night as a category 2 storm, ruining holiday plans for thousands. arthur is the first hurricane to make landfall in the u.s. since superstorm sandy in 2012. surge-related flooding is likely along the coast as arthur moves north. susan mcginnis is on the outer banks of the island of nags head. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. hurricane arthur is hitting at the worst possible point at this hour right now. it's north of here as it makes its way up the north carolina coast. there's not to be a soul found outside other than a couple of police. people did tell us they're hanging around as of late last night but thousands decided to change their plans, pack up, and get out of the way. police in their county told people to stay indoors as hurricane arthur came ashore thursday night dumping heavy rain and unleashing 100-mile-per-hour winds. the first named storm of the season made landfall as a category 2 storm before midnight near the southern end of the state's southern banks. the governor put two dozen counties under a state of emergency. >> we really won't know the extoechbt the damage until mid morning or even later. >> reporter: arthur is pounding the north carolina coastline and washing out july 4th holiday plans for residents and vacationers here, many of whom evacuated. some did stay to ride out the storm. police went door to door to take note of who stayed behind, but harry and his family vacationing in nags head from northern virginia decided to pack it in. >> we saw the state trooper on the road and he said was a mandatory evacuation, so, you know, that's when we decided to leave a little early. >> reporter: now, this is the kind of wind and the kind of rain that can dodge on structures on the outer banks, bring down power lines. believe it or not, anne-marie, it's expected to be a beautiful weekend as it moves up north and heads off the coast. he's hoping to salvage some of the tourist season. >> let's hope he's right. meteorologist eric fisher of our boston affiliate wbz has been tracking hurricane arthur. >> well, we have a hurricane -- significant hurricane making landfall in the outer banks. arthur is the first hurricane of category 2 strength or stronger that's made landfall in the united states since all the way back in 2008. so the strongest storm in terms of wind making landfall in the u.s. since ike in 2008. it will continue to move across the outer banks during the overnight hours and move to open water by the end of the day today. it would be just off the delmarva peninsula. spend some time over open water on friday but then comes very close to the southern new england coastline. a track that takes it just off the east and south of nantucket it should start to weaken to a category 1. in terms of that wind field, bring the hurricane force winds across the outer bangs. could be some significant damage left over because of that. then the wind field is over open water during the day friday night into saturday morning. this is where the tropical storm force winds should be coming across cape cod and the islands across far south. and because of that there are some warnings upstream as we work our way up to the north and east. tropical storm warnings do touch far eastern massachusetts and hurricane warnings for the coastal waters. so still a ways to go here on the fourth of july looking at significant impact from the first named storm of the season. i'm meteorologist eric fisher for cbs newss. >> well, the threat of hurricane arthur for several cities to hold their independence celebrations a day early. ♪ >> one of those cities was boston. they held their annual boston pops concert last night. heavy rain and lightning forced everyone to leave. and there was a deadly fireworks explosion southwest of dallas. a trailer full of fireworks blew up yesterday. one person was killed, three others were injured. today's fourth of july fireworks celebration is canceled as authorities investigate. turning now to the economy, which is picking up steam, last month employers added 288,000 jobs and unemployment -- the unemployment rate dropped to 6.1%, its lowest since 2008. that led to a surge on wall street. the dow shot up 92 points yesterday, closing for the first time ever above 17,000 points. the nasdaq gained 28 points. anthony mason reports. >> reporter: with the surnl in june hiring, the u.s. economy appears to be gaining momentum. nearly 1.4 million jobs have been created so far this year. economist michael hanson is with bank of america/merrill lynch. is the economy finally getting traction here? >> it looks to be. >> reporter: not only was job growth in june strong but the previous two months were revise up as well, may, 224,000 jobs created and april, 304,000. that's the strongest increase in two years. anthony says the economy is on its feet again. so we're standing. are we running? >> we're walking a little more briskly than we were six months ago. i don't know that we're running but we're getting there. >> reporter: the lowest is those with college degrees but many like elizabeth thompson still feels underemployed. a journalism major earns about $28,000 a year. >> the main thing i always worry is that i'm not going to ever be able to make a solid living. that's probably my biggest worry. >> reporter: a study by the new york fed found that 40% of recent graduates can't find jobs that fit their education level. >> you've got to work really hard because you're not to be graduate and say well, i have a bachelor's, so give me that job, because that's not how it works. >> the wages have raised 2% over the past year about the rate of inflation and weekly wages have actually fallen in the past two months. anthony mason, cbs news, new york. now, to the immigration debate. president obama will preside over a july 4th citizenship ceremony for 25 members of the armed forces this morning. at a hearing yesterday, texas governor rick perry called the situation at the us border a humanitarian crisis. more than 52,000 unaccompanied children have crossed the u.s. border since october. at one point perry got into a heated debate. >> if you're going it where i think you're going i've been the governor for 14 years. >> governor, if you don't mind. >> no, no. >> if you agree -- >> here's the reason i agree to it. the reason people are coming is because the border has not been secured. >> perry also said texas should be reimbursed the half a billion dollars it spent protecting the border. harris was charged with leaving his son in a car to die. prosecutors says harris was sexting while his son died. harris spent his last day sending lewd messages to young women including teenagers. >> the most common term would be sexting. >> were photos being sent? >> yes. >> reporter: the detective testified it was 88 degrees on june 18th, the day harris left his 22-month-old son cooper in the car for seven hours while he went to work. prosecutors say harris intentionally killed the boy, painting him as unhappily married, even searching the internet on living a child-free life. he called the sexting testimony campaign. harris told police he forgot to drop off cooper at dare care. the detective said he returned to his car after lunch to drop off a purchase and still claimed to not have noticed his son in the car. harris reached for your a tissue while the defense witness talked about his reaction. >> he said, oh, my god, my son is dead. >> reporter: the's remain in jal awaiting trial. coming up, middle east violence skploesds in the aftermath of three israeli students. you're watching the cbs. "cbs morning news" this is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage. doctors have been prescribing humira for ten years. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. it's proven to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage in many adults. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. talk to your doctor and visit humira.com this is humira at work lactaid® is 100% real milk? right. real milk. but it won't cause me discomfort. exactly, because it's milk without the lactose. and it tastes? it's real milk! come on, would i lie about this? [ female announcer ] lactaid. 100% real milk. no discomfort. in arizona a massive dust storm rolled through phoenix last night. neighborhoods were choked with dust. strong winds knocked out power to more than 25,000 customers. operations at sky harbor international airport were briefly halted and a fourth of july fireworks show in phoenix was canceled. the u.s. military is assessing the crisis in iraq. the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general martin dempsey says iraqi forces can defend baghdad but cannot retake territory they already lost. defense secretary chuck hagel says about 200 american military advisers are in iraq but insist they will not be involved in combat. israel is facing possible backlash following today's funeral of a palestinian teenager. they're calling for restraint after days of fighting between the police and palestinian protesters. alex ortiz reports on clashes. >> reporter: it was the second day of fierce riot. they threw rocks and molotov cocktails. this is the worst violence they have seen in year. palestinians have built a barricade behind me. they're burning tires. you can smell the smoke in the air. the fear is ton rest that spread. tensions spiked after the funeral of three murdered israeli teenagers and the suspected revenge killing of a palestinian teenager yesterday. the badly burned body was dibbs covered wednesday dumped in a foefrt. police are still investigating the murder. but here among the mourners outside the boy's home, he's already become the latest martyr in an endless cycle of violence. video showed a small crowd of israeli as they showed death to arabs as they passed the camera and in gaza the militant islamic force turned out in a show of force showing this isn't over yet. there are worries that after the funeral this is only going to escalate further. alex or tease, cbs news, tell veef. in sports the yankees start the holiday weekend with a bang. it's this new paint. nothing stays on the wall. not any of these things. valspar reserve super stain resistant. and scrubbable. and this color! still perfect! introducing valspar® reserve™ paint + primer with hydrochroma™ technology. exclusively at lowe's. say "hi" rudy. 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(angry cat purr) ah! part of a good breakfast... for almost everyone! here's a look at today's forecast in some cities often the country. and here's another look at this morning's top stories. hurricane arthur is now a category 2 storm, hammering north carolina. it made landfall last night, packing winds of 100 miles an hour. arthur is expected to weaken as it moves up the east coast. and boston held its july 4th celebrations a day early because of hurricane arthur. fireworks in new jersey and new hampshire are postponed until the weekend. officials say a hiker who decided to climb down a cliffside on monday became stranded but he was able to use his cell phone to call for help. bigad shaban spoke to the res e rescuer who was lowered from a helicopter to pull the man to safety. >> reporter: more than 100 feet above the rocks, the stranded hiker waited to be rescued. >> he's sitting on about a 3-foot ledge or so. >> reporter: a seven-member rescue team all volunteers all helicoptered in from sn. 32-year-old miles mcdonagh was lowered out of the helicopter to grab the hiker. his helmet camera captured the drama. he's made over 20 other cliffside rescues over the last five years but said this was the most difficult. >> he was hanging on maybe on a three foot ledge so there wasn't much to work there. >> but mcdonagh managed to get to him and he was going to be oklahoma. i told him not to let go of the rock or grab for me but remain calm. >> reporter: what was his reaction. >> he was obviously a bit shaken up, a very stressful situation but he was composed the whole time and did everything, you know, to make his rescue a success. >> reporter: the entire mission lasted about 30 minutes and anded with the hiker and the entire rescue team back on solid ground with no injuries. bigad shaban, cbs news. well, the top competitors for today's fourth of jewel hot dog eating contest are ready. at new york city hall reigning male champion joey chestnut looking for his eighth win weighed in at 228 pounds. coming up after your local news on "cbs this morning" we'll have live reports on hurricane arthur up the coast. i'm anne-marie green. this is the "cbs morning news." but do you really? 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[ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover. ya thom the results of a new audit to show wait times to get an appointment at the veteran health affairs facility has improved. meanwhile there were managers getting bonuses during the secret coverup of the waiting list. wyatt andrews reports. >> reporter: this list we obtained from the veterans house affairs committees shows $2.8 million going to senior executives with more going to those in charge while care was delayed for veterans. more than $9,000 went to sharon helman while parents died. helman's bonus has been resci rescinded and she's been suspended but her boss susan bowers receives nearly $9,000 despite two ongoing investigations. >> i think we we're going to find the more we investigate you're going see where folks decided to gain the system, fudge the numbers if you will, cook the books in order to get bonuses. >> reporter: in some cases bonuses went to executives despite dockmented problems. $8,200 went to cynthia mccormack, the hospital director in shy ycheyenne, wyoming. there was also a bad boys list in cheyenne for anyone who did not submit false reports. in phoenix debbie allen believes her husband mel died because of bonuses. mel died of bladder cancer after waiting eighth months for care but she said officials would not report the delay s because that would cost them money. >> it was disgusting. for money, for bonuses. it's really careful. >> we could not reach sharon helman. susan bowers who has since retired told us in a phone interview she was not aware of findings of manipulation of data and her bonus was based on the many positive things done while i was there. cynthia mccormack seblts us to the headquarters. she said she got her information based on the information available at the time. what's coming to congress is a much closer look as to why the bonuses weren't stopped. senior level bonuses have already been suspended for this year, but not even chairman miller would eliminate all of the bonuses because he said thousands of hard-working employees deserve them. wyatt andrews, cbs news, washington. well, coming up after your local news on "cbs this morning," live reports on hurricane arthur. plus, a warning about drowsy driving, which is blamed for tens of thousands of crashes every year. and members of the u.s. soccer team join us in the studio fresh from the world cup tournament. that's the "cbs morning news" for this friday. thanks for watching. i'm anne-marie green. have a happy forth of july. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning, it is independence day, the place it all started. we'll get you ready for day full of events celebrating the wirth of our nation. >> people on the coast have their eyes on unwanted visitor this fourth of july, hurricane arthur. we take a look at the path of that storm ahead. >> some in the area will have clean to up deal with after storms rolled through our area. we will assess the damage. looks like normal thing the last couple of days these storms. >> so stormy, but i think i heard good news, not complete wash out for the weekend? lets zero let's finds out. kate knit weather center we're start to see things gradual