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American Morning

Teens, Sleep; Florida Buys Out Last Everglades Holdout

Aired January 13, 2006 - 06:30   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yo, teenagers, wake up and go to sleep. You need to get up and listen up so we can tell you why you have a good excuse for oversleeping.
The swamp master is moving out. Florida finally gets its way, moving the last remaining Everglades holdout out of the swamp.

And super skier Bode Miller, world champ and a free spirit, his recent admissions make him look a little more like a chump to some. Will his mea culpa suffice? We'll take a look.

ANNOUNCER: You're watching AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, it is Friday.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is Friday.

M. O'BRIEN: And as I mentioned, Friday the 13th.

COSTELLO: The 13th.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Are you triscadecaphobic (ph)?

COSTELLO: I am actually.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes?

COSTELLO: I think I'm just going to go home and go back to bed after this.

M. O'BRIEN: So I'm on my own.

COSTELLO: You're on your own.

M. O'BRIEN: Only you're going to do the show first and then go.

COSTELLO: Yes, I'll do the show.

M. O'BRIEN: All right.

COSTELLO: I don't want to get fired.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Let's -- for those of you who are superstitious, go back to sleep. It's OK.

COSTELLO: Go back to sleep. And for those of you who want news and the headlines, here's Kelly Wallace.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and good morning, everyone.

We're beginning in Israel, where there are increased concerns about Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. He's apparently still in a medically-induced coma. An Israeli news Web site citing doctors who say they are worried that he hasn't yet woken up. Doctors are conducting a new round of tests today. And, of course, we'll keep you posted on anything we find out here.

After about 18 hours and 700 questions, Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito has some time off. A Senate panel wrapped up its questioning of Alito Thursday. A confirmation vote is expected early next week, but some Democrats could try to delay that vote. There are some final witnesses testifying today. They're not expected, though, to make any great revelations when it comes to Alito's confirmation process. We'll have live coverage of today's hearing, and it is set to resume at 9:00 a.m. Eastern.

Police say they found -- that a device found in a Starbucks bathroom was not a bomb. The coffee shop, you'll recall, was evacuated earlier this week after an employee found what looked like a homemade bomb in a bathroom. It turned out there was no explosive material in it. Police say a man they arrested on unrelated charges admitted to putting the device in the Starbucks bathroom, and he's expected in court today.

Well, he's known for flying down a mountain at 90-plus miles an hour. Now, U.S. Olympic skier Bode Miller is doing some serious backpedaling. Miller has apologized after admitting in a television interview that he has skied drunk and suggesting he would do it again. While in Switzerland on Thursday, Miller expressed his regrets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BODE MILLER, U.S. OLYMPIC SKIER: I want to come straight out and apologize to my -- you know, most of my family, friends. But also, you know, we have a lot of people who have supported me along the way through my team. Because of the way that I made those comments in the "60 Minutes" interview, you know, that caused a lot of confusion and pain for all of those people who -- obviously that's not something that I want to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: And we'll be talking with "Denver Post" sports writer John Myer (ph), who knows Bode Miller quite well, in our next hour.

And come see for yourself. New Jersey has a new state slogan, and that's it: "Come see for yourself." The phrase was selected from more than 8,000 choices. Voters had a close second: "New Jersey, the best kept secret." The slogan, "Most of our elected officials have not been indicted," was eliminated early on.

Yes, Chad, that was not going to be one that you thought that state officials wanted to put on cars and whatnot. CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. I'd like to know where "Are you talking to me?" I wonder where that one kind of fell in the line there somewhere.

WALLACE: Exactly. I liked the "Come see for yourself."

MYERS: I do.

WALLACE: Because New Jersey gets a bad rap, but it's such a pretty state.

MYERS: You know, if you've never been to Cape May or Wildwood or Atlantic City...

WALLACE: Right.

MYERS: ... you've just missed the whole southern half of the state, which is just amazing. I mean, everybody goes upstate in New York, but you can go downstate in New Jersey as well.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Chad Myers. He's an expert on all geographic components of the country.

COSTELLO: He's a smart one that Chad.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, he is. That Chad is smart.

If you have a teenager in the house, right about now you're in the midst of a daily battle, aren't you? You're trying to pry them out of bed to get them off to school. Now, usually they spend the morning moaning about how they're rather crawl back into bed.

Well, guess what, parents? You're not going to like this. They actually have a good excuse, a biological explanation. And here's a solution your teen may love and you, parents, may loath. Starting school later.

Here is Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's not even 6:00 a.m. and high school sophomore Catherine Petrick is already getting out of bed. She has to get dressed, eat, get her school things together and be out the door before 7:00 a.m. That's because by 7:30 she'll be sitting in Latin class, reciting Plato.

Millions of high school students start their days before the sun comes up. By 8:00 a.m., many of them have already been inundated with Cervantes (ph), Pascal's Triangle or calculus. Sometimes it's not easy.

CATHERINE PETRICK, HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: It's not fun. I mean, especially with, like, studying that night and just with extracurricular, it's hard.

GUPTA: Not only is it hard, it turns out, it's actually counterproductive. Sleep specialists are now finding that teens not only need sleep in order to function properly, they need that sleep at certain hours of the day.

DR. DAVID GROSS, WASHINGTON HOSPITAL CENTER: Teenagers generally have what we call delayed phase sleep syndrome. They're just on a different clock.

GUPTA: Dr. David Gross is the medical director of the Sleep Center at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C. He says schools are doing a disservice to their students by getting them up early. Simply put, many teenagers are dead to the world first thing in the morning.

Researchers at Brown University say that's because levels of melatonin, the sleep-promoting hormone, rise later at night for teens at about 11:00 p.m. and stay high until about 8:00 a.m. The result? Their bodies want to go sleep later at night and sleep later in the morning. When that doesn't happen, teens suffer.

GROSS: They don't do as well in school. They can have symptoms of ADD, learning disabilities, depression, substance abuse, weight gain and automobile accidents.

GUPTA: For years school systems have been looking for ways to start high school days later. But economics come into play.

Pat O'Neill has been a member of the Board of Education for Montgomery County, Maryland, for seven years. Twice the Board of Education voted against changing school hours.

PAT O'NEILL, MONTGOMERY COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION: It was too pricey, and our efforts had to be focused on student achievement.

GUPTA: Some school systems are waking up to the needs of their teenage students. Counties and cities that have changed their schools' hours find that students benefit. And extracurricular activities and after-school jobs have not been affected.

GROSS: The children's performance has improved, and their mood has improved. And they feel better. And most of the people involved in the system don't go back to the old way.

GUPTA: At least two studies involving several thousand students showed they were less depressed, more alert and more interested in their studies.

Doctors say the best way to help kids get enough sleep through their high school years is to keep them on a routine. Make sure that homework comes first before activities. And this is a hard one, limit electronic devices. As tempting as it is for teenagers to retreat to instant messaging and video games and downloading, it won't help them get ready for that next morning with Plato.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: I sleep, therefore I am. I think that's what they say. As one of the Brown researchers put it, children know all about the food pyramid but little about the life pyramid. Do you know about this, the life pyramid?

COSTELLO: No, I don't know about the life pyramid.

M. O'BRIEN: Apparently sleep is at the base of the life pyramid. We also need a lesson or two about that. As a matter of fact, we adults, especially on this shift, could use a little more sleep. Some people say that is a key to living longer.

Tonight on CNN, "ANDERSON COOPER 360" looks at the secrets to longevity with one of the great gurus of good health, Dr. Andrew Wile (ph).

Here's Heidi Collins with a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): When he's not battling critics or jetting off to book signings, Dr. Wile (ph) builds a peaceful life around his teachings. A long dirt road leads to his 120-acre secluded ranch at the foothills of Arizona's Rincon Mountains.

It was there we sat down Indian-style, no shoes allowed, for a rare on-camera interview at the heart of it all, the Zen (ph) room.

(on camera): So what is the key to longevity?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the key to longevity is delaying the onset and reducing the risk of age-related disease. The big ones are cardiovascular disease, cancer, Alzheimer's disease. We're all dealt a certain hand of genetic cards, some good, some bad. But it's up to us how we play them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: "ANDERSON COOPER 360" airs weeknights at 10:00 Eastern right here on CNN. I want to see that one.

COSTELLO: I want to go to the Zen (ph) room myself.

M. O'BRIEN: I am so into the Zen (ph) room right about now. All that stuff, yes.

COSTELLO: But we have to tell you about what's coming up, so we will. If somebody offered you five million bucks for your house, you'd sell it in a heartbeat, right?

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. COSTELLO: Well, not our friend Jesse James Hardy. It's been a while since we checked in on him and his house in the middle of nowhere. Has he finally budged?

M. O'BRIEN: And later, a story worthy of Dr. Seuss. How about some green ham to go with the green eggs? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Here on AMERICAN MORNING we've been following the story of Jesse James Hardy. He's the guy who owns his own swamp in the Florida Everglades. Yes, he owns his own swamp. It's all he ever wanted. But the state wants it, too. And guess who won?

CNN's John Zarrella fills us in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Jesse James Hardy didn't want the money. At 70 years old, there's not much, he says, he can do with it.

JESSE JAMES HARDY, FORMER SWAMP OWNER: Hell, I don't want to chase no women. I can't eat them big steaks anymore and them big dinners or anything.

ZARRELLA: But after three years fighting the state of Florida, it's over. He's been forced to take close to $5 million in exchange for his land, a 160-acre spot in the middle of nowhere in the Everglades.

The state, under its eminent domain authority, is taking it for Everglades' restoration. Thursday was Hardy's last day here in the place he's called paradise for three decades.

HARDY: Ain't (ph) that beautiful? Ain't (ph) that beautiful? You know, that's the Oscars (ph). I walk along the canal bank, and I see the otter and stuff swimming in the canal and all. This is all fiction. It's going to be over with for me.

ZARRELLA: To look at this place it doesn't look like much. But it was everything to Hardy, nestled in scrub pine and cabbage palms. He had a generator for power, propone to run appliances. He built his tin-roofed wooden home by hand.

HARDY: See that beam right there?

ZARRELLA (on camera): Right.

HARDY: See that there beam? See how big that beam is? That beam is bolted to that.

ZARRELLA (voice over): Friends helped Hardy pack up 32 years of his life. All day he made runs up to his new house, brick and mortar on less than three acres. HARDY: This here, I don't want this damn place. That's $800,000! Eight hundred thousand dollars for what? For what? They said Florida was overpriced. Take a good look. There it is, folks.

ZARRELLA: All Jesse Hardy wanted to do, he says, is finish out his life out there in the middle of nowhere.

HARDY: I watched TV out there. I took a shower out there. I didn't hear no sirens. I didn't hear nobody hollering. There was no traffic.

ZARRELLA: In exchange for his peace and quiet and his ponds stocked with catfish, Jesse James Hardy has a whole lot of money he never asked for.

HARDY: I had all, everything I wanted.

ZARRELLA: John Zarrella, CNN, Collier County, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: So Hardy got $5.9 -- or $4.95 million to be exact for his 160 acres.

M. O'BRIEN: Round it up to five.

COSTELLO: OK, we'll round it up to five. The other final holdout was the Miccosuke Indian tribe, which held 800 acres. They settled for less than half of what Hardy got, but now the state may not be able to do anything with the land, because it seems the Everglades restoration project is likely facing some financial troubles.

M. O'BRIEN: An interesting twist there.

COSTELLO: Irony of irony.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Now, it certainly ruins the swamp land in Florida jokes, doesn't it?

COSTELLO: It does.

M. O'BRIEN: When it's worth that much money.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

M. O'BRIEN: Andy Serwer. Good morning to you, sir.

SERWER: Good morning to you. The great bull market of 2006 is over for now. Is it Iran's fault? Some people say it is. And where do we go from here? Stay tuned to AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MYERS: The "Cold and Flu Report" for today. The states colored in red, California and Nevada, all the way over to Texas, widespread flu outbreaks there. With green colors across the Northeast means sporadic activity there.

Back to you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: You know, they're saying, "what a man, what a mighty fine man." And we're going to just go right to Andy Serwer.

SERWER: Oh, no. Well, just for a little bit. But then we're going to go to Kelly, right?

COSTELLO: To Kelly Wallace.

SERWER: There was kind of like a lot of hunky guys there, though, wasn't it, those actors?

COSTELLO: Yes, it was.

SERWER: OK. I just thought I point that out.

COSTELLO: Who was that group singing? Because I got it wrong.

M. O'BRIEN: Salt and Pepper, right?

COSTELLO: En Vogue.

M. O'BRIEN: En Vogue?

COSTELLO: OK.

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: It was Orlando Glenn (ph).

M. O'BRIEN: It was the Beatles.

COSTELLO: It was the Beatles. Kelly, hey.

SERWER: Kelly. We go to Kelly.

WALLACE: Hey. I was too busy checking out the hunky guys to pay attention to the music.

SERWER: I just thought I'd point that out, Kelly.

WALLACE: Oh, we move on now to the news. Hello, everyone.

And we are beginning with a serious matter, Iran and its nuclear program, the top concern at the White House this morning. President Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel meet in just about three hours. Germany, along with the United States, Britain and France, want to try to stop Iran from renewing its nuclear research program. And they are hoping the matter can be turned over to the U.N. Security Council.

President Bush and Chancellor Merkel will be holding a joint news conference this morning, and CNN will have live coverage beginning at 11:25 a.m. Eastern.

American citizen and terror suspect Jose Padilla says, "I'm not guilty." Padilla entered his plea in a Miami courtroom. A federal judge then denied his request to be released on bond. Padilla, as you will recall, was held as an enemy combatant for more than three years before being charged. His trial on terror charges is set to begin September 9.

New DNA testing confirms that a Virginia man executed back in 1992 for killing his sister-in-law was, in fact, the killer. Roger Keith Coleman maintained his innocence right up until his execution. A debate over whether Coleman committed the rape and murder has been ongoing since that execution. Opponents of the death penalty in Virginia say the findings will not stop their attempts to abolish executions in the state.

The mayor of Los Angeles is claiming a dubious distinction. He says a new report showing more than 82,000 homeless people in L.A. County makes it the homelessness capital of the country. The report says 48,000 live in the city. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says he will aggressively seek state funds for adding more mental health programs to battle homelessness in his city.

And are you ready for the New Year? We're talking about the Chinese New Year, the year of the dog. In Taipei, Taiwan, these pooches and their owners celebrating -- oh, there they are, they're very cute -- with a dog show. And tradition says dogs bring fortune and wealth.

Another story to tell you about, this one also coming out of Taiwan. Can you imagine Taiwan has bred a fluorescent green pig? That's right. Researchers are hoping the green pig -- all its internal organs, we understand, are green -- will aid in stem cell research. They'll be monitoring for changes in the tissues and the organs themselves to try and fight disease.

Chad, very interesting coming out of Taiwan.

MYERS: I guess so. Kind of freaky looking, though.

WALLACE: Kind of freaky looking.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: From little green pigs from Mars, who knows where, to Andy Serwer.

SERWER: Right.

M. O'BRIEN: And the markets are kind of looking -- well...

COSTELLO: Not too green. SERWER: Not too green.

M. O'BRIEN: It's going to make you green.

SERWER: Not so green. Make you green. OK.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

SERWER: Let's go right to it. That was quick. We slipped below Dow 11000 after only staying there a few sessions. And as I suggested, the bull market is over, at least for now.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's comments on Iran's nuclear program to blame, they say. Plus downgrades of GM, Coca-Cola and J.P. Morgan didn't help.

A couple of company stories to tell you about this morning. Musicland, some sour notes coming from that company, filing for chapter 11. And this is a real sign of the times. They own Sam Goody. They own Suncoast Video, Media Play, 800 stores, 6,000 employees, they said, in Minnetonka, Minnesota. What's going on here? Well, everyone is selling music. Big Box stores. Amazon.com. And how about iTunes? I mean, the stand-alone music store in this day and age, that is a tough, tough sell.

And finally, I don't know if you've been following this. Someone on Wall Street told me the other day it's like a bad teenage romance. Johnson & Johnson, Guidant, Boston Scientific, this dance has been going on for 14 months. Let's just get this thing over with, first of all. Johnson & Johnson tried to buy Guidant, which makes heart devices. Then the company was investigated. Then Boston Scientific came in. Then Johnson & Johnson came back. Now Boston Scientific is back at it, $20 billion, and they still can't figure out who to dance with here. Right?

COSTELLO: That's like a very rich teenager's life.

SERWER: Yes, exactly.

M. O'BRIEN: Surely with all of those companies there would be a pill to make this work out, you know. But no.

SERWER: Yes, or something.

M. O'BRIEN: Something like that.

SERWER: Something.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, coming up -- speaking of that, coming up, Miller time in more ways than one. Olympic skiing superstar Bode Miller apologizes for skiing ripped. But is it enough? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Be sure to check out our Web site, CNN.com, for the latest on the morning's top stories, including, of course, the story that's been at the top of our news, the possibility that Iran may shut down inspections of its nuclear facilities, its nuclear program. Lots of concern that Iran is doing everything it can to build a nuclear weapons program. We'll keep you posted on that. Check it out at CNN.com.

And then this among the more popular stories, remember that Starbucks -- well, we say bomb in quotes now. We had a big discussion in the newsroom. Is it a bomb? Is it an explosive device? Actually it was a portable lighting device, also known as a flashlight, yes.

COSTELLO: A flashlight.

M. O'BRIEN: If you're about to head out to work or school, you can stay in touch with CNN and AMERICAN MORNING by logging in to CNN.com. And, of course, all day long there's Pipeline. It is a live commercial-free service for a few bucks, well worth it, $2.95 a month, I think. And you can watch all of the feeds basically we get here.

Let's get to Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Chad. Good morning. I'm Miles O'Brien.

Is Iran ready to say no to nuclear inspectors? And would that trigger U.N. sanctions? We're live from Tehran with the very latest.

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