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Missouri Flooding: Rivers May Crest This Weekend; River Rescue: Driver Pulled From Sunken Car; NASA Predicts Hot Future

Aired May 11, 2007 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Fire storm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You just have a wall of flames coming through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Massive wildfire roaring on both coasts right now. In California, huge sections of historic Catalina Island go up in flames. Firefighters race in by boat as residents abandon expensive homes and rush to the mainland.

In Florida, 40,000 acres burned and still no relief in sight. The flames now surrounding a major interstate. Traffic nightmare looming on this AMERICAN MORNING.

And good morning to you. It is Friday, May the 11th. I'm John Roberts.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry.

You know, we started the week talking about extreme weather and we're ending the week talking about extreme weather. Whether it's the flooding still going on in parts of Missouri and other places, or these extreme fires that we're seeing on both coasts.

ROBERTS: It's been a spring like that and there's just no end in sight. But hopefully that pattern will break one of these days soon because so many people having such a difficult time.

Going to be an emotional day today in Blacksburg, Virginia. It's the day of the Virginia Tech graduation. The commencement ceremonies happening tonight. General John Abizaid will be giving the keynote address. Our Jim Acosta's down there on the Virginia Tech campus this morning, down in Blacksburg. We'll check in with him as to how things are going today. But again, a very, very emotional day down there in Blacksburg.

CHETRY: There were some people who lost loved ones who were debating whether or not they were going to come back for those commencement ceremonies.

ROBERTS: Yes, and I'm sure there will be a lot of people who decide not to go. CHETRY: Also, this incredible survival story out of New Hampshire. And we're going to show you more of it a little later. But just a sneak peak right now. An SUV landed in a river. A woman was trapped inside. And it was a race against time to get her out. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The water is rushing up against that window. So when we open it, we have one shot to grab her without having the current blow her down river.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Incredible. Look at that. That's the car that she was in. And they got her out.

CHETRY: Thanks to the smart thinking fireman, as well as a good Samaritan. And coming up, we're going to have more of that story.

First, though, we start with breaking news out of California and a massive wildfire burning on Santa Catalina Island. Catalina Island is a popular getaway spot. It's about an hour boat ride from Los Angeles.

And right now firefighters are battling this monster blaze from the ground and the air, but mother nature not cooperating. They have some strong winds that are fanning the flames and the fire eating up everything in its path. Crews say that hilltop homes, as well as several storage buildings have been burned.

They've told people, you've to get out, whether you live there or you're visiting or going there on vacation. Hundreds of people were lining up to board ferries in the middle of the night trying to get back to the mainland. Residents say the flames were so huge that it was actually raining ashes. Many of them said they just grabbed their kids and ran. 4,000 acres wiped out.

ROBERTS: Wildfires are also burning across the state of Florida and threatening a major interstate. The northern part of Florida getting the worst of it right now. As the fire is spreading and threatening Interstate 10, that's a key east-west route that runs all the way out to those fires in Los Angeles. Hundreds of residents are being evacuated from their homes in Lake City. That's west of Jacksonville. CNN's Jacqui Jeras is just north of Lake City this morning where you've just arrived.

How does it look on the scene there this morning, Jacqui?

JACQUI JERAS: Incredibly smokey. And I don't know if you can see it, John, but there are just pieces of ash everywhere in the air falling down on us. I can just dust it off of my jacket sleeve at times.

And smoke is going to be one of the big issues today with visibility. At times, we could hardly see on Interstate 10 on our way out here to the site. And they're worried that with the visibility problems they may not be able to get the air tankers and the helicopters up today to help fight this fire.

Now it advanced very aggressively yesterday afternoon and into the evening hours. And it moved at least eight to nine miles. They're waiting for the sun to come up to get a better assessment of how much this fire spread, but they think it probably at least doubled in size since yesterday morning.

Now, the humidity has gone up a little bit in the last couple of hours and the winds have become very calm, so they've had a little bit better of a handle on it very recently. But once the sun goes up, the temperatures go up and the winds are going to be increasing, they're expecting to have big problems with wind gusts as high as maybe 20 plus miles per hour. Six hundred people have been evacuated from Columbia County here and they expect there's a possibility that more could be evacuated in Lake City as this fire gets closer to I-10. If it should jump, they're going to have to evacuate Lake City as well.

John.

ROBERTS: And what about the traffic there? As we say, that's a major east-west route and it's right near the junction with Interstate 75, which is the big north-south route, as well. Are there going to be traffic problems for people traveling in that area today?

JERAS: Well, certainly visibility problems. Like I said, maybe a quarter of a mile at times on our way in. Right now the interstate is open. Of course, if it gets too close, they may have to close that down. Highway 441 is also closed northbound for everybody trying to come into this area. And also many county roads east and west of this location.

ROBERTS: All right Jacqui Jeras for us just outside of Lake City, Florida.

Jacqui, thanks very much.

Coming up now to four minutes after the hour. Rob Marciano is keeping track of the weather.

Do we have anything extreme in the forecast today, Rob, or is it just the results of the extreme weather that we're seeing?

(WEATHER REPORT)

CHETRY: Well, Mitt Romney might be in third place in the polls, but all week he's been at the top of the headlines. Some questions about his evolving views on abortion, to an apparent attack on his Mormon faith. He's also on the cover of this weekend's "Time" magazine. So who better than to talk about him with than someone who's covered Romney for years. Scott Helman of "The Boston Globe." He joins us from Manchester, New Hampshire, this morning.

Good to see you, Scott.

SCOTT HELMAN, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": Good to be with you, Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. So Mitt Romney goes from signing into law as governor a bill that provided for taxpayer funded abortion to now calling for the repeal of Roe versus Wade. And he also accepted an award from an anti-abortion group. So how does he reconcile that?

HELMAN: First of all, I'd be careful about the health care thing, only because it's a lot more complicated than that and there's precedent going back before that in the state in terms of having to provide taxpayer-funded abortions. However, his views have very clearly evolved and he's very up front about that. His explanation when asked about it is to say, look, in 2004, we started looking into this issue of stem cell research. I looked at it very carefully. I talked to a lot of experts. And I sort of concluded that the sort of Roe v. Wade mentality, as he calls it, has cheapened life. And so he sort of uses that as the catalyst for him changing positions.

It has been a big issue. I mean, it's been a big issue for months, not just recently. He gets the question all the time. I'm sure he's frustrated with it. But it's clear it's going to linger for him.

CHETRY: All right. Well, you couldn't have missed the controversy over something that the Reverend Al Sharpton said that many felt questioned whether or not Mormons were "real Christians." So how huge of a deal do you think that Romney's Mormon faith will be during this campaign moving forward?

HELMAN: That's an enduring question. Clearly, you go some places and it seems like a big issue. In others, it clearly won't be. I think the campaign is very much trying to figure that out. There's been a lot of talk about whether or not he needs to give a speech like John Kennedy did in 1960 in which he says, I don't speak for the church and the church doesn't speak for me. At this point, his advisers feel like they don't have to do that. But the more these things happen, the more that his religion is in the headlines, I think the more they have to consider it.

CHETRY: Well, Scott, you covered him when he was running for governor. Was it a huge issue in the campaign in the state of Massachusetts?

HELMAN: No, it really wasn't. It's only really been an issue and only been talked about as he has pursued a presidential campaign. And he says that. He says, look, when I ran in Massachusetts, it wasn't an issue. And he's absolutely right. I mean, I can't remember it coming up once during his term.

CHETRY: Really. All right. Well, that's the big difference now on the national stage.

HELMAN: Indeed.

CHETRY: Also new this morning, a preview of an upcoming interview that Romney gave to "60 Minutes." CBS released an excerpt. Let's listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think there was a strong, honest belief among people in our administration that we would be welcomed with open arms and that Iraq would become a model of democracy for all of the Middle East. And, you know what? We were wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: So there he is with a sharp critique of the Iraq War. Does he have an advantage over other candidates? He wasn't in Congress authorizing this war.

HELMAN: Absolutely. I mean, I would say his biggest advantage is that he's running alongside John McCain, who, whether or not he likes it, is sort of seen as a leading champion of this war. I mean Romney and the other top tier candidate, Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, have both supported this troop surge that Bush proposed earlier this year, but neither of them get as much flack for it because McCain is the one that's seen really sort of pushing that issue and carrying the water for the Bush administration.

CHETRY: Right.

HELMAN: However, you know, Romney has been critical of the war. His comments on CBS appear to go maybe a tick further than he has in the past. But, you know, clearly, as this thing gets down the road here, and if Iraq continues to be, you know, a difficult situation, I think you're going to see a lot more distancing from the Bush administration.

CHETRY: All right, and Scott, before we let you go, you covered him. What's he like as a person. Do you like him?

HELMAN: Sure. I mean, I would say I like everybody that I've met so far on the campaign. I'll be diplomatic about it. But, you know, he's very warm, he's telegenic, he's smart, and I think you're seeing the results of all that. He's doing very well and I think his campaign is happy with where he's at.

CHETRY: All right. Scott Helman with "The Boston Globe," thanks.

HELMAN: My pleasure.

ROBERTS: President Bush says that he is all for benchmarks, but he is opposed to the war funding bill that the House passed last night that would pay for the war until mid Summer. The rest of the money is tied to signs of progress in Iraq and a second vote. The White House and Congress are working together on a bill that links funding to benchmarks or goals that the Iraqis must meet. The sticking point, what action to take if they don't meet those benchmarks.

CHETRY: A multimillion dollar plea deal reached in the OxyContin case. The drug company Purdue Pharma and three top executives will have to pay out more than $634 million in fines over that drug. They pleaded guilty yesterday to lying to the public about just how dangerous the painkiller is in terms of how addictive it is. Prosecutors calling the drug nothing more than a habit forming narcotic that "sparked one of our nation's greatest prescription drug failures." Coming up in the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING, we'll be speaking to one of the attorneys who helped prosecute that case.

ROBERTS: It's a difficult graduation day at Virginia Tech. Commencement comes less than a month after the campus massacre in which 32 people were killed. The university is going to pay tribute to the victims during tonight's ceremony. CNN's Jim Acosta is live in Blacksburg, Virginia, for us this morning.

And, Jim, what's the sense of emotion that you get there on the campus and in Blacksburg? Because that's really a university town today.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very emotional, John. And I think we'll see that tonight. During the ceremony this evening, pictures of the fallen students and professors will be projected on to the jumbo screen here at the stadium behind me. This will be part commencement and part remembrance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA, (voice over): Set in this rolling countryside, the scene for this year's commencement at Virginia Tech is almost picture perfect. Almost will have to do this year. Everybody will be missing somebody.

BRICE BRADFORD (ph), VIRGINIA TECH SENIOR: It's really hard to feel accomplished or self-congratulatory right now when you know that there should be a dozen or so other people walking across the stage with you that aren't even alive anymore.

ACOSTA: Many, including graduating senior Brice Bradford, will remember Ryan Clark, the larger than life student everyone called "Stack" and a fellow member of the school's marching band.

BRADFORD: He was the spirit of the band. The band's the spirit of the school.

DAVID MCKEE, DIRECTOR, MARCHING VIRGINIANS: Having a five-minute walk from here to Burris Hall with him turned into a two-hour meet and greet because, literally, he knew so many people on campus, he'd walk two steps and meet somebody else.

ACOSTA: The marching band's director, David McKee, will present Clark's uniform to the slain senior's family at graduation. He says Stack would have wanted this weekend to remain a celebration.

MCKEE: Stack would want us to dance. He's want us to smile at one another. He'd want us to greet one another. He's not a guy we're going to replace. You don't replace any of these people.

ACOSTA: And the campus is still mourning them. At Tech's student center, banners filled with signatures from colleges across the country are everywhere. And at commencement, the university plans to hand out school rings to the families of the slain graduates.

NIKKI GIOVANNI, VIRGINIA TECH POETRY PROFESSOR: I'm not seeing a whole lot of joy. I'm seeing the sadness that is going to surround this occasion.

ACOSTA: The school's renowned poet, Nikki Giovanni, is reminding her graduates to take time to heal.

GIOVANNI: People say move forward, but we haven't moved backwards. So what we'll continue to . . .

ACOSTA: What does that mean, we haven't moved backwards?

GIOVANNI: We haven't. We haven't moved backwards. Here we stand. We just have to find a way to continue to wrap the love around ourselves.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And the university is reminding its graduates they do have the option to excuse themselves from commencement events this weekend, understanding the celebration will not be for everybody.

John.

ROBERTS: Jim, thanks very much. We'll keep checking back with you throughout the morning. Appreciate it.

CHETRY: Well, still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, the traditional road to the presidential nomination has always gone through Iowa and New Hampshire. But for Rudy Giuliani, the question now, can he find an alternative route to victory thanks to the new super duper Tuesday? We're putting that question to a Republican strategist coming up next.

And those high gas prices don't just hurt you, they sometimes hurt those selling the gas, as well. In fact, some small businesses are so pinched by the high gas prices, they're saying, enough. We're not going to sell gas anymore. We're going to talk to one man who's doing just that.

The most news in the morning is here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Coming up now to 17 minutes after the hour. With next week's South Carolina Republican debate looming, Rudy Giuliani's campaign says he's going to be clear on a contentious issue, his support for abortion rights. His stance on that and other social issues is hurting him in the early primary states of Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina. So Giuliani is looking at an alternate route to the nomination. Can he take a nontraditional road and still get there? Republican strategists Ed Rollins is here with us to help us game out this situation.

And, Ed, the game really has changed because of all these big states moving their primaries up.

ED ROLLINS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: There's never been a primary like this. February 5th, you probably as many states in contention as you would in a general election. So there's lots of routes to get there.

ROBERTS: Some people are almost calling it a national primary because everything's so jammed together.

ROLLINS: It is a national primary. And the driving force here is who can raise the money and who will have the money to spend -- it could be $16 million a week is what it will cost to basically advertise in those states.

ROBERTS: You know, I spent yesterday with a pencil and a piece of paper and the Internet and came up with some figures here. So let's take a look at that.

ROLLINS: Great.

ROBERTS: We've got the four first primary states, the early primary states, of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Polls I saw had John McCain leading in those states. Between them, they have got 140 delegates. And let's say that those go to McCain.

Then, coming up on the 29th of January, though, we've got the big state of Florida. Let's go to the next graphic. Florida's got an enormous number of delegates in play there, 111. Giuliani leading in that state.

Then on February the 5th, we've got the super Tuesday, that still hasn't been nailed down yet as to how many states are going to be in it. But there's at least 12, including big states of New York, New Jersey, and California. Between the three of those, if we can pull those out, there's 312 delegates and Giuliani leading in all of those. So his total could be 432 delegates just a week after John McCain has racked up 140. So is it possible for him to take a different route?

ROLLINS: Sure. Sure. Absolutely. I mean, first of all, no one's going to beat him in New York. No one's going to beat him in New Jersey. California is very, very competitive, if he doesn't lead there. At the end of the day, this is unlike any other game. It may be over quick, but it may drag on. You may split this thing up three, four ways and nobody gets the plurality early on.

ROBERTS: But what about this idea of this big momentum. Everybody says, you know, Iowa and then New Hampshire. It gives you that momentum. And you become almost the de facto nominee if you win those two states?

ROLLINS: It didn't work for McCain. It didn't work for Buchanan. I mean, the bottom line is that this game is different. Anybody that tries to go by old rules will fool themselves. This thing's wide open. The critical thing right now is go raise money.

ROBERTS: So how long is this process going to last? I mean, obviously, everything is front loaded now, so it can't last to long.

ROLLINS: There's 543 days to the election and that's a long ways to go. But the reality is, that this thing could be over by March 1st.

ROBERTS: So you think that we could still know who the nominee is going to be about the same time as we did in 2004?

ROLLINS: I think there's no question about it. Then there's a very long dry period there where there's not much action until late convention.

ROBERTS: But do you think Giuliani could really do this?

ROLLINS: Oh, absolutely. There's no question that he can raise the money. Just hire the best fund-raiser in the country. A woman named Nan Dunn (ph) is the one who did all the Bush stuff in California. You know, raising the money. He's a national leader. You know, I think you have three very strong candidates at this point in time and he's certainly right there at the top.

ROBERTS: Well, it's added an extra dimension of excitement.

ROLLINS: Absolutely.

ROBERTS: And certainly consternation for the early states like Iowa and New Hampshire who are now saying hey, to Florida, if you move up your primary, we're going to go to 2007.

ROLLINS: It could almost be at Christmastime.

ROBERTS: Can you imagine, a Christmas primary.

ROLLINS: Vote on Christmas Eve.

ROBERTS: Ed, thanks very much.

ROLLINS: My pleasure.

ROBERTS: Good to see you. Always good to have you. Have a great weekend.

ROLLINS: Thank you. You, too.

ROBERTS: Kiran.

CHETRY: Well, it went up and up and now it looks like the Dow has taken a major tumble. So is this the right moment if you were waiting to buy? Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business" up next.

Plus . . .

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was literally -- her face was pressed up against the glass like this gulping and saying, you know, help me, help me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: It was a daring river rescue that even the local police admit shouldn't have worked, but it did. The incredible details ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: And twenty-five past the hour now. Ali Velshi is back "Minding Your Business."

You were in Vegas for a little while.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was in Vegas and I wasn't having nearly as much fun as this market was having while I was away.

CHETRY: Yes, it hit all these records. And the day you come back . . .

VELSHI: I know. I don't know what's going on.

This is good news for some people. Bad news for a lot of people, but it's good news for some people. The Dow was off nearly 150 points yesterday, biggest drop since March 13th. Now look at that. When you're looking at a Dow that's over 13,000, it's really better to start talking in percentage terms because 147 is 1.1 percent. The Nasdaq was down a bit more. It was 1.7 percent. And the S&P down 1.4 percent.

As percentage numbers, they don't sound as dramatic. That's because it's not as dramatic. Take a look at what this Dow has done since the beginning of February. Now just sort of at the end of February you see that big dip. That was the 416 points. And then it's been straight up since then. So this has not been a rough market. The fact that it takes up 147 points.

What it might mean is for all those people that have been watching this market go up all these few months, it might be the opportunity to get into the market. Now the thing to look at is where your portfolio is right now. Is it pretty well balanced? Because for most folks who don't follow this day in and day out, you should just have a balanced portfolio to get your stocks performing the way you want to. So if there was an opportunity, if there was something missing in your portfolio, this might be an opportunity to fill that out.

Now, there are certain sectors that contributed to yesterday's decline. One of them was the retail sector, because every month we get retail news. Same store sales they're called. Store reports of sales from the stores that were open for at least a year. I'm going to talk about that in about an hour and see whether it compares to the way you were shopping.

Because unlike houses and cars, which we talk about as good indicators of how consumers are feeling, we don't all buy houses and cars every month. You will make certain shopping decisions based on the weather or your job situation or how you're feeling. So I want to talk about how the retail sales picture is actually probably a better reflection of how Americans are feeling about the economy than the either the stock market or the housing market or the car market. I'll be back to talk about that.

CHETRY: All right, Ali, thanks.

ROBERTS: Top stories of the morning are coming up next.

Raging fire off of the coast of southern California. Hundreds of people evacuated as a rampaging wildfire sweeps across Santa Catalina Island.

Also, the National Guard now putting sandbags in place as more flooding threatens the Midwest. And they're getting help from an unusual place.

Also, look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we open it, we have one shot to grab her without having the current blow her down river.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: What could have been a deadly mistake ends up with an incredible rescue. And we'll show it to you.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: It's out of control today. Massive wildfires burning on both sides of America today.

In California, hundreds of young students rushed off of Catalina Island as flames pushed closer to million-dollar homes. It wasn't just students, but people that lived in the area, as well as a lot of tourists trying to get out.

Also, in Florida, thick smoke might force firefighters to shut down one of the state's busiest highways as they try to get a handle on the blaze there.

And welcome back. It is Friday, May 11th. I'm Kiran Chetry.

ROBERTS: And I'm John Roberts.

Stories also "On Our Radar" this morning.

(NEWSBREAK)

CHETRY: Well, now we head to the middle part of the country, specifically Missouri, where folks are dealing with near-record flooding. They have prison inmates now joining the National Guard in helping set up sandbags to keep the water at bay. Water levels are expected to peak in some spots this weekend.

CNN's Sean Callebs is live in Pattonsburg, Missouri, where the water has receded a bit, but it's a town that never came back from the devastation of 1993.

Hi, Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran.

Just a couple of days ago, five feet of water where I'm standing right now. Don't need any waders today. Let me explain what happened here.

In 1993, Pattonsburg was flooded twice in a period of just a couple of weeks. The residents had had enough. This town was about a century old. Four hundred residents, businesses, everything, simply packed up and moved.

Behind me, old City Hall, about the only building still really left here. Want to show you some old pictures of what it looked like back in the 1940s.

Just looked like a bustling little farm town. Main Street here. as I said, scores of homes, businesses, but in 1993, the federal government stepped in, offered them some $14 million to help relocate about nine miles away. And a lot of people did that.

We found one of the eight residents still living in this town, Lee Warford, and talked to him about why he wants to stay.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE WARFORD, PATTONSBURG FLOOD VICTIM: As I said, you know, there were houses everywhere up and down the street -- small houses, big houses, new houses, old houses. Kids everywhere, almost -- most of the school over here. Kids walked to school. Go home for lunch and then go back.

Just everybody knew everybody. It seemed to be just a different era.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: Interesting. This City Hall behind me, it was built in 1941, when Walter Warford, Lee's grandfather, was the mayor of the town. When the city closed up shop and moved elsewhere, Lee's younger brother was the mayor of the town.

Kiran, it's tough to really give this story the kind of attention it needs at dark at this hour. The next hour, we're going to come back and we're going to come back and show you again. And you're going to want to stay tuned. It's an interesting look, and it's simply amazing. All of these houses simply gone. A handful of little foundations left, but nothing else.

CHETRY: It is really frightening when you think about it.

Sean Callebs, thanks so much.

ROBERTS: Got a wild rescue to tell you about on the Connecticut River, a long way from where Sean is, along the Vermont-New Hampshire border. A 66-year-old woman drove into the river, and the deputy fire chief says in his 35 years on the job, he has never seen anyone pulled out alive from a crash like that until now.

Heather Hamel of our affiliate WMUR has got the incredible story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEP. CHIEF MATTHEW COX, WINDSOR, VERMONT, FIRE DEPARTMENT: When I got on the rope, she was literally -- her face was pressed up against the glass like this, gulping, and saying, you know, "Help me. Help me."

HEATHER HAMEL, REPORTER WMUR (voice over): Windsor firefighters say it was an incredible sight: a woman trapped in her SUV, everything but six inches submerged in the water and the driver forced to the back of the vehicle, gasping in the last pocket of air.

Andrew Vinapaul (ph) was the first firefighter on the scene.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a woman standing by the shore who at first I thought was one of the people that was in the vehicle, and it turns out it was someone that had swam out to try to find out if they could get the person out before yelling, doing something and trying to remain calm, to do something without rushing down to put yourself in more jeopardy.

HAMEL: He called for backup, which came in the form of a crew and these suits. But before they could gear up, a bystander dove in and swam to the vehicle. When the deputy chief, Matthew Cox, reached him, he suggested opening the back window.

COX: All the window in the vehicle were blown (ph). So the water is rushing up against that vehicle. So, when we open it, we have one shot to grab her without having the current blow her down river. And it just got lucky. We opened the window, he took one arm, I grabbed the other, we held her in place, we got her out of the vehicle, shut the window back down, and then I pulled her up on to the roof of the vehicle.

HAMEL: It was a team effort, including not only the Windsor rescuers, but Cornish (ph) and the two good Samaritans.

COX: I thought it was pretty wild, because neither one of them were dressed for it, the water's about 40 degrees. It's fast, it's brown. There's no visibility. They have no idea what they're diving into.

HAMEL: But it all came to a successful ending, with the woman only suffering from cuts and bruises and a case of hypothermia.

COX: Incredible. Absolutely incredible. It's a once-in-a- lifetime thing. We don't pull live victims out of submerged cars and rivers. It doesn't happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: That's Heather Hamel of our affiliate WMUR.

The driver, by the way, is being treated for cuts, bruises and hypothermia. Police don't know why she drove into the river, but they say alcohol or speeding had nothing to do with it. She might have simply fallen asleep at the wheel.

CHETRY: Wow. She's very lucky this morning, though.

ROBERTS: Incredibly lucky. Unbelievable.

CHETRY: Good for them, though. They say they were smart thinkers, and they say they got lucky, but I bet it was a little bit of skill, too.

ROBERTS: Well, they train for that sort of stuff, and that's the reason why.

CHETRY: But when the adrenaline's pumping, you know, your training sometimes goes out the window. Not in this case.

All right. Well, alligators don't drive, so why was there an alligator at a used car dealership in Cocoa, Florida?

This gator camped out underneath a car until he was caught by a trapper. There he is. It was the second gator to make its way into a populated area because of the dry conditions.

The gators have been wandering around. People say, you know, they're looking for a wetter home, and so they're driven out of their habitat. Sad ending, though. They decided to kill this gator.

ROBERTS: Yes. Well, they decided it was a threat to society. And rather than putting it back in its habitat, it would make a nice pair of shoes or a purse, or maybe even a tuck and roll job in a custom Mitsubishi.

CHETRY: It will be another scorcher of a summer along the East Coast. NASA, though, making some frightening predictions about just how much hotter it's going to get over the next several decades.

We have those numbers for you next.

And you're going to meet a guy who says that gas prices were killing him. That's why he stopped selling it. It's an effect of the gas crisis that you might not have thought of. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

The most news in the morning is here on CNN.

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ROBERTS: Forty-two minutes now after the hour.

Summers are going to get pretty hot in the eastern part of the United States by the year 2080. Researchers at NASA say the average summer high will probably be 102 degrees in Jacksonville; 100 degrees in Memphis; 96 degrees in Atlanta; and 91 degrees in Chicago and Washington. During the summertime, the temperature might actually peak in Chicago at 110.

They're blaming greenhouse gas emissions, but critics say the East has been recently been wetter and cooler than expected.

Of course Rob Marciano here.

Proponents of global warming say, well, the reason why it's cooler and wetter is all part of global warming, as well.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, and that's the thing, is that one thing these models that predict these kinds of temperatures in the future, they don't do real well with water vapor. And when you heat the atmosphere, that creates more evaporation. More water in the atmosphere, and it could create more clouds and rain, which is a cooling effect in the summertime.

So, we'll see how this pans out. I'm optimistic that the numbers hopefully won't get quite that bad, because that's...

ROBERTS: Let's hope. We don't want the Earth to become Venus.

MARCIANO: No. That would be awfully smoky.

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CHETRY: Well, right now we're going to check the CNN gas gauge. The national average currently, $3.04 a gallon for self-serve regular. But a lot of people are paying more than that.

It's also up a quarter from a month ago, and it's higher than a year ago this time. Gas $2.88 a gallon.

Well, the rising gas prices, it turns out, can also be a pain for the people selling the gas to you, because when you pay more at the pump, they pay more to the distributor. And it was a year ago that David Goldsmith's prices at the pump were among the highest in the country. So he said, you know what? I'm going to stop selling gas because it costs me too much money.

David Goldsmith joins us now from his repair shop in Brooklyn, New York.

Thanks for being with us.

Thank you.

CHETRY: Well, when someone drives in, you know, to the gas station, they see prices at $3.50, $3.80 a gallon in some places. They get mad. But you're saying don't blame the gas station guy.

Why not?

GOLDSMITH, SERVICE STATION OWNER: Well, sure, because, you know, the gasoline retailers are working on very, very slim margins. And, you know, last year, the big -- the big point when fuel prices went way up, the press was talking about, you know, huge super profits with, you know, gasoline sales. Those profits were not being made by little guys like me, or even the medium-sized retailers. The oil companies were making the money.

We make our money. In my shop, I make my money by repairing automobiles -- other places, you know, the convenience stores. The oil companies make their money with the gasoline, we make our money in other ways. It's always been like that.

CHETRY: Well, that's right, because you're in front of your repair shop now. So that's why -- why did you...

GOLDSMITH: Yes. And very -- yes.

CHETRY: Why did you make the call, though, that I have to stop selling gas?

GOLDSMITH: Well, because as the prices were going up -- and our prices were always, you know, higher than most because of the economics of this tiny station -- as prices went up and people became much more conscious about the money they were spending on fuel, our sales dropped even more. And before the prices went up, it was just basically a break-even situation. Well, then it became a real money loser.

CHETRY: When was this? Yes. And when was this? We're seeing $4.15, $4.28 or $4.23. When was that?

GOLDSMITH: Right. That was a year ago. We were -- we were as high as, I think, $4.13 for regular in cash. And again, our prices were always -- a lot of attention came our way because this little station, our prices had to be higher to be able to just stay in business and keep selling the gas. When the prices went...

CHETRY: Right. So in your opinion, who do we blame? Who do we blame for this?

GOLDSMITH: Well -- oh, it's not -- it's really very clear. You know, the oil companies are the ones that have continued to record, you know, record, record profits. I just spoke with my old distributor, in fact, yesterday, and he was telling me that many of the small retailers, like myself, are kind of thinking about going the way I went, you know, and just giving it up because it's just not worth it.

CHETRY: And when that continues to happen in a neighborhood, is there just going to be no gas available, or will those be taken over by oil?

GOLDSMITH: Well, yes. And -- oh, it's terrible.

I mean, you know, the saddest thing -- I'm very happy not to be selling fuel. It's much better for my repair business. But the saddest thing is that the neighborhood now literally has no gas station.

WE -- there used to be nine gas stations in this neighborhood, and we're down to two that are pretty far away from here. And so people are not happy. It's terribly inconvenient. Manhattan is a lot worse.

CHETRY: Yes.

GOLDSMITH: Yes.

CHETRY: It's very hard to find a gas station around here, too.

David Goldsmith...

GOLDSMITH: Oh, it is.

CHETRY: Yes. Repair shop from Brooklyn, thanks for joining us today.

GOLDSMITH: Thank you.

CHETRY: We'll, of course, invite some of the oil company executives on our show for Monday since a lot of the criticism and blame has been turned in their direction. We certainly want to hear from them, as well -- John.

ROBERTS: Forty-nine minutes after the hour now.

Movie producers, listen up. Smoking can be hazardous to your film. The film industry is getting ready to slap some new restrictions on films that include smoking.

And sure, it says 45 days on her sentence, but how much time will Paris Hilton really serve? Some possible good news for her is ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, "THE TERMINATOR": Stay here. I'll be back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: And apparently "The Terminator" will be back, but Arnold Schwarzenegger probably won't be part of the film. A production company called Halcyon has bought the rights to "The Terminator" franchise for an undisclosed sum of money, but the star of the first three movies is busy running the state of California until at least 2011.

So, the terminators will probably have to go on without him.

CHETRY: Impossible.

ROBERTS: Can you imagine?

CHETRY: No.

ROBERTS: At least three more cyborg-battling movies, though, are planned for the series. They couldn't -- they couldn't have the same level of acting ability art and craft that they had with Schwarzenegger there.

CHETRY: That's right. And he can't appear naked like he did in the first one, you know, because he's governor now.

ROBERTS: Well, I don't think he could anymore, anyway. He's getting up there in age a little bit.

CHETRY: All right. A few minutes...

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just change the tenor of this conversation before you come to me, please.

CHETRY: ... before the top of the hour. Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business".

And wow, a really big settlement against the makers of OxyContin, this powerful painkiller.

VELSHI: Yes. Purdue Frederick -- Purdue Pharmaceutical's private company -- this is interesting. This company had been marketing OxyContin, a longer-acting pain reliever, narcotic pain reliever, as being less abusive -- or less likely to be abused and less likely to be addictive than Percocet and Vicodin, which are its competitors.

Well, the FDA and OxyContin's maker have reached a plea. They've pleaded guilty. They're going to pay $600 million, about $470 million in fines and other payments, admitting to the fact that they marketed this drug to doctors in particular as a less addictive drug, which meant the doctors prescribed it more readily.

But abusers became very aware of this, and they started to grind it down, in some cases snorting it, chewing it. It was a very addictive drug. It continues to be.

It's on the market. It hasn't been pulled off. But the FDA is taking a much stronger stand against companies that other misrepresent or mislabel or market drugs for uses that they are not approved.

So, this is a big move. OxyContin will still be available, but the company admitting it is, in fact, very addictive if used incorrectly.

ROBERTS: Hillbilly heroin is what they call it, right?

VELSHI: Hillbilly heroin. People were doing all sorts of things with it. So...

ROBERTS: By the way, coming up in about 10 minutes, we're going to be talking with the U.S. attorney who prosecuted that case.

VELSHI: Yes. It's a very -- this is an interesting thing for people to watch out for.

So, we'll have that. And I'll be back in about half an hour with retail sales.

The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.

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