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American Morning
Missing in Aruba; '90-Second Pop'
Aired July 06, 2005 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Tropical Storm Cindy is dropping heavy rain right now from Mississippi to northern Georgia. Major flooding, scattered power outages reported all along the Gulf Coast, and heavy rain coupled with coastal storm surge leaving many low-lying streets underwater. Looks like an earthquake there.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Just the high winds shaking the camera.
M. O'BRIEN: It's the winds, OK. Duh. Cindy made landfall early this morning in Louisiana. High winds causing the camera to shake as if it were an earthquake. It pelted the area with extremely heavy rain and gusty wind. Officials there somewhat relieved, saying it could have been a lot worse. While Tropical Storm Cindy is battering the Gulf coast, Tropical Storm Dennis not far behind.
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: A check of the other headlines. Kelly Wallace here with that -- Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Miles. Good morning, everyone.
Here are some of those stories now in the news. President Bush is arriving in Scotland at this hour for the G-8 summit. That is the summit of the leaders of the most industrialized nations, plus Russia. Speaking from Copenhagen earlier today, the president addressed some of the issues likely to dominate the three-day talk, defending his decisions on aid to Africa and climate change.
In Scotland, meanwhile, demonstrators armed with bricks and iron bars smashed cars, including a police van. Several dozen were arrested.
A possible link between convicted sex offender Joseph Duncan and a triple slaying in Idaho. Duncan, as you know, is accused of kidnapping 8-year-old Shasta Groene and her 9-year-old brother Dylan. Shasta tells investigators she saw Duncan inside the home where her mother, older brother and her mother's boyfriend were killed. The children's aunt spoke with us last hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MISTY COOPER, IDAHO CHILDREN'S AUNT: Never even heard his name. This is the first time we've ever heard about him. So he has no connection with the family. (END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: Duncan was charged Tuesday with two counts of first- degree kidnapping. His lawyer is expected to file for a change of venue, claiming Duncan cannot get a fair trial.
Rapper Lil' Kim is expected in a New York court today. She was convicted in March for lying to investigators about her involvement in a shooting four years ago at a New York hip-hop station. Lil' Kim, whose real name is Kimberly Jones, faces up to 20 years in prison. Sentencing set for 2:00 p.m. Eastern.
Actress Angelina Jolie is extending her family. According to "People" magazine, the Oscar-winner is adopting a newborn Ethiopian girl orphaned by AIDS. The new mom is apparently keeping mum on all details, except the name, Zahara Marley. Jolie says she and her 3- year-old son, Maddox, who also adopted, are, quote, "very happy to have a new addition to our family." And for more on entertainment news and all other top stories, visit our Web site. Just go to CNN.com for free video and click on the watch free video button. That gets you caught up. Now to Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Kelly, thanks.
To Aruba now. Three Dutch F-16 jets equipped with lasers and special cameras are going to search for information on Natalee Holloway today. This just one day after Holloway's mother made a very emotional plea to not let two young men leave the island. A judge had released Depak and Satish Kalpoe from jail on Monday, citing a lack of evidence in the case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BETH HOLLOWAY TWITTY, NATALEE HOLLOWAY'S MOTHER: It is my greatest fear today that the Kalpoe brothers will leave Aruba. I'm asking the Aruban officials to notify the United States State Department in the event these suspects try to leave this island. I'm asking all nations not to offer them a safe haven.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: No one's been charged with the crime in Holloway's disappearance, and attorneys for the Kalpoes say the men are innocent.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Natalee's mother Beth Twitty and her husband George, or Jug, are in Palm Beach, Aruba this morning.
It's nice to see you both. Thanks for talking with us.
Beth, let's start with you.
GEORGE "JUG" TWITTY, NATALEE HOLLOWAY'S STEPFATHER: Good morning.
B. TWITTY: Good morning.
S. O'BRIEN: Yesterday was a really, really tough day for you, watching that press conference that you held. I mean, I think all of our hearts were just utterly breaking for you. I know we start this way every time, but how are you both holding up today?
B. TWITTY: Yesterday was so difficult, and even last night, you know, but as each day comes -- today is -- today is getting a little -- I'm getting a little more strength, and you know, that optimism back that we can keep going.
S. O'BRIEN: You called the Kalpoe brothers criminals who you said were involved in a violent crime against your daughter, and I'm sort of quoting you there. Do you have information, more information than what we've gotten from prosecutors so far about what exactly happened and what their role was?
B. TWITTY: Yes, I do. And there are some things that I cannot disclose, because I wouldn't want to jeopardize the investigation, but yes, these individuals are -- definitely have involvement.
S. O'BRIEN: There's new information from a couple fishermen who say that they didn't see Joran Van Der Sloot or your daughter that night that she went missing. What do you make of that information? Is it something that you'd heard before?
B. TWITTY: Jack might can comment on that.
G. TWITTY: Actually, I heard it this morning...
S. O'BRIEN: That was the first time?
G. TWITTY: I saw it come across the bottom of CNN this morning. First time I heard -- I mean, I knew that they had other witnesses that said Joran was not where he said he was that night on the beach, and I think that's one of the reasons they held him, because that was another piece of information that the judge probably said, you know, the guy's lying still.
S. O'BRIEN: You guys both have -- since we've been talking, seem very frustrated with the progress in the case. And the Aruban authority, the legal authorities here, there was some protests -- I don't know if you know about this, a couple hundred Arubans protested with signs, saying that they felt that I guess you portrayed Aruba as not doing enough in the search for your daughter. Do you think that's how they feel, or do you think they have it wrong?
G. TWITTY: No, I think if they were in the same situation we were in, they would be doing the same thing. They can go out there and say that we're saying they're not doing enough, but if it was their daughter or son missing and they knew all the clues that we knew, you know, they would be doing the same thing.
B. TWITTY: Another thing I was going to say, Soledad, too, we are approaching into the sixth week. And you know, everyone, we know the individuals that have the major involvement in this crime, and that is what has been so frustrating, and I think that they realize and sympathize with our frustration, and I hope it is just limited to a small group of individuals, because everyone that I have met has been so receiving and welcoming to Jug and I so...
S. O'BRIEN: Well, we're glad to hear that, because I know it is a tough time, and I think you're exactly right, you know, if they were in the same circumstance, they'd be banging down doors, too. Thank you for talking with us. And again, I hope that there's a day where we have to have a conversation. All right, Natalee's mom, Beth Twitty, nice to see you -- Miles.
B. TWITTY: Thank you, Soledad.
G. TWITTY: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: The trains will keep rolling in the San Francisco Bay Area. That after a last-minute deal this morning between transit workers union and the management of BART, the Bay Area Rapid Transit System. Strike plans had threatened to cause trouble for more than 300,000 daily BART riders. The tentative four-year agreement still must be ratified by union members during the next 10 days.
A clash of political titans in Minnesota has caused the state's first ever government shutdown. Some 9,000 state employees are out of work because of a budget impasse. Health care and taxes are the main sticking points.
Minnesota's Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty, joins us now from St. Paul to talk about the stalemate.
Governor, good to have you with us.
GOVERNOR TIM PAWLENTY (R-MN): Well, good morning. Wish I was here on a more positive note, but we're working to get it in that direction.
M. O'BRIEN: How did it get to this point?
PAWLENTY: Well, in short -- this is oversimplified -- but we have a very evenly divided legislature -- about 101 Republicans, 100 Democrats -- and it's the usual tax and spend issues that have gridlocked a lot of states.
Most states have automatic continuing resolutions so if they don't agree, they have some backup legislation in place to keep things going. We don't have that in Minnesota so we have this partial government shutdown.
M. O'BRIEN: So 9,000 workers out. What about some of the basic services, critical functions -- policing, for example? Is that suffering as a result?
PAWLENTY: Well, really, it's -- no, it's not, because it's not really a total government shutdown. Of our 50,000 state employees, about 9,000 are temporarily laid off, or we call it limited interruption. They're using vacation and sick leave.
But much of state government is operating. And the courts have declared that all of the essential services, like police and fire and health safety and food inspections and things like that, will continue and they are.
M. O'BRIEN: So these 9,000 state employees -- they're at home. Are they using vacation time? What's happening? Are they receiving any sort of pay whatsoever?
PAWLENTY: Well, during the first two weeks of this shutdown -- and hopefully it doesn't go beyond that -- they're on what's called limited interruption status, which means they can use accumulated sick leave and vacation time, if they have it, to avoid losing any paycheck.
For a small number of those employee, they don't have any vacation or sick leave, so they're missing a paycheck. It's possible that after we settle this that some of that can be restored to those employees.
About half of the employees who are on this status of the 9,000 -- nearly half of them are in our Department of Transportation. They're people who do design and engineering and, kind of, backroom work for our road construction process.
M. O'BRIEN: Now, you mentioned, "if there's a settlement" not "when there's a settlement." I gather that means you're not wildly optimistic.
I do know July 15th is an important date. That's a deadline where -- well, things, kind of, turn into a pumpkin, so to speak.
PAWLENTY: Well, yes, July 15th is the date where those 9,000 employees switch from being on this limited interruption status, which I described just a minute ago, to actually being laid off. And that would be a problem, severe problem for them and certainly for the state. And we don't want to have that.
The negotiations are continuing. I'm cautiously optimistic we can get something done here in the near future and get this over with.
M. O'BRIEN: Well pity the poor state workers, though, getting caught in the middle of this political battle, after all. I assume you have some empathy for them.
PAWLENTY: Well, I sure do. They have mortgages and families and summer vacations planned, and to have them be, kind of, the innocent bystanders in this dispute is not fair to them. And that's why I hope we can restore at least some of their loss if we get to a resolution.
For most citizens in the state of Minnesota, they may not notice the shutdown as much because, like I said, the essential services are continuing, unless you're trying to get a license renewed or something like that. But those state employees really are the ones that are suffering the biggest blow here and that's why we need to get something done as soon as possible.
M. O'BRIEN: Ultimately, there can be political consequences on both sides of this issue. Look at what happened in the federal government in 1994: tremendous backlash as a result of that. Are you concerned about that?
PAWLENTY: Yes, voters are, understandably, frustrated and disappointed by the situation. And, hopefully, the legislature and the folks who are making the decision, including me, will hear that and feel the pressure and be more willing to compromise.
I'm a Republican and I don't like the idea of adding more tax increases, especially in a highly taxed state like Minnesota. So I'm not for general tax increases. But to try to compromise, I've put some fees on the table to increase some revenues to try to address some of the Democrats' concerns. I've taken a lot of heat for that from my own party.
So I've tried to demonstrate a willingness to compromise and I think people are looking for that.
M. O'BRIEN: And the other side doing the same?
PAWLENTY: Well, of course, compromise is in the eye of the beholder. I think they would say that they are. And we have moved somewhat closer.
But in terms of the motives here, my friends on the other side of the aisle shut down the session even before the deadline for partial government shutdown. In other words, they didn't negotiate to the very end, which was a disappointment to a lot of us.
M. O'BRIEN: Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, thanks for being with us. Good luck there. Hope you get the state back and running soon.
PAWLENTY: Well, thank you very much. And we'll get to work on it right away.
M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, the employee discount bandwagon.
S. O'BRIEN: Worked for one, might work for more, right?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, yes, two other major -- I mean, GM, which is in the dumper.
S. O'BRIEN: A little bit.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, pretty much, and it really worked for them.
So Andy Serwer is going to talk about how others are doing me too.
S. O'BRIEN: They don't know how the numbers are, though, so it will be interesting to see financially how it worked. M. O'BRIEN: Well, yes, they're not making any money, but they'll make it up with volume.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, exactly.
Also ahead this morning, look at that. The latest craze, dancing with the stars. That's John Hurley there and his competitor.
M. O'BRIEN: That's the Peterman guy, right, John Hurley.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, that's right, he's a fantastic dancer. Well, now other networks are trying to cut in, so to speak, on ABC's action. We'll explain in "90-Second Pop" just ahead.
M. O'BRIEN: She's out of the catalogue business then, right?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: It would help if we said "let's dance" for the dancers, you know, for those who couldn't put it all together. Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. It's time for another all-new episode of "90-Second Pop" with our stars this morning. Sarah Bernard from "New York" magazine. Andy Borowitz from borowitzreport.com. And Karyn Bryant from "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT."
Good morning. Good morning.
SARAH BERNARD, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: Good morning.
ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: Good morning.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's get right to it. What about the Olympics, huh?
(CROSSTALK)
S. O'BRIEN: But that's not one of our topics. I'm just throwing it out there. Dance-off finale, another thing I love.
KARYN BRYANT, CNN HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": This show is so fantastic, "Dancing With the Stars." It's on ABC, a huge hit for them this summer.
S. O'BRIEN: Shocker.
BRYANT: It's so cheesy and loveable and fantastic. It's, you know, John O'Hurley is in the finale.
S. O'BRIEN: Right.
BRYANT: He, of course, is J. Peterman from "Seinfeld."
S. O'BRIEN: And he's against Kelly Monaco. BRYANT: Exactly.
S. O'BRIEN: From "General Hospital."
BRYANT: Exactly. Tonight is the big dance-off. This show, it's actually a British -- speaking of London -- British import originally. "Strictly Come Dancing" it was called. It's just taken over. And people are loving the fact that it's this corny dance-off ballroom dancing show with a cheesy band.
S. O'BRIEN: I have a theory about this.
BRYANT: Go ahead.
S. O'BRIEN: I was talking to my little neighbor, who is 7 years old. She loves this show. And it's like you know what? There are not a lot of shows that you can watch with your kids not feel like something you don't want to see with your kids.
BERNARD: This really has been the first reality show that doesn't have a giant cash prize. They actually don't win anything, except a trophy.
BOROWITZ: A little trophy. A little trophy.
BERNARD: And, you know, it has nothing to do with dating or making people eat worms.
BRYANT: More than anybody, I mean, the other reality shows.
BOROWITZ: My theory is that compared to watching celebrities playing poker, it's the most exciting show on TV.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I would give you that. You know, not everybody is (INAUDIBLE).
BRYANT: Oh, there's going to be "Skating With the Stars," which I love that idea.
BERNARD: Oh, a lot of fun.
BOROWITZ: So we can watch celebrities fall down.
(CROSSTALK)
BOROWITZ: That's good.
BRYANT: There will be...
S. O'BRIEN: Like snowboarding with the stars?
Yes, exactly. There's going to be a show on Fox called "So You Think You Can Dance?" And also "Ballroom Bootcamp" on TLC. So, it's just, you know, whenever a good idea comes along...
S. O'BRIEN: Everyone jumps on it and exploits it. BERNARD: There was in the pipeline before the success of it.
(CROSSTALK)
S. O'BRIEN: Then that is weird. Let's talk about Martha Stewart. She's got this big interview she did with "Vanity Fair." The tone of the interview I thought was kind of strange. She's a little Martha unplugged.
BOROWITZ: She misses prison, right?
BERNARD: She does miss prison, which is a surprising thing. She said that she feels more confined in her home in Bedford than she did on the grounds of Alderson, because she was allowed to walk around the 100 acres of the property. And she has to stay obviously in the confinement of the footprint of her house.
But, I mean, some people have said that the article was surprising, because she said she wasn't necessarily so sorry for what she did.
S. O'BRIEN: The tone was a little strange. Yes, she talks at one point about she went on the Internet, how she could take her electronic monitor off.
BERNARD: Exactly. Well, she doesn't do it. She doesn't do it. She just said she's very resourceful, Martha.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, I know how to do it.
BERNARD: You know, she could take it off.
S. O'BRIEN: I could take it off.
BRYANT: I could show them how.
BERNARD: Now, I think she's done her time. I think we have to give her a little break and move past that. What was more interesting to me in the piece were the details of how she lives there. Everything in Bedford is two colors, gray or black. Even her horses are black. And sometimes these particular horses turn red in the sun, so she keeps them indoors during the day.
BOROWITZ: Prison is actually less restrictive than Martha's place, if you're a horse.
S. O'BRIEN: You guys, thank you very much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Don't forget to watch Karyn on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" on Headline Prime. Tonight, they're going to be live at the "Fantastic Four" movie premiere. That's tonight and every weeknight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern time.
M. O'BRIEN: Live pictures coming into us right now. Glasgow, Scotland, is the location. There's the president of the United States and the First Lady. And I believe that's the national anthem. Just been greeted by some of the dignitaries there. Air Force One. Lots of pomp and circumstance. He's there, obviously, for the G-8 Summit meeting. And we, of course, will be tracking his progress all throughout the day. And this always brings up a point for you. You're really not supposed to talk during the anthem. So...
S. O'BRIEN: Which I think is a good point.
M. O'BRIEN: So anchor protocol would dictate just, shut up.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, well, you hear it out.
M. O'BRIEN: Which is what I just did. And that moment was a good moment.
Still to come on the program, a look at the markets. And Ford and Chrysler follow GM's lead in offering money-saving incentives to new car buyers. We're "Minding Your Business," next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: All right, I'm looking for a car. I need a smaller car. So maybe it's a good time to do that. Andy Serwer is here with the details on that.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: It's a great time to buy a car right now. We got these employee pricing discount models rolling out. All the carmakers doing it.
Let's talk about the stock market, first of all this morning, Miles. Stocks slipping a little bit at the open of trading this morning, down seven on the Dow. You can see there, the culprit is higher oil prices, over $60 a barrel. In fact, $60.19. That's brought on by Tropical Storm Cindy in the Gulf of Mexico, causing some nervousness there. You remember, last year, Hurricane Ivan really did some serious damage to the wells and the rigs down in the Gulf.
Let's talk about these new auto prices. Because the other two -- that would be Ford and Chrysler -- are now matching GM's employee discounts. And we have an advertisement here in "USA Today" from Chrysler showing some of these ads. Just, you know, it's real money here. $22,018, $27 to $20. And, of course, what's going on, they're clearing out the 2005s. Big question is, of course, what is this doing to the bottom line of the automakers? Are they actually going to be making any money? And then another question, what's going to happen when they roll out the 2006s later this summer, in this the fall?
M. O'BRIEN: They're stuck. They're stuck with this deal, right?
SERWER: Is anyone going to buy? That's the big question. I think we have a screen here of the same of the new Ford deals. See here, the navigator, a very expensive model, and the Montego as well.
M. O'BRIEN: Boy, $9,000 difference. That's some real money. SERWER: Yes. I mean, either they were making a lot of money on these cars and they won't or they were making very little money and they won't be making any money. And unfortunately, I think it's the latter for automakers. But if you're thinking about buying a car this year, now is probably the time to do it.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, I'm in the market.
SERWER: You go.
M. O'BRIEN:; Appreciate it. Stay with us. We're back in a moment with more AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: It's his birthday today.
S. O'BRIEN: It is.
M. O'BRIEN: And for his birthday, he gets a helicopter ride.
S. O'BRIEN: He does.
M. O'BRIEN: Among other things.
S. O'BRIEN: He's heading out to Gleneagle, where the start of the G-8 Summit. Did you see the cake?
SERWER: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: The queen sent to him. Giant. That's when you see all the -- with all due respect to the president, you got a lot of candles on that cake.
WALLACE: 59.
M. O'BRIEN: 59.
S. O'BRIEN: He was like, should I blow them all?
M. O'BRIEN: Four or five attempts to get those candles out.
S. O'BRIEN: He did, he did. It was funny. Well, happy birthday. There you go. That's...
M. O'BRIEN Look at that cake.
S. O'BRIEN: Look at that giant cake.
M. O'BRIEN: That's a conflagration, that's what that is. That's not a candle.
SERWER: Nice.
S. O'BRIEN: I know he was being a little overdramatic as he tried to blow out the candles. But you could see he was acting as if he...
WALLACE: He's got a good sense of humor there.
SERWER: Kind of sucks for everyone there, huh?
WALLACE: Huffin', puffin', and blowin'...
S. O'BRIEN: Happy birthday to the president. We are out of time. We'll see everybody back here tomorrow morning. Let's take you right to Daryn Kagan. She's at the CNN Center, going to take you through the rest of the morning. Hello, good morning.
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