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American Morning
O.C. Wildfire; Latin America Tour; Soaring Gas Prices; Raging Wildfires; Dire Warning; Minding Your Business
Aired March 12, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Unfriendly fire. Brush fires explode in southern California. Hundreds of homes are evacuated. And more record heat and low humidity coming today.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Heartland hopeful. Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel may run for president today. But do his own neighbors support him?
S. O'BRIEN: Hit the gas. Prices at the pump are up dramatically today. We'll tell you why suddenly we're paying more.
M. O'BRIEN: And she's back in her mother's arms. But questions this morning about how a baby was stolen right from a hospital nursery. We're live from Orange County, Guatemala, Washington and New York City on this AMERICAN MORNING.
S. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. It's Monday, March 12th. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. We're glad you're with us.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's begin with a developing story coming to us this morning in bone-dry Orange County, California. Homeowners are on edge. So far, more than 2,000 acres have been charred in the suburbs just south of Los Angeles. At one point, 500 homes had to be evacuated. CNN's Thelma Gutierrez is at the fire command center in Anaheim Hills, California.
Thelma, good morning to you. How's it looking this morning?
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
I can tell you that the winds are down and that is very good news. There are no homes threatened at the moment and firefighters spent the night putting out some of those hot spots. Evacuees were able to return home, many of them, and right now they are breathing a big sigh of relief because those flames came dangerously close.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUTIERREZ, (voice over): Sunday afternoon, flames raged through the tinder dry brush, up the hillside toward the homes in the Anaheim Hills, while police raced through the neighborhoods telling residents to get out.
BILL SNOW, ANAHEIM HILLS, CALIFORNIA, RESIDENT: It was 12:30, 12:45 and they went door to door, the Anaheim police.
GUTIERREZ: At that point, what did you grab?
SNOW: The dog and not too much else.
MARY SNOW, ANAHEIM HILLS, CALIFORNIA, RESIDENT: My jewelry. And some wedding pictures of my parents.
GUTIERREZ: Firefighters launched an aggressive air attack. One after another, helicopters dipped into the Walnut Canyon Reservoir nestled within the hills, conveniently close to the leading edge of the flames.
ALAN ORVIS, ANAHEIM HILLS, CALIFORNIA, RESIDENT: They've been doing a great job. At one time they had four helicopters flying around and, frankly, they've been doing a marvelous job.
B. SNOW: The limited rainfall that we've had, you know, this is probably a precursor to what we can expect through late spring and early summer.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUTIERREZ: Now this has been a very dry year. We've had record low rainfall with rainfall up to just two and a half inches all year round and so residents are very concerned. Now firefighters are hoping that if the winds hold today, they'll be able to knock this fire out by tonight.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Thelma Gutierrez is in Anaheim Hills in California for us this morning.
Thelma, thanks.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, 35-mile-an-hour winds, 90-degree temperatures, humidity only 5 percent. All you need is a spark and you have an inferno. Today the firefighters might get a small break. Temperatures should fall a little bit. Our severe weather expert Chad Myers watching things for us from the Weather Center.
Good morning, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Miles.
We're still expecting record heat, though, for today. The wind speeds now, the numbers you see behind me, six and five miles an hour. That's helpful compared to the 25 miles per hour that they had yesterday.
Look at Fullerton, 97 degrees yesterday. Anaheim, 95. These are all record highs. The old record in Fullerton, 84. Anaheim, their old record was 91. So was Riverside. So they beat it by four degrees. But the winds were just gusting as well. LaGuna Peak there at 73 miles per hour. Out of Malibu Hills at 46.
Today the heat stays, but the winds won't get above 20. That will help out firefighters tremendously.
There's also some big time weather headed to Houston. A tornado watch for you this morning, if you're hearing the thunder. Details on that in 13 minutes.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: All right. We'll wait for that, Chad. Thank you.
President Bush is in Guatemala this morning. It's his latest stop in a five-nation tour of Latin America. He's pushing free trade. He's going to tour some Mayan ruins. And once again he's going to face protests. CNN's Elaine Quijano is traveling with the president.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carry his message to Guatemala today, his fourth stop on his tour of Latin America. The president is trying to shore up U.S. allies in the region, amid the widespread perception, experts say, that his administration has neglected Latin America since September 11th.
Today, President Bush will, once again, try to push back against that notion. He will visit a farm cooperative to try to make the case that U.S. aid and the Central American Free Trade Agreement are improving the lives of the region's poor. Yet already in a sign of President Bush's unpopularity, Mayan leaders are vowing to spiritually cleanse ancient Guatemala ruins after President Bush visits later today.
Elaine Quijano, CNN, traveling with the president in Bogota, Colombia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: President Bush moves on to Mexico this afternoon. We're going to be bringing you a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING live from Mexico City tomorrow. We'll take a look at the immigration crisis from that side of the border. That's tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING.
M. O'BRIEN: President Bush also sending a message north to Congress. He wants lawmakers to approve the billions needed to pay for the war in Iraq with no strings attached. President Bush also defending his decision to add another 8,000 troops to support the 21,000-strong force he ordered into Iraq in July.
Word this morning the president of Iran is planning a trip to the United Nations to plead his case. State TV in Iran reporting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to address the U.N. Security Council to defend his country's nuclear program. Ahmadinejad says Iran is making nuclear fuel to generate electricity, but the U.S. contends Iran wants to build atomic weapons. S. O'BRIEN: A newborn baby is back with her parents this morning, while the woman accused of kidnapping her is going to go to court later today. Five-day-old Mychael Dawodu was found on Sunday in Clovis, New Mexico, a hundred miles from Lubbock, Texas, and a day after 21-year-old Rayshaun Parson allegedly kidnapped her. Now police say surveillance videotape, which you're looking at right there, shoes Parson walking out with the baby in her shoulder bag. Parson could face federal kidnapping charges.
Also happening this morning, Republican Senator Chuck Hagel could announce that he's running for president today. He's planned a news conference in Omaha this morning. Hague is a Vietnam veteran. Also an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq. Polls show that one-third of Republican primary voters are also against the war.
A suicide bombing near Casablanca in Morocco last night at an Internet cafe. The owners of the cafe say the bomber blew himself up just after he was told, no, he could not look at terror websites. Nobody else was killed. Four people, though, were hurt, including the bomber's companion who was arrested.
M. O'BRIEN: In New York City today, immigrants from Mali will begin burying their dead. Victims of that devastating fire last week in the Bronx. A seven-year-old girl died in the hospital on Friday. The tenth person to die from the fire. Nine of them young children. Doctors say two other children and an adult injured in the fire are doing better this morning.
Another chopper crash investigation this morning in Hawaii. The chopper went down yesterday on the island of Kailua, killing one, seriously injuring three others. It is the second tour chopper to crash there in four days. The pilot was unhurt. He's telling investigators he heard a loud bang before he lost control.
And here's a newsflash. The man on top of the tennis racket, the seemingly invincible Roger Federer, is a loser this morning. It happened in California at the Pacific Life Open. Guillermo Canas knocked him off. Federer had won 41 matches in a row. That was six wins of the all-time record.
S. O'BRIEN: Spring forward indeed. The price of filling up is going up again. On the CNN gas gauge this morning, the national average for self-serve regular is $2.54 a gallon. That's up 33 cents in the last month. Gas was at $2.36 a gallon this time last year. CNN's Allan Chernoff is on the road this morning to find out why for us. He's in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Good morning, Allan.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Here in New Jersey, the prices aren't all that bad compared to the national average. Right here we've got $2.39 for unleaded regular. Nonetheless, prices here are still shooting higher.
So how come? Well, we follow the trail of rising gasoline prices to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF, (voice over): New Jersey has some of the cheapest gas in the nation. Yet even here, drivers are frustrated watching prices at the pump shoot higher.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think it's a little strange prices going up in the middle of February. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why does the price keep going up? I don't understand this. It just keeps going up. When is it going to stop?
CHERNOFF: Station owner Yefim Blitshteyn says he doesn't understand why the price he pays keeps jumping.
What's going on?
YEFIM BLITSHTEYN, GAS STATION OWNER: I don't know what's going on. Maybe somebody making money.
CHERNOFF: So, we spoke to Yefim's supplier, Michael Pasinkovsky, who's just as frustrated. He says the wholesale price at which he buys is up 44 cents a gallon since the beginning of last month. He's heard news reports of a supply shortage but says that's not true.
MICHAEL PASINKOVSKY, GASOLINE SUPPLIER: I didn't see no shortages. We still have the same amount of product and I can buy product wherever I want to and it's product always there.
CHERNOFF: Michael is right. There is no shortage. In fact, the nation's supply of gasoline is a bit higher than usual for this time of year. But there is a reason gas prices are climbing. Some refineries are closing facilities for maintenance and repairs. That drop in production has energy traders pushing prices higher.
CHRIS MATRONI, ENERGY TRADER: When you hear a refinery has problems, goes down, gets shut down, explosion, you're going to get a spike in prices.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF: As we get closer to summer, more refineries are going to be shifting over to produce cleaner burning summer fuel and that's yet another factor that's going to push prices even higher. So by the summertime, many of us easily could be paying $3 a gallon.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: And that's kind of the magic number, isn't it? Have they already seen an impact on drivers now? Are drivers cutting back as this price goes higher and higher?
CHERNOFF: Actually, Soledad, very interesting. Another factor that's pushing prices up is the fact that people are driving actually more than usual during the past few months. So maybe what happened is that the price came down, people said, oh, forget about conserving. They've been driving more. Demand is strong and now the prices are going back up. So let's see what happens now to demand.
S. O'BRIEN: Allan Chernoff for us this morning.
Thanks, Allan.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, more on that southern California wildfire. Chad Myers will be back with what firefighters can expect from the weather today.
And we'll also get an update from the firefighters themselves. We'll talk with the fire chief live and see what kind of progress his crews are making. There he is.
And a popular comedian found dead in Hollywood. We'll tell you what police are saying about it, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning right here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Let's talk these fires out in California. Looks like bad news as temperatures are at record highs and also the winds have been picking up. Take a look at some of these pictures coming to us. This is yesterday in California. Evacuations as well at one point. Five hundred families had to be removed. Two thousand acres have been burned.
Ed Fleming is a battalion chief of the Orange County Fire Authority and he joins us live this morning.
Chief, thanks for talk with us. I know you're very busy this morning. We certainly appreciate your time. How's it looking so far?
BATTALION CHIEF ED FLEMING, ORANGE COUNTY FIRE AUTHORITY: Well, good morning, Soledad.
Firefighters overnight had a chance to get some better containment on this 2,036-acre fire. They've taken advantage of the cooler temperatures overnight, the reduced winds, and the increased relative humidity. However, the bad news is the red flag warning remains in effect until 7:00 p.m. tonight. So we expect the temperatures to increase, the winds to increase and the relative humidities to decrease.
S. O'BRIEN: All bad, bad news.
Let me ask you a question about this report that I read that said that they found a car that was sort of hidden behind the brush in a very inaccessible area that seemed very suspicious. Is it, in your mind, pretty clear that this was started by arson?
FLEMING: The cause of the fire is under investigation. We know that it was started near the vehicle, which was parked on the 241 toll road. But how the vehicle got there and how the fire started and how it proceeded into the wilderness area, I don't have that information. S. O'BRIEN: All the conditions, as you've just pointed out, are right. The high temperatures and the high winds. How does the forecast look for you for the rest of the day? When do you think you're actually going to get a break?
FLEMING: We believe a break will come this evening around 7:00 p.m. The National Weather Service has -- intends to lift the red flag warning and that will give firefighters a chance to take advantage of those onshore winds that come off the Pacific Ocean and it should cool things down and the humidity should come up and we should be able to get good containment on this fire, utilizing resources from the California Department of Forestry and Orange County Fire, City of Anaheim and City of Orange fire departments.
S. O'BRIEN: Really everybody pitching in.
Chief Ed Fleming, I know your busy, so we sure appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.
FLEMING: You're welcome.
M. O'BRIEN: Some breaking news coming into us right now coming out of the Houston area. Let's get right to Chad in the weather center.
Chad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: We were just talking moments ago about how much more money you're paying at the gas pump. Well, Ali Velshi has got an update business-wise. Looking at the summer as well. He's "Minding Your Business" coming up.
And a startling, new report. A billion people with nothing to drink. A hundred million flooded out. Those effects of global warming could be felt much sooner than anybody thought. We have an update on AMERICAN MORNING coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. The most news in the morning is right here at CNN.
You can see right there we're watching, and Chad is reporting, a tornado warning. It's happening in the metro Houston area, in Harris County. You can see right there on that radar, the band of thunderstorms coming across. And in that box, that's the actual warning.
Also this morning, not far away, in Dallas, Texas, a seven-alarm fire to tell you about. It happened in an apartment complex overnight. Six people are now reported to be in the hospital.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: There's a new and stark report on global warming that's out this morning. It paints a grim picture of life on our planet in the coming decades. The report comes from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It represents 2,000 of the world's leading scientists. It's a more detailed follow-up to that big summary report we told you about early last month. Seth Borenstein of the Associated Press got a hold of a leaked draft copy and it shows things are happening faster than scientists expected. Let's take a look at some of the issues we're talking about.
By 2050, more than 1 billion people in Asia will have a lack of water. By 2080, that number will be 3 billion. That's a stark number indeed.
By 2050, the small glaciers of Europe will begin disappearing. The large glaciers will shrink dramatically. By 2050, in the 2050s, smog in U.S. cities will worsen, ozone related deaths from climate will increase by 4.5 percent.
This is by 2050 as well. Another global warming impact. Between 200 and 600 million people will be hungry because of warming. Diseases like Malaria and Dengue Fever will run rampant. By 2080, 100 million people each year could be flooded by rising seas.
And here's one interesting glimmer of good news, if you will, through all of this. At first, at least, more crops will be grown in areas outside of the tropics where there will be longer growing seasons. Of course, over the long run, that could diminish.
The report written and reviewed by several of the world's leading scientists, up to 1,000 of them involved directly in that report. It's still being edited by officials from the governments. The official report is due out next month. We'll keep you updated.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: All right. Let's talk gas prices, shall we? They're going higher. They've gone up 20 cents or so in just the last two weeks. How high could they go? Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business" for us this morning.
Hey, Ali, good morning.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
I don't drive all that much, but I took my car out yesterday and I went to fill it up with gas. Got quite a shock. Twenty in the last two weeks, 33 cents in the last month. As Allan Chernoff was telling us, it could even go higher than that.
Now let's have a look at this. Thirty-three cents is the gain. March 11th, which was yesterday, average across the country for self-service unleaded, $2.54 a gallon. A month ago it was $2.21 a gallon. Right now you'll find the most expensive gasoline in San Francisco. Well above $3 a gallon. In Anchorage, I think you can get it for about $2.25.
Now gas consumption typically increases in spring, but we have had, as Allan said, those refinery problems. A number of refineries have been out for maintenance. That's going to start happening anyway over the course of the next few months. So experts suggest that we're going to see that increase. We might specifically see an increase over the next three weeks because Americans might take advantage of that extra hour of daylight to drive.
Now I kind of feel that ever since we've had headlights on cars, Americans have been able to drive anytime they want. So I don't actually believe that. However, increased gas prices do cause inflation and inflation is going to be the concern of the week just like unemployment was a concern of the week last week.
On Friday, we're getting the big measure of inflation, the Consumer Price Index. Right now January's inflation, in other words the prices in January versus January year ago, were up 2.7 percent. So that's what we would call the inflation rate. The Fed likes to have inflation under 2 percent. That's what they call their comfort zone. When the Fed's not comfortable, that means that interest rates could increase. So everybody's going to be watching what happens this week with inflation.
Then, you know, what we've got until Friday is to look at how markets are trading. And markets tend to trade ahead of these things. So we'll be concentrating on all of that. You'll see on Friday, we had increases for the week on all the major markets over 1 percent. The S&P 500, 1.1 percent last week. We're going to be seeing -- we're going to be looking at trading within that range until we get a better reading of how inflation is going to look this week.
So that's what we're following on markets and in business. I'll be back in a half an hour.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Ali, thank you very much.
We're going to continue to follow our top stories.
As well coming up, a tornado warning we're telling you about right now in metro Houston. We're watching that. Chad will be with us in just a moment.
Plus, we're live in southern California on the scene of that huge wildfire. Hundreds of homes are threatened. Got a live look at conditions this morning.
And a pro golfer is in a wild and deadly accident. We'll tell you what happened there.
Plus, a kidnapped newborn baby girl has been reunited with her family this morning. But why didn't that security bracelet that babies have to wear in the hospital, why didn't it keep her safe? We'll take a closer look straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. You're looking at some live pictures of metro Houston. Watch for just a moment. You'll see some lightning strikes there. There's a -- there it is. A thunderstorm rolling into metro Houston and that's why there is a tornado watch.
M. O'BRIEN: I think it's a warning. It's an actual warning.
S. O'BRIEN: Warning. A tornado warning this morning. And you could see it on the radar, if we've got that shot as well. It really could be -- there you go. You can see the front coming in right there. And we've got the square right there right north of Houston. You can see that is the area of the warning. The Houston metro area affected. Chad's watching it for us as we welcome you back on this Monday, March 12th. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: I'm Miles O'Brien. Let's get right to Chad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: More developing news for you.
A wildfire raging right now in bone-dry Orange County, California. Homeowners on edge this morning. So far, more than 2,000 acres charred in the suburbs of L.A.
CNN's Thelma Gutierrez is at the fire command in Irvine, California.
Thelma, what are conditions like right now?
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, I can tell you that the good news is that the winds have died down. We talked to the battalion chief just a couple of minutes ago. He says the humidity was up to about 21 percent overnight, and so that gave firefighters the big break that they needed to try to establish a line around this fire, and they're very optimistic that they may be able to are this knocked out by tonight.
M. O'BRIEN: Thelma, how unusual is it to see this kind of situation at this time of year, in early March? The temperatures, the winds, all the things we are seeing to make a perfect recipe for a fire?
GUTIERREZ: Miles, I can tell you, we were out covering fires in December, then all of a sudden, we had this very dry winter, and then we're back out again now. Typically, we see rain about this time of the year. But we've had record low rainfall, less than two and a half inches all year round. And so even the evacuees, some of the residents up here who are used to these kinds of conditions, who have their pet cages ready to go, their albums packed, who are ready to evacuate, say they never anticipated it would happen this early in the year.
M. O'BRIEN: Thelma Gutierrez in Irvine.
Thank you -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: President Bush is in Guatemala this morning, and once again he is facing a tough crowd. The president and Mrs. Bush arrived last night. The president is talking about free trade and he's going to visit an ancient Mayan ruin.
After he leaves there, though, Mayan spiritual leaders have vowed to stage a cleansing of the area to get rid of the bad spirits. The reaction like that has been sort of par for the course for Mr. Bush on this trip.
In Colombia, the president was met by 1,500 protesters, some of whom threw rocks and charged a line of police in riot gear. And then later today the president is going to move on to Mexico. And I'll be reporting live from Mexico City tomorrow for the president's visit. We'll take a look at the immigration crisis on this side of the border and on the Mexican side of the border as well.
That's coming up tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, could there possibly be room for yet another presidential candidate? Chuck Hagel will soon find out the answer to that. The Republican senator from Nebraska to announce his plans to run for the Oval Office in 2008. An 11:00 a.m. Eastern news conference planned for Omaha, where it will be 10:00 a.m. Senator Hagel is a Vietnam veteran and an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: The Senate's number three Democrat is calling for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to step down. New York Senator Charles Schumer is criticizing Gonzales for, in his words, putting politics above the law. Gonzales is under fire for the Justice Department's recent firing of eight federal prosecutors and also for the FBI's illegal snooping into private lives.
Here's what Senator Schumer had to say on Sunday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Attorney General Gonzales in his department has been even more political than his predecessor, Attorney General Ashcroft. This department has been so political that I think for the sake of the nation, Attorney General Gonzales should step down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Gonzales served as White House counsel during President Bush's first term, and he was confirmed to replace John Ashcroft in 2005 -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: The outrage over that green card raid in Massachusetts is not diminishing. This morning, Congress is planning to weigh in with some hearings. No definite date, but the House Subcommittee on Immigration will do it.
The raid sparked controversy because children who were born in the U.S. were stranded after their parents were flown to Texas for processing. More than 360 illegals were arrested in that raid. Accusations in the Darfur crimes against the Sudanese government this morning. A United Nations human rights commission says the government of Sudan orchestrated and took part in what has been called genocide against the people of Darfur. The mission was not allowed in the region. The Sudanese refusing them entry visas.
Since 2003, an estimated 200,000 people have been killed, and 2.5 million driven from their homes in Darfur. The Sudanese say those numbers are exaggerated and the western media is blowing the situation out of proportion.
S. O'BRIEN: Well, you know what they say, what goes up can go even higher. The price of gas surging once again.
On the CNN Gas Gauge this morning, the national average price for self-serve regular is now $2.54 a gallon. That is, if you are keeping track, up 33 cents in the last month alone. Gas was $2.36 a gallon at this time last year.
M. O'BRIEN: Police investigating the death of comedian Richard Jeni. They suspect he may have committed suicide.
The 49-year-old Jeni died Saturday. A woman claiming to be Jeni's girlfriend told the LAPD that he shot himself.
Jeni was a popular standup comedian. At one time he appeared regularly on "The Tonight Show".
Pro-golfer Arjun Atwal under investigation this morning after a high- speed street race ended in a fatal crash. Police in Orlando say Arjun's BMW and a Mercedes were doing more than 100 miles an hour.
Both drivers lost control. Arjun spun out. The Mercedes smashed into a tree. Police say Arjun faces street racing charges, at least.
S. O'BRIEN: An extradition hearing is expected today in the case of that little baby who was abducted from a Lubbock, Texas, hospital. Police say 21-year-old Rayshaun Parson has been arrested in Clovis, New Mexico, 100 miles away, near a house where apparently she dropped the baby off. Little 5-day-old Mychael Dawodu was reunited with her parents on Sunday, just one day after she was abducted.
She's in good health, we're told. Apparently, she's been treated for jaundice, though.
Police say a woman who was posing as a hospital worker wearing medical scrubs carried the baby out of the hospital in her handbag. You can see some of the surveillance videotape right there.
Mychael was war a security bracelet, but hospital officials say it was taken off. That triggered an alarm, which allowed hospital security cameras to see a picture of a red pickup truck, which police say was the escape vehicle. Gwen Stafford, a senior vice president at the hospital, says the whole system could use improvement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GWEN STAFFORD, COVENANT MEDICAL CENTER: I don't know that we can ever have anything perfect, but the system functioned. We've just got to do better, not only this hospital, but all hospitals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 121 newborns since 1983, roughly five a year, have been abducted from hospitals or other healthcare facilities, and all but six have been located.
M. O'BRIEN: The search for remains of 9/11 victims could wind up uncovering a very different set of human remains. Crews now looking in the place where the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church used to be after two bones were found there last week. The church was destroyed when debris from the World Trade Center fell on it. Church leaders say that since the disaster, a precious relic has been missing -- a safe containing the enamel box which supposedly holds a bone fragment from St. Nicholas himself.
S. O'BRIEN: We're watching severe weather this morning. Chad is talking about that tornado warning in Houston -- in metro Houston. Plus, we'll have more on that big wildfire in southern California. We'll check in with Chad in just a couple of minutes.
Plus, Democrats pull the plug on the upcoming debate all because of a joke about Barack Obama. We'll tell you what got everybody all riled up.
And just how much for that personal touch? We'll tell you what it takes to meet one of the presidential candidates in person.
That's straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
There is a tornado warning to tell you about for the metro Houston, Texas, area. Chad Myers is keeping us posted on this morning.
Plus, Moroccan police are investigating a suicide bombing in Casablanca. It happened last night when an Internet cafe owner refused the bomber access to terrorist Web sites. Four people were injured -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Politics now.
Actor, then senator, now actor again, Fred Thompson, is thinking about a run for the Oval Office. Thompson is a Republican. He served eight years in Congress. Thompson has also had a successful acting career. He was a regular on NBC's "Law & Order." He's from Tennessee.
Democrats angry at FOX News chairman Richard Ailes for a joke he made about Senator Barack Obama. During a speech last week televised on C- SPAN. Ailes deliberately swapped Obama's name with Osama bin Laden. The remark led Democrats to cancel an August debate in Nevada scheduled to air on FOX.
And, of course, all the day's political news available anytime you need it. CNN.com/ticker is the place.
S. O'BRIEN: The latest polls show that 75 percent of Americans, more or less, are following the race for president very closely. But what does it take for you to get an up-close-and-personal look at the candidates?
AMERICAN MORNING'S Bob Franken has been checking into that for us. He's live in Washington, D.C.
Hey, Bob. Good morning.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
You know what's interesting about those polls? They show as much interest in the candidates as right before the election. And here we are well into the previous year before an election. But, still, few people are going to get the chance for their first-hand look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice over): If you really want some face time with the '08 candidates, move to Iowa.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a pleasure to be here.
FRANKEN: Or New Hampshire.
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: Hello. How are you?
FRANKEN: Or Nevada.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), ILLINOIS: How is it going, Las Vegas?
FRANKEN: The candidates practically live there. But what if you live elsewhere?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Iowa is not really -- I mean, I'm sure there's a lot of great people in Iowa, but there's a lot of people on the north coast. There's how many million people here?
FRANKEN: Of course, you can still buy access like this Mitt Romney Republican event in Miami, or this fund-raising dinner for Barack Obama in New York City.
OBAMA: This campaign is not about me. It is about you.
FRANKEN: It's about what the pros call an election cycle, where the early primary states are so front-loaded, the candidates will appear as a blur from elsewhere on a TV screen. Iowa and New Hampshire are traditionally the first states. Nevada and others want a piece of that action. Regardless, many political pros say people elsewhere feel the pride.
DONNA BRAZILE, POLITICAL STRATEGIST: Voters want a chance to see these candidates, to touch them, to talk to them, to ask their tough questions, to get a chance to get a sense of their comfort level.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that it gives you the opportunity to really assess the likeablity of the candidate, if they are genuine, if what they are saying is true. And it really helps you to be able to relate to the candidate you want to vote for.
FRANKEN: For millions, the closest they will get to the candidates is cyberspace via their Web sites.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bottom line is that they'll need to say whatever they need to say that's good for them, and wherever they are.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: And what is ironic about this front-loading is as many as 20 states have decided they want to be a part of the action, so they are moving their primaries up to February 5th. And the problem is, is that's going to mean the candidates are just going to have to race from one to the other with little time to sit and talk a spell -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: And are there other problems, too? I mean, what does all that front-loading mean as far as the choice of a candidate?
FRANKEN: Well, first of all, it could mean that by February 5th, as many as 50 percent of the delegates could be chosen. Some of the early states like New Hampshire, particularly, talking about moving their primaries even earlier. New Hampshire, whimsically, they've talked about moving it before the first of the year. And if we keep going, it will be before we're through with Daylight Saving Time.
S. O'BRIEN: Bob Franken for us this morning.
Thank you, Bob -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Voting is schedule for tomorrow. No.
Quarter of the hour. Chad Myers at the weather center.
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S. O'BRIEN: Some promising new research and maybe potentially new hope for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's patients. We'll tell you about that straight ahead as we update some medical stories for you this morning.
And maybe the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame ought to add rap to its name. We'll take a look at the group that's going to make history tonight straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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M. O'BRIEN: Welcome back to the most news in the morning.
Halliburton, the big oil and engineering firm from Houston, is establishing a new beachhead in the Middle East. And it could be even more than that.
A couple of minutes before the top of the hour. Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business."
Why would they leave the U.S.?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm trying to figure out whether it is more than that or not. Here's the story.
They are based in Houston, they've been there for four years, moved from Dallas. This is the big oil services company that was headed by current Vice President Dick Cheney.
Now, they are -- they said that they are opening a corporate headquarters, what they're calling it, in Dubai. The CEO and the chairman will work from Dubai. The COO and the CFO will continue to work from Houston.
I'm not quite sure what this is, except that most of Halliburton's business is now growing in the Eastern Hemisphere. Last year, 40 percent of their revenue came from the Eastern Hemisphere. They do a lot of business in the Middle East. Analysts say it kind of makes sense to be doing business from there, but it's unclear.
The company under a lot of questioning yesterday when they announced this. Wouldn't give a clear answer. Where is home base? Is it going to be Houston or is it going to be Dubai?
M. O'BRIEN: It could be as simple as being near the business.
VELSHI: Well, that's what the company says.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Right.
VELSHI: Unclear what that means. Are they going to have two corporate headquarters? Who knows? They say that there are better growth opportunities in the East than in the West.
Now, while we're on the topic of the Middle East, Ford is going to announce at 9:00 a.m. Eastern today that it's got some deal to sell at least a part of Aston Martin. Remember those Aston Martin cars made famous by James Bond?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
VELSHI: And Aston Martin -- I think the indications are that about 20 percent of the company is going to be sold. There air couple of companies in Kuwait who might be part of the successful bidding team, in partnership with the company from Britain. This is a British-made car.
So, Ford has been trying to unload some of its luxury units. And we're going to hear probably in a couple of hours if they've got some sort of deal.
M. O'BRIEN: With the ejector seat included, right?
VELSHI: With the ejector seat included, exactly.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you, Ali.
S. O'BRIEN: I love that. All right.
Thanks, Ali.
Some of the other headlines of the morning on CNN.com, some of the most popular stories right now.
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S. O'BRIEN: Unfriendly fire. Brushfires explode in southern California, hundreds of homes have been evacuated, and there is more record heat and low humidity today.
M. O'BRIEN: Rough trip. President Bush in Guatemala today. Mayan priests plan a special ceremony opposing his visit.
S. O'BRIEN: Heartland hopeful. Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel may run for president today, but do his own neighbors support him?
M. O'BRIEN: Hit the gas. Prices at the pump up dramatically today. Why are we suddenly paying so much more?
We are live from Orange County, California, Omaha, Guatemala City, and New York City on this AMERICAN MORNING.
S. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. It's Monday, March 12th.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien.
We're glad you're with us this morning.
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