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American Morning

Ice Slams the Country; Castro's Health: New Details From the Doctor; One Step Closer: The Road to the White House

Aired January 17, 2007 - 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 ANCHOR: Welcome back. I guess you could call it the invasion of the ugly tomatoes.
Ali Velshi is here with the plot line.

Good morning, Ali.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, I've got to tell you, this isn't probably the hardest business story going, but it is proof that looks are not everything.

For a number of years, the state of Florida, the committee that governs tomatoes, has had a rule that, in theory, your tomatoes are ugly tomatoes, can't be exported out of the state, they don't want people getting a bad impression. But there's been a grower based out of Philadelphia who grows these in Florida who says that these ugly tomatoes through winter are better tasting than the normal tomatoes.

I don't eat a lot of vegetables, so I don't know what that's about. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture has now stepped in and said that this grower can export ugly tomatoes, and we in the rest of America can eat better-tasting, funny-looking tomatoes all summer. I'm going to go and try one out myself.

But for now, the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING begins right now.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you, Ali.

Deep freeze. Frigid air and ice slam the country. Hundreds of thousands of people are without power, travel is treacherous, and a price spike is now looming in your supermarket produce aisle.

M. O'BRIEN: The great race. Why lots of potential presidential candidates are suddenly jockeying for their place in a historic White House race.

S. O'BRIEN: And developing news on the health of Fidel Castro. A doctor who examined the Cuban leader is offering up a new prognosis, only here on AMERICAN MORNING.

M. O'BRIEN: Good morning, Wednesday, January 17th.

I'm Miles O'Brien.

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

Thanks for being with us.

M. O'BRIEN: Most of America is below freezing this morning. A state of emergency now for 10 California counties, at least $500 million worth of citrus fruit lost. Freezing rain again falling again on south Texas. We've got it all covered, of course.

Jacqui Jeras is in San Antonio, Greg Hunter at New York's wholesale produce headquarters, and our severe weather expert, Chad Myers, in the weather center in Atlanta.

Let's get started with Jacqui and those ice-covered palm trees in San Antonio.

Good morning, Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Good morning, Miles.

Ice is covering everything here, across the trees. And look at these huge leaves, and just icicles are dripping off of them. We've got maybe a quarter of an inch of ice that's accumulated here on elevated surfaces, primarily.

Many roads are closed, including a 300-mile stretch of Interstate 10 here. Schools are closed, businesses are closed, and just getting around, even walking around is very difficult.

And what's happening here in San Antonio, which is pretty rare, is all part of a huge arctic blast of air which is gripping much of the nation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JERAS (voice over): It could still be days before it gets warm enough to melt all of the ice left behind by a nasty, deadly winter storm that clobbered parts of Texas, the Midwest, and New England. At least 50 people in eight states are dead. Most of them killed on dangerous, icy roads.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We try to get everybody to slow down, but I've seen people still speeding out here, and they just don't know. I mean, this slick ice, you can't see it.

JERAS: The ice, also snapping trees like twigs, downing power lines, leaving nearly half a million people without electricity. Officials say it could be next week before power is back in some places, and the mercury is dropping. Some of the coldest temperatures of the season expected in the Northeast tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Basically, we're bundling up. We've got sweatshirts on, dressed in layers, trying to -- trying to stay warm. All staying in one room to keep the heat.

JERAS: In California, below-freezing temperatures expected for at least a couple of more days. The citrus industry on its knees. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger toured an orange grove and spoke with farmers who fear they've lost everything. GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: We may lose, as I've just heard, up to 70 percent of our oranges, our lemons, and our grapefruit. That's, of course, really bad news.

JERAS: The bad news also extends to the Pacific Northwest, where snow and slush are making daily life a mess. Many schools are closed down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JERAS: And more ice and freezing rain expected here in San Antonio throughout a good portion of the day. We might get above freezing later on this afternoon and get a brief break, but the arctic air expected to continue throughout much of the week before temperatures finally warm in the 60s, where we should be this time of the year in Texas -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Jacqui Jeras for us this morning.

Oops.

M. O'BRIEN: That's OK. Any old brand will do.

Thank you very much.

Ice and snow making roads dangerous in the Seattle area as well. Wintry weather causing several highway accidents, even overturning tractor-trailers. Warnings are up again this morning and class is delayed for hundreds of thousands of school kids.

East of Seattle, a 30-vehicle pileup closing down the westbound lanes of I-90 for about five hours. The accident began when a tractor-trailer smashed into a state trooper's patrol car. We're glad to tell you, though, no one was seriously hurt in all that mess -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: What can you expect today? Severe weather expert Chad Myers has the bone-chilling forecast for us.

Chad, what's today and when does it all end, is really the question?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know what? Even on Saturday there's a brand new winter storm watch for west Texas. So it certainly isn't over.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: A hard freeze in California could be hitting all Americans in the wallet soon. You could be paying a lot more for oranges and lemons and strawberries and avocados, everything good.

Consumer reporter Greg Hunter joins us from hunts point produce market in New York.

Hey, Greg. Good morning.

GREG HUNTER, CONSUMER REPORTER: Hey, good morning to you.

You're hearing that all these prices are going up. And with me, a couple of examples. How are they going up? How does it affect you?

Well, I'm in Steve Katzman's warehouse here in Hunts Point. It's a huge -- it's the world's largest produce wholesale market.

Steve, step in here.

And, you know, I've got this beautiful naval orange from California. It got out before California was frozen.

How are people going to be affected by oranges like this? Can they get them?

STEPHEN KATZMAN, PRESIDENT OF KATZMAN'S PRODUCE: Well, you'll be able to get those oranges for another week or two, and then they'll be done. They lost about 70 percent of the oranges in California because of this last cold snap.

HUNTER: So if you see these oranges now, snap them up? These are the...

KATZMAN: Now is the time to buy them.

HUNTER: ... peel-and-eat oranges that are beautiful.

What's going to replace them?

KATZMAN: You're going to see clementines coming in right now. They're coming out of Spain. Pretty soon they'll be coming out of Morocco.

HUNTER: Well, that's not much of a...

KATZMAN: But it's not exactly the same thing at all.

HUNTER: Boy, that's a big downsize.

KATZMAN: Yes. People will have to get used to something a little bit -- a little bit different. We can't control the weather.

HUNTER: OK.

KATZMAN: And you'll see more apples and more grapes out on the stands.

HUNTER: OK. And then these beautiful strawberries, I love these, but these got out before the freeze, too.

KATZMAN: Yes, they did. You'll see Florida strawberries, which are smaller. They'll eat good, but they'll be smaller, and you won't see the (INAUDIBLE) that you normally see around Valentine's Day.

HUNTER: And how much were they and how much are they going to be?

KATZMAN: Well, right now, they were selling for two for $5 in the stores. And now they'll probably go up to $3.99 or $4.99 for the same package.

HUNTER: Almost double.

KATZMAN: Yes. It's going to be a little rough here for a good six, eight weeks.

HUNTER: OK. And the orange juice prices, the orange juice is going to go up and be up for a long time?

KATZMAN: Well, you'll see Florida oranges coming to the fresh market, so juices will go up and oranges will go up. But it will be -- this cold effect will affect everything for a long period.

HUNTER: OK. You heard it here first. Back to you guys.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Greg Hunter for us this morning.

Thanks, Greg -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Fifteen-year-old Ben Ownby is not ready to talk about his ordeal. Ben is one of the two kidnapped Missouri boys returned to their families last week. The family is getting counseling and Ben's mother has been told not to press him to talk about what happened to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM OWNBY, BEN OWNBY'S FATHER: We're not going to push him. It's just part of the healing process. If he wants to talk to us, we're there for him. He knows that. And we're just a day at a time, you know, whatever's best for him.

DORIS OWNBY, BEN OWNBY'S MOTHER: I wanted to go see him and grab him, just hang on to him.

BEN OWNBY, KIDNAPPED IN MISSOURI: She does that.

D. OWNBY: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: The accused kidnapper, Michael Devlin, plans to plead not guilty at his arraignment tomorrow. He is being held on $1 million bail, charged with abducting Ownby.

No charges yet in the case of Shawn Hornbeck, who was missing for more than four years.

Happening this morning, in the Philippines, a top terror suspect killed in a shootout. Abu Sulimain (ph) was the leader of al-Qaeda Abu Sayyaf terror group. He is accused of planning the kidnapping of American and Philippine tourists and the ferry bombing that killed over 100 people. The U.S. had a $5 million price on his head.

In Phoenix, Mark Goudeau, accused of being Phoenix's so-called "Baseline Killer," is facing 74 charges, including nine murders, 15 sexual assaults, and 11 kidnappings. The crimes terrorized the Phoenix area from August, 2005, to June of 2006.

President Bush is rolling out a new global warming policy. He'll talk about it in next week's State of the Union Address. The White House says he has not dropped his opposition to mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions, however.

S. O'BRIEN: Some developing news on the health of Cuban leader Fidel Castro. A doctor in Spain who has examined Castro is giving CNN some insight on his condition.

CNN's Madrid bureau chief, Al Goodman, joins us by phone.

Al, give me a sense of when this doctor last got a look at Fidel Castro.

Ooh, and there you are. It looks like we got our actual shot connected, not just by phone.

So when did the doctor last see Fidel Castro?

AL GOODMAN, CNN MADRID BUREAU CHIEF: Hi, Soledad.

This doctor, he's the chief surgeon at a major hospital here in Madrid. That's Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido. He was in Cuba in late December at the request of Cuban authorities.

He confirmed to CNN this morning in an exclusive phone call that he had a 90-minute session where he examined the Cuban leader. Then he came back, he gave a news conference the day after Christmas at the hospital, where he said that Castro did not have cancer, he was recovering from intestinal surgery, might even be able to go back to work.

Now this week, one of the largest newspapers in Spain, "El Pais," has published two stories, one on Tuesday, another one this day, Wednesday, saying that Castro is in serious condition. Now, the doctor, the chief surgeon, Mr. Sabrido, tells us that he's not the source for these articles and he says there are errors, they're based on rumors.

He says the only accurate parts in the newspaper story are the name of the patient -- that would be Fidel Castro, that he's had surgery, and that he's had complications. He says the rest is rumors. And more, Soledad. He says, based on his information, Dr. Sabrido says that Fidel Castro is showing some progressive improvement -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: So does he know any of the other doctors, Al, who have been examing Fidel Castro since he left Cuba to go back to Spain?

GOODMAN: OK, I don't have the direct answer to that, but we can presume that he was with some of Fidel Castro's doctors in Cuba when he was there.

Now, we have important new information from our partner group. CNN en Espanol has just done an interview on the phone with one of the two reporters for the "El Pais" newspaper who now tells CNN -- because the newspaper quoted medical sources at the same hospital where Dr. Sabrido, here in Madrid, is the chief surgeon. And the "El Pais" reporter tells CNN en Espanol, "We don't believe our sources have spoken directly with Castro. We think that Sabrido, the chief surgeon, might have shared information with them" -- Soledad.

So, we -- if Dr. Sabrido was the only one from Madrid who went over to Cuba and he was notable on the day after Christmas in that news conference -- because that was the first time we've heard from anybody, any medical doctor outside of the Cuban inner circle speaking about Fidel Castro's condition -- if word got out at the hospital somehow, Dr. Sabrido says he's not the source and "El Pais" is relying on someone else there.

S. O'BRIEN: Interesting. Interesting development.

Al Goodman for us this morning. And, of course, the health of Cuban officials is a state secret.

Thanks, Al.

Ahead this morning, the race to '08. Barack Obama might want in. Other possible contenders too, though, now rethinking their strategies.

We'll talk about that.

Plus, can you hear me now? How about a cell phone that can tell where you are right now?

You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: The most news in the morning on our radar right now. Stay tuned.

Jury selection in the trial of Lewis "Scooter" Libby. The vice president's former chief of staff accused of lying to investigators in the CIA leak scandal.

And the National Weather Service changing how it warns people about dangerous weather. It will soon issue alerts for specific areas, not entire counties.

A quarter past the hour. If you're heading out the door, let's check of the traveler's forecast. Chad Myers, who always has a specific weather forecast for you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Well, the field of possible presidential candidates for 2008 a little more crowded today. Senator Barack Obama taking that first big step, forming an exploratory committee.

Joining us from Washington, D.C., is our chief national correspondent, John King.

Hey, John. Good morning to you.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, you have this announcement that basically is an announcement before the official announcement, and in the announcement, Barack Obama says he's going to let his fellow Americans know. And that, to me, said, oh, my goodness, he's definitely running for president. Who calls people "fellow Americans" unless they're going to run for president?

Would you think this is sort of a media deploy, double the media attention by announcing that your next announcement is coming next month, or is this really a time to search for financial and political backing in his case?

KING: Well, it's a little bit of both, but the main question is, will the money be there, Soledad?

Barack Obama and his people have been told over the past few months, if you run, the money will come. This is a way to test it.

He announced on the Web site yesterday -- you see a bit of the Web video there -- that he his forming his exploratory committee and that his feet are in the race for president. And guess what? If you go to that Web site to watch the video, off on the side of the screen you can donate money.

S. O'BRIEN: I'm shocked.

KING: This is a test between now and February 10th, can he raise the tens of millions of dollars it will take? But by every indication -- and he said so himself last night on Capitol Hill -- he's running.

S. O'BRIEN: He scheduled it already. I mean, he scheduled the big announcement for February, so of course he's running.

Now, the media frenzy yesterday was really quite over the top. And I was curious, how much of is that because he's a black candidate who really could win, and how much of is that is because he is really a celebrity who's running?

KING: He is a rare combination in politics. He has the gift, the campaign gift that Bill Clinton had. Many Democrats see that and they are excited about it. He would be the first African-American president. Hillary Clinton, of course, would be the first woman president. So, in the Democratic field you have potential history in the making.

He's a celebrity. He's a new, fresh face. He has the campaigner's gift. So, Soledad, this is a rare mix of a candidate.

Now, can he translate that celebrity into a credible candidacy for president? Can a 45-year-old man in Washington with less than three years become president in the post-9/11 world whether he is white or black, Democrat or Republican, or anything else? There are some big questions, big obstacles for Barack Obama. But right now there is a lot of buzz and a lot of energy behind his effort.

S. O'BRIEN: So the answer is maybe.

Now, did you hear what this guy Robert Ford said? He's a black state senator from South Carolina. Listen to what he said just the other day.

"Obama," he said, "would need 43 percent in some states of the white vote to win, and that is humanly impossible. We in the South do not believe that America is ready to elect a black president."

That's a black guy who's a Democrat saying that. He's an Obama fan, by the way.

That's the $64,000 question, isn't it? Is America ready to elect a black man?

KING: It certainly is, and there's only one way to find out, and that is the test Barack Obama is trying.

Now, first he would have to win the Democratic nomination, which is pretty a steep hill he has to climb first. But there was the question back in 1960, would the United States elect a Catholic president? There was a question back in 1996, when Bill Clinton was running -- back in 1992, excuse me, when Bill Clinton was running against George H. W. Bush in the post-Vietnam era, were we ready to elect a president who hadn't served in the military?

So these questions come up. Is America ready to elect a woman or an African-American? Those are bigger questions, social questions, cultural questions.

Barack Obama is trying to put that question to the test, Soledad. It is interesting that you see many black Democrats, fans of Obama, asking the same question. It will be a fascinating race.

And again, he has to win the nomination first to put that to the test, but that's his goal.

S. O'BRIEN: But, you know, there are so many people running. I got this two-page e-mail that just lists people who are running, people who are filing and thinking of running, people who are thinking about it, but haven't quite filed yet, people who have considered running. I mean, it goes on and on. It's a very, very crowded field.

Why is that now? KING: Is Miles still there? Or did he sneak off to go run for president?

S. O'BRIEN: Look at my list -- Miles, yes, here he is.

M. O'BRIEN: I just filed my papers. Yes.

KING: But why is it so crowded? Think back to 1988. That was my first campaign covering for president a long time ago -- I'm getting pretty old.

But you have a wide open race. You don't have -- Vice President Cheney is not running. There's not an overwhelming favorite on the Democratic side, although some would say Hillary Clinton is, but she's not coming from the vice presidency. She wasn't in the campaign field last time.

John Edwards was as the vice president. But it's considered a wide open race.

Back in 1998, you had a half-dozen Republicans -- they called them the "Seven Dwarfs" running early on in the Democratic field. And so that's what tends to happen when you have no presumptive, no certain nominee on either side. So you have a crowded race on both sides.

Now, will there be as many candidates a year from now when they're getting ready to vote in Iowa and New Hampshire as there are today? No. Some people won't be able to raise the money, some people will run for a few months and then bow out. We've already seen that with the former governor of Virginia, Mark Warner, Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana.

So, some people will test the waters and find them quite chilly. And Barack Obama might freeze some of them out in a way because of all the attention he gets.

But right now, there's a lot of people and a lot of heavyweights looking at this. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain, Mitt Romney getting much of the attention -- Rudy Giuliani. But some of the others have quite impressive resumes.

Now they have to prove it. Now we have to -- right now we're in the TV primary. We talk about this. Over the next six months they have to go build support in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina, and so on and so forth, and see if they have what it takes.

S. O'BRIEN: Boy, I've got to tell you, a lot of people in this TV primary.

John King for us this morning.

Thanks, John. Appreciate it. You're not old, by the way. You're young, young, young.

KING: Oh, not so young. S. O'BRIEN: Well, CNN, of course, equals politics and debate. We're teaming up with Manchester's WMUR-TV and the "Union-Leader" newspaper.

We're going to air a pair of debates Wednesday, April 4th, Thursday, April 5th. One for Republican presidential hopefuls, one for the Democratic side. And CNN's Wolf Blitzer will be moderating -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, cell phone technology is always changing. Now you can find your friend's exact location without even dialing their number. Hmm.

That's ahead.

Plus, an update on the story we brought you yesterday. Meet the smallest survivor of Hurricane Katrina, born yesterday.

Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Well, if you want to keep tabs on the whereabouts of your friends and family -- and who doesn't -- there is some amazing technology out there. It combines cellular and GPS technologies to give you a real-time picture of where your posse is. But is it just big brother calling?

CNN's Jacki Schechner has the answer.

Hello, Jacki.

JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Hello.

M. O'BRIEN: Excuse me. Sorry.

SCHECHNER: Oh, that's OK.

M. O'BRIEN: Go ahead.

SCHECHNER: That's all right.

I'm sure you've heard about the stuff where parents can keep track of their kids with a GPS-enabled phone.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

SCHECHNER: Well, now there's -- well, of course you are. You're a parent. I'm sure your kids don't love it so much.

Well, now there's a thing where friends can keep track of each other. It's a program called Looped (ph), and we wanted to show you what it looks like here.

It's a map-based application. It looks exactly the same on your phone as it does on the computer, and you can keep track on both. So we wanted to show you -- it says, "You're here." If you can circle that for me right there.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Let's do that. We'll highlight right there.

SCHECHNER: Well, there we go.

M. O'BRIEN: It gives you your location there.

SCHECHNER: Now, you're the orange dot, right? All the little green bubbles are your friends.

M. O'BRIEN: Right.

SCHECHNER: And you can program them in...

M. O'BRIEN: Does that mean you like them if they're green? Can you change the color if you're not happy with them?

SCHECHNER: Well, you can actually turn them off if you're not happy with them.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. There you go.

SCHECHNER: Which is the great part.

M. O'BRIEN: And you have a little picture just in case you forget what they look like.

SCHECHNER: You can plug into their profile.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

SCHECHNER: What is Mark looking like these days?

M. O'BRIEN: Right.

SCHECHNER: But you can plug it in and it will show you exactly how close or how far they are. It uses GPS, the satellite system.

M. O'BRIEN: Right.

SCHECHNER: What it will also do, if the GPS isn't working, is it will find out what the cell tower is that you're closest to and sort of approximate based on that.

M. O'BRIEN: So kind of triangulate.

SCHECHNER: Exactly.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. It probably wouldn't be as precise as that.

SCHECHNER: Exactly.

M. O'BRIEN: There are all kinds of implications to this.

SCHECHNER: Well, the question is, is it safe? And we talked to EPIC, which is the Electronic Privacy Information Center, and they said the question becomes, who controls the information?

Do I have the right if I have this system to decide whether or not you get to see where I am? And the answer is, according to Looped (ph), yes. They say they talked to a whole bunch of safety organizations, including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and they put some technologies in place to make sure that I can control the information.

For example, it's permission-based. You can't loop me in without my permission. You have to have my cell phone number.

Now, if you don't have my number, I can't just look online and say, oh, he's cute and I want to add him in. You have to have my number. There's other things like random text messages they send to verify, and they also want to make sure that once your location has passed, that location goes out of the system and the new location picks up.

M. O'BRIEN: And if you want to do -- if you're on somebody's list and you want -- for whatever reason, want to do a covert mission, you can block?

SCHECHNER: Instantly.

M. O'BRIEN: OK.

SCHECHNER: Turn it off. It's under your control, and that's what EPIC says you really need to do to have this technology be not big brother-like.

M. O'BRIEN: Of course, you might forget.

SCHECHNER: That's true.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. All right, Jacki, thank you very much.

SCHECHNER: Sure.

M. O'BRIEN: Interesting technology -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: If you're watching this while you're working from home, you might want to get right to the office.

Twenty-seven minutes after the hour. Ali's "Minding Your Business."

Why?

VELSHI: Well, I've always sort of suspected this, but a company named Corn Ferry that details with executive recruitment surveyed 1,300 executives, and here's what they found. That there's a sense that people who work from home, who telecommute, who don't work in the office, have a lower chance of getting promoted than those who work in the office.

The idea is that you don't have the ear of the boss. That seems to be the biggest fear.

Now, this is a fear shared both by people who do actually telecommute and the executives who might promote them. They actually do feel that while people who telecommute are as effective or as good or as productive or maybe even more productive than their counterparts who work in an office, they may not be as likely to get promoted for jobs.

A, because they're not around, so you don't see them. And B, because sometimes getting promoted means not being able to telecommute. It actually means working with your co-workers. And if you're a telecommuter, you might be one of these people who's a lone ranger, you might not be as great as dealing with employee or managing employees.

So it's kind of an interesting theory, because the latest, really accurate numbers we have are from 2003 that indicated that some -- almost 7.5 million people back then were telecommuting. You've got to assume that that number has gone up fairly dramatically.

So for a lot of people, this is a major life improvement because you can work from home. It's great if you have kids. You can sort of, you know, cut out the commuting time to work, which so many of us spend an hour or two commuting to work.

So it's kind of an interesting trend that, people like it, they like going in that direction, but the numbers, the evidence is showing that it could hold you back in your career. Although for the privilege of working from home, maybe you don't care that you're not getting promoted. Maybe life is just fine.

S. O'BRIEN: You might not mind it.

VELSHI: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Ali. Thanks -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: I don't think we could do our work from home, can we? They won't let us. No, we've got to come in.

S. O'BRIEN: Bed (ph) Cam. Don't think I haven't thought about it, Miles.

(CROSSTALK)

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Top stories ahead.

A deep freeze causing big problems on roads across the country.

Plus, new details on Fidel Castro's illness from a doctor who has examined him. Exclusive details you'll hear only here.

We are the most news in the morning right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: That frigid weather in California may soon be getting you pretty steamed at the supermarket. You could pay a lot more for oranges, lemons, strawberries, avocados, all the stuff you want.

Consumer reporter Greg Hunter joins us from Hunt's Point Produce market in New York City.

Hello, Greg.

GREG HUNTER, CONSUMER REPORTER: Hey, how are you doing, Miles?

You know, the big two buzz words here are higher prices. You've been hearing that all morning long. But what you may not know is that they'll be doing substitutions. For example, this big navel orange from California that got out before the freeze will likely be substituted by this, a clementine. You'll see that in the next couple of weeks.

Also, this big, beautiful strawberry got out before the freeze also. You won't be seeing these for at least four to six weeks. But what's going to happen is they'll be substituting these oranges with apples, and grapes and things like that from Peru and South America. That's the big two buzz words. You're going to see higher prices and substitutions.

M. O'BRIEN: Greg hunter, thank you very much -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Have you seen some of the disturbing new video making its way around the Internet? Now three teenage girls are under arrest.

Lucy Yang of our affiliate WABC in New York has more on this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUCY YANG, WABC REPORTER (voice-over): The victim, we're told, is an eighth grade student who just turned 13. Her attackers, two 14- year-old girls and one 13-year-old who go on a frenzy. The video showing them beating, kicking, and pulling the victim's hair. All the girls' faces protected because they are minors.

LT. ROBERT EDWARDS, SUFFOLK COUNTY POLICE DEPT.: Parents are pretty shocked, and you can understand why, and traumatized. As a parent myself, if this was my child, I'd be pretty traumatized.

YANG: Suffolk County police believe the ambush took place outside the Woods Road Elementary School in North Babylon back on December 18th.

Somehow, the video made its way through the Internet, and when high school administrators learned of it, they called the police. Today all three girls seen doing the attacking were arrested at North Babylon High School, where they are ninth graders. The victim, we're told, is also from North Babylon, but attends a private school, and apparently remains humiliated and horrified by what happened. Investigators say the girls met online and got into a dissing match over someone's boyfriend, the hostility eventually bubbling over from cyberspace to reality. Afterwards, there appears to be gloating over the beating.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, let's go back. I want to go back.

EDWARDS: The reason they stopped is because some sort of unknown good samaritan pulled up in his, you could see the car open, and they scatter.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, my gosh. That was Lucy Yang of our affiliate WABC right here in New York -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: That's amazing.

S. O'BRIEN: Ninth grade girls? They should arrest them. I don't know what's going to happen to them, but absolutely.

M. O'BRIEN: My first reaction is was it a staged fight? But I think it's a very real beating.

S. O'BRIEN: No. Did you see her kick that girl on the ground in the face?

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

Coming up in the program, black women and breast cancer. They're less likely to get it than white women, but twice as likely to die from it. Why? We'll tell you.

And once he was nothing more than a frozen twinkle in his mother's eye. Now he's a healthy baby boy. A flood survivor named Noah. We'll meet him and talk with his proud parents. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING, the most news in the morning, right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Let's get more now on the latest on that tiny survivor from Hurricane Katrina. His name is Noah Markham, 8 pounds, 6 and a half ounces. His mom said they round up, so he's really 8 pounds, 7 ounces. He was born yesterday, 16 months after Hurricane Katrina struck.

Now Noah was once a frozen embryo and workers as you can see in that videotape there saved that embryo and others from a flooded fertility clinic.

Joining us this morning, Noah's mom Rebekah and dad Glen, and of course, Noah Markham as well. Nice to see all of you. Congratulations to you. Rebekah, you look good. I know you had a c- section and that's kind of a big baby. How are you feeling today?

REBEKAH MARKHUM, BABY NOAH'S MOTHER: I feel good. I used just a little bit of pain medicine, that's it, but I have no complaints. I feel great.

S. O'BRIEN: Wonderful. I heard that you guys had been debating the name for a while. Glen, how did you come to this one -- Noah? Which of course is perfect.

GLEN MARKHUM, BABY NOAH'S FATHER: Right. We had a problem trying to pick out a name. What we were going to do before the baby was born was put the names that we had thought of in a hat and have Whit pick one.

S. O'BRIEN: That's you're older son, right?

G. MARKHUM: Right, my oldest son, and my sister, Pam, she called and said, you know, she thought of a good name and she told us Noah, and it was a perfect fit for the newborn baby, and so we used it.

S. O'BRIEN: Which is fantastic, because I know some of the names that Glen was thinking about was Nitro and Breeze, I heard. A little baby Nitro.

R. MARKHAM: It all sounded like wrestlers, uh huh.

S. O'BRIEN: They do, professional wrestlers. Go ahead.

G. MARKHAM: And Brianna for a girl. Brianna for a girl.

S. O'BRIEN: I'm so glad you didn't do the hat thing. That would be horrible.

G. MARKHAM: Yes.

R. MARKHAM: I know.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, it was really the start of a miracle. Because the fact that they were able to save the embryos. Rebekah, when you knew that Lakeland Hospital was under eight feet of water and they had lost power. Did you assume that, you know, the very worst, that in fact, that your embryos that you were planning for your in vitro fertilization were just lost?

R. MARKHAM: I did. I had prepared myself for the worst because I knew how bad it was, and in my mind, I thought it was some type of a refrigerated freezer that possibly was generator-driven and I didn't know if anybody could even get in there to start the generator, so I had prepared myself for the worst, but thank the good Lord, it was the best news ever.

S. O'BRIEN: It really was. They have to keep those embryos at minus 320 degrees, and they were able to do that. And even after, of course, the embryos were saved, then you had to transplant them successfully.

And then of course, you had to have a healthy baby boy, which you did. So this is really a series of really remarkable, you know, miracles, if you will. You must be feeling very, very blessed today.

R. MARKHAM: Oh, more than I can say. Sometimes I feel like, you know, maybe I don't deserve quite so much blessing, but I sure am happy to have it.

S. O'BRIEN: And Glen, I bet you feel the same way. Even though you didn't get your name, baby Nitro.

G. MARKHAM: Right. I'm a little upset about not having baby Nitro, but Noah's just fine.

S. O'BRIEN: I don't believe you there. And look at his eyes are open. He's a day old, his eyes are wide open. He looks like he is just wide awake. Well, thank you for talking with us. Congratulations. Good baby? Screaming baby, sleeping baby at this point?

R. MARKHAM: He slept 3 and a half hours last night before he got up to eat. So, I hope that carries on at home.

S. O'BRIEN: You know, that's quadrupily (ph) blessed then. Rebekah and Glen Markham joining us this morning and of course, little Baby Noah. Thanks for talking with us.

R. MARKHAM: Thank you. Thank you for having us.

G. MARKHAM: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: That's a cute baby.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, well, but there aren't any really -- well, there actually are some that are not so cute, but ...

S. O'BRIEN: No, in every parents' minds, every baby is a cute baby, and that's a really cute baby, because I'm not his mother and I think he's a cute baby.

M. O'BRIEN: Definitely adorable in every way, and what a great name.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: "CNN NEWSROOM" just moments away. Tony Harris at the CNN Center with a look at what's ahead. Good morning, Tony.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Miles, good morning to you. We've got these stories on the NEWSROOM rundown for you.

Winter messing with Texas. Ice shuts down major highways for this very reason. Take a look. The storm slowly sliding eastward. The truck sliding safely to the shoulder.

100-hour agenda. House Democrats pushing a plan this morning to cut interest rates in half on some student loans.

And video shocker. You saw it just moments ago. This tape posted on the popular websites Myspace and Youtube leads to arrests. An eighth grader beaten and kicked in this frenzied throw down.

Heidi Collins joins me in the NEWSROOM. We get started at the top of the hour right here on CNN. Miles, back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Tony.

Up next, why black women are more likely to die from breast cancer than white women. Genetics have nothing to do with it. A Harlem surgeon and fashion designer Ralph Lauren are teamed up to change the numbers, though. Stay with us for more AMERICAN MORNING.

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S. O'BRIEN: The National Institutes of Health today is announcing some promising, new numbers. Cancer deaths have dropped in this country for a second straight year, but here's some not so great news. More African-American women are going to die of breast cancer, even though twice the number of white women get breast cancer.

CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us with more. Part of a special series, "Saving your Life." Hey Sanjay, good morning again.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. I hear that statistic a lot. It's a sobering fact what you just said about more African-American women actually dying of breast cancer, despite the lower numbers.

The president is going to visit the NIH today to hear about some of the latest numbers as well. One of the things that's out there is this thing called the navigation program, trying to get women plugged into programs that are actually going to help them save their life.

There's a surgeon, a Harlem surgeon, Dr. Harold Freeman, who has been championing this for some time, trying to erase some of those equalities of health-care.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: (voice-over): There's something in the eyes of a woman with breast cancer. Harlem surgeon Harold Freeman knows the look. Freeman set out to understand why black women are less likely than white women to get breast cancer, but twice as likely to die from it. His research found that poverty is the real problem. The lack of access, education, and resources.

DR. HAROLD FREEMAN, RALPH LAUREN CANCER CENTER: It is not acceptable that people that are poor should die because they are poor.

GUPTA: Then, in 2000, a turning point. Targeting breast cancer was en vogue, as Ralph Lauren launched his pink pony campaign and Freeman had found himself an ally to build a cancer center in Harlem. FREEMAN: People were dying at a higher rate because they were poor and black. Mr. Lauren stood up and dressed immaculately, of course, and he simply said, Dr. Freeman, I will help you.

GUPTA: Jerona Smith is a single mom who now comes to the Ralph Lauren Cancer Center for care. Since being diagnosed with aggressive stage one breast cancer at age 29, it's been one shock after another.

JERONA SMITH, BREAST CANCER PATIENT: It's a lot to bear. I'm not working at this point in time because of chemotherapy. And it's a bit hard, but I got the help here.

GUPTA: And that's one of Dr. Freeman's other innovations, the patient navigation program. Navigators are familiar with the health- care system and help women with everything from insurance to medications, makeup, and wigs.

FREEMAN: The five years survival rate in breast cancer at Harlem Hospital, which was initially 39 percent, before the navigation and screening, is now in the range of 70 percent.

GUPTA: Jerona knows the chemo and radiation ahead will tax her energy, but the fact is, she and women like her now have a better chance at beating breast cancer.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: You know, this navigation program is available in a lot of hospitals now around the country. It has had $25 million in grants. Dr. Freeman is hoping to take this program national.

Here at CNN, we sort of developed our own navigation program of sorts, a "Saving your Life" website. We actually found free and low- cost cancer screenings all across the country that can help people actually get screenings if they can't afford them, something really important for us to do.

We're also going to show the special called "Saving your Life" again this weekend, Soledad, for people who missed it the first time around.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, that's excellent news. Sanjay, let me ask you a question -- is it poverty that really explains all those numbers, or is there anything specific to the kind of cancer that black women get that would make it more aggressive, say, than the kind of cancer other women get that would explain those numbers, too?

GUPTA: It's an outstanding question, and people have been studying this for years, especially Dr. Freeman, and he believes the root is poverty.

There's not some genetic predisposition towards a more malignant or aggressive cancer that is present in the African-American population that he can find.

So it really does -- and it's not true with all healthcare problems, but when it comes to breast cancer specifically, it does appear to be an access issue, a poverty issue, and women getting diagnosed late, often too late.

S. O'BRIEN: God, it's amazing that the navigation programs raised their good results from 39 percent to over 70 percent. That's amazing.

GUPTA: It is, and that's why I think he wants to take this national. I mean, Harlem was a place that this launched, but you can see lots of areas around the country that could use a program just like this.

S. O'BRIEN: Absolutely. All right. Sanjay, thanks.

GUPTA: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: A quick look at what "CNN NEWSROOM" is working on for the top of the hour.

HARRIS (voice-over): See these stories in the CNN NEWSROOM:

Deep south, deep freeze. Texas hill country on ice. The messy weather spreading now into Louisiana and Mississippi.

Orange juice prices expected to soar after the big California freeze.

The House taking up a Democratic plan today that would slash student loan interest rates.

You're in the NEWSROOM, 9:00 a.m. Eastern, 6:00 Pacific.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: That's all from here on this AMERICAN MORNING.

M. O'BRIEN: "CNN NEWSROOM" with Tony Harris and Heidi Collins begins right now.

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