Transcripts For CNN American Morning 20101018

this latest threat. good morning, nic. >> good morning, john. well, the french are saying the threat they've been tipped off by the saudis is active or about to be active. that the threat level right now is very real, that france remains vigilant. but perhaps significantly they're not increasing their terror threat level, which is at the second highest level heightened red, the top level is scarlet. they're not ramping up their threat level to that highest level at the moment. but if we look at what's happened in france recently, two times the eiffel tower has been evacuated under suspicion of terror threats, and the interior minister over the weekend saying these tips coming from saudi arabia are of concern that france is on top of the threat. they say france has spoiled two such terror threats in the past year and have 61 people in jail on terror-related charges. >> nic robertson in london this morning, thanks. and more on the hunt for osama bin laden this morning. a high-level nato official gave our barbara starr new information this morning on where he's hiding and pointed to northwest pakistan. she's live for us this morning inside of afghanistan with new details. hello, barbara. >> reporter: good morning to you, john, kiran. i did speak to a very senior nato official with firsthand knowledge of the latest information, the latest assessment that the alliance has. and he says, look, osama bin laden, they're not living in a cave anywhere. the feeling here is that both of them are across the border in northwest pakistan, that they are not far apart from each other, they're not together. that would be a security risk for them. but they may not have drifted too far apart. osama bin laden may at some point have arranged as far as very north in the federal territory the tribal area of pakistan. there's a good bet, if you will, he's in a place called the kurram valley. rugged, square miles, a very rugged territory inhabited by very fierce, tribal elements. and of course, what's so interesting is the kurram valley is right across the border from where osama bin laden fled afghanistan back in 2001. kiran, john? >> so if we do find, capture, or kill bin laden, what is the feeling there in afghanistan among military leaders? how big of an impact will it make in the fight against al qaeda? >> reporter: well, you know, when you're here in afghanistan, nobody even really talks about bin laden unless you ask someone what the latest information is. here, there is a feeling that right now the equation is this. they have to step up military attacks, which the alliance led by the u.s. has been doing. more air strikes, more ground attacks, pressure the taliban and the insurgents to come to the negotiating table, the peace table with the afghan government. that that is the only way to resolve this and that they have to step up the ability of the afghan government to deal with this problem in this country. there is declining support in many nato capitals, in the united states amongst the citizens, for the war, a lot of weary people nine years in. they have to get the afghan government to take charge here. that's going to be the way u.s. and nato troops can finally go home. kiran, john? >> all right. barbara starr for us this morning in afghanistan. thank you. also new this morning, a privacy breech at facebook that's impacting tens of millions of users. the "wall street journal" reports most of the popular apps on the social networking site have been transmitting profile names to advertising and internet tracking companies. and in some cases according to the report, the names of a user's friends are being transmitted. the spokesman from facebook are telling us that there's no evidence that any personal information was misused, at least not at this point. >> we'll keep tracking that for you. in the meantime, about a dozen of the rescued chilean miners returned to the scene of their long ordeal sunday. they had a private mass gathering at the mouth of the san jose mine along with family members. the miners are not talking. one of them says they've made a pact to keep quiet. jury selection begins today in the trial of an illegal immigrant from el salvador. he faces murder charges. former california congressman is expected to testify. you'll remember he was romantically linked to levy in 2001 and was once considered a suspect when she disappeared. the senate debate between jack conway and republican rand paul turns into a name-calling session. we're going to hear a little bit of the fireworks just ahead. [ j. weissman ] it was 1975. my professor at berkeley asked me if i wanted to change the world. i said "sure." "well, let's grow some algae." and that's what started it. exxonmobil and synthetic genomics have built a new facility to identify the most productive strains of algae. algae are amazing little critters. they secrete oil, which we could turn into biofuels. they also absorb co2. we're hoping to supplement the fuels that we use in our vehicles, and to do this at a large enough scale to someday help meet the world's energy demands. let's get a quick check of the morning headlines. rob marciano in new orleans for us. good morning, rob. >> reporter: good morning, guys. fairly quiet weather across much of the eastern half of the country with a few showers out and about. but for the most part, all the action is out west. take a look at the national map and give you an idea where you might run into trouble spots. really slicing across the midsection and maybe some breezy conditions across the northeast. continued dry across the deep south has been unusually dry and into drought conditions for places like memphis and little rock and even further south towards the gulf coast. 79 in st. louis, it'll be 85 degrees in dallas and 63 degrees in new york. do want to touch on the big international headline. this is meghi slamming into the philippines late last night, downgraded to the equivalent of a cat four hurricane, and now it reemerging into the south china sea. for the most part, and there's your forecast track heading off towards the west. we are also watching something down in the southwestern caribbean. still hurricane season here, and of course, it's always a worry for folks who live in new orleans. and the other reason, the main reason we are here, john and kiran, coming up on wednesday, that's the six month day from when that explosion happened there out at the well. and we're doing a little gulf of mexico oil spill update. take a little report card on what's going on down here. and we'll have reports throughout the week. the first one coming up in a few minutes. >> we look forward to checking in, rob, and seeing if life has returned to normal in any way, shape, or form for those living along the coast. well, to politics now. don't expect john mccain's daughter meghan to be sitting down for tea with christine o'donnell any time soon. she appeared on abc's "this week," and ripped into o'donnell saying the tea party favorite is unqualified to be a senator. >> christine o'donnell is making a mockery of running for public office. no real history, no real success in any kind of business. and what that sends to my generation is one day you can wake up and run for senate no matter how lack of experience you have. and it scares me for a lot of reasons. and i know in my group of friends, it turns people off because she's seen as a nut job. in the battle for the u.s. senate seat for kentucky was never a love fest. but in last night's debate between conway and rand paul, it turned into a bitter name-calling session. have a look. >> we have serious problems in our country. we have to have a serious discussion and he's descended into the gutter to attack my christian beliefs. you should be ashamed of yourself. you should apologize. have you no decency? have you no shame? >> he still hasn't answered the two fundamental questions. why did he join a group that was known for mocking christianity and christ? it's apparent that they revelled in sacreligionen. >> you know how we tell whenvã you're lying? when your lips are moving. >> have the guts to stay by your position. >> despite the back and forth, there was some talk of the issues. for instance, on health care, paul said he would get rid of the new health care law. well, conway says it needs to be fixed. with only 15 days left now until the crucial midterm elections, president obama and the first lady teamed up in ohio for the first joint campaign stop since 2008. and our suzanne malveaux is live at the white house this morning with more on how things turned out there on the campaign trail this weekend. really still trying to energize voters to get out there next month. we talk about the enthusiasm gap between the two parties. >> they really are trying, john and kiran. you saw them out there for the first time since 2008 campaigning. it was kind of a husband/wife couple act if you will. but they did get serious about trying to motivate voters. they are turning specifically to ohio state to young voters, to black and hispanic voters. quite frankly people who normally would not come out for the midterm elections and focused on issues they thought they would be interested in. the cost of education, health care reform, veterans' benefits, these types of things. and they both urged this audience to be patient to allow the obama administration's policies to come to fruition and at the same time still remain involved. here's how they put it. >> in two weeks, you've got the chance to say once again, yes, we can. now, look, let's be honest. this is a difficult election. this is hard. and it's hard because we've been through an incredibly difficult time as a nation. >> we're here to restore that dream for all of our people. that is the change we're fighting for. that's what's at stake. that has been the change barack has fought for for so many years. >> you're going to hear the president today focus on education as well as creating jobs. that's what this week is all about. but there's also going to be a major campaign blitz. we're going to see the president on the road for the next couple of weeks. and here's what his schedule's looking like. this is to help out the incumbent democrats. he's going to start off on wednesday in portland, oregon, going to then move to seattle, washington. on thursday, he'll be in seattle, washington, move to san francisco, california. friday, he's going to hit los angeles and then on to las vegas and nevada and then finally on saturday, minneapolis, minnesota, back to washington. this is going to be an all-out campaign blitz for the next couple of weeks to try at the very least to see if they can save some of those incumbent democrats in those states where it seems like they're most vulnerable. john, kiran? >> suzanne malveaux at the white house. thanks. well, we're two weeks away from the midterm elections and less than two weeks away from your favorite holiday, halloween. christine romans coming up next with the best places to trick-or-treat in america. 14 minutes after the hour. may be possible. in pursuit of this goal, lexus developed the world's most advanced driving simulator, where a real driver in a real car can react to real situations without real consequences. the breakthroughs we innovate here may someday make all cars safer. this is the pursuit of tomorrow. this is the pursuit of perfection. 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[ male announcer ] ducati knows it's better for xerox to manage their global publications. so they can focus on building amazing bikes. with xerox, you're ready for real business. ♪ 17 minutes after the the hour. christine romans here minding your business this morning. no talk of domesticated foul this morning in relation to the fed. but they're going to do something to get the economy going. >> juice the economy. >> sounds a lot like stimulus. >> but do not call it stimulus, folks, because the fed is looking for new ways to try to reinvigorate the economy. lowering its forecast for this year and next. how do we know this? because we saw the minutes of the september 21st fed meeting and looks like a vigorous debate going on about how to get this economy jump started. how would they do it? well, you know, usually the fed eases to jump start the economy and does that by lowering interest rates, but interest rates are rock bottom, near zero. so the fed would have to do something like buy more assets, maybe long-term treasury securities, print money, essentially. shoving money into the economy, get money going to have more money available for the economy to breathe again. the economy is growing. don't get me wrong, but it's not growing as quickly as the fed wanted. so the fed is looking at new ways to stimulate the economy. we'll know -- i think we'll know at the next meeting what they plan to do if anything. >> what's really troubling is what's happening with the dollar. but that's a topic for another discussion. you've got news about halloween? >> i do. i wanted to bring you the important big picture news at the fed, but also wanted to tell you for the next couple of weeks the people who study real estate are going to be laying out the best places to go get your candy. they look at all of their mortgage and foreclosure data and have put together the best places to go trick-or-treating. and topping the list, seattle, washington. that is the number one city in this country. now, it's not just home prices. zillo has all of this data at their fingertips. not just home prices. it's also where they think you can get the most candy based on their models. the best walkability of neighborhoods, and also, best crime. the best safety, least crime. and over the next couple of weeks, laying out different places. but seattle, san francisco, san jose, portland, and denver. >> supposed to be in the west coast. >> if you live out west, those are the best places to go trick-or-treating. but they'll be analyzing even more as we go on. >> christine has three boys this year. so did you pick out the theme for the family? >> they all want to be goats -- actually ghosts, they can't uh say "s." >> what are you doing? >> we're -- my daughter picked it, the 4-year-old, we're all toy story theme. my daughter and i are going to be twin jessies. >> where will you get the costumes? >> we already got them online. >> what are you going to be, john? >> grumpy. >> grumpy anchor man. we'll be checking in with carol costello. the life of a gun. how guns end up in the hands of criminals. and what law enforcement officials are doing to try to get them back, get them off the streets. carol costello has an a.m. original just ahead. it's 20 minutes past the hour. interesting grooming. thanks. i got the idea from general mills big g cereals. they put a white check on the top of every box to let people know that their cereals have healthy whole grain, and they're the right choice... (announcer) general mills makes getting whole grain an easy choice. just look for the white check. ♪ 24 minutes after the hour now. it's been three months now since the last drop of crude oil spilled into the gulf of mexico. and it's still not clear how much damage was actually done by the deepwater horizon disaster. >> rob marciano is live in new orleans this morning with an a.m. original. so how are they trying to track this? and determine the long-term impact of the oil spill, rob? >> reporter: well, that's ongoing. and you know, what's happening this week are a couple of big dates like you mentioned. it's been three months now since they capped that well since the oil has finally stopped spewing after 80-something days after pouring thousands and thousands of barrels of oil into the gulf of mexico. and it'll be six months from the date of the explosion when 11 men were killed and countless critters have died and countless more will die no doubt in the future. it's time for a check-up. and we're going to begin with the beaches hit hardest and those are the ones on the northern gulf of mexico coast. >> can't pick stuff up with these gloves. >> reporter: it was last spring when the oil spill made landfall in florida. that's when we met dr. richard snyder collecting surf and sand samples on pensacola beach. now nearly half year later, we walk these same beaches again. >> is that tar? >> yep. >> reporter: and the oil refuses to leave. >> but the reality is that the oil's still there. it was such a large quantity of this material that came out that it just isn't going to go away overnight. six months and we still got it. >> reporter: so his team of researchers continue taking samples, looking for lingering signs of oil and sea life, like these tiny shellfish, and digging deep into the sand for hidden layers of oil. >> we'll go there. >> reporter: austin dixon shows me how to collect a course sample, which requires more manual labor than i prefer. in june i learned cleaning tar off the top of the sand is hard enough. removing oily tar deep in the sand manually is nearly impossible. so they're pulling out the heavy machinery. this modified snow blower/farming sifter is called a sand shark. and it could clean up to a mile of beach per day. you can see here in the layers, well below the 6-inch mark is a layer of thick, heavy tar. the question is, do you bring in that heavy equipment to go even deeper? well, environmentalists are saying you may be doing more damage than good. >> we now have oil being cleaned up on our shores. and what we have is machinery actually out there really disrupting the shoreline, disrupting the sand surface. is the cure really worse than the sum tom? symptom? >> reporter: judy is concerned about big trucks plowing through the sandy habitats. >> do we want to get the stuff that's more than 2 feet down? i think that's what we need a strong confers about it. >> reporter: the problem is oil away from oxygen and sunlight will remain in the sand for years, even decades. early results from the sand core samples show very few chemicals harmful to humans. but oil compounds that get into the sea life and into the food chain is the bigger issue. >> so no longer is it a matter of what you can see scares you, it's what you can't see. >> it's mostly the material we can't see. >> reporter: what's certain is realizing the full impact of this oil spill will take far longer than the three months it took to cap the leaking well. >> reporter: well, when it comes to the marine life, it'll be at least six months until we have a grasp of what the fish populations of these oil generation will be like. and as far as the beaches are concerned, well, in alabama, also very hard-hit by the oil. this week, they plan to go down to 2 feet. you know, it was hurricane alex, oddly enough that brought that layer in and covered it up with sand. and the only way for mother nature to take care of this in a quick way is for another hurricane to come through and scrape that oil off the beach. and we don't see that happening likely this year. it'll be at least six months and they want to get that oil out of here before the tourist season starts. and the other big issue is wildlife and we'll attack that tomorrow and see how much oil is left there and what they're doing about it to clean it up. john and kiran? >> what about the cost, rob, of digging down 2 feet to get that oil out. that can't be cheap. >> reporter: you know, it's not cheap. it compacts the sand and you're burning a whole lot of fuel. so there are certainly drawbacks to that. but, you know, when you talk about the bread and butter of the communities across the northern gulf coast with those pristine white beaches, you're talking about an economy that is massive when it comes to tourism. at this point the benefits outweigh the costs. >> good stuff, rob. we look forward to your report tomorrow, as well. thanks so much. and we're crossing the half hour. time for a look at our top stories. europe is on alert this morning. police in france arrested a dozen people for suspected terror ties earlier this month. and the u.s. has warned americans to be careful when traveling in europe based on intelligence from a german citizen captured in afghanistan. new information this morning on the location of osama bin laden, a high-level nato official spoke to our barbara starr in afghanistan. he said bin laden and his deputy are believed to be hiding close to each other in houses in northwest pakistan. and they may be under the protection of some members of pakistani intelligence. and a privacy breech at facebook impacting tens of millions of users of the social networking site. "wall street journal" investigation found that even if your facebook account is set up to be completely private, your details could be accessed by advertisers. according to the report, at least ten of the most popular apps and games on facebook have been transmitting data to numerous third-party advertisers. facebook says that steps are now being taken to correct the privacy breach. and there is no evidence any personal information was misused. well, it'll probably come as no surprise that we are the most armed country in the world. and few things divide america more than the gun control debate. so far, nothing we've done has been able to stop some weapons from getting into the wrong hands. and finding them is more than a full-time job. our carol costello live in washington this morning with a look at the life of a gun in this a.m. original. good morning, carol. >> good morning, john. the atf is the federal agency responsible for tracing firearms used in crimes. with over 340,000 traces performed just last year, that's a whole lot of work. especially when each trace has to be done by using paper records and microfilm and telephones. there are no shortcuts. >> reporter: it all looks so "the office." but what goes on behind these cubicals in the tiny town of martinsburg, west virginia, can save a life or solve a violent crime. chief charlie hauser. >> most investigators get to work on 10 or 20 investigations per year. i'm involved in 350,000 every year. >> reporter: that's almost 1,000 investigations involving a gun used in a crime every day. the goal here is to help local, state, and international police track the life of a gun, and how it ends up in the hands of a criminal. for example, last year the atf helped ohio police trace more than 10,000 guns. it helped california investigators track more than 32,000 guns. and the list goes on. >> so, tell me what you're doing here. >> well, right now i'm working on a subpoena in a trial we have in north carolina. this is regarding a case where a person got a gun who probably shouldn't have received a gun. and it's my job to go testify to the history of that gun. >> reporter: they do that by scouring the data center's huge data bank. with its list of guns previously used in crimes and gun registration records from firearms dealers. if they makes it sound easy, it's not. >> can't you just look at the serial number and say, oh, i know where that gun came from? >> no, you can't. >> not simple as that? >> it's not as simple as that. serial numbers are not necessarily unique. >> reporter: or they've been altered or removed. and keep in mind, most guns change hands at least once before they're used in a crime. >> what is he? he's just a witness in the chain of distribution. nothing more than that. he may be useful depending on how close he is to handing that gun over to the suspect. >> reporter: but that person is still an important clue for detectives to find out how that gun ended up in the hands of a criminal. >> and despite all of this, the atf has an impressive track record, tracking the life of a gun accurately in 60% of the cases. keep in mind, john, these are registered guns. if a gun is unregistered, it's hard to trace. although they claim they can do that too. >> no question about that. carol costello this morning. great story. thanks so much. and coming up in our next hour, we're going to talk to michael bloomberg about guns that wind up on city streets. it's an enormous concern for him and he'll be talking about it this morning. also ahead, we'll be speaking with eric larson. he made it to the north, south poles, and the summit of everest all in the same year. he wants to bring attention to the plight of the poles. global warming making big changes in the way these ecosystems operate. and he'll be talking more about his journeys. it's 34 minutes past the hour. was gathered together in one place. [ printer whirs ] done. ♪ thanks. do you work here? not yet. from tax info to debunking myths, the field guide to evolving your workforce has everything you need. download it now at thinkbeyondthelabel.com. it's doing season. when we grab a little spare time...and get after it. we're lowering the cost of weekend projects. making things happen... less with our wallets... and more with our own two hands. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get this american standard 4" symphony faucet for the new lower price of just 68 bucks. 37 minutes after the hour. new research may make it possible some day to diagnose mild concussions quickly and easily. researchers in the army say they've developed a blood test that can detect if someone has suffered a mild, traumatic brain injury. joining me now to talk about it from washington is the medical director of the casualty care research program. great to talk to you this morning. this as i understand is similar to the biological markers following a heart attack. how does this work? >> very similar to that. to the heart attack one. when the brain cells are damaged, they spill their contents into the fluid around the brain. and that then gets into the bloodstream. and we can now measure those in the bloodstream. >> so the certain proteins, then, that you're looking for. how sensitive is this test? let's say that somebody has a very mild traumatic brain injury, sort of minor-level concussion. can that be detected? >> well, all of that work still needs to be differentiated. how soon it is and how mild it is. we have found these in patients who actually go to the hospital but have proven mild brain injury. and now we need to take it to the other limits. but we've been fairly excited with these results so far. >> now, what about the window of effectiveness? how soon after a bump in the head or a blow to the head might you be able to detect this? and what's the outer limits? let's say you hit something within the last week, would it still detect it? >> well, the test we are working on now, somewhere between two hours and 48 hours is where we've been able to see this. and we are doing more research to see where the limits are from there. and we are working on other proteins that will give us longer term results. >> wow. so what's the practical application of this in the military, then? >> in particular for a troop that's exposed to a blast injury, for instance, we then can take them to a battalion aid station and do a blood test and know whether they actually have brain damage and whether we can send them on another patrol or not. >> and what's particularly exciting about this too, and we've seen this in the past, research cutting-edge medical research done in the military, particularly on the brain translates to the private sector, as well. my understanding is that roger goodell, the nfl commissioner was visiting with the army chief of staff last week? >> right. and so we've been working closely with the nfl. because the problems are somewhat similar, especially in the mild brain injury area. >> so this might be applicable. you could have an on-field test or at least a rapid test back in the locker room that, you know, we saw a couple of bad collisions over the weekend in football games. if a player was taken off the field, you might be able to within a couple of hours give them this blood test and know whether or not they're fit to come back at least for the following week's game? >> that is one of the options on this, yeah. >> but you wouldn't be able to do it in the same game, though, i take it. it wouldn't be fast enough. >> well, as i said, we need to do more research on that. >> okay. and what about applications all the way down the line? to the youngest players. you know, some of these kids 7, 8 years old who are getting involved in football. would it be applicable there, as well? >> that is possible. i think that's important work we need to look at all of that. is the young player or the baby or whatever have the same kind of proteins we need more work. it is a new field and we think we've got progress to push on here. >> now, some brain experts have looked at your research -- are looking at it with a bit of a skeptical eye saying, from what we know might be a little too early to be as excited about all this as the army is. what do you say to that? >> all new science takes a while to verify. so we are doing larger trials. we still have a major 1,200-patient trial to do before we submit this for approval to the food and drug administration. there's a lot more work to do. i understand, it takes a while to show the limits of this. >> but in terms of your clinical trials, what have you discovered about the effectiveness and accuracy? >> it's been 100% accurate so far in the mild brain injury patients as well as the more moderate and severe brain injury patients. >> you mentioned, colonel, the fda approval process. how long do you think it might take before this is approved by the fda and in general use across the country? >> we are trying to see how quickly we can get this large trial done. we expect within a couple of years we will have the full trial done and application made to the fda. and then they will work from there. >> well, it's all very intriguing. and we look forward to some positive results. colonel dallas hack, thanks so much for being with us this morning. great to talk to you, and good luck. >> it's for the troops. >> all right. very promising. >> for the troops, not only in the military, but all the way down the line. young kids who might fall and bump their heads. it'd be great to have a test like that. >> good luck to them as they try to expand the studies. meanwhile, it's 42 minutes past the hour. rob marciano is in new orleans today. doing a follow-up on the gulf oil spill. also going to give us a look at the national weather forecast. and then we're going to check in with eric larson. he made it to the top of mt. everest all in one year's time. trying to bring attention and document the way global warming has affected some of these last great frozen places in our country, in our world. 42 minutes past the hour. [ advisor 1 ] what do you see yourself doing one week, one month, five years after you do retire? ♪ client comes in and they have a box. and inside that box is their financial life. people wake up and realize i better start doing something. we open up that box. we organize it. and we make decisions. we really are here to help you. they look back and think, "wow. i never thought i could do this." but we've actually done it. [ male announcer ] visit ameriprise.com and put a confident retirement more within reach. everythinge do it's beln it's a yea 50 milpromise. wi complenta schemaintee and /7 roaide assiance. beusen y ce the st bif, faaronar good morning, new orleans. and thanks to our friends at wwl. that's broadcast journalism there in new orleans for the live shot this morning. beautiful picture of downtown with the bridge in the background. 60 degrees right there right now. later on today, hot, high of 84. though, there wasn't a whole lot of other detail on the weather. so maybe we can get that from somewhere else. >> that's right, that's our rob marciano's job. we get a check of the morning's headlines. and rob is in new orleans for us this morning. hey, rob. >> good morning, guys. as we mentioned earlier, we're going a gulf coast check-up on new orleans. much of the deep south has enjoyed a magnificent fall. that, unfortunately, yielded dry conditions and a lot of the area is in a bit of a drought. so we could use some rain, but it's not going to be happening here, at least, in the near future. where is it raining? in the midwest. take a look at the radar scope and we'll show you where that action is. not a terrible storm system across this area, but light rain from minneapolis to chicago, stretching across into detroit. areas where you'll run into some delays because of airport issues and maybe some weather issues with that. are places like chicago, denver, maybe rain, low clouds in those two spots. breezy in the new york area. and san francisco, some low clouds also. as far as the rest of the country, some rain and higher elevation snows expected across the southwest. and yeah, fire danger across the southeast as the dry spell continues there. 85, dallas, 81, atlanta, that is a hair above average. still, feeling a little bit more like summer than the middle of fall. it is still hurricane season. we managed to dodge paula, but will we dodge this thing? a medium chance of becoming a tropical depression or tropical storm here in the next 48 hours. the national hurricane center watching this carefully, little disturbance east of honduras and nicaragua. and this is the hot spot of development for this time of year. we're trying to get through the month of october. and once we do, i think, we'll be smooth sailing. not so, though, for the philippines. this is typhoon meghi, which had winds of 180 miles an hour making landfall last night. my goodness, we'll be getting reports out of the area of the northern philippines here in the next 24 hours. but it was a powerful storm heading into the south china sea with 145-mile-an-hour winds. that is the strongest storm of the season so far globally, guys. and it was a beastl= with huge, huge winds. u.s., as you know, has been very, very lucky with an incredible active atlantic hurricane season. but nothing making direct landfall as far as hurricanes concerned across the u.s. and a look at those pictures, that satellite picture, i'm increasingly thankful as we get closer to thanksgiving day. >> looks like a direct hit on the philippines. >> yeah, squarely. and that eye was well-defined. and i'm a little bit nervous to see some of the video coming out of there. >> yeah, they got slammed. thanks very much. we'll look forward to that video. this morning's top stories minutes away now. including he's got a roof over his head and protection from the people. new information from a senior nato official on where osama bin laden may be hiding. and it's being called obama 2.0. details of the president's plan for his next two years in office in a new poll that suggests it's too late for many who voted for change in '08. also, guns that cross borders and kill. well, states with last laws on inner city streets. mayor bloomberg of what needs to be done to stop the flow across state lines. (announcer) everything you need to stay balanced on long trips. residence inn. it's doing season. when we grab a little spare time...and get after it. we're lowering the cost of weekend projects. making things happen... less with our wallets... and more with our own two hands. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get this american standard 4" symphony faucet for the new lower price of just 68 bucks. 52 minutes past the hour. welcome back to the most news in the morning. our next guest is a polar adventurer who spent the past 15 years of his life traveling to some of the most remote places on earth. in fact, he sent the first ever tweet from the north pole on earth day. well, friday eric larson reached the top of mt. everest achieving his goal of becoming the first person to visit both the north and south poles as well as the top of the world's tallest mountain in a single year. eric says that he launched the save the poles expedition to focus attention on global warming and to document firsthand the changes that have taken place in some of these places. he joins us this morning via satellite phone from his base camp on everest. eric, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you for having me. i appreciate it. >> we see the sign, hello cnn, everest base camp. what a feat to make the summit of everest this time of year. i'm sure that was quite difficult. how has it been for you as you have gone on these three adventures this year? >> well, i've spent about six months of the last year living in a tent. but i will say it's been an amazing experience. i've seen things most people will probably never ever be able to see. and really telling the story of the last great frozen places on the planet. >> yeah. and you talk about how you wanted to document some of the changes that have become more and more evident over the past decades when it comes to global warming. let's start with everest. what did you find? any differences? >> incredible differences. if you talk to any of the locals traveling up the glacier, they just talk about how much the glacier and how much the ice has decreased. and also on our e?qçsummit, i w near the south summit looking out across the vast expanse of the valley, and all around you could see evidence of where glaciers had been not where they are. >> that's astounding. you know, these are the places we sort of think of as untouchable when it comes to staying the way that they always have been. north and south poles, as well, what were the most noticeable things on each of those journeys when you went there to document what changes have taken place? >> the north pole -- the north pole has experienced dramatic changes. i did an expedition in 2006. and just in those several years since i'd last been there, the ice was noticeably thinner and because it's thinner, it's more rough and kind of fractured. lots of open water. and also the weather patterns are very sporadic. winds shifting very randomly instead of kind of general specific weather patterns. >> you know, when we talk about this, it's such a huge issue, many people care about it, young people in particular are seeming to be more energized about trying to save the environment, trying to make sure that we don't lose some of these places. but what can people sitting at home do if they say, okay, global warming. there are concerns. but what can i do about it? >> yeah. well, i thought the same thing when i started planning this expedition. north pole, south pole on everest. i think what i promote is individual action and national legislation. i have a philosophy beginning with one step in accomplishing big goals. the problem is global warming is a huge thing. just by climbing mt. everest or going to the north or south pole. all these little things add up. conservation is a big thing. using less, energy-efficient appliances, things like that. and on an individual level. but also the national government promote legislation that's going to reduce carbon emissions. >> how do you, you know, when you talked about national action in terms of politics, it's such a politically-charged issue. we have new polling that shows there's been a bit of a shift in terms of whether people agree that global warming is a proven fact. we saw climate gate. we saw a lot of back and forth about cap and trade legislation. do you see us taking, perhaps some steps back ward in people wanting to move on this issue?$t >> unfortunately, yes, i do. i feel like the debate has circled back to where it was in maybe 2005 and 2006. the important thing, i think, is not to make this issue a -- i mean it's a political issue, but not to make it political. we need to focus on energy efficiency, on creating new renewable energy, creating jobs. and these are good for our economy, good for businesses. it doesn't have to be a political issue. we can protect our environment, stop global warming, and still be smart about our economy and our country. >> all right. well, we want to thank you for taking the time out of your day to bring us this firsthand account of what it was like for you. we also encourage people to check out your website. it's savethepoles.com. thanks for joining us this morning. and good luck. >> thank you. top stories are coming your way right after the break. stay with us. this is power with efficiency. this is an interior that exceeds even the promise of the exterior. this is the all-new jaguar xj. the stunning result of taking a very different road. my professor at berkeley asked me if i wanted to change the world. i said "sure." "well, let's grow some algae." and that's what started it. exxonmobil and synthetic genomics have built a new facility to identify the most productive strains of algae. algae are amazing little critters. they secrete oil, which we could turn into biofuels. they also absorb co2. we're hoping to supplement the fuels that we use in our vehicles, and to do this at a large enough scale to someday help meet the world's energy demands. you need the patch. (announcer) icy hot patches. targeted no-mess relief. icy to dull pain. hot to relax it away. pain's no match for the icy hot patch. happy monday. glad you're with us on this "american morning." it's 7:00 here in new york on this october 18th. i'm kiran chetry. >> i'm john roberts. pretty incredible what eric larsen did. if you ask anybody out there, how did you spend your last year? you wouldn't expect anybody to say, well, i skied to the north pole, skied to the south pole, and climbed mt. everest. >> and the scariest part that he's doing, he's an adventurer and environmentalist, he wanted to raise awareness about marked changes he's seen in the last great frozen places even over the past few years. it's amazing. he said when you're climbing everest, you can see areas where glacier once were. >> it's the personal accomplishment is pretty incredible let alone the science aspect on it. let's get you caught up. two major terror stories developing this morning. europe on high alert after saudi officials say al qaeda is targeting the continent, especially france. also, new information about where osama bin laden may be hiding. our barbara starr is live in afghanistan this morning with more on the hunt for the most wanted man in the world. well, if you use facebook and millions of you do, listen up to this one. a breach of privacy being reported this morning. tens of millions of users on the social networking site o3ñ reportedly affected. we're going to tell you who may have gotten information about you and your facebook friends in just a moment. living together when the marriage is over. the economic downturn places major stresses on divorced couples who can't afford to move out of the family home. our christine romans explains why breaking up is hard to do these days. up first, an a.m. security watch for you. and two major terrorist stories on the radar this morning. first, target europe. france is on high alert right now after saudi officials specifically named that country in a new terror threat warning from al qaeda. there's also new information on where osama bin laden may be hiding. a senior nato official spoke to our barbara starr about the hunt for the terror leader and his number two and says they actually may not be too far apart. first, though, we go to nic, who is having more now on europe and how they are responding to this latest threat. and nic, specifically, france. we heard about, of course, the two warnings for the eiffel tower, two times over the past month the eiffel tower's been shut down. what are the new concerns this morning? >> well, the new concern is this active or about to be active terror threat that france's interior minister announced on the radio in france yesterday. this information, he says, comes from saudi authorities. they say that they're not raising the terror threat level in france yet per se. but he says that france is vigilant. but what he does say is that this means that the terror threat is very real. those were his words. and the fact that the interior minister went on french radio to talk about this, he said it was information that had come in recently in the last hours or days from saudi officials. so this does seem to highlight concern, real concern that the french have right now. but not at the moment, kiran, raising their threat level higher. it's at the second highest level. they're not putting it at the maximum level yet. >> there are concerns there, and in the broader picture in europe for the past month we've been talking about concerns, as well, after information came from a german detained in afghanistan, as well, about a possible terror threat. all of this taken together, is there any actionable intelligence at this point? or is it just an overall heightened vigilance that they're calling for? >> you know, i think on the german side the actual intelligence was actioned on because some of that group were killed in a drone group in pakistan. and in fact, the leader of the group, former very close confidant of some of the 9/11 plotters was killed along with others from that group in afghanistan. the germans have another lead on another person they have being questioned right now. but what this shows us in the big picture here, kiran, is what we've always known about al qaeda, that they want to target in the west, they'd like to target the united states. europe seems to be an easier target for them right now. the u.s. nationals inside europe could also be part of that easier option for them. but al qaeda in some parts senses it can't carry out another 9/11, but it is getting more organized to try to carry out the attacks it would like to carry out. but again, french interior minister said two threats thwarted this past year. >> nic robertson, thanks so much. >> our barbara starr also talked with nato officials who were tracking the potential whereabouts of osama bin laden. we'll be talking to her later on this hour, as well. a privacy breach at facebook impacting tens of millions of users. the "wall street journal" reports most of the popular apps on the social networking site -- listen to this -- have been transmitting profile names to advertising and internet tracking companies. in some cases according to the report, the names of a user's friends are being transmitted. a spokesperson for facebook tells us that immediate steps are being taken. there's no evidence the personal information was misused. about a dozen rescued chilean miners returned to the scene sunday for a private mass. they gathered with family members. the miners are not talking. one of them says they've made a pact to keep quiet amid reports of a pending book deal. and actor sean connery has rejected a judge's request to testify in a tax evasion and money landering in spain. citing his age and unspecified health issues said those are the reasons he could not attend. well, now to barbara starr in afghanistan talking with senior nato officials about information regarding the potential whereabouts of osama bin laden pointing to northwest pakistan. she's on the phone with us this morning. barbara, what are you learning today? >> well, john, good morning. it's funny, when you come here, most of the time people will tell you, oh, with don't know anything about where binn la la is. that's not the answer i got when i spoke to a senior nato official who said the best assessment right now indeed is he is very much alive living in relative comfort, and he is in northwest pakistan. as this official said, nobody in the al qaeda leadership is out living in a cave right now. they are in homes, living in relative comfort, and the belief is that osama bin laden is, in fact, probably living nearby his number two. not together, that would be a security risk. and that he may have arranged at some point over some wide area over northwest pakistan. he could've gone as far north as an area near the chinese border. but he may very well be in an interesting area called the kurram valley of pakistan, which basically is right across the border from where he fled afghanistan in late 2001 when the u.s. military was bombing that area, john. >> so it sounds like he never got too far in the fall of 2001. but what's the sense there in afghanistan? i mean, obviously, he might have some impact on terror threats because it's believed that bin laden signed off on this latest terror threat against targets in europe. but if he's caught, killed, whatever, is it going to make a difference there in afghanistan? >> reporter: well, you know, that's the thing. the overwhelming feeling is it will not make a difference on the ground here in afghanistan. the question remains, is there progress or isn't there? now, general david petraeus is very adamant that there is progress, that they are moving forward here. and that they are making -- he will be able to report to president obama right during the election seasonrat later this y that they are making progress. but this top official i spoke to had somewhat of a more nuanced view. listen to this. he says right now there is the ability of the insurgency to still muster upwards of 30,000 fighters, both in afghanistan and pakistan, and that there perhaps as many as 1 million disaffected young men in this area, age 15 to 25 and unless the afghan government of hamid karzai can begin to deal with those challenges, there is no way this is all going to work out. john? >> continues to be a major problem. barbara starr for us on the ground in afghanistan, thanks. all right. it's nine minutes past the hour right now. we want a check of this morning's weather headlines. rob marciano in new orleans this morning. the status update three months after the oil stopped flowing. meanwhile, how is it looking out there today? >> reporter: beautiful. it's been nice across much of the south really for the past couple of weeks. and for the entire fall season, if you include september 1st, it's been really dry. they could use a little bit of rain oddly enough and they're not going to get it in the next few days. the rain has been falling across the midwest, minneapolis, chicago, and that's where it's going to hang around for today. i think it'll make slow progress off towards the east. but there isn't a monster storm, a little disturbance across a weak front. not even -- not even the brighter yellows or oranges in there to highlight thunderstorm activity. so not going to be terrible as it heads towards western pennsylvania. fire danger because of wind and the dry weather across the southeast, and it will be unseasonably warm. and some valley rain and higher v elevation snow expected. it's going to be toasty there today. 81 in atlanta, 63 degrees in new york. game time tonight should be okay, and 62 degrees up in chicago. and yes, we are here along the gulf coast this week to highlight what's going on since they capped the well three months ago and since the explosion six months ago. a lot of people still working very, very hard to try to get this area back on its feet and back to normal. there has been some progress made. and there has also been a few setbacks. and we'll continue to highlight that throughout the morning today, tomorrow, and again on wednesday. john and kiran, back up to you. >> looking forward to that later on this morning. thanks so much. president obama facing the potential for major losses at the polls in a couple of weeks. it's been a difficult first couple of years in office. what about the second two years? is the white house preparing to reboot? we talked to peter baker of the "new york times" coming up. 11 minutes past the hour. 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[ male announcer ] the same 117 elements do the fundamental work of chemistry. ♪ the difference, the one element that is the catalyst for innovation, the one element that changes everything is the human element. ♪ everythinge do it's beln it's a yea 50 milpromise. wi complenta schemaintee and /7 roaide assiance. beusen y ce the st bif, faaronar 14 minutes after the hour now. this morning, new details about president obama's plan for his second two years in office being called by some people in the administration obama 2.0. it all comes as the new "ap" polls say 63% of obama supporters who wanted change now think it's never going to happen. the speech he gave while accepting the democratic nomination back in june of 2008 seems a world away now. have a look. >> we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick. and good jobs to the jobless. this was the moment when the rise of the ocean began to slow and our planet began to heal. this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last best hope on earth. >> our next guest talked to the president about that very speech and what he thinks of it all now. he also asked what the next two years are going to look like. peter baker is the white house correspondent of the "new york times." reported this weekend "the education of the president: what barack obama has done and hasn't and what being president has done to him." great to see you this morning. thanks so much for being with us. >> thanks for having me. appreciate it. >> you also -- the president also said, you know, describing that speech that the journey is going to be difficult, the road will be long. it has been many accounts has been a long difficult couple of years. what's going wrong? what's gone right for the president? >> he's managed to push through congress one of the most ambitious domestic agendas of any other president in a generation. he's made big changes in afghanistan in terms of troop pressure. going down in one and up in the other. through all of that, there's disillusionment among supporters and anger from those who didn't support him in the first place. uh i got a chance to ask him about the speech there because i thought it was emblematic where he manages to inspire and capture the hopes of a lot of americans. and where we are today two years later. he acknowledges that sounds ambitious today. but you campaign in poetry, govern in prose. the prose is a lot harder. it's not as easy to keep the public behind you when you're going through the nitty-gritty of the projects in a down economy. >> you mentioned how white house staff is feeling. and you know, to some degree, i guess they're exhausted. you say "many officials worry they they say that the best days of the obama presidency are behind them." at this point, they should just be hitting their stride. >> well, certainly they should, obviously. but they're feeling pretty exhausted. they feel like they did get through a lot of important things. financial regulation, obviously. stimulus, health care, education reform. and if they look at the next two years and see an environment ahead of them in which looks a lot less likely to do the big transformative things. the next two years might be about implementation of things they've already done and defending them against what will no doubt be attacks against republicans in congress and challenges in the court where he's going to have to defend why he's done what he's done in terms of health care. so that's a lot less exciting, i think, to a lot of people who work at the white house and have a chance to, you know, push through a lot of transformative issues. >> our david gergen a few weeks back was describing this white house and somewhat puzzled by what's going on. he said usually administrations get more competent over time, not less competent. he's looking at what's going on and scratching his head. so you talked to president obama about what the next two years are going to be like. kind of the idea of a reboot, bringing out obama 2.0. what's that going to look like? >> right. and we talked over an hour in the white house. he doesn't have any regrets about the big ideas, the big things. but he does have a number of tactical lessons he thinks he sees that he's trying to adjust in the next two years. one of the big things, he says he didn't do enough to rally public opinion behind him. he didn't do enough to win public support that he felt he didn't have to do that. it was more important to focus on what's right about policy. on the other hand, it is part of the president's duty to bring the public behind his policy otherwise they're not going to succeed. he's going to have to do that the next two years. >> what exactly is he going to do? you talk about defending health care legislation, but if you lose control of congress, if democrats lose control of congress in november, republicans are going to spend the next year, at least, trying to undo health care reform. >> that's right. the president hasn't been out there trying to sell what he's done more effectively. you know, he did promise when they passed it last spring i'm going to go out there and explain to the country what we've done and make sure they understand how good it's going to be for them. he hasn't done that very much. polls continue to show great skepticism of that program. and democrats on the campaign trail running away from it. at least not talking about it very much. he's going to have to find a new way to explain that and defend that against republicans. he also talked about whether or not he can work with republicans after the elections. he says he does see some hope for that. perhaps, a, they're going to win and feel some responsibility to govern and work with him more closely, or they'll fall short and feel chatheir strategy didn work. president obama's been reading book about president clinton lately, which is kind of ironic, of course, because he ran as the anti-clinton in 2008. right now he's looking at his example after the 1994 mid-term elections that were so bad for the democrats. and he's looking for possible, you know, clues to how president clinton then came back two years later to win a pretty convincing reelection. >> he may need the history lesson. peter baker, good article, recommended reading. thanks so much. >> good talking to you. well, is this a sign of the economic times, john? still ahead, people are divorcing, but they're not separating. why the bad economy is making it impossible for some couples to move on. 20 minutes past the hour. they pk on the top of every box to let people know that their cereals have healthy whole grain, and they're the right choice... (announcer) general mills makes getting whole grain an easy choice. just look for the white check. well, breaking up is hard to do when the economy is making life much more difficult for people who are getting divorced but are stuck with each other anyway. >> it's something that christine romans is thinking about in her new book, "smart is the new rich." >> my husband's like news alert, news alert. >> you just had a brand new baby. >> number three in four years, so i'm too tired. >> and nothing brings you closer than a newborn. >> because you don't talk to your spouse anymore. the recession is aftermath, tougher for couples trying to divorce, maybe a job loss means they can't afford to divorce. but divorce attorneys and financial planners say the divorce freeze of the past couple of years is thawing and people are starting to move on again. >> good girl. >> reporter: we first introduced you to sally gibson 18 months ago and found out breaking up really is hard to do. sally and her husband of 15 years were getting a divorce, but still living under one roof. >> my husband lives in the guest room. and he comes home on wednesday nights early to have dinner with the kids. and the other nights he comes home late to give me my space. so it's -- it's not perfect. it's been difficult. >> reporter: as legal bills for two divorce attorneys piled up, they switched to a less expensive mediator. but the situation with the house wasn't as simple. >> right now there are 20 houses on the market in town that are in our price range. and there are no buyers. so my broker has pretty much prepared me that the house is going to sit for quite a while. >> reporter: for sally, remaining financially sound meant remaining under the same roof as her ex-husband. but for some, getting a divorce isn't even an option. the american academy of divorces -- emotion trumped finances. >> it was a very difficult time. very emotional time. and we made the decision to sell the house and it could have easily sat on the market for a year and i didn't want to put my kids through that because it was tough enough. so i priced it to sell. and we sold the house right away. and i'm not going to lie, lost a lot of money, and that hurt. >> reporter: sally started over. changing back to her maiden name, she downsized and started a small business as an interior designer out of her new home. >> i've discovered a niche where i'm working with all of my clients right now are divorced or separated. and so it's kind of nice to work with people that are in similar circumstances. >> reporter: and if there's a silver lining for sally and her boys in their smaller home -- >> we spend a lot more time together as a family because there are fewer places for them to scurry away to. >> she and her husband spent a year in the same home divorced. a lot of folks are going through this and trying to figure out how to move along. if you have found yourself untieing the knot, selling the house and moving on, advice here. according to divorce financial planners, you need to prepared a net worth statement, net worth assessment right away. you need to figure out who is going to pay for health care. this is something that divorce financial planners is really important right now. a lot of couples are trying to figure out who is going to handle health care costs until health care reform is -- there's an open market to go buy health care on. in case one spouse loses a job, incredibly important. and according to divorce financial planner, think not only five years ahead but 10 and 20 years. a lot of people are going back from a few years ago and realize a lot has changed. so think ahead. make sure you know if your spouse, your ex-spouse loses a job, are you depending on that person for health care? or 401(k) or a pension or future benefits? you've got to really plan far ahead. >> it's depressing to think about. >> it is, it is. and because it is depressing, i want to bring other advice about people who are married today and people who handle money well. some advice for you about that. be honest about your finances if you're married today. every study shows this is one of the most important things. you've got to talk openly. spend less than you earn and pay down your debt. that sounds easy or maybe even silly piece of advice, but there's a lot of research that shows that the thriftiest couples are the happiest across all incomes, across all income couples. the family that lives below -- >> stress that takes the big weight off your shoulders. >> it's not everything that causes divorce, but one important piece. >> i think couples fight about money more than anything else. >> and couples who fight more than once a week about money have a 30% higher chance of divorce. you thought it was bad married to that person, now you're divorced living in the same house fighting about money. >> thanks, christine. coming up, what law enforcement officials are doing to get the handguns back. carol costello's a.m. original ahead, as well as mayor michael bloomberg joining us. 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>> no, you can't. >> not as simple as that? >> not as simple as that. serial numbers are not necessarily unique. >> reporter: or they've been altered or removed. and most guns change hands at least once before they're used in a crime. >> what is he? he's just a witness in the chain of distribution, nothing more than that. and he may be useful depending on how close he is to handing that gun over to the suspect. >> reporter: but that person is still an important clue for detectives to find out how that gun ended up in the hands of a my#minal. >> despite all of this, the atf has a pretty impressive track record, tracing the life of a gun accurately in 65% of its cases, i wish it could be 100%, but as you heard, it's not so easy. and these are just registered guns, there's a whole lot of unregistered guns out there which are much harder to trace. >> they make it sound so easy and literally, there are millions of records in that little place in west virginia. but they do it at lightning speed. it's amazing, it truly is. >> well, they need all the help they can get, certainly, because as we've been talking about, it's still a big problem. the guns obtained illegally and making their way across state lines. carol, thanks so much. we're going to be joined after the break by michael bloomberg. he's been leading the charge of about 500 mayors across the nation that want to try to put a stop to it. they say that nearly half of the guns recovered at crimes crossed state lines and came from just ten states in particular. some loopholes that still haven't been closed. we're going to join -- he's going to join us to talk after the break. it's 36 minutes after the hour. ♪ [ male announcer ] we all need people who will be there for us in life. people who say, "we're with you, no matter what." at wachovia and wells fargo, we're with you, when a house turns into a home... ...when a passion becomes a career... ♪ ...when a relationship turns into a lifetime... and when all the hard work finally pays off. we're with you when you need someone to stand by you. wachovia, wells fargo, and you. together we'll go far. so, you can eat them right here... or eat green giant beans at home... ...frozen within 8 hours to lock in nutrients. up to you. [ green giant ] ho ho ho ♪ green giant. welcome back to the most news in the morning. 39 minutes past the hour right now. all this week we're focusing on gun sales and gun violence in this country. according to the cdc, more than 30,000 people were killed by guns in 2007, 12,000 of those were murders. and illegal guns were to blame in many of those cases. there's a new report by new york mayor michael bloomberg's coalition showing that cities are paying a severe price for weak laws in other states. and mayor bloomberg joins us now. thanks so much for being with us. >> thanks for having me. >> we talked to you last april, since then you've released a new report. states with weak gun laws are the top sources of guns recovered in out-of-state crimes. what are these states doing differently or not doing enough of that makes them a target here for illegal gun sales? >> well, you shouldn't be surprised. people go to buy guns where they can. and states that allow you to sell guns without a lot of background checks or in some cases with none, the gun loophole. that's where the buyers go. they take them to the places where criminals are. they take them to the place where young people want to buy guns. they go from those states that it's easy to sell with no gun laws to those states that have tough gun laws like new york, for example. new york state, 85% of the guns recovered in crimes come from out of state. >> right. >> you go to a state where it's easy to buy guns, it'll be 80% or 90% were bought locally. so gun laws, the bottom line is, do have a big impact on this country. one of the problems is no state can be totally in charge of their own destiny because it's too easy to carry guns. and last night i went to kings county hospital. a 29-year-old guy, 20 years on the job, chase some perp, and the guy turns, cops. the three the three cops shoot back and they shoot the guy in the leg so that he'll probably survive, as well. but it's an illegal gun. this one happened to be an old gun. i saw the gun. these guns haven't been made in a long time. but you can go and buy them on the streets. >> do the states where they have weaker laws, do they see more crime? >> no argument about that. they also see more crime. the bottom line is, if you want to be safe -- if you want your kids to be safe, you've got to get the guns off the street. cops face it even more because people with guns would tend to turn and shoot at a cop if they're getting chased. your danger is probably a random shot. and it happens every day. in the united states, we have a virginia tech every single day. 32 kids killed at virginia tech, terrible tragedy, enormous coverage on cnn, wall to wall virginia tech. it happens every day and you don't mention it. why? because the 32 every day are spread across the country. >> you know, the nra does not agree, not surprising, with the assessment. they make the case on their[os website that gun ownership is at an all-time high, yet we see a decrease in gun violence. they say crime has fallen 6% between 2008 and 2009 despite the surge in gun purchases. and what they say is what you're doing is punishing law-abiding citizens who own handguns and do it the right way. >> nobody's trying to take away your second amendment right to own a gun. but there's federal laws that say you can't sell guns to kids, federal laws that say you can't sell guns to felons. and yet, that happens all the time, and the nra fights the ability for police to get the data they need to keep guns out of the hands of kids and out of the hands of criminals. that's all our organization is trying to do. and we have 550 mayors we're up to, republican, democrat, independent, north, south, east, west, urban, rural, big cities. the bottom line is, the nra is totally unreasonable. they will not allow any or not tolerate any restrictions whatsoever. but, for example, states that have laws that say you have to take a background check. they have the gun show loophole where you can walk in and buy a gun -- >> explain that. you guys have been fighting against this for a very long time. how is it that the gun show loophole is still able to exist? >> lack of courage. plain and simple. the legislators in this country don't have the guts to stand up and do what their constituents, all the polls show clearly want. get guns out of the hands of criminals and kids and you do that by doing simple background checks. most states, not often. most states have a law if you want to go into a gun store and buy a gun, you have to go into a background check. most dealers are honest, they follow the law. but if a dealer takes some guns, goes to a gun show, you don't have a background check. and we do this sting operation. we hired undercover investigators to go in, go up to different booths at a gun show and say i can't pass a background check because of something i've done before, but would you sell me a gun? oh, sure, here's some money, here's the gun, give me the cash. and that's exactly how people that go out in the streets shoot our cops and randomly shoot our kids get their guns more than any other ways. >> well, i know that you feel very passionate about this issue. thanks for joining us to talk about it. thanks. john? there's another warning that terrorists may be planning attacks in europe. saudi officials say france could be al qaeda's next target. the continent is already boosted security at popular tourist sites. we're live at the top of the hour with stepped up efforts across the continent. coming right up, though, a dry start to the workweek. rob's got this morning's travel forecast after the break. 45 minutes after the hour. >> so, ah, your seat good? got the mirrors all adjusted? you can see everything ok? just stay off the freeways, all right? i don't want you going out on those yet. and leave your phone in your purse, i don't want you texting. >> daddy... ok! ok, here you go. be careful. >> thanks dad. >> and call me--but not while you're driving. we knew this day was coming. that's why we bought a subaru. we asked people all over america where the best potatoes come the best potatoes? idaho. idaho! idaho. and how do you know you're getting idaho potatoes? well...uh... uhm... heh.. (sighs) not all potatoes come from idaho. so if you want the best, you have to do one important thing. always look for the grown in idaho seal. i knew that. i knew that. look for the grown in idaho seal. i'd get this tightness in my chest. so i went back to my doctor again. we chose symbicort to help control my asthma symptoms all day and night. [ man ] symbicort improves my lung function, starting within 15 minutes. symbicort will not replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. it is a combination of two medicines and should not be taken more often than prescribed. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol increase the risk of death from asthma problems, and children and adolescents may have an increased risk of being hospitalized for asthma problems. symbicort is not for people whose asthma is well controlled with a long-term asthma control medicine like inhaled corticosteroids. once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop symbicort without loss of control, and prescribe a long-term asthma control medicine. be sure to see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. symbicort is a good choice to help control my asthma all day and night. [ inhales ] [ exhales ] ask your doctor if symbicort is a good choice for you. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines. rob marciano is in new orleans for us. how is life in the big easy today? >> beautiful. the sun just coming up. the birds are waking up. and all is calm on the shores. lake pontchartrain, which was not affected by the oil back six months ago. and that's why we're down here to highlight what's been going on to improve life in both the beaches and the wetlands since the well was capped three months ago and since the explosion six months ago. and oddly enough in some of the beaches that have been oiled, a hurricane might very well do some good as far as scraping off the last bits of tar off the beach. we turn to the northwestern caribbean. take a look at this satellite imagery. this is where paula formed last week. and this is a spot where the national hurricane center is thinking, oh, you've got almost a 50% chance of another depression or tropical storm forming here in the next couple of days. and that may very well threaten the u.s., the yucatan, or cuba here as we progress through the week. now, look at this. this a well-developed storm. super typhoon meghi slammed into the philippines last night. just ripping apart parts of that nation, at least in the northern province. and the track of this is going to be rolling towards actually hong kong and parts of southern china here over the next day or two. so we're watching that carefully. back state side, relatively quiet. a little bit of rain across parts of the midwest, including chicago and detroit. and unusually warm and dry across parts of the south. it'll be 84 degrees here in new orleans. not too shabby for the middle of october. you're up to date weather wise. american morning is coming right back. ia, my friends at work think there's more than one "me." ...because on our trips, i always get there faster. see, expedia lets me mix and match airlines. so i can take one airline out... and another home. so with more flight options, i can find the combination that gets me there and back quickest. with a little help from expedia, my friends will think i can be everywhere at once. where you book matters. expedia. on our car insurance. great! at progressive, you can compare rates side by side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. wow! that is huge! 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[ male announcer ] fiber one chewy bars. aveeno hair shines in real life. new aveeno nourish plus shine with active naturals wheat smooths damaged cuticles for 75% more shine in one use. real shine, for real life. yours. :5 after the hour. churches across america are in crisis. according to the latest studies, 38% of them have seen a decline in donations. on the heels of a painful recession, it seems the faithful have little left to give. that has hundreds of churches facing foreclosure. as stephanie elam reports, keeping those doors open could require a miracle. >> reporter: mt. gillia baptist church knows a thing or two about going through the storm. >> how many expect something great to happen today? >> reporter: a freak tornado devastated the church in 2008. >> it toppled that steeple over. >> reporter: after moving around for 18 months, the church finally reopened as the higher ground empowerment center. >> it was horrible, but thank god we came through it. >> i knew once we got back in the sanctuary, people would come. >> reporter: the church did lose more members. it faced another upheaval. have you heard of a church heading into foreclosure before? >> no, this year has been very shocking to me. i believe that the banks are in business to make money, understandably so, but when it comes down to a church, i think they need to look at it and work with them to ensure that that church stays in that community. >> reporter: hundreds of churches have faced foreclosure in the last two years, something one unheard of. >> you know what we're up against. >> reporter: with members facing unemployment and foreclosure record. >> i will not withhold the tithe. >> reporter: after 107 years, this church is finding it harder and harder to serve the community. the pastor has even taking a pay cut. >> the tithes and offerings is how we're able to do the ministry we do. when the people don't have, they can't give like they normally give or want to give. >> for congregations then to have to come to grips with the fact that their sincere investments in the faith and in god are being seized by banks that can become a point of spiritual crisis for many. >> reporter: banks that are surviving the downturn say there's enough blame to go around. >> there was a build it and they will come mentality that set in in the industry, and the reality is that a lot of these churches, perhaps in part due to the economic downturn, did not grow into the debt as they anticipated they would. >> reporter: the bank that holds the empowermentment property said in a statement we have worked closely with the church for more than 2 1/2 years to reach a resolution that would allow the church to continue to occupy the property, end devote quote. pastor johnson believes his church will remain a rock for his congregation. >> i came here to say lord, i need you, and i need you right now. >> reporter: there for people to lean on when any storm comes their way. stephanie elam, cnn, atlanta. and to the black churches fought for civil and human rights, now it's waging a war on debt. "almighty debt" thursday only on cnn. we'll have the latest on possible terror warnings and a possible breach on facebook. welcome to our mcdonald's. yours? really? it's been our dream since we were kids. uh, that long, huh? why not? mcdonald's really supports entrepreneurs. they spend over $5 billion dollars... with businesses in communities like ours. you two really know your stuff. we've done our homework! time for breakfast. mom! not in front of the customers. wake up! wake up! - i just had the most amazing dream! - me too! opportunities inspiring big dreams. mcdonald's. [ evan ] ah it's cool. ah... ah. ah. ah. ah. ah. ah. ah. ah. ah! ah! whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what is that? how come my dap wasn't like that? huh? it's just an "us" thing. yeah, it's a little something we do. who else is in this so-called "us"? man, i don't know. there's a lot of us. [ chuckles ] ask your friends what it's like to be part of a group that's 40 million strong. state farm insures more drivers than geico and progressive combined. it's no surprise, with so many ways to save and discounts of up to 40%. so call an agent at 1-800-state-farm or go online. good morning. thanks so much for being with us on this monday, the 18th of october. i'm john roberts. >> and i'm kir inchan chetry. first europe is on high alert this morning after saudi officials say al qaeda is targeting the consequence nent, but especially france. also there's new information about where osama bin laden may be hiding out. our barbara starr has new details. she claims drug pirates killed her husband on the border. we'll talk to tiffany hartley about the latest on the investigation, what she told authorities during an eight-hour statement on friday. the tea party express bus tour ready to roll into reno, nevada. sarah palin will be providing the big sendoff. the party plans to stop in 30 cities in 15 days. we're going to tell you which candidates are in their cross hairs between now and november 2nd. up first this morning, an a.m. security watch in two stories this morning. first, where osama bin laden may be hiding. a senior nato officer spoke to our barba starr about the hunt for the terror leader and his number two, and says they may not be very far apart. >> targets europe and france on high alert after saudi officials specifically named that country in a new terror theft from al qaeda. nic robertson has the latest from london this morning. >> well, according to france's interior minister, this threat is active or about to be active, information it says came from saudi officials within the last couple days. we talked to saudis, they won't comment on this. what the french interior minister is saying, however, is that this means the threat is very real. he says that france is vigilant. however, france is not increasing its terror threat level. it's at the second highest level right now, which is heightened red, the highest is scarlet. the french are not raising that warning. what is significant perhaps here, what we're seeing emerging, if you take in the recent threats from the group in ham burg in germany, leading to sort of a europewide travel warning for the united states, we're seeing perhaps al qaeda organize itself to target inside europe. it can't pull off a 9/11 attack again, but it is looking to target on mainland europe. that seems to be the picture emerging. where does the saudis get this information? they won't say, but they did say just a few days ago that a saudi national, former gitmo, guantanamo bay detainee had turned himself in, possibly this information coming from him, but as far as the french are concerned, this is a very real threat either in the process of being planned or about to be planned. the interior minister also said in the past year two terror threat attacks inside france had been thwarted, and 61 people in france remain detained on terrorism offenses. nic robertson, cnn, london. all right. nic robertson for us this morning. also new this morning a privacy breach at facebook impacting tens of millions. "wall street journal" reports most of the popular apps have been transmitting profile names to internet tracking companies and advertising firms. in some cases, the friends of a user's -- don't tell folks in fayetteville, west virginia, to take a flying leap, because they'll apparently take you literally saturday marked the first anniversary of the river gorge festival, celebrated by base jumping off the 876-foot bridge. it takes about 8.8 seconds. one day a year when you're allowed to do that. >> i just can't believe how many people they get that are willing to throw themselves off a perfectly good bridge. >> people wait 364 days to do that. >> it's grown in popularity every year. >> even on a foggy day like that, too. >> that sounds really fun. yikes. the phillies have evened up -- i did not mean to say ended, honey -- have evened up the series with the giants. philadelphia pitcher roy oswalt was dominant over eight innings last night. it was a 6-1 victory. jimmy rollins also hit a home rum. game 3 is scheduled for tomorrow night. unfortunately if you live in new york city, because of a dispute with one of the cable companies and the networks, you can't watch the game. >> couldn't get the football game either yesterday for a while. >> what a pain. a quick of this morning's headlines. rob marciano on the shores of lake pontchartrain. how is the weather down there? it looks beautiful. >> gorgeous. the sun is coming up, it's all calm, the birds are flying around. weather should be primo for the game tonight in the bronx. all is good as far as weather goes. we are watching one area in the southwestern caribbean where -- similar to where paula formed last week. this area kind of perk lace this time of year, and this close to the u.s. obviously it's a concern. we all know that hurricane wilma developed and slammed into florida back in 2005. the national hurricane center has an eye on this puppy for about a 50/50 shot or so of developing in the next 48 hours to a tropical depression or even maybe a tropical storm. southeast 84 in new orleans, red flag warnings are up for parts of georgia and alabama because of the dry air and breezy conditions and low humidity, a little bit of showers from chicago to detroit, moving east towards, saying, columbus, how how or pittsburgh, but it should be dry through parts of new york. 63 degrees expected in new york. we are down here because it is three months since we capped that well, six months since the explosion. time for gulf of mexico oil spill checkup. our report in the next half hour will detail what's going on in the local beaches. there's still out there, and what they're doing about it, in about 30 minutes. >> we look forward to your report. thanks, rob. thanks to our top story, more on the hunt for osama bin laden. a high-level nato official gave our barbara starr new information this morning on potentially where he's hiding. he pointed toward northwestern pakistan. barbara, for so long we've heard that bin laden may be in a remote area of the northwest territories, obviously much of the region is remote, but this might be closer to where he was than we thought. >> reporter: well, it really seems like that's possible, john. a top nato security official tells me first, number one, they absolutely believe that both bin lading, and ayman ayman al zawahiri are alive and living in relative comfort. he says there's no al qaeda leader living in a cave these days. i asked him, where do you think he is? he says, if you asked me to draw a circle on a map, here's the circle i would draw. he said he may have ranged in the northwest territory in the tribal region all the way toward the chinese border, but there's another place they think is really possible. that's called the kurram valley. a fiercely tribal region, but this is the park of pakistan that's right across the border from tora bora where bin laden fled. >> so what's the sense there in afghanistan? obviously it may have some impact on terror threats we've been seeing, but if he were to be captured or killed, would it have any effect on the fighting going on there? >> reporter: the feeling is no, not a lot of difference on the ground here for the war here inside afghanistan. now, i have to tell you, general david petraeus feels the coalition is making success. just as we come up on the midterm elections in the united states, he will be able to record to president obama that the strategy is working. i don't think everyone quite agrees. the people that we speak to, this top nato official, for example, says time could be running out down the road here to make it all work. nato countries may not support it much longer, clearly declining support in the united states, and no matter what, the insurgents seem to be able to regenerate their fighters. right now the estimate is, under pressure, the insurgents could put perhaps as many as 30,000 fighters in the field across afghanistan and pakistan. there's as many as a million disaffected unhappy young men in this region that could take to arms. the real key will be the peace process here, getting the taliban to the peace table, because they think they have no other option, and getting the afghan government to get its act together. john? >> barbara starr for us live in afghanistan, barbara, thanks. still to come, the tea party express bus is getting ready to roll. it begins this morning in reno, nevada. sarah palin is providing the send-off. they're planning a stop in more than 30 cities in more than 15 days, gunning for one prominent democrat. we'll have the latest in what they're up to. and an american tourist gone, his wife claims drug pirates killed him. they gave a lot statement on friday. she'll join us with the latest on her husband's case. nine minutes after the hour. how are those flat rate boxes working out? fabulous! they gave me this great idea. yea? we mail documents all over the country, so, what if there were priority mail flat rate... envelopes? yes! you could ship to any state... for a low flat rate? yes! a really low flat rate. like $4.90? yes! and it could look like a flat rate box... only flatter? like this? you...me...genius. genius. priority mail flat rate envelopes. just $4.90. only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. determination. strength. focus. at pacific life, when it comes to helping secure your financial future, we know what it takes to perform. ask a financial professional about pacific life. the power to help you succeed. :12 after the hour. new developments? a development we've been following closely. u.s. and mexican officials moving forward with their investigation into the disappearance and alleged death of american david hartley, despite the grisly murder of the lead investigator. hartley's wife claims her husband was killed by drug pirates on falcon lake, but his body has not yet been found. in fact there's been no trace of him at all. on friday she gave an eight-hour interview, and tiffany hartley joins us live. this interview that mexican officials conducted with you on friday, what was that all about? >> they wanted a witness statement, so basically the whole thing was just about getting detailed statement of what happened from the time we left our house to the time i left the sheriff's office. >> we haven't had the opportunity to speak with you, and it is good to take the time. >> you're welcome. >> what happened on falcon lake? >> david a and i decided we would go out to falcon and enjoy a day on the lake and also go and see that historical church on the mexico side. when we were heading back, that's when the three boats came and approached us and started shooting at us when we start to do flee the area. >> you saw him get hit and you tried to pull him back aboard your watercraft, but they were shooting at you and you had to get away. what happened after that? >> well, after they shot david, i turned my jet ski around so i could go and help him. when i was -- a boat came up and they had a gun towards me, and then they left, that's when i tried getting david up. i saw that boats were trying to come back to me -- not trying, but were, but i had to need toward the u.s. and had to pass the three boats in order to get back to the united states. >> there's been no trace of him, no trace of the jet ski, did you have an opportunity to look back and see what happened to any of that, maybe fill in some pieces of the puzzle? >> no, the boats chased me pretty much all the way to the u.s. border or past it. so by the time i got to the point where i couldn't see what was going on from there. >> there seems to be a difference of opinion here. you say that the mexican authorities interviewed you on friday. they say you provided some valuable information to them, but the sheriff of zapata county, ziggy gonzalez saying that authorities were trying to intimidate you, tried to scare you into not pursuing the claim. what do you say? >> i guess since he wasn't in the interview, so he, i mean, didn't know what kind of questions they were asking, but they were asking just, you know, detailed information about the day and, you know, where we had stopped, and who we talked to kind of thing, but i didn't feel like it was an interrogation, and i really hope that they do continue the search and continue their investigation. ultimately we just want david back. as soon as we get him back, everyone can go back to their lives they had before. >> did you get any kind of sense, tiffany that the mexican authorities are reluctant to pursue this investigation. we heard last week the chief mexican investigators, rolandole villegas was beheaded? was there a sense that they were trying to get you to stay away from it, that they had done all they can? >> no, since really i was just talking with the people who were translating and the person who was writing down what i was saying, there wasn't many questions from them on, you know, questioning the story. they were just asking about what happened that day. so i don't think so. i think they do want to find whoever, but ultimately i don't really care if they find the person, because i know, you know, in time they'll have their day. >> right. well, suspected a drug cartel may be behind this particularly violent group of individuals, perhaps they're reluctant to mess with them. we'll see where this goes. tiffany, it's going to talk to you. our condolences to you, and we'll continue to watch this. thank you very much. >> all right. thank you very much. a terrible situation, very mysterious as well. >> the fact that this lead mexican investigator, where his head was basically delivered in a cardboard box, obviously somebody is playing for keeps there. >> yeah, a lot of intimidation going on, as they try to get to the bottom of this. meantime we're switching to politician. sarah palin will be heading the final tour. it starts today in reno, nevada. the liberty at the ballot box tour scheduled to stop in 30 days over 15 days leading up to the midterm elections, four stops are planned for nevada, where the tea party is really gunning for senate majority leader harry reid. even if you check out the tea party express website, they talk about the money bonds trying to get money behind sharron angle, so they can continue to advertise against harry reid. >> reporter: absolutely. they are gunning for harry reid. they want voters for fire harry reid. it's only texas is only tied with the number of stops. this is a very serious matter, one of their top targets as they try to blaze this path to power, getting harry reid out. they say he's too liberal, he rubber stamps a failed liberal agenda, and they want to get him out. if you want to get your message out, no one can do it for these tea party activists like sarah palin. she will be headlining this event. she head lined back in march the third tour which kicked off in searchlight, nevada, harry reid's hometown, so she's back for another big kickoff to draw attention to the fact that these tea party activists that they want harry reid out of congress. >> and will sharron angle actually be there at these kickoff rallies? >> reporter: that's a great question. she will not be here. the independent expenditure arm has endorsed sharron angle, so campaign finance law says you can't have any coordination between the cant and the group that supports her. the specter of sharron angle will be here. there will be a lot of talk about her, but she won't be here. yesterday "the reno gazette journal" divorced harry reid. that's a little notable, because sharron angle, this is actually her base here. she was an assemblywoman from washoe county for several years, so it's interesting the paper where she served for several years, is actually backing harry reid. >> she has a slight edge right now in the latest polls. we'll have to see how this goes, it it likes look it will be coming down to the wire. shannon travis, thanks so much. >> reporter: absolutely. coming up at 8:40, in about 20 minutes we'll be speaking with amy cramer, she'll talk about the tour, where it's scheduled to start and the candidates in the cross hairs right now. still to come, getting ready to dig deeper. you'll soon be paying more for certain items like coffee. just when you didn't want to pay any more for anything. it's :21 after the hour. well, a popular energy drink has been banned from the campus of one new jersey college after being blamed for sending fearly a half dozen students to the hospital. we'll have more on that story after the break, but first let's check in with christine romans. >> that's what you call a deep tease. >> i just do what i am told. hello, christine. >> i was wondering -- >> i should have had a second energy drink this morning. >> all right. well, listen, coffee, an energy drink that i know you drink, is probably going to cost you more in the coming weeks and months. that's one of the things that you're paying more for. inflation is officially benign, so low that ben bernanke has said it's uncomfortably low. they're in some quarters worried about deflation. among them, let me tell you anything that's a derivative of corn, above $5.60 a bushel in indication you're wondering. meat prices, the highest since the 1980s. bagged coffee for dunckin' don s donuts, maxwell house rising, but if you get your cup of joe from the actual shop or diner, those have not been rising yet. energy bills are expected to increase according to the government, and airline tickets, we have talked about this a lot, they're rising anywhere from 10% to 15% you'll see airline tickets rise. >> okay. so we don't have inflation, there's fears of deflation, money costs you nothing to borrow, ho are so how do they adjust the increases? >> because they strip out food and energy in the statistics, and we know -- as the dollar gets weaker, there's this rush from exec lators into commodities. there's fundamental reasons -- corn is higher, because there's a drought in russia, and some have been saying there's been some hoarding of coffee. >> airline increases? not because of the glorious customer service. >> no, because it's because they're flying smaller planes and filling them up, so you have fewer choices. >> there's talk of some airlines doing away from first class? >> yes, you're absolutely right. speaking of tickets i wanted to tell you about, we have new insurance industry analystics, i love this kind of stuff, that shows you what kind of person is most likely to get a ticket in what kind of car. here you go. the person most likely to get a ticket is a middle-aged man driving a mercedes sl class. >> that's the most stopped tar? >> toyota camera solara, more likely driven by a woman, men will be hating on me this morning, and a toyota designed for the generation y, the third one, more of a young driver. this data also showed you the guys people least likely to getting a tickets driving hatchbacks, suvs, and vans, and if you have car seats in the car, you're really more likely to be a cautious driver and you're not getting a ticket. >> see? >> ever got a ticket? >> knock on wood, no. in younger parts of my life. >> you should see kiran with the hair flowing back, the town & country minivan. >> i don't think cops want to bother with you when you have two screaming kids in the back. does it matter about the car color? is that a myth? >> that seems to be a myth. >> so the bright red corvette -- >> it's most likely the kind of person driving the car -- hummers on this list as well. the average drive is 45, and it's almost certain a man. >> that's all you're going to say about that? >> that's all i'm going to say about it. do you want to do a shallow tease? >> yes, a popular energy drink has been banned from one campus in new jersey. >> you don't say. >> this is not just an energy drink -- and alcohol in the same thing. so we're going to talk about what's in this drink and why it sent some kids to the hospital, when we come right back. [ male announcer ] for fastidious librarian emily skinner, each day was fueled by thorough preparation for events to come. well somewhere along the way, emily went right on living. but you see, with the help of her raymond james financial advisor, she had planned for every eventuality. which meant she continued to have the means to live on... even at the ripe old age of 187. life well planned. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. it's time we took familiarity we've done with this car. what >>i dare you to look at this car and find something that stands out. it simply can't be done. when we came up with this idea, we thought, let's not come up with any other ideas. this idea is good enough. >>instead of breaking the mold... we went down and found those pieces from that mold... and we put it back together. [whisper] mediocrity. half past the hour, time for this morning's top stories. new information about the possible whereabouts of osama bin laden. according to an unidentified nato official, he's nots hunkered down in a cave. instead he and his deputy ayman al zawahiri, are believed to be hiding close to each other, and possibliedly protected. super typhoon megi packed sustained winds of 140 miles an hour, gusts up to 162 miles an hour, and it made landfall today, just to give you a sense of how powerful that storm is, power is out in most of the country. they're concerned that key rice crops have been destroyed and one death so far is being blamed on the storm. it's expected to trigger serious flooding problems in china as well as thailand. the energy drink four loko has banned from a university in new jersey. 16 students have been hospitalized recently. it's also known as liquid cocaine. one can is equal to consuming three beers, a can of red bull and shot of you have to make your own choices, people. now to the most politics in the morning. t.j. holmes is riding in the cnn election express, trying to get a sense of what's in voters' minds. >> first stop, charlotte, north carolina, ground zero for the banks crisis in the south, started as a chain reaction, and that's where t.j. joins us live from this morning with the big bus in the background. good morning, t.j. >> yeah, that's a big bus. can't miss it, can you, guys? good morning. i am in charlotte, north carolina. we rolled in here yesterday and immediately found good news, and we find bad news. ed bad news here is that the unemployment rate is at 11%. that's bad. it's above the national average, above the average for the entire state of north carolina. the good news, though, is that the unemployment rate is at 11%. you see, about a year ago it was at about 12.5%, so it has in fact come down. charlotte is the 19th largest city in the u.s. no matter what city you are in right now, there is a good chance some of your money is tied up in this particular town, because this town, even though it's the 19th largest city, is the number two financial hub in this country only behind new york city, in terms of assets. you have over $2 trillion in assets tied up in this town, as you guys mentioned, this is the home of bank of america. wachovia was also based here. it's been taken over by wells fa aro. 5 of the 25 banks in the country, so you have banks, lending, mortgages tied up here. when you have a financial crisis that's, what, based in banks, lending and mortgages, you'll have a place like charlotte hit and hit hard. yes, in fact it's been hit hard. we found, at least as local business owners yesterday, they do have concerns, sure, but they also feel pretty confident about their own community. take a listen to this. >>. >> i've been a chef of different restaurants of different cal bers all through the country. right now the price point is driving everything. people are still going out to eat. the same people that didn't cook before aren't cooking now, they're just going to different places. >> i think a lot of people are concerned with what's happening with bank of america, you know. i do hear people talk about that. >> the banking crisis hurt this city tremendously. not only the bankers that work for the bank, but there's lawyers that are affected by that. there's -- it trickles down the line. >> it sounds like you guys have local concerns here. >> like ed said, you talk about bank of america, but you go back to schools, libraries, parks closing, and you see that -- or hear about it in other states, and all of a sudden it happens in your state and it's like, wow. >> i feel lucky to be in charlotte, because if you look at it demographically throughout the nation, charlotte is one of the best of the worst. our mortgage foreclosures have been -- you know, they're high, everybody's are high, but we're not as bad as a lot of other cities in the nation, and we're fortunate that's been that way. >> reporter: so, yes, the problems might seem so huge in washington and deficits might seem to be ballooning, but all that stuff trickles down to what the guys are talking about, schools, park, local businesses. this is just our first stop, guys on a four state and at least five city swing. it will take us down to tampa. we'll be here reporting throughout the day. >> looking forward to it. >> thanks, t.j. have fun. >> reporter: you've got it. we're talking about another bus rolling into town, the tea party express bus tour getting ready to kick off today. it will cover 30 cities in 15 days, sarah palin is getting things rolling in reno, nevada. in just a moment we'll be joined by amy kremer, she's the chairman of the tea party express. it's :36 past the hour. this is an interior that exceeds even the promise of the exterior. this is the all-new jaguar xj. the stunning result of taking a very different road. we asked people all over america where the best potatoes come the best potatoes? 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(sighs) not all potatoes come from idaho. so if you want the best, you have to do one important thing. always look for the grown in idaho seal. i knew that. i knew that. look for the grown in idaho seal. can be unsettling. but what if there were a different story? of one financial company that grew stronger through the crisis. when some lost their way, this company led the way. by protecting clients and turning uncertainty into confidence. what if that story were true? it is. ♪ :39 past the hour. there are just 15 days to go until the election day. for both sides it's certainly crunch time. the tea party express is firing up buses. a cross-country trip is planned. it kicks off today in reno, nevada, where tea party favorite sharron angle is locked in a tight case. amy kremer is the chairwoman, she got up early in reno, nevada. thanks so much for being with us, aima. it's likely to come down to turnout. how do you keep up the energy with two weeks out, amy? >> i think the voters are energized, motivated. they want to see some changes happen on capitol hill. this is the way we're going to do it. the time has come to put down the protest signs and pick up the campaign signs. people know in order to make change we'll do it at the ballot box. it's not a tough task. >> this race that you'll be out at today, super tight in nevada. we have the latest polls showing sharron angle two points ahead, then the third party candidate who is pulling 7% from the latest polling. why hasn't sharron angle been able to pull further ahead as we get closer to election today. >> a poll is nothing more than a snapshot in time. the people on the ground know that. we need to stay motivated, stay energized, get out the vote. we have phone calls into all these states. organ organizations are working on this, and we're doing four stops in the state of nevada. we feel very good about this race. the people are behind sharron angle. i believe she can win. if you look back at the debate last week, she cleaned up on harry on that debate. >> there weren't that many fireworks actually, it pretty much seemed to be whoever could make the least amount of gaffs, by some who watched it. in the end, it seems when you read what your group is about, you talk about fiscal conservative, talk about the need to hold the line, talk about the importance of limiting, let a lot of the candidates have gotten themselves sort of mired in answering questions about social and culturally conservative issues. is that unfortunate to your whole movement? is that something you support? >> we are about fiscal responsibility, limited government and free markets. when people go to the polls, they are voting on the economy. our economy is in shambles, and it's touching every one of our lives. we have to get our economy back in shape, and we have to make some changes to do that. these candidates know it's not going to be easy. that's why we send these people to washington to make the different decisions. it's a tact where they're being attacked for their answers, but we have to make these tough decisions. we can't spend our way out of this debt. >> i understand what you're saying. i think a lot of people are concerned certainly about spending, about the deficits, about the debt in this country, but when you look at some of the things the candidates have found themselves in trouble for, or at least something that's proven to be a distraction, carl palladino, the new york candidate for governor, who gave a speech where he talked about gay marriage and said that, you know, it's not necessarily something that he supports, but he also ended up talking about the gay lifestyle. most recently ken buck supports don't ask/don't tell and that he believes hock osexuality is a choice. it makes it harder to get libertarian and independent support. >> kiran, i understand what you're saying, but i have to disagree on that a bit. you go back to january and look at scott brown, everyone said there's no way he could win that seat. it was a democratic seat in a blue state, and there's no way a republican could take that seat. look what happened. that's when i go back to the argument that the people are voting on the economy. we're not focused on social issues. that's what is important to people right now, getting our economy back in shape, putting people back to work. that's what they'll be voting on. >> do you wish that christine o'donnell as well as others, because i know you'll be in delaware on halloween, which some people are laughing about because of the famous "i'm not a witch ad" do you wish these candidates would stop talking about some of these other issues and focus on fiscal issues? >> i think they are focusing, but there will be people that try to get off-message and go to other things, and we in the tea party movement, we stick strictly to the fiscal issues. >> about christine o'donnell, there were some pretty eviscerating criticism from megan mccain, who said there's nothing she's done in her life to really warrant a senate seat. do you think christine o'donnell has shown fiscal responsibility in her life? is she somebody you're proud to be supporting with the tea party express? >> we absolutely stand ber hind christine o'donnell. we support her, we endorse her, we're behind her 100% going into the general election. we believe she absolutely can win this race. just as -- when everybody said she couldn't win the primary against mike cassle, an entrenched establishment candidate, she won with a big spread. we support her 100%. >> amy kremer, thanks for your time this morning. >> thanks, kiran, for having me. have a great day. >> you too. it's been three months since the deepwater horizon rig was capped, putling an end to the worst accident oil leak in history. our rob marciano has been looking into it, he's live from the gulf coast with an a.m. orange just ahead. stay with us. ring ring ring ring progresso. hi. we love your weight watchers endorsed soups but my husband looks the way he did 20 years ago. well that's great. you haven't seen him... my other can is ringing. progresso. hey can you tell my wife to relax and enjoy the view? (announcer) progresso. you gotta taste this soup. :11 to the top of the hour. it's been three months since the last drop of crude oil spilled into the gulf of mexico. it's still not clear at this point how much damage was actually done by the deepwater horizon disaster. that's because much of the evidence is hard to see. here's our rob marciano with an a.m. original, something you'll only see on cnn. >> reporter: it was last spring when the oil from the deepwater horizon spill made landfall in florida. that's when we med dr. richard schneider. nearly a half year later, we walk the same beaches again. >> is that star in. >> yeah, it is. >> reporter: the oil refuses to leave. >> the reality is that the oil is still there. it was such a large quantities of this material that came out, it just isn't going to go away overnight. since months and we've still got it. >> reporter: his team of researchers still tame sampling, looking for lingers signs of oil, digging deep into the sand for hidden layers. >> austin dixon shows me how to collect a core sample, which requires more manual labor than i prefer. in june i learned cleaning tar off the top of the hand is hard enough. removing oily tar deep in the sand manually is nearly impossible. so perdido key is pulling out the heavy machinery. this modified snow blower/farming sifter is called a sad shark. it did clean up a mile of beach a day. >> you can see here in the layers, well beloaned the six-inch mark is layer of thick, heavy tar. do you bring in the equipment? environmentalists say you maw be doing more damage than good. >> what we have is machinery, actually out there, really disrupting the shoreline, disrupting the sand surface. is the cure really worse than the symptom? >> reporter: conservationist judy hanner is concerned about big trucks plowing through sensitive habitat. >> do we want to get the stuff one, two feet down? that's what we need a strong conversation about. >> reporter: problem is oil that's away from oxygen and satisfying will remain in the sand for years, even decades. early results show very few chemicals harmful to humans, but oil compounds that get into the sea life and into the food chain is the bigger issue. >> so no longer is it a matter of what you can see scares you, it's a matter of what you can't see? >> that's exactly right. >> reporter: what's certainly is realizing the full impact of this spill will take far longer than the three months it took to cap the leaking well. as for the marine life is concerned, it will take probably at least six months until we get a handle on the fish populations and oil generation when they try to spawn, and it may be years, if not decades after that. the way that layer of oil that god there, when hurricane alex -- the waves of that threw the tar up and covered it with sand, so you have a layer of tar two feet under. oddly enough, the best way to get rid of it naturally is for another hurricane to scrape that tar off the beach. we don't see that happening. that's a long shot. the state of alabama now, they're going to go a foot and a half to two feet deep to try to get that layer. there's a rot of drawbacks, you burn a lot of fuel, it's heavy equipment, and it costs a lot. from alabama to the beautiful beaches of pensacola, they want the beaches in prime condition for the next tourist season. >> rob, thanks so much. still to come, we're talking about new changes to recommendation to cpr. they say it's the chest compressions that really can make the difference and keep someone alive. elizabeth cohen will join us to break that down. it's :54 past the hour. interesting grooming. thanks. i got the idea from general mills big g cereals. they put a white check on the top of every box to let people know that their cereals have healthy whole grain, and they're the right choice... (announcer) general mills makes getting whole grain an easy choice. just look for the white check. :55 past the hour right now. it's time for an a.m. house call. stories about your health. this morning we're talking about new guidelines. they're changing for the way that you do cpr. >> the american heart association says the new way is going to make it easier for anyone to save a life. our senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen joins us this morning from tlarcht. just as we learned our abcs, they're changing it. >> they're changing it, but making it so much easier. even fifth graders have been trained to do this new method. we were all trained you take a few breaths, you pump the chest. forget about the mouth to mouth resuscitation. instead what they're trying to do, if someone collapses, they're saying bang on the chest really hard and really fast to the to the tune of "stayin' alive." if more people started to use this easy hands-only cpr, 20,000 lives could be saved every year. >> so, you know, you've got to get that tune in your head, i guess. why did they decide to do away with the mouth to mouth aspect? >> what they were finding is that when people took the time to stop pumping and to turn and do the breaths, to do the mouth to mouth, it was only a few seconds, but for those few seconds, the ballooned wasn't circulating, so they said forget it, keep pounding. >> they used to say abc, so now it's c.a.b.? what about kids? same advice for them? >> it's not the same advise for kids. for kids they are still telling people check the airway and do the mouth to mouth. with kids, obvious the reason they have collapsed is they do have something in their airway, so they want you to check and do those rescue breaths. >> good advice, elizabeth. thanks so much. three minutes to the top of the hour, we'll be right back. r.a. medicine be you take just once a month. taken with methotrexate, simponi® helps relieve the pain, stiffness and swelling of r.a. with one dose once a month. visit 4simponi.com to see if you qualify for a full year of cost support. simponi® can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious and sometimes fatal events can occur, such as infections, cancer in children and adults, heart failure, nervous system disorders, liver or blood problems, and allergic reactions. before starting simponi®, your doctor should test you for t.b. and assess your risk of infections, including fungal infections and hepatitis b. ask your doctor if you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you're prone to infections, or develop symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough or sores. you should not start simponi® if you have an infection. [ woman ] ask your rheumatologist about simponi®. just one dose, once a month. we're finishing out the program with the bee gees stuck in my head, but if i come across someone collapsed, i'll be able to do it. >> i'll just find "stayin' alive" on my ipod. >> i would be looking forever. >> of course it's on there. you know? you never know when you're going to

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