. >>> controversial case from sonia sotomayer past testifying at her confirmation hearing. i'm joel brown in washington. the story coming up. fa >>> this week it continues on wall street. dow climbing for a fourth straight day closing at 8711 nasdaq rising 22 points and s&p 500 closed eight points higher. >>> labor department reports the number of americans filing new claims for jobless benefits took a big drop last week. the number of initial unemployment filings plunged by 47,000 people to 522,000 and that is the lowest level since january. hundreds of people looking for work flooding the washington convention center today for a job fair hosted by congresswoman norton. more than 80 employers were at the event all with current job openings and they also gave job seekers some advice on how to be competitive in this ultra tight market. >> in your job search, the basic tenants did not change in a job market but the amount of time an effort you must put into a job search to be successful must increase dramatically. >> right now dc's unemployment rate is more than 10%. >>> judg

senator lindsey graham could be among them but one of his big concerns is whether sonia sotomayer is a bully on the bench. >> it is hard enough being a lawyer having your client there to begin with without the judge beating you up for no good reason. do you think you have a temperament problem. >> nos. >> reporter: the hearings are expected to wrap up by the end of this week. cbs news, supreme court. >>> democrats planning to name a new hate crime bill after andrew sheppard. the measure would authorize the federal government to step in and prosecute a hate crime when a state is unwilling or unable to do so. sheppard's mom said it would send an important message to stop such crimes. >>> nation's largest group of atheists, freedom from religion center claims taxpayers would be paying for engraving "in god we trust" thehouse and senate passed identical resolutions. it will cost less than $100,000 to make the engravings. >>> new tonight word the newly renovated gerard street park in the district could be getting a new name. residents celebrated the reopening of the park this weekend and

love the hair. >>> today judge sonia sotomayer will be the one in the witness chair answering questionsher senate confirmation hearing. >>> welcome back, i'm andrea roane. thank you for joining us this tuesday morning. angie goff is here. she'll have traffic in a moment. we say good morning to howard bernstein. welcome him back from vacation. >> thank you. >> weather's not been bad while you were away. >>> no, it's been too dry, though. it has. we've had hardly any rain in the month of july. we'll see what we can do by the middle of the week. maybe by thursday because today it's going to be another beautiful day out there with low humidity levels and comfortable temperatures. we're not talking a lot of heat. in fact now, we can look at skies which are generally clear out there. we had a few thunderstorms down through the middle peninsula of virginia there yesterday. other than that, though, it is a fairly quiet morning. we've got 50s to the north and west. martinsburg, last time i checked, down to 51. we're down to 65. it's around 70 or so from the naval academy in annapolis and in sout

he says he backs sonia sotomayer because she is well qualified and has a main stream record. graham becomes the fifth republican senator to publicly announce support for the nominee. >>> still to come when 9news now returns. federal agents raid the office of the doctor of michael jackson before he died. >>> seemed like a great idea selling an entire shark to a sea food restaurant. don't tell that to police. >>> topper? >> we have a new product for our web users. go to wusa9.com. pretty easy to find. you can findtht hoonfae page or go the weather tab. click on the weather tab. m nortto the h noown. raine dot just just west of winchester. we will come back and check doppler and talk about a limore bit more heat and humidity. that's next. (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 ins

s the tough part is over for judge sonia sotomayer. as deputy political director, paul steinhauser tells us the committee will vote on her nomination to the supreme court. >> reporter: sonia sotomayer is out of the hot seat. they meet tuesday and could vote as early as that day on her confirmation. republicans could push it back to july 28. regardless, the democrats have the votes in the committee. there are 12 democrats and seven republicans in the committee. after passage in the committee, it moves to the full senate. republicans say they won't filibuster or block a vote in the senate. expect a vote before the senate breaks in early august for summer recess. that's something the president asked for. how many republicans will vote for her? three republican senators said they will vote yes in favor of her confirmation. four years ago, john roberts was confirmed as chief justice. he received 78 votes. a couple months later when samuel alito received 50 votes in favor. it was a party line vote. we'll keep a close eye on how many republic

. >>> nomination of sonia sotomayer. she wrapped up four days of testimony before the senate judiciary committee. in the afternoon witnesses who support and oppose her nomination testified. they included mike the new york city mayor. he supports her. there was a light moment when a senator was discussing the disparity in sentences given to crack users versus cocaine users. >> talking during these hearings we are going to do that crack cocaine thing you and i have talked about before. >> thank you, senator, i appreciate it. >> might want to restate that. >> let me correct the record. >> please rephrase it, senator. please rephrase. >> i misspoke. >> the senator went on to clarify that the senate was going to reduce the burden of penalties in some crack cocaine cases and make them fair. >>> three congressional committees began work on president obama's health care overhaul proposal. the president said he wants congress to take action before the august recess. 10-year 1.5 trillion legislation would require everyone to have

. >>> judge sonia sotomayer has just one more hurdle to clear. today the senate judiciary committee voted 13-6 in her favor. >>> a 16-word post on twitter is now the source of a $50,000 lawsuit launched against a former tenant who tweeted about moldy apartments. can you really be sued for what you put on a social networking site? britney moorehouse is in the webster with the answer to that question. britney. >> reporter: anita, in short, yes you can. it may feel like it shouldn't but the laws of the real world apply to the internet so you better think before you tweet. >> that's interesting because it is a lot of unchartered territory. >> reporter: a tweeter for six months raymond bradley observes more than he posts. >> if there is a privacy issue, that everything from moment to moment doesn't need to be broadcasted and once it is out there it is out there for good. >> reporter: it is that permanency that one chicago tweeter may soon regret after being sued for $50,000. he posted this. who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? horiz

the senate judiciary committee today voted 13-6 to approve the nomination of judge sonia sotomayer to the supreme court. the vote for sotomayer was mostly along party lines. one republican senator, as expected, senator lindsey graham, voted in favor of sotomayer. critics remain concerned sotomayer is an activist, a full vote to confirm sotomayer is expected next week. >>> up next year law enforcement agencies intensifying focus on michael jackson's personal doctor. a report on the live investigation into the pop star's death. you won't believe who is defending me against the rant of those radical left wingers. >> isn't this partially the southern poverty law center was so outraged by mr. dobbs and the illegal alien tape that he came up with, isn't this a little payback? >> we'll have the latest on the controversy over the president's birth certificate and the media reaction. stay with us. i was in the grocery store when i had a heart attack. my daughter was with me. i took a bayer aspirin out of my purse and chewed it. my doctor said the bayer aspirin saved my life. please talk to you

. >>> a vote on supreme court nominee sonia sotomayer, a senior on the judiciary committee said he made up his mind how he will vote. jeff sessions won't say how he will vote. he told people at a fund-raiser he's troubled by responses at a confirmation hearing wilamet a democratic majority in the senate, it's virtually guaranteed president obama's nominee will be confirmed. >>> a paralyzed law school graduate is fighting to take the bar exam. the test is tuesday so time is running out for sarah. california state bar refused to seat her because her registration fee was paid by check instead of credit card. a deputy director said it's students' responsibility to maneuver the high-tech process. the bar isn't in the business of making exceptions to the rule? >> they said there's no appeal process because they can't take new applicants. but i started my application in november. >>> well, tomorrow her lawyer plans to ask the state supreme court to order the bar to test miranda. she's got governor schwarzenegger's support. he went on to say, sarah is a fighter and i am with her all the way. >>

. >>> president obama wanted a quick confirmation for supreme court nominee judge sonia sotomayer. that may be what happens. let's bring in our friend paul steinhauser. he joins us from washington. i don't see him. where is he? i don't have pauly. oh, there he is. a friend of us. he always shows up. sometimes he's late, but he gets there. hey, paul. good to see you. tell us what is going to happen next. you went through the long nationally televised job interview. >> she's off the hot seat. here's what happened. tuesday, the senate meets again. they could vote as early as tuesday but republicans could push it back a week to july 28. the democrats have the vote on the committee. 12 democrats, 7 republicans. if she passes, it goes on to the full senate. expect a full senate to vote on the confirmation before they break in early august. >> she could get the job. we patched the confirmation hearings and no doubt tough questioning came from republicans, lindsey graham in particular. he had complementary words and many complimented him on being a statesman. how many republicans could vot

. >>> april setback, senate republicans set back vote for sonia sotomayer. they forced the committee to push back the vote until tuesday. sotomayer is almost certain to win. >>> across asia, nations were plunged into darkness by the longest solar eclipse from the 21st century. from india to china millions watch as the moon moved between the moon and the earth. in some areas the eclipse lasted more than sick minutes. on a remote japanese island there's a report a group of cows were so confused, they moved over to their trough and started having din are in the middle of the day because they couldn't figure what was going on. >> sounds like us. we were looking at the pictures. it through us for a loop, the sun spots, flairups, what it means for the market. >> you had astrologers saying terrible things were going to happen. >> monica, i like the way you pointed out it was on a remote island where the cows were fooled, not the city cows. >> city cows -- >> at the looked up and said oh, that's an eclipse. the remote ones never heard of an eclipse. >> the city cows

>> president obama offering words of encouragement to sonia sotomayor expressing confidence she will win confirmation. tune in to a judging sotomayerer and megyn kelly, takes place 8:00 p.m. eastern time. >> julie: today is a special day. we are paying a tribute to the a member of fox family, a man of unique talents and extraordinary character, press secretary tony snow. one year ago today, he sadly lost his vicious battle with colon cancer. he was a loving father and husband and loving friend. truly one of america's most gifted commentators. griff is live in washington. it was one year ago today, you and i were together on this very set when you were reflecting on your personal special memories with him and incredible to know that a year has already passed? >> it's hard, he because he was gifted in leaps and bounds. but what she most proud of in all of his great accomplishments were three kids and his wife, jill. tony set the standard for character in washington along with faith and family. for all of us that knew and loved him, he was truly one of a kind. >> good morning, i'm tony snow. >> his career spans, printed, television an