CNN 2009-08-19

Good morning, I'm Melissa Long here at the CNN center in Atlanta. It's a Tuesday, it’s the 18th of August, here’s a look at some of the stories that are happening NOW IN THE NEWS.

We may see more fireworks tonight. Health care town hall meetings are set in Massachusetts and Illinois. Right now, some Democrats 1 are hammering the president because they say he’s backing off a key piece of his health care plan. There are concerns that the White House may abandon the fight for a public health insurance option. Many Republicans just don’t want the government involved in health care and for some Democrats, that option is a must.

"If we don’t have a public plan, then we're leaving it up to the insurance companies to somehow get up one morning and say, OK, I wanna make less profit, I wanna have less overhead, I wanna bring down cost on our own. That's not gonna happen."

"It’s a deal breaker because the whole idea behind health care reform, is to bring down the cost. We cannot bring down the cost unless there is a public option that will create competition."

Today president Obama is taking a break from publicly pitching his plan for health care reform.

Hurricane Bill now gaining strength in the Atlantic, the good news, it’s still hundreds of miles from land, but the Category 2 storm with winds of 100 miles an hour, could grow to become a major hurricane within the next day or two. It’s also on track to graze Bermuda by the end of the week.

A two-year-old boy and an 11-month-old girl have been found after being kidnapped at gun-point in Arizona. They appeared to be OK. Phoenix 2 police are now looking for four suspects. They say a group of armed men burst into a home and took the children after claiming to be the police. Officers don’t think the children’s mother knows the suspects.

An alleged 3 hacker 4, who’s already in jail, is at the center of the biggest credit card theft case in US history. Prosecutors 5 say Albert Gonzalez stole data from more than 130 million credit and debit 6 cards from some major retailers 7. He’s currently facing similar charges in two other cases.

Now, sex or sleep? What do you want? Which one? Which is your answer? According to a survey, it's split almost 50-50. The study was commissioned by Westin Hotels promoting their Heavenly Bed. They found that 51% of people preferred a night's sleep to some hanky-panky. Uh, the survey also found that 60% of travelers say their PDA has kept them from getting a good night's sleep, meaning your personal data organizer, you know, digital gadget 8, not public display of affection(abbreviated PDA-与前面提到的PDA一语双关). Again that new research from the Heavenly Bed's Westin Hotel.

Those are the headlines for you this hour. Do stay with CNN and CNN.com for more on these stories or other news that develops today.