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American Morning
Video Surfaces Of Kidnapped U.S. Soldier In Iraq; Cleveland Experiencing Winter Snow Storm
Aired February 14, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Heavy storms to tell you about this morning. Snow and ice and whipping winds across a dozen states right now. There are roads closed, flights canceled, and it's delaying the start of business in Washington, D.C.
M. O'BRIEN: Breaking news: Videoing surfacing this morning of an American soldier kidnapped months ago in Iraq. A live report coming up.
S. O'BRIEN: And off-duty police officer interrupts a date with his wife to face down the gunman at that mall in Salt Lake City. We're going to talk to the hero cop, straight ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome back, everybody. It's Wednesday, February 14. Happy Valentine's Day. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for joining us.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the winter weather, shall we? Winter throwing everything it's got at us today. Heavy snow, freezing rain, ice, gusty winds, blizzard warnings are in effect right now. Storm warnings from Illinois to the Mid-Atlantic and all of New England, as well. We have team coverage for you this morning. Rob Marciano is in Cleveland, Ohio. Greg Hunter is in Albany, New York. Paige Kornblue is with our affiliate WMUR in Plymouth, New Hampshire. And Severe Weather Expert Chad Myers is in Atlanta for us. Let's start with Rob, who's in Cleveland.
Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad.
The snow blowing sideways, we have winds gusting over 35 miles an hour; the wind chill right now about minus 8. So it is bitterly cold. And the entire state is getting a good chunk of winter weather, no doubt about that.
The southern part of the state is seeing some ice. And that's where we're seeing power outages, especially the southwest part, near the Cincinnati area. But here in Cleveland no reports of power outages, that's the good news. But driving, as you would imagine, yesterday a mess, this morning even more a mess.
Although, here in Cleveland, two-thirds of the roads are deemed passable, but it's going to be an ongoing battle to keep them clear. Especially with this wind blowing and drifting the snow, here in Cleveland, about a foot, unofficially, with another few inches expected as we go through time.
According to the Ohio Highway Patrol, 1,037 accidents since the storm started yesterday. And 97 of those accidents injury-relate, with one fatality. Airport yesterday 180 cancellations, today to be at least 60. We'll check on those numbers for you, but no doubt there will be some delays, at the very least.
In Pittsburgh they saw a fair amount of snow yesterday. Now that snow has changed over to freezing rain. Travel conditions down parts of western PA. Certainly a problem, and we've been mentioning all morning this pile-up across western parts of Virginia. Fog and slick conditions with some icing there; a 25-car pile-up along Interstate 64, near Charlottesville.
This snow is blowing sideways. No doubt about that. Check out these drifts. By the way, it's across your face it's like needles. It's not fun to be in. If there's any solace it's that it is fairly light. It's not as heavy as it certainly could be. This is not lake- effect, Soledad, even though we're right on the lake. This is just a good old-fashioned snowstorm that's rolling up the Ohio River and will jump over to the East Coast and give you folks a headache this afternoon. Back to you.
S. O'BRIEN: Yeah, but, you know, if you are shoveling it, snow is snow. Rob Marciano for us this morning. Thanks, Rob.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: In New Hampshire they know about snow and ice, of course, and they scoff at the worst that old man winter can deal out. So how are they doing in the land of frost heaves this morning. Paige Kornblue from our affiliate WMUR is in Plymouth, New Hampshire.
Paige, how is it going?
PAIGE KORNBLUE, REPORTER, WMUR TV: Well, so far so good. We are in the heart of New Hampshire's ski country here in Plymouth, New Hampshire. The snow here is light and fluffy. You can see, already inches have fallen here throughout the morning from overnight.
The concern, though, is the blizzard warning throughout the day. The snow, the drifting, and flying snow that has already fallen in some of the roadways. Hundreds of plow trucks have been out already this morning. They will be throughout the day working the roads. Accidents, some cars have already been spinning.
At the airports here in New Hampshire already some cancellations and delays. The state operation center is open here in New Hampshire. The state legislature, though, that's probably closed today. Some of the state offices not running in this snowstorm.
Again, I'll just show you some of the snow before we leave you. Light and fluffy. Wind expected to increase here in New Hampshire throughout the day, and this snowfall will continue. Reporting for CNN, I'm Paige Kornblue. Miles, back to you.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, Paige. Thank you very much.
Let's go to the CNN Weather Center. Chad Myers looking at everything for us.
(WEATHER REPORT)
Attention, all passengers. Today is definitely a call ahead or log on ahead day, if you are planning to fly. Chicago O'Hare is taking out from a record 8.8 inches of snow. Is that the record really in Chicago? Can't they do better than that? We sent Jonathan Freed behind the scenes to see how O'Hare tries to keep up in the eye of the storm.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): When winter storms hit, snow removal crews at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport run around the clock to keep the airfield operating.
(On camera): Reports from pilots are key here in keeping the runway clear. Once the planes touch down, the pilots radio in with what's called breaking action. Anything less than a level of good, triggers a response from these teams, and the plows go out and start working the runways.
(Voice over): Some 35 pieces of heavy equipment rush on to a runway at once. Working in tandem, they spread out across the 150-foot spans, clearing landing strips two miles long. The teams plow, sweep, and blow the snow out of the way and can even de-ice the surface when necessary.
(On camera): So part of the strategy these days is to never actually close a runway, but just to ask for a gap in takeoffs and landings?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. We create a gap along with the help of our personnel up in the tower working with the controllers to form this 15 to 20 minute gap, so we can get our equipment down the runway and off and have that airplane come right back in to that runway.
FREED: And that means less holding time for passengers. Jonathan Freed, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: And let's go right now to the web. We can show you faa.gov is the place to go, and as you scroll down -- why don't you scroll it up a little bit there. See all those green dots, including O'Hare? Everything is running smoothly, so far. But this is a good place to go before you head to the airport. When any delays crop up, in real time, at faa.gov, you'll see it turn to yellow and red, and then if they shut down the airport, it goes to black. So, good place to check out how things are going before you head to the airport -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's get back to a breaking story. We have been following for you this morning. Videotape of a missing U.S. soldier surfacing. Came out a couple of hours ago. Arwa Damon is gathering details for us from Baghdad. She's live there.
Good morning, Arwa.
ARWA DAMON, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
That video was posted on this web site by the Al Heil Bates Brigade (ph), little known Shia group, that shows it's Specialist Achman Al Tahi (ph), who was kidnapped on October 23. There is no audio on this video, but this is the first proof of life that anyone has seen since his kidnapping.
Now, the web site, itself, is one that is for supporters of the Mehdi Militia. That is the militia loyal to radical Shia Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. However, there is no direct evidence that they are linked this Al Heil Bates Brigade (ph).
Now, CNN spoke to the Al Tahi's uncle, Antifhad Calmbar (ph), in D.C., who has been representing the family in these negotiations with this group. He confirming that that is the group that they have, in fact, been in touch with, saying that he is 100 percent sure that the man in the video is, in fact, his nephew.
CNN cannot, however, independently authenticate this video, but for the family, this comes as a great relief. Again, this is the first proof of life that they have received from the kidnappers. And they have been in touch with them for quite some time now demanding proof of life, and then all of a sudden all negotiations ended on January 27th. Today this surfaced. This video has surfaced -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Let me ask you another question about Muqtada al- Sadr. He, of course, is the anti- -- very vocally, anti-American cleric. There are some reports that he might be in Iran. That, in fact, he fled Iraq and went to Iran. What's the latest on this?
DAMON: Well, Soledad, we've been in touch with a spokesman for him here. We've been in touch with members of his political block, and they're saying that Muqtada al-Sadr is, in fact, still in Iraq. He is in Najaf, that is the holy Shia city south of the capitol Baghdad.
The reason why we haven't seen him in public, making any sort of public appearance, that is because we are currently in the holy month of Muhadam (ph). He will not be making any public appearances this month.
But it is important to point out that even if he was in Iran, this is really nothing unusual. He has made perhaps maybe half a dozen trips there in the past, official trips, and a countless number of personal trips to that area -- Soledad. S. O'BRIEN: Arwa Damon for us this morning. She's in Baghdad. Thanks, Arwa, for the update.
Major General William Caldwell will be holding his weekly briefing out of Baghdad. He will be talking about some developments there, and there are many. Today you're looking at some live pictures. We'll be keeping an eye on this for you.
You can expect, of course, questions about what Arwa was just discussing, the videotape we showed you of that missing U.S. soldier. Certainly questions about the exact location of Muqtada al-Sadr. If the U.S. troops are able to confirm that, at this point, and much, much more. You want to stay here for the latest details from that briefing.
Also new this morning, a terror attack in southern Iran, near the Pakistani border; at least 11 members of the Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard killed when a car bomb exploded right near their bus. The people in the car escaped on motor bikes, and they were able to detonate the car by remote control. Iranian authorities say they arrested five men.
Want to share some news, just into CNN. The White House is announcing that President Bush will hold a news conference in the East Room of the White House in just a few hours. It's scheduled for 11:00 in the morning Eastern Time. You'll see it right here on CNN, as we get details of exactly what's going to be in this briefing, in this news conference. We will update you with what to expect this morning as well -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: In Utah this morning they are hailing him as a hero, but he doesn't see it that way. Ken Hammond, an off duty Ogden police officer was enjoying a romantic pre-Valentine's dinner with his pregnant wife at a Salt Lake City mall, when he heard shots and saw some seriously injured people. He wasted no time reaching for his gun.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OFFICER KEN HAMMOND, OGDEN, UTAH POLICE: Whether I'm in my own city or not, if I have the ability to protect more people, or prevent loss of lives, I have an obligation. I was in a situation that I was carrying my gun. And I felt that I had to do something.
I looked down, and off to the left, and I could see seriously injured people. And I looked up, and that's when I saw the guy with the shotgun, and it was -- I went out of romantic date mode, into I need to protect mode. I switched just that fast. It went from good times, laughter to I need to do a job.
Where the suspect was, neither one of us could really see him, so at that point I kind of fanned off to the left a little bit, where I did take shots at the suspect.
I don't necessarily feel like a hero. I feel like I was there, and I did what I needed to do. And that any other police officer would have done the same thing had they been in that situation. I just happened to be the one that was there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Officer Hammond has quite a remarkable story.
M. O'BRIEN: He does. Nine people were shot. Five died before Hammond and another officer were able to shoot the gunman; 18-year-old Sulamon Tolavich (ph), a Bosnian refugee. And, of course, his motives remain a mystery this morning.
S. O'BRIEN: They might always remain a mystery. We're going to be talking this morning to Officer Hammond. He says as he was engaging the shooter, he is yelling to everyone I'm an off-duty, I'm a cop. Because, of course, he is dressed for a date with his wife. He is afraid -- you know, with reports of a shooter in the mall, and that's all the detail they had -- that someone could think that he was a shooter and the police who arrived could have actually opened fire on him.
M. O'BRIEN: And police from another jurisdiction no less.
S. O'BRIEN: Exactly. He's not a local guy.
M. O'BRIEN: Who would not be able to identify him.
S. O'BRIEN: Exactly. So, it's a fascinating story. We'll talk to him. And, of course, his pregnant wife, Sabrina (ph), who helped out, as well. They have a remarkable story straight ahead.
Also, our top story, the winter weather. Chad is tracking this big storm that is now pounding the Midwest; he's going to tell us about the path straight ahead.
We'll tell you what airlines if you are going to try to make sure that you make it to your destination on time, in spite of the bad weather. Show you how they're digging out today.
Plus, America's new top dog. Best in show at the Westminster Dog Show. All those stories straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, the most news in the morning here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: The most news in the morning is right here on CNN. Just in, the military confirming, at a Baghdad news conference, that they're aware that videotape that surfaced overnight that shows a missing U.S. soldier. Commanders say, at this point, they don't have new information on exactly where that soldier, his name is Achmed Al- Tahi, is.
Here at home a pretty wild 25-car pile-up. Take a look at these pictures. Happened outside of Charlottesville, in Virginia. Being blamed now on fog and slick roads. There are some injuries reported. We'll continue to update you on that story as well.
Just quarter after the hour. Chad Myers is at the CNN Weather Center; he's watching the storm and much more for us this morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: Not a good morning for travel of any variety. In the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast quadrants of the country, tough going. Tough sledding as they say, if you'll excuse that term.
Right now in Washington, big trouble. Reagan National Airport is closed. They say they're out of chemicals. And Dulles is closed as well, until 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Better check ahead.
Great day to be in the airline business, eh? Mary Frances Fagan is a spokeswoman for American Airlines. She joins us from O'Hare, one of the busiest airports in all the world.
Mary Frances, good to have you with us.
I want to put up just live right now, take a look at some of the American Airlines, arrivals and departures at O'Hare. Let's take a look at what's going in and out of there right now.
I know there's been a Herculean effort to clear off the snow. And, boy, that's the entire American fleet there, I guess. Maybe we can -- that -- you got a lot of planes in the air right now. How many did you cancel in advance?
MARY FRANCES FAGAN, SPOKESWOMAN, AMERICAN AIRLINES: Well, last night we made some adjustments to our schedule here at O'Hare. We actually canceled about 20 percent of our morning operation, as did our American Eagle partner. And that's here at Chicago, but we also canceled about 20 percent of our flights into the Washington airports, and about 30 percent of our flights into the New York airports.
M. O'BRIEN: And this is what airlines do these days. They tend to cancel on the forecast more. And let's take a look at that FAA site, which has the real-time information at airports across the country right now. If we scroll up a little bit so we can see it a little better above the banner. You notice we have a lot of green dots. That's good. O'Hare, for example, saying only 15-minute delays, which would be a good day at O'Hare.
We do have some problems, as we told you, in Washington. We'll get to that in a moment. They're saying they have run out of chemicals.
But the fact that we have all these green dots this morning, is that because so many planes were kind of canceled in advance?
FAGAN: Well, we do take a good look at the weather forecast for all the airports where we operate, and we look, and track storms well in advance as they're developing. So we do try to cancel early. That is true.
That gives our people a time to adjust to the weather conditions that they will face at individual airports, but it also gives us an opportunity to reach out to our customers. If they've given us telephone numbers, for example, we'll call them and say, hey, we've had to cancel your flight due to weather, and we are re-accommodating you. So early cancellation is good, especially in this day and age of technology that allows us to reach and touch the customer.
M. O'BRIEN: Maybe we can move the flight tracker over to the East Coast and look at Washington and New York. La Guardia is open, a green dot there. But two black dots at National Airport and Dulles. When you lose those airports -- take a look. We've overlayed the weather here, so that gives you a sense of what's going on there. When you lose two airports like National and Dulles, there is a big ripple effect, isn't there?
FAGAN: Well, there certainly is, although those are not hub airports for us. They are for other carriers. The Dulles carrier is United. But any time you have airports that are not operating, it's not good news because you do want to try to get flights in and out of airports. Maybe not as many as you normally would when there are blue skies, but people do need to travel in this day and age, and so it's unfortunate that they've run out of chemicals at DCA, but I'm sure they'll get some as soon as they possibly can.
M. O'BRIEN: Final thought here: What should a traveler do this morning if they have something booked and they're planning to get somewhere, they need to get there?
FAGAN: I think you said it earlier, check ahead. Call your airline. Check on their reservations web site. Try to do a little bit advance homework before you leave home. Print your boarding pass even. That can help you if you are trying to go through some airports that may have leftover passengers from yesterday, or the day before, and that fact. Check ahead, and use the technology for you.
M. O'BRIEN: Mary Frances Fagan with American Airlines. Thank.
S. O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, an overhaul for another American automaker. It's going to be a painful one for about 10,000 people. Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business" straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT INDEGLIA, JUDGE, WESTMINSTER DOG SHOW: I have seven ribbons, I give them to seven dogs. I have one ribbon. Tonight that would go to the Springer Spaniel.
(CHEERS, APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Springer Spaniel!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: And the crowd goes wild. America has a new top dog. Diamond Jim, who he is a real jewel. When the announcement came, and he jumped right into his handler's arms. He won best in show last night at the Westminster Kennel Club, dog show at Madison Square Garden. Diamond Jim is retiring from the dog show world, on top. He'll focus on his day job, and it's an important one at that. He is a therapy dog. He works with Alzheimer's patients.
Remember Harry, the Dandie Dinmont, owned by Bill Cosby? (UNINTELLIGIBLE) once again.
S. O'BRIEN: That's good news.
Two hours away from a big announcement from DaimlerChrysler, revealing a reinstructing plan that is going to include layoffs for thousands and thousands of people. Coming up at just 25 minutes after the hour, which means Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business".
ALI VELSHI, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning.
This is not business I enjoy minding, but until now DaimlerChrysler had escaped the big layoffs that we've seen from Ford and GM over the last few years, but at about 9:30 Eastern Time, two hours from now, we're expecting an announcement from DaimlerChrysler; about 11,000 job cuts through layoffs or attrition, or early retirement. And 10,000 of those will be blue collar workers, 1,000 should be salaried workers.
These are based on reports vulnerable plants include a plant -- a couple of plants in Detroit. One in Newark, Delaware, that produces sport utility trucks and possibly one in North St. Louis, Missouri.
Now, we've heard from GM and Ford in the last couple of years about their layoffs. Why Chrysler? Well, truck and Jeep demand is down. Something that Chrysler has emphasized. It's a big part of their business. There's also been a lot of pressure from the investors in DaimlerChrysler, the German-based company, to get rid of the Chrysler division altogether.
Sales for the company were down, in the U.S., 7 percent last year. It's now number four in the U.S. and lost lots of money in the last quarter that it reported. Now, the auto industry in the U.S. has been in decline for some time. If you look at the numbers, these are reported by a company called Challenger, Gray & Christmas, from 1996 to 2006, not including the layoffs we're expecting here today, almost 900,000 jobs lost in the auto industry. And, obviously, based on today's news that we're expecting, more to come -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: We're watching it. Thank you, Ali. Appreciate it.
Top stories of the morning are coming up next.
A brutal winter storm is slamming the Midwest. Severe Weather Expert Chad Myers is tracking it all for us. We'll have a look at that straight ahead.
Plus, feeling crazy in love? There's scientific proof that it's your brain, not your heart that leads the way in love. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Weather alert: Snow, ice, howling winds, now hammering a dozen states. Travel from the Heartland to New England is a major mess this morning.
M. O'BRIEN: A hero speaks: We'll talk to that off-duty police officer who interrupted a date with his wife to take on a gunman at a mall.
S. O'BRIEN: Crazy in love? Forget your heart, wait till you see what love does to your brain. We'll take a look on this Valentine's Day edition of AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome back everybody, February 14th, a Wednesday. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's begin with what's happening this morning. President Bush holding a White House press conference. It's going to happen at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time, his first press conference since the state of the union address. We've got live coverage of that right here on CNN when it happens.
Breaking news out of Iraq this morning. Take a look at this videotape that surfaced on the Shiite web site. It shows a U.S. soldier who disappeared in Baghdad back in October. His name is Ahmed al.Altaie (ph). The family says the videotape is definitely him, but nobody is sure just how long ago that tape was shot.
Word is just in about the whereabouts of the anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. A moment ago, we heard from General William Caldwell in his briefing. The military spokesman in Iraq told reporters that the U.S. knows that al-Sadr has, in fact, left the country. His own people, his advisers, say that al-Sadr has not left, so that's contradicting him right there. Apparently the word is that he escaped two or three weeks ago to avoid the coalition crackdown on militias in Iraq and even some extremists within his own group. We'll check in with Arwa Damon about that straight ahead this morning.
In southern Iraq near the Pakistani border, at least 11 members of Iran's elite revolutionary guard were killed when a car bomb exploded right near the bus. People in the car escaped on motor bikes and they detonated the car by remote control. Iranian officials say they've arrested five men in connection with that bombing.
Today begins the second of three days of debate on the House resolution opposing President Bush's Iraq plans. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi kicked off the debate saying the American people have lost faith in the president's handling of the war. The vote's set for Friday now. Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Old man winter is throwing everything he's got at us today, heavy snow, freezing rain, ice, gusty winds. Blizzard warnings right now for northeastern Indiana and northwestern Ohio and big storm warnings just about everywhere else due east and into the northeast. We have complete coverage. Our severe weather expert Chad Myers is at the weather center in Atlanta. Rob Marciano is in Cleveland. Let's begin with Rob. Good morning, Rob.
MARCIANO: Good, morning, Miles. You mentioned the blizzard warnings in the northwestern part of the state. We are as close to blizzard criteria as you can get, winds 30, gusting to 40 miles an hour, visibility about a half a mile, temperatures in the teens, wind chills minus 5 to minus 8. We've seen about unofficially about a foot of snow since the storm began, but with the wind humming the way it is, it's difficult to really pinpoint any sort of accumulation with any sort of accuracy.
Look at those flags up there. They're just -- the winds right now just honking out of the north and ripping that fabric from north to south and that is going to be the struggle today, even though the snow is expected to taper off later on. The blowing snow is going to make roads and clearing the roads a difficult issue. We're told two- thirds of the roadways are considered to be passable across the state of Ohio. Over 1,000 accidents reported since this storm began.
As far as the airports are concerned, yesterday 180 cancellations, so far this morning 67. You can expect more than that. We are told by airport officials they are temporarily closing the airport because they're having trouble clearing the runways because of this drifting snow. Upwards of five-foot drifts at the airport. They hope to have the runways reopened and flights continue by noontime today. This is not lake-effect snow by any stretch of the imagination, Miles. We are right by the lake, but this is a good old- fashioned area of low pressure that's crank along the Ohio River. It will skip over the mountains and begin to take shape over the ocean. That's when things get interesting for the northeast. For now though, almost a blizzard here in Cleveland. Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Rob, you're getting your Ph.D. in snowfall this winter, all flavors and all matters, thank you very much. Let's get right to Chad Myers at the CNN weather center with more. Hello, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know what Ph.D. stands for, don't you?
M. O'BRIEN: What?
MYERS: Piled hip deep.
M. O'BRIEN: Very good. I like that.
MYERS: We could see some lake-effect snow there in Cleveland and Ashtabula, but not so much from Lake Erie because it's pretty frozen. But today eventually those winds will shift from right over Huron right across Ontario right across the Queen Elizabeth parkway and the QE - very, very - it's going to be very tough later on today getting across the Queen Elizabeth and then back down into Cleveland although that's not set up right now, it sure could be. The snow is now into Albany. There's ice in New York City. There's ice in Philadelphia, DC and Baltimore. I-95 basically is ugly right now and it stays that way. I almost would rather drive in the snow - rather not shovel it, but drive in it. There's more traction here. But the ice event, the ice event all the way from Boston down through Connecticut, down into DC is going to stop a lot of people and it should stop you at home, I hope, today, this morning. Just stay there. Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad. Thank you.
MYERS: Sure.
S. O'BRIEN: A story we've been covering for you yesterday and today when that teenage shooter opened fire in the mall in Salt Lake City. The shoppers all ran for cover, but there was one man who was in the mall who ran in, an off-duty police officer who was enjoying a romantic pre-Valentine's Day dinner with his pregnant wife. Today that officer is credited with saving many, many lives. His name is Officer Ken Hammond. He and his wife Sarita are our guests this morning. It's nice to see you both. Thanks for talking with us. If you don't mind Ken, I would like for you just to walk through exactly what happened. You were kind of wrapping up your dinner. You had stayed for desert. I know your wife is pregnant, so she has to take a lot of breaks and rest a lot. You were waiting on a bench and you heard popping. What did you think it was?
MASTER OFC. KEN HAMMOND, OGDEN POLICE: At first I just felt -- I thought it was construction work. The mood was very calm in the mall. I didn't hear any screaming. I didn't hear any yelling. It was very calm. It didn't really alarm me at all.
S. O'BRIEN: Then what happened? You started walking and what happened?
HAMMOND: We walked into the main portion of the mall, and we kind of looked down to the bottom tier, and that's when we kind of saw some people that were seriously, seriously injured. They were laying on the ground. Then I looked up and saw a man walking out of the store with a shotgun in his hand.
S. O'BRIEN: You immediately knew what was going on. I know you sent your wife Sarita off to call 911. Sarita, we'll get to you in just a second. You then start chasing this gunman, but you were armed, but you didn't have -- you were off duty, so you were obviously in your plain clothes, right?
HAMMOND: Correct. Correct. I pushed my wife off to the side, began yelling who I was, what department I was with, that I was a police officer off duty. Everybody get down, get back. In that period the gunman heard me, acknowledged me, looked up and fired a round in my direction.
S. O'BRIEN: What was he doing? Was he saying anything? Was he agitated? Was he -- he was calm?
HAMMOND: I really can't comment on his demeanor because I wasn't paying attention to his facial expressions or anything like that. I was completely focused on that gun.
S. O'BRIEN: Let me ask Sarita a quick question. Your husband says, he says go call 911. And so you run in. You must have been absolutely terrified because you knew of course that he's armed, but he doesn't have any kind of vest on and now he's engaged in a situation that you were certainly not expecting when you went off for your nice romantic pre-Valentine's Day dinner. What did you do and what did you tell them on the phone?
SARITA HAMMOND, KEN HAMMOND'S WIFE: I ran back to the restaurant and I had to grab somebody's phone, one of the waiters, and when I got through to 911 after I gave them some basic information, I was more focused on giving them his clothing description and that he was off duty and that he did have his gun out. It took the dispatcher a few minutes because I'm sure their center was chaotic. He realized what I was saying and he got the information.
S. O'BRIEN: Because, of course, you were concerned that somebody, an officer responding in all the chaos, could shoot your husband, thinking that he might be the gunman responding to some kind of call about a gunman in the mall, which is kind of a vague call. Officer Hammond, let me ask you a couple of final questions. This all kind of came to a standoff when you were distracting the shooter and you were kind of exchanging gunfire back and forth. Tell me how it ended.
K. HAMMOND: I was kind of distracting the suspect and I gave an opportunity for the Salt Lake City police department to enter the building and to engage the suspect and do what they needed to do to stop the situation there at the mall.
S. O'BRIEN: I know you have said you don't feel that you are a hero, but I'm going to ask you Sarita, before I let you go, you must feel like he is a hero. We sure think he is a hero.
S. HAMMOND: I do, most definitely.
S. O'BRIEN: Happy circumstance for you to be there and really, I think, fair to say save a lot of lives. Ken Hammond, officer from the Ogden police force. Thank you for talking with us. Sarita, pregnant wife, joining us as well, appreciate your time. Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up a shovel full of trouble for your back or your heart, not to mention the dangers of shoveling your roof. We'll have some safety tips for you this morning.
Plus, a crazy little thing called love. It's more than just a snappy lyric. There is a scientific explanation. Doesn't that sound romantic? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, the most news in the morning right here.
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M. O'BRIEN: If you're waking up to a driveway full of snow, stop and think before you bundle up and reach for that shovel. Shoveling snow can land you in the hospital. We sent AMERICAN MORNING's Greg Hunter to the heart of the shovel belt, Albany, New York. Hello, Greg. GREG HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. The snow scraper just came by here, but if you listen to this sound, a lot of people are going to be hearing this sound, that sound of, oh, my back hurts. That's right. With one of these and all the snow up here, you can get hurt. Look out.
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HUNTER (voice-over): With as much as 12 feet of snow in upstate New York over 10 days, hospital representatives there are saying that winter injuries have piled up along with the snow.
DR. BILL MAHON, ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON: I think the volume has increased significantly. The type of injuries are no different than what we will see in most winter seasons, but the volume has certainly increased the past week.
HUNTER: Fifty two winter-related injuries in less than a week. Yes, (INAUDIBLE) hospital ER has seen everything from fractures to carbon monoxide poisoning. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 20,000 people went to emergency rooms in 2005 with snow-related injuries and here in upstate New York, they have a special hazard to look out for, trying to stay on the roof while they're shoveling off feet of snow.
MAHON: The uncommon injuries in this past week have been people who have fallen eight, 10, 12, 15 feet from roofs and ladders. They're up on ladders trying to clear their roofs of all the snow that has accumulated.
HUNTER: Oswego County public health director, Kathy Smith, gives safety pointers, starting with your shovel.
KATHY SMITH, OSWEGO CO. PUBLIC HEALTH DIR: One of the things that we recommend are these new ergonomically designed snow shovels.
HUNTER: The crooked shovel.
SMITH: The crooked shovel which can help prevent back injuries. Another thing is that when you are shoveling snow, always bend your knees and lift with your legs.
HUNTER: Not how I'm doing it here, down here.
SMITH: Exactly. Don't load your shovel up too much.
HUNTER: Like that?
SMITH: Right. Take a break every 10 minutes or so and if you have a cardiac condition, you really have to be careful. Snow shoveling is heavy work and it's very cold out, and that's not good for people with cardiac conditions.
HUNTER: So next time you head out to shovel snow, remember, without taking precautions, it could be hazardous to your health.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTER: And there will be a lot of that going up here. Right now they tell us firefighters who just drove by, there's about six inches on the ground here in Albany. They expect at least 24 inches in the next 24 hours and pay attention to this shovel here. This could save your back and it really is useful if you're shoveling snow. It's -- it feels comfortable. Snow shoveling can feel comfortable, it actually feels comfortable.
M. O'BRIEN: I think that 13-year-old kid who knocks on the door is looking better all the time. All right, Greg Hunter in Albany. Thank you.
Quarter of the hour right now. Chad Myers at the CNN weather center watching it all for us. Hello, Chad.
MYERS: Good morning, Miles. The east-west roads are going to be the most difficult to keep clean and the east-west driveways maybe as well because these winds, as the storm interacts with the ocean and becomes an ocean effect, lake-effect event basically, becomes a nor'easter, coastal low. You're going to drive down these winds, 30, 40 miles per hour. So as soon as they get one of the roads clean, including the thruway, it's just going to get all snowed back in again, a significant event for upstate New York, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, right up back down into Washington DC, Baltimore, icing in this morning. A lot of planes not going to get where they want to be, and a lot of people not going to get where maybe you need to be. Be careful out there. Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad. Thank you very much.
Still to come this morning, love, some people think of it as the science of the heart. Turns out, though, that love actually has a bigger effect on your brain. We've got the brain scans to prove it. That's coming up ahead.
Plus, America's new top dog, the best in show, Westminster. We'll tell you what he does as a day job. Straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Back in a moment.
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S. O'BRIEN: That snow we see right there -- if we could pop that back up again. That snowy scene that you saw right there a moment ago, there you go, that's our picture out our window this morning. Got a little bit of crunchy, icy, cold, bitter snow we're dealing with this morning. Supposed to get a lot worse this morning as well. Chad watching all of it for us today.
On this Valentine's Day, there's finally an explanation for all those crazy things we do for love. Elizabeth Cohen tells us what scans of the brain revealed about our hearts. Elizabeth, good morning.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. Soledad, researchers were wondering what exactly happens to a person's brain when they're in the throws of new love. So, what they did is they put college students who had recently fallen in love into an MRI and had them look at photos of their beloved while they were in the MRI. Here's what they found out. They found that two areas of the brain in particular lit up like a Christmas tree, if you will, the (INAUDIBLE) and the ventral (INAUDIBLE). They are both, as you can see, deep, deep within the brain.
It's not a region where emotions are governed, which is very interesting. It was surprising to the researchers in some ways. It's an area where primal urges are governed. Those two areas that you just saw on there, that's where your thirst is governed. That's where hunger is governed. So it made researchers conclude, gee, it looks like love is a lot more like an urge than an emotion in the same way that we are driven to eat or drink, we are also driven to fall in love. As a matter of fact, they said that brains of people newly in love look a lot like people who are also addicted to cocaine. Addiction apparently is addiction. Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Interesting. Was there a difference they noticed between a man's brain and a woman's brain?
COHEN: They did notice differences. They found with men who were newly in love that visual areas of their brain lit up. This is not terribly surprising. From an evolutionary perspective, a man needs to be able to look at a woman and size up very quickly if she could possibly bear his children. If a man meets with an 80-year-old grandmother, he is not going to have children, so he needs to be able to be able to look and make a decision.
Now, for women the visual areas didn't light up. What did light up confused researchers at first. Areas that involved memory lit up and what the scientists think, what they theorize is that women need to be able to remember everything about a man to calculate whether or not he is going to be a faithful husband and a good father. There's no way to visually look at a man and see if he is going to be a good father, but if you remember every little thing, that might help.
S. O'BRIEN: Interesting. Theoretically then, could you make somebody fall in love with you if you could just figure out the right part of the brain to stimulate?
COHEN: Wouldn't that be terrific? You could certainly make a lot of money if you could figure out a way to do that. There isn't a way, but the anthropologist who did this research, a woman named Helen Fisher, she said one thing that you might want to try is go and do an activity that increases dopamine, those areas of the brain that we saw before. What happens when they become active is they become flooded with dopamine. If you could go out on a first date and do something very exciting that will get the dopamine, that neurotransmitter going in your brain, that could help. Don't go out for dinner and a movie. That's kind of boring. That's not going to get your dopamine going. Maybe go sky diving and your date will remember you better.
S. O'BRIEN: That could work. All right. Elizabeth Cohen for us this morning. Thanks, Elizabeth. Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Get me some of that dopamine, huh?
High heating bills getting you down? You don't have to throw another log on the fire. Burning something else entirely could be a more efficient way to keep you warm. We're not talking about the coffee table, either. It's all natural, and some say it's better for the environment too. Ali Velshi will show us that next. You are watching AMERICAN MORNING, the most news in the morning, right here.
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S. O'BRIEN: Oil, heat, natural gas, wood burning stove. Well now there's a new source of heat and it appears to be catching fire, so to speak. Ali Velshi has the story of the corn stove that's popping up all across the country. Good morning, Ali.
ALI VELSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. With all the talk of corn as an alternative fuel, the idea of heating your home with corn is catching on. So we thought we would visit with some people who actually use a corn stove. It takes a little more work than traditional heating methods.
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BRENDA OSTREICHER, HEATS HOME WITH CORN: 50 pounds corn. Easy to carry. Lift it.
VELSHI (voice-over): She's not a farmer.
OSTREICHER: When I go down to buy the corn, the man says to me, oh, the animals are going to eat good tonight. I go, yep.
VELSH: And the corn is not for animals. It's to heat Brenda and David's Ostreicher's home on Long Island, New York.
DAVID OSTREICHER, HEATS HOME WITH CORN: We wanted to look at another way of saving energy and helping the planet and not creating as much carbon dioxide.
VELSHI: So they bought a corn-burning stove to heat part of their 8,000 square foot house. The Bixby stove was designed by Bob Walker. He says the savings from heating with corn quickly makes up for the $4,000 cost of the stove itself.
BOB WALKER, CEO, BIXBY ENERGY: It could be, depending on where they are and what the price to corn is, two and a half to three and a half years and there are people who are looking at that as being a very practical return on their investment.
VELSHI: Burning corn costs less than burning oil. It's cleaner than oil and it appeals to the Ostreicher's in other ways too.
D. OSTREICHER: I felt I would be giving my hard-earned dollars to American farmers rather than to people in other parts of the world that don't like us.
VELSHI: When it's cold outside, the Ostreichers can burn through about 50 pounds of corn a day. The house doesn't smell like popcorn, but it does heat up, sometimes too much for the Ostreicher kids.
B. OSTREICHER: I say close your window. It's an embarrassment. I say the neighbors are driving by and we have windows open, like we don't care.
VELSHI: Brenda doesn't mind the heat. Thanks to the stove she jokes that she can wear a bikini around the house in the winter without breaking the bank.
B. OSTREICHER: They made a calendar (INAUDIBLE) Bixby stove, so and I think I was Miss November.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: For those of you who think it's a fad, Bob Walker, the guy who invented the Bixby stove is also the guy who invented the sleep number bed. He is into finding things for people that they can possibly use. We'll take stay on top of that story and the price of corn. But the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING begins right now.
S. O'BRIEN: Breaking news out of Iraq this morning. There's videotape surfacing of an American soldier who's been missing now for months.
M. O'BRIEN: Deadly storms, ice, snow and howling winds roaring through a dozen states and it's making a mess of travel, but one of the country's busiest airports has quite a work plan to keep your flight on time.
S. O'BRIEN: Car trouble, one of the country's biggest car makers set to slash thousands of jobs. That's all happening on this AMERICAN MORNING. Welcome back, everybody. It's Wednesday, February 14th, Valentine's Day. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. We're glad you're with us. We begin with news just in from the White House. President Bush will have a news conference at 11:00 Eastern time. Iraq, North Korea, the economy, a lot on his mind. Our White House correspondent Elaine Quijano joining us live now from the White House. Elaine, tell us what prompted this news conference.
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