jason williams on his rise, his fall, and why he says prison saved his life. good evening, everyone. i'm don lemon. thanks for joining us. i'm going to get you up to speed now. hundreds of thousands of people are in darkness because of oppressive heat and widespread blackouts. more on the record-breaking heat in a moment on cnn. in colorado, families are getting their first look at what remains of their home, after a deadly wildfire tore through the neighborhoods of colorado springs. on cnn state of the union, the colorado governor described what he saw as he flew over the pike national forest. take a listen. >> it was like the apocalypse or what armageddon would look like. we flew a helicopter over top. and this is when the fire was going on. i thought it was trees burning. it was home. a mississippi federal court judge has issued temporary restraining order which will keep a clinic open until july 11th. the clinic was facing closure under a new state low. in a few minutes, we'll go to jackson, mississippi, for the latest. exit polls in mexico show that rico pena nieto. many cast ballots after waiting in lines. in neito wins, the revolutionary party will return to power for the first time in 12 years. until today, we did not have the kind of road map. >> hopefully diplomats plan syria won't be a road map to nowhere. secretary of state hillary clinton praised the new plan today while admitting it may fail. 69 syrians were killed today. turkish jets were scrambled three times address, when syrian helicopters approached the border. want to talk about the heat wave and the power outages. records are falling by the day. and tens of thousands of people are waiting for their power to return are going to be waiting a while. here's cnn's brian todd. >> reporter: these are the lifesavers. power company teams, scrambling to bring transformers back online. but for millions in the midwest and mid-atlantic, these crews can't work fast enough. >> i hate it. it's horrible. all our phones are there right now. in case of an emergency, we can't make a call or anything. >> reporter: in the wake of storms, temperatures are scorching much of the southeastern u.s. more than 1 million customers still have no power. that means huge numbers are at risk. >> heat stroke is when you finally have neurologic problems. people come in confused, altered mental status. >> reporter: businesses and state officials are working furiously to make sure people don't get to that point. by passing out free ice at supermarkets, to offering cooling stations. >> you're usually not open on sundays. >> the challenge for us is getting the word out. working with the counties. and then, to get staff. >> reporter: virginia's governor calls it a dangerous situation for his state. some people in the hardest-hit areas may not get power back for more than a week from when the storms hit. >> that was cnn's brian todd reporting. he says that monday commutes could be as rough in many areas, rougher than they were last week because of power outages. traffic lights are out. and traffic could be a mess. be careful. the high temps busted records all over. 2,000 record highs were broken or tied over the next week. and alexandra steele is in atlanta for us. >> hi, don. i want to give you perspective of this heat. the breadth and the depth of it, people from carolinas to kansas and colorado. 45 million people being impacted. and the degree it's being impacted. these are the hottest temperatures these places have ever seen, period. this isn't just for the day or for the month. since records have been september. 109 through the carolinas. records broken today, as well, in tennessee and georgia. still, also, 107, 106. the pinnacle of the heat was yesterday and today. it's kind of a downhill slide, albeit a few degrees. but why is it happening? this high pressure has been in control. high pressure, all you need to know, thumbs-up weather. but it's rising air. we watch air rise from the backside and compress. this sinks and warms. and position of this, with the clockwise flow, through the weekend, the axis has been in the southeast. we're going to watch in high pressure move eastward. it will still stay in the southeast and the mid-atlantic. the degree to which we will see it won't be as extreme. no 100s, per se, for tomorrow. 95 in atlanta. 97 in memphis. 97 in denver. you can see on tuesday, we're there at k.c. at 101. temperatures for the most part into tuesday, out of the 100s. still in the mid to upper 90s. and this will last through wednesday into thursday. not really out of the woods with the intense heat. but the extreme nature is gone from yesterday to today. >> all right, alexandra, thank you very much. a federal judge steps into the battle over a mississippi abortion clinic. emotions are high on both sides. we'll go to jackson, we'll go to jackson, mississippi, for latest. it's a step towards normal. mississippi, for latest. it's why allstate catastrophe teams didn't just arrive at these fires with cold water and checks to help the grown-ups start the rebuilding... they also brought thousands of these teddy bears for kids. people come first. everything else is second. [ female announcer ] allstate customers affected by the recent wildfires call 1-800-547-8676. visit a mobile claims office, your agent or allstate.com under a new law that took effect today, mississippi's only remaining abortion clinic would be forced to close. but that's not going to happen. at least not for the time being. we go to george howe. he's in jackson, mississippi, with more on these new developments. what's the latest here, george? >> reporter: don, good evening. we know this clinic got a temporary restraining order, meaning it will open tomorrow. the clinic will be open until at least july 13th when a hearing is set on this case. this temporary restraining order basically protects the clinic from this new state law here in the state of mississippi that became effective today that effectively would have shut the clinic down. it was described by the governor of this state as a first step toward ending abortion in mississippi. the sponsor of the bill that did become law describes it as a health regulation. the law basically says this. first of all, any physician here in the state who performs and abortion must be a board certified ob/gyn. that's first. secondly, any physician operating in a clinic here must have special permissions with local hospitals to admit patients if necessary. don, i have a few statements that i'd like to pass along. first of all, from the president, the owner of this clinic who says, first of all she's jub lapt. she says, quote, it means the constitutional rights for women to make their own decisions for the time being is intact. i also have a statement from the person who sponsored the bill, sam mimms. he expects the state department of health to go to the abortion clinic when they are allowed to by the federal court and also he'll be talking with his attorneys tomorrow to decide the next plan. so that's where we are now. this clinic will be open july 11th. that's the day the hearing will happen. >> george howe, thank you very much. what is it like to watch your home town burn? next, you'll see for yourself through the lens of a cnn i-reporter. meineke's personal pricing on brakes. i tell mike what i can spend. i do my best to make that work. we're driving safely. and sue saved money on brakes. now that's personal pricing. we want to take you, now, to colorado where 11 wildfires are actively burning across the state. to give you an idea of the epic scope of these fires, our i-reporter, cody, sent us this footage of a massive line of fire in colorado springs. look at that. he said he witnessed the destruction of hundreds of homes. cody joins me now. he's on the phone. cody, you grew up there. what has this been like watching all this happen here? >> you know, don, it's been -- it's been unreal. this is definitely something that, you know, colorado springs has never witnessed or expected to ever see. you know, for me it's, you know, i've never seen anything like this ever occur in my lifetime. >> so, we're looking at the pictures here. describe to us what we're looking at. this almost looks like a volcano, cody. >> it does. you know, the fire it just, you know, came down the mountain earlier in the afternoon. you know, the winds just got ahold of it and it just swept it down the mountainside. it literally just hit the city with brute force. >> yeah, like i said, it looks like lava. since you grew up there, i wonder if it's any different for you, if it helps to strew through a lens. maybe it feels like you're providing something. >> everybody's trying to do their part with, you know, this whole situation. you know, we've really seen the city come together in all this. you know, was just hoping that through these pictures i could get word out with what was going on and what our situation was here and how this fire was impacting colorado springs. >> how's everybody dealing with it there? >> much better. definitely much better. you know, it was definitely a very trying time for a lot of people. a lot of people didn't know if they'd lost their homes or there was not a lot of information going around on, you know, not necessarily what had been destroyed and how far and how extensive the damage was. that was definitely something a lot of people were affected by, just not knowing. there was a lot of uncertainty there. >> cnn i-reporter cody muth. we thank you. we really appreciate our i-reporters here on cnn. they provide us, as you can see, with some just unbelievable work and video sometimes. again, our thanks to cody muth, a cnn i-reporter. it could be weeks before some of the fires are fully under control. they're scorching western states such as colorado, wyoming, and utah. they're straining resource and firefighters themselves. many of those battling the fires know they're appreciated just by looking out of the windows of their vehicles. [ cheers and applause ] >> yells and screams. >> woo! >> grateful, so grateful. can't even imagine how hard they're working and how tired they must be. >> sure, they've been waving to us. it's been great to see them. great to help them start their days. >> they deserve every woo, applause, and everything. they deserved it all. so, congratulations to the folks for doing that and thank you, firefighters, for helping out. you know, from health care to fast and furious, it was a big week for both lawmakers and for the media. and some say both got wrapped up in the art of the spin. plus, this -- >> the winds, with the dryness, you don't want this to get out of control. that's why he's doing what he's doing. >> trying to gain ground on a fast moving fire. we'll take you to the front lines. thanks to the supreme court's decision on health care reform, the last few days have been an education on both the constitution and beltway politics. earlier i spoke with noel shepard from newsbusters.org. they describe their mission as exposing and combatting liberal media bias. before this thing passed, it was all about the individual mandate. then after, it was about the tax angle. i asked noel, who missed the boat? >> it's been really enjoyable the past three months watching all of you folks on this incredible roller coaster. you know, three months ago before the oral arguments, you had people in the media saying that this was clearly going to be upheld. anthony kennedy was going to be the swing vote. you even had your own cnn legal analyst about two or three days before oral arguments saying that this was going to be an 8-1 vote, with even alito and roberts and scalia voting in favor of upholding the mandate. kind of strange because three days later, four days later after the oral arguments, he was back on saying health care is dead. obamacare is dead. kennedy is going to go -- go ahead. >> listen. we have two different memories of what happened. every single network, just about everyone except for one person who's not on this network who i saw, said that the individual mandate would be struck down, noel. i don't remember jeffrey toobin coming on cnn. maybe i'm wrong. i didn't see all of it. i do not remember anyone coming on cnn saying that the individual mandate would be upheld. most people were startled and surprised that it actually was. >> no, don, actually you're confusing the pre-oral arguments phase with the post-oral arguments. prior to the oral arguments in march, the media were pretty much unanimous that this was likely going to be upheld and anthony kennedy was going to be the swing vote. >> okay. i get you. i understand that. that's ancient history now after that. >> well, but it's been fun to watch. >> can we keep it to this past week? i understand what you're saying. you know, as time moves on and people learn things, they change what they think about things. had it not been for the way the oral arguments went, people would think different. but the organize arguments did happen. once they happened, most people said it was going to be struck down. so, i don't understand your point here. >> the importance of that is how the media responded on thursday. if this had occurred three months ago, the media response on thursday would have been much more of a disappointment because the expectation prior to march was that it wasn't going to be struck down. so, after march, when we all got this vision that it was going to be struck down, at that point in time, thursday ended up being, you know, a jubilation. the media were enthralled, almost orgasmic -- >> oh, no, no, no, no. it was not a jubilation. i watched it. and i saw some anchors on conservative networks and i thought they were going to cry. i watched cnn. cnn, there were no happy people on cnn. so, don't say that. no, there was no jubilation. come on. you're looking for things. >> there was no jubilation? >> not on this network. i don't know. maybe on other liberal networks, yes. maybe you are correct. not on this network. certainly not on more conservative networks. >> don, obviously i don't just analyze cnn. i love you and i love cnn. but there are a lot of other networks i have to watch. the evening news broadcasts on thursday -- you know, abc, cbs, nbc evening broadcasts -- they were all jubilant. talking about almost making roberts a hero. >> no, okay, so listen. here's the thing, noel. i heard some of that analysis. when someone on an evening newscast leads into a story saying that justice roberts is the man of the hour, it doesn't mean they agree with what justice roberts did. it means that's all people are talking about on the left and on the right, is justice roberts. if you were talking about him, whether it's in a good way or bad way, it means he's the man of the hour. that's not jubilation. that's fact. >> no, because the previous day and for the previous three months, they were talking about how he was a conservative shil. so all of the sudden because he came out with the ruling which the liberal media likes, he's suddenly a hero. but he was a goat for the previous three months. so obviously what it means is for a supreme court justice or really anybody in america today, you're going to be a hero if to you something that the liberal media likes, but you're a goat if they don't. it can flip-flop in 24 hours. >> all right. thank you very much, noel, for that. let's take that conversation a little bit deeper. is it a tax? is it a penalty? is it? i don't know. is it splitting hairs? we're going get into it. no talking points is next. you don't want to miss it. don't forget to take us with you wherever you go. you can stay connected and watch cnn live from your phone, from your cell phone, or from your desk top. just go to cnn.com/tv. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. it is time now for no talking points. okay. from penalty to tax. from mandate to moonwalk. boy, did president obama have a reason to celebrate. >> well, do to you see president obama's reaction to the supreme court ruling? you know, it's interesting. he didn't want to gloat. but if you watch his body language closely, you could see he was feeling pretty good. here he is today. >> this is an nbc news special report. ♪ >> funny. but in his real speech, the president called it a, quote, victory for the american people. not once did he mention the word that made his sweeping health care reform bill constitutional. the word tax. not to worry, though. the republicans did it for him. >> the president said he would never raise taxes on the middle class. this is a middle class tax increase. >> we now know that that piece of legislation created the largest tax increase in the history of the united states. >> obamacare raises taxes on the american people by approximately $500 billion. >> the court ruled today that, in fact, the affordable care act is a tax. it is the largest tax in america's history. >> all right. but democrats, like the former speaker of the house nancy pelosi, say, uh-uh. it's not a tax. it's a -- >> it's a penalty. it's a penalty that comes under the tax code. >> all right. so let's see if we can get someone to pin it down. with the white house chief of staff jacob liu. >> you do concede. he wanted to use the word penalty. you concede the law survived only because justice roberts found this to be a tax. >> you know, i think if you look at the decision, which is a very complicated one, you know, there are arguments that support different theories. >> that was george stephanopoulos on abc. a little more prodding now on fox news. >> this is going to raise taxes for those families. >> that's not what the supreme court said. they said this is constitutional. it didn't matter what congress called it. it is a penalty. >> wait a minute, sir. >> it's a penalty for people who choose not to buy insurance. >> they called it a tax. >> so, it's only fair. democrats are just following the president's lead from all the way back in 2009. >> for us to say that you've got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase. what it's saying is we're not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you. >> so, what is it? is it a tax, or is it a penalty? here's the chief justice's opinion. he says a financial penalty for not obtaining health insurance may reasonably be characterized as a tax. reasonably characterized as a tax. does that mean the bill is a tax? no. he's not explicit. and therein lies the problem. he's made room for both sides to spin their political webs. mitt romney was for the plan when he created it in massachusetts. before he was against it when the president implemented it. he's even admitted it was a tax on the people of massachusetts. >> -- was able to put in place a plan that helped get health insurance premiums down and gets all of our citizens insured. in. we do that nationally, we help the entire nation. >> one thing i'd never do would be impose a tax on the entire nation. i'll repeal obamacare. >> here's tonight's no talking points point. it's all a play on words, folks. let's just be honest with each other. let's just be honest. whether you are for it or against it or whether it's a tax or a penalty, it depends on whether you're a democrat or a republican. if you're a dem, of course, it's a penalty. if you're a republican, it is a tax. the largest one in history. who cares? who cares? who cares? the constitution gives us the right to penalize and to tax. so instead of shouting over each other with accusati