john stone from south dakota. -- john stone from south dakota. [applause] >> thank you all very much. thank you. thank you, michael. thank you for flattering me by wearing those thune stickers. i appreciate the leaders are presented here in the room, committee women, executives, and i have my delegation here from south dakota. deena, our ed, and as michael said, i was an ed and we look forward to a great year in south dakota and have great hopes with regards to some of the races in our state. i know that is true around the country. that will come down to the people in our room inspiring and helping to raise resources so we can get that job done. michael has said we go a ways back. we campaigned together when he was running for the senate in 2006. that was not a particularly good year to be running for the senate. i am very pleased that he is our chairman and that race did not work out how we had hoped, but he is serving in a capacity that is critically important to our party and country. i have to tell a story because you mentioned basketball. we

heavy rain and winds are also pounding south dakota and nebraska.llen tree branch killed a 7-year-old boy in omaha, nebraska. that looks like an f-4 and f-5. the largest and rarest of tornadoes. it's at least a quarter to half mile wide and incredible that these people were able to escape the wrath and get the pictures to us. >>> back home, a different story. though a tropical feel to the air on this 24th of may. 54 normal morning. we're in the mid-60s now with a lot of moisture around. 76 the typical high and we'll get close to that today. sun up 5:47. you won't see it. by 8:21 maybe breaks of sun but we have at least have good air quality today as we report across the mid-atlantic, but 65 the current start temperature. 65 also towards richmond. look at the moisture flow from the atlantic the one thing i showed you from maryland's most powerful doppler radar earlier, it's west and we continue to have rain falling around the beltway but the regional radars are not showing it up. i can't explain why, i'm just telling you it is the case this morning.

one county in south dakota is recovering after being hit by a tornado. it downed trees and telephone poles. it headed straight for a farm but it left a home standing. large hail and strong winds were reported in other parts of north and south dakota. >> one man is lucky to be alive after his car went over a cliff. they reportedly swerved to avoid hitting an animal. he walked away with non-life- threatening injuries. there will be reminders about the dangers of swimming pools. there are different risk levels and it coincides with a national campaign to help reduce drowning incident. >> donald trump announced the new celebrity apprentice and wound up hiring bret michaels. suffered a brain hemorrhage while dealing with diabetes. last night he won $250,000. holly robinson peat will receive the same amount. 5:11. a new report on the safety of sunscreen lotions. >> looking to break your iphone contract with at&t? you might want to think again. >> we are looking at a soggy >> we are looking at a soggy start how many ways can you be comfortable? an energy effici

[applause] when the south dakota legislature goes home, they have balanced their budget. the constitution says that they have to. here in washington,.c., we continue to borrow and borrow. we passed the bill on to our children and grandchildren. there are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. when it comes to national security, which i think is on the minds of a lot of americans, look at the attacks as recent as last week. you have to be struck by the fact that sometimes here in washington, and pticularly in this administration, there is more of a concern with the rights of terrorists with political correctness than there is with preventing that next attack from happening. we have a perfectly acceptable detention facility in guantanamo bay. we do not need to bring terrorists to the united states. we do not need to try them in civilian courts. we need an administration that understands that what prompts them to admit -- commit these acts are not psychological problems. it is because they have an ideology, radicalism, extremism that is being taught and permeating th

a massive tornado tears through south dakota. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> hi, everybody. good morning. i'm thomas roberts. great to have you with us. today we begin with a plate of make it stop. frustrations are riding high where the state's governor is calling for the federal government to step in and take over. waves of toxic water are now soaking louisiana's marshlands and coating its precious wildlife, meanwhile more failure as a sted stream continues pouring into the gulf. kristen is live with the latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, thomas. this could be a key week in bp's efforts to stop this leak. it's now siphoned about half a million of gallons of oil but it admitted this weekend that the rate has slowed there, so that as they have now pushed back the plans for the top kill, shooting that mud and cement down into the leak until wednesday. meantime, oil is pushing ashore into 12 miles of louisiana's marshes. two major pelican nesting grounds have now been covered. the governor says the s

people in south dakota are cleaning up the damage left behind by severe storms. tornadoes touched down in the north-central part of the state last night. looking at this video. there were no reports of any serious injuries from the storm. a storm chaser's dream? >> very cool. we have a little bit of whether today in terms of rainfall. you are probably saying, when is this going to end neman and things are very green. finally, we have the rain, but still slightly below average. this is for real. rainfall total common and three and a half inches. -- rainfall total, three and a half inches. at the charter school, no rain to speak of. 75 degrees for a high temperature. we saw about 2/3 of an inch average daytime high of 74 degrees. our record was set back in 1925. temperatures are in the lower 70's. if you're looking for this, you do not have to travel far. the heat and humidity will eventually make its way into our area. by tuesday we will warm up nicely. the low pressure is now sinking to the southwest. some areas of shower activity. showers since around tomorrow 5

. >>> people in south dakota are cleaning up the damage from several storms there, where tornadoes touched down last night. this is video from one storm chaser of one of the giant funnel cloud. no reports of any serious injuries. >>> this pine tree was sent crashing down on one colorado springs family. the son noticed a crack in the trunk of the tree, and less than one hour later, the wind took it down. amazing. >> he had a good eye. >> and got out of the way. >>> the weather is starting to cool a little bit for us this evening. the bad news is that we will have some patchy fog. we desperately want to take an extra few minutes. a few scattered showers. this is added east, northeast at this hour. taking a look at what is going on, the bigger story today, the rainfall, 2.75 inches of rain in ashburn. there was a high of 71 degrees. 74 degrees for our high temperature after a morning low of 67 degrees. we had about two-thirds of an inch of rain at reagan national. compare that to over two inches at dulles. about four inches for the year. 64 degrees in gaithersburg. these are the readings righ

. >>> a violent tornado rips across northeastern south dakota. the storm took out power lines and dumped inches of rain and hail. no injuries were reported. >>> tonight at 11:00 -- >> every order i gave started with do we have. do we have adrenaline? do we have portable x-ray? >> we return to haiti with two maryland doctors four months after the earthquake. medical supplies still in short supply. how are people coping? rising from the rubble, tonight, only on 9news now at 11:00. >>> coming up next on 9news now, plans to ban some cribs blamed in dozens of infant deaths nationwide. >>> and the sudden death of a former all-star major league pitcher. we're back in a minute.  >>> former all-star pitcher jose lima has died of a heart attack. he was only 37. he was 13-game winner for the dodgers in 2004. just friday night he tended the dodgers gym and received a standing ovation when he was introduced between innings. lima had recently joined the dodger alumni association and was making plans to open a youth baseball academy this summer. >>> tho

some spectacular pictures as a south dakota a tornado swept through a form yesterday. officials say the tornado destroyed everything on the form except residents nearby. power lines were torn down. two people were at home during the storm, and amazingly, there are no reports of any injuries. >> we have had some unsettled weather, but not to the extremes that you just saw and camera. you can see the circulation on the radar. only a few sprinkles now over us. the more significant rains are off to the south of us on the radar. let's look at what happened during the day today. we did manage to make it to 75 for the high at the airport. not quite a half inch of rain at the airport. we are still almost an inch short here in the baltimore metro area. just west of us, over the last 24 hours, there has been a lot of rain. 1.5 inches west of howard county and a couple of places in frederick and washington county got in excess of 2 inches of rain just recently. some folks are catching up on the rainfall, but around baltimore and ease, rains have been a little on this body side. a

. >>> residents in south dakota are checking the damage after a series of tornadoes ripped across the state. in one. a twister knocked down power lines and destroyed homes and farm buildings. officials say multiple tornadoes touched down saturday night in the north-central part of that state. >>> some scary sights and sounds out of russia. this bridge was shut down after -- look at that -- it started swaying dangerously. cars were not actually travelling across it when the movement started. it is still not clear what is making the bridge roll and pitch. can you imagine? >> i am surprised it has not snapped. it is scary sitting on the key bridge in high traffic and you stop because of a light and you feel it coming up and down. i know it is good and for the bridge because it needs to blacks. >> but it is a little unnerving. let us talk about the weather said to listen. we have a week ahead of us that looks a lot like summer. >> right now, anything from that but it will look a lot more like summer. right now it looks great and dreary. here is the time lapse from about sunrise to the cur

the tornado touched down near south dakota. heavy rain and strong winds ripped through that area. severe weather to blame for the death of a 7-year-old in nebraska. officials in those areas spent the day looking at all the damage. look at that. >>> tonight white sandy beachessa lock the gulf coast turns into a wet mess as waves of oil washed on shore. the obama administration expressed frustration over bp's handling of the clean up. >> i am angry and frustrated that bp has been unable to stop this well prosecute leaking and to stop the pollution. >> now the oil company plans to try to seal off the well by pupping in a thick liquid to stop the oil. they could then seal it off. the coast guard said the remoteness of the spill beneath 5,000 feet of water is making hard. >>> for the fire department today was a day to remember. ♪ [ music ] a ceremony was held to honor the firefighters who -- part of the ceremony a wreath was placed on the courthouse square. >>> the battle or slot machines in a maryland mall heats up. a trial set to start tomorrow over the proposed casino. baltimore bas

. >>> we have incredible pictures of a tornado touching down in a rural area of south dakota this weekendassive twister, you can see it behind us, damaged several farms, even downed power lines. >> it was part of a powerful storm system that battered the great plains. let's go to justin berk. >> 6:45. not affecting us. we're under the influence of a tropical east wind. i say tropical because on the wide view i'm going to show you a storm that could get a name off the coast before the week is done. yeah. a little premature. officially hurricane season starts june 1st. a with tropical feel in the air in baltimore, mist, high humidity, even leftover showers, 64, a little haze and fog in westminster. and they've only had 2/100th inch of rain, some places had more but overall just spotty showers now near carney. also watching showers on maryland's most powerful doppler radar. on the east side of the beltway. also down near columbia in howard county. overall, mist and fog and some scattered showers continue through the day. 75 our 2-degree guarantee this afternoon. >>> 6:45. here's kim. >> we h

this one swept through edmond county, south dakota. f-4 with wind speeds of 207 to 260 miles per hour. that tornado again through the weekend swept through a farm, dismantled everything on the farm except the resident's home that was nearby. and there were two people inside of that home that was nearby. that is one crazy tornado, huge. all right. here's what we got coming to us again. high pressure is going to take control tomorrow. we'll start with a little bit of fog. then that fog is going to burn off. more sunshine for tomorrow. once about the same as what it was today, up to 80 degrees. and then as we go through the day on thursday, a little bit more sunshine. the beach and boating forecast, yeah, i know it's early. some folks want to know that water temperature. 68 for the bay. we'll be running between 80 and 82 degrees. and then down ocean city, 62 degrees the water temperature for saturday and sunday. right now, no chance of any rain. so for your morning, a little bit of fog to deal with. might want to get an early start. we'll

. >>> people in south dakota are recovering after several tornadoes were spotted over the weekend. they were part of a storm system that brought large hail, rain and high winds to the great plains. in north dakota two women had to be rescued when floodwaters submerged their car. >>> in kansas, a tornado touchd touchdown over the weekend as well. wuftsz over 645 -- wind gusts over 65 myles caused major problems. flash flooding may become a bigger concern tonight. >>> thank you for joining us. >> we are tweaking the forecast. we had intermittent sunshine at times in the afternoon but most of us were clouded in through the day. it's a tough forecast this week because we're going to get that back and forth of the clouds. there's a storm offshore. >> heat coming, too. >> heating up. so changes in the weather. >> lots of changes. >> i wish the mugginess would go away. it's going to keep going up. >> wow. >> let's look outside now. as you look at the inner harbor you can see, kind of what we've been seeing all afternoon. generally cloudy conditions but as we have been working into the aft

the massive tornado that cut through south dakota over the weekend.ad on this monday morning. hope you had a great weekend. i'm megan pringle. >> i'm jamie costello. rain held off most of the weekend. >> it was gorgeous. >> meteorologist justin berk, but first, "lost"? >> i loved it. my wife not too happy. i was having a debate with tim, our camera operator. i think there will be a love/hate relationship with the final. yes. how many of you up now actually watched last night? you're feeling my pain either way. it was a long night and a long rough morning. showers are showing up. owings mills, at the harbor school, at that particular location only 2/100th inch but periodic rain made it damp and soggy at 63 degrees, a lot of spray kicking up on a lot of roadways. and our doppler, maryland's most powerful doppler radar highlighting some rain in baltimore county. up 83, 95, and also back 70 in through howard county. plan for it to be a little wet, even mist and fog, we'll get to about 75. more showers this afternoon. 4:59. let's check the roads with kim.

. >>> and back in this country, a huge tornado touched down last night near bowdle, south dakota, as a storm system moved across the northeastern part of the state. the storm downed power lines and destroyed farm buildings, but no injuries have been reported. >>> when "nightly news" continues this sunday, sarah ferguson arrives in los angeles. what she's saying tonight about that undercover video showing what she calls a serious lapse of judgment. the latest royal scandal, a major story in london tonight. we'll tell you more when we come back. e little lizard. gecko: ah, gecko, actually - exec: with all due respect, if i was tiny and green and had a british accent i'd have more folks paying attention to me too... i mean - (faux english accent) "save money! pip pip cheerio!" exec 2: british? i thought you were australian. gecko: well, it's funny you should ask. 'cause actually, i'm from - anncr: geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. but with advair, i'm breathing better. so i can join the fun at my family barbeque. (announcer) for people with

the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr.hnson: mr.resint, this week, as the senate moves forward with consideration of wall street reform legislation, i'm optimistic that legislation will be passed that performs -- that r-rpls our financial system -- that reforms our financial system and prevents those who nearly brought down the economy from ever being able to do so again. as we have heard many times over the last several weeks, the bill creates a mechanism to monitor the economy for nationwide trends and risky patterns that could lead to problems. it establishes abconsiderable watchdog dedicated to identifying and preventing lending trends that are harmful to consumers. in addition to preventing future bailouts, the bill also requires that financial speculation be done in the open. while addressing the underlying problem that allowed banks to go casino crazy in the first place. it also brings a transparent marketplace. i believe all these changes will make american financial system more transparent, accountable and respons

. >>> a big cleanup job is under way in parts of south dakota this morning. >> that's right.al tornados ripped through a section of farmland in the northern part of the state saturday evening, leaving a number of homes in ruins. power lines were also toppled and trees uprooted. a police officer caught in the storm said the twister actually lifted up his car. >> wow. >> yeah, a big one. >> that's not a routine day on patrol. >> no. >>> here's a look at your forecast for monday. more severe weather in the high plains with tornados, hail and strong winds in nebraska and once again in the dakotas. thunderstorms from west texas to the canadian border today. heavy mountain snow in the northern rockies and showers in the pacific northwest and the carolinas. >> mostly 80s in the southeast and 70s from baltimore to boston. upper 80s in chicago, detroit, and kansas city. a cool 56 in salt lake city. and 69 in sacramento. >>> you know the city of lights is notorious for its iconic style. today it's a little bit country. >> paris is wrapping up a two-day event that's turned its most famo

. >>> several tornadoes ripped aparts parts of south dakota last night.rm chasers captured the video. >> it is a wedge. >> a wedge tornado. they are so big they look like a wedge on them ground. >> the twister took out power lines heavily damaged homes and buildings and fortunately no serious injuries were reported. wow, a wedge. you usually think of small but a wedge. >> when you say a wedge, the vortex encompasses is more like this opposed to that if that makes sense. >> oh, wow. >> let's talk about our weather. we had the rain and the moisture over the weekend. got activated with daytime heating and it came down. some areas had three inches of rain on saturday. talk about what we are seeing this morning. fairly light. in fact it seems to december appear a little bit. motion to the west southwest. there's low pressure to the south. i want to switch to live doppler 9000 hd. this have just seeing it a little better. not that there's a lot. the stuff in charles county is tough to pick up now. echos to the west, north and east. faulkier first. this has been

pride ♪ from every mountainside ♪ let freedom ring ♪ >>> a that isive tornado caught on camera in south dakotantial part of that state. -- the north central part of the state. >>> we are seeing more and more of these great videos of tornadoes and you can seat different kinds of tornadoes that form out there. some of them just a thin funnel. this one looked like a monster j >> that part of country may be under that type of weather today. on sunday at dulles, record rainfall amount. >> saturday night. the stormed were saturday night definitely. we are seeing shower activity right now. a little bit of rainfall in northwest washington and out towards mclean and then up towards gaithersburg so some showers here. couple of spots out to the west. this is how it will be during the early-morning hours. some spots of rain and drizzle popping up here and there as we have a lot of moisture in the air. now, let's take a look at the broader picture. i'll go this way because most of the activity is to the south and east. pretty good rainfall along the coast of the north carolina and in southeastern virginia.

we haven't united north and south dakota yet. and we will. takes time and we're going. we're going. and i tell you something else we'll bring kim jong-il to justice. but the how and why is for the iraqi people to decide. i feel strongly about that. >> larry: have you seen al gore's movie on global warming? >> nope, i haven't, but i will. i'll take a look at it. look, global warming is a tough sell in washington, d.c. nobody in political office wants to reduce the amount of hot air and our nation's capitol that is our greatest resource. >> larry: back with more of president george western bush, or at least someone who looks and sounds very much like him, right after this. >>> the media really ticks me off. the way they try embarrass me by not editing what i say. >> larry: during this tsunami in hurricane katrina you enlisted the help of your father and bill clinton. >> uh-huh, yeah, yeah. my dad -- my dad and president clinton, they've -- they've done some great work for disaster relief. they've spent a lot of time consoling people who've lost their homes. they both know what it is l

eight tornados in the state of south dakota. and it just so happens a storm chaser caught up with one. this is an ef-3 on a scale from one to five. this is significant. it was all along highway 12. didn't cause significant damage. because it was just sort of out in the middle of nowhere. still very impressive. we look at severe weather for the day. it takes over the strip in the middle of the country. one low moves out. another one behind it. we're keeping an eye on a new round of storms. we're looking at large hail and tornadoes as well. >> thanks so much. more on your sunday outlook later in the show. bianna? >> thank you. >>> investors are hoping for good news tomorrow when the markets open. coming off a rough few days. last week, the dow took a nose dive, down more than 4%. including the biggest slide in more than a year on thursday. 376 points. wiping out the gains made so far in year. europe's debt problems are partly to blame. some fear we may be heading toward a double-dip recession. let's bring in jon hilsenbrath. >> go

. >> it's in south dakota. just taking it right down. >> this morning folks across the midwest will clean up after the receiver weather. this storm downed power lines and produced heavy rain and hail. luckily no injuries were reported. weather officials are surveying the land to see if more than one tornado hit. >> those are big tornadoes. >> it's unbelievable. >> we don't usually capture it on video. not we. someone else did. >> and look out across its dock oatas. they could be in more rough weather today. this is the peak of tornado season, the end of may and beginning of june. >>> for us just some drizzle here and there. >> today will be a day of transition we've been talking about where we will see some improvement. maybe one or two peeks of sunshine but tomorrow will be better and then great improvement around here for the middle of the week. hd radar, been watching showers all morning. at last look they were toward sterling and toward dulles airport, leesberg. you can see the showers have fallen apart so that's good news. still one

eight tornados in the state of south dakota. and it just so happens a storm chaser caught up with one. this is an ef-3 on a scale from one to five. this is significant. it was all along highway 12. didn't cause significant damage. because it was just sort of out in the middle of nowhere. still very impressive. we look at severe weather for the day. it takes over the strip in the middle of the country. one low moves out. another one behind it. we're keeping an eye >> good morning. a very rude awakening this morning with a rumble of thunder and heavy rain right now continuing to fall in the lower bay. just outside the hagerstown area. for the most part things have settled down. temperatures are mild and in the 60's. almost an inch and a half of rain in rockville. but give you a picture and show you the forecast. 70- >> thanks so much. more on your sunday outlook later in the show. bianna? >> thank you. >>> investors are hoping for good news tomorrow when the markets open. coming off a rough few days. last week, the dow took a nose

tornadoes touched down in south dakota. check out this video. a camera caught this monster twister spinning through saturday night. it destroyed farm buildings, produced heavy rain and hail. no injuries were reported. weather service officials are surveying the latude's land to see if more than one tornado hit in the area. >>> gwen, i was watching that video earlier and wondering that system that came through, is that producing the rain we've had off and on the last couple days? >> no. it's not our system. >> i stand corrected. >> we didn't get good severe weather like that. which is great for us, or bad severe weather which is good for us. but things have improved outside tonight for us, maureen, which is good news. we've got a little bit of mist out there, clouds and fog. so the fog is also going to be sticking around so be aware of that. and some of you just seeing a little bit of light rainfall now. we don't have that heavy pockets of rainfall and storms we had into the course of last night and even earlier tonight we had a few storms that p

. >>> back here at home, major tornadoes touched down in rural parts of south dakota saturday. this huge tornado tore down power lines and ripped across land. officials say a super cell thunderstorm dropped golf ball-size hail in some area, dumping enough rain to create a flash flood warning. so far, there are no reports of injuries. >>> mexican police have admitted they cannot find bruce beresford-redman. the producer who is a suspect in his wife's death. redman was ordered not to leave mexico after his wife's body was found in a cancun sewer last month. his passport was taken away, but he was allowed to travel freely across the count. >>> lindsay lohan is back in the u.s. lohan was photographed by hollywood tv arriving in los angeles saturday night. she is scheduled to appear in court tomorrow on a 2007 drunk driving case. lohan missed a court date thursday and the judge issued a warrant for her arrest. lohan claimed she wasn't able to leave france because her passport was stolen. >>> finally, incredible video now of a russian bridge which has been closed because it began to

spring storms created this incredible scene in south dakota over the weekend. >> did you see the tower come down? >> pretty incredible. a camera was rolling as this tornado tore through a community overnight. several farm buildings were described but there were no injuries. the midwest getting hit hard. >> watch the tower on the right. there, next to the tornado, you can see that. look at that. boy, you don't often see video capturing the damage being done with that. man! that is incredible. >> that was tough. >> unfortunately, that part of country under the gun again today. they are likely to have severe storms, possibly could see more tornado activity in portions of the north central and the northern plains. so we'll keep you posted on what is happen south there. for us, we have moisture now. we showed that you live shot from our tower cam. you went yount side and looked for myself because you couldn't see anything from that picture. and our tower is so high,ments right there right in a low level cloud. but it is not foggy at the surface. this is hd radar you are looking at now. ther

years to the day after calvin coolidge became president he stood in a classroom in rapid city, south dakota, and handed out tiny slips of paper to amaze news men. each read i do not choose to run for president in 1928. the political world thought he was angeling for a draft. he wasn't. in march, 1929, calvin coolidge retired to northampton. he reluctantly handed over the country to herbert hoover. but he wasn't crazy about herbert hoover. said coolidge, that man has given me nothing but advice and all of it bad. [laughter] >> in retirement coolidge dabbled at law. he earned $3,000 a week authoring a popular syndicated column and he composed his autobiography, the autobiography of calvin coolidge. his world was now a different world. he had moved back to his house and discover an ex-president cannot live in a two-family house upon an ordinary smalltown street. autos crowded with curiosity seekers rolled by in constant procession. admirers trampled his lawn and trespassed upon his tiny porch. they peered through his windows. he and his wife paid $40,000 a house far grander than the other hous

we haven't united north and south dakota yet. and we will. takes time and we're going. we're going. and i tell you something else we'll bring kim jong-il to justice. but the how and why is for the iraqi people to decide. i feel strongly about that. >> larry: have you seen al gore's movie on global warming? >> nope, i haven't, but i will. i'll take a look at it. look, global warming is a tough sell in washington, d.c. nobody in political office wants to reduce the amount of hot air and our nation's capitol that is our greatest resource. >> larry: back with more of president george w. bush, or at least someone who looks and sounds very much like him, right after this. y allergies put me in a fog. now i'm claritin clear. claritin works hard to relieve my worst symptoms without drowsiness... ...so i stay as alert and focused as someone without allergies. for me, claritin is the perfect allergy medicine. i only live claritin clear what did we make better ? communities. industry. energy. her. this. lives. how ? by bringing together... information. ... people ... ... machines ... ... syste

unemployment in the country are three states in which republican governors are north north dakota, south dakota. there are three states with bipartisan legislatures. he said four of them had republican governors, but more than two-thirds of the state are controlled by democrats in the supreme court and legislature. the republican governors were elected to stop the hedmorrhagig of the fiscal policies of the democrats. places like nevada, florida, i said since last november, i don't think this is an anti-incumbent year, i think if they're proud of their records, who have held down spending, not raised taxes, they're proud to put their records on the ballots. it's democrats who are not going to be the right side of voters, republicans and independents who are going to vote like republicans this year who don't want to run in an environment where fiscal issues really matter. this election is going to be very simple. are you willing to take on the public sector unions and bust them up and deal with their pension problems? are you willing to make tough decisions and cut government spending or do you n

the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota -- the presiding officer: is recognized. mr. thune: i want to compliment my colleague from florida, he's addressed an issue which is an important part of this debate, and that is making sure that loans that get made in this country and both on the borrower's side and the lender's side are responsible loans. i think the amendment that he will offer is one that we ought to have a debate on and we ought to have a vote on. and i hope that this body will act in a way that leads to more responsible practices and a higher level of responsibility, both with borrowers and lenders in this country, which really was at the heart of why we ended up where we did. now, it's interesting to me, mr. president, that we continue to watch the problems that we're experiencing in our economy probably by far the most important one is the high level of unemployment that has become sort of a chronic problem. and even though the economy appears to be recovering and growing again, we continue to see these very high rates of unemployment, certainly worth in

hosta, sioux falls, south dakota, nixon employee number two, how much of the credit given to reagan's international domestic policies actually belong to nixon? if not for watergate, would reagan had one in 1976? >> guest: if agnew had not been, had not been basically, had to resign, i think agnew and reagan would have thought for the nomination and 76. was agnew was out of the picture a lot of the conservatives who really admired him flew to reagan. if nixon had gone out of office, nixon wanted connelly to replace them. he wanted, as vice president up until the final day. because i remember al haig had just died. i sent nixon a memo saying ford is probably your best bet to pick. and haig called me and said the old man was gone what. i said take on way. but i said, i said forget to congress everything. he was a solid guy. he was not a radical figure at the time, and people would feel confident if he took over. reagan, i think reagan would have won the nomination probably and 76 after resident -- almost sure reagan would have won the nomination i think. in other words, father would neve

offered by the senator from south dakota. the yeas and nays have been ordered. the clerk will call the roll. vote: " " vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the yeas are wh 40, the nays are 55. the amendment is not agreed to. under the previous order, the question is on the amendment 3879 offered by senator from maine. the amendment is agreed to and the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table. mr. dodd: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: thank you. mr. president, i would ask to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: we've got a quorum call. mr. wyden: i would ask unanimous consent to vacate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. wyden: i would ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. wy

stormy conditions in north dakota, portions of south dakota where they saw that tornado activity.the carolinas, rainfall and a storm system. current temperatures, quite warm in the eastern half of the nation. 73 in wichita. 70 in atlanta. we are at 67 degrees. out to the west cooler. salt lake city a cool 41 and denver at 62. your forecast, today high of about 74 degrees. that's 4 degrees below normal. a lot of clouds. showers popping up here and there. tomorrow warmer, 82 degrees. wednesday down right hot. 86 and sunny. temperatures hovering around 80 degrees for the remainder of the week, thursday and friday and into the weekend. >> i heard you say wednesday was julie wright day. >> yeah. sunday and 86. a bonus point for her. >>> let's check in with julie. >> that's when on wednesday you go the woop-woop. >> got it. it's woop-woop wednesday. >> i like that. we have just coined something. i love it. on the beltway, toward college park, delays have grown beginning back before route 1 becoming west of the bw parkway toward 270, heavy slow and steady is how she rolls. two separate a

number two, south dakota, 1972, 237 people were killed in that one. but the deadliest, the worst, number one, the ohio river flood of 1913. death toll -- 467 people were killed according to the u.s. geological survey. from the show about lists to the show about the situation. "the situation room" is hosted by none other than mr. wolf blitzer. and here he is. wolf, to you. >>> rick, thank you. happening now, america's top terror interrogators are now grilling the times square bomb suspect and federal officials are scrambling to plug some dangerous holes in homeland security that could have let faisal shahzad slip through their fingers. in pakistan right now, people are being rounded up and questioned about the times square case and cnn has new information coming into "the situation room" about shahzad's alleged links to the taliban in pakistan. >>> and a new weapon against the oil that's spewing into the gulf of mexico and threatening the coastline. will it work? we're watching as a giant containment zone has moved closer and closer toward the source o

host: we will get a perspective from south dakota.: there were hearings a couple months ago on the unrwear bomber. the spokesman for the pentagon, patrick kennedy, admitted that the underwear bombing was an intelligence operation. the more you look into all these different terrorist activities, we see some intelligence involved. do you want to kp us in a continuous state of fear? th's what i think seems to be happening here. guest: i'm not sure what you mean by intelligence operation. i have tried in my wo, and i've written a book about terrorism, and i've been a long advocate of not overreacting. terrorism is an act of the weak. it is an act of people who attack people of innocence in order to attack our psyche. we should never allow them to do that. we never overreact to the attack. it's a tragedy when people die from a terrorist attack. we should never allow them to turn our eyes upside-down when they do not merit that. host: tweet for you. guest: this is an issue -- if you had 10 true terrorism experts, if you put five on one side

if south dakota particularly has no usury rates or no limit or high limit on their interest rates, itmeans a credit card holder in lima, ohio, or troy, ohio or springbury, ohio, is paying the high interest rates even though the ohio legislature has acted against their doing that. so the whitehouse-casey whitehouse-casey-sanders-brown amendment gives the decision back to the states for making the interest rates. for too long as this supreme court decision indicates and the lack of response from congress indicates, washington has been looking out for the megabanks. some of my colleagues are still saying that these banks' interests are more important than protecting the american public. this bill would not even allow the consumer protection bureaus to set rules regarding credit card interest rates. meanwhile, these rates are inexplicably going through the roof at the same time the banks are again enjoying record low borrowing costs. it makes no sense. we report, madam president, to the american public not to high-risk business models. the next element of the financial collapse came, mada

north dakota, vermont, minnesota, and south dakota, have had the most improvement.he term of " economic stress" how does that manifest itself in new mexico? guest: we have been below the national unemployment rate, but we have been going up slightly. host: so while the number nation might is stated, your numbers continue to go up? guest: yes, we were pretty good in the beginning, but now we are beginning to catch up. i think that is rare that index is coming from. host: does that place more demand on social services? guest: absolutely. in terms of resources, medicaid, we are one of the poorest states. this new health care bill is going to be good for us. host: conyers, georgia. jack on the republican line. caller: 01 of the misrepresentations about the governor espouses frequently, as well as others, it is that these illegal immigrants are doing a job that the american people will not do. labor is a commodity, just like everything else. if you flood the market with this illegal immigrant labor, to drive the cost down so much that the american worker will not do it.

host: we will get a perspective from south dakota.guest: there were hearings a couple months ago on the underwear bomber. the spokesman for the pentagon, patrick kennedy, admitted that the underwear bombing was an intelligence operation. the more you look into all these different terrorist activities, we see some intelligence involved. do you want to keep us in a continuous state of fear? that's what i think seems to be happening here. guest: i'm not sure what you mean by intelligence operation. i have tried in my work, and i've written a book about terrorism, and i've been a long advocate of not overreacting. terrorism is an act of the weak. it is an act of people who attack people of innocence in order to attack our psyche. we should never allow them to do that. we never overreact to the attack. it's a tragedy when people die from a terrorist attack. we should never allow them to turn our eyes upside-down when they do not merit that. host: tweet for you. guest: this is an issue -- if you had 10 true terrorism experts, if you put fiv

three states with the lowest unemployment, which also have republican governors, north dakota, south dakotad nebraska. the difference between the lowest unemployment, with republican governors, and the 45 that are the highest, those 45 are also -- and the four or five that are the highs, those four or five are rich -- are controlled by the legislative level by democrats. on the forbes list, where he is not saying is that if you look at the top 10, five of the top 10 are also republican governors. these are not born to be won by statistics. these races are going to be won by a state-by-state basis. host: another state with a gubernatorial race this year, an interesting one, chicago, illinois. go ahead. caller: i have a question. it seems to me that both the republican and democratic parties are pretty much the same these days. there is so much corruption in both of them. so many of the states make it difficult for third-party candidates to get on the ballot. i would like to know what your parties are -- when your party are going to loosen up the stranglehold on the american populace. host: n

renewable energy is booming in texas and massachusetts, south dakota and georgia. and with the first plug-in hybrid cars this fall, clean energy will soon be fueling our vehicles as well. but our boom is threatened by subsidies that keep fossil fuel prices artificially low, stifling competition. some of those subsidies are direct, like tax breaks for oil companies. the administration's budget proposes ending $45 billion worth of subsidies that tilt the playing field away from clean energy. other subsidies are indirect like limited liability for oil spills and pollution. in the l.a. basin, smog caused by fossil fuels is a hidden tax on every resident, causing millions of dollars in additional health care and lost work hours. last year the national academy of sciences estimated that health care and other costs created by gasoline consumption come to about 30 cents a gallon, without considering global warming. that cost is absorbed by all of us in the form of hospital bills and asthma attacks. we must rebalance our subsidy energies so that clean energy can compete on

the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: i understand amendment 3987 has been called up by the manager of the bill. i think it's been made pending, so i would like to speak to it and hope at the appropriate time to be able to get an agreement so we can get a vote on it. i would ask for the yeas and nays at the completion of my remarks. this amendment, mr. president, is a very simple, straightforward; it's one paragraph long. it's not complicated. what it essentially does, it sets a sunset date for the newly created bureau of financial protection allowing congress to reevaluate the bureau after four years. now, i think that most americans, if they knew that we were creating a big new bureaucracy here in washington, d.c., mr. president, would want us to have some oversight. they would want some accountability. they would want to make sure that their tax dollars are being spent wisely and well whafplt this new -- what this new consumer protection bureau does is it will have lots of new federal employees here in washingto

three states with the lowest unemployment, which also have republican governors, north dakota, south dakotaand nebraska. the difference between the lowest unemployment, with republican governors, and the 45 that are the highest, those 45 are also -- and the four or five that are the highs, those four or five are rich -- are controlled by the legislative level by democrats. on the forbes list, where he is not saying is that if you look at the top 10, five of the top 10 are also republican governors. these are not born to be won by statiscs. these races are going to be won by a state-by-state basis. host: another state with a gubernatorial race this year, interesting one, chicago, illinois. go ahead. caller: i have a question. it seems to me that both the republican and democratic parties are pretty much the same these days. there is s much corruption in both of them. so many of the states make it difficult for third-party candidates to geon the ballot. i would like to know whatour parties are -- when your party are going to loosen up te stranglehold on the american populace. host: nathan das

the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: i want to thank my colleague from arizona for yielding time. i say this fannie mae and freddie mac is a pox on all of us. but shame on us if we don't try to do something here in this legislation to address this issue. and what the mccain-shelby-gregg amendment does, madam president, is a responsible thing. it does allow for a wind-down of this conservativeship, but it goes squarely at what i think, as the senator from arizona has pointed out, most economists argue was a huge contributor to the meltdown that we experienced a couple years ago. this runaway lending and irresponsible lending practices that were involved with the plate that we -- the plight we see with fannie mae and freddie mac where they have up until, i think, this last quarter, or take the last quarter combined, it's about $145 billion now that the taxpayers are on the hook. as the senator from arizona pointed out, last christmas eve the administration lifted the cap. there was a $400 billion cap on the amount o

a rhode island consumer being victimized is not the state of south dakota's problem. it just isn't. we would never have passed that law. it would have been an outrageous law to have passed. and yet because of this funny, quirky supreme court decision, that is the way the law in practice developed, because smart bank lawyers figured out this trick and have taken advantage of it. and it's not just consumers that are getting clobbered as a result. it's also unfair to local banks. a rhode island bank is under rhode island interest rate laws but an out-of-state bank, a big credit card bank with subsidiaries, they can play by their own rules, by the worst rules in the country. a rhode island bank, a connecticut bank, a minnesota bank, they've got to play by local rules. it just isn't fair to local lenders to have this discrepan discrepancy. and because it's bad for consumers, because consumers all across this country are paying interest rates now that would have been illegal just two or three decades ago, because it is anticompetitive, because it allows the biggest banks to compete unfair