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American Morning
Missing Hiker Found Dead; Suspect Arrested in Ipswich Serial Murders; Tough Talk from North Korea at Talks; Holiday Rush on for FedEx, UPS
Aired December 18, 2006 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Headline from "The Oregonian". Take a look: "Grim News on the Mountain." And indeed, it is. They're referring to the discovery of one climber's body that was found on Mt. Hood. Not brought down yet. They're going to do that at daybreak. Two more they're still searching for.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: From "The Chicago Tribune" today, "How About That $50 Million Bonus?" Big end of the year pay days for investment bankers and traders. The Goldman Sachs group announcing a $16.4 billion bonus pool. That's an average of $622,000 for each employee. But as always, the rank and file will pocket far less than those at the top.
O'BRIEN: Yes, they're not going to get that.
And from "The New York Post", have you seen this? This is a headline on the inside: "Basket-Brawl May Sock Isiah", meaning of course -- there you go. "Basket-Brawl". Looked like a hockey game, that game on Saturday night.
He and several Knicks, Isiah Thomas, the coach, they prepare for some big punishments. Some people are saying he could miss two games, the coach himself, after that big fight on the floor of Madison Square Garden. Happened on Saturday night.
The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING begins right now.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Chris Lawrence live on Mt. Hood, Oregon, where rescue teams are about to get back up on that mountain, frantically searching for two missing climbers.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, studying the study. A closer look at new research out about breast cancer and hormone replacement therapy.
ROBERTS: And driven to action. You can do everything else on the Internet. Now it turns out that you can rat on bad drivers, too. Those stories and more ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody, Monday December 18. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD: And I'm John Roberts, in today for Miles O'Brien. Thanks for joining us. Last week before Christmas.
O'BRIEN: And thanks for joining us. We appreciate it.
ROBERTS: Always like being here.
We begin today in Oregon with what's new this morning in the search for those missing climbers on Mt. Hood. At first light, rescue crews will bring down a body believed to be one of the freezing men. He was found yesterday in a snow cave.
Searchers will use tantalizing clues found in another cave to begin another search for the two remaining men, clues like climbing equipment and footprints.
And the sky is clear and the winds calm for searchers today. The search resumes at dawn.
Let's get right to AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence. He's in Hood River, Oregon, with the latest for us.
Good morning, Chris.
LAWRENCE: Good morning, John.
You know, some of the rescue teams are calling this one of the most frustrating searches they have ever been a part of, because they knew that Kelly James was hunkered down on the -- near the summit on the north side of the mountain.
Kelly James called his family from his cell phone, and they were able to trace the ping from that cell phone. So for a week now they have known his general location. And they knew from his phone call that the other two climbers had left him to go down the mountain, trying to get help. But because of the bad weather, the winds and the extreme cold, they were not able to get up to that area until just this weekend.
But when they did get up there, they did find a snow cave that contained ice picks, that contained a sleeping bag and a Y-shaped signal that climbers usually use to signal, "Yes, I'm here, and I need help." And that is giving them some hope of at least finding the other two -- finding two other climbers alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. MIKE BRAIBISH, OREGON NATIONAL GUARD: Well, the mountain is still giving us clues. Whether we see a series of footprints over a stretch of a number of feet or a number of meters there in the snow, the equipment that we're finding, you know. We continue to put all these pieces of information together with what we've collected over the past several days, and that helps us to narrow and focus our search. And that gives us cause for optimism still.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE: And they're at least expecting another clear day with low winds, which has been a very rare thing to get on the mountain here this week. So they expect to be able to narrow that search a lot today -- John.
ROBERTS: Chris, we said that they're going to be bringing the body down a little bit later on this morning. Any idea when they are going to make public the identification of that body?
LAWRENCE: From what we have heard, they are fairly sure of the identity of the missing climber, but they needed to confirm with the family. That identification could not take place so high up on the mountain, that the family needed to be brought in to make the confirmation. And as soon as they do that, they were going to make it public.
ROBERTS: Terrible day for that family. Chris Lawrence in Hood River, Oregon, thanks very much. Appreciate it -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: If there is any good news on that mountain, it's the weather. It's clear now. But of course, the snow and the wind and the cold is what held the searchers up for more than a week. Severe weather expert Chad Myers is at the CNN center this morning.
Chad, how big of a window do they have now? We know it's good weather today. How much time do they have to try to find the two guys who are still on that mountain?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Until sunset tomorrow. So two really good days of high light, lots of sunshine, good sunshine intensity and very little wind. So they're going to be able to fly these drones around again, too, and look for heat signatures.
The high temperature on top of the mountain today will be nearly 20 degrees. We're down a little bit farther down to the surface here, about 6,600 feet. Right now it is 20, maybe -- maybe 25 or 30, but the morning low temperatures fall quite rapidly on the mountain, and they're down to about zero this morning.
So they really like that summer sunshine. Obviously, warms them up a lot more than winter sunshine does, because the winter sunshine has a much lower sun angle. Not as much heat coming in. But still, they'll take 20.
Thirty-one in Seattle and 18 in Spokane this morning. This is the cold side of the country. Here's the warm side. It is right now 55 in New York. 46 in D.C. And we're developing a big low pressure center here in the central part of the country that will make a big snow event for the Central Plains but not for the East Coast. It still remains fairly warm for the rest of the week.
There's the snow today and tomorrow. A foot of snow or more everywhere that's purple. And that's a big area.
Back to you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Yes, a huge area. All right. I can see it from here, Chad, and I'm not that close to the prompter there. Thank you, Chad.
MYERS: Yes. O'BRIEN: You can also follow the search for these missing hikers online. We've got photos and information about what the searchers, rescuers have been finding so far. Just go to CNN.com and then click on the word "gallery". That will take you right there -- John.
ROBERTS: Now just some developing news overseas. An arrest this morning in the murders of five women in the English town of Ipswich.
CNN's Paula Hancocks is live in London now. She's got the latest for us on the case.
Paula, good morning.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, John.
Well, we know that there is a 37-man -- 37-year-old man who's currently in custody in Suffolk in eastern England. We've been told by some that he is known as Tom Stevens, a local man who works in a supermarket.
Now the police at this point are not confirming that this is the identity of the man, but we know that it is his house in Ipswich that is being currently painstakingly searched. Forensics teams are involved in that particular area very close to where some of the bodies of the five prostitutes were found.
Now, this is the first and could be a major breakthrough for police since this all started. Back on December the 2nd was when the body of the first prostitute was found. Now, five women found within about 20 miles of each other over 11 days. This is one of the worst serial killings in recent history in this country.
And there have been hundreds of police officers working on this particular case. They've been making public appeals for any information. Tens of thousands of calls have been coming in. So police hope this is a major breakthrough -- John.
ROBERTS: People in Ipswich, perhaps, resting a little easier today. Paula Hancocks, thanks very much.
Happening this morning, Robert Gates has already been sworn in as the nation's 22nd secretary of defense. That happening just after 7 a.m. Eastern, sworn in by Josh Bolten, President Bush's chief of staff.
In Kansas City, a fourth child has died after a shooting rampage on Sunday. Police say the 11-year-old boy was one of four children fatally shot by their father. They say he also killed their mother and his cousin before killing himself. Relatives say the man had been depressed.
Today, health officials should find out what made at least 300 people sick after eating at an Indianapolis Oliver Garden last week. The restaurant was closed after some diners complained of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and fever. Three people were hospitalized. Another walk in space for the Discovery shuttle crew today, their fourth of this trip. They're going to be waking up in about an hour's time. This walk was added over the weekend to fix a solar panel on the International Space Station. It will mean that Discovery will spend an additional day in space, now returning on Friday. Means that they're eligible for overtime now.
And later on this morning President Bush is expected to sign a bill that would allow sharing of nuclear technology with India. It would allow shipments of fuel and technology, so long as India allows safeguards and inspections at 14 civilian nuclear plants. Eight military plants, though, would be off limits.
O'BRIEN: In Beijing this morning, six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program are under way for the first time in more than a year. Already, though, North Korea is pretty defiant.
CNN's John Vause is live for us in Beijing this morning.
Good morning, John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
A great deal of frustration coming out from the United States side, especially after the first day of talks here in Beijing after the address given by the North Korean delegation.
After they conducted that successful test back in October, the North Koreans are here essentially with an attitude now that they are a nuclear power; they are on an equal footing with the United States.
And on that basis, on this first day, they gave out a list of sweeping demands, which included an end to America's so-called hostile policy to North Korea, a lifting of all U.S. and U.N. sanctions, as well as a demand for light-water nuclear reactors to replace aging nuclear facilities.
And then and only then will they sit down and start talking about nuclear disarmament.
The response coming from the chief U.S. negotiator, Christopher Hill, a warning that American patience is running out. And right now the North Koreans, he says, are facing a choice. They can either sit down and begin negotiations in good faith or they can face further sanctions and further isolation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER HILL, CHIEF U.S. NEGOTIATOR: We should be a little less patient and pick up the pace and work a little faster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Now, despite weeks of preparations before this meeting between North Korean and U.S. delegates, it seems both countries are just as far apart as ever -- Soledad. O'BRIEN: John Vause for us this morning in Beijing. Thanks, John.
Happening in America this morning, the Democratic senator, Tim Johnson, is doing very well. That's according to the Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, who's been visiting Johnson in the hospital. A Johnson spokesman says the senator remains in critical condition after he had surgery last week for a brain hemorrhage.
In North Carolina, Democratic officials say the former senator, John Edwards, is planning a run for the presidency. They say he's going to make an announcement late this month, likely from New Orleans. Edwards was the Democrats' vice presidential nominee back in 2004, you'll remember.
In Ohio, a family of four was killed last night in a single engine plane crash. It happened about 60 miles north of Columbus. Officials say the father, and the mother and their two children were flying to Maine from their home in Austin, Texas when their plane went down.
In New York City, relatives of 9/11 victims leaving their mark on a steel beam, which will be used in the new Freedom Tower at Ground Zero. They wrote notes and tributes and signed the beam. The tower's designer says the beam will not only support the building but also support, they say, the spirit of America -- John.
ROBERTS: Coming up, Robert Gates is officially sworn in as the 22nd secretary of defense. We'll take a closer look at the biggest problems that he'll face in Iraq.
And who's better at driving and parking? Men or women? Apparently -- apparently, it's all in the fingers. Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back. Top stories calling for you this morning, British Prime Minister Tony Blair is in the West Bank, throwing his support to Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.
Plus, rescuers are preparing this morning to bring down the body of a missing climber from Mt. Hood. The search for his two companions will begin at dawn. We'll have much more on the search in just a moment.
Just about quarter past the hour. If you're heading out the door, a check of the traveler's forecast for you. Chad's got that.
Good morning, Chad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: Chad, thanks very much. Appreciate it.
The latest now on those missing climbers. Crews will return to Mt. Hood today to bring down the body of a climber found on Sunday. The search for two other climbers resumes at dawn.
Joining us now live from the ground there in Hood River, Oregon, is a member of the rescue team. He's Dr. Christopher Van Tilburg, who's with the Craig Rats Rescue Team (ph).
Dr. Van Tilburg, the fact that one of these climbers was found dead, how does that bode for the other two?
DR. CHRISTOPHER VAN TILBURG, MOUNT HOOD RESCUER: Well, we're still optimistic that -- and we're still searching for the other two. It's hard to say how -- I think had we known ahead of time they separated, so it's hard to say that, just because one person was found dead, we're not really stopping the search in any way.
ROBERTS: Right. But you're a doctor. Ten days out there in the elements like that, subzero temperatures, 100 mile-an-hour winds. I know that miracles can happen, but what really, legitimately, are the chances for survival?
VAN TILBURG: Well, every day that passes, of course, the chances of survival decrease. It's just -- there are so many variables that at this point we're still looking. But there's just a wide variety of variables with regards to these guys were skilled, and that's a plus. And they had some equipment, and that's a plus. But the time is definitely at this point not -- not on their side.
ROBERTS: Do you have any idea, Dr. Van Tilburg, why this one climber was alone in this snow cave?
VAN TILBURG: Well, we don't at this time. There's a lot of speculation. And it may have been that the climber was injured. It may have been that he was just too fatigued to go on. It may have been he was less skilled to descend the route that they were trying to descend. There's a number of reasons why that they might have separated.
ROBERTS: We were talking with one of the people from the National Guard who said that there were some sort of clues left behind, that the mountain was giving them clues because of the equipment that they found near the snow cave where this one deceased climber was found.
What kind of clues are people talking about as to the potential whereabouts of the remaining two?
VAN TILBURG: Well, we're trying to analyze that. We tried to analyze that last night. And that will be discussed again this morning. But the clues are the two snow caves, the location of the snow caves, the equipment that was found in both snow caves. So we're just trying to piece that all together and try to create two or three likely scenarios in hopes to narrow our search.
ROBERTS: You were up on the mountain yesterday. You got as high as the 9,000-foot level. Obviously, the weather a lot better than it has been in recent days. But what are the conditions themselves like on the mountain? VAN TILBURG: Well, the weather conditions were great yesterday. It was cold, and it was breezy, but the -- it was clear and the sun was out. The snow conditions were fairly dangerous. We -- there are some areas on the upper Elliot Glacier that were extremely dangerous. We saw signs of recent avalanche activity on the north-facing slopes. And so the snow conditions were very dangerous.
ROBERTS: Dr. Christopher Van Tilburg, thanks very much for joining us. Good luck. I know that the search is going to continue at first light this morning. Appreciate you taking time out of your busy day -- Soledad.
VAN TILBURG: OK. Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Some of the stories we're following for you this morning: a closer look at last week's breast cancer study that showed a big decrease in cancer rates. We're going to find out what the pluses and the minuses were in this study.
And hundreds of people sickened at an Oliver Garden in Indianapolis. We'll tell you if investigators are any closer to figuring out a cause.
Plus, if bad drivers really get you mad, there's a new way to rat out drivers who cut you off or have done whatever you think they did on the highway. We'll tell you all that and much more straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: There is one business that literally lives and dies in the two weeks leading up to the holidays, where a missed deadline could mean a spoiled holiday meal. Yuck! It is just about 23 minutes past the hour. Ali Velshi is in Memphis this morning, "Minding Your Business".
Good morning, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
This is FedEx's peak shipping day. They're telling me that about 10 million packages will go through their system. This is the biggest sorting facility here in Memphis, Tennessee. UPS has its peak day on Wednesday.
Now, you'll notice around here, computers, boxes, food, all sorts of things. There's a lot of the business that gets done in America through these shippers every single day.
But as you said, for one business, their entire year depends on how well these shippers do their job.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go!
VELSHI (voice-over): Jay Ross (ph) is preparing for Christmas dinner for a lot of people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll do 100,000, 150,000 just out of this location. We do about 90 percent of our annual business in the months of November and December. So this is basically our whole year in these two months.
VELSHI: Honey Baked Ham relies on UPS to get those hams to its customers, frozen and on time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a nine-pound half ham. Now we do ask that you receive it approximately 48 hours before they want to serve it.
VELSHI: Clark Nelson works for UPS. He spends the weeks leading up to Christmas on site at Honey Baked, making sure nothing goes wrong. Before UPS stationed him in Honey Baked, there were problems. For instance, UPS was sending small brown trucks for pickup. Honey Baked need trailers, big, cold ones.
CLARK NELSON, UPS: Honey Baked has got us attacking their ordering system. And that gives us a live view of what their orders that are being processed right now so we can have a better idea of what kind of volume we can expect at our UPS centers later that day.
VELSHI: Packaging was another problem. Frozen hams tend to thaw a bit in transport and shipping labels don't stick so well to sweaty hams. So UPS developed new foam packaging and custom adhesive labels.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you for calling Honey Baked. Happy holidays.
VELSHI: Happy holidays only if Honey Baked and UPS both do their jobs right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't miss Christmas dinner.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All our hams are fully cooked, spiral sliced.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There might be four million people that will be eating from those -- those dinners. So we're -- we've got to get it right the first time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: And today is actually Honey Baked Ham's peak day. They're going to ship most of their business today. They want to get it to people in a few days so they can thaw it out. As you know, Soledad, we've talked about having to thaw your Christmas dinner before you make it.
Down in Carrollton, Georgia, they're going to be pretty busy today.
O'BRIEN: Oh, those hams look so good. I hope they get them to everyone OK. VELSHI: If I see one coming along...
O'BRIEN: Grab it.
VELSHI: ... this -- I'll grab one for you. Motorcycle parts for John and...
O'BRIEN: And just the Honey Baked Ham for me. Thanks, Ali. You're the best. All right, Ali. We'll check in with you again. Appreciate it.
ROBERTS: Getting hungry just looking at this web site.
O'BRIEN: I know.
ROBERTS: By the way, a little trivia here. How much would you pay for a 14-pound Honey Baked Ham?
O'BRIEN: You know, I don't cook at all, so I don't even have a clue.
ROBERTS: $119.95 plus shipping.
O'BRIEN: Wow. How many pounds?
ROBERTS: Fourteen pounds.
O'BRIEN: That's not big enough for 100...
ROBERTS: ... crew here. Expensive, but good.
Some of the stories that we're following right now: at dawn, the Mt. Hood rescue workers continue the search for two remaining missing climbers.
And will President Bush's rumored plans about sending more troops to Iraq, help the problem there? A former secretary of state is casting doubt on the idea. Stay with us on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOEY REIMAN, THINKER & CEO, BRIGHTHOUSE: I have one word for the future of technology, invisibility. Everything will be invisible. Wireless will actually be wireless. You won't see any wires.
And for that matter, you won't see computers, PDAs, BlackBerries, you won't see any of this, because it's all invisible.
Nanotechnology is just making things smaller to the point where we can't see them anymore. It's going to be a fairly wild place.
DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF, MEDIA THEORIST: Instead of carrying credit cards or money, we will probably be implanted with chips that serve as our credit card and debit card. And that, you know, when we check out at the grocery store, we'll be swiping our own arm over the scanner, and that will be something we feel we can't live without.
RAY KURZWEIL, CEO, KURZWEIL TECHNOLOGIES: Typically people will be online all the time. The electronics, I guess, will be woven into our clothing. We'll have high bandwidth connection at all times. Images will be written directly on our retina, so we'll live in augmented real reality. When you look at someone, there will be pop- ups in your visual field of view that remind you of what their name is.
DR. JAMES CANTON, AUTHOR, "THE EXTREME FUTURE": The future for robots is coming. Robots will be in the home. Robots will be in the streets. They'll certainly be in the hospital. They'll probably be in the police department.
Maybe they'll solve some of the problems that us humans have not been able to solve about better planetary management, conflict, wars and maybe even be able to negotiate to help us deal with some of the problems after a millennium we have not been able to resolve.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Crews return to Mt. Hood to retrieve the body of a climber who was missing for ten days. And the search for his two companions though will pick up at daybreak.
ROBERTS: Faith and reason. Is there room for people in the Episcopal and Evangelical churches for gay members? We'll here why gay evangelicals think they can belong.
O'BRIEN: And caught on the net. How the internet is the new place to nail bad drivers. We've got those stories and much more straight ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome back, everybody. It's Monday, December 18th. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
ROBERTS: And I'm John Roberts in today for Miles O'Brien. Thanks for joining us.
Do you think anything happens to those drivers that you nail on the internet?
O'BRIEN: No, but potentially long-term it may. A little bit of revenge. I think it's a good story. I think it's interesting.
ROBERTS: There's a few people I'd put on that list.
O'BRIEN: I have a million people I'd put on that list.
ROBERTS: We begin this morning in Oregon with what's new in the search for those missing climbers on Mt. Hood. At first light, rescue crews will bring down a body believed to be one of three missing men. He was found yesterday in a snow cave. Searchers will use tantalizing clues found in another cave to begin another search for the two remaining men. Clues like climbing equipment and footprints. And the sky is clear and the winds are calm for searchers today. The search will resume at dawn.
Let's get right to AMERICAN MORNING'S Chris Lawrence in Hood River, Oregon. Still about an hour and a half, a couple of hours till dawn there. Chris, what's the latest for us?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, some of the search crews have been a little frustrated because for a week now they have known that Kelly James was hunkered down near the summit on the north side of the mountain. They know that he called his family to let them know that the other two climbers had left him to go get help. They were able to trace the ping from his cellphone to get his general location, but because of the bad weather, they were not able to climb up to that area until just this weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, CNN SUNDAY MORNING (voice over): An all out assault on Mt. Hood continues this morning. But the mission to find three missing climbers is now a search for two.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) from 17, we have found one climber in a snow cave, one climber in a snow cave.
LAWRENCE: That missing climber has not been identified.
CAPT. MIKE BRAIBISH, OREGON NATIONAL GUARD: Our hearts are going out to the families right now.
LAWRENCE: Still a miss industry is what happened at the other snow cave where rescuers discovered a rope and sleeping bag but no climbers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're trying to figure out how there could be two (INAUDIBLE) there without two people.
LAWRENCE: There were two sets of footprints and a Y-shaped signal to mark their location.
SGT. NICK PRZYBCEL, USAF/FOUND CLIMBERS EQUIPMENT: It's a Y of hope. It gives us something to go on. It's something to keep us going.
LAWRENCE: Nearly 60 rescue climbers trudged through swirling snow and freezing cold. The cost of the attempted rescue climbed as two blackhawks, a chanook (ph) and a C-130 circled the summit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of the debts cannot be repaid. But everything is appreciated that can't be repaid.
LAWRENCE: As the bad weather broke for the first time in a week, the mothers of the three men made a plea to mother nature.
MARIA KIM, MOTHER OF JERRY COOKE: I want the mountain to release our sons and mountain has no right to keep our sons.
LAWRENCE: Mt. Hood has claimed at least one climber, but search teams aren't losing hope of saving the other two.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: At one cave search teams found two sets of footprints, one leading down into sort of an aimless circle. The other set leading up to the summit. They're going to try to make sense of that as they get back up on the mountain in the next hour or so -- John.
ROBERTS: All right Chris, we'll look forward to your reporting further on in the day. Thanks very much -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Happening this morning, police investigating the deaths of seven people found in a duplex apartment in Kirksville, Missouri. That's just about 165 miles from St. Louis.
Paramedics found the bodies on Sunday after getting reports of a strange odor. Police are now waiting for autopsies to determine just how and when the seven people died.
In Kansas City, a fourth child has died after a shooting rampage apparently by his own father, it happened on Sunday too. Police say the 11-year-old boy was one of four children who was shot by their father. The other kids were 13, 14, and just eight years old. Police also say the father killed the children's mother and his cousin before he took his own life. Relatives say the man had been depressed.
In just about an hour, the shuttle Discovery astronauts are going to be waking up and on their list of to do things, another spacewalk, the fourth of this trip. This walk was added over the weekend. There are going to fix a solar panel on the international space station. That means that Discovery will spend an additional day in space and now return on Friday.
Health investigators should figure out today what made at least 300 people sick after they ate at an Indianapolis Olive Garden. Diners were complaining of nausea and vomiting and fever -- basically they were all sick to their stomachs. Three people had to go to the hospital -- John.
ROBERTS: Robert Gates already on the job this morning as America's secretary of defense, number 22. Gates was sworn in in a private ceremony at the White House early this morning, just after 7:00. The big public ceremony will be at the Pentagon this afternoon. And it's roll up his sleeves and get to work on Iraq. CNN's Barbara Starr joins us now from her post at the Pentagon. Good morning to you, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, John. Well, as you say, Mr. Gates sworn in in a private ceremony at the White House apparently so he could attend some meetings there. But later today, about 1:15 East Coast time, it will all move over here. There will be a very public swearing in ceremony. The president is expected to attend and the little signs going up around the building that there is a new secretary in charge.
There's no official portrait yet, but that brass nameplate is on the door of his office upstairs. There's a painter and a bucket of paint up there smoothing over the wall, the signs of transition are pretty much complete now. Mr. Gates in charge, and he has said that Iraq, Iraq, Iraq will, indeed, be his first priority -- John.
ROBERTS: All right. Barbara, thanks very much.
In medical news, a closer look at that breast cancer study that we told you about on Friday. Here's Soledad with that.
O'BRIEN: Yes, it's like 14,000 women. I mean, remarkable study if you think about it. 14,000 women, fewer women diagnosed. And some researchers say it's linked to fewer women taking hormone replacement therapy. Dr. Susan Love is a very well-known breast cancer specialist. She's also the author of "Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book." She joins us this morning. Nice to see you Dr. Love. Thanks for being with us.
DR. SUSAN LOVE, BREAST CANCER SPECIALIST: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Do you believe that, in fact, this drop, this significant drop is due specifically to the fact that women have stopped taking hormone replacement therapy?
LOVE: Absolutely. It's really the mirror image to the study in 2002 which showed an increase in breast cancer in women who were taking hormone replacement therapy. So, when all the women stopped, we now see the second half, which is the drop in breast cancer.
O'BRIEN: As you well know, there are people say yes, but at the same time, you have fewer women getting mammograms, women who are uninsured, women who are poor get fewer mammograms, so maybe that contributes to the drop, not only the hormone replacement therapy or not even just the hormone replacement therapy.
LOVE: Well, they looked at that. And actually, the number of women -- the decrease in mammograms was quite small. And in addition, the tumors that we didn't see, the ones that were prevented, were larger than the ones you might normally see with mammograms. So most of the scientists at the meeting agreed that this was from the hormone replacement therapy.
O'BRIEN: Most of the women effected were both women in a certain age group and also women who had a certain type of breast cancer. Can you explain that to me?
LOVE: Well, most of the women affected were the women 50 to 60, which, of course, is the age when you're most likely to have been taking hormones and to have stopped. And secondly, they were all hormone-sensitive tumors. They weren't the hormone non-sensitive tumors or the estrogen negative tumors which aren't related to estrogen.
O'BRIEN: What do you think happens next? I mean will we see another wave of drop -- there are still millions of women who take hormone replacement therapy. And there are many women as you well know, I'm sure there are patients of yours who say they absolutely, positively have to take hormone replacement therapy and almost can't live without it.
LOVE: Well, I think one of the misunderstandings is that the symptoms of menopause are transient. They are only three to five years. And for those women who are really suffering, taking hormones short-term is probably safe. It's the long-term use for the prevention of the diseases of aging that really are the problem. And I think we're going to see a continuing drop as the habit of taking hormones long term really goes away.
O'BRIEN: Is there a way to tell if hormones -- let's say you're taking hormone replacement therapy, if those hormones are affecting -- obviously you can't predict if you're going to get the breast cancer, but are affecting your breasts in a certain way that could be a predictor for breast cancer down the road?
LOVE: Well, it's certainly not proving, but there's a growing suggestion that having a dense mammogram, having really a lot of density on your mammogram is a sign of a higher risk of breast cancer. And many women who go on HRT find their mammograms get more dense. So I think if that's the case, you really should think twice about whether you want to be taking these drugs.
O'BRIEN: At this conference which you attended, they also talked about a virus potentially being linked to breast cancer. In a nutshell, what's that about?
LOVE: Well, that I thought was very exciting. When they looked at breast cancer tumors, about 30 percent of them had a human mammary tumor virus. Well, this is really a fair number. And it's possible -- it opens the question of whether breast cancer is caused by a virus the way cervical cancer is. Obviously this is going to need a lot more work. But the hope would be, if it is caused by a virus, someday we'll have a vaccine.
O'BRIEN: Wow, that would be great, wouldn't it? Dr. Susan Love, always nice to see you. Thanks for talking with us this morning.
LOVE: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: She of course is the author of "Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book" -- John.
ROBERTS: Coming up, sick and tired of bad drivers? We'll tell you about a website where you can get back at them and maybe help the police catch them in the process. And what exactly makes a bad driver? We'll tell you why your astrological sign or the length of your ring finger may hold the answers. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: All right. Take a look at this car. Can you tell whether a man or woman parked it? O'BRIEN: It's beautifully parked. It's probably a woman.
ROBERTS: It does look like it leaning a little to one side. Hey listen -- none of us can tell who parked it, but according to a new study, bad driving, particularly parking, may be linked to hormones.
According to a German study, men or people with high testosterone levels in utero, seem to be better as tasks that involve spatial abilities like parking and map-reading. While women or people with low testosterone levels in utero, seem to do better with verbal and emotional skills.
O'BRIEN: But that says women are bad parkers.
ROBERTS: Well, no. It just suggests that people who had higher testosterone levels in utero have better spatial abilities. Now ...
O'BRIEN: Which would be men.
ROBERTS: How do you tell how much testosterone you have in utero?
O'BRIEN: Well women have much ...
ROBERTS: It's the length of your ring finger. If your ring finger is substantially longer than your index finger, you had more testosterone in utero.
O'BRIEN: This says I'm a bad parker then. I'm an excellent parker, that's ridiculous.
ROBERTS: If I ever told that to my wife, she'd be showing me the length of another finger, which would be neither the index, nor the ring.
O'BRIEN: Maybe I would do the same thing, but wait until we're off camera.
If you are in fact sick and tired of bad drivers ruining your morning commute, there's a website now where you can go and rat them out. CNN's Gary Nurenberg has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my gosh, that's amazing. He's spun out of control. Hit some trash cans there.
GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Although high- speed chases often end up in the news with the bad guys crashing and getting caught, the dangerous drivers most of us encounter usually get away with it.
Long-time friends Mark Buckman and Luke Sevenski say they almost had five accidents because of bad drivers on one 17-mile commute in February. MARK BUCKMAN, PLATEWIRE.COM CO-FOUNDER: Right as we got on the highway, we had to deal with a driver -- we look over -- the guy was literally driving like this with one leg in the back seat searching through a box of file folders.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Searching for a file.
BUCKMAN: Ran us off -- actually ran us off the highway. And when we got back on, we're looking at him like what's going on. He starts yelling and flipping us the bird.
NURENBERG: The experience prompted Mark and Luke to found platewire.com, a site where drivers list the license plate and react to other drivers they've encountered.
LUKE SEVENSKI, PLATEWIRE.COM CO-FOUNDER: Well, the biggest thing that I've actually seen is people not using the left lane for passing. A lot of people use the left lane to travel in, and it does get frustrating for other people who want to pass.
NURENBERG: It did for someone who posted an incident in Lompoc, California Friday, quote, "This inbreeder thinks it's a good idea to ride in the left lane and slow the flow of traffic in both lanes by not letting anyone pass. Jerk."
Fairfax, Virginia, a green Buick. "This woman was actually watching video on her phone while attempting to merge."
It's not all bad, you can leave a wink. Ft. Myers, Florida, a blue Suburu. "Very beautiful woman stopped at a traffic signal. Beware of being love struck.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a very clever idea.
NURENBERG: Maryland State police sergeant Russell Newell says listing a grivence doesn't stop the danger.
SGT. RUSSELL NEWELL, MARYLAND STATE PATROL: We urge anybody that observes the aggressive driving to call us immediately.
BUCKMAN: We've actually had a state trooper from the state of Washington, he prints out the local ones and gives it to the fellow officers to keep an eye on them.
NURENBERG (on camera): If nothing else, unleashing road rage in the anonymity in cyberspace may cut down on fist fights in real life.
Gary Nurenberg, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Well, might be the bad drivers are just born into it. Maybe the stars can tell. According to a study, this is really a study by insurancehotline.com, astrological signs are a significant factor in predicting car accidents. A study looked at a hundred thousand drivers' records and came up with this. Libras, the very worst offenders when it comes to tickets and accidents.
ROBERTS: That's my wife.
O'BRIEN: What are you? Hang on wait. Leos are generous and comfortable in sharing the roadways. Aries have a me first child-like nature while driving, which would be a bad thing. What's your sign?
ROBERTS: Scorpio, which has got to be the worst ...
O'BRIEN: Scorpio under accidents, is the second worst.
ROBERTS: Yes, I would think. Under attitude, it's got to be the worst.
O'BRIEN: Yes, I would imagine.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: CNN NEWSROOM just a few minutes away. Tony Harris is at the CNN Center. he's got a look for us. Good morning, Tony.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm trying to figure this out here. I'm stuck. I'm stuck. I don't know what it all means. Good morning, Soledad. We have got these stories on the NEWSROOM rundown for you.
Five women murdered this month in southern England. Today, a suspected serial killer in police custody facing questions in the brutal killings.
Job searchers comb Mt. Hood for a pair of missing climbers. A third man found dead. His body being taken off the Oregon peak later today.
And meet a kid -- he can't walk, but, boy, can he fly. The inspiring story behind Challenge Air. Join Heidi Collins and me in the NEWSROOM. We get started at the top the hour right here on CNN -- Soledad back to you.
O'BRIEN: All right, Tony, thank you.
HARRIS: Sure thing.
ROBERTS: He may not be able to park, but he will live long and prosper.
Coming up, gay evangelicals -- is there room in the pew or pulpit for gay Christians? AMERICAN MORNING is coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Gay Christians are front and center in a fight dividing the Episcopal Church, and now the Evangelical Church. More gay evangelicals are coming out, including more gay pastors, and they're wondering why they should not have a place in the church. CNN's Sean Callebs has been talking to some evangelcials about that. Good morning Sean. SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning John. It's interesting because if you talk to a lot of conservative evangelicals, they say the Bible is clear that being gay is a sin.
So what about the legions of people who consider themselves gay and evangelical? Well, they say they're either looking for a church that will accept them or starting their own churches.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Young, studious, deeply religious. Justin Lee could be a posterboy for the evangelical movement, except for one factor -- he's gay.
JUSTIN LEE, FOUNDER, GAY CHRISTIAN NETWORK: I kept thinking, well, you know, it's going to go away. You know, I've just got to keep focusing on God, and study my scriptures and keep praying, and eventually it's going to change. I'm just going to just grow out of it. God's going to change my feelings.
CALLEBS: But God didn't. Lee went through years of torment and depression before making peace with himself and deciding there is a place in church for gay evangelicals.
He started the Gay Christian Network, which now has more than 5,000 members.
LEE: We're just trying to get people together who experience attraction to the same sex, however they've handled that, and who love Jesus and say, OK, you're welcome here, and then let's pray together and figure out where God wants us to take it.
CALLEBS: Lee's sexual orientation puts him squarely at odds with conservative evangelicals, who say there is no room for compromise.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Bible is crystal clear -- homosexuality is a sin, and anybody who lives that kind of lifestyle will not enter the kingdom of God.
CALLEBS: Since evangelical minister Ted Haggard announced he was guilty of sexual immorality, and leading Denver evangelical Pastor Paul Barnes resigned after telling his congregation he was gay, conservatives have been forced to talk about the issue.
TONY CAMPOLO, "LETTERS TO A YOUNG EVANGELICAL: I would say there's a significant portion of the evangelical community that, for lack of a better word, is homophobic, that is nasty and mean.
CALLEBS: Tony Campolo, author and prominent evangelical minister, and his wife, Peggy, encourage the faithful to support gay rights, but even they have sharp differences. He believes gay sex is a sin.
CAMPOLO: I can't tell you how many times people have said, I love your attitude, you've got tears in your eyes when you speak to me, you have compassion in your heart, but you're breaking my heart when you tell me that I am called to celibacy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't see anything in the bible that supports what Tony says, and I feel that marriage is very important to intimacy and being fulfilled as a person for a lot of people.
CALLEBS: People like Justin Lee.
LEE: What it boils down to is a lot of people, as soon as they hear gay Christian, they have a whole bunch of assumptions about what we believe, what we're trying to accomplish. I wish that people would come and listen to what we have to say before they just jump to a conclusion.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Sean, why are we hearing so much more about gay evangelicals these days?
CALLEBS: Really, a couple of reasons. One, the scandals that we talked about and secondly, political motivation. Many conservative evangelicals call themselves Republicans. So Republican leaders have been very good at getting hot button issues -- abortion rights a few years ago, gay marriage, but it didn't work too well back in November and that's, John, because more and more are saying it's simply not a defining issue for them nowadays.
ROBERTS: Yes, with the presidential race already becoming hot, I think we'll be hearing a lot more about this.
CALLEBS: Probably.
ROBERTS: Thanks Sean, appreciate it.
O'BRIEN: Here's a look at what CNN NEWSROOM is working on for the top of the hour.
HARRIS: See these stories in the CNN NEWSROOM: Mt. Hood search. Crews try to pinpoint the location of two missing climbers today. A third already found dead.
Fear and loathing in Iraq, the day-to-day struggle for women and children living in a world of chaos.
And you've shopped till you dropped. Now our Ali Velshi says it's all about the holiday shipping. You're in the NEWSROOM. 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 on the West Coast.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Miles is on vacation all week, so John is going to help us out all week. We appreciate that.
ROBERTS: I can't believe the show is over already. The last time I did it, it was four hours long.
O'BRIEN: Parting is such sweet sorrow isn't it? ROBERTS: This is a breeze.
O'BRIEN: But it is over. It is time to hand it off to the folks at "CNN NEWSROOM."
ROBERTS: "CNN NEWSROOM" with Tony Harris and Heidi Collins begins right now. We'll see you again tomorrow.
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