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American Morning

Florida Fires; Miracle Down Under; Police Ambush; President's Ratings; Iran's Nuclear Threat; Solving PC Problems

Aired May 09, 2006 - 08:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CO-ANCHOR: A state of emergency right now in Florida. Wild fires closing down a major interstate. The National Guard is called in.
Three police officers shot in an ambush outside of their own station. A search for answers why.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CO-ANCHOR: Dieters everywhere, take note. The FDA is going to court to get the supplement Ephedra banned again.

And if your computer is on the fritz, if you're frustrated with tech support, you are not alone. Believe it or not, there's a better way. We'll explain.

M. O'BRIEN: And making sure your summer vacation isn't a nightmare. Our summer travel series looks at how you can stay safe away from home. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien.

S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

A state of emergency to tell you about. It's happening right now in east central Florida. Fifty wild fires there have destroyed thousands of acres. The National Guard is rushing in to help.

Governor Jeb Bush says most of the fires were probably caused by people. The thick smoke is also causing a traffic nightmare this morning. A 12-mile stretch of the heavily traveled Interstate I-95 is closed from Edgewater, Florida, north to Port Orange. A Florida Highway Patrol says the road could reopen in the next hour.

Let's get right to Chad Myers. He's in the weather center checking on the conditions.

How's it looking for the folks there, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, I got really good news and I have some fairly bad news. It really depends on where you are and how much rain you get.

The entire area here in this big red box, 820 lightning strikes. Now that means there's some significant rain coming down. But if lightning sparks in a place that didn't get a lot of rain, let's say up here near Ormond Beach or maybe a little bit farther close to New Port Richey or all the way back up here into New Smyrna Beach, now you may have a problem with some of those lightning sparks making some in the way of more fires.

But the good news is -- at least we'll get to a couple of good spots here. Around Hillsborough County, right here, not that far from Tampa. Here's some video from Hillsborough County, what was going on yesterday. Now, this is not all that far east of Tampa. If you get just to the east and southeast of Tampa Bay, Hillsborough County is right there. That's the area that picked up some wind gusts yesterday to 15 to 20 miles per hour. That's just enough wind -- you see kind of the smoke going in a direction. When the smoke goes straight up, there's not much wind. But when the wind comes in and fans the flames, there's enough oxygen to keep those flames going. Now, the ground fire there in Hillsborough County, getting up to the tree tops in a couple of spots.

We'll get back to the map and we'll zoom in on what's going on in Hillsborough County right now. That's Hillsborough County. And that's a lot of rain. That's some great news there. Firefighters can use an inch and a half of rain that's going to come out of this storm so quickly. They can't put an inch and a half of rain on an entire forest in a couple of days. Mother Nature can do it in 15 minutes.

There's rain in Orlando. Very heavy rain across the Beeline, and it does exist almost all the way up to about St. Augustine. Great news for firefighters in Florida -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Chad.

Happening in America this morning, evacuations in southern California after a landslide. Appears an irrigation pipe broke, loosening the ground near three homes in Laguna Beach. The city says it's safe for the families to go back home, though. The site is just five miles from those massive landslides we told you about last June.

Out with the old. The Boardwalk Hotel Casino in Las Vegas, down in a bunch of ashes now. Cloud of smoke. The implosion, making way for the MGM $7 billion city center project.

A new report says Duke University too slow to respond to rape allegations against some LaCrosse players. The internal report lays some of the blame on Durham police, who doubted the accuser's story.

A vote of confidence for Congressman Patrick Kennedy. The Rhode Island Democratic Party, endorsing him for reelection, even though he's in rehab for addiction to prescription medication. Kennedy crashed into a Capitol Hill police barricade last week, after he says he mixed a prescription with a sleeping pill.

The Food and Drug Administration wants to bring back the ban on Ephedra. That's after a Colorado court said it's OK to sell supplements with low doses of the weight loss aid. Ephedra has been linked to several deaths -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, they are calling it the miracle down under. The two trapped miners are alive and they're well and they're back above ground this morning after a quite dramatic end to that dangerous rescue operation. Everybody in the whole world practically was watching.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I wasn't here, I wouldn't believe it.

S. O'BRIEN (voice-over): The two Australian miners, buried underground for two weeks, walked out of Tasmania's Beaconsfield's Gold Mine unassisted. 35-year-old Todd Russell and 37-year-old Brent Webb had been trapped in a small, steel cage the size of a dog kennel, more than a half mile beneath the surface. After emerging, they acknowledged the cheering crowds who had been praying for their survival.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After two weeks, it's just fabulous to see them out. And it's just fabulous to have those families all come out together. It was just so exciting. I can't believe how exciting it was.

S. O'BRIEN: Their incredible rescue ended a drama that practically everyone in the world was watching. It began on April 25th when a minor earthquake triggered a rockslide inside the mine, and trapped the two men. A huge stone slab landed on their 16-square foot cage and formed a kind of roof that kept them from being crushed. A third miner, who was working outside the cage was killed.

It was several days before anyone realized that Russell and Webb were alive. Rescuers carefully drilled through the rock and set up a 52-foot long narrow pipe to get oxygen, food, water and supplies, including iPods, to the miners.

But a deeper tunnel had to be drilled to get them out. Fellow miners worked around the clock in an intricate and often frustrating operation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They had to be totally honest with them and keep them informed every step of the way. So that -- they're miners, they're experienced guys. If you lie to them, they'll know. So, and they had to have absolute faith that everything that was being said was right.

S. O'BRIEN: Rescuers hit rock five times harder than concrete while cutting the final sections of the escape tunnel. They used hand tools to avoid triggering another cave-in.

When Todd Russell and Brent Webb finally reached the surface, crowds of mine workers and bystanders applauded and thanked the remarkable efforts of those who brought them to safety.

BILL SHORTEN, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS UNION: This is a day for the rescuers, the rescuers have been fantastic. We have the best mines rescue people in the world, in my opinion. We have the best in the world and they have demonstrated that.

S. O'BRIEN: The trapped miners, finally out and happy to be reunited with their loved ones. SHORTEN: These men are lucky to have families like these and these families are lucky to have men like the ones who have been rescued. It's -- actually feels sort of -- I'm just glad it's over. I'm so glad it's over.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN (on camera): Both Todd Russell and Brent Webb are said to be doing remarkably well. Webb, in fact, already signed himself out of the hospital; and the third miner, Larry Knight, who died underground, was laid to rest today in Australia -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: A wild shootout outside a Fairfax County, Virginia police station. Police say a teenage gunman ambushed officers during a shift change yesterday. A veteran officer is now dead. Two others are injured. The gunman, killed at the scene.

Carol Costello, live in the newsroom with more.

Carol, good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

Good morning to all of you. Fairfax County police say this was the work of one gunman, 18-year-old Michael Kennedy. They say the teenager planned this. He crouched between two cars and simply waited for police to come out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (voice-over): A police station in Fairfax, Virginia, the unlikely scene of a deadly shootout between cops and a lone gunman.

Police say the suspect pulled into the station's parking lot at about 3:30 Monday afternoon and immediately opened fire on police. Three officers hit, one a female detective, a nine-year veteran of the force was killed in the crossfire.

CHIEF DAVID ROHRER, FAIRFAX COUNTY VIRGINIA POLICE: This is the first officer that we have lost to an assailant.

COSTELLO: One of the two wounded officers is in critical condition following surgery. The other officer suffered only minor wounds. The gunman, who police have not identified, died at the scene. He was said to be heavily armed, carrying a rifle and two handguns. Officials say the suspect tried unsuccessfully to steal a pickup truck from one civilian before confronting another.

MARY ANN JENNINGS, FAIRFAX COUNTY POLICE SPOKESWOMAN: He was able to hijack at gunpoint a van. That van was driven onto the parking lot at the Sully Station, and it's my understanding that he was outside the van at least part of the time when he was shooting.

COSTELLO: In a tragic irony, the shooting occurred on the same day the department was honoring officers who died in the line of duty. Now, as Fairfax police begin their investigation, they're mourning the loss of one of their own.

ROHRER: The Fairfax County Police Department, I'm very proud of, that we have a family, obviously of ourselves, my 1,320 officers, plus our civilian employees and all of our volunteers are grieving now, as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (on camera): And they're just trying to figure out why. Apparently they arrested this kid on a carjacking charge. He'd been released on $33,000 bond. Maybe that was what triggered him. Who knows at this point?

As for Chantilly, it's a very peaceful community in Fairfax County. In fact, nothing ever happens. It took police hours to calm the neighbors down, trying to convince them that this was a single incident, and not the work of terrorists.

M. O'BRIEN: Carol Costello, in the newsroom, thank you very much.

The latest approval ratings are in for President Bush. He remains mired in the mid 30s. We'll go live to the White House for a look at what's dragging him down.

S. O'BRIEN: Also ahead this morning, our special series on surviving summer travel. Today, we are looking at tips to make sure that the summer trip is a safe trip.

Plus, Illusionist David Blaine finally pulled out of his man bowl after a week under water. The question is, did he break the record he was gunning for? Doesn't look so good there. That's for sure. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: New poll numbers in this morning. They aren't good news in the west wing of the White House. The president's approval rating now at 34 percent. The poll conducted for CNN by Opinion Research. Another poll from "USA Today" and Gallup, shows the president's approval rating at 31 percent; 65 percent say they disapprove of the way he's handling the job. Those are both new lows.

CNN's Kathleen Koch, live at the White House.

Kathleen, what do you think is driving these numbers?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, obviously, a number of factors, and the White House certainly is concerned about these poll numbers because no president likes to see them in the tank the way they are right now.

But the leading factor that CNN found when it surveyed Americans this month is Iraq. Some 56 percent said it was the ongoing war in Iraq that really drove their disapproval of the job that President Bush is doing; 13 percent blamed gas prices; while 26 percent said it was other reasons.

And, it's interesting to point out that when it comes to the war in Iraq, people didn't say that they were disapproving of it because it has gone on so long. They pointed to the fact that they disapproved from the outset. Some 58 percent said that they disapproved of the decision -- the 2003 decision to go to war at all. Just 39 percent, Miles, said they approved.

M. O'BRIEN: Kathleen, even though Iraq is the main reason for President Bush's low numbers, there are strong opinions, of course, about high gas prices, as well. That's an issue everybody is dealing with every day.

KOCH: It is, Miles. And the poll found that most of those surveyed did find that the high gas prices were causing them and their families hardship. And, most Americans think that something can and should be done about them.

Seventy percent of Americans surveyed said that they believe that President Bush can take steps now to lower gas prices; 24 percent said, no, they didn't think he could do very much. And the president has encouraged conservation, the development of alternative fuel sources and doing what he can to boost oil and gas supplies, but he's realized as presidents before him have, that there's really not a lot he personally can do to bring those gas prices down.

M. O'BRIEN: Kathleen Koch, at the White House, thank you very much -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: The White House supplying pressure at the United Nations today. The head of the U.N. meets with Security Council members to discuss what to do about Iran's nuclear program. Senior United Nations Correspondent Richard Roth joins us this morning.

Hey Richard, good morning.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Well, dinner and a meeting last night at a New York hotel, not far from the U.N., failed to resolve major differences among the big powers on the Security Council on what to do about Iran.

Yes, the countries -- there you see U.S. Secretary of State Rice -- they all agree that Iran should not have the nuclear bomb. However, they don't know how to go about delivering that message. How tough to be on Tehran. Russia and China fear too tough makes a bad situation even worse.

And they also don't like what happened in the run-up to Iraq, here at the U.N., when they feel the U.S. violated international law. The U.S., of course, disagrees and says the stick has to be brought at some point, some pressure on Tehran. The new British foreign secretary spoke after hours of talks last evening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MARGARET BECKETT, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: No one wants to apply sanctions if it is not necessary, but what everybody wants is to get Iran to recognize that the international community is serious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Iran actually dropped from the main score card today at the U.N., where the main ministers will be talking about the Middle East and Darfur, Sudan -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Let me ask you about a question about the fallout from this letter that was sent from Iran's president to President Bush. What's being said about that?

ROTH: Well, the State Department, the White House dismissing this letter, this historic overture from an Iranian leader to a U.S. president. The State Department, calling it a broad historical, philosophical exposition. So it doesn't seem to have much traction, but other countries here may seize upon it to say Iran wants to talk. Let's not get too tough on this Iranian leader who's in Indonesia today, by the way.

S. O'BRIEN: Richard Roth, for us this morning. Thanks, Richard -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, safety tips for your summer vacation, including what you can do now to prepare.

Hey there, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Hi. How are you?

M. O'BRIEN: What you -- you, Soledad...

S. O'BRIEN: Me?

M. O'BRIEN: ...can do to prepare...

S. O'BRIEN: I'm hoping I'm having a vacation soon.

M. O'BRIEN: Apparently, you are.

S. O'BRIEN: Hey.

M. O'BRIEN: Preparing for a medical emergency. That's in the series, "Surviving Summer Travel."

And next, a problem we can all identify with. Your computer crashes. Nobody knows how to fix it. Even your teenage son. What do you do? Consumer reports gives us tips on the best and worst places to turn to. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: When your computer crashes, what do you do? Who are you going to call? Now, if you're lucky enough to have a teen in the house, you might be all set. Built-in IT support. But what happens if you're forced into that twilight zone experience, mashing touch tones, trying to get a real live human being who can help you out?

Well "Consumer Reports" is out with a new issue. They've looked into this. And they have some advice for you on who and who not to call.

Joining us now is "Consumer Reports" Electronics Editor Paul Reynolds.

Paul, good to have you with us.

PAUL REYNOLDS, "CONSUMER REPORTS" ELECTRONICS EDITOR: Nice to be here.

M. O'BRIEN: You polled quite a few people, about 20,000 people.

REYNOLDS: 20,000 of our subscribers. We ask them every year about tech support and other issues. And this year they came back with their verdict on who is the best and the worst.

M. O'BRIEN: And the general response is, free tech support is -- dismal.

REYNOLDS: Dismal.

M. O'BRIEN: What's the deal on that?

REYNOLDS: It's the worst of all the services we regularly poll people about. It's actually at the bottom. It's right down there with cable television and cell phones -- even worse than those. Overall, only 55 percent of people got their problem fixed and it runs the gamut to some like Compaq that go as low as 38 percent solved.

M. O'BRIEN: You get what you pay for, right?

PC repair, there were some companies that stood out above the rest?

REYNOLDS: In terms of repair, yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes.

REYNOLDS: Apple has traditionally been very high in our reliability ratings and there are some other brands that do quite well, too, depending on whether you're in desktops or laptops.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. What about the whole notion of going to family and friends? Do most people do that? I mean, I happen to be the IT guy in my family, but there seems like every family has somebody assigned to this task.

REYNOLDS: One of the things we found, that if people didn't get satisfaction from their computer tech support, when they turned to a family member, more often than not, in 60 percent of cases, they got it fixed. And in some cases, we actually think people who have a company with low rated tech support, might want to go to the teenager or that husband or wife who's tech savvy first before they even bother picking up the phone and maybe waiting on hold for a long time.

M. O'BRIEN: Or what I do is I start working on the problem and I dial the number simultaneously. And usually I have the problem fixed by the time anybody -- any sort of human being comes on, depending on how it goes.

All right, so if something happened to your PC -- let's get people some basics. Your PC crashes. First thing you ought to do -- and a lot of people don't think about this, because you don't do this when your refrigerator breaks, you turn it off and on, right?

REYNOLDS: Right. There are four -- at least four basic things that you can do, as you say, either while you're waiting for tech support to kick in, or before you even try to pick it up. One is turn the computer and the other peripherals on and off. Check the cables, check the control settings if you're having trouble with sound or video. Very often it's a question of one of those settings being off. And there are a number of other things that you can do that are quite simple that it may take you less time than waiting on hold.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, you have to get under the hood here a little bit. Review the device settings and one thing you should remember -- what's the last thing you did to the computer? What's the last think you added on? Right? Because frequently, that's what your trouble is, right?

REYNOLDS: Correct. And one of the other things that you can do is go back and actually uninstall that last software, unplug that last piece of software or use something called system restore, which actually allows you to rewind in time back to before perhaps you installed something new that may have caused the problem.

M. O'BRIEN: Now, there are some websites where you can go for help. Of course, the conundrum is, if your computer is on the fritz, you may not be able to get to the website.

REYNOLDS: Correct.

M. O'BRIEN: But if you have a laptop or some other means of getting to the web.

Let's go through some of the places that you, "Consumer Reports," has found to be good places to go. We've got plumchoice.com, askdrtech.com, pcpitstop.com, geeksontime.com, and the geeksquad.com.

REYNOLDS: Right.

M. O'BRIEN: All these pretty equal, you think?

REYNOLDS: Well, we didn't actually rate those. What those are, are examples of what's called third-party independent support. So, what we did find in our survey, is that people -- if people didn't get satisfaction from their manufacturer's support, and they went to one of these places, they very often -- 90 percent of cases, they got a solution from one of those. And they run the gamut from websites that take control of your computer by remote control, to services that will come to your house, like the Geek Squad from Best Buy, or even the local computer guy who may put up a sign, you know, on a telephone pole in the neighborhood.

M. O'BRIEN: So, these things will cost you a few bucks, but probably worth the money?

REYNOLDS: We found that they're worth the money more than the manufacturer's premium services. When you buy a computer, manufacturers will try to sell you on a premium level of tech support. For the most part, we found that's not worth the extra money. With the exception of Apple and IBM Lenovo for laptops, where both of those manufacturers had very good tech support and the premium services might be worth it for those companies.

M. O'BRIEN: OK, so generally don't pay for that added level of service that you would get...

REYNOLDS: Not from the manufacturer.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Interesting. Paul Reynolds, good advice. Thank you very much.

I can almost hear people banging their machines right now, trying to get them to work. And by the way, if you want more great trip tips on fixing your PC -- that's just obviously, just a few of the points we just hit here -- and ways of preventing future problems, pick up the June issue of "Consumer Reports." It's on newsstands. Or you can go to consumerreports.org -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: So he said (banging), this kind of thing was not good?

M. O'BRIEN: No, no, don't do that. Don't do that. I mean, if it makes you feel better, but it's not going to help your computer.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Miles.

If you bought your kids an Xbox 360 for Christmas, oh Miles, listen up.

M. O'BRIEN: Uh oh.

S. O'BRIEN: Sony's unveiled its new Playstation 3.

M. O'BRIEN Oh, no.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, you are going to kick yourself, man, when you see what this one can do. That's just ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: No.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, yes.

M. O'BRIEN: No. S. O'BRIEN: And then in case you missed it, Illusionist David Blaine, he's out of the man bowl. How did he do? We'll tell you what happened, coming up.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LINDA STOUFFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Meet Bob Rich, a cheerful courtesy clerk for Safeway Grocery store in Vallejo, California.

BOB RICH: How are you today, sir? You're delightful, I can tell.

STOUFFER: He helps customers, cleans and bags groceries. Quite a change from his 16-year career as a speech and language pathologist.

About a year and a half ago, the long hours and pressures of that job were starting to get to him.

RICH: One day I was talking to Bret, who I know pretty well from the produce department, telling him, you know, I just don't want to do what I'm doing anymore. And he said, well why don't you come to work here?

And I thought to myself, you know, like this is dynamite, you know. It's a perfect job. I will leave the job at the door when I go home. I don't have to do anything except show up, smile, and be pleasant.

My nieces and my nephews, they all laughed and they call me Uncle Bobby Bagger. I come from a positive family and so they realize that, well, if Uncle Bobby wants to do that, let him go.

STOUFFER: Rich took a hefty pay cut and is able to supplement his income, thanks to wise investment and a comfortable savings account. And this 32-hour work week, it provides spare time to work on getting his first children's book published.

RICH: It's a wonderful thing to be able to play with people all day long and not have any kind of responsibilities, other than just being another human being and helping them out, like finding the pork and beans. What it has given me is exactly what I wanted it to give me, peace of mind.

Linda Stouffer, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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