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American Morning
A Community In Grief; Spying On You?; Dow Plunge; America Votes 2008
Aired August 06, 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: Clues to disaster. Did construction workers feel the I-35W bridge wobbled days before it collapsed. Plus, the urgent, new effort to pull up the wreckage and retrieve the victims.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every day we make progress.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was a horrific story, a horrific tragedy, but through this shines the Minnesota goodness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And a second chance. Teenage illegal immigrants speak out, thanking the friends who helped keep their American dream alive, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And good morning. Thanks very much for joining us. Welcome back to the beginning of a brand new week. It's Monday, the 6th of August. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. And I know in much of the country it's going to be quite hot today, so . . .
ROBERTS: Hot (INAUDIBLE). It was hot over the weekend in Washington. My goodness.
CHETRY: Well, we're looking at triple digits in many areas. We'll get your weather forecast in a minute.
But first we begin with new details in Minneapolis of the collapsed Interstate 35 West bridge. Investigators are turning their focus to the bridge's north side today. They're interviewing construction workers who were resurfacing the bridge. Also, this morning's "Minneapolis Star Tribune" says that those workers felt the bridge "wobbling" as they broke up the old surface. Navy divers, as many as four cranes and two barges could be brought in to begin bringing up pieces of wreckage as well today. We'll (ph) hopefully try to bring a little bit of peace to families who believe that their loved ones are buried beneath that wreckage. Some 1,400 people gathered for an interfaith service last night to mourn the five known victims and to pray for those still missing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. TIM PAWLENTY, MINNESOTA: We're here tonight to prayerfully remember, to restore and to rebuild. We certainly remember those who lost lives. We remember those who are still missing. We remember those who are badly injured. And we remember those and are thinking of those who grieve.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: CNN's Susan Roesgen is live in Minneapolis for us now with the latest.
Good morning, Susan.
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran.
You mentioned the construction workers had talked about feeling the bridge wobble as they removed layers of concrete. The chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board would not address that issue directly. He said, certainly there are many factors they're going to consider in their investigation.
But I've spoken to a couple of people here, Kiran, who said, that even as they drove their cars over this bridge for the last 10 years, they would feel it wobble and shudder as they were going across the bridge. So certainly that's one of the issues they're looking at. And you have to remember that the National Transportation Safety Board would -- if this were a plane crash, for instance, try to reassemble the pieces of the plane, rent a hangar somewhere and put these pieces together. They are not going to do this in this bridge collapse. They're going to use the sophisticated computer models that you've spoken about on your program before, getting a computer sense of how the pieces of the bridge fit together and then what parts of the bridge might have led to the collapse.
Right now they're still basically back, Kiran, at square one. They thought that perhaps the south end shift of the bridge that they had mentioned over the weekend might have had something to do with the cause, but really, right now, they just don't know.
CHETRY: And as you mentioned, there were hundreds attending that memorial service last night for the victims. Also over the weekend, officials released the names of the missing. What more have we been able to leadership about them?
ROESGEN: Well, you know, I think what we're really learning, Kiran, is the ordinariness of the people who drove over that bridge. And that's what's so poignant. There was a mother and son. The son was 21 years old. He had down syndrome. And the family said that they would never be apart. There was a woman who was driving across the bridge and had left a voice mail for friends saying that she was going to be late for a dance class that she was teaching. One of the construction workers on the bridge is one of the missing. A guy whose nickname was "Jolly" because he was so cheerful. So what we're finally getting is some names and some faces that's really putting a human story on what otherwise is just a lot of debris that we see out there, that the state will be beginning to collect later this week. CHETRY: Susan Roesgen out there in Minneapolis for us. Thank you.
Also coming up a little bit later, we're going to be talking with Bob Francis. You may remember he supervised the recovery of TWA Flight 800 in the Atlantic Ocean. He's going to be joining us in about 40 minutes. We're going to talk more about the investigation, what they're looking for. We're also going to go in depth with the current NTSB chairman, Mark Rosenker. He joins us exclusively at 8:15 Eastern.
John.
ROBERTS: President Bush has signed a controversial law into effect. It will giving the government unprecedented power to monitor the calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens in the name of fighting terrorism. Our homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve has got the latest for us now. She joins us live from Washington.
Jeanne, the president pushed very hard for this. Did he get everything he wanted?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he pushed extraordinarily hard for this. Something he very much wanted. And he did get what he wanted.
The president issued a statement saying it closes a dangerous gap in our intelligence gathering activities that threaten to weaken our defenses. Specifically the revision to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act gives the attorney general or the director of National Intelligence the authority to approve surveillance of suspected terrorists overseas rather than the special FISA court. It also gives the administration greater power to force telecommunications companies to cooperate with government spying operations.
Some Democrats and civil liberties groups are condemning the new law, saying it has the potential to allow the government to listen in on Americans making calls overseas. The American Civil Liberties Union accused the president of fear mongering and said the Democratic Congress had allowed itself to be strong-armed here.
John.
ROBERTS: Jeanne, the telecommunications companies were skeptical of the broad, new powers of this law. Have those fears been alleviated to their satisfaction?
MESERVE: No. This, as I say, will give the government new authority to force them to cooperate. According to "the New York Times" this morning, some of those telecommunications companies are very unhappy with that aspect and may challenge it in court.
ROBERTS: Yes. So this expires in six months. Why is that?
MESERVE: Well, it gets sun-setted out in six months unless Congress renews it. The president is going to be pushing for a much broader law. He says FISA is badly out of date for technical reasons and needs to be updated. Some Democrats want to take another look because they think what has been passed here and signed into law goes to far, gives to much power to the attorney general rather than the courts.
John.
ROBERTS: Yes, a lot of people critical of the Democrats for just rolling over on this. But going into the August break, didn't want to give the Republicans a big stick to whack them with for a month.
MESERVE: You're exactly right.
ROBERTS: Jeanne Meserve in Washington.
Jeanne, thanks very much.
MESERVE: You bet.
CHETRY: We have an update now on the hunt for Osama bin Laden from the president of Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai visiting President Bush at Camp David right now and he's pressing for more U.S. help in beating back the Taliban, telling CNN that U.S. force are no closer to finding Osama bin Laden than they were a few years ago. Presidents Bush and Karzai holding a news conference this morning. It will be at 11:25 Eastern Time. CNN will carry it live for you.
ROBERTS: Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama is standing by statements that he made about using military force, but not nuclear weapons, to hunt down terrorists in Pakistan. Obama defended the remarks while campaigning in Nevada last night saying, everybody knows that you'd use conventional weapons in those circumstances. Fellow Democrats like Hillary Clinton and several Republicans have said leaders should never take the nuclear option off the table.
CHETRY: Mitt Romney in a YouTube moment, getting in a heated exchange over his religion. Romney, on the presidential campaign trail in Iowa, sat down for a radio interview with conserve talk show host Jan Mickelson, last week. According to Mickelson, the Mormon church doesn't support abortion and Romney wasn't following the teachings of his church when he was governor of Massachusetts. Romney who changed positions and is now opposed to abortion, clearly resented being lectured on his religion. And in this off air exchange captured on camera, Romney had some words about an offer to do another interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAN MICKELSON, WHO RADIO HOST: I hope we can do this so we can spend some quality time on the air, rather than the sound bytes.
MITT ROMENY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, I mean, I don't mind coming on the air and having you go after my church and me and my (INAUDIBLE). MICKELSON: I'm not going after your -- I agree with your church.
ROMNEY: I know. That's right. But I'm not running as a Mormon. And I don't think I'm -- and I get a little tired of coming on a show like yours and having it all about Mormons.
MICKELSON: See, I don't mind it being about that.
ROMNEY: Yes, I do. I do.
MICKELSON: I agree with the ethics of your church, for pete's sake.
ROMNEY: So do I. So do I.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, Romney defended his change of position on abortion again at the GOP debate in Iowa yesterday. We're going to talk more about that, have some highlights of the heated exchanges of that debate in just a couple of minutes.
ROBERTS: New this morning, a state of emergency is in effect right now in Montana. Several wildfires are burning and they are worried about this winds roaring back today as they did over the weekend when the fire near Missoula doubled in size. A fire information officer describes the situation as "zero containment." And the governor has urged residents to get out of the way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. BRIAN SCHWEITZER, MONTANA: Pack up, get out, it's time. We're serious this time. We pulled the ground crews off at this moment. You need to evacuate. And everybody in Montana, say a prayer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: About 200 homes have been evacuated in the area northeast of Missoula.
Two men are being held in South Carolina this morning and could be charged with possessing illegal explosives. State police say they found a bomb and fuses inside their car when it was pulled over for speeding. A federal investigator, though, disputes that. A news conference that's planned for 11:30 this morning may clear up some of this.
And police in Newark, New Jersey, this morning say they have no suspects and few clues in the execution style murder of three college friends. A 19-year-old girl managed to survive. Her brother and their two friends were found lined up against a wall near an elementary school, each one of them shot in the head.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PAULA DOW, ESSEX COUNTY PROSECUTOR: It's horrendous. These were college kids. We hear so many tragic things about what happened with our youth. But these were doing the right things and were on their way to success stories.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: All four of this victims were enrolled at Delaware State University. Police say they think five men were involved in the shootings.
Well, the countdown is on. NASA plans to launch the space shuttle Endeavor at 5:36 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Center. After fixing a couple of problems and running a final test, NASA officials says the Endeavor is ready. The forecast is for a 70 percent chance of good weather for the launch.
There's a new man in the drivers seat in Chrysler. The announcement expected today that former Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli will be Chrysler's new chairman and CEO. Nardelli was forced out at Home Depot back in January after heavy criticism over his huge salary. This time Nardelli is start at Chrysler at one dollar a year. His compensation tied to Chrysler's performance.
Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, John, thanks.
Well, the AMERICAN MORNING team is also working on these stories new this morning.
The Dow opens today after taking a big Friday afternoon dip. And Ali Velshi is here with what we can expect today.
Are we going to look up this week or more of the same?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran.
Right now the futures on the Dow are pointing to a higher open. That's probably because, as you mentioned, it took a drubbing in the final minutes of trade last week, on Friday. What happened is the -- you know there are always credit concerns.
Bear Stearns came out with a conference call. It started about 2:00 p.m. Eastern on Friday. And then look what happened. The Dow turned 281 points lower. It hit the Nasdaq. It hit the S&P 500.
For the week, the markets were less than 2 percent lower and the Dow was actually less than two-thirds of a percent lower. But it all has to do with credit. What is the credit situation for mortgages, for companies. That's what we're going to be looking at this week.
Tomorrow the Federal Reserve is going to be looking very closely at that. A lot of people are saying, why don't the Fed just cut rates. Well they have their meeting this week in Washington. Right now no one's expecting them to cut rates, but we'll talk a bit about that later on.
Right now we're looking for a positive open on the Dow and I'll keep you posted as the morning goes on.
Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, Ali, we'll check in with you in a few minutes. Thanks.
Also, Rob Marciano watching the dangerous heat throughout much of the country.
Hi, Rob. Good morning.
(WETHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: Parts of the Asian subcontinent are under water this morning. The heavy flooding caused by monsoon rains. In India, the river Ganges has risen above its banks, cutting off thousands of towns and villages. Even the largest cities have felt the effects of that.
The situation is the same nearby in Bangladesh. Thirty-two districts in the north and northeast and central parts of the country have been hit by severe flooding. Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate their homes and head for higher ground. About 20 million people live in the affected areas.
And thousands of miles away in Nigeria, flash flooding in the county's largest city, Lagos, has forced thousands of families from their homes. The floods followed days of heavy rains and it left more than 100 homes under water. Six people are missing.
CHETRY: In Brazil, it cleared the way for a memorial site for the victims of a plane crash at the Sao Paulo Airport. Authorities imploded the Tom Express Building nearly three weeks after a plane sped off the runway and crashed into that building. The site will be made into a memorial for the 199 people who died in that crash.
ROBERTS: An eight-year-old Israel boy is recovering from an incredible ordeal. That tops your "Quick Hits" now. He spent six hours floating alone at night in the dead sea before being rescued. Authorities say he was in the water with his father and two brothers when the current swept him away. Now it is easier to float in the Dead Sea because of the high salt content. But still, anybody out overnight in the Dead Sea, that's a real problem.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy on vacation in America and apparently not happy with the photographers covering him. They say President Sarkozy left his boat in a lake in New Hampshire, jumped into the photographer's boat and started screaming at him in French. Neither photographer understood that, though.
We've heard from a miffed Mitt Romney firing back at a talk show host for asking about his religion, spouting off at fellow Republicans too. What's behind it all, next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning here on CNN.
Bloggers want a union. Your "Quick Hits" now. Bloggers are hoping to get health insurance and other benefits. But as is the nature of the business, they can't seem to agree on whether they should create a new union or just simply join an existing one.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg reports for jury duty this morning. If he gets picked, he would be following the footsteps of his predecessor, Rudy Giuliani, who served on a civil jury while he was mayor.
And all the news that's fit to print is going to have to fit on a smaller piece of paper. "The New York Times trimmed an inch and a half from its width this morning. They're hoping to save on the rising cost of newsprint. Make it easier to read while you're commuting into New York too.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, for a guy leading in many polls, Mitt Romney found himself on the defensive at a debate in Iowa, coming out swinging at the GOP debate. It took place in Des Moines. Amy Walter is a CNN political contributor and editor in chief of "The Hotline" and she joins us from Washington this morning.
Good to see you, Amy.
AMY WALTER, EDITOR IN CHIEF, "THE HOTLINE": Good morning.
CHETRY: We'll start out with the -- for the most part, we saw that the candidates seem to avoid attacking each other. However, there was one interesting part I want to play for you. This was a heed exchange between Mitt Romney and Sam Brownback. Romney responding to Brownback ads that were running that said as governor of Massachusetts he supported pro-abortion policies. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe the best way we can have common ground in this debate that you're hearing is, if we put our emphasis on reducing abortions and increasing the number of adoptions. But I think, ultimately, that decision has to be made is one that government should make.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Sorry, we threw you for a loop there. That was clearly Rudy Giuliani, the only pro-choice candidate on stage. And how is he going to be able to reconcile his differing stance with most of the conservative base?
WALTER: Well, that is actually the big question here for Rudy Giuliani, which is why he spent a great deal of his time in that debate talking about Democrats. Not talking about social issues. His goal, of course, is to remind Republican voters about, you know, his role as mayor during 9/11, but also to go after Democrats on issues like taxes, which, obviously, are going to always invigorate the Republican base and basically say to them, you know what, we can have our differences on some of these issues in the primary, but I am the best general election candidate. I am the guy who can win in November.
CHETRY: You know the other interesting thing is that Barack Obama, in the Democratic debate, took a lot of heat for talking about the possibility or supporting the possibility of sending U.S. troops into Pakistan. Giuliani seemed to really back that up, saying well if nothing else works, and clearly nothing else has right now in capturing Osama bin Laden, he may be for it as well.
WALTER: Well, here's what both candidates, again, are trying to do, which is, the policy question certainly is one that will be debated throughout the process. But the real issue for these candidates right now is projecting an image of strength. And, you know, what -- if you talk to any Democratic strategist, what they're going to tell you is, their greatest fear, what keeps them up at night, is that once we get into the fall of next year, Republicans are going to be able to effectively label Democrats as not as strong. As not tough enough. And Rudy Giuliani, again, did this in this debate, were really trying to stand up and define Democrats on that ground and hope that it sticks.
CHETRY: I think we have Sam Brownback's words and Mitt Romney's response after being questioned about being pro-choice. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I get tired of people who are holier than thou because they've been pro-life longer than I have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: That's an interesting response. He has taken a lot of criticism. And his fellow candidates have tried to paint him as a flip-flopper because of his stance when he was governor of Massachusetts. Will that work, saying I'm tired of people who have been pro-life longer lecturing me?
WALTER: Well, the real test is going to come actually this weekend in Aims, Iowa, where there's the Republican straw poll. And, historically, what we know about the Iowa straw poll is that it attracts the most conservative elements of the Republican Party in Iowa and that it has been a winnowing ground for a lot of Republican candidates. The person who finishes first there can really hold the mantle of being a consensus conservative. Romney's hoping to do very well there. That's why you're seeing the back and forth.
CHETRY: Right. Well let's take a quick look at the latest Iowa numbers. It shows Mitt Romney as the clear front-runner. He's -- this is 'The Washington Post"/ABC poll, 26 percent. Rudy Giuliani coming in second in Iowa. Fred Thompson, again, we have not even seen him declare yet. But that looks troubling for John McCain, who's running at 8 percent, around the same as Mike Huckabee.
WALTER: Right. I mean, you know, what we've known all along is that Iowa was never going to be a particularly good place for John McCain. He decided not to -- remember in 2000, he actually didn't play in Iowa and was putting a whole lot of hope in, you know, being able to get into New Hampshire and South Carolina and do better there.
Of course what we're seeing right now is not only is he struggling in Iowa, but also in those other early states. And, you know, it really depends how the this story gets written here. Just what the expectations are for the outcome in Iowa will really determine just what is required from the candidates as they go forward.
CHETRY: Amy Walter, CNN contributor, editor in chief of "The Hotline." Thanks for being with us.
WALTER: Thanks a lot.
ROBERTS: Well, dogs are getting a chance to bite back at Michael Vick, the star quarterback accused in a dogfighting ring. A new website is selling Michael Vick chew toys. The site promises to donate some of the proceeds to the Jacksonville, Florida, humane society.
A spectacular crash at the Firestone Indy 400. The driver of this car, the husband of film star Ashley Judd. We'll show you what happened when AMERICAN MORNING continues. Look at that, airborne. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-six minutes after the hour. New York Mets pitcher Tom Glavine caps a milestone weekend for Major League Baseball, winning his 300th game on Sunday night, beating the Cubs in Chicago. He becomes the 23rd Major Leaguer to reach that mark.
CHETRY: It was a milestone weekend kicked up on Saturday. Barry Bonds hit home run number 755 in San Diego. That home run right there had him tying Hank Aaron's record for first place on baseball's all- time home run list.
Also, the Yankee's slugger, Alex Rodriguez, hit his 500th home run. That was on Saturday as well. He's the youngest player to reach the 500 home run mark. He's just 32.
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHETRY: Got his whole life ahead of him.
ROBERTS: Yes, I was about to say, he's got a healthy future ahead of him.
A spectacular crash during Sunday's Firestone 400 at Indianapolis in Michigan. Take a look at this as Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti and Dan Wheldon battle for the lead. Their wheels touch. Franchitti's car takes flight, goes airborne, lands upside down. Then he's hit by two other cars, as you saw there, before skidding to a stop upside down. Look at that! He's almost in orbit there. Incredibly, he walked away from the wreck and is OK. Franchitti, you'll remember, is married to actress Ashley Judd.
CHETRY: Those cars look like paper airplanes flipping through the air, but their inside security system and harness system really, obviously, makes a difference so you can walk away.
ROBERTS: Oh, it's a totally different car than the way it was back in the 1970s when you hit the wall and you die. I mean these guys can go through some incredible crashes and still survive.
Hey, coming up, a story that you can't miss. You know, remember that -- who could forget that story, that big family, very large family, and the father was going off to war in Iraq and we were all worried about what might happened.
CHETRY: Oh, yes. The mother -- this is the Snell (ph) family out of West Point and the dad, Joe Snell, a major in the ,Army was gone two different tours of duty, leaving his seven sons behind, range inning range from I think 13 all the way down to just about a year old. Well, he's back, all safe and sound, all in one piece, and we're going to show you a little bit of that heart warming reunion when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
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KIRAN CHETRY, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Beautiful shot this morning. This is coming to us from News 14 Carolina. Its 17 degrees if you're in Charlotte, North Carolina, this morning. Enjoy it now because it's going up to a high of 99. It's going to be a scorcher today as well as many, many cities across the country. And triple digits across the Midwest as well.
Welcome back. It's Monday, August 6th. Thanks for being with us. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: And good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. We begin in Minneapolis in the collapsed I-35 W. Bridge. Navy divers, as many as four cranes and two barges could be brought in to bring up wreckage. Investigators, meanwhile, are turning their focus to the bridge's north side today, interviewing construction workers who were resurfacing the bridge. This morning's "Minneapolis Star Tribune" says those workers felt the bridge wobbling as they broke out the old surface.
A state of emergency in Montana this morning. Wildfires are the number one fire threat in the country. One large fire northeast of Missoula threatens about 200 homes. At this point, authorities say the fire is not contained at all.
CHETRY: They're only halfway through monsoon season and heavy rains bringing devastating floods to India as well as the Asian subcontinent. The River Ganges has risen above its banks, cutting off thousands of towns and villages. Millions of people have been left stranded and the largest cities have felt the effects. You see people running right there. They're running to get their hands on food and supplies being airdropped from helicopters in the area, trying to do whatever they can to get supplies to people who have been cut off because of the horrible, horrible rains.
The Pentagon has reportedly lost track of some 30 percent of weapons given to Iraqi security forces in the last few years. This morning's "Washington Post" citing a government accountability report raising concerns the arsenal may have fallen into insurgent hands.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today. They're going to be working on a peace deal. According to the Associated Press this morning, most of the Fatah gunmen loyal to Abbas are giving up their weapons in an amnesty deal with Israel.
ROBERTS: Divers will resume the search this morning for eight people missing after the bridge collapse. How long will it take to find the missing, figure out why the bridge failed?
Joining us from Washington to talk about the challenges the investigators face is Bob Francis. He is the former vice president of the National Transportation Safety Board.
Bob, what do you think of the reports of the construction workers breaking up and resurfacing of the road, that as they broke up the road surface, the bridge began to wobble and with the more concrete they broke up, the wobbling seemed to increase?
BOB FRANCIS, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: If that was something that was out of the ordinary, with 20-20 hindsight, we're always very smart. Somebody should have been taking a look at it. Clearly, while they felt it, they didn't think it was dangerous or wouldn't have continued.
ROBERTS: Does it sound to you like the concrete would have been the stabilizing factor in all this and that when you removed that concrete, the bridge became more unstable and eventually just gave way?
FRANCIS: That will be one of the things the safety board will be looking at. There are some wonderful tools they can use, computerized tools they can analyze and do what-ifs. They can say, we put this amount of concrete into this situation and here's what happened. Did that have an effect or was it something else?
ROBERTS: Bob, you supervised one of the most amazing reconstructions this country, and perhaps the world, has ever seen when you brought up pieces of TWA 800 off the floor of the Atlantic and literally put the plane back together again in a hangar on Long Island. Speak to us about the complicated nature of the process to reconstruct what happened with this bridge, particularly given the debris field they have, the shifting nature of it, the fact divers really can't operate down there as they would like to, and the fact also there are still victims in the bottom of the Mississippi.
FRANCIS: I think the recovery, as with TWA, will take a lot of time. One of the things you have to keep in mind as you're doing this -- and they have Navy divers, some who probably worked on TWA. Keep in mind that those divers going down there are doing so at risk. The conditions are terrible. You don't want to put yourself in a position of the recovery, trying to hurry it, at the risk of losing somebody else down there trying to help.
ROBERTS: One of those divers became momentarily trapped over the weekend, causing a few frightening moments for people. How do you think the NTSB is going to conduct this investigation? Will they engage in reconstruction, as you did with TWA 800? I don't imagine you can put an entire bridge back together. Will they be doing that or relying more on computer modeling?
FRANCIS: I think they will be relying very heavily with computer modeling. As you say, with the size and nature of the bridge, you're not going to be able to -- maybe you can put together a little part, if you find in your modeling, we think that something happened in this joint. Maybe you can try to get the pieces for that joint and look at them. Computers are going to be enormously important in this.
ROBERTS: How concerned should we be, as this investigation is going on, about other bridges in this country, particularly ones with the same or similar construction?
FRANCIS: Certainly, it's priority to take a look at a lot of bridges, including those of the same design. I would also caution to not be starting to worry about driving over bridges. There are half a million in this country.
I read an article recently, where they cited ten bridges that had fallen in this country since 1980. Only three of them were -- this one and one in Connecticut, and one other -- were not caused by an earthquake or something running into it. The chances that you're going to -- they're going to get into a problem going into a bridge are really remote.
ROBERTS: All right. Bob Francis, former vice chairman of the NTSB, thanks for joining us this morning with your expertise. Always good to hear from you.
FRANCIS: You're welcome.
CHETRY: Well, there's a potential breakthrough for the treatment of rosacea in your "Quick Hits" now. Rosacea, the skin condition that causes blotchy red skin and small pimple-like bumps usually around the cheeks and nose. A study published in the journal "Nature Medicine's" on-line edition linked the skin condition to an excess of a certain protein. The results could aid researchers in designing an effective treatment for the disease. It affects some 14 million Americans.
After 55 years, a woman in Germany has had a pencil surgically removed from inside her head. She was just 4 years old when she fell on the pencil. She spent her entire life suffering from headaches and nosebleeds and now that modern medicine can do it, she had part of it removed.
Still ahead, a potentially deadly disease being transmitted in alarming numbers by teenagers. Could it be tattoos to blame? Dr. Sanjay Gupta has some answers for us, coming up.
ROBERTS: Tomorrow, on "AMERICAN MORNING," meet the American top gun, showing up the world's best pilots, tomorrow, on "AMERICAN MORNING."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Barry Bonds has a chance to break the record tonight at home but baseball's commissioner won't be there to see it. Your "Quick Hits" now. Commissioner Bud Selig says he is skipping Bonds' next three games. Bonds tied Hank Aaron's record Saturday night. Selig was there, but was seen with his hands in his pocket as others cheered.
Think it's hot where you are? Imagine being at the Sauna World Championships in Finland. I don't know how people do this. Temperatures started about 230 degrees. More water is thrown on the stove every 30 seconds to make it hotter. I don't know how you would -- wouldn't you have to sign some sort of release to be part of that? The winner is the last person standing, literally. The winning female braved 10.5 minutes. The male stayed in for 12 minutes and 26 seconds.
Wow. 41 minutes past the hour. We're going to head over to Rob Marciano, covering the weather for us from the CNN Weather Center.
There's a lot of people that are in a contest today, but the mere fact of where they live, it will feel like a sauna.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, a lot of people will be sweating that much for sure today.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: An entire week of that. Rob Marciano for us. Rob, thanks.
Some doctors are calling it a silent epidemic. More than 4 million Americans are infected with Hepatitis C, many of them young people who may not even realize that they have it.
CNN's Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us it can have deadly results.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hepatitis C used to be transmitted by transfusions or experimental drug use in the freewheeling '60s and '70s, today, that's changes. Overall, the number of cases are down, but in some places, where injection drug use is up among teens and adults, HepC is on the rise.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think this is a silent epidemic that's been going on for quite a while.
GUPTA: Some health officials say dirty needles used for tattooing and body piercing can be a factor.
The virus can be transmitted sexually, but it is low.
HepC is the leading cause of liver cancer and the number one reason for liver transplants.
The problem is most of those infected show no symptoms in the early stages. So health officials say getting the message out to young people is critical.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The rate of infection for using IV drugs and sharing them with other people within a year can be as high as 90 percent.
GUPTA: But it can be treated. Six months to a year of weekly injections of a drug Interferon, which helps the immune system fight viruses, combined with a daily pill called Ribaferon (ph) has doctors claiming success rates as high as 99 percent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you can eradicate the virus and sustain it another six months, then you have pretty much cured the patient.
GUPTA: That is good news for patients like Mary.
MARY: I have a zero viral count. I'm pretty much in the clear.
GUPTA: But virus-free does not mean you're free from liver disease or risks of other complications. So doctors stress that kids understand one bad injection can give them a potentially deadly disease.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: We wanted to give you an update on a family we first told you about in April, with our "Children of War" series. It was the Snell family, seven boys, all being raised by their mother while their father served his second tour in Iraq. Major Joe Snell is back home and reunited with his family. There was a welcome home ceremony for his entire unit at Fort Dix, New Jersey.
Here's the first time he had a chance to see his second to youngest son, Jonathan.
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JOE SNELL, MAJOR, U.S. ARMY: Hi, mommy.
JONATHAN SNELL, SON OF JOE SNELL: Hi, mommy.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHETRY: There he is giving his dad a kiss. Jonathan was not quite 2 when his dad left for his second tour of duty. This was the second time. The older kids were much more aware and worried much more. They kept in touch through e-mail. Now, Major Snell, back home safe and sound. We're glad mom is going to have help with seven boys.
ROBERTS: That's incredible. Such a large family. Is he going to have to go over again?
CHETRY: I'm not exactly sure. He's done two tours. I don't know if his unit is slated to go back.
There's 700,000 children in the U.S. that have one parent or another serving in either Iraq or Afghanistan since the war started. It is a big sacrifice. You forget sometimes how -- it's not only the people over there but their family's' really sacrificing.
ROBERTS: Glad he's back safe and sound.
"AMERICAN MORNING" will be back right after this. Stay with us.
CHETRY: An "AMERICAN MORNING" update.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUAN GOMEZ, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT: We had no control over where we lived but had control over going to school and working hard and making friends.
CHETRY: Teenage illegal immigrants speak out for the first time. The value of friends in the American dream, straight ahead, on the most news in the morning.
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CHETRY: We have an update on a story we first told you about last week. Do you remember Juan and Alex Gomez, two teens? One of them a gifted honor student, born in Columbia, but living in south Florida since they were toddlers with their family, who is here illegally. Their parents overstayed their visas. After spending a week in a Miami Detention Center, the brothers are now free. They've been spared at least temporarily from deportation thanks to the tireless help of their friends.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
J. GOMEZ: I think to myself, OK, who are the people I trust most in the world? Those are my friends.
CHETRY (voice-over): Ripped from his home in an immigration raid last month, separated from his parents and brother, Juan Gomez turned to his best friend, Scott, for help, sending a text message. Scott called in reinforcements save Juan and Alex. Within days, ten teens went to Washington D. C. lobbying lawmakers to save their friends from being deported. ALEX GOMEZ, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT: It's unfathomable to me that this country of mine that is so tolerant and so giving, could be so intolerant and ignorant and uncaring when it comes to immigration -- our immigrant population.
CHETRY: On his face book page, Scott urged classmates to get involved. More than 1,500 signed up in support. Their grassroots movement caught fire, even making it here, to "AMERICAN MORNING."
SCOTT, FRIEND OF JUAN AND ALEX GOMEZ: Originally, we planned on creating this small face book group to let our friends in college know they our best friend got picked up. It kind of evolved and turned into this major news story.
CHETRY: Later that same day, the Gomez brothers were given a 45- day reprieve from deportation.
J. GOMEZ: If you blindly look at it as the law and people breaking the law and never question the laws, then this country wouldn't be what it is now. We would still have women who can't vote. We would still have segregation. You always got to question laws in order to better them because they're not perfect.
CHETRY: Alex and Juan's parents overstayed a visa more than 15 years ago. Their local congressman is backing a bill that would keep Juan and Alex in the U.S. but not their parents, saying the brothers should not be punished for their parents' mistake.
J. GOMEZ: It's like accusing a child, in a baby carriage for jaywalking when their mom takes them across the street. We had no say in it. We had no control over where we lived. What we did have control over was going to school, working hard, making friends.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: They certainly did all that. The Gomez family must report back to immigration officials September 14th. Although history is not on their side, during the last Congress, there were 177 of these so-called private bills filed on behalf of immigrants, not one of them passed.
ROBERTS: Choosing work over sex tops your "Quick Hits" now. A study done in Germany found one-third of people who found they had unsatisfying sex lives said they actually used work as an excuse to avoid intimacy. The study said they put in more time at the office, even volunteered for extra work, all of it to avoid sex.
Something to think about as you head off to work. A new study says that tyrannical bosses aren't being punished. In fact, they're being promoted. The report by Bonn University says spiteful supervisors often rise in the ranks even though they can sometimes cause nightmares, depression, exhaustion and insomnia for their underlings.
August 14, 1945, this picture captured the nation's joy at the end of World War II. But who was the young sailor passionately kissing the nurse? Up next, a 62-year-old mystery, solved.
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ROBERTS: The man behind the kiss. A police forensics artist in Houston has said she has I.D.'d the mystery sailor kissing a nurse in his famous VJ-Day photograph. She is convinced it is Glenn McDuffie, now 80 years old, who claimed for years he was the man in the snapshot. He said he was changing trains in New York, heard that Japan had surrendered, ran up on the streets, grabbed the first nurse he saw and just planted a big old smacker on her.
CHETRY: There it is. You know, there have been more than 10 other men who have gone to "Life" magazine in the past saying, no, it's me, it's me. And this lady forensic artist said, you know, I did a lot of little configuring, and I realized, it's Glenn McDuffie.
ROBERTS: There you go. Good for Glenn.
CHETRY: It's three minutes on top of the hour. Ali Velshi, on "Minding your Business," a lot of people looking at the market this morning saying hopefully we'll have a little bit better week than we had last week.
ALI VELSHI, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, one hopes. There's a lot of things that are going to happen this week that might indicate that. We have a fed meeting tomorrow. What we have this morning is Chrysler Corporation back in American hands. This deal closed Friday. A private equity company buying Chrysler back from its German holders, Daimler.
And the first order of business - you wouldn't think this, but when you have a new car company, the first thing they did was bring back an old clunker, a model with not such a good reputation. I'm talking about the new CEO Bob Nardelli.
CHETRY: I thought you were talking about the LaBaron.
VELSHI: No. But it's kind of like that. Nardelli was the CEO of Home Depot from 2000 until he was forced out this January because the stock's performance and his pay packet weren't in the same league. He earned $142 million in stock and pay in six years at Home Depot and his good-bye package was worth $210 million.
But now Chrysler is a private corporation and doesn't have to answer to shareholders, who didn't love Nardelli. He is not going to take any money to run Chrysler. His compensation will be based on whether or not he can improve the health of the company. We will keep a very close eye on Bob Nardelli. We like doing that.
CHETRY: All right. Ali, thanks. See you in a few.
Something coming up you can't miss. John and I will be playing ballot jackpot.
ROBERTS: We have the political ballot box right here. CHETRY: We are stuffing the box and will see what comes out. And we're going to be talking to the political on the left and on the right for their take on hot topics, such as Romney lashes out. This was the YouTube video capturing Mitt Romney is a heated exchange with a talk show host. That's going in
ROBERTS: How about this one, future first ladies, like Jerri (ph) or Judith, Elizabeth or even Bill?
CHETRY: Exactly, future first ladies and the first man. So all of these things are going in. And we're going to pull them out and talk with both sides coming up.
ROBERTS: The next hour of "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.
Terror on tape, another threat from American al Qaida warning of attacks on U.S. embassies.
And is Big Brother listening to you, trying to stop the next terror attack? A closer look at what new surveillance laws mean for you.
Plus, what's next in Afghanistan?
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