nevada. three people dead, another 54 injured when a plane participating in an air race comes crashing down on top of a crowd. witnesses say the pilot is a hero for doing all he could at the last second to maneuver that plane away from a more crowded section. also this morning, could we see riots in the streets in the u.s.? like we ve seen riots in other countries that have been protesting some of the governments there? well, one big city mayor in the u.s. thinks absolutely we could see that. you ll hear him explain why. a lot of people out there have trouble sleeping and do you need help? of course there is an app for that. this is cnn saturday morning, september 17th, 2011. we are glad you re right here. we have to start in reno and just a horrific scene. we have all kinds of pictures and videos of because there were all kinds of spectators with cameras rolling. at least three people are dead, more than 50 injured. more than a dozen of those are in critical condition. take
the news continues on cnn. good evening, everyone. up first tonight, urgent concerns about your safety heading into the 9/11 10th anniversary weekend. additional security at the memorial event president obama and other dignitaries will attend this weekend at ground zero in new york, the pentagon and the site of the united 93 flight in shanksville, pennsylvania. evidence of heightened security is everywhere in new york. the homeland security secretary janet napolitano is tonight asking the public to be vigilant and speak up if you see something. here s what we know about this disturbing jenls. intelligence. american spies intercepted communications from an al qaeda operative in pakistan whose information in the past has proven reliable. in this case, the operative indicated plans for terror strikes, most likely involving car or truck bombs in new york and/or washington around the 9/11 an versery. our sources tell us other intelligence chatter suggests the new al qaeda lead
irene. north texas is burning. i m ali velshi, about 30 homes already destroyed bay wildfire. 100 more in harm s way. it s going to get worse before it gets better because officials say this fast-spreading fire is 0% contained. and i m carol costello. new developments out of aruba in the disappearance of american robyn gardener. her traveling companion and the chief suspect may be about to walk on this american morning. good morning, everyone. it is wednesday, august 31st. welcome to american morning. continues to be a busy morning. sure does. we continue to deal with the aftereffects of irene. talk about that. disaster on a delay in some places. several hundred people now evacuated in new jersey as flooding continues three days after hurricane irene tore through. residents say it s the worst they ve ever seen. in vermont, a dozen towns cut off by flooding had supplies air lifted in. more than 250 roadways cut off by high water and the layers of mud it left be
good evening, everyone. tonight, we have two big breaks stories. one is hurricane irene now officially a major storm. the view here from space it is huge. category 3 and getting stronger this hour. now pointed straight at the carolinas and threatening the entire northeastern seaboard. we ll have a lot of details about that tonight. the other breaking story, of course, libya and the hunt for gadhafi. the opposition s already got his cap. this guy took it out of his palace. now they want that head that goes with it and they re willing to pay. $2.5 million for the dictator dead or alive, they say. one of his sons still at large is sending e-mails to our nick robertson. nick just got another one a few minutes ago and he joins us shortly. in the meantime, heavy fighting today in tripoli. take a look. [ gun fire ] running street battles all day. this is from the capital s eastern neighbors, not far from the airport. the field in opposition hands but still taking heavy shellin
should the u.s. be taking economic queues from iran? maybe. i ll explain. next, an inside look at intelligence and the war on terror are john miller who has just resigned as one of the nation s top spooks. finally, a last look at how not to be a spy. first, here is my take. i wrote a blog post for our gps website, cnn.com/gps that has gotten a great deal of reaction. let me talk about it for a moment. it all started because i read a website that pointed out after the s&p downgrade of the united states, no country with a presidential system of government had a aaa rating from all three rating agencies. only countries with parliamentary systems have that honor with the possible exception of france which could be characterized as having a parliament, a prime minister, as well as a president. this brought to mind my years in political science grad school and an essay by a famous yale scholar, juan linz who said parliamentary systems are superior to presidential systems beca