entire professional career covering her as an olympian. >> that's an amazing story to cover. good morning to you. thank you for being with us. >> hi, everybody, nice to have you with us. we're bring you the news from a to z, it's 5:00 eastern. let's get right to it, shall we? this is unbelievable, unrelenting, unforgiving, it is a heat wave, and it is devastating from k.c. to d.c. and it's going to continue today too, tomorrow, as well. all the way through the july 4th holiday. in some places, it's going to feel like 115 degrees, particularly in parts of the midwest today. and for millions of people without power, sorry to report this, there is not a whole lot of relief coming your way. at least 19 people now have died in the last week after deadly storms swept through the nation. about 1.7 million people still haven't gotten any power. this is days after the storms went through. many expect possibly it's going to take until friday to get their power restored. take a look at the states that are waiting for the lights and their air-conditioner to come back on. 410,000 customers in west virginia. all of them in the same boat. and these people are going to have to deal with more soaring temperatures. the map says it all. 13 states under heat advisories this morning. those are the states highlighted for you on your screen. sandra endo is in one of those states, arlington, virginia, with a lot of criticism for the energy companies. so exactly what is the story? what are the power companies telling these people? or can they even hear the message because they haven't got a radio or television to hear it. >> that's exactly right, ashleigh. a lot of frustration in local communities. and it's been four days since the violent storm ripped through this region. and let me show you the scene we're seeing in residential communities. take a look behind me. downed power lines, trees toppled over crushing this car behind me, and this is a scene, the devastation still left behind four days since this storm struck. and that is why residents and local authorities are very frustrated with utility companies and power companies. they're asking why isn't this work being done faster to restore power to these communities? and as you mentioned, still, 1.7 million people across 11 states without power. that's still more than half the number affected since the storms really ripped through these areas. so clearly there's a lot of work yet to be done. the power companies, though, utility companies, they're having a tough time getting into these residential areas. moving their equipment through these neighborhoods. and also, these workers are dealing with the sweltering heat. so just a lot of factors working against so many of these workers. and temperatures, again, as you were mentioning are continuing to soar. just in the virginia d.c. area, we're expecting the temperatures to really almost hit triple digits here and frustrated residents, they're saying they are doing everything they can to try to cope. >> we have a pool and we have a generator, but a lot of these people don't have nothing. it makes you want to sit down and cry. >> been very, very hot. not getting no relief in the liquid form and people are in dire straits really. >> and local authorities say that the cooling centers are up and running in many states for people to try to find relief as well as saying that the community pools are packed, libraries, malls are packed. people are just trying to stay anywhere where they can avoid the heat and wait for these utilities to come back online. ashleigh? >> and sandra, we've been hearing there's been a serious challenge for the 911 operators with the power outages. they've gone down to about half capacity. how is that affecting the people who could be in a dire situation right through the friday? >> obviously this is a big deal, ashleigh because in fairfax county, virginia, that's exactly what happens. the 911 system was only working at half capacity as of monday. still, two days after the storm. so clearly it's so important for these emergency systems to be up and running effectively because people are calling in to really call in emergencies, medical emergencies. if that 911 system isn't working, well, a lot of people are left stranded. the county supervisor says this is shocking and unacceptable. they're trying to figure out why the primary and backup systems weren't working and a lot of callers say when they called 911 all they got was a busy signal, a recording, or just dead silence. >> wow. that is brutal. all right. sandra endo, live for us in arlington, virginia. thank you, this morning. five minutes past the hour. how hot is it? well, check this out. it is so hot that the extreme heat buckled the pavement in wisconsin. it created a ramp on highway 21 that sent a car airborne. take a look at that. unbelievable. the car landed, swerved across the other side of the highway and off the road leaving a cloud of dust in its path. that video was posted on youtube. the highway was repaired and it was reopened. alexandra steele is tracking all this brutal heat. you heard a gentleman there in arlington, virginia, that said people are simply in dire straits. are we going to see triple digit temperatures again today? >> yeah, for a lot of the country we will. the unfortunate thing is the areas where the derecho moved through friday night, iowa, indiana, all the way through washington and virginia where we did and have lost power, temperatures are going to be between 95 degrees and 100 degrees. minneapolis, right now in minneapolis, it feels like 88 degrees, it's 84. expecting 96, their average high for the day is 84 degrees. so warmer than where they should be for the high where the starting out the morning. so why are we seeing this? well, over the weekend, it's all about this dome of high pressure and its movement. the problem is it's retro grading. so the area of the country, the southern and central plains, they're going to see the 100 to 105-degree temperatures. in the southeast, a little bit of a break. temperatures coming down from the high of 106 over the weekend by about 5 to 10 degrees. the southeast in the low to mid-90s. but look at minneapolis, kansas city for tomorrow, it's the july 4th day. everyone out and about. biggest problems there from wichita, kansas city, into omaha. temperatures, of course, at 100 degrees plus even. here's the five-day forecast for many places. look at chicago staying right around 95 degrees until we get to saturday. washington, d.c., of course, a lot of activities going there today and tomorrow for the fourth. temperatures tomorrow at 97. by saturday, still at 99 degrees, and, of course, here's where the axis of the intense heat is, wichita, above 100, st. louis, above 100. not a lot of relief for the central and southern plains. southeast have shaved off a few degrees, but still, temperatures well above normal. coast-to-coast and north to south. >> we're going to continue checking with you making sure everybody's prepared for the sweltering heat. it is eight minutes past 5:00, and there are serious questions this morning about penn state and the serious sex scandal that that university has faced. did the former penn state football coach joe paterno influence university officials not to report a 2001 incident involving jerry sandusky and a young boy in a locker room shower? according to some e-mails between former university executives, a decision was made to approach jerry sandusky and report him to child welfare officials and his second mile charity. but it appears that coach paterno who died in january then had a conversation with the former athletic director, tim curley. according to the e-mails, curley then sent an e-mail to school officials saying that, "after giving it more thought and talking it over with joe yesterday, i am uncomfortable with what we agreed were the next steps. i'm having trouble with going to everyone but the person involved." joe paterno's family is calling on pennsylvania's attorney general and the former director of the fbi who is now involved in an investigation at that school to release all of the e-mails and the records related to their investigations. syrian president assad says he regrets his forces shot down a turkish war plane last month. assad is insisting syria did not know the plane belonged to turkey until after it was hit. syria's relationship with turkey a long time ally has been deteriorating in recent months. the turkish government deploying troops along the border with syria last week as a precaution. this just in, and this is a change. gas prices up this morning to $3.30 on average. it's up 3/10 of a cent after 20 consecutive decreases. average price now down 78.5 cents from the record high of $4.11 that was reported back in july of 2008. ten minutes past the hour. 45-year-old swimmer dara torres has come up short in an effort to earn a spot on her sixth u.s. olympic team. torres missed her chance by one spot finishing fourth in the finals of the 50-meter woman's freestyle last night at the olympic trials in omaha. the 12-time medallist began her olympic career at the 1984 summer olympic games in los angeles. she says this is over, that's it. i'm going to enjoy some time with my daughter, have a nice summer and cheer on the u.s. team. >> and we're going to smile. smiling and hugging her teammates. >> she gave it her best. >> i suppose that's what matters. >> still an american hero in my books. >> i think everyone's books. >> we'll talk about olympic qualifiers. kerri strug, we remember when she overcame an ankle sprain to lead a victory. it's now 11 minutes past 5:00. and just as firefighters are gaining the upper hand on those colorado wildfires, there's been a deadly crash and it has forced the grounding of a force of fire fighting aircraft. what caused the accident? er the. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. i'm one of six children that my mother raised by herself, and so college was a dream when i was a kid. i didn't know how i was gonna to do it, but i knew i was gonna get that opportunity one day, and that's what happened with university of phoenix. nothing can stop me now. i feel like the sky's the limit with what i can do and what i can accomplish. my name is naphtali bryant and i am a phoenix. visit phoenix.edu to find the program that's right for you. enroll now. this is new york state. we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. did you know honey nut cheerios is america's favorite cereal? oh, you're good! hey, did you know that honey nut cheerios is... oh you too! ooh, hey america's favorite cereal is... honey nut cheerios ok then off to iceland! in here, every powerful collaboration is backed by an equally powerful and secure cloud. that cloud is in the network, so it can deliver all the power of the network itself. bringing people together to develop the best ideas -- and providing the apps and computing power to make new ideas real. it's the cloud from at&t. with new ways to work together, business works better. ♪ to your kids' wet skin. neutrogena® wet skin kids. ordinary sunblock drips and whitens. neutrogena® wet skin cuts through water. forms a broad spectrum barrier for full strength sun protection. wet skin. neutrogena®. welcome back to "early start," 14 minutes past the hour. this comes at the worst possible time. the u.s. air force grounding all of its fire fighting c-130 planes. and that decision coming after the fatal crash of a c-130 in south dakota on sunday. early last month, two pilots died when another c-130 went down along the nevada/utah border. and until officials get a handle on exactly what is going on, the seven remaining c-130s fighting the colorado wildfires will not be operating today. jim spellman is live in colorado springs this morning. and jim, of course, always safety first. but these c-130s, they're able to discharge 3,000 gallons of water of fire retardant in less than five seconds covering an area 1/4 mile long by 100 feet wide. how is this going to affect grounding them? how is this going to affect fire fighting efforts there? >> that's right. we saw two of these planes in action here near colorado springs just last week. and it was really impressive. we saw residents watching these efforts go on cheer as these large planes went over to help support firefighters on the ground. as you mentioned, 3,000 gallons of retardant or water in five seconds covering that 1/4 mile run is a valuable tour in these big fires to help lay down this retardant and help create something of a line, especially when the winds change, can go and lay down a lot in a quick amount of time. it's one of many tools they use. there's so many ways they're fighting these fires. they want them back as fast as they can. it is an important part, especially on these big fires. take a listen. >> they are crucial in fighting every fire they go out on. because if the units go to a mission, that means that all the other assets are either unavailable or fully tasked. >> reporter: like you said, though, safety is first on all of these fire-fighting efforts. they want to make sure these planes are fully checked out and if there's a problem, fix it before they get back in the air. >> 3,000 people still under mandatory evacuation orders. the fire now just 70% -- actually, i should say it is 70% contained. that is a victory. when is the fire expected fully under control? >> reporter: they think by the middle of next week they could have it under control. it's been incredible. as they got favorable weather conditions here, these firefighters just have assaulted this fire. able to get that containment up really fast. every day we're seeing that go up. unbelievable efforts here on this fire that just grew out of control so fast last week. but for those residents that are just starting to get their first view of their destroyed neighborhoods, it's going to be a while before they're able to get in there and start rebuilding their lives. this fire's long from over on many fronts. >> jim spelman this morning, thank you. it's now 17 minutes past the hour. let's get you up to date on the top stories of the day. historic heat is baking the nation. and the death toll now stands at least 19 people. millions of people are still without air-conditioning and power this morning after violent storms knocked down power lines and they could be suffering under these conditions all week long, too, before they get their power back. several states have declared a state of emergency with the heat index pushing 115 degrees in parts of the midwest. the son of a 68-year-old man who was shot and killed by police in suburban new york has filed a $21 million wrongful death lawsuit. blames eight members of the police force for kenneth chamberlain's death last november. police came to chamberlain's apartment responding to a medical alert signal. and family members say they forced their way in and wound up shooting him to death. twitter has announced it's cutting its ties with the linkedin site. so if you synced your accounts, your tweets are no longer going to appear on your profile. these new requirements are supposed to encourage developers to build apps on twitter's website. do not be distracted by this woman. a woman wearing a revealing top robbing a service station in australia. she casually enters the store, steps behind the counter, pulls a knife on the cashier. after fighting with him for several minutes, she leaves the scene with her male accomplice who had been fueling up the get away car right outside. the pair escaped with less than $200 in cash. police looking very, very, very closely at the surveillance pictures. >> i bet they are. >> yep, they are confident she'll soon be busted. >> oh, you didn't. >> i did. >> no, you didn't. 19 minutes past the hour. we're getting an early read on your local news that is making national headlines. a mom suing a charter school claiming her son was sexually assaulted and bullied by an older student. an attempted suicide after and the school, she says, ignored it. the mother claims officials at the downtown miami charter school promised her that the students would be separated and closely monitored. but that never happened and the assaults continued. the director would not comment directly but said student safety and security are among its highest priorities. this next story, california's tossing a life preserver to those people underwater on their mortgages. state lawmakers have decided to pass historic legislation out there meant to protect homeowners from foreclosure. and here's how it works. the laws would stop banks from negotiating with people on lower mortgage rates while at the same time working to kick them out of their homes. it's also going to ban those so-called robo signings which were so controversial. those are the kinds of signatures on foreclosure documents that are done in a rapid-fire fashion without review. so hopefully that will give some relief to people in california who are struggling. a new york city judge is forcing twitter to hand over three months worth of tweets sent out by a writer during the occupy wall street protest last fall. the judge ruling private speech is constitutionally protected but comments on twitter are not. new york prosecutors say writer malcolm harris' messages could show he intentionally disregarded police orders when he and hundreds other protesters occupied the brooklyn bridge. >> i wonder if they're going to capitulate to that. that's interesting. we'll have to watch that one. i'm not sure if i would if i were twitter. i'd say, you could have read it at the time. >> aren't those saved? you can go back and look. >> they are. so it's odd they would have to do a subpoena for that. >> our blog cnn.com/earlystart, everything's there. >> 21 past the hour. it's the largest health care fraud settlement in history. how a major drug maker broke the rules coming up. vered gold. [ female announcer ] the gold standard in anti-aging. roc® retinol. found in roc® retinol correxion deep wrinkle night cream. it's clinically proven to give 10 years back to the look of skin. now for maximum results... the power of roc® retinol is intensified with a serum to create retinol correxion® max. it's proven to be 4x better at smoothing lines and deep wrinkles than professional treatments. new roc® retinol correxion® max. nothing's better than gold. [ music plays, record skips ] hi, i'm new ensure clear. clear, huh? my nutritional standards are high. i'm not juice or fancy water, i'm different. i've got nine grams of protein. twist my lid. that's three times more than me! twenty-one vitamins and minerals and zero fat! hmmm. you'll bring a lot to the party. [ all ] yay! [ female announcer ] new ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. twenty-one vitamins and minerals. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach. refreshing nutrition in charge! in blueberry/pomegranate and peach. male spirit present.trong it's the priceline negotiator. >>what? >>sorry. he wants you to know about priceline's new express deals. it's a faster way to get a great hotel deal without bidding. pick one with a pool, a gym, a great guest rating. >>and save big. >>thanks