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American Morning
Housing Crisis: Foreclosure Rate Highest in Detroit; Musharraf's Power: Losing Allies in Pakistan
Aired March 23, 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: I-95 emergency. A charter bus full of teenagers is forced to pull over. The students all rushed to the hospital overnight with a mysterious illness.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The war, your vote and your money. It all comes to a head today in Congress. How they're luring votes for a bill using billions of your tax dollars.
S. O'BRIEN: And a new Houdini mystery. A new push today to unravel what's an 80-year-old conspiracy theory. Was Houdini murdered?
We've live this morning from Baltimore, from Jamaica, from Washington, D.C., and in New York all on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning. Welcome, everybody. It is Friday, March 23rd. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us.
In Washington this morning, Democratic leaders are scrambling for votes on a measure that would put the brakes on the Iraq War. The vote is going to be a squeaker and that means it's time to pry the lid off the pork barrel. AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken joining us now with more.
Good morning, Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pork barrel. Wasn't that one of those terms the Democrats say would not exist anymore when they came in just such a short time ago saying it was going to be a new day in Washington? And what did we find out? That the new day looks an awful lot like the old days.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. NANCY PELOSI, (D) HOUSE SPEAKER: With today's convening of the 110th Congress, we begin anew.
FRANKEN, (voice over): That was the rallying cry from the newly in charge Democrats, the wheeling and dealing and hidden pork barrel spending would be no more. Fast forward just 10 weeks. Democratic leaders face their biggest challenge so far. The legislation providing $124 billion in war funding, combined with a troop pullout from Iraq next year. And they're using every tool at their command. The same tools they criticized the Republicans for using -- good, old fashioned pork.
REP. DAVID DREIER, (R) CALIFORNIA: It enjoys such limited support on the other side of the aisle that it had to be laden with unrelated, unrelated pork in order to win enough votes to have any hope of passing.
REP. MARK KIRK, (R) ILLINOIS: It would provide $25 million in a bailout for spinach farmers. Another $74 million in taxpayer dollars for peanut storage. And $283 million for milk producers.
FRANKEN: And farm relief, which creates quite a dilemma for many members, even Republicans.
REP. MARYLIN MUSGRAVE, (R) COLORADO: Shame on the Democrats for playing politics with people's lives.
FRANKEN: Marylin Musgrave normally wouldn't even consider supporting a troop pullout, but her district really needs relief, put her in the undecided column.
MUSGRAVE: And, of course, my heart is always with our troops. So as it comes down to the wire, I'm just going to make the very best decision I can.
FRANKEN: Democratic leaders insist this is not pork. It's not just peanut storage, but money for spinach farmers and dairy farmers. (INAUDIBLE), by the way, definitely not peanuts. But Republicans are cutting them no slack.
REP. CANDICE MILLER, (R) MICHIGAN: The Democratic leaders offered the voters change in November, but all we are getting, all the nation is getting is politics worse than usual.
FRANKEN: The domestic money in the bill is tempting, but the White House warns that members should resist temptation.
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The one they're considering has zero chance of being enacted into law. It's bad legislation. The president's going to veto it and Congress will sustain that veto.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: We wanted to talk to a number of Democrats about this, but they just weren't interested in being interviewed. As for this legislation, given all the obstacles in the way, Miles, I think it's a little early to say that they'll be bringing home the bacon.
M. O'BRIEN: I should say. And given all that talk about veto, is that a dead certainty, you think?
FRANKEN: Well, nothing is dead certain. In politics, there's always time to negotiate. There's still, believe it or not, even in an issue like this, still in the posturing stage. But, obviously, this is one of the primal issues. So there's going to be a confrontation at some point. M. O'BRIEN: Bob Franken right here in New York, thanks very much.
A lot of questions for the House Democrats as they lay the lard on such an important bill.
We have those questions ready for the majority leader, Steny Hoyer. He is our guest live at 7:30 Eastern. Stay tuned for that.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Well, John and Elizabeth Edwards are back on the campaign trail today. They're heading to California, not letting cancer, her cancer, stop his campaign for president. John Edwards was in New York last night for a private fund-raiser. Elizabeth was in Boston hours after announcing the breast cancer is back, that it's incurable but it's treatable.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIZABETH EDWARDS, BATTLING BREAST CANCER: This is what happens to every cancer survivor, not that you ultimately get a bad diagnosis, but every time you get something suspicious, you go into alarm mode. And that's every cancer survivor that you know personally has exactly that experience of knowing that that pain they feel in their side, the ache they feel some place could be the sign of something worse. This turned out to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Now cancer has spread to Elizabeth Edwards' bones and it may even be in her lung. Doctors say they're investigating that. Elizabeth Edwards says, though, she expects to do everything she did before and John Edwards says he's going to be with her when she needs him, but otherwise his presidential campaign will continue on.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, it certainly isn't cricket. In Jamaica this morning, authorities are investigating the murder of a world-famous cricket coach who might be the victim of a mafia hit. The coach of the Pakistani team, Bob Woolmer is his name, was strangled in his hotel room. He died a day after Pakistan's surprise loss to Ireland in the cricket World Cup. Now gamblers spend an awful lot of money on cricket. Investigators suspect some mobsters who lost a lot of money when Pakistan lost might have targeted the coach. Stay tuned on that one.
And now for our next trick. Word this morning a relative of the greet Houdini wants to dig up the grave to see if the legendary escape artist was murdered. Harry Houdini died in Detroit in 1926. The story at the time, his appendix ruptured after he was hit repeatedly in the stomach. But there are persistent conspiracy theories. Houdini was widely known for debunking psychics and mediums and some suggest that was a motive for murder. So Houdini's great nephew would like his body exhumed from its grave in New York.
S. O'BRIEN: Gosh, everybody's watching that.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: That's interesting.
This morning, furious and grieving pet owners are taking it to court, filing lawsuits against the manufacturer of what appears to be tainted pet food. It's now believed responsible, in fact, for killing 16 pets. Take a look at some of these animals. These are the ones that were killed, their owners say, when they ate the food. Ahead, we're going to tell you exactly how these owners are fighting back.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Also ahead, with Elizabeth Edwards' cancer back, lots of questions. We'll hear from singer Shreyl Crow. She, of course, is a breast cancer survivor. Larry King spoke to her last night. We'll tell you what she said.
And luck be a lady. We'll introduce you to one New Hampshire mother and tell you how she survived that -- a stick right through the windshield. We're glad she lived to tell the tale. You'll hear it.
Stay tuned for the most news in the morning right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
There are some new questions this morning about just what happened to a bus load of students from Springfield, Massachusetts. They were headed for a competition in Maryland. Twenty-one of them, though, had to be taken to the hospital after getting sick on their chaptered bus. Their symptoms were headaches, burning eyes, nausea, vomiting and, in fact, one student was rushed to a shock trauma center, was later released. Roosevelt Leftwich is with our affiliate WMAR. He is live at the hospital in Baltimore this morning.
Hey, Roosevelt, good morning to you.
Let's begin with the condition of these teenagers.
ROOSEVELT LEFTWICH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what has happened right now, Soledad, is that once you -- as you mentioned, the most serious case was taken here to shock trauma. That student was treated and released just a short while ago. The other students that were also taken off the bus, they were sent to several different hospitals. Those students have also been treated and released.
Now here's what we know so far. Take a look at some of the video we shot earlier this morning and that will give you a better idea. Now the bus was full of more than three dozen students and their chaperones heading to Laural, Maryland, for an ROTC competition. Several students started to become ill and complained of many different symptoms, everything from nausea, to vomiting, to, as you mentioned as well, burning eyes.
They pulled off of Interstate 95 at the White Marsh exit near an Exxon station. And as more students became ill, that's when they started to call for help. The most serious case, that student was unconscious. He was brought here to shock trauma. The other students were complaining of those symptoms. They were taken to -- since there was so many, they were distributed to about four different hospitals throughout the Baltimore area.
Now, once again, those students have been treated and released. The most serious case that was brought here to shock trauma, that student was also treated and released.
Now at first authorities were saying that carbon monoxide may have been the culprit here. However, they inspected the bus and now they're also checking to see if there was anything else that may have caused those students to become ill.
It's a little loud here right now, but once again, all those students have been treated and released.
Reporting from Baltimore, Roosevelt Leftwich from WMAR in Baltimore.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Roosevelt, thanks.
Yes, we hear you fine, but there is a lot of noise. I guess when you're in front of a shock and trauma center, you've got those helicopters flying people in.
Thanks, Roosevelt, appreciate it.
Want to take a closer look this morning too at this video. Do you see this? Look, a stick through the windshield. That could truly kill a driver. Luckily for the mother in New Hampshire who was behind the wheel, missed her by an inch, they say. The branch fell off the tree, shot right through Kim Marin's (ph) windshield. Able to stop the car safely. In fact, she told the cops she didn't even really know what was going on until she sort of took a moment to figure it out. There are her kids there. They've decided they're going to keep that stick as a souvenir.
M. O'BRIEN: I would definitely keep it and mount it as a reminder of . . .
S. O'BRIEN: Can you believe that?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, amazing. Glad she's around to tell that story.
This morning, all across the country, fear, outrage and sadness among dog and cat owners. That tainted pet food that killed so many animals, made so many others sick, is now prompting some to sick some lawyers on the company that made the lethal batches of food.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, PET OWNER: They were pretty special. They're members of our family. They're not just animals.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, PET OWNER: It's the worst pain that I had felt.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, PET OWNER: She was one of the family. She collapsed in my kitchen. I called the vet right away. They got her in for an emergency. It was all -- she didn't even last Saturday night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: It's hard to lose a pet.
AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho has been following this story for us.
Good morning, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. You say it, Miles. Pet owners we spoke to say they're angry, they're confused and, most of all, they're sad about losing what many consider a family member. Some of them are so angry now they say someone needs to be held accountable and they're going after the manufacturer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO, (voice over): Princess, a 90-pound bull mastiff, was always healthy. So when owner Sandy Bobb found her usually feisty dog suddenly sedate, she started to worry.
SANDY BOBB, SUING DOG FOOD MANUFACTURER: She was at the bottom of my basement stairs, just laid out with her nose in the corner. And I said, this isn't right.
CHO: Her husband immediately took Princess to the vet.
BOBB: He kept saying, do you think she could have eaten anything? He goes, it's toxic. Everything is come up toxic. The next day, Princess's kidneys failed and she died. The Bobb family was stunned. So was Jackie Johnson. Her cat, Gumby, got sick a month ago.
JACKIE JOHNSON, CAT HAS KIDNEY DISEASE: She immediately vomited, which is not usual. And during the week, she progressively got worse.
CHO: Gumby, like Princess, was diagnosed with kidney failure, but the 14-year-old cat survived and a month later is still on an IV. Johnson gave Gumby Iams's brand Select Bites. Bobb fed Princess Natural Choice pouches. Two of the 95 brands of cuts and gravy style dog and cat food recalled last week. Sixty million cans and pouches in all. While pet owners everywhere are worried, Johnson and Bobb are taking action. Both have filed lawsuits against manufacturer Menu Foods. BOBB: Sick to my stomach at how a company like that could, you know -- where is their quality control? How does something like this happen?
CHO: Menu Foods would not comment on the lawsuits, but a spokesman said the company is working on finding the root of the problem. The FDA believes wheat gluten, a thickening agent, may be the culprit. To date, at least 14 animals have died. Veterinarian Cathy Langston, who's treated a dozen cases linked to the recall, including Bunky (ph), says she's never seen anything like this.
DR. CATHY LANGSTON, ANIMAL MEDICAL CENTER: I'll admit that I was almost crying as I walked home last night thinking about all the animals that are affected by this.
JOHNSON: The goal is not retribution per say, it's justice. We need to find out what happened.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: So how do you know if your pet has kidney failure? Here are the symptoms. We're going to put them up on the screen for you. Loss of appetite, vomiting, excessive drinking or excessive urinating. Now if your pet is showing any of these symptoms, take them to the vet immediately. A simple blood and urine test will determine whether your cat or dog has kidney failure.
Now, many pet owners are also very confused over just which brands are affected. I mean there are so many of them, 95. So we found the best advice is to go to the website, that's www.menufoods.com/recall. There it is up on the screen there. You can either click on cat food or dog food. Once you do that, all of the brands come up, the 53 brands of dog food, the 52 brands of cat food. And after that, you can actually click on the brand itself, Miles, and it will tell you the date and the lot number and all the pertinent information.
But I called the number there, which it was on the screen a moment ago, 866-895-2708. And if you call that number and you say, I've got this can. They say, check it, give us the numbers and they can check right then and there whether it's something you need to keep or throw away.
M. O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you right now, I would not feed my animal a can of any of that food right now. I suspect a lot of people are just throwing it out. That's probably good advice. If your animal eats a can of that, is it a death sentence or can vets do enough to save some of these animals?
CHO: Well, they can do enough to save them. And they are saving a lot of them. I mean, you know, 14 at least have died, but the vast majority are being saved. I mean the key is, watch your pet. If you know -- if you're a pet owner, you're going to know by now a week into the recall that you've bought this food. So keep an eye on them. Make sure they're not exhibiting any of those symptoms, vomiting, excessive drinking, urinating, that type of thing. If they are, take them to the vet and make sure you get them there fast.
M. O'BRIEN: When in doubt, take them to the vet.
Alina, thank you very much.
It's about quarter past the hour right now. Rob Marciano at the CNN Weather Center. He's in for Chad today.
Got a little bit of activity there in the Chicago area.
Hello, Rob.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Elizabeth Edwards says she's going to fight the cancer. Her husband's going to keep campaigning for president. The two of them are back on the road today after that really sad announcement yesterday that the cancer's back, that it's spread to her rib, that it's not curable, it's treatable, she says. Well, singer Sheryl Crow, who's a breast cancer survivor herself, says she agrees with Mrs. Edwards' strategy to try to keep normalcy in her life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERYL CROW, BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR: The thing that you want to do is to try to maintain some normalcy in your life so that you don't feel like everything is completely spinning out of control. And to make sure and be surrounded by people who are positive. And that's one of the things that I love about what Elizabeth said today and why I think she's so courageous is that she -- I mean I look at her and I think that she has had a life like Job from the Bible. Such amazing trials, and yet she handles herself with such grace. And one of the things that she said was just trying to keep her life as sane and as normal as possible as she goes through this in order to keep some order and to be able to live her life and enjoy it. And almost every breast cancer survivor or woman who's gone through treatment that I've met has kind of adhered to that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: That was singer Shreyl Crow talking on "Larry King Live" last night. You can watch Larry King every night 9:00 p.m. Eastern.
Just ahead this morning, and just in time for the summer driving season, oil prices are up. Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business" with a look at that.
And no sex at Harvard? No. Say it ain't so. Other college campuses, too, apparently. Is abstinence becoming the next big thing on campus?
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning is right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) S. O'BRIEN: When you think of Harvard University, sex is not the first thing you think of. It's really not the second thing you think of, or the third or the tenth thing. But there is a new group on campus that is pushing for abstinence. And, believe it or not, they're getting a lot of flack from the student body. The pro- abstinence club was started by two Harvard seniors that are dating. So what does that say about our faith and values? Delia Gallagher is our faith and values correspondent.
Good morning.
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
S. O'BRIEN: Is this not just on the Harvard campus, right?
GALLAGHER: No. This is an interesting trend that's happening across a lot of campuses. In Princeton, MIT, Northwestern. You're seeing a lot of these public universities where the students are coming up with these abstinence groups.
Not necessarily huge membership, but very vocal and creating a lot of stir on campuses. And there's an interesting survey taken last year in 2006 about how many students were actually having sex and they found that 23 percent of students were abstaining from sex on universities across the nation.
S. O'BRIEN: Which means a very large percent are having sex, obviously.
GALLAGHER: Are having it. But, still, that's an interesting number, I thought.
S. O'BRIEN: What I guess got this couple -- this group kind of in the news was that they sent out flyers to the freshmen girls saying, why wait? Because you're worth it.
GALLAGHER: Right.
S. O'BRIEN: And that kind of started the storm.
GALLAGHER: That started the storm because, of course, a, the students on campus who were opposed to this said why are you only sending it to girls? Freshmen girls at that. And, b, they sort of said, well, that implies those people who haven't waited are somehow ruined because . . .
S. O'BRIEN: And not worth it.
GALLAGHER: And not worth it.
S. O'BRIEN: Is this a religious thing? I mean is there some religious connection with this?
GALLAGHER: At Harvard there is no religious connection to this. There are, of course, Christian colleges that promote these kind of abstinence groups too. But at the colleges that we've seeing, there's no religious connection to these groups.
S. O'BRIEN: A couple started this, two seniors, who are dating and we're going to assume not having sex. The woman said this about why they started the club. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH KINSELLA, HARVARD SENIOR: So we thought that this would be a positive contribution to the campus discussion, just to promote the idea that, hey, if you decide that you want to wait until you're married, it's an OK thing. It's a good thing. There might even be some benefits to your health and to your relationship.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: What's Harvard's official reaction been?
GALLAGHER: Well, look, Harvard has officially recognized this group. So in terms of their administration's reaction, that's the extent of their reaction. But I spoke to the director of the health services of Harvard yesterday and he said, look, the fact that -- if students are having it, we need to talk to them about protective sex. But he said that is different from promoting it.
S. O'BRIEN: The final word. Faith and values correspondent Delia Gallagher.
Thank you, Delia.
GALLAGHER: You're welcome.
S. O'BRIEN: Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Ali Velshi is here to tell us, it's a double bad news segment, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Oil prices up. Chocolate prices up. Clearly the apocalypse is at hand.
VELSHI: There's no fun anymore.
M. O'BRIEN: I'm sorry.
VELSHI: There's no fun anymore.
Oil prices were up more than $2 to $61.70 yesterday. This actually isn't about the price of the underlying commodity, it's actually about gasoline supplies in the United States being much lower than expected and that has forced the price of the whole commodity up.
Stockpiles of gasoline in the United States are down 7 percent in March from where they were in February. Why? Because there were some refinery snags. We go into maintenance in some of these refineries to switch over to summer gas. And there's increased gasoline. I don't know why there's increased demand for gasoline, but there is in the United States.
We've seen oil jump $2. Much higher than the $50 it was a barrel in January. Much lower than the $78 it was last July.
Now here is the real story. Chocolate prices are up. Cocoa bean prices are way up. I just checked this, by the way. $1,908 for a metric ton. Why? Because there's a drought in West Africa, particularly the Ivory Coast where most of this comes from. That country has suffered from a long dry spell. There's also increased demand for chocolate because as the world sort of gets richer, it's sweet tooth is sort of a luxury of the rich.
M. O'BRIEN: So in luxury (ph) you purchase?
VELSHI: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Interesting.
VELSHI: So there's increased demand. There's talk about 100,000 ton possible shortfall this year.
M. O'BRIEN: And there's no synthetic alternative (INAUDIBLE).
VELSHI: No. And here's the thing. Our tastes are getting more refined. We're enjoying this dark chocolate. Apparently they're just like wine, there are 450 different flavors in a cocoa bean . . .
M. O'BRIEN: Really?
VELSHI: And there's all the single-malt or single-bean chocolates.
M. O'BRIEN: Single malt beans.
VELSHI: All right. So, there you go. Chocolate. This is no fun anymore. I'll be back talking about how your airfares might be more expensive too in about half an hour.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh, come on, find some good news, will you?
VELSHI: I will try to.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, we'll see you in a bit.
Top stories of the morning are coming up.
Including, here's a sign of the times. Believe it or not, in Detroit, what would you think would be cheaper, a house or a car? We'll tell you the answer to that one. It's a surprise. I guess that gives it away.
Also, questions about Pakistani President Musharraf and whether he'll be around to help America's war on terror.
And if you're hooked on soda pop, your dentist has some advice for you, and your smile. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. The most news in the morning right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everyone. It's Friday, March 23rd. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. We're glad you're with us.
Several stories developing across the country right now. A scary detour for dozens of high school students. A mystery sickness on their bus as it was driving down I-95 overnight in Maryland. Twenty- one teens needed hospital treatment. We'll have the latest for you.
S. O'BRIEN: Also some crushing new numbers out this morning and a surprising story that caught our eye. Well, you know what they say, real estate is all about location, location, location. In some parts of motor city, houses are cheaper than cars. You can get a home for $1,500.
M. O'BRIEN: And the magician and the possible murder plot. They're revisiting the death of Harry Houdini, 81 years later.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's begin with testimony on The Hill. Pretty brutal. Pretty clear, too. It's been happening the last couple of days and what we're learning is more than two million people are expected to lose their homes because of the subprime loan market. It's unraveling. Of course, that's the companies that lend money to high-risk borrowers.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ROBERT MENENDEZ (D), BANKING, HOUSING, URBAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: What we're looking at is a tsunami of foreclosures that is on the horizon. That means thousands of families that were going to transform the dream of homeownership, and we're going to make it a nightmare for them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Dire predictions. Subprime loans, of course, help people who have got bad credit get loans. The Senate Banking Committee, though, furious about unscrupulous lenders who have been talking people into loans they can't afford. What we're seeing now is that many of those people can't make their payments and then they end up losing their homes. Where you see it a lot is Detroit. And Detroit, in a way, has become a symbol of the nation's mortgage meltdown.
CNN's Jason Carroll has more on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Detroit, Motor City, a place known for its cars and its music. But the city is now singing a more somber note as the home mortgage foreclosure capital of the country.
PHILIP BOZENSKI, BOZENSKI REAL ESTATE: No community, no city, no street is immune to foreclosure anymore. People who you've -- who you've talked to down the street probably know someone who is in a foreclosure.
CARROLL: Last year, Detroit had the highest foreclosure rate among the nation's 100 largest cities. In 2006, one out of every 21 homeowners here filed for foreclosure.
Economists say Detroit is troubled, partly because the auto giants that used to drive the local economy with jobs have had to cut back due to slumping sales. The state's unemployment rate is almost 70 percent higher than the national average. Many try selling to avoid foreclosing. Now foreclosures have pushed down prices across the board in both high and low income neighborhoods.
It has gotten so bad, buyers are bidding on homes at auctions for less than he price of a secondhand car. Some as low as $1,500.
The city's mayor points to a revitalized downtown as a hopeful sign of improvement.
MAYOR KWAME KILPATRICK, DETROIT: And it's really a tale of two cities. We're selling million-dollar condos in downtown Detroit for the first time ever, and people are losing their homes in many neighborhoods around the city.
CARROLL: Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Let me give you some numbers. This is -- this is crazy.
Sixteen houses that were on auction over the weekend sold for under $30,000. A bungalow went for $1,300. A bungalow. A four- bedroom mansion...
M. O'BRIEN: I assume the $1,300 was a bit of a fixer-upper, but that's...
S. O'BRIEN: Well, I guess so. OK. But still, that's still a house.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: You know, as the guy said, it comes with the land under the house, too. A four bedroom mansion, take a guess.
M. O'BRIEN: Twenty thousand.
S. O'BRIEN: No -- $135,000.
M. O'BRIEN: A hundred and thirty-five thousand. But a mansion.
S. O'BRIEN: A ranch in Oak Park -- you know the neighborhood.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes. Thirty thousand.
S. O'BRIEN: Thirty-four thousand dollars. Thirty-four thousand dollars for a ranch. That's what like my parents paid for their ranch 40 years ago.
M. O'BRIEN: And you'd say, well, this might be a buying opportunity, but there's no...
S. O'BRIEN: Well, people say hold it. You have got to buy it and expect to wait a long time for the market to bounce back.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. All right.
Democrats are drawing their line in the Iraqi sand, but it is laced with a heavy dose of pork. The big vote today on that bill that would demand U.S. combat troops be out of Iraqi by September of '08. The deadline is wrapped into $122 billion measure to pay the bills to continue the war. But to get enough support, Democrats threw in some goodies, like $21 billion for spinach growers, or $74 million for peanut storage.
The president has his veto pen ready, we're told.
The Taliban targeting NATO troops in Afghanistan. A suicide bomber attacked a NATO convoy in eastern Afghanistan this morning, injuring a child. Local officials blame the Taliban for the attack.
For the south, questions about Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf's commitment to fighting the Taliban, and now questions about his ability to hold on to power.
CNN's Brian Todd with that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Are these protesting lawyers the beginning of the end for Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's lightning rod president who rules a volatile country armed with nuclear weapons? A top Pakistani journalist says this demonstration over an ousted supreme court justice is just one sign that Musharraf is losing his grip on power in this crucial election year.
AHMED RASHID, PAKISTANI JOURNALIST: Musharraf has become a lame duck in the sense that he cannot now fulfill his own agenda to remain president for the next five years.
TODD: Ahmed Rashid and another Musharraf critic say there's one key reason he's losing his hold.
SAMINA AHMED, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: Because of these political compulsions, wanting to stay on in power, have absolute power, he's made these kinds of alliances, which I think in the end are going to be very counterproductive for him.
TODD: Alliances, they say, with partners that no longer trust him, including one of Pakistan's most influential political parties -- tribal elders near his border with Afghanistan, many of them Taliban sympathizers, with his intelligence services, and the United States. Top Pakistani officials deny it, telling CNN Musharraf is on solid ground with all these groups. But on the relationship with Washington, sources with knowledge of Musharraf's recent meeting with Vice President Cheney tell us Cheney made it clear Musharraf needs to crack down harder on Taliban operating inside Pakistan.
Still, with so much uncertainty over who might replace him, experts say it's too dangerous for anyone to walk away from Pervez Musharraf.
SETH JONES, RAND CORPORATION: The idea of major violence, street demonstrations erupting in a very fragile country with nuclear weapons, I think from an international standpoint, including from an American standpoint, means it's very important to walk cautiously here.
TODD (on camera): And even Musharraf's harshest critics admit Pakistan's political parties are in disarray after eight years of his rule, and when they were in power, they were corrupt and ineffective.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: We are the most news in the morning right here on CNN.
This one is coming into us right now. Take a look at that fireball. That from Africa, Mozambique.
A huge explosion at a weapon's depot there. At least 72 are dead, are early reports. Several hundred others hurt. The thinking right now is that it is an accident. Mozambique is in the midst of a searing heat wave.
Just about quarter of the hour right now. Rob Marciano at the CNN weather center. He's watching a lot of radar activity in the Midwest. He's got the cold and flu report, too.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Some health headlines for you this morning.
Speaking of feeling well, there is a possible link between a mutated gene and colon cancer. It could help doctors determine who is more likely to develop polyps and ultimately tumor that come from those polyps, and, of course, could help them diagnose, treat and maybe even prevent colon cancer one day.
There's some new numbers about just how much nipping and tucking we're doing here in the U.S. More people than ever.
Eleven million people had a little something done here in the U.S. back in 2006. Breast surgery, breast augmentation, is the number one cosmetic surgery, replacing nose jobs. Nose jobs used to be number one. Now it's breast surgery. Nose jobs dropped to number two. Lipo, number three.
Here's what Dutch scientists say they're working on -- foods that help you lose weight because you feel full when you eat them. They're focusing, they say, on making nutrient-rich ingredients that can be added to drinks and spreads and bread. It sounds like it's a few years away, and that might be why the program director is declining to give more details. He says it's a trade secret.
And soda corrodes your teeth. We all know that. It's nearly as bad as battery acid.
A new study says that prolonged exposure can eat away at your enamel. It comes from the Academy of General Dentistry. That's their report, but critics say the test isn't fair. Nobody swishes soda around for 48 hours, which is how they do the test.
They say, you know, they didn't account for...
M. O'BRIEN: It's not a very realistic test. Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, but they say we get that. It still shows how damaging it is.
They point out though that root beer is the soda to drink. It's less damaging because it's less acidic and it doesn't contain phosphoric or citric acids, which I guess continues to eat away at your teeth.
M. O'BRIEN: And it doesn't matter if you're talking about diet or regular.
S. O'BRIEN: No, apparently not.
M. O'BRIEN: It's the same acidity in all of that. OK.
S. O'BRIEN: No, they list -- they list them all.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, kids. Cut back on those sodas.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Well, fares on flights to Europe may come down because of a new agreement between the U.S. and the European Union. It's about five minutes before the top of the hour. Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business."
Good morning, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I wish it were that simple. Good morning, Miles.
The airline industry remains one of the most regulated industries around, and the rights of carriers from one country to fly into another country is heavily regulated.
Now, phase one of an open skies agreement between the U.S. and the EU is under way. What political leaders in the U.S. and Europe are trying to do is deregulate some parts of air travel between the continents, and that could mean or should mean more U.S. flights can fly to more airports across Europe more often, and in exchange, more European carriers can fly to more U.S. destinations.
Now, again, in theory, that should mean lower prices and more choices for travelers from both sides of the Atlantic, but some countries, particularly the U.K., want the U.S. to drop its rule that limits foreign ownership on airlines to 25 percent. Now, no surprise, most -- many U.S. politicians say no way to that, and the U.K., for its part, is saying that this open skies deal is part one. If part two isn't headed for takeoff by 2010, meaning more liberalization in the U.S., the U.K. might just yank all U.S. flights to fly into Britain, which is, of course, one of the most sought after airport markets in the world.
M. O'BRIEN: Would they really do that, though?
VELSHI: No. It's not economical for anybody to do that.
M. O'BRIEN: Right.
VELSHI: They're sort of -- I think they're putting down the extreme position. That's still three years away. But fundamentally, everybody needs to loosen this up, and some places don't want to.
M. O'BRIEN: You have a limited amount of runway space...
VELSHI: Right.
M. O'BRIEN: ... a limited amount of gate space.
VELSHI: Correct.
M. O'BRIEN: How do you open it up and unregulate (ph) something like that that is a scarce commodity?
VELSHI: What happens every time you deregulate a scarce commodity, it goes into the free market and it becomes very expensive, like taxi plates. So if Continental and Delta want more slots at Heathrow, they're going to have to pay up for it.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. A little capitalism there.
VELSHI: That's right.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Free market.
Ali Velshi, we'll see you in a minute.
VELSHI: OK.
M. O'BRIEN: Soledad.
(NEWSBREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: The war, the vote, and your money all coming to a head today in Congress. We'll tell you how they're trying to lure votes for a bill using billions of dollars, your tax dollars.
M. O'BRIEN: An I-95 emergency. A charter bus full of students forced to pull over. Nearly two dozen teens rushed to the hospital overnight.
S. O'BRIEN: And a new Houdini mystery to tell you about. A new push, in fact, to unravel an 80-year-old conspiracy theory. Was Houdini murdered?
We're live this morning from Jamaica, from Washington, D.C., and New York, all on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome, everybody. It's Friday, March 23rd.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien.
Thanks for being with us.
In Washington this morning, Democratic leaders are scrambling for votes on a measure that would put the brakes on the war in Iraq. The vote is going to be tight, and that means it is time to pry the lid off the pork barrel, unfortunately.
AMERICAN MORNING'S Bob Franken joining us now with the grim details.
Good morning, Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I don't know. Some people would think that they're really delightful details. The recipients of the pork...
M. O'BRIEN: Because of which side of the pork you're on.
FRANKEN: That's right. One person's pork is another person's badly-needed money. In any case, we all remember that the Democrats came in with all this idealism about a new way to do things just a short time ago, but now they're getting their first big test. And what we're finding out is that they're doing things the old-fashioned way.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: With today's convening of the 110th Congress, we begin anew.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's begin with testimony on the Hill. Pretty brutal, pretty clear, too. It's been happening the last couple of days, and what we're learning is more than two million people are expected to lose their homes because of the subprime loan market. It's unraveling. Of course, that's the companies that lend money to high-risk borrowers.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ROBERT MENENDEZ (D), BANKING, HOUSING, URBAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: What we're looking at is a tsunami of foreclosures that is on the horizon. That means thousands of families that were going to transform the dream of homeownership, and we're going to make it a nightmare for them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Dire predictions. Subprime loans, of course, help people who have got bad credit get loans. The Senate Banking Committee, though, furious about unscrupulous lenders who have been talking people into loans they can't afford. What we're seeing now is that many of those people can't make their payments and then they end up losing their homes. Where you see it a lot is Detroit. And Detroit, in a way, has become a symbol of the nation's mortgage meltdown.
CNN's Jason Carroll has more on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Detroit, Motor City, a place known for its cars and its music. But the city is now singing a more somber note as the home mortgage foreclosure capital of the country.
PHILIP BOZENSKI, BOZENSKI REAL ESTATE: No community, no city, no street is immune to foreclosure anymore. People who you've -- who you've talked to down the street probably know someone who is in a foreclosure.
CARROLL: Last year, Detroit had the highest foreclosure rate among the nation's 100 largest cities. In 2006, one out of every 21 homeowners here filed for foreclosure.
Economists say Detroit is troubled, partly because the auto giants that used to drive the local economy with jobs have had to cut back due to slumping sales. The state's unemployment rate is almost 70 percent higher than the national average. Many try selling to avoid foreclosing. Now foreclosures have pushed down prices across the board in both high and low income neighborhoods.
It has gotten so bad, buyers are bidding on homes at auctions for less than he price of a secondhand car. Some as low as $1,500.
The city's mayor points to a revitalized downtown as a hopeful sign of improvement.
MAYOR KWAME KILPATRICK, DETROIT: And it's really a tale of two cities. We're selling million-dollar condos in downtown Detroit for the first time ever, and people are losing their homes in many neighborhoods around the city.
CARROLL: Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Let me give you some numbers. This is -- this is crazy.
Sixteen houses that were on auction over the weekend sold for under $30,000. A bungalow went for $1,300. A bungalow. A four- bedroom mansion...
M. O'BRIEN: I assume the $1,300 was a bit of a fixer-upper, but that's...
S. O'BRIEN: Well, I guess so. OK. But still, that's still a house.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: You know, as the guy said, it comes with the land under the house, too. A four bedroom mansion, take a guess.
M. O'BRIEN: Twenty thousand.
S. O'BRIEN: No -- $135,000.
M. O'BRIEN: A hundred and thirty-five thousand. But a mansion.
S. O'BRIEN: A ranch in Oak Park -- you know the neighborhood.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes. Thirty thousand.
S. O'BRIEN: Thirty-four thousand dollars. Thirty-four thousand dollars for a ranch. That's what like my parents paid for their ranch 40 years ago.
M. O'BRIEN: And you'd say, well, this might be a buying opportunity, but there's no...
S. O'BRIEN: Well, people say hold it. You have got to buy it and expect to wait a long time for the market to bounce back.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. All right.
Democrats are drawing their line in the Iraqi sand, but it is laced with a heavy dose of pork. The big vote today on that bill that would demand U.S. combat troops be out of Iraqi by September of '08. The deadline is wrapped into $122 billion measure to pay the bills to continue the war. But to get enough support, Democrats threw in some goodies, like $21 billion for spinach growers, or $74 million for peanut storage.
The president has his veto pen ready, we're told.
The Taliban targeting NATO troops in Afghanistan. A suicide bomber attacked a NATO convoy in eastern Afghanistan this morning, injuring a child. Local officials blame the Taliban for the attack.
For the south, questions about Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf's commitment to fighting the Taliban, and now questions about his ability to hold on to power.
CNN's Brian Todd with that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Are these protesting lawyers the beginning of the end for Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's lightning rod president who rules a volatile country armed with nuclear weapons? A top Pakistani journalist says this demonstration over an ousted supreme court justice is just one sign that Musharraf is losing his grip on power in this crucial election year.
AHMED RASHID, PAKISTANI JOURNALIST: Musharraf has become a lame duck in the sense that he cannot now fulfill his own agenda to remain president for the next five years.
TODD: Ahmed Rashid and another Musharraf critic say there's one key reason he's losing his hold.
SAMINA AHMED, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: Because of these political compulsions, wanting to stay on in power, have absolute power, he's made these kinds of alliances, which I think in the end are going to be very counterproductive for him.
TODD: Alliances, they say, with partners that no longer trust him, including one of Pakistan's most influential political parties -- tribal elders near his border with Afghanistan, many of them Taliban sympathizers, with his intelligence services, and the United States. Top Pakistani officials deny it, telling CNN Musharraf is on solid ground with all these groups. But on the relationship with Washington, sources with knowledge of Musharraf's recent meeting with Vice President Cheney tell us Cheney made it clear Musharraf needs to crack down harder on Taliban operating inside Pakistan.
Still, with so much uncertainty over who might replace him, experts say it's too dangerous for anyone to walk away from Pervez Musharraf.
SETH JONES, RAND CORPORATION: The idea of major violence, street demonstrations erupting in a very fragile country with nuclear weapons, I think from an international standpoint, including from an American standpoint, means it's very important to walk cautiously here.
TODD (on camera): And even Musharraf's harshest critics admit Pakistan's political parties are in disarray after eight years of his rule, and when they were in power, they were corrupt and ineffective.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: We are the most news in the morning right here on CNN.
This one is coming into us right now. Take a look at that fireball. That from Africa, Mozambique.
A huge explosion at a weapon's depot there. At least 72 are dead, are early reports. Several hundred others hurt. The thinking right now is that it is an accident. Mozambique is in the midst of a searing heat wave.
Just about quarter of the hour right now. Rob Marciano at the CNN weather center. He's watching a lot of radar activity in the Midwest. He's got the cold and flu report, too.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Some health headlines for you this morning.
Speaking of feeling well, there is a possible link between a mutated gene and colon cancer. It could help doctors determine who is more likely to develop polyps and ultimately tumor that come from those polyps, and, of course, could help them diagnose, treat and maybe even prevent colon cancer one day.
There's some new numbers about just how much nipping and tucking we're doing here in the U.S. More people than ever.
Eleven million people had a little something done here in the U.S. back in 2006. Breast surgery, breast augmentation, is the number one cosmetic surgery, replacing nose jobs. Nose jobs used to be number one. Now it's breast surgery. Nose jobs dropped to number two. Lipo, number three.
Here's what Dutch scientists say they're working on -- foods that help you lose weight because you feel full when you eat them. They're focusing, they say, on making nutrient-rich ingredients that can be added to drinks and spreads and bread. It sounds like it's a few years away, and that might be why the program director is declining to give more details. He says it's a trade secret.
And soda corrodes your teeth. We all know that. It's nearly as bad as battery acid.
A new study says that prolonged exposure can eat away at your enamel. It comes from the Academy of General Dentistry. That's their report, but critics say the test isn't fair. Nobody swishes soda around for 48 hours, which is how they do the test.
They say, you know, they didn't account for...
M. O'BRIEN: It's not a very realistic test. Yes.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, but they say we get that. It still shows how damaging it is.
They point out though that root beer is the soda to drink. It's less damaging because it's less acidic and it doesn't contain phosphoric or citric acids, which I guess continues to eat away at your teeth.
M. O'BRIEN: And it doesn't matter if you're talking about diet or regular.
S. O'BRIEN: No, apparently not.
M. O'BRIEN: It's the same acidity in all of that. OK.
S. O'BRIEN: No, they list -- they list them all.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, kids. Cut back on those sodas.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Well, fares on flights to Europe may come down because of a new agreement between the U.S. and the European Union.
It's about five minutes before the top of the hour. Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business."
Good morning, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I wish it were that simple. Good morning, Miles.
The airline industry remains one of the most regulated industries around, and the rights of carriers from one country to fly into another country is heavily regulated.
Now, phase one of an open skies agreement between the U.S. and the EU is under way. What political leaders in the U.S. and Europe are trying to do is deregulate some parts of air travel between the continents, and that could mean or should mean more U.S. flights can fly to more airports across Europe more often, and in exchange, more European carriers can fly to more U.S. destinations.
Now, again, in theory, that should mean lower prices and more choices for travelers from both sides of the Atlantic, but some countries, particularly the U.K., want the U.S. to drop its rule that limits foreign ownership on airlines to 25 percent. Now, no surprise, most -- many U.S. politicians say no way to that, and the U.K., for its part, is saying that this open skies deal is part one. If part two isn't headed for takeoff by 2010, meaning more liberalization in the U.S., the U.K. might just yank all U.S. flights to fly into Britain, which is, of course, one of the most sought after airport markets in the world.
M. O'BRIEN: Would they really do that, though?
VELSHI: No. It's not economical for anybody to do that.
M. O'BRIEN: Right.
VELSHI: They're sort of -- I think they're putting down the extreme position. That's still three years away. But fundamentally, everybody needs to loosen this up, and some places don't want to.
M. O'BRIEN: You have a limited amount of runway space...
VELSHI: Right.
M. O'BRIEN: ... a limited amount of gate space.
VELSHI: Correct.
M. O'BRIEN: How do you open it up and unregulate (ph) something like that that is a scarce commodity?
VELSHI: What happens every time you deregulate a scarce commodity, it goes into the free market and it becomes very expensive, like taxi plates. So if Continental and Delta want more slots at Heathrow, they're going to have to pay up for it.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. A little capitalism there.
VELSHI: That's right.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Free market.
Ali Velshi, we'll see you in a minute.
VELSHI: OK.
M. O'BRIEN: Soledad. (NEWSBREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: The war, the vote, and your money all coming to a head today in Congress. We'll tell you how they're trying to lure votes for a bill using billions of dollars, your tax dollars.
M. O'BRIEN: An I-95 emergency. A charter bus full of students forced to pull over. Nearly two dozen teens rushed to the hospital overnight.
S. O'BRIEN: And a new Houdini mystery to tell you about. A new push, in fact, to unravel an 80-year-old conspiracy theory. Was Houdini murdered?
We're live this morning from Jamaica, from Washington, D.C., and New York, all on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome, everybody. It's Friday, March 23rd.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien.
Thanks for being with us.
In Washington this morning, Democratic leaders are scrambling for votes on a measure that would put the brakes on the war in Iraq. The vote is going to be tight, and that means it is time to pry the lid off the pork barrel, unfortunately.
AMERICAN MORNING'S Bob Franken joining us now with the grim details.
Good morning, Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I don't know. Some people would think that they're really delightful details. The recipients of the pork...
M. O'BRIEN: Because of which side of the pork you're on.
FRANKEN: That's right. One person's pork is another person's badly-needed money.
In any case, we all remember that the Democrats came in with all this idealism about a new way to do things just a short time ago, but now they're getting their first big test. And what we're finding out is that they're doing things the old-fashioned way.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: With today's convening of the 110th Congress, we begin anew.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
