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American Morning
Chief Justice Hospitalized; Roberts Health Scare; Northwest Woes; Crisis Communication; Crimes On Campus
Aired July 31, 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: Health scare. New insight into the seizure that sent chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, to the hospital.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a serious diagnosis even though there's no known cause.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: His prognosis. His past medical problems. Could any of it impact the high court.
FBI raid. Agents search the home of Republican Senator Ted Stevens. This morning the senator responds as the corruption case grows, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And good morning to you. Thanks very much for joining us. It's Tuesday, the 31st of July. Putting away another month today. I'm John Roberts.
ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Alina Cho. Kiran Chetry has the morning off. Thanks for being with us.
ROBERTS: We begin this morning with the medical emergency. The chief justice of the Supreme Court, John Roberts, is experiencing. He's in the hospital right now after suffering a seizure and then a fall at his island vacation home off of the coast of Maine. Doctors gave Roberts a neurological scan. The Supreme Court says he is "fully recovered." But this is not the first time the chief justice has suffered this kind of seizure. CNN's Allan Chernoff is live outside the Penobscot Bay Medical Center at Rockport, Maine. He joins us now live this morning.
What's the latest from where you are, Allan?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, we do know that the justice did spend the night here. They are saying that that was merely a precaution. The seizure happened yesterday. It happened about 2:00 in the afternoon on a dock near his vacation home, which is on an island off the coast of Maine. Justice Roberts did fall as a result of the seizure. He was taken by boat to the mainland and then by an ambulance here to the hospital where tests were done.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He suffered what doctors describe as a benign idiopathic seizure. He experienced some minor scrapes and cuts from his fall. But he is expected -- he has fully recovered from the incident.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHERNOFF: The Supreme Court put out a statement yesterday saying that there is no cause for concern and, again, that he was kept overnight merely as a precaution. We do know, though, that the justice did suffer a seizure back in 1993.
John.
ROBERTS: Hey, Allen, we hear that he hit his head pretty hard when he fell off that dock. That he might have fallen somewhere between a distance of five and 10 feet. Everything all right on that front? And when do we expect to see him released from the hospital?
CHERNOFF: Apparently he did suffer some scrapes, a bit of a bruise from that fall. Apparently that is not a big deal. It's all cleared up. But as to whether or not he's going to be released later today, we don't know just yet. A spokesperson for the hospital is expected to be out here at about 7:00 Eastern Time. So hopefully we'll know a little bit more in just a little.
Back to you.
ROBERTS: Allan Chernoff for us this morning from Rockport, Maine.
Allan, thanks very much. We'll check back in with you a little bit later on.
CHO: Joining me now for some perspective on all of this, CNN's senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin is with us.
Good morning, Jeffrey.
You know, as apply (ph) pointed out when all of this was breaking yesterday, we've had 43 presidents, just 17 chief justices. So this is a very important position. How serious is this for the court?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, if this is as far as it goes, it's probably not very serious at all. What makes this a subject of some concern is that he did have a similar incident in 1993. He's now had another. What does this mean for his future prognosis and does he have to take any medication that will affect his performance on the bench? I don't know the answer to those questions, but those are the questions that, you know, are certainly reasonable to ask at this point.
CHO: Right. All the reports I've -- I've read all the research saying that if you have two or more seizures, you have epilepsy. So there's a lot of questions about that. And as you mentioned, medication. But, you know, what happened in October, when the court reconvenes, if he can't come back?
TOOBIN: Well, there are no real formal rules on this. It's very much up to the justice himself, his discretion. Chief Justice Rehnquist, at the end of his tenure, when he was fighting cancer, as it turned out for the last time, you know, he spent time off the bench. He heard arguments by tape. They sent the tapes of the oral arguments to his home. He voted by memo. You know, it can be done for the short-term.
But, you know, what makes this so astonishing, this news, is that Chief Justice Roberts is the youngest of the nine members. He's only 52 years old. John Paul Stevens, the senior member, is 35 years older than he is. So of all the justices, you would have certainly expected him to be the least likely to have had a health problem. But, you know, you can never predict these things.
CHO: Few people know the Supreme Court better than you, and you were shocked by this I know. So, you know . . .
TOOBIN: Well, you know, I've spent time with the chief justices recently and you will not find a more vigorous, healthy-looking 52- year-old man. But, you know, mysterious things happens.
CHO: We'll have to see what happens going forward.
Jeffrey Toobin, thank you for joining us.
ROBERTS: Jeff, thanks very much.
Dr. Wendy Wright is a neurology professor at Emory University in Atlanta. She joins us now.
Dr. Wright, benign idiopathic seizure is described by the hospital. Can you put that into English for us?
DR. WENDY WRIGHT, NEUROLOGIST, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Yes. Basically that would mean that there's no known cause for the seizure.
ROBERTS: So do you expect that it would be an epileptic process or a non-epileptic process? Apparently he had a seizure back in 1993 after golfing. Sometimes these things can be brought on by dehydration, electrolyte imbalance.
WRIGHT: Well, by the strictest definition, epilepsy is two or more seizures that have no known cause. And from what we're hearing, this would be the chief justice' second seizure. It is difficult to say if he'll be diagnosed with epilepsy. But now we do know that he has had another seizure and so perhaps he will go on to be diagnosed with epilepsy.
ROBERTS: So even though there was an extremely long period between these two seizures, something in the neighborhood of 14 years, you would still say that that qualifies as a diagnosis of epilepsy?
WRIGHT: I won't be the one to diagnose him, that will be up to his doctors, but he certainly could fall into that category based on the fact that there's no other known cause. For example, they're saying that this wasn't due to an infection, this wasn't due to a blow to the head. So the idiopathic nature, or the nature of the fact that there's no cause for this, could lead someone to diagnosis the chief justice with epilepsy, yes.
ROBERTS: So going forward, what considerations will he have to make? After is 1993 seizure he was suspended from driving for a period of months. He's got a driver now, so he doesn't have to worry about that. But might it somehow restrict his ability to be able to work or should everything be fine?
WRIGHT: Well, it shouldn't necessarily restrict his ability to work, but he should, again, be restricted in the ability to drive. Most -- I'm not sure which state the chief justice holds his driver's license in, but almost all states have that provision, that a person would not be able to drive from some period of months. Six to 12 months is very common.
And also the chief justice would want to take precautions, for example, he wouldn't want to swim unsupervised for some period of time until his medication -- if he decides to go on medications -- if he and his doctors make that determination, he wouldn't want to swim or climb to tall height without being supervised to make sure that he didn't have another seizure and would perhaps injure himself. He wouldn't want to do anything that would put himself in danger until it was known that he would be seizure free for some period. And these are going to be things he would discuss with his own physician.
ROBERTS: All right. Dr. Wendy Wright from Emory University.
Dr. Wright, thanks for being with us. Good to see you this morning.
WRIGHT: Thank you for having me, John.
CHO: Also new this morning, Republican Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska reacting to an FBI search at his family's vacation home. Agents searched Steven's house in Girdwood, Alaska. They're looking at whether an Alaskan oil company, called VECO, helped foot the bill for extensive renovations to that property. The CEO is a friend of Senator Stevens and the company has won millions of dollars in federal contracts. The CEO recently pleaded guilty to bribing Alaska state legislators.
This morning Stevens says, "I continue to believe this investigation should proceed to its conclusion without any appearance that I have attempted to influence its outcome. I will continue my policy of not commenting on this investigation until it has concluded." The 83-year-old Stevens is the Senate's longest serving Republican. He's up for re-election this year.
High level meetings about the security of Iraq are underway this morning in Egypt. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with leaders from Egypt and Jordan earlier this morning. Rice and Secretary of Defense Roberts Gates are expected at a news conference around 9:30 before traveling to Saudi Arabia. Rice has been denying suggestions that the U.S. negotiated $20 million in arms to Saudi Arabia to get cooperation in Iraq.
While U.S. troops remain on the job in Iraq, Iraq's lawmakers are now beginning a month-long vacation. They won't return to Baghdad until September 4th, just 11 days before General David Petraeus' progress report is due on whether Iraq is reaching the benchmarks set out by President Bush.
Another South Korean hostage is dead this morning and Taliban kidnappers are threatening to kill more. Twenty-one hostages are still being held somewhere in Afghanistan. Taliban leaders have demanded the release of prisoners in exchange for the hostages. Negotiators say they've ruled that out. The hostages were part of a church group doing volunteer medical work. Their pastor was killed last week.
Rupert Murdoch's $5 billion offer to buy the company that owns "The Wall Street Journal" is still on the table. A deadline for a decision has come and gone. Sources say some members of the Bancroft family are still holding out.
And an organ transplant doctor in California is facing criminal charges this morning. Prosecutors say he rushed the death of a disabled man so his organs could be harvested. Dr. Hootan Roozrokh faces up to 8 years in prison if convicted.
John.
ROBERTS: Coming up now to nine minutes after the hour. Other stories new this morning being covered by our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents.
You can almost hear the ominous music out there because a tropical storm might be brewing. Rob Marciano down in the Weather Center in Atlanta with the latest.
What are we looking at, Rob?
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: Still a bumpy ride for Northwest Airlines and anyone trying to fly them over the last few days. Ali Velshi here now with that.
It was a really rough weekend. How's it looking now as we begin the week, Ali?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I could have avoided coming in this morning, John. We could have just run the tape of what I talked about exactly a month ago. Northwest can't seem to get itself out if this pickle. It's got an ongoing dispute with its pilots. The pilots blame the airline. The airline blames the pilots.
The bottom line is we've had hundreds of flights canceled since Friday because of what Northwest calls a spike in pilot absenteeism. The pilot say Northwest is working them too hard and as you get to the end of the month they run out of authorized hours. And hours for a pilot counts from the moment the plane pushes back, to the moment it gets to the gate when it lands.
Now the problem here is that depending on whose calculations you listen to, Northwest has canceled about 8 percent of its flights a day since Friday. One calculation puts it as high as 13 percent because Northwest has canceled some of them ahead of time and that doesn't count.
Now, let me tell you, if you do get bump off a Northwest flight, you know what you get? You get a coupon, a calling card, a discount for future travel, 1,000 Northwest miles and a beverage for, you know, onboard use. How about a plane ticket somewhere? I mean, these guys need to get their act in gear. We'll keep following it, John.
ROBERTS: And what about a ticket on another airline to get you where you need to go?
VELSHI: It's not their fault. And they say this isn't their fault. They're not making a blanket statement that they're offering tickets for other flights.
ROBERTS: Their pilots, though, right, not their fault, but their pilots.
VELSHI: There's the fuzzy line.
ROBERTS: There you go.
VELSHI: Bottom line, for the traveling public, they don't care. They buy a ticket, they want to fly.
ROBERTS: That's slicing it thin.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROBERTS: Ali, thanks very much. We'll see you soon.
Alina.
CHO: All right, John, thanks.
This morning, we're seeing and hearing from shoe bomber Richard Reid for the first time since he was sentenced to 110 years in prison. You remember him. This picture was published in this morning's British tabloid, "The Mirror," along with Reid's letters from prison. You can see his hair's a bit shorter, but the beard is a bit longer. He writes, he believes Allah will free him at some point. Reid is being held in virtual isolation at Colorado supermax prison for trying to bomb a plane with 200 people on board back in December of 2001.
Now to on terror watch and what's being done to keep you safe before a terrorist can strike. For the first time, the federal government is setting aside money, $100 million to be exact, to help first responders talk to each other in a crisis. But is it enough to fix the problem that so many cities face? Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve live in our Washington bureau with details. Hey, Jeanne, good morning.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alina.
Senators Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins say for the first time the Senate has agreed to fund an ongoing grant program to specifically address so-called interoperability to the tune of $100 million. The inability to get firefighters out of the World Trade Center before it collapsed on 9/11 demonstrated just how critical emergency communications is and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that years later it hadn't been addressed.
The Department of Homeland Security says it has awarded more than $2 million through various grant programs to address the problem and recently announced another billion will be doled out. But no experts think the money allocated thus far is anywhere near enough. Estimates of how much it will take to give responders the ability to talk to one another when they need to run from $7 billion on up.
Alina.
CHO: Well, Jeanne, as you mentioned, on 9/11, this was a real problem, first responders trying to talk to each other. And so is throwing money at the problem the real solution? If not, what is the solution?
MESERVE: Well, it's not the whole solution. There was a Government Accountability report issued back in April. It questioned whether localities are being told to buy the right equipment. It also said there was a lack of coordination on spending that grant money with state plans and also a coordinated national strategy. In other words, is the money being spent piecemeal and are we going to get the results we want when all is said and done?
Alina.
CHO: Homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve, live for us in our Washington bureau.
Jeanne, thanks.
MESERVE: You bet.
CHO: John.
ROBERTS: A dramatic, emergency landing in southern California tops our "Quick Hits" now. A twin engine plane skidded to safety at the naval air station in Point Mugu after the landing gear under its left wing failed. The landing was just about as perfect as you could get. The 12 people onboard were shaken up, but unhurt.
It's a race to save nearly 70 trapped miners in China. Rescue crews say those miners are still alive. Crews are using pumps to suck water out of the flooded mine. They're also pumping in air. The miners have been stuck under ground for more than 24 hours now. Imagine your daughter away at college. How soon would you want to know if another student had been attacked on campus? Two universities under fire this morning and a fired school president fights back, next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Ah, it's like a Brooks & Dunn song this morning. The sun coming up over New York City. Seventeen minutes after the hour. Welcome back to the most news in the morning here on CNN.
Sign them up and ship them out. Your "Quick Hits" now. The Army is offering a $20,000 bonus to anyone willing to ship out within 30 days. It's all part of an effort to fill the ranks. The Army missed a couple of recent recruiting goals.
One of the world's top business schools is adding a new entrance requirement this fall. The University of Chicago wants perspective business students to submit four pages of PowerPoint slides, along with their applications. The school says it allows students to be more creative.
And Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh wants doctors and nurses to kick the Crocs. Officials say holes in the rubbery klog like shoes pose a safety hazard since they're big enough for things like a needle to fall through.
Alina.
CHO: When a crime may have been committed on or near a college campus, when should the school let students and parents know what's going on? Well two recent cases have colleges under the microscope, including a crime that's rocked a university in Michigan. So how forthcoming are colleges about reporting crimes on their campuses? The answer may surprise you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO, (voice over): Laura Dickinson, a 22-year-old Eastern Michigan University student was found dead in her room last December, but the school didn't inform the students and her parents how she died until they arrested another student 10 weeks after her death for her murder and rape. Three university officials were dismissed, including the university president who spoke out for the first time last night on "Larry King Live."
JOHN FALLON, FORMER EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT: I don't doubt the fact that we could have done more and could have done better.
CHO: Jessica Tubbs first learned that an alleged rape occurred at Villanova University when the school sent an e-mail to the student body almost two weeks after the fact.
JESSICA TUBBS, VILLANOVA STUDENT: When I got this e-mail, I was shocked. I was upset. I think that the school need to do something a little bit sooner.
CHO: Colleges often don't disclose the information as quickly as students and parents would like, even though a federal law, The Clery Act, requires colleges and universities to report crime on their campuses in a timely manner.
ALISON KISS, PROGRAM DIR., SECURITY ON CAMPUS, INC.: About two- thirds are reporting their crime accurately. Of the other one-third that are not reporting their crimes, there are some unfortunate cases where administrators come into play and they may not have their students' best interests at heart and they are more concerned about reputation.
CHO: And security campus organizations say the reporting of crimes on campus is often inconsistent, differing from university to university. The father of Laura Dickinson told Larry Ling, Eastern Michigan was in the wrong.
BOB DICKINSON, FATHER OF LAURA DICKINSON: What they did wrong was not follow federal law stated in The Clery Act about informing the public, informing everybody what's happened and when.
CHO: Other times universities are accused of acting too quickly. At Duke University, campus officials suspended the lacrosse students accused of rape before indictments were issued. The Justice Department says over the course of a college career, the percentage of completed or attempted rape victimization among women in higher education institutions might climb to one fifth and one-quarter. So the need for accurate and timely reporting is vital. Jessica Tubbs says although she would have like to have found out sooner, she thinks the school ultimately acted responsibly.
TUBBS: I felt comforted that inside of a week that the students had already had their acceptance rescinded, they were already out of the dorm, that the alleged victim was already receiving the help that she, you know, deserved.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Now the suspect for the rape and murder of Laura Dickinson pleaded not guilty and will go to trial in the fall. Students and parents can check their schools for crime statistics by going to the fbi.gov Web site.
John.
ROBERTS: The risks of your daily drink topping your "Quick Hits" now. We've heard that a glass of wine can help prevent heart disease. But there's bad news today. New research in Europe found a glass of wine or a beer each day increases the risk of colon cancer by about 10 percent.
Looking to stop skin cancer? Try drinking a cup of coffee before your daily workout. Don't have a daily workout? Well, start one. A new study says that caffeine and exercise help destroy pre-cancerous skin cells. Well, the hemorrhaging has finally stopped on Wall Street, but what did the Dow drop mean for you? The words of some experts coming up when Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business," ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Coming up to 25 after the hour now. Welcome back to the most news in the morning here on CNN.
It's almost a perfect storm in baseball today as fans will be watching for some major milestones. First of all, Barry Bonds will try to break or at least tie Hank Aaron's all-time home run record by hitting his 755th. Who know, he could even break it tonight. Yankees star Alex Rodriguez is looking for his 500th home run. Only 21 players have reached that mark in baseball history. And New York Mets pitcher Tom Glavine will be going for his 300th win. Only 22 pitchers have done that. All these of these milestones could happen within a few hours tonight.
Hey, also "On Our Radar" this morning, a really interesting story out of Aurora, Colorado, to talk about.
CHO: It really is a sweet story. A 12-year-old boy.
ROBERTS: You've heard about sibling rivalry, but how about sibling cooperation?
CHO: No kidding. These boys must be very, very close. A nine- year-old brother has diabetes. He needs a medical assistance dog. I didn't know they had these.
ROBERTS: They are these specially trained dogs. That they can smell a patient's breath and they can tell when the blood sugar levels are either high or low, and so they can be an early indicator. Almost like one of those things, you know, that you prick your finger.
CHO: You prick your finger, right. The problem is, they're expensive, $25,000. So he's come up with a great plan, right?
ROBERTS: Well, we'll see if he can make it. We'll tell you what he did and how much he has raised toward buying this dog, coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
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CHO: Beautiful shot from our affiliate in Philadelphia, WPVI. It's from Camden, New Jersey. Looking across the Delaware River into Philly. A quick zoom here. The weather's going to be nice. High of 90 and sunny. 72 degrees right now.
ROBERTS: Philadelphia's ready for its close-up, Mr. DeVille.
CHO: Oh, even closer now.
ROBERTS: There you go, even closer. CHO: There you go. Welcome back. It's Tuesday, July 31st. The last day in July. I'm Alina Cho.
ROBERTS: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks for being with us.
We begin this morning with a medical scare involving the chief justice of the United States. Justice John Roberts is in the hospital this morning. He was taken there yesterday after a seizure and fall at his vacation home in Maine. Tests have been completed and are said to show no cause for concern. The hospital says he has fully recovered.
But it's not the first time the chief justice has suffered from a seizure. So, understandably, it is raising some serious concerns and questions. Our Jeffrey Toobin is not a doctor, but he's CNN's senior legal analyst and a fine mind at legal matters. He joins us now to try to answer some of those question.
So you've been talking to a lot of people. What are the questions, what are the concerns about this condition that he's suffering from? We had a doctor on earlier this morning who said he's now had two episodes, that, in some people's books, could qualify as a diagnosis of epilepsy.
TOOBIN: Right. The question is, what, if any, impact this will have on his career as chief justice. Will it shorten his career? I mean, he was appointed chief justice at age of 50. Everyone expected he was going to serve for decades. Will this contract his career in any way?
Or will he have to get some sort of treatment, some kind of medication which will limit his abilities in some way? Those are the questions people are asking. Basically the court in what seemed almost a precipitous way, announced yesterday he was fully recovered, which is sort of hard to believe that they could know that at this point. But that's what they are saying and back to normal is what everyone expects, I guess.
CHO: There's this whole issue, too, Jeffrey, as you know, William Rehnquist, it came out much later, that he had some mental issues and that he was addicted to pain killers. And we did not know about, obviously, this seizure problem with Justice Roberts. It did not come out during the confirmation hearing.
Do you sense that things might change as a result of this? I mean, it seems like it's a pretty secretive process. Why don't we know more about them if they have a lifetime -- if they're serving for life?
TOOBIN: The justices are in charge of what information, if any, comes out about their own health. There is not the tradition, the way there is with the president, where there is a doctor on staff and it is considered the public's business, the state of their health.
The justices have frequently in -- even in recent years, been overly optimistic about their health. Some have been outright deceptive. In the 1970s, the court was thrown into a total crisis because William O. Douglas had a series of strokes. He was essentially incapacitated, refused to quit.
His colleagues basically had to force him off the bench. Those are the kind of problems that, of course, the court wants to avoid. No sense of any of that here, but it's really up to the justices for good or for ill.
ROBERTS: We should point out that while it might not have come out at his confirmation hearing, Senator Arlen Specter was the chairman of the Judiciary Committee at the time of his confirmation, was aware of that 1993 seizure. His reaction was that nobody drew a deep breath about it.
TOOBIN: That's right. And there had been nothing between 1993 and 2007, so people figured that it was just gone or it was a quirky thing that wouldn't happen again. Now it has happened, we'll have to see what happens.
ROBERTS: Stick around, Jeff, because we want to talk to you about Senator Ted Stevens and the latest in this investigation coming up, so we'll be right back with you.
CHO: Don't go away. All right. Jeffrey, thank you.
Also new this morning, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Egypt this morning. Live pictures now from a news conference she's holding the Egyptian foreign minister in Sharm el-Sheikh. Secretary Rice is trying to build support for regional help in Iraq.
Food safety talks between the U.S. and China, the Department of Health and Human Services is working with China for safety of food and drugs. Now, the talks are coming after a number of products from China, as you recall, have been recalled this year, including pet food, fish, juice, toys and toothpaste.
A recommendation on the widely used diabetes drug Avandia. A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel says Avandia will stay on the market, because its benefits far outweigh the risks. But the panel says the packaging should carry a strong warning about an increased risk of heart disease.
Former President Bill Clinton is weighing in on the feud between his wife and fellow White House contender Barack Obama. He told the Democratic Leadership Council that diplomacy will be important for the next president and that it is up to voters to decide who has the best plan.
During last week's debate, Barack Obama said he would hold meetings with leaders of rogue nations without conditions. Hillary Clinton called that naive -- John.
ROBERTS: This morning, Alaska's powerful Republican senator, Ted Stevens, is urging patience in the court of public opinion. The FBI and the IRS just searched his vacation home in Girdwood, Alaska. They are trying to get a better sense of Stevens' ties to an Alaska oil executive, Bill Allen. Allen has won millions of dollars in federal contracts, recently pleaded guilty to bribing state legislators. Senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joins us now.
What is this all about? It's obviously, did Senator Stevens take favors from this company? What are we talking about here?
TOOBIN: Well, this has been a long-running investigation in Alaska. Senator Stevens' son, who was the president of the state senate, his business has been searched. It has affected a lot of legislators in Alaska.
And what makes this such an interesting situation is that the house itself is at the center of the controversy because the issue is the house was expanded a great deal in 2000. And the question is who paid for it?
There does seem to be some evidence that some of the bills for the renovation at least went to Veco, this oil services company. Ted Stevens has said he paid all the bills that he received, a carefully phrased statement.
ROBERTS: Yes...
(CROSSTALK)
TOOBIN: All the bills that he received. But he's now at the center of it and he's an enormously powerful senator. He has been in the senate since 1968.
ROBERTS: You have got to wonder, would somebody who has been in the Senate for 39 years be dumb enough to take a kickback from a company?
TOOBIN: Well, you covered Washington for a long time. That question, the answer is often yes. But you know, obviously, the thing that really hit me as a former prosecutor is in order to get a search warrant for a senator's house, this had to be vetted so far up the chain. Because, you know, judges don't like to give search warrants for people's houses in general.
It's such an invasive thing to search somebody's house. They are very careful about that. And to do it for a U.S. senator...
CHO: So you're saying this must have been a very long investigation.
TOOBIN: It is a long investigation. And Alberto Gonzalez of the Justice Department, and Bob Mueller, the head of the FBI, both probably had to sign off on this, because this is a very big deal.
ROBERTS: We'll see where it goes. Jeff, thanks very much.
TOOBIN: All right.
CHO: All right. Al Gore's son off to rehab. Quick hits now. Al Gore III will enter a 90-day drug treatment program as part of his guilty plea to drug possession charges. He was arrested, you'll recall, earlier this month after driving his Toyota Prius more than 100 miles per hour in California. And several prescription drugs were found inside.
The family of Ron Goldman will get 90 percent of the proceeds from O.J. Simpson's book, "If I Did It." The book, which was billed as a hypothetical account of the murders, was never published. Fred Goldman, who was given the right to pursue publication of the book under the title "Confessions of a Double Murderer."
First MySpace, now Facebook accused of not doing enough to keep sexual predators off its site. The new fight that affects anyone who uses the Web, that's next on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: An erupting volcano tops your quick hits now. It sent people running in the eastern Philippines, blowing its top and raining ash down on towns. The Bulusan volcano is one of the Philippines' most active. No one was hurt in that blast.
ROBERTS: New wildfires burning at this hour in Montana. More than 200 homes are in danger right now. Firefighters say Montana's largest wildfire near Glacier National Park, has more than doubled in the past 24 hours.
And talk about a tough wake-up call. A couple outside of Boston got a real jolt when a bolt of lightning ripped through their house yesterday. It tore a hole right through the ceiling and out the wall. As you can imagine, they were pretty shaken up by the whole thing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought like a bomb went off, you know. I saw sparks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We bounced out of bed, yes, very quickly, and it was more like a boom, real deep.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: You can just imagine what it was like to be there.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHO: This morning, we continue to shine a light on the threat sexual predators pose to kids everyday on the Internet. Yesterday here on AMERICAN MORNING, we told you the wild story of an admitted pedophile. He goes to family-friendly events, snaps pictures of little girls, and then posts them on his Web site. Believe it or not, it's all legal. And he says that keeps him going.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK MCCLELLAN, SELF-DESCRIBED PEDOPHILE: Obviously, I'm not doing anything illegal at these things. I mean, if they passed a law saying you can't go to these things to admire kids, I guess I'd have to obey that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: This morning, another concern for parents, social networking sites, just like MySpace, sexual predators are now popping up on Facebook. The site is hugely popular with teens, and that makes it a big concern for my next guest, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. He is part of a new coalition taking aim at online predators, and joins me from Greenwich, Connecticut.
First, Mr. Blumenthal, I'd like to get your reaction on this story about Jack McClellan, this man out of California. He was essentially run out of the Washington State. He's an admitted pedophile, says this Web site is perfectly legal and it is, but should it be?
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, CONNNECTICUT ATTORNEY GENERAL: My view is that as a law enforcement official, we ought to take every step possible to stop people like this individual from aiding and abetting, fostering or promoting pedophiles like himself exploiting children.
And that's why we are trying to raise awareness, because parents have a very important role to play. They are the first and last line of defense, the more we can make them aware, and the more aggressively and vigorously we can use the law right up to the line of the First Amendment, there are First Amendment rights, the more we can do to save and protect children.
CHO: Let's talk about why you're here this morning. You were last with us in May to talk about this issue. Since then, in fact, just last week, MySpace announced that it had essentially rooted out 29,000 registered sex offenders from that site. Is that enough? Are you satisfied?
BLUMENTHAL: We're not satisfied at all. In fact, we're going to push more vigorously for the systemic change that we need, age verification, identity verification, parental permission for minors. The kind of individual that we just saw, a pedophile who is giving out information about events or fairs or locations where children can be found poses a danger.
But so do the convicted sex offenders, 29,000 of them with profiles on MySpace. And now we're finding the same phenomenon on other social networking sites. So we really need systematic reform, such as age and identity verification. That's what all 50 attorneys general, our coalition across the country, will be pushing to achieve.
CHO: Well, and as you mentioned, it's not just MySpace. It's Facebook too. You have a personal stake in this. Your college age son has a Facebook account. So does my colleague John Roberts' daughter. They have this provision where they say, if you are under 18, in order to contact you, you have to be a "confirmed friend." You would think this would solve the problem, and yet it's not. BLUMENTHAL: Facebook has some different design features and a little bit business -- different business model. It is different, but as it grows, as it becomes more like MySpace, these other social networking sites deserve the same kind of scrutiny.
And we're not seeking to play gotcha with them. We have found some identified profiles, perhaps by sexual predators and convicted sex offenders on the other social networking sites, but what we really want is stronger systematic protection. Again, age verification and identity verification. So that a 12- and 13-year-old can't go on the site and be lured to a motel or a park by a middle-aged man, again, posing as a teenager.
Age and identity verification will protect the most egregious of these kinds of sexual assaults that we have seen, all 50 attorneys general, all around the country resulting from MySpace and now potentially other social networking sites. And we're sponsoring legislation in our states, as well.
CHO: All right. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, we thank you for joining us this morning.
BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.
CHO And coming up at 8:15 Eastern, we'll be speaking with Miss America, Lauren Nelson, who was part of a sting operation to catch online predators. And my colleague John Roberts gets to do the duty there.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to that. Yes. She is very heavily involved. She has made this her national platform. And she has gotten very involved helping police in a sting operation. So we'll talk to her all about that coming up in about an hour-and-a-half.
Teenagers like hard liquor more than beer. Your quick hits now. A new study among teenagers in Arkansas, New Mexico, Nebraska, and Wyoming shows that liquor is the most popular drink among both boys and girls. Bourbon, rum, scotch, vodka, whisky the favorites among those. The report was published in the CDC's morbidity and mortality weekly report.
And soothing sore muscles and spicing up your love life a little bit with a chocolate massage. Look at that. An Israeli masseuse is now rubbing down patients using milk chocolate. She says the scent acts as an aphrodisiac, who wouldn't like chocolate. The texture relaxes the muscles. The massage debuted yesterday, which is Valentine's Day in Israel.
You know, they get some good ideas. It will soon come here to the United States.
CHO: It seems a bit sticky, no?
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: I don't know. It looks like it's soothing. And it's a lemonade stand with a cause. A kid in Colorado has raised money to help his diabetic brother. It's incredible how much money he raised. Stick around, you're going to want to meet this kid. Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHO: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. Quick hits now, funny man Jimmy Fallon apparently is being courted by NBC to replace Conan O'Brien on his show, "Late Night." Conan is widely expected to replace Jay Leno in 2009. Fallon, an SNL alum, has also signed a development deal with the Peacock Network. And that happened earlier this year.
Well, pull yourself together this morning. It's officially over. Britney and K-Fed are no more. The divorce papers are final, filed Monday in L.A. by the way. The two have two sons, 10 months and 22 months old. Spears married Kevin Federline back in October of 2004.
Well, a cabana by the pool, spacious interiors, it can be yours for the bargain price of $4.5 million. Whose home is it? The one and only Paris Hilton, it has got four bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths, one bedroom even converted into the "ultimate closet." I could use that. No official word yet on why she's selling -- John.
ROBERTS: During the dog days of summer, kids all across the country set up lemonade stands. They make a few cents, maybe a few bucks here. But not all of them raised thousands of dollars to help their little brother. TaRhonda Thomas of our affiliate KUSA in Colorado has got the story of one boy who did.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lemonade and snacks down this road!
TARHONDA THOMAS, KUSA REPORTER (voice-over): An ear-catching advertisement.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lemonade and snacks down this road!
THOMAS: (INAUDIBLE) passersby.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lemonade and snacks down this road!
THOMAS: To an eye-catching sale.
MARK RINKEL, LEMONADE ENTREPRENEUR: Well, it looks like we have got some more lemonade coming.
THOMAS: And an impressive little boy.
RINKEL: I should people's autograph books.
THOMAS: Twelve-year-old Mark Rinkel runs this lemonade stand.
RINKEL: I'm so glad it didn't rain. THOMAS: But his 9-year-old brother Jason is the inspiration behind it.
RINKEL: My brother recently was discovered recently that he has type 1 diabetes.
THOMAS: The family wants to get a medical assistance dog that can smell blood sugar levels and help give piece of mind.
RINKEL: Let's say Jason went low in the middle of the night and we don't have the dog, he might not wake up in the morning.
THOMAS: So Mark sells lemonade to help pay for his brother's very expensive dog.
RINKEL: Six thousand dollars.
THOMAS: He is getting lots of thirsty customers.
RINKEL: We should have a lemonade stand sound, (makes sound).
THOMAS: And publicity.
RINKEL: I'm going be on the radio.
THOMAS: And donations.
RINKEL: A lot of people have checks because checks are easier to put more money on.
THOMAS: As they donate, lots of people ask about Mark's brother. He was at the sale, but had to leave because his blood sugars levels dropped.
RINKEL: He's quite a trooper.
THOMAS: But even without his brother here, Mark's lemonade stand is a success.
RINKEL: You know, my guess for this stand is going to be 3,000.
THOMAS: And with a packed schedule.
RINKEL: I have to have a cell phone when I'm out here alone.
THOMAS: The 12-year-old has no plans to stop peddling his punch.
RINKEL: Bye, thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Is that an entrepreneur in the making or is that an entrepreneur in the making?
CHO: Well, you mentioned that the sibling rivalry is so common and these two kids are just so close, it's such a sweet story, isn't it?
ROBERTS: So Mark raised $3,909 on Sunday, adding that to his previous earnings and some other donations because he says it's easier to write out bigger amount of money on a check. He reached his goal of $6,000. The total cost of the dog, though, could be closer to $25,000. And our thanks to TaRhonda Thomas of KUSA for that great story.
CHO: I think we're looking at a future CEO maybe, right?
ROBERTS: Yes, I know. We've got to get that kid on the program tomorrow, he's great.
CHO: That's right. Seven minutes before the hour. Ali Velshi, "Minding Your Business."
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That was much more interesting than what I've got to say. That's business.
CHO: Well, I don't know, the markets are pretty interesting, you know, the bloodletting finally stopped.
VELSHI: Yes. We had a drop last week of 585 points, which even on a percentage basis -- remember, when we have these numbers of 14,000, 13,000, these numbers, you have to think about them in terms of percentages. Even in terms of percentages, this was the biggest drop since March 2003 last week.
Yesterday, it short of came back. The Dow was more than 100 points higher for most of the day, ending up about 92 points higher. But you can see the Nasdaq and the S&P, all across the board, the markets were up.
A lot of folks, you know, the normal things that affect markets are kind of being put on the wayside at the moment. And the concerns right now are, is this mortgage crisis going to affect a lot of people? Is it going to really permeate the economy and really stop Americans from spending? Because that is what is going to hurt the market in the end.
For the moment, investors seem to think no, that this was just a pullback on the market. And that's normal, when a market is going in one direction. We've got more earnings, we're still in earning seasons so there will be some reason for investors to be paying attention today. We'll be getting earnings from General Motors, Whole Foods, and Northwest Airlines, which, as we've been reporting and will continue to report as having some problems.
CHO: Well, some people have called this an overreaction this past week, but when you look at the numbers, it is incredible.
VELSHI: It is incredible. We are still many points lower than that 14,000 right now.
CHO: That's right.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHO: And that wasn't so long ago. Al Velshi, thanks.
ROBERTS: Just remember, it can all disappear in a matter of days.
VELSHI: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: Your quick hits now at 55 after the hour. Gentlemen, start your engines. This is a race that only a weekend yard warrior can appreciate. The lawn mower races in the United Kingdom. All the rain there though put quite a damper on actually finishing the race. For the first time in its history, the race could not be completed. Lawn mowers do not do well in the mud.
CHO: And they're noisy.
ROBERTS: They are. OK. You've heard the saying about glass houses, well, here is the real one. Tucked away in lovely New Canaan, Connecticut. This is the creation of architect Philip Johnson. It's now open to the public. It's one of America's better- known post-war buildings. No word on if stones have been thrown in the house. But it does sit next to, you guessed it, the brick house.
I've actually been there, I interviewed him inside it. It's an amazing...
CHO: I'm a huge fan of Philip Johnson.
ROBERTS: It's an amazing architectural creation. There's an interesting thing about this house. There are trees that are set back equidistant from the house. And when interviewed Johnson, that's a picture of him there, I said, why the trees at certain points away from the house? He said, because your eye is drawn to the first vertical object. And so the trees being placed back about 40 yards from the house gives the impression that the house is that much bigger, because it's actually quite tiny.
CHO: I like that Mies van der Rohe furniture in there too. That's not so bad.
ROBERTS: Very nice. We know our architecture this morning.
Washington bracing for a new fight to pull American troops out of Iraq. Pennsylvania Democrat John Murtha is leading the charge, but can he win over enough supporters? We'll talk to him ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: Critical questions. The seizure that sent the chief justice of the United States to the hospital. What triggered it? Could it happen again?
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Perhaps he will go on to be diagnosed with epilepsy.
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ROBERTS: A live update from his hospital this morning.
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