[Collins:] Plans have been made for the family and the public to say good-bye to Senator Ted Kennedy. Here's what we know, members of Kennedy's family are holding a private mass at his compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, at noon. The senator's body will lie in repose at his brother's presidential library tonight and tomorrow. On Saturday, President Obama will speak at Kennedy's funeral at a Boston church and then Kennedy will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery near his slain brothers. Stay with CNN for continuing coverage of the life and death of Senator Ted Kennedy. We will have live coverage of today's motorcade. Upon arrival, Senator Kennedy's body will lie in repose, as we said, at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library until the memorial service set for Friday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern and then those private funeral services will be held Saturday followed by the burial at Arlington. Taking the economy's pulse. Does the U.S. even have one? Today we have new readings on jobless claims and overall economic activity. Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange now with a look at what exactly these numbers mean. Hey there, Susan.
[Susan Lisovicz, Cnn Correspondent:] Heidi, the answer is yes. The U.S. economy does have a pulse. You have to listen very carefully.
[Collins:] Yes.
[Lisovicz:] You have to be very quiet. It's very faint, but there is, in fact, some encouraging news that would indicate, yes, that there is a pulse. Why is that? The U.S. economy shrank at a one percent pace in the last quarter. OK, it shrank, it didn't grow. One percent. That's a whole lot better than the nearly 6.5 percent drop we saw in the first quarter. Why is the economy getting better? Why is it stabilizing? One of the things we've been talking about a lot lately is the housing market, and we got news today from one of the nation's biggest home builders, Heidi. Home builder Toll Brothers says it's seeing improvement in some very important areas like the New York City suburbs. I know you're familiar with them.
[Collins:] Ah-ha!
[Lisovicz:] Of interest. Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, Washington, D.C., parts of Virginia, Connecticut, Florida, Delaware. The company says deposits on houses are up compared to last year. Up about 25 percent. Still, the company is losing money. It lost nearly half a billion dollars, but the fact is, it is seeing some interest, some growth, and we have seen a trend in the new home sales that we saw that were just reported yesterday, Heidi.
[Collins:] Yes. So, keeping all my fingers and toes crossed, however the bad news is, or it could be anyway. When we mix in today's jobless numbers, more than half a million people filing for unemployment claims kind of darkens the picture just a little bit, doesn't it?
[Lisovicz:] I would say a lot. You know, when you look at the GDP number, right, this is the greatest economy in the world. And we are the biggest consumers in the world and consumer spending, despite Cash for Clunkers, despite the fact that home prices are so cheap, consumer spending dropped one percent. Yes, we did have declines in new and continuing jobless claims but, as you said, they are still at very high levels. New claims at 570,000, continuing claims above 6 million. They need to be worked down considerably, and that's why you're seeing some pressure in the three major averages. But, remember, we're coming off a seven-session win streak for the Dow. Heidi?
[Collins:] Yes. Always down on the positive note. Appreciate that. Thank you, Susan.
[Lisovicz:] You're welcome, Heidi.
[Collins:] The American Defenders are looking for a home. The Defenders are pro baseball team in Nashua, New Hampshire. Nashua's mayor locked out of their stadium because of $45,000 in unpaid rent and security costs. The city put new locks on the gates and even parked a tractor on home plate.
[Mayor Donalee Lozeau, Nashua, New Hampshire:] I can't expect the taxpayers to subsidize the cost of running the team, so they need to pay their bills.
[Unidentified Male:] They have been fighting money troubles for a little while, so, you know, just doing what they got to do and the city finally had enough and locked it up. We're going to watch the defenders play and so far no luck.
[Collins:] Well, the team says they ran out of money because not enough people were coming to the games. They've moved the rest of their home games to New Jersey. The government's Cash for Clunkers program is over, so, what were the results? Take a look at this. Great news for Toyota, in fact. The Corolla and Camry finished number one and three respectively on the list of new vehicles purchased in the plan. The Honda Civic is number two. And the Ford Focus at number four, and the Ford Escape at number ten were the only cars from American automakers in the top ten. But, listen to this, American manufacturers held all ten spots on the list of trade-ins. The Ford Explorer was tops. The government says around 700,000 new cars were sold as part of the program. The new cars average 24.9 miles to the gallon while the trade-ins got 15.8. That's a 58 percent jump in fuel efficiency. Perhaps no American city has been hit harder by the recession and the decline of the auto industry, of course, then Detroit. But a rock star from the Motor City is doing what he can to try to turn things around. CNNmoney.com's Poppy Harlow reports.
[Poppy Harlow, Cnnmoney.com:] This is no ordinary concert. It's Kid Rock performing at his biggest headline show ever, bringing 80,000 people to his hometown of Detroit. Talk about a city that needs an economic stimulus like that.
[Kid Rock, Performer:] Bittersweet and brings us to our knees. It makes us who we are in times like these...
[Harlow:] Detroit's never seen times like these, but the people of this city have an unexpected patron in Kid Rock. The bad boy from Detroit has become the voice of a city in peril. [off camera]: How long have you had this?
[Kid Rock:] This? Oh, geez, probably ten years.
[Harlow:] You won't leave, will you?
[Kid Rock:] No, I'll never leave. [on stage]: We've got one more song for you.
[Harlow:] The downfall of the auto industry hits home for Kid Rock whose father made a living selling American cars.
[Kid Rock:] It's mind blowing. It's mind blowing to everybody in this town. [on stage]: God bless you all.
[Harlow:] In this perilous time, this self-proclaimed son of Detroit is working on more than just his music.
[Kid Rock:] As I've gotten older, I have just become more in tuned with that and realized how much of the stuff that I'm doing can help people.
[Unidentified Male:] You look at the impact that he's having here in Detroit in terms of the foundation at Wayne State University, trying to fund music scholarships for kids there. I think he's had a major, positive impact on Detroit, which is something this economy needs right now.
[Harlow:] Kid Rock's music scholarship is funded by T-shirt sales from the apparel company he bought out of bankruptcy, Made in Detroit. And believe it or not, his recently launched American Bad Ass Beer? Well, that could be thanked for creating jobs in the state. More than 400 jobs, he says.
[Kid Rock:] There's no way to get love back or respect if you don't give it first. So, I've always tried to do that, give everything I have to this city and everything...
[Harlow:] But battling rampant unemployment, Detriot has problems much bigger than even this larger-than-life rocker can solve.
[Kid Rock:] It's got to get cleaned up, you know? It has to bring you almost need an angel. [singing]: I won't leave 'cause this is my hometown...
[Collins:] Wow, what a great story. Poppy Harlow joining us now from New York. Obviously, this guy is very, very committed to doing what he can to help out Detroit.
[Harlow:] It's true, Heidi. We went there, as you can see, we spent a day with him, and he was setting up for his big headline concert. You know what he talked to me about, Heidi? He talked to me about politics and the corruption in this city, the problem there, and he said, listen, I'm behind Barack Obama's health care plan, but don't we need to focus on the kids across America and in this city that don't have access to healthy food? Isn't that an issue first and foremost? You don't expect that from someone like Kid Rock. And it really was sort of hard to draw out of him all the things that he's doing for this city. He doesn't talk about it publicly, and didn't want to do the interview at first. It took a lot of convincing. He's relatively soft-spoken when it comes to what he's doing for this city, but there's so much beyond that facade of a rock star. And I got to tell you, he says at the end you know, Detroit needs an angel, so, I spoke with his father, who is an auto dealer, at the concert and he said in many ways I think Kid Rock is Detroit's angel. You know, he may be a bad boy, but he's doing a lot of good things for the city that really needs it now.
[Collins:] Concerts were they free or donating the money to the auto industry, or do we know about that?
[Harlow:] Yes. Part of the proceeds from that concert 80,000 people, by the way, went will help returning vets from the war, and also he's doing a lot in terms of the music scholarship to help kids in Detroit and specifically on the auto beat. And he said in the longer piece that's on CNNmoney.com, he said he and his father could never imagine the backbone of America, GM and Chrysler, going into bankruptcy. So, I think he'll continue to do great things for the city.
[Collins:] We'll check that out on CNNmoney.com. The extended version of Poppy's interview there. Thanks so much, Poppy Harlow. Appreciate it. And just a reminder. We asked you this morning on our blog about back-to-school expenses because a lot of retailers are apparently offering layaway plans to get all your notebooks and glue sticks even some back-to-school clothing on layaway. So, just wondering what you thought. Is back to school getting too expensive? We had quite a few responses. Let's head over to the Heidi Mac right now and take a look at some of them. CNN.comheidi if you'd like to respond. The first one here from Dan says, "My parents had to pay for my school books and they had to pay nearly 500 bucks. And that's without the back-to-school items." And this one coming in from Kimberly. "I have used the layaway programs previously and had no problem with them. It allowed me to buy the needed items my children needed for school and clothing that fit my children. My husband and I have watched over the last 20 years seven children total," wow, "and the list what parents must provide has grown every year, costing more and more." And finally from Mary, "I have two children that just went back to school this week. I will tell you that I started saving money out of my paycheck four weeks ahead of time so that I could just barely buy the supplies and a few pieces of clothing for the children. I had to borrow some money that I would have put on bills so that I could accommodate my kids and their school needs." As always, we love when you share your thoughts with us right here on the CNN NEWSROMM and like to share them with the viewers at home, as well. Thanks for that, everybody. One is all for health care reform, and another doesn't like what's being proposed and a third is so fed up he's only taking cash. All three are doctors. You're looking at them. They're right here in NEWSROOM in a moment.