>> glor: good evening. for so many people on the gulf, the fourth of july weekend is hardly a holiday. on day 75, here is the latest: a ship described as the world's largest oil skimmer is now in the gulf. the new admiral in charge toured the oil spill by air, and a few gulf areas have been reopened to fishing. mark strassmann is in grand isle, louisiana, tonight. mark? >> reporter: on the summer's busiest holiday weekend, beaches like this one ought to be packed, but take a look. there's been nobody around all day, hazmat suits instead of bathing suits on a changed gulf coast. >> take a picture of that. pure gold. >> reporter: on july 4th weekend, this is what the gulf should look like. >> this is heaven. this is like heaven. >> reporter: brenda and pete bogs caught speckled trout on bay rambo, one of louisiana's few fishing areas reopened since the oil crisis began. >> we weren't sure if we would be able to fish. >> reporter: now that you are? >> well, i really would like to be able to see a lot more people being able to. >> reporter: other waters should be just as ideal for fishing on the 4th, but look around. no sign of oil, but not a boat inside either. oil worries have closed one-third of all federal waters in the gulf. off louisiana that's everything east of the mississippi. >> right now the loop current is closed. >> reporter: admiral paul zu c k toured the zone where "the whale," the world's largest skimmer, was being tested. >> right now the coast guard is really focused on the removal aspect of this operation. >> reporter: oil removal in places like gulf breeze, florida. e.p.a. administrator lisa jackson walked along its oil beaches and said she wouldn't go in the water. >> they're getting the largest pieces and leaving a lot of smaller pieces that i don't know if you can ever get. >> reporter: even rumors of oil chase away tourists. in destine, florida, cancellations have caused the henderson park inn $200,000, and general manager ryan olin his peace of mind. >> i got a wife, an 18-month-old son and another kid on the way, and it's a scary feeling. >> reporter: it's a different world in the gulf when fishing boats want more company. >> there could be tons of boats around. >> times have changed. sad. >> it is. it's bad. i'm happy today, but i'm sad about the situation in general. >> reporter: cleanup crews lost most of the last three days due to bad weather and hurricane alex inch sunday's forecast, sunny skies and a return to louisiana's broiling summer temperatures. mark strassmann, cbs news, grand isle, louisiana. >> glor: our other big story tonight, forecasters are warning of a blistering fourth of july in many spots and beyond with temperatures in the mid to high 90s or beyond from virginia to new england to the great lakes and the gulf and triple digits in parts of the southwest. things were already visibly warming up in washington today. in new york some beat the heat at the beach while folks in pittsburgh sought relief at a picnic. for more we go to meteorologist jeff biradelli from our miami affiliate wfor. so a heat wave, three consecutive days of 90 or above. why is it so especially hot right now? >> reporter: well, right now we have an area of the high pressure, a big ridge of the high pressure in the upper part of the atmosphere, a mounten of warm air building and developing northward. we'll have a westerly wind flow across places like new york city, philly and washington, d.c. this will pump a lot of heat and also a lot of humidity towards the eastern seaboard for a good chunk of this upcoming week. in fact, as we head into monday and especially tuesday and wednesday, temperatures will approach 100 degrees in places like washington, d.c., baltimore, philadelphia, newark, new jersey, new york city and maybe into the western suburbs of boston. this is going to be a relentless heat wave. >> glor: so we get to a heat wave by wednesday, but does this go well beyond that? >> yeah, it looks as though temperatures will stay in the 90s at least along the i-95 corridor through friday, saturday, so we're looking at, at least six or seven days straight of heat wave along the major cities of the i-95 corridor. >> glor: jeff, thanks so much. and hoping to turn the sun's heat into an economic boost, president obama today said the government was awarding $2 billion to companies to build new solar plants. the president said in his weekly meade yes address that the program would create thousands of new jobs. yesterday's jobs' report showed unemployment diping to 9.5% last month, but only because so many discouraged job seekers had dropped out of the labor force. whit johnson has more on the sputtering economic picture. >> reporter: the fact that u.s. businesses added only 83,000 jobs in june is a sign experts say the economy isn't recovering nearly fast enough. this comes after plummeting home sales in may, down 30%. auto sales are down 4.7%. factory orders fell 1.4%. the first drop after nine months of improvement. still, washington is at odds over how best to tackle the nation's financial woes. president obama believes more stimulus is needed to keep the sluggish economic recovery going. today he scolded republicans for failing to extend unemployment benefits before the fourth of july recess. >> republican leaders in washington just don't get it. >> reporter: but government stimulus increases the deficit, and republicans wanted to see how the benefits would be paid for before they passed them. >> we can't support job-killing taxes and adding tens of billions to the already unsustainable national debt. >> reporter: some economist argue spending is the only way to fully emerge from the recession. >> most people i know work for money, so you have to put the money out there. the private sector is not going to do it. that means the government's got to. there is no other way. >> reporter: yet americans are worried about the national debt, now topping $13 trillion. it ranked as the number-one concern, along with terrorism new york a recent poll. president obama had a stop in racine, wisconsin, this week acknowledged it's a concern for him, too. >> all of us should be worried about the fact that we have been running the credit card in the name of future generations, and somebody's going to have to pay that back. >> reporter: but he asked for patience and said lowering the debt won't come overnight. but the president may have little room for patience or time. 15 million americans are still without work and critical mid-term elections are just four months away. jeff? >> glor: whit johnson tonight. whit, thank you. okay. to help us put the economy and the rest of the news of the week in focus now, including another gaffe by republican national committee chairman michael steal, we're joined in washington by political analyst john dickerson. we mentioned mid-term election only four months away. how much trouble are democrats in right now? >> reporter: jeff, democrats are in trouble because there aren't enough months left between now and the election to convince people the economy is getting better and the economic news is so anemic. what the president and democrats will have to do is make the case about republicans, saying that if democrats keep control, the economy will continue to inch along. if republicans take control, it will actually move backwards. >> glor: problems for democrats. now let's talk about the problem for republicans. michael steele this week said, "speaking about the war in afghanistan, this is a war of president obama's choosing. it's not something the u.s. has actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in." beyond the obvious factual inaccuracy there -- the war was started by the previous president after 9/11 -- this puts michael steele at odds with his colleague, does it not? >> reporter: it puts him at odds with all of the republicans and bill kristol said he should resign, liz cheney doing the same, tom khol, congress a congressman, so it looks like while he's playing politics with war and death. >> glor: steele's term runs through january. is there a chance it could end before for him? >> even those who want to see the back of him don't want to go through the voting process necessary to eject him. they want him to resign. if that's going to happen, there's going to have to be more pressure from elected officials. we'll have to see if that happens. >> glor: john dickerson joining us from washington. john, as always, thanks very much. >> thanks, jeff. >> glor: still ahead on tonight's "cbs evening news," the spy suspect next door. what were they really up to? he. you may be eligible to pay $10 a month with the onglyza value card program. no pills, no pain. how can you get pain relief without taking pills around the clock? try thermacare heatwraps, for all day relief without pills. i was surprised, thermacare worked all day. you feel the heat. and it relaxes and unlocks the muscle. you've got to try it. 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[ female announcer ] why wait? why do women like you love activia light? sometimes i have no choice but to eat on the run and to eat whatever happens to be around. heavy greasy food that's hard on my diet and my digestive system. so i eat activia light every day. activia light, with bifidus regularis, helps regulate your digestive system in two weeks. mmmm. activia light is not light on taste! and with only 70 calories activia light helps make it easier to watch my weight. it helps me feel good and look good too! ♪ activia >> glor: to wash down all those hot dogs and hamburgers, americans drink more beer over the july 4th weekend than any other holiday of the year. and growing numbers of people are choosing craft beers as we hear from jay dow. >> here you are, sir. >> reporter: dogfish head we're is helping to craft america's beer future. >> we're up over 20% in 2010 year to date, and we can't fulfill our orders. >> reporter: in 15 years the delaware-based craft back to youries has produced 20 styles of beer now sold in 25 states. >> it's a good problem that demand is exceeding supply. >> reporter: the new belgian brewing company of colorado is also hopping, up 18% in 2009 from the year before. >> for each of us as brewers, it's a great thing to have so much enthusiasm from our customers. >> reporter: so much enthusiasm that last year, while overall u.s. beer sales dropped 2.2% and imports dropped almost 10%, craft beer sales climbed more than 7%. craft breweries produce no more than two million barrels a year and must use traditional ingredients like malted barley, not the rice or corn that the mega breweries use. microbrew lovers say that gives their beers more flavor, but it also means they can cost a lot more. >> analysts say the success of craft beer is surprising given the economy, but there is an explanation. >> i think people like affordable luxuries in this type of economy, and yes, maybe they can't buy a new car or a second home, a summer home, something like that, but they can afford better beers. >> reporter: at only 7% by volume of all beers sold in the u.s., they're a drop in the bucket compared to the big guys like anheuser-busch and coors, but that home-grown element might be part of the appeal. just as shoppers are seeking out organic food, some are doing the same with beer. >> they've got a real taste. it's not just an alcohol delivery system. it's more of a, gee, i love the taste of this. >> reporter: it's about the experience? >> yeah, yeah. >> reporter: and they've got a fervent following, festivals like this one called "savor" in washington, d.c., are getting bigger and more frequent. >> it's become so much more socially acceptable to be fan of good beer. i mean, it's not so much, oh, you drink alcohol or shunned in many places. >> reporter: one of the oldest and most well-known craft beer, sam adams, may soon outgrow craft beer status. the brewer predicts it will sell more than the cut-off two million barrels a year by 2012. jay dow, cbs news, new york. >> glor: in sports today, american serena williams today won her fifth women's wimbledon singles title. it took williams only 67 minutes to beat russia's vera zvonareva 6-3, 6-2, it is williams 13th grand slam tennis title overall. at the world cup in south africa, germany advanced to the semifinals battering argentina 4-0, or nil for those football fans. a late goal allowed spain to beat paraguay 1-0. the semifinals are now set. the neatherlands against uruguay and germany against spain on tuesday and wednesday. the winners play for the championship next sunday. still ahead on tonight's "cbs evening news," a painter's extraordinary tribute to america's warriors. [ water ] hey, it's me water. this independence day weekend, we have the story. a man who is committed to honoring the heros who have served their country overseas. seth doane shows us his difficult but inspiring work. >> chris is number 31. >> reporter: still a number to go. >> yep, yep. >> reporter: in a tiny studio in amherst, massachusetts, a good 6,000 miles from the front lines of iraq and afghanistan, artist matt mitchell is on his own sort of mission. >> the hope is that we create something that's very lasting. i love doing this. >> reporter: soft spoken, it's mitchell's work and commitment that tell the story. he's determined to paint 100 portraits of those affected by the two wars. it's his response to a sobering realization. >> i nigh i was capable as living as if these wars are not happening. i think that's true for most people in america. >> reporter: the project will take at least seven years to complete. >> i never thought i would be sitting while someone is painting me. >> reporter: chris mcguirk served in both iraq and afghanistan. >> it frustrates me because it seems more people care about what brad and angelina had for dinner that. bothers me tremendously. >> reporter: that you care about that than these wars. >> right, right. >> reporter: cbs news "60 minutes" 2 first met mcgurk in afghanistan when his unit came under attack. how are you feeling? >> that's how i'm feeling. >> reporter: he says the psychological wounds never completely heal. >> everyone here has seen something in one way, shape or form. >> reporter: that they want to forget? >> i think they want to forget, but they want to remember at the same time because it's defineed who we are now. >> this is the first full picture. >> reporter: others carry much more visible scars like rick desroche. >> that day started like every other day in iraq but has never ended because i wake up like this every morning. it doesn't bother me because i love who i am right now. >> reporter: mitchell's portrait of yarosh, number 23, was selected to hang in the national portrait gallery in washington, d.c. >> he doesn't talk. you have to get everything from his eyes, from his face, from his lips. you look into that face and you have to pull the story out of it. it's not going to tell you the story. >> reporter: yarosh's story includes catching on fire after his vehicle hit an i.e.d. in iraq. but it's not the wounds that he sees. >> people are going to look at this and hopefully get the same thing i get out of it, the pride, the fact that i served my country and i'm proud of that service. >> reporter: a personal statement accompanies each picture, but the artist's message is not political. >> the war in iraq, the war in afghanistan are real. we have people who are fighting there. we have people who are injured, and it should just be recognized. >> it's just another way of veterans being allowed to have their stories told. it's very... it makes me very happy that people do care. >> reporter: the brush strokes and oil paint draw you in, but the real aim is to make you notice these faces of war. seth doane, cbs news, amherst, massachusetts. tbhor glor that is the "cbs evening news." russ mitchell will be here tomorrow night. i'm jeff glor, cbs news new york. dwight and happy 4th. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org even before my dad told me that we switched over to fios, i automatically saw a change in how fast the internet was. i decided to switch to fios as soon as it came to my neighborhood. now, at a blink of an eye, i click something, "bam!" it's there. with fios, the picture blows your mind. my mind went, berserk! 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