union president karen lewis... doing informational picketing at the 95th-street red line station with other union members... said just because an intent to strike would be filed... does not necessarily mean a strike would actually occur. >> technically if that's what it takes, that's what it takes. we have a democratic process. so it's not like a one-on-one let's make a deal and patted each other on the back. that's not how this process is going to work. mayor rahm emanuel is now saying he would get involved in has to in order to assure a settlement. ctu president lewis says she doesn't know what good that what to do anyway. more and more, people are standing-up and taking notice ofjust who is this firebrand of unionist? here with a profile of chicago teachers union president karen lewis. karen lewis has led the 30,000 teachers unit for the last two years. what happens to her success will be determined in the next week or so. she was under estimated as an opponent knowing she'd always speaker mind. she doesn't look

that means c-t-u president karen lewis now has full power to call for a strike. she hasn't done so yet. but she says she wants teachers to be prepared. the chicago teachers union flexing muscle outside cps headquarters this morning. ctu president karen lewis says teachers are prepared to take serious action if a compromise isn't agreed upon soon. she says the current proposal on the table for teachers' health care and compesation are - at this point - unacceptable: >> "none of us wants a strike, but if it's necessary to do this, we will" tonight union leaders gathered at lane tech high school. the ctu then gave its leadership the *authorization* to give the board of education a 10-day notice to strike. >> "i guess that says a lot about how our members feel and where they are right now" during today's board meeting, cps chief jean claude brizzard argued the longer school day is working, and that he is optimistic an agreement will be worked out. >> "we must work together... give all our students the education they deserve" today the district approved a 5 billion do

karen lewis and other union members handed out leaflets she revealed she had no plans yet to file the tender a strike notice that means classes will start on time september 4th threw out the chicago public school systems ... there could be a strike eventually ... parents are following the situation closely the teachers happen without a contract since june 30th and despite 15 negotiating sessions and a contract is not even close ... if there is a strokeike it prevents our kids from learning keeping them out of trouble the mayor is eager to ratchet up negotiations but he's confident with the team at the table now we have to get this done on behalf of the city of chicago stepchildren and the taxpayerchildren and the taxpayers >>you want the impression of the strike in his hometown in an election year >>ultimately if this is what it takes that's what it takes we have a more democratic process at work it's not like let's make a backroom deal that's not have a process will work both sides do not expect a deal within the next week the mayor will reportedly have more senior levels staffers du

cta president karen lewis says the union and school board or at an impasse on job security and links of school days and said that parents should be prepared for teachers to walk off the job one week from monday. we hope that people work out this with their children and think about the things that they do when children are not in school. the cbs board says the district has continued to put a plan in place of there's a strike but many students are wondering what will happen to them. >> if we miss any games it will really hurt us. if our priority is our kids than strikes should never be an option says jean- claude brizard. parents say it should not have to come down to a strike. if you have students in a building all day they need discipline. how long is this going to last for nobody knows it could go on indefinitely. you can't say it's just for one or two days. they hope a strike can be avoided if there is a compromise the teachers' union house of delegates will vote to cancel the strike and also vote to suspend the deadline passed september 10th negotiations continue tomorrow and wrap

lewis sole authority to authorize a strike at your discretion that leverage could weigh on the school board to just approved a $25 million contingency plan to deal with the strike both sides agree on a longer school day but they remain far apart on the contract with regard to pay raises and health care ... the first of school is september 4th further negotiations could thwart the district's first strike and a quarter of this century ... we have several days to get this negotiated income to an agreement talks are ongoing both sides are hopeful about a new agreement both sides are preparing for a strike just in case ... coming up next: congressman joe walsh is jumping into the todd akin controversy with a message for the g.o.p. and: a first-hand account of the raid that killed osama bin laden... a former navy seal shares his experience about that night in a new book. and later: more fallout after an animal cruelty investigation into a slaughterhouse in california... two major distributers respond. [ male announcer ] research suggests the health of our cells plays a key role throughout o

i sat down with tony lewis who said now that the utility knows what knocked out the 911 service, it's taking action that will hopefully prevent widespread loss of 911 service in the future. the report starts out stressing the june 29th derechio was an extremely unusual storm it downed more polls and -- poles and generated more ticket -- tickets for verizon than hurricane irene. the external power fail ours affected many locations. at two of the likes in arlington and fairfax, backup batteries drained and generators failed to start. >> in fairfax county and prince william county and monasses, didn't receive the 911 calls for several hours on saturday, june 30th and monasses park didn't receive 911 calls for much of the could have. verizon is conducting a backup power system odd it of critical facilities throughout the entire d.c. metro region. . >> the first thing we did and we will start across the western region and that is starting nothing is more important than making sure it works at all times. >> and lowis said there is no timeframe on when they're going complete the audits in ma