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American Morning
'Paging Dr. Gupta'; Boston Red Sox Pull Off Greatest Comeback in Baseball History
Aired October 21, 2004 - 08:30 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We should let our viewers know that the students from Sacred Heart School in Chicago, they watch AMERICAN MORNING every day in the classroom. They tape AMERICAN MORNING every day in the classroom. Eighty-six schoolkids have been waiting for us to come up here so they can learn of what is happening in the world today. So we welcome them here in Chicago.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It is nice to have you guys. Thanks for being with us.
HEMMER: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: They take what they learn from the show and work it into a lesson plan. We're going to talk a little bit later this morning with their teacher. It's nice to have them. They're so well- behaved.
HEMMER: Yes, they are, and they only scream on cue, which is what we like.
O'BRIEN: Exactly.
HEMMER: Also, here at the Field Museum, we'll talk about dinosaurs in a moment here. We'll talk about Sue and the curator for the dinosaurs here, as well as one of the esteemed paleontologist. Sue is the most complete skeleton of a tyrannosaurus rex anywhere in the world. But there's a little more that makes her special for Chicago and across the country. So we'll get that to this morning in a well.
O'BRIEN: Sue's teeth -- I mean, if you've had a chance, they are this big. Unbelievable, unbelievable.
Also this morning, the hospital that inspired the long-running hit show, "E.R.", Sanjay's going to take us behind-the-scenes to see the real life pressure-cooker that actually is Stroger Hospital.
Also, we're inside the Field Museum today. Heidi Collins is outside, with a great view of the skyline, too.
Good morning, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, you guys.
Check this out, isn't there a gorgeous sunrise? Actually, we're a little past that right now. But look behind me. Over my shoulder, you can obviously, right below our "live" symbol; now we've a taken a live shot here. Sears Tower, on your left, big, huge tall one -- I'm sure you've heard of it -- second tallest building in Chicago. Far to the right is the Aeon building. Right in the center there, below the Sears tower, you see the Hilton building, you see the Prudential building as well back over to the right. Just a gorgeous shot of beautiful downtown right here in Chicago. And, oh yes, by the way, a little bit warmer today. We like that, too.
Want to get straight to the news, though. A major announcement affecting troops in Iraq. British officials have agreed to a U.S. request to move British troops to areas near Baghdad. That announcement made by Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon before the British parliament, just minutes ago. More details on that as soon as we get them.
President Bush set to approve a key suicide prevention bill. In about a half an hour from now, the president signed the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act. That will boost federal funding to suicide- prevention programs. The president then heads to Pennsylvania.
Senator John Kerry addressing stem cell research. The widow of the late actor Christopher Reeve will introduce Kerry at a rally in Columbus, Ohio.
With the presidential election just a week and a half away, a handful of battleground states could tip the Electoral College to President Bush or Senator John Kerry.
According to a new Gallup poll, the majority of Americans, 61 percent, believe there should be a constitutional amendment to get rid of the Electoral College. A president would instead be elected by popular vote.
And Cuban President Fidel Castro says he's in, quote, "one piece," after a tumble offstage.
Take a look at this now. Castro had just finished the speech. You see the people waving their signs, thanking him for it. And then this, walking away from the podium when he apparently tripped. The Cuban leader reportedly broke his left knee and his right arm in that tumble. Ouch! Yikes. After you find out what happened to him, I don't know how often we want to see that video.
Soledad, back now inside to you. We'll have a little bit more of this gorgeous skyline as the day gets even brighter.
O'BRIEN: It is so beautiful.
All right, Heidi, thanks.
Well not only have the Boston Red Sox pulled off the greatest comeback in baseball history, but they did it against their archrivals, the New York Yankees. Johnny Damon's grand slam in the second inning was all the Red Sox needed to win the American League Championship. The Final score, 10-3. Boston faced four straight elimination games, and won them all, something that's never been done in baseball.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THEO EPSTEIN, RED SOX GENERAL MANAGER: We'll take a trip to the World Series no matter the road, but coming through Yankee Stadium, falling down 3-0 to these guys, being down in the ninth inning in game four and coming back to beat them in Yankee Stadium makes it beyond imagination.
DEREK LOWE, RED SOX PITCHER: The whole Babe Ruth, the whole curse, I mean, after a while you start to believe it, because of just all the stuff that keeps happening.
KEVIN MILLAR, RED SOX FIRST BASEMAN: I wasn't live in 1918, so this is my second year, and we're going oh to the World Series. So I'm just excited to be a part of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Sweet victory, if you're a Red Sox fan. Boston's comeback against the Yankees was even sweeter, because now the team has something to do that three generation of Red Sox fans have never seen them win the World Series. While the Red Sox fans celebrate -- I've got to imagine they're still celebrating this morning -- Yankee players contemplate what has to be one of the greatest collapses in baseball history.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEREK JETER, NEW YORK YANKEE SHORTSHOP: We had four games there to win one. We just didn't do it. They were better than us. And we can sit here and try to make excuses, but the bottom line is those guys didn't give up; they outplayed us.
KEVIN BROWN, NEW YORK YANKEE PITCHER: Short of trading health and my family, I'd give anything to be able to go back and, you know, do things differently and, you know, give the team a chance to win.
MARIANO RIVERA, NEW YORK YANKEE PITCHER: It is tough, it is tough, but you know, what can we do? We thought we were ready. So I guess I'll go home and relax, I guess.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Well, those guys looked both tired and teary-eyed. The Red Sox will face either the Astros or the Cardinals in the World Series. St. Louis thought they had the series tied up with a 4-3 and two outs in the ninth, but Houston's Jeff Bagwell tied it up, sent the game into extra innings. The Cards held on, won it in the 12th inning with a walk-off homer by Jim Edmonds. The National League Championship will be decided tonight in St. Louis. The home team has won every game in this series.
HEMMER: Kind of forget about that other series, don't we?
O'BRIEN: And the other one. HEMMER: From overseas now, the worst typhoon in 16 years sweeping out of the southern Japanese islands. At least 63 now reported dead. Rescuers still searching for victims, too, of flash flooding and building collapses there. The typhoon is the name for hurricane-strength winds in Northwest Pacific. Despite the seriousness of that storm -- we mentioned more than 60 dead -- the people in one major city trying to go about the daily routines, and not with much luck either. Umbrellas no match. And to be honest with you, the human being's not much of a match either. A lot of people getting knocked over by the winds. Oftentimes just standing up was impossible for some. That out of Japan again.
O'BRIEN: That videotape is amazing, see that woman blown down the sidewalk.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, Wal-Mart apparently has a problem with comedian Jon Stewart. Andy is "Minding Your Business." He'll have more on that for us.
Plus, behind the doors of the Chicago hospital that inspired a hit TV show. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" for a tour of the real life "E.R." That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Our visit to the Windy City will wind up tomorrow at the Adler Planetarium. We're going to be speaking with the director of the planetarium. We're going to check back in with film critics Ebert and Roeper, and we'll grab one last slice of "Deep Dish Politics," all that and much, much more, tomorrow in Chicago.
Well, millions of TV viewers tune in each Thursday to watch "E.R.," and also watch the drama unfold at County General. The setting is loosely based on Chicago's Cook County Hospital. And while we were here, we wanted to see the real "E.R." in action.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us from the CNN Center with more on that.
Sanjay, good morning.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Yes, it's one of the busiest and most prominent landmarks in Chicago. It's been around for a very long time, Cook County Hospital. It's called County General on the show "E.R.," but that's certainly the hospital that it's loosely based on.
We wanted to go inside and see what the real "E.R." is really like.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Twenty-four-year-old male stabbing victim.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA (voice-over): It's just a TV show, a very popular one, too, and it all looks so real.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: You could be seriously injured here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: How realistic is the "E.R." portrayed by Hollywood compared to the real Cook County Hospital? For starters, it's no longer called Cook County Hospital. It's now the John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County.
And the old ambulance bay and hospital that looks more like we see on TV is shutdown, replaced by a modern state-of-the-art facility.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Nineteen-year-old male (INAUDIBLE) Graham Clark, multiple contusions, complains of belly pain.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Hi. I'm Dr. Lockhart, can you tell me you're name?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DR. DAVID LEVINE, STROGER HOSPITAL, EMERGENCY DEPT.: Drives me nuts. We never run out to the ambulances and go get people out of the ambulances.
GUPTA: Today Stroger hospital is actually a lot more calm and organized.
DR. ROXANNE ROBERTS, TRAUMA DIR., STROGER HOSPITAL: Most of the time the patients are triaged in the field.
GUPTA: So the severely injured patients can be taken here, directly to a separate trauma unit instead of the E.R., where the nurses and doctors will care for them.
ROBERTS: There are times we can put "E.R." to shame that we are that busy. But most of the time you see as it is here today, we'll get some business, but it isn't the hectic kind of business that they show on "E.R."
LEVINE: Where we are standing is the front of the E.R. This is actually where it all starts.
GUPTA: Doctors and nurses in this E.R. see about 135,000 adult patients each year. Most patients have heart attacks, or heart- related illness, or suffer from complication of diabetes or high blood pressure.
LEVINE: These people that are here are very sick, with things are just not just sexy for TV. Like a pneumonia, in general, doesn't make a great story line.
GUPTA: And unlike what we see on TV, everything at this hospital is practically brand new. Just take a look at this X-ray technology.
LEVINE: The old place with the real films, it's used to be an endeavor. Now as long as the film is taken, it magically almost instantly shows up on the screen.
GUPTA: Today's Stroger hospital has a state-of-the-art neonatal ICU, and a pharmacy that can fill more prescriptions in one day than more than 25 commercial pharmacies combined. How do they do it? Well, with a lot of hard work. They even enlist the help of robots. Stroger's E.R. docs and nurses are some of the best in the country, and the show "E.R." made them famous, but they are quick to point out the differences between that E.R. And this one.
LEVINE: It sometimes gives them the perception we're able to do everything, which is flattering. We're able to do a lot, but we're part of a team.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: And if you watch the television program, you sort of see these E.R. doctors follow a patient sometimes to the operating room, all the way through the hospital. At this hospital, the real E.R., the E.R. doctors, work in the E.R. and part of that much larger team at the hospital -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, all right, we get it, they take some liberties with what doctors actually do. But overall, do the doctors at the hospital like the show? Do they sort of want to watch it? Or are they too busy and don't really watch a whole lot of television anyway?
GUPTA: Yes, it's sort of interesting. We talked to several of the folks over there, and they said they're you know, pretty flattered by it, and certainly "E.R.," when it first came out, really lent a lot of fame to that hospital, Cook County in Chicago. But you know, it's the drama -- is something that completely want to separate themselves from, from the reality of their day-to-day work, and they pointed that out to us as well -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay, thanks.
GUPTA: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Well, from the hospital landmark to another landmark here in Chicago, let's head down to Bill, who's with Sue.
HEMMER: Right over here, as a matter of fact. You know for 67 million years young, she looks pretty good, don't you think? This is the great tyrannosaurus rex, sue. Everybody in Chicago knows Sue so well.
Say hello and good morning to Greg Erickson (ph), paleontologist at the Field Museum.
Good morning to you.
Also Peter Makovic (ph), the curator of dinosaurs at the Field Museum as well. Great to see both of you today.
You said that this is the James Dean of dinosaurs, why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, research that we've just published recently shows that this animal lived fast and died young, hence the James Dean quote. A very amazingly fast growth rate, and a fairly short life span.
HEMMER: Lived fast and died young. What makes it so special? I say "her." I guess I should reserve my gender, right? Tell our audience why she is named Sue, and it has nothing to do with male or female.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, the person who found this is named Sue Hendrickson. We often name the dinosaur after whoever finds it. So that's where we get the name from.
HEMMER: What's so special about this wonderful...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, this is a particularly special tyrannosaurus. It's the world's largest tyrannosaurus specimen. It's also the most complete tyrannosaurus specimen, and based on our research, we know it's also the oldest tryannosaurus.
HEMMER: Is that right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it was 28 years of age when it died.
HEMMER: Wow, and there's something about the head, too, that's kind of special, because it's really not the original head, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No the problem with a head on a tyrannosarus, it weighs 500, 600 pounds. You just can't mount it up there, so that's actually a cast that's been put up there. And the actual skull is up on the balcony.
HEMMER: So we're seeing a replica essentially.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.
HEMMER: One of the things that people in Chicago tell me is that everybody knows about Sue, but there are so many wonderful things about this museum. Twenty-two million exhibits here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty-two million specimens in our holding, only you know, a few percent of those are actually on exhibit. We have everything from bugs through pre-Colombian pottery, to one of our flagships here, Sue, and those elephants which we use for scale. HEMMER: It is a living breathing school of history in here, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.
HEMMER: I think the other thing that's curious, too, is that in the tiles here on the floor, you can actually see -- find this one, there are fossils here that you can point to. How did that come about?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a couple of limestone -- they're probably local from not too far away, Wisconsin or Michigan. What you see there are actually the internal parts of ammonite (ph) shells. Those are the divisions in them that you see preserved in the rock, nicely exposed when you polish them.
HEMMER: You know, when schoolchildren come here, we've some special guests with us today from Sacred Heart School in Chicago, what is it about this Field Museum that gives them the ability to learn so many wonderful things about the planet right here in Chicago?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's just an amazing museum. It's just such a diversity of things to see here. You can see fossils, and you can see living animals today, and learn about all their interactions.
HEMMER: You guys love coming here, too, don't you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love coming here. We have a lot of outreach. We have an education department. We do all kinds of programs, from research that we do to sort of giving -- you know, passing that on to schoolchildren in the community in various ways.
HEMMER: Thanks for sharing. Good luck to you, all right. Great to see you, gentlemen, OK.
Back to Soledad now up there. She doesn't look too bad, does she now, huh?
Let's get a break here. Back in a moment here. Back with Andy and Jack, right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. We got this just in to CNN. It looks like American Olympic gymnast Paul Hamm is going to keep his gold medal. Switzerland's Court of Arbitration for Sport -- that's the sport's highest court -- has ruled that he can keep the gold medal. He's going to be the guest on our show tomorrow to talk about the controversy and also talk about the resolution that's come out this morning.
HEMMER: Wow. How about that? A lot of the folks weren't quite sure that it was going to go that way.
O'BRIEN: It could have gone either way, many people felt.
HEMMER: Let's get across to the museum to Jack and Andy, hanging out with us again. Hey, guys, good morning. How are you, Jack?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Bill. Andy is here. A preview of the markets, and Wal-Mart has picked out a book that they are banning from their shelves. What's up with that?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: We'll get to that in one second. Let's do the markets first.
Yesterday, a mixed session on Wall Street. The Dow is down; the Nasdaq is up. There's a song about the Battery, et cetera, et cetera of the -- goes like that. Futures are mixed this morning, as well.
Some good news for the economy. Jobless claims down sharply, down 25,329 last week. Maybe that will move stock futures higher. We'll be checking that.
Now, let's talk about that Wal-Mart story. One of the biggest booksellers in the land is banning one of the hottest selling books in the nation. We're talking about Wal-Mart, and it is banning Jon Stewart's new book "America the Book." I bet that breaks Tucker Carlson's heart.
CAFFERTY: I bet.
SERWER: Interesting what's going on here with this one. The reason Wal-Mart is banning the book is because on page 99, there's a photograph -- a "photograph" -- of the Supreme Court justices in the nude. And you are supposed to put robes back on them, adding some dignity to the court.
Of course, these aren't really pictures of the justices in the nude. The photos are taken from a Web site called clothesfree.com. And I was there earlier, Jack, doing some research on clothesfree.com.
CAFFERTY: Yeah, I walked by -- is that what you were doing? Research?
SERWER: It was research. A very interesting Web site there.
CAFFERTY: Yeah, if you are trying to lose weight, maybe looking at nude pictures of the Supreme Court justices would be a good way to kill the appetite.
SERWER: I think that's about...
CAFFERTY: ABC and Miss America getting a divorce.
SERWER: Yes, that's right. It sounds like that's going to be happening right now. ABC is canceling its contract to air the Miss America Pageant starting next year. And the reason why, Jack -- in this business it's always about...
CAFFERTY: The ratings -- the numbers.
SERWER: ... the ratings and money. And the numbers are way down. Only nine million households watched Miss America this year as opposed to 26 million in 1991. And I think the real reason that ABC is bagging this is because it gives them more time to air "Desperate Housewives." "Desperate Housewives," the smash hit.
CAFFERTY: Miss America pageant never been the same since Bert Parks left.
SERWER: Yeah, oh, I agree with that.
CAFFERTY: He was the guy -- I wonder, though, why the lack of interest in that? Maybe because there's so many other beauty pageants and stuff on television.
SERWER: Yeah, there's Miss World, Miss this, Miss that -- everything else.
CAFFERTY: All right. Thanks, Andy.
SERWER: You're welcome.
CAFFERTY: Chicago gave us things like deep dish pizza, Comiskey Park, Wrigley Field, inventive architecture, and of course, we were talking earlier, the Second City, the great comedy troupe that's here. A lot of famous people have their roots right here in Chicago, Illinois. And we did a little research of our own on Web sites where people wear clothing, and we came up with a list of people that you are going to recognize that all hail from the Windy City.
We start with Gillian Anderson, who appears in "The X-Files." Attorney General John Ashcroft -- that's not Attorney General John Ashcroft on the right. That is actor Tom Bosley, who appeared in "Happy Days." Apparently we do not have a picture of the Attorney General John Ashcroft.
General Wesley Clark, who ran for president of the United States. Senator Hillary Clinton. Best-selling author Michael Crichton, and of course, Walt Disney hails from Chicago.
Chess champion Bobby Fischer. Michael Flatley of the "Lord of the Dance. Betty Ford and her brother Harrison -- they're actually not brother and sister. Harrison Ford's the actor. Choreographer Bob Fosse -- that's not Bob Fosse. That is Benny Goodman, he also comes from Chicago.
Actress Daryl Hannah. "Playboy" magazine founder Hugh Hefner. Seymour Hersh of the "New Yorker" magazine. Quincy Jones, Ethel Kennedy, former presidential candidate Carol Moseley-Braun -- who I happen to like a lot. I thought she was the class of that Democratic field back when there were about 97 candidates running for office. Eliot Ness, Kim Novak comes from Chicago.
Jack Ruby, who saved the taxpayers the price of putting Lee Harvey Oswald on trial. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, "Wheel of Fortune" host Pat Sajak. Maria Shriver is from Chicago. She is married to the walking barbell that runs the State of California. And children's book author Shel Silverstein, of course finally, Robin Williams. So, some very cool folks coming from Chicago, Illinois, over the years. Back to you guys.
O'BRIEN: All right, Jack, thanks.
Still to come this morning, several states already casting their votes in this year's election, Florida included. You might remember that that state had a few problems back in 2000. We're going to find out what is being done to avoid a repeat of those problems.
That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING from Chicago. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Still to come here -- a deadly plane crash in Missouri. The final moments before the crash in the words of one of the survivors. His words in a moment on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: More harsh statements in the presidential campaign. Twelve days to go, and it's getting rougher and tougher.
Surviving the crash.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... crash occurred as the plane went into the trees, saw it come apart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: One of just two survivors in a deadly commuter plane crash talks about the final moments.
In Japan, a powerful typhoon sweeps through that country, causing massive devastation.
And the Red Sox.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's amazing, man! It's been a long time coming, long time coming. You got to be here to believe it, baby! Going all the way to the World Series, baby!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Red Sox fans finally taste happiness. Their team does the impossible, beating the mighty Yankees for a trip to the World Series -- on this AMERICAN 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 October 21, 2004 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We should let our viewers know that the students from Sacred Heart School in Chicago, they watch AMERICAN MORNING every day in the classroom. They tape AMERICAN MORNING every day in the classroom. Eighty-six schoolkids have been waiting for us to come up here so they can learn of what is happening in the world today. So we welcome them here in Chicago.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It is nice to have you guys. Thanks for being with us.
HEMMER: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: They take what they learn from the show and work it into a lesson plan. We're going to talk a little bit later this morning with their teacher. It's nice to have them. They're so well- behaved.
HEMMER: Yes, they are, and they only scream on cue, which is what we like.
O'BRIEN: Exactly.
HEMMER: Also, here at the Field Museum, we'll talk about dinosaurs in a moment here. We'll talk about Sue and the curator for the dinosaurs here, as well as one of the esteemed paleontologist. Sue is the most complete skeleton of a tyrannosaurus rex anywhere in the world. But there's a little more that makes her special for Chicago and across the country. So we'll get that to this morning in a well.
O'BRIEN: Sue's teeth -- I mean, if you've had a chance, they are this big. Unbelievable, unbelievable.
Also this morning, the hospital that inspired the long-running hit show, "E.R.", Sanjay's going to take us behind-the-scenes to see the real life pressure-cooker that actually is Stroger Hospital.
Also, we're inside the Field Museum today. Heidi Collins is outside, with a great view of the skyline, too.
Good morning, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, you guys.
Check this out, isn't there a gorgeous sunrise? Actually, we're a little past that right now. But look behind me. Over my shoulder, you can obviously, right below our "live" symbol; now we've a taken a live shot here. Sears Tower, on your left, big, huge tall one -- I'm sure you've heard of it -- second tallest building in Chicago. Far to the right is the Aeon building. Right in the center there, below the Sears tower, you see the Hilton building, you see the Prudential building as well back over to the right. Just a gorgeous shot of beautiful downtown right here in Chicago. And, oh yes, by the way, a little bit warmer today. We like that, too.
Want to get straight to the news, though. A major announcement affecting troops in Iraq. British officials have agreed to a U.S. request to move British troops to areas near Baghdad. That announcement made by Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon before the British parliament, just minutes ago. More details on that as soon as we get them.
President Bush set to approve a key suicide prevention bill. In about a half an hour from now, the president signed the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act. That will boost federal funding to suicide- prevention programs. The president then heads to Pennsylvania.
Senator John Kerry addressing stem cell research. The widow of the late actor Christopher Reeve will introduce Kerry at a rally in Columbus, Ohio.
With the presidential election just a week and a half away, a handful of battleground states could tip the Electoral College to President Bush or Senator John Kerry.
According to a new Gallup poll, the majority of Americans, 61 percent, believe there should be a constitutional amendment to get rid of the Electoral College. A president would instead be elected by popular vote.
And Cuban President Fidel Castro says he's in, quote, "one piece," after a tumble offstage.
Take a look at this now. Castro had just finished the speech. You see the people waving their signs, thanking him for it. And then this, walking away from the podium when he apparently tripped. The Cuban leader reportedly broke his left knee and his right arm in that tumble. Ouch! Yikes. After you find out what happened to him, I don't know how often we want to see that video.
Soledad, back now inside to you. We'll have a little bit more of this gorgeous skyline as the day gets even brighter.
O'BRIEN: It is so beautiful.
All right, Heidi, thanks.
Well not only have the Boston Red Sox pulled off the greatest comeback in baseball history, but they did it against their archrivals, the New York Yankees. Johnny Damon's grand slam in the second inning was all the Red Sox needed to win the American League Championship. The Final score, 10-3. Boston faced four straight elimination games, and won them all, something that's never been done in baseball.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THEO EPSTEIN, RED SOX GENERAL MANAGER: We'll take a trip to the World Series no matter the road, but coming through Yankee Stadium, falling down 3-0 to these guys, being down in the ninth inning in game four and coming back to beat them in Yankee Stadium makes it beyond imagination.
DEREK LOWE, RED SOX PITCHER: The whole Babe Ruth, the whole curse, I mean, after a while you start to believe it, because of just all the stuff that keeps happening.
KEVIN MILLAR, RED SOX FIRST BASEMAN: I wasn't live in 1918, so this is my second year, and we're going oh to the World Series. So I'm just excited to be a part of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Sweet victory, if you're a Red Sox fan. Boston's comeback against the Yankees was even sweeter, because now the team has something to do that three generation of Red Sox fans have never seen them win the World Series. While the Red Sox fans celebrate -- I've got to imagine they're still celebrating this morning -- Yankee players contemplate what has to be one of the greatest collapses in baseball history.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEREK JETER, NEW YORK YANKEE SHORTSHOP: We had four games there to win one. We just didn't do it. They were better than us. And we can sit here and try to make excuses, but the bottom line is those guys didn't give up; they outplayed us.
KEVIN BROWN, NEW YORK YANKEE PITCHER: Short of trading health and my family, I'd give anything to be able to go back and, you know, do things differently and, you know, give the team a chance to win.
MARIANO RIVERA, NEW YORK YANKEE PITCHER: It is tough, it is tough, but you know, what can we do? We thought we were ready. So I guess I'll go home and relax, I guess.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Well, those guys looked both tired and teary-eyed. The Red Sox will face either the Astros or the Cardinals in the World Series. St. Louis thought they had the series tied up with a 4-3 and two outs in the ninth, but Houston's Jeff Bagwell tied it up, sent the game into extra innings. The Cards held on, won it in the 12th inning with a walk-off homer by Jim Edmonds. The National League Championship will be decided tonight in St. Louis. The home team has won every game in this series.
HEMMER: Kind of forget about that other series, don't we?
O'BRIEN: And the other one. HEMMER: From overseas now, the worst typhoon in 16 years sweeping out of the southern Japanese islands. At least 63 now reported dead. Rescuers still searching for victims, too, of flash flooding and building collapses there. The typhoon is the name for hurricane-strength winds in Northwest Pacific. Despite the seriousness of that storm -- we mentioned more than 60 dead -- the people in one major city trying to go about the daily routines, and not with much luck either. Umbrellas no match. And to be honest with you, the human being's not much of a match either. A lot of people getting knocked over by the winds. Oftentimes just standing up was impossible for some. That out of Japan again.
O'BRIEN: That videotape is amazing, see that woman blown down the sidewalk.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, Wal-Mart apparently has a problem with comedian Jon Stewart. Andy is "Minding Your Business." He'll have more on that for us.
Plus, behind the doors of the Chicago hospital that inspired a hit TV show. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" for a tour of the real life "E.R." That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Our visit to the Windy City will wind up tomorrow at the Adler Planetarium. We're going to be speaking with the director of the planetarium. We're going to check back in with film critics Ebert and Roeper, and we'll grab one last slice of "Deep Dish Politics," all that and much, much more, tomorrow in Chicago.
Well, millions of TV viewers tune in each Thursday to watch "E.R.," and also watch the drama unfold at County General. The setting is loosely based on Chicago's Cook County Hospital. And while we were here, we wanted to see the real "E.R." in action.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us from the CNN Center with more on that.
Sanjay, good morning.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Yes, it's one of the busiest and most prominent landmarks in Chicago. It's been around for a very long time, Cook County Hospital. It's called County General on the show "E.R.," but that's certainly the hospital that it's loosely based on.
We wanted to go inside and see what the real "E.R." is really like.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Twenty-four-year-old male stabbing victim.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA (voice-over): It's just a TV show, a very popular one, too, and it all looks so real.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: You could be seriously injured here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: How realistic is the "E.R." portrayed by Hollywood compared to the real Cook County Hospital? For starters, it's no longer called Cook County Hospital. It's now the John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County.
And the old ambulance bay and hospital that looks more like we see on TV is shutdown, replaced by a modern state-of-the-art facility.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Nineteen-year-old male (INAUDIBLE) Graham Clark, multiple contusions, complains of belly pain.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Hi. I'm Dr. Lockhart, can you tell me you're name?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DR. DAVID LEVINE, STROGER HOSPITAL, EMERGENCY DEPT.: Drives me nuts. We never run out to the ambulances and go get people out of the ambulances.
GUPTA: Today Stroger hospital is actually a lot more calm and organized.
DR. ROXANNE ROBERTS, TRAUMA DIR., STROGER HOSPITAL: Most of the time the patients are triaged in the field.
GUPTA: So the severely injured patients can be taken here, directly to a separate trauma unit instead of the E.R., where the nurses and doctors will care for them.
ROBERTS: There are times we can put "E.R." to shame that we are that busy. But most of the time you see as it is here today, we'll get some business, but it isn't the hectic kind of business that they show on "E.R."
LEVINE: Where we are standing is the front of the E.R. This is actually where it all starts.
GUPTA: Doctors and nurses in this E.R. see about 135,000 adult patients each year. Most patients have heart attacks, or heart- related illness, or suffer from complication of diabetes or high blood pressure.
LEVINE: These people that are here are very sick, with things are just not just sexy for TV. Like a pneumonia, in general, doesn't make a great story line.
GUPTA: And unlike what we see on TV, everything at this hospital is practically brand new. Just take a look at this X-ray technology.
LEVINE: The old place with the real films, it's used to be an endeavor. Now as long as the film is taken, it magically almost instantly shows up on the screen.
GUPTA: Today's Stroger hospital has a state-of-the-art neonatal ICU, and a pharmacy that can fill more prescriptions in one day than more than 25 commercial pharmacies combined. How do they do it? Well, with a lot of hard work. They even enlist the help of robots. Stroger's E.R. docs and nurses are some of the best in the country, and the show "E.R." made them famous, but they are quick to point out the differences between that E.R. And this one.
LEVINE: It sometimes gives them the perception we're able to do everything, which is flattering. We're able to do a lot, but we're part of a team.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: And if you watch the television program, you sort of see these E.R. doctors follow a patient sometimes to the operating room, all the way through the hospital. At this hospital, the real E.R., the E.R. doctors, work in the E.R. and part of that much larger team at the hospital -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, all right, we get it, they take some liberties with what doctors actually do. But overall, do the doctors at the hospital like the show? Do they sort of want to watch it? Or are they too busy and don't really watch a whole lot of television anyway?
GUPTA: Yes, it's sort of interesting. We talked to several of the folks over there, and they said they're you know, pretty flattered by it, and certainly "E.R.," when it first came out, really lent a lot of fame to that hospital, Cook County in Chicago. But you know, it's the drama -- is something that completely want to separate themselves from, from the reality of their day-to-day work, and they pointed that out to us as well -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay, thanks.
GUPTA: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Well, from the hospital landmark to another landmark here in Chicago, let's head down to Bill, who's with Sue.
HEMMER: Right over here, as a matter of fact. You know for 67 million years young, she looks pretty good, don't you think? This is the great tyrannosaurus rex, sue. Everybody in Chicago knows Sue so well.
Say hello and good morning to Greg Erickson (ph), paleontologist at the Field Museum.
Good morning to you.
Also Peter Makovic (ph), the curator of dinosaurs at the Field Museum as well. Great to see both of you today.
You said that this is the James Dean of dinosaurs, why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, research that we've just published recently shows that this animal lived fast and died young, hence the James Dean quote. A very amazingly fast growth rate, and a fairly short life span.
HEMMER: Lived fast and died young. What makes it so special? I say "her." I guess I should reserve my gender, right? Tell our audience why she is named Sue, and it has nothing to do with male or female.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, the person who found this is named Sue Hendrickson. We often name the dinosaur after whoever finds it. So that's where we get the name from.
HEMMER: What's so special about this wonderful...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, this is a particularly special tyrannosaurus. It's the world's largest tyrannosaurus specimen. It's also the most complete tyrannosaurus specimen, and based on our research, we know it's also the oldest tryannosaurus.
HEMMER: Is that right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it was 28 years of age when it died.
HEMMER: Wow, and there's something about the head, too, that's kind of special, because it's really not the original head, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No the problem with a head on a tyrannosarus, it weighs 500, 600 pounds. You just can't mount it up there, so that's actually a cast that's been put up there. And the actual skull is up on the balcony.
HEMMER: So we're seeing a replica essentially.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.
HEMMER: One of the things that people in Chicago tell me is that everybody knows about Sue, but there are so many wonderful things about this museum. Twenty-two million exhibits here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty-two million specimens in our holding, only you know, a few percent of those are actually on exhibit. We have everything from bugs through pre-Colombian pottery, to one of our flagships here, Sue, and those elephants which we use for scale. HEMMER: It is a living breathing school of history in here, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.
HEMMER: I think the other thing that's curious, too, is that in the tiles here on the floor, you can actually see -- find this one, there are fossils here that you can point to. How did that come about?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a couple of limestone -- they're probably local from not too far away, Wisconsin or Michigan. What you see there are actually the internal parts of ammonite (ph) shells. Those are the divisions in them that you see preserved in the rock, nicely exposed when you polish them.
HEMMER: You know, when schoolchildren come here, we've some special guests with us today from Sacred Heart School in Chicago, what is it about this Field Museum that gives them the ability to learn so many wonderful things about the planet right here in Chicago?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's just an amazing museum. It's just such a diversity of things to see here. You can see fossils, and you can see living animals today, and learn about all their interactions.
HEMMER: You guys love coming here, too, don't you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love coming here. We have a lot of outreach. We have an education department. We do all kinds of programs, from research that we do to sort of giving -- you know, passing that on to schoolchildren in the community in various ways.
HEMMER: Thanks for sharing. Good luck to you, all right. Great to see you, gentlemen, OK.
Back to Soledad now up there. She doesn't look too bad, does she now, huh?
Let's get a break here. Back in a moment here. Back with Andy and Jack, right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. We got this just in to CNN. It looks like American Olympic gymnast Paul Hamm is going to keep his gold medal. Switzerland's Court of Arbitration for Sport -- that's the sport's highest court -- has ruled that he can keep the gold medal. He's going to be the guest on our show tomorrow to talk about the controversy and also talk about the resolution that's come out this morning.
HEMMER: Wow. How about that? A lot of the folks weren't quite sure that it was going to go that way.
O'BRIEN: It could have gone either way, many people felt.
HEMMER: Let's get across to the museum to Jack and Andy, hanging out with us again. Hey, guys, good morning. How are you, Jack?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Bill. Andy is here. A preview of the markets, and Wal-Mart has picked out a book that they are banning from their shelves. What's up with that?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: We'll get to that in one second. Let's do the markets first.
Yesterday, a mixed session on Wall Street. The Dow is down; the Nasdaq is up. There's a song about the Battery, et cetera, et cetera of the -- goes like that. Futures are mixed this morning, as well.
Some good news for the economy. Jobless claims down sharply, down 25,329 last week. Maybe that will move stock futures higher. We'll be checking that.
Now, let's talk about that Wal-Mart story. One of the biggest booksellers in the land is banning one of the hottest selling books in the nation. We're talking about Wal-Mart, and it is banning Jon Stewart's new book "America the Book." I bet that breaks Tucker Carlson's heart.
CAFFERTY: I bet.
SERWER: Interesting what's going on here with this one. The reason Wal-Mart is banning the book is because on page 99, there's a photograph -- a "photograph" -- of the Supreme Court justices in the nude. And you are supposed to put robes back on them, adding some dignity to the court.
Of course, these aren't really pictures of the justices in the nude. The photos are taken from a Web site called clothesfree.com. And I was there earlier, Jack, doing some research on clothesfree.com.
CAFFERTY: Yeah, I walked by -- is that what you were doing? Research?
SERWER: It was research. A very interesting Web site there.
CAFFERTY: Yeah, if you are trying to lose weight, maybe looking at nude pictures of the Supreme Court justices would be a good way to kill the appetite.
SERWER: I think that's about...
CAFFERTY: ABC and Miss America getting a divorce.
SERWER: Yes, that's right. It sounds like that's going to be happening right now. ABC is canceling its contract to air the Miss America Pageant starting next year. And the reason why, Jack -- in this business it's always about...
CAFFERTY: The ratings -- the numbers.
SERWER: ... the ratings and money. And the numbers are way down. Only nine million households watched Miss America this year as opposed to 26 million in 1991. And I think the real reason that ABC is bagging this is because it gives them more time to air "Desperate Housewives." "Desperate Housewives," the smash hit.
CAFFERTY: Miss America pageant never been the same since Bert Parks left.
SERWER: Yeah, oh, I agree with that.
CAFFERTY: He was the guy -- I wonder, though, why the lack of interest in that? Maybe because there's so many other beauty pageants and stuff on television.
SERWER: Yeah, there's Miss World, Miss this, Miss that -- everything else.
CAFFERTY: All right. Thanks, Andy.
SERWER: You're welcome.
CAFFERTY: Chicago gave us things like deep dish pizza, Comiskey Park, Wrigley Field, inventive architecture, and of course, we were talking earlier, the Second City, the great comedy troupe that's here. A lot of famous people have their roots right here in Chicago, Illinois. And we did a little research of our own on Web sites where people wear clothing, and we came up with a list of people that you are going to recognize that all hail from the Windy City.
We start with Gillian Anderson, who appears in "The X-Files." Attorney General John Ashcroft -- that's not Attorney General John Ashcroft on the right. That is actor Tom Bosley, who appeared in "Happy Days." Apparently we do not have a picture of the Attorney General John Ashcroft.
General Wesley Clark, who ran for president of the United States. Senator Hillary Clinton. Best-selling author Michael Crichton, and of course, Walt Disney hails from Chicago.
Chess champion Bobby Fischer. Michael Flatley of the "Lord of the Dance. Betty Ford and her brother Harrison -- they're actually not brother and sister. Harrison Ford's the actor. Choreographer Bob Fosse -- that's not Bob Fosse. That is Benny Goodman, he also comes from Chicago.
Actress Daryl Hannah. "Playboy" magazine founder Hugh Hefner. Seymour Hersh of the "New Yorker" magazine. Quincy Jones, Ethel Kennedy, former presidential candidate Carol Moseley-Braun -- who I happen to like a lot. I thought she was the class of that Democratic field back when there were about 97 candidates running for office. Eliot Ness, Kim Novak comes from Chicago.
Jack Ruby, who saved the taxpayers the price of putting Lee Harvey Oswald on trial. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, "Wheel of Fortune" host Pat Sajak. Maria Shriver is from Chicago. She is married to the walking barbell that runs the State of California. And children's book author Shel Silverstein, of course finally, Robin Williams. So, some very cool folks coming from Chicago, Illinois, over the years. Back to you guys.
O'BRIEN: All right, Jack, thanks.
Still to come this morning, several states already casting their votes in this year's election, Florida included. You might remember that that state had a few problems back in 2000. We're going to find out what is being done to avoid a repeat of those problems.
That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING from Chicago. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Still to come here -- a deadly plane crash in Missouri. The final moments before the crash in the words of one of the survivors. His words in a moment on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: More harsh statements in the presidential campaign. Twelve days to go, and it's getting rougher and tougher.
Surviving the crash.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... crash occurred as the plane went into the trees, saw it come apart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: One of just two survivors in a deadly commuter plane crash talks about the final moments.
In Japan, a powerful typhoon sweeps through that country, causing massive devastation.
And the Red Sox.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's amazing, man! It's been a long time coming, long time coming. You got to be here to believe it, baby! Going all the way to the World Series, baby!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Red Sox fans finally taste happiness. Their team does the impossible, beating the mighty Yankees for a trip to the World Series -- on this AMERICAN MORNING.
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