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American Morning

Furniture Fire Clues: What Do 911 Calls Reveal?; Sibling Smarts: Oldest Child Has Highest IQ?; Debit Dilemma: Prepaid Cards a Good Deal?

Aired June 22, 2007 - 07:59   ET

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


KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: First we start with the 911 tapes and some clues that they may hold about what happened to nine firefighters who were trapped inside of a furniture store in Charleston, South Carolina. We're going hear a 911 dispatcher as she tries to guide firefighters to someone trapped inside.
AMERICAN MORNING'S Alina Cho has been listening to the tapes, and she joins me now with more on whether or not they hold any clues into what happened.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we shall see. There are lots of investigators on the scene right now. And I know you've heard this, Kiran, witnesses have said that that fire burned very hot and very fast. And when you listen to the 911 calls, you really get a sense of just how quickly things turned from bad to worse.

There is also new amateur video of the Sofa Super Store and warehouse in Charleston when it was fully engulfed in flames. It didn't take long for that to happen.

That fire, which broke out Monday night, as we all know by now, killed nine firefighters. The biggest loss of firefighters since 9/11.

Charleston's assistant fire chief told the local paper when the blaze first broke out, he had all of the confidence in the world it could be contained. But just minutes later, he called it total chaos.

Here is one of the 911 calls. A dispatcher and an officer on the scene.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DISPATCHER: Units be advised, we have someone on the floor trapped inside Sofa Super Store.

OFFICER: We copy.

DISPATCHER: Please send more to the back.

OFFICER: Whereabouts at the back of the building?

DISPATCHER: OK. He's beating on the wall with a hammer to try to get your attention.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

CHO: It all happened so very quickly. And within five minutes, there was a rescue.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

OFFICER: Control, be advised a fireman just came around and told me they got one guy out and they were going back for another.

DISPATCHER: Copy. One still inside.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

CHO: Between 40 and 60 investigators are on the scene right now. One employee reportedly said that the fire broke out near a loading dock where workers occasionally took smoking breaks.

Now, no official comment on that, but they are moving very quickly on the investigation. In fact, the ATF says a report should be coming out within days, Kiran, and not weeks. And that is unusual.

CHETRY: There is also some questions about whether or not there was a sprinkler system.

CHO: In the warehouse, right.

CHETRY: Right.

CHO: And no word on exactly whether there was or there wasn't. Some people have said there was, some people say they're not sure.

CHETRY: In the meantime, the mourning is continuing for these nine firefighters. A big memorial service planned today, and apparently they're going to be getting thousands of people from around the country to pay their respects.

CHO: Oh, it's really going to be a huge turnout. And you're already beginning to see the people now.

The processional is under way. Thirty thousand to 40,000 firefighters from all over the country and Canada are going to be there today. Republican presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, also expected to attend, as are Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden and Chris Dodd.

We should also mention, Kiran, that after the public memorial, there will be private funerals. Nine of them in all, as you well know, and those will take place over the weekend.

CHETRY: And as we said, this is all getting under way, the actual memorial service from the coliseum. It's going to be taking place at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, and CNN is going to be carrying it live.

Alina, thank you.

CHO: My pleasure. ROBERTS: Vice President Dick Cheney has faced a lot of questions about the secrets that he has kept over the years. Now it looks like he's got a solution -- abolish the office that is asking all the questions.

Cheney has refused to submit classified documents to the National Archives, claiming that he is exempt from an executive order signed by President Bush. Congressman Henry Waxman says Cheney has retaliated by moving to have an office of the National Archives dissolved.

Waxman challenged Cheney in a letter saying, "I question both the legality and the wisdom of your actions." Cheney's press secretary fired back, saying, "We are confident that we are conducting the office properly under the law."

Back in 2003, President Bush ordered all offices within the executive branch to report their top-secret documents. Cheney says he's not part of the executive branch.

Well, some skeletons deep inside the CIA's closet are finally coming into the light. The agency has released documents detailing illegal and otherwise questionable activities from more than 30 years ago. They include the wiretapping of muckraking journalist Jack Anderson, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and the two-year confinement of a Soviet defector during the 1960s, as well as kidnappings and warrantless searches. CIA Director Michael Hayden says the documents are unflattering but they are a part of the agency's history.

CHETRY: So how close is the Bush administration to closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba? The White House canceled a meeting that was set for today on the detention center after the AP reported they were close to a decision on shutting it down. Last night the administration denied the AP report and portrayed the canceled meeting as only one of many regular meetings on how and when to move some of the 380 terror suspects out of Guantanamo and to put them on trial.

ROBERTS: U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill is just back from North Korea overnight and reporting real progress on disarmament. We spoke with him exclusively just a few minutes ago about what he accomplished in his surprise unilateral talks with the North Koreans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER Hill, ASST. SECRETARY OF STATE: What was encouraging was the fact that the North Koreans are prepared to move ahead and shut down the reactor. They're also clearly prepared to disable the reactor. That is, break the thing so it can't be brought back on line. But, you know, we've got a long way to go.

We've got some 50 kilos, 110 pounds of fissile material. We've got to get a hold of that. And frankly, we've got to run to ground the whole issue of this highly-enriched uranium, the other way you make bomb material. So we've got a long way to go, but, you know, we're in a first step and not a bad one.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTS: Assistant Secretary Hill told us that there was still a lot more to know about what weapons the North Koreans may have already built.

Just minutes before midnight, the Senate passed an energy bill that would raise the average fuel mileage standard to 35 miles a gallon for all cars, trucks and SUVs by the year 2020. The last time Congress voted to increase the standards was way back in 1975. The compromise approved without floor debate now moves to the House and later to the president's desk. The current requirement for cars of 27.5 miles per gallon has not changed since 1989.

NASA will try again to bring the space shuttle Atlantis home. Clouds and showers in Florida yesterday forced the Atlantis crew to spend another night in space. Today's forecast not that promising either. There are five landing opportunities, though, today. The first one will be at 2:18 p.m. Eastern Time.

There's some new video of a water rescue, an unexpected water rescue in Bakersfield, California. Firefighters were conducting a class when the Kern -- in the Kern River yesterday when one of the students fell out of our inner tube. There you see someone throw her a life line. She was able to grab on to that rope, and then she was pulled safely to shore.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Coming up now to 10 minutes after the hour.

Former House Republican leader Tom DeLay is calling Michael Moore a "plus-sized publicity hound and a chicken" for pulling out of a television debate. According to "Variety," Moore said that he was scheduled to debate someone from the pharmaceutical lobby this weekend on ABC. He dropped out when DeLay was substituted. He said that DeLay wasn't directly involved in health care, the subject of Moore's new film, "Sicko".

And there is a move to make video game addiction an actual medical disorder. The American Medical Association will debate the issue at a meeting in Chicago this weekend. The goal is to get the American Psychiatric Association to add it to its official list of disorders. That would allow people to get treatment for it.

CHETRY: So, who is smarter, you or your big brother? As it turns out, he is. And the same goes for any siblings, according to this study, male or female. They say the oldest child has the higher I.Q. score.

ROBERTS: Interesting. Two new scientific papers are coming out today that claim to have answered this age-old argument, and they say what's behind it, nature, nurture? Nurture wins out.

Dalton Conley is the author of "The Pecking Order: A Bold New Look at How Family and Society Determine Who We Become". Dalton Conley joins us now.

So, how did they figure that the first born has a higher I.Q. than the siblings that come later?

DALTON CONLEY, AUTHOR, "THE PECKING ORDER": Well, there has been a lot of debate, as you mentioned, and work on this area. And the big advance of this study was that they compared brothers within the same family. Therefore, taking out a lot of the other possible factors that might be driving the results. And they had a really big sample size.

ROBERTS: So they only looked at brothers, because naturally the sisters would be more intelligent, right?

CONLEY: Well, we all know that, yes, eldest girls and girls in general. But no, they had military data from Norway. So I'm not all so sure how generalizable this would be to the United States, for example.

CHETRY: Now, it's interesting. The study did find that there was a three point I.Q. difference on average between the firstborns and the younger siblings, and while it doesn't sound like much, does three extra I.Q. points have a significant potential impact on people?

CONLEY: Well, we take all we can get, really. So I would say that that's a pretty significant difference, especially for something within families. However, what you mentioned in the introduction is that when they're younger than 12, the effect is actually reversed. And the firstborns are...

CHETRY: Yes, this was actually interesting. They said the I.Q. of the eldest -- of the younger siblings outscored the eldest at that age, under 12, and then it reverses in later life.

CONLEY: That's kind of a quizzical finding. And I think what is really going on here is that it's the middle-born child -- and this is what I found in my research -- that is the most disadvantaged. They are fighting a two-front war for...

ROBERTS: Oh, middle child syndrome is famous for generations.

CONLEY: Jan Brady.

ROBERTS: But what is it about the nurture thought that helps to increase I.Q.?

CONLEY: Well, it's not that it's increasing for the firstborns. It's that when the second born goes from being second of two, to second of three or more -- in other words, going from last born to middle child, then they face a crisis. Because then they're not getting the individual attention, they're fighting a two-front war. The parents are totally afraid.

I think really what's going on here is family size and the crunch in the middle more than first versus second. CHETRY: And one other interesting thing was they did not study women. Do you think that these -- that this study can then just generically be applied to women, or that it might be different in terms of the sexes?

CONLEY: Absolutely not. I think that it can't be compared.

There are big differences. How birth order plays out can be quite different for boys and girls.

For example, when parents go through a divorce, I find that the eldest girl generally takes on a lot of responsibility, kind of like a quasi second parent. And that, unless they have a fairy godmother like Cinderella to rescue them, ends up being a disadvantage.

ROBERTS: It will also be interesting to see as well if only children, like my colleague here, are brighter than children who come from multiple sibling families.

CONLEY: Well, the good news for you, Kiran, is that...

CHETRY: How much time do you have?

CONLEY: ... the studies are pretty definitive on only children that you've got the whole pie in the family to yourself, and...

CONLEY: Including the crazy genes. So we get all of those as well.

Dalton Conley, author of "The Pecking Order" and chairman of the Department of Sociology at NYU.

Thank you.

CONLEY: Thank you.

CHETRY: Well, it's 13 past the hour. We head over to Chad Myers.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ROBERTS: What are you doing right now, besides, obviously, watching AMERICAN MORNING? For countless people around the world that question has caused quite a stir on the Internet.

Veronica de la Cruz has been looking into an unlikely Web phenomenon called Twitter.

I'm a pretty Web-savvy guy and I've never heard of Twitter. What's Twitter?

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, you know, we are so connected these days. We have got, what, cell phones, mobile phones. We've got...

CHETRY: BlackBerrys. DE LA CRUZ: BlackBerrys, PDAs, your laptop, your cell phone. And a lot of us are addicted to those things.

You're a CrackBerry, right? Right?

CHETRY: Exactly.

DE LA CRUZ: So much so that I want to show you this Web site, you guys. It's a pretty cool online community. It's called Twitter, and it is a micro blogging and social networking Web site which invites you to answer this one question: What are you doing right now?

You have people from all over the world logged on 24/7, all communicating with each other and blogging their every move. And the site updates constantly, and it helps you stay connected with family, friends, basically the entire universe, so that everyone always knows what you're doing. And apparently the site is so popular, so many people were logged on this morning, the site went down, causing the Twitter community to panic.

Here is quick sample of Twitter traffic within the past few minutes.

A couple of people saying something like, "Heading to camp. Yikes, I'll been gone a week. Hopefully Twitter will be up and running by the time I get there."

Another person saying, "Massive traffic jam. I'm going to be late. That's OK, because the boss will be late, too."

So John, I know you haven't heard of it, but it's twitter.com. And I know -- I mean, who would think that something like this would catch on, right?

ROBERTS: Whatever happened to the principle of TMI? Too much information.

DE LA CRUZ: I know. I know. But, you know, if you don't want to be checking in with mom every two seconds, Twitter her.

CHETRY: Wow. Twitter her. So we Google things, so maybe someday we're going to say we're twittering things.

ROBERTS: People will stop having conversation one day.

DE LA CRUZ: Right.

CHETRY: When you walk on a plane these days before they shut down...

DE LA CRUZ: Everybody is on their BlackBerry.

CHETRY: Everyone...

(CROSSTALK) CHETRY: If they took a snapshot of our society these days, all you would see in every aisle is this, that humans no longer communicate. All they do is this.

DE LA CRUZ: I'm guilty. I was doing it walking down the sidewalk yesterday.

ROBERTS: Well, they communicate. They're just -- just don't do it crossing the road.

DE LA CRUZ: All right. Let's show you the viral video of the day. We're going to take you to break.com for this one. And back to Japan, because John likes these Japanese game shows.

ROBERTS: Yes, I love these. I get Japanese TV in my hotel room. It's terrific.

DE LA CRUZ: Oh, I'm so jealous. I was thinking of moving to Japan just so I could watch TV.

Anyway, this is from break.com. It's received nearly a million hits. And the name of the game here is to get to the end of the treadmill without falling. Otherwise, you end up in this big pool of water.

Take a look. So he goes down, right? You think he's safe. But unfortunately, not.

Now, as you get further you must eat the cookie. It's seize (ph) the treadmill -- up.

There he goes. He grabs the cookie.

CHETRY: Look at that.

DE LA CRUZ: And you've got to cross the finish line, which nobody can seem to do.

Anyway, so that is the viral video of the day.

CHETRY: Anyone make through that or no?

(CROSSTALK)

DE LA CRUZ: One person. One person.

CHETRY: It's funny.

ROBERTS: That stuff is hilarious. I love when they try to run across the pond with the floating rocks in it.

(CROSSTALK)

DE LA CRUZ: Like I said, I want to move to Japan just so I can sit and watch TV all day.

ROBERTS: Oh, it's hilarious.

DE LA CRUZ: It's good stuff.

ROBERTS: It's great stuff.

CHETRY: And we can keep track of you on Twitter.

Thanks, Veronica.

ROBERTS: Hey, as long as you're surfing the Web, this reminder. You can submit your videotape questions to our CNN-YouTube presidential debate.

To participate, just log on to YouTube.com/debates, scroll down the page, and upload your video by clicking on "Submit Your Question" button. You can do it with anything. You can do it if you've got a video camera. You can do it with a cell phone. You can do it with your little still camera if it's got a video function.

And make sure that you watch the CNN-YouTube debates hosted by Anderson Cooper, Monday, July 23rd from Charleston, South Carolina. Only here on CNN. The Republicans go at it Monday, September the 17th.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Some news about a new search on the island of Iwo Jima this morning.

A U.S. search team is there right now zeroing in on a cave where the remains of a Marine combat photographer who filmed the iconic flag-raising 62 years ago may be. He was killed in action during that battle.

Some possible hope for Parkinson's sufferers. An experimental gene therapy could be improving symptoms, and without side-effects so far. The treatment involves slipping billions of copies of a gene into the brain to calm overactive circuitry.

And a hacker claims to be spreading the ending of the new "Harry Potter" book on the Internet. He posted what he says are plot details from the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series. He says he broke into the publisher's computer.

The publisher though says don't believe anything you read on the Web. The July 21st book is coming out then, and you can read it for yourself they say -- John.

ROBERTS: Twenty-three minutes after the hour, Kiran.

Wal-Mart this week announced that it would offer money cards to its customers. These are prepaid debit cards customers can use just like a credit card and reload it when the balance gets low. You can get similar cards from stores like CVS, Walgreen's and RadioShack. So are they a good idea?

Well, your money saver, Gerri Willis, joins us now.

Well, what about -- are these cards a good deal for people?

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, I've got to tell you, Wal-Mart is calling this a checking account in your pocket. You know, there are 10 million Americans out there that don't have checking accounts, and Wal-Mart is going after these people, because they feel like they get a lot of people through their front doors anyway.

Now, here is what you need to know.

For people who don't have checking accounts and go to cash checking services, you know, this is a nice thing, because they're not carrying cash around. You know, people often get ripped off when they carry a lot of cash, so for that reason alone it's a pretty decent idea.

ROBERTS: You see, this is something that's really foreign to me because I've had a bank account since I was 4 years old.

WILLIS: Yes.

ROBERTS: My mother, who made minimum wage, taught me a long time ago the value of having a bank. So these folks, why wouldn't they have a bank account?

WILLIS: Well, they might be illegal in this country. Maybe they get paid in cash. Maybe they're paid off the books.

But your mom was right, John. You need a banking account, because you need a financial identity.

Let's look at some of the downsides of this card.

You really need to understand the fee structure. You pay a lot for the privilege of this prepaid visa.

You pay almost $9 in issuance fee to get the thing in the first place. And then, of course, there's the reloading fee of almost $5.

There's a monthly fee of $5. If you take money out of the ATM, it's almost $2. And if you want to talk with an operator, two bucks again.

So, let's say you get one of these Wal-Mart money cards, the minimum amount you can put on it is 20 bucks. The 20 bucks goes away really fast.

ROBERTS: Yes, it sort of does. You've obviously got to put a higher amount on there to keep up that balance.

Should anybody use these cards? Who would you recommend them for?

WILLIS: I've got to tell you, I am not a big fan, and I'm tell you why.

Do you want to grow wealth? Do you want money? Do you want to have a financial history that the banks and the credit card operators and everybody knows about so that eventually you can take out a loan, get a mortgage, have a financial identity?

This isn't the way to go. You need to go bet a bank account. And keep in mind bank accounts are free these days. You can ask that the fees be removed. You can get paid for putting money into the bank instead of paying the bank money to keep your money. So...

ROBERTS: All right. But as you said, some people may be using this card can't get a bank account because they are in this country illegal.

WILLIS: It can be tough. But I've got to tell you, one of the number one reasons for not getting a bank account is that folks don't trust banks. So, I mean, you've got to think seriously about the choices you make out there and what is actually adding to your wealth. I think you go get the bank account. That's the easiest thing to do.

ROBERTS: All right. Gerri, thanks very much for that.

And be sure to watch Gerri on "OPEN HOUSE" this weekend. She'll talk more about these prepaid cards, plus hidden hotel fees that you should watch out for and how to complain so that you get what you want.

That's Saturday, 9:30 a.m., right here on CNN.

Kiran knows how to get what she wants.

CHETRY: Thanks. I do sometimes, right? Like breakfast.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: We're about an hour-and-a-half away from the start of the memorial service in Charleston, South Carolina that will be honoring the brave firefighters -- these nine -- who died in that furniture store fire earlier this week. It was the worst firefighter tragedy since September 11th.

Heidi Collins is in Charleston today. She will be anchoring coverage for CNN NEWSROOM coming up at the top of the hour -- Heidi.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Kiran.

Yes, we have been able to speak with quite a few people since arriving last night in Charleston, South Carolina. In fact, had an opportunity to go over to the site of the fire where people are still gathered. Fellow firefighters now coming in from all over the country to offer their tribute to these brave men who lost their lives on Monday night.

Now, today, we have seen more influx, obviously, as you can probably see behind me already, you see this huge Jumbotron. That is because, we believe, that inside the coliseum, they are expecting about 20,000 people. And the Jumbotron is set up for another 10,000 people outside. So I can't begin to tell you how many people we've seen around here still hugging each other, all dressed in their uniforms from fire departments all over this country.

I want to give you an opportunity to take a look at something that was going on beginning at 8:00 this morning. There was a processional of all the fire trucks that have come in from many different areas. We believe there to be about 150 or so. That processional is still going on. If we can take a look at that shot, pretty unbelievable the way these men and women are lining up to honor their brethren. Also want to give you an opportunity to learn more about not only whose going to be here.

There you see the processional now, all of the engines making their way to where I am here at the North Charleston Coliseum. They will be arriving and then go inside. They will hear the governor of South Carolina speak, they will hear the mayor, they will hear the fire chief, Rusty Thomas, speaking, and everyone will be inside for about an hour. We will have live coverage for you in the CNN NEWSROOM. From 10:00 to 11:00, that will be going on.

We'll also have a guest here, the chaplain, Rob Dewey, who I know was on your program a little bit earlier, and he's going to be telling us more about how the firefighters are doing, days after this horrible tragedy.

Back now to you, Kiran.

CHETRY: All right, Heidi, thank you very much.

ROBERTS: And some dramatic dispatch tapes out this morning from the early moments of that fire. This is amateur video that you're looking at now of firefighters taking on the massive fire. On the tapes we can hear a dispatcher trying to guide firefighters from someone who is trapped inside. Take a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DISPATCHER: Units be advised, we have someone on the floor trapped inside Sofa Superstore.

OFFICER: We copy.

DISPATCHER: Please send more to the back.

OFFICER: Whereabout at the back of the building?

DISPATCHER: He's The beating on the wall with a hammer to try to get someone's attention.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTS: The man was eventually rescued. City fire officials have told the Associated Press that the fire started near a loading dock, where employees took their smoking breaks.

CHETRY: NASA will try again to today to bring Space Shuttle Atlantis back home. There were clouds, and showers in Florida yesterday, and it forced the crew to spend another night in space. Today's forecast not looking that great either. But they are going to check it out and see. There were five different opportunities. The first would be at 2:18 p.m. Eastern Time.

ROBERTS: The new movie "A Mighty Heart" focuses on the kidnapping and murder of reporter Daniel Pearl.

CNN's Zain Verjee spoke with the real life special agent who was on the hunt for Pearl's killers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELINA JOLIE, ACTRESS: Danny is missing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The new movie "A Mighty Heart."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: We're going to create a beautiful world together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: Part love story...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOLIE: I can't get through to Danny.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: How far are we going? Is it far?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: ... part thriller, dramatizes the killing of "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan.

At the center of the drama, a special U.S. diplomatic security agent, Randall Bennett, played in the movie by Will Patton.

VERJEE: We caught up with the real Bennett.

RANDALL BENNETT, DIPLOMATIC SECURITY SERVICE: When we realized we were not going to recover him, that we had lost him, there was a considerable amount of trauma. VERJEE: After five sleepless weeks, there was a breakthrough, one that Bennett dreaded, an execution on videotape, a beheading.

BENNETT: We took that back to my home and played it through my system, and it was Danny on the tape, so, at that moment, we knew that he actually was dead.

VERJEE: It was Bennett who had to break the news to Pearl's wife, Marianne.

BENNETT: She went into a room and closed the door and screamed, and I think it broke all of our hearts.

VERJEE: The movie documents the investigation led by Bennett that resulted in the capture of al Qaeda operative Shaikh Omar Saeb. Bennett is lured by dangerous assignments, often first in the line of fire protecting U.S. diplomats.

While at the U.S. consulate in Karachi, he says he was an al Qaeda target in a suicide attack that killed 13 people. He escaped injury.

Bennett's protected the likes of President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Secretary of State Rice.

Now, his heroics are appearing on the big screen, alongside Angelina Jolie, who plays Marianne Pearl. The red carpet is something Bennett finds a tad intimidating.

BENNETT: I really would rather be in a firefight than the nervousness I have here.

VERJEE: Zain Verjee, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: "ANDERSON COOPER 360" airs weeknights at 10:00 Eastern. Here's Anderson wit a look at what's on his program tonight.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Kiran, bridges to nowhere -- dealing with a tragedy in New Orleans. How the government you're counting on and paying for is doing. From one end of the country to the other, and especially in Washington, we're keeping them honest. A special report on 360 tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern -- Kiran.

CHETRY: All right, thanks, Anderson.

(NEWSBREAK)

ROBERTS: And what if you could work and workout at the same time? Dr. Sanjay Gupta will tell us how it's done, coming u8p next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK) CHETRY: It's the next cell phone -- leap in cell phone technology, live video from your phone to another. AT&T is launching it, Ali Velshi here to try it out, "Minding Your Business" and calling a friend in Atlanta.

First, it was instant messaging; now text, that's not good enough.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is actually interesting, because AT&T is the distributor for the iPhone, which I talk a lot about but not all that interested in, mainly because AT&T and Apple haven't sent me a demo, but they did send me this, this demo of this 3G, third-generation phone, and this week they launched something called AT&T video share. So I have called. This one I'm showing you, but I've got one next to me, and I've set it up and we've called our good friend Chad in Atlanta.

Chad?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, guys!

VELSHI: This is fun!

MYERS: It really is.

VELSHI: This thing is actually neat.

MYERS: I tell you what, though. You have to use it on speaker phone, because if you don't, if you just put it on your face like this...

VELSHI: The camera gets the wrong shot.

MYERS: Look at the shot you get.

VELSHI: Let's take a look at the shot that's coming from Chad's camera.

MYERS: Now this is how I'd be talking to you, and then, all of a sudden, you got all of this distortion all going sideways. So you want to put it out in front of yourself and talk to it on a speakerphone. And then there you can see the cameraman that was just taking my picture. We'll kind of pan over to the right. Here's the weather office, right there. You can see a nice shot of that, way far away, but it's over there.

Now I'm thinking, now, how do you use this thing? This would be great for iReports. But let's say you find something online or let's say you go to a dealership, and you say, hey, honey, hey, honey, look what I found! Can I buy it? Hello? Hello? Are you still there? Are you still there?

VELSHI: So the one that we've got here, the one you're seeing on camera is the phone I've got over here. It's simple. All I is called Chad up, he answers, it's fine, and then there's a little thing that comes up, says Videoshare. And I can send Chad the video that I've got, but in this case he's sending it to me and it's real time.

CHETRY: You can't do it simultaneously?

VELSHI: That's the -- you can switch it. I can reverse this so that Chad can be seeing my video, but we can't do it at the same time. I'm certain that technology is coming up next.

ROBERTS: That's what...

VELSHI: But Chad's right, if he's at the store and he wants to say, you know, hey, should I buy this home theater system, how do you think this looks? He can show us what it looks like. Chad, Give us another sense of what you're seeing there.

MYERS: Well, you know, let's say you've got -- I have a 2 1/2- year-old and a mom, a grandmom of his at home, and I want to send him something, her something. Hey, mom, look at Grant! Hey, hi, grandma! And then I just can't imagine how many uses this would have.

Plus, Ali, I mean, think about this would do for the iReport, getting a download.

VELSHI: Yes, people can actually send this video.

MYERS: Absolutely. You have a video of something and you call one of our numbers, and all of a sudden, you're on the air with this live and you're reporting to us live. Just amazing technology.

And actually the refresh rate is better than I thought. I really thought that this would be slow, a little bit grainy. But I'm looking at your video. It's pretty good.

ROBERTS: In fact, because of that iReport capability, I think that we should arm everyone in America with one of these new phones.

VELSHI: It's fantastic. It really is going to make a big difference to how you can get things around quickly. So, again, a lot of the stuff that we see, you know, coming out in terms of phone technology isn't useful to a lot of people. This one really is.

CHETRY: Right when you say isn't useful, you see poor Chad.

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: Thanks a million, Chad, for doing this.

CHETRY: I can't wait until it goes both ways. I think that'll be neat. That's be really Jetsons-like.

VELSHI: Well, we'll keep bringing you stuff that is fun. Chad, thanks a million. We'll catch you later.

MYERS: All right, see you, buddy.

CHETRY: Thanks, Ali. If you're too busy at work, you never have time to exercise, at least that's been your excuse. Well, imagine going to work and still getting in your 30-minute workout. Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us how this can happen in his Fit Nation report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Imagine an office that's more like a gym. Dr. James Levine would like every workplace to trade monotony for movement. Levine, who's an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic, believes workers can keep moving and still be productive. He created a special platform designed to fit around a treadmill. It only goes a mile an hour, but the effect is noticeable.

DR. JAMES LEVINE, MAYO CLINIC: You burn an extra hundred to a hundred and fifty calories an hour.

GUPTA: Add that up, eight hours a day, that's close to a thousand calories. Skeptics say it's almost impossible to concentrate on a treadmill for long periods.

DENISE FEELEY, MEDSTAR RESEARCH INST.: It would seem a better use of your time to actually take a break and go out and have a 20- minute fast walk. You would probably spend more calories than you would walking on this treadmill for a couple of hours.

GUPTA: Dr. Jeff Fidler, a radiologist at the Mayo Clinic, sits at his desk looking at 16,000 images a day. Accuracy is crucial as he tries to pinpoint abnormalities. In a research study, Fidler and a colleague used the treadmill every day while studies films. Fidler lost 25 pounds, and made no mistakes.

DR. JEFF FIDLER, MAYO CLINIC: And, in fact, it improved our detection rate up to 99 percent.

GUPTA: They cost anywhere from $300 to $1500, depending on the type of treadmill that comes with it. Levine says using the equipment for just a couple of hours a day will produce significant health benefits.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: All right, you can follow Sanjay on his fight against obesity. Head to CNN.com/fitnation.

(NEWSBREAK)

ROBERTS: Looking to spend your money on a movie this weekend? Maybe you're wondering if "Evan Almighty" will rise above the other summer sequels? Well, wonder no more. Our very own Lola Ogunnaike joins us ahead with a look at all that Hollywood's got to offer this weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: First there was "Bruce Almighty," and today the sequel "Evan Almighty" hits the big screen.

ROBERTS: Steve Carrell is Noah, just like the biblical character. He's got to build an ark, but he seems to have a little bit of a problem doing it. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE CARRELL, ACTOR: People, the flood is imminent!

Is it too much to ask for a little precipitation?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: our own Lola Ogunnaike is here with more on the new releases at the box office, including "Evan Almighty."

"Bruce Almighty" was a hit. It was pretty funny. How about this one?

LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: "Bruce Almighty" was a huge hit, and this one is actually funny, too. It stars Steve Carrell, who is red hot right now. "40 Year Old Virgin" did really well. He's also the star of "The Office." And now he's got this "Evan Almighty" out right now. He plays a senator who gets word from God that there's a devastating flood coming and he has to build an ark.

ROBERTS: And Morgan Freeman is back in this one again, too, right?

OGUNNAIKE: And Morgan Freeman is God again. So you've got animals. You've got God. You've got a big old boat, and you've got a flood. So it may work actually.

ROBERTS: So would you recommend it, nice little time-waster?

OGUNNAIKE: I think it would be a great family film actually, and it's appealing to the Christian community out there, so they may actually come out in droves.

ROBERTS: Unlike the last Steve Carrell movie, which was by no means a family film.

(CROSSTALK)

OGUNNAIKE: By no means a family film at all. Yes, this one actually may do well for Steve Carrell.

CHETRY: All right, so if you want to get some laughs, there you go. But if you want to be scared, "1408," it's a new horror/thriller that's out. What do you think?

OGUNNAIKE: It's starring Samuel L. Jackson, John Cusack. John Cusack plays a (INAUDIBLE) writer who checks into a haunted hotel. And Samuel L. Jackson, can't get enough of this guy, he averages about five films a year. He's worked with everyone.

ROBERTS: Now this is an adaptation of a Stephen King story.

OGUNNAIKE: Yes, it is.

ROBERTS: And many people think there hasn't a good Stephen King adaptation made since "The Shining." And a lot of people didn't even like that. So is this any good?

OGUNNAIKE: This has been receiving mixed reviews. I actually think it might do well. It's a psychological thriller. People are really into those right now. So it could do well. And Samuel L. Jackson, he has a huge fan base. People come out in droves to see him. So yes, we'll see.

CHETRY: Who didn't like "The Shining." It was great.

ROBERTS: Some people didn't like the ending. They thought Kubrick took too much license.

OGUNNAIKE: I thought Jack Nicholson was amazing in "The Shining."

ROBERTS: He was.

What about "A Might Heart," the new Angelina Jolie...

OGUNNAIKE: "A Mighty Heart," Daniel Pearl's story, yes, tells the story of "The Wall Street Journal" who was killed while reporting in Pakistan.

And I don't know if this is going to have a mass audience. It's kind of narrow, but I think it's one of the better journalism films since "The Insider."

CHETRY: And all the Oscar buzz, Oscar buzz around her.

OGUNNAIKE: Oscar buzz around her, didn't love her French accent, but the acting was quality.

CHETRY: You did mention something off camera, you said she was wise, though, because she used it sparingly.

OGUNNAIKE: Oh yes, she kept the lines to a limit.

CHETRY: Lola, thanks very much.

Here's a quick look now at what CNN NEWSROOM is working on for the top of the hour.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: See these stories in the CNN NEWSROOM. Charleston, honoring nine fallen firefighters. The memorial service live in the NEWSROOM.

High-level talks on Guantanamo Bay canceled today. The move follows a report the White House may soon close the prison. Atlantis' hopes to land in Florida, if clouds scatter.

And 35 mpgs on average by 2010. The Senate OKs a new energy bill. NEWSROOM, minutes away, top of the hour on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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