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. th