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CNN Live At Daybreak

Beirut Bombing; 'The War Room'; The Gates; Safety of Painkillers

Aired February 15, 2005 - 05:30   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: Good morning to you, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News."

President Bush wants Congress to cough up another $82 billion, mostly to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That pushes the total price tag for the wars to more than $300 billion, which includes some rebuilding.

At least 203 miners are dead following an explosion at a coal mine in China. China's official news agency reports 13 workers are now trapped. The blast happened in northeast China shortly after an earthquake.

A Senate panel holds a hearing today on a possible mismanagement of the U.N.'s Oil-For-Food program. The panel says new Iraqi documents suggest the former head of the program pocketed cash from oil deals.

The U.S. wants the U.N. to send up to 10,000 peacekeepers to Sudan. The U.S. proposal would give peacekeepers the power to use force to protect civilians from the imminent threat of violence in the war-torn Darfur region.

To the Forecast Center now and, Chad, good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Carol back to you.

COSTELLO: All right. Thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: An investigation kicks into high gear this morning in the wake of a deadly bombing in Beirut, Lebanon. The powerful blast killed Lebanon's former prime minister and 15 other people, caused massive damage and also set off political aftershocks.

Let's go to the site of the attack and CNN's Ben Wedeman.

Hello -- Ben. BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

Well that investigation is under way, but there are a lot of doubts here of whether that investigation will actually come up with anything. There have been a series of high-profile assassinations here in Lebanon, going back to 1982 when the president, at the time, was killed in another massive bomb blast. And since then, the Lebanese authorities have never really been able to find out who was behind any of these bombings. They've often come up with individuals.

For instance, today, they are looking for a man, a Lebanese man, who apparently had, they think, may have something to do with it. They searched his house. But by and large, the suspicion is here in Beirut that a country is behind it. And at the moment, many Lebanese are pointing at the Syrian capital of Damascus and blaming the Syrians, potentially, for this bombing. So a lot of suspicion going in that direction -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Ben Wedeman live in Beirut this morning.

This all leads us to "The War Room." There certainly is a lot of finger pointing in the assassination of that former Lebanese prime minister. The White House says it, too, is concerned about serious influence on Lebanon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's premature to know who was responsible for this attack, but we continue to be concerned about the foreign occupation in Lebanon. We've expressed those concerns. Syria has maintained a military presence there for some time now, and that is a concern of ours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Let's talk about that more in our "War Room" segment with senior international editor David Clinch. He's at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Good morning -- David.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Good morning, Carol.

Some interesting words there from the State Department. Interesting, not just in what was said, but the way in which it was said.

"The New York Times" today we're reading says that the Bush administration is suggesting that Syria was behind this attack. Well at least in public what we heard from the State Department and from the White House yesterday was not an outright suggestion.

But they are, as "The New York Times" points out there, calling for a U.N. Security Council meeting today to look into two things simultaneously, to condemn this attack and whoever was behind it. But also, very pointedly, to continue to condemn, as they have been doing for the last few months and longer, to condemn the continuing Syrian military presence in Lebanon, which they see as very negative influence.

Now Syria has reacted in the past few months to some of the pressure from the U.S. and France, but all they have done so far is move those troops around within Lebanon. They haven't actually moved many of them out of the country. So the pressure back on Syria to start moving those troops out.

But the fact that the Bush administration is sort of pointing the finger at Syria, in terms of those troops, at the same time is calling for a condemnation of whoever was behind this attack does, of course, lead to the idea that they are suggesting Syria had something to do with it. That, of course, is not what they said in public. So we'll be watching the wording very carefully there.

COSTELLO: Well, and you can see, David, how this could destabilize that part of the world, because Iran also weighed in on this and accused Israel of doing it, so.

CLINCH: Right.

COSTELLO: You know.

CLINCH: Lots of fingers being pointed.

And I think the interesting thing for us to watch is, as we've been covering the war in Iraq for the last few months, a lot of U.S. military officials have been telling us they are very concerned about the foreign influence in the insurgency there.

And I think the nightmare scenario for the U.S. military and the Bush administration is that not outright country's governments doing things like this, but entities that are emerging in the Middle East now which may have access to the resources of government, both weapons, massive bombs, as we saw yesterday, and potentially even weapons of mass destruction. Groups, entities that are attached to these governments but not acting with their full authority.

That's something that the Bush administration is very concerned about as it tries to move towards stability in Iraq, they're watching the rest of the region to make sure that the governments know that they, Syria, Iran and the others, have to do their bit to clamp down on anything that would lead to instability.

COSTELLO: David Clinch, live in Atlanta this morning, thank you.

It is a 23-mile long piece of public art and it's causing quite a flap. Ahead, a look at the ribbon of orange gates now winding its way through Central Park.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:40 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

The price tag for the war in Iraq and for Afghanistan is growing. President Bush is asking Congress for another $82 billion to support U.S. efforts in the two nations. That $82 billion is not part of the president's 2006 budget proposal.

With his family by his side, Alberto Gonzales was sworn in as the nation's latest attorney general. President Bush, speaking after the ceremony, called on Congress to renew elements of the Patriot Act, which expires this year.

In money news, Democrats must love Google. A "USA Today" analysis shows Google employees gave $207,000 to federal candidates last year. Of that amount, 98 percent went to Democrats.

In culture, did you catch the Grammys? Seems a lot of people did not. The people at Nielsen say fewer than 19 million people tuned in. That is the lowest rating since 1995.

In sports, an Arizona businessman is about to become the NFL's first African-American owner. Reggie Fowler announced he's buying the Minnesota Vikings from Red McCombs. Published reports say he's paying about $625 million -- Chad.

MYERS: Carol, did he say that he was leaving the team in Minnesota?

COSTELLO: I don't know.

MYERS: See, I haven't heard anything at all about that. That is sealed lips on that one. We'll have to see. I hope so, because folks up there had a great season, they'd hate to lose their team. I don't think that's going to happen, but we'll have to see.

COSTELLO: They're just going to lose Randy Moss.

MYERS: Yes, well, I'll keep my mouth shut on that one.

COSTELLO: He might come here to New York.

MYERS: Well that'd be good.

COSTELLO: To the Jets.

MYERS: He's perfect for them there.

COSTELLO: Yes.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you.

COSTELLO: You know, Chad, it's the talk of the town here in New York. MYERS: What, the saffron sheets?

COSTELLO: You are so disrespectful sometimes.

MYERS: What?

COSTELLO: Yes.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: The saffron sheets.

MYERS: The saffron way.

COSTELLO: I'm talking about the gates.

MYERS: The gates.

COSTELLO: This bold Central Park art exhibit that's drawing tourists from all over the world to New York. Are you coming to see it?

MYERS: Twenty-one million dollars.

COSTELLO: Come and visit. Bring Grant and Sally.

MYERS: No.

COSTELLO: Alina Cho talked to the masterminds behind what some people call "The Masterpiece."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Central Park these days is a sea of saffron.

JEANNE-CLAUDE, ARTIST: We chose the color in saffron because we like it esthetically. It's not related to the color of my hair.

CHO: Christo and Jeanne-Claude are the husband and wife team behind The Gates. From high above, the city's biggest ever public art project is on full display. Seventy-five hundred gates each with a floating ribbon lining 23 miles of walkways.

(on camera): You said if you're young, you should walk all 23 miles and if you're old, maybe...

CHRISTO, ARTIST: A few hundred feet.

(LAUGHTER)

CHO (voice-over): Free to the public, The Gates will only be up for 16 days.

JEANNE-CLAUDE: When you are in the presence of The Gates, you are already feeling the absence. CHO: Which is why hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over the world are flocking to New York. Hotels, normally quite in February, say bookings are up 30 percent. Places like the Mandarin Oriental are offering specials.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As part of The Gates package, we're going to be including these binoculars.

CHO: Over at the Plaza Athenee, a special Gates menu.

(on camera): So this is the lamb. This is on the menu.

BERNARD LACKNER, HOTEL PLAZA ATHENEE: That's right.

CHO: Saffron infused.

LACKNER: This is the creation of our chef, a lamb, a rack of lamb, saffron infused.

CHO (voice-over): Germans, Horst (ph) and Crystal Marshall say they didn't need an incentive. They were there 10 years ago when Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped Germany's parliament building in a shimmery silver gown.

CRYSTAL MARSHALL, GERMAN TOURIST: All the people, there were many, many people, and everybody was laughing and smiling. It was such a good feeling. And I looked at the people here, and I think they smile, too.

CHO: And this assessment from 9-year-old New Yorker Jonathan Rawls (ph).

JONATHAN RAWLS, NEW YORKER: I like the way the wind goes on it and makes it flow.

Alina Cho, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: I hope you were listening to that little boy -- Chad.

MYERS: I was.

COSTELLO: He gets it.

MYERS: I was, Carol. There are 15,000 homeless children in the city of New York. They sure could have used that for something better than making sheets on a big pole.

COSTELLO: Well, actually, you do have a point, $23 million for this. But you know the artists raised it all on their own.

MYERS: They did. Not a taxpayer penny went into this. And it does look phenomenal from the air, as well, I can assume, so.

COSTELLO: Well thank you for that grudging compliment. I'm sure Christo and Jeanne-Claude will be happy.

They were hailed as wonder drugs, stopping pain without side effects, but their claims turned out to be too good to be true. Up next, the story the pain these painkillers brought to one family.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: For months we've heard sometimes conflicting reports on the safety of painkillers, such as Vioxx or Celebrex. Beginning tomorrow, the FDA will hold hearings on the risks and benefits of the drugs and to see if they're safe enough to sell.

More now from CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anita Glover suffered with arthritis, and, like 20 million other Americans, her doctors prescribed Vioxx. Vioxx, along with Celebrex and Bextra, make up a class of pain drugs called COX-2 inhibitors.

They came on the scene in the late '90s, and many people considered them to be miracle drugs. They stopped the pain, didn't bother your stomach, and in the meantime, made millions of dollars for drug companies.

But Robert Glover, Anita's son, believes Vioxx is behind a tragic day in 2001 that he says he'll never forget.

ROBERT GLOVER, MOTHER TOOK VIOXX: She collapsed in the hallway on the floor, was having trouble breathing, was in real distress. And at that point we called 911, and we had the ambulance show up. And they took her to emergency. And she passed away of a heart attack.

GUPTA: And it's just this kind of story that an FDA committee will be investigating this week as evidence mounts that the COX-2 drugs may do more harm than good.

GLOVER: She read all the drug warnings. She felt that, you know, everything -- all the research had been done on it, and it was a safe drug for her.

GUPTA: But medical community insiders have been worried about this problem since the drugs came out.

DR. LAURENCE SPERLING, EMORY UNIVERSITY CARDIOLOGIST: Initially, about four years ago or so, there were questions related to the possible heart side effects of these medications.

GUPTA: And now fast-forward to the fall of 2004.

RAYMOND GILMARTIN, CEO, MERCK & CO.: The risk of a cardiovascular event did increase among those on Vioxx. Accordingly, we are voluntarily withdrawing Vioxx, effective today.

GUPTA: Then, just three months after Vioxx was pulled from the market over heart attack concerns, the National Cancer Institute halted a study using a similar drug, saying it found the same increased heart risk in those taking Celebrex.

Pfizer, the makers of Celebrex, said that these results were inconsistent with data in other clinical trials, and decided to keep the drug on the market. But both Pfizer and the FDA warned doctors to consider all of the risks before prescribing it to their patients.

We spoke with one doctor who heeded their warning.

SPERLING: Right now, with our available information, I would say that I'd be a little wary of prescribing Celebrex to you right now.

GUPTA: Four days after problems with Celebrex were announced, another trial was halted over similar heart concerns. This time, the drug in question was Naprosen, the active ingredient in the over-the- counter pain reliever Aleve. But the drug's manufacturer, Bayer, says Aleve is safe when used as directed.

While these concerns are just being brought to the public's attention, Robert Glover has been aware of the problems with Vioxx since his mother's death in 2001.

GLOVER: Unfortunately, she took the drug thinking that, you know, it was going to help her, but she didn't think it would hurt her.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Here's what's all new in the next hour of DAYBREAK.

Like millions of Americans, a New York man woke up Sunday planning to go to the mall. The police say his plans also involved a semiautomatic assault rifle. We will uncover more of the details of that shooting rampage.

Plus, a home improvement store changes its recruiting strategy so it can better communicate with customers. We'll explain when DAYBREAK returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Time to talk "Web Clicks" this morning. Chad, are you ready to see what's getting people's attention on CNN.com?

MYERS: Just clicked on them, Carol, go ahead.

COSTELLO: Binge drinking.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: The government did a study on binge drinking. They found it was highest in the Midwest. MYERS: Yes. In the Midwest states from North Dakota on southward and lowest in the southeast and also in the very far west. Now the only thing I found very interesting is that they said that some of the spots where binge drinking is the lowest actually has marijuana usage the highest.

COSTELLO: Interesting.

MYERS: Yes, so.

COSTELLO: Speaking of marijuana usage, they also did a study on that. Oregon ranked among the top states for the prevalence of marijuana use. Colorado, Montana, Maine and Vermont also had high levels of people smoking pot. Marijuana use was lowest in Utah, and that's where drinking was lowest as well, because, you know, they don't allow alcohol in Utah, and there are a lot of Mormons in Utah, and drug use is really discouraged there.

Another interesting story on CNN.com this morning, the search ends for a Salvation Army ring donor. Apparently someone dropped a diamond engagement ring into a Salvation Army kettle. There it is.

MYERS: Worth about $400 bucks, according to the jewelers. Four hundred people actually made claims on that ring, describing the ring, but no one actually described it properly. So now it's going to be sold and actually all the money given to the Salvation Army.

COSTELLO: That's really nice, isn't it?

MYERS: It sure is.

COSTELLO: And there's another study done, and it brings up the old argument are men's brains different from women's brains and whatever.

MYERS: Correct.

COSTELLO: This study was done by Michael Gurian, he's a psychologist and author of "What Could He Be Thinking?" He says that men have a more structured brain.

MYERS: He also says that he says that the left and the right side don't talk to each other as well as the women's left and right sides of the brain.

COSTELLO: Really.

He said men are able just to make a decision quickly, while women take in lots and lots of information and they think about it for a long time.

I have a question for you, how could I possibly do my job if I did that every day and not, you know, made a quick decision?

MYERS: He had a great quote here, he has two of them I want to read. "A doll becomes lifelike to a girl. But if you give it to a 2- year-old boy, and more than likely, not all the time, but more than likely that you'll see that boy try to take its head off and see how it works. He thinks in spatial mechanical. He's using the doll as an object." Another thing he also found was -- these are his words -- "unfortunately it does not explain why some men leave the toilet seat up and some women can't take out the garbage."

COSTELLO: I like those comments.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Many of you apparently feel quite strongly about our e-mail question this morning. We asked for your thoughts on religious education being sanctioned by the public schools.

The question is prompted by a story out of Virginia. The Stanton (ph) School Board decided to allow bible classes to continue for elementary school students at a Baptist Church during school hours. Some parents opposed the practice, but the school board voted overwhelmingly to continue it. And children can opt out of this program, if they want.

So we asked for your opinions this morning.

You got some -- Chad?

MYERS: Certainly do. Jeff (ph) in Seattle, there may be some value to teaching religion in historical terms since leaders have used religion to justify most wars, acts of genocide, slavery and intolerance of other religions. So teaching religious history words (ph) is all fine, but preaching religious and religion itself, no way.

COSTELLO: This is from Mike (ph) from New Hampshire. I feel that religion should be available at schools as long as it's not funded nor required by the school. I also do not feel that Christianity should be the exclusive religion demonstrated. After all, are we not in a current international mess because of our refusal to understand other cultures and religions?

MYERS: Could open up the doors, open up some eyes.

David (ph) says that after school and weekends should be fine if you want to do it there, but U.S. students are already the jokes internationally with their substandard abilities in math and science.

COSTELLO: And this is from Steve (ph). He says yes, the kids in Virginia and elsewhere, if approved, should be taught about Christ. Where else do moral values come from, certainly not society or the subjective morality of man.

MYERS: One more here I've got from Alpena, Michigan. Since there is no empirical evidence suggesting of any of the gods or the tooth fairies, public funds should be never used in discussing either one.

COSTELLO: Thank you for your e-mails this morning, they were quite fascinating. The next hour of DAYBREAK starts right now.

Straight-ahead on DAYBREAK, blackened ground, burned cars and gutted buildings, we'll take you into the heart of that massive bombing in Beirut.

Also, it reads like a who's who list. We'll tell you who might take the stand in Michael Jackson's trial. Uri Geller?

And hold the phone, will a major deal mean fewer choices for you?

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Aired February 15, 2005 - 05:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News."

President Bush wants Congress to cough up another $82 billion, mostly to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That pushes the total price tag for the wars to more than $300 billion, which includes some rebuilding.

At least 203 miners are dead following an explosion at a coal mine in China. China's official news agency reports 13 workers are now trapped. The blast happened in northeast China shortly after an earthquake.

A Senate panel holds a hearing today on a possible mismanagement of the U.N.'s Oil-For-Food program. The panel says new Iraqi documents suggest the former head of the program pocketed cash from oil deals.

The U.S. wants the U.N. to send up to 10,000 peacekeepers to Sudan. The U.S. proposal would give peacekeepers the power to use force to protect civilians from the imminent threat of violence in the war-torn Darfur region.

To the Forecast Center now and, Chad, good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Carol back to you.

COSTELLO: All right. Thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: An investigation kicks into high gear this morning in the wake of a deadly bombing in Beirut, Lebanon. The powerful blast killed Lebanon's former prime minister and 15 other people, caused massive damage and also set off political aftershocks.

Let's go to the site of the attack and CNN's Ben Wedeman.

Hello -- Ben. BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

Well that investigation is under way, but there are a lot of doubts here of whether that investigation will actually come up with anything. There have been a series of high-profile assassinations here in Lebanon, going back to 1982 when the president, at the time, was killed in another massive bomb blast. And since then, the Lebanese authorities have never really been able to find out who was behind any of these bombings. They've often come up with individuals.

For instance, today, they are looking for a man, a Lebanese man, who apparently had, they think, may have something to do with it. They searched his house. But by and large, the suspicion is here in Beirut that a country is behind it. And at the moment, many Lebanese are pointing at the Syrian capital of Damascus and blaming the Syrians, potentially, for this bombing. So a lot of suspicion going in that direction -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Ben Wedeman live in Beirut this morning.

This all leads us to "The War Room." There certainly is a lot of finger pointing in the assassination of that former Lebanese prime minister. The White House says it, too, is concerned about serious influence on Lebanon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's premature to know who was responsible for this attack, but we continue to be concerned about the foreign occupation in Lebanon. We've expressed those concerns. Syria has maintained a military presence there for some time now, and that is a concern of ours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Let's talk about that more in our "War Room" segment with senior international editor David Clinch. He's at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Good morning -- David.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Good morning, Carol.

Some interesting words there from the State Department. Interesting, not just in what was said, but the way in which it was said.

"The New York Times" today we're reading says that the Bush administration is suggesting that Syria was behind this attack. Well at least in public what we heard from the State Department and from the White House yesterday was not an outright suggestion.

But they are, as "The New York Times" points out there, calling for a U.N. Security Council meeting today to look into two things simultaneously, to condemn this attack and whoever was behind it. But also, very pointedly, to continue to condemn, as they have been doing for the last few months and longer, to condemn the continuing Syrian military presence in Lebanon, which they see as very negative influence.

Now Syria has reacted in the past few months to some of the pressure from the U.S. and France, but all they have done so far is move those troops around within Lebanon. They haven't actually moved many of them out of the country. So the pressure back on Syria to start moving those troops out.

But the fact that the Bush administration is sort of pointing the finger at Syria, in terms of those troops, at the same time is calling for a condemnation of whoever was behind this attack does, of course, lead to the idea that they are suggesting Syria had something to do with it. That, of course, is not what they said in public. So we'll be watching the wording very carefully there.

COSTELLO: Well, and you can see, David, how this could destabilize that part of the world, because Iran also weighed in on this and accused Israel of doing it, so.

CLINCH: Right.

COSTELLO: You know.

CLINCH: Lots of fingers being pointed.

And I think the interesting thing for us to watch is, as we've been covering the war in Iraq for the last few months, a lot of U.S. military officials have been telling us they are very concerned about the foreign influence in the insurgency there.

And I think the nightmare scenario for the U.S. military and the Bush administration is that not outright country's governments doing things like this, but entities that are emerging in the Middle East now which may have access to the resources of government, both weapons, massive bombs, as we saw yesterday, and potentially even weapons of mass destruction. Groups, entities that are attached to these governments but not acting with their full authority.

That's something that the Bush administration is very concerned about as it tries to move towards stability in Iraq, they're watching the rest of the region to make sure that the governments know that they, Syria, Iran and the others, have to do their bit to clamp down on anything that would lead to instability.

COSTELLO: David Clinch, live in Atlanta this morning, thank you.

It is a 23-mile long piece of public art and it's causing quite a flap. Ahead, a look at the ribbon of orange gates now winding its way through Central Park.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:40 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

The price tag for the war in Iraq and for Afghanistan is growing. President Bush is asking Congress for another $82 billion to support U.S. efforts in the two nations. That $82 billion is not part of the president's 2006 budget proposal.

With his family by his side, Alberto Gonzales was sworn in as the nation's latest attorney general. President Bush, speaking after the ceremony, called on Congress to renew elements of the Patriot Act, which expires this year.

In money news, Democrats must love Google. A "USA Today" analysis shows Google employees gave $207,000 to federal candidates last year. Of that amount, 98 percent went to Democrats.

In culture, did you catch the Grammys? Seems a lot of people did not. The people at Nielsen say fewer than 19 million people tuned in. That is the lowest rating since 1995.

In sports, an Arizona businessman is about to become the NFL's first African-American owner. Reggie Fowler announced he's buying the Minnesota Vikings from Red McCombs. Published reports say he's paying about $625 million -- Chad.

MYERS: Carol, did he say that he was leaving the team in Minnesota?

COSTELLO: I don't know.

MYERS: See, I haven't heard anything at all about that. That is sealed lips on that one. We'll have to see. I hope so, because folks up there had a great season, they'd hate to lose their team. I don't think that's going to happen, but we'll have to see.

COSTELLO: They're just going to lose Randy Moss.

MYERS: Yes, well, I'll keep my mouth shut on that one.

COSTELLO: He might come here to New York.

MYERS: Well that'd be good.

COSTELLO: To the Jets.

MYERS: He's perfect for them there.

COSTELLO: Yes.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you.

COSTELLO: You know, Chad, it's the talk of the town here in New York. MYERS: What, the saffron sheets?

COSTELLO: You are so disrespectful sometimes.

MYERS: What?

COSTELLO: Yes.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: The saffron sheets.

MYERS: The saffron way.

COSTELLO: I'm talking about the gates.

MYERS: The gates.

COSTELLO: This bold Central Park art exhibit that's drawing tourists from all over the world to New York. Are you coming to see it?

MYERS: Twenty-one million dollars.

COSTELLO: Come and visit. Bring Grant and Sally.

MYERS: No.

COSTELLO: Alina Cho talked to the masterminds behind what some people call "The Masterpiece."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Central Park these days is a sea of saffron.

JEANNE-CLAUDE, ARTIST: We chose the color in saffron because we like it esthetically. It's not related to the color of my hair.

CHO: Christo and Jeanne-Claude are the husband and wife team behind The Gates. From high above, the city's biggest ever public art project is on full display. Seventy-five hundred gates each with a floating ribbon lining 23 miles of walkways.

(on camera): You said if you're young, you should walk all 23 miles and if you're old, maybe...

CHRISTO, ARTIST: A few hundred feet.

(LAUGHTER)

CHO (voice-over): Free to the public, The Gates will only be up for 16 days.

JEANNE-CLAUDE: When you are in the presence of The Gates, you are already feeling the absence. CHO: Which is why hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over the world are flocking to New York. Hotels, normally quite in February, say bookings are up 30 percent. Places like the Mandarin Oriental are offering specials.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As part of The Gates package, we're going to be including these binoculars.

CHO: Over at the Plaza Athenee, a special Gates menu.

(on camera): So this is the lamb. This is on the menu.

BERNARD LACKNER, HOTEL PLAZA ATHENEE: That's right.

CHO: Saffron infused.

LACKNER: This is the creation of our chef, a lamb, a rack of lamb, saffron infused.

CHO (voice-over): Germans, Horst (ph) and Crystal Marshall say they didn't need an incentive. They were there 10 years ago when Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped Germany's parliament building in a shimmery silver gown.

CRYSTAL MARSHALL, GERMAN TOURIST: All the people, there were many, many people, and everybody was laughing and smiling. It was such a good feeling. And I looked at the people here, and I think they smile, too.

CHO: And this assessment from 9-year-old New Yorker Jonathan Rawls (ph).

JONATHAN RAWLS, NEW YORKER: I like the way the wind goes on it and makes it flow.

Alina Cho, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: I hope you were listening to that little boy -- Chad.

MYERS: I was.

COSTELLO: He gets it.

MYERS: I was, Carol. There are 15,000 homeless children in the city of New York. They sure could have used that for something better than making sheets on a big pole.

COSTELLO: Well, actually, you do have a point, $23 million for this. But you know the artists raised it all on their own.

MYERS: They did. Not a taxpayer penny went into this. And it does look phenomenal from the air, as well, I can assume, so.

COSTELLO: Well thank you for that grudging compliment. I'm sure Christo and Jeanne-Claude will be happy.

They were hailed as wonder drugs, stopping pain without side effects, but their claims turned out to be too good to be true. Up next, the story the pain these painkillers brought to one family.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: For months we've heard sometimes conflicting reports on the safety of painkillers, such as Vioxx or Celebrex. Beginning tomorrow, the FDA will hold hearings on the risks and benefits of the drugs and to see if they're safe enough to sell.

More now from CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anita Glover suffered with arthritis, and, like 20 million other Americans, her doctors prescribed Vioxx. Vioxx, along with Celebrex and Bextra, make up a class of pain drugs called COX-2 inhibitors.

They came on the scene in the late '90s, and many people considered them to be miracle drugs. They stopped the pain, didn't bother your stomach, and in the meantime, made millions of dollars for drug companies.

But Robert Glover, Anita's son, believes Vioxx is behind a tragic day in 2001 that he says he'll never forget.

ROBERT GLOVER, MOTHER TOOK VIOXX: She collapsed in the hallway on the floor, was having trouble breathing, was in real distress. And at that point we called 911, and we had the ambulance show up. And they took her to emergency. And she passed away of a heart attack.

GUPTA: And it's just this kind of story that an FDA committee will be investigating this week as evidence mounts that the COX-2 drugs may do more harm than good.

GLOVER: She read all the drug warnings. She felt that, you know, everything -- all the research had been done on it, and it was a safe drug for her.

GUPTA: But medical community insiders have been worried about this problem since the drugs came out.

DR. LAURENCE SPERLING, EMORY UNIVERSITY CARDIOLOGIST: Initially, about four years ago or so, there were questions related to the possible heart side effects of these medications.

GUPTA: And now fast-forward to the fall of 2004.

RAYMOND GILMARTIN, CEO, MERCK & CO.: The risk of a cardiovascular event did increase among those on Vioxx. Accordingly, we are voluntarily withdrawing Vioxx, effective today.

GUPTA: Then, just three months after Vioxx was pulled from the market over heart attack concerns, the National Cancer Institute halted a study using a similar drug, saying it found the same increased heart risk in those taking Celebrex.

Pfizer, the makers of Celebrex, said that these results were inconsistent with data in other clinical trials, and decided to keep the drug on the market. But both Pfizer and the FDA warned doctors to consider all of the risks before prescribing it to their patients.

We spoke with one doctor who heeded their warning.

SPERLING: Right now, with our available information, I would say that I'd be a little wary of prescribing Celebrex to you right now.

GUPTA: Four days after problems with Celebrex were announced, another trial was halted over similar heart concerns. This time, the drug in question was Naprosen, the active ingredient in the over-the- counter pain reliever Aleve. But the drug's manufacturer, Bayer, says Aleve is safe when used as directed.

While these concerns are just being brought to the public's attention, Robert Glover has been aware of the problems with Vioxx since his mother's death in 2001.

GLOVER: Unfortunately, she took the drug thinking that, you know, it was going to help her, but she didn't think it would hurt her.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Here's what's all new in the next hour of DAYBREAK.

Like millions of Americans, a New York man woke up Sunday planning to go to the mall. The police say his plans also involved a semiautomatic assault rifle. We will uncover more of the details of that shooting rampage.

Plus, a home improvement store changes its recruiting strategy so it can better communicate with customers. We'll explain when DAYBREAK returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Time to talk "Web Clicks" this morning. Chad, are you ready to see what's getting people's attention on CNN.com?

MYERS: Just clicked on them, Carol, go ahead.

COSTELLO: Binge drinking.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: The government did a study on binge drinking. They found it was highest in the Midwest. MYERS: Yes. In the Midwest states from North Dakota on southward and lowest in the southeast and also in the very far west. Now the only thing I found very interesting is that they said that some of the spots where binge drinking is the lowest actually has marijuana usage the highest.

COSTELLO: Interesting.

MYERS: Yes, so.

COSTELLO: Speaking of marijuana usage, they also did a study on that. Oregon ranked among the top states for the prevalence of marijuana use. Colorado, Montana, Maine and Vermont also had high levels of people smoking pot. Marijuana use was lowest in Utah, and that's where drinking was lowest as well, because, you know, they don't allow alcohol in Utah, and there are a lot of Mormons in Utah, and drug use is really discouraged there.

Another interesting story on CNN.com this morning, the search ends for a Salvation Army ring donor. Apparently someone dropped a diamond engagement ring into a Salvation Army kettle. There it is.

MYERS: Worth about $400 bucks, according to the jewelers. Four hundred people actually made claims on that ring, describing the ring, but no one actually described it properly. So now it's going to be sold and actually all the money given to the Salvation Army.

COSTELLO: That's really nice, isn't it?

MYERS: It sure is.

COSTELLO: And there's another study done, and it brings up the old argument are men's brains different from women's brains and whatever.

MYERS: Correct.

COSTELLO: This study was done by Michael Gurian, he's a psychologist and author of "What Could He Be Thinking?" He says that men have a more structured brain.

MYERS: He also says that he says that the left and the right side don't talk to each other as well as the women's left and right sides of the brain.

COSTELLO: Really.

He said men are able just to make a decision quickly, while women take in lots and lots of information and they think about it for a long time.

I have a question for you, how could I possibly do my job if I did that every day and not, you know, made a quick decision?

MYERS: He had a great quote here, he has two of them I want to read. "A doll becomes lifelike to a girl. But if you give it to a 2- year-old boy, and more than likely, not all the time, but more than likely that you'll see that boy try to take its head off and see how it works. He thinks in spatial mechanical. He's using the doll as an object." Another thing he also found was -- these are his words -- "unfortunately it does not explain why some men leave the toilet seat up and some women can't take out the garbage."

COSTELLO: I like those comments.

MYERS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Many of you apparently feel quite strongly about our e-mail question this morning. We asked for your thoughts on religious education being sanctioned by the public schools.

The question is prompted by a story out of Virginia. The Stanton (ph) School Board decided to allow bible classes to continue for elementary school students at a Baptist Church during school hours. Some parents opposed the practice, but the school board voted overwhelmingly to continue it. And children can opt out of this program, if they want.

So we asked for your opinions this morning.

You got some -- Chad?

MYERS: Certainly do. Jeff (ph) in Seattle, there may be some value to teaching religion in historical terms since leaders have used religion to justify most wars, acts of genocide, slavery and intolerance of other religions. So teaching religious history words (ph) is all fine, but preaching religious and religion itself, no way.

COSTELLO: This is from Mike (ph) from New Hampshire. I feel that religion should be available at schools as long as it's not funded nor required by the school. I also do not feel that Christianity should be the exclusive religion demonstrated. After all, are we not in a current international mess because of our refusal to understand other cultures and religions?

MYERS: Could open up the doors, open up some eyes.

David (ph) says that after school and weekends should be fine if you want to do it there, but U.S. students are already the jokes internationally with their substandard abilities in math and science.

COSTELLO: And this is from Steve (ph). He says yes, the kids in Virginia and elsewhere, if approved, should be taught about Christ. Where else do moral values come from, certainly not society or the subjective morality of man.

MYERS: One more here I've got from Alpena, Michigan. Since there is no empirical evidence suggesting of any of the gods or the tooth fairies, public funds should be never used in discussing either one.

COSTELLO: Thank you for your e-mails this morning, they were quite fascinating. The next hour of DAYBREAK starts right now.

Straight-ahead on DAYBREAK, blackened ground, burned cars and gutted buildings, we'll take you into the heart of that massive bombing in Beirut.

Also, it reads like a who's who list. We'll tell you who might take the stand in Michael Jackson's trial. Uri Geller?

And hold the phone, will a major deal mean fewer choices for you?

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