more days, allowing investigators to search for more evidence in the disappearance of his traveling companion, robyn garner. this is thursday, september 1st, garner. this is thursday, september 1st, 2011. captioning funded by cbs and good morning to you. i'm erica hill. >> and i'm fran radford. >> thanks for being here. all week long as you've been here, we've been talking about the small towns cut off by the damage from hurricane irene. well, one of those towns, a town in vermont, population 450, had a few extra folks in town for that wedding over the weekend. everything went great for the big ceremony saturday, and, of course, sunday is when disaster struck. the wedding party was stranded there. the guests, many from europe, were stranded there. they pitched in and now this incredible bond has developed between the people in pittsburgh, vermont. it's a fantastic story. mark strausman flew in to get that story for us. but first, we're going to turn to the latest political fight in washington and the latest setback for president obama. he's going to deliver this much anticipated jobs speech to congress next week, but just setting the date for that speech turned into a hot potato as bill plant tells us. bill, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, jan. this may prove there is no argument too petty in today's washington. it was the timing of the president's speech that became the subject of a testy confrontation between the president and the speaker and the speaker won. the president will now give his jobs speech next thursday. the white house announced yesterday that the president would unveil his jobs program in a speech to a joint session of congress next wednesday evening at 8:00 p.m. when he plans to call on the congress to pass new job initiatives. >> there's work to be done. there are workers ready to do it and that's why i expect congress to act. >> reporter: but there were two problems with the date the president wanted. there's a republican presidential debate at the same time he wanted to speak, which the white house shrugged off as coincidence dental. >> you can never find a perfect time. there are major events that occur on television. there are other issues you have to deal with as well as congressional scheduling and presidential scheduling. >> and house speaker john boehner told the president that wednesday night wouldn't work because the house isn't scheduled to return from recess until an hour and a half before mr. obama wanted to speak. a senior democrat called the logistics excuse laughable. house majority leader eric cant cantor, the president's prime an tag insist was in a more accommodate i accommodating mood. >> i was just trying to create an environment where we can see growth and jobs come back. i'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say. >> show me a little insecurity on the part of the president? either, a, he wants to distract the american people so they don't want him, or, b, he doesn't want the american people to hear what the next president of the united states is going to say about the president's job plan. >> reporter: well, the white house wants the speech to be in front of congress for a very important reason. to them, the president is setting the stage for running against the republicans on capitol hill. the big risk, of course, is that job creating initiatives, the president is expected to offer may not seem big enough to warrant all the hype. and there's one other thing. there's no longer a conflict with the republican debate on wednesday. now the president is up against the opening of the nfl season on thursday night. so far, the nfl hasn't complained. >> that's that saints/packers game we're all waiting for. bill, thanks. now joining us is cbs news chief washington correspondent and host of "face the nation" the great bob shaffer. >> hi. >> you heard in this piece the white house is saying, oh, this is just a coincidence. we didn't think about this gop event. are you buying that? >> it's going to take a lot to convince me that the president's people did not know there was a republican date on the night that the president wanted to make that speech. if they didn't know, the president's people didn't know, then i think it might be time for the president to get some new people. on the other hand, it seems to me that if somebody on the president's staff thought they could get away with this, that they could put this speech on to overshadow the republican debate, it may be time to get some new people. this was shaping up something worthy of the playground, 10-year-olds arguing over who was going to get to bat first or something. this is just really one of the most ridiculous episodes that i think we've had in the last year or so, a year of ridiculous episodes. i do think the president is wise to try to nip this in the bud and go ahead and do it on the next in line. because this was just going nowhere and was making everybody look bad when it's getting prd pretty hard to, you know, mask what they've already done around here. >> last night, the president sent an e-mail out to his supporters pointing the finger at congress and saying you have to rise above the small time politics. didn't he kind of do that right out of the gate by setting the date on this? and how is that going to help him get some big jobs plan through congress by injecting politics into this right away? >> well, i don't think it's going to help at all. and i'll tell you something else. there is a very serious downside to this. and if you needed anything to underline that, public opinion strategies which is a very respective bipartisan polling firm put out a report yesterday to tell people exact ly what th result of the debt ceiling debate and that big controversy and debate that we had. they said the perception of how washington handled the debt ceiling negotiations led to an immediate collapse in confidence in government and in the economy and all the major players involved, including the president and the republicans. so, clearly, this was something that nobody won and it appears that the washington, both sides here pb still haven't figured that out. you have to wonder what has to happen for them to understand how they're looking these days. >> bob, thanks so much. bob shieffer in washington, it's great to see you. >> thank you. we want to get to the wildfires in texas and oklahoma. the fires have now burned dozens of homes and threatened hundreds more. in north texas, more residents were forced out of their homes on wednesday after high winds kicked up a fire that had been under control. stephanie joins us this morning with the very latest. stephanie, good morning. >> good morning, erica. the wind out here in a record setting drought as fire officials are saying right now, this fire is only about 30% contained. for the past two days, the texas wildfires have chased people from places like possum kingdom lake. flames have destroyed nearly 6 thois acres of land and at least three dozen homes and buildings. retired dallas fire chief larry anderson and his friends barely managed to escape the fast moving fire by boat. >> suddenly, a fire tsunami, just a wile of fire. >> i could literally feel the flames in back of me while i was running. i had never experienced anything like this. >> reporter: texas is suffering the effects of one of the worst droughts in history. >> all these days, low humidities, zero rain, we were suffering and we were in the way. >> according to the texas forest officials, officials have responded to more than 20,000 fires since last november, a total of 3.5 million acres have burned across texas, making this year the worst fire season in the state's history. at least 17 other smaller fires are burning in texas. in nearby oklahoma, at least half a dozen wildfires are burning, including one that's already destroyed more than 30 homes, shut down major highways and consumed at least 3,000 acres. back here in texas, people are anxious to get back to their homes and assess the damage. >> it's not farfetched to say that we've burned half of our county off acreagewise. it's devastating, of course, and it's going to take a while to get over. >> residents here in the area are hoping that a storm system in the gulf of mexico will make its way here and bring some much needed rain to north texas. back to you, erica. >> stephanie, thanks. we'll get a little more on that storm system in just a minute. first, though, we want to check in on the aftermath here on the east coast of hurricane irene. experts now say the damage from that storm could reach $10 billion. hundreds of thousands of people are still without electricity. in some areas, flooding remains a major problem. cbs news michelle miller is in hard hit paterson, new jersey. >> reporter: good morning, erica. this part of new jersey, floods, but not more like this in over 100 years. it will be several days before the water restreets to its banks, before the lights go back on, before life can get back to normal. >> today was the first day that i was even able to get on this side of the bridge to get down here to see what's going on. >> reporter: john medena has been in the family business for nearly 30 years. he says he lost $20,000 in merchandise that's been sitting in a foot of water for several days inside his paterson store. he doesn't have flood insurance. we never expected nothing like this to happen and the water never came up this far. >> my house is the yellow house in the corner there. >> leon can only guess how high the water is and how much damage it's causing to his home in little falls, new jersey. >> i haven't been in the house yet. probably tomorrow i'll go down and take a look at the damage. but i figure it has to be 2 1/2, maybe 3 feet of water we had in the house. >> he and his family haven't been home since the passaic river jumped its banks. they spent the days in a neighbor's house. >> it has to be in the tens of thousands. we lost a bathroom, kitchen, two bedrooms, dining room, living room, all the furniture, everything. >> throughout the northeast, residents are struggling to cope with the aftermath of one of the largest and costliest storms in our nation's history. >> we love camping, so this is kind of like a little throwback for us, doing the things out on the deck and camping and things like that. >> taking a cold and ice cold shower in the morning is horrible. >> reporter: john medena's priority is to put the storm behind him. >> when you stumble, you get back up and keep on going, you know? >> reporter: and president obama has announced he will come and survey the damage here in paterson first thing here on sunday. local officials hope that will spur on some of the needed flood protection here so this can't happen again. >> michelle, thanks. in the next half hour, we're going to brick you the story of a dream wedding in vermont that turned into a nightmare honeymoon in irene. meanwhile, we were watching hurricane katia in the gulf coast and the atlantic. there's a cluster of thunderstorms we're watching which has a high chance of becoming a tropical storm this weekend. for the latest, we turn to david bernard. we just spoke with a reporter from dallas how he was saying a lot of eyes in texas are eyeing that storm in the gulf, hoemg that it could bring them some rain, david. >> yeah, erica, that would be great news. let's take a look at the satellite picture. this is the area of thunderstorms we're talking about, mainly in the central and eastern gulf of mexico. certainly the central gulf coast needs to be on guard for this. look at the computer models on this disturbance between now and labor day. this system is going to meander and move very slowly and it could become a depression or a tropical storm later today. we're not sure where it's going to go at this point. as far as hurricane katia goes, that is way out in the atlantic. it's not bothering anybody at this point. it's a category one storm and moving west at 20. here is the future track as we go through the holiday weekend. it's still expected to strengthen. it could become a major hurricane by the time we get into sunday, monday and tuesday. even by the time we get into tuesday, it's still over the open waters of the southwest atlantic and it's just too soon to say what's going to happen with it. but in the shorm term, there could be some reswb very heavy rains coming into the gulf coast for the labor day holiday. >> thanks. we'll continue to follow that for you as it gets closer. now we're going to go over to jeff clore. good morning to you. >> good morning. today is the 42nd anniversary of the military ceasing power to moammar gadhafi. now the rebels say he may be hold up in a desert town southwest of the tripoli. meanwhile, wildly conflicting reports about his intentions. barry peterson is in tripoli. >> reporter: his two sons say they are speaking for him, but they are saying entirely different things. the first is a policeman buoyant son who showed up last week in tripoli as the rebels were invading the city who drove around rallying support for his father. the city fell, anyway. he called an arab satellite channel sympathetic to his father ex ordering followers to continue to resist and fight to the death. as for his father, he said the commander is doing well. the fighting reference is for the last holdout cities supporting gadhafi now targeted by rebels. but another son, sadi, called a different satellite channel that he suggested he was speaking for his father and held out an olive branch. he said the gadhafi family is ready to negotiate and for the first time added that they would accept rebel rule. we have no problem, he said, to give them power. as for the rebels, they made it simple. they will not negotiate with any members of the gadhafi family about anything. rebels now have the first cache to keep the fight going, a shipment from britain of freshly printed bank notes and currency to get the economy going again. >> we have some cash for some hospitals and some -- >> reporter: also today, an international conference in paris that includes u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton along with european and arab leaders. the idea is to figure out what's next for libya. that means money and how to rebuild this country. barry petersen, cbs news, tripoli, libya. what appears to be a bizarre incident for am, one of its engineers lost a prototype of the iphone5 at a bar in san francisco. this apparently happened in july one year after an engineer left a iphone 4 at a bar. the iphone 5 may have been sold on still ahead this morning, the latest in the case of robyn gardener. the woman who disappeared in aruba more than a month ago. still the man being held by authorities won't be going anytime soon. we'll tell you why, just ahead. 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[ male announcer ] the new citi thankyou premier card gives you more ways to earn points. what's your story? citi can help you write it. welcome back to the early show. half past the hour now. just ahead, imagine your travel up to 4,000 miles for a wedding, a picturesque, picture-perfect wedding in vermont. you have everything there, all the guests, the families, the friends, everyone looks stunning. and then the next day, there's a visitor who wasn't really invited named irene who shows up. the last person you want on your wedding weekend. irene's flooding cuts off the town where you were staying, meaning everyone is now stuck. well, it happened to this couple. here is the amazing part. the newlywedes and their guests, they all rolled up their sleeves to help out the town. they shoveled, clean dumpsters, we're going to talk to the couple and the towns people who were grateful that the wedding ended up that way. it's a wonderful, wonderful story that came out of it. we'll bring you that in just a moment. first, we want to bring you the latest on an american woman missing in aruba. wednesday, a man was sent back to jail as authorities trying to figure out what happened to his traveling companion. >> 50-year-old gary giordano say it all began as a snorkeling trip in aruba. it ended with robyn gardner's disappearance. now a judge has ruled the maryland man will be held for up to 60 more days. >> the question to me is did they rent the snorkel equipment? the fins or the flippers or the snorkel? perhaps there's a record that they could be looking into to determine whether or not this couple went snorkeling at all. >> reporter: giordano has yet to be charged with a crime. gardner's boyfriend, who didn't know she was traveling with giordano, fears the worse. >> i fear something might have happened in this man's hands. >> reporter: days ago, agents scoured giordano's home. the pair headed to aruba after meeting online. after gardner's disappearance, giordano stood to gain $1.5 million in travel insurance monies. he apparently tried to cash it in two days after she went missing. his ex-girlfriend is speaking out, but dhochoosing not to be identified. >> i'm really scared. that could have been me. >> reporter: authorities believe gardner is dead, but one month after the u.s. tourist went missing, her body has still not been found. cbs news, miami. >> now here is jeff glore at the news desk. >> the after effects of hurricane irene are still plaguing the northeast. it's believed the damage from irene could reach $10 billion. nearly two million homes and businesses remain without power. firefighters in north texas hope to contain a major wildfire today. it has destroyed more than three dozen homes. at&t says it will fight the government's decision to block its deal to buy t-mobile. the justice department thinks that $39 billion deal would lead to higher bills and reduce competition. at&t will owe t-mobile $3 million if the deal does not go through. venus williams is out of the u.s. open. she's been diagnosed with chogrin's syndrome, an just ahead, guess who is going to iowa, new hampshire this weekend? there she is, sarah palin. is this a campaign swing or is it just another trip? we'll discuss it in our political round table. of moderae rheumatoid arthritis... ...could mean living with joint damage. help stop the damage before it stops you... ...with humira. for many adults with moderate to severe ra,... ...humira's proven to help relieve pain and stop joint damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events can occur, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, blood, liver, and nervous system problems,... ...serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live 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. ask your rheumatologist how you can defend against... ...and help stop further joint damage with humira. discover aveeno positively radiant tinted moisturizers with scientifically proven soy complex and natural minerals. give you sheer coverage instantly, then go on to even skin tone in four weeks. aveeno tinted moisturizers. listen to this. three out of four americans don't get enough vegetables. so here's five bucks to help you buy v8 juice. five bucks. that's a lot of green. go to v8juice.com for coupons. you can count on us. [ female announcer ] something unexpected to the world of multigrain... taste. ♪ delicious pringles multigrain. with a variety of flavors, multigrain pops with pringles. and it may still be summer, but in washington, politics never takes a vacation. we saw it on wednesday as president obama and house speaker boehner struggled to even set a date for the president's speech to congress. >> yes. quite a summer there, actually. and that is just one of the topics we want to get to this morning in our political round table. along with us, sam stein political editor for the huffington post. also with us, jan carter. there's so much talk this morning about what happened here, this little tit for tat and a lot of people online are saying, the president caved. he blinked. so many debates. >> you rarely see consensus in washington. i rarely say never, but on this one, i think there is consensus in washington that the white house totally blew it by trying to set this date on the night of the gop debate. and the white house says, you know what? there's so many debates and there's so many television stations, that doesn't matter. nobody buys that, either, because this debate does matter. it's a huge reason it's different. rick perry, the texas governor who just entered this race will be on that stage for the very first time. it's a very important debate. >> yeah. >> and is that the crux of it, just that there was more to the debate that nobody is buying it or was there more to it as people are looking at the divisiveness in washington? >> well, listen, i think the white house wanted to create a contrast both with the gop candidates and with the republicans in congress. they like the image of obama speaking to a joint session, urging them to get going on jobs. the gop presidential debate will happen on wednesday night. yeah, the stakes were higher. this is a republican debate rick perry mraed limmediately as the front-runner. >> when you look at now, as we look at this deal, that's shaping up. there's been so much talk over the last few weeks about who the front-runners are. michele bachmann is still calling in a lot of screen time. where do we stand? >> mitt romney has been the front-runner forever. >> for two years, basically. >> now with perry in the race, we are seeing polls emerging that he's leap frogging romney, by just entering this race, which i think shows a lack of enthusiasm for romney and this real design for someone new and fresh. this is tapped into some of bachmann's numbers. but bachmann and romney both have a lot of ammunition that they can use against rick perry and that's what i think we're going to start seeing. he has a lot of weaknesses. >> absolutely. there's a group of republicans that are skeptical. mitt romney. they don't like the fact that he's run basically for the past two, three years. and rick perry was down to take some of that fire. now, i think mitt romney is in a more enviable position with michele bachmann. rick perry is playing for that same sort of corner for the base. mitt romney can wait. when the time comes, him and perry can say, listen, i'm more electable than rick perry. >> yes. and by looking at some of his positions, i think that's exactly what they're going to do. they're going to say perry is somebody that's easy to caricature. >> and he looks like a caricature of george bush, although it's will ferrell playing george bush. >> i don't think either one of them would want to be in the same session. as we look back to the 2008 campaign, there's all this talk about rudy giuliani and where he was at this point. how much thought can we put into these polls at this point in time? >> that's a good point. rudy giuliani was way ahead at this time and his campaign quickly imploded. now with giuliani, we're hearing he may try to run again. >> there's two things to keep in mind here. one is that in 2008, fred thompson was -- well, he was the late entrance. giuliani had a bad strategy, as well. he was going to do all florida and that was a bad strategy for him. >> sam, thanks so much. >> thank you. just ahead, a newly married couple stranded by hurricane irene finds a shiny lining in the clouds. that's just ahead. 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[ female announcer ] phillips' colon health. a dream wedding in a small vermont town over the weekend had an uninvited guest, hurricane irene. the newlyweds were stranded there along with their guests. mark strausman tells us the couple, their family and their friends truly rose to the occasion. >> reporter: mark and yenini lebowitz followed their hearts planning their perfect wedding. >> you want to have a rusting wedding in vermont. >> pittsfield, vermont, population 453, as vermont at maple syrup. last saturday here, mark, an artist and lenini, a german marketing representative became husband and wife. how was the wedding? >> saturday night, she told me that it was her dream wedding. >> and it was. everything was perfect. it was beautiful. >> reporter: but on sunday, irene crashed their wedding weekend. tropical rains overflowed the river. >> this is the bridge out of town and we're not going anywhere. >> reporter: route 100, this battered town's only way out was washed out on both sides. and the only way for us to get there was by chopper the. >> this is part of why we haven't been able to leave, yeah. it really shook me when i saw this. when i saw this, that's when i realized, we're not leaving for a while. >> reporter: heart sank? honeymoon in jeopardy? >> i never thought we would be stuck here for a week. we thought maybe we would send another couple of days. >> reporter: the history bridge they were married beside is right here. as you can see, it just washed away. suddenly, they were all stuck here. and then the same wedding party that came here to celebrate instead rolled up their sleeves and pitched in to help give this town a fresh start. yenina's german family, like everyone stranded here, made an impression that stuck on locals like leeann isaacson. >> i'll tell you, the wedding people that got stuck here with us, were high centered, were amazing. >> reporter: in a town still without power and limited food and lots of needs, everyone lent a hand. >> reporter: what kind of projects have been doing? >> doing dishes, cooking at the store. >> her father helped shovel mud out of somebody else's house. everyone is chipping in. these people, their agagenerosi is unbelievable. >> they never said no. when i sent them out to clean the dumpster, they, which was walking away on its legs, they came in and said, that's the nastiest job i've ever done, but it's done. >> we have a lot of fans back there excited about some burgers. >> they're so giving, i guess. we're happy that we got stuck here. >> reporter: yesterday, an unexpected wedding gift. a patched road reopened early. >> beyond woodstock, they said the roads are passable and we can get to the interstate and head on down. >> reporter: a chance to get out, to get home. >> i have to say, it's been interesting. >> yeah. >> bye. >> reporter: this saturday, the newlyweds could begin their honeymoon in hawaii. >> it's been a great wedding and a great start to our married life, but we're excited to go home. >> reporter: and when they come back here, first check the forecast. mark strausman, cbs news, pittsfield, vermont. >> you always want to have a wonderful memory of your wedding and of the place you got married, which is so special. but talk about turning tragedy into triumph and the memories they have made in that town. >> and to be able to start your whole marriage relationship off by doing all those chores which are not always pleasant, that's pretty good preparation for a marriage. >> now you know, you can clean out the dumpster. there you go. just ahead, as you prepare to send your kids back to school, some of them may already be there, don't forget the vaccinations. we'll have important advice for parents to help keep your kids safe this year and at any age. hi parents, it's going to be such a big school year. your kids will each take care of our class hamsters, lewis & clark. then i'll tell them the story of pluto, the sad little planet that was. i'll introduce them to some new friends, the fractions, and some cold blooded ones, the dinosaurs. [sfx: dinosaur growl] clark! anyway, here's what they'll need: markers, scissors, crayons, pencils, folders, juice boxes, pretzel sticks, glue sticks, tape that sticks, and glitter. so much glitter. school takes a lot. target has it all. you remember a story we told you about a couple of weeks ago. there was an 11-year-old boy from minnesota and he makes an impossible hockey shot. >> he took the shot for his twin brother. the $50,000 payoff was put on hold. there is now a sdig, that's ahead on "the early show. make last minute more tasteful with edible arrangements. it's crazy for daisies week. our daisy arrangements start at just $29! call, click or come into the location near you. top of the hour as we welcome you back to the "the early show." our first early show of september 2011. i have no idea how that happened, by the way. >> where is august? >> or july for that matter. as we try to figure out how we got to september, we're lgs focusing on kids this hour. a couple of interesting stories about kids coming up, including a t-shirt that has ignited a bit of a firestorm. if you can't read that, it says i'm too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it for me. that didn't sit well with a lot of parents. i have to say, too, as a parent, i understand why. it was on sale at j. krmjcpenne. as has happened happens, things were posted online and in a matter of hours, more than 1,500 people complained. >> file that into the what in the world were they thinking category. >> we're going to check in with the women who led that drive with that petition to get the t-shirt removed. >> and also, when it comes to kids who won't eat their veggies, this could be the holy grail here, kraft has revised a kid favorite, macaroni and cheese. it's adding driy eied cauliflou the macaroni. we'll show you how it's good for them, but it's also, of course, good for business. >> it is. and you can do it yourself, too. sneak a little butter nut swash into the mac and cheese. we begin with a sobering report on america's security ten years after 9/11. that study finds after spending hundreds of billions of dollars, we were actually -- we're safer than we were back then, but here is the thing. we are not nearly as secure as we need to be. cbs news national correspondent chip reed has more for us from washington. sth a bit of a wake-up call, chip. >> it sure is. there will be more attempted terrorist attacks on the united states and the last thing we want to do now is let down our guard. nearly ten years after the 9/11 attacks, a new report says there are still major gaps in the government's ability to thwart and respond to a terrorist attack. the former chairman of the 9/11 commission who oversaw the report say it's outrageous that congress still hasn't passed their recommendation toes allocate radio spectrum to first responders, an efficiency that they say cost lives on 9/11. >> first responders ought to be able to talk to one another on the site of the disaster. that is so obvious. >> reporter: the report says we are vulnerable to security threats, citing the case of the underwear bomber who tried to blow up a plane on christmas day 2009. despite airport screening, it lacks reliability. on the positive side, the report says our country is undoubtedly safer and more secure than it was a decade ago. and communication among government agencies has considerably improved since 9/11. some security analysts have recently suggested that after ten years and $1 trillion, it's time to stop spending so much on homeland security. after all, they say, there have been no major attacks since 9/11. but former white house homeland security adviser frank delupa says now is the time to ramp up the fight, not back off. >> most people are not aware since 9/11, there have been 53 home grown jihady cases and the majority of those occurred in the last three years. >> only two of those plots succeeded, at ft. hood, texas, and some of the plots, like the attempted times square bombing in 2010 were foiled only by luck and the plot by azahi to attack the new york city subway system in 2009 could have been devastating. >> navy s.e.a.l.s who found bin laden found evidence that he was advocating attacks on the united states around the 9/11 10th anniversary. so far, analysts aren't hearing any rumblings of anything major in the works, but they also add that certainly security will be intensified both here at home and around the world between now and 9/11. >> okay. so perhaps nothing specific on that date. but when it comes to a specific group, like al qaeda, which is the first thing many americans think of when they think of terrorism and of attacks, how much concern is there that this group specifically could mount another attack on the united states? >> certainly, there is concern. but there is a report out today by associated press quoting john brennen, who is the white house chief counter terrorism adviser in which he says al qaeda is on the ropes right now and they are trying to hide and they don't have time to plan new attacks. and that is consistent with what one terrorism expert told me. he said, if they're spending more time looking over their shoulders than plotting and planning new attacks, that's a good thing. erica. >> chip reid in washington this morning, thanks. now here is jeff at the news desk with a check off today's other headlines. >> good morning to you. we are watching hurricane katia, tropical storm katia now. katia has sustained winds of 7 on miles per hour. it's expected to become a major storm in the coming days. it's too soon to tell if it will hit the u.s. in the meantime, a tropical storm near the u.s. may become tropical storm lee. flood waters triggered by hurricane irene are finally starting to recede. in new jersey, though, water may take days to completely retreat. nearly 2 million people remain without power on the east coast and damage from the storm might reach $10 billion. there is some controversy surrounding disaster funds to help the hurricane victims. house majority leader eric cantor was criticized for tying the release of the disaster funds to budget concerns. on monday, cantor said, we're going to find the money. we're just going to make sure there are savings elsewhere. but yesterday, cantor said, there are no strings attached. we found the money. new jersey governor chris christie says it's not time for politics. >> we don't have time to wait for folks in congress to figure out how they want to offset this stuff with other budget cuts. our people are suffering now and they need support now. >> right now, by the way, the federal emergency management agency says it has less than $8 million available. firefighters in texas are hoping to contain a fire today. the wind driven fire has destroyed at least 39 homes and is threatening hundreds more. since tuesday, it's blackened more than 6,000 acres. in texas, as of today, it is legal to hunt ferrell hogs from a helicopter. that's one of about 700 new state laws taking effect today. another one legalizes noodling, which is what they call catching catfish with your bare hands, which superman did. >> this morning, we continue our series with education and money. a serious question, would $100 million be enough to make the school better where you live? michelle miller has the story of one school system and gives you a chance to find out. >> good morning. here in new jersey, the newark public school system is the largest in the state. it has consistently ranked near the bottom for the better part of two decades. there are forces in action determined to see these schools turned around. nearly a year ago in the spotlight of the oprah winfrey show, it was facebook ceo mark zuckerberg, not the queen of daytime, who had something to give away. >> $100 million. >> reporter: zuckerberg announced ads 100 million grant to help the newark public schools, a district grappling with lagging test scores, blighted infrastructure and a graduation rate of just 54%. >> what do you see as the biggest needs of this school? >> there's so much early childhood efforts, new school models, supporting teachers, which i think is going to be a big area. >> reporter: newark mayor corey booker is largely credited with attracting the donation. so far, just $6 million have been allocated, some of which will go toward launching four new speciality programs when school starts next week. but caution, a money isn't readily at his discretion. >> people have this idea out, we wrote a check and it's just sitting there and mark zuckerberg said here is $100 million. that's not quite it. >> reporter: in fact, mayor miller doesn't have full control of the funds. a nonprofit organization responsible for raising a matching amount administers the money. greg tale taylor is the foundati foundation's ceo. >> you want to be thoughtful and strategic in the ways in which we invest it and non simply invest it in gaps that have been created over time. that's not the purpose of this money. >> reporter: newark students have their own ideas of how the money should be spent. >> we need better desks. >> maybe he can give us better nutrition in lunch and more writing tools. >> books that we got, it's not good enough, maybe messed up, written in, and the books are torn up. >> reporter: but mayor booker says that's not what they're getting. >> there is an obligation to improve facilities. this money would be wasted if it wasn't being done for bricks and mortar. >> reporter: booker lacks any formal authority over public schools in his town. the state of new jersey took over control 16 years ago because of the district's poor performance. >> hopefully i, the chief executive, the superintendent, the person who is responsible for improving the school system. >> reporter: tammy anderson was appointed superintendent in six. her job, fix a failing school system that spends close to $24,000 per student per year, among the highest in the nation and more than twice the national average. then there's the zuckerberg money. buckerbe zuckerberg has a say, but it's the superintendent of the school district that administers it. >> his role is to support in a profound way a ground support so we can get results for all of our kids. >> do you believe that newark's agenda is in line with mark zuckerberg's agenda? >> well, i believe that newark's agenda is moving forward no matter what. if mark zuckerberg or anybody doesn't believe that that's the way to go, then pull back your money. our city is not dependent upon those resources, but i believe there is a line. >> reporter: and here is where there is consensus among all parties. they believe in investing in extra teachers, extra teacher training, proven models in charter schools, technology, and certainly in early childhood programs. they say it's going to take time, years, even. >> and one other thing, if our kids go back to school, don't forget their vaccinations. up next, jennifer has a cautionary tale about a college student and a preventable disease. this is "the early show" on cbs. discover aveeno positively radiant tinted moisturizers with scientifically proven soy complex and natural minerals. give you sheer coverage instantly, then go on to even skin tone in four weeks. aveeno tinted moisturizers. to talk about our blueberry juice drinks. they're made with my sweet, ripe blueberries, so they're good for you -- taste real good, too! let's whip up a sample. or just try this. [ chuckles ] with less chronic low back pain. imagine living your life with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is a non-narcotic treatment that's fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing of the skin or eyes. talk with your doctor about your medicines, including those for migraine, or if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles, to address a possible life-threatening condition. tell your doctor about alcohol use, liver disease, and before you reduce or stop taking cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. side effects include nausea, dry mouth, and constipation. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor about cymbalta. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. cymbalta can help. ♪ that comes from a leaf sweet surprise ♪rue love ♪ ♪ it's natural, guilt-free no artificiality ♪ ♪ it won't land on my hips or my thighs ♪ [ announcer ] truvia. honestly sweet. this morning, we're talking about back to school vaccines. maybe it's not the first thing you think of, but it's the perfect time to make sure your children's vaccines are up to take. jennifer has a story that will drive that point home for us today. >> just over half of teens get the recommended men giet yipsis vaccine, even though young people between the ages of 16 and 21 have the highest rate of getting the disease. >> in november of 2008, jamie shanbalm was a healthy sophomore at the university of texas austin when she came down with what she thought was the flu. >> i was just really cool. like the next morning, i didn't have any warmth in my body. i was burying myself under blanket peps. >> reporter: but when she became critically ill, doctors found out what she thought was a bad case of the flu was meningococcal septicimia which started from meningitis bacteria. >> i couldn't move. >> jamie hadn't been vaccinated for meningitis, which the cdc recommends for all teens before the age of 18. >> i didn't really know much about meningitis. it probably had crossed a few conversations here and there, but not enough to know that there was a vaccine or that i should take my child to be vaccinated. >> college students like jamie are at increased risk because of the close contact in shared living spaces where germs are easily spread. of those who get sick with this type of meningitis, 10% to 15% will die despite antibiotic treatment. of those who survive, up to 20% will have permanent effects such as hearing loss or brain damage. >> in jamie's case, they were able to treat her immediately with antibiotics. >> reporter: and she underwent near daily surlgs, including leg and finger amputations. >> i'm happy jamie is with me. i'm blessed that jamie is with me. that's a miracle in itself. >> three, two, one and go. push, push, punch, push. >> three years after her infection, jamie already has one gold medal from a cycling competition and is training fovr for next year's paralympic games in london. >> the best thing about getting on my bake is independents. once you're on the back and you're moving, you're so at peace.jamie has inspired a new law in the state of texas that requires all students, whether they live off campus or in a form to be vaccinated for meningitis. >> talk about a scary wake-up call. what is the schedule? when do these vaccines start, right before you go off to college or earlier? >> actually, earlier. pediatricians should be talking to parents about this. this is cdc recommendations. they state all children around the ages of 10 and 11 should be vaccinated. >> they do not require a booster and i want to make this crystal clear, erica, this is a life-threatening form of meningitis. you do not want to take this chance. >> 10% to 15% could die. jen, thanks. still ahead this morning, the government wants to stop at&t from buying t-mobile. we'll tell you what the issue is with it and the impact it could have on your cell phone bill. 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[ male announcer ] get five dollars in money-saving coupons at v8juice.com. we have an update on the minnesota boy that made the miraculous hockey putt the other night. with a $50,000 prize on the line. the next day, his father revealed it was nate's twin brother, nick, who was supposed to take the shot. his name had been chosen in a ralph. but by teaching the boys a lesson in honesty, he put the prize money at risk. >> and that, of course, got them a lot of attention. we were all anxiously awaiting the decision about that $50,000. an insurance company has now decided that the boys will not get that money. the company said, though, it will donate $20,000 to minnesota youth hockey in the boys' names. dad, says nick and nate, are obviously disappointed they didn't get the cash, but they're very happy about the donation, happy to see it's going to youth hockey there and, you kn state farm. this is jessica. hey, jessica, jerry neumann with a policy question. jerry, how are you doing? fine, i just got a little fender bender. oh, jerry, i'm so sorry. i would love to help but remember, you dropped us last month. yeah, you know it's funny. it only took 15 minutes to sign up for that new auto insurance company but it's taken a lot longer to hear back. is your car up a pole again? [ crying ] i miss you, jessica! jerry, are you crying? no, i just, i bit my tongue. [ male announcer ] get to a better state. text save to 7-8836. welcome back to "the early show." just ahead in this half hour, we're going to talk about the power of social media. you may have heard about a t-shirt that jcpenney was selling, the message it sent to girls. you see it on your screen there, i'm too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it for me. that doesn't sit well with a lot of folks. one person set up an online petition, got picked up by another website, tweeted out another people. erchblt someone signed it, jp penny's ceo got another e-mail. jcpenney said quickly, enough. they pulled the t-shirt. also ahead, it's so hard to get your kids to eat the veggies. foodmakers are going to sneak in vegetables to a lot of kid friendly foods. kraft has a macro neen and cheese made with call flower. first, though, the government stopped at&t from buying t-mobile. >> it claims it would hurt competition and raise prices. joining us now with more on that that means, rebecca jarvis. >> hey, guys, good morning. >> so what is the thinking? why is the government trying to block this deal? is it bottom line, money? >> it's money, but it's competition. when you take the number two and the number four cell phone provideders in this country, at&t and t-mobile, you put them together in a merger, all of a sudden, you take a huge set of players out of the field and put together a super power with 132 million connections, $72 billion plus in revenue and ultimately what the department of justice is arguing here is that the takes out the competition and that for consumers means higher prices, shoddier service and fewer options overall. plus, if i'm new into this market, it makes it hard her to come in because they're so big. >> they would make the opposite argument. is this deal completely dead? >> it's not completely dead. at&t says it's going to fight this in court. they have a big reason to do this. at the outset of this agreement, they said we agree to buy t-mobile for $39 billion. they said if the deal doesn't go through, we'll pay you $3 billion. essentially if the deal doesn't happen, aye t & t is $3 billion in the hole. that's why they're going to fight so aggressively. they say on the flip side identity, no, we're going to make things better. we're going to build out 4g, we're going to make service better and bring service to a larger group of people. >> what should consumers expect in the meantime? basically it's business as usual for us? >> these cellular companies now, they realize that they're out there and they're going to be painted with whatever stroke the media as well as politicians want them to be painted with. so they're probably going to be doing, on the flip side of things, things to make their customers like them. so if you are a customer and you're unhappy or you are satisfied with your service, now would be a good time to try and negotiate a better deal. >> you know, i got a message from at&t the other day that they were going to give me free minutes. >> you see? they're getting out in front of it. >> what happens, though, to t-mobile if at&t ultimately can't buy this company? >> there's a few options. first of all, they'll probably get that $3 billion. they could go it alone, but there are other options for them, as well. sprint, which was gunning to get at&t mobile, sprint may try and merge with t-mobile. sprint is a smaller provider than at&t. lastly, t-mobile could get picked up by a kaip cable company. this isn't unheard of that you would see a wireless company merge with a cable company, a cape provider seized by both services through your cable company. >> rebecca, thanks. we do want to mention unions are in favor of this merger they say will create jobs. you hear a lot about people trying to find work and we saw it firsthand tuesday at a job fair. ben tracy was there. >> welcome to the cvc jobs fair. >> reporter: a massive crowd, more than 10,000 all pounded the pavement looking for work and hoping to make a last-minute impression. for kenneth shaw, it's been two years. he used to be a research analyst for warner brothers. >> i have a child, a 4-year-old, and it breaks my heart to look into his eyes and see that, you know, i'm not working right now. all the dreams i have not only for myself, but for him. it breaks my heart. >> reporter: the economy is creating fewer and fewer jobs, 91,000 in the private sector this month. here in california, 20% of african-americans are out of work. >> i'm ready for the job. >> tammy crowder was one of them. this single mom with four kids has been unemployed for three years. >> i was a job developer and currently now i'm unemployed, but looking for work and hoping to find my career today. >> reporter: this job fair was put on by members of the gongal black caucus, hoping to put a face on unemployment and force a jobs bill in washington. there are 160 employers here offering 3,000 jobs, but the members of congress that represent this area say so many more are needed and they want president obama to pressure congress for a massive jobs bill. >> how can he not go big and do the right thing? anything else, we're settling and it sounds good, but it's not helping the american public. >> everybody have your registration card. >> reporter: congresswoman maxine waters knows the republicans will object to more spending, but she thinks the president should press forward, anyway. >> people who believe in the fight and the struggle, don't start out by saying what we can't get. >> reporter: pauline has been to ten job fairs. despite her college degree, she has not had a single interview. she said the government needs a real jobs plan. >> long-term employment and not seasonal employment or not just employment that boosts us up for an election year. >> pauline, kenneth and the other 10,000 people here just want to get their foot in the door. >> i'm not looking for a handout. i'm looking for a leg up. >> i want to work. i want to do what's right by my family. >> reporter: ben tracy, cbs news, los angeles. the number of people filing for unemployment fell last week, a sign that fewer people are being laid off. now here is jeff at the news desk with one more check of the headlines today. >> jan, good morning to you. we thought this was interesting. a new insurance study rates cities with the safest drivers. allstate ranks ft. collins, colorado, as the safest city for drivers. followed by boise, idaho, in lincoln, nebraska. top fifth city is phoenix at number five. at the bottom of the list is washington, d.c. last week's earthquake near washington, d.c., by the way, was strong enough to move giant containers of radioactive waste at a nuclear power plant. reactors have been closed down since the quake. it turns out that 25 containers of waste, each weighing 115 tons moved several inches from their proper positions. a new study on insomnia finds what you expected, workers who were tired worked less. that's overall $63 billion a year in losses due to insomnia. 23% of american workers suffer from sleep problems. a surprise at the u.s. open, venus williams has dropped out because of a rare medical condition. williams decided not to play her second round match yesterday. she has what's called chogrin each syndrome. >> it's an autoimmune disease where your own white blood cells from your own body begin to infiltrate the glands that make saliva and the glands that make tears because your inflammatory cells. most people that have syndrome do have diffusion body pain and they're very fatigued. >> there is no cure for this condition but there is medicine to treat it. a california logger was forced to get to extremes to avoid a harrowing situation. john hutt's six-ton trailer fell on his right foot pinning his there. alone and unable to escape, he yoolgd his pocket knife to cut off his toes. he scooped up his toes in the boot and drove to the hospital. the toes could not be reattached. >> i went to all that work bringing that boot off the mountain with the toes in it. you would have thought they would have kept them, but anyway -- >> that's a positive attitude, as you can see, he's home now. in hawaii, a high surf advisory is in effect this morning for south-facing shores. waves are@as high as 15 feet in hawaii. hundreds of people had to be rescued from the surf in recent days. here is one surfer literally playing with fire. bruce irons has a lit flare on the back of his board. that's what it looks like at night. pretty cool. irons was asked about it. he said it's a lot cooler than he imagined and that he's, quote, pretty stoked, about it. it's a great, underused somebody at jcpenney thought it was a great idea to sell a t-shirt that said i'm too pretty for work so my brother has to do it for me. within a day, jcpenney pulled that shirt from its website and apologized. lauren todd is here with us this morning along with shelby knox. good to have both of you with us this morning. talk about igniting a firestorm. you certainly got a lot of people up in arms. lauren, how did it first come to your attention? >> i saw it posted on facebook. a friend of mine posted it with a snashgky comment. and it was one of those things where it was kind of -- it was outrageous enough to be posted on facebook but it was more outrageous than that and i felt i needed to do something about it. >> and shelby, you scooped in and helped her. absolutely. she started that change your org petition. and i love twitter. so i started tweeting at fem in my opinion insist bloggers, asking them to repeat it and use jcpenney's handle so they would see it. a lot of posts started appearing saying, what is this? this is sexist and outrageous, check it out. >> here are some of the responses. this shirt is insulting and offensive. you can sum up the feeling in 140 characters for this one very well. on jcpenney's facebook page, this was this post. shame on you, jcpenney. this shirt is insulting and offensive. we will shop elsewhere if you continue to market such nonsense. so jc pen know comes out and, when you saw the response, lauren, were you happy with this? is it what you expected? >> i actually, when i started the petition, my thought was, well, i'll get some backup, you know, maybe get some other consumers -- this is how capitalism is supposed to work. consumers are supposed to get together and tell corporations when they're unhappy with what they're doing. and use their own money to do that. so that is why i started the petition. it was crazy how fast everything happened. i was floored. >> they -- and here is their response. in part, it reads, we agree the too pretty t-shirt does not deliver an appropriate message and we have immediately discontinued its sale. they went on to say they do not intent to offend their customers and they apologize with they are customers. is this what you hoped would happen, shelby? >> absolutely. this is how it works. corporations have found out very quickly if they are going to be on these two-way medias, they can't just talk to their customer, they have to listen to them and respond. one person, lawyer wa, was able to change that and empower other people to push back on jcpenney. >> it's amazing the social impact that jcpenney has sess takes. >> and will continue to have because companies are really protective of their online brands for this reason. >> because it can be so easily tarnished. great to have you with us. thanks. >> thank you. >> as a parent and as a woman, i say thank you. >> jan, over to you. parents have been trying forever to get their kids to eat healthy vegetables, this parent included. now they're getting help from food manufacturers. we take a look at familiar foods with just a little extra in the package. >> leslie, sam, do you guys want to help me with the veggies? >> for julie, getting her two small children to eat their vegetables, takes a little kree creativity. >> it's a common complaint. only 22% of children ages 2 to 5 eelt the government's daily recommended survey of vegetables. vegetables has been declining for the last two to five years. >> what is this? >> reporter: under increasing pressure from american moms, some of the nation's top food manufacturers are now smuli in smuggling vegetables into kids' favorite foods. chef-boy-ardee claims its beef ravioli has half a cup of vegetable servings. ragu says a half a cup of vegetable saus contains veggies. >> kraft, which makes one of america's top selling comfort foods, macaroni and cheese, now offers a version that slips freeze dried cauliflower into the pasta itself. >> now mom has a way to give her kids half a serving of vegetables in a cup of mac and cheese. they can more iron, more fooip fiber, and then they get a little less sodium, calories and fat. >> reporter: jack and leslie wineberg like the new version. >> do you know what's in this? >> what? >> some cauliflower. >> reporter: even though mom says they can usually sniff out vegetables. >> it can't hurt. i will still keep trying to give them fresh vegetables, but if they're going to eat it, it's worth it. >> reporter: northwestern university's linda van horn says processed fruits and vegetables aren't as healthy as fresh ones. still, she commenced the effort. >> the food industry is aware and attempting approaches to improve the overall dietary quality is a step in the right direction. >> experts say it could take months to see if american kids go along with it. but it's a safe bet that if they like it, moms will buy it. cynthia bowers, cbs news, chicago. >> a little extra added. as we said in the break, you have to wonder how much of the good stuff in the vegetable is left by the time it gets into the pasta. >> i know. calling mac and cheese healthy choice now? i don't know. >> you could add your own. >> butter nut squash. mix it in. >> not in the mac and cheese, but on the side, i would eat it. just ahead, hollywood had a great summer with harry the labor day weekend kicks off tomorrow and it officially wraps up the movie season. we hear now how hollywood is on track to set some important box office records, even though fewer people, it turns out, are going to the movies. >> confront your tate. >> it was a summer of sequels and prequels. despite a few blockbusters, attendance dropped for the fourth straight year. >> it's in the best of times and the worst of times at the summer box office. revenues at an all-time summer high. attendance, one of the lowest attended summers in a decade. >> aided by a rise in ticket prices, it's estimated hollywood will boast a record $4.38 billion haul at the box office this summer. >> are you in there? >> reporter: due in part to surprise hits like "the health" and the raunchy comedy "the bridesmaids." >> will you be in there? >> of course. >> back in 2002, 653 million tickets were sold. while this summer has seen only 543 million. in this budget conscious economy, it's taking more to get movie goers to plunk down the price of admission. >> we always try to find discount prices at the movies. >> it just depends where you're going, how much you get charged. sometimes it's pretty steep, you know? >> it is absolutely essential that the studios deliver the goods, put the great movies in the theaters so that people go out and tell their friends, you have to go and see that movie. >> some theater owners are trying to woo movie goers with perks like reserved seatings, bars. groupon and movie pass offers discounts. >> it makes people think they're waiting too much for movies so people will wait for the discounts. that is a concern for theater owners. >> but big box office is often tied to the quality of the film. hollywood may need more than super heroes to stop the slide of ticket sales. >> it's mostly product driven. if you have harry potter, there are lines around the block. audiences are fickle, they have lots of options for their entertainment. so you have to make going to the movie theater an absolute must for people. >> cbs news. it's clearly made it work. if the they're multiple goers, they've made it an essential for some folks. have a great day, everyone. stay tuned. have a great day, everyone. stay tuned. your local news is next. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com