good morning to you. it is thursday, september 1st. can you believe it? this is your a.m. "wake-up call." this is carol costello joining you live from new york. it's a big day. the president's big speech on economy will be a week from tonight. he wanted to speak a day earlier but house speaker john boehner said there wouldn't be enough time to do a security sweep of the house chamber. others complained it was on the very night of the republican presidential debate. he could go head to head with drew breesz and aaron rofrmgers. the nfl opener is that night. they talked about what a big deal this speech is. >> this is a different kind of speech. it's not about talking the the american people as much as it is laying out. it's laying out for congress a clear plan, very specific, saying here is the -- here's my proposal from the white house. now it's your turn to act. and so they're taking it directly to congress. they're going there because it's his one shot of sort of delivering the message to koj and then it's up to congress to sort of take it, leave it, take pieces of it. it's really out of the president's hands beyond that. >> take a look at the cnn orc international poll. it shows only about one third of the americans approve of the way the president is handling the company and 65% think it's. congresswoman michele bachmann, what would she have done? would she have attended the big speech or got to the presidential debate in california? of course, it's not an issue now, but before the date was changed it was tasty campaign fodder. she said this in iowa. let me read it to you. either, a, the president wants to distrakt the american people so they don't watch him, or, b, he doesn't want the american people to hear what the next president of the united states is going to say. here's a quick update on the big story out of aruba. gary gee or dana will stay in custody for another 60 days while authorities work on their investigation. et it's been a month since rob bin gardner was last seen. he claims she was swept out to sea while they were snorkeling let's talk about two sections of the country with opposite problems. first, oklahoma. two fires are on the move in oklahoma city. one is being pushed toward a residential area. 700 people have been told to evacuate their homes. fire officials hope to stop the fire before it crosses interstate 44. fires this week have been moving so fast people barely have had time to react. >> you know, i've got about ten minutes, what do i grab. and the first thought was make sure the kids are safe and that they've got some clothing. >> and to the south in dry windy texas, a huge wildfire about an hour west of the dallas-ft. worth area has destroyed about 40 homes now. talk about i reen and the saturated northeast. nearly 2 million people from north carolina to maine still don't have electricity. flood advisories are in effect today for parts of five states. in new jersey the flood passaic river has settled back into its banks and should be below flood stage this morning. officials say the worst is over in vermont. crews managed to patch washed out roads and get supplies into isolated towns. it's going to take longer to repair bridges. one 93-year-old vermont man remembers the legendary flood of 1927 and the hurricane of 1938. he says irene was worse than both. >> this is worse. much worse. i can't believe that this happened. >> vermont is getting help, by the way, from a few of its friends. a black hawk crew from new hampshire brought over some supplies and nearly 100 members of the illinois national guard are helping too. the state has sent over eight of its helicopters to vermont. all of vermont's continues, where are they? they're still in iraq. now let's head to the weather center and rob marciano. okay, catykatia, i guess it developing into a hurricane. >> yeah. it is now a hurricane. 75 miles an hour. that hasn't changed. it's pretty big. there you see on the satellite picture. fairly well organized. and you know, all indications there's nothing much ahead of it in the near 500 miles to slow it down. so we will continue to see -- move off to the west at about 19 miles an hour. here's the forecast track for the national hurricane center. all right. off to category 2 status and major as we head toward the weekend. notice it's heading in the general direction of the united states. so, yes, it is of grave concern for the folks on the east coast as we have to wait for this thing to really make a northerly jog and peel off to sea which is a possibility but not a slam-dunk at the moment. of more immediate concern is this getting into the gulf of mexico. the red box versus the yellow box. the national hurricane center has upped this into a very good chance of becoming a tropical depression or storm here in the next two days. they have a hurricane hunter aircraft scheduled to fly into this thing and investigate it this afternoon. we'll know much more about this. some of our models take it anywhere from texas to the florida panhandle. anywhere from a weak tropical storm to potentially a hurricane. that would happen as soon as the weekend and as late as the beginning of next week. that one is closer to home. one more thing. i forgot to mention this. interesting news from science. we have developed or we found that coral -- there's an analogy on coral that produce as sunscreen that protects coral. fish eat that coral and maybe they get the sunscreen from this algae. et so, carol, there may come a time when ke can develop this algae in a pill to where you don't have to slather on the sun sauce. you pop a pill. wouldn't that be cool? >> really. that would be terrific snoom it's pretty far off but they have discussed this. >> it's quite interesting. thank you. it is issue number one. no matter where you look or turn, there's no escaping, talks about the economy or in this case jokes about the economy. here's your morning punch line. >> well, coming in today i found a quarter on the sidewalk. finally some change i can believe in. president obama has chosen princeton labor kmichlt al listen krueger as the new white house economist. he's considered an expert on unemployment. you know, these days a lot of people are experts on unemployment. how about getting a guy who's an expert on employment. economists are now saying hurricane irene will actually help the economy. the irony being people who saved their money during the recession will now use the money to buy things like windows and repair items. as you know the economy is in the best shape. when washington came up with this, they said, hey, about more hurricanes and tornadoes and earthquakes. that's what we need. >> still ahead, elements of this story may sound familiar. an apple employee goes into the bar and reportedly loses an iphone prototype. the full story on the other side of the break. but first check out the quote of the day. this is the quote. quote, some of them in congress right now of this tea party movement would love to see you and me hanging on a tree, end quote. find out who said this coming up in 90 seconds. it's eight minutes past the hour. there's another way to help eliminate litter box dust: purina tidy cats. our premium litters now work harder to help neutralize odors in multiple cat homes. purina tidy cats. keep your home smelling like home. with two children and no way to support them. people told me i wasn't going to do anything. and i just decided i have more to offer than that. i put myself through nursing school, and then i decided to go get a doctorate degree. university of phoenix gave me the knowledge to make a difference in people's lives. my name is dr. kimberly horton. i manage a network of over a thousand nurses, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] find your program at phoenix.edu. it is ten minutes past the hour. this is your a.m. "wake-up call." now back to the quote of the day. quote, some of them in congress now of this tea party movement would love to see you and me hanging on a tree,ent quote. who said that? it was demg carat andre carson. he later clarified he was not talking about all but some members of the tea party. he says he stands by the remarks. he's a member of the congressional black caucus. now you know. we're talking iphone and facebook. kristie lu joins us from hong kong to bring us up to tech speed. so an apple employee walks into a bar and leaves an iphone proto-type behind. it's deja vu all over again. >> it sounds like a really bad joke. he appears to have lost a prototype in a bar. this is a report from cnn. they say late in july a prototype yet to be released went missing from a mexican bar and restaurant in san francisco. after it was sound it was apparently sold on craigslist. and, yes, you've heard this before. last year an apple employee lost and released an iphone prototype in a bar. there appears to be a connection between drinking and losing an apple. >> really. let's talk facebook now because is facebook really thinking about getting into the music game? >> that's right. it's been out there for such a long time but according to facebook they're planning to launch a music service next month. a source familiar with the plan said they would launch of september 21st. with partners like spot feed supplied the content. all the music labels have long hoped for facebook to build a music store and sell songs. as massive user base, 750 million strong and growing. up to you. >> i know you'll continue to keep your eye on things. thank you so much, kristie lu stout reporting live from hong kong. disagreement in washington, certainly nothing new. does it go too far when the white house and congress have a disagreement on something like a date. it's 12 minutes past the hour. [ ticking ] [ grunts ] we are! got it. [ male announcer ] don't be the last to know. get it faster with 4g. it's the network of possibilities. at&t. it's the network of possibilities. 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. okay, so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. that's yours. lower cholesterol. lower cholesterol. i'm yummy. lower cholesterol. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste? honey nut cheerios. want whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. it's a win win. good? [ crunching, sipping ] be happy. be healthy. can i try yours? as you probably know, former vice president dick cheney gave an exclusive interview about his memoir. here's something you've about never seen. >> here, now, is an exclusive nbc interview with dick cheney. take a look. >> should we still be waterboarding terror suspects. >> yes. >> secret prisons. >> yessing. >> wire tapping. >> yes. >> putting terror suspects into juicers and making them into terror smoothies. >> with the right of approval. >> are you becoming aroused? >> yes. >> i'm sorry. oh. that wu funny. it -- i don't know. it struck me as so funny. it's time for our political ticker with tim farley on sirius live from washington. good morning, tim. >> it wasn't real, was it? he didn't really say that, did he? come on. >> no, that wasn't real. let's talk about something that should not be real as well, this weird thing between the president and john boehner. >> that seems surreal, doesn't it? >> what? >> that seems surreal, doesn't it, the whole batter back and forth between the president and the speaker? >> oh, yeah. the president came out. actually he sent a letter to the house speaker saying, hey, i want to address a joint sex of congress on september 7th. you need to do some par lament hi. john boehner writes back to the president. it's not the best date because we can't get the security sweep needed -- we can't get the security sweep done to make that happen and then it moved on from there. take it away. >> and yesterday if you were to try to summarize the move in the white house press briefing as white house press secretary jay carney was explained there was no politics behind this decision, you'd have to sorts of imagine a face that went -- because everyone was trying to figure out exactly what the reasoning was behind the scheduling of this speech. it was the night of the gop debate. now, truth be told, it's the debate among several candidates. it's one of many. but on the other hand, the white house had to know it was that night. john bane boehner said we can't do it that night. we'll do it the next night and then we find out the president has moved it. what's going to happen out of all this? america once again sees dysfuncti dysfunctionality in d.c. frankly i think the president is going to lose out because people are going to be tuning in to see kid rock and antebellum for their premiere or first game of the season, packers and saints on thursday night and instead of the president they're going to be seeing the joint session of congress. >> you also have to wonder if the president is going to lose out. he's coming on saying i want to work with republicans. let's put aside this partisan sniping. yet his people schedule his speech on the same night as a republican debate. so i don't know how you -- >> this is pretty much -- to your point, carol, this is pretty much ak phenomenaled to be a political speech because unless the president comes out with amazing substance, this is going to be an opportunity to look presidential in front of the joint session of congress and maybe look past what is interpreted or expected to be something that's going to be less than spectacular. i don't mean to try to get ahead of the president, it's just that this has been seen as a political game and as you've said the president's tried to apoosh above that and yet they'll go ahead and schedule this on the same night of the debate? it doesn't seem to fit. >> i know. we'll see what happens. tim farley, thanks so much for joining us as usual. same-sex marriage, front and center on piers morgan. gop presidential candidate rick santorum defended his views. he asked santorum if his views bordered on bigotry. here's what santorum had to say. >> no, just because we disagree on public policy which is what the debate has been about, which is marriage, doesn't mean it's bigotry. >> i had piers morgan call me a bigot because i believe what the catholic church teaches. now i'm a bigget because now i believe what the bible teaches, what 2,000 years of teaching and moral theology is now big oted. in other news this morning prince harry heads to the united states not to hobnob witha-list we'll tell you about the unrested libya. to go i a loeng with that here's a tidbit for you. today is revolution ar day in libya. it celebrates the anniversary of moammar gadhafi coming into power that happened in 1969. it's 19 minutes past the hour. it is 212 minutes past the hour. this is your a.m. "wake-up call." here are three things to put on your radar. weekly jobs numbers will be released. president obama is expected to deliver his jobs plan before lawmakers one week from today. then at 3:30 eastern nasa updates us on the mars rover. it's called opportunity. it's said to be sending back amazing pictures from a marchand endeavor crater. it's set to be an interesting season considering some of the trouble teams like ohio state and miami are facing involving ncaa violations. we still don't know where moammar gadhafi is, but his four-decade grip on power in libya is slipping away and secretary of state hillary clinton is in paris for a high-powered meeting to talk about post gadhafi libya. let's head around the world with max foster. he's live in london. so what's this meeting about? >> well, it's a big test, really, i think, carol, for the ntc, which is running libya now. in the past the rebels had one thing in common, of course, and that was getting gadhafi out of power. this is a test to see how the ntc, how the rebels are organized as a body that can run a country. they ask for something like $7 billion worth of humanitarian aid really. it's something to deal with their emergency needs and they're going to have to convince the likes of secretary clinton. also dozens of other prime ministers and other heads of state around the world that they need the money and can get it now. they have started receiving money. the british government has released about billion dollars worth of libyan bank notes which are held in the uk while the war was continuing. they arrived going to the central bank in misrata -- been ga city as we speak. and also the french today have announced they're releasing $2 billion worth of assets they've been holding while this has been resolved. et it's starting to happen. a big test for the ntc, carol. also on another topic, prince harry is coming to the united states next month for some military training. tell us more. >> yeah. well, he's going to be there for two months. we weren't quite sure where he was going go. we now know he's going to california and in arizona. he's got two months of training over there in the u.s. it's the last part of his apache helicopter training. so once he completes that, he'll be a fully qualified apache helicopter pilot. and he's ready, really, to go to war but there aren't any wars for him to go to right now. he'll have a bit more training when he gets back to the uk and he'll be set to go. a major blackout. we won't hear about the training while he is there. there'll be footage when it returns. we'll not hear much more about it until it's over. >> bummer because we like a few harry sightings in the united states. thank you very much. if life is a highway, buckle up. there are a lot of bad drivers out there. but allstate is out with a new list of states with the best driving. chicago earned the number five spot. houston at number four and san antonio at number three. hear which city came out on top right after this. another good thing about geico is, they've got, like, real live people working there 24/7. so like say you need to report a claim, alright. a real person will be there to help you. then you can use geico.com to view photos of the damage, track your claim, print an estimate. you want an english muffin? they literally hand you a toasted muffin with butter and jam. (sigh) whaa. tasty. that's, that's a complete dramatization of course, but you get my point. vo: geico 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. man on tv: two outs with a runner on first base. now the big guy comes up to bat, hitting .342 with 92 rbis and 36 homers. [fans whirring] [ding] announcer: chill raw and prepared foods promptly. one in 6 americans will get sick from food poisoning this year. keep your family safer. check your steps at foodsafety.gov. good morning to you. it is thursday, september 1st. yes, it's already september 1st. and it's almost friday too. this is your a.m. "wake-up call." i'm carol costello. katia grew overnight, the winds clocked at about 75 miles per hour. could strengthen into a major hurricane in the next few days but it is way too early to tell if katia will hit land. there's another storm system to keep an eye on brewing in the gulf of mexico. no name yet but it could organize into a tropical storm by this weekend. president obama is traveling to new jersey this week and declaring a major disaster there in the wake of irene. the passaic river pushed past its limits in paterson, forcing the city to fight the highest floodwaters in 100 years. the president will be there on sunday scoping out recovery efforts. irene killed more than 40 people from florida to new england and nearly 2 million people still without po