negotia negotiators for the teachers union in denver schools met for six hours on saturday, after which union leaders announced they would go forward with the strike as planned. two sides have been going on for 14 months how to improve the pay scale for teachers which the city says is tied to the teacher turnover rate. the top u.s. commander in the war against isis agreeing with the u.s. intelligence community's assessment that there are, quote, tens of thousands of isis fighters there. >> i'm on the line where the intelligence community is on this. they've talked about tens of thousands who have been dispersed and disaggregated from the area. so they're spread from areas from iraq to other areas in syria. and they're dispersing but there is leadership there. there are fighters there. >> cnn's ben wedemen live near the front lines in eastern