in fallujah. barbara starr is live at the pentagon. this is a very, very tragic story. what are your sources telling you about what may have happened? >> well, john and kiran, this is the most terrible news for two military families, of course. the military announcing it does have a soldier in custody regarding this case. the man in custody is identified by the military as specialist neftali platero. suspected in shooting deaths of two soldiers. the two men died in this incident -- let's identify them for everyone. that is specialist john carillo, 20 years old of stockton, california, and nunan, 26, of watertown, connecticut. now they died on friday from what the military initially announced, indeed, as a non-combat incident. both men, part of the third infantry division out of ft. stewart, georgia. but specialist carrillo's mother told a local news affiliate that when she was informed about her son's death she was not told that it was suspected that another soldier had shot him. and that she only learned that from local news media and an internet search. no word from the pentagon this hour about why the families were not told right off the top that another soldier was suspected in the death of their loved ones. >> meantime in afghanistan, our drew griffin had a piece last night about soldiers accused of killing civilians and using drugs, as well. in light of this story in iraq, can you sort of illuminate for us the stresses that soldiers are facing in the battle zones? >> you're absolutely right. that question always comes up. is it battlefield stress that contributes to this? but let's be very clear, tens of thousands of u.s. troops have served very honorably over the years in both iraq and afghanistan under terrible combat stress. many of them coming home, getting counseling, trying to piece their lives back together. but they serve very honorably. these are cases, these are allegations we are talking about of felony criminal behavior, combat stress, no excuse for any of that. these people will all be dealt with by the military justice system. they will be tried, and they are innocent until proven guilty. john, kiran. >> certainly the last thing you expect, though. you know, of course, there's dangers overseas. you don't expect it's going to be because of one of your own. barbara, thanks so much. the cia stepping up drone missile strikes in northwestern pakistan along the border with afghanistan. officials tell, cnn, it's based on precise elements of disrupting terrorist plots. the tribal region has been targeted 65 times. and there have been more attacks this month than at any other time. the cia campaign of drone strikes has angered pakistanis because of the civilian death toll associated with them. looks like he is indeed running. white house sources are telling cnn it's "all but certain" that president obama's tough-talking chief of staff rahm emanuel will announce friday he is leaving the white house. >> emanuel always wanted to run for mayor of chicago, and the job is open after several decades. the president has one request of his long-time confidant, and that is hurry and up and decide. suzanne malveaux is up bright and early where the president's going to have another backyard conversation about jobs. what are you hearing about the potential departure from the white house? >> reporter: yeah, looks like he might actually get his wish here. it looks like multiple sources telling cnn that it's very likely that he's going to go ahead and step his hat into the ring there. he's been talking, consulting with his family. he got a very public nudge from the president yesterday saying, look, you've got to decide rather quickly. and he could actually make that announcement as early as this friday. why? the timing of this very important. he's got a lot of work to do. he has over 12,000 petitions that have to be signed. these signatures before november 22nd. that before the february 22nd primary for the race. so he's going to have to get busy. he's going to have to get on this. we do expect to hear an announcement within days. very likely the possibility, the deputy chief of staff very well respected at the white house would step in as the interim chief of staff until the president decides who is actually going to fill his shoes. but john and kiran, as you know, very difficult to fill rahm emanuel's shoes and his character, as well. >> so he's certainly a colorful member of the administration, as is the vice president joe biden. he was in new hampshire yesterday and here's one of the quotes. he told democrats remind our base constituency to stop whining and get out there and look at the alternatives. is that the message the white house wants him sending right now? stop the whining? >> reporter: you know, kiran, absolutely. it might sound a little harsh to some in the base there because some people have said, look, you haven't done everything we want you to do. but the vice president, the president, as well, they've been saying, look, there are clear choices here. let's not give up. there are clear choices. vice president biden saying he doesn't believe the democrats are going to lose the house and senate, but they've got a lot of work to do. only five weeks left to go. what they're trying to do is essentially get the base out there and get those surge voters, that's about 15 million people who came out the last go round to vote for president obama back in 2008. they need those young voters, they need minority voters, they need those folks sitting on their hands right now. and that's why you're hearing some of that language, if you will, get off your duff and do something. we're going to hear some more of that language too. today president obama's going to be holding this backyard discussion here in albuquerque, new mexico. but later, we expect about 15,000 people to gather at the university of wisconsin, madison campus. that's where you're going to see that campaign rally trying to get the magic of the campaign, the energy of the campaign back so they can get some of those voters out for the midterm elections. john, kiran? >> well, nobody accused joe biden of not speaking his mind ever. >> reporter: he and rahm emanuel. >> thanks. we'll see you again soon. also new this morning, extreme weather. the water still rising in wisconsin. the government has declared a state of emergency in columbia county. the river is expected to peak again this morning. officials say at least 100 homes are in danger and they're not sure how far south the flood waters could go if a levee that has been crumbling all weekend totally fails. rob marciano is in the extreme weather center in atlanta this morning watching it all for us. and heck of a rainstorm we had up and down the east coast yesterday, rob. >> yeah, you mentioned it's expected to peak again. kind of a double crest. we were hoping it would continue to recede yesterday, but it is holding steady and expected to go below flood stage not until maybe as late as thursday afternoon. so issues for them and continued pressure on that crumbling levee as you mentioned. and the pattern is going to keep it there. wet start to your day in washington, d.c. flash flood watches out in and around the d.c. area. it's got a bit of a tropical connection, guys. so we'll discuss all those possibilities and much, much more, plus a record-breaking heat -- 113 yesterday in los angeles. all time record highs out there after a record-breaking cold summer. >> it's going to feel downright freezing today when it's 88 there. >> it's so funny when you look at fashion and see the people in l.a. wearing boots and scarves and hats. they want to dress like fall even though it's 88. >> that's the way the stars play. it's how you look, not how you feel. >> it's been a cool summer, they could use a warm day. >> exactly. well, country is coming home. for the first time since flood waters devastated nashville, the grand ole opry returns tonight. country star trace atkins showed our amber lyon around. they're here, and according to the members of the air force, they're not happy with us. a lot of jaws dropped yesterday. six former officers talking about ufo sightings through the '60s, '70s, and '80s. >> they stopped after that? >> they decided they didn't like -- after the '80s they said, wow, we're getting out of this place. they're convinced that extraterrestrials have been visiting our nuclear facilities and deactivated missiles at a base in montana in 1967. >> i believe, these gentlemen believe this planet has been visited by beings by another world who for whatever reason have taken an interest in the nuclear arms race which began at the end of world war ii. regarding the missile shutdown incidents, my opinion, their opinion is that whoever are aboard these craft are sending a signal to both washington and moscow among others that we are playing with fire. that the possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons potentially threatens the human race and the integrity of the planetary environment. >> just a note here. he only looks like howard hessman, he's not. the u.n. apparently wants to be prepared. they're said to appoint an astro physicist from malaysia to coordinate mankind's response when they arrive. >> we need to find out more about this. >> doesn't the u.n. have more important things to do? >> yeah. >> and this is not a knock on all you ufo believers out there this morning. >> when you've got six guys out there -- very, very seriously talking about this, and saying and claiming on top of it that the government sought to suppress that evidence -- >> when you consider that the closest star where there could even potentially be life and they don't think there's a possibility of it is four light years away. what are the chances that people have come to visit -- >> people? i don't know if they're people. >> or anything. >> maybe they have faster vehicles. maybe they can bend the time space continuum. >> we're getting heavy this morning. let's switch topics. >> dissertation on the theory of special relative coming up after the break. no, we're actually talking about some new questions after that unbelievable gas line explosion that took place in san bruno, california. there's a new report out that shows a dramatic increase in leaks at pipelines maintained by the company pacific gas and electric. we're digging deeper on that, as well. it's 12 minutes past the hour. in 2008 i quit venture capital to follow my passion for food. i saw a gap in the market for a fresh culinary brand and launched behindtheburner.com. we create and broadcast content and then distribute it across tv, the web, and via mobile. i even use the web to get paid. with acceptpay from american express open, we now invoice advertisers and receive payments digitally. and i get paid on average three weeks faster. booming is never looking for a check in the mail. because it's already in my email. to give our war fighters every advantage. ♪ [ man ] to deliver technologies that anticipate the future, today. ♪ and help protect america, everywhere. from the battle space to cyberspace. [ female announcer ] around the globe, the people of boeing are working together. to give our best, for america's best. that's why we're here. ♪ it's coming up now on 15 minutes after the hour. pacific gas and electric, the operator of the san bruno, california, pipeline that exploded earlier this month has reported gas leaks six times the national average. according to the "los angeles times" pg&e has reported dozens of leaks near highly populated or environmentally sensitive areas since 2004. the ntsb is investigating the san bruno blast which killed seven people. more than 100 people protesting mountain-top coal mining have been released. they were arrested yesterday outside the white house. the demonstrators are from several appalachian coal states. they say mountain-top mining destroys historic ranges, poisons water supplies, and pollutes the air. former alaskan governor sarah palin was front row at "dancing with the stars" last night to cheer on her daughter bristol. she told the show's host that she thought bristol's dancing was "amazing" and it's "great to see this courage, joy, and exuberance". >> you asked her who was your favorite dancer, and she said, you know, they're all great. and all the judges are too. >> and then she said it's like before a hockey game, you don't want to upset the referees. being very politically neutral. >> then there's a little bit of controversy was she booed? was she not booed? did the audience boo when he said her name? >> when he introduced her, i heard some people cheer. but there was booing prior to her introduction. who knows what that was for. >> there's a lot of booing on the show. when the audience doesn't get the score they want, they boo, as well. well, under the new health care law, children as we talked about can remain on their parents' insurance until their 26 years old. well, that's not the case for military families. we'll explain why and what's being done to fix it. we're minding your business coming up. it's 17 minutes past the hour. e. and like that, we had a new side to our business. 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[ male announcer ] see how the hartford helps businesses at achievewhatsahead.com. 20 minutes past the hour. christine romans is here minding your business for us this morning. she joins us with an interesting story about health care. a lot was made of the fact that children could stay on their parents' insurance until they were 26 years old, except military children. why is that? >> that's because military benefits were set aside during health care reform, the debate. and when this was all going on. they said, look, your military benefits will not be affected by health care reform. while the rest of the country, the children of people in the rest of the country up to age 26 can stay on their parents' insurance, not so for military -- the children of military veterans and for active military. they stay on until 21 or 23 if they are in college. so every single day, you guys, i get a letter from a veteran or active military saying this isn't fair. it isn't fair the rest of the country can stay on until 26 and my kid rolls off at 23. >> this was an oversight, not intentional? >> this was an oversight. this was something that did not get addressed in health care reform. and i think that the architects of health care reform didn't understand how much dust this would kick up. now you have military family advocates who are pushing very, very hard to fix it. there was a fix in the defense bill, didn't go anywhere. there's several other fixes. but congress has to fix this if they want to extend these benefits. how much would it cost? well, it would cover up to 700,000 people, cost about $170 million or $2,200 per child. this is something that, in fact, many of the military groups want done. there's bipartisan support to fix it. but there's also bipartisan concern that you're admitting you didn't do health care reform right if you start going in there and tweaking some of the things -- >> there's no possibility of fixing it before the midterms, but how long after that? >> everyone wants to fix it. there just hasn't been a vehicle yet that's gotten all the way through. we'll see. but in the meantime if this means you're 25 years old and your mom is a military veteran or active military, you cannot stay on their insurance. if you're 25 years old and your parent works for a private company, you can. >> minding your business, thanks so much. americans and religion. how much do we know about the religion that we practice? you'll be surprised to find out. it's 23 minutes after the hour. ♪ [ male announcer ] progress. progress for new york city cab drivers, like ossman ali is being able to carry people, who aren't carrying cash. meaning more convenience for passengers, and more business for cab drivers. all thanks to the ease and freedom of visa digital currency. now that's progress. visa. currency of progress. it's 25 minutes after the hour. you may consider yourself a person of faith, but do you really know god? the research center found that most americans failed a quiz asking some of the most basic questions about religion. and atheists and agnostics did better than catholics and evangelicals on that quiz. with us with washington to talk more about it, greg smith, he's a senior researcher with the forum on religion and public life. and a religion professor at boston university. thanks for coming in. >> thanks for having us. >> as we get into the discussion here, i wanted to put up some of the questions. and these are some of the more difficult ones people found to answer. first question is, what is the religion of maimonides? what religion did most people in indonesia consider themselves to be? and a third question here, according to rulings by the supreme court, are public school teachers permitted to read from the bible as literature? we'll give you the answers in a couple of minutes. but greg, start us out here. what struck you as the headline? what was the surprise? >> i think the most striking to me was the strong performance on the survey by atheists and agnostics. of all of the groups we looked at, atheists and agnostics are among the top performers. they outperformed catholics, main line protestants and other groups. >> steve, help us out here. why is that? >> well, atheists and agnostics spend a lot of time fighting with religious people about religion. and so they have a need on the basis of their argument to learn something about christianity and islam, et cetera. but i think the other side of it is really that religious people know very little about their own traditions or the religions of others. this was an argument i made in a book of mine a few years ago called religious literacy where i said americans are functional functionally illitterate. >> it is striking when you consider how religious a nation this is. we're probably the most religious nation in the industrialized world. >> that's right. but one thing we should keep in mind if we look at the population as a whole, it is true that people with the highest levels of religious commitment, those people who say they attend religious services regularly and that religion is very important in their lives, those people actually do a little bit better on the survey than people who are less religious. it's just that you have this small group, atheists and agnostics who are both quite -- quite -- they really aren't particularly religious and they do quite well on the survey. >> that said. let's go now back to our questions because people have been mulling them over for the last couple of minutes. and we'll give you the answer. the answer to the first question. what is the religion of maimonides? she was a jewish philosopher and rabbi in medieval time. he was jewish. what religion do most people in indonesia consider themselves to be? the answer to that question, muslim because indonesia is the most populous muslim nation in the world. and the third question, according to rulings by the supreme court, are public school teachers permitted to read from the bible as literature? the answer to that question is yes. steven, are most people because they didn't do well on this quiz, is that a suggestion that most people are taking faith on faith? >> yeah. i think i want to add quickly that those are relatively difficult questions, but there's a lot of really easy questions on this quiz. for example, we didn't ask, is the pope catholic? but we came pretty close when we asked is the daili lama buddhist? it's really all about feeling and loving jesus and having a