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American Morning

Grenade Threat; Idaho Amber Alert; Medicare & Sex

Aired May 18, 2005 - 09:00 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.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Welcome, everybody, is what I'm trying to say.

Also ahead this morning, a controversial plan by the government to spend $2 billion over the next 10 years to pay Medicare bills for impotence drugs.

HEMMER: Some people aren't happy about it. A lot of sides to the story. We'll get to it in a moment here.

Also, getting you Jack Cafferty.

Good morning.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Bill.

The U.S. Air Force is calling on President Bush to sign off on a national security directive calling for the placement of military weapons in space, both offensive and defensive. Good idea or not? Hundreds of billions of dollars at stake if they fund this thing. AM@CNN.com.

HEMMER: All right, Jack. Thanks for that.

First, the headlines. Back to Carol Costello for those now -- Carol.

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

"Now in the News," terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may be ordering his followers to set off car bombs. A senior U.S. military official says new intelligence suggests al-Zarqawi is behind a new wave of blasts that killed some 400 people over the past month.

In the meantime, officials say a new car bombing in Baquba may have targeted an Iraqi police convoy. More than a dozen people injured here.

Lawmakers on the Hill are looking at ways to better protect the country's judges. Federal Judge Joan Lefkow is among those testifying today before the Senate Judiciary Committee. As you can see, she's speaking there live now, talking a lot about her family and the need to protect judges not only in the courtroom but in the home as well.

Judge Lefkow's husband and mother were killed in Chicago earlier this year. This will be the first time she speaks publicly about those murders.

A possible Senate showdown over President Bush's judicial nominees. The focus will first be on Priscilla Owen. Her nomination for the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals is set for debate today.

If Democrats try to stall Owen's nomination, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist plans to call for a vote on banning judicial filibusters, a move dubbed "the nuclear option." President Bush has called on the Senate to approve the picks without further delay.

Real estate mogul Donald Trump is set to unveil his own plan for New York's World Trade Center site. The Donald spoke about his plans last night to Larry King.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, REAL ESTATE MOGUL: You either build the World Trade Center as it was, build -- you do it bigger, better, stronger, more beautiful, or you build a great park, memorial park. I don't think you should build what they call Freedom Tower.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Trump criticizing the Freedom Tower project which is now being reworked, saying it was designed by a "egghead architect." Trump's own plan for the site are much more similar to the original twin towers design.

I think he had a few more choice words for the Freedom Tower project, some I can't say on television.

And the new "Star Wars" opens up on the East Coast in just about 15 hours, but die-hard fans have camped out overnight for their tickets to the midnight screening of "Episode III: Revenge of the Sith."

They're already there. One impatient super fan summed up the wait by saying, "The theater manager is our Darth Vader."

(LAUGHTER)

HEMMER: Game on.

O'BRIEN: Oh, it's crazy.

HEMMER: Thanks, Carol.

There are new developments now about this grenade found near the president last week overseas. Ed Henry live from the White House on this story. Ed, good morning there. How dangerous -- how dangerous was it for the president?

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's a question that officials here in the United States and Georgia are still trying to answer. The key information we have this morning, though, is that the Georgian interior ministry is now confirming to CNN that, in fact, the grenade found near the stage where President Bush spoke earlier this month was capable of exploding.

In addition, an FBI agent on the ground in Georgia is telling The Associated Press this morning this was not a dummy grenade. This is -- new information is contradicting what Georgia officials said earlier this month, when they insisted that, in fact, this was an inactive device.

This has been a story of international mystery, a lot of twists and turns. And yet another one. I can tell you, I want to caution that I spoke just a little bit earlier with an official at the U.S. Secret Service who said they cannot confirm this new information coming from Georgia and coming from the FBI.

To the Secret Service, this is still an ongoing investigation. They're trying to figure out all of the pieces of this story.

This incident occurred back on May 10, when the president was wrapping up a five-day, four-nation tour, marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. He spoke to a crowd of some 200,000 people by some estimates. But I want to caution also that CNN had multiple correspondents, producers and photographers there in the crowd. They did not see anything unusual, did not see any commotion.

It's also worth noting that Georgian officials did not alert U.S. officials to any sort of incident until hours after the president left.

And finally, the president was speaking on that stage behind bulletproof glass. So even if this grenade had exploded, it's unclear how much damage it could have done to the president or others -- Bill.

HEMMER: It is an intriguing new twist, nonetheless. Thanks, Ed. Ed Henry from the White House -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Idaho police want to talk to a man about a triple killing and the disappearance of two children. Brenda Groene, her 13- year-old son, Slade, and Brenda Groene's boyfriend, Mark McKenzie, all found dead Monday in Coeur d'Alene in Idaho. An Amber Alert is out for 8-year-old Shasta Groene and her 9-year-old brother Dylan. Police say only that 33-year-old Roy Lutner is a person of interest in their case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF ROCKY WATSON, KOOTENAI COUNTY, IDAHO: He has known to visit the family, but his vehicle was seen at the residence during the time frame that we believe the murders took place. (END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Harry Amend is the Coeur d'Alene school superintendent. He joins us this morning.

Nice to talk to you, sir. Thanks for being with us.

Obviously a huge tragedy to have to deal with on several levels. How are the students, the younger students, dealing with the disappearance of these two young children, Shasta and Dylan?

HARRY AMEND, COEUR D'ALENE SUPERINTENDENT: Right now, there's -- there's a combination of deep emotion in those kids, both at the middle school and at the elementary school level. They're feeling the pain and the grief and the shock of what's a brutal murder of one of their classmates. And you throw in the fear of the unknown, with the two elementary kids basically just babies, a second grader and a third grader, that just the wonder and the fear and the agonizing over their wellbeing now.

O'BRIEN: Oh, I can imagine. Tell us what you're doing for these students. You have crisis management teams on site. How are they helping the students?

AMEND: Yes, we're in a school district of about 10,000 kids, and we have our crisis team of 18, our counselors and psychologists that go into the school. Yesterday, they spent all day at Lakes Middle School, ministering to the kids there and the staff there.

The staffs at both these schools are very shaken, a lot of red eyes. The kids were in the halls in small groups and larger groups until about noon, and it started to level out a little bit.

The adults are trying to help the kids get through the stages of grief and help them come to grips with the reality, in the middle school case, that their classmate has been brutally murdered. There's feelings of guilt, feelings of inadequacy on the part of the kids, and on the staff. And like I said, at the elementary school, there's just a lot of fear right now.

O'BRIEN: I can imagine. Tell me a little bit about these kids. Thirteen-year-old Slade, as you mentioned, was murdered -- in middle school, and then, of course, the younger children in the elementary school. I read one teacher describing them as little and bight-eyed little angels.

AMEND: Yes, they're actually physically small. Slade was probably about 5'3"5'4", and about a 70, or 80-pounder, and a bright- eyed kid, well liked by the kids at Lakes Middle School. And the two little ones are like 40 and 30 pounds, four feet and 3'10".

It's -- they're tiny, but everybody that knows them, the two elementary kids that are missing, said that they're survivors, they're very able to -- especially for their age. Of course at the beginning, we were hoping that they had just hidden in the woods behind their house. And the longer the time goes by, the more we worry about other things.

O'BRIEN: As you well know, police have a person of interest in the case. They're not calling him a suspect, but a person of interest, Robert Lutner. He's believed, the sheriff told us, to have been visiting the house at the time.

Do you know anything about this man?

It looks as if we're having a little trouble with our audio. We are talking to Harry Amend. He's the Coeur d'Alene school superintendent. Let me just try him one last time to see.

Mr. Amend, can you hear us at all?

Obviously, we're having some audio difficulties. But he was describing just how heartbroken not only the other students in the middle school and the elementary school, but also the staff as well, of the murder of the young boy, 13-year-old Slade, and also the disappearance of the two young children, 8-year-old and 9-year-old Shasta and Dylan Groene, who are now missing.

An Amber Alert has been put out in -- on their behalf. We're going to obviously continue to follow this story. Looking for any breaks in that case.

HEMMER: A tough, tough day for those folks out there in Idaho.

Eight minutes past the hour now. Still looking West.

They made history in L.A. City councilman Antonio Villaraigosa was declared the winner in the city's mayoral election overnight, defeating the incumbent, James Hahn, along the way. He is now the city's first Hispanic mayor, get this, since 1872.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIO VILLARAIGOS, LOS ANGELES MAYOR-ELECT: ... our purpose here and now. Our purpose is to bring this great city together. Our purpose is to draw fully and equally on the rich diversity of all our communities and neighborhoods.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: It wasn't his first shot at the office, however. He lost to Mayor Hahn just about four years ago, so he comes back and wins it this time, first time in 133 years for him.

O'BRIEN: Congratulations to him.

One of the largest safety recalls ever from Toyota to tell you about this morning. The company says problems with the front suspension could block steering. More than 750,000 pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles are affected by this recall. No injuries, though, associated with the problems.

In southern California, an accident on the freeway put a vehicle in kind of a weird position. Take a look at this. Can you see this?

The picture showed the car literally upended on its nose, wedged between two other vehicles. It happened on the Ventura Freeway in Burbank.

Three people were injured in the crash, one of them seriously. Police closed several lanes of that highway while they were clearing up the scene. And, of course, the traffic in L.A. was backed up for miles while they tried to pluck that vehicle out.

HEMMER: Lucky to be alive after seeing that. Man.

O'BRIEN: Yes, pretty remarkable.

HEMMER: Ten minutes past the hour. Looking to the weather, looking to the West again, Northwest. Here's Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: In a moment here, we'll get a rare chance today to get some perspective from one of the U.S. commanders in Baghdad. We'll talk to a U.S. colonel about the current fight against the rising insurgency and some of the biggest challenges U.S. troops are facing today.

O'BRIEN: Plus, the Senate poised for that showdown over judicial filibusters. We're going to bring you a live report from Washington, D.C.

HEMMER: Also, is sex for seniors a government problem? Why Uncle Sam is dishing out for drugs like Viagra and more. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING as we continue live in New York City right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: On Capitol Hill there's a report circulating estimating that over the next 10 years Medicare will spend up to $750 billion on prescription drugs. Of that figure, $2 billion will go to provide elderly and disabled men with drugs to treat impotence. Should the government be spending any taxpayer dollars on drugs like Viagra?

Diane Archer is the past president and founder of the Medicare Rights Center. She's my guest to talk about this.

Good morning to you.

DIANE ARCHER, FOUNDER, MEDICARE RIGHTS CENTER: Good morning.

HEMMER: Two billion on impotence drugs, Viagra, Cialis, Levitra. What do you make of this?

ARCHER: Well, what I make of it is an outrageous decision by Congress to allow -- or to prevent Medicare from negotiating drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry, unlike every other service Medicare pay for. And Medicare's the program for everyone over 65 and people with disabilities, where the government negotiates prices to get the best deal for our parents and grandparents.

HEMMER: I think you're touching on something I think that's very critical, not just for impotence drugs, but drugs across the board. Keep it on this topic for a second here, when it deals with impotence drugs. Should they be cared for by Medicare?

ARCHER: I think the question is, do doctors think they're medically reasonable and necessary? Is Nexium reasonable and necessary, Vioxx?

There are a lot of high-priced drugs, there are a lot of drugs -- I can't tell you, I'm not a doctor. What I can tell you is that we shouldn't be overpaying for them. One study out of Boston University said that we would be overpaying the pharmaceutical industry to the tune of $17 billion a year through this new Medicare drug benefit.

HEMMER: This is what we get from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association. They sent a statement to CNN. "Erectile dysfunction is quite often the result of debilitating conditions, including diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, depression. E.D., in fact, can be an early sign of these diseases. Products that treat erectile dysfunction are part of the overall treatment of patients."

Can you argue against that?

ARCHER: I can argue against that. I think the point is that, if people need the drug, they should get it, but we should be overpaying.

We should be giving people a good prescription drug benefit. What Congress has done is given seniors, our parents and grandparents, half a loaf, a very meager prescription drug benefit. They could really enrich that benefit by making wise decisions about how much they pay, by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices like every other...

HEMMER: You're saying allow the government to directly go to these drug companies and do the deal, do the negotiating face-to-face?

ARCHER: Yes. We have 42 million people on Medicare. They do the negotiation with the doctors and the hospitals and the labs. They get good rates, better than private insurers. Why aren't we doing it with the pharmaceutical industry?

HEMMER: Cut through it. Tell us why it's not happening that way.

ARCHER: Congress doesn't want to bite the hand that feeds them. The pharmaceutical industry is supporting member of Congress big time. They were instrumental. Their hands are all over the new Medicare drug legislation.

HEMMER: Does this give rise then to more claims and possibly more calls of going north to the border or going online? Or both?

ARCHER: I think -- maybe. I mean, the question is, are people going to buy into the new prescription drug benefit? It's costly, and it's only going to give them partial drug coverage. Many people will probably continue to go to Canada and Mexico for their drugs.

HEMMER: But if you look at the dollar amount here, $750 billion over 10 years. That's an extraordinary amount of money.

ARCHER: It's extraordinary. And what's more extraordinary is that most of it is a handout to the pharmaceutical industry.

HEMMER: Diane Archer, Medicare Rights Center, thanks for being with us today.

ARCHER: Thank you.

HEMMER: All right -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Well, the Senate on the brink of an historic showdown. Will Republicans chose the so-called nuclear option, changing the filibuster rules? We've got a live report ahead from Washington, D.C., as we continue here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Let's get right to Jack, who's got the "Question of the Day."

CAFFERTY: The president is being asked by the Air Force to sign off on a space weapons program, both offensive and defensive weapons. Air Force fields, these things eventually will be necessary to protect this country, and they want to get started building them now. It costs hundreds of billions of dollars. The question is whether this is what we need at this point or not.

Pat in Nebraska writes -- front page story in "The New York Times," by the way. A little credit where credit's due. It's a pretty good piece.

Pat in Nebraska writes, "We need to be there before North Korea and China team up or our friends in France get there. If we do not continue the effort, we will never catch up once we fall behind. Look at what has happened in textiles, automobiles and computer science."

Tim writes, "JFK challenged us to go to the moon peacefully because he understood something this president does not, American power in the world is less about what we can blow up and more about what positive things we can accomplish."

Drew in New York writes, "In our city, we're concerned about whether we can afford a 2 percent increase in school taxes, yet the government would rather spend billions, if not trillions, of funds figuring out new ways of killing each other. Enough already."

And Betty in Alabama writes, "What a stupid idea. How in the name of mercy does this administration think outer space can be protected when we can't even protect our borders? They need to stop watching so many 'Star Wars' movies and check reality." O'BRIEN: Well, I guess the argument is you do have to work on all these weapons -- I mean, if you ever want to put them into space one day, you need a 10, 15, 20-year lead time. I mean, it's not just a decision you can make and then put them up in space.

HEMMER: Or maybe longer, too, depending on how you develop the thing.

O'BRIEN: Right. Good question. Interesting.

CAFFERTY: Sure.

O'BRIEN: I actually think some of these -- this feedback is sort of interesting. They raise all the right points. Very expensive. How are you going to pay for it? All we talk about are the things that we can't afford as a government and a society.

CAFFERTY: Sure.

HEMMER: And you wonder if there's any support in Congress right now, too, based on the testing that's going on in the Pacific (ph), based on the dollar amounts down the road. And you wonder if Reagan had his finger on the button anyway, so to speak, of course, back in the '80s by driving up the price of the Soviet Union, forcing them out of business. Strong argument to say, yes, he was on the right side of that the entire time.

CAFFERTY: That was then this is now.

HEMMER: That's right.

CAFFERTY: And that was Reagan, and this is someone else.

HEMMER: 2005, you're right.

And this is Oregon, by the way. A high-speed police chase, a rather unique twist here, too.

A wild black bear high-tailing it through a neighborhood, over a fence. The animal had been looking for some food in a trash can, startling the neighbors along the way. Otherwise, the bear behaved itself, managed to avoid any arrest.

Tough to put that things in handcuffs. At last word, it found its way back into the nearby woods, and there he goes -- or she goes.

O'BRIEN: It looks like a baby, doesn't it?

HEMMER: Yes, nice.

O'BRIEN: Like a big old bear cub.

HEMMER: Stay out of the way. Out of a town called Scappoose, Oregon. Love that name. Not a bad town.

O'BRIEN: A short break's ahead. And more AMERICAN MORNING still to come this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Ahead on "90-Second Pop"...

BRITNEY SPEARS, SINGER: Can you handle my truth? Can you?

O'BRIEN: A behind-the-scenes look at Britney and Kevin. The expectant couple shows us private home videos in a new reality show.

RYAN SEACREST, HOST, "AMERICAN IDOL": Next week, we will have your new "American Idol."

O'BRIEN: And then there were three. Carrie, Bo and Vonzell compete for the "Idol" crown. Just one week left. How did they do last night? Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Blue skies here in New York City. Good morning, everybody. 9:30 here. Good to have you along with us today. Get to the opening bell in a moment here.

Also in a moment, one of the U.S. commanders in Baghdad talks to us live about what American forces can do to answer the recent wave of violence. We'll get to that from the Iraqi capital.

O'BRIEN: Lots of questions there.

First, though, let's get right to the headlines with Carol Costello.

Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.

"Now in the News," authorities in Idaho want to speak with a so- called person of interest in connection with a triple slaying and abduction. An Amber Alert has been issued for 8-year-old Shasta and 9-year-old Dylan Groene. Their mother and older brother were among the victims found dead early Tuesday.

Police are looking for 33-year-old Robert Roy Lutner. He's possibly driving a white or silver pickup truck. Police stress he is just a person of interest at this time.

New details this morning about the grenade found during President Bush's speech last week in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. An FBI agent says the grenade was thrown and could have exploded.

Georgian officials had previously said the device was found in the crowd and was relatively harmless. It is still not clear where that grenade came from. And President Bush will be on hand today when the new director of national intelligence officially takes his post. The ceremonial swearing-in taking place this afternoon for John Negroponte. He is the first person to hold that post. Negroponte's position was created by Congress last year as part of the 9/11 report.

All right. Now the opening bell on Wall Street.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

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

Aired May 18, 2005 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Welcome, everybody, is what I'm trying to say.

Also ahead this morning, a controversial plan by the government to spend $2 billion over the next 10 years to pay Medicare bills for impotence drugs.

HEMMER: Some people aren't happy about it. A lot of sides to the story. We'll get to it in a moment here.

Also, getting you Jack Cafferty.

Good morning.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Bill.

The U.S. Air Force is calling on President Bush to sign off on a national security directive calling for the placement of military weapons in space, both offensive and defensive. Good idea or not? Hundreds of billions of dollars at stake if they fund this thing. AM@CNN.com.

HEMMER: All right, Jack. Thanks for that.

First, the headlines. Back to Carol Costello for those now -- Carol.

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

"Now in the News," terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may be ordering his followers to set off car bombs. A senior U.S. military official says new intelligence suggests al-Zarqawi is behind a new wave of blasts that killed some 400 people over the past month.

In the meantime, officials say a new car bombing in Baquba may have targeted an Iraqi police convoy. More than a dozen people injured here.

Lawmakers on the Hill are looking at ways to better protect the country's judges. Federal Judge Joan Lefkow is among those testifying today before the Senate Judiciary Committee. As you can see, she's speaking there live now, talking a lot about her family and the need to protect judges not only in the courtroom but in the home as well.

Judge Lefkow's husband and mother were killed in Chicago earlier this year. This will be the first time she speaks publicly about those murders.

A possible Senate showdown over President Bush's judicial nominees. The focus will first be on Priscilla Owen. Her nomination for the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals is set for debate today.

If Democrats try to stall Owen's nomination, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist plans to call for a vote on banning judicial filibusters, a move dubbed "the nuclear option." President Bush has called on the Senate to approve the picks without further delay.

Real estate mogul Donald Trump is set to unveil his own plan for New York's World Trade Center site. The Donald spoke about his plans last night to Larry King.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, REAL ESTATE MOGUL: You either build the World Trade Center as it was, build -- you do it bigger, better, stronger, more beautiful, or you build a great park, memorial park. I don't think you should build what they call Freedom Tower.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Trump criticizing the Freedom Tower project which is now being reworked, saying it was designed by a "egghead architect." Trump's own plan for the site are much more similar to the original twin towers design.

I think he had a few more choice words for the Freedom Tower project, some I can't say on television.

And the new "Star Wars" opens up on the East Coast in just about 15 hours, but die-hard fans have camped out overnight for their tickets to the midnight screening of "Episode III: Revenge of the Sith."

They're already there. One impatient super fan summed up the wait by saying, "The theater manager is our Darth Vader."

(LAUGHTER)

HEMMER: Game on.

O'BRIEN: Oh, it's crazy.

HEMMER: Thanks, Carol.

There are new developments now about this grenade found near the president last week overseas. Ed Henry live from the White House on this story. Ed, good morning there. How dangerous -- how dangerous was it for the president?

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's a question that officials here in the United States and Georgia are still trying to answer. The key information we have this morning, though, is that the Georgian interior ministry is now confirming to CNN that, in fact, the grenade found near the stage where President Bush spoke earlier this month was capable of exploding.

In addition, an FBI agent on the ground in Georgia is telling The Associated Press this morning this was not a dummy grenade. This is -- new information is contradicting what Georgia officials said earlier this month, when they insisted that, in fact, this was an inactive device.

This has been a story of international mystery, a lot of twists and turns. And yet another one. I can tell you, I want to caution that I spoke just a little bit earlier with an official at the U.S. Secret Service who said they cannot confirm this new information coming from Georgia and coming from the FBI.

To the Secret Service, this is still an ongoing investigation. They're trying to figure out all of the pieces of this story.

This incident occurred back on May 10, when the president was wrapping up a five-day, four-nation tour, marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. He spoke to a crowd of some 200,000 people by some estimates. But I want to caution also that CNN had multiple correspondents, producers and photographers there in the crowd. They did not see anything unusual, did not see any commotion.

It's also worth noting that Georgian officials did not alert U.S. officials to any sort of incident until hours after the president left.

And finally, the president was speaking on that stage behind bulletproof glass. So even if this grenade had exploded, it's unclear how much damage it could have done to the president or others -- Bill.

HEMMER: It is an intriguing new twist, nonetheless. Thanks, Ed. Ed Henry from the White House -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Idaho police want to talk to a man about a triple killing and the disappearance of two children. Brenda Groene, her 13- year-old son, Slade, and Brenda Groene's boyfriend, Mark McKenzie, all found dead Monday in Coeur d'Alene in Idaho. An Amber Alert is out for 8-year-old Shasta Groene and her 9-year-old brother Dylan. Police say only that 33-year-old Roy Lutner is a person of interest in their case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF ROCKY WATSON, KOOTENAI COUNTY, IDAHO: He has known to visit the family, but his vehicle was seen at the residence during the time frame that we believe the murders took place. (END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Harry Amend is the Coeur d'Alene school superintendent. He joins us this morning.

Nice to talk to you, sir. Thanks for being with us.

Obviously a huge tragedy to have to deal with on several levels. How are the students, the younger students, dealing with the disappearance of these two young children, Shasta and Dylan?

HARRY AMEND, COEUR D'ALENE SUPERINTENDENT: Right now, there's -- there's a combination of deep emotion in those kids, both at the middle school and at the elementary school level. They're feeling the pain and the grief and the shock of what's a brutal murder of one of their classmates. And you throw in the fear of the unknown, with the two elementary kids basically just babies, a second grader and a third grader, that just the wonder and the fear and the agonizing over their wellbeing now.

O'BRIEN: Oh, I can imagine. Tell us what you're doing for these students. You have crisis management teams on site. How are they helping the students?

AMEND: Yes, we're in a school district of about 10,000 kids, and we have our crisis team of 18, our counselors and psychologists that go into the school. Yesterday, they spent all day at Lakes Middle School, ministering to the kids there and the staff there.

The staffs at both these schools are very shaken, a lot of red eyes. The kids were in the halls in small groups and larger groups until about noon, and it started to level out a little bit.

The adults are trying to help the kids get through the stages of grief and help them come to grips with the reality, in the middle school case, that their classmate has been brutally murdered. There's feelings of guilt, feelings of inadequacy on the part of the kids, and on the staff. And like I said, at the elementary school, there's just a lot of fear right now.

O'BRIEN: I can imagine. Tell me a little bit about these kids. Thirteen-year-old Slade, as you mentioned, was murdered -- in middle school, and then, of course, the younger children in the elementary school. I read one teacher describing them as little and bight-eyed little angels.

AMEND: Yes, they're actually physically small. Slade was probably about 5'3"5'4", and about a 70, or 80-pounder, and a bright- eyed kid, well liked by the kids at Lakes Middle School. And the two little ones are like 40 and 30 pounds, four feet and 3'10".

It's -- they're tiny, but everybody that knows them, the two elementary kids that are missing, said that they're survivors, they're very able to -- especially for their age. Of course at the beginning, we were hoping that they had just hidden in the woods behind their house. And the longer the time goes by, the more we worry about other things.

O'BRIEN: As you well know, police have a person of interest in the case. They're not calling him a suspect, but a person of interest, Robert Lutner. He's believed, the sheriff told us, to have been visiting the house at the time.

Do you know anything about this man?

It looks as if we're having a little trouble with our audio. We are talking to Harry Amend. He's the Coeur d'Alene school superintendent. Let me just try him one last time to see.

Mr. Amend, can you hear us at all?

Obviously, we're having some audio difficulties. But he was describing just how heartbroken not only the other students in the middle school and the elementary school, but also the staff as well, of the murder of the young boy, 13-year-old Slade, and also the disappearance of the two young children, 8-year-old and 9-year-old Shasta and Dylan Groene, who are now missing.

An Amber Alert has been put out in -- on their behalf. We're going to obviously continue to follow this story. Looking for any breaks in that case.

HEMMER: A tough, tough day for those folks out there in Idaho.

Eight minutes past the hour now. Still looking West.

They made history in L.A. City councilman Antonio Villaraigosa was declared the winner in the city's mayoral election overnight, defeating the incumbent, James Hahn, along the way. He is now the city's first Hispanic mayor, get this, since 1872.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIO VILLARAIGOS, LOS ANGELES MAYOR-ELECT: ... our purpose here and now. Our purpose is to bring this great city together. Our purpose is to draw fully and equally on the rich diversity of all our communities and neighborhoods.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: It wasn't his first shot at the office, however. He lost to Mayor Hahn just about four years ago, so he comes back and wins it this time, first time in 133 years for him.

O'BRIEN: Congratulations to him.

One of the largest safety recalls ever from Toyota to tell you about this morning. The company says problems with the front suspension could block steering. More than 750,000 pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles are affected by this recall. No injuries, though, associated with the problems.

In southern California, an accident on the freeway put a vehicle in kind of a weird position. Take a look at this. Can you see this?

The picture showed the car literally upended on its nose, wedged between two other vehicles. It happened on the Ventura Freeway in Burbank.

Three people were injured in the crash, one of them seriously. Police closed several lanes of that highway while they were clearing up the scene. And, of course, the traffic in L.A. was backed up for miles while they tried to pluck that vehicle out.

HEMMER: Lucky to be alive after seeing that. Man.

O'BRIEN: Yes, pretty remarkable.

HEMMER: Ten minutes past the hour. Looking to the weather, looking to the West again, Northwest. Here's Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: In a moment here, we'll get a rare chance today to get some perspective from one of the U.S. commanders in Baghdad. We'll talk to a U.S. colonel about the current fight against the rising insurgency and some of the biggest challenges U.S. troops are facing today.

O'BRIEN: Plus, the Senate poised for that showdown over judicial filibusters. We're going to bring you a live report from Washington, D.C.

HEMMER: Also, is sex for seniors a government problem? Why Uncle Sam is dishing out for drugs like Viagra and more. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING as we continue live in New York City right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: On Capitol Hill there's a report circulating estimating that over the next 10 years Medicare will spend up to $750 billion on prescription drugs. Of that figure, $2 billion will go to provide elderly and disabled men with drugs to treat impotence. Should the government be spending any taxpayer dollars on drugs like Viagra?

Diane Archer is the past president and founder of the Medicare Rights Center. She's my guest to talk about this.

Good morning to you.

DIANE ARCHER, FOUNDER, MEDICARE RIGHTS CENTER: Good morning.

HEMMER: Two billion on impotence drugs, Viagra, Cialis, Levitra. What do you make of this?

ARCHER: Well, what I make of it is an outrageous decision by Congress to allow -- or to prevent Medicare from negotiating drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry, unlike every other service Medicare pay for. And Medicare's the program for everyone over 65 and people with disabilities, where the government negotiates prices to get the best deal for our parents and grandparents.

HEMMER: I think you're touching on something I think that's very critical, not just for impotence drugs, but drugs across the board. Keep it on this topic for a second here, when it deals with impotence drugs. Should they be cared for by Medicare?

ARCHER: I think the question is, do doctors think they're medically reasonable and necessary? Is Nexium reasonable and necessary, Vioxx?

There are a lot of high-priced drugs, there are a lot of drugs -- I can't tell you, I'm not a doctor. What I can tell you is that we shouldn't be overpaying for them. One study out of Boston University said that we would be overpaying the pharmaceutical industry to the tune of $17 billion a year through this new Medicare drug benefit.

HEMMER: This is what we get from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association. They sent a statement to CNN. "Erectile dysfunction is quite often the result of debilitating conditions, including diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, depression. E.D., in fact, can be an early sign of these diseases. Products that treat erectile dysfunction are part of the overall treatment of patients."

Can you argue against that?

ARCHER: I can argue against that. I think the point is that, if people need the drug, they should get it, but we should be overpaying.

We should be giving people a good prescription drug benefit. What Congress has done is given seniors, our parents and grandparents, half a loaf, a very meager prescription drug benefit. They could really enrich that benefit by making wise decisions about how much they pay, by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices like every other...

HEMMER: You're saying allow the government to directly go to these drug companies and do the deal, do the negotiating face-to-face?

ARCHER: Yes. We have 42 million people on Medicare. They do the negotiation with the doctors and the hospitals and the labs. They get good rates, better than private insurers. Why aren't we doing it with the pharmaceutical industry?

HEMMER: Cut through it. Tell us why it's not happening that way.

ARCHER: Congress doesn't want to bite the hand that feeds them. The pharmaceutical industry is supporting member of Congress big time. They were instrumental. Their hands are all over the new Medicare drug legislation.

HEMMER: Does this give rise then to more claims and possibly more calls of going north to the border or going online? Or both?

ARCHER: I think -- maybe. I mean, the question is, are people going to buy into the new prescription drug benefit? It's costly, and it's only going to give them partial drug coverage. Many people will probably continue to go to Canada and Mexico for their drugs.

HEMMER: But if you look at the dollar amount here, $750 billion over 10 years. That's an extraordinary amount of money.

ARCHER: It's extraordinary. And what's more extraordinary is that most of it is a handout to the pharmaceutical industry.

HEMMER: Diane Archer, Medicare Rights Center, thanks for being with us today.

ARCHER: Thank you.

HEMMER: All right -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Well, the Senate on the brink of an historic showdown. Will Republicans chose the so-called nuclear option, changing the filibuster rules? We've got a live report ahead from Washington, D.C., as we continue here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Let's get right to Jack, who's got the "Question of the Day."

CAFFERTY: The president is being asked by the Air Force to sign off on a space weapons program, both offensive and defensive weapons. Air Force fields, these things eventually will be necessary to protect this country, and they want to get started building them now. It costs hundreds of billions of dollars. The question is whether this is what we need at this point or not.

Pat in Nebraska writes -- front page story in "The New York Times," by the way. A little credit where credit's due. It's a pretty good piece.

Pat in Nebraska writes, "We need to be there before North Korea and China team up or our friends in France get there. If we do not continue the effort, we will never catch up once we fall behind. Look at what has happened in textiles, automobiles and computer science."

Tim writes, "JFK challenged us to go to the moon peacefully because he understood something this president does not, American power in the world is less about what we can blow up and more about what positive things we can accomplish."

Drew in New York writes, "In our city, we're concerned about whether we can afford a 2 percent increase in school taxes, yet the government would rather spend billions, if not trillions, of funds figuring out new ways of killing each other. Enough already."

And Betty in Alabama writes, "What a stupid idea. How in the name of mercy does this administration think outer space can be protected when we can't even protect our borders? They need to stop watching so many 'Star Wars' movies and check reality." O'BRIEN: Well, I guess the argument is you do have to work on all these weapons -- I mean, if you ever want to put them into space one day, you need a 10, 15, 20-year lead time. I mean, it's not just a decision you can make and then put them up in space.

HEMMER: Or maybe longer, too, depending on how you develop the thing.

O'BRIEN: Right. Good question. Interesting.

CAFFERTY: Sure.

O'BRIEN: I actually think some of these -- this feedback is sort of interesting. They raise all the right points. Very expensive. How are you going to pay for it? All we talk about are the things that we can't afford as a government and a society.

CAFFERTY: Sure.

HEMMER: And you wonder if there's any support in Congress right now, too, based on the testing that's going on in the Pacific (ph), based on the dollar amounts down the road. And you wonder if Reagan had his finger on the button anyway, so to speak, of course, back in the '80s by driving up the price of the Soviet Union, forcing them out of business. Strong argument to say, yes, he was on the right side of that the entire time.

CAFFERTY: That was then this is now.

HEMMER: That's right.

CAFFERTY: And that was Reagan, and this is someone else.

HEMMER: 2005, you're right.

And this is Oregon, by the way. A high-speed police chase, a rather unique twist here, too.

A wild black bear high-tailing it through a neighborhood, over a fence. The animal had been looking for some food in a trash can, startling the neighbors along the way. Otherwise, the bear behaved itself, managed to avoid any arrest.

Tough to put that things in handcuffs. At last word, it found its way back into the nearby woods, and there he goes -- or she goes.

O'BRIEN: It looks like a baby, doesn't it?

HEMMER: Yes, nice.

O'BRIEN: Like a big old bear cub.

HEMMER: Stay out of the way. Out of a town called Scappoose, Oregon. Love that name. Not a bad town.

O'BRIEN: A short break's ahead. And more AMERICAN MORNING still to come this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Ahead on "90-Second Pop"...

BRITNEY SPEARS, SINGER: Can you handle my truth? Can you?

O'BRIEN: A behind-the-scenes look at Britney and Kevin. The expectant couple shows us private home videos in a new reality show.

RYAN SEACREST, HOST, "AMERICAN IDOL": Next week, we will have your new "American Idol."

O'BRIEN: And then there were three. Carrie, Bo and Vonzell compete for the "Idol" crown. Just one week left. How did they do last night? Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Blue skies here in New York City. Good morning, everybody. 9:30 here. Good to have you along with us today. Get to the opening bell in a moment here.

Also in a moment, one of the U.S. commanders in Baghdad talks to us live about what American forces can do to answer the recent wave of violence. We'll get to that from the Iraqi capital.

O'BRIEN: Lots of questions there.

First, though, let's get right to the headlines with Carol Costello.

Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.

"Now in the News," authorities in Idaho want to speak with a so- called person of interest in connection with a triple slaying and abduction. An Amber Alert has been issued for 8-year-old Shasta and 9-year-old Dylan Groene. Their mother and older brother were among the victims found dead early Tuesday.

Police are looking for 33-year-old Robert Roy Lutner. He's possibly driving a white or silver pickup truck. Police stress he is just a person of interest at this time.

New details this morning about the grenade found during President Bush's speech last week in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. An FBI agent says the grenade was thrown and could have exploded.

Georgian officials had previously said the device was found in the crowd and was relatively harmless. It is still not clear where that grenade came from. And President Bush will be on hand today when the new director of national intelligence officially takes his post. The ceremonial swearing-in taking place this afternoon for John Negroponte. He is the first person to hold that post. Negroponte's position was created by Congress last year as part of the 9/11 report.

All right. Now the opening bell on Wall Street.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

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