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American Morning
State Department Assigns Staff to Help Expedite Millions Of Backlogged Passport Applications; Gore's Son Caught With Drugs
Aired July 05, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Extreme nation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This heat is oppressive. It will kill you.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: A new alert out west. Scorching heat expected to send temperatures past 100 degrees today.
Plus new storms on the move down south, Texas bracing for floods, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Bad weather day across the country. Good morning, welcome back. Thanks for joining us here on this AMERICAN MORNING, it's Thursday the 5th of July, I'm John Roberts.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Betty Nguyen in for Kiran Chetry this morning. Good morning John.
ROBERTS: Good morning to you Betty, thanks for being with us by the way.
NGUYEN: Absolutely, I want to be here, I want to tell you about this as well. Forecasters predicting more showers and thunderstorms for Oklahoma today. Not what they need but lakes and reservoirs are already filled to capacity and emergency crews say the flooding is expected to last for several more days. They are also keeping an eye on the water supply making sure it's not affected by a massive oil spill from a Kansas refinery. And there is more wet weather warnings across Texas today. Heavy rains flooding creeks and rivers, 148 of the state's 254 counties under either flash flood watches or warnings overnight. A number of fireworks shows and parades were simply washed out because of the weather.
ROBERTS: In Utah, an evacuation order has been lifted for a number of small communities about 100 miles east of Salt Lake City. Firefighters say a huge wildfire burning on public and private land is now about 50 percent contained. Nearly 66 square miles of vegetation now have been wiped out. Rescuers in Mexico are searching for survivors of a massive landslide there. Take a look at these pictures. You can see the mountain just came down. It came down on top of a bus that was carrying at least 40 passengers. They have heavy equipment out there now, trying to dig out the bus to see if there are any survivors. So far only one body has been found. The landslide was triggered by heavy rains.
NGUYEN: We want you to take a look at a story that we have been watching for the past hour. Incredible pictures, look at this, of a massive fire in the French Riviera. Hundreds of residents and tourists in the town of Mandelu (ph) have had to be evacuated as firefighters move in to battle this fire. It started in a car lot overnight. There are no reports of anyone being hurt so far.
ROBERTS: The terror threat level in London, England has been lowered from critical to severe. The British government says they no longer think that another attack is imminent. CNN international security correspondent Paula Newton is live in London with us now. Paula before we get into it, the terror alert level and where they're going with this investigation, what's the latest on this derailment in the tube system?
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well they are saying in fact that the derailment was an accident. One person injured and hundreds now are being taken through that underground train tunnel up to ground level. It goes without saying there's a lot of chaos. I spoke to a person who had been stuck on one of those trains for 30 minutes John and it goes without saying that people are on high alert here.
Of course the word through the train was is this another terror attack? They didn't know until they emerged that of course it was just a derailment kind of accident. Again, luckily, only one person was hurt. As you mentioned before, the threat level moved from critical to severe. Again severe still meaning that an attack is highly likely and that's probably why we saw such nervousness on those trains this morning.
You know sources in the government have told us, because we questioned it, we thought why lower the alert now, we know that you have everyone in custody that you believe is linked to the plot, but why now? They say that they want the public to know when that threat level is raised to critical that they understand that they need to be vigilant. Again, they continue to tell everyone really to keep an eye out for these kinds of things, but they want that critical threat level to really mean something when they issue it. That's why they decided to lower the threat level back down to severe. John?
ROBERTS: Paula, is there any more information on what, if any, connections this group might have had to al Qaeda in Iraq?
NEWTON: More little snippets coming out here and there now. But right now they are really trying to get to the heart of the matter in terms of the investigation, going through computers, going through different telephone calls. Looking at the movements of all the suspects in terms of where they have traveled in the last two or three years and what kind of contact they've had. Beyond making that initial link to al Qaeda in Iraq, nothing more now. What they are exploring and what they definitely want to know, which is key, are were any of the suspects in training camps in either Pakistan or Iraq and that's what they're trying to figure out now. John? ROBERTS: I assume it won't take them too long to make those connections if they are there to be found. Paula Newton for us this morning outside of Scotland Yard. Paula, thanks.
NGUYEN: Back here it is going to be dangerously hot in the west today. Triple digit temperatures in the southwest including Las Vegas. That's where CNN's AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence is. Chris, it gets to the point that folks just don't want to be outside. If you're stuck in a vehicle you better have the A/C on.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you said it Betty. I mean it's what, 4:00 in the morning here and this thermometer already reads 88 degrees. The record high for today is 116 degrees. The forecast is 116.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Nevada is sizzling under an extreme heat warning and temperatures are still soaring.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This heat is oppressive. It will kill you. There are people dying all the time in the heat.
LAWRENCE: Each year about 175 people nationwide die from heat- related causes.
(on camera): As hot as it is outside it's that much worse inside of a car which is about the worst place you can leave kids or pets in this kind of heat. As we start our experiment it's already about 114 degrees inside. I've only been in the car about 10 minutes, and it's already at 125 degrees. I'm sweating, and it's definitely a lot harder to breathe. OK, it's been 15 minutes, and it's soaring past 135 degrees in here. I'm sweating from literally every pore in my body. And it's unthinkable to think of a little child or a pet in a car for that long.
(voice-over): In this weather, heat exhaustion can quickly become heatstroke.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once you start getting over 105, you can really start to feel it.
LAWRENCE: Doctors are urging people to stay inside. But that's not an option for a 16-year-old training for a college scholarship.
ASIA MUHAMMAD, AMATEUR TENNIS PLAYER: It's like a bunch of hot air just going in your face. So it makes you breathe harder.
LAWRENCE: Not everyone is exerting themselves. The Palms Casino Resort is used to being one of the hottest spots in Las Vegas, just not quite so literally. Hundreds of people guzzled water, slapped on the sunscreen and packed the pool and bungalows to cool off any way they could. Carly Mullins compared this heat to her hometown in Charlotte.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's definitely a lot hotter. You can't even step down on the concrete. It's very, very hot.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: Doctors are -- or I should say the city is experimenting with a new kind of asphalt alternative. In one case, even though it was about 131 degrees on black asphalt, it was 26 degrees cooler on this natural pave. And doctors are urging a lot of the folks here in this area to wear long-sleeve light-colored clothing and hats and especially to avoid alcohol. Good luck with that one here in Las Vegas, though Betty.
NGUYEN: I was about to say, try that on the strip. I don't think folks are going to go by that rule. But you're not seeing anyone really staying inside. I mean you're still seeing people flock to the strip despite the weather, right?
LAWRENCE: Yeah, you're still seeing people, not so much at 4:00 in the morning. We saw a little bit of traffic about an hour ago, but yeah people are still out here during the day. It's a pretty crowded weekend. The people who live here in Vegas, who are a little more used to the heat, you're still seeing them outside a little bit. But even the folks who were playing tennis yesterday say they curtail their activity a little bit when it starts to get this hot.
NGUYEN: Yeah, 117, you better change it a little bit or you could have heat exhaustion. Thank you Chris Lawrence joining us live in Las Vegas today. John?
ROBERTS: Ticking over now to eight minutes after the hour and time to check in some of the other big stories with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: We're learning more today about just who changed Chris Benoit's Wikipedia profile before a gruesome crime scene was discovered. Jacqui Schechner is here with more on that. And Jacki, this is just downright bizarre.
JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN INTERNET REPORTER: Yeah, it was really strange when we first found out. If you might remember that somebody changed Chris Benoit's Wikipedia profile to say that his wife was dead 14 hours before authorities knew anything at all. It led to a lot of speculation. The Wikipedia community traced the computer back to Stanford, Connecticut which is the home of World Wrestling Entertainment, which led to a lot more chatter online.
Well we know this morning it's a 19-year-old from Stanford, Connecticut, a wrestling fan, someone who spends a lot of time on the computer. The Stanford Police went in, took the computer from the home. They emphasize to us it was not a raid, that the person is in fact cooperating, but I will say this is a quite a lesson learned John, that you have to be very careful about what you post online. You may think that you're anonymous, chances are you are not.
ROBERTS: And it's just such an incredible coincidence as well. Jacki, thanks very much.
SCHECHNER: Sure.
ROBERTS: Al Gore III busted in California. Elizabeth Cohen is in Atlanta looking at what police found when they searched his vehicle. It was kind of like a mini pharmacy, wasn't it?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It certainly was John. They say -- the cops say they found marijuana and valium and Vicadin and Xanax and Aderrol. Now later in the show, I'm going to be talking about prescription drug abuse, a problem not just apparently for the young Mr. Gore, but the problem is growing by leaps and bounds in the United States.
ROBERTS: All right, we'll see you then Elizabeth, thanks very much. Betty?
NGUYEN: The Fourth of July proved to be a dangerous day across America. At least two dozen injuries were reported at various public fireworks displays. Three employees of a Washington, D.C. fireworks show were hurt when unused fireworks exploded after the show was over. One person airlifted to the hospital with serious burns. And in Hudson, Florida, a fireworks tent went up in a huge explosion. Check this out. Police say it was intentional. One person charged with arson. A 4-year-old boy suffered minor burns.
A jaw-dropper of an upset at Nathan's famous July 4th contest in Coney Island. The great red, white and blue hope is now the world's hot dog eating champion. Yes, Joey Chestnut unseated Japan's six-time winner Kobayashi. Chestnut swallowed a record-setting 66 dogs in 12 minutes. Kobayashi inhaled just a mere 63 dogs. Chestnut is from San Jose, California and the first American winner since 1999.
ROBERTS: Joey is from San Jose but has one of those great New York names.
NGUYEN: Yeah.
ROBERTS: Joey Chestnut!
NGUYEN: And now the winner, 66 hot dogs. I can't even imagine.
ROBERTS: I couldn't get six down. That's incredible. A push to reopen lady liberty's crown tops your quick hits this morning. The Statue of Liberty's crown has not been reopened to the public since 9/11 and congress now wants to know why. The National Park Service claims the spiral metal staircase could be a fire hazard.
A mass citizenship ceremony was held at Disney World. About 1,000 people from 75 different countries were sworn in as new U.S. citizens yesterday as part of Independence Day celebrations. They took the oath of citizenship in front of the famous Cinderella castle, where dreams come true.
Call it a reversal of fortune. When it comes to raising campaign cash, who do you think is on top, the Democrats or the Republicans? We'll tell you who and by how much and what it may say about the mood of the nation, when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
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ROBERTS: Topping your quick hits this morning at 15 minutes after the hour. Two students in Colorado Springs were arrested before a pep rally where police thought they were going to carry out an attack on the school. But the students' attorneys says they had no weapons and were just doing research for a paper on school shootings.
A man with a large knife is arrested outside Barack Obama's hotel in Iowa. Police questioned Davit Zakaryan yesterday after Obama's secret service detail said they recognized him from a previous campaign stop. He was charged with carrying an illegal weapon after police found a large knife in his car.
And the mother of pro wrestler Chris Benoit says the DEA could have stopped his drug use and saved her son and his family. The Drug Enforcement Administration admitted this week that Benoit's name surfaced during a drug trafficking investigation but he was not charged and his supply was not cut off.
NGUYEN: John, the race for campaign cash is turning out to be a lopsided affair with Democrats overwhelmingly out-raising Republicans. In the second quarter alone, the top three Democratic candidates have out-raised the top three Republicans by $26 million. So joining me now to talk about it is the author of "Twice as Good, Condoleezza Rice and her Path to Power", Marcus Mabry. Thanks for being with us this morning.
MARCUS MABRY, AUTHOR, "TWICE AS GOOD": Good morning, thanks for having me.
NGUYEN: Well what do you make of the Democrats out-raising those Republicans.
MABRY: This is incredible news, traditionally Republicans have an advantage when it comes to campaign cash because most of the Republicans have actually had more donors than the Democrats and more rich donors as well. So both in absolute terms and in dollar terms, the Republicans have usually out-raised the Democrats. We actually expected that Republican advantage even be multiplied in this campaign cycle because campaign finance reform has meant that Democrats' main source of support, which used to be unions which actually would bundle together their participants and their members' checks and then give them to Democratic candidates, weren't allowed to give that money anymore directly to candidates.
So we expected this to be even more lopsided in favor of the Republicans. It's extraordinary that the Democrats for the first half of this year, have actually -- the three leading Democrats have out- raised the three leading Republicans by 50 percent. It's extraordinary.
NGUYEN: It is and when you look at Barack Obama in particular, you have 250,000 donors alone. But now, when we talk about out- raising, we're talking about donors, specific individuals there. But when we look at the whole, we're talking about soft money and other kinds of contributions, how did the Republicans fare?
MABRY: That's much harder to say because we don't know yet what these huge 508s they're called, the soft money generators, soft money recipients, these are the swift boat veterans for truth were the most famous ones in the last presidential election, really took down John Kerry massively. We don't know how much money those organizations are going to be pumping into this campaign yet and it's too early to say. They don't have to disclose anything yet and most of them are not even getting going yet.
NGUYEN: Let's look at a strategy for a minute, because you had Clinton, Romney, Obama in Iowa yesterday on the 4th of July. You had Richardson and Hunter in New Hampshire. What's the strategy there? Which state is more important at this stage?
MABRY: You know, that Fourth of July, Independence Day political photo-op, and in many cases in Iowa, throughout the state, by different candidates, is a tradition in American politics. At this point I think though you can't say which is more important, Iowa or New Hampshire. It depends on the campaign and therefore the strategy. But what's important I think is that both the states will probably be less relatively important than in the past because we have super duper Tuesday coming up in early February. I think on February 5th we'll have something like 24 states who will be choosing their primary delegates on that day.
NGUYEN: How does that factor into it when we're looking at the money of it?
MABRY: It's interesting because you know these states, will have the first national primary in American history and that's going to make a great deal of difference. These are much more diverse states, obviously, much larger states, ethnically, racially than Iowa and New Hampshire. Suddenly the campaigns have to decide do we actually want to focus on Iowa and New Hampshire as the McCain campaign decided to do, as they run extremely low on cash and had to fire something like 80 percent of their staff. Even in a state like Iowa, where they had to let a large amount of staff go, even though they think that if they win there that will propel them to being a serious contender on the national stage for super duper Tuesday on February 5th.
NGUYEN: We'll see how it plays out. Marcus Mabry thanks so much for being with us today. We appreciate it.
MABRY: Thanks for having me.
NGUYEN: John?
ROBERTS: An increase in your cable bill tops your quick hits now. A new rule designed to increase competition will lead to higher prices. Cable companies will be required by the FCC to ship new more expensive set-top boxes and the cable companies plan to pass the costs on to you.
Some positive signs on the job front today according to a new survey by "USA Today" and careerbuilder.com. Only 5 percent of companies plan to cut workers in the next three months. About a third surveyed say that they'll actually add workers and half expect no change.
It started with a video on YouTube of some skateboarders getting into a fight with police. Now it's moving to eBay, that's because one of the teens involved is hoping to cash in on his confrontation. That story next on AMERICAN MORNING.
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NGUYEN: The death of a music icon tops your quick hits today. Bill Pinkney, the last original member of the Drifters died yesterday in Florida. The drifters are best known for their hits "Under the Boardwalk" and "Up on the Roof." Pinkney was 81.
The National Guard says new recruiting techniques are paying off and they're paying guard members $2,000 bonuses if they sign up a recruit. The guard has more soldiers now than it's had in almost six years.
And some serious fireworks on a beach in Florida. Check that out. A woman walking her dog near St. Augustine found a live bomb from World War II. It was too old and unstable to move so police cleared the beach and blew it up.
ROBERTS: Twenty-four minutes after the hour. The skateboarders who posted a video on YouTube that seemed to show them being roughed up by the police are now hoping to make some money off of the whole controversy. Jacki Schechner is in Washington, she joins us now live with that. What do they have going on Jacki?
SCHECHNER: Hi John, this is the video that we're talking about here. It shows an altercation between some skateboarders in downtown Hot Springs, Arkansas and a police officer who made them stop skateboarding, it's against city ordinance for them to do so. Well they put the video on YouTube and that launched an investigation. The officer has been cleared, he goes back to work today. But at the time this went online we reached out to whoever had put it online and asked for some more information.
I finally got an answer back today and the person said go to YouTube, it's being sold -- excuse me to eBay, it's being sold on eBay for $1,000. They say that this is an uncut version of the tape. It shows everything before and after the incident. Although, John it's sort of interesting because there are uncut versions of this tape up on YouTube. It's been seen more than 1.4 million times. I'm not sure exactly what they hope to be able to get from this. There haven't been any bids so far. The person has not yet identified him or herself.
But again they're trying to sell it on eBay for $1,000. That was the most information they were going to give me. The skateboarders by the way have a court date. This person says it's the 20th, we haven't gotten that confirmed just yet. But four juveniles and two adults, six of the skateboarders do have a court appearance coming up. Again, the cop has been cleared. ROBERTS: Well P.T. Barnum once said there's a sucker born every minute so I guess they're hoping to find him.
SCHECHNER: I'm not chipping in for it I'll tell you that.
ROBERTS: Well you're not a sucker, that's for sure. Jacki thanks very much.
SCHNECHER: Sure.
ROBERTS: One of the top stories on cnn.com tops your quick hits now, a minivan rolled into a pond killing a woman and two children in Bridgeport, Connecticut. They were trapped in 15 to 20 feet of water for more than 20 minutes before a police scuba team pulled them out. Another child was rescued and is in stable condition.
Al Qaeda's second in command says the end of the west is imminent. Ayman al Zawahiri sits down for an hour and 34 minute fire side chat according to a terrorism expert who obtained the tape. He does not mention the recent incidents in the UK though on that tape.
Al Gore III is pulled over for speeding and busted for drug possession. A closer look at that virtual medicine cabinet police say that they found in his car, coming up.
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NGUYEN: Looks like a nice day in Knoxville, Tennessee where they're waking up after the Fourth of July celebrations. The sun is already out, people on the roadways and this picture compliments of our affiliate WATE. It is Thursday, July 5th, hope you survived the Fourth of July celebrations. Everything in tact.
ROBERTS: It was a little wet here in New York City.
NGUYEN: Yeah it was. A lot of folks got rained on just in time for the fireworks to take off in the sky, bad timing.
ROBERTS: So it's nice to see the nice weather in Knoxville, which means it's coming our way.
NGUYEN: Hopefully so. Good morning everybody, I'm Betty Nguyen in for Kiran Chetry this morning.
ROBERTS: And I'm John Roberts, good morning to you. We're hearing this morning from the man who says he received a warning a couple of months before the London terror attacks. The British cleric says he was told by an al Qaeda leader that "those who cure you are going to kill you." That meeting happened back on April 18th.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANON ANDREW WHITE, SENIOR BRITISH CLERIC: During the meeting with him, I experienced on going litany of how he was going to kill British and American people. It was really quite terrible. In fact, I said that day I had seen the devil today, and it was during that meeting that he said to me those who cure you will kill you. And I said to him, I never want to see you again.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Also this morning the terror threat level in London has been lowered from critical to severe. The British government says they no longer think that another attack is imminent.
A derailment on the London subway is not related to terrorism and that's according to police. The derailment happened on the central line, reportedly caused by an obstruction of some sort, on the tracks. One person was hurt. About 700 people had to be evacuated from the Underground.
NGUYEN: New this morning, forecasters are predicting more showers and thunderstorms for Oklahoma today. Lakes and reservoirs are already filled to capacity. And emergency crews say the flooding is expected to last for several more days.
And there is more wet weather warnings across Texas. Heavy rains, flooding creeks, rivers, 148 of the state's 254 counties under either a flash-flood watch or warning overnight.
ROBERTS: Some really incredible pictures that we have been watching this morning. Take a look at this it's a massive wildfire in the French Riviera. Hundreds of firefighters in this town of Mandelieu are battling it. Firefighters say the blaze was ignited from a car that was on fire near a highway. Hundreds of residents and tourists have been evacuated.
A violent confrontation as Israeli forces push into Gaza in an operation targeting Palestinian militants. Air support from Israeli fighter jets was also involved. The planes fired on armed militants who approached the advancing troops. The two sides exchanged gunfire and several Palestinians were hit. No word yet on whether anyone was killed.
Russia says it will not hand over the man accused of poisoning a former KGB agent. The British government demanded the extradition of Andre Lugovoi (ph), who it says killed Alexander Litvinenko last November. Russia claims that it's constitution dictates that no Russian citizen can be turned over to a foreign government.
People waiting for their passports are angry and that has the State Department going to extremes, so now hundreds of young diplomats and civil servants are being reassigned to processing passport applications. They will spend their summer in one of two places. AMERICAN MORNING's Sean Callebs is live with us this morning from one of them, New Orleans.
Good morning to you, Sean.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
Indeed, think about it, it could be what I did on my summer vacation. As many as 200 or so State Department employees have been told they are needed for eight weeks here at a passport processing center in New Orleans, or one in New Hampshire. The reason, those are two very, very large passport centers; and secondly, the government is so far behind. Anywhere from half a million to several million, depending on who you listen to.
The reason, of course, John, back in 2004 the U.S. approved a new law that kicked in, the start of January, that required all American citizens to have a valid passport going to Canada, Mexico the Caribbean or Bermuda. But because of the backlog that has now been suspended and will begin again in October. A lot going on.
ROBERTS: That was only for air travel as well, Sean, as of January 1st, they say the date is pretty soft here. It could be the 30th or maybe even the last week of February, they will require passports for people who come back from the Caribbean, Canada, or Mexico via boat or by land, as well. So, is that going to create another bubble of passport applications that they will have to deal with?
CALLEBS: The State Department is certainly banking on that. To give you an idea, the first three months of this year they received about 5.4 million passport applications. That's really what put the State Department behind the ball that overwhelming number that came in, in that short of time span. To put that in perspective, last year the U.S. approved 12.3, I believe -- 12.1 or 12.3 million -- passports a year, before that, 10.3 million. They are on track this year to approve about 18 million.
So, it is a huge, huge spike. If there is a hint of good news, the State Department says we are entering what is traditionally a lull, the summer time, because everybody needed those passports for some kind of summer vacation.
ROBERTS: Well, we certainly hope that you will check in with a couple of those people who are being brought in from wherever it may be around the world and get their take on how they feel.
CALLEBS: We certainly will.
ROBERTS: Sean, thanks very much. Down there in the Big Easy this morning.
NGUYEN: Al Gore III, the 24-year-old son of former Vice President Al Gore was arrested on drug possession charges after deputies busted him for driving 100 miles per hour on the San Diego freeway. Police say in addition to marijuana the young Gore had with him the prescription drugs, Xanax, Valium, Vicoden and Adderall.
CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us live from Atlanta with much more on this.
Elizabeth, what do we know about the young Gore's medical history. Did he have a substance abuse history as well?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we do know, Betty, that he was busted in 2003 for marijuana possession, and in 2002 he had a DUI charge. We do know that he's been in and out of substance abuse programs.
NGUYEN: Let's look at these drugs, these popular prescription drugs. Especially popular among young people?
COHEN: They really are. They are in many ways the drugs of choice for young people. Sometimes they feel, gosh, they come in a bottle, doctor, prescribe them, they must be a lot safer than street drugs. Well, not necessarily.
These drugs can do terrible, terrible things if used the wrong way. The increases are really phenomenal. When you look at sedatives like valium, when you look at the percent of college students using them, that's gone up 450 percent in the past couple of years. If you look at opiods, like Oxycontin, that's up 343 percent. Vicoden, which was apparently found -- or allegedly found in Mr. Gore's car -- that is in that family. So huge increases in the abuse of prescription drugs for young people.
NGUYEN: Those numbers are staggering. Let me ask you this, though, Valium, Xanax, Vicodin. We know about these drugs and we heard about abuses with those. What about Adderall?
COHEN: Right, Adderall is a bit of a new-comer to the scene. And that really has become quite popular, Adderall is an ADD drug, it is used legitimately to treat ADD for both kids and adults. But what some kids have found over the years is that it seems to do two things. One, when mixed with alcohol, it seems enhances the drunk, as one young person put it to me. At the same time it's kind of an upper; it lets you stay up for longer periods of time and keeps you awake. It's become quite an abused drug.
The sad reality, as one young person said to me, you can go to a doctor, and say you have ADD and get this prescribed, then you abuse it, you share it with your friends. So there's apparently quite a black market for Adderall at this point.
NGUYEN: Interesting. CNN's Elizabeth Cohen. Thank you, Elizabeth, for that good information.
COHEN: Thanks.
NGUYEN: This next one could be straight out of a Hitchcock movie. I want you to check it out. I guess you could call it an attack bird. This bird has been terrorizing a neighborhood in South Florida. What it does is it swoops down on anyone who gets close to its nest, including the Mailman. It has taken out a few mailmen, even a neighborhood cat on top of that. You see people just running from it.
So far, the good news is there have been no serious injuries because of the attack bird. I guess the bird needs to be put on a leash, or something.
ROBERTS: Fierce defenders of home front.
NGUYEN: Yeah. ROBERTS: Presidential candidate Barack Obama takes aim at the Clintons, that tops your "Quick Hits" this morning. On the campaign trail in Oscaloosa (ph), Iowa. Obama declared he's the future, and the Clintons are the past. Obama made the comment after former President Bill Clinton joined his wife on the campaign trail in Iowa this week.
The Secret Service detail following Bill and Hillary, or Billary, as they're being called, put a stop to a 21-gun salute in Mason City, Iowa. The salute has been a tradition for more than 30 years but the Secret Service apparently does not like the idea of guns being fired near former presidents and presidential candidates.
It's the injury that we can't see, but many soldiers have this, traumatic brain injury. And Doctor Sanjay Gupta will have that story for us, next on AMERICAN MORNING.
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NGUYEN: There is hope for childhood asthma, and that tops your "Quick Hits" today.
Scientists in London say they found a genetic link to asthma risk in kids, adding to the evidence about the role of genetics and the disease rather than from environmental factors. The discovery could lead to better treatments for asthma.
And it is an expensive carrot on a stick and one not guaranteed to get kids to actually eat that carrot. The government will spend $1 billion this year trying to educate children on the benefits of eating healthy. But a new study shows that most initiatives, so far, have been failures.
You know that achy light-headed feeling you get on a long flight? A new study says those symptoms are actually altitude sickness. The study conducted by Boeing also found that older people, above age 60, were less likely to experience the symptoms and suffered less than women -- John.
ROBERTS: That's a new one. Haven't heard that one before.
A new program in Illinois is taking bold action to help Iraq war vets who may be returning with an invisible injury. The program will screen all returning National Guard troop for traumatic brain injury. It's a potentially devastating situation and one that often goes undiagnosed, as Doctor Sanjay Gupta shows us now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Specialist Brandon Wampler (ph) is back from Iraq. At first glance he looks to be in great shape.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What happens when you write?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's sloppy.
GUPTA: He says his mind is not the same.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four of diamonds.
GUPTA: He can't even remember faces of playing cards.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three of clubs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whoops, not quite.
GUPTA: Wampler sustained significant memory loss after he was rocked by three roadside bombs in Iraq.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like a brick wall going through you, is how I would explain it.
GUPTA: Doctors at Fort Carson, where Wampler is based say they have seen an astonishing 18 percent of soldiers return from Iraq with some form of traumatic brain injury, known as TBI. It happens when powerful shockwaves from nearby explosions jar the soldiers brains.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you ever been hospitalized?
GUPTA: The problem is compounded because after a blast soldiers without visible injuries don't always see the need for medical attention.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Often these soldiers won't seek help in theater. It's important that they get care at the time of the injury.
GUPTA: One national veterans rights group says the Army is doing a better job of diagnosing brain injuries, but says more improvement is needed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are enormous gaps in care, in the delivery of patient care, and rehabilitative efforts, and also when it comes to the environment, the healing environment that the soldiers should be in.
GUPTA: The Army says its treatment is aggressive, but says there's still debate over what treatments work best.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they're criticizing the Army, they also need to criticize the civilian world. There is not clearly one pathway to treat traumatic brain injury.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three?
GUPTA: Brandon Wampler says it took months to diagnose his symptoms. He's now in weekly therapy hoping to regain his memory.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just want to be able do my thing, and be completely and wholly independent. That's my goal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Dr. Sanjay Gupta reporting for us this morning. It will be interesting to see whether or not this program in Illinois is copied by many states across the country.
NGUYEN: Right, yes. See that play out in other places will be very interesting.
ROBERTS: It's such an important issue for these troops returning back from Iraq.
NGUYEN: Absolutely. We need to talk more about it because they come back with a lot of issues, and sometimes they get pushed to the side. You need to bring it to the forefront.
ROBERTS: This is that invisible injury that often has no symptoms until you get into the development of a brain injury.
NGUYEN: It's serious, yes.
ROBERTS: It's difficult to recover from at that point.
NGUYEN: Absolutely.
NGUYEN: We want to talk to you about the end of -- something totally different -- it's credit card row. Yes, it tops your "Quick Hits" today.
The first lady of France, Cecilia Sarkozy, she's is giving up her credit card. Here's what happened. She drew heat for using a government credit card to buy lunches, totaling roughly $550. She was given this credit card to buy gifts for wives of other heads of state. But there were complaints that she had no official duties that would warrant her to have it.
And the Winter Olympics are headed to Russia. That's right. This was the scene in Sochi, when the Black Sea resort town found out it would host the Winter Games in 2014. Sochi beat out Pyeongchang in South Korea.
There are now 9 million millionaires in America. Did you know? And up next, we'll tell you how they're making it, how they're spending it, and how a 100-foot yacht doesn't cut it anymore.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Take a look at this pretty picture, on your Thursday. This is the Crescent City Connector in New Orleans, where it is 77 degrees. Oh, they are just getting started because the high, 92. Yes, it's not Las Vegas, but that is pretty warm down South as we take a live look at New Orleans this morning.
Well, the box office record books had been -- transformed. That tops our "Quick Hits" today. Optimus Prime, the giant robot of "Transformers" demolished all previous hauls, bringing in $27 million on Tuesday, the first day of release. That easily beats last year's Tuesday's record of $16 million set by "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."
And the music industry continues to suffer from illegally downloaded music. Do you do it? Well, total sales dropped by 5 percent last year, that is despite the fact that online sales nearly doubled. Experts estimate that 20 billion songs were downloaded illegally last year.
And the newest trend among the super rich, mega-yachts. None of us here have those, but like huge cars, finding a place to park these things is becoming a problem. Annapolis, Maryland is running out of space for the huge mega and giga-yachts. I had not heard of the giga yachts before.
ROBERTS: This week we celebrate Independence Day in our freedom to pursue happiness. For some that pursuit of happiness means a little bit more. There are millions of Americans who are millionaires, sailing yachts, flying private jets and driving Ferraris.
According to our next guest it's like they're living in their own country. "The Wall Street Journal's" Robert Frank looks into the world of the ultra rich in his new book called "Richestan." And Robert Frank joins me now.
Let me ask you to be a bit of a salesman. Why do I want to read a book about a life I don't have?
ROBERT FRANK, AUTHOR, "RICHISTAN": Right. When I came back to the U.S. a couple years ago, after being a foreign correspondent, I saw all these giant mansions, all these yachts, all these fancy cars, I wondered -- who are these people? So with this book you get the best up close and personal look at their lives, you get inside the mansion gates, you go on the yacht, you inside the charity balls, so you really learn what their life is like.
ROBERTS: Well, let's just find out about who these people are, but first of all, how many wealthy people are there in America now? Like really wealthy people, compared to say, 50 years ago?
FRANK: Well, the numbers are of million millionaires in America has more than doubled, just over the past 10 years. There are now 9 million, millionaire households in America. And even if you go higher, you know, a million is not what it used to be, so $10 million is sort of the new million. A half million households worth $10 million or more.
And the top 1 percent of Americans control $17 trillion, with a T, trillion dollars of worth. Never before has America had so many people, get so rich, so quickly.
ROBERTS: So, how are these people getting rich?
FRANK: Most of them are getting rich through starting their own companies and selling them; the classic self-made entrepreneurs. Inherited money, the old money where it's passed down from one generation to the other, that's gone. It's all about young people starting their own companies, coming up with great ideas at the right time, and then selling those companies, either at a capital markets, or to larger companies.
ROBERTS: What is the most interesting thing that you found out about this group of people?
FRANK: One of the interesting things was they're sort of never happy no matter what they have. There's a story in the book about -- I'm with a guy in a 100-foot yacht. I say, well, this is a terrific boat. He said, well, look down the harbor. We looked down the marina, and there were boats two and three times as large. He said my 100-foot yacht today is like a dingy compared to these other boats.
I thought, when else in history have been able to call a 100-foot yacht a dingy.
ROBERTS: When are they going to learn, it's not all about size. It's about what do you with the boat, right?
FRANK: Exactly.
And you know, we now have a shortage of butlers in America, starting pay for butlers, $80,000.
ROBERTS: Buy aren't these people doing a lot of their own work, though, driving their own Rolls Royces as opposed to having a chauffeur?
FRANK: They are. But they are building houses that are so huge. They are like resorts, these homes. They're like mini resorts. And they need someone to manage them. One guy, I talked to in the book, has a household staff of 105 people, just in his house.
ROBERTS: What is the difference, really, between old money and the real neuvo riche?
FRANK: The neuvo riche, they love to spend. I mean, some estimates say $250 billion a year spent by today's millionaire. And they are flashy, they're younger, never before have you been able to get rich so young, so quickly. And they don't have the same values. They don't send their kids too boarding school. They're really about making their money and enjoying their life.
ROBERTS: The book is called "Richistan" by Robert Frank, "Wall Street Journal" writer. Great little summer book if you want to learn about the lifestyles of the rich and famous, of which you may not be part of the club.
Robert Frank, thanks very much.
FRANK: Thanks for having me.
NGUYEN: There's a surge in doctors visits, that tops your "Quick Hits" right now. According to the Centers for Disease Control there were more than a billion doctor and hospital visits in 2005. It represents a 20 percent increase in doctor traffic in the last five years. The most commonly prescribed medication, by the way, antidepressants.
And a smoking ban to tell you about, in Afghanistan. That's right. The government announced this week that smoking will be banned in schools, hospitals, government offices. The ban will eventually include hotels and restaurants.
(Voice over): Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, Al Gore's son -- busted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They found additional marijuana, Valium, Xanax, Vicodin, Soma, and Adderall.
NGUYEN: Will the arrest put a damper on his dad's Live Earth concert?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right. Listen to this; a fossil find in China tops our "Quick Hits". Scientists say they unearthed fossils of the heaviest dinosaur in Asia. Local residents had been digging them up calling them dragon bones and using the stuff as medicine. Researchers believe many more bones and dinosaur eggs are still in the region.
And curiosity almost killed the cat. Spice climbed into a 20- foot shipping container and survived an 18-day trip from Hawaii to San Bernardino, California. Despite the nearly three weeks at sea, with no food or water, Spice is doing A-OK. But she probably used up at least seven of her lives.
And there is a happy reunion between a man and a violin in New York. The rare violin was turned into the lost and found, can you believe it, in the city's subway system. The owner says he lost it when he fell asleep in a Brooklyn subway station. Get this: It is estimated to be worth $100,000.
I have to be honest with you --
ROBERTS: That's up $20,000 from yesterday.
NGUYEN: We talked about it yesterday. Yesterday it was worth $80,000. It keeps going up. But honestly we didn't think anyone was going to turn it.
ROBERTS: He's very, very fortunate to have that thing come back.
So, you want to buy a violin, maybe a guitar, set of drums, where do you turn? eBay, Craig's List? Stephanie Elam here "Minding Your Business". And there maybe a new site as well, because eBay feeling the heat a bit from Craig's List?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: eBay is jumping in there.
And I think the take-away from that other story, is don't fall asleep in the subway in New York City.
NGUYEN: That's true.
ELAM: That's the take away from that. But if you do happen to say, hey, I want to go out there and get something, you go to eBay. eBay is launching a new site called Kajiji, here in the United States. Actually it launched it last week, kind of quietly.
Kajiji is Swahili and it means village. And what they're hoping to do here is have a classified site just like Craig's List. And they wanted to know so much about the business that went ahead and got a 25 percent stake in Craig's List back in 2004. They actually bought it from a former Craig's List employee. That's how they got the stake. They looked at it and they then went ahead and launched it.
So, now, Craig's List, by comparison runs 450 sites in 50 states and 50 countries worldwide. eBay launched Kajiji in 2005, and it has an international network of about 50 classified ad sites. Kajiji is available in 220 cities, and all the 50 states. But Kajiji is free now, which probably will change. I mean, that's not so much of a surprise. What is interesting is that Kajiji is a actually big winner when it comes to classifieds internationally. It's the number one site in Taiwan, in Canada, in Italy. This is not so weird as far as looking at the global service that they're doing. But they're launching it here in the U.S. for the first time.
ROBERTS: I've not seen it. It's all local like Craig's List is?
ELAM: Yes, it's just the same idea. Right now it looks very bare bones compared to the way you're used to eBay with the listings and the sites. If you go to Kajiji it doesn't have that same look. But it is definitely something that they're just now getting up and running.
NGUYEN: What a smart move, though. Because they invested in Craig's List. They know how that works. So they can turn it off and make it their product.
ELAM: Make it their product as well and since they have already started it internationally, it is not so hard to figure out how you want to do it and implement it in the country here, so, Kajiji it is.
NGUYEN: I'm going to check that out.
ROBERTS: There you go.
NGUYEN: Thank you, Stephanie.
The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
ROBERTS: Alarming message, a British priest offering new details in the U.K. terror plot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: During that meeting he said to me, "those who cure you, will kill you."
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTS: The man behind the unsettling message. Was it an early warning? And is it proof the terror plan came to life in Iraq? On this AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning to you. Thank you so much for joining us. It's Thursday, the 5th of July. I'm John Roberts.
Good morning to you, Betty.
NGUYEN: Good morning, John. It's great to be here. I'm Betty Nguyen in for Kiran Chetry this morning.
ROBERTS: New this morning for you. Forecasters predicting more showers and thunderstorms in Oklahoma today, as if they need it. More rain could spell trouble for lakes and reservoirs that are already filled to capacity. Emergency crews say the flooding is expected to last for several more days.
More wet weather warnings across Texas.
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