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American Morning
Crowds Flock to Salt Stain Virgin Mary; Chasing Tornadoes
Aired April 22, 2005 - 09:29 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: Former secretary of state Colin Powell's reportedly calling John Bolton smart, but problematic. Bolton's bid to the United Nations has been delayed amid concerns he threatened a subordinate and had disregard for the United Nations. According to "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post," Powell spoke in private with two wavering Republicans on the panel, considering his nomination. Sources stress that Powell did not advise the senators on how to vote, just said Bolton was problematic.
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. For the fifth time in four years, the House approved a version of its energy bill on Thursday. It includes more than $8 billion in tax breaks and allows drilling in the Alaska wildlife refuge. The bill heads next to the Senate. Lawmakers there, if you remember, killed a similar version of the bill two years ago.
And President Bush says he is looking forward to getting his hands dirty to celebrate Earth Day. Yes, it's Earth Day. The president will leave for the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee in just about an hour. He's scheduled to help out at a service project and will then address a group about his clean air policies.
And smoking is known to be bad for your health, but that doesn't seem to bother Charlie, Charlie the smoking chimp.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: That's horrible!
COSTELLO: I know it's bad, but he picked the habit up from watching people at a zoo in South Africa.
O'BRIEN: And the children are cheering him. This is terrible!
COSTELLO: Well, he probably doesn't inhale. His caretaker says the zoo might try to make him quit because he's not getting any younger.
O'BRIEN: And he's a terrible influence on all those 5-year-olds who are outside, cheering the chimpanzee.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Some cool videotape, though, don't you think?
O'BRIEN: No, it's bad!
COSTELLO: I don't think he inhaled.
O'BRIEN: She's dying of laughter over here. COSTELLO: I know.
HEMMER: Thank you, Carol. Look at him go. You want a smoke? Come over here!
COSTELLO: None of those kids are smoking, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, but they're getting a really good lesson in how to light up from the chimpanzee.
COSTELLO: Oh, that's funny. I'm sorry.
O'BRIEN: Rarely am I shocked, but I'm shocked.
HEMMER: He looks cool.
O'BRIEN: No, no, he doesn't look cool. It's a bad, unhealthy habit.
COSTELLO: The chimp's the answer to the missing Joe Camel.
O'BRIEN: Stop. You two are like the...
HEMMER: That's cute.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Bill.
HEMMER: Thanks, Carol. To Chicago we go. One person's stain can be another's religious experience. In recent days there, people have been flocking to this highway underpass to see what they believe is a sign from God. Chris Lawrence is live there this morning. Hey, Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Bill.
Well, since people really started to notice this a few days ago, people have been coming by to build onto this shrine and although it doesn't look like much from here, when you look at it on camera, you can notice in the lower left corner of your screen, that picture of the Virgin Mary embracing Pope John Paul II and you can see how people are comparing this to the image that's appeared here on this wall.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Some people will look at this and say, it's just a salt stain. A lot of others see something else, something more. Maria Rivera (ph) is about to undergo a biopsy after a small spot appeared on her recent x-ray.
MARIA RIVERA, PRAYS FOR HEALING: At 1:45 today, I have an appointment with a doctor to see if I have breast cancer and I just came here in hope that God and the Virgin Mary will cure me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
LAWRENCE: The image attracts women and men, people right down the street and way past the suburbs.
ELVIRA CARRIZALES, CAME FROM WISCONSIN TO SEE IMAGE: I brought my mother. She just got diagnosed with something and she feels that it will help her.
LAWRENCE: Engineers tell us the stain probably formed from a combination of water and road salt leaking from the highway above it. What you see with the naked eye is definitely different than what's captured by a camera.
MARION IDZIK, PHOTOGRAPHED IMAGE ON UNDERPASS: When I took a picture of it, I looked at the image. You could see like the eyes and the head and the veil, and when you look at it without the camera, it looks like a spot. So that was like almost amazing.
LAWRENCE: As for Maria Rivera, she finally pushed her way to the wall to touch what she sees as holy.
RIVER: It was scary, but I have faith that I'm cured and they don't find no cancer in me.
LAWRENCE: And where some can't even see an image, Maria sees inspiration.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: And just this morning I spoke with Maria and she told me that her biopsy got moved back a week, but the doctors did take another look at her film and say she's got about a 20 percent chance of having cancer. Now, looking here, you can see the crowd already starting to form here this morning, people coming out to take a look and more importantly, to take pictures of what they're seeing.
This is one of those situations where it really doesn't matter what someone else believes. Some people can look at this and say, well, these people are ridiculous. This is just a stain on the wall. Other people can look at it and truly see the image of the Virgin Mary. And it really doesn't matter what someone else believes. You probably are not going to convince someone to change their mind, but hey, what's wrong with that? Bill.
HEMMER: Chris, who came upon this first? How did you hear about it?
LAWRENCE: Well, we're hearing that a lot of people who live in this area say that this has been here for about three years, that they noticed it, nobody talked about it, it was kept secret. But a woman noticed it on Sunday or Monday, she started telling other people about it, and that's' when the news crews came on and once it got out on the local news, people have been coming from all over the area, even people coming from Wisconsin, deep Illinois suburbs, to see it for themselves.
HEMMER: Any chance it's removed from there, just to be taken to another location? LAWRENCE: Well, we talked to Illinois DOT and they said they're treating it like any other roadside memorial. They have no plans to remove it right now.
HEMMER: Thank you, Chris. Chris Lawrence there in Chicago -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Clean-up begins in today in Southeast Kansas after a tornado tore through the area last night. Take a look at these pictures. Several homes were damaged or destroyed. So far, though, no reports of any injuries.
Joining us this morning, the man who shot this amazing videotape, storm chaser Reed Timmer. Nice to see you, Reed. Thanks for talking with us this morning.
REED TIMMER, STORM CHASER: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of how big that tornado really is and also how close you actually got?
TIMMER: Well, the tornado is quite small in diameter, but that can be deceiving sometimes, because just because a tornado is small, it doesn't mean it's weak. If you see the circulation at the bottom of tornado, you can see that it was extremely violent. And we were probably initially an eighth of a mile away from the tornado at this point and we actually got much closer just after this, probably a couple hundred yards. And we could see little vortices spinning on the bottom and trees getting shot up in the air and soft-ball sized hail falling through the sky. So, I guess it's a good thing I brought my bike helmet out there.
O'BRIEN: So you're sitting out there a couple hundred yards way. You got a bike helmet on. What's going on around you? Is it just pouring? Is it -- I mean, these massive hail coming down on your head?
TIMMER: Yes, it's not pouring, but there's sporadic hail, probably baseball-sized hail falling every now and then, like getting thrown around the mesocyclone. And so it's fairly intense. I mean, we're actually not worried about the tornado because we knew which direction it was moving. The main thing we were worried about was the hail and the lightning. You can't really predict either of those.
O'BRIEN: Yes, and you got a big old metal camera on your shoulder and it's lightning out. What are you thinking about? Why would you want to do this?
TIMMER: Well, it's extremely exciting and the first reason is it's just incredible to see mother nature in its finest form. And the second reason is we work with the Sky Warn (ph) spotter network and if tornadoes touch down, we report them through this ham radio network. And so when the warnings get issued and storm chasers are reporting a tornado on the ground, when people hear that there's a confirmed tornado, they take the warnings a lot more seriously, even though they should take the tornado warning seriously, anyway. O'BRIEN: So at the end of the day, you're really providing a public service because people start paying attention when they can see really the videotape and the aftermath, but also they start getting confirmation?
TIMMER: Yes. And just after this tornado, too, when it was throwing the trees through the air, a tree actually fell in the path in the road when we were driving, so we actually had to get out and carry the tree out. I don't think you have any of that footage, but if you want to see it, you can check it out at tornadovideos.net. It's pretty crazy. I mean, we actually had to pick up the tree and then move on and...
O'BRIEN: Are you ever concerned about your safety and your life, frankly, when you're out there doing this? I mean, the trees are falling down. That could easily just, you know, hit your car, obviously.
TIMMER: Well, the trees fell down before we got there, obviously, and it's actually...
O'BRIEN: Yes, but it might not have, is what I'm saying, Reed.
TIMMER: Well, storm chasing's pretty safe, actually. I mean, we maintain a safe distance and we know which way the tornado's going and we've been doing it for nine years now, so I mean, we understand supercell structure and all that kind of thing. Tornadoes are actually fairly predictable.
O'BRIEN: Well, I'm glad you're predicting. All right. Reed Timmer out there shooting some storm video for us. Thanks. We appreciate it.
TIMMER: Thank you.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: In a moment, the high cost of proms keeps getting -- keeping kids from going actually, but four teens in Florida now have a way to make every girl's dream a reality, and it is free. We'll tell you about it.
O'BRIEN: We'll forward to that. Plus, Paula Abdul puts an end to all the rumors and reveals the reason behind some of her strange behavior. "90-Second Pop" is up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: If you're still in bed, wake up! It's time for "90 Second Pop" for a Friday. Here to play this morning: Amy Barnett, she's the managing editor of Teen People; Devin Gordon, senior writer for Newsweek; and Jessi Klein, comedian and panelist on VH-1's "Best Week Ever."
Good morning. That's a little bit of Paula Abdul to get us going in the morning.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: It's the only exercise I get. Let's get right to it. We're not talking about Paula yet, we're talking about Bennifer in the good way.
JESSI KLEIN, COMEDIAN: Part two.
O'BRIEN: Good news. Version 2.0 is what I like to call them. The one that seems to be working out.
KLEIN: Maybe, sort of.
O'BRIEN: No? Aren't they engaged?
KLEIN: They are engaged. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner seem to have decided to continue on with their relationship, perhaps forever.
O'BRIEN: Isn't that a good thing?
KLEIN: I feel like if their first collaboration, which was the movie "Daredevil," is any indication, the worst movie of all time, I'm worried about the marriage.
DEVIN GORDON, NEWSWEEK: Well, did you see "Elektra"? So let's not jump to conclusions. I actually think that this divorce -- I think they made have an under the table deal with Jennifer Garner and said, OK, if "Elektra" is a hit, you can walk away scot-free from this relationship. But if "Elektra" bombs you've got to stay in the relationship.
O'BRIEN: You guys are such negative people. Thank you.
AMY BARNETT, TEEN PEOPLE: I think it's perfect. They're like the perfect Patagonia couple. And Ben looks so much more comfortable now that he's not living J-Lo's blingy lifestyle. He is obviously more Patagonia...
O'BRIEN: "La Vida Loca"?
BARNETT: Well, he went from "Jenny from the Block" to Jenny from the cul-de-sac.
KLEIN: Supposedly this engagement ring was much cheaper than the one from Lopez, this was only $500,000.
O'BRIEN: And it's only 4.5 carats.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: It's tiny.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Embarrassing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's like he got it out of one of those machines.
O'BRIEN: Well, you know what? Good luck to them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good luck to them.
GORDON: Good luck to them.
O'BRIEN: I hope it works out well.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two-point-five kids I predict.
O'BRIEN: Who knows? Let's get to Paula Abdul. She's had a tough time and she has been acting a little bizarrely. Give me a sense of what she's been doing.
BARNETT: Well, really, she's just acting a little loopy on the show. And apparently, she was so upset after reading some negative stuff about her on the "American Idol" Web site, including allegations that she was on drugs, that she decided...
O'BRIEN: These were people who were posting, not the official Web site.
BARNETT: No, no, no, no, no, no, of course not, of course not. They were like fans who were just saying that she was acting crazy and dancing with the contestants.
GORDON: "American Idol" would never drum up controversy, never.
BARNETT: Exactly, to air more and more episodes. So what she did is she decided to come clean in this week's People magazine and she reveals that she's had some injuries and was is in some car accidents and has been in chronic pain for years. And so she was diagnosed with reflex sympathetic dystrophy. It's a rare disorder. And so she's finally being treated, she's pain-free, but along the way, she has tried everything, tons of things that haven't worked, including medications and...
O'BRIEN: Yes, something Enbrel, which she is saying kind of made her loopy, but the company says it doesn't have any sort of psychological effects to it.
GORDON: Yes, that strikes me as a classic case of publicity trying to shift the story. She admits to some disorder that she's got and then we forget about that fact that wait a minute, you've been acting loopy and we still don't have an explanation for it. What's going on here?
KLEIN: I think if you had to sit next to Simon for three years and pretend to laugh at all his jokes, you'd be a little bit loopy too.
O'BRIEN: We're out of time. But as always, I thank you. Bill, back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: All right, Soledad. In a moment here, a suspected thief with a lot of time and patience and allegedly hundreds of thousands of dollars hot off the press.
Andy explains that, next here "Minding Your Business."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Qwest back with a new bid for MCI, plus a man caught stuffing his pockets with hundreds of thousands of dollars. A look at the stories and a look at the markets this morning. Andy is "Minding Your Business."
Want to start with the markets?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: I do, Soledad. Unfortunately the roller coaster is headed down this morning. Stocks selling off after the big gain yesterday. You can see the Dow is down 45 points here. One stock bucking the trend, though, Google. It just keeps on giving. Up $15 this morning, which $219 a share, and I don't think any of the four anchors here own any of the stock.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: You were supposed to get us some.
SERWER: I know, I remember at the IPO.
CAFFERTY: At $60, which is the IPO price, you said, I will get us some shares.
SERWER: Some new people worked there, and we just couldn't get it together.
CAFFERTY: We could have been out of this lemonade stand by now.
SERWER: We could have been contenders.
Let's talk about some other stuff here, let's move on.
Qwest is trying to move in and buy MCI and snatch it away from Verizon. Verizon and MCI agreed to merge. Qwest now coming back for a third time, raising its bid by $800 million. Kind of reminds of someone who won't go out with you. You keep calling, you keep sending them flowers and chocolates. What part of no...
O'BRIEN: The answer is still no.
SERWER: Yes -- don't they understand?
And then finally, this is just a terrifically interesting story I guess is a way to put it. A gentleman who worked at the mint down in Fort Worth, Texas. It's actually called the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing Western Facility in Forth Worth, where they print money. This gentlemen Donald Edward Stokes Jr. has been arrested and accused several hundred thousand dollars in bills from this facility. Apparently he took them from an area where they took bill not fit for circulation, marked them slightly, but still good enough for most people, couldn't catch them, and he'd stick them in his pockets and walked out. They noticed some money was missing.
Listen to this, they made 18 million bills or $169 million a day there, and I guess they don't check the guy on the way out.
O'BRIEN: You would think that would be a good plan for the future.
SERWER: Yes, I mean, you would think so. You could just walk out with the money. So the guy's in a whole lot of hot water down there.
O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thanks.
SERWER: You're welcome.
HEMMER: Back to Jack and the food Question of the Day.
CAFFERTY: The government has a new food pyramid out, and we want to know if it's going to change the way you eat.
Paul in Oklahoma City writes, "Until the food pyramid is printed on the wrappers of Big Macs, it will remain irrelevant to American life."
Dale in Virginia writes, "I want to thank the USDA for spending my money to document my bad habits, and recommend behaviors that I will never follow. If I had that money, I'd just spend it buying bad food."
And Edward in Ottawa writes, "I used to limit my alcohol consumption to weekends, but the new food pyramid says it's already to have two a day. That means its acceptable to have two eye-openers before sending you these e-mails. Your segment is about to get a whole lot more interesting, Jack."
HEMMER: "IN THE MONEY" this weekend, right?
CAFFERTY: Tomorrow on "IN THE MONEY" -- see I picked right up on that.
SERWER: Like a Swiss watch.
CAFFERTY: "New York Times" columnist Tom Friedman will join us to talk about his new book, "The World is Flat." This is a bright guy. He must have had a brain lapse to agree to come on this program, because he's vastly overqualified to talk to me, Andy and Susan, but he's going to do it anyway. The book's about terrorism, globalism and a lot more. And I like Friedman.
O'BRIEN: It's a good book, too.
CAFFERTY: You need to watch so the ratings will be high, and then he'll agree to come on again at some future time. That's your assignment, Saturday at 1:00, Sunday at 3:00. Check it out.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack. Let's get a break. Top of the hour here, expecting an announcement from the president down in D.C. Mr. Bush set to nominate Marine General Peter Pace as the new chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. We'll have it for you live as soon as that begins, any minute now.
Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. We are waiting to hear from President Bush. He's expected to announce any minute now Marine General Peter Pace as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs. We're going to bring that to you live when it happens.
First this story, though. It is the event, obviously, that many high schoolers look forward to all spring, the prom. But for some teens the cost of the big dance can become a real burden.
In today's "Extra Effort" report, John Zarrella reports on a group of seniors making prom dreams come true.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They just wanted to make it easier. Three years ago these four high school girls in West Palm Beach started hanging fliers in the school hallways. Their new business, The Formal Exchange, was over. Lisa, Kramer (ph), Sierra and Lauren (ph) had one goal in mind, to make the prom affordable for every girl and to give every girl the opportunity to be Cinderella.
LISA YANSURA, THE FORMAL EXCHANGE: We've come up with over $600. Probably that's what prom costs, with getting your nails done, a limo, shoes, accessories, your dress, dinner, prom tickets are, I mean, outrageous.
ZARRELLA: Girls from any school can come in and exchange a gently worn dress formal dress for one that has been donated or exchanged by another girl. Every Thursday for a month during prom season, the business is open in the city library.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Give me, like, a really, like, pretty that color pink necklace.
Nicole Harmon found the perfect dress at the perfect price.
NICOLE HARMON, LAKE WORTH HIGH SCHOOL: I think that most of these dresses are, like, over $100, and to get them for free, you can't beat that.
ZARRELLA: Girls also get discount coupons for hair, nails and makeup from a local salon. Those who don't have dresses to exchange can get one, too, just by showing proof of 10 hours community service.
SIERRA MCGILL, THE FORMAL EXCHANGE: Prom is kind of like part of the high school experience, so to not be able to go to something like that is really sad to hear, so to know that we're helping girls tap that opportunity is kind of rewarding.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fix me, make me look pretty.
ZARRELLA: The four girls, all seniors, are hoping others will step in next year and make the extra effort to carry on the business, because they say every girl should have the chance to be Cinderella.
John Zarrella, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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Aired April 22, 2005 - 09:29 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Former secretary of state Colin Powell's reportedly calling John Bolton smart, but problematic. Bolton's bid to the United Nations has been delayed amid concerns he threatened a subordinate and had disregard for the United Nations. According to "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post," Powell spoke in private with two wavering Republicans on the panel, considering his nomination. Sources stress that Powell did not advise the senators on how to vote, just said Bolton was problematic.
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. For the fifth time in four years, the House approved a version of its energy bill on Thursday. It includes more than $8 billion in tax breaks and allows drilling in the Alaska wildlife refuge. The bill heads next to the Senate. Lawmakers there, if you remember, killed a similar version of the bill two years ago.
And President Bush says he is looking forward to getting his hands dirty to celebrate Earth Day. Yes, it's Earth Day. The president will leave for the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee in just about an hour. He's scheduled to help out at a service project and will then address a group about his clean air policies.
And smoking is known to be bad for your health, but that doesn't seem to bother Charlie, Charlie the smoking chimp.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: That's horrible!
COSTELLO: I know it's bad, but he picked the habit up from watching people at a zoo in South Africa.
O'BRIEN: And the children are cheering him. This is terrible!
COSTELLO: Well, he probably doesn't inhale. His caretaker says the zoo might try to make him quit because he's not getting any younger.
O'BRIEN: And he's a terrible influence on all those 5-year-olds who are outside, cheering the chimpanzee.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Some cool videotape, though, don't you think?
O'BRIEN: No, it's bad!
COSTELLO: I don't think he inhaled.
O'BRIEN: She's dying of laughter over here. COSTELLO: I know.
HEMMER: Thank you, Carol. Look at him go. You want a smoke? Come over here!
COSTELLO: None of those kids are smoking, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, but they're getting a really good lesson in how to light up from the chimpanzee.
COSTELLO: Oh, that's funny. I'm sorry.
O'BRIEN: Rarely am I shocked, but I'm shocked.
HEMMER: He looks cool.
O'BRIEN: No, no, he doesn't look cool. It's a bad, unhealthy habit.
COSTELLO: The chimp's the answer to the missing Joe Camel.
O'BRIEN: Stop. You two are like the...
HEMMER: That's cute.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Bill.
HEMMER: Thanks, Carol. To Chicago we go. One person's stain can be another's religious experience. In recent days there, people have been flocking to this highway underpass to see what they believe is a sign from God. Chris Lawrence is live there this morning. Hey, Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Bill.
Well, since people really started to notice this a few days ago, people have been coming by to build onto this shrine and although it doesn't look like much from here, when you look at it on camera, you can notice in the lower left corner of your screen, that picture of the Virgin Mary embracing Pope John Paul II and you can see how people are comparing this to the image that's appeared here on this wall.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Some people will look at this and say, it's just a salt stain. A lot of others see something else, something more. Maria Rivera (ph) is about to undergo a biopsy after a small spot appeared on her recent x-ray.
MARIA RIVERA, PRAYS FOR HEALING: At 1:45 today, I have an appointment with a doctor to see if I have breast cancer and I just came here in hope that God and the Virgin Mary will cure me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
LAWRENCE: The image attracts women and men, people right down the street and way past the suburbs.
ELVIRA CARRIZALES, CAME FROM WISCONSIN TO SEE IMAGE: I brought my mother. She just got diagnosed with something and she feels that it will help her.
LAWRENCE: Engineers tell us the stain probably formed from a combination of water and road salt leaking from the highway above it. What you see with the naked eye is definitely different than what's captured by a camera.
MARION IDZIK, PHOTOGRAPHED IMAGE ON UNDERPASS: When I took a picture of it, I looked at the image. You could see like the eyes and the head and the veil, and when you look at it without the camera, it looks like a spot. So that was like almost amazing.
LAWRENCE: As for Maria Rivera, she finally pushed her way to the wall to touch what she sees as holy.
RIVER: It was scary, but I have faith that I'm cured and they don't find no cancer in me.
LAWRENCE: And where some can't even see an image, Maria sees inspiration.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: And just this morning I spoke with Maria and she told me that her biopsy got moved back a week, but the doctors did take another look at her film and say she's got about a 20 percent chance of having cancer. Now, looking here, you can see the crowd already starting to form here this morning, people coming out to take a look and more importantly, to take pictures of what they're seeing.
This is one of those situations where it really doesn't matter what someone else believes. Some people can look at this and say, well, these people are ridiculous. This is just a stain on the wall. Other people can look at it and truly see the image of the Virgin Mary. And it really doesn't matter what someone else believes. You probably are not going to convince someone to change their mind, but hey, what's wrong with that? Bill.
HEMMER: Chris, who came upon this first? How did you hear about it?
LAWRENCE: Well, we're hearing that a lot of people who live in this area say that this has been here for about three years, that they noticed it, nobody talked about it, it was kept secret. But a woman noticed it on Sunday or Monday, she started telling other people about it, and that's' when the news crews came on and once it got out on the local news, people have been coming from all over the area, even people coming from Wisconsin, deep Illinois suburbs, to see it for themselves.
HEMMER: Any chance it's removed from there, just to be taken to another location? LAWRENCE: Well, we talked to Illinois DOT and they said they're treating it like any other roadside memorial. They have no plans to remove it right now.
HEMMER: Thank you, Chris. Chris Lawrence there in Chicago -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Clean-up begins in today in Southeast Kansas after a tornado tore through the area last night. Take a look at these pictures. Several homes were damaged or destroyed. So far, though, no reports of any injuries.
Joining us this morning, the man who shot this amazing videotape, storm chaser Reed Timmer. Nice to see you, Reed. Thanks for talking with us this morning.
REED TIMMER, STORM CHASER: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of how big that tornado really is and also how close you actually got?
TIMMER: Well, the tornado is quite small in diameter, but that can be deceiving sometimes, because just because a tornado is small, it doesn't mean it's weak. If you see the circulation at the bottom of tornado, you can see that it was extremely violent. And we were probably initially an eighth of a mile away from the tornado at this point and we actually got much closer just after this, probably a couple hundred yards. And we could see little vortices spinning on the bottom and trees getting shot up in the air and soft-ball sized hail falling through the sky. So, I guess it's a good thing I brought my bike helmet out there.
O'BRIEN: So you're sitting out there a couple hundred yards way. You got a bike helmet on. What's going on around you? Is it just pouring? Is it -- I mean, these massive hail coming down on your head?
TIMMER: Yes, it's not pouring, but there's sporadic hail, probably baseball-sized hail falling every now and then, like getting thrown around the mesocyclone. And so it's fairly intense. I mean, we're actually not worried about the tornado because we knew which direction it was moving. The main thing we were worried about was the hail and the lightning. You can't really predict either of those.
O'BRIEN: Yes, and you got a big old metal camera on your shoulder and it's lightning out. What are you thinking about? Why would you want to do this?
TIMMER: Well, it's extremely exciting and the first reason is it's just incredible to see mother nature in its finest form. And the second reason is we work with the Sky Warn (ph) spotter network and if tornadoes touch down, we report them through this ham radio network. And so when the warnings get issued and storm chasers are reporting a tornado on the ground, when people hear that there's a confirmed tornado, they take the warnings a lot more seriously, even though they should take the tornado warning seriously, anyway. O'BRIEN: So at the end of the day, you're really providing a public service because people start paying attention when they can see really the videotape and the aftermath, but also they start getting confirmation?
TIMMER: Yes. And just after this tornado, too, when it was throwing the trees through the air, a tree actually fell in the path in the road when we were driving, so we actually had to get out and carry the tree out. I don't think you have any of that footage, but if you want to see it, you can check it out at tornadovideos.net. It's pretty crazy. I mean, we actually had to pick up the tree and then move on and...
O'BRIEN: Are you ever concerned about your safety and your life, frankly, when you're out there doing this? I mean, the trees are falling down. That could easily just, you know, hit your car, obviously.
TIMMER: Well, the trees fell down before we got there, obviously, and it's actually...
O'BRIEN: Yes, but it might not have, is what I'm saying, Reed.
TIMMER: Well, storm chasing's pretty safe, actually. I mean, we maintain a safe distance and we know which way the tornado's going and we've been doing it for nine years now, so I mean, we understand supercell structure and all that kind of thing. Tornadoes are actually fairly predictable.
O'BRIEN: Well, I'm glad you're predicting. All right. Reed Timmer out there shooting some storm video for us. Thanks. We appreciate it.
TIMMER: Thank you.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: In a moment, the high cost of proms keeps getting -- keeping kids from going actually, but four teens in Florida now have a way to make every girl's dream a reality, and it is free. We'll tell you about it.
O'BRIEN: We'll forward to that. Plus, Paula Abdul puts an end to all the rumors and reveals the reason behind some of her strange behavior. "90-Second Pop" is up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: If you're still in bed, wake up! It's time for "90 Second Pop" for a Friday. Here to play this morning: Amy Barnett, she's the managing editor of Teen People; Devin Gordon, senior writer for Newsweek; and Jessi Klein, comedian and panelist on VH-1's "Best Week Ever."
Good morning. That's a little bit of Paula Abdul to get us going in the morning.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: It's the only exercise I get. Let's get right to it. We're not talking about Paula yet, we're talking about Bennifer in the good way.
JESSI KLEIN, COMEDIAN: Part two.
O'BRIEN: Good news. Version 2.0 is what I like to call them. The one that seems to be working out.
KLEIN: Maybe, sort of.
O'BRIEN: No? Aren't they engaged?
KLEIN: They are engaged. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner seem to have decided to continue on with their relationship, perhaps forever.
O'BRIEN: Isn't that a good thing?
KLEIN: I feel like if their first collaboration, which was the movie "Daredevil," is any indication, the worst movie of all time, I'm worried about the marriage.
DEVIN GORDON, NEWSWEEK: Well, did you see "Elektra"? So let's not jump to conclusions. I actually think that this divorce -- I think they made have an under the table deal with Jennifer Garner and said, OK, if "Elektra" is a hit, you can walk away scot-free from this relationship. But if "Elektra" bombs you've got to stay in the relationship.
O'BRIEN: You guys are such negative people. Thank you.
AMY BARNETT, TEEN PEOPLE: I think it's perfect. They're like the perfect Patagonia couple. And Ben looks so much more comfortable now that he's not living J-Lo's blingy lifestyle. He is obviously more Patagonia...
O'BRIEN: "La Vida Loca"?
BARNETT: Well, he went from "Jenny from the Block" to Jenny from the cul-de-sac.
KLEIN: Supposedly this engagement ring was much cheaper than the one from Lopez, this was only $500,000.
O'BRIEN: And it's only 4.5 carats.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: It's tiny.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Embarrassing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's like he got it out of one of those machines.
O'BRIEN: Well, you know what? Good luck to them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good luck to them.
GORDON: Good luck to them.
O'BRIEN: I hope it works out well.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two-point-five kids I predict.
O'BRIEN: Who knows? Let's get to Paula Abdul. She's had a tough time and she has been acting a little bizarrely. Give me a sense of what she's been doing.
BARNETT: Well, really, she's just acting a little loopy on the show. And apparently, she was so upset after reading some negative stuff about her on the "American Idol" Web site, including allegations that she was on drugs, that she decided...
O'BRIEN: These were people who were posting, not the official Web site.
BARNETT: No, no, no, no, no, no, of course not, of course not. They were like fans who were just saying that she was acting crazy and dancing with the contestants.
GORDON: "American Idol" would never drum up controversy, never.
BARNETT: Exactly, to air more and more episodes. So what she did is she decided to come clean in this week's People magazine and she reveals that she's had some injuries and was is in some car accidents and has been in chronic pain for years. And so she was diagnosed with reflex sympathetic dystrophy. It's a rare disorder. And so she's finally being treated, she's pain-free, but along the way, she has tried everything, tons of things that haven't worked, including medications and...
O'BRIEN: Yes, something Enbrel, which she is saying kind of made her loopy, but the company says it doesn't have any sort of psychological effects to it.
GORDON: Yes, that strikes me as a classic case of publicity trying to shift the story. She admits to some disorder that she's got and then we forget about that fact that wait a minute, you've been acting loopy and we still don't have an explanation for it. What's going on here?
KLEIN: I think if you had to sit next to Simon for three years and pretend to laugh at all his jokes, you'd be a little bit loopy too.
O'BRIEN: We're out of time. But as always, I thank you. Bill, back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: All right, Soledad. In a moment here, a suspected thief with a lot of time and patience and allegedly hundreds of thousands of dollars hot off the press.
Andy explains that, next here "Minding Your Business."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Qwest back with a new bid for MCI, plus a man caught stuffing his pockets with hundreds of thousands of dollars. A look at the stories and a look at the markets this morning. Andy is "Minding Your Business."
Want to start with the markets?
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: I do, Soledad. Unfortunately the roller coaster is headed down this morning. Stocks selling off after the big gain yesterday. You can see the Dow is down 45 points here. One stock bucking the trend, though, Google. It just keeps on giving. Up $15 this morning, which $219 a share, and I don't think any of the four anchors here own any of the stock.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: You were supposed to get us some.
SERWER: I know, I remember at the IPO.
CAFFERTY: At $60, which is the IPO price, you said, I will get us some shares.
SERWER: Some new people worked there, and we just couldn't get it together.
CAFFERTY: We could have been out of this lemonade stand by now.
SERWER: We could have been contenders.
Let's talk about some other stuff here, let's move on.
Qwest is trying to move in and buy MCI and snatch it away from Verizon. Verizon and MCI agreed to merge. Qwest now coming back for a third time, raising its bid by $800 million. Kind of reminds of someone who won't go out with you. You keep calling, you keep sending them flowers and chocolates. What part of no...
O'BRIEN: The answer is still no.
SERWER: Yes -- don't they understand?
And then finally, this is just a terrifically interesting story I guess is a way to put it. A gentleman who worked at the mint down in Fort Worth, Texas. It's actually called the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing Western Facility in Forth Worth, where they print money. This gentlemen Donald Edward Stokes Jr. has been arrested and accused several hundred thousand dollars in bills from this facility. Apparently he took them from an area where they took bill not fit for circulation, marked them slightly, but still good enough for most people, couldn't catch them, and he'd stick them in his pockets and walked out. They noticed some money was missing.
Listen to this, they made 18 million bills or $169 million a day there, and I guess they don't check the guy on the way out.
O'BRIEN: You would think that would be a good plan for the future.
SERWER: Yes, I mean, you would think so. You could just walk out with the money. So the guy's in a whole lot of hot water down there.
O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thanks.
SERWER: You're welcome.
HEMMER: Back to Jack and the food Question of the Day.
CAFFERTY: The government has a new food pyramid out, and we want to know if it's going to change the way you eat.
Paul in Oklahoma City writes, "Until the food pyramid is printed on the wrappers of Big Macs, it will remain irrelevant to American life."
Dale in Virginia writes, "I want to thank the USDA for spending my money to document my bad habits, and recommend behaviors that I will never follow. If I had that money, I'd just spend it buying bad food."
And Edward in Ottawa writes, "I used to limit my alcohol consumption to weekends, but the new food pyramid says it's already to have two a day. That means its acceptable to have two eye-openers before sending you these e-mails. Your segment is about to get a whole lot more interesting, Jack."
HEMMER: "IN THE MONEY" this weekend, right?
CAFFERTY: Tomorrow on "IN THE MONEY" -- see I picked right up on that.
SERWER: Like a Swiss watch.
CAFFERTY: "New York Times" columnist Tom Friedman will join us to talk about his new book, "The World is Flat." This is a bright guy. He must have had a brain lapse to agree to come on this program, because he's vastly overqualified to talk to me, Andy and Susan, but he's going to do it anyway. The book's about terrorism, globalism and a lot more. And I like Friedman.
O'BRIEN: It's a good book, too.
CAFFERTY: You need to watch so the ratings will be high, and then he'll agree to come on again at some future time. That's your assignment, Saturday at 1:00, Sunday at 3:00. Check it out.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack. Let's get a break. Top of the hour here, expecting an announcement from the president down in D.C. Mr. Bush set to nominate Marine General Peter Pace as the new chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. We'll have it for you live as soon as that begins, any minute now.
Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. We are waiting to hear from President Bush. He's expected to announce any minute now Marine General Peter Pace as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs. We're going to bring that to you live when it happens.
First this story, though. It is the event, obviously, that many high schoolers look forward to all spring, the prom. But for some teens the cost of the big dance can become a real burden.
In today's "Extra Effort" report, John Zarrella reports on a group of seniors making prom dreams come true.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They just wanted to make it easier. Three years ago these four high school girls in West Palm Beach started hanging fliers in the school hallways. Their new business, The Formal Exchange, was over. Lisa, Kramer (ph), Sierra and Lauren (ph) had one goal in mind, to make the prom affordable for every girl and to give every girl the opportunity to be Cinderella.
LISA YANSURA, THE FORMAL EXCHANGE: We've come up with over $600. Probably that's what prom costs, with getting your nails done, a limo, shoes, accessories, your dress, dinner, prom tickets are, I mean, outrageous.
ZARRELLA: Girls from any school can come in and exchange a gently worn dress formal dress for one that has been donated or exchanged by another girl. Every Thursday for a month during prom season, the business is open in the city library.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Give me, like, a really, like, pretty that color pink necklace.
Nicole Harmon found the perfect dress at the perfect price.
NICOLE HARMON, LAKE WORTH HIGH SCHOOL: I think that most of these dresses are, like, over $100, and to get them for free, you can't beat that.
ZARRELLA: Girls also get discount coupons for hair, nails and makeup from a local salon. Those who don't have dresses to exchange can get one, too, just by showing proof of 10 hours community service.
SIERRA MCGILL, THE FORMAL EXCHANGE: Prom is kind of like part of the high school experience, so to not be able to go to something like that is really sad to hear, so to know that we're helping girls tap that opportunity is kind of rewarding.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fix me, make me look pretty.
ZARRELLA: The four girls, all seniors, are hoping others will step in next year and make the extra effort to carry on the business, because they say every girl should have the chance to be Cinderella.
John Zarrella, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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