from the treasury department as to all this and what it means for you and the future of this, the debate on capitol hill and ultimately for the u.s. economy. stay tuned for more on that. at 18 minutes before the hour there s a developing story in the america west that s critical, rescuers are closer to reaching a miner dropped 6000 feet underground, larry merrick is 53 years old, working at the lucky friday silver mine in idaho, on friday night when it collapsed on him and a coworker. that coworker turned out to be his brother. and that coworker escaped. neighbors are hoping for the best for larry. we pray constantly, and we pray today, and we re constantly with hope that he s going to come out of this. this is what s on in the valley right now, really, the valley won t be at peace until he comes out of the mine. bill: it s a heavenly part of the world and rescuers have yet to have contact with merrick and do not know his condition.
housing. the reactor exploded back in 1986. the government says 2 million people got sick from radiation exposure. and in idaho, rescue crews are hoping a remote controlled digging machine will help find a missing miner trapped more than 6,000 feet underground. the miner was last heard from on monday when the tunnel collapsed. the digging machine has to be taken apart before lowered more than a mile underground where it will then be reassembled to start to looking for the missing man. president obama hits the road this week. to sell his ideas on slashing federal red ink through tax hikes as well as spending cuts. on the sunday talk shows treasury secretary tim geithner and republicans have agreed behind closed doors to raise the debt ceiling to prevent a default but leading republicans says there is no gop guarantee. i want to make it perfectly clear that congress will raise the debt ceiling. are you sure about that? absolutely and they recognize
here s a look at the radar from 10:00 a.m. yesterday to 10:00 p.m. the height of the storms came through between 3:00 and 6:00 and there you can see as they push on in. the good news is the severe weather threat for today is over and done with. our storm in the northeast but not xpgt tornadoes, it s going to be a raw, wet and windy day. what we ve seen the last three days, we ll take it. crews are working around the clock trying to reach a minor trapped underground in idaho. part of the silver mine collapsed on friday. the miner has not been heard from since then, about 6,100 feet underground. a second miner was able to get out okay, it is actually the other miner s brother. extra equipment being flown in from the east coast to help with the search. another air traffic controller has been suspended
2,300 feet underground, a shaft collapses in the san jose copper and gold mine. 33 miners are somewhere behind the rubble. their condition, unknown. the chilean president promises every effort to rescue them, but new collapses complicate the formidable task. august 12th, the miners families have set up camp on the surface to keep watch on the drilling. a week has passed and an official says there is little chance the men survived. relatives later say they argued with that assessment from the start. translator: i always told the media, every time i was asked, i know my husband is fine. i know he s alive. and i know he s keeping up all the others in the mine, because that s the kind of person my husband is. reporter: franklin lobos sister magdalena never loses hope for a minute. translator: i had a call at home and i was told frankie was gone. i said no, no. frankie s alive.
such a dramatic moment. rescuer manuel gonzalez going into the rescue shaft. he was the first of six rescuers to descend into that darkness. remember, until that moment the escape capsule had been tested unmanned and never all the way down. the tests had gone well but never any guarantees in any rescue operation, especially ones on this scale. as gonzalez anz the can suls vanish from sight the world waited and what we saw minutes later was truly extraordinary. here s gary tuchman. reporter: 68 days after the collapse of the san jose mine, the beginning of the end of the saga is now clearly in sight. the world gasps in disbelief that the images from more than 2,000 feet underground. it s the first time anyone outside the immediate rescue team has seen live video of the miners. there are cheers and hugs for the first rescuers, manuel