Transcripts For HLN Morning Express With Robin Meade 20090807

good morning. friday. man, it could. come fast enough, huh? i'm robin meade. here's what's going on. the senate has cleared away $2 billion in the cash for clunkers program. u.s. forces may have killed the top taliban leader in pakistan but they still need one more piece to prove it. this guy is so popular, people are fighting over him in court. ahhh. you now have a few more weeks to take advantage of cash for clunkers program. last night the senate agreed to pump $2 more billion into the program. they hope it will help sell another half million new cars. it offers up to $4500 to trade in your old gas guzzler for a more fuel-ee for end car. >> it's a great thing not just for the automobile industry but for consumerses who will now have an opportunity to buy a car that they otherwise not have been able to do. >> as of this morning there were 180,000 deals that had been inputted and completed. we know that this will be a great weekend to go out and buy an automobile. well, the program's initial $1 billion instantly boosted car sales but it ran out in only ten days. some republican critics say cash for clunkers program will create future problems. used car dealer henry tice is not charged in the killing but he wrote a series of bad checks to billings and billings was trying to recover the debt. police also say tice had other kinds of dangerous debt. >> we have information that he was involved with the mexican mafia in the car dealings and the fact that he had borrowed up to $50,000 at one time and was in debt to the mafia and his payments back to them. >> well, billings and his wife were killed at their house. the nomination of sonia sotomayor of new york to be an aa associate justice of the supreme court of the united states is confirmed. >> judge sonia sotomayor has been confirmed to the supreme court. she will become the nation's first hispanic justice when she is sworn in tomorrow. she was just glowing. most republicans opposed her saying they disagreed with her rulings on gun patrol, affirmative action and property rights. >> with this historic moment, the senate has affirmed that judge sotomayor has the intellect, the temperament, the history, the integrity, and the independence of mind to ably serve on our nation's highest court. >> sotomayor will become the third woman on the court's history or in the court's history. in less than three hours a big report is due out and some forecasters say unnoimt could reach a 26 year high. our money expert jennifer westhoven has more on what to expect andly tell you that she came over to the news room today and she said, do i really have to deliver such bad news right at the top of the show. i know. any way you cut it, it's still bad. >> i know. take the gun out of your mouth. it's tough. it's still bad. the forecast is that 325,000 jobs were lost last month. that's better than previous months but unemployment rising 3%. we still know many americans, friends and family in the teeth of the recession, unable to find work. other economists think it's going to go to 10% by early next year. there is some good news. they see they can see some benefit from the white house stimulus package. they all agree it's going to take a long time to feel more of it or for the jobless rate to come down. >> okay. you made it through that one. all right. emotional, exhausted, clinging to company. that's how lisa ling described her sister laura. >> today we took her to the doctor's office, and, you know, i wasn't on planning going to the doctor with her. my mom was going to take her. she said, will you please come with me. she hasn't wanted to be alone. and i hear from euna's husband michael that hanna, their 4-year-old daughter doesn't want her to leave her sight. she doesn't want her mom to leave anywhere. >> she also said that ling and euna lee did cross into north korea but for only about 30 seconds and then things get chaotic. she's expecting her sister to tell her story soon. the journalists were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for entering the country illegally to start a smear campaign. the u.s. may have dealt the taliban major blow. the group's leader was likely killed in a missile strike on wednesday. now they're sending authorities to confirm reports of that, but bed he had ties. ashton and demy moore didn't waste any time. they said engines overheated, fire trucks wherever. good times. it's always an adventure in vegas. i'm glad they're okay. >> that's true. it is. >> i don't know that it would be the first thing that i would do is tweet upon an emergency land snag no, i'd kiss the ground an then i wouldn't get off it. >> exactly. we're still watching sit felicia and how strong is it? >> it's just after midnight hawaiian time. here's hurricane felicia. it's still a major storm moving west-northwest around 12 miles per there. it's about 1,500 miles away from honolulu. look at the track. it's going to take it close to you guys. before that happens it's going to weaken. good news here. it's not going to be a hurricane for much longer. it's going to get down to a tropical storm sometime on saturday. this is about eastern time, but we're thinking sometime late on monday you're looking late at landfall. either way it's going going to be a hurricane. you can start breathing a little sigh of relief. as for the continental u.s. good day for you. the warm air on the backside of that, getting on in toward oklahoma, minneapolis too. look at the showers for the morning. it's not severe. get bit thunderstorms popping in the atmosphere. here's how it looks in omaha. this red blob is where i had the severe weather threat for the afternoon. it's mainly around the warm front. florida, you're mainly dry. as always in the summertime you see that back on in with the sea breeze and the gulf breeze. another hot day when you get to the southwest. texas today, 105 to 110 for you in dallas. be careful, our folks in texas. >> another scorcher. the mother of the world's famous octuplets may have walked away from court with a big win. we're going to tell you what she may win and how it's tied to her babies' money-making potential. t in our sa salute to the troops, congrats to chief matthew boldt. his girlfriend says she misses him. sa salute someone. go to cnn.com/robin. nadia sole man a won't have anyone. soleman a appealed that. well, an appeals court overruled the guard ian for now. there is another hearing in two weeks. earlier this week we told you about a man who was determined to keep a tattered flag flying until his son came home from work. new to you in about 30 minutes. he kept his promise. you had to see the emotional raising of a brand new flag a. it is 11 minutes after the hour. more are reportedly using credit checks to screen potential hire, sometimes before you even go to the interview. our money expert jennifer westhoven is looking out for you. why would you need to have a credit report on somebody? >> yeah. and not just bankers. >> because sometimes people are looking for a job because they have bad credit because they can't pay anything. >> that's exactly right. they they have a way to check your real life judgment if you have a long history of making poor choices but this morning's new york times ask is that really fair? in a time of unemployment, you lose your job, yous miss some bills, then your credit score goes down and you can't get a new job. that could be a financial death spiral. well, some state lawmakers want to limit this practice but the reality is it's something else to keep in mind. if you're applying for a job, it's very likely they are catching that. i'm sure they can understand if you've got some missed bills recently but be careful it doesn't go for too long. let's get you good news in a bad economy. this weekend it could be a chance to save on back-to-school items. big chunks are holding some of these tax-free holidaysing tax-free weekends. this is often the best time of year for sales and savings on items like computers. you can save a lot when you save on that. school supplies, clothes. the one thing you should keep in mind, it does vary by state. make sure when you try to get a deal, the items are tax-free. robin, back for you. it seems like everyone e has an opinion about the president's plan for reformed health care. last night they got loud about it. they were yelling, screaming, banging on windows. you've never seen a town hall like this one. px@ there is more chilling evidence this morning of the pennsylvania gym shooter's obsession with women. police say george sodini took a self-help seminar to solve his frustration with women and made this part of his homework assignment last year. in it he talked about how he spifd up his home just to impress women. >> my objective is to learn to be real and to learn to be emotional and to be able to emotionally connect with people. >> that's so sad. mourners gathered near pittsburgh last night to remember the three women who died in the shooting. sodini blogged about how beautiful the women were at his gym and he had been planning the attack for 10 months. after two more years of heavy fighting in afghanistan, u.s. troops will either let an afghan troops take control there or go home. that's the prediction of an expert who's also a new senior adviser to stanley mcchrystal. no word on whether general mcchrystal agrees with that opinion. it looks like the new place to fight over health care is your own home town as members of congress hold their town hall meetings during recess. yeah. at this one in tampa yesterday, opposing sides chanted, yes, we can, and just say no. hundreds of people were pushing and shoving. police broke up the crowd, ending the forum early. what a scene, and was there any discussion getting done there? nfl star steve mcnair will be remembered. thank you for being here early. >> wait a minute. i don't think your microphone is on. >> it fell off? >> yeah. sometimes that happens. >> hold it. >> there you go. >> wait for it. there you go. >> he was shot and killed by his girlfriend last month. they'll remember him with a number 9 decall on their helmets. they can wear a matching number nine lapel pin. they said the team is still considering other ways of honoring mcnair in connection with his family. mcnair played 11 seasons with the titans before finishing his career with baltimore. chicago cubs minor leaguer julio castillo will also serve three years' probation and get anger management counseling. here's a quote. i think when you look at the country, you really don't want to get into politics. that's from a football coach holtz. our true champion this week is adonal foyle. last week he held a basketball camp. he hopes to expand the program to other countries. hey, did you know that rapper snoop dogg coaches football? i didn't either. look at the posse holding the umbrella so he doesn't get wet. he wanted to see the ravens stellar deep into action, later he led them in a chance a in a huddle. we hope it was g-rated. >> i hope it was a good chant. you never know. what is the latest food you're going the find at the state fair, you know in the deep fried, sugary-coated gooey section. i'll tell you. chocolate-covered bacon on a stick. that's what i said. it was the talk of the state fair yesterday. >> good. chewy. and bitter. >> i love salty and sweet and this hits the spot. >> the stand that sells it says they went through three pounds of chocolate covered bacon in just the first few hours of the fair. they're probably sold right next to the deep fried twinky. let me show you what's happening right now. around chicago you'll sealanty delays but really that's about it. not much going on other than this. look at this. showers should dump toward your west. that's all stretching over toward your direction. you're getting delays coming this. tampa, minneapolis, 30 minutes to an hour because of storm add then salt lake city, 30 minutes as well because of pop-up showers. san francisco, you're looking at morning fog. all in all, a decent day. new york all the way down to miami and boston too. so i don't think we'll see any worries there. more on that in just a bit. some people's quick action saves lives after a fiery car crash in d.c. yesterday. look at this. the accident happened where a doctor's news conference was happening. this is incredit about. come here. look at the tape. two doctors from the conference and some passers-by rushed to the scene before the rescuers were able to get there. >> did you worry the car might explode. >> i was. i tried to get her out. e-mail not no hero, i won't say that. i thank god i was able to help somebody out. >> five people were taken to the hospital. one woman was air a-lifted with life-threatened injuries. some of the stories we're already watched in the "morning express" in about two hours. we're going to get the july employment report. analysts predicted the jobless rate will jump to 9.6%. and after 9:00 a.m. federal officials will release new guidelines for schools. they're expected to back off earlier wreck men dawgses of cannesing school at the first sign of a swiern flu. a freak show lost out. it's too late for him to get what he really wants. well, this may be a great weekend for you the buy a car. congress has approved an extra $2 billion for the cash for clunkers program. that's enough to keep it running through labor day. president obama says it will help to get gas guzzlers off the road for good. twitter was down for hours. hackers overload add website and you can't accent it. twitter is still defending itself against the attacks. a u.s. drone attack may have killed the lead ore of a pakistani group. it looks like baitullah mehsud was killed. they believe mehsud masterminded the attack on the prime minister. police are questioning another person in the killing of a couple known for adopt iing kids. henry tice has been arrested on unrelated charges. eight people have been charged in connection with the couple's murder last month. those are some of the stories we're following this morning. did you realize it's day 200 of the president's. last night on our sister network cnn some talked about how president obama is doing. >> things are different from what they were 100 days ago. there's just a sense that the country is a lot more sober about him, there's not this love affair anymore. suddenly he's starting to look like a normal president. >> right. the other way to look at it, is he trying to do too much too soon? how much is this all talking? i think that's another way to look at, you know, holy cow, yo u can't do this all the time. all of this all at once is too expensive. >> all that matters are results. if the economy turns around, if he approves the health care system, no one will care how much it costs because things will be better. >> well, president obama will also be giving a speech about the economy this afternoon. the sister of one of the journalists freed from north korea earlier this week admit they'd crossed illegally into the country. that few seconds almost led to 12 months of hard labor. >> it was something that, you know, they were never planning to do originally. i said this before, that when they left u.s. soil, they never intended to cross into north korea. you know, they -- i mean she said that it was maybe 30 seconds, and then you know o, everything got sort of chaotic. >> their sentence had been 12 years hard labor. former president bill clinton went to north crey to help get them released. ling says her sister can't stand to be alone after getting home wednesday and she plans to right an editorial about her experience soon. that's the reaction from a crowd in last. after they learned that the senate had confirmed judge sotomayor to the supreme court. she will become the nation's first hispanic judge when she's sworn in tomorrow. supreme court justice, make that. she'll be the first to have her oath-taking televised. sew tee mayor had you nan a muss democratic support with nine republicans. most republicans opposed her, though, saying they disagreed with her rulings on gun control, affirmative action, and property rights. 33 minutes past the hour. it's friday. i know you're tired, and the only thing you're asking for is for the weather to go your way over the weekend. will it, bob? >> come on, jeanie, do something for us that do i look like it? >> it's the best. >> it is like a jeanie outfit. i was saying i don't think this was a jeanie outfit but i don't think you'll see it on the air again. >> a little change in the weather pattern. high pressure dominating sliding eastward, bringing the heat with it. the backside of that, more heat comes out of the south. we had unsettled action toward iowa now stretching toward illinois. light showers are out the there for the morning. later today it's going to get a little more unsettled as the warmer air continues in and get higher dew points out there and we have a front that's draped across the region. could get severe thunderstorms going by late this afternoon. look at minneapolis. streaks going on by. showers, thunderstorms off toward a your west. you can see right here that's dripping over toward the east too. so heavy rainmakers right there for the morning. severe weather threat, put it in red for you today. most of iowa, a good chunk of minnesota. a good chunk of real estate around nebraska all the way into the montana area too. so maybe a watching for that later this afternoon. as for the east coast, the east coast looks pretty good until you get down toward florida. typical summertime for you. when you zoom on in toward tampa, you're going to get the rain showers coming in later todayful light activity. most of that is ground scattered. most of it is offshore but it comes back in this afternoon. we'll have to watch for that. the heat's going to be out there too. 105 to 110. houston to dallas toward well as tulsa. look at this. how great is that? 94 to 95. the heat is building eastward. it's going to affect atlanta. # 4 tore. that accounts for your dress there. >> that's the excuse i'm going to use. >> what? >> some things work. you try it. >> i like it. >> thank you. the man a responsible for some of the most memorable movies of the '80s has a pass aid way. john hughes died of a hurt attack yesterday while taking a walk in manhattan. he wrote or directed classics like "six teen candles," "ferris buhler's day off," "the breakfast club." the list goes on an on. >> you're not fooling anybody. the next screw is you. >> what was that? >> eat my shorts. >> you just bought yourself another saturday, mr. >> christ. >> you brought one more. >> well, i'm free after that. >> they were praised by the critics. john hughes was 59. all those movies he was responsible for. >>y. >> do you have a favorite line? buhler? buhl ler? >> he was talented. a tattered american flag that outraged one man's neighbors has come down now. so why he finally decided to replace the tattered flag. a father has taken down his tattered american flag now that his son is back from iraq. he promised to keep that flag up until his son came home despite some complaints from his neighbors. his son was glad that his dad kept his promise. >> it's an honor, you know, that my father flew the flag. it was his promise to me. when i put it up, we never guessed i was going to get tattered. aerosmith postponed a concert that was supposed to happen today while front man steven tyler recovers from a fall. now we have new amateur video of what happened. tyler was dancing around during a performance and apparently fell off backwards. fell off a stage backwards. they say a 61-year-old landed on a couple of fans and hurt his head and neck, and shoulder. you knew that was going to show up on youtube. that was tmz. you cannot win sometimes. our money expert jennifer westhoven tells you to look out. good morning. >> they are piling them on, robin. they know the new laws are coming eventually. a growing number of credit card companies are putting new fees on for even inactivity. for not using your card. "usa today" reports fifth third has started charging $15 if you don't use your card for a year. notice they don't send you a little notice that says, hey, use your card or you eat get charged. they're also hiking fees if you buy something outside the u.s. discover will charge you a 2% charge if you charge anything outside u.s. borders. and you may be losing a nice perk if you're somebody who likes to find a local coffee shop, plunk yourself down and work on your lapshop. >> well. some people buy one cup of coffee and nurse it for hours. some coffee shops are now banning free wi-fi which has become so standard. others are saying, well, just not during the lunch rush, please share your table. of course they're trying to survive in the lean times because you're taking up a spot for someone who is coming in to buy lunch. >> it does seem like common courtesy to buy one coffee. >> you know how people are. they pretend like they're in their computer and they don't even notice. >> i'm sorry that my bag's all over the table. police say a woman responsible for a deadly accident was druchg and high behind the wheel but now her husband is speaking out and says he thinks there's another explanation for that accident. @ú rock out, man. this is one loyal employee i'm going to show you. john has been working at the same address in minneapolis for 50 years. he started as a waiter. now he's a doorman. and he has only one complaint. >> during the winter it's not so fun. but i don't mind it. you know. the worst thing is getting sloshed by the buses. >> he has a great disposition, doesn't he? in his younger days he used to win the waiter's race where you ran four miles with champagne on a tray. last night conan o'brien said this about an allegation that simpson supposedly made against his cellmate. >> o.j. simpson is claiming that his cellmate is dangerous and may be plotting to kill him. that's what he said. yeah. then they explained to cellmate a, "that's a mirror." >> that was bad. one of the stars of this summer's nba finals has tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug. here's larry smith with more on that. good morning. >> good morning. rich ard lewis will be suspended for 12 games. they say he took an over-the-counter substance that he didn't realize contained the substance. lewis is just the sixth nba player to test positive since testing began in 1989. the thing about the suspension is it's about one-eighth of the nba season. baseball season, it's nearly one-third. will david ortiz come clean on his alleged steroid use? he's planning a news conference for tomorrow and he'll be joined by a rep for the players' association. this comes a week after claps that he tested positive in 2000 #. this is really a big fight. now the ncaa says it will ban any gambling state from hosting championships. this comes to keep delaware from using single-game betting to boost remember news for its sagging economy. can we officially say that shaquille o'neal was looking for attention. >> i thought that too. when i saw this, i thought what? he says if he loses, listen, he will run two miles wearing a pink speedo. i like that he like fun, but it is -- i mean we have a story about him every other day. it's always something. he's twittering or doing this. >> exactly. >> hey, it's the off season, okay? you're 37 years oil. go hang out with your kids. it's oklahoma. a husband denies that his wife was drunk when she drove the wrong way down a highway. it led to a crash that ill canned her and seven other people. daniel schuler said that she must have had some sort of medical problem. his wife's minivan was loaded with kids when the crash happened last month. she, her 2-year-old daughter and three young nieces were among the victims. >> i go to bed every night knowing -- listen to this. i go to bed every night knowing my heart is clear. she did not drink. she wu not an alcoholic. >> well, shuler is disputing an autopsy report. it found that his wife had more than 10 drinks an smoked marijuana before the crash. shuler says that a possible stroke or an untreated abscessed tooth may be to blame. after two more years of heavy fighting in afghanistan, u.s. troops will either let and approved after grant troop take control there or lose and go home, unquote. that's the prediction of an encounter urgency expert. now, there's no word on whether general mcchrystal agrees with that opinion. more chilling evidence this morning of the pennsylvania gym shooter's obsession with women. police say that george sodini took a self-help seminar to solve his frustrations about women and made this youtube video as a homework assignment last year. in it he talks about how he spifs up his place just to impress women. >> my objective is to be emotional and be able to emotionally connect with people. >> mourners gathered near pittsburgh last night to remember the three women who died in tuesday's shooting. police say that sodini blogged about how beautiful the women were at the gym and had been planning the attack for months. 12 women were shot in the rampage. then sodini shot himself. time for our hero of the week. new orleans has the nation's highest murder rate and one of the highest crime rates. two murders this year involved kids who were only 14. this week's hero is fighting to give kids of new orleans a safe place to to give kids of new orleans a safe place to go and he's doing it with music. >> music just always been with me. i love to play with two drum sticks in my hand. new orleans is really dying fast. life after katrina is really hard for a kid. the violence, the drug life. i'm just tired of it. my aim is to get kids off the street. my name is dearic and i started a free music education for the kids of new orleans. we do more than teach music. we have transportation, instruments, i feed you so you're not hungry. you have no excuse why you're not here. we meet five days a week year round. we are constantly learning something new and that's what keeps the kids coming back every day. >> i was getting in trouble. now, when i'm here i practice, when i'm home, i practice. >> i love seeing kids happy. just having fun. the other kids teaching these kids is culture. i'm not saving lives, i'm giving life. a whole different life of music. >> you can find out more about derrick or any of oour heroes work. in a few weeks we'll announce the top ten. good morning! gosh, it's friday. i hope you have plans for the weekend. i'm robin meade. my plans are to get you informed here in the next few minutes. away we go. the senate has cleared the way to pump $2 billion more into the cash for clunkers program. so, how long is the money supposed to last? i have that for you. u.s. forces may have killed the top taliban leader in pakistan, but officials still need one more piece of evidence to prove it. plus you think a five-legged dogwood be an outcast but people are fighting over the doggy in court. >> poor little thing. first, though, you have more than a few weeks more to take advantage of the cash for clunkers program. last night the senate voted to pump $2 billion more into the popular program, that should keep it running through labor day, we're not talking a lot of time here. the government estimates it will help sell another 500,000 new cars. it offers up to $4,500 to trade in for old gas guzzlers for more energy efficient ones. >> this is a great day, not just for the automobile industry, but for consumers who will now have a continuing opportunity to buy a car that they otherwise might not have been able to do. >> as of this morning, there were 180,000 deals that had been inputted and completed. we know that this will be a great weekend to go out and buy an automobile. >> i can just see the dealers going like this right now. the program's initial $1 billion instantly boosted car sales, but ran out of money in only ten days. some republican critics say cash for clunkers will create debt for future generations. new this morning, police are questioning another person in the killings of a couple known for adopting special needs kids. used car dealer henry is not charged in the killings, but police say he wrote a series of bad checks to byrd billings and billings was trying to recover the debt. >> we had confirmed by mr. tice in his interview, involvement with the mexican mafia in his car dealings and he had borrowed up to $50,000 at one time from the mexican mafia and was in debt to the payments back to them. >> billings and his wife, melanie, were killed during a home invasion. seven men are charged with first degree murder and a woman is charged with being an accessory after the fact. the nomination of sonia sotomayor of new york to be security justice of the united states is confirmed. >> judge sonia sotomayor will become the nation's first hispanic justice when she's sworn in tomorrow. sotomayor had unanimous democratic support with nine republicans, as well. most republicans opposed her saying that they disagreed with her rulings on gun control, affirmative action and property rights. she'll appear next week at the white house. >> with this historic moment, the senate has affirmed that judge sotomayor has the intellect, the temperament the history and mind to serve on the nation's highest court. >> sotomayor will be the third female in the court's history and replaces david souter who is retiring. in about 90 minutes a big unemployment report is coming out and some forecasters say unemployment could reach a 26-year high. our money expert jennifer westhoven has more on what we can expect. brace ourselves, huh? >> the economist forecast is that another 325,000 jobs got chopped last month. there's some good news, right. that is fewer pink slips than the month before, but we're still really in the teeth of this when it comes to the job's market. you may hear the recession easing, but unemployment is expected to rise to 9.6% in the latest month and economists think it will go to more than 10% by early next year, early 2010. the job cuts are slowing down and many economists say they can see some benefit from the white house stimulus package, but we do know, robin, it will take some time. we're still seeing big losses. >> it's painful to say, i know. painful for a lot of people living through it. lisa ling described her sister, laura, who was held months in north korea, along with euna lee. >> today we took her to the doctor's office and i wasn't planned on going to the doctor with her and she said, will you please come with me. she hasn't wanted to be alone and i hear from euna's husband, michael, that hannah, their 4-year-old daughter, has not wanted her mother to leave her sight. she just keeps following her around from room to room because she doesn't want her mom to leave anywhere and leave her. >> she also said that lee and ling did cross into north crefrau 30 seconds and then things got chaotic. she's expecting her sister to tell her story soon. they were sentenced to 12 years hard labor to enter the country illegally. former president bill clinton went there to help get them released. the u.s. may have dealt the taliban a major blow. intelligence officials in pakistan say the group's leader there was likely killed in a u.s. missile strike on wednesday. they're sending authorities to confirm reports that mehsud has been married. mehsud had ties to al qaeda and expected in the assassination of former prime minister benstone bhutto. ashton kutcher and demi moore didn't waste time after they had an emergency landing. they started tweeting. well, maybe i'm wrong, i don't think tweeting is the first thing i would do. >> yes, but he's the tweet king. didn't he beat out rick sanchez. >> he beat larry king and larry king turned around and had just as many or more. i could be wrong. >> i don't know. we don't do it. >> we are on facebook. you can go to cnn.com/robin and there's a link right there. >> that's as high tech as i can be. good morning. >> good morning to you. east coast looks really nice. high pressure settling in and back side of that high. winds coming up over that southerly direction and warming temperatures, as well. instblth out there for the morning. all the clouds wrapped up from kansas city to minneapolis and rain beginning to fill in nicely across central parts of iowa and lower parts of minnesota getting in, too. chicago, you'll see some airport delays out of o'hare and midway and that should start up later this morning. look at the rain around your region and not a lot of it reaching the ground and the clouds are there already and they will begin with low and more showers and some will be strong and develop around chicagoland later this afternoon. look at the rain shield overhead now with thunderstorms off towards your west and haven't seen anything severe yet. you see iowa and rain coming on in and lightning flashes out there, too. unsettled for you at the morning hours and then later the afternoon, the entire afternoon erupts and more activity as that warm front goes through. isolated tornados are possible and upper midwest for the afternoon. look at rain across florida and most of it off shore, which is great. later today, you know what happens, gulf breeze, sea breeze could come in and they could collide and nice thunderstorms popping up between orlando and tampa and, again, hot. wicked hot for you dallas, houston through tulsa. >> it will feel like you're behind the hot exhaust of a bus. >> no joke. here's something you never want to see when you're the one in the middle of the ocean. an alabama fisherman says it's a great white. the 12-foot shark swam up to the back side of his boat. experts say, yeah, great whites exist in all major oceans but rarely spotted along the gulf coast. >> you're going to need a bigger boat, "a," and you're going to need move. i thought great whites were cold water fish. who knew? >> who is going to move? >> once you get chased out and see a 12-foot great white. you're crazy if you're swimming in that. >> i'd need a change of clothes. the mother of the world famous octuplets may have walked away from a court with a win. she's going to tell, we're going to tell what she was fighting for and how it's tied to her baby's moneymaking potential. in our salute to the troops, congrats to chief matthew bolt on his promotion. "u.s.s. georgia" and his girlfriend misses him and couldn't be more proud of him. what a sweet message. do you have somebody in the service and you want to salute them? go to cnn.com/robin. nadya suleman's octuplets won't have a court-appointed lawyer watching their finances. last month a judge appointed a guardian to make sure they weren't exploited. suleman appealed that. there is another hearing in two weeks. the man responsible for some of the most memorable movies of the '80s has passed away. john hughes died of a heart attack yesterday taking a walk in manhattan. he wrote or directed classics like "pretty in pink" "the breakfast club" you know some of the quotes. >> i spent three years restoring this car. it is his love, it is his passion. it is his fault he didn't lock the garage. >> so many classic lines. matthew broderick who played ferris bouler said he was shocked by the news. he remembers hughes as a wonderful, very talented guy. you know, more companies are reportedly using credit checks to screen potential new hires. sometimes even before you go in for the interview. that ain't right, or is it? jennifer westhoven, what are they looking for? obviously, people without a job may have bad credit because they couldn't pay their bills. >> that's the quandary that's coming up, but the bosses are saying, look, this is a way you can see your real-life judgment and not just in the past few months they can see it over a long period of time. they say it gives us a better look than just a resume for example. but today's "new york times" is looking right at that question, is it fair, especially in this time of high unemployment. if you lose your job, you might miss some bills then if your credit report looks bad, how can you get a new job and repair your credit? turn into a month death spiral. some state lawmakers want to limit the practice, but the reality is, if you're applying for a job, i want you to know that it is very likely that they are checking, even though there are some lawmakers out there that say, come on o, if you're a plumber, this doesn't necessarily apply. one thing if you're personal financing. let's get you good news in a bad economy. this weekend could be a big chance to save on back to school. there are ten states, so, a lot of you, somewhere in your state they're having tax free holidays out there. check out the map, you can see the different places. this oftson the best time of year to buy things like computers and often have a lot of osales now. you could not only have the sales but tax-free holiday and many of the states faired. many of them in the south. if you are traveling this morning, hey, you need to know if you want to leave earlier or what's happening. >> get away friday for you. so far no delays. good news for the first part of the morning. so far it has been quiet but not stay that way for long around chicago. just a few planes around. here's ord, that's o'hare and mdw is midway. look at the rain coming on in and that is filling in nicely for you later this morning. some delays in chicago, those are the longest ones. one hour or more. tampa, minneapolis looking at one-hour delay because of the showers and thunderstorms. salt lake city, thunderstorms, too. then out west, san francisco, yesterday you averaged a 64-minute delay and that started around 9:00 eastern time and ended up 1:00 pacific time in the afternoon. i accept to see the same thing happen again today. more weather in just a couple minutes, too. seems like everyone has an opinion about the president's plan to reform health care and last night they got loud about it. there was screaming, yelling, banging on windows. yo you've never seen a town hall meeting quite like this one. 16 minutes past the hour and hope you feel like you're on time on this friday. there is more chilling evidence this morning oof the pennsylvania gym shooter's obsession with women. police say that george sodini took a self-help seminar to solve his frustrations about women. in this video he talks about how he spiffs up his place just to impress women. >> my objective is to be real and to learn to be emotional and to, you know, be able to emotionally connect with people. >> well, mourners gather near pittsburgh last night to remember the three women who died in tuesday's shooting. police say sodini blogged about how beautiful the women were at his gym and were planning to attack for months. 12 women were shot in the rampage and then sodini shot himself. after two more years of heavy fighting in afghanistan, they would let an improved force take control there or lose and go home. that's the prediction of a counterinsurgency expert who is also a new senior adviser to general stanley mcchrystal, the top u.s. commander in afghanistan. there's no word on whether general mcchrystal agrees with that opinion. it looks like the new place to fight over your health care is in your own home town. as they hold town hall meetings during their august recess. did i say fight? argument over health care. you know, at this one in tampa yesterday, opposing sides chanted, yes, he can, just say no. hundreds of people were pushing and shoving and the police broke up the crowd ending the forum early. what discussion do you get done then? here are some of the stories to watch today in your "morning express" planner. at 8:30 a.m. eastern we get the july unemployment report. it will jump to 9.6%. in about two hours, federal health officials will release new guidance for schools on the upcoming flu season. earlier recommendations to cancel classes at the first sign of the swine flu. well, chocolate covered bacon on a stick. this sweet and savory treat was the talk of the wisconsin state fair yesterday. the stand that says it says they went through three pounds of chocolate covered bacon in just the first few hours of the fair. it was popular. >> it is probably like hot there and then the chocolate starts to melt all over. you can picture it. late nfl star steve mcnair will be remembered in games throughout the upcoming season. >> they will have a number 9 decal on the back of their helmets. mcnair was shot and killed by his girlfriend after leading the titans to their only super bowl in team history, that was a decade ago. sideline personnel can wear a matching number 9 lapel pin. jeff fisher says the team is still considering other ways of honoring mcnair and they'll do that in connection with his family. he played 11 seasons with his family before finishing with baltimore. sentenced to 30 days in jail after throwing a ball into the stands this during a maly last year. julio castillo will serve three years probation and get anger management counseling. here's a quote y think when you look at the country, you don't want to get into politics. those are the words of former notre dame football coach lou holtz. from the u.s. army to the u.s. bob sled team. camisole a long-shot candidate to make the team for the winter olympics in vancouver in february. >> hey, he is built. >> yes, he is. drafted by the detroit lions last year but the army ordered him to serve a two-year commitment after his college days. he does hope to is attend a career after his olympic career. donald foil, the nba veteran has helped more than 1,it 200 children in the caribbean in three years. last year he held a camp stressing education, nutrition, and yes, basketball. foyle hopes to expand the program to other countries. >> nice job. thanks. a freak show owner is going to court. i just like to say freak show because he lost out on buying a five-legged doggy. but even if he wins, it's too late for him to get what he really wants. you know, this may be a great weekend to buy a car. congress has approved an extra $2 billion for the cash for clunkers program. that's enough to keep it running through labor day. president obama says that the extra money will help get gas guzzlers off the road for good. twitter was down a couple hours, oh, no, after getting hit by a denial of service attack yesterday. where hackers overload a website so you cannot access it. twitter says it's still defending itself against the attack. facebook and blog site live journal also had some problems. a u.s. drone attack may have killed the leader oof the pakistani taliban. a top pakistan official says it looked like mehsud was killed wednesday in a remote tribal region. they believe he masterminded the 2007 assassination of benazir bhutto, the pakistani prime minister. police are questioning another person in the killings of a florida couple known for adopting special needs kids. police say henry tice had written the billings bad checks and they were trying to recover the money. he has been arrested on unrelated charges. eight people, though, are charged in connection with the couple's murder last month. those are some of the headlines. good morning, don't you hit the snooze button, you know you'll be mad at yourself. i'm robin meade, morning, sunshine. president obama focusing on the issue that has dominated his presidency so far, the economy. this is his 200th day as president for mr. obama. last night on our sister network cnn some heavy hitters talked about how he's doing 200 days in. >> things are different from what they were 100 days ago. there's just a sense that the country is a lot more sober about him, there's not this love affair any more and he's starting to look, a normal president. >> the other way to look at that, is he trying to do too much too soon, how much is this all costing. that's another way to look at, holy cow, you can't do this all the time. it's too expensive. >> all that matters are results. if the economy turns around and improves the health care system, no one will care how much it costs because things will be better. >> in about an hour the monthly jobless numbers come out and then the president talks about the economy at 1:15 p.m. eastern. the sister of one of the journalists freed from north korea this week admitted that they cross under to the country briefly. last night laura ling's sister said a few seconds almost led to 12 years of hard labor. >> it was something that, you know, they were never planning to do originally. i mean, i said this before that when they left u.s. soil, they never intended to cross into north korea and, you know, they, they, i mean she said that it was maybe 30 seconds and then everything just sort of got chaotic. >> former president bill clinton went to north korea to get them released. her sister can't be alone after arriving home on wednesday and plans to write an editorial about her experience soon. you're hearing the reaction from a crowd in l.a. after they heard that the senate had confirmed judge sonia sotomayor to the supreme court. she'll become the nation's first hispanic justice when she's sworn in tomorrow on the supreme court and the first to have her oath taking televised. sotomayor had unanimous democratic support with nine republicans. most republicans opposed her saying they disagreed with her rulings on gun control, affirmative action and property rights. some quick action saved lives after a fiery crash in d.c. yesterday. look at the tape. the accident happened close to a doctor's news conference as it was going on. two doctors and some passersby rushed to the scene, even before the rescuers got there. >> did you worry the car might explode? >> i was. i tried to get her out. >> i wouldn't say that. i just thank god that i could help somebody else out. >> five people were taken to the hospital. one woman was airlift would life-threatening injuries. what a piece of tape. okay, so you're thinking about your weekend. i know we have to get you through friday, and please, can we have some good weather? well, bob, what do you think? >> it is changing. the weather pattern is getting progressive for the east coast, meaning more hot temperatures coming aboard. brought to you by fiber one cereal. what is going on right now, a lot of rain, a lot of thunderstorm action now beginning to blossom right around the upper midwest coming out of the northern plains. wisconsin you're on the leading edge of some showers that goes to northern illinois. the bulk of the rain around central iowa getting towards northern parts of north dakota and south dakota. from minneapolis, powerful thunderstorms later today. here's chicagoland, you're dry right now, couple waves of light showers moving through and the bulk of the heaviest rain back through too the west and comes in late today and delays that airport because of that. minneapolis radar sweep as it goes on by. picky up decent showers down to your southwest and that is moving in, too. rainfall rates of half inch an hour when you get inside these things all moving over towards the east. for the afternoon, a slight chance of severe thunderstorms spot i put in red and basically warm air coming up out of the south and warm, frontal boundary out there and plus an active part of the jet stream just ahead. showers off the coast when you get in towards florida and most will remain there for the morning. the sea breeze and gulf breeze develop and thunderstorms possible when you get towards florida. dallas, all the way down to houston, 105 to 110 and heat warning around tulsa this afternoon and also looking at rain showers all across northern parts of the rockies. more on that, robin, in about half an hour. >> all right, thank you. all right, listen, the man responsible for some of the most memorable movies of the '80s has passed away. john hughes has passed away from a heart attack while taking a walk in manhattan. he wrote or directed classics like "sixteen candles" and breakfast club" and ferrus bouler's day off." >> i was just in my office and i heard a ruckus. >> could you describe the ruckus, sir? >> watch your tone, young man, watch it. >> they were praised by critics. john hughes was 59. bob, did you have a favorite john hughes line? >> remember "sixteen candles." where is my automobile? remember that one? >> yes. >> that guy was so talented and he was only 59. >> really had a great pulse on the american teenager. >> that was our age growing up. those kids were us. a tattered american flag that outraged one man's neighbors has come down. why he finally decided to replace the flag. 0t8v8ñ a father has taken down his tattered american flag now that his son is back from iraq. he had promised to keep the flag flying until his son came home, despite complaints by his neighbors. his son was so glad that his dad kept his promise. >> it's an honor, you know, that my father flew the flag and he stayed with his promise to me. when i put it up there, we never imagined that it was going to tear or anything like that. but i guess through the weather and it just took a good beating and stuff. >> well, the father plans to pass along the tattered flag to his grandchildren now. nadya suleman's octuplets won't have a court-appointed lawyer watching their finances, at least for now. here they are in this video from radaronline. last month a judge appointed a guardian to make sure they weren't exploited. suleman appealed that and an appealed court overruled it. aerosmith postponed a concert that was supposed to happen today after steven tyler recovers from a fall. we have new, amateur video, that shows you what happened. tyler was dancing around during a performance on wednesday night and fell backward off the stage. a concert spokeswoman says the 61-year-old landed on a couple of fans and hurt his head, neck and shoulder. i guess the fans are okay. the white house says small cars are the top sellers in the cash for clunkers program, but a new study says that people are choosing more suvs. let's go to our money expert jennifer west hoven and the suvs had the bad rep of being the gas guzzlers. >> pickups and suvs counting for three out of the top five sellers, according to edmund. they ranked the ford escape. they said that was number one, not the ford focus. the jeep patriot and the ford f-150 pickup was number 5. you may ask why it's so different and why the discrepancy? it's using more traditional accounting methods like one example is a two-wheel drive and four-weal drive would still count as the same vehicle while the government is using ways that count them separately. the government makes the small cars look maybe more popular than this way. if you like to travel and work a lot, stay in communication on your computer while you do that, you could lose a nice perk because many local coffee shops, some people buy just one cup of coffee, nurse it for hours and in these troubled times "wall street journal" reports that's hard for the coffee shops and some are taking the steps of banning free wi-fi or setting up limited hours. hey, look, not during the lunch rush or encouraging the laptop users to share the tables that's because they're just trying to survive, too. you could be taking the spot of somebody who would come in and actually buy a lunch and sit down. that would really help the cafe. robin, back to you. >> yeah. i can see how people can be into their computers and acting like they don't see you and your sandwich. >> they do it on the train, too. >> exactly. just don't call it radio shack, call it the shack now. the electronics company, you know, radio shack, is trying to put a new, hip spin on its image. now you'll see the shack in ads. it's still going to be radio shack at the stores near you. the name changes are tricky for companies, though. sales of gatorade has fallen since they changed its name to g. pita hut scrapped its plans to change its name to "the hut." the shack, the hut. anything else? no. what is the latest food you're going to find at the state fair in the deep fried, shugy coated and gooey seconds? how about chocolate covered bacon on a stick. the talk of the wisconsin state fair yesterday. >> good. chewy and better. >> i love salty and sweet and this hits the spot. >> the stand that sells it says they went through three pounds of chocolate covered bacon in just the first few hours of the fair. then after that everybody was walking around with the bad case of the gout. just kidding. police say a woman responsible for a deadly accident was drunk and high behind the wheel. well, now her husband is speaking out and he thinks there is another explanation for the accident. p a husband denies his wife was drunk when she drove the wrong way down a highway. it led to a crash that killed her and seven other people. daniel schuler says she must have had some sort of medical problem. she, her 2-year-old daughter and three young nieces were among the victims. >> i go to bed every night knowing and listen to this, i go to bed every night knowing my heart is clear. she did not drink. she's not an alcoholic. >> schuler is disputing an autopsy report that found his wife had more than ten drinks and smoked marijuana before the crash. schueler says a possible stroke could be to blame. a kid helps save his neighbor from drowning in a swimming pool. the boy said he heard a splash and the neighbor's son say he had a seizure. the kid ran into the yard, kept the man's head above the water until more help got there. >> thank god that he's okay and the doctor said that he had no water in his lungs and so that i'm really happy that he's okay. >> well, happy birthday to him, by the way. he turns 12 today. nice job. one of the stars of this summer's nba finals has tested positive for a performance enhancing drug. larry, you don't hear about this with the nba very often. >> not very often. rashard lewis will profit 1.4 million bucks as a result after he tested positive for an elevated testosterone level. he didn't realize it contained a banned substance. baseball hads dealt with the steroids controversy as robin said lewis is the only sixth player since testing began a decade ago. the ten-game suspension is one-eighth of the basketball season compared to the major league baseball one-third of its season for such an offense. will red sox slugger david ortiz come clean? he's planning a news conference for tomorrow and be joined by a representative from the player's union and more than 100 players who tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in 2003. the fight to keep delaware from offering single games betting continues. a real battle that won't go away. the ncaa will ban any gambling state from hosting championships. this includes delaware. a judge denied a request from the four sports leagues and the ncaa to keep delaware from using single game betting to boost revenues for its economy. can we officially now say shaquille o'neal is just looking for attention? shaq will play an exhibition match against olympic beach volleyball gold medalist and he says if he loses, he will walk two miles wearing a pink speedo. >> he just wants to wear a pink speedo and walk two miles. >> i think he does. he's 7'1", weighs 350, wink, wink. do they make them that big? i don't even think they do. but, anyway -- >> i do not want to do not want. >> i don't want to think about it. >> thank you. watch this tape. keep watching. really watch. did you see that. a stray tire comes this close to hitting a cop trying to help another stranded tire with his tire. watch it again. it happened in texas. a tire from an 18 wheeler came flying off and nearly creamed the cop. he was okay. this is how close it was. the tire ripped a screw out of his gun holster. that will make you move. >> looks like roadrunner going under his arm there. incredible video. we have to see that again. he was okay. >> he was okay. >> just got a screw loose. that's it? >> exactly. >> let me show you what's going on. toward chicago air travel delays potentially there. showers coming in across northern illinois coming out of iowa. that's going to slow you down to an hour or more around the metro area. here's what it looks like for the rest of the region. tampa, minneapolis, salt lake city, less than an hour delay. an hour delay yesterday around san francisco for the hour. we'll have the same thing there this morning. more details in just a bit. >> you have to stay around. i know we have this story today about some new food on a stick at the wisconsin state fair. i was just e-mailed by a student writer, keith harrington. the other items of food on a stick at the fair. you won't believe it. okay. looking for furniture? a stuffed moose head? a plunger? you'll find it in weekend if you have plenty of gas. 111111111111@ good morning. time for you to rise and shine. it's 8:00 straight up already. i know. where did the night go? i'm robin meade. cash for clunkers gets more time and more money. now the car industry is racing to reap the much needed benefits for themselves. >> get off of me! >> everybody back up! >> who knew that health care would cause such ruckus at a town hall meeting. it's happened more often than you might think. we're less than 30 minutes away from seeing if unemployment is starting to slow down. what to expect when the july jobs report comes out. you now have more time to trade in your gas guzzler. last night the senate voted to pump $2 billion more into the very popular cash for clunkers program. that should keep it running through labor day. the government estimates it will help sell another half million new cars. it offers up to $4,500. >> this will be a great weekend to go out and buy an automobile. i would hope it's an american made automobile. i would hope it's a michigan made automobile. >> the initial $1 million boosted car sales but ran out in only ten days. republican critics say that cash for clunkers will create debt for future generations. police are questioning another person in the killings of a couple known for adopting special needs kids. used car dealer henry tise is not charged in the killings but he wrote a series of bad checks to byrd billings and billings was trying to recover debt and he had other dangerous debts. >> we had confirmed by mr. tise in his interview involvement with the mexican mafia in his car dealings and the fact that he borrowed up to $50,000 at one time from the mentixican mafia was in debt to them. >> seven men are charged with first-degree murder and a woman is charged of being an accessory after the fact. >> the nomination of sonia sotomayor of new york to be an associate justice of the supreme court of the united states is confirmed. >> judge sonia sotomayor will become the nation's first hispanic justice on the supreme court when she is sworn in tomorrow. [ applause ] >> she had unanimous democratic support with nine republicans. most republicans opposed her rulings on gun control, affirmative action and property rights. she'll appear next week at the white house. >> with this historic vote, the senate confirmed that judge sotomayor has the intellect, the temperament, the history, the integrity, the independence of mind to ably serve on our nation's highest court. >> sotomayor will become the third woman in the court's history. she replaces david souter who is rereti retiring. >> buhler? buhler? buhler? >> the man who created that classic moment has passed away. john hughes had a heart attack yesterday while taking a walk in manhattan. he wrote or directed '80s classics like "16 candles," "the breakfast club" and the list goes on. his teen comedies dominated the box office. john hughes was 59. mastermind of many great movies. the picture brought tears to your eyes. euna lee seeing her daughter for the first time in months. the 4-year-old had the highest hopes for her mom when she was coming home even though she faced 12 years of hard labor in north korea. >> she just maintained such an incredible spirit. the day of when we were watching on television and on cnn of the plane arriving in burbank, she was exuberant saying mommy is on that plane. you saw her skipping up to the plane. it was just something that completely brought tears to all of our eyes because it's just been a long time coming. >> she said she won't let her mom out of her sight now. lee and her sister did cross into north korea but only for about 30 seconds. she's expecting her sister to tell her story soon. we're still watching the hurricane out there near hawaii. when i say near i'm talking thousands of miles. >> 1,500 miles away. >> yesterday it was a category 4. definitely something we had to watch. i want to show you the satellite picture. great news here, it's getting buzzed down. winds down from yesterday's 140 to 115. it's a category 3 meaning it's a major hurricane. it still looks healthy with clouds. the only thing she's shaving this thing down is the fact it's running over colder sea surface temperatures. right now the temperature is running over mid to upper 70s. you don't get as much heat transfer. it's dying off. looks like it will continue to press over towards the west. we are going to see that track nearing in toward hawaii. let me show you what we have. we're looking at maybe a landfall sometime on monday near the big island but look at the strength of this thing. it dies down to a tropical storm by this weekend and hopefully just a tropical depression by the time it gets close to the big island of hawaii and that would be some time late monday. that's what we're thinking pacific time. back to the u.s., here's what it looks like when you get back to the continental u.s. notice rain showers and thunderstorms. some of these are getting strong right now. at least heavy rainmakers around central iowa in toward lower parts of minnesota, wisconsin, now getting in toward chicago. light scattered action coming in around chicago. a morning commute. some roads will get wet. trying to get in or out of o'hare or midway, you can see it's lining up to your west. more thunderstorms. delays for the big cities. chicago mostly this afternoon. rain around minneapolis. you'll see air travel delays out of that. down to the south farther, just plain old heavy rain coming out of nebraska stretching in toward western parts of iowa. the hot air will continue to rise to the north. severe thunderstorm chances coming in. the heat is building eastward for the weekend. let me take you live to atlanta. traveling down here this weekend be prepared. mid 90s. the highest temperature we've seen 96. today, 94. tomorrow probably 96. it will get hot. >> a little toasty. >> a little warm. humid, too. we get a bonus there, too. >> i want to show you a piece of video right now. something that you would not want to see in person while in the middle of the ocean. it's a great white shark. he says the 12-foot shark swam up to the backside of his boat. experts say that great whites exist in all major oceans but rarely spotted along the gulf coast. the mother of the world famous octuplets may have wal d ed way from court with a win for herself. we'll tell you how it is tied to her babies money making potential. xxxxxxxxxxz in our salute to the troops today, congrats to a sailor. his girlfriend says she misses him and couldn't be more proud of him. what a sweet message. i hope he gets that message. if you have someone in the service, go to cnn.com/robin so we can honor them. the u.s. may have dealt the taliban a major blow. a missile strike on wednesday may have killed a taliban chief. he had ties to al qaeda and is suspected in the assassination of former prime minister benazir bhutto. more companies are reportedly using credit checks to screen potential new hires. sometimes even before you get to the interview stage. our money expert jennifer westhoven is looking out for you. you feel like that's an invasion of privacy. >> what if you're aplplying fora job where you wonder why they need that. if you've been unemployed, your credit score may have been hit a bit. is it really fair in these times of unemployment where if you lose injure job, you can miss some bills and then you can't get a new job and it can turn into a spiral financially speaking. some state lawmakers want to limit the practice but the reality that i want you to know about and to be prepared for is they may check your credit report even before that interview. it's something to watch out for. let's get you some good news in a bad economy. this weekend it could be a big chance if you have to buy back-to-school supplies to save money. ten states are having tax free holidays. that's a whole lot of store owners in all of that's different states who are really hoping that parents are going to be coming in looking for bargains, shopping for school supplies, clothes and computers. something to keep in mind, this is often the best time of year to buy a computer. good sales around. in 20 minutes we'll get a very big jobs report. the monthly jobs report. economists do predict that a little more than a quarter million of the jobs will be lost. about 300,000. unemployment rate could rise. we'll be watching that one closely. we'll have results coming up in your up to the minute look in the jobs report. >> that could be painful. thank you so much. nadya suleman's children won't have a court appointed official watching them. last month a judge appointed a guardian to make sure they were not exploited. suleman appealed that and an appeals court overruled it for now. there's another hearing in two weeks. today the government is sharing some new tips on how you can keep your kids safe from the swine flu during the back to school season. that's when the h1n1 virus is expected to make a comeback in the united states. last hour secretary of education spoke about the new guidelines with our sister network, cnn. >> i have two young children going back to school. i think i want what every parent wants. we want our children safe and learning. we're asking schools to take a tiered response. if there's a handful of children who are sick, we want those parents to keep those children home. >> more than 700 schools had to shut down because of swine flu last spring. seems like everybody has an opinion about the president's plan to reform health care. last night those opinions got loud. there was screaming and yelling and banging on windows. you've never seen a town hall like this one. police officers have plenty of close calls on the job but nothing quite like what this officer saw. did you miss it? we'll show it to you again and tell you how he is. believe it or not, you're looking at what's supposed to be a conversation about health care. pushing and shoving broke out in tampa, florida. opponents of the democrats health care reform plan have been protesting at meetings all over the country. democratic congresswoman gave up trying to speak and left the meeting early. after two more years of heavy fighting in afghanistan, u.s. troops will either let an improved afghan force take control there or lose and go home. that's the prediction of the counterinsurgency expert also a new senior adviser to the top u.s. commander in afghanistan. there's no word on whether general mcchrystal agrees with that opinion. late nfl staff steve mcnair will be remembered in games throughout the season. >> there was that number nine decal you will see on tennessee titans helmets. the former quarterback was shot and killed by his girlfriend last month. coaches and sideline personnel can wear a matching pin if they approve. the titans head coach says the team is considering other ways of honoring mcnair in connection with his family. mcnair played 11 seasons for tennessee leading the franchise to the only super bowl in team history. a minor league baseball player has been sentenced to 30 days in jail for throwing a ball into the stands and injuring a fan during a may lay at a game last year. julio castillo will also serve three years probation and get anger management counseling. when you look at the country you don't want to get into politics. that's from the former notre dame football coach. our true champion this week is a foundation that helped more than 1,200 children in the caribbean in the last three years. last week foyle held a camp. he hopes to expand the program to other countries. from u.s. army to u.s. bobsled team? a long shot candidate to make the team for the winter olympics in february. >> the army ordered him to serve a two-year commitment after his college days. he hopes to get a an nfl career after the olympic games. what is the latest food you'll find at the state fair? i'll tell you. it's chocolate covered bacon on a stick. the sweet treat was the talk of the wisconsin state fair yesterday. >> it's good. chewy. bitter. >> i love salty and sweet and this hits the spot. >> the stand that sells it says they went through three pounds of chocolate covered bacon in the first few hours of the fair. this is the same fair that has so much food on a stick. i'll give you a sampling. they have cherry pie on a stick. how about deep fried oreo cookies? and macaroni and cheese on a stick. who knew? bacon on a stick is new but nothing out of the ordinary compared to the other stuff. >> you can put a stick in anything and it will taste better. chocolate all over his face. it must be good. if you're traveling in that direction, you could see delays. rain around wisconsin will stretch in toward chicago. here's what it looks like. i zeroed in toward o'hare and midway. you can see the rain around northern illinois moving in your direction. look at the plane traffic. not much out there. looking at three planes in this one box itself. we're going to see delays popping up shortly in chicago because of the low clouds. chicago the lengthiest delays today. otherwise, sparse today. good news for getting away if you're not heading for chicago. short delays because of storms out west. san francisco bay area fog about an hour delay today. that's what we have. more details in a half hour. >> you got it. ashton and demi moore didn't waste any time tweeting. it's always an adventure in vegas. bargain hunters, this sale is for you but make sure you have a full tank of gas. if you start at the beginning and all of the way to the end you'll wrack up more than 650 miles of nicknacks, collectables, you never know what you'll find. this is the 22nd year for the event. a cop stopped to help a stranded driver and almost got smashed. @ the white house says that president obama will sign a bill today that extends the cash for clunkers program so this might be a good weekend for you to buy a car if you're in the market. congress approved an extra $2 billion for the popular rebate program. it's enough to keep it running through labor day. a u.s. drone attack may have killed a leader of the pakistani taliban. a top pakistani official says that it looks like he was killed wednesday in a remote tribal region. u.s. and pakistani officials believe that he masterminded the 2007 assassination of benazir bhutto. fewer people might be losing their jobs. that's what we're expecting to hear any minute now when the labor department announces july's unemployment numbers. it's not good news here. the overall unemployment is still expected to hit a 26-year high. our money expert jennifer westhoven is waiting for numbers and watching it and will show us what they mean in just a few seconds here. police are questioning another person in the killings of a florida couple known for adopting special needs kids. police say that henry tise had written the billings bad checks and they were trying to recover the money. he's been arrested on unrelated charges. eight people are charged in connection with the couple's murder last month. and those are some of the headlines. good morning. it's friday. i know you're tired. i'm robin meade. i want to say good morning, sunshine. today president obama is going to be focusing on the issue that has dominated his presidency so far and that's the economy. today is day 200 as president for president obama. last night on our sister network, heavy hitters talked about how they think he's doing. >> things are different from what they were 100 days ago. there's just a sense that the country is a lot more sober about him. there's not this love affair anymore. he's looking like a normal person. >> the other way to look at that is he trying to do too much too soon and how much is this all costing? that's another way to look at you can't do this all of this all at once. it's too expensive. >> all that matters are results. if he turns the economy around and if he improves the health care system, people won't care how much it costs because it will be better. jobless numbers just came out right now. the president talked about the economy. we're digesting the numbers and seeing what they mean. we'll have jennifer come over and tell us more about it. the sister of one of the journalists freed from north korea said they did cross the country for a few seconds and that it almost led to 12 years of hard labor. >> it was something that they were never planning to do originally. i said this before that when they left u.s. soil they never intended to cross into north korea and she said it was maybe 30 seconds and then everything got chaotic. >> ling says her sister cannot stand to be alone after arriving home wednesday and that she plans to write an editorial about her experience soon. that's reaction from a crowd in l.a. after they heard that the senate confirmed judge sonia sotomayor to the supreme court to be the u.s. supreme court justice. she's going to become the nation's first hispanic justice when she's sworn in tomorrow and the first to have her oath taking televised. sotomayor had unanimous democratic support with nine republicans. most republicans opposed her saying they disagreed with her rulings on gun control, affirmative action and property rights. >> did you just see that? a stray tire comes this close to hitting a cop trying to help out a stranded driver. watch it again. this happened in texas. a tire from an 18-wheeler came flying off and nearly creamed him. it ripped a screw out of his gun holster. that's how close it came. we are watching rain. i don't think it will be a fun morning rush. >> look at the leading edge here of warm air trying to get from the south moving into the great lakes on the backside of high pressure building across the east coast. backside of the high getting winds out of the southwest. rainy times stretching toward chicago and northern illinois toward lower parts of wisconsin. also, up toward minneapolis following the first part of rain getting into the city right now. heavier rain waves are to the south and west that will move in within the next hour. it's going to be a tough morning commute for you. first part of the day by this afternoon more scattered in nature but the thunderstorms could be strong to severe. look at rain showers across iowa. one wave going through this morning. daytime heating and warm front in place and some cooler air aloft. watch for power house thunderstorms today. some of those could produce isolated tornadoes in spots that i put in red out there. upper midwest. be prepared later this afternoon. rain off the coast around florida. typical summertime day. rain action will move onshore later today. then heat index will be up there. 105 to 110 dallas to houston. a warning up there in tulsa. it will feel like 110. st. louis under a heat advisory. 105 by late this afternoon. if you have anything to do, i would say do it first part of the day. let me take you live to new york city. high pressure building in here. a fine start to your weekend. hazy but 84 degrees. mostly sunny skies. august feeling more like august after the fourth coolest july on record last month. there you go. more details in half an hour. >> we said that the unemployment report for july just came out a few minutes ago. if you just looked at the numbers, it looks like a glimmer of hope. but you got to kind of really digest it. jennifer westhoven, our money expert, what do you find with this number? >> it looks a lot better. it's still not great. but the comparison is really clear. employers cut about 247,000 jobs in july according to the labor department. that's a quarter of a million jobs but it was triple that back in january. so this number has come down a long way. we do have 19 months in a row of job losses but coming down. the unemployment rate came down, too. you didn't get too many forecasts for that down 9.4% from the highest levels we've seen in 20 years. economists do expect the number to hit 10% by early next year but not too bad. the white house has been arguing that the tough jobs market is why the country may need a second stimulus package in the unemployment rate keeps rising. for now coming down a bit and staying steady at this 9.5%. >> it's a glimmer of hope. it came back down a little bit. certainly we're thinking about anybody who is watching and thinking about themselves not having a job. a tattered american flag that outraged one man's neighbors has come down. why he finally decided to replace it. arrowsmith postponed a concert that was supposed to happen today. this is new amateur video to show you what happened. tyler was dancing around during a performance wednesday night and fell backward off the stage. he landed on a couple fans and hurt his shoulder. a father has taken down his tattered american flag now that his son is back from iraq. he promised to keep the flag up until his son came home despite complaints by neighbors. his son was glad that his dad kept a promise. >> it's an honor that my father flew the flag. it was his promise to me. when i put it up there, i never imagined that it would tear or anything like that. through the weather and it took a good beating. >> the father plans to pass along the tattered flag to his grandchildren now. the white house says that small cars are the top seller in the cash for clunkers program but you know what? there's a new study saying people are choosing more suvs. are those conflicting numbers? cash for clunkers is supposed to help us get more fuel efficient cars on the road, right? our money expert jennifer westhoven. >> government said everybody is buying these cars that get great mileage, succumb pact but this independent study says the pickups and suvs were some of the best sellers counting for three out of the top five. the ford escape was the top s l seller. the jeep patriot came in at number three and ford 150 that's a pickup was number five. edmonds says that it uses traditional counting methods. if you had four-wheel drive and two-wheel drive would be counted the same while the government uses different methods and count them separately. the way they count makes subcompact look better. if you travel and you work a lot, you may be losing a nice perk. if you like to find a local coffee shop and put yourself down to work on a laptop, some people buy one cop of coffee and nurse it for hours and now the coffee shop has to do something about it. some coffee shops are taking the steps of banning free wi-fi even though people have come to expect it. they may say, look, don't hang out so much during the lunch rush or please share your table. don't just park yourself and don't buy a thing. they're trying to survive and you may be taking up the spot of someone who would buy some lunch. >> you can understand. >> spend more money. it would be strange to see that they don't allow you to use the wi-fi. thank you. the husband of a woman involved in a deadly wrongway wreck is coming to her defense. he's disputing an autopsy that says she was drunk and offering his own theory about what caused the fiery crash. breaking news this morning. we recently got in july unemployment numbers. and they fell. a glimmer of hope here. they fell to 9.4. that's a huge number still but it is the first time in nine months that the jobless rate went down and it wasn't exactly expected today. employers also cut back on layoffs in july. they cut just 247,000 jobs. the fewest in a year. we still have a big, high unemployment rate. however, it fell to 9.4% nationally. >> you look great. >> thanks. you look stunning really. it's breathtaking. i want you to know despite my appearance at this function, i remain now and will always be -- >> the man responsible for "pretty in pink" and a dozen other classic '80s movies has died. john hughes had a heart attack yesterday while taking a walk in manhattan. he wrote and directed hits like "16 candles," "the breakfast club." john hughes was 59. one of the stars and the summer's nba finals has tested positive for a performance enhancing drug. larry smith, you don't normally hear this with the nba very much. >> rashard lewis is the guy that got suspended for ten games and will forfeit $1.6 million. he tested positive for an elevated te elevat elevat elevat elevated testosterone level. the ten-game suspension about one-eighth of the nba season compared to baseball's penalty of almost one-third of the season. boston slugger david ortiz will be joined players union rep at a news conference tomorrow. he's one of 100 players that tested positive in 2003. ortiz is not facing suspension because there weren't penalties in place back then in major league baseball. the fight to keep delaware from offering single game betting continues. they will ban any state from hosting championships. this comes a day after a judge denied a request from the four pro sports leagues and the ncaa to keep delaware from taking single game bets on sporting events. i think we can officially say shaquille o'neal is just looking for attention. >> he must. >> this is him last winter at the all-star game dancing. and now he'll play an exhibition match against the olympic beach volleyball gold medalist. if he loses he'll walk two miles wearing a pink speedo that is three sizes too small. >> of course he's going to lose. he must just want to walk around in a pink speedo. >> of course he does. who knows what he would do. >> thank you. i almost forgot to say this getaway day friday is the getting good? >> so far so good. one travel delay volume delay at newark only a half hour long. that's good news. we are going to see changes. here's what we're calling for the lengthiest delays around chicago. one hour or more because of rain moving in. more delays with showers and thunderstorms as we get to places like tampa even in toward minneapolis. you'll get showers and storms out of that. and then more delays out to the west. salt lake city calling for pop-up showers later today. half hour to hour long delay. san francisco an hour or more delay because of the fog. yesterday it was 64 minutes. today about the same type of weather pattern. watch for hour delays in a couple minutes. more on that in a bit. >> okay. should i buy generic or brand name at the store? clark howard does some price comparison. >> because of the economy people are eating out less, spending more time in the supermarket. most americans buy the brand names. bad idea. let me show you how much you can save if you buy store goods instead. the first thing that a lot of people instead. the first thing people are willing to buy store brand in is a loaf of bread. because the typical loaf of bread will save you $1 instead of buying name brand. if you're not buying store brand yet, start here. have you ever seen a name brand cow? i don't think so. they don't have a stamp on them. neither should your milk. this is something you can save a ton on, usually about $1.50 per gallon for store brand rather than name brand. even though store detergent is usually half off the name brand, i'll buy the name brands if it's on sale because it's cheaper. >> catch him at noon eastern on saturdays and sundays right here on hln. don't call it radio shack now, now just call it the shack. the electronics company, radio shack, is trying to put a new hit spin on its image, so you're going to see "the shack" in ads. it will still be radio shack on the store near you, but name changes are tricky. they've noticed the sales of gatorade has fallen since it changed its name to "g." the klingons have landed in las vegas, at least people who dress like them. some big names are going to be there. leonard nimoy, william shatner. for years people have been living large and now it's time to scale back and live smaller? >> it's reshaping how people can live in the city at an affordable rate. >> get a look inside a tiny apartment! ññe& good morning! i know, it's friday! what a long week you probably feel like you had. i'm robin meade. morning, sunshine. let's jump right into the headlines now. the new numbers are in about the jobless rate. it actually dropped last month. i mean, when is the last time you heard that? it may not be time to all-out party just yet, obviously. we'll talk about that. it is hard to forget the emotional reunion between the freed journalists euna lee and her little daughter. now we'll hear about what happened before the emotional moment. the senate is pumping $2 billion into the cash for clunkers program. how long will the money last, anyway? in other words, you have to act fast this weekend? we'll talk about that. breaking news, the jobless rate dropped. the unemployment rate is down to 9.4%. let's go to our money expert, jennifer westhoven. that is still high. >> it is, and it didn't change much, either. it went from 9.5 to 9.4. still, we are going in the right direction. that's an unexpected surprise to see something of a turn here. we do still have losses, but those losses are getting smaller. u.s. employers cut about 247,000 jobs in july. it was triple that in january, and unemployment came down just a touch to 9.4%. so we're still in the highest level since 1983. there has been forecasts that it will hit 10% by the end of the year. right away, though, the future is getting a little bit of a bump additive. i think the take-away is we've had all these little signs ret session is easing, but it hasn't caught up at all to the you unemployment market, the jobs market. we thought it would take even longer, but we are starting to see a little improvement here. the big question is, does this month's report have any staying power? >> yeah. we want it to go the right directions. thank you. early this morning, police are questioning other people in the killing of the couple known for adopting special needs kids. he wrote a series of bad checks to byrd billings and billings was trying to complete the debt. police say tice had another debts. >> we had confirmation with mr. tice in his interview involvement with the mafia in his car dealings, the fact he had borrowed up to $60,000 from the mafia at one time and he was in debted to them. >> seven men are charged with first-degree murder and a woman is charged with being an acce accessory after the fact. the nomination of sonia sotomayor of new york, supreme court justice of the united states, is confirmed. >> judge sonia sotomayor will become the first hispanic justice when she is sworn in tomorrow on the supreme court. [ applause ] >> sotomayor had unanimous democratic support with nine republicans. most republicans, though, opposed her, saying they disagreed with her rulings on gun control, affirmative action and property rights. she'll appear next week at the white house. >> with this historic moment, the senate has affirmed that judge sotomayor has the intellect, the temperament, the history, the integrity and independence of mind to be able to serve on our nation's highest court. >> sotomayor will become the third woman in the court's history. she replaces david sueder who is retiring. if you saw these pictures, it brought tears to your eyes. euna lee seeing her daughter for the first time in months. she had high hopes her mom would come home, even though she was facing 12 months of hard labor in north korea. her sister says they were arrested for crossing the country's border. >> she just maintained such an incredible spirit. when we were watching on television, on cnn, the plane arriving in burbank, hanna was just ex ub rant, saying, mama is on that plane. she was so excited. you saw her stooping up to the plane. that was something that completely, completely brought tears to all of our eyes. because this has been a long time coming. >> and they sat and talked to each other forehead to forehead. she said hannah won't let her mom out of her sight right now. she is expecting her sister to tell her story very soon. nadia suleman's octuplets won't have a court-appointed lawyer watching their finances, at least for the time being. here they all are in this video from radar on line. last month a judge appointed a guardian to make sure they weren't exploited. suleman appealed that. they overruled the guardian right now. there is another hearing, though, in two weeks. five minutes after the hour. we will be having a story about the new food on a stick at one state fair. you know how you can get frozen snickers bars on a stick, mack roan a and cheese on a stick and deep fried oreos. they've added one thing, bob! >> what is it? >> i'm saying you must watch. you'll love it, though. >> anything deep fried, i'm in, right? i'm in. >> and if it's got ham on it. >> ham, any kind of bacon product, i'm in. across the pacific northwest, cooling out for you. heavy rain across northern parts of montana, stretching into idaho, oregon and washington state, too. we had some flash flood watches that were basically poked out there. parts of iowa, right around the western part of montana, that's where the borderline is. these are new because we're looking for another inch, maybe two inches of rain here. idaho, stretching into western montana in the next couple hours. here's spokane picking up a little bit of rain around that region. it's not real heavy yet, but give it time. high pressure spreading out into the eastern great lakes into the northeast. here's your cold front dropping down south of atlanta. we're looking at hot temperatures building on in, though. let me take you live to washington, d.c. it's going to be a warm week for you. temperatures today into the 80s, stretching into the low 90s tomorrow. let's take a look at the white house. more details on that for you, robin, coming up in just a little bit. >> thank you. it looks like the new place to fight about health care is in your home town. they're in their august recess. did i say fight over health care? well, at this one in tampa yesterday, opposing sides said, yes, we can, and the other side went, just so you know, yeah, people were pushing and shoving and pointing fingers. police broke up the crowd and that ended the forum early, so there was no discussion. a prospective boss may check your references, but are they checking more than that? what about your credit. imagine you're on the plane that has to make an emergency landing, what do you do? you call your family, say a prayer? no. that's not what demi moore and ashton kutcher did! . let's salute the troops like we do every hour. congrats to chief matthew boldt. her wife says she misses him and couldn't be more proud of him. maybe you have someone to salute. we'll be glad to do so. you have more advantage to do the cash for clunkers program. the government said it will sell another half million new cars. it offers up to $4500 to trade in your old gas guzzler for a more efficient car. >> this is a great day, not just for the automobile industry, but for consumers who now have a continuing opportunity to buy a car that they otherwise might not have been able to do. >> as of this morning, there were 180,000 deals that had been inputted and completed. we know that this will be a great weekend to go out and buy an automobile. >> well, the program's initial $1 billion instantly boosted car sales but ran out in only ten days. some republican critics say cash for clunkers will contribute debt for future generations. you really don't see many radios these days as the world keeps going wireless, do you? so it was only a matter of time before radio shack revamped its image. new for you in about 20 minutes, how the company is trying to keep up with the times. ashton kutcher and demi moore didn't waste any time after their private plane made an emergency landing. they tweeted about it. moore even post thd picture on twitter after they were about to take off again. ash ton said, engine overheated, emergency landing, good times! demi wrote back, always a good time in vegas. i'm always amazed at stars who i thought would be sick of attention. there they are, take a picture of me, take a picture of me, put it on twitter. i'm not putting it down, i'm just saying sometimes i'm a little surprised at the level of celebrities who love the twitter thing. more companies are reportedly using credit checks to screen potential new hires, sometimes even before you get to the interview stage. is that fair? money expert jennifer westhoven, good morning. >> maybe they were betting each other to see how many cameras they could get on. from the boss' perspective, they're saying, this is a quick way, we're hiring someone, we want to see your long-term judgment, if you've got a track record of making bad choices. but the potential hires are saying, look at the other side. say you lose your job, you get laid off. you might miss some bills, then your credit report looks messy, and you can't get a new job? they want to limit this practice, but the reality is, you should know, if you're applying for a new job, it is likely they're checking. maybe have something to say about that. say, look, i was making good choices up until this happened if that's something that comes up or you want to get it addressed. let's get good news in a bad economy on top of that. this weekend, in many states, it could be a good ticme for you t save on back to school. many of them are having those tax-free holidays. that means store owners across these states are desperately hoping parntsz will come in. parents hoping to get some bargains. looking for school supplies, clothes and computers, and often experts say this is one of the best times of year to try to get a deal on a computer. it's no secret, i think, to anybody that sedentary habits are more commonly associated with being overweight, obesity and possibly associated with being hypertensive, having high blood pressure as well. what's also striking about this study is nobody seems to be immune. weather you're regular weight, underweight or overweight, children who watch lots of tv per day seem to have high blood pressure. they looked at children between 3 and 9, and what they found was children who watched over 30 minutes of television a day seemed to have higher blood pressure than normal. children, as well as a lot of people, tend to make poor food choices while watching television. they also, for some reason, tended to get less sleep. their sleep patterns were more disrupted and that also seemed to be linked to higher blood pressure. if you heard the blood pressure points moving three to seven points, and you thought to yourself, what's the big deal, that doesn't make much of a difference, the truth is we have no idea how to monitor blood pressure in children. trying to figure out how high is a problem. we don't talk about hypertension in children that much, so if you think about this, you're thinking about the prospects of eight-year-olds who have high blood pressure in their bodies, umt to keep these numbers as low as possible for as long as possible. this is just another study giving evidence to that. dr. sanjay gupta, cnn reporting. fit nation is sponsored by total stereo. are you getting 100%? go to cnn.com/fitnation for ireports and stories on how you can join the fit nation. xwpxx? the man responsible for some of the most memorable movies of the '80s has passed away. john hughes died of a heart attack yesterday while taking a walk in manhattan. he wrote and directed clasks like "sixteen candles" and "the breakfast club" known for so many lines. >> you're not fooling anybody, bender. the next screw that falls out is going to be you. what was that? >> eat my shorts. >> you just bought yourself another session. >> other hits like "ferris bueller's day off" dominated the set. john hughes was 59. what's the latest food you'll find at the state fair? chocolate-covered bacon on a stick. the sweet and savery treat was the talk of the wisconsin state fair yesterday. >> good, chewy, and bitter. >> i love salty and sweet, and this hits the spot. >> well, they said they went through three pounds of chocolate-covered bacon in just the first few hours of the fair. late nfl star steve mcnair is going to be remembered in games all throughout the upcoming season. larry larry is going to tell you how. >> the former quarterback was shot ask killed by his girlfriend last month. coaches and sideline personnel are going to wear a matching number 9 la pel pin if they choose. tennessee coach ed fisher is still considering other ways of honoring mcnair, and they'll do it in conjunction with their family. he led their only superbowl appearance in titan history. a fan during a melee at a game last year, chicago cubs julio castillo will also serve three years probation and anger management counseling. you think? here's a quote. i think when you look at the country, you really don't want to get into pliolitics. that's from lou holtz, who is considering running for congress this fall. the nba veteran and his kerr seen lamp foundation has helped more than 1200 children in the caribbean in three years alone. he held a camp stressing aids awareness, nutrition and, of course, basketball. foyle hopes to expand the program to other countries. he is a long shot to make the team in the olympics in january. the football star in west point was drafted by the detroit lions last year, but the army ordered him to serve a two-year commitment. he does hope to attempt a career in the nfl after that. duid you know twitter was down for a couple hours yesterday? twitter is still defending itself against the attack. facebook and live journal also faced some problems. a cop pulled over to help fix a tire and nearly got creamed by another one. how he nearly got run over by a tire on the side of the road! ess the stock exchange has just opened for business. a surprise drop in the jobless rate could boost the stocks today. we'll bring you that live report. so let's talk about that breaking story. the unemployment rate is down to 9.4%. the labor department released the july numbers about an hour ago. it is the first time in nine months that the jobless rate has dropped. and it wasn't exactly expected, either. there were fewer layoffs in july. employers set 225,000 jobs, the fewest in the year. the white house said president obama will sign a bill today that extends the cash for cluchkers program, so this may be a great weekend if you're in the market for a car. congress approved an extra $2 billion for the cash for clunkers program. that should be enough to run through labor day. police have arrested another person involved in the murder of the couple known for adopting special needs kids. henry tice had written bad checks to the billings and they were trying to recover the money. he was arrested in connection with the murder last month. today president obama is going to be focusing on the issue that dominated his presidency so far, and that's the economy. today is day 200 as president for mr. obama. last night on our sister network, cnn, some heavy hitters talked about how they think he's doing. >> things are different than 100 days ago. the country is a lot more sober about him, there's not this love affair anymore. he's starting to look like a normal president. >> the other way to look at that, is he trying to do too much too soon? how much is this costing? i think that's another way to look at you can't do this all the time. all of this all at once is too expensive. >> all that matters is results. if the economy turns around, if he improves the health care system, nobody will care how much it costs because things will be better. >> well, they really started talking then. the president will be talking about the economy later today at 1:15 p.m. eastern. look on this corner of the screen because we'll be putting up the numbers very soon here to show you how the market is reacting. we'll watch that. the sister of one of the journalists freed from north korea this week admitted that they crossed into the country briefly. last night laura ling's sister said that a few seconds nearly led to 12 years hard labor. >> it was something that, you know, they were never planning to do originally. i mean, i said this before, that when they left u.s. soil, they never intended to cross into north korea. and they -- she said that it was maybe 30 seconds, and then, you know, everything just sort of got chaotic. >> well, ling says that her sister can't even stand to be alone after arriving home wednesday and that she plans to write an editorial about her experience. live now, the government is giving you new tips on how to keep your kids safe from swine flu this back-to-school season. administration officials are holding a new conference in washington, d.c. we do have the picture. there you go. they say if a handful of kids at the school have the flu, parents should keep the kids at home. if that doesn't keep it from spreading, then the school should close. he also urged a lot of hand washing. we're in that back-to-school season very shortly. we are up today by how many points, guys? 104 points. up over 100. it keeps changing a little bit. the market is apparently happy the unemployment ticked downward just a little bit. just call it "the shack." after 80 years of business, radio shack has dropped "radio" from its name, at least in its ads. it's spending its $2 million ad budget to get the name out there, but it will still have "radio shack" written outside the store. >> how about that, huh? >> the shack. >> used to be the am radio shack. maybe not. >> bob, how is your weather shaping up? >> i'm going to show you the big picture because if you're traveling out there, a little bit of a change in the weather pattern. the heat has slowly been building behind that, high pressure building on into the northeast, and the heat is going to follow suit. it's going to come up out of texas, ultimately getting across the mid-atlantic, the southeast and the northeast for the weekend. let me show you what it's like in the atlantic. the weather is going to cooperate with you thunderstormwise, temperatures popping out in the mid-90s. the rest of the southeast, it's going to be hot, temperatures easily making it sbut mid-90s. look at the thundershowers generated now. showers now approaching into chicago. the heavy stuff, it's still off to your west. you can see it coming out of western illinois, up the line a little farther into minneapolis. you're going to start seeing delays at the airport as the rain moves in louder than expected. then across iowa, you can see showers moving in toward your direction. slight chance of severe weather. we have it in the area that we shaded in red. then across florida, most of the actions again offshore, but tampa radar will get getting action again. heat advisories out there, in houston today, it's going to feel like 105 for you. more of that, robin, in about half an hour. >> 36 minutes past the hour. at last check, the stocks were liking it. stocks on wall street moving higher after a better than expected july jobs report. when is the last time i got to say a better than expected jobs report. we're not saying by any means we don't have a high unemployment figure. what are we saying, felicia? >> it is all relative, but i'm so happy to report some good news for the first time in a long time. most analysts were expecting a loss of more than 300,000 jobs in july. instead the number is 247,000 that were lost in the month of july. unemployment rate unexpectedly slid for the first time in 2009, now standing at 9.4%. that's not to say we'll hear the number is revised, but that's what it is right now. home sales and home prices and the gdp is higher, and that's slowing down in templrms of job losses. aig said it earned nearly $2 billion last quarter. that's its first quarterly profit since 2007. aig, of course, though, remains far from stability and the company still owes taxpayers more than $80 billion. finally we've got figures showing the u.s. birth rate is falling for the first time. this decade, and some analysts say the recession is the reason why. 68,000 fewer babies were born in 2008 than in 2007, according to the centers for disease control. historically, birth rates do fluctuate with the economy, believe it or not. rates hit record lows back in the great depression, and then again during the arab oil embargo in the 1970s. so once again, we're seeing people maybe not engaging quite as much as they might have in good times. robin? >> guess they can't afford it. >> right. >> thank you. a tattered american flag that outraged one man's neighbors has come down. why he finally decided to replace the flag. you probably used that one before. the man who created that classic moment from "ferris buehler's day off" has passed away. john hughes had a heart attack yesterday while taking a walk in manhattan. he wrote and directed "the breakfast club," s"sixteen candles" and sna plan"planes, td automobiles." >> a man finally took down a tattered flag. it was in honor of his son in the military. >> i'm honored that my dad kept it up as long as he did. we never knew it was going to tear like that. >> he passed on the tattered flag to his grandchildren. look at this video, it's new amateur video showing you what happened. tyler was dancing around during a performance wednesday night when he fell backward off the stage. a concert spokesperson said the 61-year-old landed on a couple fans and hurt his head, neck and shoulder. should you buy generic or brand name at the grocery store? hln money expert clark howard does some price comparison here. >> because of the economy, people are eating out less and spending more time in the supermarket. most americans buy the brand names. bad idea. let me show you how much you can save if you'll buy the store goods instead. the first thing that a lot of people are willing to buy store brand in is a loaf of bread. why? because the typical loaf of bread will save you $1 instead of buying the name brand. so if you're not buying store brand bread yet, start here. have you ever seen a name brand cow? i don't think so. they don't have a stamp on them. so neither should your milk. this is something you can save a ton on. usually about $1.50 per gallon buying the store brand versus the name brand. okay, this is time for true confession. even though clothes washing detergent is usually half the price in store brand versus name brand, i'll buy the brand name if it's on sale, and that makes it cheaper. >> so tune in this weekend to find out exactly how much clark saved by buying the store brands. catch him at noon eastern on saturdays and sundays right here on hln. a husband denies his wife was drunk when she drove the wrong way down a highway. it led to a crash that killed her and seven other people. daniel shuler said she must have had some sort of medical problem. his wife's minivan was loaded with kids when the crash happened in new york last month. she, her two-year-old daughter and three young nieces were among the victims. >> i go to bed every night knowing -- listen to this -- i go to bed every night knowing my heart is clear. she did not drink. she is not an alcoholic. >> well, shuler is disputing an autopsy report. it found that his wife had more than ten drinks and smoked marijuana before the crash. shuler says that a possible stroke or an untreated abscessed tooth may be to blame. you can run all over town scouting out this yard sale and that yard sale, or you can hit the yard sale, the max daddy of them all. where you need to go to find yards and yards of bargains. 46 minutes past the hour. i know you like to look at the morning papers. i've already done it for you, so come here. the washington post published a photo to the reaction of sonia sotomayor's confirmation to the supreme court. one person twittered yes, we can in spanish. here's proof that other western countries don't have health care completely figured out, perhaps. france has had universal coverage since 1945. they just started charging co-pays and other services to start stemming the rising cost. in baghdad, none of the traffic signals in that city has worked since the war started in 2003. seven stoplights were just reactivated, but cops were having a tough time getting drivers to follow the laws again, the traffic laws. we've got new sound right now from the pennsylvania gym shooter. more chilling evidence this morning with his obsession with women. >> it is easy for me to hide from my emotions for one more day. take a long drive in the car, listen to some music, daydream or just do some mundane task around the house that really doesn't need to be done that's not too important. and there you go, one more day, and one more day turns into one more year. >> police say that george sodini made this youtube video in a homework assignment last year. it was for a self-help seminar that he took to try to solve his frustrations with women. in it he talked about how he spiffed up his home just to try to impress possible dates. police say that sodini blogd about how beautiful the women in his gym were and had been planning the attack for months. 12 women were shot in the rampage. then sodini shot himself. law marksz got a chance to grill an airline executive about the deadly plane crash in buffalo, new york. what he said would have been different if they knew then what they know now. instead of drinking glasses from the tv show "the flintstones," a pin ball machine, or a really ugly, stinky couch. bargain hunters, this sale is for you. make sure you have a full tank of gas because the world's longest yard sale stretches all from back roads in ohio all the way to alabama. it is the 22nd year for the world's longest yard sale. one of the stars of the summer's nba finals has tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs? well, larry smith has more. it's one drug, and that's not something you hear about in the nba that often. >> no, you don't, but the money he's going to cough up, $1.6 xx million is what he forfeits for what he said was an honest mistake. he said he took an over the counter medication that he didn't know contained a steroid substance. he is the sixth nba player to test positive for peds that to penalty for almost one-third of the season for a similar offense. david ortiz's name surfaced last week as one of more than 100 players that tested positive for performance enhancing drugs back in 2003. he doesn't face suspension because no penalties were in place back then. the fight to keep delaware from offering single game betting continues. now the ncaa says it will ban any gambling state from hosting its championships. this comes a day after a judge denied a request from the ncaa and all four prosports leagues to keep delaware from taking single game bets on sporting events. shaquille o'neal again looking for attention. he's got that reality show, he's on twitter all the time, here he was dancing at this year's all-star game. he'll now play an exhibition match against misty may treanor and kerri walsh. he says if he loses, we'll walk three miles wearing a pink speedo that's three sizes too small. >> let's not and say we did! >> right. let's not tell anybody, so we don't have any video evidence. >> i think he just wants to wear the pink speedo and walk around. >> then just do that. do it in your houses. do i have to know about it. >> he's an exhibitionist just like you, bob. >> big whoop. but he used to live in miami, is he going to do it in cleveland now? a little cool up there. we have a delay right now in san francisco, an hour long. just like yesterday. you have that to start out the day. look at the rain heading into o'hare and midway. that will slow you down later today, over an hour possibly at the chicago metros. we'll get a look at that plus the radar coming up in just about ten minutes from now. >> all right, thanks! a classic american toy is coming to life on the big screen. what mr. moviefone has to say about "g.i. joe."

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