oil spill. thick gobs of oil are now washing up in mississippi. crews were along the beaches yesterday collecting tar balls. the local mayor says, it s hit us now. the white house says vice president joe biden will be in the gulf tomorrow after four visits by president obama. this will be the vp s first since the spill began. also we re watching alex, a tropical storm again moving back into the gulf and right now it is not on track to hit the oil leak area directly. but any last-minute shift in its track can potentially shut down the containment effort for as much as two weeks. of course, regardless of where it is, it is certainly going to churn up the waters in the gulf there with some waves. renlts wolf in our hurricane headquarters this morning with alex s potential impact on the spill recovery efforts. morning, reynolds. morning, guys. it is hard to believe wrap your mind around this this system started off as a cluster of thunderstorms that swept right off the africa
hospital on friday for fluid retention related to his heart disease. cheney has a long history of heart problems and suffered his fifth heart attack in february. some major developments to tell you about in the gulf oil spill. a milestone of sorts today. it is now day 70 of this disaster. we re watching another potential problem going on. alex, the storm moving back into the gulf, it is a tropical storm again. right now not on track to hit the oil leak area directly but the last-minute shift of course could potentially shut down the containment effort for up to two weeks. right now without the storm getting in the way, bp says it is on target to finish the relief well by mid-august. the company says it is now spending $100 million a day on the response to the spill. the obama administration now appealing a judge s ruling that overturned a six-month ban on deepwater drilling. while the tug-of-war plays out, people s livelihoods are on the way far away from the gulf. turns out bp i
with the storm. we ll have both eyes on it very carefully. also, coming up next hour, we ll take a look at the travel weather and show you what to expect. you mentioned storms in dallas. we could see those in new york, philadelphia and the nation s capital before the day is out. we ll send it back to you in new york. thank you so much. this morning s top stories just minutes away, including a developing story. senator robert byrd, the longest serving member in history, has died at the age of 92. we ll take a look back at one of the most interesting people ever to serve our country. ments. also, elena kagan s big moment, a lifetime on the supreme court on the line. we ll take you inside the hearing room where her confirmation begins in a few hours. also, to catch a predator. scientists tracking sharks k. they sense where the oil in the gulf is going? those stories and more coming your way at the beginning of the top of the hour. that s why we g one million dollars every hour. to i
caribbean. now it made its way across the yucatan, got kind of weak yesterday but now that it is moving out over the open water it is building up strength, moving to an area of very warm water which will help fuel this thing but more importantly, it is moving to an area with minimal shear. winds are forecast to be 100 miles per hour as you get into wednesday. thursday, winds at 110. possibly making landfall i would think by midday on friday. perhaps even i m sorry, thursday, midday on thursday. possibly making landfall south of brownsville, texas, north of tam pea ka, mexico. that s just the forecast for the national hurricane center. they ll tell you these storms can be very tricky. rotating storm on a spinning planet, can go farther to the south, perhaps farther to the south. the shaded area in white is called your cone of uncertainty. many changes will take place over the next couple hours and next couple of days. good chance the storm could go toward texas and new mexico. it all
forecasting that it will likely make landfall in mexico s eastern coast but the storm could head up north potentially churning up waves that could affect clean-up efforts off of louisiana for two weeks. up to 2.5 million gallons of crude oil are spilling into the gulf every day. in a few hours, confirmation hearings begin for president obama s choice to replace justice john paul stevens on the high court. republicans are questioning elena kagan s thin jew diudicia record and her politics. cnn will have live coverage of the confirmation hearings at noon eastern today. it will be interesting to see just how much information the senators can get out of elena kagan today. her career path to solicitor general don t offer a lot of insight into her political leanings. this morning we re digging deeper. jason carroll joins us now. you talk to some of her close friends. last friday up in washington, d.c. they tell us everyone tells