last year, a lingering health issue began impacting her service. >> i got to my largest weight ever. i didn't feel like i could do my job, physically, i was starting to have problems. >> reporter: at 271 pounds, she enrolled in the community clinic weight management program. >> for a long time, i knew i needed to do something about my weight. i just didn't know what to do. >> reporter: she was in good hands with linda jones who had her own weight battle before dropping over 70 pounds. >> o

this one is called the lockheed fire. eight square miles we're told. this is some of the newest fire video we have are gotten. you can see overnight video here, the fire burning eight square miles burned so far. not sure how much this is contained, anywhere from zero to 15% possibly. a lot of firefighters on the scene. this is some other video we can show you now that i believe we got the day before ar. we're told about 1500 firefighters trying to work this thing out. what kind of help or hurt is the weather putting on? >> unfortunately, the mediterranean-style climate you have in this part of the world is not helpful. wildfire have been happening in this part of the world for millions of years. very dry summers obviously, very strong winds that pop up along the coast. with that, vegetation tends to be dry. you get the chaparral, the california oaks very dry wood there. these guys will have their hands full for quite some time. the lockheed fire, you talked about that, the labria fire in santa barbara count country, 10% to 15%, 67,000 acres have burned

we have northrup, lockheed martin, ciphent, and computer sciences. >> i hear the c.s.c., or computer sciences course, i hear them advertising constantly. >> they are. they need highly-skilled workers. they said, hey, we need highly skilled workers right now. so we're talking technical writers, security consultants, network engineers, and people who might have security clearance. zoo what maryland is doing, besides looking at this experienced pool, is going outside and looking for people throughout the country that might have these highly technical skills, getting them to move to maryland, advertising quality of life issues. and that, certainly, is a good thing for maryland. >> why are they having such a hard time finding these workers. is it the visa problems? >> it is not eye visa problem, it is just a highly technical skill. for instance, there are a lot of people in our field of journalism who are out there looking for jobs. who have a downturn in newspapers, per say. the issue is, they are not trained in technical writing. however, i can't believe they couldn't get trained in tec

. >> baltimore county was able to launch its virtual classroom with help from lockheed martdwrin and hopkins university replied -- applied physics lab. >> they will monitoring data and making zisses based on the data they receive. >> with more opportunities we push youngsters in a position they learn by doing. obviously the spogs stronger. the military has been -- >> the universal classroom will help improve the math and science curriculum and may help improve students for a high-tech future. >> we cannot hire enough u.s.-born engineers to complete the work that we have. it is perfect for us. if they are doing digital technology or digital design, i can prepare them for a digital career. >> they can also use their technology to teach social studies and english. tim tooten, wbal-tv. >> if you are planning to trade in your gas guzzler for a more fuel hch efficient car, you better act fast. >> as in right now this weekend. details on why the wildly popular cash for clunkers program is coming to an end. >> here are last night's winning numbers. (announcer) back to school means back to bu

folks in davenport held a cookout last night for the firefighters who helped contain the lockheed fire. the fire will burn at least for a few more days but no homes were destroy and all evacuation orders have been lifted. they say their hard work is the reason they still have homes to return to. >>> still ahead on "news 4 today," the nationals well their prized pitcher with a big party, and this morning's kids .stpo s st ni t. look at this ftaee otrlelan t nca au ee l sotw to one home fncaeo a peeot of people are ggo h aoto tave go canleav up t morning. i heard the thunderstorms this morning. they woke me up. >> yeah. they came through the heart of downtown washington. my wake-up call. and yours came at 3:30 this morning, no doubt about it. mother nature came banging on the window. didn't even get a half inch of rain out of the system. depends where you are. some people get a bunch. other people don't get too much at all in the amount of rainfall. that's oh so typical. we're going to be under the gun for more. one or two storms this afternoon could be severe. so keep a weather eye to t

the lockheed fire is burning in the santa cruz mountains and getting close to some homes.than 2,000 people have vacated. people there moved quickly to get out safely. now all they can do is wait. >> it's a little scary and exciting and the cats are kind of nervous. they know something is going on. so just thanking the place i've been living and hoping it will be okay. >> but now we're getting a lot of smoke that you didn't have before, and you can really feel it in your lungs, you know? >> here is the tough thing about fighting that particular fire. it's not near the roads, it's back in the forest. so firefighters are having to hike in to get close to flames. they're hoping to get more support from firefighting helicopters and planes today. >>> michael vick is back in the nfl. there is a team that stepped forward and said, we'll take him. here is rafer with more on that for some big-time money. >> for some very big-time money, robin and we knew or had a feeling it was going to be signed, but not by this team. the philadelphia eagles was not a team on anybody's radar, but t

the lockheed fire is one of 11 burning in the state. >>> the rain is moving in from the east. >> it looks that way. things are stuck in a typical august weather pattern right now. torms will cool things off for us. let's get started with the roof top gear from arlington. -- let's get started with the view from the roof here in arlington. it is humid. no ietty typicals ust agusterftn dra e a few de average. i kep ing thwi ll h twwe weuausy have. uait is 90 deges in upper ma rlborough. the heat index sa li feel like it is here are some rain totals. this is from cletuted.they had l totals. they had over 2 inches in pensacola. they had a little bit less in canton. we are tracking some of the rain that has moved across. there still some bands of showers and thunderstorms coming across the deep sth. this will not affect us. what may affect as is out there. there will be two cold front moving our way over the next few days. we have hot temperatures. the average height is now 86 degrees. fairfax is 91. there is plenty of hot stuff around the mid-atlantic. these areas have been scraping hard to fi

. >>> it might be back to the drawing board for lockheed after a test drive went wrong.sda-based defense company was showing off prototypes for a military tactical vehicle. reporters were allowed a spin behind the wheel but one of them rolled a vehicle on a curve. those away walked away with cuts and bruises. >>> what crashed the house of representativeses website in coming up in what's hot on the web. >>> and it is 5:40 here's kim. >>> we have pictureses of sunflowers coming up next, and of course the weekend forecast is ready to go. you are watching 9 news now. >>> the montgomery county humane society is e private resc. the private rescue. they plan to sh wndownthe facility on south stone street, but it is not the end of the rescue program. digital correspondent lindsey mastis, explains. >> these three chihuahuas come from a puppy mill. >> they have a life that was just a cage. >> reporter: they need a permanent home because the private rescue plans to close. >> this is what we need to do given our current economy. >> reporter: they are waiving adoption fees and loweri

that's where the lockheed fire has burned 3,000-acres in the santa cruz mountains since wednesday. more firefighters and aircraft are expected to arrive today. higher humidity and light winds are helping fire crews battle the flames. the cause is under investigation. wow. >> we have had a pretty mild weather here for the summer. >> we have had a good summer. >> a great summer. >> it has. >> it didn't start to feel soupy until well in to august. >> the weekend will be nice, summer like. we may touch 90 but that is okay. >> average high is 88. so that's all right. here's the forecast first. the next three days out of the gate, 89 tomorrow. a slight chance of an isolated thunderstorm in. probably touch 90 on sunday. maybe an isolated thunderstorm and then 91 on monday. we will keep monday dry. it is hot but not crazy hot. for tonight, partly cloudy mild, mid 60sin the suburbs. light winds. the sun doesn't go down now until 8:04. show you the satellite picture. this is the topics. a couple of things to worry about. this could be the first tropical storm of the season. may happen over t

we'll keep an eye on the so-called lockheed fire and bring you a live report from from there in a few minutes. >>> a bit later on the golden voice of joan baez. i got a chance to sit down with the legendary singer and get her perspective on an amazing life and career. you'll hear what she has to say and sing coming up, still strongly committed to her message of nonviolence and committed to beautiful music. she says this is a terrific time in her life >> was she committed to letting you jam a little bit with her? >> no, we didn't play but she was performing in massachusetts, where we caught up with her. it was a great advise pit. >> looking forward to that. pmplgts first, president obama is combining business with pleasure this weekend out west taking his family to some great american tourist spots while taking his case for health care reform with the people. nbc's chief white house correspondent chuck todd is traveling with the president. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, jenna. the president used his third town hall in less than a week to display a feistier side to regain his

another round of pink slips going out to workers of lockheed martin, they will eliminate jobs across the division, most in colorado and california. they're starting with a voluntarlayoff plan to minimize the number of people who have to be let go. >>> and from firing to hiring, people looking for jobs in arlington. it is the job fair where candidates met with potential employers and got help brushing up on their resume skills. >> well, we're hoping to see between eight and 1,200 job seekers, and the employers that we have on hand are pleased with today's events, looking at the help that they're looking for. >>> this job may be over, but one at fedex field is opening. >>> and the economy is so rough in chicago that it shut the whole city down. all employees at ll the city services and buildings took the day off without pay today in an effort to cut back on spending for a city that is in the red. no court or trash collection. they say the only reason to sign on with city workers to save money is to avoid the alternative, layoffs. >>> and students and parents, counting down to the first

. >> reporter: the lockheed wildfire continues to glow. >> there's a lot of scurrying in the dark. >>ter: thousands of people are evacuating as more structures are threatened. smoke is billowing. ash covers the ground. >> this is people's top worry list of something that could happen. >> reporter: since it started wednesday night, it has burned thousands of acres. dead trees and a thick underbrush dry from a drought are fueling the flames. >> everything here is ready to burn. >> reporter: more than 1600 firefighters are battling this blaze. the dry, hilly mountain side make it is hard to move quickly so firefighters take to the air. >> the air tanker is going to drop the long swath of retardant out in front ever the fire to kind of cool those down and stop the spread of fires >> reporter: investigators are still trying to figure out how the fire started. with flames burning out of control, firefighters say anything can happen. >> winds can shift. this is a dynamic situation. this is a firefight. >> reporter: this is one of several wildfires burning in the state. there's one down the c

are a couple of lockheed martin plants out there. this is the same area that had a 1,500 acre blaze last year in the same zone. we were looking at some of the maps saying some of this land has already been torched and there is not that much vegetation left. this has been in a major drought for so very long. whether we are northern, california or southern, california, the entire state needs water. that's never in the forecast for august. >> it's tough. we will keep track of it, chad. more from the "cnn newsroom" straight ahead. (announcer) illness doesn't care where you live... ...or if you're already sick... ...or if you lose your job. your health insurance shouldn't either. so let's fix health care. if everyone's covered, we can make health care as affordable as possible. and the words "pre-existing condition" become a thing of the past... we're america's health insurance companies. supporting bipartisan reform that congress can build on. >>> you may have heard talk of an economic rebound. 360,000 u.s. households don't want to hear

lockheed in '71 and '72, presidential election. chrysler in '79 and '80 and 2008, obviously those bailouts that took place before nomber, another presidential election. the things don't take place in a vacuum and in fact in the middle of the crisis it was either january or february, senator dick durbin was complaining out the banking lobbyists runng around capitol hill. i'm paraphrasing, but he said, we are in the middle of a crisis and the guys are running around like they own the place. it makes them very, very unconfident that we're going to se any major formf regulatory reform take place. whatever is going to get through will be a compromise and wll be back á@@"4)rrgrr freearket interest rate that wasn't manipulated and allowed everything to coordinate? guest: well, remember, we actually have that right now. the bond market sets the long-term interest rate. all the fed can do is set the shorter-term interest rates. the fed fund rate is is not the same as 10 or 30-year yield. obviously all the other bonds follow that. but heres

-- doesn't lockheed martin sell some of this equipment? >> yes, they do. >> you have the reader, because i heard the postmaster general say the male is not touched by the human hand until it is delivered. -- the postmaster general said the mail is not touched by the human hand. >> we call it lights out facilities. >> will some of the -- >> we did that in florida, and it has not been expanded nation- wide. we still have workers' hands on interfacing with mail thrgdh& >> what mr. burrus is talking about is the process of producing and mailing our catalogue, what we do, is we decide who will receive our catalogue. it is all done with processors, and we are pulling our customer's name -- customers' names and addresses. it involves sorting the mail and sorting into sequence. it verifies the addresses, verifies everything is correct, and subsequently puts the mail into the sequence ultimately within which it is going to be delivered. so a lot -- that's -- you know, we're doing that, but we're doing it in computers far before it touches the catal

. >>> let's get you the latest on the lockheed wild fire in california. strong winds are making it difficult to fight this fire in santa cruz, california. a lot of people have been under mandatory evacuations as well. close to eight square miles of forrest have been burned and this started on wednesday. to give you an indication of how tough it has been for firefighters, only 15% of it has been contained so far. some 1,500 firefighters are on the scene and on top of all of this because of these wildfires and the fact that they are still trying very hard to fight them back. a state of emergency has been declared. >>> other breaking news story this morning, an american being held in a prison in myanmar is coming home according to senator jim webb who was on a trip there who has negotiated the release of john ye it. taw, the american who was convicted for illegally swimming to the home of prodemocracy reader there reader there for suu khy. details still to come. >>> we are talking about two trailblazers, an icon of the civil rights movement and one of broadw

12 large fires which continue to burn, the worst of which, you're looking at the video from the lockheedire in the santa cruz mountains. eight square miles have burned. it's 30% contained. thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes. weather conditions, don, for this will be warming up over the next couple of days but the wind is pretty steady, with gusts around 20 miles an hour. >> jacqui, thank you very much for that. >>> she is a nobel peace prize winner, living under house arrest. and he was her uninvited guest, her houseguest. now the man who sparked an international incident by going on a bizarre swim goes free. and he has a u.s. senator to thank for it. >>> first -- >> when i think back to what kind of child i had, it hurts me so bad. it hurts so bad. >> the heartbreaking reality for families coping with the loss of a child. we'll take you to chicago's deadly streets. >>> tonight in what matters, we're talking about the more than 250 people who died by the gun in chicago just this year. many of them are teenagers. some of them were innocent bystanders caught in the cr

the most serious, the lockheed fire, already charring some ten square miles of santa cruz county. the fire is only half contained. >>> from the so-called death panels to promises of health care coverage for all americans, it seems like we've heard it all in the past few weeks. but how much of it is true? how much of it is true? we're checking the facts for you. >>> also, a tough day on the greens for tiger woods. he's not invincible. can you believe it? helping people save money doon car insurance.ut there gecko: aw thank you, sir. boss: but i think there are a few other things you can say about what a reliable company geico is. gecko: right. uh, well maybe how geico's the third-largest car insurance company in america? nice tidbit there. boss: exactly. and i've been thinking, looking a bit more businesslike might help too. gecko: oh my. uhhh, no it's, what's, what's the word... vogeico. 15 minutes could save you 15 percent or more on car insurance. >>> so this is what everyone has been e-mailing us asking us to do, at least me. let's cut through the health care rhetoric right now

the lockheed fire that has already charred santa cruz county and in a state of emergency.esides a windy condition, fire crews are having to deal with mountainous terrain and people have left their homes. >>> critics of president obama's health care proposal says the public section is a deal closure and that's why the health secretary is causing such a buzz. tells cnn competition for private insurers can take different forms. >> what we don't know is what the senate finance committee is likely to come up with. they've been more likely focused on a co-op. not for profit co-op as competitor opposed to straight government run program. i think what is important in choice and competition. i'm convinced at the end of the day, the plan will have both of those. that is not the essential element. >> elaine quijano join us now from washington. it sounds like the administration is backing off ever so slightly on a public option. is that what's happening, what most people are seeing? is that what is happening. >> it really dough sound that way, don. what secretary sebelius said, and wh

and this is the lockheed fire, eight square miles. 30% contained. 100 homes are being threat in. much of california. is dealing with wildfires at this time. just want to quick show you a satellite perspective to show you all the hot spots here across california. so weather condition here's are very hot and very dry. though wind are gusting around 20 miles per hour. melissa. >> jacqui jeras, thank you so much. if you have gps in your vehicle, you might wonder how long you drove without it. without having that technology. have you ever wondered how that gadget got so smart? how it actually works? it might be taking direction from one smart van. if you're taking 8 extra-strength tylenol... a day on the days that you have arthritis pain, you could end up taking 4 times the number... of pills compared to aleve. choose aleve and you could start taking fewer pills. just 2 aleve have the strength... to relieve arthritis pain all day. >>> the gps technology in your vehicle scan be quite a help when you are trying to find your way from point a to point b. ever wonder how all that informati

he's theormer ceo of lockheed martin. thank you ve much for talking with us. >> nice be here.you are just back from e white use. yomade this presentation. what was theeaction? >> really, we've given the white house ailemma. the space progm we have today, th human space flight program, really isn coutable with the money we he. so either we have d something wth the current program that's not going to be very succesul, i'm afraid or end for something really exciting and workable and that's the challenge the white hoe is goi to have is to sort tha out. >> reporter: "not computable." is tt because of the cost? >>rimarily the money." there are real tecical hallenges. for emple, we don't really know the eect of galact cosmic rays onuman beings that ar in oer space for long periods of time. we think the efects could be veryad. we also know that wehtlessness has a serious impact o humans wn they've been exposedto it for a longime. and when one talks about going tmars, for example, wee talkg about 180 days o flight to get ther and 180 days to come back and proably a year o mars to get t

the most serious, the lockheed fire, already charring some ten square miles of santa cruz county.ch is under a state of emergency. the fire is only half contained. >>> from the so-called death panels to promises of health care coverage for all americans, it seems like we've heard it all in the past few weeks. but how much of it is true? how much of it is true? we're checking the facts for you. >>> also, a tough day on the greens for tiger woods. he's not invincible. can you believe it? st telling po could save 'em hundreds on car insurance. gecko vo: businessmen say "hard work equals success." well, you're looking at, arguably, the world's most successful businessgecko. gecko vo: first rule of "hard work equals success." gecko vo: that's why geico is consistently rated excellent or better in terms of financial strength. gecko vo: second rule: "don't steal a coworker's egg salad, 'specially if it's marked "the gecko." come on people. >>> so this is what everyone has been e-mailing us asking us to do, at least me. let's cut through the health care rhetoric right now. just the facts

the lockheed fire has burned nearly 7,000 acres since wednesday and forced nearly 3,000 people to evacuatew, about 30% contained. >>> from now until mid-september, you're going to hear a lot from some religious leaders backing health care reform. they're trying to convince congress to pass reform this year. have you seen this ad? it's part of a national campaign called "40 days for health reform" and religious leaders nationwide have also been staging prayer vigils and on rallies and on wednesday the president will take part in a webcast with 25 faith-based leaders. time for a faces of faith conversation. and for our conversation this morning, let's bring in rabbi jonah pezna. and also, the reverend derek harkin, with 19th street baptist church in washington, he's here as well, actually in cleveland this morning. good morning to you both. now, this new initiative here, let's be clear, are y'all ba backing -- i'll start with you, reverend harkin, are you backing the president's particular plan, or are you just pushing for some kind of a health care reform plan? >> thanks for being able to b

it's the lockheed fire.t has charred some 10 square miles of santa cruz county which is under a state of emergency. fire crews are having to deal with tough mountainous terrain. thousands of people have fled their homes. >>> let's turn now to health care. it is dominating debate across the country as members of congress meet with their constituents all month long and with good reason. as we all know, costs are skyrocketing for all of us. by one estimate, the u.s. spends four times more money on health care than on national defense. and more than 45 million people don't have health insurance. a sad fact that one study says led to 27,000 deaths in the u.s. in 2006. numbers like that are why most democrats say there needs to be a so-called public option. to compete with private insurers and offer insurance to everyone. the white house today signalled it might compromise on this issue. but some house members are standing firm. >> it would be very, very difficult because without the public option we'll have the s