perfectly priced. >> reporter: on the night of july 9th the pensacola area was rocked. me invasion double murder at the home of a much admired family. now, of course, much of the city has been rooting around in the history of that family melanie and bud billings put together searching for a clue, anything, to explain what happened to them. there are certain well established facts. bud billings owned several area businesses and then he married melanie and the two of them devoted much of their attention to their new, blended family, which included an adopted son and a daughter with special needs. six kids, more than enough for most people. but they wanted more -- their daughter, ashley. >> they knew they could take care of a child with special needs and that a child with special needs would fulfill them and the baby was born for them. >> how long before the next one came along? >> it was within a year. he was the first baby with downes syndrome. >> reporter: his name was bailey and over the next few years a new special needs child seemed to arrive with each turn of the cal

the pensacola rumor circuit buzzed with whispers that cab tice may have been involved. sing his name, then local television. then a wire service picked up the name and even "newsweek" magazine. and then this past thursday, surprise, cab tice returned to pensacola of his own accord from colombia. he was arrested, questioned for three hours, charged with grand theft for allegedly writing $17,000 in bad checks to worldco, the billings finance company, but then he was released on $5,000 bail. but a bigger surprise? he kept his promise to sit down with us for his first public comment about the murders. >> i'm innocent. i haven't done anything. >> reporter: he didn't have to do this but he volunteered to answer any and all questions, to fight back. the name cab tice kes coming up. that you're the guy who somehow is behind all of this. >> i think it's guilt by association in that i knew bud billings well. and i knew pat gonzalez well. reporter: in fact, tice says, the last person he would want to see dead was melanie billings. >> the first time i ever met melanie, i met mother

it's certainly not surprising that this has been a huge story at the pensacola news journal. a legal affairs reporter has been immersed in the store for the last six weeks. 700 pages here. does this answer the questions that have been hanging over the billings case? >> i think it brings some clarity to the case but i don't know that it answers the burning question of why this happened. >> because of the extensive surveillance system, the report says there were not only cameras outside the house, but also in each child's bedroom. i took days for investigators to arrest seven suspects. six adults and a minor all facing two counts of first degree murder and one count of home invasion robbery. a stolen safe was recovered with little of value in it as were several guns. the documents reveal that the intruders overlooked a second safe in the house that contained $164,000 in $1 bills. from the beginning investigators have fingered this man as the ring leader. leonard patrick gonzalez, jr. several co-defendants say he was the sole shooter. in a rambling interview after his arrest, he

this is the biggest birthday party pensacola, florida has ever had. s going to be a re-enactment of the actual landing out on beautiful pensacola beach. and then there's going to be a party tonight, that will be the biggest birthday party in the history of pensacola. >> and some party it should be. i want to talk to you, joe, about the time line. it is phenomenal. it was first founded in 1559. that is before shakespeare wrote hamlet. >> isn't that amazing? >> before james town, virginia was founded 50 years later. i understand, also, what's this about a rivalry between pensacola and saut. augustine? >> there's no rivalry. think about this. and i didn't even realize this. not only does america not know that pensacola is where america began, but a lot of people in florida don't even realize it. pensacola has been under a spanish flag longer than it's been under an american flag. think about it. >> great detail. >> 1959 all the way this to i think the beginning of the 1800s, we were under spanish -- 1821. it's absolutely stunning that we've been -- that's

it's certainly not surprising this has been a huge story at the pensacola news journal. is has been immersed for the last several weeks. the 700 pages,oes this answer the questions? >> i think it brings some clarity to the case. i don't know that it answers the burning question of why is happened. >> reporter: because of the extensive surveillance system in the report's home, the report says there were not only cameras outside the house but in each child's bedroom. it took just days for investigators to arrest seven suspects. a stolen safe was recovered with little of value in it as were several guns. the documents revealed the entrueders overlooked a second safe in the house containing $164,000 in $100 bills. from the beginning investigators have fingered this man as the ring leader, leonard patrick gonzalez, jr. in the police documents, several co-defendants say he was the sole shooter. in a rambling interview with a sheriff's deputy. he claims he was asked to kill billings but refused. if this is about the killings, i didn't do it. but i may know some people who may ha

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more problems down along the gulf coast from pensacola back to new orleans. u will see showers and thunderstorms as you go throughout the day causing delays. birmingham, that's because of tropical storm claudette continuing to make its way up to alabama. denver and st. louis, parts of stormsz across the country. we'll probably see the biggest delays today well over an hour thanks to thunderstorms already getting going today. >>> talk about david beating golia goliath. i'm watching baseball because it is all sewn up, right? this is one of the most incredible things i've seen on a golf course, perhaps the biggest upset in the history of the sport. how this man, y.e. yang, was able to beat tiger woods and do something nobody has ever done before. >>> we've got several severe weather systems on the radar. tropical storm claudette is the first to hit u.s. mainland this season. it came to shore near fort walton beach, florida this morning. it is weakening and headed to atlanta. bill is the atlantic's season's first hurricane, and ana has been downgraded to a tropica

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movig inlaba, not par far from the panama pensacola florida area. and it could be stronger later. the latest, watching the update on tropical depression anna, not a lot of change but some indication by the way of computer models that it could be weaker. tropical storm bill, barely under hurricane strength, winds under 70 miles per hour. that will be an important storm to watch on the east coast. meanwhile, washington, another hot week, 93 degrees, humid, not out of control but it would be noticeable. wednesday, thursday, friday, scattered showers unrelated. we'll watch tropical storm bill closely, i believe it will be a hurricane. temperatures 78 degrees, raleigh, 72, pittsburgh, 77 degrees, a quick look at the planner. get ready for a hot one, 76 degrees, full sunshine, 89 by noon, by:00, 92 degrees. the five-day forecast, the redskins don't want to see these two very hot days. really it is a week of temperatures at or above 90, with possible cooling and the thunderstorms wednesday, thursday, friday. we'll keep an eye on our tropical storm, bill. we can't take our eyes off these s

maybe jackson, fort walton beach, santa rosa beach, maybe somewhere closer to here, closer to the pensacola area that means our landfall is probably another couple of hours away as that storm continues to push to the north and to the west, around 14 miles per hour there you can see that forecast cone, watch the conditions to go downhill as we head through the night tonight and we will watch for that form to be inland by tomorrow morning. there you can see the skies start ton darken from our affiliate wear-tv, pensacola beach there. good news on tropical storm ana it is now a tropical depression, so that one has weakened. and as for bill, bill has actually strengthed, now packing winds 65 miles per hour, forecasters now putting a little curve on it further up to the north, making less likely to hit the u.s. hope we will continue to watch this type of a track. >> we will be watching a week out from now as well. jackie, you wearing heels today? >> a little bit of a heel, yeah. >> a little bit of a heel. okay, you may be very version smart. we have a a story coming up about high heels. >> okay.

it is expected to hit land fall any moment. 9,000 homes in the pensacola area are without power. acted 55 mile per hour winds. possible heavy flooding and wind damage. dry and windy weather that is fueling more than a dozen wildfires the worst in cal -- firefighters battling the flame in rough terrain. other fires have evacuation and power outages as well. i am lauren sivan in new york we head back to geraldo at large. >>> under the constitution and laws of the united states. >> so help me god. >> so help me god. >> con gr congratulations and w. >> more than 26 million latinos will never forget the president's swearing in of sonia sotomayor as the first ever hispanic american justice on the supreme court of the united states. her rags to riches stories is one of the dramatic developments i write about in my brand new book called "the great progression. i will give you oo preview of the book in a moment. also coming up miley cyrus' pole dancing first continuing the probe of the circumstances surrounding the death of the king of pop despite whatever you heard elsewhere is scheduled

the head lifeguard on pensacola beach tells me these are what they consider to be yellow flag conditionsthat means nothing really out of the ordinary. unsafe for people who are not good swimmers. for the rest of us who are used to being out in these waters it's about what you'd expect. has moved already to our west, to alabama. you can see past the pier, the dark storm clouds, that's really all we've seen. it's just the clouds and the wind that's gone with it. we've not seen any rain. we've seen a little lightning to our north as the storm front moved through. we've not really seen a lot of things to make people -- i've spoken to people throughout the day. when they first heard a tropical storm was moving into the region, there was concern about how safe they'd be throughout the day today, but it turns out here in west florida, it's been pretty good. later this evening, we'll head east towards the destin area. look how it's doing there, see if we can see storm surge there in that area. that's the latest from pensacola, florida. for cnn, reporting live, back to you. >>> let's go east of p

. >>> robbery has been the presumed motive for last month's murders in pensacola. as the investigation unfolded, police hinted at more than one motive. i spoke earlier with cnn's susan candiotti. susan, what are you hearing about the possible motives, with an s? >> don, we're now hearing from a source familiar with the investigation that the state attorney there in pensacola, florida, now has a working theory. under this working theory both robbery and a contract hit are the motives involved here. now what we are hearing is that the suspected ringleader in this case, identified as leonard gonzalez jr., who's been identified as other suspects as the sole gunman, may be the person behind the contract hit and possibly others and then those involved in the robbery would be those below him, other people who could be involved. now, for the first time at a news conference yesterday, the sheriff of pensacola, florida, escambia county, acknowledged for the first time that he has had some uncorroborated information, as he put it, from the very start that would lead, as he put

the coast. appalachia, pensacola, you may get storms later in the day. it will move with the sea breeze over central florida. beautiful today. it's going to be nice. 79 in boston. can't complain about that. sun and clouds mixing in new york, 84. d.c., 86. clear blue skies through the great lakes. starting to feel a little warmer. that's nice nor the summertime. that's a look at your friday forecast. now a look at the weather outside your window. showers and storms, we'll call it coastal virginia. areas around richmond will remain dry. as we go down the coast south carolina, georgia, florida, numerous showers and storms today. we'll be dry in maine up through michigan. christina, it's friday. that means your weekend forecast is coming up a little later. >> all right. and it certainly can't start soon enough. thanks so much, bill. >>> unemployment nujs higher, sales tick down, and another regional airline is gobbled up. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. >>> plus, if buzz alone translated into sure-firebox office, they would already

the double murder of byrd and melanie billings shocked pensacola. and their suspected killers. although eight people have been arrested for the grisly murders of the couple, the case is not yet solved. and robbery may not have been the only motive. newly released police documents suggest byrd billings, a used car salesman, had enemies, according to the pensacola news journal. >> he repossessed people's car and had a reputation of being a ruthless businessman. >> reporter: police are also investigating investigations that a fellow car dealer had some kind of role in the murders. tice has not been arrested but has been called a person of interest. >> henry tice is a former business associate of byrd billings. the two had had a falling out sometime ago. >> reporter: tice also had a connection to the accused trigger man, mr. gonzalez jr. >> mr. tice is considered to have a father/son relationship with leonard gonzalez jr. own>> in his i own statement to police denies he committed the murder but made shocking claims there may have been a contract hit out

we have a check of the radar, the heaviest rain expected east of pensacola. most of the heaviest rain still offshore but it's going to continue to push on in. it's going to be a wet day along i-10 today. some severe thunderstorms possible as well. a quick look at the satellite, nothing going on except the heat. forecast highs today well into the 90s once again. 93 in new york city. 94 in d.c. lots of sunshine as well. watch out for a few storms in places like chicago and detroit but heat is the story in the big apple. now a check of the weather outside your door. for portland, the heat continues, 8 8 degrees, warm and sticky. watch out for a few thunderstorms in places like grand rapids and also indianapolis with temperature in the 80s. 93 in philly. now here's a look at other stories. >> thanks so much. >>> well, japan's economy jumps, oil slides and so much for those secret swiss bank accounts. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. >>> plus, internet buzz and a crazy plot had this film going into the weekend as the favorite at the box off

the very latest on tropical storm claudette, 68 miles east-southeast of pensacola, florida. maximum sustained winds at about 50 miles per hour. this storm is going to weaken considerably as soon as it comes on shore. the forecast from the hurricane center has it on shore by about sunrise tomorrow morning, then moving into alabama and eventually raining itself out. could be a lot of rain in southern portions of alabama and georgia not to he thinks the western part of the florida peninsula. florida panhandle. i'm going to get that straight one of these days. there's the radar. heaviest of the rains and the strongest of the winds have been right out near apalachicola, florida. here, clear skies in place. high pressure for now going to keep most of the heavy rainfall potential and most of the moistu from claudette steering off further to the west. ohio valley, tennessee valley going to get most of the rain. that weather front will pick up the moisture and i do think we'll have a chance for showers around here later on in the week. those will e essentially be the remnants of claud

and it sunk 10 -- six of the 10 ships here in pensacola. we found two of them. ed it into a disaster and rescue mission. well documented. >> you have all the documentation and history, and then you can say how joe was allowed to be a citizen? >> we are proud to have him as a citizen of pensacola. i know him from way back. isn't that right, joe? >> yeah, you do. and mika insists, there are two great tragedies of pensacola's history, one at the beginning and one at the end. hurricanes that wiped america's first settlement out, and then let me in. thank you so much for being with us. we will talk to you tomorrow on the actual 450th anniversary. thank you. >> take care. >> we'll be right back. >> all right. >> we'll stay? >> no, i want to go to the panel. jon meacham, let's talk about the president of the united states going out west. what message does he have to get across? how does he break through the noise? >> he has got to find a competing set of pretty simple straightforward imagery to fight the language of death panels and socialized death medicine, and he nee

the other hand, boy, it's been warm and humid down into florida with the temperatures up into the 80s. pensacolaas had over seven inches of rain today. here's where the heat is on. i think we'll really begin building as we go through the week. because here's the pattern that we had so much of this summer. that is seasonable where we see the jet stream near us. it hasn't allowed things to build. as we get later into the week, the weekend and next week, it looks like the ridge, that is the overall pattern, will be building, allowing the heat to build up in the midpart of the country. as a matter of fact, for next week -- for the folks that prediction center, the outlook is for temperatures very likely to be above average. that would be into the 90s in the mid-part of the country and also for us. if that builds, we may be looking at a hot week, a very hot, humid week next week. not this week until late in the week. look how much of the country is cloud-free. there's a ripple in the atmosphere with showers and also those showers down into florida. but as we go through tonight, i think we'll see skie

now for the first time at a news conference yesterday, the cher ever of pensacola, florida, escambia county, acknowledged for the first time that he has had some uncorroborated information, as he put it, from the very start, that would lead, as he put it, a reasonable person to believe that this is something that the authorities should look at. but, he adds, we're not excluding any other possibilities. and the state attorney's office issued a statement, as well, to say on the record that robbery is still considered the primary motive but the office is looking at all other motives, as well. >> who would have put out this hit. would it have been gonzalez or do they even know now? >> well, that is the big question, isn't it, that everyone wants to know. if this was a contract hit, what would be the motive? would with the billings' be sought after as possible victims here? the sheriff has said repeatedly that the billings have not been and are not under any criminal investigation. however, through talking to a number of people and looking at records, we do know that mr. billings has been

the sheriff has told tice not to leave this area. cnn, pensacola, florida. >>> horse owners in one area are afraid their animals are being targeted for trade on the black market. what's making things even worse, though, is what's happening to the horses that are stolen. >>> there was a puff of smoke and like a bang and the plane went further down. >> that's a witness describing what he saw during a midair crash over the hudson river. now investigators are taking on the dangerous waters to recover bodies and wreckage. >>> health care reform voters are giving them an earful. how debates are playing out at town meetings across the country. >>> michael vick has begun his nationwide tour to urge kids to stay away from dog fighting, but on his first stop in the atlanta area, much of his target audience was shut out. >>> thanks for joining us here on hln. i'm natasha curry in today for susan hendricks. >>> our top story, the search for victims in a midair collision in new york is scheduled to resume this morning. a small plane collided with a helicopter y

about 95 miles to the southeast of pensacola. as it comes to shore it gets weaker. weaker they get the slower they move and they tend to rain themselves out. i think that is what will s the florida and especially in alabama, a lot of flooding we'll hear about. any type of landfall and tropic system will produce a tornado as well. so we'll watch that. and i told you the headline on claudette is big surprise, coming on shore. the headline on anna it could be gone in two dayings. now it is a depression, 170 miles west. if the hurricane models are right it could go away in two days. now all the hurricane models are saying tropical storm bill, with winds of 60 miles per hour will be in fact the first hurricane of 2009. that could happen before the news edge at 11:00. i hope you stay updated. let's show you the track with bill and why the east coast continues to watch it. by this time tomorrow, it could be a hurricane, a major one. it doesn't look like it will go into the gulf of mexico. on friday it could have winds of 120 miles per hour. obviously, we have to watch what

>> reporter: well, you know, they -- authorities, the sheriff's department here in pensacola, say thatrapping up the telling of their investigation. for the most part, a lot of this information, a lot of these -- a lot of the evidence has been turned over to prosecutors, and the suspects in this case have their defense attorneys. and we're told that we're about a year away from going to trial in this case, so a great deal of the legal work really taking place behind the scenes no you. >> cnn's ed lavandera for us from pensacola, florida. ed, appreciate it, thank you. >>> and once again, let's take this shot full. we are standing by waiting for the motorcade. beautiful. the motorcade carrying senator kennedy's body from hyannis port to boston to begin any moment now. the family taking part in a private memorial service inside the home of the kennedy family compound. when the motorcade begins, we will, of course, follow it for you right here in the "cnn newsroom." 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 che

we are looking at the weather across the pensacola area. here's a look at the heaviest rain that has made it on shore. and sudden downpours and very strong winds, the depression is showing a lot of wind. to show you the rest of florida, as it looks towards the south, scattered showers for west palm beach through miami, all eyes are on another storm. the flood threat also persists. these counties along the gulf coast are under flash flood warnings, meaning flash flooding has already occurred. that's in the mobile area and alabama. and looking off well to the east, we have a big hurricane developing. bill, this is the first hurricane of the atlantic season. gusts up to 115 miles per hour. and bill is on the move and forecast to grow and strengthen but will it hit the u.s. or turn away? the models are fluctuating. so it's something to keep a close watch on. check this out. already a major hurricane, category 3 intensity winds by the time we get to wednesday. we'll be tracking the storm very closely because once you start getting further out, th

the house. don teague, pensacola. >> it is now seven minutes past the hour.e price is out on the plaza with another check on the weather. very nice crowd ow there. >> this is some nice crowd i've got out here. v, v, v-i-ps. thanks for being here. nice to see you. we've got a great bunch of people from all over the country. we've got girl skouts, people from texas, all around the world, in fact. speaking of around the world, a very big happy birthday today to brent franks who's watching in mexico city. he's 80 years old today. happy birthday to you. >> how about that. let's take a look at the weather and see what's happening all across the country and see what's going on. we'll bring up the maps. danny, what you've watching right now, really not well formed. that's the good news. it's going to be weaker than we initially thought. it is going to come closer to the shoreline, but the rain in the northeast, rain in the southeast, separate storms. as far as its impact, rough surf, seven to 12-foot waves. gail winds. one to three inches of rain. in addition to what

you do have the tropical storm warning from pensacola, the georgia/alabama border. maybe five or ten inches of rain for some people throughout the afternoon and overnight. then we have other two storms. this is ana and this is bill. ana having a hard time maintaining the structure. bill not the case. bill getting much more organized. show you the tracks quickly of both of these. this is the official track for ana. pulls up toward the west and maybe ends up as a low in the gulf. broken apart where it's not a major factor for us. it may stay off the coast. folks if bermuda, watch this closely as well over the next few days. shannon? >> shannon: a busy season. thank you for updating us. >> you bet. close to 2,000 firefighters are battling 11 wildfires in santa cruz mountains of california. some residents are urged to evacuate now. governor schwarzenegger met with the fire crews to discuss the specific difficulty of the fires. >> this fire is different from most of the fire because of the terrain. it's hard to get equipment in there and resources in there. you see helic

this was the scene just a short time ago in pensacola. there is some wind damage being reported. take a look at the damage in cape coral, residents spotted a tornado move through the area, cars as we saw toppled and 23 homes are damaged, fortunately everybody escaped without injury. so where is claudette now and where is hurricane bill? bernadette woods is tracking it all for us in the first warning weather center. >> three named tropical systems, claudette made landfall early this morning, i want to show you first warning doppler radar, what we have going on at this point is mainly heavy rain. just offshore you're seeing the purples, that is going to come on shore in the next few moments here, will continue to feed up from the gulf, it's lost a lot of its circulation, it made landfall at 1:10 eastern time just outside of fort walton beach. in the center of this, it will continue to move off to the northwest. this track right here, we're going to switch it over and show you our satellite here, better idea of the track going on, there's still a lot of rain with this system, and som

the area. sean callebs, cnn, pensacola, florida. >>> 54 years ago today the u.s.dropped an tom k bomb on nagasaki. it pushed them to surrender and end world war ii. people there observed a moment of silence today while a large veil in nagasaki peace park. the mayor spoke calling for an end to nuclear weapons. the attack on nagasaki three days after one on hiroshima. 130 people were killed or died within months after that bombing. >>> as a general rule of thumb it's not good form to insult your neighbor, especially if he's bigger than you. that's not the case in nevada. they kicked off an edgy ad campaign aimed at coaxing businesses away from california. they tell business owners they can kiss their assets good-bye if they stay put. another cares legislators to talking orang tangs. one l.a. tv says they won't air them. >>> all right. admit, you have more room in your wallet than you do in your closet or garage. it might be time to have a garage sale then. hln money expert clark howard are finding that's really the way to go. >> hey, you want to raise some cash. may

special olympics died this week at the age of 88. >> all seven suspects accused in the murders of a prominent pensacola they're expected to be charged with first degree murder. >> and new numbers about the unemployed americans are released today along with last month's statistics on retail sales. important updates on the economy that could definitely drive wall street today. >> finally this half hour, the amazing adventurer known as four-wheel bob who won't let anything get in his way. >> bob needs a wheelchair to get around. when his destination is the top of a mountain, he's up for a challenge. here's laura marquez. >> reporter: bob calls this wheelchair hiking. it's his version of a walk in the park. severe osteoporosis and diabetes forced him into a wheelchair 19 years ago, the bones in his leg so brittle they can shatter just by putting weight on them. >> reporter: are your feet of any help going up the hill? >> they're pretty much blocks. they don't push. >> reporter: an avid athlete all his life, he thrived in the outdoors. he still does, just from a different vantage point. >> it makes it all w

look at one of the spots i tapped into. pensacola, florida, has had from the storm total 11 inches of rain. the positive of all of these tropical systems, they do bring needed rains to the gulf area. there is what is claudette. there is anna, which is really just a depression. you can see bill. i'll show you more of the track of bill. but it is a long, long way away. everything indicates it will safely be staying out to sea. and not a -- any threat to any of the east coast of the united states. tell you more about that when i join you downstairs, as well as any needed rains of our own. we've been on a dry pattern with the heat and humidity. >> thank you. >>> an investigation tonight into a disturbing incident. the death of a 2-year-old foster child inontgomery county. it happened last week in montgomery village. police tell us the child was strangled in his bedroom by the cord of a venetian blind. pat collins joins us now with more. pat? >> jim, when a child is placed in foster care, usually that means something went wrong in his reg

the world. "dateline," pensacola. and jo hovin, insist you work for god and insist you don't have to pay taxes. the hovins are the co-owners of dinosaur adventure land and they're in jail for not having paid $430,000 in taxes. a district judge has now ruled their creation park can be closed and sold to make up the money they own. >>> "dateline" murfreesboro, tennessee. best reason to become a tea baggist. christian hidalgo at a tea party there, his reason to insist you don't owe taxes. turns out there are $80,000 in state and federal tax liens outstanding against mr. hidalgo. that's right, another tax protester who is actually a tax dodger. >>> and "dateline" dodger number one best leak. out came from "the washington post," the new book about the bush administration including this quote, president bush confiding wistfully and sounding serious that his dog, barney, was the son he never had. ♪ oh, my god! ♪ we call the bunches in honey bunches of oats the prize in the box. well, now there's a prize inside the prize. pec

to the south of here in richmond, virginia on the afternoon, yesterday afternoon, a young man had just arrived in richmond after winning his wings at pensacola. his name was albert k. earnest and burton earnest was with his state at the richmond country club. he was from a military family in richmond. he had gone to school with a governor harry byrne's song and then went to the emi. someone came in from the bar and said the japanese had attacked pearl harbor, and burt immediately took his date, and rushed to the closest naval facility in richmond. he was due to report on december 10th to norfolk at torpedo squadron eight. when he got to the naval facility there was an old chief petty officer there and burt said to him i'm not supposed to report until december 10th but i am here to help out, and the chief said thank you. i would like to think the navy would be able to survive for three days without you. [laughter] burt was to go on and when three navy crosses, two at midway and another at guadalcanal for seeking the japanese carrier in his avenger. another young man, third from the right on his name was bill evans, the youngest man in torpedo

the bizarre details. those sonic booms and flares some people reported near pensacola overnight were from the f-15 fighterske a look at marcus' unresponsive plane. >> we find out from the military pilots that were up there, that when they flew along next to this aircraft, that the doors were already open. and the cockpit appeared dark and empty, they said. >> reporter: a pilotless plane? it sounded too weird, too eerie, to be true. then, more surreal news. >> the colonel got a call and i said, "well, did you find him?" and he said, "yeah, he's alive. and apparently he parachuted out." >> reporter: parachuted out? it seemed too far-fetched. but according to federal authorities the night before, at about 2,000 feet above alabama, marcus jumped out the door of his plane and pulled the rip cord. a pilot who abandons a perfectly healthy airplane? what other conclusion but this? marcus schrenker must have tried to fake his own death. then, waiting at home, michelle got some news. 'd beespotted. >> he went to a house, and told 'em he was in a canoeing accident. and i was dumbfounded. >> reporter: but it was marcu

we'll keep a close eye on that, tropical tomorrow claudette 116 miles southeast of pensacola, florida. moving to the northwest at 12 miles per hour. coming on shore late tonight or first thing early hours of tomorrow morning. raing most of itself out across parts of mississippi, alabama and georgia as well as the western part of florida panhandle. nonetheless, we could still see a little bit of that moisture here as we get towards the later part of the week. the other storm in the tropics, ana, downgraded to a tropical depression. bill remains a solid tropical storm and is starting to intensify as well. winds up to 65 miles per hour sustained. over the next couple of days it's going to be a long track and a slow one as well. off to the west and northwest, 10 to 15 miles per hour. the hurricane center does think this will reach hurricane strength within about the next 48 to 72 hours. whe it goes, this is 2:00 on friday. a large area of uncertainty at that point in tile. obviously we'll have to watch out by next weekend, especially along the mid-atlantic coast up to the new england coastline as well.

one thing we're watching in parts of the nation, especially in spots like pensacola would be the sky. take a look from pensacola. heavy rain falling there, more rain into places like alabama, mississippi, complements of claudette. some places will report 5 inches of rain. there will be flash flooding, keep that in mind. again, the next storm we're going to talk about, this one is tropical depression anna. let's enlarge this ewe. this is a cluster moving into puerto rico and the dominican republic. this storm really has a lot of things working against it. not really storm in a tropical storm, but really a cluster, just a disturbance moving west-northwest. and we're going to put this path into motion. compliments of the national hurricane center. and the higher elevation really is going to take a bill toll on this storm are ripping it apart, should be an area of low pressure moving it possibly into the straits of florida as we get into thursday. one thing to watch until then, though, heavy, heavy rainfall in parts of say the highest elevations of hispanola. but as it moves into the stra

ed lavandera has watched the tapes from pensacola, florida, with all the details. ed, we understand you were in court, just got out. what can you tell us? >> reporter: we spent the last 2 1/2 hours combing through the new le released evidence. under florida law, any time evidence like this is turned over in the discovery process, in the months leading up to a murder trial, once that evidence is turned over to defense attorneys, it then becomes public. however, the judge in this case ruled in what amounts to the video surveillance images and the crime scene photos, that those would be kept under a bit tighter control. so the deal that was reached, it would be under tightly controlled circumstances to view these tapes, and that's what we've been doing in the last 2 1/2 hours. there were 16 cameras on the property they had condensed most of that to see what is essentially the crime that took place in less than five minutes. there were two particular camera angles which were very striking. one where you see the initial moment where burt and melanie billings are confron

. >>> seven suspect douse dew in court in the killings of bid and melanie billings. a pensacola grand jury handed out indictments, two counts each of first dege murder. they could get the death penalty. the billings, well known for adopted special needs children were shot to death last week. >>> kennedy members kept a low profile, only arnold schwarzenegger seen m public. shriver who found the special olympics died tuesday, several athletes expected at the cake today. the private funeral is tomorrow. >>. >> firefighters in northern california battling major blaze this morning. fire burned more than 1,000 acres and is spreading quickly in an area south of san francisco. about 300 homes were ordered evacuated. the blaze can be seen from 100 miles away. >>> north carolina may not get a chance to dry out today after getting deluged by aheavy downpour. a flound of thunderstorms is expected after more than eight inches of rain fell in some places there yesterday. it triggered severe flooding that stranded drivers and left thousands without power. >>> and now for this morning's weather

justin, the billings' child, who is an estranged child, he said he acted as a hit man for various used car dealers around pensacolato maybe strongarm people into making their car payments or other people that disappeared -- >> rob, more on this after a break. >>> welcome back to "prime news." here's the story. two employees at best buy tackle a thief, shoplifter trying to get out of the place. so they go after him. well, they get fired. they broke store policy that forbids contact with shoplifters. basically, you're supposed to just let them go. now, i know it's to keep workers safe and bystanders safe, but isn't firing a little harsh? deep down they were trying to be loyal employees, do the right thing. what do you think? we'll take your calls on that at 1-877-tell-hln. and we'll take your calls on this story as well. and here's a warning. you can't just say and do whatever you want on the internet and get away with it. case in point. an anonymous blogger created a site called skanksinnyc and it featured pictures of a model, liskula cohen, and the blogger called her some painfully vicious names here. it's tough f

he was forced to resign because one of the officials in pensacola, florida owns a dunkin donuts. thing seems fishy. >> it does. >> and with that it's time for your polka! >> come on, let's polka! ♪ that's the woodstock polka >> the white house is digging in for a fight over health care reform. how the presidenis trying to silenchis critics. >> then ford tough.why business auto giant. >> everybodycrambling trying to find cars. >> and the symbols of peace, love and rock 'n' roll. inside an exhibit all about woodstock. it's friday, august 14th. >> announcer: from abc news, this is "world news now." i'm stephanie sy in for jeremy hubbard today. >> i'm vinita nair. the president is on the road again today holding another town hall meeting on health care reform. >> add to that a new e-mail campaign to counter critics and major tv ad help from an unusual coalition of organizations. here's jake tapper. >> reporter: the fight over health care reform has become as heated as any presidential campaign with shouting at town hall meetings and near saturation levels of tv ads. including this one

the gulf of mexico. there is a live shot in pensacola, could dump heavy rain on the florida panhandle.ters do not expect heavy damage from claudette. >> julie: now a look at the public opinion polls watching the health care debate. a majority of americans, 54% say they prefer no health care reform over the current congressional bill. 35% believe legislation in congress is the best bet. scott rasmussen joins us with more. all right, first of all, what is the better health care option? >> they like the idea of reform. they know things can be improved but they are concerned about the costs and concerned about the additional government involvement but also what we're seeing in this resistance to the presidents health care reform is frustration. people didn't want the bailouts given. they didn't want to the takeover of gm and chrysler and didn't want other spending programs. health care bill is what people are saying, stop. >> gregg: scott, in the beginning people like harry reid and nancy pelosi and surrogates of the president, were saying all these protestors and townhalls are not genuine