well, good morning. where did the weekend go, huh? good morning, sunshine. i'm robin meade, and here's what's going on. with this decision now, i will be able to fight even harder for you for what is right and for truth. >> sarah palin keeps her promise to quit her job as the governor of alaska but not parting shots. now the political world waits for her next move. plus, a wrong turn by a driver ends in a horrible head-on crash. eight people are killed. the miracle may be that someone actually survived. president obama admitted that he helped fuel the controversy between a cop and a harvard professor. now he wants to be the

peacemaker with an invite to the white house. first, though, former vice presidential candidate sarah palin has officially stepped down as the governor of alaska. she gave her farewell address yesterday. she talked about how much she loves her state and looked bat at her accomplishments in office. she lashed out at her critics and the media and how she's been portrayed since becoming a national figure. >> you represent what could and should be a respected, honest profession that could and should be a cornerstone of our democracy. democracy depends on you, and that is why -- that's why our troops are willing to die for you. so how about in honor of the american soldier you quit making things up. >> now, palin left office 17 months before the end of her term. lieutenant-governor sean parnell takes over. her her parting shots at

hollywood as well. correspondent richard lui has that in a few minutes. eight remember killed including four children when a minivan wound up on the wrong side of the road. new york state police say the minivan crashed head on into an suv and hit another and car burst into flames. 5i-year-o a 5-year-old survived. >> i've been with state police for 24 years and never seen anything like that. we have an accident reconstructionist at the scene. >> so sad. we're waiting for word on that little boy's condition this morning. president obama wants to drink a beer with a black harvard professor and the white cop who arrested him. president obama says both men overreacted and he wants to cool things off. it started after sergeant james crowley arrested henry he gates jr. for disorderly conduct. gates was forcing open a jammed

door at his own hand. crowley says he's glad the president got involved. >> are you satisfied with how the president's handled this? >> yes. >> you are? what about that beer on the -- what about the sfwhebeer? are you going up to the vineyard in. >> i don't know. >> what about the beer she asks. the vineyard where the president's family will vacation in august. the president initiallied the police were stupid to arrest the gates. the white house says he didn't realize his words would have such an impact. crowley says he charged gates because he was belligerent and wouldn't stop yelling at him. north korea is ready to talk about its nuclear program but looking for a different kind of talks. it didn't say what kind. experts say that's probably a hint in favor of one on one negotiations with the united states. secretary of state hillary clinton tells nbc no deal. she says north korea has to return to the six-nation talks

that it quit it april. >> we still want north korea to come back to the negotiating table, to be part of an international effort that will lead to denuclearization, but we're not going to reward them for doing what they said they would do in 2005 and 2006. we're not going to reward them for half-measures. they now know what we in the world community expect. >> north korea said today that it isn't interested in returning to the six-nation talks. this morning space shuttle astronauts are ready for a fifth and final spacewalk in two and a half hours. they'll rearrange a few power cable hookups and fix insulation at space station. nasa will closely watch for possibility carbon dioxide buildup in the space suits. that happened last week. the "endeavour" will leave the space station tonight. two oklahoma shefshg's deputies were smot to debt on sunday. a man opened fire when the officers tried to serve a

domestic abuse warrant. he's been charged with first-degree murder. a witness said the deputies were shot when they kicked open the door of the home. >> they said you got two seconds to open the door, they kicked the door in. the guy was sitting there waiting on them. >> woman passing by was hit in the arm by a stray bullet. we're waiting to hear that woman's condition. the octuplets' mom's kid koos make $250 a day by starring in a reality tv show. we're not just talking about the octuplets you see in this video from radar online. if a judge approves the contracts all 14 of the kids get $250,000 over three years. under california law, by the way, 15% of that must go into a trust until they're 18 years old. i don't know what to say that anymore, other than you knew that was coming. five minutes after the hour. at least i hope it would benefit the kids in some way.

five minutes after the hour, so what kind of work week are we going to have? the weather directly affects your mood. what do you think, rob sf. >> it's going to be unsettled for the east coast, and everybody will be surgically. the heat builds from phoenix to portland. today you have heat advisories. let's show you what's going on now. here's your cold front. that spawned strong to severe weather across jersey and maryland and maine yesterday. this afternoon still getting a little going right now. this morning, look at the showers and thunderstorms into the delaware river valley and up towards the north farther. all the action beginning to fall apart a bit. these thunderstorms about an hour ago were severe, but now they're falling apart and raining themselves out. a little daytime heating today. decent rain into delaware right now getting off the coast of new jersey. that front is straight just north of atlanta. that will channel in a bunch of thundershowers from the carolinas into atlanta and in towards florida and heavy rain

right now in oklahoma and texas. we had the severe weather just yesterday. let me show you video out of baltimore, maryland. they had pea to dime-sized hail and had winds gusts to over 60 miles per hour. look at the trees down right here in that baltimore neighborhood. unbelievable and powerful thunderstorms going on by. that was a supercell that traversed the area. one north of there went from jersey into new england. some more on that in a bit. could see it again today most likely across the upper midwest. >> where people are not surgically today. >> it should be decent for them temperature wooidz. sarah palin took a few parts shots before she walked off of alaska's political stage. let's hear how she slammed hollywood.

so sarah palin fired a few parting shots before she stepped down at alaska's first female governor yesterday. take a listen at this zinger against hollywood.

>> by the way, hollywood needs to know we eat therefore we hunt. >> of course, richard lui has more on palin's hollywood slam. we need a back story for that one. >> she was talking about your right to bear arms, or alluding to that the second amendment. palin is an an avid hunter and warned her fellow alaskans about pressure from hollywood on certain types of hunting as well. take a listen. >> you'll see anti-hunting and anti-second amendment circuses from hollywood. here's how they do it. they use these delicate, celebrity star lets. they use alaska as a fund-raising tool for their anti-second amendment causes. >> politico dom come says it must be targeted to ashley judd. >> she also hammered the media

and urged the media to stop making stuff up. let's talk about what made her make that statement. >> sure, robin. she said in honor of the u.s. soldier, but she did not elaborate further in yesterday's speech on that note. she also alluded to her concerns that some media had attacked her family. now, if we go back to her resignation announcement earlier this month, pal centerline said she was tired of the spotlight on her kids and felt some bloggers had treated her unfairly, robin. >> thank you so much. now let's talk about you. you tell me. do you think that palin made a smart move by leaving? do you think that she's been treated fairly? what do you think her next move should be? in other words, what's your opinion? text your comment today to 45688, that's hlntv. start your message with robin or it won't get to us. in our salute to the troops we salute sergeant michael long. his sister says michael is in

iraq and hasn't even met his new daughter yet. the whole family misses him like crazy and are looking forward to a reunion. maybe you have somebody in the service. we'd be honored to help you salute them. go to cnn.com/robin. a woman paralyzed from the neck down is in a fight with the state of california to become a lawyer. >> to put it mildly it's really devastating. >> new for you in about 20 minutes. the snafu keeping this woman from taking the bar exam. he did it at a town hall style meetingeni meaning he had take questions. that's kind of brave. >> very unusual. usually the fed chiefs are speaking from on high. this guy is speaking directly to the people. ben bernanke was asked about bailouts for big companies like aig. you remember that. but not small companies. what he said was, i had to hold

my nose. that's a quote. but he said, not acting would have had great consequences and he feared there would have been a second great depression if he stood by. he couldn't watch the financial system end the economy meltdown so that's why they did what they had to do. that should air on public television this week. in a couple of hours the dow will kick off trading above 9000 again. friday's gain was small, but it meant the dow landed its highest close since november of 24 points, 9093. and maybe diamonds or high-end clothes are not out of the question. i know that sounds strange in these times, but "business week" says there's all kinds of sales going on that you don't know about. luxury retailers like tiffany and chanel are quietly cutting prices. tiffany has cut prices of its

engagement rings up to 10%. you will not see any signs for this. they're being discrete. >> is that because a lot of brands are high-end they don't need a sale? >> yeah, like coach bags. i'm not saying they're cutting prices. i'm giving you that as an example of high-end brands. >> keep your eyes out here? you might get a good deal. >> yeah. the economy may be sick as a dog but one georgia company is lapping up clients. we have that story in this "small business success." >> good dog. >> suzy used to be a standup comedian in l.a., and like many struggling actors she had to find a side job so she turned to her passion for pets. >> i've always trained dogs. i did it for everybody for free, and i didn't realize that there was an income to be made from it if i pursued it more.

>> reporter: in 2002 she moved to georgia and started atlanta dog trainer, getting certified to train was just the beginning. she quickly realized there was a lot more to learn. >> i went to a lot of seminars on sales, had nothing to do with job training but just on how to sell. >> reporter: suzy put herself ahead of the pack by offering different services like aggression training, doggy day care, and agility classes. >> thought of something visual that people can see. service has to have reputation. >> reporter: suzy says word of mouth is important to her business. >> one bad things goes to 100 people and one good thing goes to 10. you have to keep getting those 10 people. >> if you are a small business owner, we would love to see your success story. go to cnn.com/robin and up load a video and share your tips.

lance armstrong seemed to be able to do it all, but he came up short in this year's tour de france. he did really well. hear what he said about it to our own dr. sanjay gupta.

the gop says not so fast when it comes to overhauling your health care. senate republicans and even some democrats are arguing that no bill will pass without at least a few republican votes and they feel left out of the bargaining table. but the white house says a compromise is close. >> the president believes that we're making progress, and as long as we're making progress, that's a very good sign on an issue that we've been debating for 40 years. >> the only thing bipartisan about the measures so far is the opposition to them. >> speaker nancy pelosi says the house is ready to pass a bill now. can you believe purple rain came out 25 years ago today? at one point during the summer of 1984. ♪ how can you just leave me standing ♪ ♪ alone in a world that's so cold ♪ >> prince had the number one

movie album and single in the country, and even won an oscar for the soundtrack because it wasn't for his acting skills. the movie almost had an x rating because of a sex scene between prince and apalonia. >> excuse me. >> she was hot. she was pretty. >> here's something weird. the guy has never aged. he has never aged. he still looks fantastic. lance armstrong another people like you never age. apparently he was not able to comeback was still a success. this guy is 38 years old. >> 38 years old, he broke his collarbone in march, and he couldn't train for like a month. he took three years off. one of the oldest guys out of 150-some racers, so the fact that lance finished third out of

all the cyclists is amazing and he still stood on the podium. the man who took first, the guy that lance doesn't really like, let's just say that, well, you know, i'm not actually being hyper bull lus, contador, they have a bit of a history together. lance spoke about how pleased he was overall to cnn's sanjay gupta. >> i wanted to come in first, but sometimes in sports there's somebody that's better. i was that guy for seven years. that's what's the great thing about the tour. the best man always wins. >> nevertheless he was very respectful of contodar. this was not respectful. a philly fan pointing a laser at lugo. a laser trying to distract him.

lugo thought it was somebody trying to shoot him. the fan was never caught. meanwhile, a 22-year-old man was beaten to death outside phillies stadium in a fight after the game last night. we have wild video of a fire at an indy car race. tony kanaan's car burst into flames leaving the pits. look at the pov camera. as the flames shoot up underneath, the pit crew guys throw water all over him. fortunately for him he was okay. he suffered second-degree burns to his hands and face. he'll be okay, though. we don't know if he'll race in the next race. anyone who gets a hole in one on this hole in the canadian open gets a free bmw. leaf olson gets a $50,000 with this shot as the ball bounces back, and it hits the other ball. it's in the hole. >> that's great. >> they gave away four bmws on that hole this weekend. tragedy strikes the sports

world again. what happened to an 11-year-old boy when a legendary boxer was shot and killed. robin. if you want to win an ernest hemingway look-alike contest you need a sweater and one more thing would help. >> i drink like he does, i guess. @@

it is because i love alaska this much, sir, that i feel that it is my duty to avoid the unproductive, typical politics as usual lame duck session in one's last year in office. >> it's official. former vice presidential candidate sarah palin is no longer the governor of alaska. she stepped down yesterday. lieutenant-governor sean parnell was sworn in. in her speech palin called on the news media to quote, quit making things up. the u.s. special envoy is trying to smooth things over with israel this morning. he met israeli officials in jerusalem. there was some tension there after president obama said that

israel should stop settlement construction in the west bank. now mitchell's trip is part of a u.s. effort to jump start middle east talks. the president of france is out of the hospital after getting his heart checked. nicolas sarkozy felt faint and collapsed while jogging yesterday. his office said medical test showed heat and overwork made him ill. it said he never lost consciousness. i'm pretty sure this is animal cruelty, but i love it! >> some guinea pigs took down harry potter at the box office. "g force" was number one over the weekend earning $32 million. potter was a close second making about 30 million, but that is a 61% drop from its huge opening last weekend. those are some of the headlines we're following this morning. welcome, it is monday. what happened to the weekend? i'm robin meade. sarah palin is moving on to the next chapter in her life.

she gave a fiery speech when she stepped down as alaska's governor. richard lui is digging into what is next for her. she didn't say too much really about it. >> she didn't, but we'll hear more from her here, robin. she will write a book and will speak at the reagan presidential library on august 8th as well. some speculate she might have a radio or talk show host as well, start a speech making career or running for higher office. she has not ruled out the options and her political action committee has raised more than a million dollars, robin. >> how popular is sarah palin after this move? >> there are polls we'll like at right now. palin elicited strong reactions from the moment she stepped onto the national stage. a new poll from "the washington post" and abc, they find that 53% of those surveyed view palin negatively, 40% view her positively. but her support among republicans appears much higher. 7 out of 10 suggest the poll of republicans have a positive

opinion, robin, of palin. >> very much seems to be kind of on party lines. >> a lot of support from the gop specifically. >> richard, thank you. by the way, we're asking you what your opinion is now that sarah palin has stepped down as the governor of alaska. what you think the next move will be, was it a smart move. so text to 45688, and you have to start it with my name, robin. a second chicago area cemetery is investigated in and out after a human bone was found lying on the ground friday. the owner denies anything wrong. the cemetery is already facing a lawsuit from a family for allegedly reselling a plot where two relatives are buried. recently workers at another chicago-area cemetery were charged with double stacking bodies and running a scheme to resell plot it is. a controversial nfl player is pushing for michael vick's return to the nfl. >> support from terrell owens, a name a lot of people know, no

stranger to controversy. last week we told you vick and goodell met to discuss vick's future. the thinking is goodell will reinstate him but still suspend him four games to start the use. t.o. used a bad analogy to illustrate that. >> i don't think it's fair for him to be suspended four more games. it's like kicking a dead horse in the ground. he's suffered so much and to add a four-game suspension on a two-year prison sentence, i mean, that's ridiculous. >> actually, ridiculous was that choice of words. goodell has not made up his mind or made public his decision what he's going to do. >> is t.o. like one of the first big-name players to come out and support vick returning? >> publicly he is. we've got to show you this incredible wedding video. the entire wedding party dances into the church. they do!

>> you know what? that's what a we had be should be? a big old celebration, right in if the wedding is that good, i wonder what the reception was like. 8 million have watched it online. we dug it up for you on youtube. here come the bridesmaids. wow. he did a handstand. after all that, the -- surprising still had to wear the dress she chose. >> at least it's made out of spandex. >> i love it. here's bob. people in the northeast today will be crabby because of the weather? >> it will be the same thing. if you're catching a plane out of boston, new york, philadelphia, d.c. could see a

couple of delay. a cold front went to central new york, pennsylvania, back into west virginia and that stretches into tennessee. it will be along that frontal boundary we see the showers pop up from this afternoon. the remaining stuff pulling away from maine. there's one severe thunderstorm warning. we're looking at nickel-sized hail. that will fade apart later this morning. down in the south that steady line of rain over delaware, parts of virginia into maryland is pulling away off the coast. that's going to fire up again later on this afternoon. down across florida same old think, dry right now, sea breeze pops up. showers and thunderstorms, some could be strong. let me show you a couple of snapshots from the region from port orange on the east coast. here's a waterspout starting to form. this is on saturday afternoon. no immediate damage reports i can see. that's getting a little close. officially if it comes ashore as a waterspout it's renamed a tornado, but i didn't see it

happen. you can see it forming right there. that's great. more details on that and a look at the west coast heat building up in a half hour. doctors say a lot of people are literally losing sleep over the economy, but apparently there is a solution. >> coming here, spending the money, taking a nap allows me to kind of burn the candle at --

secretary of state hillary clinton is explaining a comment by vice president joe biden talking about russia, the walt street journal quotes biden as saying they have a shrinking population base and withering economy and banking sector and structure that is not likely to be able to withstand the next 15

years. clinton says biden did not mean the u.s. has the upper hand with russia. >> no, and i don't think that's at all what the vice president meant. there are certain issues that russia has to deal with on its own. we want to make clear that as we reset our relationship, we are very clearly not saying that russia can have a 21st century spear of influence in eastern europe. >> well, clinton says the u.s. views russia as a great power but doesn't want to see it try to dominate eastern europe the way the soviet union did. starting today, you can get up to $4500 to trade in your old car for more fuel-efficient one. the government hopes to get a quarter a million gas guzzlers off the road with the cash for clunkers program. jennifer westhoven is looking out for you, too. we first have to know, what qualifies as a clunker, right? >> 18 miles gallon or less.

we haven't talked about the fact you have to act fast to get in on this. it only covers 250,000 cars. then the program ends, so if you really think you're interested, go and do your homework. the clunker is 18 miles a gallon or less. if you have an old beater car worth less than 3500 to $4500, maybe worth 1,000 bucks. that would be a pretty good deal for you. that's a pretty good trade. you want to get all the straight facts about the program and if you qualify go straight to the government website. we talked about how there's scams. there are warnings there could be a lot of scams about this. you can get right to that government website from cnn.com/robin. we have a link that takes you right there. be careful. the recession is keeping us up at night. one out of three americans are losing sleep because we're worried about money and the economy. that is according to the national sleep foundation, and it also says prescriptions for

sleep medications are at a record high. more than 56 million in 2008. >> we're seeing a combination of people, people who have had long-standing problems with sleep, who report that their sleep is getting worse because of the added stress of the economy as well as people who are coming in saying that they've never had a sleep problem before. >> then, of course, if you're losing sleep, the national sleep foundation says all the other problems that can come with that. you know, like trying to work efficiently and get good exercise and eat healthy. >> i can imagine. it's very hard to sleep for a lot of people with everything that is on your mind right now. jen, thank you. an attempted robbery leaves a former boxer dead, but what happened to the young boy with him? also, cell phones are almost a necessity these days, but paying for the calls and the texts, man, that adds up. tips from clark howard on how to cut those costs.

let us take a look at your morning papers. the l.a. times reports that hundreds of children have been sent home from summer camps in southern california with

flu-like symptoms. many schools are on alert and working with health officials to prepare for the kids' return to class in the coming weeks. "usa today" reports that a top u.s. aid agency suspended a $644 million jobs program in iraq. it said two outside reviews found evidence of misspending and money siphoned off to insurgents. in the saint at that faye new mexican, street socks is a big hit in the city. scratch games are catching on, so much so that unofficial leagues have now been set up. now you know what's going on in the paper. a paralyzed woman is in a fight with the state of california to allow her to take the bar exam tomorrow. she's not allowed to pay pause she paid the fee by check instead of a credit card. >> they said there's no grievance or appeal process because they can't take new applicants, but i started my

application in november. >> governor arnold schwarzenegger issued a statement saying that the woman should be able to take the test despite the bureau accuratetic error. sarah palin stepped down at alaska's first female governor yesterday, so do you think that she made a smart move by leaving? suz in chicago texted, palin haven made a smart move yet. she's so unpolished and small time, this behavior will never win her the ticket. another viewer said, smart move if palin was to run for president. she can stay in the spotlight in the lower 48. we give you the news and you give us your views. text the comments to hlntv. start your message with robin or it gets lost out there. okay, thanks. you know, the average american spends hundreds of dollars a year on cell phone service. "hln" money expert clark howard gives you the straight talk about a new mobile service that could save you big bucks.

>> in this time that we're all trying to become more careful with how we handle our dough, do i have a new deal for you on cell phones. now, this is straight talk for you. that's right. that's the name of the new service, straighttalk.com. listen to how cheap this is. first, no contract. you buy an cheap phone from them, and then your service is $30 a month buys you 1,000 minutes to talk, 1,000 text messages and a bunch of megabytes orb bits to web surf. no games or gimmicks or overages. just a straight deal. 1,000 minutes a month covers most people. a very rare talkaholic would talk more than that a month. again, straighttalk.com.

i'm clark howard. for more straight talk on you saving money, go to my website, cnn dot k cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> clark will teach you save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. another tragedy for the sports world. a boxing champion was gunned down with his 11-year-old godson nearby. here's more on that. >> vernon forest may not be a household name, but this was one of the sport's good guys. this was a guy that did so much charity work, and the sad irony is his generosity may have caused his death. he pulled into an atlanta gas station to put air in the tires of the car. his 11-year-old godson went in to use the bat room. when forest pulled out his wallet the man grabbed it and ran. when he went back to his car he

was shot several times in the back. the 11-year-old fortunately did not see any of it. >> it makes you ask why was the shooting necessary? the guy already had the money, the wallet. who was that necessary? >> he was turning around and leaving, shot in the back. just horrible. in other sports news one of baseball's most colorful characters got his due into the hall of fame. rickey henderson, the guy who talked about himself in the third person, he's the all-time leader in stolen bases. here he is winning that prestigious milestone. >> lou brock was the center of the great base stealing, but today i'm the great e of all time. thank you. >> he's not really known for his humility. sunday in the hall of fame he shocked people by showing another side to him. >> at this moment i am very, very humble.

>> oh, that was nice. that was nice. >> there you go. >> you speak of himself in the third person. >> he called up one manager and said this is rickey.

the stories we're watch right now for "the morning express planner." president obama kicks off a two-day conference between the united states and china. the topic will include the economy, the security, and the environment. at 10:00 a.m. eastern, the commerce department releases new home sales figures. that report shows the housing slump is stabilizing. for the first time in the 80-year history, vatican radio is now running ads between the programming. as part of a three-month trial. 45-second ads in five languages for italy's largest power company. because of the worldwide downturn, last year the vatican ran a $22 million deficit. a couple who won nearly $50,000 has to give up half of that because the winning ticket wasn't theirs. it was a british woman. she lost it in the supermarket. the couple who cashed it in got suspended sentences for fraud.

now they have to give the woman the money they didn't spend. she proved the ticket was theirs with a receipt. it's a beauty pageant most of us are not used to seeing. >> all of the girls come on stage, my heart fills with joy.

where did the weekend go? you ready for monday? ready or not, here it comes, right? morning, sunshine. i'm robin meade, here's what's going on on monday. >> with this decision, i will be able to fight harder for you for what is right and for truth. >> sarah palin keeps her job as goff of alaska but not without some parting shots. and now, the political world waits for her next move. plus, a wrong turn by a driver ends in a horrible head-on crash and eight people are killed. the miracle may be that anybody actually survived. and if president obama admitted he helped fuel the controversy

between a cop and harvard professor. now he'd like to be peacemaker. first, vice presidential candidate sarah palin has officially stepped down as the governor of alaska. she gave her farewell address yesterday and talked about how much she loves her state and looks back to her accomplishments in office. she also lashed out at critics and the media in how she's been portrayed, she says, since becoming a national figure. >> you represent what could and should be a respected honest profession that could and should be a cornerstone of our democracy. democracy depends on you. and that is why -- that's why our troops are willing to die for you. so how about in honor of the american soldier, you quit making things up. >> palin had 17 months before the end of her term. lieutenant governor shawn cornell takes over now.

hear her shots at hollywood as well. chris louie has that for you in a few minutes. here's palin's shots at hollywood as well. eight people were killed including four children when a minivan wound up on the wrong provide of the road. the new york state police say the minivan crashed head on to an suv, hit another car and burst into flames. a mom, sister and three cousins were killed along with three people in the suv. >> been with the state police 24 years and never seen anything like that. >> it's at the scene and hopefully come to some determination why this person was going the wrong way. >> we are waiting on word on the little boy's condition. president obama wants to drink some beer with the black harvard professor and the cop who arrested him. both men overreacted he says and he wants to cool things off. it happened after james crowley arrested henry gates jr. for

disorderly conduct. gates was opening a door in his own home. crowley says he's glad the president got involved. >> are you satisfied with how the president has handled that? >> yes. >> what about the beer -- yeah, are you going up to the vineyard? >> i don't know. >> okay, then. the vineyard is martha's vineyard where the president's family will vacation in august. the president said the police acted stupidly in arresting gates. the white house now says that the president didn't realize his words would have such an impact. crowley said he was charging gates because he was belligerent and wouldn't stop yelling at him. gates said the cop arrested him because he's black. north korea said he's ready to talk about a nuclear program but said a different kind of talk. a hibt of one-on-one negotiations with the united states. hillary clinton tells nbc no

deal. she says north korea has to return to the six-nation talks it quit in april. we still want north korea to come back to the negotiating table to be part of the effort that will lead to denuclearization. but we're not going to reward them for what they said they would do in 2005 and 2006. we're not going to reward them for half measures. they now know what we in the world community expect. >> north korea said it's interested in returning to the six-nation talks. this morning, the space shuttle astronauts are getting ready for a fifth and final space walk in 2 1/2 hours. rearranging the power hookups and fix the ibs lags at the space station. nasa will watch for carbon dioxide buildup in the astronaut's space suit. that problem cut short a space walk last week. the "endeavour" will leave the space station tomorrow. two oklahoma sheriff's

deputies were shot to death on sunday. a man opened fire when the officers tried to serve a domestic abuse warrant. ezikiel holbert was arrested for murder. deputies were shocked. they said you have two seconds to kick the door open, they did and the guy was sitting there waiting on him. the octuplets' moms' kids could make $250 a day starring in a reality show. not just the octuplets on this video from radaron-line. all 14 of her kids would get $250,000 over three years. under california law, 15% of that must go in to a trust until they're 18. i'm not surprised. come on, like you didn't see that one coming, right? five minutes after the hour.

weather directly affects your mood today. so who's going to be all happy? >> i'm thinking chicago, detroit, you're going to be loving it. summertime, still looking at nice temperatures without the thunderstorms. that's not the case for the east coast. another day filled with the action popping up around the frontal boundary. cold from from new york state to pennsylvania. looking as at the rain from new york to new jersey. thunderstorm in maine this morning. all drifting up to the northeast. it will repyre later this afternoon. the rain moving away from you in delaware. the east-southeast and the front itself is right around the appalachians. gets all the way back to the southern plains. so ahead of that, watch it for thunderstorms to develop. once again, sea breeze when you get to florida. air mass thunderstorms around georgia to the carolinas meaning they'll bubble up anywhere and that will happen later this

afternoon. take you live to atlanta. here's what it looks like. so far, so good. nice morning, nice start. 88 degrees. but the coverage of the thunderstorms begins later this afternoon. look for a good 50% chance for you. so half in half. you're either going to get it or not going to get it. don't you love that forecast? you're going to see rain or you're not going to see rain. isolated thunderstorms moving on in. you will see them later this morning. rabe in oklahoma city. gets down to northern parts of texas. another shot of rain coming in through minneapolis. later today, this is going to rough and severe thunderstorms in wisconsin and iowa in the extreme parts of illinois. hail makers and gusty winds out of that. more details in a half hour. >> i thank you. i thank you or i don't. >> appreciate it. >> sarah palin took a few parting shots before she walked off of the political stage. wait until you hear how she slammed hollywood.

sarah palin fired a few parting shots before she stepped down as alaska's first female governor yesterday. take a listen to this sinker against hollywood. >> by the way, hollywood needs to know we eat, therefore we hunt. >> now correspondent richard louie has more on sarah palin's hollywood slam. if you're going, what does that mean? oh. >> you're right to bear arms, second amendment. she's an avid hunter and warned her fellow alaskans about possible pressure from hollywood on certain types of hunting. take a listen. >> going to see anti-hunting, anti-second amendment circuses from hollywood.

here's how they do it. they use the delicate tiny very talented celebrity starlets. they use alaska as a fundraising tool for their anti-second amendment causes. >> well, politico.com suggested palin may have been alluding to ashlee judd who targeted palin for supporting ariel wolf hunting. >> okay. need some help there to understand what she was talking about. >> right. right. >> she did hammer the media. she made no bones about that. >> she did not. you're right. did not get too specific either. she alluded to the concerns that some media had attacked her family saying her replacement lieutenant governor has a nice family too, so leave his kids to the resignation announcement, palin said she felt some bloggers had treated her unfairly. >> thank you very much. >> you tell me now, do you think sarah palin made a smart move by leaving? do you think she was treated

fairly? or what do you think the next move should be? all those types of questions. whatever you want to talk about. congrats to palin. i have think she was treated unfairly in the media and hollywood. look at the mistakes that others have made, yet, did not have the ridicule. >> in illinois, texas, palin should be quiet. each time she speaks, idiocy spews forth and my eyes are tired of the involuntary rolling of the involuntary rolling. we give your news, text your comments to hlntv. 45688. start your message with my name, robin, or it doesn't get to us. thank you. we salute sergeant michael lock. congrats on your promotion, sergeant, by the way. michael is in iraq and hasn't met his new daughter yet. look at her. the whole family misses him like crazy and is looking forward to a reunion. if you have somebody in the service, go ahead and send -- go to cnn.com/robin so we can salute them for you as well.

ben bernanke was talking about hollywood this weekend. he did it town hall style. i don't see anything like that, robin. they're in front of cob, "60 minutes," not getting down in there with the people. but that's what he was doing. so out of the ordinary. bernanke said he was disgusted by the big bailouts that happened last year but he argued that he thought it was the right course of action because, quote, i was not going to be sit there and be the fed chief who presided over the second great depression. he defended the fed's independence from politics. he said it would be dangerous to mix politics with monetary policy. that's something the congress has been looking at. maybe die mondays and high-end clothes are not out of the question. luxury retailers like tiffany's, chanel, are cutting their prices. you won't see any signs, though.

they're doing it quietly. good news in a bad economy that some items may not be so out of reach. tiffany cut prices of the engagement rings up to 10%. but, again, no signs they're being discrete. they don't want to advertise and sully their brand. big guys to sell to. and california plant would be the first time that toyota closed a plant. it was a joint venture with gm. there are 4600 jobs at stake. >> my dad worked here when it was gm when they closed. that wasn't a good time. tough on the family and now looking at doing that all over again. >> a wait-and-see game. a lot of prayer. a lot of prayer. from everybody. >> toyota said the labor costs are much higher, $13 an hour more than what it pays at the other plants. that's a big reason behind the shutdown. if you're traveling this morning, hear what you got to

know and the latest here in dallas, you have to watch it with the big hair. >> i think dallas sees the long delays later today. rabe coming in from the west. thunderstorms begin to open up. but not the case if you live in the upper part of the midwest in towards st. louis. a nice start for you guys in there. check it out, the arch, gateway to the west. up to 90 degrees today. patchy fog out there not affecting you at the airport. good news. beautiful day for you around st. louis. what about a the rest of the region. the travel out there right now. summertime getaway around 2300 jets in the air. so how about the delays? rabe around dallas today. one hour more boston, philadelphia, d.c., and charlotte. one hour delay because of thunderstorms. miami, minneapolis, san francisco, morning fog. but hopefully everybody will be less than an hour delay. lance armstrong seemed to be able to do it all but he came up short in this year's tour de france. what he said to our own dr. sanjay gupta.

the gop says not so fast when it comes to overhauling your health care. no bill will pass without a few republican votes and they feel left out of the bargaining table. but the white house says that a compromise is close.

>> the president believes we're making progress. as long as we're making progress, that's a good sign that we're debating on four years. >> the only bipartisan about the measures so far is the opposition to them. >> speaker nancy pelosi says the house is ready to pass a bill now. lance armstrong wasn't able to win an eighth tour de france, but many say the comeback was still a huge success. rafer with more on an exclusive conversation with him. >> that's right. >> dr. sanjay gupta got to talk to him. >> gets the big get, doesn't he? a good interview. a lot of people do not expect him to do well. he broke his collarbone in march, almost 38, he's been retired for three years. the fact that he took third is an amazing feat. he wound up on the podium. the french fans treated him well. he's the favorite. the guy he lost to, alberto

contador -- these two guys don't like each other. they've got a history. lance, to his credit, was gracious in defeat. >> i wanted to come in first. but sometimes in sport, there's somebody that's better. i was that guy for serve years. the great thing about the tour is the best guy always wins. >> michael phelps won his first major meet in the olympics. the slowest on the team in the 400 meter free style relay in the championships in rome, but americans took first thanks to the anchorman, nathan adrian. the fancy swim suits were banned by the sports governing body. stay classy. a philly fan pointed a laser at cardinals' batter julio lugo. see the green thing going across him when they were hosting st. louis this weekend? they did the same thing with albert pujols.

they thought maybe somebody was trying to shoot him. they didn't know what the laser was. the fan was never caught. some amazing video to show you here at an indy car race. tony kanaan's car burst into flames as he was leaving the pit. this is in edmonton, canada. the fuel hose did not shut off. look they douse him with water and he pulled out of the pit to try to protect the crew members. he suffered second degree burns to his hands and face. he's okay. that's the good news. more amazing video. anyone who gets this hole in one. how about they gave out four cars. this guy, leaf olson, won $19,000 on the tour this year gets a $50,000 car with this shot as he bounces off the other ball. in the hole. they had to stop giving away cars they gave away so many. that's a nice car. >> that's a nice car. >> was the hole too easy? >> i did, four guys got holes in

one on that hole. >> wow. >> i'm thinking about the insurance that i would pay for that kind of thick. crazy, congrats. 9:30 a.m. eastern, president obama kicks off a two-day conference between the united states and china. the topics include the economy, security, and the environment. and at 10:00 a.m. eastern, the commerce department releases the new home sales figures. optimism that the report will show that the housing slump is stabilizing. let's hope so. can you believe that purple rain came out 25 years ago today? at one point in the summer of 1984, prince had the number one movie, album, and single in the country. he even won an oscar for the sound track. the movie almost had an x rating because of a sex scene between prince and apalonia. i didn't know that. if you win a earnest hemingway look alike contest, you better

have a beard and sweater and one more thing would help. >> i drink like he does like this. >> it wasn't the only fun way they were remembering the author this weekend in key west.

it is because i love alaska this much, sir, that i feel that it's my duty to avoid the unproductive, typical, politics as usual, lame duck session in one's last year in office. >> it's official. former vice presidential candidate sarah palin is no longer the governor of alaska. she stepped down yesterday. lieutenant governor shawn parnell was sworn in. in her speech, palin called on the news media to, quote, quit making things up. the special envoy is trying to smooth things over with israel this morning. george mitchell met israeli officials in jerusalem. there's some tension there as

president obama said israel should stop settlement production in the west bank. mitchell's trip is part of u.s. efforts to jump start the middle east talks. >> oh the president of france is out of the hospital after getting his heart checked. nicolas sarkozy felt faint and claptsed while he was jogging yesterday. his office said the tests show heat and overwork made him ill. he never lost consciousness. i'm sure this is animal cruelty, but i love it. >> some guinea pigs managed to take down "harry potter" at the box office. disney's "g-force" earned $32 million. "potter" was a close second making $30 million. that's a 61% drop from the huge opening weekend last weekend. looks like a cute movie, doesn't it? some of the headlines. look at you this morning in your jammies. welcome back. getting ready for monday. i'm robin meade. here's what's news.

sarah palin is moving on to the next chapter in her life. she gave a fiery speech as she stepped down as alaska's governor. what is next for her? good morning, robin. going to write a book, scheduled to speak at the ronald reagan presidential library on august 8. and some speculated here, palin might host a radio or tv show, start a speech-making career or run for higher office. palin spokesperson said palin has not ruled out any of her options and the political action committee here, robin, has raised more than $1 million. >> how popular is sarah palin these days especially after she stepped down. >> a poll for you here. palin has a list of strong reactions from the moment she stepped on to the national stage as we've been reporting. a new poll by "the washington post" and abc news finds 5 % of those surveyed view palin negatively. 40% view her positively. the support among republicans appears to be much higher. take a look at this. the pulse -- 7 out of 10

republicans have a positive view, the opinion of palin, robin. >> continue to watch those numbers, appreciate it. a second chicago-area cemetery is being investigated after a human bone was found lying on the ground on friday. the owner denied doing anything wrong and the cemetery is facing a lawsuit from a family for allegedly reselling a plot where two relatives are buried. recently at another chicago-area cemetery were charged with double stacking bodies and running a scheme to re-sell plots. a controversial nfl player is one of the first pushing for michael vick to come back to the nfl. here's rachael with more on that. michael vick wants to come back, i would imagine, but the nfl have him. ao. >> that's the big question. how would the reaction be, right? terrell owens or t.o. as many of you know him said last week or originally said he wants vick to come back. we told you vick and roger goodell met to talk about his future. they were thinking they would

reinstate vick and suspend him. t.o. said that's not fair. >> it's not fair for him to miss games. it's like kicking a dead horse to the ground. the guy suffered so much. to add a four-game suspension on a two-year, you know, prison sentence, that's ridiculous. >> we're waiting to find out how goodell will rule in favor of vick. >> you're right, a bad choice. one of the things he'll recognize when he hears it sound bite himself. we have to show you this incredible wedding video. the entire wedding party dances into the church. >> how much fun do they look like they're having. what a great way to celebrate. here comes the bride. she's just getting down. wonder what the reception was like, right? this thing has been everywhere

over the last few days, 8 million people have watched it on-line. here comes it bridesmaids. we dug it up for you on youtube. oh, even does a hand stand. >> my wife made me watch that five times this weekend. i'm like, enough. >> i wish we had done that. >> my 95-year-old aunt is going to be flipping down the aisle. no way, you know? >> you'd be lucky to get her to stay awake in the whole thing. >> absolutely. >> good morning, bob. a lot of action with the daytime meeting. this weather brought to you by sir tech. all right? what's the deal today? same thing as yesterday. powerful thunderstorms possible around the east coast. portland, maine all the way down to boston, new york, to philadelphia. a cold front draped over the weekend. rough weather in the area last night. things are drying out. the rain is offshore. but the cold front goes all the way to the north of atlanta and gets to texas where it's decent moisture, specifically out of

the gulf. very humid conditions, it stretches all the way to the carolinas. charlotte there on the map. take you live there right now. headed to the queen city today, so far, so good. 90 degrees, partly cloudy skies now. thunderstorms will pop on up, though. wcnc gives us that shot. more on that. what it looks like in texas. more showers, more thunderstorms driving out of the panhandle stretching to dallas right now. heavier downpours possible for oklahoma city. so maybe an inch to two inches of rain there over the next 24 to 36 hours. further north, another cold front. right around northern parts of minnesota mb channeling some showers and thunderstorms right now. near minneapolis, not severe. a little later today, we will see these refired. anywhere from the eastern iowa to the entire state of wisconsin. watch out for the thunderstorms this afternoon. not like tornadoes. gusty winds, probably large hail. out west, the heat continues to build. phoenix, high of 115. north of there and temperatures around portland, oregon if

you're going out to the pacific northwest, hot today through thursday right about 95 to 100 all around that region. so watch for that. a little video coming in from yesterday right around the mid atlantic. baltimore got slammed. hail out there. nickel-sized hail. winlgd gu wind gusting at 60 mile-per-hours. >> very good, robin. >> thank you. doctors said a lot of us are literally losing sleep over the economy. but they say there's a solution. >> coming here, spending the money, taking a nap allows me to kind of burn the candle at both ends.

. secretary of state hillary clinton is explaining a comment that vice president joe biden made talking about russia, "the wall street journal" quotes biden as saying anyway -- they have a shrinking population base, a withering economy, a banking sector and structure that is not likely to be able to withstand the next 15 years. clinton said that biden did not mean that the united states has the upper hand with russia. >> no, and i don't think that's at all what the vice president meant. there are certain issues that russia has to deal with on its own. and we want to make clear that as we reset our relationship, we're very clearly not saying that russia can have a 21st century sphere of influence in eastern europe. >> clinton said the u.s. views russia as a great power and both

countries face challenges. on another topic, clinton said she has moved on from her loss at the democratic primaries and she's not thinking about another run for the white house. hey, can you hear me right now? starting today, get up to $4500 to trade in your old clunker for a more fuel efficient one. you don't want a clunker but more fuel efficient car. the government is getting a quarter million of those off the road with the cash for clunkers. how that works? jennifer westhoven said act quickly. >> come. >> good morning. >> this program got slimmed down in congress. so you should act fast if you think this is going to work for you. once the 250,000 cars are traded in, program's over. by clunker -- the car can only get 18 miles a gallon or less. think about it. if you're going to get $3500 to $45 in savings and you know the old beater you have is maybe worth $1,000, maybe couple

hundred dollars, that's a good deal. to get all of the straight facts, go to the government website and you can get it right there from cnn.com/robin. we talked a lot about how they think there will be a lot of scam sites related to this. be careful and go straight to the facts. don't read other people's takes on it. the recession may be keeping you up at night. one out of three americans say they are losing sleep, worried about money, keeping their jobs. that's according to a new survey by the national sleep foundation. it says prescriptions for sleeping pills are at a record high -- more than 56 million last year. that's 1 in 6 americans. >> we're seeing a combination of people, people who have had long-standing problems with their sleep, who report that their sleep is getting worse because of the added stresses of the economy as well as people who are coming in saying they've never had a sleep problem before. >> of course, if you are losing

sleep, you may suffer from other problems that are related to that. people have a hard time working, exercising, and eating healthy according to the national sleep foundation. robin? if you're not getting enough sleep, sure. >> thank you. an attempted robbery leaves a former boxer dead. what happened to the young boy with him? cell phones are a necessity? paying for the calls and the attacks, that adds up. tips from clark howard on how to cut those costs.

let us look at the morning papers and, oh, i see you there in your robe. you don't have to go outside in your robe to get the paper. i've -- l.a. times reports hundreds of children have been sent home from summer camps in southern california with flu-like symptoms. many schools are on alert and they're working with officials to get kids to return to class coming in a few weeks. the top u.s. aid agency has suspended a $644 million program in iraq. two outside reviews found evidence of misspending and money being stipended off to

insurgeons. the santa fe new mexicoian, street talk ball has become big unofficial links have been set up for futbol. that's a look at some of the newspapers. sarah palin stepped down as alaska's first female governor. do you think she made a good move by leaving? good move for palin. the only way she would battle the biassed news media that continues to attack her unfairly. tania in california e-mailed. this move by her continues to prove that she has no business even considering being in any type of political public office, especially as a president or vice president of the united states. she does not know what commitment means. when the going gets tough, you can't pick up your marbles and go home! text your comments. you have a different pb? we welcome all of your opinions. text it to hlntv. you have to start your message with my name, robin.

if you're like, i don't text. you can do the e-mail thing too. hit that little contact us button. there has been another tragedy in the sports world. a boxing champion was gunned down with his 11-year-old god son nearby. what a sad story, raefer? >> good morning, robin. vernon forrest is not a name that many people will remember. this is one of the sport's good guys who did so much charity work and the sad irony is, his generosity may have been what put him in a bad position. forest put him in the atlanta air station to put air in his tires. when forrest pulled out the wallet, the man grabbed it and ran. forrest ran after him. he went back to the car, was shot seven times in the back. the 11-year-old did not see it. forrest, 38, leaves behind a 12-year-old son of his own. one of baseball's more

colorful characters got his due in the hall of fame. rickey henlderson who spoke of himself in third person was the all-time leader in stolen bases. here he is after he broke the record. listen. >> lloy brock was the symbol of great base stealing. but today, i'm the greatest of all time. thank you. >> well, he wasn't known for his humility, right. when he was inducted to the hall of fame, he shocked us by showing another side. >> at this moment, i am very, very humble. >> that was nice. very niles. >> nice moment for rickey. not a nice moment for this driver who got a $220,000 speeding ticket in nascar on sunday and he was not happy. >> thank you, nasa, for messing up my day. >> thank you, nascar, for messing up my day. juan carlos montoya when the officials said he went too fast

and penalized him. johnson won $448,000. montoya's share was half that. >> wow, expensive. a college football player took out a large insurance policy in case of injury. colt mccoy said his son will get $3 million to $5 million if he has a career-ending injury. he came back to play in college. the dad said the premium is high but the risk makes it worth it. the college guys do this. they want to go pro early and make money. >> so they don't get injured. >> staying in school but has a big old insurance policy to make sure he'll be okay. >> seems smart. >> it does. >> thank you. the average american spends hundreds of dollars of year on cell service. hln money expert clark howard gives you the straight talk of a new mobile service that could save you big bucks. in this time, they were all trying to become more carolful with how we handle our dough, do i have a new deal for you on cell phones?

and this is straight talk for you. that's rifgt. that's the name of the new service, straighttalk.com. will be to how cheap this is. first, no contract. you buy an el cheapo phone from them, and then your service is $30 a month buys you 1,000 minutes to talk, 1,000 text messages and a bunch of megabytes or bits or whatever those things are for you to be able to web surf. no games or gimmicks or overages. just a straight clear, fair deal. 1,000 minutes a month covers most people. a very rare talkaholic like me would talk more than that a month. again, straighttalk.com. i'm clark howard. for more straight talk on you saving money, go to my website, cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> clark will teach you save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off.

catch him at noon eastern on saturdays and sundays right here on hln. bobby, monday, business travelers, all together now, how does it go? >> you know what if you're going to hop on a plane this morning, robin, one detail to tell you about, philadelphia, a ground stop until 8:30 this morning, low clouds the culprits. if you are at the airport, take a look outside that should burn off this morning and more flights this afternoon. saber flight explorer, the eastern half of the nation, about 3,000 airplanes up. here is what it looks like for the day. watching the heavy rain that pulled toward the dallas metro area this afternoon. one hour or more delay a possibility there boston, new york, philadelphia, d.c., charlotte, thunderstorm action, 30 minutes to an hour. less than an hour, good news there less than an hour for you, orlando, miami, atlanta, minneapolis, san francisco. and typical morning fog there burns off. >> he's got it.

it is a boughty pageant up like most of you have ever seen. >> when they are all on stage, it just -- my heart fills with joy. >> after the young ladies competing, it is a day they thought would never come. úx

it is about 6 minutes until the hour right now. they were reportedly forced to fight each other. connecticut police arrested 19 people part of a bird-fighting ring. police took 150 birds yesterday from a house where the fighting was going on. the suspects are facing animal cruelty and illegal gambling charges. none of the birds seem to be injured. a pageant queen in illinois refused to letter is reasonableal palsy keep her out of the competition, now she is helping others like her land their own crowning achievement. to our affiliate wqab shows you how they all come out winners.

>> enjoys hanging out with her at the mall. >> reporter: it's got all the makings of your typical pageant. the buzz backstage, the a accessories, glitz and glam. but this is no typical pageant. >> they touch your heart more than what you can imagine. they really are beautiful, inside and out. >> reporter: the miss you can do it pageant show cases young girls with special challenges. the founder of the pageant is ms. iowa 2008 who has face herd own battle with isser is reasonableal palsy. >> this is a truly magical experience for me personally. i remember that i was told i could never do a pageant and i ended up competing and then winning the title miss iowa usa. >> reporter: the pageant is now in its sixth year and while there were plenty of sparkles and smiles, the judges look for much more in these contestants.

28 girls took the stage saturday night in illinois. they strut their stuff, it then answer an important question. >> if you had one wish that could come true, what would it be? >> i wish that i would be a singer because i want to sing with taylor swift. >> reporter: and there are plenty of winners at this pageant. a little miss you can do it a junior miss you can do it and the miss you can do it queen. tiffany collins walked await winner with a six-foot trophy and the confidence to get her driver's license. >> i worked hard and need to work on my license. if i can win a pageant, it is probably cause for me to get my license. i want to show you a new piece of tape we just got in. near tacoma, washington, a furniture store is on fire it is a big fire, a five-alarmer 40 minutes north of tacoma,

washington. that is the only detail we have right now. we don't know exactly, you know, what started it, what other buildings they might be worried about at this point, but you will get a big idea what kind of problem they have on their hands by looking that the video. today, london marks three years until it has its 2012 olympics. the organizing committee will show case an olympic park under construction. they also will show their progress on sporting venues and london's transportation system. most of the committee's $3 billion budget comes from private sponsorship. the committee's chairman says the budget and all the plans are on track. sarah palin is not holding back. she has some choice words for her critics as she says good-bye. they said it would never last.

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for you, trying to catch a plane to dfw, delays pop up there, this afternoon into this afternoon. the north we go another weak front across the dakotas into minnesota, light showers right now around northern minnesota as that cold front drops down to the south that will be the kicker for you later this afternoon, get that severe weather action rolling today. we are calling for large hailmakers, gusty winds as well, eastern iowa. parts of i would say minnesota near rochester, minneapolis as well, a good chunk of real estate toward wisconsin, good thunderstorms this afternoon. other big story out west, be prepared for the heat, i know is summertime and it is phoenix, still talking about a high heat warning for that city, going to be 115 to maybe 116 today. the record shy about 118. you fall short of that also hot, robin told but that fire going on outside of seattle, warning

up there for heat, seattle, tacoma, goes down toward eugene, oregon, areas shaded in red, 95 to 100 degrees, that is just the tips of the iceberg, hot today wednesday into the first part of thursday. show you what it looks like, severe weather that rolled on through baltimore, hail out there, too. golf ball-sized hail some areas, baltimore reporting about dime-sized hail, 60-mile-an-hour wind as well toppled trees, take down powerlines as well, video from the afternoon, a super cell that rolled on by, north of there, jersey, too, spawned a tornado warning for areas like morris county, i didn't see any touchdown reports there more on that robin in a half hour. >> thank you. some of the things to add to your shopping list, a new wardrobe or even diamonds? well, who can afford that? but we do have some good news in a bad economy regarding those luxury items. x

in our saluteto the tot troops, salute sergeant michael long. his sister is in iraq answered hasn't met his new daughter yet but look at her. the whole family misses him like crazy and really looking forward to a reunion. i want to wait to see if we can get a picture of him up there. there he is, eating a a cookie. want to salute someone go to cnn.com/rob finance you have somebody in the military. sarah palin fired a few parting shots as she stepped down as alaska's first female governor yesterday. listen to this zinger against holly w who wiholly hollywood. >> hollywood needs to know we eat, therefore we hunt. >> richard lui has more on the hollywood plan and what she

meant by that good morning. >> good morning to you robin. said a lot of things she is talking or was talking about your right to bear arms, the second amendment. remember, palin is an avid hunter. she warn herd fellow alaskans about possible pressure from hollywood on certain types of hunting. take a look at this. >> you're' going to see anti-hunting, anti-second amendment circuses from hollywood and here's how they do it. they use these delicate, tiny, very talented celebrity star lets they can use alaska as a fund-raising tool for their anti-second amendment causes. >> politico.com says they may have been talking about ashley judd who targeted pail for wolf hunting. >> hammered the media in general, didn't name any names though. >> she did not get too specific. she alluded to her concerns that some media had attack herd family. she said, robin, her replacement, lieutenant governor sean parnell, "has a very nice

family, too, leave his kids alone." if you go back to her resignation announcement earlier this month, palin says had she felt some bloggers had treat herd unfairly, robin. >> richard, thank you very much. appreciate it. >> mm-hmm. fed chief ben bernanke talked about the economy this weekend. doesn't sound like that's anything that's not common, but he did it in a town hall-style meeting. that seems different. money expert gennifer westhoven, unusual to see him answering questions from the public directly. >> i have never seen him, robin, or any other fed chief do anything like that i can't even picture alan greenspan at a town hall meeting. so he was speaking directly to the people. he was asked about the bailout for big companies like aig last year. how come big companies got bailed out but not smaller companies? he said i practically had to hold my nose, but he said not acting would have had grave consequences. and he said he feared a second

great depression if they had just let the financial system and the economy melt down. and he said the fed is independent from politics, coming up in congress lately but it would be very dangerous if you had lawmakers having an influence on interest rate he is and mop tary policy. this morning, stock expected to go up a bit. you may remember on friday, the dow land aed yet another highest close since november. 24 points. but still, we are up over 9,000, up 11% in the past two weeks. this is good news in a bad economy. we talked about how prices come down, wouldn't know this, a stealth sale, talking about diamonds and high-end clothes. business week says luxury retailers like tiffany and chanel are cutting prices, but no signs. good news in a bad economy that maybe these things are more affordable. tiffany cut prices of its engagement rings that so many

people save up for for months to give their girlfriends, fiancee, price off 10% there but being real discrete about it. you got to talk to a sales person, robin. >> luxury brands sometimes are discreet about sales, why? >> they think if they look like they are having sales and too much, it sullies their brand, makes them look cheap, like we don't need to have a sale. >> so popular and coveted, everybody wants one. happening right now, let me show you this, a five-alarm fire at a furniture store near seattle, live pictures, come back here and lack at these picture it is you are listening to me in the bathroom or something. the fire started a few hours a ago. think about a furniture store what is it in there? plenty of fall for the flames. an official tells our affiliate, kiro no one is in the building, thankfully, the firefighters on the perimeter, they try to put out the fire the runoff, the warm weather made it tougher to fight the fire.

here is tape from a few minutes ago, you can see how the perimeter of the building, like, gosh there is so much around it on fire. they were saying this was a five-alarm fire this morning. do i see some of the powerlines on fire? kind of look like it to me, didn't to you? i'm not sure why warm weather would make it hard for them to fight the fire other than they are uncomfortable maybe in their suits, apparently it is giving theme hard time. when we get the live pictures back up to you, arnold's, that sign says in front of it. president obama admitted that he helped fuel the controversy between a cop and a harvard professor and now he wants to be peacemaker over a cool beer.

president obama says he wants to drink a beer with the black harvard professor and white cop who arrested him. he says both men overreact and he wants to cool things off. it started after sergeant james crowley arrested henry gates jr. for disorderly conduct. gates was forcing open a jammed door at his own home. crowley says he is glad the

president got of involved. >> satisfied with how the president has handled this? >> yes. >> you are? what about that beer -- what about the beer? are you going up to the vineyard? >> i don't know. >> well, the vineyard is martha's vineyard where the president's family will vacation in august. initially, the president said the police acted stupidly in arresting gates. he didn't realize his words would have an impact. crowley charged gates because he was belligerent and wouldn't stop yelling at him. gates says it was because he was black. sarah palin stepped down as the first female governor of alaska yesterday. what do you think her next move is going to be? viewer joanne says a great percentage of americans are not interested in polished. we want straight answers that palin is known for. she will have my vote for president. and terry in minnesota e-mails she should quit complaining about being roasted by the

press. the press made her in the first place. in the second place if she wasn't an ethical slagheap, what is that? >> let's just leave it alone. >> oh, you know what that is? >> it is not a dirty word but not complimentariment. >> no the a kind word? thank you. she would not be resigning. sorry if that was offensive to anyone, i wasn't aware what that s she is afraid to face the music. she has she'd make a terrible president. so, go ahead and text me, make sure that your comments are something i can read on the air. text it to hlntv, 45688 and start your message with my name, robin. >> the fcc is not coming after us into the dirty word but definitely not complimentary. >> gotcha. how do you know these words? lance armstrong didn't whip the tour defrance, but you know what did he a great showing there. it has been so many years since he competed, he was still number be three, radioity? >> still goes on the podium, which is amazing. dr. sanjay gupta spoke to him, which is also amazing.

you know what, lance, we didn't expect him to do this well. broke his collarbone in march, retired almost three years and he is 38. so, there you go and the french treated lance well, amazing. already the favorite for next year's tour de france to win it the guy who he lost to, teammate and spaniard, alberto contador is on the right. lance answered don't like each other, got a history together, even though they are teammate bus not teammates next year, which means a great rivalry. either way, lance was gracious in his defeat. >> i wanted to come in first. but sometimes in sport, there is somebody that's better and i was that guy for seven years. that's what the great thing about the tour, the best man always wins. >> going to be great watching these two guys go at it in the future. michael phelps also an off night in the poolle but still won his first major meet since the olympics. he was the slowest, in fact, on the u.s. team in the 400 meter relay in the world championships but the americans took first

thanks to anchorman, stay classy, nathan hadrian. those fancy swimming suits they wore going to be gone next year, banned by the governing body. philly fans not remaining classy. you see thatly as terror, on julio luke goes, cardinals visiting this weekend and did the same thing to albert pujols, right in their eyes. >> stupid. >> incredibly stupid. lugo is like, i wasn't sure if it was somebody pointing a gun at merck the fan was never caught. pretty crazy stuff, a car burst into flames at an indy race. as you can see it there, the flames coming up underneath, his fuel hose did not shut off. he was covered in fire, his crew splashing him down with water, suffered second degree burns to his hand and face. >> poor thing. >> fortunately, the guy is okay. there he is. lastly, amazing video, anybody with a hole-in-one on this hole on the canadian open gets a free bmw, meet leave

olson, never heard of him? this won him 19 grand this year. this shot got him a $50,000 car, bounced off another ball. >> playing billiards. >> there you go. they gave away four bmws on that hole. they are officially out of cars. >> not going to do that hole again. happened right now, space shuttle notice notice could not wait to get to work so they started about an hour earlier. here are some live pictures of the fifth and final space walk. going to start rearranging a few power cable hookups. >> mill meter fewer. >> i always love to listen to this kind of like their evesdropping, going to fix some insulation at the space station, too. the "endeavour" will leave the space station tomorrow. nothing like a little pressure is there, bob? doing your work and everyone's listening to you. >> like fixing a toaster with hockey gloves on? show you what is going on, rob. no delays now, philadelphia out

of your ground stop. see more delays pop up there from new york to miami because of thunderstorms. hln will be right back.

it is official. former vice presidential candidate sarah palin is no longer the governor of alaska. she stepped down yesterday. lieutenant governor sean parnell was sworn in. in her speech, pail.called on the news media to "quit making things up". happening right now, a five-alarm fire at a huge furniture store near seattle, these are live pictures can you get an idea about how large this fire is by just seeing the outgrowth of the fire in the surrounding area? the 20,000-square-footwear house has been burning a few hours now. a fire official tells affiliate kiro that no one is in the building. that is good. the warm weather overnight made

it tough for them to fight the fire. here is what it looks like closer up from tape we had earlier. i'm pretty sure this is animal cruelty but i love t. >> cute. some guinea pigs managed to take down harry potter at the box office. "g-force" was number one over the weekend, earning just over $32 million. potter was close second making 30 mill but a 61% drop from its huge opening weekend. those are some of the headlines. well, good morning there, bright eyes. 31 minutes past the hour. i'm robin meade. right now, space shuttle "endeavour" astronauts are on the fifth and final space walk. come here and look at this, this is live. you can imagine how weird it must feel to be doing your job and realize, heck, there's people back on earth watching me. they ventured out an earlier than scheduled. they are rearrangementing a few power cable hookups and fixing

insulation at the international space station. nasa will closely watch for any possible carbon dioxide buildup in their space suits because that problem cut short a space walk last week. the "endeavour" will leave the space station tomorrow. i don't hear anybody talk bug they did, i would be evesdropping for you. sarah palin is moving on to the next chapter in her life she gave a fiery speech yesterday when she officially stepped down as alaska's governor. correspondent richard lui, good morning to you. >> morning. >> you are dig nothing what is neck for her what has been said and confirmed? >> some plans for you, robin, she will write a box and scheduled to speak at the ronald reagan presidential library on august 8th, around the corner. some have speculated, too, palin might host a roar to tv show, start a speechmaking career or run for higher office. palin's office says palin has not ruled out any of those options and her political action committee has raised so far more than $1 million, robin. >> so richard, how popular is sarah palin these days and i wonder if stepping down had any impact on that?

>> we have numbers for you. palin has elicited strong reactions from the moment she stepped onto the fashional stage and a new poll by the "washington post" and abc news and finds that 53% of those surveyed view palin negatively, 40% view her positively. her support among republicans appears to be much stronger. the poll suggesting here, 7 out of 10 republican.shave a positive opinion of palin. there is split along party lines apparently? >> right. >> richard, thank you. >> sure. secretary of state hillary clinton is trying to restate the u.s. position on russia after controversial comment buys vice president joe biden. she says the u.s. respects russia and wants good relations but it won't tolerate russia after it dominates its neighbors. saturday, "the wall street journal" quoteded by.saying the russia economy is wiltering and that is creating friction the controversy began when biden visited ukraine and georgia and supported their efforts to break

their bonds with russia. one observer says clinton and biden are part of a white house message. >> it was sort of a good cop/bad cop turn, you know? we have got hillary clinton and barack obama saying one thing, saying you let's be nice, let's be friends and then on the other hand, you have joe bind saying don't take us for granted we are not going to roll over if you have certain interests in this neighborhood. >> russia has resisted efforts to allow georgia and ukraine to join nato. russia's president says he wants good tides with washington but washington won't be pushed around. a backyard cookout ended with gunfire that left 12 people injured. baltimore police say that at least one gunman walked into the backyard and started firing a semiautomatic weapon and ran off. a 2-year-old girl and pregnant woman were among those hit. none of the injuries was life threatening. so far, police do to the have a motive. the octuplets' mom's kids, you following me there could make $250 a day starring in a

reality show. not just talking about the octuplets you see in this video from radar online f a judge approves the contract, all 14 of nadia soulman's kids will collectively get $250,000 over three year. did you know under california law that 15% of that must go into a trust until the kids are 18? oh, you saw that one coming from a mile away. >> i don't want to know what she is going to do with the other 85%. i'm afraid. >> yeah. 35 minutes past the hour. >> what's up, rob if. >> what is up with you? >> you know, just watching summertime activity blossom again, watching showers and thunderstorms now and a good pocket of rape across north central texas. here is the way it goes, see dallas here, here is oklahoma city, polls, middle of the atmosphere, enough to generate heavier downpours moving through the two states, around dallas, starting to get a couple of thunderstorms up toward your north, plano, heavier rain off toward your west, all drifting

down to the southeast. you saw that direction. up north, we have a cold front through the dakotas right now. ahead of this, going to be up stable for you, so anywhere from minnesota through wisconsin in toward illinois, be prepared for thunderstorms and already getting pockets of rape now. here is minneapolis, talk i live to that city tower cam showing the story, clouds out there, a little bit of sunshine, too. watch for powerful thunderstorms to develop, mainly around the fringes of that city and dropping down to the south. 85 to 86 today, going to be warm, feel summary out there in minneapolis. show you severe weather that we are talking about for the afternoon. the entire state of wisconsin, going to get covered with thunderstorms this afternoon. same with the eastern parts of iowa and extreme north we were illinois, parts of the u.p. of michigan as well. high pressure when you get to colorado, upper levels by baja, california, that real sinking air is going to affect with you the heat and that is going to be this afternoon, heat warnings for phoenix and the rest of western parts of arizona, temperatures today, 110 to 115 a

record for phoenix, 118, no the quite going to get there temperatures will build, strengthen, hotter for you the next couple of days, areas around portland, seattle, heat warnings this afternoon through basically wednesday into thursday. temperatures today, 95 to near 100 in portland. so we will have more on that coming up, robin, in a half an hour. >> so warm. thank you. a woman paralyzed from the neck down is in a fight with the state of california to become a lawyer. >> consider it mildly it is really devastating. >> that snag is keeping this woman from taking the bar exam. you are going to see what that snag is.

a paralyzed law student is in a fight with the state of california to allow her to take the bar exam tomorrow. the woman is not allowed to take the ex-a am because she paid the fee by check instead of a credit card. >> they said that there was no appeal process because you can't take new applicants. but i started my application in november. >> governor arnold schwarzenegger issued a statement saying the woman should be able to take the test despite the bureaucratic error. you know, we have got to show you this incredible wedding the entire wedding party dances into the church. ♪ that is the way to celebrate. here comes the bride. i wonder how good the reception was if the wedding was this exciting. this thing has been everywhere

the past few days. 8 million people have watched it online and we found it for you on youtube. that is what a wedding should be, a celebration. i think it's a five minutes long and i watched every second. it was so much fun. >> did you? >> oh, you didn't get to see it one guy comes in does a hand stand. >> yeah. yeah. >> he is a big guy. >> after all that, the girl still had to wear a dress that the bride chose. starting today, you can get up to $4500 to trade in your old car. the thing is, you have to have -- >> take a little bit of homework to see if this is really good for you but i want you to know to get into it, the program ends once 250,000 cars are traded in. really slimmed the program down in congress. but clunkers mean it is can only get 18 mile as a gallon or less. say you have got an old beater and worth $1,000. look, if that's less that the 35 to 4500 dollars you can get, hey that is a pretty good deal if you can swing a new car now.

if you want to get all the straight facts, we have warned there are a lot of experts saying there are going to be fake scam websites out there. to get the straight dope go to the government website and you can get right to that. we linked to it, go right there from cnn.com/robin. that is one to be careful about as you look up information. the recession is taking a toll on your sleep. one out of three americans say that they are tossing and turning at night, worrying about their money or their jobs. that is according to the national sleep foundation. take a listen. >> we are seeing a combination of people, people who have had long-standing problems with their sleep who report that their sleep is getting worse because of the added stress of the economy as well as people who are coming in saying that they have never had a sleep problem before. >> that is one sleep disorder doctor. prescriptions for sleeping pills hit a record 56 million last year. so, that is one in every six americans is taking something to try to help them sleep and the sleep foundation points out when you don't sleep, there can be

other related problems like maybe you don't do as well as work, you don't exercise a regularly, you are too tired. >> your body can only take so much of really losing a lot of sleep. >> when i'm tired, i might reach for the unhealthy stuff instead of -- >> your body think it is needs fuel because you are not giving it in sleep, basically. so you want the high carbs, the high fat, the sugar. yeah yeah. thank you. where is my caffeine drink? new details behind the arrest that got everyone a's attention, even the president. police are talking about the 911 call that sent them to a harvard professor's home what it says about the role of race and what happens.

the neighbor who called 9 1 to report a possible break-in at the home of the harvard professor did not mention race. that is what we are hearing from the cambridge police commissioner. that call led to the arrest of henry gates for misconduct. the officer involved said he arrested gates because he was

belligerent. those charges have been dropped. this weekend, signs appeared outside gates' home saying playing the race card when there is no racism just breeds contempt and division. and cambridge cops equal good, racist professors equal shame. the signs were removed by saturday night. sarah palin stepped down as alaska's first female governor yesterday. do you think she made a smart moveby leaving? what is your opinion about that? one viewer texted, i think mrs. palin is saying what american americans would if they had a national platform. woe should be able to protect our families like famous people. sierra from new jersey texted, i say good riddance it is probably the first smart move she has made. good luck to her and her fight for truth. text your comments to hlntv. that is 45688. start your message with my name robin or else it just kind of goes out into never never land we don't know or e-mail us by going to cnn.com/robin and hitting that contact button.

thank you. another tragedy for the sports world, a boxing champion was gunned down with his 11-year-old godson nearby. here is rafer with this story. >> this guy did so much to help disabled children, his charity work. he's a no words to describe how tragic this is. police say that this man, actually his general roarity may be what got him into trouble. vernon forest pulled into an atlanta gas station station to put air into his tired. his godson went into the bathroom. a man approached him and asked him for money. when forrest pulled out his wallet, the man grabbed it. he chased after him. the 11-year-old did not see t forrest went back to his car and was show the in the back. forrest leaves behind a 12-year-old son. other sports news, terrell owen says michael vick should be allowed back that football after reports surfaced that nfl commissioner roger goodell would

reinstate vick after dogfighting charges. t.o. chimed in and did not use a good choice of words. >> you think really it is really fair for him to be suspended for more games, almost like kicking a dead horse in the ground. the guy suffered so much and add a four-game suspension to on a two-year, you know, prisonson tense, i mean, that's ridiculous. >> and let eat mails be coming. a driver was penalized for speeding in nascar, was not happy about it. >> thank you, nascar, for [ bleep ] my day. >> that was juan pablo montoya ruled going too fast during a pit stop and penalized. that paved the way for jimmie johnson to win. johnson won 448 grand, montoya, half that $224,000 speeding ticket. one of bic's most colorful characters, rickey henderson, got his due in the hall of fame. known about speaking about himself in the third person, he broke the record for stolen bases back in '91, this was

rickey's speech then. >> was a great base stealer but today, i'm the greatest of all time. thank you. >> yet when he was inducted into the hall of fame, henderson shocked us by showing some rare humility. >> at this moment, i am very, very humble. >> very, very humble. you know, robin, one time ricky lenderson called up a general manager and said this is rickey calling on behalf of rickey. he wants to play for you. >> he likes the third person. i love that. the average american spends hundreds of dollars a year on cell service. hln money expert clark howard gives you the straight talk about a new mobile service that could save you big bucks. >> in this time that we're all trying to become more careful with how we handle our dough, do i have a new deal for you on cell phones. now, this is straight talk for

you. that's right. that's the name of the new service, straighttalk.com. listen to how cheap this is. first, no contract. you buy an el cheapo phone from them. then your service, $30 a month buys you 1,000 minutes to talk, 1,000 text messages and a bunch of megabytes or bits or whatever those are called for you to be able to web surf. no gimmicks, no overages, just a fair, straight deal. $30 covers most people. it's a rare talkaholic like me that would go over 1,000 minutes. for more straight talk on you saving money, go to my web site,

cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> clark had teach you to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. catch clark on hln noon eastern on saturdays and sundays. listeners hear 45-second ads in five languages for italy's large power company. it's because of the economic downturn. last year the vatican actually ran a $22 million deficit. these birds were reportedly forced to fight each other. connecticut police arrested 19 people who were allegedly part of a bird-fighting ring. police say they took 150 birds yesterday from a house where the fighting was going on. the suspects are facing animal cruelty and illegal gambling charges, but luckily none of the birds seem to be injured. another bird in chicago cemetary could become a crime scene. what triggered this investigation and what authorities are looking for now.

i would like to say morning, sunshine to you, 9:00 eastern. impressive that you're up on a monday. i'm robin meade. here's what's going on now. >> with this decision now, i will be able to fight even harder for you for what is right and for truth. >> former alaska governor sarah palin is starting the morning as a private citizen. she made a very public exit from office yesterday with a dig at hollywood and the media. plus, the wrong turn for a driver ends in a horrible head-on crash. eight people were killed. what's shocking is one person actually survived. toyota may go down a road never traveled before, and

thousands of people could lose their jobs. first, though, former vice president elect sarah palin stepped down as governor of alaska. she lashd oed out at critics an the media at how she's been portrayed since she became a national figure. >> you represent what could and should be a cornerstone of our democracy, and that's why our troops are willing to die for you. so how about in honor of the american soldier, you quit making things up. >> lieutenant governor shawn parnell takes over. palin wrote, thank you, alaska, in what she called her last state twitter message. happening right now, a five-alarm fire at a huge furniture store near seattle. this is tape from earlier this morning. the 20,000-square-foot warehouse

has been burning for hours now. nobody is inside the building, thank goodness, and that more weather overnight has made it tougher for them to fight the fire. "endeavour" astronauts are on the space shuttle live. >> that's it right there. >> isn't that fascinating? you're basically seeing what the astronaut is seeing through their helmet cam. they ventured out almost an hour earlier than scheduled. they're rearranging a few power hookups and fixing insulation at the national space station. they will look for carbon dioxide buildup. "endeavour" will leave the space station tomorrow. eight people were killed in a minivan when it ended up on the wrong side of the road. the minivan crashed head on into an suv, hit another car and

burst into flames. a five-year-old survived, but his mom and three cousins were killed, along with three people in the suv. >> i've been on the force for 23 years, and i've never seen anything like that. we have an accident reconstructionist at the scene, and hopefully they'll be able to come to some determination of what happened. >> we're still waiting for word on the boy's condition. two sheriff's deputies were shot to death on sunday. sheriffs say a man opened fire when they were trying to exercise a warrant. the deputies were shot when they kicked open the door of the home. >> they said, you got two seconds to open the door. the guy was sitting there waiting on us. >> a woman who was passing by was hit in the arm by a stray bullet, and we're waiting for an update on her condition. the man who killed the sister of actor kelsey grammar has a parole hearing today, and the frasier star is expected to be there.

grammar's sister was abducted, raped and killed in 1985 after an attempted burglary. the man is serving a life sentence in a prison outside denver. president obama wants to drink a beer with the harvard professor and the white cop who arrested him. he said both men overreacted and he wants to cool things off. sergeant crowley arrested henry gates for misconduct. gates was trying to get in a door of his home. gates said he's glad the president got involved. >> are you satisfied with how the president handled this? >> yes. >> you are? what about the beer? are you going up to the vineyard? >> i don't know. >> the vineyard, martha's vineyard, where the president's family is going to vacation in august. the president initially said the officer acted stupidly when arresting gates. he said he didn't know his words would have such an impact.

crowley said he charged gates because he was belligerent and wouldn't stop yelling at him. gates said the cops harassed him because he is black. four minutes past the hour. all right. right in the center of the country, right now we have what's happening that bob is zeroing in on. what you got? >> we got storms stretching into texas and oklahoma. it's all a part of heavy rain moving into this entire region over the next 24 to 36 hours. the white and shaded blue colors, that's all rain. the greens and reds, heavy rain coming in. we got lightning strikes just north of dallas, which is right here. i-35 all drifting to the east. you can see more thunderstorms in texas, and oklahoma city, you can see heavy downpours out there also. it's an actually cold front, this stuff going later today. so far just light showers when you get toward south dakota and minnesota, but once that cold front gets a little air mass with a little heating in front of that, watch for storms this

afternoon. gusty winds and large hail the main threat for this afternoon. big story in the west. high pressure in denver to california. high pressure that will heat up quickly. take you live to phoenix. you are under heat warning, and the heat is gradually going to build today to the end of the week. 113 today up to about 116, 117 possibly by mid-week. farther in seattle, you can see what you guys look like, too. you're in a heat warning. here's the way it looks. look how pretty that is, robin. that is seattle, but you guys are under a heat warning also. 90 today, 93 to 94 by wednesday. so here comes the heat. right now the coolest part of the day, so enjoy it. there you go, robin. >> that is unreal looking. >> next time we get something like that, we'll definitely show it. you expect to find human bones at the cemetary, but when

a bone is found lying on the cemetary ground, that's a problem. and authorities want some answers. p@p@@úú@úú@

. we always pause and salute the troops. we salute sergeant michael long. congratulations on your promotion, sergeant, by the way. his sister says michael is in iraq and he hasn't even met his new daughter yet. would you look at her? his whole family misses him like crazy. and they're looking forward to a reunion. thanks for the work you do. if you have somebody in the service g to cnn.com/robin. a second cemetary is being investigated after a human bone was found lying on the ground. the owner denies anything wrong. the cemetary is already facing a

lawsuit from a family who allegedly sold a plot where a family member is already buried. another cemetary was charged with double stacking bodies and reselling plots. it was this british woman who won the lottery. she lost it at the supermarket. the couple who cashed it in got suspended sentences for fraud, and now they have to give back the money they did not spend. she proved the ticket was hers, that woman did, with a receipt. wow. good thing she kept the receipt. >> yeah. who keeps receipts, really? i'm impressed with that. the fed chief, ben bernanke, talked to a crowd of people just like he was a neighbor, taking questions. am i right about this, jennifer westhoven? that's unusual. >> very unusual for a fed chairman to do that, to have a town hall kind of meeting? you know, to be speaking directly to the people. the new york times says his

message was the fed is here to help, but something you should keep in mind, his term is up in january, so this may be part of him trying to show, hey, i should keep this job, i'm good at it, i'm willing to talk to people, i know i'm accountable. now, he was asked about bailouts for big companies like aig but not smaller companies, and he got pretty emotional and said, i had to hold my nose. he was disgusted, he said. but he said he feared a second great depression if the feds stood by and watched the economy meltdown. saying it was a bad situation, but they did what they had to do. maybe diamonds are not out of the question? i'm sure you've heard of some of the travel deals out there. businesses say luxury retailers like tiffany's, chanel, they've been lower prices, too, without

saying anything. that's good news in a bad economy. tiffany's cut their price of engagement rings by 10%, but they're being discreet. they don't want to tarnish their image, but just like everybody else, they need to sell. toyota has a plant closing in california. this is the first time they've had a plant closing in toyota industry. 460 people worked there. >> my dad actually worked here when it was gm and it closed. that wasn't a good time. it was tough on the family to start over again, and now we're looking at possibly doing that all over again. >> it's a wait and see game. a lot of prayers. a lot of prayers for everybody. >> toyota says the main reason was the labor costs were higher here than at their other plants. $13,000 more in terms of pay than other places. bob has some sloppy weather to tell you about, and it sounds like if you did your hair this

morning, you need a big bonnet. >> something to keep it all-i i. we have humidity. 5,000 airplanes up. how about delays for the day? it's going to be dfw that we're watching this morning and through the afternoon. probably an hour or more with heavy rain slated in your direction. d.c., charlotte, short delays but those pop-up storms coming at you. atlanta, minneapolis, more storms. san francisco, morning fog, and that should get out of there by midday, so 1:00, everything should be just fine. a guy who made only 20 grand on the pga tour walked away with a $50,000 car. wait until you see the amazing hole-in-one that helped him get the amazing ride.

. sarah palin fired a few parting shots before she stepped down as alaska's first female governor yesterday. take a listen to this zinger against hollywood.

>> by the way, hollywood needs to know, we eat, therefore, we hunt. [ applause ] >> of course, richard lui has more on palin's hollywood slam. you're going, what does that mean? >> yeah, robin, she was talking about the right to bear arms, the second amendment. remember, she is an avid hunter and she warned alaskans about possible hunting moves. >> you're going to see possible hunting circuses from hollywood, and here's how they do it. they use a delicate, tiny, very talented celebrity starlet. they use alaska as a fund raising tool for their anti-amendment funding causes. >> they say they may have been referring to ashley judd who targeted sarah palin.

>> she did hammer the media, and she made no bones about that. >> you're right, robin. she did not get too specific, either. she alluded to her concerns that some media had attacked her family, saying her replacement, lieutenant governor shawn parnell, has a very nice family, too, so leave his kids alone. if you go back to the resignation announcement earlier this month, she felt some bloggers had treated her unfairly. >> so tell me, do you think palin made a smart move by leaving? >> christy said, palin has not made a smart move all her life. she is an embarrassment to women everywhere. another one said, just leave sarah palin alone. she is trying to get her family life back in line. and, people talk about sarah palin running for president. we need someone extraordinary in that chair, and she is not it. text your comments to 45688.

put robin after it so it doesn't float around out there. "purple rain" 25 years old today. [ music playing ] >> at one point during the summer of 1984, prince had the number one movie, album and single in the country. he even won an oscar for the soundtrack. the movie almost had an x rating because of a sex scene between prince and apolonia. >> and like you said, he has not aged. it's amazing. >> no! >> you're the same, though. >> smoke and mirrors, baby. lance armstrong did not win another tour de france title. he still made a great showing, and in turn is being shown a success. >> i know we're used to seeing lance winning over and over and over again.

but let's be honest, very few people expected lance to do as well as he did when he came in third. he broke his collarbone in march, he was one of the oldest riders at 38, and he retired three years ago. so he did make the podium. he's already the favorite for next year's tour de france. the guy on the right who he lost to, spanish teammate alberto contadore. >> i wanted to come in first, but sometimes in sports there's somebody that's better. and i was that guy for seven years. that's the great thing about the tour, is the best man always wins. >> that was him talking to our own sanjay gupta. michael phelps had an off night at the pool, but he still won the world championships. he was the slowest on the team, but we got a long way to go to the next olympics, but they won

thanks to anchorman nathan hadrian. stay classcy. speaking of staying classy, this is not. you can see the green squiggly right in their face. that's dangerous stuff. hugo struck out. he said he wasn't sure if someone was trying to shoot him. the fan was never caught by security. and this is also pretty crazy. a car burst into flames at an indy race in ed monton. his fuel didn't shut off. he gets doused down by crew members. kanaan actually pulled out because he wanted to protect his crew members from the flames. he got second-degree bushes on his hands and face. lee fullsome who has won

only about $19,000 the entire year, gets this shot. that is the fourth bmw they gave away from people getting holes in one on that hole. so they had to stop giving away cars. >> i bet they sponsor a different hole next time. make it a little tougher. some of the stories we're watching in the morning express already. president obama kicks off a two-day conference in the united states and china a. the topics will include the economy, security and the environment. in about 40 minutes, the commerce department releases new home sales figures. there is some optimism that the report is going to show that the housing slump is stablizing. london marks three years before its 2012 olympics. they will showcase an olympic park under construction. they will also show their progress on the sporting venues and london's transportation system. most of the committee's $3 billion budget comes from the

private sector sponsorships. the committee's chairman says the budget and plans are all on track. if you hear top-notch doctors were offering free medical and dental care, how many people do you think would show up? it happened this weekend, and you'll be amazed at the turnout.

okay, the new york stock exchange just opened for business, and we're looking for a flat open today. we're going to hear more from the fed chair, ben bernanke, and we've got some important economic reports that are due, so we're on the lookout for that. it is me because i love alaska this much, sir, that i felt it my duty to avoid the unproductive, typical politics as usual, lame duck session in one's last year in office. >> it's the official former vice president candidate sarah palin is no longer the governor of alaska. she stepped down yesterday. shawn parnell was sworn in.

she called on the news media saying, quote, quit making things up. nasa is on their final space walk. they're rearranging a few power cable hookups and fixing some insulation at the international space station. isn't this a cool shot? they're also installing tv cameras on the space lab. the "endeavour" will leave the space station tomorrow. the president of france is out of the hospital after getting his heart checked. nicolas sarkozy felt faint and collapsed while he was jogging yesterday. the doctor said too much work and too much heat made him ill. those are some of today's top stories. good morning, sunshine. i'm robin meade. good to have you today. 31 minutes past the hour. a paralyzed law student is in a fight with the state of california to allow her to take the bar exam tomorrow. the woman is not allowed to take the exam because, get this, she paid feet by check instead of

using a credit card. >> they said there is no appeal process because we can't take new applicants, but i started my application in november. >> well, governor schwarzenegger issued a statement saying the woman should be able to take the test despite a bureaucratic error. a controversial nfl player is one of the first pushing for michael vick to get to return to the nfl. rafer weigel has more on that. that takes guts. >> it does take guts, it also takes guts based on what he said. t.o. always on ut spoken. last week we were thinking goodell would reinstate vick but suspend him for four games. t.o. said that was unfair and didn't use a good choice of words to illustrate that point. >> i don't think it's fair for him to be suspended for the next

four games. it's like kicking a dead horse. to add a four-game suspension onto a two-year prison sentence, that's ridiculous. >> vick, of course, just finished his federal sentence for dog fighting charges. robin? >> so you were right when you said that wasn't a good choice of words. if you're looking for a simpler way of life, you might want to head for a town in arizona. they look for a wide range of activities and nice place of living. a 33 minutes past the hour. how is monday shaping up for you? well, where bob is focusing in, it's shaping up in a soupy way. >> good morning, robin. it's dallas right now. i've actually labeled dfw, the airport, because there is a thunderstorm directly overhead.

i don't see the delay but you'll feel the effects of that shortly. there's dallas, ft. worth right there, that thunderstorm goes all the way in towards denton and moving to the east at about 30 miles per hour. it's going to be overhead. gets out of here later today and more thunderstorms develop. it's all part of a bigger system dropping down out of west texas. look toward oklahoma city. that's also getting toward techs -- texarcana. a couple showers around minneapolis. it's not a big deal right now. give it some time, though. this cold front is going to activate itself, turn into some severe weather. that's going to be areas we put in red. parts of iowa, northern wisconsin and parts of northern illinois getting parts of minnesota. the huge story across the west over the next three days, the buildup in heat. it's gradually going to shrink, so as that happens, the

temperature begins to respond by heating up. we have warnings out there for you temperaturewise, phoenix a heat warning for you. 115 for today, tomorrow 116 or so. the record today for phoenix is 118. you're not gog get there, but it will feel extremely hot. we have warnings for seattle and tacoma, your temperature today, 95 to 100 by tomorrow. portland gets to be about 100. if you want to break the heat g a couple miles south. in san francisco, a beautiful sunrise popping up here. look at that. when we talk about morning fog, that would be it right there. that is san francisco. you'll see delays at the airport. there's your broken heat, rob. enjoy it. >> that's fog, want clouds? >> that is fog down south. there you go. let me show you a live picture. right now president obama is on hand to kick off a two-day meeting with the united states

cabinet officials in washington. it's called the strategic and economic dialogue. secretary of state hilary clinton and tim geithner are going to meet with the chinese counterparts. a rally has sent both the dow and the s&p 500 up 11%, but it is a big week for earnings and economic reports, so how is the stock market rally? right below me, you see susan lisovicz. >> you see that little sliver of red, which means we're seeing a little bit of give-back, but robin, what a summer scorcher we've had. nasdaq, 12 for 12 rallies gave back a little bit on friday, but yes, a busy week. nearly 150 companies in the s&p 500 are reporting earnings this week. the market's two-week rally is on the back of largely better than expected earnings. some disa appointments today and

that's what you see play out in terms of overall sentiment. honeywell's dropped nearly 20%. honeywell says it doesn't see an economic recovery this year. and this company cut its profits for the second time in two months. verizon dropped its income nearly 20%. it can't go fast enough to keep pace with falling revenue. but ben bernanke says people are adopting good habits, like saving more. speaking at a town hall forum in kansas city, the chairman of the federal reserve says the recovery will be gradual, but economic activity will pick up this year. another bigwig in finances, warren buffett. he often gets animated when we're talking about personal

finances. soon he will actually be animated for a children's series on the same subject. an animated mr. buffett will play a mentor to a group of kids in a web series called "the secret millionaires club." those children are opening a business. what kind of business? a candy store. they'll learn all about finance and business, and kids who watch the web site will learn all about it, too. maybe adults could benefit as well, robin. >> sounds like a great idea. thank you. if you want to win an ernest hemingway look-alike contest, honey, you need a beard, a sweater and one thing might help. >> i drink a lot, i guess. >> it wasn't the only way they were remembering the author this weekend in key west.

secretary of state hilary clinton is explaining a comment by vice president joe biden. talking about russia, the wall street journal quotes biden as saying, anyway, they have a shrinking population base, they have a wetithering economy, the have a banking structure that is not going to be able to withstand the next 15 years. hilary says biden did not meet they have the upper hand with russia. >> i don't think that's what he meant. we want to make clear that as we reset our relationship, we are very clearly not saying that russia can have a 21st century sphere of influence in eastern europe. >> clinton says the u.s. views russia as a great power and that both countries face challenges.

on another topic, clinton says she's moved on from her loss in the democratic primaries, and she says she is not thinking about another run for the white house. sarah palin stepped down as alaska's first female governor yesterday. do you think she made a smart move by leaving? dinh linda in north carolina sent this e-mail. the public was tough on palin, but she won't be the first nor the last public figure with a bull's eye on heir this back. she made the attacks too easy with her comments. she made a decision right for her family. personally, i think you need to see your commitments through. it's time to let this go. text us at 45688. start your text are robin so it actually gets to us, okay? trying to win this weekend's ernest hemingway look-alike contest, the contest held at one of the most famous watering

holes in the florida keys. the winner says people mistake him for hemingway all the time. >> when i first came down here, i always felt like i was in l.a. walking down the streets because people would call you hemingway walking down the street. >> the contest also featured a short man contest. hln money expert clark howard gives you the straight talk about a new mobile service that could save you big bucks. >> in this time when we're all trying to be more careful with how we handle our dough, do i have a new deal for you on cell phones. this is straight talk for you. that's right. that's the name of the new service, ow cheap this is. first, no contract. you buy an el cheapo phone from them. and then your service, $30 a

month buys you 1,000 minutes to talk, 1,000 text messages and a bunch of megabytes or bits or whatever those things are for you to be able to web surf. all for the $30. no games, no gimmicks, no overages, just a fair, sweet, clear deal. 1,000 minutes a month covers most people. it's a very rare talkaholic like me that would talk more than 1,000 minutes a month. $30 should do it for you. i'm clark howard. for more straight talk on you saving money, go to my web site, cnn.com/clarkhoward. >> clark will teach you to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off, so catch him on noon eastern saturdays and sundays right here on hln. right now let me show you a live picture. president obama is on hand to kick off a two-day meeting between the united states and

ch chinese cabinet officials. it's happening in washington. president obama says the u.s. and china have mutual interests, and the relationship will mold the 21st century. he says both china and the united states have to be open to new ideas economically. former alaska governor sarah palin has left office, but not without a few parting shots. richard lui has more in the next hour, and we're hearing from you as well. hi, richard. i don't know that i can actually hear you. >> did i turn off my microphone? >> i'm not sure. let's try it again. >> it is on. can you guys hear him? everyone in my ear. no. i do know the story he's going to be talking about, so he'll let you hear some different comments from former alaska governor sarah palin. she has some parting shots for

the media, how she thought she was covered, and for hollywood as well. so he's going to have more on that. and also, when a crowd of factory workers found out they were losing their job, they lost their cool, and the senior worker who sent the message is dead. he talked to the jail, his head shaved, and then the waiting began. those are just some of the stories we'll get on in the next 15 minutes when richard's microphone works again. dozens of volunteers are looking for a missing eight-year-old boy. what police are saying about the search for robert manwell.

oh, you knew this was coming. the octuplets' mom's kids could make $50 a day. if a judge approves the contract, all 14 of nadia sul man's kids will collective get $250 a day.

15% of that must go into a trust until they're 18. another tragedy for the sports world. a boxing champion was gunned down with his 11-year-old godson nearby. here's rafer with more on this story. good morning. >> good morning, robin. fortunately, the 11-year-old is okay. vernon forrest, it's not a name a lot of people may know. he won four titles, boxed in the olympics, but he also did a lot of charity work, and this is a huge tragedy. police say forrest pulled into an atlanta gas station to put air in his tires. his 11-year-old godson went in to get snacks and use the bathroom. a man approached forrest for money, but forrest tried to grab him and he ran. forrest was shot four times and died. the 11-year-old fortunately did not see any of it. forrest leaves a 21-year-old of his own.

one pablo montoya was ruled going too fast during a pit stop and he was that is one expensive speeding ticket. one of baseball's most colorful characters, rickey henderson got his due in the hall of fame. he was known for speaking about himself in the third person. here was his famous speech for that moment. >> today, i am the greatest of all time. thank you. >> now. >> still cracks me up. >> when he was inducted into the hall of fame, sunday, you were expecting something similar, but he showed a little bit of humility. >> at this moment, i am very, very humble. >> and robin, one of my favorite rickey stories is before every

game, it was said he would stand naked in front of a mirror and look at himself and say, rickey's the best, rickey's the best. o okay. but he was, in some ways. >> that's funny. all right, bob. >> i see no problem with that. >> you do that too, right? >> you see that in our pregame. >> eerily similar. let me show you what's going on across the board. zeroing in towards dallas. a thunderstorm right over d/fw. notice the planes trying to dodge around me, see a couple down to the south. you're not going to see any delays right now, but i think they've got to be there. i haven't seen them pop up according to the faa, but definitely, d/fw, under the gun right now. one hour or more, dallas, boston, nyc. philadelphia, d.c., charlotte, thunderstorms developing. orlando, miami, atlanta, minneapolis, san francisco, morning fog. more in just a bit.

>> thank you. it's a beauty pageant that most of us are not used to seeing. >> when all the adults come on stage, my heart fills with joy and i want to cry. >> for the young ladies competing, it was a day they thought would never come.