Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Women's Figure Skating Begins in Torino; Search for Mudslide Survivors in Philippines; 'Minding Your Business'

Aired February 21, 2006 - 06:30   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A desperate search continues for dozens of coal miners who are trapped under ground. Is it already too late? We'll take a look at that this morning.
The White House has some explaining to do after millions of dollars funneled to an energy plant in the days before the president's scheduled to speak there.

And the Olympics takes several turns and jumps tonight. That's because the women finally hit the ice for the marquee event of the games. We'll take you live to Torino this morning.

Oh, I love figure skating. I love when figure skating begins. I love watching figure skating with my daughters.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN ANCHOR: You just like to see a plane -- or a train crash.

O'BRIEN: No, no. It's not when they fall. I mean, Sasha Cohen, she is beautiful on the ice.

MARCIANO: I like the drama. You know, the commentators build it up.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

MARCIANO: And at some point somebody's going to cry. So it makes for good TV.

O'BRIEN: It's a fantastic -- yes, they all fall at the end, too. That's true.

Welcome back, everybody. Rob Marciano is filling in for Miles. He's got a couple days of vacation.

Let's get right to Carol. She's got an update on the news for us this morning.

Hello.

MARCIANO: Hi, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello.

And good morning to all of you. More rain hurting efforts for rescuers in the southern Philippines. The Red Cross is now in relief mode four days after a massive mudslide buried a village of about 1,800 residents in mud. Neighboring villages have been evacuated as a precaution. So far, no survivors have been found.

A team of U.S. mine experts expected to arrive in Mexico today. They'll help try and reach 65 coal miners that became trapped after an explosion on Sunday. So far, no contact has been made with those miners.

President Bush is sticking with his energy plan. Today he's in Colorado as part of a three-state swing. On Monday the president was in Wisconsin and Michigan. He's pitching alternatives like solar, wind and nuclear power. CNN will have live coverage of the president's speech today. That's at 11:30 Eastern.

In the next hour, the U.S. secretary of state is expected to arrive in Cairo as part of a Mideast trip. Talks are expected to center on the landslide -- the landslide Hamas win in the Palestinian elections, I should say. They'll also center on Iran and the situation in Iraq.

And one of Hollywood's "Golden Girls" getting a special honor. She's been named animal ambassador by the Los Angeles mayor. The 84- year-old Betty White, an actress and longtime animal activist, was presented with the plaque.

It will be placed next to the gorilla exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo, and that's apparently Betty White's very favorite animal. Now you know, the gorilla.

Back to you, Rob.

MARCIANO: Thanks, Carol.

Well, it took three decades, but the U.S. finally took medals in ice dancing. The American team, Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, won silver last night. Belbin, you'll remember -- you may, at least -- is originally from Canada but was granted U.S. citizenship just in time to compete in these games.

Meanwhile, tonight marks the much-anticipated start of women's figure skating.

CNN's Larry Smith is live in Torino this morning.

Larry, I just know Michelle Kwan, and she's now gone. So give us a little cheat sheet as to who to look for tonight.

LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I can do that for you. And certainly, I think everyone for the past decade has been watching Michelle Kwan. And now it's a new generation now that she's out of the Olympics.

But the first name you talk about ice skating, you have to talk about -- or figure skating -- you have to talk about Russia and Irina Slutskaya. She won silver at Salt Lake in 2002 and certainly comes in as a favorite in this.

But watch for Sasha Cohen for the U.S. Maybe she has finally broken through.

Twenty-one years old, this her second Olympics. And she had not won a world or national title until she won the U.S. National Crown last month.

Of course Kwan was not a part of that. But she may be the world's top skater in terms of talent.

If she can't do it, possibly Emily Hughes. She's a 17 year old who is Kwan's replacement due to the Kwan injury, the groin injury she suffered several weeks ago and re-aggravated just about 10 days ago.

She is here as well. Her sister Sarah surprised everyone by winning gold in Salt Lake in 2002.

And the other U.S. skater, Kimmy Miesner, 16 yeas old, maybe the most athletic of the three.

So certainly three medal contenders in that group -- Rob.

MARCIANO: All right. A good list of names to look for. A few Olympics ago we had a lot of drama in figure skating to the point of actually some violence because of rivalries there.

Speed skaters, there's a rivalry going on now, aren't there? A couple of guys to talk about that. I hear they're not talking. What's up?

SMITH: Yes, no Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan smack the knee kind of thing yet with these guys. They're not going to resort to that, but the men's 1,500 meters goes off tonight.

Chad Hedrick is the world record holder, but again, he continues his feud with Shani Davis, who opted not to run the team pursuit last week. And Hedrick -- and that cost the U.S. a gold medal in that.

Davis will run last. Hedrick next to last. So Davis gets a chance to see what his rival and teammate does before he goes out and takes to the ice.

By the way, Derek Parra, who set an Olympic record in the 1,500, also is in this, as well as Joey Cheek, who won gold in another event in speed skating earlier in these games.

MARCIANO: Well, it's a great event to watch even if they're not talking to each other.

The controversy with the Austrians, what's happening with the coach?

SMITH: The coach, the latest on Walter Mayer, we understand -- a source telling The Associated Press that he is still in a psychiatric hospital in Austria. He is still there. There was a briefing this morning, by the way, here in Torino.

Now, he is out of IOC jurisdiction, so really right now they are not giving any official updates on him. They would not confirm reports that there was another raid on the Austrian teams that are here.

By the way the Austrian cross-country team is competing as we speak right now in the names 4 by 7.5 kilometer meet.

Now, it's not unusual to have a quiet period after this, because there were 10 athletes in the Austrians who were tested out of competition. It's a 72-hour window. If nothing positive -- no positive tests come of that, the 72-hour window passes and then it all goes away.

So, still another day, another couple of days now to see if there's anything more to come of this Walter Mayer situation. It just gets more bizarre as the days go on, it seems.

MARCIANO: Interesting update this morning. Larry Smith live for us at Torino. Good work if you can get it.

Thanks, Larry.

Here's a look at the medal count so far.

Germany is actually leading everybody with 18 total medals. The U.S. is still stuck behind Norway. It has 17. And the U.S. is tied -- well, let me get this right here.

Germany has 18. OK? Norway has 17. The U.S. is tried with Austria with 15th. So we're doing pretty good.

O'BRIEN: Yes. We're in third place.

MARCIANO: Not bad.

O'BRIEN: Tied with Austria. Well, not horrible. It could be better. It could be worse.

Let's get to the forecast. Bonnie Schneider is at the CNN Center.

Hey, Bonnie. Good morning.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad. I'm with you. I'm going to watch the figure skating tonight, too.

O'BRIEN: Oh, I love it.

SCHNEIDER: Especially Emily Hughes. She's from Long Island, just like me.

O'BRIEN: Oh, isn't -- and she's so lovely. SCHNEIDER: She is.

O'BRIEN: She's such a nice, young woman.

SCHNEIDER: Yes, they're great.

O'BRIEN: You are from Long Island?

SCHNEIDER: Of course.

O'BRIEN: Oh my god. Me, too. Let's talk about that later.

SCHNEIDER: We'll have to talk about that.

O'BRIEN: Yes, ahead.

SCHNEIDER: All right. This morning...

O'BRIEN: We'll talk about it later. What's the forecast?

(LAUGHTER)

SCHNEIDER: I dropped that accent after high school. All right.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Sounds good. Thank you very much.

MARCIANO: A nice day for you two kids to maybe go to the mall.

O'BRIEN: No, say mall.

MARCIANO: The mall.

O'BRIEN: The mall. Bonnie and I could do a whole show with our accents...

SCHNEIDER: We could.

O'BRIEN: ... we squelch each and every day.

Thank you, Bonnie.

SCHNEIDER: You're welcome.

O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, it could be the most important four-year degree in the entire country. We're going to meet students who are getting an education in homeland security this morning. We'll tell you their story.

MARCIANO: Also, the bird flu marches on. The virus now reported in more than 30 countries. Why aren't officials doing more to stop the spread?

O'BRIEN: Coming up next, the latest on the search and rescue mission in the Philippines. Oh, these pictures are just terrible. We're going to talk with a Marine commander who is on the ground to see if there's any signs of hope to share with you this morning.

Those stories all ahead. Back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Developing story out of the Philippines to get back to now this morning. Hope fading fast as rescue workers search for mudslide survivors on the island of Leyte. The death toll could reach a thousand, maybe even more.

The U.S. Marines have been a big part of the rescue efforts. Colonel Walter Miller is the commander of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. He's joining us by phone from southern Leyte.

Thank you for being with us, sir. We certainly appreciate it.

Yesterday at this time we were talking about some hopeful news. They had picked up, detected some noise right in the area where they thought maybe the elementary school was. It turned out when the diggers went in nobody was found alive. What do you know right now about the situation right there?

COL. WALTER MILLER, U.S. MARINES: We are continuing to dig in that area. That was the -- that is the focal point.

The secondary area we're looking at is the municipal hall. But the majority of the work right now today and yesterday has been at the elementary school. Obviously that -- the school was in session. It was at 10:00 in the morning when the slide came, and there was 243 children and six -- six teachers in there, and that has been the focal point, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Oh, it's just absolutely horrible. You know, the pictures that we see, as bad as they look, I'm sure they are nowhere as bad as it really is when you see it in person.

Can you describe for me what it's like? I was told the elementary school in some places is under 100 feet of mud. Is that right?

MILLER: That's -- well, it's under about -- about 20 meters of mud is what we estimate came on top of the elementary school. You had to dig to really get down and find any parts of the roof. So it was definitely devastated.

O'BRIEN: Do you think when you look at what you're seeing there, especially the elementary school, but the surrounding areas, too, do you think anybody could have survived this at this late stage now?

MILLER: According to the Philippines, they had a slide similar about a year ago and they had some survivors 10 days into it. And as far as the Philippine government is concerned, this is -- this is still a rescue, and that's how the U.S. Marines are looking at it as we support them in their efforts here.

O'BRIEN: Wow. That's good news. I mean, if they had in the past survivors 10 days in, that is hopeful news.

I know that the weather is not helping you guys out. I had read that it was sort of starting to pick up rain again. Is that right? What's it like for you right now trying to do these rescue efforts?

MILLER: I'm sorry. I missed most of that, Soledad. Could you say that again?

O'BRIEN: Absolutely, sir. My apologies. What's the weather like? Is it hampering what you're trying to do?

MILLER: The weather is slowing us down a bit. It's been raining off and on pretty hard. But the Marines are -- the morale is high, and they continue to press with this thing. And they really want to get in there.

They are treating this as if this was their own town back home and really working extremely hard to clear the rubble and get down to hopefully some survivors.

O'BRIEN: I know that your teams are helping out not only with the rescue efforts, but with the people who have survived, as well. What is the morale like? I mean, it's a tiny little village and it's now just been decimated.

MILLER: The morale from the outlying (INAUDIBLE) is high to try to rescue as many people as possible. However, the morale of the very few that have made it through this devastating landslide, obviously they are devastated. They are having a tough time. I had the opportunity to meet with three of them today, and it was very hard listening to their story.

O'BRIEN: Oh, gosh. I bet.

Colonel Walter Miller, the commander of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, joining us by phone from southern Leyte in the Philippines.

Thank you, Colonel. We certainly appreciate your time and we know how busy you are.

Wow.

MARCIANO: Those pictures are unbelievable.

O'BRIEN: You know, and you know that it's so much worse than what we're being able to see, which is essentially this mountain just collapsing into a wall of mud. It's horrible.

MARCIANO: Always a little bit of comfort, though, when you know the Marines are there, at least. A little bit of comfort.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

ANDY SERWER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "FORTUNE": Calling the Marines.

MARCIANO: That's right, Andy.

O'BRIEN: They say that for a reason.

SERWER: That's right.

O'BRIEN: What you got coming up this morning?

Hello.

SERWER: Hey, you guys. Good morning to you.

The cell phone, your PC, your iPod, you can't live without them, right? So what's the next must-have consumer product? We'll tell you about that coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

O'BRIEN: Oh, good question.

SERWER: Yes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SERWER: Alan Rickman, one of the great voices in Hollywood, in the movie business.

O'BRIEN: Absolutely, yes.

SERWER: I love his voice.

O'BRIEN: Yes. And Tyne Daly, happy birthday.

And Billy Baldwin was it?

SERWER: One of the Baldwins.

MARCIANO: Are we not allowed to play "Happy Birthday"? Are there royalties to that?

SERWER: That's an altered images version of "Happy Birthday."

O'BRIEN: I don't know. Stevie Wonder does a version we play every once in a while. You know, we could do that one more often.

MARCIANO: Yes.

O'BRIEN: A helpful hint. Whatever. That came out harsher than I meant it.

SERWER: That's all right.

O'BRIEN: Business news is actually ahead in a moment.

Let's get to Carol first, though, for an update of the stories in the newsroom.

Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

Good morning to all of you.

A delay in the California execution of Michael Morales. It has now been rescheduled for tonight.

Prison officials say two anesthesiologist brought in to monitor the execution refused to participate and that's what caused the delay. Morales was convicted of raping and killing a 17-year-old girl. We'll get more legal perspective in the next hour.

It is down to business for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. He's beginning his first day on the bench. President Bush was part of his swearing in on February 1. That day, Justice Alito broke ranks with other conservative justices and voted to stop the execution of a Missouri inmate.

President Bush is on the last leg of a three-state swing to promote his energy plan. The president will visit the National Renewable Energy Lab in Colorado.

The trip could have been quite embarrassing. The lab lost part of its federal funding earlier this month. But fear not. The Department of Energy transferred $5 million on Monday to rehire those 32 people a day before the president's arrival.

CNN will have live coverage of the president's address. It starts at 11:30 a.m. Eastern.

Two Republican governors are threatening legal action to block an Arab company from taking over operations at six of the largest ports in the United States. New York's George Pataki and Maryland's Robert Ehrlich say they may try to cancel port lease arrangements because of the deal.

He was described as one of the great broadcasters in the history of sports, the last of the dinosaurs. Curt Gowdy's voice became the soundtrack of Super Bowls and NCAA Final Fours. He was also a longtime broadcaster for the Boston Red Sox.

Gowdy died on Monday at his Florida home after a long battle with leukemia. He was 86 years old.

And nothing coming between Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. At least not anymore. The Hollywood exes have reportedly settled the last details of their $60 million divorce.

These are pictures of them in better times. Remember then when they looked alike, they walked alike -- you know where that goes.

Anyway, Aniston gets sole ownership of their $29 million Beverly Hills mansion and Pitt becomes the main owner, the primary owner of their film company, Plan B Productions. The company recently released "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

To the forecast center and Bonnie Schneider. Good morning.

SCHNEIDER: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MARCIANO: Thanks, Bonnie. Always looking for hot stock tips. You know, looking for the easy money.

That's why I think Andy is here. That's my take of your position. And did you say DVRs?

SERWER: We are talking DVRs this morning, Rob.

You know, more and more Americans are time-shifting. Of course that means recording things on their DVR digital video recorder. And experts are saying this is the next big thing. Maybe not news to people who already have one.

They say that within two and a half years, one-third of all 108 million American households with televisions will have these. Let's break it down for you and see how it works with satellite owners versus cable people.

Satellite owners right now, 28 percent, but going up to 50 percent in 2010. And that's more than people who are just regular cable subscribers. That's because satellite folks a little more techno savvy. And also, it's an installation option when you get a satellite, just turn it on, as opposed to cable. You have to call up your cable company and get the guy to show up.

MARCIANO: Right. It's an all-in-one deal with satellite.

O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you, time is the new precious resource.

SERWER: Right.

O'BRIEN: People just don't have the time. I mean, you know, that's why time-shifting is really important.

SERWER: And it's huge implications for advertisers, as well.

O'BRIEN: Yes, absolutely.

SERWER: There are some shows, though, of course, you can't DVR, like sports events or "American Idol" or AMERICAN MORNING.

MARCIANO: Really?

SERWER: You have to watch it live. You have to watch it live.

MARCIANO: Oh, of course, yes.

SERWER: You have to watch it live.

O'BRIEN: You could TiVo us, but then it becomes a little irrelevant later on in the day.

SERWER: No, then you miss it.

MARCIANO: I TiVo'd you guys last week and it was a great show.

O'BRIEN: Thanks.

SERWER: Well, that's it. You've got to be really into it like Rob.

O'BRIEN: It seemed a little old, though, didn't it? Some of these stories...

MARCIANO: I got around to it on Sunday, but you guys looked great.

SERWER: I want to tell you about another story quickly here, another techno story involving cell phones. More and more Americans have two cell phones.

O'BRIEN: Really?

SERWER: Not one, but two. Sixteen percent of all cell phone users now have two.

O'BRIEN: That makes sense.

SERWER: So why do they do it? Well, 59 percent of them have it because business use and personal use.

O'BRIEN: That's what I thought, yes.

SERWER: And then look at some of these others. This gets a little weird. One for incoming calls and one for outcoming.

O'BRIEN: That's just weird.

SERWER: That's weird.

One for normal use, one for walkie-talkie. That's OK, you know, if you have kids, you have the walkie function.

Peak hours, non-peak hours.

O'BRIEN: That's weird.

SERWER: That's weird.

One for the car, one -- how about this, to be cool. You know, you've got one here. I'm on my cell phone...

MARCIANO: Big-timing.

SERWER: Right.

O'BRIEN: I use my BlackBerry as a cell phone... SERWER: Right.

O'BRIEN: ... and then I'll have at the same time my cell phone, cell phone. And that's actually pretty helpful if you've got to do a couple of things at one in the back of the taxi.

SERWER: So you're one of them.

O'BRIEN: Well...

SERWER: You're one of the 16 percent of those cool folks.

O'BRIEN: Yes, to be cool.

MARCIANO: Which says nothing about the people around her.

SERWER: Right. That's it.

O'BRIEN: I'm in the back of a cab. I'm not driving, for god's sake.

SERWER: She's busy. She's busy.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

All right, Andy. Thank you.

SERWER: Thanks.

MARCIANO: Thanks, Andy.

O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, we've got to look at the day's top stories, including the increasingly rapid spread of the bird flu. Why is not more being done to stop it? We're going to take a look at that this morning.

And a look this morning at the next generation of America's defenders. We're going to meet some students who are getting degrees in homeland security.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

A short break and we're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back. We're getting right to the top of the hour, so let's check on the forecast.

Bonnie Schneider's got that. She's at the CNN Center this morning.

Hello and good morning.

SCHNEIDER: Good morning, Soledad.

(WEATHER 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