i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm poppy harlow.0s. >> i'm not sure what that tune is. >> fwogood morning. president obama is pleading with congress to step up relief for u.s. farmers suffering under what has become a historic drought. the white house yesterday announced $30 million in new drought aid for individuals and businesses. but obama says that's not going to be enough. he wants congress to pass a $500 billion farm bill. >> needs to pass a farm bill that will not only provide important disaster relief tools, but also make necessary reforms and give farmers the certainty that they deserve. that's the single best way that we can help rural communities, both in the short term, but also in the long term. >> experts are now saying this drought could bring the smallest corn crop in six years. that could drive up food prices all over the world. alexandra steele is live in atlanta. alexandra, the u.s. has suffered from one of the hottest and driest summers on record. i come from minnesota where, you know, very close to where a lot o

i am zoraida sambolin. >> i am poppy harlow.as prices climbing and possibly 13 cents here i one week alone and no signs of slowing down. >>> a shakeup at the top, the president and founder of susan g. komen for the cure are both stepping down after the ruckus over funding planned parenthood. the request he is why now? >>. >>> and talking more about campaign attacks. mitt romney ripping president obama's stance on birth control in a brand new ad out today, but the president says romney wants to take women's health care back to the 1950s. we are doing o

poppy harlow is on the scene on fifth avenue. poppy, what do you see? are waiting, carol, for a press conference here on fifth avenue right in front of the empire state building, i believe you're looking at shots of that. what i can tell you is since we last spoke new york city police commissioner ray kelly along with new york mayor mike bloomberg went into a nearby building to be briefed. i spoke briefly on the phone with the deputy commissioner, the man right under ray kelly, the deputy commissioner of the new york city police department, mr. paul brown, i asked if he had a moment to speak. he said we don't right now, getting ready for an 11:00 a.m. press conference. we'll hear the latest from him, from the commissioner and the mayor. i can tell you 9:30 a.m. approximately president obama was briefed on this by john brennan so we know the president is aware. look, this is new york city and a place where they take extra precaution given past events and given, carol, the fact that this is an incredibly busy commercial part of the city, it's right in mid

i am zoraida sambolin. >> i am poppy harlow.as prices climbing and possibly 13 cents here in one week alone and no signs of slowing down. >>> a shakeup at the top, the president and founder of susan g. komen for the cure are both stepping down after the ruckus over funding planned parenthood. the request he is why now? >>. >>> and talking more about campaign attacks. mitt romney ripping president obama's stance on birth control in a brand new ad out today, but the president says romney wants to take women's health care back to the 1950s. we are doing our fact checking. >> we have a packed show ahead. republican congressman marsha blackburn, former u.s. ambassador to india, tim roemer, rebecca soni and if that's not justify jordyn wieber. >> we're excited. it is thursday, august 9th. "starting point" beginning right now. >>> our starting point, gas prices heading higher. they're up another 1.5 cents over night for national average of 3.66 a gallon and a fire in california is about to make things worse. >> here is why. you see the

it's certainly not what it was. ♪ >> poppy harlow joining me now from new york. this quote win love that, "hate is too strong an emotion to waste on someone you don't like." and we were talking about this last week, because you were so excited about this story, we were, this could never happen today because of the internet. >> it could never happen. i mean, it was the 70s. there was no internet. rodriguez, he's sort of a wanderer, brooke. he never had a phone, he lived in 26 different homes in detroit. so people couldn't really reach him. and south africa was so isolated because of apartheid. so if you fast forward to today, a story like this probably isn't going to happen again. >> so, obviously, the end of apartheid in south africa, a huge, huge event that was, you know, came after years and years of bloodshed and struggle. what does rodriguez think about his role, huge role, in such a powerful and political movement? >> huge role. i mean, the music really motivated part of that, we've learned. i asked him, did you ever think that your songs would fuel a revolu

thank you, poppy harlow and keep us posted on the ongoing investigation. meanwhile, many streets there are closed because of the investigation that continues. and we are hearing accounts from eyewitnesses and people as poppy underscored heading to work or in some cases waiting in line right outside of the empire state building to e be gbegin t tour. among the eyewitnesses or someone who heard all that was unfolding is annika who was on a city bus that stopped right in front of the empire state building,ed a at th and at thatu heard the gun fire and what did you see and hear? >> we heard a bunch of rounds go off. i'm not sure, because the stories are unfolding if it was also police fire. we saw a bunch of gunshots and heard them go off and then people fall to the ground. did not see the gunman, himself. and it was just explaining to others that it was just absolute mass chaos, and then the street just went completely still and quiet for a hot second. and then people started fleeing to the scene. >> what happened on the bus there? you and others with once you

let's get to cnn's poppy harlow live on the scene to update the situation. as we know it, two people dead, ten people hurt. what else do we know? >> reporter: that's what we know from law enforcement, they're very cautious. i've been on the scene for about the last hour. it happened in a place outside the empire state building at 4th and 5th avenue, many offices here, many commercial businesses, everything from pharmacies to starbucks, people just in the midst of rush hour going to work. what we know is that there have been ten people at least ten people shot, we know two were dead on arrival at the hospital, one of them being the shooter, that's according to law enforcement. i spend a good portion of the time talking to a witness, rebecca fox, 27-year-old girl going to work across the street from the empire state building. she told me all of a sudden they saw people running every which way, dropping coffee cups. she saw blood spilling all over the sidewalk in front of the empire state building. i asked her if she saw anyone who had been shot. she did. she s

poppy harlow is live for us, and that is an amazing story, poppy. more albums or know what the future is? >> he said he would, suzanne, but he only released two albums and they were a massive hit and he made it halfway around the world, and he said he wanted to release more albums, but he needed to get started, because he is 70 years old, and a story like this could not happen again. because it was the '70s and there was no internet and rodriguez had no phone living in detroit and lived in 26 homes and sortf a wanderer, and south afte afterka was isolated from the world because of apartheid, so if you think about it, a story like this won't happen again and a cinderella story, and good for him. we hope he gets money and fame coming his way. >> extraordinary story. thank you, poppy. we appreciate it. >> sure. >>> and i was covering president bill clinton in aftrica in 1998 when this photo was taken so when i saw this young boy all grown up 14 years later, it is pretty amazing and i will tell you why. get that great taste anytime with kingsford match

so is cnn's poppy harlow who's been covering this story all day today.s video, we're seeing for the first time, the reason we're kind of showing it, is it does kind of show the difficulty police face when you have a shooter on the street with people all around and in the back of the shooter it's a very difficult situation to be in for officers. >> yeah, most definitely. unfortunately, this is the type of scenario where we have what is referred to as an active shooter. and there is no other option but to engage that individual. primarily because he's clearly drawn his weapon already. this .45 semiautomatic caliber pistol. he's discharging it. police have no alternative but to engage him. subsequently what we've experienced is what we've also referred to as collateral damage. that's where innocent people not completely aware of or necessarily involved in this activity are injured. >> in a situation like this, how much information did the officers actually have about what this person has already done? i mean, how much access to information do they have? >>

you know, it's certain not what it was. ♪ >> reporter: poppy harlow for "outfront."

poppy harlow has this story "outfront." >> we thought it was like the inner city poet.ng spirit around the city. >> cecil rodriguez, a detroit native who tried his hand at rock history in the '70s. ♪ the mayor has the crime rate cause a woman hesitates public is irate ♪ >> when we walked in and heard the songs he was singing and what he was writing, we had to record him and make a deal. he's great. we said this is it. >> reporter: it wasn't. rodriguez's albums flopped in the u.s. somehow his first album "cold fact" made it halfway around the world and became a massive hit. >> in south africa he was a rock god. >> to us it was one of the most famous records of all time. >> reporter: the soundtrack fueling a revolution. ♪ this system is going to fall soon to an angry young tune ♪ >> reporter: at home in detroit, rodriguez had no idea. he had given up his music career. that was four decades ago. you used to play across the street? >> i played a lot of places in detroit. >> reporter: unaware of his fame abroad, he raised his daughters doing demolition work. he made failed b

i'm poppy harlow in for john berman. >> nice to have you. i'm zoraida sambolin.n tucson, arizona, takes a dramatic step this morning. jared lee loughner now facing a lifetime in prison after pleading guilty to a shooting that killed six people and almost killed a former member of congress, gabrielle giffords. under the plea deal loughner will be sentenced to life in prison with no parole but will avoid the death penalty. the u.s. attorney prosecuting the case says loughner's mental state was a big factor in this decision. >> the doctors who have treated and observed mr. loughner since the shooting agree that he suffered from a severe mental illness. that is severe schizophrenia. at the time of the shooting and before the shooting. the fragility of his continued competency to stand trial was taken into account. >> we're live in tu san. we're used to seeing loughner's picture we just showed on the screen. you saw him in the courtroom yesterday. how did he look to you? >> reporter: he looked very different. at least his demeanor was very different. when he first cam

welcome back to "early start," i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm poppy harlow.oints. 52% of americans would reelect president obama. our political editor paul steinhauser joining us. let's talk about favorable. >> interesting numbers there. we conducted the poll tuesday and wednesday. any good numbers for mitt romney? yes, he locked up the gop nomination back in april. do romney voters more strongly support their candidate? yeah, they do, 56%, up nine points from back in may. obama voters favor their candidate the same number from may until now. who do you think will win the election? take a look at this number. and overwhelmingly they say almost a 2-1 margin, they think president obama will win the election. one of the troubling numbers is unfavor numbers. they are starting to rise. we've seen it in two national polls last week. >> most interesting numbers are the economy polls and how the u.s. economy is doing. they got less than three months to go. fiscal cliff, major spending cuts likely ahead and that would mean a lot of companies. we know -- they are sayin

cnn's poppy harlow is in for christine romans. why is this so important?use what we spend, consumer spending is two-thirds of our gdp. our growth. it's really the driver, the economic engine of us getting back on track. what we know now is that in july things turned around. you're spending more at the mall, on cars, et cetera. retail sales rose for the first time in four months. it shows that the u.s. economy is rebounding a bit in the face of all the troubles in europe. what it also shows is the fed may step back because we had a good jobs report in july as well, relatively good. they may say we don't necessarily need more stimulus at this point in time. that's going to be important out of their september meeting. this is only one month's data. we can't read too much into it. but it is a shift. what we all spend is very important to this economy turning around. it's a little bit of good news. michael kors, interesting tidbit, seeing luxury doing well. michael kors just went public in december. their sales were extreme lly go. earnings nearly tripled. luxu

a lot of people tried to do that with this stock. >> poppy harlow, thank you.s? a truck that offers answers to that trashy talk question who's your daddy? we'll have to plain this and you'll have to watch coming up. don't have them. questions about treatment where to go for extra help, how to live better with the disease. so many questions, where do you start? alzheimers.gov. the answers start here. what? it's a brand-new camry. i just bought this. really? i just thought i'd take a looka. sure, you can. this malibu eco features e-assist. it offers an epa estimated 37 miles per gallon highway. this cannot be a brand-new car. what are you doing? i was looking for a cassette deck. [ male announcer ] visit your local chevy dealer today. now get a 2013 malibu eco for around $219 per month. the wheels of progress. seems they haven't been moving much lately. but things are starting to turn around because of business people like you. and regions is here to help. with the experience and service to keep things rolling. from business loans to cash management, we want to b

wolf. >> what a heartbreaking story, poppy harlow, thanks for bringing it to our viewers. were there warning signs before the sikh temple massacre? i'm going to speak live with the police chief, john edwards, the oak creek, wisconsin, police department. that's coming up here in "the situation room" at the half hour. let's go to jack cafferty right now. he's got the cafferty file. jack. >>> it is election time, as you're probably aware, and the politicians as they want to do will do or say anything to get your vote. starting with president obama and mitt romney and all the way down the line, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle want you to believe that they feel your pain. it's an open question though if any of them really do. ron paul was a rare candidate who actually connected with voters these last two election cycles. he attracted a ground swell of support from people looking for real answers. but it was never enough support to propel him on to the next level. as for most of us the two major plolitical parties, democrat an republican, often seem interchangeable. and the

. >> i'm poppy harlow in new york. wall street will be watching for key corporate earnings.ell, lowes and barnes and noble. we will get the minutes from the federal reserve's latest meeting to shed light on economic conditions across the country. also ahead the latest new and existing home sales report looking for signs of continued recovery. on friday we wrap up the week with the latest durable goods numbers. we will keep an eye on it for you on cnn money. >> here is what we are watching this week. it is the one year anniversary of kim kardashian's wedding bonanza. we take a look back at the 72-day marriage. as you get ready to pack away your summer gear we are counting down the biggest most shocking stories of the summer of 2012. >>> don lemon sat down with spike lee and talked about president obama with him. >> do you think he has lived up to the promises? >> spike lee's answer may surprise you. we have that next. ntgomery and abigail higgins had... ...a tree that bore the most rare and magical fruit. which provided for their every financial need. and then, in one blindin

poppy harlow has answers now. >> hey there.health desk we're focusing on planning for retirement. very important no matter what age. ryan, take a listen to this question. >> my husband is self-employed. i would like to know if it's too late to get a retirement plan? >> assuming he's sort of middle age, what do you think? >> absolutely not. you have the simple ira. the savings incentive match program. if you have between five and ten employees put up to maybe 10 to $12,000 a year. you have the sep ira. very flexible benefit program and then there's the dinosaur program, the defined benefit program. not as much out there. that could be an option for him as well. >> i think one of the positives if you do something like that you can sock away a lot more than you the when working for a traditional employer where the contributions are capped at about 17,500 a year. you can be in better shape. >> it's never too late. is it too late? absolutely not. >> it's never too late. >> thank you. appreciate it. if you have a question you want ou

. >>> i'm poppy harlow in new york. we have a packed week ahead full of economic news. wall street will be watching for key corporate earnings. we'll hear from del, dell, hp and barnes and noble. then details released on the fed's meeting. >>> and new home sales reports. we'll be rooking for any science of continued recovery. then we wrap up with the durable goods numbers. we'll keep an eye on it for you on cnn money. >>> i'm nischelle turner. here's what we're watching this week. the one-year anniversary of kim kardashian's wedding bonanza. we look back at the 76-day marriage. plus as you pack away summer gear, we're counting down the most shocking stories of the summer of 2012. >>> it's a time to reflect. ramadan is also a dangerous month for muslims in the u.s. we'll look at everythingrom mosques to personal attacks and why the increase is being called unprecedented. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodil

i'm poppy harlow. a day of reckoning for facebook.nvestors can sell 271 million shares of facebook today if they want to. today marks the end of facebook's first lockup period. facebook stock is down 45% since that nushl public offering in may. meantime, stock futures are pointing higher today. investors are waiting on several important reports including weekly jobless claims and housing starts. cisco systems is seeing shares move up 5% right now. the tech giant reported very strong earnings and boosted itsiits dividend. ikea branching out reporting that the swedish company plans to open hundred hotels across europe catering to cost conscious customers. no word on whether guests will have to assemble their own furniture in the rooms. >> for a discount, why not. that's easy to assemble. i don't know why they don't keep that ikea name. >> i wonder if swedish meatballs will be at the restaurant. >> what's not to love. all right, poppy. thank you. >>> no word on a motive for that shooting at the washington, d.c. headquarters of the conser

i want to bring in poppy harlow. what the warn act is. >> most people haven't heard of it, but it's important because if you work for a medium to big-size company, this applies to you. it's technically called the worker adjustment and retraining act. it requires them to send out these notices 60 days in advance if they are going to close a plant or have mass layoffs. so if defense contractors have to do mass layoffs, they may need to send out these notices. so what is it? 500 employees or 33% of the workforce. you need to send these out. here's where timing is so important. sequester, as you said, a stupid name for a stupid thing. that would take effect if it happens on january 2nd. so what's 60 days before that? when would the notices go out? november 2nd, just a few day before the election. so the big question now is does this apply in this case? the labor department came out this week and said, no. they issued guidance which is this quote and they basically said, well, we don't know if it's going to happen so we d

her boys spoke with cnn's poppy harlow. >> she collapsed there. she didn't have a chance.id she was dead on the spot. >> reporter: parmjit's son had rushed to the temple and looked for his mom among those who survived. she wasn't there. >> i just want to know where she was laying. i want to go back and look. >> reporter: why? >> it's the last time she was there. >> reporter: she and her family came to the u.s. about eight years ago. every week, she came to the temple to pray and prepare food for the shared meal. randi kaye joins me now live. i understand two young men we just saw, they actually want to get into law enforcement. >> right, her boys. this has really cemented that for them. one of them is studying criminal justice. their mother was everything to them, anderson. she was selfless. if their wasn't enough money for food, they ate first and she waited. she's been saving up every penny to take them to india and they finally all went as a family. they got to see the golden temple together. thank goodness they had that. i did mention this other victim in my story, per

. ♪ >> reporter: poppy harlow for "outfront." >> that is just cool. there's no other way to say it.hat's just wicked cool. important to note a story could not happen like this again because it was in the '70s and there was no internet and south africa was isolated. thank you for watching. "anderson cooper 360" starts now. >>> thanks. we begin tonight with breaking news. at least 70 wildfires are burning west of the mississippi. this is a canyon fire in washington state that's already destroyed at least five dozen homes. nearly 25,000 acres are burning. weather conditions in the northwest could produce explosive fire growth. that's how forecasters are describing it. explosive growth over the next few days. south in california, 8,000 firefighters are battling a dozen fires there along the nevada/oregon border. a single fire covers nearly half a million acres in smoke and flame. as we mentioned, weather could hold the key to what happens next. chad myers is tracking that for us. what's the forecast look like? >> it doesn't look good for tomorrow for sure. it gets hotter. the heat wants