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American Morning

Bush to Hold News Conference; Severe Weather; Shot by Neighbor; Working Congress?

Aired March 21, 2006 - 08:59   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm John Roberts, in this week for Miles O'Brien, who's on vacation.

O'BRIEN: A spring storm dumps more than a foot of snow in parts of the Midwest. Now the storm's moving east. We've got your severe weather forecast just ahead.

And a high school freshman gunned down. Authorities say it's because he walked across his neighbor's lawn.

ROBERTS: Mayor Ray Nagin's blueprint for New Orleans may be leaving some people on the outside looking in.

Imagine what you'd do with a three-day work week. Well, members of Congress seem to be living that dream, with a whole lot of days off.

O'BRIEN: And open all night, but that may not be such a good thing. A closer look at our 24-hour-a-day world in our weeklong series "Sleepless in America."

Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. Miles continues his vacation.

I love this story about Congress. A hundred days -- they're on track to work 100 days a year.

ROBERTS: Ninety-seven to 100, something like that, which is fewer days work than the "Do-Nothing" Congress that Harry Truman complained about...

O'BRIEN: Yes, they...

ROBERTS: ... back in the 1940s.

O'BRIEN: Which was 108 days, I think.

ROBERTS: A hundred and eight days.

O'BRIEN: So, yes, they're on track to set a record. A dubious record it might be.

ROBERTS: So you working stiffs out there who are working five, six days a week, these folks in Congress are working about three. Not bad work if you can get it.

O'BRIEN: Congressman Roberts, I like it. I like it.

ROBERTS: No, we're not going there.

By the way, speaking of Washington, word from the White House just a half an hour ago that President Bush is going to hold a news conference. That will be at 10:00 Eastern Time. Lots of questions expected on Iraq and the president's remarks surrounding the third anniversary of the war.

Kathleen Koch standing by for us live at the White House.

Good morning, Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

And yes, this is another one of those midweek surprises. The last time we got one was back in January on the 26th, when the White House announced suddenly the president would be appearing in the briefing room in a couple of hours for a press conference.

So Mr. Bush will come into the briefing room bat 10:00 a.m. A senior White House official I just spoke with tells me he will make brief opening remarks, talking, of course, about the war in Iraq, this just being a couple of days after the third anniversary of the start of the war. And I'm also told he will also talk about the economy, the strength of the economy, what the administration is doing to keep the recovery going, talking about job creation, talking about low unemployment.

And as to the question of why now, this senior administration official said the president likes these forums where he can speak directly to the American people, take the tough questions, similar to what he did yesterday in Cleveland at the City Club, where the president spent nearly an hour taking 11 questions from members of the audience, very unscripted, and some of them relative forceful and direct.

Though, of course, John, the questioning will be tougher and more pointed in the briefing room today.

ROBERTS: Kathleen, if memory serves me correctly, it wasn't long after a similar event that the president did one of his most recent press conferences. He seems to sort of get into this mode where he's very agile, it's question-and-answer sessions, and he turns that into an opportunity with the press.

KOCH: Quite so. And, John, tomorrow the president will be travel to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he will have another one of these sort of free forum question-and-answer sessions with members of the public at large. Again, not a prescreened group, as the -- as the administration had really insisted on during the campaign when they would let only Republican supporters in, only people who had voted for George Bush, prescreened questions.

All very free flowing, very rough and tumble. And that seems to be what the president is interested in right now.

ROBERTS: Well, he's certainly going to get rough and tumble. Nothing pre-scripted today.

KOCH: Quite so.

ROBERTS: Kathleen Koch, thanks very much. We'll talk to you soon.

KOCH: You bet.

ROBERTS: CNN is going to bring you the news conference live. That will be again at 10:00 Eastern Time, just about 57 minutes from now.

O'BRIEN: And counting.

Severe weather to talk about this morning, going and coming. Take a look at pictures we got for you from Omaha, Nebraska. Parts of this, the central part, got 25 inches of snow. And, of course, obviously, schools closed there. I-80, as well, closed at some points.

Another live shot, this one from Indianapolis. It comes courtesy of our affiliate there, WTHR. Indianapolis under the gun, could get as much as six inches of snow today. The weather twist, the old adage, in like a lion, out like a lamb, it sure doesn't feel much like a lamb at all.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN (voice-over): On the first day of spring, a powerful storm dumped more than a foot of snow in the Plains States. Hundreds of schools closed in Kansas, Colorado, South Dakota. Twenty-five inches of snow reported in central Nebraska. It shut down parts of Interstate 80.

LT. MARK DETERDIN, KANSAS HIGHWAY PATROL: It looks like we're going to get a storm that might break a lot of records. It's very heavy snow with a lot of moisture, so it takes quite a bit to move and slows us down a little bit.

O'BRIEN: Low visibility also closed Interstate 70 in northwest Kansas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have had numerous slide-offs, have had vehicles go across the center line and hit other vehicles head-on.

O'BRIEN: In Texas, three days of heavy rain was too much, even for an area that desperately needed it. Nearly eight inches fell around Dallas-Ft. Worth on Sunday and Monday, turning street into rivers and leaving cars submerged.

Strong winds may be to blame for a roof collapse in Lubbock that killed one person, injured nine others. Winds there were clocked at 60 miles an hour. In Georgia, and other parts of the south, the rain fell and flash flood warnings went up.

And as the whole weather mess moves east, public works crews in Indiana and Ohio are getting prepared for what could be coming their way.

DIANE WATKINS, CINCINNATI PUBLIC WORKS: We're going to be having 65 dump trucks and about 17, 18 pickup trucks overnight. Our goal is to keep any ice from bonding to the pavement before that heavy accumulation comes.

O'BRIEN: And in New York City's Times Square, with temperatures in the low 30s, it felt like winter. But that didn't stop this slow New Orleans-style jazz funeral from officially trying to bury winter and mark the first day of spring.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: Oh, let's go right to the map, shall we? Chad is watching it for us, our severe weather expert, and there is lots of severe weather to talk about.

Hey, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: There's snow, there's rain, thunderstorms.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ROBERTS: Chad, thanks very much. Still looking forward to that map that you're going to have one of these days with nice little suns all across the nation and temperatures in the 70s.

MYERS: I'll take that day off.

ROBERTS: You'll deserve it.

In Ohio, a man is charged with murdering a boy, simply for walking on his lawn. A neighbor says 66-year-old Charles Martin and 15-year-old Larry Mugrage had words a few hours before the shooting occurred.

Rich Jaffe of affiliate WKRC in Cincinnati has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICH JAFFE, REPORTER, WKRC (voice over): Neighbors say Charles Martin was a loner, frequently seen working in his yard or walking in the neighborhood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's really one of a kind, really. And -- but he goes up and down the street. When he walks everybody speaks to him and he speaks to everybody. But the only time he gets unglued is when the kids are around that yard.

JAFFE: Investigators say Martin short 15-year-old Larry Mugrage twice with slugs from a 410 shotgun when the teen walked in front of his house Sunday. After hitting him with the first shot, investigators say Martin walked to within 10 or 20 feet for a second killing shot. Moments later, Martin called 911.

OPERATOR: Tell me what happened, Charles.

CHARLES MARTIN, KILLED TEENAGE NEIGHBOR: The kid's just been giving me a bunch of (EXPLETIVE DELETED), making the other kids harass me and my place, tearing things up.

OPERATOR: OK. So what did you do?

MARTIN: I hot him with a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) 410 shotgun twice.

OPERATOR: You shot him with a shotgun? Where is he?

MARTIN: He's laying in the yard.

JAFFE (on camera): While people who know him say Charles Martin's a nice enough guy about most things, they also say there is one thing about which he was totally manic, the line dividing his property from his neighbors.

(voice over): Charles Martin was known as a man who would frequently help out some of his neighbors, but he said he had problems with Mugrage's family.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're the nicest people in the world. And I've known them for 40-some years living up here. And he's mad at her because she used to go out and cut the grass and cut in his yard maybe a foot. He was really warped on that stuff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've been on the bench a while, having this job quite a long time. And frankly, I don't think I've seen a more cruel or cowardly act than perpetrated by this defendant here today.

Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: Rich Jaffe of affiliate WKRC in Cincinnati, Ohio.

And from that to a look at what else is making news today, here's Carol. She's in the newsroom.

Good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: That was an awful story. Thank you, John.

And good morning to all of you.

No more free rides for U.S. chemical plants. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff cracking down on chemical manufacturers and storage facilities that haven't beefed up their security. He's calling for more protection against terrorists and accidental leaks. Secretary Chertoff will give more details in a speech in Washington. We'll be watching that speech and keep you posted.

A shootout today at an Iraqi police station north of Baghdad. At least 25 people were killed, including 15 police officers. We just got those new pictures in. We couldn't show you very much of those pictures, though, because they're just to grisly.

Some 100 insurgents hit that facility with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. Dozens of Iraqi prisoners escaped during the attack, but, as I said, many others died.

Israeli police on high alert for possible suicide attacks today. Officers chased down a van carrying a 10-pound explosive device. They say that's enough material to cause a powerful explosion. Ten Palestinians inside the van now in custody.

Liberia's new president is making her case for U.S. aid. That's right, her case. She is Africa's first elected woman leader and a Harvard-educated economist. President Bush is hosting her in the White House today. She spoke to Congress last week.

Did the airlines ever lose your bag? Well, you are not alone. A new report finds airlines lost 30 million pieces of luggage last year. Most bags made it back to their owners within 30 hours, but some 200,000 are still in that luggage black hole. And where that black hole is we simply don't know -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Well, then, whoever is there is going through all your stuff that you're never going to get back.

COSTELLO: And selling it on eBay.

O'BRIEN: Exactly. Thanks, Carol.

If you're looking for your congressman or woman, don't look on Capitol Hill. They're not going to be found there. The House has only been in session 19 days this year. The Senate, only 33 days in total this year. And, in fact, the 109th Congress is on track to work fewer than 100 days over the entire year.

Let's get right to AMERICAN MORNING'S Bob Franken. He's working, he is on the job in Washington, D.C., this morning.

Hey, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's because the members are looking for their lost luggage. The fact of the matter is, is that this has been an issue, certainly since 1948, when Harry S. Truman campaigned against what he called the "Do-Nothing" Congress.

So our question, perhaps is, where is Mr. Truman when we need him?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pursuant to that concurrent resolution... FRANKEN (voice over): Instead of St. Patrick's Day, Congress decided to honor St. Patrick's week at home this year, or at least not in Washington. And this holiday should not be confused with spring break.

That's next month. They'll take off for 11 days. When they return, they can look ahead to a few extended weekends, and the mac daddy of holidays, the August break.

Traditionally, the whole month of August, to beat the heat. Now there's air-conditioning, but it still means August, somewhere else.

And we don't call them breaks, if you please. They're district work periods. That's because members are in their districts working, mingling with constituents, stuff like that.

Republican Frank Lucas was holding a series of town meeting Monday. He tries to do more than 50 a year. But others use some of the time to travel far way, courtesy of the taxpayer, or somebody.

So far, the House has been in session a grand total of 19 days this year, the Senate, 33. Congress is scheduled to adjourn on October 6. That would total only 97 days in Washington, although leaders say it will end up being more like 120.

President Truman's "Do-Nothing" Congress did it in 108 days.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: Well, could there be another reason that members of Congress are spending so much time back home with the voters? Well, could it be that this is an election year -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: I don't -- gee, Bob, I don't know about that. That would make it so political and all.

Bob Franken for us this morning.

Thanks, Bob.

ROBERTS: You know it's an election year when you see how much pork is in the budget bills that come out.

O'BRIEN: Yes, that's true.

ROBERTS: You know, it's officially spring, even though it might not seem like it across much of the country. And you know what that means. Allergy season.

O'BRIEN: Killing me today. Killing me.

ROBERTS: Oh, I know. I can hear you wheezing from here.

O'BRIEN: Thank you.

ROBERTS: It's a cute wheeze, though. Ahead, we'll tell you what the biggest allergy troublemakers are this year and what you can do to stop the sneezing and wheezing.

O'BRIEN: And then, how the convenience of a 24/7 nation might be affecting our sleep habits.

ROBERTS: And could this really be a picture of Noah's Ark? What are the first two letters of Noah? We'll take a closer look ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: In this morning's "House Call," spring has sprung and it comes with a new allergy season. Some 35 million Americans suffer from seasonal allergies.

I'm one of them.

Dr. Clifford Bassett is an allergy specialist joining us this morning.

Nice to see you.

DR. CLIFFORD BASSETT, ALLERGY SPECIALIST: Great to be here.

O'BRIEN: It feels like allergy season started earlier, at least to me. Is that true?

BASSETT: Oh, that's right. The phone is ringing off the hook, people calling every minute of the day, both young and old alike. It's one of the worst allergy seasons we've seen in the last few years.

O'BRIEN: Why?

BASSETT: Probably because of this mild, prolonged, wet winter. Bottom line, more pollen production, more suffering.

O'BRIEN: OK. So because of all those nice, warm days that we were celebrating, all that did was stimulate pollen production and now we're paying for it?

BASSETT: That's correct.

O'BRIEN: Even though it really feels like winter, still.

BASSETT: It feels like winter, but people are starting to suffer. In fact, people usually have allergy symptoms toward the end of winter, and they're always surprised because the symptoms occur before you start to see the green grass and the lovely trees.

O'BRIEN: And why is that?

BASSETT: It's because it's an early season ever year because of the warm winter. And what happens is, people realize that they might have a cold, they might have sinus -- actually have allergy symptoms. And that's why it's so important to get tested and find out, indeed, do you have seasonal allergies so we can develop an individualized prevention and treatment program for them.

O'BRIEN: All right. We'll talk about how to tell the difference in just a moment, because I want to ask you about the pollen count. You know, in the spring and summer, often people start saying, "And the pollen count is" whatever the number is.

What does that number really tell you? What do you need to do about it?

BASSETT: The pollen count can be high, moderate or low. And what it means is, if the pollen count is high in your community, most people who have seasonal allergies and are affected by those pollens will suffer a greet deal. Moderate, most people suffer. And low counts, typically a few people will suffer.

So it gives you an idea about how many people will suffer. And by getting tested, you'll find out which ones you need to avoid and to take the proper steps to make you safe.

O'BRIEN: And when you have to -- when you want to avoid pollen, you just use -- I mean, it sounds to me like practical sense, wash it off. Wash your clothes. Wash your hair.

BASSETT: Well, we have a lot of great tips that are called survival tips. If you're outside in the park all day and it's a high pollen day, wash your hair, change your clothing before you enter the bedroom. Brush off your shoes, wash off your glasses. All of these things will help reduce the amount of outdoor pollen coming into your home and causing allergy misery when you wake up in the morning.

O'BRIEN: I was surprised to read that people who have allergies -- and I don't have terrible allergies, so I'm always sort of surprised every year when I have an allergy attack -- are also --- can be food sensitive? Why is that?

BASSETT: That's right. About one-third of people who have seasonal allergies will have what we have oral allergy syndrome.

There's a mistake in the immune system where we recognize that the proteins in fruits and vegetables can cross react with the proteins in nature, such as the tree pollen. And so you could have an apple or a pear, or even a cup of hazelnut coffee. That might be enough to trigger itchiness of the eyes, nose and throat and a full- blown allergy attack, particularly now during the spring tree pollen season.

O'BRIEN: So you brought some of the sort of worst perpetrators, and we'll show a shot of them, Bradley (ph), if you can.

So how would I know if I have that oral allergy syndrome? I mean, if I bite into this pear here -- and what happens?

BASSETT: Well, if you're sneezing, having familiar allergy symptoms, you're suffering this time of the year, and you start to notice that when you have an apple or a pear, a carrot, even a cup of coffee that might contain hazelnut or almonds, you start to get scratchiness and itchiness of your throat. There's a cross-reaction that develops.

Perhaps this time of year you should avoid some of these foods. And by getting tested we can make the most appropriate recommendations, which are to avoid them during the bad season.

O'BRIEN: You've now said, like a good -- like a good allergy doctor, get tested, get tested, get tested several times, because sometimes, again, you go through the season, you don't -- what you think is a cold, four weeks later you realize, no, actually it was your allergies kicking in.

What's -- is testing sort of the best way to do it, or should you wait until you have real symptoms?

BASSETT: Well, testing is great because it gets you insight, do I need to get pre-treatment? Most of my patients that are treated successfully get early treatment. We treat them a couple of weeks before the season begins, and that's much more successful until waiting until you're really, really suffering. So by understanding if you have allergies, you can get the right individualized attention and treatment, which includes avoidance, medications and, of course, allergy injections in some cases.

O'BRIEN: All right. Dr. Bassett, nice to see you. Thanks for talk with us this morning. Appreciate the survival guide for allergy season.

BASSETT: Great to be here.

O'BRIEN: John.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Soledad.

In our 24/7 world, you can get virtually whatever you want day or night. But is all this convenience coming at the expense of our sleep? Ahead, a closer look in our series, "Sleepless in America."

And a look at the future of New Orleans and why some residents are outraged at the city's new plans.

Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Just wake up already tired and feel like you could go right back into bed? All this week we're looking at why Americans are getting less sleep than ever before. And one reason could be this: America has become the country that never closes.

AMERICAN MORNING'S Dan Lothian with a look at our 24/7 nation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 28 northbound has delays now from 2A (ph) to 4 and 225.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Like clockwork, another day fades to black. Some shops close. The rush hour train is rolling. And commuter Tom Testa heads home.

TOM TESTA, COMMUTER: There are those you just dread. Like, it's obviously you just dread the long commute.

LOTHIAN: It's a 100-mile round trip from his job at Boston University to his home in Smithfield, Rhode Island.

TESTA: My day turns into however long I'm here at work, plus another three, four hours.

LOTHIAN: Beaten by the clock, Testa is just the right fit for a 24-hour nation, open for business long after sunset.

(on camera): In case you haven't noticed, it seems just about everything you need or want is available around the clock these days in cyberspace or on Main Street.

SUSAN SAMPSON, SIMMONS SCHOOL OF MGMT.: People need accessibility. Retailers are becoming a little bit more flexible in thinking about how they're going to serve their customers.

LOTHIAN: Twenty-four-hour fitness took the concept and turned into a global franchise.

MARK MASTROW, 24 HOUR FITNESS: People want to stay in shape, get in shape no matter when they can get it in, and they want to be able to come any time they want.

LOTHIAN: Walgreens keeps some of its stores and pharmacies open around the clock.

LISA COEHLO, WALGREENS PHARMACIST: Unfortunately, patients still get sick after 10:00 when most pharmacies are closed.

LOTHIAN: Want to bowl in Boston at 3:00 a.m.? This is right up your alley. You can get cash or groceries, a live volunteer to pray with you on the phone, or a member of the Geek Squad at your doorstep in the middle of the night to fix a frozen computer.

Simmons School of Management professor Susan Sampson says the marketplace changed when more business relationships went global, when working women became stressed for time, and when workplace hours became nontraditional.

SAMPSON: So I think it's two things happening at the same time: customers demanding more, and retailers going, wait a minute, I'm losing business. What's happening and what do I need to do to get the business back?

LOTHIAN: For many companies, 24 hours is the solution. Reaching out to a diverse band of night owls.

MASTROW: Stockbrokers, lawyers, doctors.

COEHLO: We see a lot of second and third shift customers.

MASTROW: Some of them are insomniacs.

COEHLO: Caregivers that seek over-the-counter relief for their loved ones.

LOTHIAN: For Testa, the commuter that finds living in Rhode Island more affordable, the "always open" sign could make his life easier.

TESTA: I would definitely take advantage of that in any way, whatever kind of business it was.

LOTHIAN: The sun may fade, but in a way the day never ends.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: That 100-mile commute, though -- whoa.

O'BRIEN: Oh, that's a killer.

ROBERTS: Our "Sleepless in America" series continues on Wednesday with the confessions of an insomniac. Dr. Sanjay Gupta introduces us to a woman who has learned a few tricks over the years to help her get some shuteye. She's going to share them with us tomorrow.

And Anderson Cooper is also taking a look at the issue of sleep tonight on "360."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "360": Tonight on "360," the stuff that dreams are made of, using science to open a new door on where they come from and why they happen. Not only that, what can dreams say about your waking life?

Part of our special series on sleep, tonight, "360," 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: Look forward to that.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans is out with a new blueprint for rebuilding his city. It comes, though, with a big warning for any folks who want to come home.

We'll explain just ahead. ROBERTS: And later on, news satellite imagines of what people think could be Noah's Ark. We'll talk with a professor who has been trying to solve the mystery for 13 years.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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