soledad. >> jim acosta for us. thank you. i should mention in a few minutes we'll be speaking with florida's lieutenant gov, jennifer carol, the first african-american elected statewide in the state of florida. other headlines first. christine romans has a look for us. >> good morning, soledad. joe paterno's legacy a reputation of a beloved university hanging in the balance today n less than two hours former fbi chief louie frooe will release his report commissioned by penn state university on the jerry sandusky sex abuse scandal. it will detail whether the head coach and school administrators could have done more. yesterday a seven month old letter surfaced from the late joe paterno in which he defended the integrity of penn state saying, quote, this is not a football scandal. a live report on what to expect inside the freeh report coming up in less than ten minutes. florida's state attorney plans to release fbi reports later today that could explain whether race played a role in the shooting death of trayvon martin. it incl

soledad? >> christine, thanks for that update.earing in mississippi today will decide the fate of the state's last remaining abortion clinic. in effect decide the fate of abortion in the state of mississippi all together. a new law requires that physicians at the jackson women's health organization be certified ob-gny and have admitting privileges. supporters say it's a safety measure. the clinic said it can't get its out of state doctors hospital privileges. the law was suspended by a federal judge on july 1st. the same judge will preside over today's hearing, which will determine whether or not to lift that suspension. ahead in joemt, we'll hear from planned parenthood southeast. first we're joined by sam mihms, the state congressman. why do you think this law is a good thing? >> good morning. >> good morning to you. >> we believe health care is very important here in mississippi. we do believe this is a health care issue for women. so the legislation is quite simple. it mandates that every ob-gyn at this one facility has been c

>> soledad, i haven't seen the ad.k we're going to continue to see a lot of these negative ads on both sides. i just don't think they are going to work that much. i think by the time we get to november, people are going to look on the records and make decisions based on the policies that both candidates have, and they are going to be basing their votes on their pocketbook. who they think will turn this economy around and get them jobs. and, again, i think governor romney will win that debate and be the next president of the united states. >> congressman randy forbes joining us this morning. nice to see you. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> at the end of the day, every politician knows negative ads work. that's why they keep running them. >> they do. yet at the same time, they also hit you on your favorability and unfavorability numbers. they do. >> you can ignore that. >> maybe not. >> the american public says it all the time. we don't like negative ads. but they respond to them. >> that's a different question. those ar

soledad? >> that's scary. all right, christine.tarting point," the line drawn at the meeting of the nations governors this weekend. how it could affect health care for the uninsured. we'll talk to terry branstad straight ahead. >>> and today's tough call, two chimps on a rampage. one ends up shot and killed. the other gets to go own. do you think the owner should get her chimpanzee back? and why does she have the chimpanzee anyway? >>> and we leave you with this viewer request. from monique evans from facebook. thank you, monique. she knows a little gospel. she knew we'd get that on. you can see the entire play list every morning on our website, cnn.com/startingpoint. [ female announcer ] the coffee house. the lines, the cost, the hassle. ♪ express yourself [ female announcer ] why not try coffee-mate? with over 25 delicious flavors for a fraction of the cost of the coffee house. add your flavor, with coffee-mate, from nestle. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] you've been years in the making. and there are many years ahead. join the millions

hey, rob. >> good morning, soledad.is highly populated during the summer months. a lot of tourism in the area. great smokey mountain national park. and this storm tore right through the area across there. rvs, tents, don't do a lot of good when talking about big trees falling down. because this complex of storms rolled through knoxville, tennessee valley, and just to the west of the appalachians and kind of converged over this area right along the park. winds gusting at times 70 miles per hour. that's multiple trees down. dozens injured. two fatalities, and still some folks that are hurt there they are trying to get out. right now it's quiet. sun goes down, and we lose a lot of the heat and energy. later on today, the heat will build back up. and especially along this front is where we expect most of the severe weather. south of that, more heat and humidity. two dozen states under heat advisories and warnings today. dangerous heat and another record-setting day for st. louis, chicago, maybe even pittsburgh. places like

soledad, back to you.f controversy surrounding that young lady. >> all those numbers and statistics you're naming are just very improbable. >> yeah. >> we were talking to someone earlier, and she said the likelihood -- they'll test her and see. >> is that right? >> people aren't jumping to conclusions here? >> you know, i think the five-second gap is a very big gap. it's that issue. you know, at this level, people do not break records by five seconds to beat their own record. >> tested ahead of time as well. so they are waiting for those results. the combination of the two should give them some answers. >> thank you, zoraida. but i hope it's not the case. >> yeah. >> it could another one of those great miracles that happen all of a sudden. >> i'm all for miracles, every day. >>> in fact, the women's gymnastics team will try for gold. we hope that happens, making up hopefully for the men's team's devastating collapse. they blew what was a promising start on qualification day. mistake after mistake, they fel

. >> good morning, soledad. immigration officials can be called to the scene of a deadly accident in southeastern texas. 11 people were killed, 12 others injured when a pickup truck veered off u.s. highway 59 and slammed into two large trees last night. it was a one vehicle accident and police say all of the 23 victims were loaded inside the ford truck's cab and bed. they suspect people smuggling. >>> penn state paying the price for the jerry sandusky sex abuse scandal. in less than two hours, the ncaa will unveil what are set to be unprecedented sanctions against the football program. they include fines in excess of $30 million and the loss of scholarships and a ban from postseason bowl games. this comes a day after the school removed the iconic statue of football coach joe paterno from outside beaver stadium. just ahead a live report on what to expect when the ncaa announces the sanctions less than two hours from now. >>> the arab league making syrian president assad an offer they hope he can't refuse. they'll

>> soledad, i never hear it. when i travel around america, nobody talks about those issues, they are talking about what can we do to get unemployment below the 8% that this administration when it spent $800 billion in stimulus said unemployment would never go above 8%. it's been above 8% for 41 weeks. according to their estimates it should be 5.6%. people are concerned about their job and how are they going -- when their children graduate from college, how do they get a job? half of recent college graduates are unemployed or underemployed, that's a real problem and directly related to this president's policies that have incurred more debt that have burdened our businesses with regulation and this president doesn't understand that. take a look at the most recent comments about, if you build a business, you didn't build the business, somebody else did. dismissive of the hard work of small to medium size business owners. he doesn't have a clue how to create jobs and that's really what the campaign should be about. h

soledad? >> all right, christine. we are arguing over one of your stories talking about mitt romney and the taxes, as you can see a heated debate right here on the panel. "starting point" this morning, the lean, mean head coach of gangrene, rex ryan, he is 105 pounds lighter to jets training camp this year. he is walking in to talk to us. nice to see him. here is his play list. and he likes a little jimmy buffet. nice to see you. welcome, welcome. pencil thin mustache. you're watching "starting point." ♪ happy endings ♪ where nobody fights ♪ so if you find yourself in that nostalgic rage ♪ >>what? >>sorry. he wants you to know about priceline's new express deals. it's a faster way to get a great hotel deal without bidding. pick one with a pool, a gym, a great guest rating. >>and save big. >>thanks negotiator. wherever you are. ya, no. he's over here. >>in the refrigerator? [romney singing]: oh beautiful, for spacious skies, i'm barack obama and i approve this message. for amber waves of grain, for purple mountains maj

shirley wygal will join soledad live.nting, tell the truth, during a protest over recent police shootings in anaheim, california. police say they arrested two people when a peaceful protest start started to turn yesterday. the demonstrations follow the fatal shootings of two men this month by police. >>> and the web is about buzzing about the mystery woman who crashed the olympics opening ceremonies. take a look at this a. woman in a red sweater near the front of the indian delegation during the parade of nations on friday night. she is not an athlete. an olympic organizer says she was a member of the opening ceremony cast who perhaps got slightly overexcited. i guess if you're going to crash the party, wear the same color. >> she's not dressed at all appropriately. i think she has like blue slacks on. >> and how does that happen, you know, when security is all around. >> she is a volunteer. >> i know but -- >> they walk into the stadium and instead of stopping and letting everyone walk in, she kept going. what i love the

you don't see this every day, soledad.to number 10 downing street. >> and is trying to get in. >> and that's getting almost as much attention from the foreign press as mitt romney's entry a few moments ago. >> jim, thank you. i appreciate it. >> reporter: i'll put out a saucer of milk. >> help a cat out. >>> let's bring in dick armey, the former house majority leader, and now the chairman of freedom works, considered by many to be the godfather of the tea party. joining us this morning. nice to see you. thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. >> well, thank you. >> let's talk a little bit about gun control, which has been one of the topics we've been discussing all morning. back in '94, the house approved a ban on 19 different types of semiautomatic weapons and you were against the ban. here is what mitt romney has said in the wake of the shooting in aurora. he said he supports the second amendment. he doesn't think the laws need to be changed. and he went on to say this. >> well, we can sometimes hope that just changi

soledad, as you know, there was never a purge.ion to our local supervisor elections, 67 of them per county. we will give them names that people that -- would not be summit citizens. might be on the voter roles. they will go lou the due process. what happens is you -- send them a notice and by mail. if they don't respond, put tonight the paper. and thenif they don't respond, they are taking off the voter roles but when the election happens, this happened to me. you go in and you are not on the voter roles and in knew case i think it is 2006 they said i passed away. you get to vote -- so -- that way, you know, we know everybody that's a u.s. citizen, registered to vote, will have the right to vote. we want on make sure everyones that right to vote. >> i think there are some people that disagree with you on it. the 67 counties, so many said they wouldn't go ahead with,ou know, the original process. has that changed? will they reverse their decisions, do you know? >> well, i believe so. this -- this is a very reliable data that -- hom

>> hi, soledad. well, a good possibility is that they are trying to have some type of video device inserted through the window. normally, s.w.a.t. teams arrive. they have a great deal of technical equipment with them, which includes basically fiber-optic lenses that can be inserted through tiny holholes look around inside that building. so that may be what they are trying to do, is insert video devices safely through a hole in the window or under doors to see what's inside, make sure no one else is inside, and see if they can see any obvious signs of a booby trap or some other plosive device or precursor chemicals on the site. >> the suspect told police that he potentially had explosives in his apartment, which was what brought them to that address. and we know that the s.w.a.t. team has set up some kind of perimeter. those would be members of the s.w.a.t. team trying to gain entrance using the fire department ladder to get entrance. i talked to a woman who lives across the street, and one of the thi

soledad♪.mera novia de fonseca. >>> quiÉn? >>> usted. >>> no mentira, vamos a la pausa, y regresamos condespiertt e c n a @ n t ♪. ♪. ♪. ♪. ♪. ♪. ♪. ♪. >>> palmas, palmas, palmas, meche, meche, meche, meche, meche. >>> meche, baila. >>> meche se asustÓ, se asusto. va esa espalda doÑa meche, se le ve hasta los pensamientos. >>> no muestre los calzones. >>> denle agua por favor. >>> sientese, tapese ahÍ, no muestre calzones. >>> fonseca respiraciÓn boca a boca. >>> ya se fue. >>> saliÓ corriendo. >>> es bien novelera igual, cuÁntos noveleros hay aquÍ? >>> (gritos) . >>> y la cena quiÉn la hace? >>> el marido. >>> me gusta. >>> llegÓ la hora. de. >>> de lÁgrimas, besos, cuernos y cachetadas. >>> sobre todo cachetadas jhonny. >>> eso me gusta. >>> muchachos, luego que la bola de seÑores noveleras hicieron la cena, se sentaron a ver la novela, ayer si la vieron, en un refugio para el amor, rodrigo, usted picarona, la vi, rodrigo recibiÓ una supersorpresa, no se lo esperaba. veamos. >>> licenciado ba

>> no, soledad, good morning. this would be one of the first times i think we've ever seen what we can describe as a house bomb in the united states. some of these things do exist overseas, we've seen them in places like iraq and afghanistan. also in colombia, south america, but this is the first one i can actually recall reading or seeing about in the united states where it was actually set to destroy the home. >> the source for cnn talking to our reporter poppy pharlow it looked like massive spaghetti and wires all connected. would this something incredibly complicated and the suspect would need quite a fair amount of expertise to be able to do this? >> no, you know, the expertise is out there. i think he's -- you look at his peddegree that i was a graduate student working towards his ph.d.. i think he had the education and knowledge, it is on the internet. with a little bit of common sense and he has quite a bit of that. very intelligent. he just put it all together and had something ready to go for the apartme

the mayor will join soledad o'brien live at 7:30 a.m. eastern. >>> and no hard feelings, justice scalia saying he hasn't had a falling out with chief justice roberts. roberts was the swing vote that kept the individual mandate in place as a tax, not a penalty. scalia telling piers morgan there is no bad blood between the two conservatives. >> you and justice roberts have had a bit of a parting of the ways. you've gone from being best buddies to warring enemies. >> who told you that that? >> i think i read it in some of the papers. credible sources. >> you should not believe what you read about the court in the newspapers, because the information has either been made up or given to the newspapers by somebody who was violating confidence, which means that person is not reliable. >> the chief justice joined the court's four liberal members in upholding the health care overcare law. justice scalia and three others signed a strong dissent. >>> new dangerous combustible tension in israel. that's coming up. about once a month. drive around town

the mayor will join soledad o'brien live at 7:30 a.m. eastern. >>> and no hard feelings, justice scalia saying he hasn't had a falling out with chief justice roberts. roberts was the swing vote that kept the individual mandate in place as a tax, not a penalty. scalia telling piers morgan there is no bad blood between the two conservatives. >> you and justice roberts have had a bit of a parting of the ways. you've gone from being best buddies to warring enemies. >> who told you that that? >> i think i read it in some of the papers. credible sources. >> you should not believe what you read about the court in the newspapers, because the information has either been made up or given to the newspapers by somebody who was violating confidence, which means that person is not reliable. >> the chief justice joined the court's four liberal members in upholding the health care overcare law. justice scalia and three others signed a strong dissent. >>> new dangerous combustible tension in israel. that's coming up. about once a month. drive around town

soledad o'brien joins sir richard branson on a deep sea quest for a big cause. >> really big sharks!e some personal experience with these, don't you? >> big, scary sharks. yes. >>> welcome back to "early start," we're happy you're with us. >> it is 31 minutes past the hour. also coming up, the drought of 2012. this is big. almost historic and it is spreading this morning. we're going to talk to rob marciano in a little bit to get information on that. >>> the two americans abducted in egypt are now in israel this morning waiting to return home to the boston area. reverends michelle lewis and lisa alfons tell cnn they are happy and relieved. meantime, egyptian police say they negotiated with their captors but did not give into their demands. they were demanding the release of a jailed relative. cnn's ian lee is live with the very latest. how are the victims? we heard a lot about the pastor, who's a diabetic. do you know anything about his condition? >> reporter: right now, he's doing all right. he didn't have his medication, actually, during this ordeal, so he was really lucky. but sec

soledad? >> thank you.he conversation this afternoon on capitol hill will also involve the tsa but won't be talking about the olympics. this big hearing this morning we'll try to answer the question, is the united states unknowingly training terrorists? the hearings happen two hours from now and could have big security implications, you'll remember back in 9/11, two of the four hijackers who piloted planes were trained at a flight school in the u.s. it brings us to republican congressman mike rogers f alabama. he's going to chairing that hearing today. thanks for joining us. a lot of this i guess involves the tsa taking over responsibilities from the fbi when it comes to oversight of people who are foreign nationals in this country going to pilot school. explain to me first how it all works. how do those lessons work and how are they overseen when it's done right? >> when somebody -- first of all, your flight school has to be certified by the tsa. but when somebody applies for flight lessons, the tsa has up

>> soledad, i think everybody sees through this tactic.f he released five years, they say, why beyond you release six? there's no end in sight. and what the obama campaign needs to do is invent a new excuse every day for voters not to focus on how high unemployment is. every other topic under the political sun, they will try to invent. but they will not run on the economy. they know in the obama campaign if the issues focus on the things that matter most to the voters, the president cannot win re-election. it's just going to be a shifting series of things. mitt romney is working his hardest to keep the focus on job creation. that's where this election is going to be won and lost. unless mitt romney is foolish enough to take the bait and chase the democrat attacks. he should keep the focus on the economy. >> obviously, keep watching it. ari fleisher and paul begala. >>> some new details tonight about the latest alleged massacre by bashar al assad's forces in syria. what we're learning is simply horrifying. more than 200 people reportedly ki

que la llevÓ a tomar la drÁstica soledad. >> no querÍa que se quedaron solos. >> beatrÍz dice que estabarataba y la amenazaba. >> me maltrataba. >> antes de envenenar a los pequeÑos ella escribiÓ una carta k d dr. j d dirigidos al padre. >> (carta en pantalla) >> >> mientras tanto le rinde cuenta a la justicia su bebÉ lucha por su vida, luego de la investigaciÓn que serÁ llevada acabo por el ministro de la mujer, podrÍa ser llevada a un albergue. >> tiene custodia y serÁ trasladada a un hospital psiquiÁtrico, ademas podrÍa terminar en prisiÓn. >> en lima, perÚ, ximena de la quintana, "primer impacto." >> impactante son las imÁgenes de un cruel maltrato que fue vÍctima una joven con problemas mentales en connecticut, no solamente es pa estatea da por empleada si no que es arrastrado del cabello, la responsable del abuso contra la indefensa fue medio alta mente despedida. >> causa conmociÓn en internet la violencia represiÓn contra una protesta de mineros en espaÑa, muestran a varias mujeres siendo golpeadas por uniformados y algunas terminaron baÑadas en sangre, por los recortes financier

and it's really going to get nasty, soledad. >> yeah. can't wait for that. jim, let me you a question which i thought was a really interesting moment in your interview. you talked to him about swiftboating. and he sort of stopped and said he hadn't heard that term before. i was trying to figure out, did he mean he hadn't heard the term swiftboating or did he mean in the context of his campaign? >> i think what he said was he hadn't thought about that term in the context of what's happening now in this campaign. later on in the interview, he sort of went back to that train of thought and said, well, if we're going to go back to the way campaigns were waged in years past, i don't want to go there, is what mitt romney had to say. and so i think that's -- i think that is something that he does worry about and that his campaign worried about. and we're not the first ones to draw this analogy. people have been saying that this is what the obama campaign is up to, that this is a scri skiptboating of mitt romney. >> we're on facebook and twitter, @ac360. plus, we're

that's quts early start, i'm john berman. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin, "starting point" with soledading, it's getting ugly early. and new polls this morning show both candidates are paying for it. voters turned off by the ugly campaign ads, plus a frightening scenario developing in syria, al qaeda is moving in as a country with chemical weapons is falling apart. >>> stocks are deep in the red, another 100-point plunge, our savings are shrinking as the nation heads for that so call fiscal cliff. will congress avoid another blow to the economy? miracle on main street usa. disney tells us santa look alike, could you tone it down on pt christmas stuff. it's our get real this morning. it's wednesday, july 25th, and "starting point" begins right now. welcome, our starting point this morning, new developments to tell you about in the aurora movie theater massacre. there will be no cameras allowed in the courtroom when the accused shooter faces formal charges today. the judge granted a defense request that keeps the cameras out this after so much was made out of the way the defendant looked

soledad o'brien will talk with senators john mccain and kelly ayot about those defense cuts at 7:30 ont on the team, but she sure fooled a lot of people. this is one of the big stunners of the olympics so far. coming up, the mystery woman who somehow joined team india for the opening ceremony. if you're leaving the house right now, you can watch this any time on your desktop or mobile phone. go to cnn.com/tv. oh, you're good! hey, did you know that honey nut cheerios is... oh you too! ooh, hey america's favorite cereal is... honey nut cheerios ok then off to iceland! your doctor will say get smart about your weight. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. mine was earned off vietnam in 1968. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to

we saw that on soledad o'brien earlier.the family is saying about this development, and then i'll talk to you about that press conference and what they are saying. what do they think about this development? >> well, don, they have said all along that they would rather the killer of their unarmed child remain in jail until trial. however, they respect the ruling of the court and especially the very strong message that the judge sent. that w that being said, it is an emotional roller coaster for them because no matter what happens trayvon is dead, and he's not coming back. >> emotional roller coaster. i imagine, you know, obviously there are ups and there are downs and you have spent almost every moment with this family. that -- what do you mean by emotional roller coaster? what are the emotions? what happens to this family? what kind of issues is it causing? >> well, you know, every time something happens, and i think they have come to the understanding that it's not a sprint to justice, but it's going to be a long journey t

>> good morning, soledad. i thank you for having us on this morning.g all of the news media outlet's that has been interviewing us and we thank them also. the information that we're getting is trickling down and is information that people are getting from the internet. we do have people that are working on our behalves via the u.s. state department and office of senator scott brown, but again, information is -- we're gettin