fireworks to start you off on wednesday morning, it s lee greenwood, god bless the usa, happy fourth of july to all of you. traditionally today i know and hopefully for many of you, will be filled with barbecues and fireworks. but unfortunately for a lot of people, that is not going to be the case. our starting point here this independence day, less about celebration and a lot more about patience, about 1.1 million people all across the country, they are waiting, waiting for the electricity to come back on and facing another day of intense heat. 20 people now have died since last thursday when fierce storms ripped the east in the midwest. and take a look. these are the states that are still waiting for power to return, you have west virginia, still more than 300,000 customers in the dark. ohio, virginia, similar shape. and power companies, they say they are out there, they say they are repairing the transmitters and lines faster than expected, but their estimates show custo
efforts to save children. i m really looking forward to this piece tonight. thanks so much. a reminder to our viewers that your special runs tonight. it s cnn presents cruise to disaster. 8:00 eastern time. some exclusive new images and details. make sure you tune in. top of the hour now. i m ashleigh banfield. i m standing in for brooke baldwin. this is one of the hottest 4th of julys on record. it is steaming out there. extreme heat paralyzing much of the midwest and all the way up to the dakotas too. the heat index racing up into the 115s. the death toll from the heat and related storms now reaching 20. the virginias, in particular, having a terrible time. in some cases police are having to hand out ice. hundreds of thousands of people who have not had power since friday since a wave of violent storms hit pretty much at their wits end. lizzie has been following this story. there s a critical problem. west virginia hit the worst and they are talking about water now. wat
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boot camp for suri? overnight reports that katie holmes didn t want her 6-year-old daughter in an intense religious training program. so was scientology to blame for her split with tom cruise? newsroom begins right now. and good morning to you. i m carol costello. thank you so much for being with us today. we begin this hour with the western wildfires, growing in size and claiming more lives. so far, 1.9 million acres have burned. that s equivalent to an incredible 3,000 square miles. to give you an idea of just how huge that is, it s roughly the size of delaware and rhode island combined. and then there s the human toll. two crew members are confirmed dead in the weekend crash of an air tanker in south dakota. cnn affiliates say two other firefighters aboard that c-130 were also killed. one family member spoke to wbtv just before the doomed flight. it s very exciting. i mean, you know, adrenalin is flowing. we re ready to go. hopefully when we get there, we ll be ready
just straying from talking points that the mandate imposes a penalty, not a tax. the law is clear. it s called a penalty. the massive so-called tax increase is the freeloader penalty. people who can buy health insurance should take responsibility to do so. it s set up as a penalty for people who decide not to have insurance. it s a penalty. in case you missed it, it s a penalty and not a tax. that s what s being said, right? as for the republican side, any time is tax time. it s a tax increase. it s a massive tax increase on the middle class. that s florida senator marco rubio on saturday and the beat goes on. this law is a tax. obama care is the biggest tax increase in american history. the government could decide that we re going to tax you if you don t eat broccoli on tuesday. the affordable care act is a tax. it is the largest tax in america s history. it s the largest tax increase on the middle class in history. obama care raises taxes on the