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American Morning
Warm Weather in Cold Country; Iran Inching Closer to Showdown; Road to Recovery for New Orleans
Aired January 13, 2006 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Miles O'Brien.
Warm weather in cold country. We're watching the temperature go in an unexpected direction.
Seattle nears its own weather record. Just how much rain can one city stand, even Seattle? We'll take you there live.
Looking for answers in New Orleans, but raised voices may be falling on deaf ears.
Calls for help from a police officer shot at point blank range. The shooting caught on this dashboard camera.
All that ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
What is going on here? A little hot in here.
It was nearly 60 degrees in Buffalo yesterday. Yes, Buffalo, the land of spicy wings and deep snow banks, if you catch my drift. Even the Great White North is not so white. In Ontario, record-breaking temperatures there.
And in the Southeast this morning, rolling thunder. A summer- like storm spurning tornado warnings as we speak. This shot coming to you from WBRC in Birmingham, Alabama.
Yikes, Auntie Em. The calendar and the country seem inside out. It is summer in January.
Carol Costello outside overlooking Central Park. It's in the mid 40s, due to get up in the mid 50s, which is about 10 degrees shy of what it should be in New York City today.
Carol, good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm telling you, yikes, Auntie Em is definitely right, because take a look at the weather. It' sunny, but there's fog. And I'm out here without a coat, and it is January in New York City.
Yesterday we went up to 61 degrees. There were people outside in shorts.
There are two schools of thought. Some people say, oh, don't talk about the warm weather because you're going to jinx it and it's going to end. And then there's a second school of thought, what's happening? Because, you know, when something unusual lasts for so long, you just start to wonder.
And as you said, Miles, it's bizarrely warm in many parts of the country. Let's take a look at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, right now.
It is 45 degrees at, what, 9:00 a.m. Eastern in the morning, 45 degrees. Their expected high is 60 degrees.
In Baltimore, we have another tower cam shot of that because Baltimore shares in our warmth, is basking in our warmth, 41 degrees right now. Foggy there, too. But they are expecting a high of 56 degrees.
And you mentioned Ontario, Miles. Well, Ontario, this is supposed to be the coldest month, January. They had a really nasty December, but in January there were people outside in shorts because in parts of Ontario, Toronto, it was 48 degrees.
So we ask our expert Chad Myers, what is going on here?
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you both. Three out of four seasons I guess is bad.
To Iran now, inching closer to a showdown. France, Germany, Britain, the U.S. all fed up with Iran for allegedly resuming a nuclear research program which may be something more.
They say it is all against the rules, but Iran says if it gets referred to the United Nations Security Council, as there is talk of, it is going to stop cooperating with the U.N. nuclear watchdog group, the group that does all those inspections.
Elaine Quijano live at the White House.
Elaine, what's the administration saying about all of this?
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Iran is certain to be a main topic of discussion, Miles, when President Bush sits down just about an hour or so from now with Germany's new chancellor, Angela Merkel. Now, she, of course, is the first woman to hold that position in her country, as well as the first chancellor to grow up in what was communist East Germany.
Now, their meeting comes at a time when Britain, France and Germany, the so-called EU3 countries, say their talks with Iran over its nuclear ambitions have reached a dead end. They have recommended that Iran be referred to the U.N. Security Council, particularly after Iran took step this is week to resume uranium enrichment in violation of international agreement.
Well, yesterday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States strongly supports the EU3.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: The removal of seals by the Iranian government in defiance of numerous IAEA board resolutions demonstrates that it has chosen confrontation with the international community over cooperation and negotiation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Now, Iran insists that it does have the right. Iran saying that it does have the right to pursue a nuclear program and continues to maintain that its research in this area is merely for peaceful purposes. But clearly, European leaders are concerned. They are banding together, along with the United States, to send Iran the message that it's behavior is not acceptable -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Elaine Quijano at the White House. Thanks much.
We'll hear more about this nuclear controversy during a news conference, President Bush and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, later this morning. That's 11:25 Eastern right here on CNN.
Other headlines we're watching this morning, Kelly Wallace in charge of that.
Good morning, Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Miles.
Another day of confirmation hearings for Samuel Alito getting under way right now, but Judge Alito won't be there. That's because after about 18 hours and 700 questions, the Supreme Court nominee is done.
A Senate panel wrapped up questioning him on Thursday. He got a pat on the back, also, from President Bush, who called him and said he was proud of the way he handled the hearings.
Today lawmakers will hear from Alito's supporters and opponents. Confirmation vote expected early next week. Some Democrats could try to delay that vote.
And you're looking at some live pictures of that hearing getting under way now. We will be monitoring it and bring you any developments that come out of it.
Increased concerns in the Middle East about Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as doctors carry out a new round of tests today. Sharon is apparently still in a medically induced coma. According to some Israeli media reports, doctors say they are worried that he hasn't woken up yet since they have been easing him off sedatives. The Israeli prime minister suffered a massive stroke last week.
Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel losing a bid to have his murder conviction overturned. A source close to the case says the Connecticut Supreme Court rejected his appeal. Skakel was convicted back in 2002 for the 1975 killing of his neighbor, Martha Moxley. His attorney had argued that prosecutors waited too long to bring Skakel to trial.
The 45-year-old Skakel is serving 25 years to life. The ruling is set to be released sometime today.
And you want to take a look at this story from Cincinnati. A police officer an inch away from being shot through the head. And the shooting all caught on dashboard cam.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been shot! I've been shot!
Officer down! Officer down! I need help!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: Some frightening sounds there. The officer you saw running in front of the camera isn't the one who was shot. Her partner had a bullet go right through the brim of her hat, shattering her glasses and grazing her face. She needed stitches, but thankfully she's going to be OK. The partner shot the suspect in the leg.
Breathing a huge sigh of relief there, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: It's a good thing they have a story to tell, because it is quite a story.
WALLACE: It is a story.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you, Kelly.
Rain in Seattle in the winter, not a news flash, right? This year it is. It is raining again for the 26th day in a row. The record is 33 days in a row. The ground is sodden, the puddles deep, and it is making getting from here to there very difficult.
We'll keep you posted on the weather there as well all throughout the morning.
President Bush once again telling folks in New Orleans, hey, we've got your back, we're here for you, we'll help you rebuild. But our Susan Roesgen finds some city officials and residents are not happy.
All the federal help -- all that federal help in the way of greenbacks not there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): When President Bush stood in New Orleans' Jackson Square on September 15, it was as if the cavalry had come to the rescue.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will do what it takes. We will stay as long as it takes to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives. ROESGEN: With that, New Orleanians assumed that however rough the future might be, at least the city would have the cash it needed to recover. But a top city official says the city is broke and hasn't gotten any federal money for more than three months.
GREG MEFFERT, CITY OF NEW ORLEANS: You're just kind of stunned in some of these meetings, because you're, like, well, wait a minute now, "You know the White House wants this." Oh, yes, yes, yes." "And you know the mayor wants it." "Oh, yes, yes, yes."
And even the governor is saying, yes, yes, yes, yes. Well, we're working on it. Well, working on it doesn't build me a police station.
ROESGEN: Greg Meffert blames FEMA bureaucracy for holding up $600 million the city needs to stay afloat.
MEFFERT: They are going to just do their thing. And I don't care if there's a thousand people waiting outside, one person waiting outside, or a million. I go to form five and then I put this here in triplicate, and I move it over here. And this is what I do and it's what I've been doing for 20 years.
And, you know, we be here before you came and we be here after you came. And, you know, that's the way it is.
ROESGEN: City officials aren't the only ones wondering when federal money will materialize. Catholic school girls marched on Jackson Square. They and their teachers say more money is needed to fix the levees, and they hoped the president would stop by after his meeting with business leaders. But while a look-a-like showed up with a wad of cash, Mr. Bush did not.
Greg Meffert says he shared the city's frustration with the president.
MEFFERT: I'm frustrated on behalf of the city. And here's the president of the United States who is frustrated that the money is not going down here. And you're like, wait a minute, if the president agrees and the mayor agrees and everyone on the camera is agreeing, why is this money not moving?
ROESGEN: FEMA spokeswoman Nicol Andrews says, "Because these projects typically request millions of taxpayer dollars, there is paperwork involved to ensure the funds will be spent appropriately. However, once the request is received, the average turnaround time for FEMA to fund public projects is 14.5 days."
That's just two weeks, but the city's been waiting for its money for nearly four months.
MEFFERT: After a while you start to wonder, man, is this -- is this the plan or something? You know? I mean, do you really want us to come back or not?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: That report came from Susan Roesgen, who is in our New Orleans bureau.
Coming up, another Katrina reality check. This time Mississippi is our dateline. A lot of folks there still need a whole lot of help, as well. Are they being ignored?
And later, the National Guard, it was crucial to Katrina relief efforts. And the U.S. couldn't fight in Iraq without them. So what happens if the military goes through with plans to cut thousands of reserves?
That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Trip number nine to the Gulf for President Bush. This time, folks in New Orleans and other hard-hit places post-Katrina heard him strike an optimistic note amid an awful lot of discord.
Kathleen Koch grew up in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. She still has deep roots in that part of the world. She's been spending a lot of time there working on a project there. And she was there as the president toured the region.
Kathleen, good morning to you.
How did people respond to the president and his visit yesterday?
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Miles, what I heard from people, and also from the mayor of Bay St. Louis, who I spoke to about this, was they were just glad that he came, that just his mere presence showed the town hadn't been forgotten. And that's the sense that a lot of people in Mississippi have right now, when the networks -- and ours is a violator here as well -- tend to focus just on New Orleans and Louisiana.
But the president drove past the most devastated areas of my town and also of Waveland. Drove right past where my home used to be on the beach. And there's just a slab now.
And so people felt good that he was there on the ground finally. His father had been there back in October, and the mayors of Waveland and Bay St. Louis said, well, if your dad can come, why can't you come? Why can't you come and see how bad it is and that we still need help?
So they were relieved. But -- and progress is being made. But we shot fresh video of the downtown area of Bay St. Louis yesterday, and -- right on the water. And it's stunning how it just looks exactly the same as it did back in August right after the storm.
M. O'BRIEN: God, that just has to break your heart. And we hear that time and again, that, you know, seeing the debris there really play as terrible psychological effect on people day after day driving after (ph) it. Nothing changes.
KOCH: Things are changing a little bit, though, Mile. M. O'BRIEN: Go ahead -- yes?
KOCH: That debris, speaking of that, that's one big difference that I'm seeing, is that -- that you're no longer driving through canyons of debris, where the debris towers over you on both sides. The piles are going away. Now, in my county, they removed 33 percent, but that still leaves two-thirds of it.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. All right. So there is some optimism there that is emerging? I mean, what do you -- you must be torn, then, as you go back and see what seems to be the same, and yet people doing what they can to rebuild?
KOCH: There is a lot of optimism. And Miles, that's what's very different about the spirit of the people of Mississippi.
They say, hey, you know, god helps those who help themselves. This storm surge, you know, 30-plus feet, came in, you know, the 125, 130-mile-an-hour winds destroyed towns up and down the coast. But we're going to put this place back together ourselves.
An example, a restaurant, another restaurant has opened in Bay St. Louis, and now there are six of them open. And the owner of this restaurant, instead of a staff of 30, now he has a staff of two. But he managed to whip up a fabulous meal for the White House staffers who were traveling with the president yesterday.
So they had -- they had gumbo ya ya, they had shrimp etouffee, they had fried green tomatoes. And the owner of the restaurant, he's looking on the bright side of everything.
He said, hey, you know, "I had a baby daughter born two weeks before the hurricane. Because we were shut down all this time, I got to spend her first several months with her. I might not have been able to if it hadn't been for the storm."
So they are always looking for the silver lining, Miles. They are amazing optimists.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, you have to be optimistic to get through something like this. But this has got to test it.
What has it been like for you to be spending so much time in your old hometown under these circumstances?
KOCH: Well, it's difficult, Miles. I mean, I'm so excited to have the opportunity to be working on a documentary on the town coming back, and it's so important to keep what's -- what's happened to the town, to keep it in the news so that people keep coming.
I mean, my family went down there Thanksgiving and we gutted houses and we cleared slabs so that people could bring their FEMA trailers in. And volunteers are just pouring into the town because they see what's happened and they hear about the help that everyone needs there. So, it's -- I know I have that responsibility to the town. But it's hard. I mean, it's gut-wrenching when you go back -- and then that's the home of a builder who we talked to yesterday right across the street from where the president visited. And he hasn't even had time to begin repairing the damage that you see there in his home. So it's difficult.
M. O'BRIEN: Even a builder can't -- can't get to -- yes.
KOCH: Right. Yes -- well, he's trying to help all of his friends.
M. O'BRIEN: Well he's got -- yes.
KOCH: I mean, Mississippians put other people first.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
KOCH: So he's hoping his -- the people whose homes he built -- and he's going to get around to his eventually.
M. O'BRIEN: Do you have an air date yet?
KOCH: Looking at -- I think now it's about a week before Mardi Gras.
M. O'BRIEN: A week before Mardi Gras.
KOCH: So it's coming up soon.
M. O'BRIEN: I'm really looking forward to seeing that.
Kathleen Koch has been working on a documentary about her own hometown and their efforts to come back after Katrina. It will be on "CNN PRESENTS." And as soon as we get an air date specifically we'll let you know.
Kathleen Koch, thanks for dropping by.
KOCH: Thanks, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Carol.
COSTELLO: Good for her.
Coming up in "Extra Effort," a teenage girl who grew up fast and beat the odds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARISOL MELENDREZ, RAISED HERSELF AND BROTHER: As much as people, like, "I hate my parents telling me what to do." Like, I wish I had parents telling me what to do. It would make life so much easier.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: That's because she raised herself and little brother while her parents bounced in and out of jail. But she didn't just survive, she thrived.
Her story just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: In this week's "Extra Effort," a California teenager who deserves a medal. She grew up playing both mom and dad for herself and her little brother. And as CNN's Sumi Das tells us, it didn't stop her from beating the odds.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELENDREZ: You know, everyone has a different story. And my story is a little bit more complicated than others. You know?
SUMI DAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Those who know 17- year-old Marisol Sumon may say that's a huge understatement. Growing up in Oakland, California, Marisol saw her parents bounce in and out of jail as they battled drugs and alcohol.
At the age of 12, Marisol was pulled out of school for two years by her mother and forced to take care of her youngest brother. Then, and now, Marisol turned to one of the few people she trusts, her older half-brother, Albert.
ALBERT SYMON, MARISOL'S BROTHER: Because she didn't go to school, she had no friends. She would be home all day with them. And the only person she really talked to was me to, like, vent on.
DAS (on camera): Marisol was determined to make up the school years that she missed and graduate with the rest of her class. She attended an academy program where she completed both seventh and eighth grade in the span of just one year.
HEATHER PAYNE, FMR. HIGH SCHOOL COUNSELOR: She wasn't interested in taking the easy route. She worked really hard, took college classes. You know, pretty much is raising herself and did it all so successfully.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can the zero change?
DAS (voice over): She then enrolled at Far West High School in Oakland, earning straight A's, which helped her earn a scholarship for college.
ERICA EHMANN, ENGLISH TEACHER: She simply is one of the most focused and driven people I have ever met. And not just students, but in terms of everyone.
DAS: Now a senior, Marisol lives with Albert. Their parents are living in different parts of the country.
MELENDREZ: As much as people, like, "I hate my parents telling me what to do." Like, I wish I had parents telling me what to do. It would make life so much easier.
They are, like, your accountability system. You know? Like, they keep you accountable to do your homework, to wake up for school, to go to school.
DAS: Marisol says she misses her mother, who has now been sober for about two and a half years.
MELENDREZ: And I didn't look at, like, the negative stuff she did. You know? Because I know that, like, in her heart she means well. You know? And she's a great mom. She just made bad choices.
DAS: Marisol says she wants to set an example for her siblings. She's active in two Native American youth organizations and Californians for Social Justice. She also works at a department store.
She admits it's rough not having her mom around, but refuses to accept pity.
MELENDREZ: Because if I didn't go through any of that, then I wouldn't be who I am today. And I'm really happy how I turned out, because I'm, like, really grateful for anything, and, you know, I don't really, like, take advantage of anything. You know, it's like everything is more meaningful.
DAS: Sumi Das, CNN, Oakland, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And ask Marisol about college and she'll tell you she is definitely going. What she hasn't decided is whether she will study medicine or maybe astronomy.
You can learn more about the scholarship program that will help Marisol attend college at studentsrisingabove.org.
M. O'BRIEN: I think she'll do whatever she wants to do.
COSTELLO: I think so.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
Coming up on the program, one of America's best hopes for Olympic gold sticks his big ski boot in his mouth. That is a mouthful. Can an apology make up for what he said about skiing wasted?
That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Opening bell on Wall Street on this Friday, January 13
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
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