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Troubled Tyco Trial Takes Another Turn; Grand Jury Scheduled to Begin Hearing Testimony in Case Against Michael Jackson
Aired March 29, 2004 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta. Let's check the headlines "At This Hour."
President Bush welcomed seven new NATO members at a White House ceremony this afternoon. The addition of the former Soviet Block States brings NATO membership to 26.
Democratic challenger John Kerry is campaigning in California today. He'll speak to students at a technical college in Sacramento.
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice says she has nothing to hide. But on "60 Minutes" she refused the challenge to testify in public before the 9/11 Commission. Rice says it's a matter of precedence. She said no sitting national security adviser has ever testified before a congressional panel.
A report blamed the worst friendly fire incident of the Iraq War on a Marine captain. It concludes that he called in fighter jets to strike Iraqi positions unaware that his colleagues were in the area. Ten Marines were killed. The report recommends the captain be given an administrative discipline.
And a Texas mother goes on trial today accused of stoning two of her sons to death. The defense argues that Deanna Laney was legally insane when she smashed the boys' skulls. A third boy who was an infant suffered severe head injuries but he survived.
The troubled Tyco trial has taken another turn. This morning, lawyers for the former CEO of Tyco filed a new request for a mistrial. Our Allen Chernoff is outside the courthouse in Manhattan with details on that -- Allen.
ALLEN CHERNOFF, CNNfn CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, the case right now is in recess. We're waiting for Judge Michael Obus to return to the bench to announce whether or not he will declare a mistrial.
This morning Stephen Kaufman, one of the defense attorneys, told the judge that what was poisonous has now turned lethal, a reference to a note from the jury last Thursday that said the atmosphere inside of the jury room had turned poisonous. This was a reference to fighting among the jurors.
And also the jury alleging that one of its members had stopped deliberating in good faith. That juror appears to be juror No. 4. And there's been a tremendous controversy about this juror. She actually did show a sign as she walked in on Friday to the defense, an OK sign, that was noted by many people in the courtroom.
This actually led to the juror being identified by "The New York Post" and "The Wall Street Journal." And this is being described by the defense as very, very troubling, and as a feeding frenzy by the media.
And the prosecution is saying it is still too early to declare a mistrial. There is no evidence, the prosecution said this morning, that in fact the jurors are paying any attention to what's going on in the news media. And so they may not, in fact, be feel any pressure to change their minds about the case.
Now, this case is centering on Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz, the former top two executives of Tyco. They are charged with looting the company of $600 million, in bonuses, for giving loans, and also illicit stock sales. And, Daryn, this case has been going on for exactly six months today -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And it might all come to an end today. If and when it does, you'll be right there bringing us the latest. Allan Chernoff, thank you.
We're going to get some legal insight now into the trouble at the trouble at the Tyco trial. Paul Zwier is director Emory University's Law School Advocacy and Dispute Resolution Training. He's a consultant to many of the nation's leading law firms. Good morning, thank you for being with us.
PAUL ZWIER, LAW PROFESSOR: Good morning.
KAGAN: First off, let's talk about the latest controversy here, and that is the naming by a number of news organizations of one of the jurors. How does that compromise this trial?
ZWIER: Oh, boy, it really puts the judge into a real pickle.
There is some court -- appellate court decisions that suggest that if the judge becomes too inquisitive as to finding out what it is that this juror did, what the juror was thinking, whether the jurors in some way is signaling, if there's any kind of bias, just in trying finding out about that, the judge can set the court up for a mistrial.
The appellate court looks really disfavorably at a judge who is investigating whether a juror has got to be excused for cause. And that really puts the judge into a real pickle.
Recognize, though, that the judge has not yet given the dynamite charge, said, that I think that you can still deliberate. You just need a break. But that the judge hasn't said to the jury, now, listen, now, get together, come together, open yourself up and see if you can come to a compromise.
And so the judge must be thinking, I'm not there yet, except that this signaling gives us all kinds of questions about improper behavior.
KAGAN: Well, yes. And it seems like there is no lack of misbehavior, apparent misbehavior to go around here.
Let's talk about the signaling, because we haven't focused on it too much this morning. The idea that this juror, who was apparently was identified by a number of media organizations, came out and made some type of signal toward the defense table. The defense attorneys, by the way, say they didn't see it. But the idea is, she was saying everything is OK.
ZWIER: Right. It's just not clear at all whether or not the juror was expressing an opinion -- I just don't think that the prosecution has proved its case.
Or whether there was something that is intent in there that suggests that we're in this together. Or that I am biased toward you. Or that I'm acting in a sense, in a way, to set up a signal that says, hey, is there something in this for me?
You know, we don't have any evidence of that. Those are all the possibilities. And I think a judge could reasonably say, I'd like to ask this juror some questions.
But the problem is, that if the judge asks the jurors some questions to find out if there's anything wrong, that's going on, then they may compromise the verdict anyway.
KAGAN: A tough situation.
Now the defense, of course, we're talking about filing for yet another mistrial. But is that -- that would resolve this, but it does not make this go away for Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz. Apparently from what we can tell, 11 of the jurors thought there was enough to convict. So it's likely that this would all come back around again.
ZWIER: It is. It sets up for the prosecution, though, a -- really an interesting call in the sense that now the prosecution has put its case out there, the defendant has all of those witnesses to cross-examine in the light of what it is that they've said before.
In the sense, does it set up a different equation than what was set up before? They've also obviously got the cost and expense of doing it all.
On the other hand, you would like to think that maybe the prosecution can now really put a much more targeted case together and do it in a quick pop and wouldn't mind a mistrial because they could correct some of the mistakes that they made before.
KAGAN: Well, we will be following it. Out of New York City, Paul Zwier from Emory, thanks for your time this morning. Appreciate it.
ZWIER: Thank you.
KAGAN: Other legal news today, a grand jury is scheduled to begin hearing testimony in the child molestation case against Michael Jackson. Our Miguel Marquez is in Santa Barbara with the latest on that. Miguel, good morning.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn. And that grand jury could be hearing that testimony very soon. The problem is all of that is done in secret. Even the location is secret.
Now, typically they hold grand jury proceedings here at the Santa Barbara Superior Court building. But in this case because of the decorum order that the judge put on these proceedings here, the location, all we know is it's somewhere in Santa Barbara County where they're hearing evidence against Mr. Jackson.
And that's the question, the evidence. What exactly will the grand jurors hear?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ (voice-over): For the King of pop, it is a new legal front. A grand jury will hear and see evidence on Michael Joe Jackson.
ARTHUR BARENS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Either they have a case against him based on the testimony of the victim, or they don't.
MARQUEZ: Arthur Barens, an L.A. defense attorney, knows high profile cases. He says in taking this case to a grand jury, Santa Barbara's district attorney is trying prove publicly that the charges he's already filed against Jackson will stick.
BARENS: It tells me in this instance that they're looking for public endorsement on the filing of the complaint.
MARQUEZ: Reportedly, the grand jury will hear testimony from Jackson's now 14-year-old accuser. It has also been reported that testimony will be heard from Jackson's 1993 molestation case, which was settled out of court.
BARENS: Normally, a settlement agreement cannot protect anyone from the issue of a valid subpoena and a request to testify before a trial proceeding or a grand jury.
MARQUEZ: Jurors are also likely to see evidence from the 18 search warrants issued so far. The searches have netted, among other things, 32 computer hard drives, 127 videotapes and disks, and more than 500 pages of phone records.
The affidavit for the latest search of a storage unit north of Los Angeles indicates police believe that Jackson may have tried to hide evidence. Investigators want unedited videotape of Jackson, hoping to further establish a relationship between him and presumably the alleged victim.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: Now, while we don't know a whole lot about the exact process and who was testifying and what they're going to hear, we do know some fragments.
We do know that the grand jury is going to hear testimony for about two weeks. At the end of that time, if they come up with an indictment, it would supersede the indictment already made against Mr. Jackson. He would then have to reappear in court to be arrested there that day and then arraigned, plead guilty or not guilty all over again to charges of sexual molestation -- Daryn.
KAGAN: We only remember too well what that day looked like in Santa Maria the first time he had to show up at the courthouse.
MARQUEZ: Oh, yes.
(CROSSTALK)
KAGAN: Some possible sweet news about honey and it has to do with your health. Your "Daily Dose" of health news is coming up next.
An later, Greeks baring gifts of travel. How to get to the games for less. We will show you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Flying high above the competition in the Fortune 500 airlines category is AMR Corporation, parent company of the world's largest air carrier, American Airlines.
Following an industry slowdown after the September 11th attacks, American Airlines introduced a rigid cost-cutting structure to save itself from bankruptcy.
So far, it's working. AMR's stock has quadrupled in the past year. Wall Street is predicting the company will turn a profit for the first time in four years.
However, questions still remain on how the high price of fuel and fewer business travelers will impact AMR's bottom line.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: The idea that stretching prevents injuries during sports and exercise may be stretching the truth a bit. A group of CDC researchers found that people who stretch were no more or less likely to suffer injuries such as pulled muscles. The study found that warmup, strength and balance training may be better at reducing injuries. However, other researchers say that stretching may increase flexibility and range of motion.
A spoonful of sugar might help the medicine go down, but a spoonful of honey may actually improve your health. Medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains in our Daily Dose of health news.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I like the story about honey. You know, for a long time, Egyptians used honey for all sorts of its medicinal properties. And then it became an old wives tale, -- did it work, did it not work? It was hard to know, so now a new study actually looking at the beneficial medicinal effects of honey.
The study goes like this: about 25 people were studied. They game them either light honey or dark honey, four tablespoons, and then measured antioxidant properties afterwards. Here's what they found: There was an increase in both the cancer-fighting and heart diseases- fighting antioxidants.
The dark buckwheat honey, by the way, contained more of these antioxidant properties than the light buckwheat honey.
Now, does measuring the antioxidant properties in your blood actually translate to feeling better, to warding off heart disease and things like that? That's harder to know. But this is yet another study actually measuring something that was long believed to be true.
Incidentally, studies like there did come out of the University of Illinois a couple of years ago. Another study now lending some evidence to the fact that honey can be beneficial.
Now honey is not the cure-all. There are all sorts of different fruits and vegetables that might give you those same antioxidant properties. But if you're listening to this, and say what, you know what, I'm going to try this honey thing, then two tablespoons of dark buckwheat honey is probably going to be your biggest bang for your buck.
If you're looking for other foods, here's a list of some of the foods that do contain those antioxidants. We've talked about these before. Red grapes, wine and juice -- a lot of people know about that -- cocoa beans, apples and onions as well. Those are going to be possibly good antioxidant foods as well.
Children under one should not eat honey. There is a concern about botulism in those children. So honey is not a good option for them. Don't go feeding it to young children.
Also remember that honey as another sweetener contains no fat, but does still contain the calories, about 64 grams per tablespoon or so of honey.
Another sweetener possibly, this one with some with antioxidant properties as well.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Your "Daily Dose" of health news is always just a click away on our Web site. The address is CNN.com/health. You'll find the latest medical news. There is a also a health guide from CNN and the Mayo Clinic.
Let the Games begin. OK, so maybe not the Games, but definitely the travel plans. Want to go Greek for the Olympics? We're going to show you how you can do it on a budget, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: If you were thinking about a summer getaway to Athens -- Athens, Greece -- for the Olympics, you better think quickly. You can still get tickets to the games and a seat on a plane, but that might not be the case for too long. Pauline Frommer is the executive editor of "Budget Travel" magazine, and she joins from New York this morning.
So we're thinking Olympics. Good morning.
First of all, I think we probably want to know if you're going to be able to get tickets, not to get there, but to get into the events once you get there.
PAULINE FROMMER, "BUDGET TRAVEL" MAGAZINE: Well, that's the good news about the Olympics. Right now, there are still tickets available for every single match. The only thing that is now sold out are the opening and closing ceremonies, and a couple of the swimming events have sold out. But any other match you want to go to, you can.
And if you go to the first week's worth of athletics, it's not that expensive. Tickets average for most of the matches between $14 and $22. If you want to go to the finals of, say, gymnastics, yes, prices are steep, at about $281. But other than that, the Games themselves are not that expensive.
KAGAN: OK, well, now, let's get to the pricing cha-ching part, and that is just getting there. There are not a lot of deals, are they, in actually getting to Greece this summer?
FROMMER: No, there are really not a lot of deals for airfares. The best price we found is through a specialist to Greece called Homeric Tours. It has New York to Athens flights for about $880. Doesn't sound low when, but when you consider that the other airlines are going from $1,000 to $1,500 for an economy class ticket. It becomes a better bargain.
KAGAN: All right, once you get there, you need a place to stay.
FROMMER: Yes. And that is tricky as well. Hotels, as with every other Olympics -- but hotels are charging ten times the amount. We're finding a lot of hotels that are about $2,000 a night.
You may want to go with an untraditional type of accommodation. There's a Greek government organization called Philoxenia. You can find them at Philoxenia2004.com. And what this organization does is it rents the rooms and apartments and homes of Athenians who want to get out of town.
Now, it's not inexpensive, it's about $300 per night. But compared to $2,000 per night it's not bad and you get your own kitchen, you get airport-to-hotel transfers and you get maid service.
KAGAN: I'm not sure you get around the airfare part, but one thing I remember from Atlanta in 196 was that there was this big talk, there wouldn't be hotel rooms, there wouldn't be tickets. And once you got here, or if you're living here as the case for a lot of us CNN'ers, so many people didn't show up there was plenty to go around.
FROMMER: Yes, I actually got a lot of letters from Olympic addicts. But that, I mean, people that go to five, six, seven Olympics. And they tell me every time 30 days before the game starts, the IOC and the sponsors release a whole heck of a lot of hotel rooms and prices can plunge.
But it is a gamble because you would have to get your airfare and games tickets in advance.
KAGAN: right. And speaking of the gamble, a lot of people wondering if Athens and the sites will be ready to host the events come August. But that's a segment for another day.
FROMMER: Yes, that's a serious question on this one.
KAGAN: Yes, as well as security and concerns about terrorism.
Paulina, thank you for the tips about trying to get there as cheaply as possible.
FROMMER: Thank you.
KAGAN: Appreciate that.
(MARKET REPORT)
KAGAN: We are keeping our eye on what is happening at the Tyco trial. Will the judge go ahead declare a mistrial?
Also we are watching weather. That is all still ahead. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: We are getting word from New York City that a meeting between the judge, the prosecuting attorneys and defense attorneys in the Tyco trial has ended. That meeting taking place behind closed doors about an hour after the defense asked for yet another mistrial motion.
So we're expecting some kind of announcement perhaps to come out of the Tyco trial any moment. As soon as it does, you'll hear it first right here on CNN.
(WEATHER UPDATE)
KAGAN: Once again, CNN keeping an eye on what is happening at the Tyco trial. Wolf will take over from here. I'm Daryn Kagan. I will see you right here tomorrow morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired March 29, 2004 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan at CNN Center in Atlanta. Let's check the headlines "At This Hour."
President Bush welcomed seven new NATO members at a White House ceremony this afternoon. The addition of the former Soviet Block States brings NATO membership to 26.
Democratic challenger John Kerry is campaigning in California today. He'll speak to students at a technical college in Sacramento.
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice says she has nothing to hide. But on "60 Minutes" she refused the challenge to testify in public before the 9/11 Commission. Rice says it's a matter of precedence. She said no sitting national security adviser has ever testified before a congressional panel.
A report blamed the worst friendly fire incident of the Iraq War on a Marine captain. It concludes that he called in fighter jets to strike Iraqi positions unaware that his colleagues were in the area. Ten Marines were killed. The report recommends the captain be given an administrative discipline.
And a Texas mother goes on trial today accused of stoning two of her sons to death. The defense argues that Deanna Laney was legally insane when she smashed the boys' skulls. A third boy who was an infant suffered severe head injuries but he survived.
The troubled Tyco trial has taken another turn. This morning, lawyers for the former CEO of Tyco filed a new request for a mistrial. Our Allen Chernoff is outside the courthouse in Manhattan with details on that -- Allen.
ALLEN CHERNOFF, CNNfn CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, the case right now is in recess. We're waiting for Judge Michael Obus to return to the bench to announce whether or not he will declare a mistrial.
This morning Stephen Kaufman, one of the defense attorneys, told the judge that what was poisonous has now turned lethal, a reference to a note from the jury last Thursday that said the atmosphere inside of the jury room had turned poisonous. This was a reference to fighting among the jurors.
And also the jury alleging that one of its members had stopped deliberating in good faith. That juror appears to be juror No. 4. And there's been a tremendous controversy about this juror. She actually did show a sign as she walked in on Friday to the defense, an OK sign, that was noted by many people in the courtroom.
This actually led to the juror being identified by "The New York Post" and "The Wall Street Journal." And this is being described by the defense as very, very troubling, and as a feeding frenzy by the media.
And the prosecution is saying it is still too early to declare a mistrial. There is no evidence, the prosecution said this morning, that in fact the jurors are paying any attention to what's going on in the news media. And so they may not, in fact, be feel any pressure to change their minds about the case.
Now, this case is centering on Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz, the former top two executives of Tyco. They are charged with looting the company of $600 million, in bonuses, for giving loans, and also illicit stock sales. And, Daryn, this case has been going on for exactly six months today -- Daryn.
KAGAN: And it might all come to an end today. If and when it does, you'll be right there bringing us the latest. Allan Chernoff, thank you.
We're going to get some legal insight now into the trouble at the trouble at the Tyco trial. Paul Zwier is director Emory University's Law School Advocacy and Dispute Resolution Training. He's a consultant to many of the nation's leading law firms. Good morning, thank you for being with us.
PAUL ZWIER, LAW PROFESSOR: Good morning.
KAGAN: First off, let's talk about the latest controversy here, and that is the naming by a number of news organizations of one of the jurors. How does that compromise this trial?
ZWIER: Oh, boy, it really puts the judge into a real pickle.
There is some court -- appellate court decisions that suggest that if the judge becomes too inquisitive as to finding out what it is that this juror did, what the juror was thinking, whether the jurors in some way is signaling, if there's any kind of bias, just in trying finding out about that, the judge can set the court up for a mistrial.
The appellate court looks really disfavorably at a judge who is investigating whether a juror has got to be excused for cause. And that really puts the judge into a real pickle.
Recognize, though, that the judge has not yet given the dynamite charge, said, that I think that you can still deliberate. You just need a break. But that the judge hasn't said to the jury, now, listen, now, get together, come together, open yourself up and see if you can come to a compromise.
And so the judge must be thinking, I'm not there yet, except that this signaling gives us all kinds of questions about improper behavior.
KAGAN: Well, yes. And it seems like there is no lack of misbehavior, apparent misbehavior to go around here.
Let's talk about the signaling, because we haven't focused on it too much this morning. The idea that this juror, who was apparently was identified by a number of media organizations, came out and made some type of signal toward the defense table. The defense attorneys, by the way, say they didn't see it. But the idea is, she was saying everything is OK.
ZWIER: Right. It's just not clear at all whether or not the juror was expressing an opinion -- I just don't think that the prosecution has proved its case.
Or whether there was something that is intent in there that suggests that we're in this together. Or that I am biased toward you. Or that I'm acting in a sense, in a way, to set up a signal that says, hey, is there something in this for me?
You know, we don't have any evidence of that. Those are all the possibilities. And I think a judge could reasonably say, I'd like to ask this juror some questions.
But the problem is, that if the judge asks the jurors some questions to find out if there's anything wrong, that's going on, then they may compromise the verdict anyway.
KAGAN: A tough situation.
Now the defense, of course, we're talking about filing for yet another mistrial. But is that -- that would resolve this, but it does not make this go away for Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz. Apparently from what we can tell, 11 of the jurors thought there was enough to convict. So it's likely that this would all come back around again.
ZWIER: It is. It sets up for the prosecution, though, a -- really an interesting call in the sense that now the prosecution has put its case out there, the defendant has all of those witnesses to cross-examine in the light of what it is that they've said before.
In the sense, does it set up a different equation than what was set up before? They've also obviously got the cost and expense of doing it all.
On the other hand, you would like to think that maybe the prosecution can now really put a much more targeted case together and do it in a quick pop and wouldn't mind a mistrial because they could correct some of the mistakes that they made before.
KAGAN: Well, we will be following it. Out of New York City, Paul Zwier from Emory, thanks for your time this morning. Appreciate it.
ZWIER: Thank you.
KAGAN: Other legal news today, a grand jury is scheduled to begin hearing testimony in the child molestation case against Michael Jackson. Our Miguel Marquez is in Santa Barbara with the latest on that. Miguel, good morning.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn. And that grand jury could be hearing that testimony very soon. The problem is all of that is done in secret. Even the location is secret.
Now, typically they hold grand jury proceedings here at the Santa Barbara Superior Court building. But in this case because of the decorum order that the judge put on these proceedings here, the location, all we know is it's somewhere in Santa Barbara County where they're hearing evidence against Mr. Jackson.
And that's the question, the evidence. What exactly will the grand jurors hear?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ (voice-over): For the King of pop, it is a new legal front. A grand jury will hear and see evidence on Michael Joe Jackson.
ARTHUR BARENS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Either they have a case against him based on the testimony of the victim, or they don't.
MARQUEZ: Arthur Barens, an L.A. defense attorney, knows high profile cases. He says in taking this case to a grand jury, Santa Barbara's district attorney is trying prove publicly that the charges he's already filed against Jackson will stick.
BARENS: It tells me in this instance that they're looking for public endorsement on the filing of the complaint.
MARQUEZ: Reportedly, the grand jury will hear testimony from Jackson's now 14-year-old accuser. It has also been reported that testimony will be heard from Jackson's 1993 molestation case, which was settled out of court.
BARENS: Normally, a settlement agreement cannot protect anyone from the issue of a valid subpoena and a request to testify before a trial proceeding or a grand jury.
MARQUEZ: Jurors are also likely to see evidence from the 18 search warrants issued so far. The searches have netted, among other things, 32 computer hard drives, 127 videotapes and disks, and more than 500 pages of phone records.
The affidavit for the latest search of a storage unit north of Los Angeles indicates police believe that Jackson may have tried to hide evidence. Investigators want unedited videotape of Jackson, hoping to further establish a relationship between him and presumably the alleged victim.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: Now, while we don't know a whole lot about the exact process and who was testifying and what they're going to hear, we do know some fragments.
We do know that the grand jury is going to hear testimony for about two weeks. At the end of that time, if they come up with an indictment, it would supersede the indictment already made against Mr. Jackson. He would then have to reappear in court to be arrested there that day and then arraigned, plead guilty or not guilty all over again to charges of sexual molestation -- Daryn.
KAGAN: We only remember too well what that day looked like in Santa Maria the first time he had to show up at the courthouse.
MARQUEZ: Oh, yes.
(CROSSTALK)
KAGAN: Some possible sweet news about honey and it has to do with your health. Your "Daily Dose" of health news is coming up next.
An later, Greeks baring gifts of travel. How to get to the games for less. We will show you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Flying high above the competition in the Fortune 500 airlines category is AMR Corporation, parent company of the world's largest air carrier, American Airlines.
Following an industry slowdown after the September 11th attacks, American Airlines introduced a rigid cost-cutting structure to save itself from bankruptcy.
So far, it's working. AMR's stock has quadrupled in the past year. Wall Street is predicting the company will turn a profit for the first time in four years.
However, questions still remain on how the high price of fuel and fewer business travelers will impact AMR's bottom line.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: The idea that stretching prevents injuries during sports and exercise may be stretching the truth a bit. A group of CDC researchers found that people who stretch were no more or less likely to suffer injuries such as pulled muscles. The study found that warmup, strength and balance training may be better at reducing injuries. However, other researchers say that stretching may increase flexibility and range of motion.
A spoonful of sugar might help the medicine go down, but a spoonful of honey may actually improve your health. Medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains in our Daily Dose of health news.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I like the story about honey. You know, for a long time, Egyptians used honey for all sorts of its medicinal properties. And then it became an old wives tale, -- did it work, did it not work? It was hard to know, so now a new study actually looking at the beneficial medicinal effects of honey.
The study goes like this: about 25 people were studied. They game them either light honey or dark honey, four tablespoons, and then measured antioxidant properties afterwards. Here's what they found: There was an increase in both the cancer-fighting and heart diseases- fighting antioxidants.
The dark buckwheat honey, by the way, contained more of these antioxidant properties than the light buckwheat honey.
Now, does measuring the antioxidant properties in your blood actually translate to feeling better, to warding off heart disease and things like that? That's harder to know. But this is yet another study actually measuring something that was long believed to be true.
Incidentally, studies like there did come out of the University of Illinois a couple of years ago. Another study now lending some evidence to the fact that honey can be beneficial.
Now honey is not the cure-all. There are all sorts of different fruits and vegetables that might give you those same antioxidant properties. But if you're listening to this, and say what, you know what, I'm going to try this honey thing, then two tablespoons of dark buckwheat honey is probably going to be your biggest bang for your buck.
If you're looking for other foods, here's a list of some of the foods that do contain those antioxidants. We've talked about these before. Red grapes, wine and juice -- a lot of people know about that -- cocoa beans, apples and onions as well. Those are going to be possibly good antioxidant foods as well.
Children under one should not eat honey. There is a concern about botulism in those children. So honey is not a good option for them. Don't go feeding it to young children.
Also remember that honey as another sweetener contains no fat, but does still contain the calories, about 64 grams per tablespoon or so of honey.
Another sweetener possibly, this one with some with antioxidant properties as well.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Your "Daily Dose" of health news is always just a click away on our Web site. The address is CNN.com/health. You'll find the latest medical news. There is a also a health guide from CNN and the Mayo Clinic.
Let the Games begin. OK, so maybe not the Games, but definitely the travel plans. Want to go Greek for the Olympics? We're going to show you how you can do it on a budget, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: If you were thinking about a summer getaway to Athens -- Athens, Greece -- for the Olympics, you better think quickly. You can still get tickets to the games and a seat on a plane, but that might not be the case for too long. Pauline Frommer is the executive editor of "Budget Travel" magazine, and she joins from New York this morning.
So we're thinking Olympics. Good morning.
First of all, I think we probably want to know if you're going to be able to get tickets, not to get there, but to get into the events once you get there.
PAULINE FROMMER, "BUDGET TRAVEL" MAGAZINE: Well, that's the good news about the Olympics. Right now, there are still tickets available for every single match. The only thing that is now sold out are the opening and closing ceremonies, and a couple of the swimming events have sold out. But any other match you want to go to, you can.
And if you go to the first week's worth of athletics, it's not that expensive. Tickets average for most of the matches between $14 and $22. If you want to go to the finals of, say, gymnastics, yes, prices are steep, at about $281. But other than that, the Games themselves are not that expensive.
KAGAN: OK, well, now, let's get to the pricing cha-ching part, and that is just getting there. There are not a lot of deals, are they, in actually getting to Greece this summer?
FROMMER: No, there are really not a lot of deals for airfares. The best price we found is through a specialist to Greece called Homeric Tours. It has New York to Athens flights for about $880. Doesn't sound low when, but when you consider that the other airlines are going from $1,000 to $1,500 for an economy class ticket. It becomes a better bargain.
KAGAN: All right, once you get there, you need a place to stay.
FROMMER: Yes. And that is tricky as well. Hotels, as with every other Olympics -- but hotels are charging ten times the amount. We're finding a lot of hotels that are about $2,000 a night.
You may want to go with an untraditional type of accommodation. There's a Greek government organization called Philoxenia. You can find them at Philoxenia2004.com. And what this organization does is it rents the rooms and apartments and homes of Athenians who want to get out of town.
Now, it's not inexpensive, it's about $300 per night. But compared to $2,000 per night it's not bad and you get your own kitchen, you get airport-to-hotel transfers and you get maid service.
KAGAN: I'm not sure you get around the airfare part, but one thing I remember from Atlanta in 196 was that there was this big talk, there wouldn't be hotel rooms, there wouldn't be tickets. And once you got here, or if you're living here as the case for a lot of us CNN'ers, so many people didn't show up there was plenty to go around.
FROMMER: Yes, I actually got a lot of letters from Olympic addicts. But that, I mean, people that go to five, six, seven Olympics. And they tell me every time 30 days before the game starts, the IOC and the sponsors release a whole heck of a lot of hotel rooms and prices can plunge.
But it is a gamble because you would have to get your airfare and games tickets in advance.
KAGAN: right. And speaking of the gamble, a lot of people wondering if Athens and the sites will be ready to host the events come August. But that's a segment for another day.
FROMMER: Yes, that's a serious question on this one.
KAGAN: Yes, as well as security and concerns about terrorism.
Paulina, thank you for the tips about trying to get there as cheaply as possible.
FROMMER: Thank you.
KAGAN: Appreciate that.
(MARKET REPORT)
KAGAN: We are keeping our eye on what is happening at the Tyco trial. Will the judge go ahead declare a mistrial?
Also we are watching weather. That is all still ahead. Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: We are getting word from New York City that a meeting between the judge, the prosecuting attorneys and defense attorneys in the Tyco trial has ended. That meeting taking place behind closed doors about an hour after the defense asked for yet another mistrial motion.
So we're expecting some kind of announcement perhaps to come out of the Tyco trial any moment. As soon as it does, you'll hear it first right here on CNN.
(WEATHER UPDATE)
KAGAN: Once again, CNN keeping an eye on what is happening at the Tyco trial. Wolf will take over from here. I'm Daryn Kagan. I will see you right here tomorrow morning.
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