we'll explain how the move impacts you. we begin with what could be the deadliest day yet for u.s. troops in afghanistan. the u.s. military says more than two dozen u.s. troops are believed to have died in a helicopter crash in wardak province in eastern afghanistan. afghan president hamid karzai issued a statement saying as many as 31 u.s. special forces and seven afghan troops were killed. cnn's david arios joins us from kabul. david, what other details are you learning? >> reporter: it appears this helicopter was traveling from wardak province into the central eastern part of the country. the east has been one of those restive areas of afghanistan in recent weeks and months. the south in addition, we've seen an uptick in insurgent activity. a few weeks ago, we sawed a down nato helicopter. fortunately, no casualties as a result of that incident. not the case with today's incident in wardak. from taliban sources and locals we've been speaking to in the region, it seems that insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at this helicopter, resulting in the crash. it seems that the majority of those on board were, indeed, americans, would represent the deadliest day for american soldiers here in afghanistan, really, since the war began back in 2001. we're coming up on the ten-year anniversary. and this is also a moment of transition. nato forces are handing over security to local forces, and at the same time, they're drawing down. the first batch of u.s. soldiers left earlier last month. the first 10,000 soldiers are set to leave by the end of the year. so, again, a critical, critical moment here in afghanistan and perhaps the deadliest day for u.s. soldiers. >> all right, david ariosto. a recovering mission underway right now. thanks so much. we'll check in with you a little later on. appreciate it. well, this morning's other breaking story, standard & poor's downgrading the nation's credit rating, based partly on the growing deficit and last week's con taantankerous debate the debt ceiling. here's john chambers talking with arounderson cooper about h the downgrading could have been avoided. >> i think if they raised the debt ceiling in a timely manner, much of this debate could have been avoided, since it had done 60 or 70 times since 1960 without that much debate. so that's point number one. and point number two is it could have come up with a fiscal plan, you know, similar, for example, to, you know, the bowles/simpson commission, which was bipartisan. >> the bowles/simpson commission that chapelbers talking about was the panel set up by president obama to find ways to cut the deficit. it's formally known as the national committee for fiscal responsibility and reform. and felicia taylor is live in new york. athena jones is live in washington and we'll begin with her. athe athena, right now the obama administration, bad news for them. how are they reacting? >> reporter: well, not well. they're not happy. they believe this was a rush to judgment on the part of the s&p. they wanted them to wait and review their analysis. treasury officials pointed out to the s&p that they'd made a $2 trillion mistake in calculating future u.s. deficit, and that's an important calculation that goes into the whole debt-to-gdp ratio, but they have also pointed out that there are two other rating agencies, fitch and moody's that still have the u.s. as a aaa rating. they're at least happy about that, for the moment, those two other agencies haven't followed suit of what the s&p has done. >> is it fair, then, to say that the u.s. has lost its sort of gold standard, or just one in area, technically? >> reporter: well, it's hard to say how the markets are going to react. some of these officials we had a breathing with have said that s&p acted on news that was already in the public domain. so we have to wait and see what happens there. but certainly the big grade that congress got out of this from the s&p is a big "d" for dysfunctional. they cited congress numerous times in their statement, saying that the long, drawn-out debate over raising the debt ceiling made them pessimistic about future agreement that the two parties could come to agreement in the future on further cuts. as you know, this deal last week made some initial cuts, but leaves it until later in the fall for this joint committee of republicans and democrats to come together to make cuts in other areas. so, they kicked the can down the road when it comes to tax revenues and entitlement reform, and that's left the s&p pessimistic for the moment, tde. >> all right, athena jones, thank you so much. now we'll head to felicia taylor in new york. felicia, lots of uncertainty here in this uncharted financial territory. you look at this, how is this going to play out globally? >> well, unfortunately, you know, you said that magic word, that wall street and the markets definitely don't want to hear, and that's uncertainty. and this poses a lot of uncertainty. you know, athena was talking about the dysfunction that's been happening on wall street -- excuse me, in washington, and that's exactly what's wall street's paying attention to. the dysfunction in washington has got everybody uncertain about what's going to happen down the road. that's the problem globally. the markets open on monday and we'll see asia open on sunday night, you have to see whether or not they're going to interrupt this badly. i mean, we've been put on watch by the other two agency. now we've got a debt downgrade, and it's a question of whether or not we've got financial stability. will we be able to make our interest payments on the debt we already hold. that's a question for some of our largest bond holders, which are countries like china and japan. will they be so concerned that they'll start to reduce those the debt holdings? that's a big problem. i've been told by many traders that a lot of this has already been placed into the marketplace, so presumably there won't be as much of a downturn on monday, but expect to see some sort of a sell-off, probably in reaction to this, but maybe not as dramatic as we saw in the past week. deb? >> and when we're looking at the aaa rating also, clearly that affects just about everything. what are we talking about? >> reporter: well, initially, what we really are talking about is the average american. and that's the person that's really going to be affected. you are going to see higher interest rates when it comes to taking out a loan, whether it's your mortgage, whether it's a car loan, a credit card, anything like that. it really affects the pocketbook of the average american out there. and that's what is really a problem, because when we're talking about a recovery, already it's been difficult to borrow money. there's been very slow moving money out there, and americans haven't been able to get ahold of any kind of loans for things. so this means that the recovery is going to be stalled even further. that's about the last thing we needed to hear right now, frankly. so the average american that's going to be affected first, but overall, it's going to have a global impact, because it has an affect on the overall economy. >> snowball affect, absolutely. fl felicia taylor, thank you so much. clearly the s&p sending a strong signal, you've got to create jobs and come up with a plan and work it out nicely. felicia taylor there in new york. and as we said earlier, this is unchartered territory for the u.s. economy, but one thing is certain, the money crunch just got a lot harder. poppy harlow looks at some of the possible affects. >> your home loan, you can watch your interest rates on your mortgage go up. more homes are then going to sitz on the market. prices of homes could fall even further to this already depressed housing market, and the only silver liniing is for long-term investors who see a buying opportunity here. when you look at your car loan, very similar story. expect your interest rate to go up, car prices to go up. it's going to be pretty tough for people with middle to lower credit scores to buy cars and new car sales are going to fall. the car market isn't that healthy right now either. and finally, when it comes to college loans, what does this mean for your college loan? when you look at interest rates, very similar story. private student loans are going to see their interest rate increase. it's going to be tougher for students to get a loan for the spring term, so a very near-term effect here. students are going to have to work more through college to pay off that increased interest rate. and finally, the only silver lining is most students have their financing for next year already lined up. >> all right. and coming up at 7:00 eastern tonight, cnn presents a special hour on the credit rating decision. the impact on you, your children, your future, that's tonight at 7:00 eastern right here on cnn. more now on that breaking news story out of afghanistan, and this reaction from president obama to the deaths of more than two dozen u.s. special forces troops today. the president says, quote, their deaths are a reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices made by the men and women of our military and their families, including all who served in afghanistan, unquote. and five current and former new orleans police officers now face possible life sentences for their roles in the post-katrina danziger bridge shootings. the men were convicted yesterday on 25 civil rights violations for shooting six unarmed civilians, killing two of them, and then taking part in a cover-up. >> today's verdict by these jurors sends a powerful, a powerful unmistakable message to public servants, to law enforcement officers, and to the citizens we serve, and indeed, to the world. that message is that public officials, and especially law enforcement officers, will be held accountable for their acts and that any abuse of power, especially that power that violates the rights and the civil liberties of our citizens, will have serious consequences. >> and in another courtroom, a texas jury is back in court this morning to hear evidence in the sentencing phase for warren jeffs. the polygamous sect leader was convicted of sexually assaulting two teenagers, a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old he calls his spiritual wives. jeffs asked to be excused from court today. he said he doesn't want to hear his religion degraded. people in charlotte, north carolina, are drying out after a die of torrential rain and flash flooding. our reynolds wolf has been following it all. reynolds? >> heavy rainfall affected them. a lot of rain fell in a short period of time. widespread issues. >> and reynolds? we're going to jump in a little bit while you sort of get that microphone on. because we are -- we need to hear what you're saying. but take a look at these pictures. this is what's really remarkable. this is incredible looking at all of this will water, these emergency operations going on, because it happened just so quickly, reynold. >> it really did. one of the things you have there, especially in poor drainage spots, you can see the water pile up. but a lot of rain fell in a very quick time, much of the flooding has begun to recede, but the cleanup begins. and it wasn't just residential areas, a lot of businesses, you see here, this is actually in a hotel we have in downtown north carolina, take a look at this, in charlotte. just some of the ceiling falling in. just a tremendous mess, but maybe a little bit of a better day today. but last night, not a good time at all. no question. >> and just remarkable, you start the day one way and end it another. we'll be checking in with you, because we've got a lot more weather coming up. >> okay, powered up. >> okay. hurricane season is gearing up and we've got a good reminder as tropical storm emily made its way through the caribbean this week. on thursday, the national oceanic and atmospheric administration released its updated forecast for this season. how many major hurricanes is noaa predicting for this year? 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[ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. sort of like two in one. how did you guys think of that? it just came to us. what? bundling and saving made easy. now, that's progressive. call or click today. well, this week, noaa, non national oceanic and atmospheric administration updated its number of hurricanes for this season. the new forecast is 14 to 19 named storms with three to five major hurricanes. major hurricanes are defined as category 3 or above with winds of at least 111 miles per hour. of course, the man who knows all about weather, reynolds wolf, the south central plains and gulf coast states in for some extreme heat today. it just doesn't stop. >> it really doesn't. i mean, the story we've had in terms of the heat is big. certainly we've had some activity in the tropics too. a little bit of everything. when you mention a story about the tropics, one thing that has always kind of bugged me about those numbers, i think we get lost into the predictions about how many we might have. you have to remember, it really isn't the number of the storms, it only takes one storm. hurricane andrew, '92, is the only one that made landfall in the entire system and it's unforgettable. >> like katrina. katrina changed the dynamic. it changed, really, how we thought about weather and hurricanes for, you know, the next five, six years. >> precisely. you have one large hurricane that makes landfall in a highly populated area and it just changes the landscape forever. no question about it. and this morning the landscape we're talking about today is -- involves parts of south florida. we were talking about andrew, take a look at this. this is what's left of emily. they refer to this cluster of storms not just as a cluster of showers and rain, but they refer to it as a remnant low. imagine be going through life with the name of emily, as emily did for a while, and now you're given the name remnant low -- not so cool. but there's a possibility this cluster may reform, if it does, reaches tropical storm force winds, and you have the closed circulation, it will be renamed emily, again emily, just the same, pick up where it left off. and if that happens, we'll watch it very carefully for you. the other big story we've been following, of course, as deborah was talking about, the heat. it is hard to miss into the southeast, the southern and central plains, even parts of the midwest. just brutal, brutal conditions. dallas ffrt, let's see, still morning hours, you've got 91 degrees right now. goodness gracious, almighty. it's going to get even warmer as we make our way into the next couple of days. in fact, today alone will be quite warm. hazy, hot, humid. you've got the humidity that's piled in two. some of that humidity will be beneficial in parts of the southeast. you will have the chance of a few scattered showers and storms. same story for the upper midwest. but just the heat alone is going to be brutal in places like dallas. 106. again, this does not include your humidity. these are in the heat index. these are expected surface temperatures, air temperatures in the afternoon. 106 in at last. 96 at houston. you can throw in the mix places like san antonio, even austin into the triple digits. 100 in memphis out by beale street, minneapolis, 86 degrees. 66 in san francisco. back out to the east, a string of 80s, and 90 in miami. 91 in tampa. that's a quick snapshot of what we have weather wise for you. and of course, more updates throughout the morning. let's pitch it back to you, deborah. >> thanks so much, reynolds. interesting that san francisco, 66 degrees, one of the coldest places in the country. in case you've been away, you know it's been a week of terrible economic news with plunging stock prices and unemployment above 9%. the u.s. department of agriculture released the latest food stamp numbers as well. how many americans are using food stamps? is it 15.7 million, 30.2 million, 45.8 million or 60 million? we'll show you the answer right after the break. 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[ male announcer ] time to check your air conditioning? come to meineke now and get a free ac system check and a free cooler with paid ac service. meineke. we have the coolest customers. and before the break, we asked you how many americans are using food stamps. and the choices, 15.7 million, 30.2 million, 45.8 million or 60 million? well, according to the u.s. department of agriculture, the correct answer, astounding, 45.8 million people. that is a record number for people on food stamps. and now, life in hard times. the number of americans living on food stamps has increased dramatically in the last few years. cnn's brian todd introduces us to one man who put a human face on the suffering. >> reporter: on a short walk to the grocery store with frederick mack, in the shadow of the capitol, a bracing window into how tough life's been in recent years. >> see right here. one of my child died. that's her. they gave her a bus stop. >> reporter: a poimemorial to h eldest daughter, who died of childbirth complication. he now lives in a home for people struggling to get back on their feet. unemployed for eight months, on food stamps for a year and a half, he symbolizes the staggering rise of americans on food stamps since 2007, a climb of 70% to nearly 46 million people. advocates who fight hunger say it's a perfect storm of hardship. >> unemployment has went way up and has stayed high. wages are flat or down for really the bottom half of the population. >> reporter: frederick mack's trying desperately to get back to his calling. he's got 35 plus years experience as a cook. in the meantime, he gets $200 a month in food stamps. is that enough? >> no, it's not enough. i just find ways how to stretch it. >> reporter: we duck into grocery stores where he shops. there's a lot of stuff off-limits on his food stamp card. >> this, i can't buy it. because it's hot. what do you buy most of the time? >> salads and fruits. that's the cheapest thing you can buy. >> reporter: we comb through aisle after aisle. frederick doesn't buy anything that's not on sale. this is one of the meat islands where frederick shops. he says you can pick out items from an aisle like this, but you've got to watch out for sales, you can only pick out a little bit at a time, and even if you do, you still stand a pretty good chance of tapping out your card every month. basic stuff here like tooth paste? what about that? >> can't do it. >> reporter: you can't buy tooth paste, you can't buy soap, you can't buy deodorant. if it's not edible, you cannot buy it. >> reporter: for those items, you have to use your own money, if you have it. frederick says at 53, first-time unemployed, his pride's taken a big hit from this. >> i don't want to be on them. because if i didn't have to eat, i sure wouldn't be. but i have to eat to live. that's the only way i can do it these days. i can't go around, you know, on the street begging, or with a sign on my chest saying, i need something to eat, help me, i need something to eat. >> reporter: so this at least prevents you from having to do that. >> prevents me from begging and panhandling. this prevents me from doing that. because i do have a pride. i am a human being. >> reporter: as eager as he is to get out of the food stamp program, frederick says he's got other priorities. he's got to first get out of that transitional home. and to do that, like so many others, he's got to find a job first. so like tens of millions of other americans, he'll probably be on the food stamp program for a little while longer. brian todd, cnn, washington. >> well, a helping hand for breast cancer patients. one survivor is using her own experience to make a difference. we're going to meet her, next. well, there are nearly a quarter of a million new cases of breast cancer diagnosed in the country every year. one survivor is using her own experience as a springboard to help others. meet debbie cantwell, this week's cnn hero. >> when i was diagnosed with breast cancer, my kids are really young, and i was working full-time. we were struggling. when you start adding hospital bills and medication costs, it just throws your world upsidedown. my husband took care of me, took care of the kids. my parents and my friends did everything for me. but through treatment, i was meeting women that just didn't have it as easy as me. all these people were there for me, and i couldn't possibly pay everybody back. soy decided i was going to pay it forward. my name is debbie cantwell and i provide care and comfort to young women fighting breast cancer. get two $25 subways. we send out gas gift cards, restaurant gift cards, and house cleaning services. >> i was really bottoming out emotionally. and then all of a sudden, i could buy diapers. and i could get food. >> yeah, there's a card. look at that. >> it's so much more than just tangible things. it's hope. i help young women that can't wait for a cure. these women are sick right now and need help today. >> hi, rachael, how are you? did your groceries come? >> i just got them. i appreciate it. it's such a huge help. >> they're my sisters and i would do anything to help them out. >> i take it really personally. it's hard when i lose somebody, but it's just a part of the job. i'll probably die of breast cancer some day, but i want to really make the most of the time i have by doing some good in the world and being the best i can for whatever time i have left. >> and remember, every cnn hero is chosen from people that you tell us about. you still have time to nominate someone who you know is making a big difference in your community. go to cnnheroes.com. and s&p downgrades the u.s. credit rating and blames d.c. politicians for their poor handling of the debt crisis. are republicans or democrats more to blame? our power of politics team is going to weigh in on that and a whole lot more right after this. what is that? it's you! it's me? alright emma, i know it's not your favorite but it's time for your medicine, okay? 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[ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. well, it is 30 minutes past the hour, 10:30. welcome back. i'm deborah feyerick in for t.j. holmes. thanks so much for start ying yr day here with us. well, today's big story, the u.s. has lost its sterling aaa credit rating status. standard & poor's knocked it down to aa plus friday. the decision deals with more than just the spiraling deficit. >> deb, in cutting the credit rating, standard & poor's is making a decision about the level of debt in the united states, much too high, but it's also commenting on politics. it's saying the political situation in washington has been much too chaotic for washington to do enough about the debt and s&p is making a judgment about the economy. it expects slow economic growth, and as a result, it says debt as a percentage of economic output as a percentage of gdp is going to increase in the next few years. that's worrisome to s&p, and one reason the rating agency is saying it could act again to yet again lower the u.s. credit rating. this is certainly an embarrassment for the u.s. in financial markets and the united states now has a lower credit rating than luxembourg, finland, denmark, and sweden. deb? >> all right, allan chernoff, with thanks so much. well, the republican presidential hopefuls are weighing in on the downgrade. from mitt romney, he says -- "america's creditworthiness just became the latest casualty in president obama's failed record of leadership on the economy. standard & poor's rating downgrade is a deeply troubling indicator of our country's decline under president obama." here's what minnesota's michele bachmann had to say -- "i call on the president to seek the immediate resignation of treasury secretary timothy geithner and to submit a plan with a list of cuts to balance the budget this year, turn our economy around, and put americans back to work." the s&p downgrade just the latest blow on the economic and political front this week. potential voters not happy. according to a cnn orc poll conducted after the debt deal was announced, americans say 77% of elected officials who dealt with the debt ceiling acted like spoiled children. as you might imagine, those polled don't think much of the job congress is doing. according to the cnn orc poll, 84% say they disapprove of the job congress is doing. joining me now to talk about the world of power politics, democratic strategist maria cardona in washington and republican strategist, lenny mcallister in chicago. so, both of you, the economy not doing so hot. congress left town for a break and everybody gets a vacation, i get that, but the president's been holding campaign fund-raisers. who is showing leadership? is this all about spin now? let's go to you first, lenny. >> i don't think anybody's showing leadership. i think, unfortunately, we're looking at somebody that's not the commander in chief or economist in chief, we're more looking at the campaigner in chief, and this has been one of the criticisms from the tea party about president obama since day one. and sure enough, just on the heels of this credit rating downgrade coming out friday night, here's president obama here in chicago, illinois, raising money for himself, trying to make sure he can get re-elected during one of the worst economic times since the great depression. and it's not just him that's showing a lack of leadership. this is all across the board. basically, everybody did what they were supposed to do in washington, according to partisan politics, and nobody really got the job done. and once again, i think in 2012, people are going to be looking for a change they can believe in, but they're going to be looking for a change away from president obama. >> maria, what about you? have the republicans shown leadership? has anyone in the tea party shown the kind of leadership to bring this country together? >> no. absolutely not, deb. in fact, it's completely the opposite. and let me just say, from the very beginning of this whole crisis, it has been president obama who has brought people to the table, regardless of the fact that republicans have walked away five times during the negotiations, walked away from the negotiating table. that's not leadership. it's the president who has been the adult in the situation and you see, actually, poll after poll, saying that americans believe, by and large, that it was the republicans who have shown a lack of leadership, a lack of willing to negotiate, and especially the tea partyers, deb, interestingly enough, i blame the credit downgrade, specifically on the tea partyers, and the s&p has said from the very beginning, and they did make a $2 trillion mistake, by the way, in terms of how they came to this downgrade, which is unfortunate, but they did say that politically, it was because we were on the brink of default. who brought us to the brink of default? none other than the tea partyers in washington. americans can thank them for that. >> well, this is much more than just a slap on the wrist. in many respects, it was a punch in the face. and i think to all lawmakers, getting the message from the s&p that they've got to work it out. lenny, do you think that the republican response was appropriate? mitt romney, michele bachmann -- is blame where we have to go right now? >> yes, it was an appropriate response. listen, the lack of leadership does not come from the tea party folks that responded in response to the democrats not passing a budget for years, to the democrats worrying more about health care reform than they're worried about jobs or the economy or the debt ceiling at the time. listen, even with the faa situation, again, we had democrats doing piecemeal type of agreements from 2007 when they controlled the house of representatives on forward. if there's a lack of leadership, it goes back to the democrats, and who's the top of the democratic party right now? it's president obama. so with these republican presidential candidates coming out and saying, listen, we need real leadership in washington, d.c., you know, let's look at what the tea party did. they brought the spending issue to the table. this is something that democrats were not looking to do. the stimulus failed, cash for clunkers wasn't a big success, and we know about the health care reform and what it's done to this economy. there hasn't been much going on. there's a reason why we still have 9.1 unemployment rates, there's still a reason why we have now downgraded our debt ceiling -- excuse me, our credit rating. so if you look at all these things together, listen, we had a super majority in 2009. we had a huge majority with the democrats in 2010. this is not a lack of leadership from the republicans coming in, trying to pull people back to where we need to be -- >> lenny, let me interrupt for one second. because one of the huge issues that a lot of people saw and the markets saw, and that is that usually when the debt ceiling has to be approved, it's approved, and it's approved quickly. but when you tie in the budget issue with debt approval, i think it was fareed zakaria who says, you hold it hostage. and that was the perception. maria, is that really what happened? >> absolutely, deb. you hit the nail on the head. and this is what economist after economist have said. if we had -- if we had raised the debt ceiling cleanly, we would not with in this downgrade right now. so, begun, i think the blame lays specifically on the tea partyers. and let's talk about these presidential candidates. you have mitt romney, who was, by the way, terrific at creating jobs in india and in china, when he was head of the private equity firm he headed. and when he was governor of massachusetts, the state ranked number 47th in job creation. that's the kind of leadership we want? and let's talk about michele bachmann. she was the one who literally said, bring default on. she did not believe in the -- in what would happen if we actually went to the brink of default. and now we're seeing what did happen. and soy blame it on her, i blame it on the tea partyers. they have absolutely no idea how to govern, how to come to a negotiation, and we do need that kind of leadership in washington. >> okay, now, i'm going to ask both of you this question. a quick answer from both of you. 82% of americans disapprove of the job u.s. lawmakers are doing. do they now have to put partisan politics aside, get to the table and may nicely with each, just simply stop all the sort of rhetoric, for lack of a better word, this hostile speech that a lot of americans are simply just tired of, lenny? >> yes, yes. we do need to bring more leadership back to washington. but, listen, most people in washington are partisan politics type of players. what we need are more everyday people going back to washington and working for the american people in a humble type of way. that's going to be more the type of movement such as the tea party, not what we've been getting from status quo republicans and democrats for the last several years. >> okay, and maria, last word? >> the last thing we need are more leaders like the tea partyers, who it's my way or the highway. we do need reasonable people in washington. and frankly, president obama and the democrats have been the ones who have been most reasonable throughout this crisis. they have never walked away from a negotiating table. they have offered up their most sacred programs to make sure that we are where we need to be. and that's the kind of leadership that we need. and we hope the gop will join us. >> okay. leadership cohesion -- >> but maria -- >> we've got to stop it right here. we could talk all afternoon, but thank you both for your time and your insights and your opinions, a lot for us to think about. okay, moving on. well, the tornado that devastated joplin, missouri, is shown here as it rips up a high school. we'll show you the rest of this jaw-dropping video just ahead. as a manager, my team counts on me to stay focused. so i take one a day men's 50+ advantage. it's the only complete multivitamin with ginkgo to support memory and concentration. plus it supports heart health. [ bat cracks ] that's a hit. one a day men's. ♪ ♪ i'm back in the saddle again ♪ ♪ out where a friend is a friend ♪ [ gulps ] ♪ where the longhorn cattle feed ♪ ♪ on the lowly gypsum weed ♪ back in the saddle again see how affordable an rv vacation can be. visit gorving.com and watch a free video. go affordably. go rving. and it is now 43 minutes past the hour. it's also 17 minutes to the hour. time for another check of the weather with reynolds. first, reynolds, we've got to take a look at this video, because it is so incredible. it's a new video of the tornado that tore through joplin, missouri, back in may and slammed right into a high school. chaos there in that car tier ya. look at that, everything getting tossed around as if it was a doll's house. now, that's how parts of joplin looked after the tornado swept through. whole neighborhoods just destroyed. and you know, when you think about it, again, there's sort of the after-video, which is amazing, how the power of these tornadoes -- do these tornadoes, do they sort of set up the weather that we're seeing now in term of hurricane and heat, or are they separate? are they seasonal more than anything? >> well, in this case, it was really kind of a seasonal event. i mean, tornados can occur any place on the planet, they can occur any time of the year, but there are times when they are more prevalent. in north america, they're usually more prevalent late spring and going from the transition from winter into spring. that's the sweet spot. these winds, associated with this one in joplin, an ef-5, about 300 miles per hour. and thank heavens, we said this earlier this morning, thank heavens this happened on a sunday, did not happen while the school was filled with kids. >> and very quickly, would they even have gotten a warning, yes or no? >> i believe they would have. >> that's good news. reynolds wolf, thanks very much. much more weather to talk about later. the heat, the heat, the heat. if it seems too good to be true, it may be a good idea to double check the fine print. some lucky ticket winners of the iron bowl now behind iron bars. how officers came up with a clever, elaborate sting to nab deadbeat dads. that story, it's a sports story, coming up. 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[ male announcer ] want to pump up your gas mileage? come to meineke for our free fuel-efficiency check and you'll say...my money. my choice. my meineke. well, tiger, and you know who i'm talking about, is back. and he's trying to make up some ground at the bridgestone invitational in akron, ohio. it's his first tournament in almost three months after an injury layoff. hln sports anchor ray d'alessio is here with more on how tiger is doing right now. >> he's struggling. he's got a lot of ground to make up, deb. he's got about three holes to play in his round today. he's currently at even par for the day. but he's ten strokes back from the leaders right now. and yesterday was his putting that got to him. today, he's all over the place. in this first nine holes, he could not hit a fairway off the tee. he was like 0 for 7 off the tee. but yesterday he had three bogeys and one double bogey. today he's got two bogeys, does have two birdies, and again, he's at even par for the day. but not the tigeresque we've saw of the past. interesting to see how he does at the pga champions. >> but he was doing better, with his new caddie, which is interesting, but his old caddie is now playing with the leader. which is interesting. he's doing better and the guy who is winning is actually -- anyway. >> and tiger doesn't let mind games get to him like that. tiger's not struggling with things like that. he's struggling with more of his swing. he had another recent swing change, still trying to work through all of that. so i think with one tournament under his belt with this new swing and these new changes, it's going to be interesting to see how he does next week at the pga championship, which will be right here in atlanta. >> we've got some other stories too. want to talk about the recent sting operation involving those deadbeat dads. it was a very interesting ploy. >> and give credit to authorities in the lee county sheriff's department. this involved, like you said, people who allegedly owed bad child support. iron snare was the name of the operation. the suspects got letters telling them they'd won tickets to this year's iron bowl, which is the big -- >> and there's one of those dads going down, yeah, exactly. >> the big auburn/alabama football rivalry. when they showed up to claim their prize, yes, authorities had a surprise for them. check it out. >> hey! i am now a winner! of the auburn university for two free tickets. thank you! >> let me introduce myself. i'm with the lee county sheriff's office and we have a warrant for your arrest for child support. put your hands around you. >> thank you. >> busted! >> these guys owe money, and are behind on their child support, it's a big amount of money, between $30,000 and $70,000. that's a lot of money they owe. and the disappointment -- that excitement of winning something, only to realize that karma has a way of circling around. >> and one person after they were arrested, they said, okay, fine, do i still get my tickets? yes, you get a ticket -- a ticket to jail! again, there was no tickets to be given out. this was all part of a sting to get them there. they sent out about 140 letters and made over a dozen arrests. >> all right, ray, well, thank you so much. we didn't get time to show the video of the guy throwing the baseball through the net, but hopefully we'll circle back around to that a little bit later on. >> okay. >> thank you so much, ray d'alessio. well, a famine crisis in the horn of africa. cnn's chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta is getting ready to travel to somalia, one of the hardest hit areas. we'll have more on his upcoming journey, next. run more smoothly by helping remove deposits and cleaning up intake valves. so when you fill up at an exxon or mobil station, you can rest assured we help your engine run more smoothly while leaving behind cleaner emissions. it's how we make gasoline work harder for you. exxon and mobil. there are some things we know for sure. there will still be weddings, still be babies, and still be bright futures. that's why new york life has been helping families plan for the expected and unexpected for 166 years. backed by the highest ratings for financial strength, we're safe and secure. so you can be too. give your family the gift of a secure financial future. new york life. the company you keep. and started earning loads of points. you got a weather balloon with points? yes i did. 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[ man ] so i used mine to get a whole new perspective. ♪ [ male announcer ] the new citi thankyou premier card gives you more ways to earn points. what's your story? citi can help you write it. 12 million people are in desperate need of assistance in the horn of africa. somalia is the worst-hit. almost 30,000 children -- 30,000 children -- have died there in the past 90 days. cnn's chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta will be heading to the region in the next 24 hours and i spoke to him earlier. >> reporter: they haven't had a drought this bad since 1950 in this region. and if you combine that sort of lack of rain with the conflict that you're describing, it is creating, you know, this tragedy that's unfolding here. i'll paint the situation like this. if you think about this area of the world and this country, so many of the people there live off the land, they're agricultural farmers. when the drought happened, obviously, the crops died off and the livestock on many of these farm also went away. so now these people have no food and they have no water and they start literally trying to walk for tens of miles, 30, 40 miles to try and get to aid camps. but, you know, oftentimes, these children, these women malnourished by the time they get to these camps, and a lot of these camps just simply weren't prepared to have enough food to feed hundreds of thousands of people who are coming en masse. that's what the countryside of somalia looks like. and when they arrive at these camps, which are hundreds of thousands of people in size, there are just not enough resources. it's been going on and the problem's just been getting worse, deb. >> and sanjay, with these islamic militants who are controlling this country, they're not helping the people. how did it get to such a dire point? >> reporter: well, you know, i think, you know, and you have to really look back over history a little bit here, over decades. but al shabaab, the militant group that you're talking about, for a long time simply banned any sort of foreign aid coming into this country. so this became a pattern. if you were an aid organization trying to get into somalia, in years past, even, you're worried more so about safety in this country than any other place in the world. so that was the history here. now with this drought and the situation happening as bad as it's become, that ban has been lifted. but you can imagine, deb, there's still a lot of concern from these aid organizations when they try to get food in, is there going to be a pattern of violence that comes back? are these militant groups going to attack these refugee camps, these relief camps, even? so it's a real balance here. i think it's getting better in the sense that there's a little bit more trust in terms of whether or not there's safety from al shabaab attacking these camps, but it's not 100%, and i think that's part of the problem. >> and about 640,000 somali children are malnourished. moms are leaving some of their babies on the side of the road and in the bush because they simply cannot take them to those refugee camps. anderson cooper and sanjay gupta are headed to somalia and they'll be reporting there all week on this devastating famine. we find the best, sweetest crab for red lobster we can find. yeah! 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