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CNN Live At Daybreak

Missing Florida Girl; 'Business Buzz'; Lincoln Library

Aired April 14, 2005 - 06:31   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: And good morning to you. From the Time Warner center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News."

Chilling video this morning out of Iraq. An Indiana businessman working there is shown in a hostage video holding his identification and surrounded by masked gunmen. Jeffrey Ake begged his family and friends to negotiate with what he calls the Iraqi National Resistance.

Fresh from Pakistan, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stopped briefly in Kyrgyzstan today. His visit comes less than a month after the government was overthrown in a popular uprising. Rumsfeld met with the acting leaders and U.S. troops stationed in that central Asian nation.

More dramatic testimony is expected today in Michael Jackson's trial. His accuser's mother will be back on the stand. So far, she has mostly testified about the charge Jackson falsely imprisoned her and her children.

If you're heading to the airport anytime soon, leave that cigarette lighter at home. Starting today, lighters are being banned by the Transportation Security Administration.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Less than 100 miles from the spot of the Jessica Lunsford tragedy another small Florida community is dealing with the disappearance of a young girl. And today that community is expected to get support from someone close to the Lunsford case.

CNN's Susan Candiotti joins us now from Ruskin, Florida, with the latest.

Good morning -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Yes, the father of Jessica Lunsford, Mark, is expected to come to this community today while he is still reeling from his tragedy. He says that he wants to try and lend support to the more than 100 volunteers who have showed up so far to help find Sarah Lunde.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice over): As a small Florida rural community pitches in to help find 13-year-old Sarah Lunde...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm kind of happy we haven't found anything. Finding nothing is good.

CANDIOTTI: ... there is a running theme from those who know the 13-year-old.

DORIS FONTANA, FRIEND'S MOTHER: For her to just run away and not call and not show up is totally out of character.

CANDIOTTI: Last summer, Sarah Lunde did run away, but stayed at her minister's house.

SHERRY COOK, MINISTER'S WIFE: She was just a teenage turmoil. There were some problems in her home, but hopefully they had gotten beyond that.

CANDIOTTI: Sarah is from a broken home. At age 9, while in foster care, authorities ordered her hospitalized to protect her from possibly hurting herself. Her divorced parents have both had trouble with the law, Sarah's father for domestic violence.

Friends say the young teen was sometimes unhappy at home but was active at church and had a ball over the weekend at a religious retreat for teens.

LESLIE FONTANA, FRIEND: We played volleyball. We sang, had fun.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): What kind of mood was she in?

L. FONTANA: She was in a really good mood.

CANDIOTTI: And when you left her?

L. FONANA: She was in a really good mood. We had fun. She was laughing.

CANDIOTTI (voice over): Her best friend's mother says in a way she blames herself for not letting Sarah spend Saturday night with her daughter.

D. FONTANA: If only I would have said OK, you know, forget my tiredness, you know, and just OK, you know, we wouldn't be here. You know, so that eats at you.

CANDIOTTI: When Sarah Lunde was reported missing Monday, investigators located all but one of 24 registered sex offenders in the area, a town of 8,000. The other left town before Sarah disappeared.

One of the ex-cons, David Onstott. Police say he broke off a relationship with Sarah's mother a few months ago. Tuesday night, he was arrested for threatening someone with a screwdriver. Police say Onstott is being held on an outstanding DUI warrant from Michigan.

SHERIFF DAVID GEE, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA: We're not going to label him at this time. So far, we have had cooperation with most of the people.

CANDIOTTI: Sarah Lunde's mother pleading for help.

KELLY MAY, SARAH'S MOTHER: If anybody knows anything, have seen or heard anything regarding Sarah's disappearance that they do call the sheriff's department immediately.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: And we do have a picture of Sarah that was taken over the weekend at that church outing. You can see the half-cast on her arm, because of an injury that she had received.

Now, also this day, there is a court hearing for that sex offender that we told you about for failing to register as a sex offender as required by Florida law. That's taking place this morning.

But, again, police stress that he is one of many people they're looking at and refuse to call him a person of interest at this time.

Meantime, the search goes on when the sun comes up -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I know. You know, you hope she ran away, because that would give you more of a chance -- well, it would mean that she might be OK. Did she take anything with her? Is anything missing?

CANDIOTTI: There doesn't seem to be any indication of that. Her mother isn't saying much other than asking for help. But police have not released any information of that kind -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Susan Candiotti live for us this morning. Thank you.

Much more on the case in Florida ahead on "AMERICAN MORNING." Bill Hemmer joins us now to tell us.

Good morning -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Carol, good morning to you.

This is the same part of the state where Jessica Lunsford was picked up, the west side of Florida, although about an hour and 20 minutes away, just south of that location where Jessica once lived. We'll talk with the sheriff this morning, Carol. And we'll talk to him about this man that Susan just mentioned. He knew the girl's mother. There's a report that says he went to the girl's home on Sunday. What do authorities know about him now? We'll ask the sheriff leading that case and that investigation.

Also, former all-star Bo Jackson is trying to clear his name. There is a small newspaper in southern California that reported that Bo used steroids. The paper has retracted that report. It's apologized too. But Jackson is still moving forward with a lawsuit anyway. We'll ask him why. Bo knows the law, and we'll talk to him coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING."

Carol, see you at the top of the hour, 22 minutes away.

COSTELLO: I'm sure he does. Thank you, Bill.

HEMMER: Bye-bye.

COSTELLO: A wayward whale trying to find its way home. Have onlookers hindered the whale's progress? Have you heard about this? This is a whale in the Delaware River.

And life-sized figures of America's 16 president. An up-close and personal look at Lincoln's life.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's time now for a little "Business Buzz." Another day, another report of possible identity theft.

Carrie Lee has the details on the latest.

CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: This is the latest security breach story. We've talked about ChoicePoint. We've talked about LexisNexis. Now, we're talking about HSBC. The company says as many as 187,000 holders of its GM-branded Mastercards may have had their personal information compromised. The bank says in total about 6 million people have those GM cards.

Now, the bank has already sent letters to 12,000 of the customers affected, warning them of the breach. The rest are going to be notified within the next month.

HSBC says a national retailer had its security system breached. But it says it doesn't know which retailer and doesn't expect to find out.

"The Wall Street Journal," though, reports the retailer is Polo Ralph Lauren. The incident, which occurred about a month ago, as we were saying, is just the latest in an ever-expanding list of security breaches that have compromised the privacy of personal information.

Carol, regulators are looking into this, but as far as a consumer, there's really not much you can do about this. If you get a letter, obviously, make sure your accounts are all intact. But no way, unfortunately, to prevent this from happening in the first place...

COSTELLO: And no...

LEE: ... at least at this time.

COSTELLO: And no help from the credit card company.

LEE: Well, I guess they're doing what they can. But it's interesting that this company, HSBC, isn't sure which retailer is at fault, and doesn't expect to find out.

COSTELLO: Well, "The Wall Street Journal" knew!

LEE: Well, they say they knew. So, we'll see. Hopefully, regulators are going to try to be more active about this. I don't know if it's ever going to be completely an airtight situation though. Probably not.

COSTELLO: You're probably right. Thank you, Carrie Lee.

LEE: OK.

COSTELLO: One radio host is fired after raising questions of whether the pope went to heaven.

And from an awkward courtship to a clever politician, the many sides of Abraham Lincoln.

As we head to a break, here's a look at today's list of birthdays.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. Here's what's all new this morning at 6:44 Eastern.

Prominent Indiana businessman Jeffrey Ake is identified as the American hostage kidnapped in Iraq. He's shown pleading for his life on Al-Jazeera television. Washington has rolled out negotiations with kidnappers, but says the U.S. is working hard to secure Ake's safety.

In money news, federal regulators are looking at why the former chief of insurance giant AIG Corporation gave his wife more than $2 billion in company stock just days before he was forced to resign. The SEC is investigating the company and Maurice Greenberg for accounting practices.

In culture, the rock band Switchfoot was one of the big winners at last night's Gospel Music Association Awards. The band won four Dove Awards, including one for best new artist.

And in sports, Major League Baseball is back in D.C. for the first time in more than 30 years. The Washington Nationals play the first game in their new home tonight against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

To the forecast center.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: That's a look at the latest headlines this morning.

Eric Robert Rudolph cops a plea, and now he is explaining exactly why he planted those bombs at the Atlanta Olympics and other sites. More on this story ahead on "AMERICAN MORNING."

CNN's Soledad O'Brien joins us now. Good morning.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Carol, good morning to you.

Yes, a guilty plea, but there was no remorse from Eric Robert Rudolph. In court on Wednesday, Rudolph justified his bombings as part of a war. He directed some of his venom at CNN's senior investigative producer Henry Schuster. He was in the courtroom, too. Schuster co-wrote a book about Rudolph. He's going to tell us this morning a little bit more about the shocking show of defiance.

Also this morning, a pretty surprising turnaround to tell you about. An FDA panel recommending putting one company's silicone implants back on the market. We'll get reaction this morning from a woman who went through four sets of failed implants after she survived breast cancer. Now, she's leading the fight against silicone implants. She's been doing that for more than a decade.

Those stories and much more ahead at the top of the hour, Carol, on "AMERICAN MORNING."

COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Soledad.

Up close and personal, a new museum puts us face to face with Abraham Lincoln. I'll talk with the museum's director for a preview. That's next on DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is 6:50 Eastern. Here is what will be making news today.

An evangelical Christian radio talk show host who questioned Catholic beliefs and whether the pope would go to heaven has lost his job. Marty Minto (ph) was fired from Word FM Radio in Pittsburgh after he was told he was alienating listeners.

Police in Los Angeles will soon begin carrying flashlights that weigh less. A civilian panel voted for the lighter flashlights after a suspected car thief was beaten with a heavier metal light.

So far so good for that beluga whale swimming about in the Delaware River. The whale swam about 10 miles downriver toward the ocean, but went back up the river late yesterday. Teams monitoring the whale say it appears to be healthy and say there are plenty of fish in the river to eat.

Well, you might think a new Lincoln museum would be boring, but not this one. Although one critic called it a flop and intellectually empty, we call it Abe goes Hollywood. It reaches out and touches you in a most emotional way.

Let's head live to Springfield, Illinois, and the museum's executive director, Richard Norton Smith.

Good morning, Richard. RICHARD NORTON SMITH, EXEC. DIR., LINCOLN PRESIDENTIAL MUSEUM: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Richard, we're going to show our viewers an exhibit. It's so eerie and life-like. Mr. Lincoln -- oh, here's Mr. Lincoln as a boy. But if you approach this figure, it has hair on his arms. What are you trying to achieve here?

SMITH: We're essentially trying to put visitors inside Lincoln's life, not only inside his house, but inside his head. This is not a shrine. It's not a memorial. These are not marble statues. Marble statues are impressive, but they're lifeless. We want you to experience Lincoln living. And in that sense, it's an unconventional museum. But it's also a classroom in the broader sense of the word.

And the best thing that's happened over the last few weeks is we've been doing previews of the thousands of school kids who have been coming through and the schoolteachers who come up to me and say, where have you been all my life? This is what we've been looking for to try to make history come alive.

COSTELLO: Well, we're looking at these exhibits, and we see the life-like figures. They're the size of human beings. It's so different from the Lincoln Memorial, where Abraham Lincoln is just looking down upon you and you're a little...

SMITH: It's an icon.

COSTELLO: Yes, this little, tiny person.

SMITH: Yes, yes, yes. And, you know, but in addition to the figures -- and they've gotten a lot of attention, and that's understandable -- but there are also traditional elements to this exhibit. And there's nothing that compares with the real thing. I mean, coming face to face with Lincoln's own copy of the Gettysburg Address, you know, in his own hand, that's a very powerful, emotional experience in its own right.

COSTELLO: Yes, we're looking at an exhibit of the front of the White House now. It's really fascinating. You also have something kind of controversial, or at least critics say. You have Tim Russert from NBC reporting on Lincoln's presidential run. And, of course, there weren't any televisions back in 1860. So, what's the point there?

SMITH: If you stopped 100 people on a street corner in Springfield today and said, name me the four candidates for president in 1860 or the platforms they ran on, you'd get a lot of blank stares. So, the trick is, how do we take this information? We had a lot of historians involved in this. How do we distill historical scholarship and make it accessible to a modern audience?

Well, what we did was, we have both a traditional glass case and artifacts and an untraditional television control room with Tim Russert introducing 30-second campaign commercials for each of that year's candidates. And it's a marvelous teaching device. And, again, the happiest people of all are the schoolteachers.

COSTELLO: I bet so. Richard Norton Smith, the executive director of the new Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois. Thank you for checking in with DAYBREAK this morning. We appreciate it.

It is time now, Chad, to give away a DAYBREAK coffee mug.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: This one right here, Carol. Shipped out tomorrow for the answers that were correct from yesterday.

Here are the questions. What company's database was breached? Now, there are a number of right answers, but the one we're actually looking for is LexisNexis. But if you were going to give us some of the other ones, we weren't going to knock out of the contest. Lawmakers in what state just made English their official language? And that answer was West Virginia.

And the winner for today's DAYBREAK coffee mug, Shirley Turner from Affton, Missouri. Congratulations, Shirley. The mug is in the mail. Well, it will be tomorrow.

And the questions now for today, so you can answer them and we'll give you the winner tomorrow. How many matchbooks can you take on a plane? Remember, now you can't take any type of lighter. How many matchbooks can you take, though? And silicone breast implants made by what company will likely be allowed back on the market?

CNN.com/daybreak. The questions are right there on the bottom. Give your answers and your address.

COSTELLO: Good luck to you.

MYERS: OK.

COSTELLO: This is DAYBREAK for a Thursday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: "Now in the News."

An American hostage in Iraq is identified as prominent Indiana businessman Jeffrey Ake. Al-Jazeera TV showed video of Ake pleading for his life, surrounded by armed, masked militants.

Fresh from Pakistan, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stops briefly in Kyrgyzstan today. His visit comes less than a month after the government was overthrown in a popular uprising. Rumsfeld met with the acting leaders and U.S. troops stationed in that central Asian nation.

CNN is showing you a new picture of a missing 13-year-old girl south of Tampa, Florida. Investigators are questioning a registered sex offender in the disappearance of Sarah Michelle Lunde. The Hillsborough County sheriff plans a news conference a little more than an hour from now. And if you're heading to the airport anytime soon, leave that cigarette lighter at home. Starting today, lighters are being banned by the Transportation Security Administration.

(WEATHER REPORT)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.


Aired April 14, 2005 - 06:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. From the Time Warner center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News."

Chilling video this morning out of Iraq. An Indiana businessman working there is shown in a hostage video holding his identification and surrounded by masked gunmen. Jeffrey Ake begged his family and friends to negotiate with what he calls the Iraqi National Resistance.

Fresh from Pakistan, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stopped briefly in Kyrgyzstan today. His visit comes less than a month after the government was overthrown in a popular uprising. Rumsfeld met with the acting leaders and U.S. troops stationed in that central Asian nation.

More dramatic testimony is expected today in Michael Jackson's trial. His accuser's mother will be back on the stand. So far, she has mostly testified about the charge Jackson falsely imprisoned her and her children.

If you're heading to the airport anytime soon, leave that cigarette lighter at home. Starting today, lighters are being banned by the Transportation Security Administration.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Less than 100 miles from the spot of the Jessica Lunsford tragedy another small Florida community is dealing with the disappearance of a young girl. And today that community is expected to get support from someone close to the Lunsford case.

CNN's Susan Candiotti joins us now from Ruskin, Florida, with the latest.

Good morning -- Susan.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Yes, the father of Jessica Lunsford, Mark, is expected to come to this community today while he is still reeling from his tragedy. He says that he wants to try and lend support to the more than 100 volunteers who have showed up so far to help find Sarah Lunde.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice over): As a small Florida rural community pitches in to help find 13-year-old Sarah Lunde...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm kind of happy we haven't found anything. Finding nothing is good.

CANDIOTTI: ... there is a running theme from those who know the 13-year-old.

DORIS FONTANA, FRIEND'S MOTHER: For her to just run away and not call and not show up is totally out of character.

CANDIOTTI: Last summer, Sarah Lunde did run away, but stayed at her minister's house.

SHERRY COOK, MINISTER'S WIFE: She was just a teenage turmoil. There were some problems in her home, but hopefully they had gotten beyond that.

CANDIOTTI: Sarah is from a broken home. At age 9, while in foster care, authorities ordered her hospitalized to protect her from possibly hurting herself. Her divorced parents have both had trouble with the law, Sarah's father for domestic violence.

Friends say the young teen was sometimes unhappy at home but was active at church and had a ball over the weekend at a religious retreat for teens.

LESLIE FONTANA, FRIEND: We played volleyball. We sang, had fun.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): What kind of mood was she in?

L. FONTANA: She was in a really good mood.

CANDIOTTI: And when you left her?

L. FONANA: She was in a really good mood. We had fun. She was laughing.

CANDIOTTI (voice over): Her best friend's mother says in a way she blames herself for not letting Sarah spend Saturday night with her daughter.

D. FONTANA: If only I would have said OK, you know, forget my tiredness, you know, and just OK, you know, we wouldn't be here. You know, so that eats at you.

CANDIOTTI: When Sarah Lunde was reported missing Monday, investigators located all but one of 24 registered sex offenders in the area, a town of 8,000. The other left town before Sarah disappeared.

One of the ex-cons, David Onstott. Police say he broke off a relationship with Sarah's mother a few months ago. Tuesday night, he was arrested for threatening someone with a screwdriver. Police say Onstott is being held on an outstanding DUI warrant from Michigan.

SHERIFF DAVID GEE, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA: We're not going to label him at this time. So far, we have had cooperation with most of the people.

CANDIOTTI: Sarah Lunde's mother pleading for help.

KELLY MAY, SARAH'S MOTHER: If anybody knows anything, have seen or heard anything regarding Sarah's disappearance that they do call the sheriff's department immediately.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: And we do have a picture of Sarah that was taken over the weekend at that church outing. You can see the half-cast on her arm, because of an injury that she had received.

Now, also this day, there is a court hearing for that sex offender that we told you about for failing to register as a sex offender as required by Florida law. That's taking place this morning.

But, again, police stress that he is one of many people they're looking at and refuse to call him a person of interest at this time.

Meantime, the search goes on when the sun comes up -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I know. You know, you hope she ran away, because that would give you more of a chance -- well, it would mean that she might be OK. Did she take anything with her? Is anything missing?

CANDIOTTI: There doesn't seem to be any indication of that. Her mother isn't saying much other than asking for help. But police have not released any information of that kind -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Susan Candiotti live for us this morning. Thank you.

Much more on the case in Florida ahead on "AMERICAN MORNING." Bill Hemmer joins us now to tell us.

Good morning -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Carol, good morning to you.

This is the same part of the state where Jessica Lunsford was picked up, the west side of Florida, although about an hour and 20 minutes away, just south of that location where Jessica once lived. We'll talk with the sheriff this morning, Carol. And we'll talk to him about this man that Susan just mentioned. He knew the girl's mother. There's a report that says he went to the girl's home on Sunday. What do authorities know about him now? We'll ask the sheriff leading that case and that investigation.

Also, former all-star Bo Jackson is trying to clear his name. There is a small newspaper in southern California that reported that Bo used steroids. The paper has retracted that report. It's apologized too. But Jackson is still moving forward with a lawsuit anyway. We'll ask him why. Bo knows the law, and we'll talk to him coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING."

Carol, see you at the top of the hour, 22 minutes away.

COSTELLO: I'm sure he does. Thank you, Bill.

HEMMER: Bye-bye.

COSTELLO: A wayward whale trying to find its way home. Have onlookers hindered the whale's progress? Have you heard about this? This is a whale in the Delaware River.

And life-sized figures of America's 16 president. An up-close and personal look at Lincoln's life.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's time now for a little "Business Buzz." Another day, another report of possible identity theft.

Carrie Lee has the details on the latest.

CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: This is the latest security breach story. We've talked about ChoicePoint. We've talked about LexisNexis. Now, we're talking about HSBC. The company says as many as 187,000 holders of its GM-branded Mastercards may have had their personal information compromised. The bank says in total about 6 million people have those GM cards.

Now, the bank has already sent letters to 12,000 of the customers affected, warning them of the breach. The rest are going to be notified within the next month.

HSBC says a national retailer had its security system breached. But it says it doesn't know which retailer and doesn't expect to find out.

"The Wall Street Journal," though, reports the retailer is Polo Ralph Lauren. The incident, which occurred about a month ago, as we were saying, is just the latest in an ever-expanding list of security breaches that have compromised the privacy of personal information.

Carol, regulators are looking into this, but as far as a consumer, there's really not much you can do about this. If you get a letter, obviously, make sure your accounts are all intact. But no way, unfortunately, to prevent this from happening in the first place...

COSTELLO: And no...

LEE: ... at least at this time.

COSTELLO: And no help from the credit card company.

LEE: Well, I guess they're doing what they can. But it's interesting that this company, HSBC, isn't sure which retailer is at fault, and doesn't expect to find out.

COSTELLO: Well, "The Wall Street Journal" knew!

LEE: Well, they say they knew. So, we'll see. Hopefully, regulators are going to try to be more active about this. I don't know if it's ever going to be completely an airtight situation though. Probably not.

COSTELLO: You're probably right. Thank you, Carrie Lee.

LEE: OK.

COSTELLO: One radio host is fired after raising questions of whether the pope went to heaven.

And from an awkward courtship to a clever politician, the many sides of Abraham Lincoln.

As we head to a break, here's a look at today's list of birthdays.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. Here's what's all new this morning at 6:44 Eastern.

Prominent Indiana businessman Jeffrey Ake is identified as the American hostage kidnapped in Iraq. He's shown pleading for his life on Al-Jazeera television. Washington has rolled out negotiations with kidnappers, but says the U.S. is working hard to secure Ake's safety.

In money news, federal regulators are looking at why the former chief of insurance giant AIG Corporation gave his wife more than $2 billion in company stock just days before he was forced to resign. The SEC is investigating the company and Maurice Greenberg for accounting practices.

In culture, the rock band Switchfoot was one of the big winners at last night's Gospel Music Association Awards. The band won four Dove Awards, including one for best new artist.

And in sports, Major League Baseball is back in D.C. for the first time in more than 30 years. The Washington Nationals play the first game in their new home tonight against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

To the forecast center.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: That's a look at the latest headlines this morning.

Eric Robert Rudolph cops a plea, and now he is explaining exactly why he planted those bombs at the Atlanta Olympics and other sites. More on this story ahead on "AMERICAN MORNING."

CNN's Soledad O'Brien joins us now. Good morning.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Carol, good morning to you.

Yes, a guilty plea, but there was no remorse from Eric Robert Rudolph. In court on Wednesday, Rudolph justified his bombings as part of a war. He directed some of his venom at CNN's senior investigative producer Henry Schuster. He was in the courtroom, too. Schuster co-wrote a book about Rudolph. He's going to tell us this morning a little bit more about the shocking show of defiance.

Also this morning, a pretty surprising turnaround to tell you about. An FDA panel recommending putting one company's silicone implants back on the market. We'll get reaction this morning from a woman who went through four sets of failed implants after she survived breast cancer. Now, she's leading the fight against silicone implants. She's been doing that for more than a decade.

Those stories and much more ahead at the top of the hour, Carol, on "AMERICAN MORNING."

COSTELLO: All right, thank you, Soledad.

Up close and personal, a new museum puts us face to face with Abraham Lincoln. I'll talk with the museum's director for a preview. That's next on DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is 6:50 Eastern. Here is what will be making news today.

An evangelical Christian radio talk show host who questioned Catholic beliefs and whether the pope would go to heaven has lost his job. Marty Minto (ph) was fired from Word FM Radio in Pittsburgh after he was told he was alienating listeners.

Police in Los Angeles will soon begin carrying flashlights that weigh less. A civilian panel voted for the lighter flashlights after a suspected car thief was beaten with a heavier metal light.

So far so good for that beluga whale swimming about in the Delaware River. The whale swam about 10 miles downriver toward the ocean, but went back up the river late yesterday. Teams monitoring the whale say it appears to be healthy and say there are plenty of fish in the river to eat.

Well, you might think a new Lincoln museum would be boring, but not this one. Although one critic called it a flop and intellectually empty, we call it Abe goes Hollywood. It reaches out and touches you in a most emotional way.

Let's head live to Springfield, Illinois, and the museum's executive director, Richard Norton Smith.

Good morning, Richard. RICHARD NORTON SMITH, EXEC. DIR., LINCOLN PRESIDENTIAL MUSEUM: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Richard, we're going to show our viewers an exhibit. It's so eerie and life-like. Mr. Lincoln -- oh, here's Mr. Lincoln as a boy. But if you approach this figure, it has hair on his arms. What are you trying to achieve here?

SMITH: We're essentially trying to put visitors inside Lincoln's life, not only inside his house, but inside his head. This is not a shrine. It's not a memorial. These are not marble statues. Marble statues are impressive, but they're lifeless. We want you to experience Lincoln living. And in that sense, it's an unconventional museum. But it's also a classroom in the broader sense of the word.

And the best thing that's happened over the last few weeks is we've been doing previews of the thousands of school kids who have been coming through and the schoolteachers who come up to me and say, where have you been all my life? This is what we've been looking for to try to make history come alive.

COSTELLO: Well, we're looking at these exhibits, and we see the life-like figures. They're the size of human beings. It's so different from the Lincoln Memorial, where Abraham Lincoln is just looking down upon you and you're a little...

SMITH: It's an icon.

COSTELLO: Yes, this little, tiny person.

SMITH: Yes, yes, yes. And, you know, but in addition to the figures -- and they've gotten a lot of attention, and that's understandable -- but there are also traditional elements to this exhibit. And there's nothing that compares with the real thing. I mean, coming face to face with Lincoln's own copy of the Gettysburg Address, you know, in his own hand, that's a very powerful, emotional experience in its own right.

COSTELLO: Yes, we're looking at an exhibit of the front of the White House now. It's really fascinating. You also have something kind of controversial, or at least critics say. You have Tim Russert from NBC reporting on Lincoln's presidential run. And, of course, there weren't any televisions back in 1860. So, what's the point there?

SMITH: If you stopped 100 people on a street corner in Springfield today and said, name me the four candidates for president in 1860 or the platforms they ran on, you'd get a lot of blank stares. So, the trick is, how do we take this information? We had a lot of historians involved in this. How do we distill historical scholarship and make it accessible to a modern audience?

Well, what we did was, we have both a traditional glass case and artifacts and an untraditional television control room with Tim Russert introducing 30-second campaign commercials for each of that year's candidates. And it's a marvelous teaching device. And, again, the happiest people of all are the schoolteachers.

COSTELLO: I bet so. Richard Norton Smith, the executive director of the new Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois. Thank you for checking in with DAYBREAK this morning. We appreciate it.

It is time now, Chad, to give away a DAYBREAK coffee mug.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: This one right here, Carol. Shipped out tomorrow for the answers that were correct from yesterday.

Here are the questions. What company's database was breached? Now, there are a number of right answers, but the one we're actually looking for is LexisNexis. But if you were going to give us some of the other ones, we weren't going to knock out of the contest. Lawmakers in what state just made English their official language? And that answer was West Virginia.

And the winner for today's DAYBREAK coffee mug, Shirley Turner from Affton, Missouri. Congratulations, Shirley. The mug is in the mail. Well, it will be tomorrow.

And the questions now for today, so you can answer them and we'll give you the winner tomorrow. How many matchbooks can you take on a plane? Remember, now you can't take any type of lighter. How many matchbooks can you take, though? And silicone breast implants made by what company will likely be allowed back on the market?

CNN.com/daybreak. The questions are right there on the bottom. Give your answers and your address.

COSTELLO: Good luck to you.

MYERS: OK.

COSTELLO: This is DAYBREAK for a Thursday morning.

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COSTELLO: "Now in the News."

An American hostage in Iraq is identified as prominent Indiana businessman Jeffrey Ake. Al-Jazeera TV showed video of Ake pleading for his life, surrounded by armed, masked militants.

Fresh from Pakistan, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stops briefly in Kyrgyzstan today. His visit comes less than a month after the government was overthrown in a popular uprising. Rumsfeld met with the acting leaders and U.S. troops stationed in that central Asian nation.

CNN is showing you a new picture of a missing 13-year-old girl south of Tampa, Florida. Investigators are questioning a registered sex offender in the disappearance of Sarah Michelle Lunde. The Hillsborough County sheriff plans a news conference a little more than an hour from now. And if you're heading to the airport anytime soon, leave that cigarette lighter at home. Starting today, lighters are being banned by the Transportation Security Administration.

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