arizona's new immigration law will go into effect just after midnight tonight but without its most controversial provision. a federal judge in phoenix put them on hold today while a challenge to the law, filed by the obama administration, works its way through the courts. so blocked for now are provisions requiring a police officer who stops someone for any law enforcement reason to check his immigration status. requiring immigrants to carry their papers at all times. and making it illegal for undocumented workers to solicit employment in public places. john blackstone in phoenix tonight reports the reaction from both sides was swift and strong. >> reporter: for those who have been demonstrating against arizona's new immigration law, the preliminary injunction blocking its most controversial sections was a relief after weeks of worry. it seemed an answer to their prayers. >> today's ruling is victorious first step toward the retaining of a permanent injunction. >> reporter: but most of the people of arizona, 55%, according to a recent poll, support the new law, an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants are now living in the state. >> the strain on the economy by all of the people that are here getting services that are basically paying into the system is kind of a strain. >> reporter: arizona's governor said the ruling is a setback for her state's effort to do what washington is failing to do-- make the border secure. >> today the federal government got relief from the courts to not to do their job. >> reporter: but in the 36-page ruling, judge susan bolt own says the state seems to be reaching too far into responsibilities reserved for the federal government. the judge says requiring arizona law enforcement to determine the immigration status of every person who is arrested would be a burden on legal immigrants who could be held while their status is verified. that's exactly what bothered waitress yessica perez, who is born in the united states. >> just because i look dark -- you know, because i have dark skin, i mean, i was worried, you know, if i was pulled over by a cop they would ask me for my immigration status. >> reporter: one of the law's biggest supporters, sheriff joe arpaio, of maricopa county, is planning what he calls a crime suppression operation in phoenix tomorrow. since 2007, he's overseen the deportation of more than 26,000 illegal immigrants, almost a quarter of the entire number deported from the united states in that time. >> i don't have a defeatist attitude. i don't surrender. >> reporter: he says even with some provisions of the new law blocked he has many tools to use against illegal immigrants. why did you need this law in the first place? >> well, i'm not the guy that passed the legislature, but it's good. any little-- anything that helps is good, anything. >> reporter: opponents of the law are continuing their demonstration, their vigil here at the state capital. it's their opinion that this law will be repealed, that many provision of this law will remain intact, and that arizona will continue to get tough on illegal immigration. katie. >> couric: john blackstone in phoenix tonight, john, thanks so much. jan crawford in washington is our chief legal correspondent, and, jan, judge susan bolton didn't strike down the entire law. so what does that mean, exactly? >> well, katie, she struck down every section the obama administration cared about. it was a complete victory for the administration. judge bolton accepted every major argument the administration made. she ruled the power to regulate immigration lies exclusivly with the federal government and the arizona law will burden aliens and u.s. citizens. she said she recognized arizona has significant interest in confronting illegal immigrants and, obviously, problems with crime but arizona still couldn't step into the federal government's role. >> couric: and, jan, here's a question for you from facebook >> tonight: how will illegal immigration be handled if states like arizona don't address the problem? >> well, the judge ruled that immigration say federal responsibility. i mean, that's what the obama administration had argued, that immigration was a federal responsibility. so this now puts the pressure on the federal government and the white house to take responsibility and do something about it. but this is a tough political issue, katie. democrats want to make it easier for illegal immigrants to become citizens. but that is a nonstarter for republicans, they want stricter enforcement of federal laws. and even-- i mean, even with today's ruling, the fight in the states isn't over. 20 states are now considering similar laws to arizona's, and this was just one judge's ruling in one state. it doesn't bind texas or new jersey or any other state, although it will put a damper on those efforts. and at some point, katie we're going to get a final answer. this will be appealed and it will probably go to the supreme court. >> couric: and what are the overall political ramifications of this, in your view, jan? >> well, i mean this is the best news the obama administration has gotten in a long time. there was huge relief in the justice department today. they see it as a legal and political victory. they think republicans who push this are going to risk alienating a key voting bloc. >> couric: all right, jan, thank you very much. meanwhile, in california today, the governor declared a state of emergency in kern county, north of los angeles. two wildfires are burning out of control there. one of them is threatening to wipe out an entire town. hattie kaufman is in tehatchapi tonight. meanwhile, this had been a quiet summer for wildfires so far until now. >> reporter: yes, and, boy, what a beginning. authorities don't know how this fire started, but they do know it moved quickly. katie, every year you hear people trying to protect their homes with a garden hose. well, this shows why that's not a good idea. the fire came through here so fast most evacuees didn't have a chance to grab any of their possessions. just 24 hours after it erupted, a fire near tehatchapi has already incinerated about 25 buildings and at least 1500 acres. the gusty wind that normally powers turbines here is now the enemy, wing up fast-moving flames. about 400 residents have been forced to flee. >> i've lived there 25 years. >> reporter: george plesko is living in a shelter. >> lost everything, including animals. >> reporter: this morning, donna moran was keeping an eye on hot spots and counting her blessings. she had to ride out the blaze because she says evacuation orders came too late. >> you're looking around to see, okay, what's on fire now? where do i need to go now? and it's-- we're here, we're alive, our animals are alive. >> reporter: her home suffered only minor damage but with 150 structures still threatened, firefighters are battling from the air and on the ground. >> there's a lot of heavy fuels. i mean, we in a rural, kind of rugged area as you can see, and the fuels this year are significantly higher than they have been in the past. >> reporter: after years of drought, this entire area is tinder dry so it could be another bad night for firefighters. katie. >> couric: all right, hate kaufman in tehatchapi, california, tonight, hattie. thank you. in other news, it's day 100 in the gulf, and what a change. it's hard now to find any oil on the surface of the water. skimmers collected just 155 barrels of oil and water yesterday. at the height of the leak three weeks ago, they picked up 25,000. mark strassmann is in gulfport, mississippi tonight. mark, since there is less oil now, what impact is that having on the cleanup operation? >> reporter: well, let me show you one thing, katie. it's an unusual beach here, both tourists and tarballs-- look at this. in general, though, the disaster zone is so improved, officials are meeting tomorrow to possibly discuss laying off hundreds of cleanup workers so there's new uncertainty here, even with signs of progress. notice a change-- visibly cleaner gulf. we did, flying mississippi's entire coastline today with the civil air patrol. even patches of oil were rare. >> it looks tremendous. >> reporter: pilot randy stastny was flying here for the first time in three weeks. >> i really expected the shores to be covered. not at all. >> reporter: big change? >> huge change. i'm really tickled pink. >> reporter: from early may on, b.p.'s shifting oil blob ballooned. by late june, it spread from louisiana to florida's panhandle. b.p. capped the well july 15. watch the dramatic difference today, a much-shrunken, scattered spill. scientists credit the skimming and burning and mother nature, bacteria in warm water degrading the light crude. >> it's a horrible event. it's look a car accident-- you break bones but normally you heal from all of the breakage. >> reporter: on day 100, the disappearing surface spill is the good news. the lingering worry is what you can't see-- what b.p. talks about-- vast underwater oil plumes and their impact on the ecosystem. one worry: undersea dead zones, oil starving oxygen from the water and its marine life-- fish, shrimp, oysters, crabs. >> there's going to be impact like that that's going to be felt for a long time. >> reporter: in orange beach, alabama, robert stuart is worried about a different dead zone-- his 200 rental condos, 70% of them empty, with no sign of recovery. >> once the leak was capped, it was the beginning of the end. when in fact, i think it's the end of the beginning. >> reporter: a new report captures that anxiety. 10 times the usual gulf coast beach closings this summer, most had no oil at all. the challenge now-- convincing tourists the coast really is clear. katie? >> couric: mark strassmann reporting tonight from gulfport, mississippi. thank you. overseas, tomorrow will be a day of mourning in pakistan. an airblue airline passenger jet on a flight from karachi crashed today in the hills outside islamabad all 152 people on the airbus a-321, including two americans, were killed. it is pakistan's worst air crash ever. terrorism is not suspected, but the weather is. there were monsoon rains at the time of the crash. coming up next here on the cbs evening news, a fallen hero and how an insurance company is making a profit on his death benefits. ñ$ i'm lin. and i'm joni. evening news, a fallen hero and . we've always been alike. we even both have osteoporosis. but we're active, especially when we vacation. so when i heard about reclast, the only once-a-year iv osteoporosis treatment, i cled joni. my doctor said reclast helps re-strengthen our bones to lp make them resistant to fracture for twelve whole months. and reclast is approved to help protect from fracture in more places: hips, spine, even other bones. (announcer) you should not take reclast if you're on zometa, have low blood calcium, kidney problems. or you're pregnant, plan to become pregnant or nursing. take calcium and vitamin d daily. tell your doctor if you develop severe muscle, bone or joint pain or if you have dental problems, as rarely, jaw problems have been reported. the most common side effects include flu-like symptoms, fever, muscle or joint pain, headache, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. nothing strengthens you like an old friendship. but when it comes to our bones, we both look to reclast. you've gotta ask your doctor! once-a-year reclast. year-long protection for on-the-go women. once-a-year reclast. she starts at dawn and so does her back pain.om. that's two pills for a four hour drive. the drive is done. so it's a day of games and two more pills. the games are over, her pain is back, that's two more pills. and when she's finally home, but hang on, just two aleve can keep back pain away all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is rachel, who chose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. ♪ and get the all day pain relief of aleve in liquid gels. ♪ discover customers are getting 5% cashback bonus at the pump... and at many of the places their summer plans take them. it pays to get more. it pays to discover. and those people are what i like to call wrong. metamucil is the only leading fiber supplement with psyllium, which gels to help remove waste and reduce cholesterol. metamucil. ask more of your fiber. >> couric: the u.s. death toll in afghanistan continues to rise. the military today reported another american was killed by insurgents, bringing the count for july to 59. in nearly a decade of war in afghanistan and iraq, 5,620 americans very died. survivors of these fallen heroes are entitled to a life insurance payment, and the government uses a private company to handle it. but what happened to the mother of 24-year-old ryan baumann of great mills, maryland, could serve as a lesson to every military family. >> randy was a neat kid. he really wanted to join the army after 9/11 because he saw that there were things that he could do. >> couric: sergeant ryan baumann was as proud of his mission as his mother is of him. a soldier with the 101st airborne, he was stationed in eastern afghanistan protecting villagers from the taliban and providing critical services, like repairing pumps supplying water. >> one of the things that he said was that if anything happens to me, "just let the world know we're making a difference over here." >> couric: but on august 1, 2008, ryan was riding in a humvee when he spotted an i.e.d. >> he saw the i.e.d. he told his driver, "go left," and that placed the i.e.d. directly under him. >> couric: the 24-year-old soldier was killed instantly. the driver, gunner, and medic with him all survived. so in some ways, ryan really was a hero that day. >> yes. >> couric: and sacrificed his own life to save the other people who were with him. >> yes. >> couric: does that sound like ryan? >> absolutely. >> couric: life without her son was hard to accept until a casualty assistance officer asked her to choose how she would like to receive his death benefits. >> i handed the paperwork back to the poor casualty assistance officer and said, "i don't want it." and he was very patient and explained that it wasn't an option and that, really, i had to accept it, and i had to decide what to do. >> couric: she eventually filed, electing a lump sum of $400,000, but the check never came. instead, she received a checkbook and a packet from prudential saying the money had been placed in its alliance account, where it was available immediately and would begin earning interest right away. >> you can use the address to access any time you wish. >> couric: everything seemed fine until she tried using the checks. >> and i was told that the check could not be verified. >> couric: when did you realize this was a different kind of checking account? >> sad to say, it wasn't until the journalists contacted me. >> couric: the journalist was david evans, an award-winning senior writer with "bloomberg markets" magazine. >> the life insurance company is holding on to their money, and that bothers some people once they find out. >> couric: evans' six-month investigation report, appearing today in the magazine's september issue, reveals that cindy lohman's money was being held in prudential's general corporate account, accruing interest-- most of it for the insurance giant. >> they were able to created quite a float for themselves and they're able to earn the difference between the small interest rate they pay to the survivors and the larger rate that they're able to make by keeping this money in their corporate investment account. >> couric: in fact, in 2008, when cindy lohman's statement said she was earning less than 1% interest on her alliance account, regulatory filings show prudential was earning almost 5% on its corporate accounts. >> they figured out a way to create these retained asset accounts. they figured out a way to hold on to that money and actually turn death into a profit center. >> couric: evans says the practice of pooling and profiting from death benefits is surprisingly common and extends well beyond the military. >> we were able to determine that there's $28 billion in a million accounts at more than 120 insurance companies across the u.s. >> couric: and while prudential packets boasts words like "control" and "security" in big, bold letters, you'd have to read the fine print to find out alliance accounts are not insured by the f.d.i.c. >> they're increasing their profits on all of our children's death benefits. it's sad. and doing it in a way that puts the money at risk. >> couric: they may be turning profits, but at least one veterans' advocate says any insurance company doing this is morally bankrupt. >> this is wrong. this is outrageous, that a large insurance company is taking advantage of families at the very time that the american public expects that they been provided everything that they need. >> couric: outrageous, perhaps, but is it legal? >> it doesn't appear to be criminally unlawful, but it's likely to be civilly unlawful and raises some difficult regulatory boundary questions. >> couric: in a statement to cbs news, prudential said today: the department of veterans affairs told us it is deeply concerned and is conducting a full investigation of the life insurance companies and their procedures. meanwhile, cindy lohman says she closed her alliance account on july 8 and is still waiting to receive the balance. whenever the money comes, it will be little consolation for a family that has already paid the highest price. >> it's hard to lose him. there's not a day that goes by that you don't think about that loss. >> couric: also in its statement to us today, prudential said: for the full article from "bloomberg markets" magazine, you can go to cbsnews.com. we'll be right back. zine, you can go to cbsnews.com. we'll be right back. a complete, lurking, waiting to strike. e a heart attack that's caused by a clot, one that could be fatal. but plavix helps save lives. plavix, taken with other heart medicines, goes beyond what other heart medicines ÷do alone, to provide greater protection against heart attack or stroke and even death by helping to keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming dangerous clots. ask your doctor if plavix is right for you. protection that helps [ female announcer ] certain genetic factors and some medicines, such as prilosec, reduce the effect of plavix leaving you at greater risk for heart attack and stroke. your doctor may use genetic tests to determine treatment. don't stop taking plavix without talking to your doctor as your risk of heart attack or stroke may increase. people with stomach ulcers or conditions that cause bleeding should not use plavix. taking plavix alone or with some other medicines, including aspirin, may increase bleeding risk, so tell your doctor when planning surgery. tell your doctor all medicines you take, including aspirin, especially if you've had a stroke. if fever, unexplained weakness or confusion develops, tell your doctor promptly. these may be signs of ttp, a rare but potentially life-threatening condition, reported sometimes less than 2 weeks after starting plavix. other rare but serious side effects may occur. and my dog bailey and iess than love to hang out in the kitchen. you love the aroma of beef tenderloin, don't you? 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[ female announcer ] chef michael's canine creations. chef inspired. dog desired. "meg whitman says she'll run california like her company..." seen this attack on meg whitman? who are these people? they're the unions and special interests behind jerry brown. they want jerry brown because, he won't "rock the boat," in sacramento. he'll be the same as he ever was. high taxes. lost jobs. big pensions for state employees. the special interests have chosen their governor. how about you? >> couric: in health news tonight, the debate over the right