"cbs evening news with katie couric" is next. >> couric: day 87 and look at this: for the first time in nearly three months, no oil is flowing out of the b.p. well. is this the turning point we've been waiting for? i'm katie couric. also tonight, a record fine for goldman sachs. the financial giant will pay more than half a billion dollars to settle charges it defrauded investors with securities designed to fail. f.d.a. health experts reject the first new prescription drug for weight loss in more than a decade, but there are more in the pipeline. and she's making baseball history-- she and her knuckleball. captioning sponsored by cbs from cbs news world headquarters in new york, this is the "cbs evening news" with katie couric.

>> couric: good evening, everyone. it has to be the most beautiful sight we've seen the gulf of mexico in three long months. not a drop of oil coming out of that b.p. well for the first time since the rig exploded. but this is not the end of the crisis. now the waiting begins to see if the cap over the well can withstand the pressure of the gushing oil. and even if it does, this is not a permanent fix. that won't come until the relief wells are completed and the damaged well is plugged. but president obama called it a positive sign and when investors saw the gusher was gone, b.p.'s stock shot up, closing with a gain of more than 7.5%. mark strassmann is in houma, louisiana tonight. mark, we could almost hear the sigh of relief all the way up here. >> reporter: yes, you could, katie. but consider this. this is just really a promising start. every engineer with this operation says that this test really needs more time and also warns that at some point they may have to release some oil just to release some pressure on

the well. even so, for gulf residents, they saw something today they've waited almost three months for: signs of hope emerging undersea. a mile under the sea, b.p.'s spill cam showed the usual thick plume of smoke start to get thinner. engineers were choking off the well's three valves, trapping all the oil inside before closing the new containment cap completely. this is the image gulf coast residents have waited 86 days to see: no leak at all. now they'll have to hope the well the strong enough to keep those valves closed. >> once we're convinced we've done no pressure to the well bore and it can withstand the pressure after that 48 hours, we can consider shutting in the well. that's always a possibility and we would like to do that. >> reporter: now comes the angst wait. the oil has no place to go and b.p. engineers have to monitor the well's building pressure with reviews every six hours for up to two days. high readings-- around 9,000

pounds per square inch-- mean the well's holding up-- good news. but low readings-- around 6,000 p.s.i.-- mean trouble. the test would stop right away. >> that would be indicative of the fact that oil was being released somewhere in the wellbore out into the formation. we would not want that. >> reporter: another worry: unforeseen snags, like the one overnight that stopped this test. undersea robotics had to replace a faulty choke line. it was leaking oil. and even if test results show the well is strong, b.p. might release some oil anyway to avoid pushing its luck and over stressing the well. but everyone agrees this cap is in no way the permanent fix to this crisis. >> this is merely an intermediate step to contain the oil pending the finishing the relief wells and plugging the hole. >> reporter: gulf coast residents can almost see their old life-style coming back. tanya bergeron celebrated the day fishing in waters louisiana has just reopened. >> awesome! i just can't explain the joy.

this is just absolutely... it's like winning the super bowl all over again. >> reporter: as a precaution, b.p. has also shut down drilling its relief wells for the duration of this test. one more sign of how much is riding on this operation. katie? >> couric: and, mark, yesterday, when admiral allen and i were choppering out to the scene he drew me a picture which we enlarged because we thought it would be really helpful for our viewers to see. he told me he was very concerned about the... basically the drill pipe and the wellbore that extends two miles below the sea floor. he's worried that the pressure from this new cap will create leaks and oil will escape from down below and then go through the sea floor. what are they doing to prevent that from happening? >> reporter: you're right, katie. if oil were to leak up through the sea floor, that would create a whole new set of problems, poisoning the marine life and so on. so b.p. has positioned two undersea robots with cameras just to watch the sea floor

around the wellbore. they also have to report regularly to admiral allen's panel of scientists. every three hours once the tests began and every six hours now giving an update of exactly what is happening not only to the well but what is happening to the sea floor around it. they have to watch both, not just the well, the sea floor also. katie? >> couric: mark strassmann in houma, louisiana. thank you, mark. from b.p. to another company under fire. goldman sachs was hit today with a record fine of $550 million. anthony mason is our senior business correspondent. anthony, i know s.e.c. filed civil charges against goldman three months ago and today a settlement. >> reporter: a settlement to settle the fraud charges. goldman sachs one of the most storied and profitable wall street banks agreed to pay largest fine the s.e.c. has ever assessed against a financial firm. >> this record-setting penalty reflects the egregiousness of goldman's misconduct and should

serve as a powerful deterrent. >> reporter: the s.e.c. accused goldman of setting up a group of investment to sell clients in 2007, knowing that another of its major clients was betting heavily these same investments would fail. now, the settlement... in the settlement goldman neither admits nor denies it committed fraud but acknowledged it failed to disclose vital information to its clients. the fine includes $250 million to compensate harmed investors. goldman will write another $300 million check to the united states treasury. katie? >> couric: and $550 million is a big chunk of change for goldman sachs, anthony-- or is it? >> reporter: well, goldman made a $12 billion profit last year so it can afford it and it may even be good for business. goldman's stock was up sharply today-- like b.p.s-- because both companies appear to be finally putting these bad episodes behind them. >> couric: anthony mason, as always, anthony, thank you so much. cracking down on wall street is the goal of president obama's financial reform bill. the senate gave its final

congressional approval today with three republicans joining the majority democrats. the bill will, among other things, prohibit banks from trading the most high-risk derivatives. lenders will have to make sure a borrower can afford a mortgage and a ten-member council will monitor potential threats to the financial system. this was a big win for the president, as was the passage of health care reform. but as chip reid tells us, there are rumblings even big political trouble as the midterm elections approach. >> reporter: at the white house today, the president was reveling in another victory on a major piece of legislation. >> this reform puts in place the strongest consumer financial protections in history. >> reporter: when he signs the wall street reform bill next week, he'll add it to a long list headlined by health care reform and the stimulus. >> so many accomplishments in just 18 months, you'd think the president would be flying high. instead, his approval rating continues to sink and now stands at just 44%. so what's the problem?

in a word, jobs. the president, who visited yet another stimulus project today, this one in michigan, seems powerless to do anything about an unemployment rate stuck at an excruciating 9.5%. >> what the president has been pushing is not working. washington reports that are filled with a bunch of fuzzy math won't change the fact that the stimulus is failing. >> reporter: the bad economic news has fearful democrats lashing out at each other. white house press secretary robert gibbs ignited a firestorm this week with this comment: >> i think there's no doubt there are enough seats in play that could cause republicans to gain control. there's no doubt about that. >> reporter: gibbs says he was simply stating the obvious but sources say speaker nancy pelosi is angry at him and deeply unhappy the white house isn't doing more to help. after meeting with the president last night, pelosi said he will now campaign more for house democrats.

but that creates another problem. many vulnerable democrats don't want the increasingly unpopular president in their district at all. now, many of those vulnerable democrats say wall street reform is fine, but what their constituents are desperately calling for now is jobs and they're just not seeing it. katie? >> couric: chip reid at the white house tonight, chip, thank you. and on the matter of jobs, chip mentioned the stimulus program the president was touting today in holland, michigan. our cynthia bowers was there. >> reporter: president barack obama climbed into an electric car today hoping to prove his stimulus program is a jolt to job creation. >> i'm telling you guys... i'm telling you, i recommend them. >> reporter: he announced the second battery factory being built here with federal stimulus money. >> this is about more than just building a new factory. it's about building a better future for this city, for this state, for this country. >> reporter: stimulus projects like these have pumped nearly $500 million into the local

economy, but folks here say "you've shown us the money, now show us the jobs." local business owner becky dewind got $94,000 to help develop new machinery, but the excavating work it's designed for never materialize so she's added no new hires. >> i haven't had one job in one of my divisions in all of 2010. >> reporter: dewind joined other tea party members today to call out the government for trying to create jobs with borrowed money. just a few blocks away, randy and david hammons also held signs-- of desperation. how long have you been out of work? >> couple years. >> reporter: but despite all the talk of stimulus dollars, there's continued frustration on main street-- like this one in holland michigan, which has seen its unemployment rate from just under 6% in 2007 to nearly 12% today. at the local candy store where owner tom fabiano is doing okay but worries about everyone else.

>> my biggest concern is how did we go to where we were ten years ago to where we are today? someone answer that for me. >> reporter: this ground- breaking is supposed to bring jobs for the future, but people here need work today. cynthia bowers, cbs news, holland, michigan. >> couric: in health news, the search for a new safe and effective weight loss pill had a setback today. an f.d.a. panel voted not to recommend approval of a new prescription diet pill. it's the first of three new diet drugs trying to get to the market. dr. jennifer ashton joins us from her ob-gyn practice in inglewood, new jersey. jennifer, why was this drug call qnexa rejected? i understand there was a lot of excitement about it. >> reporter: there was, katie, but it appeared the risks outweighed the benefits. in particular, there were some concerning side effects found in the trial including memory loss, anxiety, depression and, most concerning, a potential for

increased risk of suicidal thinking. >> couric: oh, gosh, and there are two other weight loss drugs i understand in the pipeline. how is it looking for them? >> well, katie, they have their own set of problems. one drug called contrave is actually a combination of an addiction drug and an antidepressants. it's thought to work in the brain and suppresses appetite. with the other drug, called lorcaserin, patients lost on average of 5% of their body weight and common side effects included headache and nausea but regulators will be also looking for heart problems. and the f.d.a. will be voting on that one, katie, in september. >> couric: jennifer, we should mention, these drugs are not for people hoping to lose a few pounds, they're for the obese and morbidly obese. >> absolutely correct, katie. >> couric: all right. dr. jennifer ashton, thanks so much. in other news, kellogg says it's figured out what caused the strange smell and flavor that led to the recall of 28 million boxes of cereal last month. the company says it was an excess of chemicals used in the

package liners in boxes of apple jacks, corn pops, fruit loops and honey smacks. kellog says there is no health risk, but the f.d.a. is investigating. and still ahead here on the "cbs evening news," home mortgages at bargain basement prices. so why is it so hard to get one? the scramble to refinance, next. [ male announcer ] if you've had a heart attack caused by a completely blocked artery, another heart attack could be lurking, waiting to strike. a heart attack that's caused by a clot, one that could be fatal. but plavix helps save lives. plavix, taken with other heart medicines, goes beyond what other heart medicines do alone, to provide greater protection against heart attack or stroke and even death by helping to keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming dangerous clots. ask your doctor if plavix is right for you. protection that helps save lives.

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>> couric: here's a frightening thought: a report out today says more than one million american families are likely to lose their homes this year to foreclosure. already this year, more than half a million have been repossessed even though homes are more affordable than ever with mortgage rates falling to historic lows. the average for a 30-year fixed is just over 4.5%. but just try to get one. once again, here's anthony mason. >> i don't think i've ever heard of a rate better than that. >> reporter: when cindy and pall giachino went to refinance their new jersey home, they couldn't believe the interest rate they were offered. >> i let out a little scream. (laughs) >> there was a... i heard it from down stairs. >> reporter: the giachinos bought their house nearly two years ago with an interest-only loan at 6.3%. this week they refinanced to a 30-year fixed mortgage at 4.25%. >> that will save us $300 a month.

>> that's a car payment. >> reporter: with interest rates falling to 50-year lows, the but tighter lending standards are making it hard for many to take advantage of the lower rates. >> you have plenty of assets but they're not liquid assets. >> completely different climate. >> reporter: mortgage broker wendy nastasi says banks won't cut corners anymore. >> we want to see people who have money in the bank for reserves and have decent credit scores. >> reporter: but in the wake of the recession, more than a quarter of all consumers-- 43 million people-- have credit scores below 600, marking them a bad credit risk. >> that's what we do now. >> reporter: scott kazer doesn't have that problem. >> i'm current on my mortgage, current on my bills. >> reporter: but foreclosures in his fort lauderdale, florida, neighborhood have driven down the value of his home.

>> houses that were in the 400 to $500 range are barely above the $200 range. >> reporter: with his house now worth less than his mortgage, banks won't let him refinance a lo . >> i'm being told the same thing. i just... i cannot qualify based on the value of the property in its current location. >> reporter: so many of the people who need the relief the most can't get it, which is one reason why even with w these record low rates, applications for home loans are declining again. katie? >> couric: all right. anthony mason for the second time, thank you very much. and forget loans, microsoft co- founder paul allen is in the giving mood. today he said most of his $13 billion fortune will go to charity after he dies. he is the latest billionaire to take bill gates and warren buffett up on their challenge to give half their wealth to good causes. and we'll be right back. mike rowe: today's story from the ford model year end sales event... roger's workday. 9 to 5? try 5 to 9... everyday.

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years. ford, g.m., and chrysler did it by updating popular models and scrapping poor sellers. here in new york, construction workers at the world trade center site have uncovered a piece of history: a wooden ship from the 1700s. archaeologists believe it was buried in a landfill more than 200 years ago. they're busy trying to study and document it before exposure to air and sunlight causes the delicate wood to crumble. and another long-forgotten piece of history has surfaced. a 1914 film called "a thief catcher" in which charlie chaplin makes a cameo as a keystone cop, displaying the mustache and mannerisms of his famous "tramp" character. the film turned up at an antique sale and at this saturday a virginia film festival will show in the public for the first time in perhaps a century. to baseball history now. the u.s. postal service honored the negro leagues today with a pair of stamps. the leagues were formed because black players were barred from playing on white teams.

foster was one of their biggest stars. he once won 54 games in a season and went on to found the negro national league. coming into a pitch, a 5'1 right-hander just right for playing with the big boys next. boss: and now i'll turn it over to the gecko. gecko: ah, thank you, sir. as we all know, geico has been saving people money on rv, camper and trailer insurance... ...as well as motorcycle insurance... oh...sorry, technical difficulties. boss: uh...what about this? gecko: what's this one do? um...maybe that one. ♪ (dance music plays) boss: ok, let's keep rolling. we were on motorcycle insurance. anncr: take fifteen minutes to see how much you could save on motorcycle, rv, and camper insurance.

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next on cbs 5 why have the salmon stopped eating? at 6 >> couric: our closer tonight is not your average >> couric: our closer tonight is not your average pitcher. just 18 years old, weighing 115 pounds and hailing from japan-- oh, and she throws a very rare pitch. john blackstone introduces us to a minor leaguer causing a major stir. >> reporter: on the mound for the chico, california, outlaws, knuckleball pitcher eri yoshida has already made baseball history-- the only one now playing professional baseball against men. >> you don't notice that she's five foot nothing, 120 pounds, she just fits in so well. >> reporter: in the dugout she seems to be just one of the guys. but the 18-year-old who arrived from japan just a few months ago is crossing barriers of culture,

gender, tradition, and language- - still struggling to learn english. >> very difficult. >> reporter: it's very difficult? >> yes! >> reporter: but baseball comes easy. >> that side arm, i'll tell you, that thing is awesome! >> reporter: though other players tower over her, on the mound the knuckleball is a big equalizer. >> so i thought maybe this is the way that i can compete with men if i can master it. >> the knuckleball's not really about power, it's about precision. >> reporter: u.c. berkeley's bob jacobsen says it's a matter of physics. a well-pitched knuckleball doesn't spin. with no spin, just air friction on the seams changes the ball's movement unpredictably. >> half an inch is more than enough to ruin the batter's day. >> the guys who are batting against her... >> they turn around and they're just like "i can't believe i missed it!" >> reporter: so why doesn't everyone throw the knuckleball? >> it's not that easy. (laughs)

>> reporter: tim wakefield is the knuckleball ace in boston. eri yoshida knew exactly what she wanted to do when she saw wakefield on tv in japan throw his signature pitch. >> i was actually mesmerized by it. >> reporter: when the two met, wakefield shared knuckleball tips. >> to have her try to carry the torch for our little fraternity of knuckleballers was pretty amazing. >> reporter: eri may not always get them out but she sure does bring them in, filling the stands in a way that hasn't always happened in chico. everyone baseball's hall of fame came to collect her jersey from her first game, a milestone for the few women who have ever challenged men at their own game john blackstone, cbs news, chico california. >> couric: bet no one tells her she throws like a girl. that's the "cbs evening news" for tonight. i'm katie couric. see you tomorrow. good night.

captioning now - oakland police want you to help hold them accountable. we certainly an odd way to express disappointment with the johannes mehserle verdict. now oakland police want you to hold the accountable. we'll show you the evidence. once again a california nurse union denounces a republican politician. why this time it's meg whitman and why protests like these simply do not tell the whole story. and neglect and warm weather combining for a heartbreaking scene on this ranch. good evening, i'm allen martin. the news starts now. your realtime captioner is linda marie macdonald. caption colorado, l.l.c. comments@captioncolorado.com good evening. i'm juliette goodrich. they broke in, looted and rioted, but oakland police gave us their pictures. now investigators want your help tracking down more than a dozen people that ransacked downtown oakland last week following the mehserle