Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Steroid Summons; Explosion Rescue; Rent-A-Forehead
Aired March 10, 2005 - 07:28 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: Good morning, everyone. It's about 7:30 here in New York City. It's a bit warmer day than yesterday, just a touch now.
In a moment here, we're going to take you to New Jersey. The terrifying moments here that we're now learning about for this woman trapped last week when a Petco store exploded. Tapes of her calls to 911 are now released. And we'll listen to them and also talk to the emergency dispatcher who helped her through that ordeal. So that's coming up.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Also this morning, a look at the new frontiers for advertising, including commercials space that walks and talks. We're talking about belly billboards or foreheads that are for rent. Kelly Wallace shows us some of the strange sights that are out there right now.
HEMMER: And some people are making money off of them, too.
O'BRIEN: You know that little space right there? You can rent it.
HEMMER: I'm telling you. It may be a little more space in a couple of more years, too.
To the headlines. Here's Carol Costello with us.
Good morning -- Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, it's so cold.
O'BRIEN: You know, it's on his forehead, that's all I meant.
COSTELLO: And it's a nice looking forehead, too.
O'BRIEN: It is.
HEMMER: Thank you, darling.
COSTELLO: You're welcome.
Good morning, everyone.
"Now in the News."
A series of attacks in Baghdad today. Iraqi police coming under fire again. At least two high-ranking Iraqi police officials were gunned down, a third was injured. Iraqi police have been targeted repeatedly by insurgents.
New word of Pope John Paul's heath. Pope John Paul will stay at the hospital in Rome for a few days longer. Word coming in from the Vatican within the last hour. The pope taking the advice of doctors to continue his recovery at the hospital instead at the Vatican. The 84-year-old pope had a tracheotomy two weeks ago. He's expected to be back at the Vatican in time for Holy Week, and that begins on March 20.
Former President Bill Clinton has arrived at New York's Presbyterian Hospital for surgery. Clinton arriving there about two hours ago. He's set to have a procedure to remove fluid and scar tissue following his quadruple heart bypass six month ago. Clinton appeared relaxed ahead of the procedure, taking part in a charity golf tournament in Florida. We'll check back with Dr. Gupta on this story in the next hour.
And the Senate is expected to approve a new measure today making it harder to file for bankruptcy. The legislation is heavily backed by the banking and credit card industries. Critics say it will affect many of the 1.5 million people who seek bankruptcy each year, especially the poor. The House is expected to OK the bill next month.
Back to you.
HEMMER: Thank you, Carol.
Jack is talking about this topic today. Major League Baseball is now fighting a congressional investigation into steroid use. A House committee is now subpoenaing nearly a dozen players, but nearly all of those players say they will not go.
Here is Ed Henry this morning in D.C.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire forged a bond during the celebrated summer of '98 when they each surpassed the previous record for home runs in a season. Now, they're linked again, both slapped with subpoenas from a congressional committee probing whether their home run chase was fueled by more than just Mother Nature.
Also on the hit list: Jason Giambi, Rafael Palmero, Curt Schilling, Frank Thomas and Jose Canseco. Canseco wants to testify perhaps so he can discuss his explosive new book that claims he used steroids with McGwire and others. Schilling has spoken out against steroids, and Thomas has said this is a problem baseball must face.
FRANK THOMAS, CHICAGO WHITE SOX: I got nothing to hide. So, if they subpoena us, they subpoena us. And I will stand by my word. It's an honor to go there.
HENRY: But Major League Baseball officials are swinging back at Congress, insisting they'll fight the subpoenas because the committee does not have legal jurisdiction. Baseball officials also say forcing players like Giambi to testify on Capitol Hill next Thursday could taint the grand jury probe of BALCO Laboratories, which allegedly provided steroids to various athletes.
Giambi reportedly told the grand jury he used steroids, though publicly he's been vague about the case that's dominated the early days of spring training.
JASON GIAMBI, NEW YORK YANKEES: I know there's been a lot of distractions, you know, over the past year. And I wanted to apologize for all those, you know, distractions from the bottom of my heart. You know, I take full responsibility for it, and I'm sorry.
HENRY: In a letter to the congressional panel, Major League Baseball's lawyer lashed out at a separate subpoena seeking the results of player drug tests. He wrote, "The right to privacy outweighs any asserted interest in the health problems stemming from the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs."
An aide to House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, who issued the subpoenas, fired back the panel does have legal authority, saying "It's sad that they've resorted to legalese, and inaccurate legalese at that."
And despite baseball's push to block testimony, there are indications players like Sosa may come forward on their own. The stakes have been raised because a failure to testify could result in charge of contempt of Congress.
An agent for Sosa told CNN that after respectfully declining the panel's initial invitation, the slugger now will -- quote -- "take a second look and make the right choice."
Ed Henry, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Just to button things up here, those hearings are scheduled for next Thursday in Washington. In our next hour here on AMERICAN MORNING, former pitcher Jim Bowden (ph) will tell us what he thinks about Major Leaguers being summoned to Washington, D.C. -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: From New Jersey, a dramatic story of survival. A woman trapped after an explosion was linked to rescuers for almost an hour only by her cell phone. The blast last week injured five people at a pet supply store.
Jennifer Rohan (ph) was trapped in the rubble. She was still, though, able to call 911. She was rescued, but not without the help of Anthony Celano, the 911 dispatcher who kept her on the phone, and also kept her calm for 51 minutes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not going to make it, am I? ANTHONY CELANO, 911 DISPATCHER: No, you're going to make it out of there. Like I said, they can't -- they've got to make sure they know what they're moving.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ah! Ah!
CELANO: Jen?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please help!
CELANO: Jennifer? Jen?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
CELANO: Relax, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Rohan (ph) remains hospitalized in critical condition.
911 dispatcher Anthony Celano joins us now.
I am struck by how calm you are in dealing with her, which I know is part of your job. When she called first, though, was she panicking? Was she screaming?
CELANO: No, she was very calm. She said she was in the Petco building. I asked for her name and her cell phone number. And she said she was in the section of the building, possibly in the basement. She wasn't sure.
O'BRIEN: You were trying to get information from her, because the goal, of course, was to transmit that information to the rescuers on the scene.
CELANO: Right. As soon as I got the call, I found out where she was. I put the call into the police. Their dispatcher related to the fire department that there was somebody else stuck in the building.
O'BRIEN: She was giving you more information. Were you relaying that information then? She's in the basement. This is what she's dealing with.
CELANO: For the first couple minutes, Eatontown stayed on the phone with me. They disconnected. Another dispatcher actually relayed information over the radio as far as where she might be. And actually another dispatcher received a phone call from the firemen actually inside the rubble. So, there were actually two other people working on the same call with me.
O'BRIEN: True coordination. There were times when Jennifer's on the phone with you and she wants to hop off. And she says she thinks she's dying, and she wants to reach out to her loved ones for the last time. Let me play this tape first. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got to get another phone call. Hold on.
CELANO: No, Jennifer, don't worry about that phone call, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Huh?
CELANO: Don't worry about the phone ringing. I want you to keep me on the line, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would like to say good-bye to my loved ones.
CELANO: Jennifer, keep me on the line, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Yes!
CELANO: Do they hear you, Jennifer?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is Jennifer!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: What was going through your mind when she said, "I want to say good-bye to my loved ones?" You're almost yelling there.
CELANO: Yes, you want to keep her on the phone as long as possible to help the firemen get to her, to try and find out what's going on with her as far as her injuries go. And basically it's that she said that they didn't really know where she was at first. She was actually inside the building for almost a half-hour before she called. The explosion happened around 11:30. She called me around noon.
O'BRIEN: How long were you on the phone together?
CELANO: Fifty-one minutes.
O'BRIEN: Did she describe for you her injuries? Were you able to relay that as well?
CELANO: Yes, somewhat. She was complaining of her legs hurting, difficulty breathing, and she said her hand was also bleeding.
O'BRIEN: I want to listen to a little bit of where you tell her to keep calm, because, of I know that was a big concern of yours. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CELANO: Jen, they know where you're at, all right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. It's getting windier in here.
CELANO: Windy?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
CELANO: All right. I think they might have moved some stuff. But it is windy outside, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I don't mean to panic. I just don't feel good.
CELANO: I know that. I just want you to concentrate on your breathing. You don't have to scream. They know where you're at.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: This happened just minutes before she actually was rescued.
CELANO: Right.
O'BRIEN: What did it feel like when you were able to say, they see you, they've found you, and could you hang up with this woman? You were on the phone for almost an hour with her.
CELANO: Yes, I was getting excited, because I actually could hear their voices through her cell phone getting closer. About 40 minutes into it, we actually made a cell phone contact with the firemen inside the building. And there was confusion actually of maybe more than one Jennifer on a cell phone that was trapped in the building.
So, they called just to make sure that the one that they were going after was actually the same one I was on the phone with.
O'BRIEN: How are you feeling today? I mean, I know you're a very modest person. I've read that you have said you're not the hero in all of this.
CELANO: I mean, everybody...
O'BRIEN: Jennifer disagrees with you, by the way.
CELANO: Everybody that worked that day was -- I mean, the entire crew that worked, you know, there were 9 or 10 of us working that day. I mean, it was a group effort. I mean, I guess the two other dispatchers worked with my call. The person that coordinated the fire dispatch as far as there were almost 15 different fire departments going to the Petco, the first aid, you know, the police departments. I mean, everybody worked really hard that day.
O'BRIEN: Yes, you did, and you did a great job. Anthony Celano, 911 dispatcher, nice to have you come in and tell us your story.
CELANO: Thanks.
O'BRIEN: We appreciate it.
CELANO: All right.
O'BRIEN: Bill.
HEMMER: Well done. A nice ending.
It's 22 minutes now before the hour. Back to Chad Myers watching things for us outside.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Andy is "Minding Your Business" this morning. He's going to tell us why you soon may not recognize your neighborhood Kmart.
HEMMER: Also, some say it's the future of advertising, renting body space. People are even tattooing themselves for the right price. But first, what percentage of adults have at least one tattoo? Is it 2 percent, 8 percent or 16 percent? The answer after a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Before the break, what percentage of adults have at least one tattoo? And the answer is c, 16 percent. The most popular body part for women is the lower back or the ankle. And for men, it's the shoulder blade or the upper arm. Tattoo-free here on AMERICAN MORNING just for the record.
On a related matter, messages once reserved for billboards and buses are now popping up on people.
Kelly Wallace has more on the sign of the times this morning.
Good morning to you -- Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill.
This goes in the category of people who will do just about anything for a buck. Don't you think? And advertisers will do that, too. And we consumers seem to respond, and that is why we are seeing ads popping up in some very unusual places.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE (voice over): Twenty-one-year-old Elise Harp of Georgia has something to show you, what she auctioned off on eBay.
ELISE HARP, RENTED PREGNANT BELLY: I was walking around the mall one day, and I noticed that everyone was staring at my stomach. So, from there, I just was, like, you know, I might as well give them a real reason to look at my stomach.
WALLACE: So, after seeing this guy get a whopping $37,000 for renting his forehead, she rented her pregnant belly to goldenpalace.com, an online gambling site. The one-time model then modeled her new belly at the Daytona 500.
HARP: Actually, I did it because I'm a single mother. My child's father left within days of finding out I was pregnant. And I honestly needed the money.
WALLACE: With a click of your mouse, you quickly see that Harp is not alone. A woman renting her cleavage. A man trying to get $2.5 million to put a permanent tattoo on his head. This man renting his forehead and his bald head.
Bidders like goldenpalace.com are thrilled, seeing more traffic at their sites and lots of free publicity. But critics say it's a cheap and risky move.
KEN WHEATON, ADVERTISING AGE: You are taking a risk, because if I look at a person who is walking around with, you know, a Web site on his forehead, my immediate thought is that guy has got problems.
WALLACE: Supporters say what seems freakish at first usually becomes quite popular with time.
JON BONO, KIRSHENBAUM BOND & P ARTNERS: It won't be freakish when Leonardo Di Caprio puts a Pepsi logo on his forehead ahead during the Oscars. It won't be freakish at all.
WALLACE (on camera): Do you see that happening someday?
BONO: One day.
WALLACE: You do?
BONO: It will happen.
WALLACE (voice over): The renting of body parts is all part of a growing trend of ads popping up in unlikely places, from televisions on trains in Atlanta, to New York City with an entire subway car turned into a saloon, a promotion for HBO's western "Deadwood."
(on camera): More people are riding this train than normal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. They wait for this train, especially this is being ride the "Deadwood" train.
WALLACE: So, HBO must be doing something right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes, they're doing something good.
WALLACE (voice over): Not everyone agrees.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to see an entire car. It's kind of overkill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: But the ads will likely keep coming. So will the tactics to try and break through the increasingly crowded marketplace. And this brings us all back to where we began, Elise Harp, because goldenpalace.com didn't just rent her belly. It's also sponsoring her little girl's birth. HEMMER: Oh, is that right?
WALLACE: It is.
HEMMER: You can catch it on the Internet.
WALLACE: Stay tuned for that, exactly.
HEMMER: Twenty-four hours a day.
WALLACE: Exactly.
HEMMER: I'll be on Mars when Leo Di Caprio stands up there at the Oscars...
WALLACE: I don't know. Our advertising executive thinks it could happen.
HEMMER: Really?
WALLACE: Yes, he does.
HEMMER: What kind of companies would benefit from this that you found out?
WALLACE: Well, these are smaller companies, and companies like goldenpalace.com, an online gambling site. It can't rent advertising space on CNN or mainstream newspapers. It just wouldn't be allowed. So they're smaller. They don't have the money. They can get a big bang for their bucks.
CNN is doing a story. They're getting lots of local coverage, so they get a lot of free publicity, a lot of buzz. I don't think you'll be seeing McDonald's, Pepsi, CNN...
HEMMER: I think there's a risk in this.
WALLACE: ... putting it on people.
HEMMER: If you're a company and you go out and you say, OK, we're going to go ahead and slap this thing on your forehead, what happens if you get in trouble? Down to the police blotter. You got a mug shot all over smokinggun.com.
WALLACE: Well, there are risks, exactly.
HEMMER: There's an issues.
WALLACE: You might not know about the individual's background. And he or she, once they're out of your of your sight, you don't know what they're doing. But this goes in the category of perhaps any publicity, bad or good, is good publicity, at least these companies think so.
HEMMER: Thank you, Kelly. A cute story.
WALLACE: OK.
HEMMER: Kelly Wallace here. Here's Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, guess what? There is an apparent truce between two major rap artists in the feud that erupted in gunfire last week. Rappers 50 Cent and The Game making nice yesterday during a joint appearance in Harlem. Neither performer was actually involved in last week's shooting outside that New York radio station, but one member of The Game's posse was wounded. The shooting was reportedly in response to 50 Cent's decision to kick The Game out of his entourage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
50 CENT, RAPPER: I feel like this is an opportunity for people to see us make peace.
THE GAME, RAPPER: I'm almost ashamed to have participated in the things that went on the last couple of weeks. So I'm here. I'm apologetic, you know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Well, the rappers each presented oversized cardboard checks, donations totaling more than $250,000 to two of the rappers' favorite charities.
HEMMER: It's about 12 minutes now before the hour. And hundreds of Kmart stores are getting a facelift, and they're going to look a whole lot like another popular retailer. Andy has that, "Minding Your Business" back here a moment here with Andy and Jack on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. On Wall Street, a steep decline across the board. And hundreds of Kmarts are getting a facelift. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business." Do you want to start with the market?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: We'll do that. You know, if Wednesday is hump day, Wall Street just tripped over the hump, because stocks a big sell-off. The Dow was down 107 points. You can see here. The Nasdaq and S&P following suit.
The culprit is higher oil prices. We've been talking about this for days. Touching $55 again yesterday. The price of oil is now up 25 percent this year. Just like in last October, the price of oil went up, stocks went down.
Another new problem, though. Higher interest rates. The 10-year bond, for instance, is now at 4.5 percent. A month ago it was at 4 percent. That's a pretty big jump.
And today, of course, is the fifth year anniversary of the Nasdaq peaking, March 10 2000, 5048. That's not going to help us out, probably today. Let's talk about Kmart, though. You know, they merged with Sears back in November. And there was talk of what's going to happen. Are they going to keep the two names? The company was a little bit vague about that.
Now it appears that Kmart might be going by the by. They're getting rid of 400 of them, changing them over to Sears. Kmart has 1,480 stores. So you can see a bunch of them are going over to the Sears name. And the question is: Will they eventually all become Sears? And I think that there's a good chance they probably will.
O'BRIEN: So, there's a sense that Sears is just a stronger company?
SERWER: It's a better name, yes, absolutely.
O'BRIEN: OK, Andy, thanks.
SERWER: You're welcome.
HEMMER: Back to Jack and the "Question of the Day" now.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Congress apparently is running out of things to do with its time. They want to drag some marquis baseball names in front of a committee and force them to testify under oath about steroid use. Major League Baseball, smelling a potential image problem that is large, is going to fight the subpoenas, because if these guys had to hide behind the Fifth Amendment, why, that would wreck baseball's lily white image or what's left of it.
So, the question is whether or not these players ought to be forced to testify.
Johnny in Mississippi writes: "It's become apparent Major League Baseball has not been successful in policing itself. So congressional intervention is not only appropriate, but long overdue."
A.J. in Florida: "Sports figures should not be forced to testify any more or less than anyone else. But if they don't, then a classic 'you're out of here' should resound through the halls of justice."
Christopher in Maryland: "Unless I missed the memo, I thought Major League Baseball was a private-sector business. Why is the government getting involved? Congress is trying to distract the public from real issues by jumping on ones that have little or no bearing on our lives."
George in Florida writes: "Sure, as soon as we change the name of the USA to the USSA, United Socialist States of America. It to me seems McCarthyism is alive and well in our government. Get your own lives, politicos, and let us live our."
And Shirley in Florida writes: "If the owners that pay salaries that could pay to irrigate the Sudan. Let them eat live cats if it makes them run faster. The fans don't have to buy tickets, and Congress ought to do some real work." O'BRIEN: Well, isn't there a history of Congress investigating private companies? I mean, that's not unusual.
CAFFERTY: Sure.
SERWER: I don't think they're exempt from being investigated at all if Congress has a question. They can try to fight it.
HEMMER: What does the anti-trust clause do? Does that give them any protection in this?
SERWER: I don't know.
HEMMER: It's interesting they did not put Barry Bonds on that list of 10.
SERWER: What's that all about?
HEMMER: Well, they explained it. It was one of the first questions asked actually when this story broke yesterday afternoon. They came out and said, listen, if Barry Bonds is on that panel, all of the focus goes to him and no one else. And that's why he was omitted. I don't know if it makes sense or not to you, but that's...
O'BRIEN: Because (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to answer for the congressman.
SERWER: It doesn't make sense.
HEMMER: That was the reason that was given.
SERWER: Yes.
HEMMER: So a good topic. Thank you, Jack.
Leno was at it last night, handed the microphone to Carrot Top (ph) on the Michael Jackson matter. Here you go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got the props, too, from evidence right from the Michael Jackson trial.
JAY LENO, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": Here we go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you know, his mug shot keeps changing, so it has to match his mug shot. They just keep putting new noses on. You know, I don't know. They found a bottle of wine at Michael Jackson's house. This is really good cabernet, Mr. Jackson. It is very good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Leno is fighting a gag order. It's hard not to laugh at that. Come on.
SERWER: Well, the way he's doing it with the other people... HEMMER: And he's getting...
O'BRIEN: Even funnier than if he just did the joke himself.
HEMMER: And miles of publicity out of it, too.
SERWER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
HEMMER: So, Leno from last night with Carrot Top (ph).
O'BRIEN: That was very funny. A look at the day's top stories are straight head this morning. Also Mel Gibson's "The passion of the Christ" heads back to theaters with a new look. Find out what changed and why ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: In a moment here, this developing story we're watching this morning for you. A potential lead in the murder case of a federal judge's husband and mother, reportedly discovered during a routine traffic stop. Live to Chicago on what we're learning this morning after this on 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 March 10, 2005 - 07:28 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. It's about 7:30 here in New York City. It's a bit warmer day than yesterday, just a touch now.
In a moment here, we're going to take you to New Jersey. The terrifying moments here that we're now learning about for this woman trapped last week when a Petco store exploded. Tapes of her calls to 911 are now released. And we'll listen to them and also talk to the emergency dispatcher who helped her through that ordeal. So that's coming up.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Also this morning, a look at the new frontiers for advertising, including commercials space that walks and talks. We're talking about belly billboards or foreheads that are for rent. Kelly Wallace shows us some of the strange sights that are out there right now.
HEMMER: And some people are making money off of them, too.
O'BRIEN: You know that little space right there? You can rent it.
HEMMER: I'm telling you. It may be a little more space in a couple of more years, too.
To the headlines. Here's Carol Costello with us.
Good morning -- Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, it's so cold.
O'BRIEN: You know, it's on his forehead, that's all I meant.
COSTELLO: And it's a nice looking forehead, too.
O'BRIEN: It is.
HEMMER: Thank you, darling.
COSTELLO: You're welcome.
Good morning, everyone.
"Now in the News."
A series of attacks in Baghdad today. Iraqi police coming under fire again. At least two high-ranking Iraqi police officials were gunned down, a third was injured. Iraqi police have been targeted repeatedly by insurgents.
New word of Pope John Paul's heath. Pope John Paul will stay at the hospital in Rome for a few days longer. Word coming in from the Vatican within the last hour. The pope taking the advice of doctors to continue his recovery at the hospital instead at the Vatican. The 84-year-old pope had a tracheotomy two weeks ago. He's expected to be back at the Vatican in time for Holy Week, and that begins on March 20.
Former President Bill Clinton has arrived at New York's Presbyterian Hospital for surgery. Clinton arriving there about two hours ago. He's set to have a procedure to remove fluid and scar tissue following his quadruple heart bypass six month ago. Clinton appeared relaxed ahead of the procedure, taking part in a charity golf tournament in Florida. We'll check back with Dr. Gupta on this story in the next hour.
And the Senate is expected to approve a new measure today making it harder to file for bankruptcy. The legislation is heavily backed by the banking and credit card industries. Critics say it will affect many of the 1.5 million people who seek bankruptcy each year, especially the poor. The House is expected to OK the bill next month.
Back to you.
HEMMER: Thank you, Carol.
Jack is talking about this topic today. Major League Baseball is now fighting a congressional investigation into steroid use. A House committee is now subpoenaing nearly a dozen players, but nearly all of those players say they will not go.
Here is Ed Henry this morning in D.C.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire forged a bond during the celebrated summer of '98 when they each surpassed the previous record for home runs in a season. Now, they're linked again, both slapped with subpoenas from a congressional committee probing whether their home run chase was fueled by more than just Mother Nature.
Also on the hit list: Jason Giambi, Rafael Palmero, Curt Schilling, Frank Thomas and Jose Canseco. Canseco wants to testify perhaps so he can discuss his explosive new book that claims he used steroids with McGwire and others. Schilling has spoken out against steroids, and Thomas has said this is a problem baseball must face.
FRANK THOMAS, CHICAGO WHITE SOX: I got nothing to hide. So, if they subpoena us, they subpoena us. And I will stand by my word. It's an honor to go there.
HENRY: But Major League Baseball officials are swinging back at Congress, insisting they'll fight the subpoenas because the committee does not have legal jurisdiction. Baseball officials also say forcing players like Giambi to testify on Capitol Hill next Thursday could taint the grand jury probe of BALCO Laboratories, which allegedly provided steroids to various athletes.
Giambi reportedly told the grand jury he used steroids, though publicly he's been vague about the case that's dominated the early days of spring training.
JASON GIAMBI, NEW YORK YANKEES: I know there's been a lot of distractions, you know, over the past year. And I wanted to apologize for all those, you know, distractions from the bottom of my heart. You know, I take full responsibility for it, and I'm sorry.
HENRY: In a letter to the congressional panel, Major League Baseball's lawyer lashed out at a separate subpoena seeking the results of player drug tests. He wrote, "The right to privacy outweighs any asserted interest in the health problems stemming from the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs."
An aide to House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, who issued the subpoenas, fired back the panel does have legal authority, saying "It's sad that they've resorted to legalese, and inaccurate legalese at that."
And despite baseball's push to block testimony, there are indications players like Sosa may come forward on their own. The stakes have been raised because a failure to testify could result in charge of contempt of Congress.
An agent for Sosa told CNN that after respectfully declining the panel's initial invitation, the slugger now will -- quote -- "take a second look and make the right choice."
Ed Henry, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Just to button things up here, those hearings are scheduled for next Thursday in Washington. In our next hour here on AMERICAN MORNING, former pitcher Jim Bowden (ph) will tell us what he thinks about Major Leaguers being summoned to Washington, D.C. -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: From New Jersey, a dramatic story of survival. A woman trapped after an explosion was linked to rescuers for almost an hour only by her cell phone. The blast last week injured five people at a pet supply store.
Jennifer Rohan (ph) was trapped in the rubble. She was still, though, able to call 911. She was rescued, but not without the help of Anthony Celano, the 911 dispatcher who kept her on the phone, and also kept her calm for 51 minutes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not going to make it, am I? ANTHONY CELANO, 911 DISPATCHER: No, you're going to make it out of there. Like I said, they can't -- they've got to make sure they know what they're moving.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ah! Ah!
CELANO: Jen?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please help!
CELANO: Jennifer? Jen?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
CELANO: Relax, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Rohan (ph) remains hospitalized in critical condition.
911 dispatcher Anthony Celano joins us now.
I am struck by how calm you are in dealing with her, which I know is part of your job. When she called first, though, was she panicking? Was she screaming?
CELANO: No, she was very calm. She said she was in the Petco building. I asked for her name and her cell phone number. And she said she was in the section of the building, possibly in the basement. She wasn't sure.
O'BRIEN: You were trying to get information from her, because the goal, of course, was to transmit that information to the rescuers on the scene.
CELANO: Right. As soon as I got the call, I found out where she was. I put the call into the police. Their dispatcher related to the fire department that there was somebody else stuck in the building.
O'BRIEN: She was giving you more information. Were you relaying that information then? She's in the basement. This is what she's dealing with.
CELANO: For the first couple minutes, Eatontown stayed on the phone with me. They disconnected. Another dispatcher actually relayed information over the radio as far as where she might be. And actually another dispatcher received a phone call from the firemen actually inside the rubble. So, there were actually two other people working on the same call with me.
O'BRIEN: True coordination. There were times when Jennifer's on the phone with you and she wants to hop off. And she says she thinks she's dying, and she wants to reach out to her loved ones for the last time. Let me play this tape first. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got to get another phone call. Hold on.
CELANO: No, Jennifer, don't worry about that phone call, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Huh?
CELANO: Don't worry about the phone ringing. I want you to keep me on the line, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would like to say good-bye to my loved ones.
CELANO: Jennifer, keep me on the line, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Yes!
CELANO: Do they hear you, Jennifer?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is Jennifer!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: What was going through your mind when she said, "I want to say good-bye to my loved ones?" You're almost yelling there.
CELANO: Yes, you want to keep her on the phone as long as possible to help the firemen get to her, to try and find out what's going on with her as far as her injuries go. And basically it's that she said that they didn't really know where she was at first. She was actually inside the building for almost a half-hour before she called. The explosion happened around 11:30. She called me around noon.
O'BRIEN: How long were you on the phone together?
CELANO: Fifty-one minutes.
O'BRIEN: Did she describe for you her injuries? Were you able to relay that as well?
CELANO: Yes, somewhat. She was complaining of her legs hurting, difficulty breathing, and she said her hand was also bleeding.
O'BRIEN: I want to listen to a little bit of where you tell her to keep calm, because, of I know that was a big concern of yours. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CELANO: Jen, they know where you're at, all right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. It's getting windier in here.
CELANO: Windy?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
CELANO: All right. I think they might have moved some stuff. But it is windy outside, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I don't mean to panic. I just don't feel good.
CELANO: I know that. I just want you to concentrate on your breathing. You don't have to scream. They know where you're at.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: This happened just minutes before she actually was rescued.
CELANO: Right.
O'BRIEN: What did it feel like when you were able to say, they see you, they've found you, and could you hang up with this woman? You were on the phone for almost an hour with her.
CELANO: Yes, I was getting excited, because I actually could hear their voices through her cell phone getting closer. About 40 minutes into it, we actually made a cell phone contact with the firemen inside the building. And there was confusion actually of maybe more than one Jennifer on a cell phone that was trapped in the building.
So, they called just to make sure that the one that they were going after was actually the same one I was on the phone with.
O'BRIEN: How are you feeling today? I mean, I know you're a very modest person. I've read that you have said you're not the hero in all of this.
CELANO: I mean, everybody...
O'BRIEN: Jennifer disagrees with you, by the way.
CELANO: Everybody that worked that day was -- I mean, the entire crew that worked, you know, there were 9 or 10 of us working that day. I mean, it was a group effort. I mean, I guess the two other dispatchers worked with my call. The person that coordinated the fire dispatch as far as there were almost 15 different fire departments going to the Petco, the first aid, you know, the police departments. I mean, everybody worked really hard that day.
O'BRIEN: Yes, you did, and you did a great job. Anthony Celano, 911 dispatcher, nice to have you come in and tell us your story.
CELANO: Thanks.
O'BRIEN: We appreciate it.
CELANO: All right.
O'BRIEN: Bill.
HEMMER: Well done. A nice ending.
It's 22 minutes now before the hour. Back to Chad Myers watching things for us outside.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Andy is "Minding Your Business" this morning. He's going to tell us why you soon may not recognize your neighborhood Kmart.
HEMMER: Also, some say it's the future of advertising, renting body space. People are even tattooing themselves for the right price. But first, what percentage of adults have at least one tattoo? Is it 2 percent, 8 percent or 16 percent? The answer after a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Before the break, what percentage of adults have at least one tattoo? And the answer is c, 16 percent. The most popular body part for women is the lower back or the ankle. And for men, it's the shoulder blade or the upper arm. Tattoo-free here on AMERICAN MORNING just for the record.
On a related matter, messages once reserved for billboards and buses are now popping up on people.
Kelly Wallace has more on the sign of the times this morning.
Good morning to you -- Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill.
This goes in the category of people who will do just about anything for a buck. Don't you think? And advertisers will do that, too. And we consumers seem to respond, and that is why we are seeing ads popping up in some very unusual places.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE (voice over): Twenty-one-year-old Elise Harp of Georgia has something to show you, what she auctioned off on eBay.
ELISE HARP, RENTED PREGNANT BELLY: I was walking around the mall one day, and I noticed that everyone was staring at my stomach. So, from there, I just was, like, you know, I might as well give them a real reason to look at my stomach.
WALLACE: So, after seeing this guy get a whopping $37,000 for renting his forehead, she rented her pregnant belly to goldenpalace.com, an online gambling site. The one-time model then modeled her new belly at the Daytona 500.
HARP: Actually, I did it because I'm a single mother. My child's father left within days of finding out I was pregnant. And I honestly needed the money.
WALLACE: With a click of your mouse, you quickly see that Harp is not alone. A woman renting her cleavage. A man trying to get $2.5 million to put a permanent tattoo on his head. This man renting his forehead and his bald head.
Bidders like goldenpalace.com are thrilled, seeing more traffic at their sites and lots of free publicity. But critics say it's a cheap and risky move.
KEN WHEATON, ADVERTISING AGE: You are taking a risk, because if I look at a person who is walking around with, you know, a Web site on his forehead, my immediate thought is that guy has got problems.
WALLACE: Supporters say what seems freakish at first usually becomes quite popular with time.
JON BONO, KIRSHENBAUM BOND & P ARTNERS: It won't be freakish when Leonardo Di Caprio puts a Pepsi logo on his forehead ahead during the Oscars. It won't be freakish at all.
WALLACE (on camera): Do you see that happening someday?
BONO: One day.
WALLACE: You do?
BONO: It will happen.
WALLACE (voice over): The renting of body parts is all part of a growing trend of ads popping up in unlikely places, from televisions on trains in Atlanta, to New York City with an entire subway car turned into a saloon, a promotion for HBO's western "Deadwood."
(on camera): More people are riding this train than normal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. They wait for this train, especially this is being ride the "Deadwood" train.
WALLACE: So, HBO must be doing something right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes, they're doing something good.
WALLACE (voice over): Not everyone agrees.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to see an entire car. It's kind of overkill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: But the ads will likely keep coming. So will the tactics to try and break through the increasingly crowded marketplace. And this brings us all back to where we began, Elise Harp, because goldenpalace.com didn't just rent her belly. It's also sponsoring her little girl's birth. HEMMER: Oh, is that right?
WALLACE: It is.
HEMMER: You can catch it on the Internet.
WALLACE: Stay tuned for that, exactly.
HEMMER: Twenty-four hours a day.
WALLACE: Exactly.
HEMMER: I'll be on Mars when Leo Di Caprio stands up there at the Oscars...
WALLACE: I don't know. Our advertising executive thinks it could happen.
HEMMER: Really?
WALLACE: Yes, he does.
HEMMER: What kind of companies would benefit from this that you found out?
WALLACE: Well, these are smaller companies, and companies like goldenpalace.com, an online gambling site. It can't rent advertising space on CNN or mainstream newspapers. It just wouldn't be allowed. So they're smaller. They don't have the money. They can get a big bang for their bucks.
CNN is doing a story. They're getting lots of local coverage, so they get a lot of free publicity, a lot of buzz. I don't think you'll be seeing McDonald's, Pepsi, CNN...
HEMMER: I think there's a risk in this.
WALLACE: ... putting it on people.
HEMMER: If you're a company and you go out and you say, OK, we're going to go ahead and slap this thing on your forehead, what happens if you get in trouble? Down to the police blotter. You got a mug shot all over smokinggun.com.
WALLACE: Well, there are risks, exactly.
HEMMER: There's an issues.
WALLACE: You might not know about the individual's background. And he or she, once they're out of your of your sight, you don't know what they're doing. But this goes in the category of perhaps any publicity, bad or good, is good publicity, at least these companies think so.
HEMMER: Thank you, Kelly. A cute story.
WALLACE: OK.
HEMMER: Kelly Wallace here. Here's Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, guess what? There is an apparent truce between two major rap artists in the feud that erupted in gunfire last week. Rappers 50 Cent and The Game making nice yesterday during a joint appearance in Harlem. Neither performer was actually involved in last week's shooting outside that New York radio station, but one member of The Game's posse was wounded. The shooting was reportedly in response to 50 Cent's decision to kick The Game out of his entourage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
50 CENT, RAPPER: I feel like this is an opportunity for people to see us make peace.
THE GAME, RAPPER: I'm almost ashamed to have participated in the things that went on the last couple of weeks. So I'm here. I'm apologetic, you know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Well, the rappers each presented oversized cardboard checks, donations totaling more than $250,000 to two of the rappers' favorite charities.
HEMMER: It's about 12 minutes now before the hour. And hundreds of Kmart stores are getting a facelift, and they're going to look a whole lot like another popular retailer. Andy has that, "Minding Your Business" back here a moment here with Andy and Jack on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. On Wall Street, a steep decline across the board. And hundreds of Kmarts are getting a facelift. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business." Do you want to start with the market?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: We'll do that. You know, if Wednesday is hump day, Wall Street just tripped over the hump, because stocks a big sell-off. The Dow was down 107 points. You can see here. The Nasdaq and S&P following suit.
The culprit is higher oil prices. We've been talking about this for days. Touching $55 again yesterday. The price of oil is now up 25 percent this year. Just like in last October, the price of oil went up, stocks went down.
Another new problem, though. Higher interest rates. The 10-year bond, for instance, is now at 4.5 percent. A month ago it was at 4 percent. That's a pretty big jump.
And today, of course, is the fifth year anniversary of the Nasdaq peaking, March 10 2000, 5048. That's not going to help us out, probably today. Let's talk about Kmart, though. You know, they merged with Sears back in November. And there was talk of what's going to happen. Are they going to keep the two names? The company was a little bit vague about that.
Now it appears that Kmart might be going by the by. They're getting rid of 400 of them, changing them over to Sears. Kmart has 1,480 stores. So you can see a bunch of them are going over to the Sears name. And the question is: Will they eventually all become Sears? And I think that there's a good chance they probably will.
O'BRIEN: So, there's a sense that Sears is just a stronger company?
SERWER: It's a better name, yes, absolutely.
O'BRIEN: OK, Andy, thanks.
SERWER: You're welcome.
HEMMER: Back to Jack and the "Question of the Day" now.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Congress apparently is running out of things to do with its time. They want to drag some marquis baseball names in front of a committee and force them to testify under oath about steroid use. Major League Baseball, smelling a potential image problem that is large, is going to fight the subpoenas, because if these guys had to hide behind the Fifth Amendment, why, that would wreck baseball's lily white image or what's left of it.
So, the question is whether or not these players ought to be forced to testify.
Johnny in Mississippi writes: "It's become apparent Major League Baseball has not been successful in policing itself. So congressional intervention is not only appropriate, but long overdue."
A.J. in Florida: "Sports figures should not be forced to testify any more or less than anyone else. But if they don't, then a classic 'you're out of here' should resound through the halls of justice."
Christopher in Maryland: "Unless I missed the memo, I thought Major League Baseball was a private-sector business. Why is the government getting involved? Congress is trying to distract the public from real issues by jumping on ones that have little or no bearing on our lives."
George in Florida writes: "Sure, as soon as we change the name of the USA to the USSA, United Socialist States of America. It to me seems McCarthyism is alive and well in our government. Get your own lives, politicos, and let us live our."
And Shirley in Florida writes: "If the owners that pay salaries that could pay to irrigate the Sudan. Let them eat live cats if it makes them run faster. The fans don't have to buy tickets, and Congress ought to do some real work." O'BRIEN: Well, isn't there a history of Congress investigating private companies? I mean, that's not unusual.
CAFFERTY: Sure.
SERWER: I don't think they're exempt from being investigated at all if Congress has a question. They can try to fight it.
HEMMER: What does the anti-trust clause do? Does that give them any protection in this?
SERWER: I don't know.
HEMMER: It's interesting they did not put Barry Bonds on that list of 10.
SERWER: What's that all about?
HEMMER: Well, they explained it. It was one of the first questions asked actually when this story broke yesterday afternoon. They came out and said, listen, if Barry Bonds is on that panel, all of the focus goes to him and no one else. And that's why he was omitted. I don't know if it makes sense or not to you, but that's...
O'BRIEN: Because (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to answer for the congressman.
SERWER: It doesn't make sense.
HEMMER: That was the reason that was given.
SERWER: Yes.
HEMMER: So a good topic. Thank you, Jack.
Leno was at it last night, handed the microphone to Carrot Top (ph) on the Michael Jackson matter. Here you go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got the props, too, from evidence right from the Michael Jackson trial.
JAY LENO, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": Here we go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you know, his mug shot keeps changing, so it has to match his mug shot. They just keep putting new noses on. You know, I don't know. They found a bottle of wine at Michael Jackson's house. This is really good cabernet, Mr. Jackson. It is very good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Leno is fighting a gag order. It's hard not to laugh at that. Come on.
SERWER: Well, the way he's doing it with the other people... HEMMER: And he's getting...
O'BRIEN: Even funnier than if he just did the joke himself.
HEMMER: And miles of publicity out of it, too.
SERWER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
HEMMER: So, Leno from last night with Carrot Top (ph).
O'BRIEN: That was very funny. A look at the day's top stories are straight head this morning. Also Mel Gibson's "The passion of the Christ" heads back to theaters with a new look. Find out what changed and why ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: In a moment here, this developing story we're watching this morning for you. A potential lead in the murder case of a federal judge's husband and mother, reportedly discovered during a routine traffic stop. Live to Chicago on what we're learning this morning after this on 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.
