suzanne malveaux. i want to get you up to speed for wednesday, august 31st. firefighters are calling in air tankers to battle wildfires outside of dallas. more than two dozen homes have burned in palo pinto county and firefighters say the fire is 25% contained. several hundred people had to pack up and run as fires spread. texas is in the middle of an epic drought and heat wave that is dragging all summer long. >> reporter: more than 100 homes are in jeopardy and those who lost their homes are devastated. >> it 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. >> a brush fire overran several homes and this church in oklahoma city. crews say the fire, it is contained, but they're working hard today to make sure it doesn't flare up again. irene, long gone, but folks are still feeling miserable in parts of the northeast. forecasters say the pasaeic river in new jersey has peaked but it probably won't fall below flood stage well friday. 43 people have died from this terrible storm. more than 2.5 million customers up and down the east coast still don't have power and some people are cut off by irene, have some more pressing problems. >> we're in need of medical supplies. we have food and we have drinkable water. there's no running water because there's no power and all the waters run on electric pumps. homeland security secretary janet napolitano and fema director fugate will be there today. amazing pictures, unbelievable, people on the connecticut coast get a look at their beach houses and the damage really stunning. irene ripped some houses in half, others were knocked off their foundations. 25 homes in the close knit beach community are a total loss. we've got an eye on tropical storm katia. it is gatheringing speed in the far eastern atlantic. winds are right now at 65 miles an hour. forecasters predict that katia will grow into a major hurricane this weekend. still too early to say why this storm is headed. not only is the syrian government gunning down protesters in the street but a new report says it is torturing some of the protesters. am naesy international says investigators have documented 55 cases. they found burns, blunt force wounds, whip marks and slashs. some victims were boys as young as 13, one gruesome finding, amnesty international found three victims showed signs of genital mutilation. president obama is calling on congress to renew a bill to repair and rebuild the nation's highways. the white house says almost 1 million american jobs are going to get lost, if congress refuses to extend highway construction projects. money is going to run out at the end of september. >> if we allow the transportation bill to expire, over 4,000 workers will be immediately furloughed without pay. if it's delayed for just ten days, it will lose nearly $1 billion in highway funding. that's money we can never get back, and if it's delayed even longer, almost 1 million workers could lose their jobs over the course of the next year. >> house republicans are offering a new highway bill, but democrats say that it cuts funding levels by a third. well a father who tossed his 7-year-old son off a southern california boat says he and the boy were just horsing around, but passengers saw things a little differently. they say that slone briles hit the boy because he wouldn't stop crying. he was arrested and out on bond today. it is no secret tiger woods' game is off, he has fallen out of golf's top 20 rankings for the first time since 1997. woods blames injuries which caught him off of the coast for the pga tour. he has an interview with cnn. >> unfortunately i haven't played too much and when i did play i haven't played too well. i think the best finish i've had is at the masters this year but other than that, i really haven't played a lot. here's your chance to talk back and one of the big stories of the day, today's question, is it time for a third party candidate to get into the race for the white house? carol costello joins us from new york. a lot of people think washington is broken, maybe we need to change the system all together. >> right, shake things up, right? so are american voters waiting for perot, as in ross perot, as in third party candidate perot? i'm talking metaphorically? remember in the 1992 chain perot shook things up? he could say the party be damned? who could forget he characterized nafta, the trade agreement who some said sent jobs to other countries. >> we'll going to get a bubble surge and a giant sucking sound vacuum in industrial mexico, in what used to be industrial america. >> it split the republican vote putting democrat bill clinton in the white house. what would it look like if sarah palin ran as an independent or michael bloomberg decided to give it a go? i'm not spouting nonsense here. some yearn for a third party. look at a website calls americans elect, asking people to name and fight for third party candidates, even democratic political annal james carver said it is ripe for a third party candidate. do we need a third party candidate in 2012? facebook.com/carolcnn, i'll read your comments later this hour. >> carol seems like we talk every season whether or not a third party. i was back in college taking class, jesse jackson was talking about the possibility of a third party years later, the same discussion. i think people really, they're waiting for somebody to come along and shake it up a little. >> i know, with the perennial third party candidate, ralph nader, i don't think he's giving it a go this time around but who knows? >> we'll be following closely, thank you, carol. a run down of some of the stories we're covering. beach homes cut in half, falling into the ocean. we're going to show you what hurricane irene left behind in this connecticut town that was hit really hard. and a man sees his home being burglarized while flying over it in a plane. then cnn takes an in-depth look at the rising cost of college tuition, what one recent college grad thinks about higher education, now that she is deep in debt. and later we'll find out how a man working in his garden, okay, you got to see this, ends up with a pair of shears stuck in his head. >> felt up there, i sort of pulled on it just a little and seemed real solid so i just left it alone and realized that it was the clipper. it's salonpas. this is the relief i've been looking for. salonpas has 2 powerful pain fighting ingredients that work for up to 12 hours. and my pharmacist told me it's the only otc pain patch approved for sale using the same rigorous clinical testing that's required for prescription pain medications. proven. powerful. safe. salonpas. the authentic, the rare, the hard to define. to those always searching for what's pure and what's real from we who believe we know just how you feel. haagen-dazs. good gravy, bill. our insurance company doesn't have anything like it. magnificent, isn't it? with progressive, it's easy to cover all of your favorite rides. progressive has truck insurance? number one in truck and motorcycle. is that a golf cart? yep. we also cover rvs, boats, atvs. anything else i can help you with? can i take a ride? you need a ticket -- i'm first! and that's by the water slide. okay. no running. oh, dear. save on all your rides. now, that's progressive. call or click today. for a lot of folks along the east coast, the scope of hurricane irene is just starting to sink in, almost 3 million people are still without power, entire towns are cut off by the floodwaters. the death toll from the weekend storm is still climbing, it's now at least 43, one of the hardest hit areas is in east haven, connecticut, where irene's storm surge tossed homes around just like toys. cnn's alina cho has more on the damage there. >> the whole first floor is gone, this is the second floor actually. and -- >> reporter: this is the second floor? >> reporter: the living room, kitchen, rooms that were once one floor up in dino brainard's home are now hugging the beach at ground level. homes sheared in half by what many here call the perfect storm. >> it's eerie. you come back and it's almost like it's so surreal. >> reporter: like this scene, people enjoying their summer, just feet away from total devastation. these are the pilars on which the homes were built to protect them. this is what's left after irene. one resident told me it's as if one picked up their home, threw it and stomped on it. all of the homes flattered and reduced to rubble. >> we believe that we have 25 homes that are a total loss, and maybe another 20 that are uninhabitable. >> reporter: adding to the heartbroke, coalsy beach is tight knit and many families have owned their homes for generations, like jim delucia. >> we got a little water in here, now that's very unusual. >> reporter: 65 of his 70 summers have been spent here. delucia says with all the beach erosion over the years, owning a home on this stretch of beach is like playing russian roulette. >> it wasn't a question of if, it was a question of when. >> roberta sabeau ignored the mandatory evacuation order. what did you see? >> i saw the house coming down and coming at me. >> reporter: her home was spared but for dino bainerd and his family there's little to salvage. yet for him, leaving the area is not an option. >> i would not let this stop me from coming back. >> reporter: when you hear the name irene now? >> that won't be any of the names of my daughters or pets. >> alina cho joins us from east haven, connecticut. good to see you. obviously when you take a look at the pictures it's unbelievable, reminds me of the devastation of hurricane katrina. do we know if people are still without power, without electricity? >> reporter: yes, many of them are, suzanne. as a matter of fact nearly a quarter million residents in connecticut are still without power, a quarter of the residents in east haven, so if you're talking about a population of about 30,000, 7,500 residents just in this small area alone are still without power, but as you can see, it's just utter devastation here. it's really surreal to walk around this area, i must tell you. you know, you'll see walls torn down and desks and photos intact, but many of the homes just flattened and so many lives ruined here because there are so many wonderful memories, generations of families have lived in this area. suzanne? >> alina, is it possible for the photographer to pan over and show us what you're looking at there? >> reporter: sure, in fact we can show you over here, this is dino brainerd's home, he was featured in the piece. the home is sitting at a 45-degree angle. people refer to this house as a tilted dollhouse now. i talked about it in the piece but to explain further this is the living room and back over here this is the kitchen. these were originally on the second floor of the house. they're now as you can see after the storm on ground level, hugging the beach and it's just extraordinary. i just almost couldn't believe it when i first saw it, but what is more extraordinary to see, suzanne is a lot of the residents, most of the residents told me they do plan to come back, they do plan to rebuilt, that's how much they love being right here on the water. >> do all of the houses look like that along the coast, along that section? are there any houses that were spared? >> reporter: you know there were. there were a few houses that were spared and i'm not sure if you can see back a couple of homes down, but there is a home right there that was built on concrete pillars. as you can see that home is still standing but if you look at the top deck there's damage there. truly as you walk down the beach here, i don't believe any of the homes were spared in terms of damage and many of them sadly suzanne were destroyed. >> alina thank you so much. in vermont, hundreds of people are still trapped in their homes after flooding caused by hurricane irene washed away the roads and the bridges but they are making some progress. on monday, highway crews began working on makeshift roads to about a dozen towns that are cut off. vermont's governor says some 263 roads and bridges were severely damaged or destroyed and many parts of the state are still under flood watches and warnings. vermont's national guard trucks are just now reaching some of those who were stranded two days now after the hurricane hit. time to go across country for affiliate, the stories affiliates are covering an arkansas man wanted to take pictures of his home from a plane saw something pretty interesting, steven lynn saw a couple of men trying to rip off his house so lynn called 911 and followed the burglars from above. the two men are now facing charges. a lakeville, minnesota, man, accused of abon donning his 11-year-old son is now under arrest. steve cross's home was about to be foreclosed on, when he left a note with his child telling him to move in with the neighbors. cross was found working at a deli in california. it's not quite snakes in the plain but close enough, screeners at miami's international airport said a man tried to get through security with seven snakes and three turtles wrapped inside his pants. yeah, that's right. u.s. fish and wildlife officers took custody of the animals and they have arrested that passenger. go to college, get a degree? yeah, you think it's good advice but also pretty expensive, so is that degree really even worth the price? we'll find out from a young woman with a dream job and also mountain of debt. plus we'll tell you which college degrees give you the most bang for your buck, the top three highest paying degrees, that when we come back. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? 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[ major nutrition ] new ensure high protein. ensure! nutrition in charge! if you want to get the biggest return on your tuition dollars you might want to major in engineering. those are the top paying cleng degree college degrees. the highest is petroleum engineering. the highest is $157,000 a year, not bad, followed by aerospace and chemical engineering, salaries about $108,000. so whether you're saving for your college, kids' college tuition, cosigning a loan, paying off debt, the cost of college is skyrocketing. cnn is taking an in-depth look at higher education and the high price of a college degree now. for a lot of young people it means graduating from school with mountains of student loan debt. here is our senior correspondent allan chernoff. >> a growing number of americans are starting their careers deeply in debt as a result of the money they had to bar row to pay for education. for many education loans have become a de facto mortgage that could take decades to pay off. rebecca belante has made it to new york city working in fashion for retail giant j. crew. >> accomplished, definitely, a very good word to describe how i feel. >> reporter: accomplishing her dream has been costly. to earn her masters in fashion design at drexler university she had to take on student loans from the federal government and private lenders, even with help from her parents, the three-year program left her with debt approaching six figures. >> i have some really dark moments about it for sure. it's overwhelming, extreme, a lot of money and i have to try to ultimately stay positive to know that i will get through it and i will make it work. >> reporter: the working world often requires ambitious, responsible americans like rebecca to assume mountains of debt to gain the education their careers demand. that debtload for students at graduation is $27,000 on average, adding education loans their parents take on, the figure jumps to $34,000, pile all those loans together, and student loan debt now exceeds credit card debt. >> student loan debt is having an impact on how people live their lives, and causing delays in getting married, buying a car, buying a house, having children, saving for retirement. >> good boy. >> reporter: it squeezes rebecca's lifestyle. she lives in a small manhattan studio, watches her spending and is sure to pay her credit card bills in full each month. how long do you think it might be before you actually can pay it all off? >> well, i would say 25 years, 25 to 30 years. there are repayment plans that let you say it takes that long, that's what i thought about when i was doing it. >> reporter: student loans are rebecca's educational mortgage. rebecca doesn't regret it. borrowing was the only way to achieve her career dream. we're giving you a chance to choose the news, check 22360 to vote for the story you'd like to see in the next hour. first call it the smell of success, a grocery store in brooklyn is bumping up business by pumping artificial food smells into the air. probably the world's most famous penguin, happy feet on his way home to antartica. third you know him from "the big lebowski" and "true grit" now jeff bridges trying his hand at music, listen to some of his original songs. vote by text 22360, 1 for smell of, 2 for happy feet heads home and 3 for actors new album, jeff bridges. the wildsfir getting worse and in neighboring oklahoma a fast moving wildfire threatens neighborhoods in oklahoma city. this church is one of the buildings that has burned to the ground. we'll get an update. [ carrie ] i remember my very first year as a teacher, setting that goal to become a principal. but, i have to support my family, so how do i go back to school? university of phoenix made it doable. a lot of my instructors were principals in my district. i wouldn't be where i am without that degree. my name is dr. carrie buck. i helped turn an at-risk school into an award winning school, and i am a phoenix. [ male announcer ] find your program at phoenix.edu. oh, we call it the bundler. let's say you need home and auto insurance. you give us your information once, online... [ whirring and beeping ] [ ding! ] and we give you a discount on both. great! did i mention no hands in the bundler? bundling and saving made easy. now, that's progressive. call or click today. there's another way litter box dust:e 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. 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[ man ] omnaris. ask your doctor. battling nasal allergy symptoms? omnaris combats the cause. get omnaris for only $11 at omnaris.com. here's a run down of some of the stories we're working on. another storm is spinning toward the united states. how much of a threat is tropical storm katia to the east coast. a man gardening in his yard has a freak accident. how this one ended. and later nic robertson finds zoo animals abandoned in their cages in libya. there's no letup in the destructive wildfires happening in texas, oklahoma and other parts of the southwest. there's a fast moving fire in oklahoma city, already destroyed two homes and a church, a huge blaze about 50 miles west of dallas ft. worth burned more than two dozen homes and other buildings to the ground. right now, the