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American Morning
Nagin Presses For Expanding Gambling Industry in New Orleans; Scientists Can't Rule Out Global Warming As Factor In Rise Of Natural Disasters Worldwide
Aired October 10, 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, AMERICAN MORNING: Opening bell just happened. That's the market already at work this morning on this Monday. The Dow Jones industrial average begin this day at 10,292. It is up now 20 and some change already. So it looks like a good morning so far at least. At the Nasdaq, the composite index opened up at 2,009. An increase of more than six points and we'll have more AMERICAN MORNING, after a moment's break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Well, it just seems like we've been talking about this for about 500 years or so, but there is Christopher Columbus immortalized at Columbus Circle, our front door on this Columbus Day morning.
We are so glad you're here and we hope you're not working.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Oh, we hope you're not working. Good morning, everyone. I'm Carol Costello in for Soledad.
Also ahead this morning, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says think big. His big idea, to open casinos to generate revenue and get the Big Easy back on its feet? Will it work? We'll talk about that.
O'BRIEN: But first, sure bet that we have Betty Nguyen at CCN Center with headlines.
Good morning, Betty.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN NEWS ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: We're all working today, thank you, Miles.
"Now in the News": Survivors from this weekend's earthquake in South Asia are desperate for help. The weekend quake has killed at least 30,000 people across the region. The White House says its initial contribution will be $50 million to Pakistan for relief and reconstruction.
Pakistan as you'll recall was hardest hit. Eight helicopters carrying ground equipment and medical aid are also expected to arrive today in that affected area.
President Bush today making his eighth trip to the hurricane- ravaged Gulf Coast. He is highlighting rebuilding efforts six weeks after Katrina hit. The president will also focus housing for evacuees. Some 70,000 evacuees are still living in temporary shelters.
And some guidelines for putting babes to bed safely. The American Academy of Pediatrics says parents should put infants to bed on their backs only, not on their sides. And that pacifiers can be used to help prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, as it's called. The new recommendations also discourage parents from sleeping with their babies, saying the crib is best.
New Hampshire officials say it will take months to clean up the state's flood-damaged roads and bridges. Look at the video here. Some streets are under as much as six feet of water. Hundreds of people have been evacuated. A state of emergency is in effect.
And winter is coming early to much of Colorado. See the snow? The southern part of the state is expected to get up to 20 inches of snow in the next 24 hours. Carol, just another sign that winter is around the corner.
COSTELLO: I know. I didn't really need another sign.
NGUYEN: I didn't either. I'm not ready for it.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Betty.
In New Orleans a blue ribbon commission meet today looking to jumpstart the hurricane battered economy. Mayor Ray Nagin proposes, among other things, creating a casino zone allowing Las Vegas-style gambling in the city's largest hotels. Is rolling the dice on casinos a good bet? Let's check in with the casino that is reopening in just a few hours. Kim Etland is general manager of the Treasure Chest Casino in suburban New Orleans.
Good morning, Kim.
KIM ETLAND, GEN. MANAGER, TREASURE CHEST CASINO: Good morning.
COSTELLO: How excited are you? We're very excited today. It's an opportunity for us to revitalize our community and open our property.
COSTELLO: Where have -- are all your employees accounted for? Where are they?
ETLAND: Most of our employees are accounted for. We have about 25 employees we have not heard from as yet, but most everybody is back in the city and, you know, trying to fix their homes and revitalize their lives, really.
COSTELLO: I know some of the employees, and perhaps including you, have been actually living in the casino because you've lost your homes. Tell me about that.
ETLAND: There are a few of us. I had about three feet of water in my house and it has to be redone, but a lot of us stayed on the boat and lived on the boat to help clean up and get the boat ready to reopen today. COSTELLO: So your river boat casino is on Lake Pontchartrain and a lot of people have heard about Lake Pontchartrain and what exactly is in it. I don't think anyone knows for sure, yet. Do you think people will come down and partake in gambling on Lake Pontchartrain?
ETLAND: Absolutely. I think it's a form of entertainment. We've been devastated by the storm and our folks need a place to regain their routine and regain their stability and their normalcy, as much for our employees as our guests. We're very excited and we hope to be very busy today.
COSTELLO: I know, I guess what I'm asking. If you open your doors, will anybody come?
ETLAND: Absolutely. We certainly hope so.
COSTELLO: You're very optimistic.
Let's talk about Mayor Ray Nagin's idea. He wants to expand gambling. He wants to actually put it in the central business district? Is that a good idea? I know Harrah's is already there but that's the only land-based casino. Is that a good idea to revitalize New Orleans' economy?
ETLAND: I think it's a very new idea. We probably haven't hay lot of time to think about it, but it's -- I think any opportunity to revitalize the economy is a great idea. We need that.
COSTELLO: How well does your casino do?
ETLAND: Our casino did -- fared pretty well in terms of damage. We just had peripheral damage that we spent a lot of time cleaning up and we're ready to go.
COSTELLO: I mean, how much money does it pump into the economy?
ETLAND: Oh, probably $5, $6, $7 million a month.
COSTELLO: OK, so you're excited. Maybe it's a good idea to expand casino gambling in New Orleans. I guess we'll just have to see. Thank you very much, Kim.
ETLAND: Thanks.
COSTELLO: Kim Etland, general manager of the Treasure Chest in suburban New Orleans ready to open for business later today.
O'BRIEN: Let's remind our viewers that the $5 million comes from all the losers, like me, who go there. All right. Now, let's move on.
Former FBI director says former President Clinton didn't help with the investigation of the bombing of the Khobar Towers; 19 Americans, you'll recall, were killed in '96 when that base in Saudi Arabia was attacked by terrorists. Now Louis Freeh, who has a book out, is talking about that whole incident.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The FBI wanted access to the suspects, the Saudis arrested in Khobar, right?
LOUIS FREEH, FMR. FBI DIRECTOR: That is correct.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar told you the only way to get access to the prisoners would be if the President Clinton personally asked the Saudi crown prince to let the FBI see him and did President Clinton help you?
FREEH: No, he did not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You write, "Bill Clinton raised the subject only to tell the crown prince that he understood the Saudis reluctance to cooperate and then he hit Abdullah up for contribution to the Clinton presidential library.
FREEH: Well, that's a fact that I'm reporting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: By the way, we didn't set that up very well. That was obviously an excerpt from "60 Minutes" last night.
Now, here's a long statement. Bear with me on this. This comes from Sandy Berger, Clinton's national security adviser at the time. He said this, "The president strongly raised the need for Saudi officials to cooperate with us on the investigation into the attack on Khobar Towers. At the time the FBI was attempting to gain access to the suspects. The president did not raise in any fashion the issue of his library.
Now, Louis Freeh will be here on Wednesday on AMERICAN MORNING and we'll ask him about that and other matters raised in his book.
Let's do the weather now.
(WEATHER FORECAST)
COSTELLO: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING from earthquakes to hurricanes it seems like there have been more natural disasters than lately. We'll ask Bill Nye, The Science Guy what's behind it.
O'BRIEN: And remember that line from "Top Gun." I feel need, the need for speed?
COSTELLO: I do.
O'BRIEN: Yes, well the question is it a genetic reason? Dr. Sanjay Gupta will check in on NASCARE and the medical hunt for the perfect driver. Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: All right. Are we under siege from nature? Is the planet angry? From Saturday's earthquake in Pakistan, the tsunami in Asia, these monster hurricanes we've been telling you all about. Hundreds of thousands of people have die in all these catastrophes. And so we turn to Bill Nye, the Science Guy, who does a great job of explaining big things for little minds like mine.
It's good to have you back with us, Bill.
And, you know, obviously, the planet isn't angry. The planet doesn't think, but the first thing that comes to mind is we've got 6.5 billion people. So when something happens there's bound to be somebody nearby who is affected.
BILL NYE, THE SCIENCE GUY: Yes. We're moving more and more to the coastlines where commerce takes place, where sea ports are and now people want a nice view. So when you have problems along the coast you have a lot more people affected than there used to be.
It was only 40 years ago there were half as many people in the world. There were only 3 billion and now we're up way over 6 billion, so these people are living some place.
O'BRIEN: So we have an issue with that. I want to talk about the earthquakes first, and then we'll get into the weather.
Let's take the graphic for just a second and we'll talk to people. This gives you a sense of how much seismic activity is going on. They call this along the Pacific Rim, they call that the ring of fire because -- .
NYE: The ring of fire.
O'BRIEN: We'll put ring of fire.
NYE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Because that is a big tectonic plate. It's like a floating piece of Styrofoam on some water. The magna beneath, it shifts and moves. This is the one that happened on Saturday. The reason we show you this, is look at all of the other thing, the yellow stuff is recent big stuff, OK? Magenta is older stuff, but stuff is happening all of the time, right?
NYE: Yeah. There are about a thousand earthquakes a year. So by the way if you're a psychic you should be able to predict an earthquake, almost three a day. Where the Himalayas are formed, Mount Everest, and K2 and these places, that's the border of the boundary between these two enormous tectonic plates. Tectonic is Greek for builder. The earth is built from these plates. And they're smashing into each other and creating these enormous mountains. And at the same time, the slightest little jostle in tectonic plate aspect creates these enormous earthquakes.
And the other thing that's gone wrong there, development has happened in the last century. The last earthquake that was really large of this size in the Pakistan-India area was about 100 years ago so it's lost in society's memory.
O'BRIEN: And also --
NYE: And they have built concrete structures.
O'BRIEN: Yes, just tons of these concrete structures, which clearly don't have earthquakes in mind, do they?
NYE: That's right. And they were, as we say, earthquakes don't kill people. Buildings kill people. And so these builds were not built to seismic standards. So this is an opportunity -- I mean, it's horrible. And right there, it's a miserable time.
But there's an opportunity for us in the developed world to help people in the developing world learn to build structures that can withstand these.
O'BRIEN: Well, let's hope we do. Let's move on to the weather, though.
NYE: Oh, yes.
O'BRIEN: Here's the thing. We know that the temperature of the seawater has risen, OK? Global warming --
NYE: More heat energy in the atmosphere, yes.
O'BRIEN: That is not a debate anymore, it is happening. So we have more powerful hurricanes. You can -- you know, -- how about we connect the dots here for just a moment. Can we do that?
NYE: Just you and I -- even if you're wrong. Even if we're wrong.
O'BRIEN: It's still happening.
NYE: That's right. It is happening. And if you're a betting voter and taxpayer, if you're a gambling person, you would gamble that the world's getting warmer and hurricanes are going get more powerful and storms are going get more serious.
O'BRIEN: I would. So then, you see all kinds of other weird things like you see the floods in the northeast. You see, well, for example the snow which you're seeing right now. Is all of this part of a big picture here?
NYE: It sure seems like it.
O'BRIEN: What is going on in the weather scene?
NYE: It sure seems like it. Now measuring these small effects, that is to say one big snowstorm in Colorado, that is not enough data there to predict, to verify that it's global climate change caused by humans or something. But it is consist with what you'd expect.
As I say, if you're going to assess risk and manage risk as a voter and taxpayer in a developed country, it seems like these extreme weather patterns are in every way associated with what's traditionally called global warming. And once again, it's an opportunity now. You know, on the Washington Mall we have a competition going to make more energy-efficient housing. Suppose when we rebuilt all these houses in the New Orleans area and Mississippi, we built them to a new standard, a better more energy-efficient standard.
I mean, it's causing a lot of trouble and a lot of problems, but it is also an opportunity. And these snowstorms and these rainstorms, why they are not absolutely connected with global climate change is too small a thing. It's consist with what you'd expect.
O'BRIEN: Bill Nye, Science Guy. Always a pleasure.
NYE: Good to see you.
O'BRIEN: We'll be back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: They say the great NASCAR drivers have racing in their blood, but do they? The next generation of racers is already out on the track and Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look at whether great drivers are born to run, or are they built up from the ground?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): You wouldn't expect someone who takes the bus to school to attract attention from one of the top teams in NASCAR, but 15-year-old Marc Davis has done just that.
The soft-spoken sophomore high school has been recruited as a driver by Roush Racing, whose stable includes NASCAR stars Mark Martin and Carl Edwards.
Roush became interested in Davis after he won two national championships in two different divisions in 2003. And the racing team is now giving Davis a car and other assistance. Davis' goal is nothing less than to drive in NASCAR when he turns 18. That's a minimum age for a NASCAR driver.
MARC DAVIS, 15-YR. OLD RACECAR DRIVER: My dream is to win the Daytona 500 in 2008 and 2009.
GUPTA: Davis isn't the only teenager recruited by a NASCAR team.
Fifteen-year-old Chase Austin from Kansas is in a driver development program at Hendric Motorsports which includes former NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon and 15-year-old Joey Lagano has signed on Joe Gibbs Racing, home to former NASCAR champs Tony Stewart and Bobby Labonte.
Dr. Robert Cantu was a neurosurgeon and an expert on the medicine of motorsports. He says raw talent can be spotted young. DR. ROBERT CANTU, NEUROSURGEON: You need sight. You need concentration. You need good hand-eye coordination. These are things that can be spotted at a very early age.
GUPTA: Sports psychologist Jack Stark says experience is the key.
JAC STARK, SPORTS PSYCHOLOGIST: You have to have what we call a lot of seat time. Some of these kids have been in a 100 and 200, 300 races. They start off in carts and then they get up to bigger cars.
GUPTA: That is what Marc Davis had done. Davis won the first race he entered and has kept on winning, perhaps showing that he has nature and nurture on his side.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: We'll have more on NASCAR tomorrow. We'll learn lessons from a pro that will help us all on the roads and Sunday watch "NASCAR Driven to Extremes. Dr. Sanjay Gupta -- I like that.
O'BRIEN: That's quite a assignment.
COSTELLO: He gets behind the wheel to experience the rush, the speed the competition and the danger of racing. That's Sunday at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
O'BRIEN: Can we do that one more time?
ANDY SERWER, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Yes, we can do it for the business segment.
O'BRIEN: Let's do it. Come on. Bring the NASCAR thing in there again.
SERWER: No, they're not going do it.
COSTELLO: They're not going to do it.
(CROSS TALK)
O'BRIEN: All right. From that to worker discrimination.
SERWER: Let's shift gears here.
O'BRIEN: We're shift downshifting.
SERWER: Yes -- no, just shifting.
O'BRIEN: And it gets medieval?
SERWER: Yes, positively .
O'BRIEN: These are the notes I received. SERWER: Yes, positively medieval.
We're going to start out with the markets. We're roaring a little bit here on Wall Street, too. Well, no, now we're not. See, that's how quickly things change.
We're about flat right there. Big bankruptcy, Delphi weighing in on the markets. GM stock is down on that news and that big merger in the insurance business.
Lincoln Financial, they have Lincoln Financial in Philadelphia, are buying Jefferson-Pilot. They are the people who sponsor ACC basketball games. That's probably why you know these companies; a $7.5 billion.
Let's talk about the Middle Ages.
(LAUGHTER)
SERWER: Nice segue.
What do you think is the most dangerous job in America? A lot of people say coal mining, fishing off the Alaska coast. How about jousting?
COSTELLO: Oh, come on!
SERWER: Jousting? That's right, jousting. A couple of guys here who work for that -- you know those dinner theaters, Medieval Times.
O'BRIEN: I'd love having a really tough one.
Ouch, whew!
SERWER: See? This is a very dangerous job. A guy name Gerrick Bonham (ph), 29 years old and another person are suing this company. They say they've been fired for filing too many workmans' comp claims against this company.
This one gentleman says broken nose, a collarbone, concussions and other injuries all happening on the job and the company let them go. They said because they filed too many workman's comp claims. And the company says no, they're just not up to the job anymore.
So, there you have it.
O'BRIEN: Surely they joust.
SERWER: Yes, nice. Even more dangerous than anchoring with you guys.
O'BRIEN: It's brutal.
Because you never know when a car will come in.
SERWER: It's not going happen.
O'BRIEN: Oh!
SERWER: You've got the magic touch.
COSTELLO: Loving that!
O'BRIEN: We'll race to a break and be back with another lap in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: A little while ago we gave you a phone number and we didn't do it graphically. It's a number for families trying to find out about missing loved ones in the wake of Katrina. If you have any information to share, call the number on your screen, 866-326-9393. And we're out of time.
COSTELLO: We are out of time, so let's throw it over to Daryn Kagan. Good morning, Daryn.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to both of you. It looks like a great day in New York City. We'll let's get it started. Let's take a look at what is happening right "Now in the News".
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