michelle miller reports. >> reporter: at the coney island amusement park, thrill seekers got in last minute rides. billy burke has worked at this food stab for 29 years. he's never experienced a hurricane on the boardwalk before. >> if it raises 20 feet this is going to be underwater. >> reporter: coney island could be irene's first stop in new york city, as the storm rolls over 5 million people living in queens and brooklyn. >> if a category 2 hurricane hit new york city it depends on the time of day and the tide and various other things but it would be weeks or months before the city got back to normal. >> reporter: that's because new york city is in the center of a geographical right angle between new jersey and long island. irene could push water into that corner with no place to go but new york's tunnels, streets and sidewalks. >> every 75 years the northeast gets a major hurricane. it doesn't take a major hurricane to do major damage. >> reporter: that's the fear in new jersey. hurricane irene is following roughly the same path as hurricane donna, which pounded the jersey shore

our michelle miller has the story of a boy hood pact that helped three friends realize their dreams. and the band of celtic rocker sung the praises of detroit. dean reynold reports on the drive to restore mojo to the motor city. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with russ mitchell. >> mitchell: good evening. tonight the 42-year-old regime of libyan dictator qaddafi appears close to collapse after rebel forces enter the tripoli. after a six month civil war. rebel forces seize tripoli. alex crawford of sky news was with the rebels as they entered tripoli. >> reporter: you get a sense of the feeling that people have in the city tonight. they feel liberated. that's water being thrown. they do that in celebration as well. and there are fireworks, guns going off everywhere. it is absolutely amazing sight. >> mitchell: and earlier today alex filed this report on the rebel's march toward the city. >> reporter: this was the push on to tripoli they'd promised. from dawn it began and they moved at a tracking pace. they came from all over, joining the attack on the capit

jim axelrod, wyatt andrews, and michelle miller are in the storm zone. mark strassmann is following the airlines' attempts to get back in the sky, now that irene has cleared out. as qaddafi's family escapes, barry peterson has discovered the high-flying life the dictator was living. and anthony mason with the new journalists, in a world where everyone carries a camera. >> i was frantically deleting old videos from my camera to open up space for it. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley. >> pelley: good evening. turns out it wasn't the wind, it was the water. long after hurricane irene fell apart, rain from the storm did the greatest damage. parts of 13 states from north carolina to maine are deep in floodwaters. at least 35 people have died in the region. some homes were reduced to rubble. nearly five million homes and businesses are spending another night without power. even in a flood, there was fire. in pompton lakes, new jersey, this home erupted. they think it was a gas line that broke. the house was safely eva

michelle miller, cbs news, newark, new jersey. >>> with that, that will do it for this monday morningdition of the "cbs morning news." appreciate you watching. i'm terrell brown. have a great day, everybody. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com -- www.vitac.com

and michelle miller tells us how it will all work. >> reporter: for the tens of millions of american who use contraception, birth control will essentially be free because of new government guidelines requiring insurance companies to not only cover the costs but to eliminate co-pays an deductibles. that was welcome news to the women we spoke to. >> sometimes $20 a month can definitely be hard to string together. >> it is very, very expensive and i think that is one of the problems. especially for younger women. who really can't afford it. >> birth control has been controversial in the united states from the moment margaret sanger opened up the country's first family planning clinic in 1916. and was promptly sent to prison for it. while many have hailed contraception as the best way to prevent unwanted pregnancies others argue that abstinence education is the way to go. in a statement, the united states conference of catholic bishops opposed the new guidelines saying pregnancy is not a disease, and fertility is not a pathological condition to be suppressed by any means technically poss

michelle miller has been on the ground there all day long. >> reporter: there have been rescues here all day long and that's because no one expected the water to rise as fast as it did. the banks of the passaic river are about a half mile back, well beyond that auto parts store there. this is the worst flooding in this part of new jersey since 1903. here in patterson, new jersey, the passaic river has turned the streets of this working-class city into canals. this family waited out on their own when water filled their basement and kept rising. they snapped this photo of their home before they left. they came to this relief center looking for baby supplies for six-month-old maya. >> we lost everything. we lost everything. >> reporter: everything? >> yeah. that's why we came here. >> reporter: so you walked out without... everything you have on? >> yeah. that's all what i have right now. >> reporter: sean mix says search-and-rescue teams have been crisscrossing the town all day. people here are used to flooding, but nothing like this. >> this is record tide right now and it's at record

. >> osgood: michelle miller demonstrates a whole new way of getting a grip.a braver visits the soaring sydney australia opera house. martha teichner admires the works of a world famous jeweler and much more besides. first let's go to jeff glor in the news room for sunday morning headlines. >> good morning, everyone. it is august 7, 2011. it was the bloodiest day for the u.s. after nearly a decade of fighting in afghanistan. 30 americans were killed saturday when their helicopter was shot down pushing the number of u.s. military casualties in the war to more than 1600. correspondent has more. >> reporter: nato says it's begun an operation to recover the remains of the chinook helicopter that came down southwest of kabul. the u.s. military confirms that of the 30 americans on board, 22 were navy seals when the same unit that killed osama bin laden, although none of those killed took part in that raid. the other eight were u.s. army and air force personnel. seven afghan soldiers and a civilian translator were also killed. the taliban is taking credit, claiming i

michelle miller tells us that new york city is especially vulnerable. parts of it are just a few feet above sea level. >> reporter: we've known for a very long time that new york city is vulnerable to a hurricane. parts of lower manhattan, just behind me, are only a few feet above sea level, so any storm surge can cause major devastation, especially during high tide. at the coney island amusement park, thrill-seekers got in some last-minute rides. an evacuation order for this entire area could come tomorrow. billy burke has worked at this food stand for 29 years. he's never experienced a hurricane on the boardwalk before. >> if it raises 20 feet i'm sure this is going to be underwater. >> reporter: coney island could be irene's first stop in new york city, as the storm rolls over the five million people living in queens and brooklyn. >> if the category two hurricane hit new york city, it would depend on what time of day and the tide and the various other things, but it would be weeks or months before the city got back to normal. >> reporter: that's beca

michelle miller is in belmar, new jersey. >> reporter: scott, here in belmar and other resort towns along the jersey shore there is serious concern about the economic impact of this storm. this last weekend before labor day millions of dollars are at stake. for 32 years, frank sementa's club in belmar, new jersey, than place to gather after a hot day at the beach. he's hoping the party lasts one more night. >> the phone ringing off the hook all afternoon. "are you open?" "yes, we're open." "oh, thank you, thank you." >> reporter: it's the same all over the board walk, shop owners trying to squeeze in one more day before irene shuts them down. every weekend is precious. businesses here take in $3 million if three short months of summer when as many as 60,000 people visit in a day. sementa is afraid he could lose 15% of his profits to irene for the year. >> we'll lose two days and it hurts but can't cry over it. >> reporter: hurricane irene is expected to chew up 127 miles of jersey shoreline, damaging not only the beaches but severely impacting the state's $35 billion tourism industry. bel

. >> cbs news correspondent michelle miller takes a look at a case that shows how important organ donations 9-year-old alexia balentine seems the picture of good health. but just two years ago she was on the verge of death in desperate need of a heart transplant. >> when she started going to nursery school, i saw that she just couldn't keep up with the other children. >> reporter: alexia was born with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a disease that restricts blood flow to the heart. >> i was always tired and could make up two steps and my mom would have to carry up the rest of the way. >> reporter: two steps and out of breath? >> yes. i barely could make it up one step. >> reporter: doctors warn their that her heart would eventually fail. for alexia, time was running out. what was the worst part of this for you? >> to see your child suffer. >> reporter: it seems so fresh. >> yeah. part of it is you think of it every day. >> reporter: after nearly a year on the donor list, the call finally came through. a possible match was found and alexia was rushed into surgery. >> they put her to sleep and t

here's michelle miller. >> reporter: for the tens of millions of american women who use contraceptionree because of new government guidelines requiring insurance companies to not only cover the cost but eliminate copays and dedubtibles, welcome news to the women we spoke to. >> sometimes $20 a month can definitely be hard to scrape together. >> it is very, very expensive and i think that that's one of the problems especially for younger women who really can't afford it. >> reporter: birth control has been controversial in the united states from the moment margaret sanger opened up the country's first family plannic country in 1916 and promptly sent to prison for it. while many of hailed contraception is the best way to prevent unwanted pregnancy, others argue abstinence is the way to go. the united states conference of catholic bishops oppose the guidelines saying pregnancy is not a disease and fertility is not a pathological condition to be suppressed by any means technically possible. but women's rights advocates say free access to birth control can significantly reduce the number o

michelle, thanks for that inspiring call to keep on keeping on. that does it for us today. i'm matt miller in for dylan ratigan. "hardball" is up right now. >>> why republicans might really fear hurricane irene. let's play "hardball." >>> good evening. i'm ron reagan in tonight for chris matthews. leading off tonight, the eye of the storm. hurricane irene is heading up the east coast and is likely to be non-partisan. hitting democratic and republican districts alike. my question tonight -- after the damage is done, are republicans going to reject federal aid because the u.s. has a spending problem? or are they going say no to fema, because government is the problem, not the solution? what happens when ideologist collides with reality ji plus, look who's talking. former v.p. dick cheney has a new book out, as he puts it, there are going to be heads exploding all over washington. oh, dick. among other things, cheney goes after colin powell again, after condoleezza rice, again, and rights he thought it would be a good idea to bomb a nuclear plant in syria. regrets? he seems to have nun in res

one is american, franklin miller, one european, we are delighted to have you join us. let me turn this over to micheleo kick off the conversation. >> thank you to all of you for being with us this morning. in the first panel, we're going to try to cover what's going on in libya and some scenarios for how things might move forward in libya. we are going to look at the regional implications in the arab and african regions of what is unfolding in libya and we will start to also address some issues in terms of the international community and what its rolls might be in inside libya going forward. we are at a really interesting moment right now in libya where the rebels made this very surprising breakthrough in tripoli over the last week. it is not so surprising if you have been watching carefully because the military advantage turned to the rebels weeks ago. i did just not make the international media. -- i think it did not make the international media. the transitional council and rebel leadership is largely in control of tripoli, although as you have seen over the last 24 hours and today, there is still

one is american, franklin miller, one european, we are delighted to have you join us. let me turn this over to michele to kick off the conversation. >> thank you to all of you for being with us this morning. in the first panel, we're going to try to cover what's going on in libya and some scenarios for how things might move forward in libya. we are going to look at the regional implications in the arab and african regions of what is unfolding in libya and we will start to also address some issues in terms of the international community and what its rolls might be in inside libya going forward. moment right now in libya where the rebels made this very surprising breakthrough in tripoli over the last week. it is not so surprising if you have been watching carefully because the military advantage turned to the rebels weeks ago. i did just not make the international media. -- i think it did not make the international media. the transitional council and rebel leadership is largely in control of tripoli, although as you have seen over the last 24 hours and today, there is still fighting in tripoli and are t

miller, one european, and -- anetha hoyser. we are delighted to have you join us. let's turn it over to michelleu very much, damon. thank you to all of you for being with us this morning. in the first panel, we're going to try to cover what is going on in libya and what some scenarios for how things might move forward in libya. we're going to look a little bit to at the regional implications in the arab and african regions of what is unfolding in libya and we'll start to also address some issues in terms of the international community. and what its role might be in -- inside of libya itself going forward. we're at a really interesting moment right now in libya where the rebels made this very surprising breakthrough in tripoli over the last week. not so surprising if you've been watching it carefully because the military advantage turned to the rebels weeks ago and didn't make the international media. so we're at this situation now that it seems that the transitional council and the rebel leadership is largely in control of tripoli. although as you've seen over the last 24 hours, and even today,