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American Morning

School Bus Safety; Pump Prices

Aired May 10, 2005 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Another beauty in New York City. Good morning, everybody. It's 7:30 here in New York. Good morning to you as well.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. What great day yesterday, huh?

HEMMER: Oh, wonderful.

O'BRIEN: It was really nice.

HEMMER: And more of the same today, too.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, Rob.

HEMMER: Yes It's good to have you with us along today.

In a moment here, we're going to take you back to Missouri. This is the kind of scene that parents do not want to see. Twenty-three kids hurt in this school bus accident. And now questions over what more could be done to keep kids safe on the school buses. More on that in a moment here. We're hearing a lot of these cases just in the past several weeks. So, we'll talk about that.

O'BRIEN: And why don't kids wear seat belts on school buses? We never did a zillion years ago. But, you know, now you would think it would be easy just to strap them in.

HEMMER: Study after study after study says it's safer to do it the way they're doing it. We'll find out in a moment here.

O'BRIEN: Also this morning, we're talking about gas prices. The good news is, they're going down a little bit. What's behind the trend? And will it continue as we go into the summer? We'll take a look at this morning.

First, though, a look at the headlines with Carol Costello.

Good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.

President Bush is calling the former Soviet Republic of Georgia a great example of a peaceful democracy. About two hours ago in Tbilisi, a cheering crowd greeted the president in Freedom Square. Mr. Bush told Georgia's president -- quote -- "You've got a solid friend in America." This is the last stop on President Bush's four- nation tour.

A pair of car bombs ripped through Baghdad this morning within two hours of each other. Police say one of the blasts killed at least 7 people and wounded 14 others. A U.S. convoy was the apparent target in that attack.

And more than 1,000 American forces are clashing with militants along Iraq's border with Syria. They're pushing further north in the hunt for Abu Musab al Zarqawi's terror network.

Police are searching for any solid leads in the stabbing deaths of two second graders in northern Illinois. The girls, one 8 years old, the other 9, best friends, were found stabbed to death in a city park on Monday morning. The mother of one of the girls has reportedly said police took some clothing worn by family members. She also told the "Chicago Tribune" a relative was interviewed by police.

Sources tell CNN actor Macauley Culkin could testify as early as tomorrow in the Michael Jackson trial. Culkin is expected to refute claims anything inappropriate happened between him and the entertainer. Witnesses for the prosecution say they saw Jackson groping Culkin in the early 1990s. A manager on Jackson's ranch is set to testify for the defense when the trial resumes later today.

And that woman who claimed she found a finger in a bowl of Wendy's chili is being held on half-a-million dollars bond. Anna Ayala (ph) mouthed the words "I love you" to the camera. That's her. There it is. You see it there. And she's in court Monday. She remains in jail on charges of grand larceny. If convicted, Ayala (ph) could face up to seven years in prison. She's due back in court next week. And you have to admit, the woman has moxie.

O'BRIEN: She still says she didn't do it.

COSTELLO: No. It was just in the chili.

O'BRIEN: All right.

HEMMER: Thank you, Carol.

O'BRIEN: That's her story and she's sticking to it. Thank, Carol.

HEMMER: See you later.

The debate this morning about school bus safety is being reopened now after a string of serious accidents around the country on Monday. There were three accidents in all -- one in Liberty, Missouri, Brockton, Massachusetts, and Kendall, Florida. The Missouri accident was the most serious, too. Two people in cars are dead, and 23 elementary school children were injured as a result of what you're watching right here.

And that is where we pick up the story with Dan Lothian this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A deadly school bus accident in Liberty, Missouri, yesterday...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today was a very difficult day for us.

LOTHIAN: ... and this one just south of Boston, injuring several people...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a little frightening, a little disconcerting, naturally.

LOTHIAN: ... is renewing attention on school bus safety.

(on camera): Should parents be concerned? The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration says no. The federal agency tells CNN 24 million school children who are transported over some four-and-a-half billion miles each year are nearly eight times safer riding in a school bus than in a car. And they point out, there are less than eight fatalities inside a bus recorded each year.

(voice over): But some, who would like a federal law requiring either lap belts or a harness system on all school buses, say not enough is being done to protect America's children, despite claims that high padded seat backs create a kind of safety zone.

What happens if there is a rollover? Or the bus is hit from the side? Or runs off the road like this wild ride nine years ago in Indiana? As an on-board camera rolls, children fly. Here it is in slow motion. Amazingly, there were no serious injuries.

Only a few states require large school buses to have any kind of restraint. But federal transportation officials say a lap belt -- quote -- "increases the risk of injury."

That makes sense to Dr. David Mooney, trauma director at Children's Hospital in Boston.

DR. DAVID MOONEY, BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: And the lap belts will sometimes ride up higher. And when a child is in a crash, it can injure their intestines, injure their spine. Kids can be paralyzed from just wearing a lap belt only.

LOTHIAN: And while the government says the benefits of the shoulder belt are miniscule, Dr. Mooney believe a system like most cars have today could be helpful if every child buckles up.

MOONEY: It would prevent a lot of injuries that we see.

LOTHIAN: In liberty, Missouri, school officials are now being forced to confront the hotly-debated issue of seat belts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you're talking about safety of children, I think that all issues are on the table.

LOTHIAN: Even as they try to overcome the shock of the crash. Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Federal law does require manufacturers of smaller buses to install either a lap belt or a lap/shoulder system, but there is no law requiring such restraints in larger buses. More on this later in the morning -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Well, with gas prices so high, you may not have noticed what's happened in recent weeks. The national average is $2.21 a gallon for self-serve regular, and that is down 3 cents over the past two weeks and 7.5 cents over the past month. So why the drop? And will it continue?

Brad Proctor is the founder of gaspricewatch.com. He's in Cincinnati this morning.

Nice to see you, Brad. Thanks for talking with us. What's the main reason that the gas prices are down?

BRAD PROCTOR, FOUNDER, GASPRICEWATCH.COM: Well, I think there are several reasons that are out there. One of the biggest reasons right now is that production has stepped up in terms what the oil fields have been able to do. We're seeing the Saudis step up a couple months ago and starting putting more oil into it.

But I also think one of the biggest issues right now is the oil companies have reported unprecedented profits in the first quarter for 2005. And that's really kind of tough to swallow the oil companies having high profits at a time when you're seeing, you know, unbelievably high prices. So, I think they've calmed down a little bit in terms of their ability to price things out there.

And, you know, all these come in to factor. Plus, with the higher prices, we tend to drive a little bit less. We're more picky about when we pull the car out. So, demand is down a little from where it should be.

O'BRIEN: All of these factors coming together. Do you think, is there any indication to you that these prices will continue to either stay at this level or go even lower?

PROCTOR: Well, I think we're going to see probably the next couple days, it's going to continue it to go down. But, I think, historically, we've always seen that Memorial Day weekend is the highest price of the year. I think we will see a slight rise as we go into the Memorial Day weekend. It won't be where earlier predictions were this year. I think I had heard about 2.35 as an average. It will be, you know, maybe 4 or 5 cents more by the time we hit that, and then a falloff for the summer.

O'BRIEN: You know, in the list of factors, you didn't mention politics. And I think many of us would have put that maybe high on the list. Why not? PROCTOR: Absolutely. You know, politics falls into play pretty deeply in this. I think we can look back through the elections in November. We saw the oil companies literally trying to hold back pricing at unprecedented levels of worldwide events. I think the Bush administration is probably more friendly than the -- to the oil companies than the alternative would have been. But I also see that, you know, they've been working with the Saudis in terms of being able to get politics in there.

We're starting to see pressure put on by the consumers to the legislators to ask why are we seeing these high prices? And, you know, that's a big indicator. When the consumer gets together and says, you know, why are we seeing high prices, the legislation starts to ask the same questions at a time of unprecedented profits. Why are you seeing these?

So, politics starts to play a game. And just shining a light on this is a huge help. And, of course, the politicians like to get on board when the consumer is there.

O'BRIEN: You know, we talked about it in the introduction to you that the prices have fallen 3 cents in the last two weeks. When you talk about pennies either way, a penny up or a penny down, how much money does that translate into for the oil companies?

PROCTOR: Well, it's interesting. We consume about 400 million gallons a day in gasoline. So a penny rise, either way, means a plus or a minus $4 million a day to the oil companies. And you know, if you look at this, that's a significant number to any corporation. So, I mean, this is big money. There's a lot of gasoline being sold every day.

O'BRIEN: OK. So then they have these massive profits. Who is actually setting these prices? I mean, it sometimes feels quite arbitrary.

PROCTOR: Well, it kind of begins with the foundation is what the oil actually costs. And that's kind of the foundation of where you'll start to see the pricing. But, you know, you start to look at not only the foundation of where the oil is, and that's dropped a little bit in the last couple weeks, but you also start to see refining costs, transportation costs fit in there.

And then there's this thing called what the market will bear. And the oil companies actually have the ability to set their prices based on what they think they sell it. And that comes back to some of these days where we've seen 20 cent and 30 cent increases in a given day across this country.

O'BRIEN: Well, it sure seems to rise fast and fall very, very slowly. Brad Proctor is the founder of gaspricewatch.com. Brad, thanks.

PROCTOR: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Bill. HEMMER: A similar topic, how was your commute this morning or even last night? There is a new study that says Americans are spending more time sitting in traffic. We kind of knew that. According to the Texas Transportation Institute, traffic congestion caused 3.7 billion hours of travel delay in 2003, 2.3 billion gallons of wasted fuel. That's an increase of 79 million hours and 69 million gallons from the year before. And the cost of those delays, they say it's $63 billion. Wow! L.A. remains the worst city for commuter congestion. And 18 gazillion hours on the cell phone on top of all of that, too.

To the forecast.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Well, this year, CNN is celebrating its 25th anniversary. And we're getting a little bit of help from "Jeopardy!." We're going to talk with host Alex Trebek about the game show's special CNN week ahead this morning.

HEMMER: Also, in honor of that, here's a little twist on our trivia. The answer is, what's the question? You figure out the answer as we take "Jeopardy!" for 1,000, Alex. Back after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Before the break, we gave you this "Jeopardy!" clue. The answer was, what's the question? The correct question is, what was the title for the original pilot of the game show "Jeopardy!?" That will start it back in the mid-1950s.

CNN is, in conjunction now with "Jeopardy!," is helping to celebrate our own 25th anniversary here. A week of shows all week long, including questions about our last 25 years. Last night was the first night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN, 1,200.

ALEX TREBEK, HOST, "JEOPARDY!": Take a look.

NANCY GRACE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, I'm Nancy Grace with "CNN HEADLINES NEWS." As a former Fulton County prosecutor, I went to the scene in this city to cover the deadly shootings in the same courtroom where I prosecuted felony cases.

TREBEK: Michael?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is Atlanta?

TREBEK: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN, 16.

TREBEK: Take a look. The bay area was hit by the quake whose aftermath is seen here. Name for this mountain near the epicenter? Steve?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is loma prieta (ph).

TREBEK: That's it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN for 400.

TREBEK: This area was a toxic dump for over a decade before it was developed for homes and a school.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Alex Trebek is now my guest out in L.A. How are you? Good morning to you.

TREBEK: I am well, Bill, and I'm very happy to be with you today.

HEMMER: Listen, I am a fan of your show and have been for years, maybe even decades, as a matter of fact, because you've been on it for so long, too. How did this idea come together with CNN?

TREBEK: I'm not too sure, but, you know, "Jeopardy!" has been on the air now 21 years. You guys have been on 25. And in two of our celebrity tournaments, our power players' week tournaments that we have done in Washington, D.C., we've had a number of your CNN cohorts as contestants on the program. And they have all done pretty well. So, it was a natural combination for us to want to do this to help you guys celebrate 25 years.

HEMMER: Well, listen, you're doing 21, we're doing 25. How do you go through 25 years of history and come up with questions?

TREBEK: Well, we have a very talented group of writers. They've won, I don't know, how many Emmys now. And they work year-round, and they go over -- people ask me, well, where do you get your material? Where do you get your clues? Encyclopedias. We watch television. We watch CNN. We know what's in the news. We get some of your people to help us do clues. We stay on top of things, plus we deal with the history of the world. So, there's a lot of material out there available to us.

HEMMER: How do you get ready for that show, by the way? I'm listening to you rattle off all of these names, and I'm thinking you had to proofread it at some point.

TREBEK: No, I drink a lot.

HEMMER: That's the key, huh?

TREBEK: No. I arrive at about 7:30 in the morning at our studios in Culver City. At 8:00, I get the game selection for that day. Five games are selected. And I start going over the material. We then have a roundtable discussion with the producer and the writers at about 10:00. At noon, I'm in the studio getting made up and start taping the first show, and I'm done by about 5:30, 6:00. HEMMER: Do you fashion -- are you a history aficionado? Or is there a particular area that you find the most interesting?

TREBEK: American history, the Civil War is of particular interest to me. But I'm interested in all subjects, not only history, but science, entertainment. I'm not what you would call one of those individuals who gets really deep into specific things, although I have in the past. At one time, I would have done extremely well on any kind of a quiz show if all of the questions had to do with Spanish bullfighting. But I'm beyond that now.

HEMMER: They haven't made that show yet, have they?

TREBEK: No.

HEMMER: We'll keep watching. Thanks, Alex.

TREBEK: Well, I hope so.

HEMMER: Indeed we will. Thanks. And it's good to have this cooperative effort too. "Jeopardy!" and CNN all week. Thanks, Alex.

O'BRIEN: Actress Rene Zellweger has tied the knot. The star of "Chicago" and "Bridget Jones Diary" married country music star Kenny Chesney in the Virgin Islands on Monday. They met in January at a tsunami relief benefit. It is the first marriage for both. Zellweger was once engaged, though, to actor Jim Carrey. Congratulations to them.

HEMMER: Oh, yes. Ten minutes before the hour now, Soledad.

One of the oldest and most famous names in the oil biz is about to fade into history, kind of sort of. Andy explains next, "Minding Your Business", right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. With sales way up in North America, Toyota is revving up production over here. And, you know, ChevronTexaco? Well, no more. Andy explains as he minds your business this morning.

Hello.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Hello. ChevronTexaco is not going away. It's just a name change. We'll get to that in one second.

Let's talk about Toyota. It seems inevitable this company's presence in North America is getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Now the company is going to be opening up its seventh assembly plant in North America in southern Ontario, Woodstock, Ontario to be precise. The number two auto maker sold two million units -- that would be cars and trucks -- in the United States for the first time last year. Market share about 12 percent. That's about half of GM's market share. Also, Toyota is going to be making a hybrid Camry, perhaps, in its Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant. And it looks like they're going to be making the Prius for the first time in North America as well in their Fremont, California, facility.

Now let's talk about ChevronTexaco. You know, those two oil giants merged in October of 2001. And the name has always been a little awkward, ChevronTexaco. Companies don't like that when you have two names.

So now Chevron is going to drop the Texaco name. The company will just be known as Chevron now. They won't be taking the name away from gas stations. Texaco gas stations will still be called that in 21 states in the south and east. Texaco, of course, is a proud name going back 100 years in this country and the sponsor of Milton Berle's television show back in the late '40s and early 1950s. Remember that? I don't. Maybe Jack does. I don't know. And then also, the Metropolitan Opera, it was a sponsor of that for 63 years until very recently. And I remember my parents used to listen to that all the time.

O'BRIEN: That's pretty amazing.

SERWER: It is.

O'BRIEN: But it goes away.

SERWER: Yes.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: The Texaco Star Theater was done out of the same studio in Rockefeller Center right across the street that "The Tonight Show" was done out of originally.

O'BRIEN: Really?

CAFFERTY: And that I worked out of 13 years on a local news program here in New York called Live at 5. And I did meet and interview Mr. Berle back a long time ago.

SERWER: Cool.

CAFFERTY: And there are wonderful stories about Uncle Milty (ph) and the guests that used to visit his dressing room before the show each week and all kind of folklore there at the Peacock network.

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: I'd love to hear that. Maybe later, as they say.

HEMMER: Sanitize the word folklore, yes.

SERWER: Yes.

HEMMER: Here is Jack, "Question of the Day." What's happening?

CAFFERTY: Beginning today, the federal government -- that would be you and me, the taxpayers -- will pay hospitals and doctors a billion dollars over the next three years to provide free emergency medical care to illegal immigrants. States asked for the money, because providing medical care for illegals has become a huge financial burden for them. California spends $500 million a year on medical care for illegal aliens. This at a time when 47 million of our citizens have no medical insurance.

The question this morning is: Should the government pay hospitals and doctors for providing emergency care to illegal immigrants?

Kevin in Long Branch, New Jersey: "You're kidding, right? When Americans get turned away for not having medical coverage, how do we justify this? Why are we the only country required to be politically correct?"

Frank in Pennsylvania: "Is common sense some sort of mutually- exclusive phrase to elected officials at all levels?"

Sandy writes from South Carolina: "This country has a problem treating its own people's medical problems. I worry about our elderly's medical care much more than I worry about illegal aliens' health issues."

Dean in New Jersey writes: "Yes, under the aegis of the government, doctors and hospitals should attend to the sick and injured regardless of their alien status. After all, we're not barbarians. Of course, the native government of such illegal aliens should then be presented with the bill."

And Rex in Indiana write: "Jack, oh, I think I get it. We do have universal health care, just not for U.S. citizens. What will the Bush administration think of next to screw over the lower and middle classes?"

SERWER: I have an idea. You know all of those people who own restaurants and lawn care services and farms who employ these illegal aliens? How about them picking up the tab?

CAFFERTY: Well, then will it be just reflected in the price of the service you buy from them, your lawn care, your restaurant food or whatever else you buy from them.

HEMMER: I think the California figure -- 500 million in California is unbelievable.

CAFFERTY: Just in California.

HEMMER: I have to think it's equally as high on a percentage basis in places like Arizona...

CAFFERTY: New Mexico.

HEMMER: ... New Mexico, maybe New York state. .

CAFFERTY: Yes. Illinois is earmarked for, I think, the fourth or fifth biggest share of this three-year $1 billion payout, perhaps because of some immigration issues from Canada.

HEMMER: You know, like Soledad was saying, I don't know if you attack this problem at a hospital. I think you go to the borders. I think you go to the airports.

O'BRIEN: I completely agree.

HEMMER: If you really want to stop it there.

O'BRIEN: But at the same time, when you're dealing with a problem that's here, what do you do?

SERWER: Yes.

O'BRIEN: If you have people who are the most indigent...

CAFFERTY: Move them out.

SERWER: Well...

O'BRIEN: If you have people who are the most indigent, who will not seek medical care, you will transmit disease. I mean, that is a large degree why they make these rules. They're trying to see if they can get people -- I mean, tuberculosis, if you recall in the '70s when there were tuberculosis scares in the subway, that's a problem that actually affects...

CAFFERTY: But that is precisely the reason that they passed immigration laws in this country 100 years ago.

O'BRIEN: I understand.

CAFFERTY: To control the flow of people from outside our borders who would bring in disease and pestilent and all those things.

O'BRIEN: Exactly.

CAFFERTY: And now we ignore the laws and just let them into the country. I mean...

SERWER: Well, it's two problems. You have to stop them from coming in, but take care of the people who are already here, right? I mean, short of supporting them.

CAFFERTY: If you think that's the way to do it, I mean, I'm with you, Andy.

SERWER: Well, I think we have to do two things.

CAFFERTY: You and me, kid.

O'BRIEN: Obviously, it's an excellent "Question of the Day," because we're all debating it.

CAFFERTY: Me and Andy. What?

O'BRIEN: I said it's obviously an excellent "Question of the Day."

CAFFERTY: Indeed it is.

O'BRIEN: Yet another...

CAFFERTY: Do I get a raise?

O'BRIEN: No.

CAFFERTY: Of course not.

O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, we're going to talk to the rider of the horse that won the Kentucky Derby, Giacomo. The jockey, Mike Smith, is going to join us live in the studio. So, what was it like to ride a 50 to one long shot to victory? A look at that is ahead 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 May 10, 2005 - 07:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Another beauty in New York City. Good morning, everybody. It's 7:30 here in New York. Good morning to you as well.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. What great day yesterday, huh?

HEMMER: Oh, wonderful.

O'BRIEN: It was really nice.

HEMMER: And more of the same today, too.

O'BRIEN: Thank you, Rob.

HEMMER: Yes It's good to have you with us along today.

In a moment here, we're going to take you back to Missouri. This is the kind of scene that parents do not want to see. Twenty-three kids hurt in this school bus accident. And now questions over what more could be done to keep kids safe on the school buses. More on that in a moment here. We're hearing a lot of these cases just in the past several weeks. So, we'll talk about that.

O'BRIEN: And why don't kids wear seat belts on school buses? We never did a zillion years ago. But, you know, now you would think it would be easy just to strap them in.

HEMMER: Study after study after study says it's safer to do it the way they're doing it. We'll find out in a moment here.

O'BRIEN: Also this morning, we're talking about gas prices. The good news is, they're going down a little bit. What's behind the trend? And will it continue as we go into the summer? We'll take a look at this morning.

First, though, a look at the headlines with Carol Costello.

Good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.

President Bush is calling the former Soviet Republic of Georgia a great example of a peaceful democracy. About two hours ago in Tbilisi, a cheering crowd greeted the president in Freedom Square. Mr. Bush told Georgia's president -- quote -- "You've got a solid friend in America." This is the last stop on President Bush's four- nation tour.

A pair of car bombs ripped through Baghdad this morning within two hours of each other. Police say one of the blasts killed at least 7 people and wounded 14 others. A U.S. convoy was the apparent target in that attack.

And more than 1,000 American forces are clashing with militants along Iraq's border with Syria. They're pushing further north in the hunt for Abu Musab al Zarqawi's terror network.

Police are searching for any solid leads in the stabbing deaths of two second graders in northern Illinois. The girls, one 8 years old, the other 9, best friends, were found stabbed to death in a city park on Monday morning. The mother of one of the girls has reportedly said police took some clothing worn by family members. She also told the "Chicago Tribune" a relative was interviewed by police.

Sources tell CNN actor Macauley Culkin could testify as early as tomorrow in the Michael Jackson trial. Culkin is expected to refute claims anything inappropriate happened between him and the entertainer. Witnesses for the prosecution say they saw Jackson groping Culkin in the early 1990s. A manager on Jackson's ranch is set to testify for the defense when the trial resumes later today.

And that woman who claimed she found a finger in a bowl of Wendy's chili is being held on half-a-million dollars bond. Anna Ayala (ph) mouthed the words "I love you" to the camera. That's her. There it is. You see it there. And she's in court Monday. She remains in jail on charges of grand larceny. If convicted, Ayala (ph) could face up to seven years in prison. She's due back in court next week. And you have to admit, the woman has moxie.

O'BRIEN: She still says she didn't do it.

COSTELLO: No. It was just in the chili.

O'BRIEN: All right.

HEMMER: Thank you, Carol.

O'BRIEN: That's her story and she's sticking to it. Thank, Carol.

HEMMER: See you later.

The debate this morning about school bus safety is being reopened now after a string of serious accidents around the country on Monday. There were three accidents in all -- one in Liberty, Missouri, Brockton, Massachusetts, and Kendall, Florida. The Missouri accident was the most serious, too. Two people in cars are dead, and 23 elementary school children were injured as a result of what you're watching right here.

And that is where we pick up the story with Dan Lothian this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A deadly school bus accident in Liberty, Missouri, yesterday...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today was a very difficult day for us.

LOTHIAN: ... and this one just south of Boston, injuring several people...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a little frightening, a little disconcerting, naturally.

LOTHIAN: ... is renewing attention on school bus safety.

(on camera): Should parents be concerned? The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration says no. The federal agency tells CNN 24 million school children who are transported over some four-and-a-half billion miles each year are nearly eight times safer riding in a school bus than in a car. And they point out, there are less than eight fatalities inside a bus recorded each year.

(voice over): But some, who would like a federal law requiring either lap belts or a harness system on all school buses, say not enough is being done to protect America's children, despite claims that high padded seat backs create a kind of safety zone.

What happens if there is a rollover? Or the bus is hit from the side? Or runs off the road like this wild ride nine years ago in Indiana? As an on-board camera rolls, children fly. Here it is in slow motion. Amazingly, there were no serious injuries.

Only a few states require large school buses to have any kind of restraint. But federal transportation officials say a lap belt -- quote -- "increases the risk of injury."

That makes sense to Dr. David Mooney, trauma director at Children's Hospital in Boston.

DR. DAVID MOONEY, BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: And the lap belts will sometimes ride up higher. And when a child is in a crash, it can injure their intestines, injure their spine. Kids can be paralyzed from just wearing a lap belt only.

LOTHIAN: And while the government says the benefits of the shoulder belt are miniscule, Dr. Mooney believe a system like most cars have today could be helpful if every child buckles up.

MOONEY: It would prevent a lot of injuries that we see.

LOTHIAN: In liberty, Missouri, school officials are now being forced to confront the hotly-debated issue of seat belts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you're talking about safety of children, I think that all issues are on the table.

LOTHIAN: Even as they try to overcome the shock of the crash. Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Federal law does require manufacturers of smaller buses to install either a lap belt or a lap/shoulder system, but there is no law requiring such restraints in larger buses. More on this later in the morning -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Well, with gas prices so high, you may not have noticed what's happened in recent weeks. The national average is $2.21 a gallon for self-serve regular, and that is down 3 cents over the past two weeks and 7.5 cents over the past month. So why the drop? And will it continue?

Brad Proctor is the founder of gaspricewatch.com. He's in Cincinnati this morning.

Nice to see you, Brad. Thanks for talking with us. What's the main reason that the gas prices are down?

BRAD PROCTOR, FOUNDER, GASPRICEWATCH.COM: Well, I think there are several reasons that are out there. One of the biggest reasons right now is that production has stepped up in terms what the oil fields have been able to do. We're seeing the Saudis step up a couple months ago and starting putting more oil into it.

But I also think one of the biggest issues right now is the oil companies have reported unprecedented profits in the first quarter for 2005. And that's really kind of tough to swallow the oil companies having high profits at a time when you're seeing, you know, unbelievably high prices. So, I think they've calmed down a little bit in terms of their ability to price things out there.

And, you know, all these come in to factor. Plus, with the higher prices, we tend to drive a little bit less. We're more picky about when we pull the car out. So, demand is down a little from where it should be.

O'BRIEN: All of these factors coming together. Do you think, is there any indication to you that these prices will continue to either stay at this level or go even lower?

PROCTOR: Well, I think we're going to see probably the next couple days, it's going to continue it to go down. But, I think, historically, we've always seen that Memorial Day weekend is the highest price of the year. I think we will see a slight rise as we go into the Memorial Day weekend. It won't be where earlier predictions were this year. I think I had heard about 2.35 as an average. It will be, you know, maybe 4 or 5 cents more by the time we hit that, and then a falloff for the summer.

O'BRIEN: You know, in the list of factors, you didn't mention politics. And I think many of us would have put that maybe high on the list. Why not? PROCTOR: Absolutely. You know, politics falls into play pretty deeply in this. I think we can look back through the elections in November. We saw the oil companies literally trying to hold back pricing at unprecedented levels of worldwide events. I think the Bush administration is probably more friendly than the -- to the oil companies than the alternative would have been. But I also see that, you know, they've been working with the Saudis in terms of being able to get politics in there.

We're starting to see pressure put on by the consumers to the legislators to ask why are we seeing these high prices? And, you know, that's a big indicator. When the consumer gets together and says, you know, why are we seeing high prices, the legislation starts to ask the same questions at a time of unprecedented profits. Why are you seeing these?

So, politics starts to play a game. And just shining a light on this is a huge help. And, of course, the politicians like to get on board when the consumer is there.

O'BRIEN: You know, we talked about it in the introduction to you that the prices have fallen 3 cents in the last two weeks. When you talk about pennies either way, a penny up or a penny down, how much money does that translate into for the oil companies?

PROCTOR: Well, it's interesting. We consume about 400 million gallons a day in gasoline. So a penny rise, either way, means a plus or a minus $4 million a day to the oil companies. And you know, if you look at this, that's a significant number to any corporation. So, I mean, this is big money. There's a lot of gasoline being sold every day.

O'BRIEN: OK. So then they have these massive profits. Who is actually setting these prices? I mean, it sometimes feels quite arbitrary.

PROCTOR: Well, it kind of begins with the foundation is what the oil actually costs. And that's kind of the foundation of where you'll start to see the pricing. But, you know, you start to look at not only the foundation of where the oil is, and that's dropped a little bit in the last couple weeks, but you also start to see refining costs, transportation costs fit in there.

And then there's this thing called what the market will bear. And the oil companies actually have the ability to set their prices based on what they think they sell it. And that comes back to some of these days where we've seen 20 cent and 30 cent increases in a given day across this country.

O'BRIEN: Well, it sure seems to rise fast and fall very, very slowly. Brad Proctor is the founder of gaspricewatch.com. Brad, thanks.

PROCTOR: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Bill. HEMMER: A similar topic, how was your commute this morning or even last night? There is a new study that says Americans are spending more time sitting in traffic. We kind of knew that. According to the Texas Transportation Institute, traffic congestion caused 3.7 billion hours of travel delay in 2003, 2.3 billion gallons of wasted fuel. That's an increase of 79 million hours and 69 million gallons from the year before. And the cost of those delays, they say it's $63 billion. Wow! L.A. remains the worst city for commuter congestion. And 18 gazillion hours on the cell phone on top of all of that, too.

To the forecast.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Well, this year, CNN is celebrating its 25th anniversary. And we're getting a little bit of help from "Jeopardy!." We're going to talk with host Alex Trebek about the game show's special CNN week ahead this morning.

HEMMER: Also, in honor of that, here's a little twist on our trivia. The answer is, what's the question? You figure out the answer as we take "Jeopardy!" for 1,000, Alex. Back after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Before the break, we gave you this "Jeopardy!" clue. The answer was, what's the question? The correct question is, what was the title for the original pilot of the game show "Jeopardy!?" That will start it back in the mid-1950s.

CNN is, in conjunction now with "Jeopardy!," is helping to celebrate our own 25th anniversary here. A week of shows all week long, including questions about our last 25 years. Last night was the first night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN, 1,200.

ALEX TREBEK, HOST, "JEOPARDY!": Take a look.

NANCY GRACE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, I'm Nancy Grace with "CNN HEADLINES NEWS." As a former Fulton County prosecutor, I went to the scene in this city to cover the deadly shootings in the same courtroom where I prosecuted felony cases.

TREBEK: Michael?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is Atlanta?

TREBEK: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN, 16.

TREBEK: Take a look. The bay area was hit by the quake whose aftermath is seen here. Name for this mountain near the epicenter? Steve?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is loma prieta (ph).

TREBEK: That's it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN for 400.

TREBEK: This area was a toxic dump for over a decade before it was developed for homes and a school.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Alex Trebek is now my guest out in L.A. How are you? Good morning to you.

TREBEK: I am well, Bill, and I'm very happy to be with you today.

HEMMER: Listen, I am a fan of your show and have been for years, maybe even decades, as a matter of fact, because you've been on it for so long, too. How did this idea come together with CNN?

TREBEK: I'm not too sure, but, you know, "Jeopardy!" has been on the air now 21 years. You guys have been on 25. And in two of our celebrity tournaments, our power players' week tournaments that we have done in Washington, D.C., we've had a number of your CNN cohorts as contestants on the program. And they have all done pretty well. So, it was a natural combination for us to want to do this to help you guys celebrate 25 years.

HEMMER: Well, listen, you're doing 21, we're doing 25. How do you go through 25 years of history and come up with questions?

TREBEK: Well, we have a very talented group of writers. They've won, I don't know, how many Emmys now. And they work year-round, and they go over -- people ask me, well, where do you get your material? Where do you get your clues? Encyclopedias. We watch television. We watch CNN. We know what's in the news. We get some of your people to help us do clues. We stay on top of things, plus we deal with the history of the world. So, there's a lot of material out there available to us.

HEMMER: How do you get ready for that show, by the way? I'm listening to you rattle off all of these names, and I'm thinking you had to proofread it at some point.

TREBEK: No, I drink a lot.

HEMMER: That's the key, huh?

TREBEK: No. I arrive at about 7:30 in the morning at our studios in Culver City. At 8:00, I get the game selection for that day. Five games are selected. And I start going over the material. We then have a roundtable discussion with the producer and the writers at about 10:00. At noon, I'm in the studio getting made up and start taping the first show, and I'm done by about 5:30, 6:00. HEMMER: Do you fashion -- are you a history aficionado? Or is there a particular area that you find the most interesting?

TREBEK: American history, the Civil War is of particular interest to me. But I'm interested in all subjects, not only history, but science, entertainment. I'm not what you would call one of those individuals who gets really deep into specific things, although I have in the past. At one time, I would have done extremely well on any kind of a quiz show if all of the questions had to do with Spanish bullfighting. But I'm beyond that now.

HEMMER: They haven't made that show yet, have they?

TREBEK: No.

HEMMER: We'll keep watching. Thanks, Alex.

TREBEK: Well, I hope so.

HEMMER: Indeed we will. Thanks. And it's good to have this cooperative effort too. "Jeopardy!" and CNN all week. Thanks, Alex.

O'BRIEN: Actress Rene Zellweger has tied the knot. The star of "Chicago" and "Bridget Jones Diary" married country music star Kenny Chesney in the Virgin Islands on Monday. They met in January at a tsunami relief benefit. It is the first marriage for both. Zellweger was once engaged, though, to actor Jim Carrey. Congratulations to them.

HEMMER: Oh, yes. Ten minutes before the hour now, Soledad.

One of the oldest and most famous names in the oil biz is about to fade into history, kind of sort of. Andy explains next, "Minding Your Business", right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. With sales way up in North America, Toyota is revving up production over here. And, you know, ChevronTexaco? Well, no more. Andy explains as he minds your business this morning.

Hello.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Hello. ChevronTexaco is not going away. It's just a name change. We'll get to that in one second.

Let's talk about Toyota. It seems inevitable this company's presence in North America is getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Now the company is going to be opening up its seventh assembly plant in North America in southern Ontario, Woodstock, Ontario to be precise. The number two auto maker sold two million units -- that would be cars and trucks -- in the United States for the first time last year. Market share about 12 percent. That's about half of GM's market share. Also, Toyota is going to be making a hybrid Camry, perhaps, in its Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant. And it looks like they're going to be making the Prius for the first time in North America as well in their Fremont, California, facility.

Now let's talk about ChevronTexaco. You know, those two oil giants merged in October of 2001. And the name has always been a little awkward, ChevronTexaco. Companies don't like that when you have two names.

So now Chevron is going to drop the Texaco name. The company will just be known as Chevron now. They won't be taking the name away from gas stations. Texaco gas stations will still be called that in 21 states in the south and east. Texaco, of course, is a proud name going back 100 years in this country and the sponsor of Milton Berle's television show back in the late '40s and early 1950s. Remember that? I don't. Maybe Jack does. I don't know. And then also, the Metropolitan Opera, it was a sponsor of that for 63 years until very recently. And I remember my parents used to listen to that all the time.

O'BRIEN: That's pretty amazing.

SERWER: It is.

O'BRIEN: But it goes away.

SERWER: Yes.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: The Texaco Star Theater was done out of the same studio in Rockefeller Center right across the street that "The Tonight Show" was done out of originally.

O'BRIEN: Really?

CAFFERTY: And that I worked out of 13 years on a local news program here in New York called Live at 5. And I did meet and interview Mr. Berle back a long time ago.

SERWER: Cool.

CAFFERTY: And there are wonderful stories about Uncle Milty (ph) and the guests that used to visit his dressing room before the show each week and all kind of folklore there at the Peacock network.

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: I'd love to hear that. Maybe later, as they say.

HEMMER: Sanitize the word folklore, yes.

SERWER: Yes.

HEMMER: Here is Jack, "Question of the Day." What's happening?

CAFFERTY: Beginning today, the federal government -- that would be you and me, the taxpayers -- will pay hospitals and doctors a billion dollars over the next three years to provide free emergency medical care to illegal immigrants. States asked for the money, because providing medical care for illegals has become a huge financial burden for them. California spends $500 million a year on medical care for illegal aliens. This at a time when 47 million of our citizens have no medical insurance.

The question this morning is: Should the government pay hospitals and doctors for providing emergency care to illegal immigrants?

Kevin in Long Branch, New Jersey: "You're kidding, right? When Americans get turned away for not having medical coverage, how do we justify this? Why are we the only country required to be politically correct?"

Frank in Pennsylvania: "Is common sense some sort of mutually- exclusive phrase to elected officials at all levels?"

Sandy writes from South Carolina: "This country has a problem treating its own people's medical problems. I worry about our elderly's medical care much more than I worry about illegal aliens' health issues."

Dean in New Jersey writes: "Yes, under the aegis of the government, doctors and hospitals should attend to the sick and injured regardless of their alien status. After all, we're not barbarians. Of course, the native government of such illegal aliens should then be presented with the bill."

And Rex in Indiana write: "Jack, oh, I think I get it. We do have universal health care, just not for U.S. citizens. What will the Bush administration think of next to screw over the lower and middle classes?"

SERWER: I have an idea. You know all of those people who own restaurants and lawn care services and farms who employ these illegal aliens? How about them picking up the tab?

CAFFERTY: Well, then will it be just reflected in the price of the service you buy from them, your lawn care, your restaurant food or whatever else you buy from them.

HEMMER: I think the California figure -- 500 million in California is unbelievable.

CAFFERTY: Just in California.

HEMMER: I have to think it's equally as high on a percentage basis in places like Arizona...

CAFFERTY: New Mexico.

HEMMER: ... New Mexico, maybe New York state. .

CAFFERTY: Yes. Illinois is earmarked for, I think, the fourth or fifth biggest share of this three-year $1 billion payout, perhaps because of some immigration issues from Canada.

HEMMER: You know, like Soledad was saying, I don't know if you attack this problem at a hospital. I think you go to the borders. I think you go to the airports.

O'BRIEN: I completely agree.

HEMMER: If you really want to stop it there.

O'BRIEN: But at the same time, when you're dealing with a problem that's here, what do you do?

SERWER: Yes.

O'BRIEN: If you have people who are the most indigent...

CAFFERTY: Move them out.

SERWER: Well...

O'BRIEN: If you have people who are the most indigent, who will not seek medical care, you will transmit disease. I mean, that is a large degree why they make these rules. They're trying to see if they can get people -- I mean, tuberculosis, if you recall in the '70s when there were tuberculosis scares in the subway, that's a problem that actually affects...

CAFFERTY: But that is precisely the reason that they passed immigration laws in this country 100 years ago.

O'BRIEN: I understand.

CAFFERTY: To control the flow of people from outside our borders who would bring in disease and pestilent and all those things.

O'BRIEN: Exactly.

CAFFERTY: And now we ignore the laws and just let them into the country. I mean...

SERWER: Well, it's two problems. You have to stop them from coming in, but take care of the people who are already here, right? I mean, short of supporting them.

CAFFERTY: If you think that's the way to do it, I mean, I'm with you, Andy.

SERWER: Well, I think we have to do two things.

CAFFERTY: You and me, kid.

O'BRIEN: Obviously, it's an excellent "Question of the Day," because we're all debating it.

CAFFERTY: Me and Andy. What?

O'BRIEN: I said it's obviously an excellent "Question of the Day."

CAFFERTY: Indeed it is.

O'BRIEN: Yet another...

CAFFERTY: Do I get a raise?

O'BRIEN: No.

CAFFERTY: Of course not.

O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, we're going to talk to the rider of the horse that won the Kentucky Derby, Giacomo. The jockey, Mike Smith, is going to join us live in the studio. So, what was it like to ride a 50 to one long shot to victory? A look at that is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

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