>> and i'm john berman. huge crowds at chick fill a's all across the country. they weigh in about the national debate about gay marriage and free speech. >> some people wanted a sandwich. another thrilling finish leads to gold for team u.s.a. this is cnn breaking news. breaking overnight a frighteningly close call in the skies. three commuter jets came within seconds of a mid-air collision. we're talk 12g seconds after confused air traffic controllers dealing with bad weather launched two flights at another plane that was coming in for another landing. the two closest plains were less than 1.5 miles apart and they were closing in at 400 miles an hour. they were operated by u.s. airways. they had a combined 192 people on board. listen to how it unfolded on the radio. >> 3329 stand by. hold on. we're trying to get a copy. stand by. >> okay, we really -- >> we'll get back to you as soon as i can. >> we've got to get off the ground here pretty quick. >> everybody stand by, we've got a couple of opposite direction arrive alzheimer's. >> one of the pilots saying they didn't have enough fuel to circle. disaster was avoided. all the flights did make it safely in the end to their destinations. >> wow. red flags might have been missed in the aurora movie theater massacre. unanswered questions about communication between dr. lynn fenton, the psychiatrist who was seeing shooter james holmes as a patient and the school itself. according to cnn affiliate kmgh holmes failed an oral exam at the school on june 7th, then went out and bought an ar-15 assault rifle. it was about this time that dr. fenton made an urgent call to the university and it appears there was no further action. kngh reporter john feruja picks up the time line. >> something that he said to his psychiatrist caused her to contact the university of colorado threat assessment team. now that threat assessment team was formed in part with her help and she's on that team so she's a member, she helped form the team, she contacted several of her colleagues on that team. we don't know what she told them. we don't know what triggered her to call them. on the 10th of june he dropped out of school. they then thought, the team thought, we're told by our sources, the team thought they had no jurisdiction, they had no contl over them so there was nothing they could do. we have been told no one contacted the aurora police department with any of these concerns. >> so moving forward from that time line. about six weeks later 12 people were gunned down at the aurora cineplex. a lot of people asking what they knew and whether they were legally obligated to call police with their concerns. in the next hour of "early start" we'll explore that very question with noted criminal defense attorney joey jackson. sources tell cnn president obama has signed a covert order authorizing u.s. support for syria's opposition forces. this secret directive allows clandestine activity by the cia and other activities. it's not clear what type of support has been authorized or when the order was signed. fran townsend told our anderson coop cooper, she believes the u.s. needs to move with more urgency in syria. >> reporter: the longer we wait to act, the more radicalized the syrian population becomes. they've been tortured, abused by their own leader. they will turn to whoever can provide them weapons, food. if that's al qaeda, that's who they'll turn to. >> the state department said yesterday it had set aside $25 million for non-lethal assistance to the syrian rebels with another $64 million in humanitarian assistance going to the syrian people. >> we're going to have a live report from turkey on that coming up shortly. 4 minutes past the hour. extreme weather threatens to ruin a lot of tropical vacation plans. rob marciano is tracking the storm's path. looks really active there. >> finally it's been about a month. we got off to a gang buster start of the season. went through four named storms and we had a month break. now we're into august and things will start ramping up. this is tropical depression number five. it is about 500 miles east of the win ward islands. here's south america. pretty far to the south. not necessarily good news meaning it's got some time before it recur fs if at all over the next few days. here's what the forecast track is. it doesn't look all that impressive on the satellite. the convection of the thunderstorms around the center getting a little bit more better organized. as it gets into the caribbean, you notice it gets into tropical storm status. when this circle closes, that's when we denote a hurricane. we don't have that for hurricane strength at least in the first five days. got some obstacles in the forms of dry air and winds pushing against it. the track continues it on a west, northwesterly position into the central caribbean. this is a scary proposition, when you get that southern trajectory potentially getting into the gulf of mexico in a week's time. that has everybody nervous. the folks who live in central america, they're definitely nervous as well. it will create rough weather for the islands. some of our computer models, several of them, and they take this thing with the exception of one renegade takes one into the caribbean. that's the preferred track for the month of august. we'll watch it carefully. ernesto will be its name once it gets its winds up another five miles an hour. in washington, more time and more money being based on capital hill. it extends the bush tax cuts at all income levels. it extended tax cuts for everyone but not at people above $250,000. the two sides are at an impasse and they're not expected to revisit the issue until after the november election. so another day well spent on capitol hill. this was widely predicted. 7 minutes past the hour. people across the country flocking to chick-fil-a. did you see the crowds? they had littleo do with the chicken biscuits. they came out for chick-fil-a appreciation day. something started by mike huckabee who supported the chain and its fans for same-sex marriage. some waited an hour in line. more than 700,000 supporters have liked the chick-fil-a appreciation day on its facebook page. >> a lot of republican candidates and republican figures, sarah palin, rick santorum, all taking their kids to chick-fil-a to show their support. it's very political and increasingly so. team u.s.a. continues to rule the pool at the london games and, boy, tonight we have a giant showdown between two teammates. we're going to go live to london coming up. tap... pinch... andoom... in your car. introducing the all-new cadillac xts with cue. ♪ don't worry. we haven't forgotten, you still like things to push. 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we are. japan is in third place with 17 medals. >> you bet we are. u.s. women's gymnastics looks to add more gold in the all around final. as we mentioned, ryan lochte and michael phelps go head to head in the 200 meter individual medley. coming up at 5:30 eastern time we'll be talking about gymnastics and more with our favorite three-time olympic medal list john roethlisberger. >> i wonder what he has in store for you. >> let's get you up to date. 16 minutes past the hour. welcome back. >> thank you. nice to see you. let's get to the news this morning, guys. new questions this morning in the aurora movie theater massacre. did the university of colorado ignore warning signs? according to kmgh the psychiatrist who was seeing suspect james holmes was so alarmed about something he said in early june she called the school's threat assessment team to warn them. holmes dropped out a few days later. it appears there was no further action taken and police were never called. an arizona law banning abortions 20 weeks into pregnancy has been blocked. it was set to take effect today but an appeal by the aclu was upheld yesterday by the ninth circuit court. the ban calls for physician toss have their licenses revoked and face jail time if they violate its terms with exceptions for life threatening situations and medical emergencies for the mother. a safety recall alert. toyota announcing that it's recalling close to 800,000 rav 4s to fix a suspension problem that could cause a crash. they're model years 2006 to 2011. it also includes 18,000 lexus h 250s from 2010. there have been nine crashes with three minor injuries due to the problem. odd sight in brockton, massachusetts. 25 miles south of boston. that's a 30 foot rv inside a swimming pool. >> oh, my goodness. >> local station is reporting the driver of the rv may have lost control yesterday because of a medical emergency. he was pulled out of the pool, is in the hospital in stable condition. >> oh, wow. >> it is not every day you see a huge rv in a swimming pool. >> that is an odd sight. i would agree with that. definitely odd. >> i'm glad he's okay. >> stable condition. it is now 17 minutes past the hour right now. we're getting a look, an early read on your local papers across the country making national headlines. our first look is here in new york city. michael bloomberg is a leading voice for tighter gun control laws in this country. he's defended his police -- what he's doing now is he's defending the new york city police department's action to sell shell casing, 28,000 pounds of shell casings. he has sold them to a georgia ammunition store in june. what happened was the police train at shooting ranges. left over all these shell casings, thousands and thousands of pounds of them. one time one of the highest bidders was this arms store in georgia. there's nothing illegal about this, the mayor says, but a lot of people thinks this looks sketchy because mayor michael bloomberg is such an advocate for gun control. he's trying to keep guns out of the wrong hands not ammunition to people who use it lawfully. an exciting discovery by researchers in texas could change the way that doctors fight cancer. this is a very interesting study. it comes to us via the "los angeles times" and researchers were studying mice -- or who were studying mice conclude the tumors grow and grow back after being treated because they're fuelled by stem cells that drugs don't kill. apparently they've studied this before but were skeptical. this is an independent study. the university of texas southwestern medical center in dallas conducted the study. they say the discovery of a so-called cancer stem cells will allow researchers to device new strategies to destroy them. it confirms what's been long suspected, that specific cells within tumors are actually responsible for their continued growth. the study that used mice, they studied tumors of the brain, intestines and skin. hopefully this will lead to new ways to maybe treat them and new drugs also. >> certainly a whole new area of research. >> very exciting. expanded look at all of our top stories, head to our blog cnn.com/earlystart. attention shoppers. the month of august is a great time to buy if you know what to look for. so guess what, christine romans with some late summer barring gains coming up. looking forward to that. ♪ school's been blown to pieces ♪ the way. not anymore. the way. ink, the small business card from chase introduces jot an on-the-go expense app made exclusively for ink customers. custom categorize your expenses anywhere. save time and get back to what you love. the latest innovation. only for ink customers. learn more at chase.com/ink wow, you look terrific! 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[ male announcer ] fiber one. 23 minutes past the hour. we are minding your business this morning. our top business story, the european central bank meeting in frank further. >> christine romans is backment we are so happy you're back. they didn't hear anything from the. >> fred: >> i would say mario draghi might be more important than ben bernanke. you hear us talking about the fed chief in the u.s. there he is, incredibly important guy right now. just about a week ago he said we will do whatever it takes to keep the euro intact. now he's got to prove to investors that they will. that guy's pretty key to what's going to happen overall in europe. that matters to us because there's so many things happening in the u.s. right now to be concerned about. for example, new car sales down. this is something that's a concern to investors. manufacturing slowing. this is most recent piece of evidence that we have, that the europe's problems are affecting the united states. the housing market appears to be bottoming out. we don't know how long that will last. those are all things you can't control. big things that will control your 401 k. there are some things you can control. deal news out with a list of things to buy in august. you would think, of course, back to school items are on that list. summer clothes. have you checked these sales? unbelievable right now. swimsuits, by the way, they point out victoria secret, land's end, barbecue grills. 30% more sales on grills this august than last year. hdtv, whatnot to buy, what should you hold on to until september? do not buy a patio set. it will get cheaper. kindle fire. kindle fire 2 is coming out in a few weeks. iphone 5, september 12th buzz online. all kinds of new bells and whistles will be out. that's what you should wait for overall. finally, you olympics guru, this guy loves olympics, he tweets about olympics and talks about it, did you know grover nor kwis's antitax group is out that a gold medal could mean a $9,000 tax bill. >> i read that. >> that's what it looks like. gold, silver, bronze. not only do you pay for the gold in the gold medal or the silver, the bronze, but then the prize, $25,000 prize can be taxed depending on the situation. >> isn't marco rubio putting through legislation? >> yes. his office has been very active on twitter arguing to lift this tax so the athletes can come back and keep their money. >> it would be adding to the tax code by having to write another loophole? >> i suppose you can look at it that way. we'll hear from rubio. >> feel good about it. >> you can have income tax reform. >> it is great to have you back these days. >> when you booked that tropical cruise chances are you didn't see this one coming. a powerful storm moving through the atlantic ocean. rob marciano with the very latest of what could be ernesto coming up. ets swoon penguin journey junior mints movie phone evil prince bollywood 3d shark attack ned the head 5% cashback signup for 5% cashback on movies through september. it pays to discover. in here, every powerful collaboration is backed by an equally powerful and secure cloud. that cloud is in the networ so it can deliver all the power of the network itself. bringing people together to develop the best ideas -- and providing the apps and computing power to make new ideas real. it's the cloud from at&t. with new ways to work together, business works better. ♪ ♪ i want to go ♪ i want to win [ breathes deeply ] ♪ this is where the dream begins ♪ ♪ i want to grow ♪ i want to try ♪ i can almost touch the sky [ male announcer ] even the planet has an olympic dream. dow is proud to support that dream by helping provide greener, more sustainable solutions from the olympic village to the stadium. solutionism. the new optimism.™ ♪ this dream solutionism. the new optimism.™ i wish i could keep it this way. [ dr. rahmany ] you see, even after a dental cleaning... plaque quickly starts to grow back. but new crest pro-health clinical plaque control toothpaste can help. it not only reduces plaque... it's also clinically proven... to help keep plaque from coming back. plus, it works in these other areas dentists check most. ♪ new crest pro-health clinical plaque control toothpaste. life opens up when you do. for extra plaque protection try new crest pro-health clinical rinse. a team u.s.a. gymnast does something no american man has done since the olympics in the '80s. the dust bowl grows. more than half the counties in the country are now dried out disaster areas. and caught on camera. you have to take a look at this. really shocking video. a man disappears as a sinkhole swallows him on the street. >> oh, my goodness. >> that is horrifying video. we'll show it to you again in a little bit. welcome back to "early start." i'm john berman. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. we are following breaking news this morning. just seconds from disaster. the faa is saying three commuter jets came that close to a mid-air collision at reagan national airport. this was yesterday after confused air traffic controllers dealing with bad weather launched two flights at another plane that was coming in for a landing. the two closest planes were less than 1.5 miles apart and closing in at over 400 miles an hour. while three planes were operated by u.s. airways and had a combined 192 people on board. disaster was avoided. the airline says all flights made it safely to their destinations. according to the washington post, the federal official who reviewed the incident said it was a basic failure to communicate and sloppy procedures. the official said, quote, this is a pretty big screw up for a major airport. >> there have been problems at reagan before. this is not new there. they are looking into it. >> air traffic controlling in general, that's been a major problem. >> troubling for people who fly a lot to say the least. >> oh, my goodness. six weeks before the aurora movie massacre, were there red flags about suspected shooter james holmes that were missed. unanswered questions about dr. lynn fon ton who was the university of colorado psychiatrist who was seeing him as a patient and the school itself. something holmes said caused dr. fenton to make an urgent phone call to the university's threat assessment team in early june, but a few days later holmes dropped out of school and it appears there was no further action taken. >> they thought they had no jurisdiction, no control over him so there was nothing they could do vis-a-vis this concern that she had. again, we don't know what the concern was. what we do know is is that no one through our sources and through our reporting, we have been told no one contacted the aurora police department with any of these concerns. >> she did do the very appropriate thing of calling the threat assessment team. the question then becomes though each and every threat assessment team at every university has to make their own guidelines, at least by my understanding of how they function, based on their own ethical, legal obligations of that particular community. >> a lot of people want to know what dr. lynn fenton and her colleagues at the university knew and whether they were legally obligated to call the police with their concerns. there are a lot of questions and in the next hour of "early start" we're going to explore those questions with noted criminal defense attorney joey jackson. >> 32 minutes past the hour. just look at this incredible video. this is from taiwan where closed circuit cameras captured a man being swallowed up by a sinkhole. this is during a typhoon. it happened this morning at the temple of the sancha. an important historical site at taipei. they were too late to save that victim. >> shocking video. >> unbelievable. 218 counties in 12 states have been added to the list of drought disaster areas making those farmers now eligible for aid. the midwest and southern plains have been dealing with triple digit temperatures. crops have been scorched. water levels low and power grids are strained. the u.s.d.a. has designated 1600 counties disaster areas. the rain they've been hoping for in the plains may wash out vacation plans in the tropics. rob marciano is tracking what could be a new storm in the atlantic. good morning. >> well, travel tip for you if you're looking for a deal on the caribbean, this is the time of year to get it. this is the reason why. you roll the dice here. winward islands, barbados. tropical depression actually number five. it will be ernesto if and when it strengthens into tropical storm strength. we're moving to 21 miles an hour. it has a lot of obstacles to get across. strong winds are against it. we don't expect it to develop rapidly. the national hurricane center forecast, although it does bring it into the caribbean, juicy waters, warm waters, we have a storm that may not become a hurricane at least in the next three to five days. after that we just don't know. things may get a little bit more favorable. certainly watching it carefully as it gets closer to the gulf of mekts i could he. if you are traveling south and roll the dice there, keep an eye here. closer to home, decent day after heavy rains last night. couple of frontal systems. hazy, hot, humid conditions continue across the nation's mid section. 112 in oklahoma city. that is one degree off the all-time high of 113. wichita falls, similar number. dodge city seeing 107. if you live in, say, dallas, you'll get the heat again today. well up over 100 degrees. heat warnings are posted. high for dallas, that should be 110. yikes. >> pretty toasty. >> new york city. hey, listen. a nice day in new york after the torrential rains you had last night and flooding across that area. >> thank you, rob. >> all right, guys. and the name on everyone's lips this morning, danell danelle leyba. he struggled last night in the men's all around final, but managed to fight back and capture the bronze medal after earning the biggest high bar score of the night, 15.7 in the final few minutes of competition. it was thrilling. his final score was 90.698 for those who understand the gymnastics scoring system. it's zero of all of us. it's the second all around medal of a u.s. man since 1984. john roscoe finished eighth. he slipped eight times during his pommell horse. our friend, john roethlisberger predicted it might be a challenge for team u.s.a. john is back from london. without drawing any aspersions, that's always a problem for the u.s., isn't it? >> it is. you know, we talked about it and it's one of those things that's like the balance beam for the women, quite honestly. if you get through the pommel horse and you're in good shape, you have a leg up on the competition. we held our breath going into that event last night. again it came up and bit them, oo especially john roscoe. for danell, leyva, he had a mistake on the dismount. he had enough of a score there that he had some room to dig out. that's exactly what he did. >> what i love most about danell leyva, he won the bronze, a huge achievement. i'll read you the quote he said last night. he says, if i spoke japanese, i would tell him that he's the best gymnast that ever lived so far. i'm going to keep working to beat him. his gymnastics is so beautiful, i'm working toward that. i'm not trying to cop any his style. i have my own style. i need to perfect me more to beat him. let's look way forward to rio. what can we expect four years from now from danell. >> first of all, i saw that quote and i was hoping you would bring that up. i love it. i love it. there's an athlete. i hate it when athletes pretend to -- you know, i just want to do my best. i'm just going to go out there and hit my routine. he wants to be the best gymnast in the world. i love that. he knows and he respekds him and knows him to be the best. danell leyva can be the best. he has his own style. he's very high flying. there's a couple of weaknesses where kohe has him. one was glaring in the pommel horse. he has the ability to be outstanding. vault is another one. danell has struggled here a little bit on the vault. kohe has beat him there. he's the type of guy that demands perfection every day he goes in the gym. he goes in there every day to wi the olympics. not everybody does that. some people go in there and go through the motions. if you're going to win, that's what you have to do. >> that's what to look forward in four years. we have the americans up there. is there some kind of a chance of a letdown after they won the team gold? any chance they go out there maybe not with the fire in the belly they might have had otherwise? >> you know, we always speculate. we speculate, did the russians have a bad meet and now they're deflated and will be terrible? the women were amazing and they'll have the emotional letdown. i'm not going to put anything past these women. i'm pretty sure one of them will be the first female president at the rate they're going. they are unstoppable. i'm not going to doubt them on one front. i think gabby douglas has to be considered the favorite. she has put up throughout the competition overall the highest scores even though aly raisman finished ahead of her. gabby, watch her on the balance beam. if she nails beam, i think she wins this competition. don't count out komova. a lot of people think on paper she's the one to beat. aly raisman, i love this kid. she is a fighter. she might not have glitz and glam, but you have to love somebody who never makes a mistake, they're always grinding it out, hitting their gymnastics and waiting for their opportunity. it might be a battle. we might have a new american sweetheart after tonight. >> they did hear from the president yesterday. john roethlisberger, thanks so much. >> all right. thank you guys. he still has that fire in the belly, doesn't he? >> absolutely. >> love him. 40 minutes past the hour. as the crisis in syria deepens, so has america's hold in that region. the white how's secret move to support the rebels. we'll have a live report for you. and our snappiest peas all freshly steamed in just minutes. steam bags from lean cuisine. be culinary chic. your mouth has sipped, snacked, ...yellowed... giggled, snuggled, ...yellowed... chatted, chewed, ...yellowed. and over all those years, your teeth...have yellowed. fact is, if you're not whitening, you're yellowing. crest 3d white whitestrips remove over ten years of stains by going below the enamel surface. and, they whiten 25 times better than a leading whitening toothpaste. crest whitestrips. life opens up when you do. crest whitestrips. it's something you're born with. and inspires the things you choose to do. you do what you do... because it matters. at hp we don't just believe in the power of technology. we believe in the power of people when technology works for you. to dream. to create. to work. if you're going to do something. make it matter. welcome back to "early start." it is about 44 minutes past the hour. i'm john ber min. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. cnn has learned president obama has secretly authorized american covert help for syrian rebels. this is fighting video. the rebels are making some gains. former cia officer robert bear telling cnn's anderson cooper the opposition needs more of america's help. >> more money is going to go to the opposition. the fighters are out of money. they've been complaining today. they're not getting enough medicine, not getting enough weapons, enough ammunition. they simply need more funding. if it gets really bad, it could be very soon, we're going to have to switch this to a lethal fighting and get the united states military to start supplying these people. >> ivan watson joins us on the phone from turkey near the syrian border. ivan, the president has said that he will not put arms in the hands of rebels. so what is the united states giving to the rebels? >> reporter: i have no idea. i haven't seen any direct signs of u.s. assistance. one of the worst kept secrets among the rebels is that there are weapons, light weapons coming across the border from turkey believed to be funded and supplied by the turkogs and saudis. i've seen some of the weapons, they're basically ammunition for ak-47s, for heavier machine guns, and for rocket propelled grenades. i've heard that perhaps some type of surface to air missiles in very small amounts have come through, but that's about the extent of it. and the syrian rebels are constantly complaining that it is not enough to turn the tide of the battle in their favor conclusively, zoraida. >> so some of the things that we've heard also is that perhaps there's some more humanitarian support that is headed their way. have you heard anything about that? >> reporter: no, but united nations officials are sounding the alarm about the escalating humanitarian crisis there. i think the two-week battle that we've seen in the largest city in aleppo which has basically forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee that city, that's had a huge impact. every village and town i traveled through was choked with refugee families staying with cousins and loved ones. it's an enormous burden on the countryside. i came out of syria before dawn this morning and there were refugee families lined up along the border waiting to come out. i suspect that this is going to be a ticking humanitarian time bomb because so many people have been moved around and unsettled. the jobs have stopped. salaries have stopped being paid. it's just going to be an enormous burden on society just trying to feed these people. >> ivan watson live in the turkey border for us this morning. the border of syria. thank you for joining us this morning. unusual, right. we're trying to figure out what is the assistance that's being given. we've seen video that shows that there is an intense effort, right? there's a lot of killing going on. very uncertain as to who's killing who so, you know, hopefully we'll get more details for you on that. >> ivan watson who is on the ground there, it's confusing to him. he's not sure what he's seeing. ivan has done fantastic and courageous work inside the border with turkey and syria. we want to get you up to date with all the headlines. good morning, you two. new questions in the aurora movie theater massacre. d the university of colorado ignore warning signs. according to kmgh the psychiatrist who was seeing suspect james holmes was so concerned about something he said in early june, she called the school's threat assessment team to warn them. holmes dropped out a few days later. it appears there were no further action taken. police were never called. louisiana tech's beloved mascot tech 20 is dead. the veterinarian who took care of the dog says an employee left him out too long sunday night and tech 20 died of heatstroke. he says the employee then tried to cover it up. that worker has been fired. initially tech was reported missing and possibly stolen. pennsylvania congressman mike kelley isn't a fan of the birth control mandate and president obama's health care overhaul. does it compare to the september 11th attacks and pearl harbor. here's what he had to say about the provision that went into effect yesterday which includes private insurers include birth control. i know in your mind you can think of times when america was attacked. one is december 7th. that's pearl harbor day. the other is september 11th. that's the day of the terrorist attack. i want you to remember august 1st, 2012, the attack on religious freedom. that day will live in infamiliar mi alo with other dates. >> mitt romney will be in golden in morning. he'll be joined by new orleans governor and scott walker for an executive roundtable at a high school near aspen. tiny badminton players will be disclosed from losing her match. she is quitting the match. she says farewell my beloved badminton. she accused the governing body for ruining her dreams. they were kicked out of the competition for playing to lose in order to face easier opponents in the next round. ruining her dreams. >> a lot of talk about that on my twitter account and facebook. if you have an opinion, should they have been kicked out or not, send us a tweet at early start cnn. >> their coach apologized. very sad, isn't it that that is happening at the olympics. >> it's overshadowed so many other amazing feats. the wizard who ruled the book stores. a new pop culture phenomenon has taken over. look at your screen. >> it is so naughty. it is so naughty. >> that story's coming your way. if you're leaving the house you can watch us on your desktop. go to cnn.com/tv. you're not made of money, so don't overpay for motorcycle insurance. geico, see how much you could save. nature valley trail mix bars are made with real ingredients you can see. 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[ male announcer ] stop the uh-oh fast with kaopectate. and welcome back to "early start" everyone. it's a few minutes before the hour. i'm john berman along with zoraida sambolin. we look at what's trending on the internet this morning. >> way to go mary pop pins. did you see this? london's mayor boris johnson stuck in the air, decided to go zip gliding. look what happened. it stopped. he was left dangling in the air after taking the inaugural line set up to promote the london olympic games. this was yesterday afternoon. i was watching him. i thought he handled this. he came to a halt 65 feet before the end of the line. he was stuck for five minutes before park officials decided to -- >> he looks so helpless. >> can somebody help me out here? they did. they towed him in. do we have the video of that? there he is being towed in with the flags still waiving in the air. >> he is a colorful guy. he attacked mitt romney on stage getting a lot of laughs over there. next up, operation teddy bear drop. this happened in belarus. what's you're seeing is an airplane flying a sort of bombing mission over belarus. it's flown by a swedish group and dropping teddy bears on parachutes with signs reading belarus freedom. we support the struggle for free speech. this was done by an ad agency. they say we recognize flying into another country's air space is dangerous but they wanted to get the message of freedom out there. out go the teddy bears being flown in and dropped over belarus. >> okay. i don't know how we transition to this. mommy porn over mugles and magic. have you read this? "fifty shades of grey." >> i'm going to share this. >> the mommy porn is trum upping j.k. roulgs. this is amazon.com's british site. it's in britain. it's making author e.l. jaynes the best selling writer ever. it passed the 20 million sales mark last month. both british writers. it's an interesting read. i read it because everybody was talking about it and i wanted to see what they were talking about. it is a rather interesting read. i'm going to share my book with you. >> uh-huh. uh-huh. yeah. that's why you read it. >> all right. we have our top stories straight ahead including the frightening close call between three passenger jets in the sky near washington, d.c. you are watching "early start." >> that is scary. [ beeping ] in here, data knows what to do. because the network finds it and tailors it across all the right points, automating all the right actions, to bring all the right results. [ whirring and beeping ] it's the at&t network -- doing more with data to help business do more for customers. ♪ to help business do more for customers. this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. you see us, at the start of the day. on the company phone list that's a few names longer. you see us bank on busier highways. on once empty fields. everyday you see all the ways all of us at us bank are helping grow our economy. lending more so companies and communities can expand, grow stronger and get back to work. everyday you see all of us serving you, around the country, around the corner. us bank. ♪ i want to go ♪ i want to win [ breathes deeply ] ♪ this is where the dream begins ♪ ♪ i want to grow ♪ i want to try ♪ i can almost touch the sky [ male announcer ] even the planet has an olympic dream. dow is proud to support that dream by helping provide greener, more sustainable solutions from the olympic village to the stadium. solutionism. the new optimism.™ ♪ this dream new developments out of aurora, colorado. a report says the accused shooter's psychiatrist raised a red flag weeks before the massacre. >> collision course, the faa investigating a close call between three packed passenger jets near washington, d.c. rescued at the airport, two tsa guards credited with freeing a kidnapped come. woman. >> good news for the tsa frequently under attack. >> and good news for the woman. >> absolutely. good morning and welcome to "early start." >> happy you're with us. it is 6 a.m. in the east. also coming up for you, storm watches for vacation hot spots in the atlantic as a tropical depression moves in. plus another thrilling finish in london leads to gold for team usa swimming and a big day ahead there also. we have breaking news from over night. a frightening close call in the skies. the faa saying three commuter jets came within seconds of a mid-air collision at reagan national airport cough confused air traffic controllers dealing with glad weather launched two flights and another plane trying to land. listen to the confusion at the time on the radio. >> okay. we really don't have the fuel for -- >> i will get you out as soon as i can. >> we have to get on the ground here quick. >> everybody stand by. we've got a couple of opposite direction arrivals, so it is going to be a little bit of a delay on your departures. >> confusing but calm as we're listening to them chat there. we have athena jones live in washington. what can you tell us about that. >> the details are still stechy on this. we talked to the faa and spoken with u.s. airways that had some of the flights we believe involved although they wouldn't confirm all three flights were their planes. they will be investigating. it was just after 2 p.m. on tuesday at reagan national during a particular spot of weather. it was driving rain. controllers decided to switch planes that had been landing and departing on one runway one and going from south to north. they decided to switch that to another runway and have them coming from north to south. the problem is they failed to communicate this to everyone involved. here is part of what the faa had to say in their statement. during the switch over the operations miscommunication through the track on and the dca tower led to a loss of the separation between the two regional jets departing. the faa is investigating the incident and will take appropriate action to address the miscommunication. according to preliminary information from the f achaa, t planes got about half the distance it should have been from the incoming plane. the second plane was a little further away and still pretty scary stuff, and it is not the first time we have had these kinds of air traffic control issues zoraida. >> do we know how close this call was? >> it is interesting. one of the reports we have seen in the media stated that the planes were 12 seconds from impact. the faa has cautioned us against using those, that number 12 seconds. we know these are planes traveling at very, very fast speeds and if we say the standard distance they should be apart is three nautical miles lateral and 1,000 feet vertical one was 1.45 nautical miles apart and only 500 feet, the other was a little further, 2.4 miles and 600 feet. still at really fast speeds you certainly want to keep all the distance that you're supposed to. >> wh 192 people on board the planes. thank you so much, athena jones. we appreciate it. new reports this morning that before the tragic colorado shooting that killed 12 and injured dozens of others university of colorado officials were notified about suspected shooter james holmes but may not have acted. >> sources tell local affiliate that in early june holmes psychiatrist contacted members. of a campus behavioral assessment team and told them he could potentially be a danger to others. >> the reports say she made calls to the team but it never came together because this was the same time holmes began withdrawing from the university which happened on june 10th. >> university officials have yet to confirm or deny the reports. it is unclear what behavior the psychiatrist was actually concerned about. with us now is criminal defense attorney joey jackson. a lot of unanswered questions. we want to make sure everybody understands. looks like there is finger pointing going on now. could they have prevented this? was this the psychiatrist's fault or a combination of the psychiatrist and the beta team which is short for behavioral evaluation and threat assessment? are they trying to figure out liability here? >> they really are. in an instance like this when you have a massacre, people have concerned. this is a major public issue here. here is what it boils down to. a psychiatrist does have what we call a duty to warn and a duty to protect. that relates to a specific credible threat. in the event there was a specific credible threat as to mr. holmes representing a danger to someone, then the psychiatrist would have the responsibility to report it and make it known. seems here that steps were taken at least by her to contact other members of that committee so they could take further action. >> seems to be what you're saying it is what exactly holmes said and what that information was that she knew. what is it that he would have had to have said that would trigger necessary action? >> exactly, john. what happens is if you're undergoing psychiatric treatment the argument could be you represent some kind of danger and may be something amiss. you don't want to make too broad liability. a psychiatrist would have to report about everything. however, in the event that something was said, john, and that little related to him saying he wanted toharm someone orren danger someone or kill someone, that would trigger the duty under the law for her to not only protect the people in the colorado community at the campus but others at large. >> is that regardless whether or not he was enrolled at the school? that seems to be a big issue recently. he had not enrolled so they felt no jurisdiction over him or he had left the school. >> exactly. what happens is the first concern of course is the campus. that's where he was enrolled. you would think if people were in danger it would be that locality. if he was that would depend on specifically what he said and what his psychiatrist knew and if he said something that amounted to something that i want to exact revenge upon the universe or something particular about someone, she would have to call the police and if a specific person was named, notify that individual as well. >> i would imagine that a lot of this will be playing out in court as well. >> without request he. >> joey jackson, thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate it. >> president obama has signed a clandestine order authorizing u.s. support for syria's rebel forces according to cnn sources. it allows covert action by the c.i.a. and other agencies but it is not clear what type of support is authorized or when the order was signed. national security contributor fran townsend was telling anderson cooper she believes the u.s. needs to act with more urgency in syria. >> the longer we wait to act, the more radicalized the syrian population becomes. they have been tortured. they have been abused by their own leader. they will turn to whom ever can provide them weapons, food, and if that's al qaeda, that's who they will turn to on the ground. >> the state department said yesterday it has set aside $25 million for non-lethal assistance to the syrian rebels with another 64 million in a humanitarian assistance earmarked for the syrian people as well. extreme weather threatens to ruin a lot of tropical vacation plans. rob is tracking the path. you said people get deals for a reason. >> yeah. actually, i bid on that once in st. lucia in july. no hurricane at the time. >> good for you. >> the winds from this although not very strong will maybe wash away or blow away some of the bugs. westerly movement at 21 miles per hour, about 500 miles from the wind ward islands or barr bad oes, st. lucia, and the winds right now sustained at 35 miles per hour. we bump it up another 5 miles an hour, and we get a tropical storm status. the five-day forecast from the national hurricane center does not strengthen it rapidly. it has strong winds it has to get through in order to do that. we do expect it to get in the caribbean where the waters are remember with a. we'll see what happens there. speaking of warm, temperatures toasty across the central plains, heat advisories and warnings over 100 and dallas may touch 110. back up to you. >> when it is 30 below we're going to be looking for the warmer temperatures. maybe not exactly 110. thank you, rob. team usa continues to rule the pool at the london games. a big showdown looms between two american teammates. everybody wants to watch this. we'll go live to london coming up. i wish i could fly you there for the day. you see us, at the start of the day. on the company phone list at's a few names longer. you see us bank on busier highways. on once empty fields. everyday you see all the ways all of us at us bank are helping grow our economy. lending more so companies and communities can expand, grow stronger and get back to work. everyday you see all of us serving you, around the country, around the corner. us bank. this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. wouldn't it be nice if there was an easier, less-expensive option than using a traditional lawyer? well, legalzoom came up with a better way. we took the best of the old and combined it with modern technology. together you get quality services on your terms, with total customer support. legalzoom documents have been accepted in all 50 states, and they're backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. so go to legalzoom.com today and see for yourself. it's law that just makes sense. so go to legalzoom.com today and see for yourself. it's something you're born with. and inspires the things you choose to do. you do what you do... because it matters. at hp we don't just believe in the power of technology. we believe in the power of people when technology works for you. to dream. to create. to work. if you're going to do something. make it matter. where he we have pretty cool time lapsed video as day turns to light and lights come on at the olympic stadium in london. of course that is the shining centerpiece of the 2012 games, so much of our attention right now folk used on london. american swimmer continued their dominance. it was a thrilling finish in a dramatic 100 meter freestyle final. he squeaked by with a 100th of a second better finish than the australian runner up. that is not a lot. amanda davies joins us in london. all of this action in the pool, amanda, it was so close. >> i can tell you, john, i was pretty smug that was the one i had chosen to go to the aquatics center last night. it was fantastic and so many of the headlines with about michael phelps and ryan lochte and the build up and nathan adrian put his hand out and his fingers out to claim some of those headlines. it was so incredibly tight, wasn't it? he was the favorite, james magnuson for the sensational victory and in terms of the women we'll be talking about missy franklin but it was allison schmitt who stood up to be counted in the 4 x 200 relay. people suggesting she deserves a phone call from president obama after claiming her fourth medal of the games, her second gold, and then we have got to mention rebecca soni as well. she was only in a heat for the 200 meter breast stroke but it was a heat in which she set a world record, so the final she is definitely going to be one to watch there. >> in the drama not over in the pool because today we have what really is the last ever meeting between ryan lochte and michael phelps. they will go head to head for what is probably the very last time in at least michael phelps career. >> yeah. you wouldn't believe it is going to be the last time these guys go head to head. they spent last night together watching nathan adrian and there was some fantastic pictures on twitter that have been posted of the two of them high fiving as nathan adrian won his gold. they're able to spend time in each other's company but ryan lochte has a busy evening because he is going to defend or look to defend his 200 meters backstroke title first and then less than an hour later the two will be lining up next to each other and lanes three and four in the 200 meters im, and they have met before, of course, in these games. lochte got the advantage, finished first in the 400. he then also finished ahead of phelps in the semifinal for this last night, but phelps is looking for that holy grail of a third straight gold medal in the same event at an olympic games. of course this is his last meeting against his great rival before he retires, so he has a point to prove. >> bragging rights for eternity. amanda davies in london, you are sparkling at always. >> bless you. thank you. here is your up to date medal count, china taking a one medal lead over the u.s., 30-29 overall, and china has more golds than team usa. japan in third with 17 overall. what to watch for today, the u.s. women's gymnastics squad to look at trying to add more gold in the all around individual finals and ryan lochte and michael phelps go head to head. we were just talking about that, in the 200 meter individual medley. >> it is 6:30 eastern. blaine wilson five-time all under anational champion and olympic silver medalist will join us to talk about the girls chances tonight. it is now 17 minutes after the hour. we want to get you up to date on all the headlines. christine romans is joining us. >> red flags may have been missed in the aurora movie theater massacre. the psychiatrist seeing suspect james holmes was so alarmed about something he said in early june she called the school's threat assessment team to warn them. according to a report by cnn affiliate kmgh in denver, when holmes dropped out of school a few days later it appears the team took no further action and police were never called. two alert tsa officers are being credited with rescuing a kidnapped woman last month at a security check point at miami international airport. the behavior detection officers noticed an injured nervous woman who didn't seem comfortable with the group she was with. when they separated her, she apparently broke down accusing two women in the group of repeatedly punching her over a man and stealing her money. the two women were then arrested. >> wow. former florida governor charlie chris will endorse bill nelson in his bid for a third term tomorrow. they will be appearing together at the orlando law firm where crist works and the challenger likely to be connie mac junior, the front-runner in the primary scheduled for august 14th. 18 minutes past the hour. they're down but not out. christine romans fresh back from the drought zone with tales of remarkable resilience from american farmers. in today's challenging environment. unless you have the right perspective. bny mellon wealth management has the vision and experience to look beyond the obvious. we'll uncover opportunities, find hidden risk, and make success a reality. bny mellon wealth management fore! no matter what small business you are in, managing expenses seems to... get in the way. not anymore. ink, the small business card from chase introduces jot an on-the-go expense app made exclusively for ink customers. custom categorize your expenses anywhere. save time and get back to what you love. the latest innovation. only for ink customers. learn more at chase.com/ink minding your business this morning, christine is back from iowa reporting on the drought. >> it is worsening by the day. it expanded the number of counties designated as disasters. in iowa where i was every single county in iowa, all 99 counties declared a disaster, this is what the government said yesterday. the disaster zone, half the counties and a great chunk of our corn production falls in this area. if you look at how much corn the u.s. produces we're the king and queen of corn. the u.s. produces far more corn than the rest of the world combined. china is the next closest producer of corn, brazil comes in a distant third there. it is interesting because brazil actually, we're hearing some of the big food processors or pork processors may be importing brazilian corn to make sure they can meet shortages in the near term. interesting development. very rare to see us importing corn. i want to tell you about the farmers that i met when i was there. a lot of people ask me were they depressed, upset, what did they say? >> they didn't seem that way. >> 90% are covered by insurance. that's not -- they're not going to get rich on that but they won't go broke on that. this is the business they're in. i don't think many of us could understand what it would be like to have everything -- this is the business they're in. they're already looking to next year. >> we'll get by hopefully and this is what it is and try again next year. we only get one chance a year. try again next year. >> one chance a year. he is going to try again next year. he was chopping the worst parts of the field and chopping that to feed the cattle. resourceful, i thought. >> he always does. it is sileage. heals chops a little every year and this time a heck of a lot more and earlier because feed costs for cattle are going up. it is an interesting dynamic. what's also interesting is it is unclear how much disaster relief livestock farmers will get because of the last farm bill. that ended earlier this year. it is so important how they handle farm bill type politics and farmers. >> you had interesting conversations on twitter about the farmers. >> i did. people were tweeting me saying they're just taking government handouts, subsidies and i asked that farmer and others, $10 an acre maybe in subsidies and in return for that they hav to do exactly what the government says, setting aside certain amounts of acres to graze, et cetera, et cetera, and can't be grazed and they're very strict rules for them. they say we're not getting rich on government handouts. make no mistake. >> what is the one thing we need to know? >> the one thing you need to know is two words, mario dragy, probably more important than bernanke right now, the president of the europe between central bank and promised to do what it takes to keep the euro in tact. stock futures are higher. >> go mario. >> go, go, go, super mario. >> thank you very much. hoping the farmers come back. >> absolutely. >> america, we love a comeback story including the gymnast, the young american that staged a dramatic rally to score a medal for team usa, talking about danell leyva's performance. you can watch us any time on your desktop or mobile phone. go to cnn.com/tv. 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"why wait if you don't have to." rapid wrinkle repair. neutrogena®. recommended most by dermatologists. in here, every powerful collaboration is backed by an equally powerful and secure cloud. that cloud is in the network, so it can deliver all the power of the network itself. bringing people together to develop the best ideas -- and providing the apps and computing power to make new ideas real. it's the cloud from at&t. with new ways to work together, business works better. ♪ en jie the extra cash while you can. unless congress acts the payroll tax cut will be left to expire. >> caught on camera, take a look at this. a man disappears as a sinkhole suddenly swallows just an entire section of street. setting the bar, team usa gymnast does something no american man has done in the olympics since the 1980s. welcome back to "early start." happy you're with us this morning. we're going to begin with just seconds from disaster. the faa says three commuter jets came that close to a mid-air collision in reagan national airport yesterday after confused air traffic controllers dealing with bad weather launched two flights at another plane coming in for a landing. the two closest planes were less than 1.5 miles apart and closing in at over 400 miles an hour and all three planes were operated by u.s. airways and had a combined 192 people on poured. disaster luckily was avoided. the airline says all flights made it safely to their destinations >> that was scary there. six weeks before the movie theater massacre red flags about suspected shooter james holmes that may have been missed. unanswered questions about dr. lynne fenton, the university of colorado psychiatrist treating holmes as a patient and the school itself. according to cnn affiliate kmgh, something holmes said caused dr. fenton to make an urgent call to the university's threat assessment team in early june. a few days later holmes dropped out of school and it appears there was no further action taken. here is a denver reporter that broke the story and dr. drew pinsky appearing last night. >> they thought they had no control over him so there was nothing they could do vis-a-vis this concern she had. again, we don't know what the concern was. what we do know is that no one through our sources and reporting we have been told no one contacted the aurora police department with any of these concerns. she did do the very appropriate thing calling the threat assessment team. the question then becomes, though, each and every threat assessment team at every university has to make their own guidelines at least by my understanding how they function based on their own ethical, legal obligations of that particular community. >> a lot of people want to know what dr. lynne fenton and her colleagues at the university knew and whether they were legally obligated to call police with their concerns. we have some stunning video to show you from taiwan where closed circuit cameras captured a man literally being swallowed up by a sinkhole during a typhoon. it happened an important historical site in taipei. fa firemen were called to the scene but they were too late to save the victim. >> it swallowed up the whole area. a potentially dangerous storm could develop closer to the united states in the atlantic ocean. rob has been keeping an eye on this all morning. good morning. >> good morning, guys. off to a fast start for tropical season with four named storms and this after a four week break is taking shape. winds of 35 miles an hour. it is a tropical depression, about 500 miles from the wind ward islands, barbados, st. l h luc lucia. it will take its time getting itself together. initially heavy rains for the islands if you are traveling there and lucky enough to be doing that and getting into the caribbean where the waters are very warm, but still a lot of headwinds el niño we thank for that and a difficult time getting started. we'll watch it carefully. it is heading in the direction of mexico and certainly the u.s. meanwhile back home 112 degrees in oklahoma city. that is one degree off all time record high temperature. you will see similar numbers today. dallas expected to see 110. 88 degrees in new york city after torrential downpours yesterday afternoon across the tri-state. video out of connecticut, central conn. con, where flasheding was happening, a bad deal there, a couple inches of rain in a hurry. no rain today across the northeast. >> thank you very much. more wheels spinning on capitol hill, the republican controlled house passed a manier that extends the bush tax cuts at all income levels. they did it after voting down a bill passed in the democratic controlled senate last week that extended the tax cuts for everyone but the highest income levels. the two sides are at annimpass. it is nothing more than a dog and pony show. >> they'll degree on one thing, letting it expire for 122 million americans. it funds social security and temporary lowered for 2011 saving working families an average of $934 a year. it also costs the federal government about $120 billion. danell leyva's sweet resumption. he struggled during the pummel horse routine last night in the all around final but captured the bronze after earning the biggest high bar score of the night, a 15.7. his score was 90.698. it is only the second all around medal for a u.s. an ma since 1984. tonight the women try to double their their gold as gabby douglas and ali raisman continue in the all around finals. blaine wilson, five time all around national champion and olympic silver medalist is joining me now. thank you for being with us this morn. we appreciate your time. you and leyva have something in common. you both fell off the high bar and sustained injury. you fell in 2004. you were so dizzy that you decided not to compete. for leyva he had a nasty fall in 2011. leyva's high score on the high bar was what helped launch him to third place. what is going through his mind at that moment when what sunk him ended up saving him? >> i am telling you, if you are training as well as he was training, nothing. i mean, nothing can stop you from what you want to get done and you want to win a medal and that fall probably never entered his mind. >> really, so we're always wondering how you keep your focus when you know it can go so badly? >> that's what you do all the training for. you spend your whole life thinking about that moment and what you can do during that moment and everything that happened prior to doesn't matter. even if you fell in warmups, it wouldn't matter. >> i may get in a little trouble over this. we were talking about skill versus luck. when you get to this level everybody is highly skilled. it is anybody's medal. leyva was able to move up three spots from sixth to third during the final rotation because other gymnasts started making mistakes. how much of it is skill versus luck? >> well, it becomes a minnow gam mental game. you do your own gymnastics. it is the only thing you can control. you do need a little luck in the situation based on the fact that other people will succumb to the pressure and you slide right in. >> i want to look ahead to the women's competition. asked about going into the individual all around gold medalist gabby douglas had this to say, it is very special, gives us momentum, gives us a little bit of an edge thinking that we are truly the best in the world. it gives us that little bit of push. when you read that, do you read it as over confident perhaps? >> no. no. especially when i was around i had an air of cobb iness but felt confident about what i could do as a team and an individual and i think she is absolutely right. >> all right. blaine wilson, five time all around national champion. thank you for joining us, olympic silver medalist i should mention as well. >> they're fierce and confident. >> yes, they are. can't wait to watch them. >> 37 minutes past the hour. overseas as the crisis in syria deepens, so has america's role in the region. coming up, the white house, their secret move to support the rebels. we'll go live to washington. es, the cost, the hassle. ♪ express yourself [ female announcer ] why not try coffee-mate? with over 25 delicious flavors for a fraction of the cost of the coffee house. add your flavor, with coffee-mate, from nestle. add your flavor, this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] you've been years in the making. and there are many years ahead. join the millions of members who've chosen an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. go long. good morning, washington, d.c. 41 minutes past the hour. 76 degrees right now. a little later it will be 93, mostly sunny for you. welcome back to "early start." nice to have you with us. i am zoraida sambolin. >> i am john berman. cnn learned president obama has secretly authorized american covert support for syrian rebels in an effort to bashar al sas sad as fighting rages on. former c.i.a. officer robert baird telling anderson cooper the opposition needs more of america's help. >> more money will go to the opposition, the fighters, they're out of money and complaining they're not getting enough medicine, not getting enough weapons, enough ammunition. they simply need for funding. if it gets really bad and it could be very soon we'll have to switch this to a lethal fighting or actually get the united states military to start supplying these people. >> foreign affairs report elise joins from us washington and we hear ceo verdict. that can mean a lot of different things. what kind of aid do we think this means the rebels will see? >> we understand the finding was signed a few months ago so some of it they're already getting some of this help such as intelligence information on assad's troop movements and also what the u.s. has really been doing, intelligence agencies, trying to vet some of these groups. as we know, the u.s. isn't ready to arm the opposition but what they are doing is trying to find out more information about these opposition groups to see which groups could get aid from turkey, from qatar, from saudi arabia, so more about using u.s. intelligence assets to get a better picture on the ground and the u.s. not ready to provide anything beyond the communications equipment that it has already been getting. that's a substantial amount of communications equipment that can help them move in a more sophisticated way. >> the question i guess is who is then the obama administration has been hesitant to give too much help for a long time saying there are so many factions they can't vet each and every one. does it seem now then that one group has risen above the others? >> well, obviously the free syrian army is the main kind of rebel group if you will and last week the treasury department authorized some licenses for a u.s.-based group to start giving financial support to them. still not ready to give the tangible military support, but i think what the u.s. is trying to do is call all the opposition together. you have the non-armed opposition, the syrian national council and the free syrian army. i think what they're trying to do is get the opposition groups under one umbrella so they can start dealing with a few people as you say, one of the main complaints is they don't know who they're dealing with and if there would be a position where the u.s. would be ready to arm them, they don't know who they're arming. they need to get a better picture and putting more of everything under an umbrella would help them do that. >> we have been hearing and sometimes small arms and ammunition coming over the border from syria to these rebel groups and the question is not directly from the u.s., the question then is what would have to happen for the u.s. to get directly involved in a military sense, for those weapons to come directly from the u.s. >> obviously they need a better picture who is in the groups but hillary clinton said something interesting last week. she said if the free syrian army, if these rebels were to gain more territory, gain a more swath of syria, maybe ally backing and u.s. booking would happen and as we saw in libya, one of the differences is the libyan rebels had been gaz i and much more territory they could hold. in syria even if rebels are able to capture an area, they can't hold it very long. they don't want to funnel the support too quickly. if the rebels were to gain more ground and you see more of a shift of balance of power on the ground, i think the u.s. would start backing the rebels a little bit more whole somely. >> the u.s. looking for the rebels to gain some kind of toe hold in syria. >> they'll need military support as bob was saying for them to be able to do that. it is kind of a catch-22. >> that's the quandry. thanks so much for joining us. >> soledad o'brien is joining us with a look at what's ahead on "starting point." >> good morning to you both. this morning talking about the terrifying moments that the airport as three u.s. airways yets were seconds away from kraching into each other at reagan national in d.c. all three planes loaded with passengers. the question is how could the air traffic controllers get it so wrong? we have tapes and details ahead. it is a rich man's game clearly. the estimated price tag for the november presidential election is $6 billion. why is it so high? is that a good thing or a bad thing? plus, congratulations on winning that gold medal. you owe us $8,000 in taxes. yeah. that's our tough call this morning. tell you what happens when a 20 something-year-old man decides to ditch all of his friends, get rid of all of his possessions and live off the generosity of people on craigslist. we'll talk to the film maker that shot it straight ahead. we'll see you in 15 minutes. >> it is 46 minutes after the hour right now. a narrow escape for one driver in new england. you have to look at this video. his r.v., look where it ended up. the story behind this unbelievable video am coming up. with the spark cash card from capital one, olaf's pizza palace gets the most rewards of any small business credit card! pizza!!!!! 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[ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? or double miles on every purchase, every day! it's hard to see opportunity in today's challenging environment. unless you have the right perspective. bny mellon wealth management has the vision and experience to look beyond the obvious. we'll uncover opportunities, find hidden risk, and make success a reality. bny mellon wealth management welcome back to "early start," everyone. new questions this morning in the aurora movie theater massacre. did the university of colorado ignore warning signs. according to the local affiliate the psychiatrist seeing suspect james holmes was so alarmed about something he said in early june she called the school's threat assessment team to warn them. holmes dropped out a few days later and it appears there was no further action taken. police were never called. breaking news this morning. mass confusion at reagan national airport. the faa saying three planes almost collided in the air when air traffic controllers said two planes on a collision course with a plane trying to land. all three were u.s. airways commuter jets and did finally make it to their destinations. with hurricane season heading into its peak, tropical depression as formed in the atlantic and may have its eyes on the gulf. this is down the road. the storm way out in the ocean heading toward the caribbean. forecasters say it could become tropical storm ernesto as early as today, the fifth named storm of the season. the bartender that says cuba gooding junior shoved her will not pursue criminal charges against him. she dropped all charges against gooding. the alleged altercation happened early tuesday morning at a new orleans bar. that bar issued a statement saying it is investigating what happened. you have to look at this. this is just a crazy strange bizarre sight in massachusetts, about 25 miles south of boston. that's a 30-foot rv in a swimming pool. local stations are reporting the driver may have lost control yesterday because of a medical emergency. he was pulled out of the pool. he is said to be in stable condition. mitt romney is making two stops in colorado today. he will be in golden this morning and joined by new jersey governor chris christie and scott walker phone ak executive round table at a high school near aspen. he heads to the suburbs of orlando to talk about the economy and the middle class. he will also make a campaign stop in virginia tonight before heading back to the white house. with the olympics going on, so much talking about fairness, performance-enhancing drugs and cheating and carl lewis thinks athlete that is cheat by using performance-enhancing drugs need to be banned indefinitely. he faced drug allegations himself in the past. nothing was proven. he is telling piers morgan it is not just the offending athletes that need to be targeted. >> why did you get on it? how did you get on it? who helped you? no one can get on drugs and have a program by themselves. it is always a conspiracy. we get an athlete and don't get to the root of the problem >> he says he doubts cheating in sports will ever end. he believes it is the nature of our society. >> and sometimes it is difficult to detect whether or not they have these substances in their blood stream. we had somebody on from "sports illustrated" who told me that they actually keep these samples for years on the athletes and then as the testing becomes more advanced, that they could actually pull medals, five, ten years after the fact, so that was pretty fascinating information. >> the testing keeps getting better and so does the science behind making the drugs. >> that's the problem. 53 minutes past the hour. she is an ncaa champion and an olympian on the basketball team in london and plays the drums. what else does she do? coming up, maya moore also has best advice for us, best that she has ever received. stay with us. >> i am listening. there are a lot of warning lights and sounds vying for your attention. so we invented a warning you can feel. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with a patented safety alert seat. when there's danger you might not see, you're warned by a pulse in the seat. it's technology you won't find in a mercedes e-class. the all-new cadillac xts has arrived, and it's bringing the future forward. a living, breathing intelligence helping business, do more business. in here, opportunities are created and protected. gonna need more wool! demand is instantly recognized and securely acted on across the company. around the world. turning a new trend, into a global phenomenon. it's the at&t network -- securing a world of new opportunities. ♪ [romney singing]: oh beautiful, for spacious skies, i'm barack obama and i approve this message.. for amber waves of grain, for purple mountains majesty, above the fruited plain, america, america, god shed his grace on thee, and crowned thy good, with brotherhood... and it feels like your lifeate revolves around your symptoms, ask your gastroenterologist about humira adalimumab. humira has been proven to work for adults who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief, and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. get headed in a new direction. with humira, remission is possible. 57 minutes after the hour. we wrap it up as always with best advice. here is christine. >> athletes have the best advice. today's from olympian maya moore on team usa for women's bob in london and we caught up with her in d.c. we asked her what's the best advice she ever received. listen. >> i think the best advice i have gotten in awhile is focus on who you're becoming more than where you're going. it is your character, who you are and it will ultimately determine where you're going. that's probably my best advice that i have heard in a long time. >> i like that. >> i do, too. >> focus on who you're becoming rather than where you're going. sort of like a version of life is a destination, not a journey oh the journey, not the destination. don't take advice from me. i can't keep it straight. >> so many olympians have great advice. >> and the hyperfocus and maybe the more intro spec active than the rest of us because they have to really be mentally there. for some of the olympians what i think is interesting is they trained their whole lives for something and they could be done doing it by the time they're 30. >> wow. >> hopefully it is more good advice in the olympics. >> "starting point" with soledad o'brien starts right now. welcome, everybody. our starting point this morning is just seconds from disaster. a triple plane crash was barely averted at one of the nation's busiest airports. red flag, a psychiatrist so concerned about what the colorado alleged shooter james holmes was telling her that she alerted a threat team at the university, so why were police never told? secret orders, president obama signing a deal to support the rebels in syria. will the united states arm them for the fight? plus, lochte versus phelps, the rematch tonight. can they top the thrilling finish in the pool from last