it is september 14th. this is your a.m. wake-up call. i m carol costello joining you live this morning from new york. thanks for waking up with us. nearly one in six americans are now living in poverty. that s according to a new report from the census bureau. it s a gut check on where we stand in the wake of the recession. here are the raw numbers from the government. 46.2 million lived in poverty in 2010. that s over 15% of the population, the highest level since 1993. for a family of four, the poverty line is just over $22,000 a year. some advocates for the poor say that bar is way too low, but the conservative heritage foundation is pushing back again. if you qualify as being in poverty today, then you re really in deep poverty because that number is so low. that s based on an outdated formula from the 60s. i think that these numbers are designed to exaggerate the extent of poverty in the united states in order to build a larger welfare state, and it does make it mo
thing. cnn newsroom continues right now with randi kaye. hi there, suzanne. thank you. well, three major stories on the radar this hour. starting with a major hurricane. category 3 irene batters the bahamas and eyes the carolinas. chad myers is watching that. a hostage ordeal is over in tripoli, but the fighting goes on, and moammar gadhafi still out of sight. and washington surveys the damage from the earthquake that shook the east coast almost 24 hours ago. i want to start with a huge and still growing hurricane irene. chad myers is watching it all for us. what s it doing now, chad? and exactly where might it be headed? well, it s headed to the bahamas. and right now, if you want to get a map, it s right over crooked island in the bahamas. and later on it ll be going over long island at the bahamas. the irony is that there s the potential, at least in the cone that in four days it could go over long island, new york. right now at 115 miles per hour forecast to get