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CNN Live At Daybreak

Fallujah fighting; Terror Attack in Damascus; Widespread Problems in Child Welfare System

Aired April 28, 2004 - 06:30   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A shootout and explosions in Syria as terrorists trade fire with security forces. We'll assess the damage in the heart of Damascus.
It is Wednesday, April 28. This is DAYBREAK. And good morning to you from the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta. I'm Carol Costello. We'll have more on the situation in Syria in just a minute, but first to the situation in Iraq.

Tribal leaders from across Iraq have been heading to the city west of Baghdad to try to end the fighting there. U.S. warplanes, of course, hit targets in the city last night to find a very shaky cease- fire. A U.S. military official says U.S. forces blew up an ammunition site.

In Najaf, where anti-American Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is still holed up, funerals for some of the 64 Iraqi Mehdi Army fighters killed near the city in a clash with U.S. forces.

And at the United Nations, the top U.N. envoy to Iraq says a caretaker government needs to be selected by the end of May.

We've got a firsthand account of what's going on in Fallujah right now just a short time ago from Scott Peterson of the "Christian Science Monitor." He's one of the few Western journalists in that besieged city.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT PETERSON, "CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR": Information is beginning to emerge about the events last night, which were very dramatically televised live. These were, of course, the specter gunship attacks in northwest Fallujah.

It's been fairly quiet this morning in the city as far as we know, although it does sometimes take a while for information of clashes to filter out, simply because of the chain of command and also just because we don't always hear artillery fires, and certainly small-arms fire.

But the information that's emerging about the events last night was that Marine reconnaissance positions spotted an ammunition truck or a truck carrying ammunition. They called in air support when the specter gunship fired on that truck. It exploded. There were 20 minutes' worth of secondary explosions from the ammunition that was in that truck. As people jumped out of the truck and ran toward one of the houses, the specter gunship hit that house, which also, it seems, was a weapons depot, because then as the Marines report, there were a lot of secondary explosions from that one, too.

And if you hear any background noise, I'm afraid they've got an alarm system at the base where we're on, and it seems to be acting up a bit.

COSTELLO: Oh, no problem. We can certainly deal with that, Scott. Any casualties among U.S. Marines?

PETERSON: There were no casualties last night. I've just come from the combat surgical hospital here, and they had no casualties from last night, I think in part because it was a target of opportunity. The specter gunship, when it fires -- it's a 105- millimeter Howitzer -- is very accurate. It fires from very high, but it's quite a stable platform, and so it's quite rare when a round like that goes astray. Of course, it does make a big bang, and I think that's one of the reasons why there weren't too many Marines actively engaged in that firefight. Certainly, there were no casualties that came through the combat hospital overnight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And that's Scott Peterson of the "Christian Science Monitor," telling us what's happening right now in Fallujah.

Back here in the states, strategy in the war on terror. The Bush administration will release an unclassified version of a presidential directive on bio-defense that was signed last week. The directive was to coordinate government efforts already under way to protect food and water supplies. The classified version instructs agencies on how to carry out their bio-defense work. Democrats have accused the White House of not moving fast enough to help guard against biological attacks.

And today, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider if American citizens can be held indefinitely without charges, a court hearing or access to a lawyer as part of the war on terror.

Two cases will be argued before the high court. One is the case of this man, Jose Padilla. He's a former Chicago gang member, suspected of plotting with al Qaeda to set off a radioactive dirty bomb in the United States. The other case is that of Yasser Hamdi, a former Taliban fighter captured in Afghanistan.

Both men are being held in a military brig in South Carolina. Rulings are due by the end of June or early July.

In Syria, unidentified militants carried out a terror attack in the diplomatic district of Damascus.

Joining us live on the phone with more, CNN's Brent Sadler. He's in the Syrian capital this morning.

What do you have for us -- Brent?

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning.

There has been heightened security in Damascus in the wake of the overnight bomb blast that led to a fierce gun and grenade battle with the four unidentified attackers.

The U.S. embassy here in Damascus has been closed to all but essential staff until further notice, while diplomats at the British embassy opened their public offices with a skeleton staff at first this morning, lowering the security level several hours later and returning to normal staff levels.

At this stage, it's still unclear what the group of militants was planning to attack, given the explosions ripped through a disused building in the city center. The small compound was once used by the United Nations in part, and lies in a well-secured diplomatic area of the city, close to the Canadian and Iranian embassies. Syrian government ministries also line the main highway where the bomb went off.

Official sources here say four attackers planted a bomb under a parked car that detonated, setting the building ablaze. Two attackers were killed in the fierce firefight that followed with security forces and police here, as the attackers tried to escape. But two of them were caught, critically wounded though in the shootout that brought the city center to a standstill for many hours. If those two survive, they could provide vital clues to those who planned and implemented this attack -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Brent Sadler reporting live for us from Damascus, Syria, this morning.

For more on this story, plus up-to-the-minute information on the war on terror, head to our Web site. The address: CNN.com/World.

Well, they are the most vulnerable: children. And according to federal investigators, not one state in the entire country is protecting them adequately from abuse and neglect. That's despite new tougher regulations by the Bush administration and the threat of millions of dollars in fines.

Joining us live from Washington this morning, Susan Orr, the associate commissioner of the Children's Bureau from the Department of Health and Human Services.

Welcome. Thank you for joining us.

SUSAN ORR, CHILDREN'S BUREAU, HHS: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: How many children are we talking about each year that are abused or neglected or even killed in this country?

ORR: We're talking about a little under 900,000 children who are abused and neglected each year, and of those, about 500,000 go into foster care.

COSTELLO: That's a lot of children. I know the Bush administration has been trying to solve this problem, especially after the Rilya Wilson (ph) case in Florida. I don't know if our viewers remember, but that was the 5-year-old. She simply got lost in Florida's child welfare system, and she hasn't been found since. What guidelines have been put into place since this happened?

ORR: We have entered into a new way of monitoring states, looking at performance outcomes, not just process. So, we are looking at how are states keeping children safe? How are they moving them quickly to permanency, either back home with their parents or forward on to a new home through adoption, and how are we attending to their well-being?

COSTELLO: And how successful have you been in changing the way the states do business?

ORR: Well, we must first tell you that this is the first time that we are actually looking at performance outcomes as opposed to process. So, this is the baseline measurement, where we are assessing states at where they are, and it's the first time we're having real knowledge based on data and based on interviews with the people that work in child welfare and the people affected by it.

COSTELLO: But still, I know that fines are in the works for states who don't obey, big fines, for 16 states in the country that do not meet any of those new standards. In fact, California could be fined up to $18 million.

ORR: Yes.

COSTELLO: Why is that continuing to happen? Why aren't they adhering to these new guidelines?

ORR: They are working with us right now to try and measure improvement. And I also must tell you that the way that the federal government's financing structure is set up currently, it's not conducive to performance outcomes. The Bush administration has a proposal on the table to allow states to invest in the child welfare system, and we think that will lead to real improvements.

COSTELLO: Well, it's not like you're asking for anything extraordinarily difficult. I mean, you're asking for things like visit children when scheduled to see if they're doing all right, things like that. Am I correct?

ORR: You're absolutely correct, and we do know from the reviews that we've done thus far that states and caseworkers that actually go out on a regular basis, see their clients regularly, look at the children, do accurate assessments of what's the trouble with the family, that has an effect on safety, permanency and well-being to the good of the children and families, which is not really a surprise.

COSTELLO: All right, Susan Orr from the Department of Health and Human Services, thanks for joining DAYBREAK this morning.

ORR: Thank you. COSTELLO: All right, let's move on to "Today's Talker." Judlyne Lilly, she'll be with us in just a minute. We'll talk about the fighting in Fallujah, and the tough decision made by the Witmer sisters after their sister was killed in Iraq.

And coffee, is it good for you? The answer: yes and no. Nutritionist Lisa Drayer will be here live to explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And it is time to pump up the volume with our "Talker" of the morning. Every few days, we like to tune the dial to see what's being said over the airwaves throughout the country.

This morning, the dial has landed on WTOP Radio in Washington, D.C. Judlyne Lilly is an anchor/reporter there, and she joins us live by phone this morning.

Good morning, Judlyne.

JUDLYNE LILLY, WTOP ANCHOR: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about the Witmer sisters first. They have decided not to return to active combat. What more can you tell us?

LILLY: Sergeant Charity Witmer and Specialist Rachel Witmer, both of them are serving in Iraq, along with their sister, who died earlier this month. And they both came home to attend the funeral. And, of course, one of them is the twin of Michelle. And they were trying to determine the two remaining sisters to determine whether or not they would return to Iraq in a combat zone.

Their parents were extremely upset about the fact that their remaining children -- or their children in the military might return to Baghdad or Iraq, and so the sisters have decided not to go, in part because their unit, because they have gotten so much publicity regarding the death of their sister, that there were fears that their unit might be -- it might be detrimental to their units for them to return.

So, they will be staying with their Wisconsin Army National Guard units; however, in a non-combat role. However, it has not been determined just yet exactly what they will be doing.

COSTELLO: Yes, but they will not be returning to Iraq. They will not be returning to active combat. Has the family come out and said anything? Do you think that we'll hear from the sisters themselves about this decision?

LILLY: Well, you probably will eventually hear from them when they have something to say that's new, I suppose. The reason perhaps that they had someone else make the statement for them yesterday was that they're still very, very upset, and when you read the statement, you can almost feel their pain, it being this difficult decision. So, it might have been difficult for them to actually say this in front of the press, and you know how we can be. We can continue to ask questions and ask questions that they may or may not want to answer.

COSTELLO: Yes, you're exactly right about that.

Let's talk about the situation in Fallujah and the attacks there last night. What's being said in Washington this morning?

LILLY: There is great concern about what's going on in Fallujah, especially since the cease-fire -- rather, a truce that came about. However, what's happened is that they believe that the insurgents just simply used the truce just to re-arm.

So, in Washington today, there are fears that this truce will not hold; that when the U.S. and Iraqi security forces go in, in joint patrols tomorrow, that there could be increased violence and more deaths.

COSTELLO: Judlyne Lilly joining us live from WTOP News Radio in Washington, D.C. this morning.

Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 6:45 Eastern Time. Here's what's all new this morning.

Religious leaders from across Iraq are heading to Fallujah today to discuss that two-week standoff in the city. The meetings come a day after U.S. warplanes hit an ammunition site.

In Syria, two suspected terrorists were killed during a gun battle with security forces. The unidentified militants detonated an explosive device near a former United Nations office.

In money news this morning, there are just two more "Friends" episodes left. And NBC is making big bucks on ads for the May 6 finale. Get this: a 30-second spot on "Friends," fetching $2 million. That would be a sitcom record.

In sports, NBA playoffs and the Minnesota Timberwolves take a three games to one lead over the Denver Nuggets, thanks to a dominating performance by Kevin Garnett. Garnett had 27 points and 14 rebounds in the win.

In culture, her name is Barbra. That's what Barbra Streisand is calling her memorabilia auction. On June 5, hundreds of Barbra's baubles will be sold to raise money for charity.

(WEATHER BREAK)

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines. Thank you, Chad.

Small businesses are booming, especially if you're of the female persuasion. We'll tell you how women are setting the pace in today's business world.

And coffee lovers drink up. Caffeine is A-OK. Or is it? Up next, how a jolt from that morning java could affect your health.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: It is 6:50 Eastern Time. Time for a little business buzz now.

Small businesses owned by women are quietly making a mark on the U.S. economy. Joya Doss has more for us live from the Nasdaq Marketsite.

Tell us -- Joya.

JOYA DOSS, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS: A little bit of girl power for you this early in the morning. Companies owned by women are growing at double the rate of small businesses in the nation. Now, this is according to the Center for Women's Business Research. And women own 50 percent or a larger stake in the 10.6 million privately-held companies in the United States.

And here's an interesting fact. Companies owned by women have $2.46 trillion -- that's with a "t" -- in sales and employ just over 19 million people nationwide. And the study is listed in "The New York Times" today.

And one woman business owner ways that women often find niches in the marketplace where men aren't, so they don't have as high a profile. Make sense?

COSTELLO: It does make sense. Joya Doss reporting live for us from the Nasdaq Marketsite.

DOSS: You bet.

COSTELLO: If you are like me, you drink about, oh, six or seven heavily-caffeinated cups of coffee every day. I admit I am addicted. Sometimes I worry I'm wrecking my health. How about you? I thought so.

Well, our resident nutritionist, Lisa Drayer, is here to say coffee can be good for you?

LISA DRAYER, REGISTERED DIETICIAN: Coffee may be a healthy option. However, the question, Carol, I get often is: Which is healthier? Regular coffee or decaf coffee? And many do think that decaf is a healthier option.

But if you look at the research -- let's take a look -- in terms of diabetes, for example. Have you heard some news about this? If you look at the study published in January of this year -- this was in the "Annals of Internal Medicine." It followed over 126,000 men and women, and it revealed that caffeinated coffee revealed a strong protective effective against type II diabetes.

COSTELLO: Really?

DRAYER: Now, decaf was associated with protection, but the link wasn't as strong. So, it seems to be that caffeine...

COSTELLO: Caffeine is good. DRAYER: ... does play a role there. But there are other compounds in the coffee that may also be contributing to protection.

Now, in terms of increased risk for any disease, for example heart disease, we've heard some news about this. If we look at the nurses' health study, this followed over 85,000 female nurses, and this study revealed that when women drank six or more cups of coffee each day, they were not at increased risk for heart disease regardless of whether they drank regular or decaf.

COSTELLO: What if you already have heart disease, though?

DRAYER: If you already have heart disease, the American Heart Association recommends limiting consumption of all caffeinated beverages. So, you wouldn't want to be consuming more than two cups of coffee per day.

COSTELLO: There's always a qualifier there.

DRAYER: Exactly.

COSTELLO: Talk about decaffeinated coffee and what goes into decaf.

DRAYER: Right. Well, to make decaf coffee, at least 97 percent of caffeine is removed. So, we're talking about maybe five or so milligrams of caffeine that is still present in a six-ounce cup of decaf coffee.

COSTELLO: Oh.

DRAYER: But what's really interesting is that there was a Swiss study that revealed that people experienced increased blood pressure after they drank a triple espresso. But this was regardless of whether or not it contained caffeine. So, perhaps...

COSTELLO: But (UNINTELLIGIBLE) psychosomatic? Because sometimes when, you know, somebody sneaks decaffeinated coffee back there in our disgusting cafeteria, and I think that I get a little rush off it like I would caffeinated coffee, but it's really decaf.

DRAYER: Right. It could be due to the small amount of caffeine present in decaf coffee. I spoke to Dr. John Swartzburg (ph). He's at the University of California at Berkeley, and he says some people may be extra sensitive to the small amount of caffeine present in decaf coffee, although the study researchers were suggesting here that maybe there's something else in coffee that would explain the jolt that we experience.

COSTELLO: Oh.

DRAYER: I do want to say, though, caffeine does cause a little bit of loss of calcium from the urine. But according to the American Dietetic Association, the amount is equivalent to what you would find in a teaspoon of milk. So, you can help offset this effect by adding low-fat milk to your coffee. Also, if you're pregnant, you do want to limit or stop consumption of all caffeinated beverages. And if you have a heart condition or are at high risk for heart disease, also you want to limit consumption of caffeine.

COSTELLO: But all in all, Lisa, I think you deserve a DAYBREAK coffee mug for that report.

DRAYER: I think so.

COSTELLO: Thanks, Lisa.

DRAYER: Thanks.

COSTELLO: To borrow a line from Monty Python, now for something completely different. Remember Shrek? Yes. Last week, we showed you this sheep and his six-year growth. Well, now shearing day has come for the reclusive sheep, and people have already begun bidding on the wool. Sheep shearing experts believe Shrek's cuff could yield enough wool to make 20 suits.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Wow!

COSTELLO: Poor Shrek.

MYERS: Oh.

COSTELLO: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). He's been avoiding them all this time, and they got him.

MYERS: And now he looks like a poodle. Oh, gosh!

Hey, you know what? She just gave you the mug. I have to take it back, because I have to give it to somebody else.

DRAYER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) oh. This is mine.

MYERS: No, we'll get you a different one. And we have to give you the winners for yesterday's mug questions. Here are the questions.

Who was nominated to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Iraq? And that was John Negroponte.

And also now, the faculty at which university has just approved a plan to limit the number of A's to only 35 percent of undergrads? And that was Princeton.

And the winner from New York City is Joshua Sauberman.

COSTELLO: Oh, congratulations.

MYERS: Good going, Joshua.

Here are today's questions, so get ready to type, type, type. The two questions for you.

Which two enemy combatants will have their cases heard from the Supreme Court?

And, what are the two methods used to decaf coffee?

COSTELLO: Oh!

DRAYER: We didn't get to that, but I have the answer.

MYERS: You (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? Well, I know one of them, Swiss water process.

DRAYER: Right.

COSTELLO: Well, what's the other one, since we didn't mention it?

DRAYER: Organic solvents. For example...

COSTELLO: OK. So, we've given you the answer to one of the questions. You've just got to get the other one.

We're back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: For Chad Myers, I'm Carol Costello. "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.

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 April 28, 2004 - 06:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A shootout and explosions in Syria as terrorists trade fire with security forces. We'll assess the damage in the heart of Damascus.
It is Wednesday, April 28. This is DAYBREAK. And good morning to you from the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta. I'm Carol Costello. We'll have more on the situation in Syria in just a minute, but first to the situation in Iraq.

Tribal leaders from across Iraq have been heading to the city west of Baghdad to try to end the fighting there. U.S. warplanes, of course, hit targets in the city last night to find a very shaky cease- fire. A U.S. military official says U.S. forces blew up an ammunition site.

In Najaf, where anti-American Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is still holed up, funerals for some of the 64 Iraqi Mehdi Army fighters killed near the city in a clash with U.S. forces.

And at the United Nations, the top U.N. envoy to Iraq says a caretaker government needs to be selected by the end of May.

We've got a firsthand account of what's going on in Fallujah right now just a short time ago from Scott Peterson of the "Christian Science Monitor." He's one of the few Western journalists in that besieged city.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT PETERSON, "CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR": Information is beginning to emerge about the events last night, which were very dramatically televised live. These were, of course, the specter gunship attacks in northwest Fallujah.

It's been fairly quiet this morning in the city as far as we know, although it does sometimes take a while for information of clashes to filter out, simply because of the chain of command and also just because we don't always hear artillery fires, and certainly small-arms fire.

But the information that's emerging about the events last night was that Marine reconnaissance positions spotted an ammunition truck or a truck carrying ammunition. They called in air support when the specter gunship fired on that truck. It exploded. There were 20 minutes' worth of secondary explosions from the ammunition that was in that truck. As people jumped out of the truck and ran toward one of the houses, the specter gunship hit that house, which also, it seems, was a weapons depot, because then as the Marines report, there were a lot of secondary explosions from that one, too.

And if you hear any background noise, I'm afraid they've got an alarm system at the base where we're on, and it seems to be acting up a bit.

COSTELLO: Oh, no problem. We can certainly deal with that, Scott. Any casualties among U.S. Marines?

PETERSON: There were no casualties last night. I've just come from the combat surgical hospital here, and they had no casualties from last night, I think in part because it was a target of opportunity. The specter gunship, when it fires -- it's a 105- millimeter Howitzer -- is very accurate. It fires from very high, but it's quite a stable platform, and so it's quite rare when a round like that goes astray. Of course, it does make a big bang, and I think that's one of the reasons why there weren't too many Marines actively engaged in that firefight. Certainly, there were no casualties that came through the combat hospital overnight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And that's Scott Peterson of the "Christian Science Monitor," telling us what's happening right now in Fallujah.

Back here in the states, strategy in the war on terror. The Bush administration will release an unclassified version of a presidential directive on bio-defense that was signed last week. The directive was to coordinate government efforts already under way to protect food and water supplies. The classified version instructs agencies on how to carry out their bio-defense work. Democrats have accused the White House of not moving fast enough to help guard against biological attacks.

And today, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider if American citizens can be held indefinitely without charges, a court hearing or access to a lawyer as part of the war on terror.

Two cases will be argued before the high court. One is the case of this man, Jose Padilla. He's a former Chicago gang member, suspected of plotting with al Qaeda to set off a radioactive dirty bomb in the United States. The other case is that of Yasser Hamdi, a former Taliban fighter captured in Afghanistan.

Both men are being held in a military brig in South Carolina. Rulings are due by the end of June or early July.

In Syria, unidentified militants carried out a terror attack in the diplomatic district of Damascus.

Joining us live on the phone with more, CNN's Brent Sadler. He's in the Syrian capital this morning.

What do you have for us -- Brent?

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning.

There has been heightened security in Damascus in the wake of the overnight bomb blast that led to a fierce gun and grenade battle with the four unidentified attackers.

The U.S. embassy here in Damascus has been closed to all but essential staff until further notice, while diplomats at the British embassy opened their public offices with a skeleton staff at first this morning, lowering the security level several hours later and returning to normal staff levels.

At this stage, it's still unclear what the group of militants was planning to attack, given the explosions ripped through a disused building in the city center. The small compound was once used by the United Nations in part, and lies in a well-secured diplomatic area of the city, close to the Canadian and Iranian embassies. Syrian government ministries also line the main highway where the bomb went off.

Official sources here say four attackers planted a bomb under a parked car that detonated, setting the building ablaze. Two attackers were killed in the fierce firefight that followed with security forces and police here, as the attackers tried to escape. But two of them were caught, critically wounded though in the shootout that brought the city center to a standstill for many hours. If those two survive, they could provide vital clues to those who planned and implemented this attack -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Brent Sadler reporting live for us from Damascus, Syria, this morning.

For more on this story, plus up-to-the-minute information on the war on terror, head to our Web site. The address: CNN.com/World.

Well, they are the most vulnerable: children. And according to federal investigators, not one state in the entire country is protecting them adequately from abuse and neglect. That's despite new tougher regulations by the Bush administration and the threat of millions of dollars in fines.

Joining us live from Washington this morning, Susan Orr, the associate commissioner of the Children's Bureau from the Department of Health and Human Services.

Welcome. Thank you for joining us.

SUSAN ORR, CHILDREN'S BUREAU, HHS: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: How many children are we talking about each year that are abused or neglected or even killed in this country?

ORR: We're talking about a little under 900,000 children who are abused and neglected each year, and of those, about 500,000 go into foster care.

COSTELLO: That's a lot of children. I know the Bush administration has been trying to solve this problem, especially after the Rilya Wilson (ph) case in Florida. I don't know if our viewers remember, but that was the 5-year-old. She simply got lost in Florida's child welfare system, and she hasn't been found since. What guidelines have been put into place since this happened?

ORR: We have entered into a new way of monitoring states, looking at performance outcomes, not just process. So, we are looking at how are states keeping children safe? How are they moving them quickly to permanency, either back home with their parents or forward on to a new home through adoption, and how are we attending to their well-being?

COSTELLO: And how successful have you been in changing the way the states do business?

ORR: Well, we must first tell you that this is the first time that we are actually looking at performance outcomes as opposed to process. So, this is the baseline measurement, where we are assessing states at where they are, and it's the first time we're having real knowledge based on data and based on interviews with the people that work in child welfare and the people affected by it.

COSTELLO: But still, I know that fines are in the works for states who don't obey, big fines, for 16 states in the country that do not meet any of those new standards. In fact, California could be fined up to $18 million.

ORR: Yes.

COSTELLO: Why is that continuing to happen? Why aren't they adhering to these new guidelines?

ORR: They are working with us right now to try and measure improvement. And I also must tell you that the way that the federal government's financing structure is set up currently, it's not conducive to performance outcomes. The Bush administration has a proposal on the table to allow states to invest in the child welfare system, and we think that will lead to real improvements.

COSTELLO: Well, it's not like you're asking for anything extraordinarily difficult. I mean, you're asking for things like visit children when scheduled to see if they're doing all right, things like that. Am I correct?

ORR: You're absolutely correct, and we do know from the reviews that we've done thus far that states and caseworkers that actually go out on a regular basis, see their clients regularly, look at the children, do accurate assessments of what's the trouble with the family, that has an effect on safety, permanency and well-being to the good of the children and families, which is not really a surprise.

COSTELLO: All right, Susan Orr from the Department of Health and Human Services, thanks for joining DAYBREAK this morning.

ORR: Thank you. COSTELLO: All right, let's move on to "Today's Talker." Judlyne Lilly, she'll be with us in just a minute. We'll talk about the fighting in Fallujah, and the tough decision made by the Witmer sisters after their sister was killed in Iraq.

And coffee, is it good for you? The answer: yes and no. Nutritionist Lisa Drayer will be here live to explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And it is time to pump up the volume with our "Talker" of the morning. Every few days, we like to tune the dial to see what's being said over the airwaves throughout the country.

This morning, the dial has landed on WTOP Radio in Washington, D.C. Judlyne Lilly is an anchor/reporter there, and she joins us live by phone this morning.

Good morning, Judlyne.

JUDLYNE LILLY, WTOP ANCHOR: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about the Witmer sisters first. They have decided not to return to active combat. What more can you tell us?

LILLY: Sergeant Charity Witmer and Specialist Rachel Witmer, both of them are serving in Iraq, along with their sister, who died earlier this month. And they both came home to attend the funeral. And, of course, one of them is the twin of Michelle. And they were trying to determine the two remaining sisters to determine whether or not they would return to Iraq in a combat zone.

Their parents were extremely upset about the fact that their remaining children -- or their children in the military might return to Baghdad or Iraq, and so the sisters have decided not to go, in part because their unit, because they have gotten so much publicity regarding the death of their sister, that there were fears that their unit might be -- it might be detrimental to their units for them to return.

So, they will be staying with their Wisconsin Army National Guard units; however, in a non-combat role. However, it has not been determined just yet exactly what they will be doing.

COSTELLO: Yes, but they will not be returning to Iraq. They will not be returning to active combat. Has the family come out and said anything? Do you think that we'll hear from the sisters themselves about this decision?

LILLY: Well, you probably will eventually hear from them when they have something to say that's new, I suppose. The reason perhaps that they had someone else make the statement for them yesterday was that they're still very, very upset, and when you read the statement, you can almost feel their pain, it being this difficult decision. So, it might have been difficult for them to actually say this in front of the press, and you know how we can be. We can continue to ask questions and ask questions that they may or may not want to answer.

COSTELLO: Yes, you're exactly right about that.

Let's talk about the situation in Fallujah and the attacks there last night. What's being said in Washington this morning?

LILLY: There is great concern about what's going on in Fallujah, especially since the cease-fire -- rather, a truce that came about. However, what's happened is that they believe that the insurgents just simply used the truce just to re-arm.

So, in Washington today, there are fears that this truce will not hold; that when the U.S. and Iraqi security forces go in, in joint patrols tomorrow, that there could be increased violence and more deaths.

COSTELLO: Judlyne Lilly joining us live from WTOP News Radio in Washington, D.C. this morning.

Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 6:45 Eastern Time. Here's what's all new this morning.

Religious leaders from across Iraq are heading to Fallujah today to discuss that two-week standoff in the city. The meetings come a day after U.S. warplanes hit an ammunition site.

In Syria, two suspected terrorists were killed during a gun battle with security forces. The unidentified militants detonated an explosive device near a former United Nations office.

In money news this morning, there are just two more "Friends" episodes left. And NBC is making big bucks on ads for the May 6 finale. Get this: a 30-second spot on "Friends," fetching $2 million. That would be a sitcom record.

In sports, NBA playoffs and the Minnesota Timberwolves take a three games to one lead over the Denver Nuggets, thanks to a dominating performance by Kevin Garnett. Garnett had 27 points and 14 rebounds in the win.

In culture, her name is Barbra. That's what Barbra Streisand is calling her memorabilia auction. On June 5, hundreds of Barbra's baubles will be sold to raise money for charity.

(WEATHER BREAK)

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines. Thank you, Chad.

Small businesses are booming, especially if you're of the female persuasion. We'll tell you how women are setting the pace in today's business world.

And coffee lovers drink up. Caffeine is A-OK. Or is it? Up next, how a jolt from that morning java could affect your health.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: It is 6:50 Eastern Time. Time for a little business buzz now.

Small businesses owned by women are quietly making a mark on the U.S. economy. Joya Doss has more for us live from the Nasdaq Marketsite.

Tell us -- Joya.

JOYA DOSS, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS: A little bit of girl power for you this early in the morning. Companies owned by women are growing at double the rate of small businesses in the nation. Now, this is according to the Center for Women's Business Research. And women own 50 percent or a larger stake in the 10.6 million privately-held companies in the United States.

And here's an interesting fact. Companies owned by women have $2.46 trillion -- that's with a "t" -- in sales and employ just over 19 million people nationwide. And the study is listed in "The New York Times" today.

And one woman business owner ways that women often find niches in the marketplace where men aren't, so they don't have as high a profile. Make sense?

COSTELLO: It does make sense. Joya Doss reporting live for us from the Nasdaq Marketsite.

DOSS: You bet.

COSTELLO: If you are like me, you drink about, oh, six or seven heavily-caffeinated cups of coffee every day. I admit I am addicted. Sometimes I worry I'm wrecking my health. How about you? I thought so.

Well, our resident nutritionist, Lisa Drayer, is here to say coffee can be good for you?

LISA DRAYER, REGISTERED DIETICIAN: Coffee may be a healthy option. However, the question, Carol, I get often is: Which is healthier? Regular coffee or decaf coffee? And many do think that decaf is a healthier option.

But if you look at the research -- let's take a look -- in terms of diabetes, for example. Have you heard some news about this? If you look at the study published in January of this year -- this was in the "Annals of Internal Medicine." It followed over 126,000 men and women, and it revealed that caffeinated coffee revealed a strong protective effective against type II diabetes.

COSTELLO: Really?

DRAYER: Now, decaf was associated with protection, but the link wasn't as strong. So, it seems to be that caffeine...

COSTELLO: Caffeine is good. DRAYER: ... does play a role there. But there are other compounds in the coffee that may also be contributing to protection.

Now, in terms of increased risk for any disease, for example heart disease, we've heard some news about this. If we look at the nurses' health study, this followed over 85,000 female nurses, and this study revealed that when women drank six or more cups of coffee each day, they were not at increased risk for heart disease regardless of whether they drank regular or decaf.

COSTELLO: What if you already have heart disease, though?

DRAYER: If you already have heart disease, the American Heart Association recommends limiting consumption of all caffeinated beverages. So, you wouldn't want to be consuming more than two cups of coffee per day.

COSTELLO: There's always a qualifier there.

DRAYER: Exactly.

COSTELLO: Talk about decaffeinated coffee and what goes into decaf.

DRAYER: Right. Well, to make decaf coffee, at least 97 percent of caffeine is removed. So, we're talking about maybe five or so milligrams of caffeine that is still present in a six-ounce cup of decaf coffee.

COSTELLO: Oh.

DRAYER: But what's really interesting is that there was a Swiss study that revealed that people experienced increased blood pressure after they drank a triple espresso. But this was regardless of whether or not it contained caffeine. So, perhaps...

COSTELLO: But (UNINTELLIGIBLE) psychosomatic? Because sometimes when, you know, somebody sneaks decaffeinated coffee back there in our disgusting cafeteria, and I think that I get a little rush off it like I would caffeinated coffee, but it's really decaf.

DRAYER: Right. It could be due to the small amount of caffeine present in decaf coffee. I spoke to Dr. John Swartzburg (ph). He's at the University of California at Berkeley, and he says some people may be extra sensitive to the small amount of caffeine present in decaf coffee, although the study researchers were suggesting here that maybe there's something else in coffee that would explain the jolt that we experience.

COSTELLO: Oh.

DRAYER: I do want to say, though, caffeine does cause a little bit of loss of calcium from the urine. But according to the American Dietetic Association, the amount is equivalent to what you would find in a teaspoon of milk. So, you can help offset this effect by adding low-fat milk to your coffee. Also, if you're pregnant, you do want to limit or stop consumption of all caffeinated beverages. And if you have a heart condition or are at high risk for heart disease, also you want to limit consumption of caffeine.

COSTELLO: But all in all, Lisa, I think you deserve a DAYBREAK coffee mug for that report.

DRAYER: I think so.

COSTELLO: Thanks, Lisa.

DRAYER: Thanks.

COSTELLO: To borrow a line from Monty Python, now for something completely different. Remember Shrek? Yes. Last week, we showed you this sheep and his six-year growth. Well, now shearing day has come for the reclusive sheep, and people have already begun bidding on the wool. Sheep shearing experts believe Shrek's cuff could yield enough wool to make 20 suits.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Wow!

COSTELLO: Poor Shrek.

MYERS: Oh.

COSTELLO: (UNINTELLIGIBLE). He's been avoiding them all this time, and they got him.

MYERS: And now he looks like a poodle. Oh, gosh!

Hey, you know what? She just gave you the mug. I have to take it back, because I have to give it to somebody else.

DRAYER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) oh. This is mine.

MYERS: No, we'll get you a different one. And we have to give you the winners for yesterday's mug questions. Here are the questions.

Who was nominated to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Iraq? And that was John Negroponte.

And also now, the faculty at which university has just approved a plan to limit the number of A's to only 35 percent of undergrads? And that was Princeton.

And the winner from New York City is Joshua Sauberman.

COSTELLO: Oh, congratulations.

MYERS: Good going, Joshua.

Here are today's questions, so get ready to type, type, type. The two questions for you.

Which two enemy combatants will have their cases heard from the Supreme Court?

And, what are the two methods used to decaf coffee?

COSTELLO: Oh!

DRAYER: We didn't get to that, but I have the answer.

MYERS: You (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? Well, I know one of them, Swiss water process.

DRAYER: Right.

COSTELLO: Well, what's the other one, since we didn't mention it?

DRAYER: Organic solvents. For example...

COSTELLO: OK. So, we've given you the answer to one of the questions. You've just got to get the other one.

We're back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: For Chad Myers, I'm Carol Costello. "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.

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