good morning to you. it is tuesday, august 16th. this is your a.m. wakeup call. i'm carol costello joining you live from new york this morning. you'll see a lot of stories and news coming out of iowa today. it seems to be the center of the political universe. president obama will meet with farmers and small business owners to talk about jobs and opportunities in rural america. his three-day bus tour ends tomorrow in illinois. the white house insists the trip is not political. republicans say, wait a minute, mr. president, you're totally campaigning. here's the president talking about broken politics and then you're going to hear from republican candidate rick perry. he's in iowa too.

>> the problem is that we've got the kind of partisan brinks manship that is willing to put party ahead of country. that's more interested in seeing their political opponents lose than seeing the country win. >> he's running for reelection. he's sago owe i'm saying he's got a lot of explaining to do about the economy if that's what he's out talking about. i don't think the folks in iowa are going to be real excited about unemployment rate where it is and the number of americans who are out of work. this president has been an ab jekt failure when it comes to the economy. >> republican candidate michele bachmann's bus will be in dpreenville and spartanburg, south carolina, today. today is the national day of action. latino groups will protest the immigration policies. he's been criticized for the

number of undocumented immigrants -- 1:30 eastern in boston. 2:00 eastern in charlotte and 3:00 eastern in miami. now on to san francisco. bart says the trains are running on normal schedules again. transit officials closed and reopened several downtown stations yesterday to keep protests from getting out of hand. >> protestors are calling attention to several shootings involving bart police officers. they're also upset with bart's decision to shut off cell phone service. the fcc is looking into that. it could be weeks before anyone knows why the founder of a florida mega church died. zachary tims was found dead in nosh's times square. he was 32 years old. they could not pinpoint the cause of death. members of the new destiny christian church in florida still can't believe he's gone.

>> i mean, i thought that i would see him tomorrow and say hello to him. i mean, i just -- it's a shock to me. >> shock and disbelief. and also pain. >> so the big question in indiana now, is anyone to blame for the fatal stage collapse at the indiana state fair? the company that owns the structure says an independent investigation is under way. forecasters had warned earlier in the day that heavy rain and winds could hit the fair area. about four minutes before the collapse, authorities had gotten on stage to warn people to take cover. as you know, five people were killed. at least 40 were hurt when a bank of lights and metal came crashing down. the victims' families are expressing their grief and their frustration. >> there was a great deal of lack of communication going on. at the spur of the moment, came in so quickly that nobody really was able to act and get the

orders put out that need to be put out. >> just hurt. i feel hurt. because of everything that happened. for all the people that was hurt. >> a water park in sacramento got a bit too clean. a leak filled a wave pool with the air and unhealthy amounts of chlorine. about 20 people went to the hospital. a lot of them complained that their eyes were burning. fire officials believe the equipment that delivers the chlorine to the park's pool just messed up somehow. now to see how the world's money is doing this morning. in asia, the nikkei closed up, while the happening seng and shanghai closed down. in europe, all of the markets are down at this hour. right now, all eyes are on paris where a key meeting is set to take place. nina dos santos joins us live from there. what do you expect?

>> reporter: yeah, hi carol. good morning to you from paris. what we're seeing at the moment is this meeting is being billed as a make or break market for this currency, the euro. it's shared by 17 nations across the european union. 320 million people use this money. it's responsible for a quarter of the world's trade and currency reserves. the problem that the euro has been facing of late, why we do have a monetary union for countries in europe we don't have a fiscal union which means the countries have different budgetary and economies. what we learned today is that, while france's economy was more or less flat over the last quarter, germany's economic statistics came out worse than expected again today. almost flat. gdp going just north 1%. much less than people were expecting. that will be the backdrop for this kind of summit between sarkozy and merkel. what we're expecting the first tentative signs to try and bring

these country's budgets and fiscal masses together. they may meet more often to form a cooperation and coordination for the euro zone to try to shore up this currency and to bring bond deals down for the peripheral states like italy and spain, carol. nina dos santos reporting live from paris. our own ali velshi, he hit the daily show last night and he has a big idea to kick-start jobs. >> we have a lot of people unemployed in this country who are not trained for the things we actually people need to be able to do. what if we had a way for the unemployed people trained in the wrong thing to get retrained, take the time out to do that. maybe it's a year or two years, maybe longer. >> who would retain them? >> they could be retrained in the private sector. there are companies or colleges to do this. you go to college to be a nurse -- >> who pays for your -- >> what if the government could

guarantee the cost of that transformation? >> so you're a socialist. >> what if the banks do it? the banks could do it. i can tell you what it o would cost to reinvent yourself. what if you could take that calculation and say it's going to cost me this much money but i'm going to make this much more. why don't you finance that transformation. >> when i hear you speak, you sound rational, this sounds doable, it does not sound ideologically insane. it sounds like a mixture of some suggestions and remedies from different sides of the aisle. >> wow. jon stewart was nice to allahi.y ali velshi, i want dirt. find out what happened behind the scenes. car fanatics listen up. a peek at a special vet. first the quote of the day. here's the quote. he's a good looking rascal. find out who said this when rick

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he's a good looking rascal, that rick perry. now let's go to another good looking rascal. rob marciano. >> stop it. good morning, carol. got a lot of hair in this presidential campaign, don't we as well. >> we do. >> we got good helmets rolling through here. good morning again. we're looking at some flight delays. if you are traveling this afternoon. probably won't be as intense as yesterday. new york and boston, because of the leftover low clouds and rain, that may spawn delays, especially in the morning. afternoon thunderstorms possible in philadelphia. st. louis, kansas city. miami orlando. we'll talk about florida cities in a second and san francisco as well. big time floods yesterday across parts of the northeast continuing with a slow moving system. over six inches of rainfall in willow, new york. concord, new hampshire seeing a daily record of over two inches. shouldn't be this much today. but a few leftover showers as the system moves off to the

north and east. speaking of a stubborn system. gert passed to the east of bermuda and will continue to move off into the shipping channels. we've never gotten through the letter g without getting to hurricane status. it's been an active season but for the most part, it's been relatively weak. interesting little tidbit. the most dangerous walking cities. it's been ranked and i forget what the periodical who ranked it. but the top five, four of the top five include florida cities, orlando number one, tampa st. pete being number two, jacksonville, miami and riverside california. but the top four, carol, were in florida. i don't know what that says about the state of florida as far as walking or drivers or it's just so hot you start walking in circles and that makes it more dangerous. >> you mean it's not billed to walk to places?

>> it's dangerous. it didn't say it's not convenient. it said it's dangerous. yeah, probably a combination of it not being pedestrian friendly and then other factors. you know, we've got some -- there's bad drivers everywhere. i guess that -- >> i can hear people out there, rob, right now saying thanks x rob for bringing us down. >> but florida is a great place to visit. just wear a helmet when you walk. >> yeah. try to dig yourself out of the hole now. >> just reporting what i've read. see you in a bit. >> i'm just teasing. thank you you good looking rascal. >> see you, carol. >> 12 minutes after the hour. the ejection seat. actually, it was called the ejection seat on this ride. this amusement park ride didn't quite live up to its name at the iowa state fair. a brother and sister got stuck on the ride 60 feet up while crowds watched. the kids cooled their heels about two and a half hours later, firefighters were able to

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turns out it was his former top economic advisor. the obama administration, it's doing everything it can to try and raise money. but some of these things, did you see jay carney at the white house briefing. see how they're raising money. it's subtle. but take a look. >> we ought to extend those payroll taxes and extend unemployment insurance. >> the best argument that you can report to people is that if we do this again. >> see that. pretty good. as was my own punch line. time now for your political ticker with tim farley, host of morning briefing on sirius live from washington. good morning, plenty to talk about this morning. >> good morning. no question about it. we've got the president on the bus tour that jay leno was talking about. sounds more like a campaign, i think, carol, than it does about listening for jobs. he's today going to introduce

new rural employment initiatives which strikes me as a little bit odd given some of the statistics. number one, you're talking about a rather, not insignificant portion of the population but certainly a lot smaller. if you were to look at, say, the top ten states in terms of low unemployment which have a lot of rural states, it doesn't seem that rural unemployment is one of the major issues right now. as a matter of fact, rural unemployment statistically is lower than urban unemployment. but that's something the president will talk about today. this in the midst of being hammered by rick perry by governor perry and mitt romney is saying the same thing, the president should be back in washington working on jobs. tough road for the president. >> critics are saying that president obama actually should have presented a plan to create jobs while he's visiting these states. but he really didn't do that. it seemed like he really was playing politics. >> uh-huh. indeed. he is saying now, there's something from the office indicating he's going to lay out a plan in september. the top of the page in the

washington post says the president wants to take a more -- wants to extend some of the federal assistance for mortgage programs around the country. but still, it does seem that, at this point the president is arguing more sort of the philosophical approach, that is whether the a government is working or not working and whether or not its big government or small government as opposed to the straight numbers which seem to make more sense to the person on the street. it's a long time to go. at this point there's an awful lot of dissatisfaction, gallup tracking polls indicating the president is trending down, down to 39%, about the lowest it's been in some time. we'll see over the next couple of weeks whether or not this argument is holding water for the president. >> we'll see. thanks so much. tim farley, host of morning briefing on sirius xm poet poed us. we appreciate it. 13% of people say they have faked a call to look busy and avoided interaction. that's according to the new survey on internet and american live. other stats, just over half of

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let's go around the world live in london. they found this guy in kentucky? >> yeah. they did. he basically is an australian citizen. he hopped on a plane and went to the u.s. where he's got some connections there. this is a weird story, carol. it guy breaks into the sidney home of a teenager and puts what appears to be some kind of explosive device around her neck. then there's a note making financial demands attached to it. it turns out to be a fake bomb and police, though, thought it was real. they spent something like ten hours getting it off this poor girl's neck. it's not really clear exactly what the relationship is because this guy and this family. but they're looking into it. he's going to be arraigned in a court today in louisville, kentucky. >> it's amazing they found him. that's a amazing. let's talk about something a little more fun. i understand brad pitt is in

glass gou filming a zombie movie. >> brad and i -- i mean, brad, he is glasgow, scotland and they're basically trying to make the town look like it's philadelphia, right? they've brought in american cars and the front of shops and things like that. the movie is called "world war z." for me, carol, it would be world war zed. but it is a zombie movie. they've done an open casting call for people to come and try and star as zombies. i don't know if you can give me your best zombie impression, carol. it's been a while since you were on the show at 5:00. i have coffee from kenya to help you. i brought that for you. >> i was going to say, this is my zombie impression. i've been doing it for the last 24 minutes. >> no. that's what a zombie impression -- this is a zombie impression. right. something like that. >> i think you need like dead skin and stuff hanging from your face.

which i'm glad you're not wearing today. zane ver gee, it's always fun. >> good to see you. it's on its way. i promise. >> thanks. all over the world today, people are remembering the king. as in elvis presley. he died 34 years ago today. thousands of fans paid respects overnight in a candlelight vigil at his mansion in memphis. millions of people are following kim kardashian on twitter. must be thoughts like this that keep people clamoring for more. i'm listening to itunes on shuffle and a backstreet boys song came on. kim is the fifth most followed celeb, behind lady gaga and justin bieber and oh, yeah president obama. kardashian makes thousands of dollars for a sponsored tweet. 20 years after his death, dr. seuss has a new book coming out. no, not horton hears a who part

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good morning to you. it is tuesday, august 16th.

this is your a.m. wakeup call. i'm carol costello joining you live from new york. president obama is waking up today in iowa. day two of his three-day bus tour through the heartland. he's talking to voters about jobs, the economy and the debt crisis. he's blasting republicans along the way. >> see the problem we have is not with our country. the problem is that our politics is broken. the problem is that we've got the kind of partisan brinksmanship that is willing to put party ahead of country. that's more interested in seeing their political opponents lose than seeing the country win. >> president obama sounding a whole lot like candidate obama. guess it's not too early to start thinking about november 6, 2012. but in the more immediate future, president obama will meet with a group of farmers and

small business owners this afternoon and tomorrow he moves on to illinois. hockey player rick rip en has been found dead in his canada home. the 27-year-old is not considered suspicious. he signed a one year, $700,000 deal with the winnipeg jets. he's the second active nhl player found dead this off season. surveillance video shows dozens of people pouring into a 7-eleven for a lightning quick raid. they steal snacks and drinks and leave as a group. officers say they've nabbed some of the thieves that makes you yearn for the good old days where flash mobs rocked out with dance moves. more than 1300 teacher positions are open in philadelphia and the school year starts in just three weeks. >> i have never seen this many vacancies this late in the surmer. >> that's the president of the federation of teachers who says almost every school in the district has vacancies. that means thousands of kids

don't have an assigned teacher right now. lesson plans aren't getting made or classrooms set up. it's the result of a $600 million budget gap that led to major teacher layoffs in june. officials say they're hiring back some teachers and holding interviews for the other openings. if you're traveling through boston's logan international airport, be ready for a pop quiz from the tsa. agents will be asking a series of questions to each and every passenger heading through the checkpoint as part of a screening pilot program that runs for the next two months. the agency says it's not trying to stump you with questions like hey who packed your bags and are you traveling alone. agents are looking for unusual reactions to those questions. aycock pit tryst complete with racy photos has an airline delaying an international ad campaign. the widely circulated pictures apparently show two crew members engaged in sex. get this. the slogan for the now delayed

ad. this is the slogan. meet the team who go the extra mile to make you feel special. the double en ten tri is enough to make you blush. the airline will push the ad launch back a month to october. seriously now. vice president joe biden heads to china to meet with its leaders today. ha will biden have to do to reassure one of america's biggest creditors. it's the hot topic in morning money. first the businessman special. is warren buffett's portfolio. find out what investments he threw millions of dollars into. that's coming your way in 60 seconds. it's 33 minutes after the hour. [ male announcer ] get ready for the left lane. the volkswagen autobahn for all event is back. right now, get a great deal on new volkswagen models, including the jetta, awarded a top safety pick by the iihs. that's the power of german engineering.

hurry in and lease the jetta s for just $179 a month. ♪ visit vwdealer.com today. handle more than 165 billion letters and packages a year. that's about 34 million pounds of mail every day. ever wonder what this costs you as a taxpayer? millions? tens of millions? hundreds of millions? not a single cent. the united states postal service doesn't run on your tax dollars. it's funded solely by stamps and postage. brought to you by the men and women of the american postal workers union. ♪ 34 minutes after the hour. this is your a.m. wakeup call. now back to the day's businessman special. warren buffett's portfolio on monday, the billionaire businessman dumped more than $50 million into dollar general.

he also stocked up on master card and wells fargo. he let go of six million shares of food giant kraft. listen to what buffet had to say about money and taxes. >> if you make money with money, you get taxed at very low rates. 15% dividends and capital gains. to payroll tax. if you make money with muscle or hard work or sweat of your brow, you get taxed at rates that move on up. >> for more money news, let's go to christine romans live in pork. mr. buffet is making people talk all across the country. he's a hero in the twitter verse but not so much of a hero in other places, especially republican places. but i digress. let's talk about the market this morning and how they're shaping up. >> with futures down a little bit, carol. that's no surprise because european market, they were hurt a little bit by weaker than expected growth numbers out of germany in particular.

so that's what they're watching today, slow growth in europe. what that means for the u.s. because it is a huge, huge trading partner of the u.s. and a very big important partner. yesterday, merger monday they called it on wall street, you had the dow up 214 points and the reason why it was so important to see those mergers and i know everyone is talking about this. we've got to see more of them. here's why. because that money sitting on the sidelines almost $2 trillion on the sidelines, when you see companies spending it, that sends the right signal about the direction of the economy. so we want to see more of those. that's why stocks were up yesterday, carol. >> we really do, actually. we really, really do. let's talk about vice president joe biden. he's heading to china to meet with the country's top leaders. why is he going there? why is it so important for the united states. >> because joe biden is known for his diplomatic diplomacy, right? his careful and diplomatic choice of words, i'm joking a bit at the vice president's, his -- him. but let's talk about what that means. e. going to go to japan to show

solidarity with that country as it tries to dig itself out of the economic aftermath of the tsunami and the, of course in the earthquake. china, which is the largest foreign buyer of u.s. treasuries securities, china who just a week and a half ago threw a couple of commentaries said the u.s. basically scolded the u.s. saying the good old days of borrowing were over, we had to get our act together. joe biden will be talking, no doubt, about some of the economic issues in this country. and promising, again, to the leaders of our biggest creditor, our biggest foreign banker, that indeed we will pay our bills in full. there will be no problem there. also mongolia, which is an interesting part, the u.s. has been making more sort of diplomatic ways there. the area most contentious of the two, we're told that the vice president's office will bring up human rights as the u.s. often does in china.

that seems to be another area, if you're going to get friction, it will be on the human rights area. >> we'll be watching. he'll visit japan also by the way. i'll see you in about, oh, 20 minutes. thanks a lot. yesterday we talked about the 11-year-old boy who made an impossible hockey shot. we learned today that he might not get the money. more on that after a break. before we go, here is today's get smart question. which company is credited with inventing the cell phone? was it motorola, nokia or ibm? the answer coming your way in two minutes. it's 38 minutes past the hour. with scientifically proven soy complex and natural minerals. give you sheer coverage instantly, then go on to even skin tone in four weeks. aveeno tinted moisturizers. [ male announcer ] it can open doors, it can erase boundaries and hold its ground. it can even the score and start a movement. -it can... -[ beatboxing ]

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[ kimberly ] the university gave me the knowledge to make a difference in people's lives. [ carrie ] you're studying how to be an effective leader. [ cherie ] you're dealing with professionals, teaching things that they were doing every day. [ kimberly ] i manage a network of over a thousand nurses. [ carrie ] i helped turn an at-risk school into an award-winning school. [ cherie ] i'm responsible for the largest urban renewal project in utah. [ kimberly ] and university of phoenix made it possible. learn more at phoenix.edu. 40 minutes past the hour. this is your a.m. wakeup call. back to today's get smart question. which company is credited with inventing the cell phone. motorola, nokia, ibm? the answer is a, motorola.

in other business news, google agreed to buy motorola mobility for an incredible $12.5 billion. if it goes through, it would be the largest acquisition ever for them. google is hoping to get deeper into the mobile business with had this purchase. for the political ticker, let's go to shannon travis, he's live in des moines, iowa. wow, this has been a feisty, interesting campaign so far. >> reporter: it has been a feisty, interesting campaign. it's only getting better. let's talk about the democrats or the democrat president obama, carol. he's on day two of this three-day midwestern bus tour that he has. you remember yesterday he was in minnesota, he made the stop here in iowa. he'll make another stop today here in iowa in a city on the illinois/iowa border. he wants to talk about how to basically spur job growth and innovation in rural communities. he'll meet with farmers and

small businessmen. some republican critics are saying that this is a big political tour, a big political campaign-style on the taxpayers' dime. the white house says it's not. this is the president doing what the president should be doing which is talking about jobs and job growth. carol? >> i just wondered what the reaction of the crowds have been. i think most people want the president to come up with a bold plan to create jobs. he has a lot of little ideas that might work. but they're not hearing this big bold plan. are voters appearing and listening to the president, are they disappointed? >> it certainly seems that they are listening to the president. i mean, this is being billed as a listening tour. the president did say that he's going to unveil a huge jobs plan when congress comes back in september. so you're absolutely right. a lot of republican critics have been criticizing the president saying where is your jobs plan. a lot of people are listening and waiting for that and the president is responding by saying, you know what, you'll get that coming up really soon.

>> in a few weeks. i understand you've got close up and personal with the governor, rick perry. oh, please share. >> i did. the newly mentioned republican presidential candidate. i was following him yesterday. let me tell you first, he'll also be on a bit of a tour in iowa today. he has a lot of catching up today. he didn't participate in the debate or the ames straw poll. he'll be hitting three cities. you're right, yesterday i caught up with him at the state fair. and myself and a few other reporters pressed him on a few things. one thing that we pressed him on were comparisons between him and the last president from texas. that would be george w. bush, obviously. they were both obviously texas governor, both have really good hair, carol. but rick perry wants the comparisons to stop there,he's saying. look, we have different records. he went to texas am. gorge w bush went to yale. take a listen at one other

blow-off or kiss-off i should say. take a listen at this. >> governor perry, romney took a swipe at you today saying that he has private sector experience and that makes him better qualified to create jobs. >> give him my love. >> what do you think about that, sir, that he has -- >> i think oranges and apples. running a state is different from running a business. >> he will make that a centerpiece of his campaign. >> what i would say is take a look at his record when he was governor and my record when i'm governor. then you've got some apples to apples. >> so rick perry getting right in there. blowing a kiss to his republican challenger. carol? >> for some reason, i thought he went like this to your face. maybe that was someone else. >> you're right. he did pat my face yesterday when i first asked him a question. we didn't play that video. but yeah, he did. but he was doing that with a lot of other people.

kind of glad handling and patting on the back, things like that. no harm, no foul. >> should be charming. exactly. he was being nice to you in that texas way. shannon, thank you. time to take a look at sports. starting with a scary nascar crash in watkins glenn new york. denny hamlin plowed into the tire barrier there. see that. he's okay. e. not sure what went wrong. he thinks he blew a front tire and that it cut his brake line. in the world of baseball, jim thome finally did it. he reached a milestone. he's the eighth player to hit 600 home runs in his career. he hit two out of the park against my detroit tigers. tigers fans, however, because they're the most fantastic fans in the word, they gave jim thome a standing ovation. speaking of the minnesota twins, that's who he plays for now, we have an update for that and hockey shot in minnesota. nate smith won 50 grand for this. his twin brother nick paid to

take the shot but was nowhere to be found to take the shot. nate took the shot in nick's name. the insurance company has not said if it will pay out the prize. still, the shot is priceless. from cheerios to lucky charms, there's whole grain in every box. make sure to look for the white check. with diabetes, it's tough to keep life balanced. i don't always have time to eat like i should. and the more i focus on everything else, the less time i have to take care of me. that's why i like glucerna shakes. they have slowly digestible carbs to help minimize blood sugar spikes, which can help lower a1c. glucerna products help me keep everything balanced. [ golf clubs clanking ] [ husband ] i'm good! well, almost everything. [ male announcer ] glucerna. delicious shakes and bars. helping people with diabetes find balance. with aveeno nourish plus moisturize.

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good morning to you. it's tuesday, august 16th. it's 48 minutes past the hour. this is your a.m. wakeup call. i'm carol costello from new york.

now, let's take a trip around the world. let's head to zain verjee live in london to talk about the disappearance of this american woman and n. aruba and the suspect. i guess he's still in custody, right in. >> yeah, he's still in custody. gary giordano was arrested three days after the disappearance of robyn gardner and the judge ruled basically, carol, that there is enough evidence to hold him for a little bit longer in connection with the disappearance. what they're going to do is hold him for 16 more days. today he's going to be transferred to a prison. his lawyers are saying there is absolutely no basis for this detention, that this is going to be moving forward. there are a lot of questions and the judge has ruled that there is enough evidence to keep him for a little bit longer. carol. >> and still no sign of this missing woman from maryland. >> still no sign of her. there was some suspicion that there was clothes that were found in one area of aruba that could have been hers. but that turned out not to be the case.

she was last seen on bailey beach, i believe it was, which is on the more western point of aruba. they had gone snorkeling together. gary giordano says. when they came back to shore he looked around and she wasn't there. he's got a lot of questions to answer, especially if the judge has ruled that there is hard evidence to look at. >> zain verjee, thanks. let's head to san francisco. bart says the trains are running on their normal schedules again. transit officials closed and then reopened several downtown subway stations yesterday to keep the protests from getting out of hand. protestors are calling attention to several shootings involving bart police officers. they're also upset with bart's decision to shut off cell phone service ahead of a protest last week. the fcc is now involved. the big question in indiana right now is, is anyone to blame for that tedly stage collapse

owe at the state fair much the company that owns the structure says an independent investigation is now under way. forecasters had warned earlier in the day that heavy rain and winds would hit the fair area and about four minutes before the collapse. authorities had gotten on stage to warn people to take cover. as you know, five people were killed, at least 40 hurt when a bank of lights and metal came crashing down. now, let's head to the weather center and rob marciano. any flight delays to speak of this morning? >> nothing yet. but i think we will see a few later on today. the northeast is getting hit hard with heavier rain the past few days. that will continue today, but most of it will be winding down. new york, boston, low clouds and rain leftover. you'll see major -- philadelphia afternoon thunderstorms. st. louis, kansas city, same deal. miami and orlando will see thunderstorms pop up in the afternoon. that morning fog out there in san francisco keeps you comfortably cool in the heat of the summer. willow, new york, 6.4 inches of rainfall on top of what they saw the past -- the day before

yesterday. concord, new hampshire set a daily record of 2.19 and montpelier, vermont seeing almost two inches as well. there you go, the ground is saturated. any more rain we get today will caused localized flooding in spots. there you can see the swirl in the radar loop from binge a.m. ton back through scranton. it will be rotating throughout the day today. most will be light but keep things on the cool and damp side. severe thunderstorms possible across parts of the northern plains. we had rough weather yesterday in bismarck with flooding and gusty winds. speaking of winds, tropical storm gert has not seen hurricane strength status. it moved to the east of bermuda. mentioning in the past couple of days, that makes this a record. we've never gotten through the g storm without having a hurricane since we've been naming them, which is going on the past 30 or 40 years or so. carol? >> i'm glad gert is dying down and i wish the rain would stop in new york. although it was raining and the

sun was out, i was looking for a rainbow and i saw it. >> that doesn't brighten your day, i don't know what was. >> i looked for a pot of gold but i didn't get it. >> now you're stretching it. >> i know. thank you, rob. we saw big numbers on wall street yesterday. can we expect the same today? we'll go live to the nasdaq market site for a pre-trading preview. first, let's take a look at the word of the day. the word would be euro-zone. find out what it means and why you need to know it right after this short break. it's 53 minutes past the hour.

56 minutes past the hour. this is your a.m. wakeup call. the word of the day, euro-zone. it is a collective group of

countries using the euro as the common currency. right now, there are 17 countries in the euro-zone. the word gets thrown around when people talk about the debt crisis in europe. different countries have different debt burdens. some are struggle, some are not. they're all intertwined with the european central bank. now you know. so are the market like a mood ring? our ali velshi was jon stewart's guest on the daily show. you got to hear this. >> ali, i watch television. the stock market, terrible thing happened. it went down 600 points on news of europe. >> yeah. >> then the next day, from what i understand, europe was still similar to how it had been the day before. >> right. >> it went up 500 points. then the next day it went down 450 points on news of something. and then the next day it went up

300. are they -- with us? >> it's exactly right what they're saying? they weren't less than 5% the next day and worth 3% after that. that's exactly right. the stock market is a collection of the value of underlying companies and that's what the judgment should be. but the stock market has become a barometer of how investors around the world kind of feel about the way things are going. that's the stuff you've seen over the last few weeks. >> it's more of a mood ring sniem that's exactly right. it's a mood ring with a big board that you can watch all the time. >> right. >> carter evans, we get those words of wisdom from ali every single day. i want to know what happened behind the scenes. i want some dirt. >> yeah. well, the dirt is is that people are just as nervous at the stock exchange as you are at home. though, they've got to keep working. they've got to keep the markets moving. it looks like things are settling out. carol, i'm really glad that you mentioned the euro-zone and gave the definition there.

because the euro-zone today is reporting that it's gross domestic product on average only grew at .2 of 1%. that's going to be one thing affecting the markets today. our futures are a bit lower. they're off the lows for the morning. this is a pre-market page. futures down 78 points right now. nasdaq off 29. s&p futures down about 12.5. also on cnn money.com, where is the best place to live in the country? there is a big list of it here. this is a new list from money magazine. the list of the best places to live. the cool thing about this is and by the way, the number one place is louisville, colorado. if you want to find out why, head to cnn money.com/best places. you can break it down by near you, housing, financial. you can break it down by state, you can see what cities are the best. where they rank in terms of cheap places to live. wages and things like that. so it's pretty cool tool to chk