U.S. Forest Service firefighters monitor a back fire August 31, 2009 in La Crescenta, California. (Getty Images)

Here are the big stories on the agenda today:

• Jaycee Lee Dugard is in a secret location with her family this morning.  Psychologists are now helping her and her children begin the process of adjusting to a new life after 18 years in captivity.  Police are opening up their investigation into the man who allegedly stole her childhood – Phillip Garrido.  A bone fragment's been found near the convicted sex offender's house.  Are there even more victims?  Authorities are now looking into a possible connection between Garrido and at least two other kidnapping cases.  We’ll talk to a woman who hasn’t seen her child since 1988, who thinks Garrido may have some 20-year-old answers.
• An out-of-control wildfire closing in on L.A.  Triple-digit temperatures and bone-dry conditions are only feeding the flames that have now burned an area the size of San Antonio, Texas.  Authorities say five people who ignored evacuation orders are now trapped.  We're live from the front lines in southern California.
• Did the Bush Administration use the politics of fear?  We’ll ask America’s first Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge about questions he asks in his new book, out today, including a push to raise the nation's terror alert before the 2004 election.
• For the first time since his arrest and conviction for assaulting pop star Rihanna, Chris Brown is breaking his silence.  The R&B star told Larry King he's ashamed of what he did to her.  We’ll have a sneak peak of the exclusive interview.

A firefighter drives away from a wall of flames August 30, 2009 in Acton, California. (Getty Images)

Here are the big stories on the agenda today:

• Firefighters have lost two of their own, fighting out-of-control flames north of Los Angeles.  The wildfire has already swallowed an area the size of our nation's capital, about 66 square miles.  Right now, thousands of homes are at risk.  We are live on the front lines of the fire fight and talking to the man in charge of stopping its advance.
• New developments in the case of the kidnapped girl, found and returned to her mother after 19 years.  You won't believe what Jaycee Dugarg's first words to mom were.  The stunning reunion taking place as authorities bring shovels and chainsaws to search a convicted sex offenders backyard.  Our Ed Lavandera will be live there with the latest.
• Almost every high school student stresses out over taking the S.A.T's.  So why are more and more colleges making the test optional?  Today, in our American Morning series, Educating America – Carol Costello takes a look at whether it's really worth all those extra classes, and all those extra thousands.

Breaking news this morning:
Sen. Ted Kennedy has died at the age of 77.

Stay tuned to a special edition of American Morning for full coverage of this developing story. We are speaking to special guests all morning about Kennedy's life and career. We're utilizing the worldwide resources of CNN to bring you the latest information.

Developing story »

Here are the big stories on the agenda today:

• A chilling timeline laid out, drug after drug... after drug, with Michael Jackson pleading and demanding more.  Court documents obtained by CNN show the coroner in Los Angeles found a fatal dose of the powerful knockout drug Propofol killed Jackson and Jackson’s own doctor gave it to him.  There are reports his death could be ruled a homicide.
• Swine flu could cause up to 90,000 deaths in the U.S alone this fall.  That's what a new government report says.   The victims – mainly children and young adults.  It also finds the H1N1 virus could infect up to half of the country during this year's flu season.  We'll tell you how to protect your family.
• He's the man who's been trying to navigate us out of a recession, that started almost two years ago and printed up a trillion new dollars to do it.  And today President Obama's expected to nominate Ben Bernanke to another term as Fed Chief.  The CNN Money Team tells us what this could mean for your bottom line. 
• The attorney general investigating the CIA.  Did Bush-era interrogation tactics break the law?  A classified report from 2004 came out that said at least one terror detainee was threatened with a gun and a power drill.  It doesn’t get more inside than our guests on the topic: CNN National Security Contributor and former Homeland Security Adviser to President Bush, Fran Townsend and former CIA Officer Peter Brookes.

Here are the big stories on the agenda today:

• Guns and power drills: tools of the trade for CIA interrogators.  That’s according to a 2004 report by the inspector general, that's been kept under wraps until now.  That report will be made public later today.  But some of the information is already leaking out.
• The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says the Taliban is getting better and the fight for Afghanistan is “serious and deteriorating."  Could we see more troops heading to the front lines?  We’re live at the Pentagon.
• Fidel Castro suddenly showing up on TV and on the front page of newspapers this weekend.  The footage and the photos are said to be very "recent.”  At 83 years old, is the former Cuban leader on the mend?
• Caning for a beer? A Malaysian model and mother of two has been spared six lashes, at least for now. Her crime?  Drinking beer in public.  That’s a violation of religious law in the Muslim country.  The government says the woman will be facing the punishment and a week in prison after the holy month of Ramadan.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge (L) testifies before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee along with (R) Frances Townsend, former homeland security advisor to President George W. Bush - February 12, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Here are the big stories on the agenda today:

• Did the Bush White House use the politics of fear during the 2004 election?  There are explosive new allegations that there was political pressure to raise the country's terror threat level, before the 2004 election.  And they come from the man hired after 9/11 to stop another 9/11: the first Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.  We’re live from Washington.  We’re also talking to CNN Contributor Fran Townsend, who was a Bush homeland security insider during that time.
• Hurricane Bill is now a powerful category three storm and it could again become a category four.  It’s expected to bring extremely dangerous rip tides as it heads up the Atlantic – in line with our East Coast.  Rob Marciano's tracking the extreme weather for us this morning.
• And from town halls to talk radio, President Obama keeps pushing his make or break plan for health care reform.  He says there's still way too much misinformation going around.  Plus, see why the president thinks, quote – "everyone in Washington gets all wee-wee'd up."
• This weekend only! Across the country, car lots are bracing for a busy, busy weekend.  After a month and nearly three billion bucks, the amazingly popular "cash for clunkers" program expires on Monday.  So just how successful has the rebate program been?  Will some dealers ever see a dime? What will its end mean for Detroit?
• The tractor pull isn’t in town, so we’re going to them.  Rob’s Road Show is live in “Pull Town” today, for the National Tractor Pull Championships, at the Wood County Fairgrounds in Bowling Green, Ohio.