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American Morning

Massacre Stopped; Dry Pumps; New Evidence; Talks, No Agreements; Queen's 80th Birthday; Nepal in Crisis

Aired April 21, 2006 - 06:00   ET

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

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, a Columbine-style school attack in Kansas foiled at the last minute. Police are tipped off to the plot on myspace.com. Today, students face a judge.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It has begun, gas shortages in seven states, tempers flare, police have to be called in. The story in two minutes.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Grapefruit sized hail just south of Austin yesterday, more severe weather today. Stay tuned for that.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And a birthday bash this morning in Britain as Queen Elizabeth turns 80 years old. We are there live on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Well good morning, everybody, happy Friday. I'm Betty Nguyen in for Soledad.

ROBERTS: And I'm John Roberts in for Miles.

There's not a word that sounds better this time a week than Friday, is there, -- Betty?

NGUYEN: I tell you.

ROBERTS: Hey, good to be with you. I'm sorry I couldn't be with you there in New York City.

NGUYEN: I know, I miss you up here. But you know what, we'll get together soon.

ROBERTS: All right. Well it's good to be with you just by television linkup, by the way. All right.

NGUYEN: Great to have you, absolutely.

We've got a lot to tell you about this morning. Five students expected to be charged today with planning a massacre at their Kansas high school. Information picked up on My Space Web site led to that arrest -- several of those arrests. Police apparently broke it up just in time yesterday, which also marked the seventh anniversary of the Columbine Massacre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL KLINE, KANSAS ATTORNEY GENERAL: This community is safe. The school is safe.

NGUYEN (voice-over): Kansas Attorney General Phil Kline trying to reassure residents of Riverton, Kansas, after authorities discovered an alleged plot of a shooting rampage at a local high school.

ASHLEY MCGOWAN, RIVERTON H.S. STUDENT: We live in a little bedroom community and you never really think that anything like this could really ever happen to this kind of school.

NGUYEN: Police and school officials say details appeared on the Web site, myspace.com, and made reference to the April 20 anniversary of the Columbine shooting. The five suspects, 16 to 18 years old, are now in custody.

One parent said the alleged plot is a disturbing reality.

DEB MCGOWAN, RIVERTON H.S. PARENT: We have lived away from here and we've been around this type of situation before, so knowing that it's starting to come to the small communities was not a surprise to me. And I believe that we always need to stay on top of things and be involved with our children every day to know what's going on.

NGUYEN: Sheriff's deputies found guns, ammunition, knives and coded messages in the bedroom of one suspect and documents related to firearms in two school lockers. Police say interviews with the suspects indicated they planned to wear black trench coats and disable the school security cameras before starting the attack. Police believe they had been plotting since the beginning of the school year.

JAMIE HOLMAN, RIVERTON H.S. PARENT: It's a shame you can't send your kids to school without worrying about them getting injured or killed.

NGUYEN: Still, Attorney General Kline praised authorities for acting quickly to eliminate any threat.

KLINE: All I can say is that the information that was obtained by law enforcement justified every step of the investigation and action that they have taken to ensure that the citizens of this community, the students and the faculty and administration are safe at that school.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Now the school superintendent says the potential victims named on the Internet were popular students and that the suspects may have been bullied -- John.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Betty.

The gasoline crisis now, prices are soaring past the dreaded $3 mark in many states. But this morning, some on the East Coast are facing worse roadblocks, gas shortages. Some stations from Boston to northern Virginia are completely dry.

Live to Carol Costello who's got more on that now.

Carol, what's going on?

COSTELLO: Can you believe it, John, it sounds so scarily '70s, doesn't it, gas shortages. And in fact, tempers flared, not far from where you are, at a gas station in Chesapeake, Virginia. They ran out of gas. The gas station owner said it was a technical problem, but tempers flared and police had to be called in. Everything ended peacefully, but people went away angrily.

Nothing technical, though, about other gas shortages reported across the East Coast. Take a look at the map. There was nothing technical about the shortages. They flat ran out of gas in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland and D.C.

Why is this happening? Because of the ethanol problem, that is ethanol has to be added to gas to make it burn cleaner and refineries simply have not kept up.

AAA says this is going to be a continuing problem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CATHY ROSSI, AAA: There's plenty of crude oil, there's plenty of gasoline to go around. It's a matter of getting it to the gas stations in a reasonable amount of time. And there may be some problems with that in the days to come.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So the refineries and the gas station owners say this is just a temporary problem, this is just like a little fluke in the system. But AAA says that there could be gas shortages lasting for as long as 30 days.

In the meantime, the price of oil hovers between $72 and $73 a barrel. Carrie Lee will be along shortly to tell us how high the price of oil is, because of course that too affects the price of gas. Out in California, as John said, it's already hit $3 a gallon. And also in some parts of Pennsylvania, we're seeing $3 for one gallon of regular gas.

ROBERTS: Carol, any idea how high the price of gas is going to go this summer? I mean if it's at 3 bucks already and topping 4 in California, I mean?

COSTELLO: It's gone up 32 cents in one month in California. And in California, it could easily hit the $4 a gallon mark before summer hits.

ROBERTS: Great things ahead.

Carol Costello, thanks. Check back with you a little bit later on. Happening in America this morning, opening statements set to begin today in the murder trial of an Ohio priest accused of killing a nun 26 years ago. The priest could face life in prison if convicted.

Children in Georgia's public school system could begin taking bible classes as early as next year. The state's governor has signed a bill into law. It makes Georgia the first place to offer state- sanctioned elective classes on the bible.

And workers in New Orleans prepare to unwrap voting machines for tomorrow's primary election. The election will be the first since Hurricane Katrina forced thousands to flee the city. Mayor Ray Nagin faces 22 challengers. A run-off is likely -- Betty.

NGUYEN: John, there's new evidence in the rape investigation at Duke University. Police have searched the dorm rooms of the two suspects, plus the cab driver who came to the defense of one suspect. Well, he has more to say.

AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho is live in Durham, North Carolina.

Alina, what were police looking for in those rooms?

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, for now, Betty, we only have the search warrant for the dorm room of Collin Finnerty. He is one of the suspects.

And according to that report, police were looking for, among other things, photos and videos taken on the night of the lacrosse team party, any clothing that might have been worn on the night of the alleged attack by either the suspect or the accuser. Even a white high heeled shoe that the accuser says she lost upon leaving the house. And that, by the way, is consistent with photos defense attorneys have shown me.

Now as for what they seized, a news article written by a woman covering the story at the "New York Times" and in an envelope addressed to Finnerty by his girlfriend in Boston. Now, Betty, it is unclear at this time what connection, if any, these seized items have to the case.

NGUYEN: Alina, let's clarify what we do know. You spoke with the cab driver who said he drove one of the suspects on the night of the alleged rape. And now he has more information. What kind of information?

CHO: Well that's right. As we reported yesterday, Betty, this cab driver remembers driving suspect Reade Seligmann on the night of the alleged attack. Well now we are learning that he went back to that house a second time to pick up four more lacrosse players.

What he tells us is that when he arrived at the house around 5 after 1:00 a.m., which was about an hour after he picked up Reade Seligmann, he saw 20 players or so outside of the house in what appeared to be an argument with either the accuser or her friend. Now, again, this is consistent with what both the prosecution and the defense have said about their being some sort of commotion. And then the cab driver says that he heard one of the players say -- quote -- "she was just a stripper" -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Alina Cho in Durham, North Carolina, thank you for that.

Well China's President Hu Jintao will speak at Yale University today. He'll restate his theme of peaceful economic growth, one of the topics he discussed with President Bush at the White House yesterday. The two leaders said they'd cooperate on trade and Iran, but they didn't announce any agreements.

President Bush is also on the road today.

We go to Elaine Quijano in Washington for details on what's ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): President Bush leaves Washington later this morning for a four-day swing through the West Coast. A trip that will include fund-raisers, but also a tour designed to tout what the president calls his American competitiveness initiative.

The president first laid out those proposals in his State of the Union Address, proposals that include increasing investment in research and development and strengthening math and science programs in American schools. The goal, to keep U.S. industry competitive, particularly with emerging powers like China and India.

Today, Mr. Bush will travel to Silicon Valley's Cisco Systems. He'll take part in a panel discussion and is expected to highlight America's engineering talent.

Elaine Quijano, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: All right.

As we wait for the sun to come up on the East Coast here, time for a check of the forecast. Chad Myers joining us now from the CNN Center.

And, Chad, every time I throw to you for the weather, like every time I'm filling in, you have got some bad news.

MYERS: I know. I know.

ROBERTS: And it's there again today.

MYERS: And then the other times, I just leave. I let somebody else do it because the weather is so bad. I remember. You filled in for a week.

ROBERTS: You take credit for the good stuff but you don't want to take credit for the bad stuff.

MYERS: Exactly.

Good morning, -- John.

ROBERTS: Good morning.

MYERS: Good morning, everybody.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you guys.

NGUYEN: I can hear it.

ROBERTS: You know grapefruit sized hail, it's the type of stuff you can't peel or make into juice, so I don't know what use it is.

NGUYEN: No. And you know what, I can hear the phones ringing right now, calling their insurance, making sure that they get those things fixed. Can you imagine the damage that will do to a car?

MYERS: Yes.

ROBERTS: Unbelievable.

Chad has always got good news for us, though, doesn't he?

NGUYEN: I know, doesn't he?

Thanks.

ROBERTS: Pretty consistent on that front.

MYERS: All right.

NGUYEN: All right, we'll talk to you soon, Chad.

Well still to come, attention New Yorkers, will your doorman be there as you go to work this morning? We've got the latest on the threatened walkout.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's happy birthday to the Queen. I'm Paula Newton in Windsor, England, where people are celebrating Queen Elizabeth's 80th birthday. I'm live with all the festivities coming up.

ROBERTS: Also ahead, do you like your job? A new survey is out today on the best jobs in America. See if yours is one of them. Those stories all ahead.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) NGUYEN: Here's a message for Manhattan residents this morning, you won't have to hold that door after all. A strike of the city's 28,000 doormen was avoided overnight. The union representing doormen, elevator operates and building superintendents reached a tentative agreement with building owners. Doormen will get about $15 more a week. They make around $37,000 a year.

Before the tentative deal, though, comedian Jay Leno, of course he had to weigh in on the subject.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY LENO, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": In the Big Apple, New York City doormen are threatening to go on strike if their demands are not met. Well, that will just shut down the whole city, huh? Thousands of rich people trapped in a building unable to figure out how to open a door. When are they coming back? It's getting hot in here. How do doormen go on strike? They just walk around that revolving door. We're on strike. Doormen on strike, my god, the power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: That is just so wrong. You know I don't -- I live in Atlanta, I don't have a doorman.

John, I mean were you worried about the strike? Do you have a doorman?

ROBERTS: I wasn't. I wasn't worried about the strike. I am my own doorman.

NGUYEN: Exactly.

ROBERTS: But I tell you,...

NGUYEN: I can open that door, no problem.

ROBERTS: ... there are a lot of people in New York who probably would not be able to get out of a building without the doorman, so good thing they got...

NGUYEN: That just floors me.

ROBERTS: ... their 15 bucks extra a week.

NGUYEN: That's true. Hey, it matters. Every little bit counts.

ROBERTS: Yes. All right.

Our top stories this Friday morning, five Riverton, Kansas, teens are due in court today. They are accused of plotting a Columbine-like shooting spree at their high school. We'll have more on this story throughout the morning.

Gas supply problems reported in several East Coast cities today. It's not because there isn't enough oil, it's because refiners are switching to a new formula and that switch is taking time.

And Chinese President Hu Jintao goes Ivy League this morning. He's giving a speech at Yale University before ending his four-day visit to the United States.

Well, a low-key 80th birthday celebration today for Britain's Queen Elizabeth. Of course, low key is a relative term when you are talking about the world's most famous grandmother.

CNN's Paula Newton is in Windsor, England, and joins us with more on the festivities.

Good morning to you, Paula. How is it looking there?

NEWTON: Well, like you said, it's amazing what will pass for a casual private birthday celebration here. Right now the Queen is still in Windsor Castle behind me. That is her favorite place. She's spending a nice intimate morning with her immediate family.

But just after lunch local time here, we do expect her to come out for something she has perfected, John, it is the royal walkabout. She's supposed to talk to everyone out here for about 45 minutes, but it could last longer. The weather is cooperating. And you wouldn't believe the action around here, John, I mean flowers, cards, food. Everyone is hoping to personally shake her hand.

At this point, you know, the polls here in Britain show that there's a lot of support for the monarchy and this woman, in particular. So I'm sure the Queen feels quite satisfied on her 80th birthday. And, John, you wouldn't believe what kind of condition she's in. She's in great shape, we're told.

ROBERTS: Yes, we saw her just being helped up the stairs there in one of those pictures, but she is in remarkably good shape for a woman of 80 years old. She's still got more than a decade to go, though, if she wants to break the record for the longest reigning monarch, which Queen Victoria held at 64 years. But this may be a low-key celebration compared to previous years, Paula, but hasn't it really been a weeklong celebration?

NEWTON: A weeklong? She's had parties at Buckingham Palace. Tonight she has a private dinner. There's a 21-gun salute. It goes on and on and on. And it's not over, John. Her official birthday celebrations are in June. They usually postpone them here in Britain because the weather is better in June. Wouldn't you love to do that? Your birthday is in the winter and just postpone it for the summer party.

So this is going to go on and on and you're going to hear a lot more. But polls do show that this is what Britons want. They want to celebrate their Queen's birthday in this high style -- John.

ROBERTS: It's good to be queen, you can do just about anything you want.

Paula Newton, thank you very much. We'll see you again soon -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Well, John, oil prices, believe it or not, they're up again. I know you believe it. Yes, it kind of feels like Groundhog Day, doesn't it?

Carrie Lee is here with the latest on that.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know, we've talked about this pretty much every day this week.

NGUYEN: Every single day this week.

LEE: But we have to again, because this keeps happening. Oil prices touching near $73 a barrel before settling out just below $72. Saw a little bit of profit taking among oil traders, no surprise there.

But the stock market keeps on chugging away. The Dow up 64 points yesterday. In fact, the industrials are now at a six-year high. You can see Nasdaq took a little bit of a hit there, S&P 500 gaining as well.

Could be another good day for stocks this Friday, especially technology issues, and that's mainly because of Google. Google shares up about $30, or 8 percent or so, early this morning. Pretty positive profit report, so reversing some concerns they had about growth in the previous quarter. Looks like they've gotten past that, at least for now.

And competitors are getting worried here. According to "The Wall Street Journal," eBay is talking to Yahoo! and Microsoft about upping their alliance in order to compete with Google. You know Google has become such a powerhouse when it comes to ad spending and things like that.

NGUYEN: It has, really, yes.

LEE: So not exactly sure what they have in mind. But one idea, eBay may be picking up the advertising and then giving some of its consumer data to either Microsoft or Yahoo!. Not personal...

NGUYEN: Back to the sharing of data again, huh?

LEE: Yes, no personal information, but maybe just buying habits, things like that.

NGUYEN: Good it's not personal information,...

LEE: Yes.

NGUYEN: ... because that can often get lost, as we've seen in the news, unfortunately.

LEE: Yes, we've seen a lot of those stories.

NGUYEN: Carrie Lee, thank you. LEE: OK.

NGUYEN: Have a great weekend.

LEE: You, too.

NGUYEN: Well you think you've got a great job? Looking for something better? "Money" magazine and salary.com researched hundreds of jobs and came up with a list of the 50 best.

Now the top ones, here they are, starting with number five, a physician assistant. Human resources manager is in at number four. Then you've got the financial adviser, number three. College professor, number two. And drum roll, please, the number one, a software engineer. Sounds pretty good. I mean not too bad. You get to be very innovative with that job. Lots of challenges.

We'll talk a little bit later in the hours to come about what it takes to be the best job, what's the criteria. You want to stick with us for that.

Also, we're going to talk about the crisis in Nepal. We're going to go live to Katmandu where angry protesters are demanding their king leave the throne.

And China isn't exactly known as a haven for free speech, so how are folks there reacting to their president's White House heckler? We'll go live to Hong Kong.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Here are some of the most popular stories you'll find on CNN.com.

Scott Crossfield, famed "right stuff" test pilot and first man to fly at Mach 2, died at the controls of a small plane. The wreckage of Crossfield's Cessna was found yesterday 50 miles north of Atlanta.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales used very graphic language as he's called for a crackdown on Internet porn. In a speech at the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Gonzales described specific acts of child molestation that he's seen in pictures.

And a young man linked to terror suspect Syed Ahmed has been arrested in Bangladesh and flown back to America. Ehsanul Sadequee is a friend of Ahmed. The charges against him are sealed.

ROBERTS: In the capital of the Nepal, pro-democracy demonstrators taking to the streets of Katmandu again today. Protesters want to bring down the monarchy. The tiny kingdom has huge strategic significance in Asia, sitting right there between India and China.

Correspondent Satinder Bindra is live in Katmandu and joins us. Satinder, what's going on there this morning?

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, the crowds continue to swell. Right now we estimate there's about 50,000 to 70,000 people out in the streets. This, once again, in defiance of a curfew.

There was a curfew here in Katmandu yesterday as well. But by official count, 115,000 people, John, showed up out on the streets. Police had to fire at them and about four people were killed. Now this brings to 15 the total number of pro-democracy protesters who have been killed in almost two weeks of agitation.

What do these people want? They want Nepal's King Gyanendra, who took over political power in this country some 14 months ago, to hand over power to Nepal's seven main political parties -- John.

ROBERTS: Reminiscent somewhat of Tiananmen Square.

Satinder Bindra in Katmandu for us this morning.

Satinder, thanks. We'll check back with you later.

The morning's top stories are straight ahead, including Chinese reaction to that heckler at the White House on Thursday. What an embarrassment. We'll go live to Hong Kong for that.

Plus, we all know that it's dangerous to drive and talk on the cell phone at the same time. But wait until you hear how much more likely you are to get into an accident if you do.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERNON: I was on the move eight hours a day, eight hours a day, 24/7. Our primary job is dealing with accidents, keeping the traffic flowing as quick as possible. Cell phone, eating, not paying attention to the highway, all it takes is one improper lane change for the motorist to cause an accident on the interstate. If the public just paid attention to what they are doing, the way they drive, you know I believe driving would be safe for everybody.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): That's a great goal, but it seems like a long way off. About 40,000 people die on America's highways every year. That's 109 people every day. But what if our cars could warn us of the dangers even before an accident occurred?

(voice-over): Meet Jim Misener, a transportation safety expert at U.C. Berkeley. His goal, simple, to eliminate accidents.

JIM MISENER, TRANSPORTATION SAFETY EXPERT, U.C. BERKELEY: We focus on something called intelligent transportation systems. Essentially putting technology into the roadside, into cars to make the road safer.

O'BRIEN: It's like your car's GPS navigation system beefed up and made interactive with intelligence sensors mounted on the car and on the street alerting you to unsafe intersections, blocked lanes or hazardous road conditions.

MISENER: You can have intersections talking to a car, cars talking to intersections. The cars, therefore, can communicate better to the drivers what's happening.

O'BRIEN: Misener says the system could roll out as soon as 2010 with an end goal of George Jetson proportion.

MISENER: In the end, we could have very safe cars that drive automatically. If you have a fully automated system, you have to have a lot of acceptance by drivers and by society for it to happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Coming up to half past the hour now here in Washington as the sun begins to slowly rise, time for a look at our top stories.

Oil prices hit another record today before falling slightly, that as parts of the East Coast see some gas shortages. The industry is phasing out a water-polluting additive, MTBE. That is what has led to the shortages as they shift over to ethanol.

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