worth has destroyed about 30 homes already. it threatens many more. this is so big, the fire is so big and intense that firefighters haven't been able to contain any of that. right now crews are getting people out of its way and trying to protect the homes still standing. the fire has burned nearly 8,000 acres. air tankers are expected to drop water on the fire today. it is unclear how this fire started, but the epic drought and the heat may have made this the worst fire season in texas history. oklahoma is suffering, too. a fire near oklahoma city has forced people within a two square mile area out of their homes. it's going to be another busy day for rescuers in vermont. several hundred people are still trapped by floodwaters. irene with its punishing wind and rain turned some communities into islands, cut off from civilization. the national guard has been dropping supplies by helicopter. at one point you couldn't get into or out of 13 towns. authorities hope all of them will be accessible soon. mark liebowitz went to vermont to get married. now he and his guests are trapped. >> we're in need of medical supplies. we have food and we have drinkable water. all the water is run on electric pumps and there's no power. >> flooding in new jersey has forced more than 1300 people into shelters and kept rescue crews busy. the passaic river has come roaring out of its banks. water in the streets of patterson got up to 18 feet. nearly 3 million people still don't have electricity across several states. a california man can probably kiss good-bye any chance of his being father of the year. authorities in orange county say sloan brils tossed his 7-year-old son off the side of a tour boat. police say he was angry because his son was crying. other boaters pulled the child out of the water. the father is in big trouble, charged with a felony and he is free on $100,000 bond. you might hear news out of aruba. gary jordan know, the man held in the disappearance of an american woman could go free for lack of evidence. it's been four weeks since robyn gardner was seen at a bar with jordan know. he claims she was swept out to sea while they were snorkeling. here is news about the suspect in the tucson mass shooting. authorities say they need more time for jared loughner to stand trial. six people were killed, 13 wounded including congresswoman gabrielle giffords. wikileaks has been trying to get its website back up after hackers brought it down. everything seems to be up and running now. the state department slammed wikileaks' batch of new diplomatic cables because of names that were supposed to be secret that were exposed. are you back in atlanta, rob? we were looking around for you in new york and we couldn't find you. we figured you must have gone back to atlanta. >> did you miss me? >> i miss you already. >> i can see that. i'm here, carol. we have a doppler here, a busy couple weeks. personnel all over the place. as you said, still flooding in new jersey, still problems in connecticut and obviously the on going recovery in vermont. yet we have another storm to talk about. let's talk about katia. here is the latest on it. tropical storm force winds, 65 miles an hour. this baby is almost already a hurricane. we expect it to become that as we go through the next day or two, rapidly intensifying and heading in our general direction. here is the forecast from the national hurricane center. there you go, cat one on thursday, cat two on friday, cat three by the time sunday and monday rolls around. we'd like to see the northerly turn hurry. the sooner it happens, the more we can relax. right now it is a threat to the u.s. typically when these storms this far out begin this far north and make this west-northwesterly track, we'll see them be a gutter ball. that hopefully will come true with this one. too early to say that for sure. give us another couple days, and then we'll give you the green light on that. also watching this situation here across northwestern gulf of mexico -- northwestern caribbean. that could become something as we get towards the weekend. that could be more interesting. orlando, miami, detroit afternoon thunderstorms and morning fog. speaking of miami, carol, apparently a couple days ago a gentleman was going through security, and the brand new technology there detected not one, not two -- seven snakes and three tortoises in his pants. he was on his way to brazil, i believe or on his way back from brazil, one of the twochlt anyway, i don't know how all those things fit in your pants but he must have deep pockets. >> yes, he must have very deep pockets. >> or some sort of fancy underwear, baggy pants. >> i don't even want to think about that right now. thank you, rob. from snakes to four-legged animals, smart ones at that, smart enough to sense when disaster is near like last week's earthquake, for example. here is more from jay leno. >> animals have an amazing nark for predicting earthquakes, that they know an earthquake is going to happen. they did a study at the d.c. zoo. look how they do it. >> animals on reaction to the earthquake. the national zoo discovered the first signs of the earthquake are noticed by a baboon. he calls the cat, who calls the dog, who notifies the elephant, who rings the bell, causing the animals to flee the on coming disaster. >> they alltel one another. >> i love that. still ahead, all around the world, facebook is making an offer hackers cannot refuse. but first here is the quote of the day. this is the quote, quote, the quote makes dr. martin luther king look like an arrogant at which time, end quote. find out who said this and why. that's coming up in 90 seconds. it's six minutes past the hour. if something is simply the color of gold, is it really worth more? 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[ male announcer ] new bengay cold therapy. the same technology used by physical therapists. go to bengay.com for a 5-dollar coupon. this is your "a.m. wake-up call." the quote of the day. the quote makes dr. martin luther king look like an arrogant at which time, end quote. according to "the washington post" this was actually said by legendary writeer and poet dr. maya angelou about the mlk memorial in d.c. an inscription reads i was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness. the quote had to be para phrased, apparently dr. angelou is not too happy about the quote. she said the paraphrase minimized the man, made him seem less than the humanitarian he was and makes him seem like he was an egotist. kristie lu stout joins me live from hong kong. if you're a hacker, you could be in for some money from facebook why? >> yes. the social networking giant wants you to hack into its site. if you succeed, it will pay you for the details. they've already paid out more than $40,000 under this bug bounty initiative. if a report checks out, facebook will pay at least $500. one strong report was given $5,000. even though a bug can be found through less than legal means, facebook insists it won't take any legal action against those who share their fighting. so carol, you can hack, but you have to disclose. >> if any of you want to talk to me, it's facebook.com/carolcnn. i like that kristie lu stout. something else you'd like to talk to folks this morning about is something we dread about, flying and getting on board the plane. a scientist has an excellent idea to make things easier. >> a geek i can finding here. dr. jason stefan has found a faster way to board a plane. boarding as we do now boarding from the back of the plane to the front is inefficient. it creates bottlenecks since we're all concentrated in the same area, fidgeting, storing items overhead. stefan's method removes the bottleneck by getting passengers sitting in the window seats on one side of the plane all board at once in alternating rows. the same is done on the other side, then the middle seats, then the other side. dr. stefan has tested this out and says it can cut our plane boarding times in half. carol, proven by science. >> that's pretty interesting. what about the people who are sitting in the back of the plane but insist on putting their las vegas gaj on the front of the plane up on top? i don't understand that. >> i know. science can't save them. you have to push them out of your way i guess. >> they mess up every system. kristie lu stout, thanks to you. now just days away from president obama's much anticipated jobs plan. we'll run down what's likely to be included in the plan to get americans back to work. first in honor of peanuts, raisins and m&ms, it is national trail day mix. it's 11 minutes past the hour. so he says... 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[ major nutrition ] new ensure high protein. you could save a bundle with geico's multi-policy discount. geico, saving people money on more than just car iance. ♪ geic [ male announcer ] they'll see you...before you see them. cops are cracking down on drinking and riding. drive sober, or get pulled over. vrnlths it's 21 minutes past the hour. this is your "a.m. wake-up call." here are three things to put on your radar today. firefighters are working around the clock to get handled on a wildfire in northern texas. so far about 30 homes have been destroyed and nearly 8,000 acres burned. at 10:00 a.m. eastern, a retirement ceremony for general david petraeus. he begins his new duties as the head of the cia. d.c. comics will launch a renumbers of the entire line of comic books with 52 first issues. part of the new launch includes new costumes and story lines for many of its most popular characters. as libyas rebels and loyalists clashed, the city's zoo animals suffered without food, little water. here is what senior international correspondent nic robertson found. >> reporter: most of the dajs seem empty. we're trying to follow the sound of that roaring. there he is. there he is. a tiger. he's seen us. just looking at him, you can see how thin he is and the way he's walking. those back thighs, they're so skinny, he looks like he's going in there to get some shade. then we see the lions, the male particularly skinny with a deep scare on his head. >> there's no one here to tell us how often they're being fed, how much they're getting fed. we don't even know if there's a vet here to look after them. all we've seen is the food left by the giant tortoises. they look like they're not get enough to eat. suddenly we get o some answers. the zookeeper just arrived. i'll ask him about the animals. how are you? >> fine. >> are they getting enough food? >> he tells me for seven days the animals got nothing. now ten of the 200 staff have returned. they're trying to feed all the animals. the big cats get only half the food they need. >> let's bring in zain verjee live from london. i guess the biggest problem is there's little water to give these animals. >> there's a major food and water shortage all over tripoli and in many parts of the country. it is so sweltering hot there as well, carol, and also in the zoo, there were hippos that couldn't even get into the water that was stagnant there because it's just so disgusting. even they don't want to get into it. what happened is about 60% of tripoli doesn't have water. and the ln for that is in part when gadhafi left tripoli or what we believe -- when the rebels came in, they turned off the water distribution system, the pumping stations and things like that. and so the water is unable to be distributed anywhere. because of all the security concerns and the problems in the city and the rest of the country, aid agencies aren't even able to get in the kind of water that's needed. it's really sad to see these animals who have no idea what's been going on probably the last few weeks in libya. they're really suffering. >> and they're stuck in those cages. it's nice that the zoo keepers still show up, right? >> yeah. the only one there -- he's there. but he doesn't have the ability to bring them the kind of food and water that animals like these need. >> i was just saying, he probably has his own problems. it's good he still shows up. >> he probably doesn't have water. >> exactly. people don't have water either. let's talk about something a bit brighter, the chilean miners trapped for so long. they finally get something from their government. >> they do. the government is giving them lifelong pensions. they'll get something like $540 a month. they became so famous after their ordeal. but what actually has happened is many of them are unemployed, many of them sell fruits and vegetables on street corners, do odd jobs. only a handful have gone off and done really well. the majority of them have been suffering and dealing, too, with a lot of psychological scars. this is a really good piece of news for these chilean miners. i also want to add, carol, that your hair does look great. >> actually, yours looks pretty good this morning as well. >> thank you, zain verjee. it's a running joke. what can i say? darryl hannah in handcuffs at the white house. why police arrested the "splash" actress at a protest, coming up. good morning to you. it is wednesday, august 31st. this is your "a.m. wake-up call." thanks for joining us. i'm carol costello live from new york. it's about 30 minutes past the hour. hundreds of people now in new jersey evacuated because of irene. it's been days since the storm tore through, but rivers are swollen. people are stranded and still in danger. the passaic river has seen levels not seen in a century. water in the streets over 15 feet deep in some places. our chris knowles is in little falls. chris, is that the passaic behind you? >> reporter: it is. this is the passaic river at little falls, new jersey, right now if great big, overwhelming falls. the river crested about eight hours ago at nearly 14 feet. that's double the flood stage. in other words, the flood stage around seven feet. this crested at 13.7. and it's not going down any time soon. hurricane irene just dumping inches of rain on already saturated soil and rivers already swollen. we had reports that this river has lapped main street, which is up a hill and a ways away from here. it has more than moved a football field away from the previous mark of where this river went to a local high school. the water came inside. it's in the cafeteria. one to two feet of water. musical instruments are floating in that high school's music room, and the water is shooting out of the toilets. the kids are supposed to be there next week. it's doubtful now that's going to happen. just a really awful situation here. they're used to flooding. as you mentioned, this has been more than a century since it's been this bad. it's worse now. the last time it was like this, a hurricane hit, not to the degree of irene. in really bad shape today. the river is going to take a while to go down. >> chris, yesterday we were watching rescue after rescue, people taken away in rafts. will there be such rescues today or did the city get everybody out? i'm talking specifically about where you are, but also patterson. >> reporter: patterson is in awful shape as well. this area is where four rivers converge. they wind around. you get stuck on these little peninsulas and you're getting it from both directions. last we heard there's about 1300 people still stuck in evacuation shelters. if we hear of more rescue today, we'll let you know. as far as we know, everyone is on higher ground. >> thank goodness for that. chris knowles live from new jersey. a window looks like it was shot out at a congressman's office in houston. it could have been bullets or pellets or maybe beebees or something else. the officials are looking to see exactly what happened. they say it's unclear if it was a random crime or if the congresswoman was targeted. an fbi spokesperson says she's not aware of any threats. actress daryl hannah was arrested during a sit-in protesting a possible pipeline expansion that would ramp up oil imports from canada. hannah wasn't alone. about 100 other people were cuffed at the demonstration. by the way, the state department could rule on that big pipeline expansion known as keystone by the end of the year. a bad gas pipeline, flawed operations, poor government oversight. investigators listed problem after problem contributed to the big natural gas explosion last year in san bruno, california. the ntsb delivered its final report on the blast that killed eight people and charred a community. it criticized pipe owner pacific gas and electric saying the pipe was never good enough, not even when it was installed in the '50s, but the blame didn't stop there. >> a litany of failures including poor recordkeeping, inadequate inspection programs and integrity management programs without integrity. >> pg ande says it's taken multiple steps to improve safety now. two wildfires, one in texas, the other in oklahoma, are destroying homes and forcing hundreds of people to get out of the way. let's start in texas, about 50 miles west of dallas. 30 homes have been destroyed. another 125 have been evacuated. and the fire is zero percent contained. they can't get a handled on this thing. now to oklahoma city where police are going neighborhood to neighborhood to get people out of harm's way. several structures have burned and crews are battling windy and dry conditions as they try to control those flames. a nutrition professor living on a twinkie diet lost nearly 30 pounds. now that he's ditched the diet, his weight is back up and so is his cholesterol. he says it's about the number of calories consumed, not about the type of food you're eating. his twinkie diet was 1600 calories a day. his new eating plan is about 2200. just the thought of constantly eating twinkies kind of makes me sick. i don't know about you. maybe you like twinkies. for all you people headed to the gym, take a look at today's get smart question. which is better for losing belly fight? 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[ male announcer ] find your program at phoenix.edu. 36 minutes past the hour. this is your "a.m. wake-up call." back to today's "get smart" question. which is better for losing belly fat? is it a, aerobic exercise or b, resistance training? for all of you on the treadmill this morning, you're doing the right thing, it is a. according to a new study by researchers at duke university, aerobic exercise is the only thing that will force that belly fat from your body. for morning money news, let's go to christine romans. she's somewhere in this bureau. >> i'm not at the gym and not doing aerobic exercise. i am a little breathless at the new study from institute of washington studies. 100 highest paid ceos in this country, 25 of them earn more than what their corporations paid in u.s. taxes last year. think about that. and when you look, according to the study, when you look at how much they paid in lobbying, in some cases they paid more in lobbying than the overall bottom line tax bill. i know. i know, conservatives are going to say hold on, taxes are very complicated. this is why we need tax reform. actually these companies are paying state taxes and payroll taxes. why are you beating up on the rich? this is a left leaning think tank that takes the bottom line number that says when you see a ceo paid that much money, it's usually a warning sign for investors. >> when you think that ge was paying zero in taxes. >> they're on the list, by the way. the average pay of these ceos is $16.7 million, $16.7 million. in some cases they've got companies, global companies churning out billions of dollars in revenue and the two biggest tax dodges according to this report are either putting off -- harboring money in offshore corporations, offshore parts of its operation or accelerated depreciation which is a very legal strategy. again, we have a very complicated tax code. so you can have a tax rate of 33%, 36% for some of these companies, but there are so many dodges and very legal loopholes and companies have very talented tax departments to take advantage of it. >> that's because they have the money to pay them, right? >> yes, they do. >> i don't think people would mind as much if those big companies, thoseceos were hiring people. they're sitting on their profits so when you say this it inflames people. >> not only sitting on their profits, but actually investing a lot of money in research and development overseas because that's where they see the talent and that's where they see the growth, not here, but they see it in middle classes somewhere else and are spending billions to harness that talent. that's something that make americans who have a job and don't have a job a little uneasy especially when it is the tax system, it is the legal system, it is the freedoms of this country that helped them build their brands in the first place. >> christine romans, thanks. i'll see you in a bit. sometimes free food isn't free. neither are free trips to the strip club. some university of miami players are finding that out the hard way as the ncaa bears down. that's coming up. at usaa, we believe honor is not exclusive to the military. and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. from free checking to credit cards to loans, our commitment to the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. ♪ visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. usaa. we know what it means to serve. fiber one. uh, forgot jack's cereal. 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[ major nutrition ] new ensure high protein. ensure! nutrition in charge! 41 minutes past the hour. this is your "a.m. wake-up call." let's bring in our political reporter shannon travis live on the phone from des moines, iowa. let's talk sarah palin, because she headlines the tea party express rally in new hampshire on labor day and interesting things may come of that. >> reporter: interesting to say the least. scheduling drama that involves sarah palin. she'll be headlining this tea party express rally on monday, labor day in new hampshire. that's going to be two days after she headlines a iowa tea party event in iowa on saturday. a little drama surrounding that. mitt romney was supposed to headline this tea party express rally on monday, on labor day, in manchester. he pulled out in favor of doing a sunday event for the tea party express. sarah palin has now stepped in or at least confirmed that she'll do it. so it's causing a little bit of buzz and at least a little drama, carol. >> drama, could she announce finally what the heck she's going to do? >> reporter: you know what? that is the speculation. it's a huge event that they're holding here on saturday. again, i want to make sure our viewers are not confused. there's a tea party event in iowa on saturday and then the monday labor day thing. there's a big buzz about whether or not she'll announce a presidential run. organizers will tell us she will have an announcement. what they means we've been guessing for months concerning sarah palin. we're being told she'll have an announcement, whether it's apartmental announcement, we'll have to wait and see. >> okay. we kind of have to talk about christine o'donnell because she was supposed to speak alongside sarah palin and then she wasn't. now she is again. what's up with that? >> reporter: i was thinking about that this morning. the title of her new book is "troublemaker," maybe aprapos. so here is the deal with christine o'donnell. she's the former senate candidate from delaware, republican. she is now back on to speak at the same rally that sarah palin is going to be speaking at on saturday. i say she's back on because monday we reported she was invited to speak. tuesday afternoon we found out that organizers took back that invitation saying there was some kind of miscommunication, that there really wasn't enough space for her to be at that event. then by tuesday night, we were told -- organizers were like, oh, that was wrong. we shouldn't have uninvited her, so we've reinvited her. sounds a little confusing, but that's what it is, carol. >> it is what it is. she's going to be there and we think she's going to speak and gosh, we'll be glued to our tvs, shannon travis. >> we certainly will. the ncaa has come to miami bearing sanctions. officials suspended eight players for taking i'm prommer perks from a booster, perks like meals, nights on the town and trips to strip clubs. oh, sorry, i meant to say gentleman's clubs. jacory harris will miss one game. others will be out four to six games. only champions are worthy of lord stanley's cup, champions and sturdy tables. watch this. >> did you notice the dramatic hush after that thing fell? it's okay. the cup is quite tough. this happened in st. johns newfoundland. lord stanley was spending time with former boston brewer michael ryder when he dropped that cup. what is it with that cup anyway? it's okay. don't worry. texas can't get a break. another huge wildfire burning out of control. details coming up. first, if you plan on going to the movies this weekend, you have thomas edison to thank. on this day in history in 1887, edison received a patent for a motion picture machine called a kin net scope. it was also called a peep hole viewer. it's 46 minutes past the hour. if something is simply the color of gold, is it really worth more? we don't think so. chase sapphire preferred is a card of a different color. unlike others, you get twice the points on travel, and twice the points on dining, and no foreign transaction fees. call now or apply at chasesapphire.com/preferred. good morning to you. it is wednesday, august 31st. this is your "a.m. wake-up call." i'm carol costello joining you live from new york. it is 49 minutes past the hour. a rebel leader in libya claims at least 50,000 people, both civilians and fighters have died during the six-month war there. that number could grow higher if gadhafi loyalists do not give up by saturday. that's the new deadline for areas still under loyalist control to surrender or face attack. zain verjee is live in london. so the opposition sends out this ultimatum to gadhafi loyalists. what exactly will happen? >> nobody really knows. i mean everyone is on edge hoping that the gadhafi loyalists are going to say, okay, we surrender, we give up. otherwise there's going to be a brutal fight. their holiday lasts four days and ends on saturday. that's the ultimatum. that's the deadline. nato is also hoping that there's a peaceful outcome here. sirte, which is the hometown of colonel gadhafi, is pretty small. it's only like 100,000 people according to some reports i've seen that even live there. it wouldn't actually be this difficult to overrun sirte. but the rebels themselves are feeling pretty confident that if they had to, they could. they're hoping the loyalists will just say okay, we give up, we surrender. carol? >> maybe. moammar gadhafi. i heard rumors yesterday that the opposition knew exactly where he was. >> i wouldn't believe anything the opposition says. they said they had safe gadhafi in a hotel, then he popped up later. so i think we need to take stuff with a grain of salt. if anybody knew where gadhafi was, we would all have known it by now. >> i think you're right about that. zain verjee, thank you. breaking news to tell you about out of texas this morning. a wildfire has now destroyed about 30 homes. it is threatening many more. the fire is so big and so intense that firefighters have not been able to contain any of it. right now crews are getting people out of its way, trying to protect homes still standing. >> sick, sick that i didn't get the pictures of our folks and things like that, just things like that that we didn't have time to get. >> it just happened so quickly, and i was thinking not again. >> this time it happened like now. before we knew it was coming. it was taking time. >> it's been so dry and hot there for so long. the fire has burned nearly 8,000 acres and that's so far. air tankers are expected to drop more water on it later today. the epic drought and the heat in texas, as i said, made the conditions right for a big huge fire like that. oklahoma is suffering, too. a fire near oklahoma city has forced people in a two-square-mile area to get out of their homes. a california man can probably kiss good-bye any chance of being father of the year. authorities in orange county say sloan briles tossed his 7-year-old son over the side of a tour boat. other boaters managed to pull the child out of the water. he's okay. witnesses say briles was angry because his son was crying and he hit the boy before heaving him overboard. briles says they jumped in together and he thought it would be funny. briles is now charged with a felony. he's free on $100,000 bond. you might hear news out of aruba today. gary jordan know, the man held in the disappearance of an american woman could go free for lack of evidence. a judge could decide today whether he stays or goes. it's been four weeks since robyn gardner was last seen at a bar with jordan know. let's head to atlanta. rob marciano, i don't want to hear about the tropical storm, but i know you must. >> there's hope this one doesn't get to the east coast. there's hope. we can't say for sure yet. still reeling from irene flooding, here are live shots from the passaic river in new jersey. the river crested there last night, but still major, major flooding, dramatic rescues and evacuations across that town including high-rises that have never been evacuated. tremendous amount of water rushing through there. it crested last night at little falls at about 14 feet, now down to about 13 feet. lit be at major flood stage through friday. awful, awful stuff across northwest jersey. the connecticut river, the lower regions will crest later today, early tomorrow. katia is almost a hurricane, moving west-northwesterly at 20 miles per hour. it's strengthening quickly. expect it to get to major category 3 status by the weekend. hopefully that northerly turn will happen before it gets to the northwest. northwestern caribbean, more immediate concern, this could develop in the gulf of mexico over the weekend. maybe even before. we're watching that very carefully, a threat from anywhere from texas to florida. folks in texas could take that rainfall. you mentioned texas and oklahoma. windy and dry again today. >> thank you, rob. we appreciate it. some of the nation's biggest banks are finding ways to help victims of hurricane irene, hoping to help customers to get cash and pay their bills. first, let's take a look at our word of the day. it's actually a phrase today. a return trip today, the return trip effect. that's the phrase. the return trip effect. find out what it means and why you need to know after a short break. it's 55 minutes past the hour. that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? 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[ female announcer ] new purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena naturals. removes 99% of dirt and toxins without dyes, parabens, or harsh sulfates. so skin feels pure and healthy. [ female announcer ] new from neutrogena naturals. now back to the word or phrase of the day. it's "return trip effect." are you paying attention. this is difficult. here is the definition. it happens when the trip home seems shorter than the initial trip. here is how it works. according to new research, when you go on a trip, you over estimate the length of that trip. you're expecting it to be longer. when you come home, you don't over estimate the length of the trip so it appears shorter. that is the return trip effect. now let's head to carter evans with a look at your money joining us live from the nasdaq money site. did you get that? >> just profound. things are looking up today as far as futures go. we have a report on employment from adp. we'll also get a report on