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Earl skirts across Outer Banks, flooding coastal areas

Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina (CNN) - A weakened Hurricane Earl brushed North Carolina's Outer Banks overnight, flooding coastal highways and sending residents inland.

"In multiple locations, waves have crashed over the tops of the dunes and are now flooding several portions of the main state highway on both the north and south sides through the Outer Banks. This is all happening south of the area called the Oregon Inlet," CNN's David Mattingly reported from the community of Waves. "The water is six to eight inches deep and seems to be getting deeper by the minute."

Ben McNeely from Charlotte, North Carolina, was riding the storm out in the community of Manteo.

"We're in the middle of the island," McNeely said. "Surf's up, waves are up ... We're fully surrounded by water." Read more

President mulls new measures to spark economy

Washington (CNN) - After a week mostly focused on Iraq and Mideast diplomacy, it's back to the economy for President Barack Obama, who will deliver remarks Friday on the August unemployment numbers.

Then, Obama is scheduled to give two big speeches next week to try and frame his administration's response to the recession, less than two months ahead of a midterm election where Democratic majorities in the House and Senate are on the ropes.

Senior aides confirm the president recently asked his economic team to come up with various proposals he could roll out to show that amid high anxiety across the nation, he's still working hard to jump-start the economy, including more federal spending on infrastructure projects and tax cuts popular with the business community such as a permanent extension of the research and development tax credit. Read more

Chicago gang leaders hold press conference

300 people were shot in July in Chicago, 33 died. And Chicago's police chief Jody Weis is trying to do something about it. He brought in gang leaders for a surprise meeting and gave them an ultimatum: stop the killing or they, and their gangs, will be targeted. Some gang leaders and community leaders were less than thrilled and yesterday called a press conference of their own. Saying they can't be held accountable for other's actions.

Sound off: We want to hear from you this morning. Add your comments to the LIVE Blog below and we'll read some of them on the show.

Editor's Note: Welcome to American Morning's LIVE Blog where you can discuss the "most news in the morning" with us each week day. Join the live chat during the show by adding your comments below. It's your chance to share your thoughts on the day's headlines. You have a better chance of having your comment get past our moderators if you follow our rules: 1) Keep it brief 2) No writing in ALL CAPS 3) Use your real name (first name only is fine) 4) No links 5) Watch your language (that includes $#&*) 6) Stay relevant to the topic.

Discovery Channel HQ given 'all clear'

(CNN) - Authorities gave an "all clear" early Thursday after sweeping the headquarters of the Discovery Channel in Silver Spring, Maryland, where police shot and killed a man who was holding three hostages.

Montgomery County Police said no active explosive devices were in the building, but authorities didn't say if any bombs had been found there. Earlier, Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said a number of devices in backpacks would have to be rendered safe.

The suspect killed by police was identified by Manger as James Lee. The hostages were unharmed, he said.

Manger said hostage negotiators negotiated for almost four hours by phone with Lee on Wednesday afternoon while police officers watched and listened to Lee on the building's surveillance system.

"At times during the negotiations, he was calm, but I wouldn't call him lucid. The conversation was indicative to me he was dealing with some mental issues," he said.

Manger said the three hostages were lying on the ground, but were not otherwise constrained. He said Lee mainly dealt with the hostage negotiators and did not communicate with the hostages. Read more

Earl strengthens, heads toward East Coast

See local coverage from CNN affiliate WVEC. Is Hurricane Earl affecting you? Share images and information with CNN iReport.

(CNN) - Hurricane Earl took aim on the Outer Banks of North Carolina early Thursday as the powerful storm prepared to take a swipe at the Eastern Seaboard.

Hurricane warnings and watches stretched from North Carolina to Delaware, and covered parts of Massachusetts as Earl strengthened late Wednesday.

President Barack Obama signed a disaster declaration for North Carolina on Wednesday evening.

"The president's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures," a FEMA statement said. Read more

A Soldier's Story Update
As the U.S. military forges ahead in the final wave of the surge CNN's Jason Carroll shows us how one soldier is making the last few preparations before his mission gets underway, in our ongoing series, A Soldier's Story. Follow his updates on twitter, @jasoncarrollcnn

Sound off: We want to hear from you this morning. Add your comments to the LIVE Blog below and we'll read some of them on the show.

Editor's Note: Welcome to American Morning's LIVE Blog where you can discuss the "most news in the morning" with us each week day. Join the live chat during the show by adding your comments below. It's your chance to share your thoughts on the day's headlines. You have a better chance of having your comment get past our moderators if you follow our rules: 1) Keep it brief 2) No writing in ALL CAPS 3) Use your real name (first name only is fine) 4) No links 5) Watch your language (that includes $#&*) 6) Stay relevant to the topic.

Dutch arrests may have been dry run, U.S. source says

(CNN) - Two men held in the Netherlands may have been trying to test U.S. airport security by putting bottles with electronic devices attached in checked baggage, a U.S. law enforcement source said Monday.

The men were taken into custody after landing in Amsterdam on a flight from Chicago, Illinois, Dutch prosecutors said. Both men were being held at Amsterdam's Schiphol International Airport at the request of Dutch national police, airport spokesman Robert Kapel said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said they were arrested after "suspicious items" in their luggage raised concern.

"The items were not deemed to be dangerous in and of themselves, and as we share information with our international partners, Dutch authorities were notified of the suspicious items," the U.S. agency said. "This matter continues to be under investigation."

Those items were an empty shampoo bottle with watches attached to it and an empty bottle of a stomach medicine with mobile phones attached, according to the U.S. law enforcement source, who has been briefed on the investigation. That has raised concern that the men may have been testing a future terrorist plot, the source said. Read more

House GOP leader to make 'prebuttal' on upcoming Obama speech on Iraq
(CNN) - House Republican leader John Boehner will lay out a "prebuttal" ahead of President Obama's prime time speech on Iraq on Tuesday night.

Boehner will speak to about 10,000 people Tuesday afternoon at the 92nd American Legion National Convention in Milwaukee on Iraq and national security issues.

Obama's Oval Office address is timed to coincide with the official end of the U.S. military's combat mission in Iraq.

In an op-ed published Friday in the conservative news site Human Events, Boehner said Tuesday's shift of U.S. forces from combat to an advisory mission "was made possible by the very surge that President Obama and Vice President Biden opposed.

"With all due respect to them, our troops who have served so courageously in Iraq deserve the credit for the success of the surge and, along with the Iraqi people, the turnaround in Iraq," he said.

"Then-Sen. Barack Obama, who campaigned on his opposition to the Iraq war, flatly declared that the troop surge would not work," Boehner said in the editorial.

Boehner says that at the time, Obama said: "I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse."

The president's speech - set to start at 8 p.m. ET - is expected to last about 15 minutes.

Obama's remarks will also touch on Afghanistan and the broader war against terrorism, the White House said last week.

The total number of U.S. troops in Iraq has now fallen below 50,000 - the lowest level since the U.S-led invasion in 2003.

The remaining American troops will train, assist and advise the Iraqis.

Sound off: We want to hear from you this morning. Add your comments to the LIVE Blog below and we'll read some of them on the show.

Editor's Note: Welcome to American Morning's LIVE Blog where you can discuss the "most news in the morning" with us each week day. Join the live chat during the show by adding your comments below. It's your chance to share your thoughts on the day's headlines. You have a better chance of having your comment get past our moderators if you follow our rules: 1) Keep it brief 2) No writing in ALL CAPS 3) Use your real name (first name only is fine) 4) No links 5) Watch your language (that includes $#&*) 6) Stay relevant to the topic.

Drilling to reach Chilean miners to begin

(CNN) - Chilean officials plan to start drilling a rescue shaft Monday, as they begin a months-long operation to reach 33 miners who have been trapped underground for more than three weeks.

The effort to drill through more than 2,300 feet (701 meters) of rock and safely extract the miners could take three to four months, officials said.

The miners have been stuck in the mine since an August 5 cave-in and are surviving off food, water and other supplies funneled to them from above ground through an "umbilical cord" - a tube about four inches in diameter.

Meanwhile, a four-person team from NASA is set to arrive in Chile this week to help provide physical and behavioral health support to the miners. NASA has a long history in dealing with isolated environments and thinks experiences in space and underground are not too different, said Michael Duncan, the U.S. space agency's lead person on the Chile effort.

Chilean Health Minister Jaime Manalich said a medical official, a nutritional medic, a psychologist and an engineering expert in logistics from NASA will stay at the mine from Wednesday through Friday to help.

"I do not imagine, like I saw a cartoon in a daily newspaper, that NASA will be setting up an area with no oxygen and no gravity where the miners will be floating about ... but you never know," Manalich joked.

The miners spoke directly with family members for the first time Sunday, as officials worked to keep the men's spirits and health in good shape. Read more

Stabbed cabbie out of work, worries about feeding family

(CNN) - New York cab driver Ahmed Sharif cannot bring himself to talk about the young man who allegedly cut his throat and nearly killed him last week, a taxi union representative said Sunday.
"Ahmed is a strong man, but mentally he has limits," said Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. "The trauma he's experienced will last for a long time."

Desai spent time this weekend with Sharif. She said his most pressing worry is how he'll provide for his wife and four children - including a 10-month-old –without a job. Sharif is receiving 2/3 of his salary, about $30,000 a year, in workers' compensation. Union members do not get health insurance or disability payments, Desai said.

"My guess is that he'll be unable to work for at least four months," Desai said. "He can't even pick up his baby because of the wounds to his arms. He can't turn his neck."

There's been so little money raised over the past few days for Sharif that it would "barely cover baby formula," said Desai who, along with Sharif, held a widely publicized press conference Friday announcing the union was creating a fund for the family. The union's website indicates how to mail a donation or give online. Read More