serena williams wins her fourth u.s. open title beating the number one ranked player. today it is the men's turn. >> wow. look at her. >> so happy. good morning, welcome to "early start." i'm kristen romans in for zoraida. >> and i'm john berman. it's 5:00 a.m. in the east. >> this is cnn breaking news. and we do begin with breaking news this morning. the nation's third largest public school system about to be shut down by a teacher strike. late last night labor talks between the chicago teachers union and school officials broke off. the walkout hits 400,000 students in nearly 700 schools. >> we have failed to reach an agreement that will prevent a labor strike. >> you know, this is not a small commitment we're making at a time when our fiscal responsibility, our fiscal situation is really challenged. >> caisson whiens live from outside the chicago school altgelt. they haven't been hit in 25 years so what can we expect? >> i think initially what we can expect is confusion and parents scrambling to try to figure out what to do with their children, especially working parents. the school behind me is 1 of 144 where parents can drop off children if they don't have alternative child care arrangements but there will be no teaching going on here. also, it will only be open for four hours, 12:30 they'll have to make alternative arrangements for their kids. also teachers are going to be out on the picket line. that's what they're promising at all their schools so we'll have to see whether parents are willing to allow their kids to cross those picket lines that are being set up. we can also i think expect today a fair amount of anger and frustration and some of that was expressed by chicago mayor rahm emanuel yesterday. >> i am disappointed that we have come to this point given that even all the other parties acknowledged how close we are, because this is a strike of choice. and because of how close we are it is a strike that is unnecessary and i believe that the parties at hand should do what they need to do to do right by our children. >> reporter: as for what else we can expect, we don't know if any new negotiations are actually scheduled. they talked about it last night at a news conference announcing the strike that the teachers union did. they said they expected negotiations but nothing is firm. clearly, though, the school district saying that they've moved about as far as they can move on salary offering a raise somewhere in the neighborhood of 16% over four years for the average teacher, john. >> this is going to be so tough on parents. what's the holdup? just about the salary? >> the teachers' union says it's not about the salary. the main issues how these schools are run and concerned about that and mayor emanuel made changes to that extending the school day. teachers want more say in that. they also are concerned about how teachers are being evaluated clearly a job security issue for them. so those are the main issues. the district is saying we've got to save money during these tough budget times and they've offered about as much as they can offer. >> quickly, casey, how much does a teacher make in chicago about? >> reporter: about $76,000 a year, the average teacher. what angers them so much, though, is that last year, they were supposed to receive a 4% raise and that was cancelled. >> all right, casey whiens following this breaking news. a teacher strike in chicago. after a five-week break congress returns to work for an abbreviated pre-election session and lawmakers are expected to take a pass on the big issue, though, tax cut, defense hikes and probably focus on the bare minimum preventing a full-on government shutdown. a live report from washington in about five minutes. >> the white house says president obama's thoughts and prayers are with the family of a florida police officer who died in a crash during i presidential motorcade. upter police officer bruce saint laurent was killed when a pickup truck hit his motorcycle. it is being investigated as vehicular homicide. new campaign fund-raising numbers out for the president. his campaign says it raised more than mitt romney in the month of august with a total of $114 million to romney's 111 million. on the campaign trail in florida sunday president obama told supporters his opponents are not very good when it comes to crunching numbers. >> they couldn't answer questions about how they pay for $5 trillion in new tax cuts and $2 trillion in new defense spending without raising taxes on the middle class. that's not bold leadership. >> the latest tracking poll shows a post-convention bounce. the president leading mitt romney 49% to 44%. that's up from just 1 percentage point before democratic national convention. republican presidential nominee mitt romney campaigns in ohio today in an interview on nbc's "meet the press" he said he's not getting rid of all of health care reform. he added there's many things he likes about it. later his spokesman did clarify saying romney intends to repeal so-called obama care and do his own version. romney also talked about defense cuts telling nbc it was a mistake for leaders in his own party to follow the president's lead. >> i thought it was a mistake on the part of the white house to propose it. i think it was a mistake for republicans to go along with it. >> paul ryan, by the way, mitt romney's running mate was one of the republican congressmen that voted for it and maintains defense spending level at the current level of gdp. >> storms blew through over the weekend and tropical storm leslie is still on the move after brushing past bermuda. let's get straight to rob marciano to start the week. good morning. >> yeah, the waves are pounding the east coast and will be for the next couple of days. not only leslie but hurricane michael. michael has been the stronger storm all along but much smaller in the middle of the atlantic. winds of 80 miles an hour but leslie now a tropical storm and just kind of hit bermuda with tropical storm-force winds and rainfall about 4 to 5 inches so not a direct hit there. that's the good news but still a large storm, the swells will continue to roll on the eastern seaboard so be careful out there if you have -- lucky enough to have a long weekend this. is where it's going, that includes the marry types of canada, newfoundland 700 miles away from newfoundland, canada, heading that direction. tuesday in the afternoon looks like it will be there with at least tropical storm-force winds, potentially hurricane-force winds because it is really picking up steam. speaking of jet stream we're pouring in -- not cooler but certainly drier air. you mentioned the tornadoes and severe weather across the northeast on saturday. all that tropical air that was stuck in place from isaac has been moved offshore and where the eastern two-thirds gorgeous stuff, lows across florida and moisture across the desert and southern california. temperatures will be a little above average in minneapolis, 84, not exactly football weather but 78 in chicago and 73 degrees in new york city. paid the price a little bit on saturday, guy, but beautiful stuff the last couple of days in the big apple. enjai. >> really was nice, thanks, rob. >> it was gorgeous and it was football weather here. >> it was awesome. >> more news now. the retired navy s.e.a.l. who wrote the best-selling book about the role he played in killing osama bin laden is speaking out to set the record straight. he wrote by the name of mark owen and tells "60 minutes" there was nothing political about the book and insists the pentagon is off base about accusations he compromised national security by writing it. >> i've had nothing but an outpouring of guys that support me. one quoted it saying if anybody can take the story, they know you can. i'm not talking secrets. i'm not talking tactics. i don't even get into any of that stuff but i really try to give the reader a sense of what it's like to be there. >> bissonette also discussed the moment he pulled the trigger and repeatedly shot osama bin laden. that part of the interview in the next hour of "early start." serena williams pushed to the limit on her way to a fourth u.s. open title. serena rallied to force a third set tie breaker and beat top ranked victoria azarenka. that was last night in new york. she became the first 30 something woman to win a grand slam since 1987 and it's her 15th grand slam title overall. novak djokovic versus andy murray in their final. >> serena so good. great end of the summer, wins the olympic gold medal and loves every minute of it. i love watching her play. nine minutes past the hour and he is a pipes-sized hero. a 12-year-old boy drives his family's car to safety after his father has a seizure. this is an incredible story. we'll have it for you coming up next. my name is adam frucci and i'm the editor of splitsider.com. i love new technology, so when i heard that american express 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[ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. welcome back to "early start" this morning. it's about 13 minutes after the hour. i'm christine romans in for zoraida today. >> i'm john berman. so nice to see you. congress is going back to work for an abbreviated pre-election session. lawmakers expected to take a pass on the big issues, though, those include taxes and spending cuts. their main focus probably on the bare minimum preventing a full-on government shutdown late they are month. also we're expecting illinois congressman jesse jackson jr. to return to the hill for the first time since may after he checked out of the mayo clinic where he was treated for depression. athena jones is following it. >> reporter: good morning, john. as you mentioned, it's not that surprising to hear that the members of congress might end up taking a pass on some of the big issues. that's what's been going on for the past several months. as you mentioned they're likely to -- we're all expecting them to pass a continuing resolution. a short-term measure to fund the government. they've got to do that by the end of this month. it's got to get to the president's desk in order to keep everything running and avoid a shutdown. the house is expected to vote on that bill on thursday and we're told the senate should get to it next week. and really that's about the only must pass bit of legislation. everything else is things they may do or could do. things like reconcile the two bills in the house and senate to pass a farm bill, reach a deal on that. maybe some assistance for people affected by the drought or by hurricane isaac. but really it's hard to know what's really going to happen and that may be why we've seen the low approval numbers for congress. let's put up those numbers. the latest nbc news "wall street kwurnl" poll puts approve, 12%, disapproval, 82% and there's been so much haggling and division and not a lot of getting things done. >> i don't know how you call it an approval rating at 12%. what are the chances they will reach a deal on some of these big issues like the debt deal before the end of this year? is there any chance? >> reporter: well, that's really the big question. i mean this whole idea of this fiscal cliff, this combination of tax increases or really the end of certain tax cuts and also spending cuts, talking about $55 billion in cuts to defense, just next year alone. defense programs and $55 billion in cuts to nondefense programs, everything from education to food inspections, our own cnn money's jean summed up how businesses are looking at this as they go forward. let's listen. >> businesses are slow to hire. government agencies are slower to give out contracts so it is creeping into the economy and will get worst longer congress waits to deal with it. >> and talking about the uncertainty surrounding the fiscal cliff issue is anybody's guess what's going to happen. not a lot of people are willing to go out on a limb to say it's going to be figured out because the divisions are still strong and still remain. >> athena working harder than congress why your approval ratings are up and i'm getting higher. thanks so much. >> thanks. for the first time in 25 years chicago teach remembers on strike, contract talks broke down, broke down late last night, no deal. 30,000 teachers and aides in the nation's third largest public school system are set to walk picket lines this morning. this strike will affect 400,000 students in nearly 700 schools and parents have a lot of figuring out to do this morning in chicago. doubly lucky two survive a small plane crash and get plucked to safety by a coast guard safety a mile off the central california coast. the coast guard says the plane's gps was key to getting rescuers to the scene very quickly yesterday. millions lose power in cuba including all of havana affecting more than 2 million in the capital city alone. cuba has an aging power grid so outages are not that unprecedented. a massive outage on this scale is very rare. so far no official explanation for this outage. >> defense secretary leon panetta visits flight 93 memorial in southwestern pennsylvania today. the nation marks 11 years since the attacks of 9/11 tomorrow. so far there's only memorial plaza and wall of names. work on the next two phases begins next years including a walkway and a 93-foot tower at the entrance with 40 wind chimes. we are all now feeling the effects of hurricane isaac and feeling it at the pump. right now aaa says the national price for a gallon of unleaded is $3.82. gas prices have risen close to 8 cents per gallon in the last two weeks since isaac shut down refineries along the gulf coast. okay, file this under what was he thinking. police in new york city removing a menagerie of exotic pets from a public housing project in brooklyn. he had been keeping 13 dangerous pets including two bearded dragon reptile, a tarantula, two alligators, a bow ya constrictor and five pythons. his neighbors are very, very pleased. it is 18 minutes after the hour and we are getting an early read on your local news making national headlines and we begin with an article in "the anchorage daily news." >> school officials are threating to parents of opportunity students face criminal charges. first and second graders are being targeted because administers find most high school dropouts start habits early on. parents who missed more than 40 days without legitimate reasons such as an illness could face up to a year in prison and a $10,000 fine. >> 40 days seems like an awful lot. >> first and second graders. yeah, 40 days is a lot but i mean there's something else going on there if you're missing that much school. >> we get news in "the boston herald" a 12-year-old being called a hero. he took the wheel after his father apparently had a she eiz on i-95 in peabody. >> i turned the key off and i tried to put it into park. i took his phone out of his pocket and called 911. >> patrick also got his 9-year-old special needs sister out of the car and behind a guardrail for safety. patrick's mother said he previously seen his father have similar medical issues and talked about what to do if something like this happened on the road. >> i think it's cool the mother already talked to him about what to do. >> smart parenting. >> an expanded look, head to our blog, cnn.com/earlystart. jobs report dismal. what are the candidates going to do to get people back to work? 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[ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here. hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners. i just finished a bowl of your new light chicken pot pie soup and it's so rich and creamy... is it really 100 calories? let me put you on webcan... ...lean roasted chicken... and a creamy broth mmm i can still see you. 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