a hearing is set for that date. the clinic was facing closure under a new state law. in a few minutes, we'll go live to jackson, mississippi, for the late else. exit polls in mexico project that 45-year-old enrique nieto will win the presidency. some 79 million people were registered to vote. many cast ballots after waiting in long lines. if nieto wins, his institutional revolutionary party will return to power for the first time in 12 years. but until today, we did not have the kind of road map. >> hopefully diplomats' plan for syria won't be a road map to nowhere. hillary clinton praised the new plan today while admitting it may fail. activists say 69 syrians were killed today. syria also faces trouble on its northern border. turkish jets were scrambled three times saturday when syrian helicopters approached the border. want to talk more now about the heatwave and those power outages. records are falling by the day and the tens of thousands of people waiting for their power to return are going to be waiting a while. here's cnn's brian todd. >> reporter: these are the lifesavers, power company teams scrambling to bring transformers back online. but for millions in the midwest and mid-atlantic, these crews can't work fast enough. >> i hate it. it's horrible. we can't -- all our phones are dead right now in case of an emergency. we can't make a call or anything. >> reporter: in the wake of devastating storms, 20 states are dealing with excessive heat warnings or advisories. temperatures over 100 degrees are scorching much of the southeastern u.s. more than 1 million customers still have no power, and that means huge numbers are at risk. >> heatstrokes defined when you have neurological problems. people come in confused, agitated, altered mental status. once you get to that point, it can be very severe. >> reporter: businesses and state officials are working furiously to make sure people don't get to that point, from passing out free ice at supermarkets to offering cooling centers like the brooks center library in northern virginia. >> what's the biggest challenge for you right now running this library on extra hours? you're usually not open on sundays. >> correct. our libraries are not open on sun days. so the challenge for us was, one, getting the word out working with the counties to market and to get staff. >> reporter: virginia's governor calls it a dangerous situation for his state and a multi-day challenge. some people in the hardest hit areas, he says, may not get power back until more than a week from when the storms hit. >> that was cnn's brian todd reporting. he also says that monday could be as rough in many areas rougher than they were last week because of the power outages. traffic lights that are out and traffic could be a mess. so be careful. the high temps really busted records all over. close to 2,000 record highs were broken or tied over the past week. our meteorologist is in atlanta. alexandra? >> i want to give you a little perspective on this heat. the breath and depth of it. people from the carolinas all the way to kansas and colorado. 45 million people being impacted. and the degree to which it's being impacted, these are the hottest temperatures these places have ever seen period. they're not just a record for the day or month. since the 1800s, since records have been kept. 111 in dodge city. 109 through the carolinas. records broken today as well in tennessee and georgia. still also 107, 106. the pinnacle of the heat was yesterday and today. so it's kind of downhill slide, albeit kind of a few degrees. but why is it happening? well, this dome of high pressure has been in control. high pressure, all you need to know, kind of thumbs up weather. but it's rising air. we watch air rise from the backside and compress. this air sinks and warms. the position of this with the clockwise flow on wednesday and thursday brought the heat to really the center of the country eastward. through the weekend, the axis of this heat has been in the southeast. we're going to watch this move eastward. it will still stay in the southeast and mid-atlantic. now the degree to which we see it won't be extreme. no 100s tomorrow. 95 in atlanta. 98 in memphis. 97 in denver. out of 100-degree range although you can see on tuesday we're still there in kc. at 101. temperatures, for the most part, through tuesday, out of the 100s. still in the mid to upper 90s. this will last through wednesday and even into thursday. so not really out of the woods with intense heat, but the real extreme nature kind of is gone from yesterday and today. >> all right. thank you very much. a federal judge steps into the battle of a mississippi abortion clinic. emotions are high on both sides. we go live to jackson, mississippi for the very latest next. so i can get three times the coverage. 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[ chirp ] but they can also hold you back. unless you ask, "what's next?" introducing the all-new rx f sport. this is the pursuit of perfection. just $14.99. start with soup, salad and cheddar bay biscuits then choose one of 7 entrees plus dessert! four perfect courses, just $14.99. come into red lobster and sea food differently. four perfect courses, just $14.99. high schools in six states enrolled in the national math and science initiative... ...which helped students and teachers get better results in ap courses. together, they raised ap test scores 138%. just imagine our potential... ...if the other states joined them. let's raise our scores. let's invest in our teachers and inspire our students. let's solve this. metamucil uses super hard working psyllium fiber, which gels to remove unsexy waste and reduce cholesterol. taking psyllium fiber won't make you a model but you should feel a little more super. metamucil. down with cholesterol. under a new law that took effect today, mississippi's only remaining abortion clinic would be forced to close, but that's not going to happen. at least not for the time being. we go to george howe. he's been following this story for us. he's in jackson, mississippi, with more on these new developments. what's the latest here, george? >> reporter: don, good evening. we know this clinic got a temporary restraining order, meaning it will open tomorrow. the clinic will be open until at least july 13th when a hearing is set on this case. this temporary restraining order basically protects the clinic from this new state law here in the state of mississippi that became effective today that effectively would have shut the clinic down. it was described by the governor of this state as a first step toward ending abortion in mississippi. the sponsor of the bill that did become law describes it as a health regulation. the law basically says this. first of all, any physician here in the state who performs and abortion must be a board certified ob/gyn. that's first. secondly, any physician operating in a clinic here must have special permissions with local hospitals to admit patients if necessary. don, i have a few statements that i'd like to pass along. first of all, from the president, the owner of this clinic who says, first of all she's jub lapt. she says, quote, it means the constitutional rights for women to make their own decisions for the time being is intact. i also have a statement from the person who sponsored the bill, sam mimms. he expects the state department of health to go to the abortion clinic when they are allowed to by the federal court and also he'll be talking with his attorneys tomorrow to decide the next plan. so that's where we are now. this clinic will be open july 11th. that's the day the hearing will happen. >> george howe, thank you very much. what is it like to watch your home town burn? next, you'll see for yourself through the lens of a cnn i-reporter. we want to take you now to colorado where 11 wildfires are actively burning across the state. to give you an idea of the epic scope of these fires, our i-reporter cody sent us this footage of a massive line of fire in colorado springs. look at that. he said he witnessed the destruction of hundreds of homes. cody joins me now. he's on the phone. cody, you grew up there. what has this been like watching all this happen here? >> you know, don, it's been -- it's been unreal. this is definitely something that, you know, colorado springs has never witnessed or expected to ever see. you know, for me it's, you know, i've never seen anything like this ever occur in my lifetime. >> so we're looking at the pictures here. describe to us what we're looking at. this almost looks like a volcano, cody. >> it does. you know, the fire it just, you know, came down the mountain earlier in the afternoon. you know, the winds just got ahold to have and it just swept it down the mountainside. it literally just hit the city with brute force. >> yeah, like i said, it looks like lava. since you grew up there, i wonder if it's any different for you, if it helps to strew through a lens. maybe it feels like you're providing something. >> everybody's trying to do their part with, you know, this whole situation. you know, we've really seen the city come together in all this. you know, was just hoping that through these pictures i could get word out with what was going on and what our situation was here and how this fire was impacting colorado springs. >> how's everybody dealing with it there? >> much better. definitely much better. you know, it was definitely a very trying time for a lot of people. a lot of people didn't know if they'd lost their homes or there was not a lot of information going around on, you know, not necessarily what had been destroyed and how far and how extensive the damage was. that was definitely something a lot of people were affected by, just not knowing. there was a lot of uncertainty there. >> cnn i-reporter cody muth. we thank you. we really appreciate our i-reporters here on cnn. they provide us, as you can see, with some just unbelievable work and video sometimes. again, our thanks to cody muth, a cnn i-reporter. it could be weeks before some of the fires are fully under control. they're scorching western states such as colorado, wyoming, and utah. they're straining resource and firefighters themselves. many of those battling the fires know they're appreciated just by looking out of the windows of their vehicles. [ cheers and applause ] >> yells and screams. >> woo! >> grateful, so grateful. can't even imagine how hard they're working and how tired they must be. >> sure, they've been waving to us. it's been great to see them. great to help them start their days. >> they deserve every woo, applause, and everything. they deserved it all. so congratulations to the folks for doing that and thank you, firefighters, for helping out. you know, from health care to fast and furious, it was a big week for both lawmakers and for the media and some say both got wrapped up in the art of the spin. plus, this -- >> the winds, with the dryness, you don't want this to get out of control. that's why he's doing what he's doing. >> trying to gain ground on a fast moving fire. we'll take you to the front lines. you koechbt have to be in front of a television to watch cnn. can you do what i do. your iphone, cell phone, or watch from a computer at work. a. your iphone,ell phone, or watch from a computer at work. n. can you do what i do. your iphone, cell phone, or watch from a computer at work. thanks to the supreme court's decision on health care reform, the last few days have been an education on both the constitution and beltway politics. earlier i spoke with noel shepard from newsbusters.org. they describe their mission as exposing and combatting liberal media bias. before this thing passed, it was all about the individual mandate. then after it was about the tax angle. i asked noel, who missed the boat? >> it's been really enjoyable the past three months watching all of you folks on this incredible roller coaster. you know, three months ago before the oral arguments, you had people in the media saying that this was clearly going to be upheld. anthony kennedy was going to be the swing vote. you even had your own cnn legal analyst about two or three days before oral arguments saying that this was going to be an 8-1 vote with even alito and roberts and scalia voting in favor of upholding the mandate. kind of strange because three days later, four days later after the oral arguments, he was back on saying health care is dead. obamacare is dead. kennedy is going to go -- go ahead. >> listen. we have two different memories of what happened. every single network, just about everyone except for one person who's not on this network who i saw, said that the individual mandate would be struck down, noel. i don't remember him coming on cnn. maybe i'm wrong. i didn't see all of it. i don remember jeffrey to beobir anyone coming on cnn saying that the individual mandate would be upheld. most people were startled and surprised that it actually was. >> no, don, actually you're confusing the pre-oral arguments phase with the post-oral arguments. prior to the oral arguments in march, the media were pretty much unanimous that this was likely going to be upheld and anthony kennedy was going to be the swing vote. >> okay. i get you. i understand that. that's ancient history now after that. >> well, but it's been fun to watch. >> can we keep it to this past week? i understand what you're saying. you know, as time moves on and people learn things, they change what they think about things. had it not been for the way the oral arguments went, people would think different. but the oral arguments did happen. once they happened, most people said it was going to be struck down. so i don't understand your point here. >> the importance of that is how the media responded on thursday. if this had occurred three months ago, the media response on thursday would have been much more of a disappointment because the expectation prior to march was that it wasn't going to be struck down. so after march, when we all got this vision that it was going to be struck down, at that point in time, thursday ended up being, you know, a jubilation. the media were enthralled, almost orgasmic -- >> oh, no, no, no, no. it was not a jubilation. i watched it. i saw some anchors and thought they were going to cry. i watched cnn. cnn, there were no happy people on cnn. so don't say that. people said oh, my gosh, what happened? who died? no, there was no jubilation. come on. you're looking for things. >> there was no jubilation? >> not on this network. i don't know. maybe on other liberal networks, yes. maybe you are correct. not on this network. certainly not on more conservative networks. >> don, obviously i don't just analyze cnn. i love you and i love cnn. but there are a lot of other networks i have to watch. the evening news broadcasts on thursday -- you know, abc, cbs, nbc -- they were all jubilant. talking about almost making roberts a hero. >> no, okay, so listen. here's the thing, noel. i heard some of that analysis. when someone on an evening newscast leads into a story saying that justice roberts is the man of the hour, it doesn't mean they agree with what justice roberts did. it means that's all people are talking about on the left and on the right, is justice roberts. if you were talking about him, whether it's in a good way or bad way, it means he's the man of the hour. than you necessarily agree with what he's doing. that's not jubilation. that's fact. >> no, because the previous day and for the previous three months, they were talking about how he was a conservative shil. so all of the sudden because he came out with the ruling which the liberal media likes, he's suddenly a hero. but he was a goat for the previous three months. so obviously what it means is for a supreme court justice or really anybody in america today, you're going to be a hero if to you something that the liberal media likes, but you're a goat if they don't. it can flip-flop in 24 hours. >> all right. thank you very much, noel, for that. let's take that conversation a little bit deeper. is it a tax? is it a penalty? is it? i don't know. is it splitting hairs? we're going get into it. no talking points is next. you don't want to miss it. don't forget to take us with you wherever you go. you can stay connected and watch cnn live from your phone, from your cell phone, or from your desk top. just go to cnn.com/tv. sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering just you know walking, sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering and i found myself in the middle of this paraden. which is actually quite fitting because sfx: sounds of marching band and crowd cheering geico has been serving e military for over 75 years.en. aawh no, look, i know this is about the troops and not about me. right, but i don't look like that. who can i write a letter to about this? geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] not everything powerful has to guzzle fuel. the 2012 e-class bluetec from mercedes-benz. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services. it is time now for no talking points. okay. from penalty to tax. from mandate to moon walk. boy, did president obama have a reason to celebrate. >> well, do to you see president obama's reaction to the supreme court ruling? you know, it's interesting. he didn't want to gloat, but if you watch his body language closely, you could see he was feeling pretty good. here he is today. >> this is an nbc news special report. ♪ >> funny. but it is real speech. the president called it a, quote, victory for the american people.nt is real speech. the president called it a, quote, victory for the american peopl is real speech. the president called it a, quote, victory for the american people. not once did he mention the word that made his sweeping health care reform bill constitutional. the word tax. not to worry, though. the republicans did it for him. >> the president said he would never raise taxes on the middle class. this is a middle class tax increase. >> we now know that that piece of legislation created the largest tax increase in the history of the united states. >> obamacare raises taxes on the american people by approximately $500 billion. >> the court ruled today that, in fact, the affordable care act is a tax. it is the largest tax in america's history. >> all right. but democrats like the former speaker of the house nancy pelosi say, uh-uh. it's not a tax. it's a -- >> it's a penalty. it's a penalty that comes under the tax code. >> all right. so let's see if we can get someone to pin it down. with the white house chief of staff jacob liu. >> you do concede. he wanted to use the word penalty. you concede the law survived only because justice roberts found this to be a tax. >> you know, i think if you look at the decision, which is a very complicated one, you know, there are arguments that support different theories. >> that was on abc. a little more prodding now on fox news. >> this is going to raise taxes for those families. >> that's not what the supreme court said. they said this is constitutional. it didn't matter what congress called it. it is a penalty. >> wait a minute, sir. >> it's a penalty for people who choose not to buy insurance. >> they called it a tax. >> so it's only fair. democrats are just following the president's lead from all t