good morning. thursday, august th. this is your "a.m. wakeup call." . ,000 faa workers could be out of work for several more weeks, including the back-to-school weeks. the bonus bad news is the federal government is losing about $30 million per day in aviation taxes. the good news is members of congress get to sleep in, chill all day and still get paid until september. we told you how washington left furloughed faa workers in a lurch, thanks to some complicated partisan bickering. the senate went on recess without giving the agency a short-term funding extension. president obama believes the issue will be resolved by the

end of the week. the transportation secretary says you have nothing to worry about when you fly. i'll be speaking to him later on "american morning." president obama turns 50 today. he qualifies for a free scoop at baskin-robbins. and he got a surprise in chicago ♪ happy birthday to you ♪ happy birthday to you ♪ happy birthday -- >> jennifer hudson much better singer than rahm emanuel. 26 seconds of the president's comedic stylings. >> it's true, that i turn 50 tomorrow. which means by the time i wake up i'll have an e-mail from

aarp. asking me to call president obama and tell him to protect medicare. >> funny, yet topical. some supporters paid nearly $36,000 for dinner. hoe they got a lot of free refills. if you're planning a trip to the caribbean, there's trouble in paradise, named tropical storm emily. it's slamming haiti with dangerous rains right now. warnings in effect for the dominican republic, parts of the bahamas and the turks and caicos islands. southeast florida could get a visit by saturday. we'll talk with rob marciano about emily in a few minutes. let's talk about an epic judicial moment in egypt. yesterday morning we showed you dramatic pictures of deposed president hosni mubarak on a stretcher in a cage facing

murder and corruption charges. his trial has been adjourned to the 15th of august. mubarak has denied any wrongdoing. he faces the death penalty if he's convicted. here's what cnn's freed zakar-- fareed zakaria had to say. >> it has the feeling not of a show trial but a trial that is not fair. i wish the egyptian government realized this is really a very important moment for them. they need to get this right. >> right now, mubarak's former interior minister is in court, accused of killing the earlier this year. a conviction could get him a death sentence. ground turkey, cargill meats recalled nearly 36 million pounds of it, it might be contaminated with a salmonella strain that's hard to treat.

one person died in california. people in 26 different states have become circumstansick. nina dos santos is going to talk about europe's debt crisis in just a moment. first, let's stop in and visit with anna in hong kong. the dow finished higher yesterday after an eight-day losing streak. it kept us waiting right until the end. how did world markets do overnight? >> yes, good morning, ali. markets in europe begin the first few hours of trading, it would seem the main indices have been void by wall street's positive finish. here in the asia pacific is was a different story, most markets finishing down. the hong kong hang seng closed down 0.5%. the s&p asx 200 also down. more so in korea, seoul's kospi finished down 2.3%. the nikkei advanced for the

first time in three days, closing up slightly. japanese exporters got a boost in the currency markets to reign in the appreciation of the yen. in china, the shanghai composite was up on speculation the federal reserve may introduce qe3 to stimulate the world's largest economy. ali, i have no doubt you will cover that story. we'll pick up what you said about the yen in just a moment. nina, let's first talk about what's going on in italy. a long speech by the prime minister yesterday warning that things are not as bad as markets seem to be treating them in italy. some serious problems. >> yes, absolutely, ali. silvio berlusconi made a rare appearance to the italian parliament during this crisis. what he said was that the banks were solvent, the country's economy was solid. but if you take a look at the bond yields on the italian ten-year debt, the markets, especially the bond markets really not believing that.

they're near 6% yet again, i should remind you that the danger point is 7% beyond which point it just becomes too expensive for these economies to service their debt on the open market. that really gives you an indication of how the markets bought silvio berlusconi speech. another thing we should mention, ali, i have a report in my mind, here it is, a think tank saying that italy is likely to default if you look at its economics here, saying that spain on the other hand may just about get away without defaulting. italy may well default. this is because its debt-to-gdp is likely to be 1.5 times its economy. 150% debt for its 100% gdp. >> wow. >> the issue is really that it's going to be unsustainable if that's the case. come seven years from now if they're still paying 6% on their interest, ali. >> i wonder if we could get by three days using the world default having to do with some major economy in the world. nina dos santos in london.

we'll follow the italy story closely with her. here's our quote of the day. i come from a long line of illiterates, they forgot the "h" in my name. sometimes that comes back to haunt me. i'll have the answer for you after the break. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. new ensure high protein... fifty percent of your daily value of protein. low fat and five grams of sugars. see? he's a good egg. [ major nutrition ] new ensure high protein. ensure! nutrition in charge! but i did. they said i couldn't fight above my weight class. but i did. they said i couldn't get elected to congress.

but i did. now i'm trying to make it in music. ♪ sometimes when we touch ha ha! millions of hits! [ male announcer ] the new hp touchpad. get it now for $100 off, starting at $399.99. ♪ get it now for $100 off, starting at $399.99. host: could switching to geico reon car insurance? or more host: do people use smartphones to do dumb things? man 1: send, that is the weekend. app grapgic: yeah dawg! man 2: allow me to crack...the bubbly! man 1: don't mind if i doozy. man 3: is a gentleman with a brostache invited over to this party? man 1: only if he's ready to rock! ♪ sfx: guitar and trumpet jam vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

almost nine minutes after the hour. this is your "a.m. wakeup call." the quote of the day, well, i come from a long lining of illiterates. who said this? jo jon huntsman, that's j-o-n, jon, not j-o-h-n. this guy has skills. i think he's ready for the white house. all right. do you know this word, haboob? we talked about it a lot on this show, more some say than necessary. i'll let comedy central's stephen colbert finish this one. >> today's word of the day that you must know is haboob. >> official term is haboob. >> haboob.

>> haboob. >> meanwhile, a haboob -- >> haboob, h-a-b-o-o-b, an arabic name for an intense sandstorm. >> haboob. this is america. forecast in english. >> i have talked a lot about haboobs with rob marciano live in atlanta. i think it was you who introduced me to the word, rob. it was unfamiliar to me at the time. emily is more familiar. >> it is. we try to give you descriptions of what's going on weatherwise. sometimes we have to use technical terms. haboob is one of them. tropical storm emily, as you mentioned, this has been on our radar screen for quite some time. this is just off the coast of the dominican republic and about 100 miles south of port-au-prince, haiti. it's been dousing hispaniola with heavy rains for 10 to 12 hours. in the mountainous areas they've probably already received eight or nine inches. it could be a dangerous

situation for the folks in the bahamas and potentially florida. let's get to the forecast track now. as of 5:00 this morning, freshly updated. our models are all over the place once this thing gets over hispaniola. florida still in play, the southeast coast of the carolinas still in play as well. we'll give you another update at 11:00 when the new models come out. folks in the east coast of florida, it's still a distinct possibility this comes your way. it's a definite that the heat will continue across the southern plains. we saw a slew of all-time record-breaking high temperatures of over 110, not including the heat index yesterday. not including the heat and humidity. we're looking at a whole bunch of states that are under the gun, thunderstorms across the south today will cause travel delays. nothing like a mariachi band serenading -- >> a while? >> a beluga whale. >> they're cute little guys. i guess the band was there to play a wedding. which they'll do in an aquarium

from time to time. the blue whale took extreme interest to the mexican culture. >> it seems like the whale is reacting, right? >> very much so. this was at the georgia aquarium. they seem to want to interact with people. maybe it's the sombrero. >> definitely something going on there. good to see you, my friend. >> all right, pal. >> rob marciano. the alaska hair salon that's made sarah palin's up-do popular is about to cut and curl its way into america's homes. ♪ i whip my hair back and forth ♪ [ woman ] jogging stroller. you've been stuck in the garage while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief

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14 minutes after the hour. jon stewart breaks down the debt deal and one of its creations, the super committee. here's your punch line. >> the country finally has it's spending and debt under control. >> this is how much our debt was going to rise before the compromise deal, nearly 29 trillion in ten years. this is how it looks afterwards. >> that's what this whole [ bleep ] thing was about? remove one paper thin chocolate shaving from our dairy queen gut-busting sundae of debt?

>> they're calling it the super committee. >> a dozen members of congress. >> our prayers are answered. america's own legion of doofs. which have our leaders has powers above some? the senator drone, harry reid. he'll talk to you about things for a long time. senator jon kyl, his golden stream of protection shields the rich. senator john mccain or old-man man. together with some other people, they are the super committee. >> time now for your political ticker with tim farley, host of "morning briefing," live from washington. good morning, tim. president obama turned 50. he turns 50. he celebrated in chicago last night. not one but two big parties. >> big, big, big time for him. a little bit hot in the room last night, ali velshi.

jennifer hudson belted out happy birthday, mr. president. in no way was it reminiscent of marilyn monroe. evidently there was no air conditioning. i would like to know the e-mail address by the way. fy want to send one directly to the president i'd like to see if i could get it to him. >> what's going on with tim pawlenty's campaign? he's got an adviser leaving. he's pull something ads. is it a money issue or is it that his campaign is not picking up steam. >> i think the fact that you're asking a question is important. that's not a good thing whenever someone is asking a question about a campaign. al hubbard who worked under president george w. bush and was a key adviser to mitch daniels when there was a thought that mitch daniels might run for president, he's the governor of indiana, has left and supposedly done what he needed to do. the fact that he's leaving alone is not enough to make you raise

your eyebrows. the fact that they are pulling money, supposedly redirecting it just before the ames straw poll on the 13th, a week from this saturday, indicates there may be a money stream issue or other problems with the campaign. when you're at numbers like he is right now, this could not be a good thing. the same network that brought us sarah palin's reality show is turning its focus to her favorite hair salon? >> you're doing a hair salon story, ali? ♪ i whip my high back and forth ♪ ♪ i whip my hair back and forth ♪ >> "big hair alaska" willing on the learning channel, tlc. ♪ i don't know where they come up with the idea for these shows. at some point they're dipping too deep into the barrel. yes, we're looking at a hair salon that's famous for the do that she sports.

>> it might become famous again all over america as a result of the tv show. have a good morning. enjoy the show, host of "morning briefing" on sirius xm podus. they say children born this year are eight times more likely to reach their 108th birthday. a girl born today has a one in three chance of reaching that age. a boy has a one in four chance. here's the only hijacking by the way that the fbi hasn't solved. the man who jumped out of a plane with $200,000 in cash and out of sight, 40 years later, a woman says she knows who d.b. cooper really is. first, have a mimosa or at least a glass when you get home from work. today is national day of champagne. 20 minutes after the hour. probably a little early to pop

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[ martin luther king jr. ] i still have a dream that one day on the red hills of georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. i have a dream today! [ male announcer ] chevrolet is honored to celebrate the unveiling of the washington, d.c., martin luther king jr. memorial. take your seat at the table on august 28th. 21 minutes after the hour. here are three things to put on your radar today. right now, congress is on recess while thousands of workers are furloughed, waiting on their budget to be approved. this week's jobless numbers are coming up on friday but we'll get a bit of a preview this morning with the unemployment claims.

the numbers aren't expected to be very good. and frank mccourt will go before a judge with his wife jamie to determine if the title of the team is in frank's name or the team should be considered commune in the property in their divorce. let's go around the world. live in mogadishu, somalia, where famine and death are spreading. nima, i want to warn the people watching that some of these images are truly heartbreaking. it's hard to watch. give us a sense of what is beginning on there and just how bad it is. >> reporter: ali, last time we were speaking we were talking about the impact of the edict banning foreign work groups, an affiliated group called al shabaab. even here in mogadishu where aid groups have been able to work there is a famine. they are calling the somali

capital a famine zone. this sin credibly heartbreaking here, ali. the u.n. have told us they put out an appeal for $1 billion. they say that's what they need to try and make a difference to people here. only over 40%, just over 40% of that, i should say, has been received. there are 2.8 million people that no aid is reaching whatsoever in this country. 1.25 million of those are children. what makes it worse, it's difficult to assess how many people are even dying here, ali. >> nima, give us a sense, it almost seems like history is repeating itself. we watched this in the past in ethiopia and sometimes somalia. how do relief workers go about trying to feed millions of hungry people, as you describe it? >> reporter: well, what complicates this situation is the al shabaab militant group.

the u.s. treasury put them on their sanctions list, which meant if aid workers were in the areas of they were operating, any aid that went into al shabaab hands would result in them being penalized. they were demanding taxes and cuts from the aid, to allow any of that to reach the communities in need. the u.s. has suspended that ban. many worry that's coming too late. a lot of aid organizations aren't even present in those areas. here in mogadishu, the sense is that that concern over militants being able to use the aid has slowed the aid response, even in areas where they could have reached. here in mogadishu, there's an airport. people are able to come in. there is an african u.n. security force trying to secure the areas to deliver the aid. the issue really is that the aid is not being sent in from the outside world, ali. >> nima, thank you for staying on top of the story and letting our viewers understand how serious and devastating the problem is in somalia.

nima elbigyar is with us. bubba smith was found unresponsive at his home yesterday. he's considered one of the most fearsome pass rushers of his day. he described his strategy as tackling the whole backfield and throwing out people one by one until he found the guy with the ball. after leaving football, smith as you will recognize, appeared in six of the "police academy" movies as lieutenant moses hightower. no word on how he died. he jumped out of a plane with $200,000 in cash and into popular legend. he hijacked a jet and bailed out over the pacific northwest 40 years ago. investigators found some of the money but never cooper. now a woman claims cooper is at her uncle. he showed up at her house one night, telling her father we're watch. he looked like he was in a car

accident. >> my father was crying, yelling. he was cussing out my uncle for both of them for what they had done. you realize you've ruined your life. >> she says her father's dead and believes her uncle is also dead. she's writing a book, the fbi is investigating her story. her last name is zuckerberg and she's leaving facebook. why she's saying good-bye to her sibling's business, coming up. instantly, and the look of deep wrinkles in 14 days. ready, set, smooth... regenerist. from olay. a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities, giving them a new choice. we'll deliver better service, with thousands of new cell sites... for greater access to all the things you want, whenever you want them.

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good morning. thursday, august 4th. this is your "wake up call." 30 minutes after the hour. president obama is urging congress to resolve an faa

funding dispute. construction workers are also left in limbo as projects are stalled. airport ticket taxes go uncollected, about $30 million a day. what about safety? >> the safety will never be compromised. thousands of people got on planes today, hundreds of controllers went to work today, planes are being guided in and out of airports safely. actually our safety inspectors are on the ground, using their own credit cards. they're on their own dime so to speak because they're dedicated faa employees. flying is safe. safety will not be compromised, never has been and never will be. >> i'll be talking to ray lahood later on "american morning." if this dispute continues until congress returns in september, the federal government will be out more than a billion dollars in revenue. the pentagon is warning against cutting too much from its budget. leon panetta says the automatic cuts that may kick in if congress can't agree are

completely unacceptable. panetta holds his first news conference as defense secretary at 2:30 eastern time today. 72 people have been charged in a global child porn ring, based in the u.s. but reached across five continents. some of the children victimized were only infants. attorney general eric holder says the bust should send a message, abuse children, we will find you, stop you and bring you to justice. in the trial of polygamous leader warren jeffs, it's the defense's turn. he fired his legal team a while back. the prosecution rested yesterday but not before it played an audio tape of a man said to be jeffs sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl. >> we heard warren jeffs say that feel goods, how do you feel and this little girl voice said very good. it was sad. she's small for her age, she has red hair, described by a witness as having red hair and freckles, looking like pippi longstocking.

>> if convicted jeffs faces a possible life sentence. dangerous triple digit temperatures on tap for the country today. little rock, arkansas hit a record high of 114 degrees yesterday. these children found temporary relief. that's about it. temperatures are expected to soar to 107 degrees today. dallas-ft. worth also baking. it hit 109 degrees, a record high for the third straight day. a record for power demand was also set there. the sister of facebook ceo co-found co-founder zucker berg is leaving to start her own company. she's launching her own innovative programming. something to get you laughing, jay leno isn't done making fun of the last-minute

debt deal that had the nation on edge. are you happy we didn't default? >> yes. >> see, see, people cheer. that's how low our standards are now in this country. avoiding a disaster is now an accomplishment. we used to go to the moon. remember that? now we're like we crashed the car but it didn't explode, yeah, high five, high five. yeah! i tell you something, you can tell this bill that president obama signed was not popular with the democrats either. because he signed it in private. ever notice? it wasn't one of the big photo-ops in the rose garden. this time there was no photographer at all. obama had to press the timer and run back to his desk. first today's get smart question, how many americans check facebook every day? think carefully about this one. 32%, 52% or 72%? the answer after this quick break.

it's 34 minutes after the hour. hey, the new guy is loaded with protein! really? 25 grams of protein. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. new ensure high protein... fifty percent of your daily value of protein. low fat and five grams of sugars. see? he's a good egg. [ major nutrition ] new ensure high protein. ensure! nutrition in charge! [ ♪ or nutrition ] new ensure high protein. ♪ ♪ ♪ introducing purina one beyond

a new food for your cat or dog. 35 minutes after the hour. this is your "wake up call." how many americans, what percentage of americans check their facebook every day? 32%, 52% or 72% in the answer is "b," according to pugh research. it asked what percentage of your facebook friends are people that you actually know? the average facebook user has met 89% of their facebook friends more than once. 7% have only met them once. 3% of people say they've never met in person. a big story right now is the warning of another recession. christine romans live in new york. there are definitely signs out there, mixed signs about the economy and mixed signs make people think about another recession. what do you think? >> you have larry summers, we

told you on this program yesterday morning, we have a one of three chance of falling back into the a recession. he said the economy was in a stall. we know that first quarter gdp was rotten, barely grew. we know that second quarter gdp grew a little bit. i'm on the record saying, ali, that things will be difficult until we get the jobs report on friday and show whether indeed the economy has stalled or whether it is slipping backward again. housing is a terrible overhang. you have an economy that's not growing enough. martin feldstein yesterday morning raised concerns, a lot of people are talking about today, he basically gave an outlook that was similar to what he gave back in january of 2008 when he was the well-known economist from the opposite side of the political spectrum of larry summers. basically our ideological spectrum, i should say, basically giving the same forecast in 2008. it was one of the early warning bells that things would be bad. there are concerns out there about just how robust or not robust this economy is, ali. >> you're a nerd but you sure are smart.

>> it takes one to know one, ali. it's good to be a nerd. nerds rule the world. mayor michael bloomberg, a new york story, it's pretty important here, donating $30 million of his own money to help the city's minority youth. michael bloomberg and others like him, very rich people who are smart in business and interested in public policy concerned about things like the dichotomy and the wealth gap between different races, what recession means for education and opportunity. so putting his own money up there, 30 million bucks out of his own pocket for new york city. we'll be hearing more about that i think later today. i'm quite interested in what kinds of initiatives he'll be pushing. we look for that. futures are mixed right now. but again, i want to say, ali, this will be a difficult week. jobs reports tomorrow. >> it's a week that's difficult to look at futures and make sense of what's going to happen. not a single day this week have the futures indicated what happens at the end of the day.

they're not supposed to. tough week. christine, i'll see you in about 20 minutes. >> okay, bye. alex rodriguez has been called into the commissioner's office about a couple of card games and they were not solitaire. details on the other side of the break. stay with us.

40 minutes after the hour. now time for our political ticker. let's bring in a host on sirius xm, pete dominick. this is early for you. good morning. >> i want to say i had to everybody watching to "wake up call" with at the gym. how many of you are actually exercising right now? i would say the majority of our viewers. congratulations to all of them. good for you. >> that's why i'm so popular, i'm so buff and fit with this crowd. talk to me about david wu, the congressman out of oregon. he resigns over allegations that he made unwanted sexual advances toward the daughter of one of his donors who was 18 the the

time. >> i call this wunergate. perfect time for a scandal during the debt ceiling situation, this debt ceiling crisis. if only anthony weiner had something to distract the media and americans from his situation. remember the senator from south carolina, he was in trouble then michael jackson tragically died. he was off the hook. the best time for a scandal is around the holidays when this super committee is deadlocked. >> good thing the debt scandal ended when it did. president obama could not default on his 50th birthday today. >> yes. that's the big news, president obama turns 50 today. last night he was in chicago doing a couple fund-raisers. one of them, ali velshi, $50. the other fund-raiser, apparently, $38,000.

i'm not sure which one had jennifer hudson but you've got jennifer hudson singing to the president of the united states. can we throw up the picture on the front page of today's "chicago tribune"? >> yes. there you go. >> there you go. >> look at that reaction. i'm not sure what he possibly could have said to jennifer hudson to get that reaction, ali velshi. your guess is as good as mine. >> everybody's face in that picture is funny. jennifer hudson's got a funny look, rahm emanuel has this weird look off from the side. i wonder if they didn't take two pictures and could have found a better one? >> $35,000 for this fund-raiser? only -- who exactly is going to this, ali velshi. >> i'm totally inviting you to my 50th birthday for a whole lot less than that, pete dominick.

>> how many years away. >> for me? >> yes. >> 15 years away or something like. >> tell me about slow cap for congress.com. >> apparently somebody came up with another one. the slow clap shows how little you appreciate them. it's sarcastic. you can watch these people slow clapping. this is how happy americans are for how congress is behaving. it's just one these t. really is excellent. >> i love the site. love it. perfect. >> pete, good to see you, my friend. whenever you're overly caffeinated and up at this hour, please feel free to join us. >> i'll join you at any time, ali. i'll see you at the hair salon later on, too. >> and at the gym. major league baseball brass

want to find out if alex rodriguez was a player in a couple of high stakes poker games in 2009. radaronline.com first reported the allegations. no comment yet from the a-rod camp. i'm going to try and channel my best dick clark. back in 1984 prince's album "purple rain" hit number one on the chart and stayed there for 24 straight weeks. oh, man. heart breaker for me. 44 minutes after the hour ♪ purple rain purple rain you'v, while my sneezing and my itchy eyes took refuge from the dust in here and the pollen outside. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. it's the brand allergists recommend most. ♪ lily and i are back on the road again. where we belong. with zyrtec®, i can love the air®.

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good morning. thursday, august 4th. this is your "a.m. wake-up call." let's go around the world with monita rajpal, live in london. so far, no suspect in this australian box hoax which a couple mornings ago was looking very, very serious. remind us about the story and what's developed. i guess the only way to describe the story sin creasingly bizarre. to give you the back story, wednesday afternoon sydney time, police were called to the wealthy sydney suburb where they found a teenage girl strapped to what was deemed a suspicious device. this 18-year-old teenager told police a man wearing a disguise broke into their home and attached this device to her.

it took bomb experts from ten hours to free her from this device only to find it was just a very, very -- that's how they're describing it -- a very elaborate hoax. pulver was taken to the hospital. this is her parents and they addressed a news conference. this is what they have to say. >> we as parents are extraordinarily proud of maddy. she is waking up this morning in pretty good spirits. she's tired and sore from holding this device in place for about ten hours. she's now as we are eager for her to get on with her life. >> police are saying right now, it's too early in the investigation to have any more information or any lunks to any suspects at this point. again, it's very difficult to say, it's a bizarre story. one would think in the area because it is such a wealthy neighborhood there would be some tv cameras. hopefully someone saw something. >> it is a weird story. monita rajpal in london for us.

president obama is urging congress to resolve an faa funding dispute. they failed to pass it before going on their recess. that's led to thousands of workers being furloughed. construction workers are also left in limbo. what about safety? >> safety will never be compromised. thousands of people got on planes today. hundreds of controllers went to work today, planes are being guided in and out of airports safely. actually our safety inspectors are on the ground, using their own credit cards. they're on their own dime so to speak because they're dedicated faa employees. flying is safe. safety will not be compromised, never has been and never will be. >> i'll be chatting more with ray lahood later on "american morning." if the dispute continues until congress returns in september, the federal government will be out more than a billion dollars in revenue. a billion dollars in revenue. mortgage rates keep falling,

the 30-year fixed fell last week. that's if you have good credit and a good down payment. and it's a fixed loan. that's the lowest they've been since last november. the 15-year fell to a new record low, 3.52%. down from 3.67%. mortgage applications for purchases and refinances have increased by about 7%. that is still below last year's level, however. okay, let's talk ground turkey. cargill meats recalled nearly 36 million pounds of it, it might be contaminated with a salmonella strain that's hard to beat. one person has died, people in 26 states got sick. when the senate met to pass the debt deal on tuesday, senate majority leader harry reid had quite an interesting argument. >> the protracted nature of this debate has been especially hard on our senior citizens. well, on one senior citizen in

particular. >> for me personally i've been here for a long time. i have a home in nevada. that i haven't seen in months. my pomegranate trees, i'm told, have pomegranates on them. i have figure trees and roses and stuff that i haven't seen. >> your pomegranate and figure trees are blooming? what are you, the salton of reno? sometimes the mist of eucalyptus would settle over my fields of p pistachios. >> let's go live to rob marciano in atlanta. rob, you're following a number of things but right behind you i see this tropical storm emily. what's going on and by the way, what's the chance of it hitting florida? >> decent chance, it's on the

western edge of the forecast column. we'll show you that in a second. the questions will be answered more so once it gets over hi hispanio hispaniola. haiti, the mountainous area, going to see mudslides. obviously not a good deal there. still recovering from the tragic earthquake. here's the forecast from 5:00 a.m., eastern florida still in the cone here. if our models in the next run shifted back to the way -- they've been going back and forth. it's such an uncertain and complex forecast. we have to watch it carefully. people on the east coast of florida, you should be prepared. it's hurricane season. we'll keep you posted. the heat, 114, all-time record in little rock. tulsa, 113. my goodness. these numbers don't include humidity. unbelievably dangerously hot.

fatalities have been occurring because of this. be careful. the heat will keep on keeping on across the southern plains over the next couple of days. delays in atlanta, thunderstorms rolled through earlier. san francisco, morning fog and wind. a new science report coming out that speculates, ali, at one point we may have had two moons that collided to make one moon. and they're saying this because actually the part of the moon that we see all the time, the light side, is actually smooth and there's a couple craters. the other side has mountains and it's oblong. they're speculating there was some sort of impact a few billion years ago that created this, potentially two moons for the price of one. >> can you imagine the extra love songs if everybody knew we had two moons? >> right. that's an excellent point. >> yes. >> i'm a business guy, always thinking about how to make money on these things. >> and you're a romantic as well. >> and i'm a romantic. the collision of the business and the romance is sort of like

the collision of the two moons. see you in a little bit. good to see you, my friend, as always. the word of the day is coccinellidae. find out what it means and why you need to know it. it's 54 after the hour.

57 after the hour. this is your "wake up call." the word of the day, coccinellidae. it's a fancy way of saying lady bugs. which aren't bugs at all. they're beetles. three northern american species are way down in numbers. breeds like the nine spot lady

bug are losing grounded to foreign species. if you spot a lady bug, take a picture and upload it to lost ladybug.org and they'll catalog it. let's go to carter evans for your money this morning. >> yesterday we finally broke this losing streak. it's a good thing, too. we haven't had a nine-day losing streak since 1978. our futures this morning on cnnmoney.com's premarket page, nasdaq down by 3, the s&p down 3 and the dow up about 8. let's take a look at news out of capitol hill. ali, there is none because everybody's on vacation right now. meanwhile, the faa shut down, i know you've been talking about this all morning. i did some math. their vacation, our lawmakers'

vacation will cost taxpayers more than a billion dollars if they don't solve this faa thing. it's costing us about $30 million a day in lost taxes. it's all over a couple million dollars in funding disputes as well as a couple of unionizing issues. >> we'll be talking to ray lahood, the transport secretary later on about that story. quite remarkable that it might be over a smaller issue and that's how much it's costing and there are a whole lot of people out of work, including support staff. it's 4,000 people not getting paid. some of them are working even without getting paid. they're paying it out of their own pocket. good way to save, by the way. it's anybody's guess on what's going to happen with the markets today. you may one day soon be able to buy lipitor without a prescription. pfizer plans to seek the fda's approval. that's what a source familiar with the situation tells "the new york times." pfizer loses its patent protection in november and with it, some of