that. >> that is very bold. very bold. can't wait to share the ending with you. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm john berman. this morning mitt romney is in ohio. so is bobby jindal and jeb bush. >> parade? >> coincidence? it is sort of a parade. all about the veepstakes. also the key state of ohio. more coming up. also nelson mandela's 94th birthday. we'll hear from former president clinton who just visited with the icon in a cnn exclusive. that's coming up. first, zoraidzoraida, the b story affecting so much of the country, the weather and the devastating drought conditions that have turned half of the u.s. into a disaster zone. the department of agriculture is declaring natural disasters in 1,000 counties across 26 states. blistering temperatures are making conditions even worse. across the midwest temperatures have topped more than 100 degrees. and heat advisories are reaching up into the mid-atlantic regions. the bone dry conditions have completely destroyed vast stretches of farmland. especially hurting corn, soybean plants. one analyst is estimating 75% of the corn crop at the heart of the drought stricken region has been completely wiped out. this is already having disastrous effects on the entire country. corn prices have surged 45%. and they're expected to jump even higher. that means the price of everything from food, groceries, fuel, they could all skyrocket. christine romans from iowa. we'll have more on the business angle in a moment. first alexander steele is in atlanta. this, of course, a big weather event. we all want to know what's going on. any rain in sight? >> no. there really isn't. one interesting thing, you look at the corn crops and you see how parched they are. you think, well, corn. maybe i won't eat corn. forget that. it so permeates that. corn and those corn crops are in everything from makeup to tires. really i can't wait to hear christine's report. looking at the vegetation health, all you need to know, wherever the brown is that's how abnormally dry we are in terms of the vegetation abnormality. you can see from st. louis to indianapolis. you know, it's really important to know that the intense heat waves and, of course, the lack of rain do go hand in hand and are not mutually exclusive. they work completely with each other. one certainly exacerbates the other. we've had incredible heat waves places like washington, d.c. we'll go down for sure in july. the warmest july we've ever seen. here's the outlook. this is the biggest problem. as we look toward the months ahead for september, see the brown showing. the tendency to continue to be drier than norl. and drought begets drought. intense heat begets the intense heat. it all is really a big cycle. once you get in it it's really hard to get out of. this is the precip outlook as we head through september. drier than average in the northwest. but you can see a few chances for wetter. but as an aggregate, equal chances of it being average. because it's so hot, and look at this, temperatures as we look toward the next few months above average for so much of the country. now, if we line up that drought map, these almost go hand in nd. so unfortunately certainly the heat continues, exacerbating from washington, st. louis and through the midwest. the throughout that we already have. one certainly works with the other. it doesn't look like we've got any good shape coming any time soon. let's talk about how this drought could affect your wallet. no matter where you live. christine romans was working the phones for us very late last night. you know, we heard alexander say there is corn in everything, right? it's not just about food, she said. it's about, you know, makeup and tires. but we're talking about food. and livelyhood. and farmers. >> totally. you always hear about how oil runs the world's global economy. but corn does, too. because corn is -- this is something you're going to see, folks. global food prices are going to rise. we've already been seeing it overall. food, higher grain prices feed into beef, pork, poultry, cereal, processed foods. we burn corn for fuel, ethanol. we use corn in all kinds of different -- all kinds of different manufactured products. then you've got soybeans. you've got hay. hay fields are drying out. farmers who have livestock are plowing under -- actually cutting down their driest parts of their corn fields and starting to feed that to their animals as well. this is from livestock to -- look, the most important thing here, yes, corn is in makeup. the most important thing here is food. the world is fed by this bread basket of the united states. i want to show you sort of a noaa map of the dying vegetation over the past few months. july is a month if we saw rain every single day from here on out, maybe you'd have better crop yields. but look at this orange. this is where you've seen just scorching of this very important part of the country where you see so much of our food is grown. my family is from iowa. we've been farming in the northern part of iowa 1956 to 1990. my grandparents farmed their farm. i talked to my grandma last night. she's just almost tearful about the farmers around her. thousands of dollars of seed in the ground. and now they're watching as the rain comes a little bit to the north, a little bit to the south, but not enough rain. even if it rained every day from here on out in july they would not be able to save this crop. you walk down the fields, right? you see green. and so to the outside person in parts of iowa, it looks all right. you peel it back, there's nothing there. corn cobs are not growing. there's no kernels on the corn. it's a bust for a lot of these farmers. >> we are all hoping for rain for all of them including your family. >> absolutely. federal regulators launching an investigation after receiving close to 100 complaints about sticking gas pedals in ford and now mazda vehicles. those accelerators have caused one death and nine injuries. and the investigation involves about 730,000 vehicles. the national highway transportation safety administration is focusing on just two models. the 2001 through 2004 ford escape and the mazda tribute suvs with v-6 engines. new questions about airport security procedures after a major breach. this is at an airport in utah. authorities say a skywest pilot wanted for allegedly killing his ex-girlfriend last week tried to steal one of the airline's jets. it was a botched getaway. he managed to start the plane. but he clipped the terminal building before rolling through a fence into parked cars. the pilot, 40-year-old brian hagland, was found dead inside the plane. it's an apparent suicide. amazing video from columbus, ohio. of police responding to reports of shots fired. so the cops arrive at the scene. they briefly detain a suspect. he escapes. you're going to see him here sprinting to the officer's patrol car. there he goes. running to the car. you have to watch. he gets in the car here as the cops are no doubt chasing him. turns it on or may already be on. and speed away. and the officers fire at him. [ gunfire ] >> he broke away from me. >> the man eventually crashed the cruiser and was arrested. police are looking for another suspect in the shooting. the fda approving a new controversial diet drug under a new name. formerly called kunexa. only approved for overweight people with a body mass index greater than 27. however, doctors can describe it to anyone. there is concern it will be overprescribed to people who just want to lose a few pounds. potential side effects include increased heart rate and birth birth defects. new york knicks fans said this morning. you may say linconsolable after the departure of jeremy lin. packing his bags and heading to houston. knicks declined to match the $25 million over the next three years. the love affair over after just 26 games. amazing. lin sent out a couple of tweets overnight saying, first, extremely excited and honored to be a houston rocket again. he was cut by them last year. it's amazing. another tweet, much love and thankfulness to the knicks and new york for your support this past year. easily the best year of my life. no longer a knick. >> i was shocked he said the best year of his life. >> he did really well. he was starting 25 games. linsanity. can't get much better than that. it is nine minutes past the hour here. a peaceful lake in iowa is an active crime scene this morning. all hands searching for two girls who went missing after a bike ride. you are taking a look at their pictures. coming up, find out what happened when police dogs tried to track their scent. mer. book one. tell me, o muse... famous town of troy... book three. book 12. poseidon... book 17. book 20. thunderbolts. book 24. the end. 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[ male announcer ] the capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. ♪ what's in your wallet? ♪ what's in your...your... ♪ ♪ what's in your wallet? you want to save money on car insurance? no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. you want to find a place to park all these things? fuggedaboud it. this is new york. hey little guy, wake up! aw, come off it mate! geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance. ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom! let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go. welcome back to "early start." it is 13 minutes past the hour. i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm john berman. this morning in iowa a serious story. authorities draining a lake in the search for two missing young girls. 8-year-old elizabeth collins and 10-year-old lyric cook disappeared last friday. their bikes were found at the edge of meyers lakes in evansdale. fbi scent tracking dogs are searching the area. the mother of one of the girls says the dogs stopped right at the lake's edge as soon as they began their search. what's the latest right now from authorities? >> reporter: john, there's two tracks going on in this investigation. one is sort of the search and rescue effort. towards that end they are draining this lake. they don't expect they're going to find anything significant in this lake. they just want to be absolutely sure to rule that out. by later today or tomorrow this lake should be drained. they should have whatever answers the lake may give them. on the other track, the law enforcement track, as you mentioned fbi scent dogs came in. they lined up family members so the dogs could eliminate their scent. then they took smell from the girls' shoes and used that. we know they got this scent and they ended near the lake in a wooded area. we don't know if that's ever going to really become a significant part of this investigation at this point. but as every hour and day goes on, the family is more convinced that the girls didn't get lost. that there wasn't an accident. but rather that some sort of crime has taken place. take a listen to lyric cook's father. >> obviously, something bad has happened. i -- i believe that it's not an accident. it's -- it's something -- it's something, and that's what we're trying to find out. >> reporter: the family has been questioned by police. some of them have taken polygraphs. police say they're completely cooperating. they really need some sort of break to get this case moving, john. >> jim, thanks so much in iowa. this has got to be so hard on these family. later this morning we'll be talking live with the parents of 10-year-old lyric cook. that's ahead at 6:40 a.m. >> i can't imagine that. 15 minutes past the hour. let's get you up to date. here's christine romans with this morning's top stories. a crisis unfolding across half the country right now. millions are praying for rain. trying to weather the worst drought to hit this nation in more than five decades. cropped ruined on farms across the heartland. state leaders scrambling to come up with aid plans for farmers. but at this point appears many livelihoods could be lost and certainly food prices will spike. federal regulators investigating nearly 100 complaints about accelerators getting stuck in ford and mazda suvs. they're trying to determine whether those gas pedals caused one death, nine injuries and nearly two dozen accidents. the national highway transportation safety administration says more than 700,000 vehicles and two models are involved. the 2001 through 2004 ford escape. and mazda tribute suvs with v-6 engines. a man accused of shooting up an alabama bar near the university of alabama campus in tuscaloosa facing 18 counts of attempted murder. police say the suspect, 44-year-old nathan van wilkins turned himself in yesterday. 17 people were injured, four critically. surveillance video allegedly shows wilkins with a gun outside the bar where the shootings took place. he's being held on a $2 million bond. olympic officials in london turning to the tsa to help shore up security for the games. media reports out of london say u.s. agents from the transportation security administration will be arriving next week and will be stationed at british airports. olympic organizers are getting hammered for not having enough security on hand for the games. the british military also trying to help plug the gap by supplying 3,500 extra personnel. zoraida and john. 17 minutes past the hour. we're getting an early read on your local news that is making national headlines. we'll start right here in new york with the new york daily news. kerry kennedy, ex-wife of new york governor andrew cuomo is blaming a seizure for her car accident last week. so she was driving to a gym when her 2008 lexus hit a tractor trailer. and apparently she just kept on driving. this was last friday morning this happened on a westchester county highway. what she's saying is that she had a seizure that was caused by a brain injury. and she also said -- i thought this was interesting -- that when she was stopped by the police officer, she says it is theoretically possible that i might have taken an ambien rather than a thyroid pill. they did test her for drugs. she said all the results came up negative. that's what she's saying. doctors say they believe the crash was caused not by the sleeping aid but rather a complex partial seizure. >> there's so much interest in the kennedys all around the country. especially in these parts. that courtroom in this tiny town was packed yesterday for this hearing. here's a picture that will chill any fast food lover like me. this apparently from a burger king in ohio. an employee took this picture standing on lettuce in a burger king. he put it online saying this is what -- this is what your food looks like inside this burger king. the officials somehow at this store tracked him down. apparently he was an internet user who used some geotagging to find out where this guy worked, where he was located. guess what burger king did to him? they laid him off. they fired him. not a good way to keep your job if you want to keep it. standing in the lettuce. >> terrible. disgust ing. even if you do that, don't send it out. >> keep it to yourself. send it to your friends. don't post-it online. for an expanded look at our top stories head to our blog, cnn.com/earlystart. coming up, poised at the edge of a fiscal cliff. fed chief ben bernanke's dire warning for congress. that's coming up. i don't spend money on gasoline. i don't have to use gas. i am probably going to the gas station about once a month. drive around town all the time doing errands and never ever have to fill up gas in the city. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. last time i was at a gas station was about...i would say... two months ago. the last time i went to the gas station must have been about three months ago. i go to the gas station such a small amount that i forget how to put gas in my car. ♪ 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®. for full strength sun protection. 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. would you mind if to be i go ahead of you?omer. instead we had someone go ahead of him and win fifty thousand dollars. congratulations you are our one millionth customer. people don't like to miss out on money that should have been theirs. that's why at ally we have the raise your rate 2-year cd. you can get a one-time rate increase if our two-year rate goes up. if your bank makes you miss out, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. wanted to provide better employee benefits while balancing the company's bottom line, their very first word was... 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[ yawning sound ] all right. minding your business this morning. your market check now. u.s. stock futures are trading higher. that is nice. european markets up, too. >> that's despite federal reserve chief ben bernanke stopping short of announcing another round of stimulus for the economy, which everyone was hoping for. christine romans is here. what else did bernanke have to say? >> look, markets want behr bernanke to say i got some new, shiny object that's going to help keep global growth going. bernanke says, no. i need to make sure that congress doesn't make anies by mistakes here. ben bernanke talking about a frustrating slow recovery in the jobs market. i've heard him say this many, many times. he also talked about the fiscal cliff, so-called fiscal cliff. that's when we have huge spending cuts and huge tax increases all at the same time that slam the economy early next year. congress really has to get its act together on that. this is what he said. >> the most effective way that the