entire professional career covering her as an olympian. >> that's an amazing story to cover. good morning to you. thank you for being with us. >> hi, everybody, nice to have you with us. we're bring you the news from a to z, it's 5:00 eastern. let's get right to it, shall we? this is unbelievable, unrelenting, unforgiving, it is a heat wave, and it is devastating from k.c. to d.c. and it's going to continue today too, tomorrow, as well. all the way through the july 4th holiday. in some places, it's going to feel like 115 degrees, particularly in parts of the midwest today. and for millions of people without power, sorry to report this, there is not a whole lot of relief coming your way. at least 19 people now have died in the last week after deadly storms swept through the nation. about 1.7 million people still haven't gotten any power. this is days after the storms went through. many expect possibly it's going to take until friday to get their power restored. take a look at the states that are waiting for the lights and their air-conditioner to come back on. 410,000 customers in west virginia. all of them in the same boat. and these people are going to have to deal with more soaring temperatures. the map says it all. 13 states under heat advisories this morning. those are the states highlighted for you on your screen. sandra endo is in one of those states, arlington, virginia, with a lot of criticism for the energy companies. so exactly what is the story? what are the power companies telling these people? or can they even hear the message because they haven't got a radio or television to hear it. >> that's exactly right, ashleigh. a lot of frustration in local communities. and it's been four days since the violent storm ripped through this region. and let me show you the scene we're seeing in residential communities. take a look behind me. downed power lines, trees toppled over crushing this car behind me, and this is a scene, the devastation still left behind four days since this storm struck. and that is why residents and local authorities are very frustrated with utility companies and power companies. they're asking why isn't this work being done faster to restore power to these communities? and as you mentioned, still, 1.7 million people across 11 states without power. that's still more than half the number affected since the storms really ripped through these areas. so clearly there's a lot of work yet to be done. the power companies, though, utility companies, they're having a tough time getting into these residential areas. moving their equipment through these neighborhoods. and also, these workers are dealing with the sweltering heat. so just a lot of factors working against so many of these workers. and temperatures, again, as you were mentioning are continuing to soar. just in the virginia d.c. area, we're expecting the temperatures to really almost hit triple digits here and frustrated residents, they're saying they are doing everything they can to try to cope. >> we have a pool and we have a generator, but a lot of these people don't have nothing. it makes you want to sit down and cry. >> been very, very hot. not getting no relief in the liquid form and people are in dire straits really. >> and local authorities say that the cooling centers are up and running in many states for people to try to find relief as well as saying that the community pools are packed, libraries, malls are packed. people are just trying to stay anywhere where they can avoid the heat and wait for these utilities to come back online. ashleigh? >> and sandra, we've been hearing there's been a serious challenge for the 911 operators with the power outages. they've gone down to about half capacity. how is that affecting the people who could be in a dire situation right through the friday? >> obviously this is a big deal, ashleigh because in fairfax county, virginia, that's exactly what happens. the 911 system was only working at half capacity as of monday. still, two days after the storm. so clearly it's so important for these emergency systems to be up and running effectively because people are calling in to really call in emergencies, medical emergencies. if that 911 system isn't working, well, a lot of people are left stranded. the county supervisor says this is shocking and unacceptable. they're trying to figure out why the primary and backup systems weren't working and a lot of callers say when they called 911 all they got was a busy signal, a recording, or just dead silence. >> wow. that is brutal. all right. sandra endo, live for us in arlington, virginia. thank you, this morning. five minutes past the hour. how hot is it? well, check this out. it is so hot that the extreme heat buckled the pavement in wisconsin. it created a ramp on highway 21 that sent a car airborne. take a look at that. unbelievable. the car landed, swerved across the other side of the highway and off the road leaving a cloud of dust in its path. that video was posted on youtube. the highway was repaired and it was reopened. alexandra steele is tracking all this brutal heat. you heard a gentleman there in arlington, virginia, that said people are simply in dire straits. are we going to see triple digit temperatures again today? >> yeah, for a lot of the country we will. the unfortunate thing is the areas where the derecho moved through friday night, iowa, indiana, all the way through washington and virginia where we did and have lost power, temperatures are going to be between 95 degrees and 100 degrees. minneapolis, right now in minneapolis, it feels like 88 degrees, it's 84. expecting 96, their average high for the day is 84 degrees. so warmer than where they should be for the high where the starting out the morning. so why are we seeing this? well, over the weekend, it's all about this dome of high pressure and its movement. the problem is it's retro grading. so the area of the country, the southern and central plains, they're going to see the 100 to 105-degree temperatures. in the southeast, a little bit of a break. temperatures coming down from the high of 106 over the weekend by about 5 to 10 degrees. the southeast in the low to mid-90s. but look at minneapolis, kansas city for tomorrow, it's the july 4th day. everyone out and about. biggest problems there from wichita, kansas city, into omaha. temperatures, of course, at 100 degrees plus even. here's the five-day forecast for many places. look at chicago staying right around 95 degrees until we get to saturday. washington, d.c., of course, a lot of activities going there today and tomorrow for the fourth. temperatures tomorrow at 97. by saturday, still at 99 degrees, and, of course, here's where the axis of the intense heat is, wichita, above 100, st. louis, above 100. not a lot of relief for the central and southern plains. southeast have shaved off a few degrees, but still, temperatures well above normal. coast-to-coast and north to south. >> we're going to continue checking with you making sure everybody's prepared for the sweltering heat. it is eight minutes past 5:00, and there are serious questions this morning about penn state and the serious sex scandal that that university has faced. did the former penn state football coach joe paterno influence university officials not to report a 2001 incident involving jerry sandusky and a young boy in a locker room shower? according to some e-mails between former university executives, a decision was made to approach jerry sandusky and report him to child welfare officials and his second mile charity. but it appears that coach paterno who died in january then had a conversation with the former athletic director, tim curley. according to the e-mails, curley then sent an e-mail to school officials saying that, "after giving it more thought and talking it over with joe yesterday, i am uncomfortable with what we agreed were the next steps. i'm having trouble with going to everyone but the person involved." joe paterno's family is calling on pennsylvania's attorney general and the former director of the fbi who is now involved in an investigation at that school to release all of the e-mails and the records related to their investigations. syrian president assad says he regrets his forces shot down a turkish war plane last month. assad is insisting syria did not know the plane belonged to turkey until after it was hit. syria's relationship with turkey a long time ally has been deteriorating in recent months. the turkish government deploying troops along the border with syria last week as a precaution. this just in, and this is a change. gas prices up this morning to $3.30 on average. it's up 3/10 of a cent after 20 consecutive decreases. average price now down 78.5 cents from the record high of $4.11 that was reported back in july of 2008. ten minutes past the hour. 45-year-old swimmer dara torres has come up short in an effort to earn a spot on her sixth u.s. olympic team. torres missed her chance by one spot finishing fourth in the finals of the 50-meter woman's freestyle last night at the olympic trials in omaha. the 12-time medallist began her olympic career at the 1984 summer olympic games in los angeles. she says this is over, that's it. i'm going to enjoy some time with my daughter, have a nice summer and cheer on the u.s. team. >> and we're going to smile. smiling and hugging her teammates. >> she gave it her best. >> i suppose that's what matters. >> still an american hero in my books. >> i think everyone's books. >> we'll talk about olympic qualifiers. kerri strug, we remember when she overcame an ankle sprain to lead a victory. it's now 11 minutes past 5:00. and just as firefighters are gaining the upper hand on those colorado wildfires, there's been a deadly crash and it has forced the grounding of a force of fire fighting aircraft. what caused the accident? er the. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. i'm one of six children that my mother raised by herself, and so college was a dream when i was a kid. i didn't know how i was gonna to do it, but i knew i was gonna get that opportunity one day, and that's what happened with university of phoenix. nothing can stop me now. i feel like the sky's the limit with what i can do and what i can accomplish. my name is naphtali bryant and i am a phoenix. visit phoenix.edu to find the program that's right for you. enroll now. this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. did you know honey nut cheerios is america's favorite cereal? 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how is this going to affect fire fighting efforts there? >> that's right. we saw two of these planes in action here near colorado springs just last week. and it was really impressive. we saw residents watching these efforts go on cheer as these large planes went over to help support firefighters on the ground. as you mentioned, 3,000 gallons of retardant or water in five seconds covering that 1/4 mile run is a valuable tour in these big fires to help lay down this retardant and help create something of a line, especially when the winds change, can go and lay down a lot in a quick amount of time. it's one of many tools they use. there's so many ways they're fighting these fires. they want them back as fast as they can. it is an important part, especially on these big fires. take a listen. >> they are crucial in fighting every fire they go out on. because if the units go to a mission, that means that all the other assets are either unavailable or fully tasked. >> reporter: like you said, though, safety is first on all of these fire-fighting efforts. they want to make sure these planes are fully checked out and if there's a problem, fix it before they get back in the air. >> 3,000 people still under mandatory evacuation orders. the fire now just 70% -- actually, i should say it is 70% contained. that is a victory. when is the fire expected fully under control? >> reporter: they think by the middle of next week they could have it under control. it's been incredible. as they got favorable weather conditions here, these firefighters just have assaulted this fire. able to get that containment up really fast. every day we're seeing that go up. unbelievable efforts here on this fire that just grew out of control so fast last week. but for those residents that are just starting to get their first view of their destroyed neighborhoods, it's going to be a while before they're able to get in there and start rebuilding their lives. this fire's long from over on many fronts. >> jim spelman this morning, thank you. it's now 17 minutes past the hour. let's get you up to date on the top stories of the day. historic heat is baking the nation. and the death toll now stands at least 19 people. millions of people are still without air-conditioning and power this morning after violent storms knocked down power lines and they could be suffering under these conditions all week long, too, before they get their power back. several states have declared a state of emergency with the heat index pushing 115 degrees in parts of the midwest. the son of a 68-year-old man who was shot and killed by police in suburban new york has filed a $21 million wrongful death lawsuit. blames eight members of the police force for kenneth chamberlain's death last november. police came to chamberlain's apartment responding to a medical alert signal. and family members say they forced their way in and wound up shooting him to death. twitter has announced it's cutting its ties with the linkedin site. so if you synced your accounts, your tweets are no longer going to appear on your profile. these new requirements are supposed to encourage developers to build apps on twitter's website. do not be distracted by this woman. a woman wearing a revealing top robbing a service station in australia. she casually enters the store, steps behind the counter, pulls a knife on the cashier. after fighting with him for several minutes, she leaves the scene with her male accomplice who had been fueling up the get away car right outside. the pair escaped with less than $200 in cash. police looking very, very, very closely at the surveillance pictures. >> i bet they are. >> yep, they are confident she'll soon be busted. >> oh, you didn't. >> i did. >> no, you didn't. 19 minutes past the hour. we're getting an early read on your local news that is making national headlines. a mom suing a charter school claiming her son was sexually assaulted and bullied by an older student. an attempted suicide after and the school, she says, ignored it. the mother claims officials at the downtown miami charter school promised her that the students would be separated and closely monitored. but that never happened and the assaults continued. the director would not comment directly but said student safety and security are among its highest priorities. this next story, california's tossing a life preserver to those people underwater on their mortgages. state lawmakers have decided to pass historic legislation out there meant to protect homeowners from foreclosure. and here's how it works. the laws would stop banks from negotiating with people on lower mortgage rates while at the same time working to kick them out of their homes. it's also going to ban those so-called robo signings which were so controversial. those are the kinds of signatures on foreclosure documents that are done in a rapid-fire fashion without review. so hopefully that will give some relief to people in california who are struggling. a new york city judge is forcing twitter to hand over three months worth of tweets sent out by a writer during the occupy wall street protest last fall. the judge ruling private speech is constitutionally protected but comments on twitter are not. new york prosecutors say writer malcolm harris' messages could show he intentionally disregarded police orders when he and hundreds other protesters occupied the brooklyn bridge. >> i wonder if they're going to capitulate to that. that's interesting. we'll have to watch that one. i'm not sure if i would if i were twitter. i'd say, you could have read it at the time. >> aren't those saved? you can go back and look. >> they are. so it's odd they would have to do a subpoena for that. >> our blog cnn.com/earlystart, everything's there. >> 21 past the hour. it's the largest health care fraud settlement in history. how a major drug maker broke the rules coming up. vered gold. 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[ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? here's your invoice. it is 24 minutes now past 5:00 on the east coast. we're reminded of business this morning. the reports show that the manufacturing sector took a hit last month. manufacturing has been one of the bright spots of the economic recovery and it had been growing for nearly three years. >> alison kosik is in for christine romans this morning. glaxosmithkline is paying a $3 billion fine. >> for fraudulently marketing nine drugs off label between the 1990s and 2007. and when we talk about marketing off-label. what they say is that's when a pharmaceutical company markets the drug as a treatment for conditions different from what the fda has approved. when you break down that fine, you look at $1 billion of that, that goes to settling the criminal wrong doing, $2 billion of it covers the civil liabilities. here's what the government said they did. said it marketed paxil to children. abuterin was marketed as a weight loss drug, and it's an antidepressant. there are lots of other popular drugs involved. you can take a look here including advair, imitrex. these were not just for marketing off-label. but the company's accused of paying kickbacks to doctors to prescribe the drugs. we talked to some people and they were surprised about this. >> i would say at the very least, yeah. >> take a listen to what they had to say. >> i didn't realize drugs were being marketed that way. but the question is, who is going to enforce the laws? and until some system comes to that, and i never see -- >> exactly. >> if there's teeth behind the regulations, otherwise, it just has no power. of course it shouldn't happen. >> how do you think about what they did? >> it's not moral, is it? frankly, it's disgusting. so if they were fined how many dollars? >> $3 billion. >> there you go. speaks for itself. >> it's not just glaxosmithkl e glaxosmithkline. some companies have been caught doing similar if not the same. al this happened during a different era for the company, i want to express our regret and reiterate that we have learned from the mistakes that were made. but you know what? you wonder if these companies really have learned when you see in the past all of these big drug companies have been fined for similar if not the same issue? and then we've got glaxo doing the same thing. makes you wonder. >> yeah, doing things that make you wonder. appreciate it. >> $3 billion, they might remember next time. thanks, alison. you can find almost anything for sale on ebay. but we didn't expect to find this. look closely, it's a school. entire school on ebay. the story behind the ad coming up. and you can watch us any time, we're on your desk top, on your mobile phone, go to cnn.com/tv. ♪ why not try someplace different every morning? get two times the points on dining in restaurants with chase 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way. and you know the spin machine is twisting as we speak. welcome back to "early start," everyone. >> 31 minutes past the hour. so at least 19 people are dead and millions are suffocating without air-conditioning this morning as record-breaking heat continues to bring horror to much of the nation. federal help now on the way to seven states across the midwest and the mid-atlantic and to the nation's capital. the army corps of engineers has deployed personnel to ohio to install generators there. and the west virginia national guard is also deployed on a mission to provide emergency power to people. the president issued emergency disaster declarations saturday for all counties within the states of west virginia and ohio to coordinate all federal disaster relief efforts in those states. and emergency declaration request is currently under review for d.c. sandra endo is live in west virginia. despite of all of the help headed in these folks' directions, 33 nursing homes without power this morning, that is in baltimore. and when you call 911 in some areas, you're actually getting a busy signal. what can you tell us? >> reporter: that's right. i can tell you that people here are frustrated and when you think about it, it's been four days since these violent storms really ripped through this region. and take a look at the scene still left behind devastation in neighborhoods like this one where you see power lines that are down, toppled over trees, crushing cars, and debris strewn about. four days since the storm and certainly residents and local authorities want these utility companies to get back into these neighborhoods, get the power restored and help these residents who are suffering. and when we're talking about how many people are affected, 1.7 million people still without power across 11 states. right here in virginia alone, we're talking about roughly 350,000 people without electricity, similar numbers in states like ohio and west virginia, and residents are really just trying to cope. they're trying to do their best. but they're saying that even getting some of the basic needs is starting to get really hard. >> you have to just rough it the best way you can. you have to go buy water if you can find it. everyone was out of everything. no one had any water, no one had any ice. you were lucky if you could find a cold pepsi somewhere. >> reporter: and a girlfriend of mine told me she had to wait in line at a gas station for over 30 minutes just to get some gas. so clearly, the patience is running out here. residents and local authorities are urging utility companies to work faster. >> seems to be at least from the pictures that we're looking at is all of the downed trees that are hampering those efforts. >> reporter: absolutely. power companies are having a tough time getting into these communities with all the power down and removing trees and large debris. and that is the challenge. and keep in mind also, workers are working in this sweltering heat, as well, and that's slowing down the process. and we're talking about temperatures soaring continually throughout this region. reaching near triple digits today alone. it's going to be a tough day out there for workers. >> like insult to injury. in one area they're sending cooling buses out now, as well. >> yeah. they're thinking of creative ways to really help these residents who are hard hit. cooling buses, people could get on the bus and get some a.c. for a little bit. a lot of libraries and malls are packed as well as community pools, that's what we're hearing. and also, dozen of cooling centers available for those elderly residents who are without power or anybody who just needs some relief in this heat. >> at least they are getting creative. we're happy to hear that. thank you. in one hour, we are talking to the executive director of the maryland emergency management agency about the effort to get power back and to try to keep people cool. our meteorologist alexandra steele joins us now with a look at the weather patterns right across the country. it is remarkable, alexandra. i don't remember any other time i've seen a map with as much red on it from coast-to-coast as i'm seeing now. >> i mean, it's really incredible. even since last week, we've been talking about this historic heat wave. all the way from montana to macon, georgia, temperatures between 95 and 100 degrees. highs today the axis of this intense heat will be in the upper midwest, minneapolis, high 97. their average is 84. down to kansas and wichita, places like dallas, of course, used to the heat. but places like the southeast, atlanta, georgia, 93, those are the places in the southeast that have temperatures in excess of 105. that's really where the break is coming. washington, d.c. not so, unfortunately, washington and virginia, places that don't have the power will be at 98, 99 degrees. all right, forecast for tomorrow, it's the fourth of july. everyone heading out. these are the 9:00 temperatures. and you can see washington pretty comfortable. certainly better than it could be. 80 degrees, 84 in new york city. 89 in chicago. kansas city, 94, pacific northwest, beautiful conditions for the fourth. temperatures in the 60s, under clear skies at that nighttime hour. high temperatures for the next few days to the week. as we head into st. louis all the way from tomorrow through saturday, temperatures still in excess of 100 degrees. similar scenario in wichita. so it's st. louis, omaha, wichita, kansas city, you will really be the hardest hit. places like washington, you can see, though, 100 degrees as of saturday. boston, new england, much cooler temperatures upstate, as well. and atlanta, georgia, friday in the upper 80s. so the biggest relief really in the southeast where you expect temperatures to be hot, but right here through the upper midwest and the plains that we'll see this 100 degrees scorching heat right through the short-term forecast and into next week. >> seems upside down. normally you're talking about atlanta might be closing in on the 100s and not washington, d.c. st. louis 104? >> miami and tampa, temperatures much cooler than that. >> so bizarre. like upside down. alexandra steele. thank you. >> 37 minutes past the hour. new jersey governor chris christie is fighting again. this time with state democrats over a middle class tax cut. he called a special session of the legislature yesterday one day after a really ugly exchange with a reporter. not much of an exchange, he was the one doing the talking. here are some of the governor's sunday press conference. >> on monday are you going to be addressing the legislature? >> did i say on topic? are you stupid? on topic. on topic. next question. good. thank you. thank you all very much and i'm sorry for the idiot over there. take care. >> clearly he was mad because he didn't want to talk about that. christie is pressing for a 10% middle class tax cut in new jersey which is what the reporter wanted to know. democrats control the state assembly and senate and accuse christie of turning his back on the working poor while trying to protect tax cuts for the rich. new york congressman charlie rangel's victory in last week's primary election, still not official this morning. his opponent, state senator espaillat is demanding that he, instead, be declared the winner claiming he is the victim of voter suppression. during a court hearing yesterday about this, espaillat's lawyers announce they're going to file a new lawsuit reserving the right to ask for a do over in that election. a series of successful missile tests is part of three days of war games. the reports said some of those tested long-range missiles capable of hitting u.s. warships in the persian gulf. iranian military officials say long, medium, and short-range missiles were due to be tested this week on over 100 targets around the country. the latest series of war games comes just as the european union begins an oil embargo aimed at pressuring iran over its nuclear program. looks like north korea's supreme leader, you know, the new one, kim jong-un, it's a plan that apparent lip ly inclu pants for women and more cell phones for everyone in the country. kim jong-un has endorsed previously banned food there too, like pizza, french fries, hamburgers, so they'll be eating like my kids. turns out he's also a big fan of amusement parks. so book your next vacation. an ebay listing trying to sell off an alternative high school near philadelphia has been removed. the cash-strapped learning center for pennsylvania was never really for sale. the auction was for naming rights. a free pizza, a school coffee mug, and the chance to deliver a graduation speech. the listing described the school as slightly used but extremely successful. >> i love that. >> i wonder if they had any bids. >> i can't see on the screen there. >> slightly used but extremely successful. we've got something for you. come near to your tv screen. this is one of those daddy don't go moments. look at this one. a touching moment. the photo op for the next crew of the international space station. but the 6-year-old daughter can't stop crying during his sendoff. the rocket's scheduled to depart on the 15th of july for the international space station. look, they look terrific. that sweet little girl. >> poor little girl. >> she's just 6. i totally get it. look at her. >> i'd be crying too. i'm not 6. >> i'm almost crying now. 41 minutes past the hour. for the first time, we are getting a look at how the supreme court's health care ruling may have impacted the race for the white house. faces, tudents i see pride. you know, i have done something worthwhile. when i earned my doctorate through university of phoenix, that pride, that was on my face. i am jocelyn taylor. i'm committed to making a difference in people's lives, and i am a phoenix. visit phoenix.edu to find the program that's right for you. enroll now. 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free, but only if you act right now. call now! lifelock service guarantee cannot be offered to residents of new york. good morning, mr. president. first lady. it's a lovely day in washington, d.c. if you like the heat. it is already quarter to 6:00 this morning, 66 degrees in washington, and it's going to be soaring to 98 degrees in d.c. a lot of people having trouble, in fact, getting their power back on. so that's not good news at all. and then there's the heat of politics. significant amount of political rhetoric surrounding amount of rhetoric surrounding the health care ruling last week but it doesn't seem like it's having a huge impact on voters. there is a new cnn/orc poll that shows 49% of registered voters favor president obama and 46% prefer mitt romney in the choice for president. these numbers may not surprise you but look at the difference, it's the now and the may. so what happened in between may and now? of course, health care, but there's no change. joining me now is paul stein houser. >> i was surprised to see identical numbers and it made me wonder if the weekend and asking people questions on a weekend has anything to do with it? >> nice segue from the heat to campaign politics, good touch. we conducted this poll starting thursday night after the supreme court decision and we normally poll on the weekends at cnn. so what's going on here? a lot of people wouldn't that have made a difference. take a look at this other number. we asked did the supreme court decision make you more likely or less likely to vote for the president. 16% said more likely. 30% said less likely, a lot are conservatives that are going to vote against the president. 54% said guess what, no effect on my vote. that's what they are saying right now. >> whenever poll numbers come out and the spin doctors get at them real quick. anything they can spin for either candidates to shine their candidate up? >> sure, i'll give a present to each kand late. let's start with president obama. enthusiasm is the key thing here. are your people excited to vote? look at this jump from march until now among democrats and whether they are extremely or very enthusiastic about voting. that's a 13% jump. republicans stayed static here, enthusiasm is important. take a look at the next number, we broke in poll, polled 1500 people across the country and little over 500 of those people in the 15 so-called battle ground states, seven true toss-ups leaning one way or the other. those states could be the ones who determine who wins. among those people in those 15 states, romney with an 8 point advantage. this doesn't mean romney will win each state by eight points or is ahead in those states but it's an important number. >> that's not only a good number but a great number when you're sitting way outside the margin of error. >> that is outside the sampling error, yeah, he'll be happy with that number. a lot of things could change as between now and november 6th. welcome back from your vacation. >> good to be back. >> 7:30 eastern time on "starting point," reince priebus will be on. >> historic heat baking the nation. the death toll sadly now at least 19 people dead. millions still without air conditioning this morning after violent storms knocked down power lines and they could be all week. several states have declared a state of emergency with the heat index pushing 115 degrees in parts of the midwest. police am mexico city are investigating the death of an associated press news intern. his body was found over the weekend in an elevator shaft. montana, colorado resident, arrived in mexico just last month after graduating from college in iowa. he covered violence related to mexico's notorious drug gangs, however, so far there's no evidence linking his death to his reporting duties. the family of amy copeland releasing pictures, she's recovering from a flesh eating bacteria. she was transferred to an inpatient rehab facility, that was yesterday. surgeons amputated most of her hands and and a foot. look, she's smiling. commemorated in an untraditional way, the world war ii, warship "uss mow hawk" reach reaching its final resting place. watch these pictures, this is awesome. the mounted camera on deck as this thing goes under water. the sinking of the mohawk, creates the first dedicated veterans memorial because that is going to become a big big reef. the ship was the last to radio dwight d. eisenhower that the weather was clearing for the d-day invasion. in just over three weeks, facebook will release its first earnings report and the stock is down is 19% since its badly flawed debut triggered lawsuits over alleged improper financial disclosures. it could be the last autograph that marilyn monroe ever gave. what's believed to be her last signed check is going up for auction later this month. it's dated august 4th, 1962, the day before she died from the star's personal checking account at the city national bank of beverly hills. it was for $228.80 and made out to pilgrim's furniture, heritage auctions is expecting this thing could fetch $10,000. >> good gracious. >> $228 fetching $10,000. stay tuned because you never know how much it will fetch. could fetch more or less. >> forget paris, for an up close look at the palace of versailles, head to kentucky. we'll explain that coming up. if you're leaving the house right now, not to worry, take us with you, especially when we're jamming on the tunes. cnn.com/tv and you can watch us on your mobile phone enroute or get us in your laptop if you could see the crew dancing to "brick house" right now, you would take us everywhere. back in a moment. [ man ] ever year, sophia and i use the points we earn with our citi thankyou card for a relaxing vacation. ♪ sometimes, we go for a ride in the park. maybe do a little sightseeing. or, get some fresh air. but this summer, we used our thank youpoints to just hang out with a few friends in london. [ male announcer ] the citi thankyou visa card. redeem the points you've earned to travel with no restrictions. rewarding you, every step of the way. i tell mike what i can spend. i do my best to make that work. we're driving safely. and sue saved money on brakes. now that's personal pricing. it's time to look at what's trending on the web. guiness world records has declared that this giant killing crocodile caught in the philippines is the largest ever in captivity. measures more than 20 feet long and weighs more than a ton and was blamed for several -- for eating several people because its capture. it took 100 people, ropes and a crane and a truck to reel him in. >> you need a picture of a person beside it to get the relative size. i'm not seeing the same picture you are, folks, sorry about that. that's a big one. talk about bashing your service provider, a video on youtube has a guy totally trashing a t-mobile store. he starts tearing everything off the wall, the display ads and merchandise and goes to town. look at that. grabs the fire extinguisher off the wall and hoses down the place. he's had enough. apparently he was upset because he was denied his refund. you might want to read your terms and conditions and you might want to check out time in jail too. >> he's so calm, isn't he? >> listen to everybody cheering too. >> everybody wants to be able to do this without being taken away in handcuffs. >> crime doesn't pay though. he was taken away in cuffs as was expected. looks like he was kind of expecting it too, laughing all the way. >> for the price tag of $30 million, you could call the palace of versailles home, in kentucky. 230 acres of land, surrounded by stone walls outside lexington, it is now on the market. construction started in the 1970s but it was not finished until the last decade. here are pictures for you. it was abandoned for many years after the couple that commissioned it got a divorce. the 50-room palace includes a library, staircase, game room, sitting room, dining room that seats 40, plus the tennis court and 20 by 50 foot pool. >> it's missing the gardens. sorry, that ain't no versailles. >> from trending to the news here and the power problems across the country, crews are trying to get power up despite the whithering heat, especially in the northeast. the heat wave and getting relief to those sweating it out. the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. fiber one. uh, forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? um... try the number one! [ jack ] yeah, this is pretty good. [ male announcer ] half a day's worth of fiber. fiber one. the lines. the cost. the hassle. ♪ express yourself [ female announcer ] why not try coffee-mate? with over 25 delicious flavors for a fraction of the cost of the coffee house. add your flavor with coffee-mate, from nestle. a living, breathing intelligence teaching data how to do more for business. [ beeping ] in here, data knows what to do. because the network finds it and tailors it across all the right points, automating all the right actions, to bring all the right results. [ whirring and beeping ] it's the at&t network -- doing more with data to help business do more for customers. ♪ seeing red, what the weather map looks like across the country and describes the frustration of waiting for power crews to get your air conditioner and fans back up and running again. >> getting air. take a look, a buckled highway sends an unsuspecting driver flying through the air. a couple of kids try to snatch the olympic torch. are you kidding? seriously? way to go, kids. >> they were excited. >> not a funny trick. >> and he runs away waving. all is good. welcome to "early start." >> we're bringing you the news from a to z, up first, you know, unrelenting and unforgiving, it is the heat wave, devastating heat will continue today through the july 4th holiday as well. it will feel like 115 degrees in parts of the mid west today. for millions without power there will be absolutely no relief. 19 people have died in the last week. that's when those deadly storms swept the nation in 1.7 million people still do not have electricity. this is days after the storm. many may not until friday at the earliest. and take a look at the states waiting for the lights to come back on. 410,000 customers in west virginia, $400,000 customers in ohio, 340,000 in virginia in the same boat. these people will have to deal with more soaring temperatures. take a look at this map, 13 states are under heat advisories this morning. those are states highlighted there on your screen. pretty much half there. sandra is in arlington, virginia, a lot of criticism in this morning. in your area, 410,000 customers still without power. how are they coping? >> reporter: well, they are trying to make the best of it, zoraida, and clearly the frustration and patience is running out because residents here, this is day four since the storm. look at the scene still left behind by the massive storm. downed power lines toppled over trees. crushing cars here. we came in the middle of the night and it was pitch black because so many people here are suffering without electricity. as you mentioned, these temperatures are expectsed to soar near triple digits in this region alone as so many states are under heat advisories as well. residents here who are suffering without power are trying everything they can to stay cool and trying to cope. but it's getting harder. >> we have a pool and we have a generator but a lot of these people don't have nothing. it makes you want to sit down and cry. >> been very, very hot, not getting no relief in the liquid form and people are in dire straits really. >> reporter: so obviously, very frustrated residents. also, local authorities are urging utility companies to get their act together, to work faster to try to restore the power in the hard hit communities, power companies say they are trying their best. workers are out there in the sweltering heat which is not good conditions, also, it's hard to get into the areas because of so many downed trees. they are trying as hard as they can but they are welcoming all of the federal help and extra bodies to really help in this recovery effort. >> we do know they are working hard but everybody is so frustrated. besides power being out, what other challenges are communities facing? i read some water towers in some areas need the electricity in order to operate so they are not getting the basic necessity of water. >> reporter: absolutely. also, the 911 system, you really want all of your emergency systems to respond when a catastrophe happens and it failed in fairfax county, virginia, the 911 system was working at half capacity on monday. they are trying to figure out why the primary and secondary backup systems did not work when people were calling in medical emergencies and emergencies because of the storm. all they were hearing was the busy signal or a recording and sometimes just dead silence. >> i would imagine that at the end of all of this they are probably going to do a bit of an investigation of what went wrong and how to fix it for the future. sandra endo reporting live, thank you very much. you probably already know the answer to this question, but how hot is it? check out wisconsin for a moment and get to your television, you'll want to see this video. so hot that the extreme heat warped the pavement in that state and created a bit of a ramp on highway 29 and look what happens when a car tries to go over, launched, airborne, that's a heat buckled highway. the car landed and swerved across the other side of the highway and went off the road leaving a cloud of dust in its path. that video was posted on youtube. we're happy to report we haven't heard of injuries and the highway was repaired and reopened. imagine if you're that driver. alexandra steele is standing by. wisconsin not the place expecting to hear temperatures in the 100s and it seems as though the south and midwest has flip flopped. >> you know, what you're looking at there, that road buckling and actually what it is, the joints below that concrete, heat expand and there's nowhere for the joints to go but up. so they rip up the road. a lot of people out there possibly sealing those roads for extra protection. and how high? minneapolis, at 85 degrees. that's higher than their average high for the day. heading up to 97. kc, 100. the access of that intense heat, atlanta, maken georgia, 106 over the weekend. we've seen this heat now through the upper midwest, central plains and southern plains and also not quite into the 100s but washington, d.c. and of course all the way from ohio to virginia where we do have power outages, that's where the heat will be. you can see the expensiveness of this, chicago, still at 98, washington still at 92. it's not going anywhere, tomorrow is the fourth of july, we want to show you temperatures. these are the 9:00 p.m. temperatures, 84. washington, 80. don't get fooled by that. we're expecting showers and isolated thunderstorms, kind of pounding on the rain cooled air a little bit. 85 in atlanta. chance for isolated storms, kc, no threat, 94 in dallas, the pacific northwest, that's where the weather will be great. beautiful in portland as well. clear conditions and cold front moves through and smooth sailing there. >> people should pay attention to the weather forecast if they are going to be outside for the barbecues on the fourth of july tomorrow. thank you for that, alex. >> some states are canceling their fireworks because of the intense heat. >> i'm not surprised. >> probably a good idea. six minutes past the hour, bash ar al assad 100 re% regrets his planes shot down a turkish war plane. insists they did not know it belonged to turkey until after it was hit. it was flying in an area previously used by israel's air force. the turkish government deploying troops along the border with syria last week, they say as a precaution. questions in the penn state scandal. did former penn state football coach joe paterno urge officials not to report an incident involving jerry sandusky and a young boy in a locker room shower? according to e-mails between former university executives, a decision was made to approach sandusky and report him to child welfare officials and not only that, report him to his second mile charity as well. problem is, it appears that coach paterno, who died in january, then had a conversation with the former athletic director, tim curley, mr. curley e-mails school officials, after giving it more thought and talking it over with joe yesterday, i'm uncomfortable with what we agreed with the next steps, having trouble going to everybody but the person involved. penn state reached out to legal counsel during the time of these e-mail exchanges. joe paterno's family is calling on pennsylvania's attorney general and not only that but also the former director of the fbi, to release all of the e-mails and records related to their investigations. why lou ee free. he was brought o on by penn state to do an independent investigation. agreeing to pay $3 billion in fine in a case the justice department calls the largest health care fraud settlement in u.s. hit tri. glaxo admitted tit withheld dat and made unsupported safety claims about its diabetes drug avand avandia. dara torres has missed out on a chance to go for gold on her sixth united states olympic team effort. she missed the cut by one spot. finished fourth in the finals in the 50 meter women's freestyle. look at the smile and the hugs. by the way, she's a 12 time medalists, she's doing pretty well. she began her olympic career back in '84. in the '84 summer games in los angeles. some of our interns may not have been born by then. this is one heck of a career, dara, you have nothing to be sorry for. a lot of people appreciate you. coming up at 6:45, we're going to talk about olympic qualifying rounds and what it's like with kerri strug. who could forget when she made history with that injured ankle to victory in atlanta. coming up. the olympic torch relay nearly deinstructed when two little kids tried to grab it. they broke through the security bubble that surrounds the flame as it makes its 8,000 mile journey to the london olympics. i'm happy to report no args ar were made. >> i'm trying to figure out if they were overly excited kids or really naughty or wanted to touch it. they are definitely grabbing it. >> they figured, hey, if i got it, i'm going to show it off. >> all right someone is going to be in time-out that night. so this story has been plaguing the west. a tragedy, it's been a set back in the battle against raging wildfires, trying to fight the fires but the machinery collapsing on you. the fatal crash that forced officials to ground an entire fleet of fire fighting planes. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 like a lot of things, the market has changed, tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and your plans probably have too. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 so those old investments might not sound so hot today. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, we'll give you personalized recommendations tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 on how to reinvest that old 401(k) tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and help you handle all of the rollover details. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and bring your old 401(k) into the 21st century. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. ♪ [ male announcer ] with 50 horsepower, dual overhead cams and fierce acceleration, the gator xuv 825i will shatter your expectations. ♪ and so no one gets left behind, check out our affordable xuv 550s at johndeere.com/gator. ♪ with fires still raging in colorado, the u.s. air force has grounded all of its fire fighting c-130 planes, a decision made after the fatal crash of the c-130 in south dakota on sunday. you might also remember that early last month, two pilots also died when another c-130 went down around the nevada/utah border. until officials get a handle on what's going on with this fleet, the serve remaining c-130s fighting the colorado wildfires will not be going back up into the air. jim spellman is live from colorado springs this morning. that would seem like a devastating blow to the efforts to fight the wildfires that have been the worst in that state's history. >> reporter: definitely. this is a tool box firefighters love to have in their arsenal. they call the system mobile airborne fighting system. allows them to drop 3,000 gallons in five seconds, cover a 100 foot wide swath, when the big fires move fast, they try to create a barrier between the fire and fuel or homes where it maybe heading. listen to what the firefighters consider this to be -- why they consider it to be such an important resource. >> they are crucial in fighting every fire they go out on. if the units go to a mission, that means that all of the other assets are either unavailable or fully tasked. >> reporter: they hope to have that back in the arsenal as soon as they can, ashleigh. >> the family members have been notified about these deaths. they've been identified the dead as lieutenant colonel paul michael and robert canyon, the two most recent. there is an upnote in the story, the containment efforts in this horrible waldo canyon fire, the percentage of containment has really risen, hasn't it? >> reporter: it sure has. take a look at this video, our photographer was able to get into this destroyed area yesterday. you can see the wreckage of these homes, just piles of ash and few bricks left. we also got a view from a ridge looking down on this neighborhood yesterday. what's amazing is how many homes survived. the efforts of these firefighters was incredible. they'll be one home destroyed earn five around it that survived. they were in there fighting so hard to save these neighborhoods. even 346 homes were lost, hundreds or maybe even thousands of homes were saved. it was an incredible night's work there. >> thank god we've gone in 24 hours from 51% containment to 70. let's hope it continues. jim spellman, thank you. 17 minutes after the hour. historic heat baking the nation, the death toll at least 19, millions still without air conditioning after violent stormed knocked down power lines. they could be suffering all week long. several states declared a state of emergency with the heat index pushing 115 degrees in parts of the midwest. >> the son of a 68-year-old man shot and killed by police in suburban new york has filed a $21 million wrongful death lawsuit. it blames the city of white plains and eight members of the white plains police force kenneth chamberlain's death last november. they came to his apartment responding to a medical alert system. they forced their way in and ended up shooting him to death. >> surveillance video captures a woman wearing a revealing top robbing a service station in australia. she casually enters the store and pulls a knife on the cashier. after fighting with him for several minutes, she leaves the scene with her male accomplice who was fueling up the getaway car. the pair escaped with less than $200 in cash and police are said to be looking closely at the surveillance pictures. >> of course they are. look at that. wouldn't you. >> just because it's pretty amazing. >> they are confident that she will soon be busted. >> defies nature. >> busted out. >> look at you, pulling out the busted. >> wow. >> a familiar name getting in on the smartphone game. mozilla is developing a new phone to challenge the an droid called firefox os. the phone will not try to compete with the high end market but for entry level phones. >> now i want to know how much. >> don't we all. >> tomorrow is the fourth of july holiday and that means a lot of you will be traveling. if you're renting a car, that could affect your travel budget. >> alison kosik has tips on how to not break the bank. >> you always want a good deal, more than 42 million americans are expected to hit the road this holiday and the majority will be driving. here are a few ways to get the best rental car deals. shop around online. a good place to start is auto slash.com. they rebook you automatically to the lower rate, that's a good thing. don't forget about the discounts you get for being a member of a frequent flyer program or organizations like aaa or costco or bjs and you can get discount up to 20% if you do that, but make sure your plans are final. if you change them, it could mean big bucks in extra fees and i hate being feed to death. >> 20% off to do advance payment, that's great. >> plan ahead. >> i didn't know that. >> great information, thank you alison. >> stay with us -- alison, what are you talking to us next about? >> a scandal, another slowdown sign for the u.s., manufacturing. >> we're not talking about the drugs again. somebody sent me a question about the drugs, glaxosmithkline. the drugs are not affected in case you're wondering about that. we're going to take a quick break and be right back. also, get a free flight. you know that comes with a private island? really? no. it comes with a hat. see, airline credit cards promise flights for 25,000 miles, but... 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[ male announcer ] to get the flights you want, sign up for a venture card at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? uh, it's ok. i've played a pilot before. what's in your wallet? nno matter what you do. when you're living with moderate to severe crohn's disease, there are times it feels like your life... revolves around your symptoms. if you're tired of going around in circles, it may be time to ask your gastroenterologist about humira. because with humira, remission is possible. humira has been proven to work for adults who have tried other medications... but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. if you're tired of going around in circles, get headed in a new direction. ask your gastroenterologist about humira today. remission is possible. i tell mike what i can spend. i do my best to make that work. we're driving safely. and sue saved money on brakes. now that's personal pricing. bad news on the manufacturing sectors, manufacturing activity contracted in june. as a result, stocks ended mixed and today, futures are pointing down. >> alison kosik is in for christine romans, and we're hearing a major bank ceo diamond is stepping down. >> not to be confused with jamie dimon. it's another example of banks doing bad things. barclays ceo bob diamond is leaving the bank, the second executive to step down this week. it comes as a scandal is growing regarding interest rate manipulation, specifically with the rate that is set every day as a worldwide benchmark for prices on these different financial products, including auto loans and mortgages. the bank is accused much manipulating these rates, submitting lower than actual figures on its inner bank borrowing during the financial crisis. regulators fined barclays millions of dollars for doing this but barclays isn't the only one, they are looking at dozens of other banks, including citigroup and rbs. barclays is the first bank to settle. they are raising more and more concerns about whether or not those retail operations should be separate from those riskier investment operations, something a question that was certainly raised during the jp morgan -- >> hearings on capitol hill, they were all over that. >> one more question and why everybody loves to hate the banks. >> no good news for us? >> no more good news. there's another sign yet that the economic recovery is kind of hitting another speed bump. we got the manufacturing report yesterday showing that we're not just seeing the momentum slow down in the jobs market but slow down in manufacturing because the manufacturing sector in the u.s. contracted last month and here's why it's a big deal. manufacturing has had a really strong run of it for three years. we've seen growth for factories and manufacturing has really been this bright spot in the recovery but part of the reason why we're seeing this slowdown because of what's happening outside our borders, directly impacting us here. you look at the eurozone debt crisis. stalling in china affecting us here. the u.s. could seal its own economic slowdown in the second half of year. >> i would have thought that would have happened sooner though, the slowdown overseas happened a while ago. >> one report does not make a trend. >> there's your silver lining. >> there's the happy news. >> thank you,als alison kosik joining us live. there is nothing but heat on the radar from coast to coast. coming up, we'll get a firsthand word from the boss of at maryland's emergency management agency for how they are dealing with the crisis in that state. the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. wouldn't it be nice if there was an easier, less-expensive option than using a traditional lawyer? 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kerri strug is joining us live in the studio. i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm ashleigh banfield. more on the deadly heat that's been threatening states from the midwest to the eastern coast, including maryland, a state where more than 226,000 people are still waiting for the power to come back on. that means no fans, no ac, and a lot of sweating this out. crews have come from as far as florida and canada to help speed up the effort to get the power back online but customers may have to wait until the weekend to get their electricity back. it's been deadly as well, four people have died in that state from heat-related illnesses. with temperatures expected to hit as high as 99 degrees just today in parts of that state, more people could certainly be in danger. ken is the executive director of maryland emergency management agency and joins me on the telephone. can you hear me? >> yes, i can. >> with your organization and hearing the statistics that i was rifling off, you must be performing at top pace to make sure there are no further deaths. what are you doing to help the people of maryland in this crisis? >> well, you're exactly right. we're at full activation at the state level with all of our state resources being available to deal with this super derecho phenomenon that has come through maryland and rivaled hurricane irene. we got a hurricane punch without a hurricane warning. and our main concern right now are 36 -- what we call critical care facilities, nursing homes, things of that nature that are on generator power, they are all right, but as you said, going through the end of this weekend, we want to make sure that marylanders help themselves and help their families and help a neighbor. that's what we can do right now. the utilities as you indicated, there are about 74% restoration. we're not going to be happy until we have every marylander back online. >> the utilities, one of those companies, pepco which services the d.c. area has been really taking it on the chin over how these been responding to this and other crises as well. "washington post" did an investigation and found that pepco ranked near the bottom nationally in its ability to keep the power on and restore power when it goes out. pepco customers experienced 70% more outages than customers in any other metropolitan area utility. this must be infuriating for you because you're trying to deal with an emergency and your tools aren't there. >> exactly. it's like having a car without gas in it. we need that electricity. we have zero tolerance. we want that power back on yesterday. if i was a marylander, that's what i want. to do our job, we need electricity and need to make sure that we stay on top of it. i think our governor said it best, that we have zero tolerance for the electricity outage and so as i indicated, we're not going to sit here and rate pepco or any other utility. this is not the time to do that. we're in the middle of a serious emergency but that is one thing that will be dealt with in an after action issue. >> we'll follow up with you on exactly what does happen after the crisis abates. but there is one report from a neighboring state of virginia that the 911 operations are only functioning at half capacity because of power problems in virginia. and i'm speaking of fairfax county where people who call 911, a number of people, are getting busy signals. is this a concern for you in your state as well? >> you know, i'm glad you brought that up. we would like maryland to do, if it's not a dire emergency, and our 911 system is not in that condition, to use our 211 system. our 211 system are for nonemergencies, if you need information regarding insurance, if you need information regarding cooling center, that's the number we would like all marylanders to use. that's staffed 24 hours, seven days a week. >> i hate to bring this up. with the number of deaths that have already been experienced in that state, are you prepared and braced for that number to rise? >> we are prepared. we will deal with that and when i get into the office today, i'll get a brief to that issue. >> ken mallette, thanks very much and good luck to you. i hope that things abate soon in that state. coming up at 8:00 eastern, the mayor of washington, d.c., vincent gray will be brook baldwin's guest as she fills in for "starting point," scrambling to get their power back online as well. 35 minutes past the hour. your travel forecast from alexandra steele. is the heat affecting travel? >> for places like maryland and washington, it will not abate any time soon. the temperatures continue to be between 95 and 100. heat is actually the number one weather related killer in the u.s. from billings montana to macon, georgia, to maryland, 95 to 100. tomorrow kansas city gets to 102. in the upper midwest, a lot of places don't have air conditioning. minneapolis, the average high this time of year is 84 and it's already 86. 100 for you tomorrow and fourth of july. we're certainly going to see everybody out and about. a lot of fireworks even cancelled because of the heat. in new york city for fireworks time, 84 degrees. i think this computer is generating this number because we're expecting showers and thunderstorms, rain cooled but with 99 degrees, could see 80. 85 in atlanta, the pacific northwest seeing beautiful conditions. but the extended forecast straight through saturday, st. louis still in the 100s. wichita and kansas city as well. certainly not going to see any relief for the balance of the country coming up through the weekend. guys? >> thank you very much, alexandra. >> sure. 36 minutes past 6:00, talk about bashing your service provider, take a look at this video posted on youtube. see that guy? he is mad, not going to take it anymore. trashing a t-mobile store and takers everything off the wall then goes for the fire extinguisher and starts hosing place down. he was upset when he was denied a refund. listen to the people outside though, sometimes you can hear them cheering. yeah. they are cheering. some people obviously also not too happy with their producer. police did show up and it wasn't much of a struggle either. he was kind of laughing as they were putting the cuffs on him. here's my pun, he's on his way to a different kind of cell service. get it? >> that was good. >> i've got to give credit, michael pel ka, thanks. >> he was so calm tearing that place apart. >> smiling. >> for first time we're getting a look at how the supreme court's health care ruling could affect the race for the white house. we have the latest poll numbers coming up. the postal service is critical to our economy, delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet the house is considering a bill to close thousands of offices, slash service and layoff over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains $5 billion a year from post office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. house bill 2309 is not the answer. ♪ [ male announcer ] with 50 horsepower, dual overhead cams and fierce acceleration, the gator xuv 825i will shatter your expectations. ♪ and so no one gets left behind, check out our affordable xuv 550s at johndeere.com/gator. ♪ significant amount of political rhetoric surrounding the supreme court's health care ruling last week. but it doesn't look like any of it is having much of an impact on you, on voters. a new cnn/orc internal poll shows 49% of registered voters favor obama, 46% prefer mitt romney. those numbers are identical to those recorded by our survey in late may. so joining me now to break it all down, cnn political editor paul steinhauser. are you surprised the numbers haven't changed? >> a little bit. we did the poll on thursday night through sunday night. here's one of reasons why, take a look at this number. we asked that supreme court ruling, how is it going to affect your vote for president? look at this, zoraida, 16% said more likely to vote for the president. those are probably progressives already in the obama camp. 30% said less likely, they were probably conservatives already voting against the president. 54%, no effect on their vote as of right now. things may change. >> does that surprise you? >> a little bit. there was so much hype about this ruling xgt at the end of the day it was about the economy, not about health care. >> we keep saying that and these polls remind us of that, don't they? >> yes, they do. >> any good news for the president or mitt romney in any of the polls. >> i have a present for each candidate. let's start with the president. health care ruling did do something, energized democratic voters. you can see 13-point joint in enthusiasm, those who are extremely enthusiastic about voting for democrats. as for republicans, pretty much static. as for mitt romney, we've polled all 50 states as we normally do but broke it down to the battleground states. these are the seven toss-up states and the light blue are leaning obama, light red leaning romney. take a look at our poll of registered voters in the 15 states, mitt romney with an 8 point advantage. this doesn't mean he's going to mean all eight of the states, but he's up by eight points in those 15 states, but it is a good number for mitt romney. four months to go. these poll numbers will change and anything can happen between now and november. >> but 51%, that's a huge number for him? >> it is a good number for mitt romney and people will talk about it, no doubt about it. >> paul, thank you. it's 43 minutes past 6:00 on the east coast. let's get you up to date with the top stories and this one is bad, historic heat baking the nation. the death toll at 19 and that is at least 19. millions of people system without air conditioning orphans or power after violent storms knocked down the poeer lines. they could be suffering all week in those conditions. several states have declared a state of emergency with the heat index pushing 115 in parts of the midwest. the son of a 68-year-old man shot and killed by police in suburban new york has filed a $21 million wrongful death lawsuit. it blames the city of white plains and eight members of its police force for kenneth chamberlain's death. this was last november. here's what happened, police came to chamberlain's apartment, spending to a medical alert signal and they forced their way in and wound up shooting him to death. investigators are going to be watching closely on july 26th when facebook is set to release its first earnings report as a publicly traded company. stock is down 19% since its badly flawed debut on the nasdaq exchange which triggered lawsuits over financial disclosures. it's time to get dirty. it is opening week for the new red neck resort mud park in sweetwater tennessee, i'm not making this up. that is the name. the resort has mud waters -- somebody yelled hee-haw. >> mud swimming hole and mud pit for your four-wheeler or truck. you need to sign a waiver for that one though. >> i'm so in. i am so in. >> listen to you, chicago girl trying to pull out a y' all. >> i knew you were going to correct me. >> i'm a georgia gal, i got it covered. >> good morning, nice to be in your house. >> i'm sorry, i'm still trapped in the image of the suv in the mud. >> i want to be there. >> that would be so fun. >> what you got coming up? >> we have a little bit of everything, first up, this political shocker, mitt romney's campaign agreeing with obama and throwing water on the mandate calling it a penalty and not a tax. the question i ask, did rnc chairman reince priebus's job just get more difficult? we'll ask him that. and theresa thought she had done everything she needed to do to settle comfortably into retirement, had a rainy day fund. then her property was stolen right out from under her. imagine this happening to you. she now pays rent to live there. she's telling this unbelievable story. we're going to see if this could happen to you outside of the state of pennsylvania. that straight ahead. this is going to make your tummy growl, the most fashionable man, marcus samuelsson is dishing the details on the mostly charmed life. we'll talk about the red rooster. fried chicken anyone? don't forget you can watch cnn live, go to cnn.com/tv. >> i wonder if they are bringing food in. >> i'm here for a week, buddy, can we please go to the red rooster for lunch. >> he knows it's breakfast television, right? >> please, bring the food. >> thanks. >> 47 minutes past the hour. it's an iconic olympic image, the quiet gymnast who led team u.s.a. to gold in the olympic games, kerri strug is here live. coming over to chat with you and you can join in on the chat coming up. for your attention. so we invented a warning you can feel. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with a patented safety alert seat. when there's danger you might not see, you're warned by a pulse in the seat. it's technology you won't find in a mercedes e-class. the all-new cadillac xts has arrived, and it's bringing the future forward. playing sports is just my whole life. looking back if it wasn't for shriners hospital, things would just be really, really different. i lost my leg when i was a kid. there was a time when i felt like i wasn't going to be able to walk again... it was a pretty bad accident but shriners showed me who i could be again. they turned my whole life around. hunter's life is one of nearly a million changed by donations from people like you. send your love to the rescue. donate today. welcome back. it is hard to imagine, it has been 16 years since -- she's laughing here, since kerri strug vaulted into olympic history. after injuring her ankle she went on to assure the olympic team their first gold medal win at the atlanta 1996 games. she is just back from the 2012 olympic trials and joins us to talk olympics both past and present. thank you for being here. we really appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. >> i want to start in the past in 1996. you had injured your ankle and you still got the olympic gold for the u.s. yet you sacrificed that individual medal. what was going through your head at the time, any regrets? >> definitely not. the team medal was our focus. and you know, i had this goal of winning an individual medal but at the same time my teammates had done their part and i had to do mine. as a gymnast we're trained to never walk away once you've faumen on a routine. it was like in practice, i couldn't just give up. i had to give it my all. we thought the gold medal was on the line since the russians were still on the floor exercise. this is the olympics, isn't just any competition. it's not just me and my team mates, it was our coaches and parents and players had put forth time and energy and sacrifice through the years for this moment. and i had to give it my all. >> at that moment all of that is going through your head? >> no, did he have nefinitely a, i was focusing on the task at hand. once you get to the olympic games, everybody talentwise is pretty much on the same level but it's who can put it together when it counts most. >> let's move forward to 2012. this poor girl drops out and refuses to do the runoff. as an olympian, how do you make a decision like that? we're all expecting to see the results of that crazy photo finish to fruition with a runoff. what do you think is going through her head? >> you know, to be honest, i'm not sure as an athlete, you always want to give it your all and go till the end. but you know, the olympic games come once every four years. to walk away is difficult for me to understand. i don't know what's going through her mind. but we have to respect her decision and hopefully she's going to live with that and move forward and be all right with it down the road. >> that's a tough one. 2012 in gymnastics, we saw shawn johnson retire at the 11th hour. how will that affect our chance snz. >> shawn gave usa gymnastics so many memories but the window is very short. to make two olympic games is difficult and she wanted to end out on top and decided to give these new girls a chance and they are looking very, very strong. >> speaking of new girls, gabby douglas, they are calling her the flying squirrel. what do you think? >> she's mphenomenal. she needs to make sure she stays mentally tough and continues with a good diet and executes her routines over and over again and gets the rest she needs. that's why she teamed up with sleep number to talk about getting adequate rest because of the excitement and energy sometimes gets to you before the game. she's got to stay focused. >> all right, i can't let you go without talking about the march of dimz. your little one, baby tyler, turned four months july 1st, congratulations there. your efforts behind the march of dimes? >> it's really important to help those that maybe can't help themselves who want to do preventative medicine here and help babies. how can you say no to that? i'm fortunate i had a healthy son but not everybody is that lucky and we want to let everybody know educate them to have healthy babies and save as many lives as possible. >> never fun to have a premature baby. thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate your insight. ashleigh back to you. >> today's best advice is going to come from former nfl player wade davis who recently announced that he's gay. it's coming up after this break. it's now 58 minutes past the hour. we wrap up as always with the best advice. >> today we hear from former nfl player wade davis. >> the best piece of advice i've ever received is to live without fear. one of my youth told me that, that i give them the strength to live without fear. it's amazing that i don't sometimes understand the power that i have but i also think our youth don't understand the power they have because they look to me as someone who's a hero. >> i'm glad that he is there as a role model for the youth. >> i like that. live without fear. >> that's a tough one though. >> i was going to say, it's easier sad than done on so many respects, not just physicality but the mental. seize the day, carpe diem. >> that's the news from a to z. >> quts startsing point with brooke baldwin starts right now. >> thanks so much, lady, happy tuesday to you. i'm brooke baldwin sitting in for soledad this morning. our "starting point," sweating it out, millions without air conditioning this morning as a record heat wave smothers more than a dozen states and it could be days, still more days before the power turns back on. what joe pa knew, new evidence shows he