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American Morning

Rescue On Hold; Fed Stays Steady; New Driver's License; Bonds Hits Number 756; America Votes 2008

Aired August 08, 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: Collapsing hopes. The earth moves and the underground rescue stops for six trapped coal miners.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB MURRAY, PRESIDENT/CEO, MURRAY ENERGY CORP.: Earthquake.

Earthquake.

The earthquake.

And this was caused by an earthquake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: But are the cave-ins caused by nature or by the mining itself.

Plus, record breaker.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Bonds hits one high. (INAUDIBLE). It is out of here!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Barry Bonds hits his 756th home run.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was crazy!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was awesome!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God bless Barry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: And slaps down the steroid question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARRY BONDS, NEW HOME RUN RECORD HOLDER: This record is not tainted at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: The historic shot and the Mets fan who caught it, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

And good morning. Thanks very much for joining us. It's Wednesday, the 8th of August. I'm John Roberts.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. Show the "New York Post."

ROBERTS: This kind of says it all, doesn't it, 756 with the number 756 written out in hypodermic needles. Take a look at that. There's a creative "New York Post" front page.

CHETRY: There it is, but it's all the talk this morning about that record that he broke. We're going to be speaking with a long time sportscaster who was actually there last night giving us reaction. And Bonds, himself, speaks out a little bit more.

ROBERTS: Some boos, lots of cheers. Kind of a split decision on Bonds' record breaking home run last night.

CHETRY: Well, more on that a little later. First, though, we begin at the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah and the rescue effort that's on hold this morning. The mine's owner says they're back to square one and that shifting ground wiped out all the progress they had made so far trying to tunnel in there horizontally and get to the miners. They'll keep drilling to get air down there, cameras, as well as radios, to the miners. They have not heard from them since the initial collapse early Monday. Dan Simon is monitoring all of the latest developments near Huntington, Utah. He's joins us this morning.

What's the latest this morning, Dan?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, this can only be characterized as a significant setback. If the miners are still alive, we are told it is now going to take at least one week to physically reach them and pull them out. That announcement coming last night from Robert Murray, the owner of the mine.

But there are actually two timetables, if you will. One week to physically reach the miners. We were also given a timetable of about two or three days to determine if they are dead or alive. Bob Murray says that all of the progress they had been made had essentially been erased because of aftershocks or seismic activity.

Remember, he believes the collapse was caused by an earthquake. Scientists seem to think that the seismic activity was caused by the cave-in itself. It seems a little more investigation is warranted on that.

In any case, here is some of what Mr. Murray had to say. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BOB MURRAY, PRESIDENT/CEO, MURRAY ENERGY CORP.: If the miners were killed at the time of the earthquake, that's in the Lord's hands. And what is done is done. But it is my job to get to the miners, if they're alive, and maintain their lives until I can get them out. And that is all I'm focused on, as well as the welfare of the families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: As of right now, there are essentially two methods being used to rescue these miners. There is a vertical drill, which needs to go down about 1,500 feet. That's what will be used to determine if they are dead or alive. They'll also pump in some air, perhaps give them some food and some water.

And here on the ground, rescuers are building what amounts to a tunnel. That is what is going to take at least a week. That tunnel is being fortified with wood and steel rods. And that is a very time- consuming process.

Kiran.

CHETRY: Dan, have we heard anything from the four who were able to get out of the mine, the ones who escaped unharmed about any details about the possible condition of these miners still trapped?

SIMON: You know, publicly, we haven't heard anything about that. But we know that they have talked to authorities and the rescuers. And their eye-witness account, from what I understand, has been essential in trying to pinpoint exactly where these miners are. Of course, everybody wants to hear from those folks. But right now they are sequestered and we're giving them their privacy.

Kiran.

CHETRY: Dan Simon, we'll check in with you throughout the morning. Thank you.

ROBERTS: Also new this morning, details are emerging from state bridge inspectors in Minnesota who warned for nearly a decade that the Interstate 35W bridge was so compromised by cracks and rust that it should be replaced.

A Minnesota Department of Transportation camera captured dramatic pictures of the bridge seconds after the collapsed. This morning's "Minneapolis Star Tribune" reports the inspectors urged the state to replace bolts in a specific area of the bridge in every report that they made since the year 2000.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki arrived in Iran this morning. He is asking the Iranians to help stop the violence in Iraq. Iran's Shiite leaders are sympathy to al-Maliki, that he is facing a crisis at home. Nearly all of the Sunni members of his cabinet have quit or are boycotting and Washington is putting a lot of pressure on him to make political progress.

Police in Belgium this morning say that DNA taking from a straw did not match that of missing four year old Madeleine McCann. They took the sample after a woman said she was 100 percent sure that she saw Madeleine, who vanished from a hotel room in Portugal in May. Police are also testing blood traces reportedly found inside that room in Portugal.

CHETRY: There's a new investigation that says seafood from China is still making it into the U.S. without being screened. The Associated Press found at least a million pounds of pond-raised seafood, like shrimp, catfish and eel, made it to stores and restaurants despite an FDA order to hold every shipment until it had passed a lab test. So far no illnesses have been reported.

The space shuttle Endeavour is set to launch at 6:36 Eastern Time tonight. NASA says there is an 80 percent chance that the weather will hold up for the launch. On the seven member crew, former teacher Barbara Morgan, who trained for the doomed Challenger flight. She'll be seated in the same spot where fellow teacher Christa McAuliffe sat 21 years ago.

And also new this morning, a money-saving prediction. The government expecting gas prices to keep dropping. By Christmas, a gallon of regular could go for $2.64 on average. That would be about 60 cents cheaper than what we've been paying in May, thanks to more gas being produced. Gas is averaging about $2.81 a gallon right now.

John.

ROBERTS: Nice Christmas present.

There are other stories new this morning and our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents are following.

Paint the map red. Rob Marciano live in Atlanta's Centennial Park this morning, watching dangerous heat across the East Coast and extreme storms in the Northeast.

And fortunately for you, Rob, they've got that little fountain there in Centennial Park. You're going to need it later on today.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ROBERTS: The Fed holds steady. What's it mean for your wallet. Ali Velshi here to translate for us.

So, Ali, decipher all of this for us, will you.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, here's the thing. The Fed held its rate stead for the ninth time in a row. The Fed rate is 5.25 percent. That means that the prime rate is 8.25 percent. That's the rate which many loans are connected to. So if you have a loan that's tied to the prime rate, it didn't move yesterday.

But what we were all looking for was the statement from the Fed about what's going on in the economy. And what the Fed said was that, you know, the financial markets have been volatile, the housing market is still undergoing a condition. They've been talking about these credit conditions.

But here's what they said about it all. They said, nevertheless, the economy seems likely to continue to expand at a moderate pace overcoming quarters supported by solid growth in employment and incomes and robust global economy. John, that is Fed speak for things are going OK.

So for everybody out there who was waiting for the Fed to say, what is going on with these markets? They are up, they are down by hundreds of points a day. The Fed is sort of saying, look, the engines of the economy, economic growth, are plugging along.

The world is doing well. The world is America's clients. They buy the stuff that America makes and that everybody should just not worry too much about it right now. They've got their finger on the pulse. And if anything needs to be done, they can do it in the future.

It seemed to be OK for markets. The Dow closed a little bit higher yesterday. And, you know, we'll do this all again in six weeks.

John.

ROBERTS: Don't worry, be happy.

VELSHI: Don't worry about it.

ROBERTS: And I noticed that the overseas markets are up a little bit today.

VELSHI: That's right.

ROBERTS: So maybe it will be a good day for the Dow.

Ali Velshi, thanks.

Kiran.

CHETRY: Well now to our terror watch and what's being done to protects us from the next attack. Today, Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff will be meeting with state officials from across the country and they'll be discussing a more secure and uniformed driver's license. So-called "Real IDs". Are they worth the cost and the hassle? Homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is in our Washington bureau.

Will this be a tough sell with some state leaders?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It will be. Secretary Chertoff is really walking in to the lion's den here, addressing the National Conference of State Legislatures. They think the program to issue more secure driver's license, known as "Real ID," is a real bad idea.

The law says states have to begin issuing standardized licenses next May and it requires that all 245 million driver's license or ID holders in the United States be recredentialed within five years. It required that all those drivers make an in-person visit to their DMV with new identification documents, photographs and signatures. There will be no renewal by mail or over the Internet. States will have to independently verify the validity of those identification documents.

So how widespread is unhappiness with this? Well, 17 states have enacted laws opposing it. So you can just imagine the kind of reception the secretary is going to get today.

CHETRY: Yes, right. Well, keep us posted on how that meeting goes.

Jeanne Meserve in Washington, thank you.

MESERVE: You bet.

ROBERTS: Love him or hate him, Barry Bonds is one of baseball's kings this morning.

CHETRY: Yes, it might be a record with an asterisk attached to some people. But he did hit home run number 765 last night. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's it. Deals (ph). And Bonds hits one high. Hits it deep! It is out of here! 756!.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Well, there it is. The majority of hometown fans in San Francisco cheered Bonds, but he could not escape some of the whispers. Long suspected of using performance enhancing drugs. That whisper came to a head back in 2003 when he reportedly told a grand jury that he unknowingly used steroid creams.

ROBERTS: Last night Bonds insisted his new home run record is not tainted. But what will the public decide? I mean, here's the way that the New York tabloids are painting it. The "New York Post" has got 756 written out in hypodermic needles.

CHETRY: This says "King of Shame" on the front of "The Daily News." A lot of columnist and sports writers feeling that this certainly is tainted. We'll see if Damon Bruce is one of them. He joins us from San Francisco's KNBR 680.

Thanks for being with us, Damon.

DAMON BRUCE, HOST, KNBR 680 AM: Good morning.

CHETRY: You were there last night. Tell us what it was like.

BRUCE: It was really an amazing scene. We all knew that the home run record was there for the taking. Little did anyone think that Henry Aaron would actually give it to Barry Bonds. And that's what happened last night. And I think it stunned a lot of people. Henry Aaron's silence on this whole home run chase had been deafening up to this point. He had a prepared video message that played on the scoreboard not to long after Bonds hit the milestone shot. And I think that that did a little to disarm some of Bonds' critics this morning.

I am not a Bonds apologist. Just on the record so you know. I think that there are some question marks and some legitimate question marks. One of my biggest is, where was the commissioner. I can't believe he had anything more important than last night's record on his agenda.

ROBERTS: Yes. You know, so there may be some question marks, but what about this idea, Damon, of an asterisk? Do you think that that -- even though it may not appear that way in the record books, do you think, among fans of baseball, that that is always going to sitting somewhere in the back of their minds?

BRUCE: Oh, there's no doubt. I think a lot of fans are -- they've got their minds made up on Bonds. And last night didn't tip their feelings one way or the other. They already have their opinion on this man. And if you are comfortable by putting an asterisk next to it in your mind, I think you should go right ahead.

But I don't think Major League Baseball has any business doing it. They've had every opportunity to stop him. They've been investigating him in one form or another for four or five years now. And we just saw in this whole Michael Vick thing that when the full judiciary might of the U.S. government comes at you, it moves fast. They haven't moved that fast on Bonds.

CHETRY: Well, and some say it's very difficult to prove.

Let's hear from Bonds himself, who didn't necessarily skirt around that issue last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARRY BONDS, NEW HOME RUN RECORD HOLDER: This record is not tainted at all. At all. Period. You guys can say whatever you want.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: What do you think of that response last night?

BRUCE: Well, I also think that that's Barry coming to terms with some of his own thoughts. I mean, whether it's tainted or not, I think it's tough to deny. There's certainly a lot of question marks about this. And his best friend didn't watch from the stands last night with the rest of his entourage. One of his best friends is a convicted steroid dealer and he watched this thing from his prison in Danville, California, last night. If that doesn't put a little bit of a taint on it, I think that's -- it's insane to imply that it doesn't.

But at the same time, and I would urge the harshest Bonds critic to just say, he had three MVPs before he got here. He had three MVPs, which is the most anyone had ever had before the word "steroids" were ever used in Major League Baseball. And you cannot fake 756 home runs.

If baseball wanted to stop it, they should have. After the fact it's to -- you cannot let your kid stay up all night and then yell at him the next day because he's tired.

ROBERTS: Right. But people will forever wonder how he went from a size 10 « to a 13 shoe. Damon Bruce, thanks very much.

BRUCE: Thank you. Good morning.

ROBERTS: Good to see you this morning.

CHETRY: Well, there's one other guy who's sharing the spotlight today with Barry Bonds this morning. It is the 22-year-old New Yorker, not a Giants fan, who caught the record breaking ball. He told reporters he was Matt Murphy (ph) from Queens. Take a closer look at his shirt. A Mets fan. Murphy was at last night's game killing time before he and his friends took off on a trip to Australia. There's no word on what he's going to do with the ball. It's already worth an estimated half a million dollars.

ROBERTS: But, you know, he did not throw it back. So, there you go. You'd have to be pretty stupid to do that, I guess.

The Democrats candidates try to sack front runner Hillary Clinton at Soldier Field in Chicago. We've got the play-by-play at last night's big debate coming up for you on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, Chicago's Soldier Field was host to a game. But it was a political game. A game of political football last night. The Democratic presidential candidates taking part in a rockous (ph) debate. Some say it was the most lively so far of the debates before a crowd of some 15,000 union members. It was sponsored by the AFLCIO. Let's listen to a few highlights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN EDWARDS, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When lawyers give money to a jury who are making the decisions, that's called a bribe. When lobbyists go to members of Congress and give money to them, that's called politics.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will say that for 15 years I have stood up against the right wing machine and I've come out stronger. So if you want a winner who knows how to take them on, I'm your girl.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I find it amusing that those who helped to authorize and engineer the biggest foreign policy disaster in our generation are now criticizing me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Carol Marine, a long time newscaster and political columnist for the "Chicago Sun Times," joins us from Chicago with some morning after analysis.

Good to see you this morning, Carol.

CAROL MARIN, "CHICAGO SUN-TIMES": Good morning, Kiran.

CHETRY: Who stood out to you last night in that hometown crowd?

MARIN: Organized labor and the makeup woman who caused all of those candidates not to sweat. I don't think there was a clear winner here except organized labor. This was their platform. This was their story last night.

CHETRY: How much of an influence does the AFLCIO still have when it comes to deciding a presidential election?

MARIN: As you know, their membership has been plummeting. Union membership across the country has been. But let's remember, in 2006, unions were, among other things, the pivot point of the Democrats retaking Congress. So unions are seeing some resurgence in their strength. And this was essentially, I think, a demonstration project, the fact that they have not lost their clout.

CHETRY: Well, you know, the other candidates were trying to gain ground on the front-runner right now, at least in all the polls, Hillary Clinton with a double digit lead. So they went after her ties to big business. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: The reason I came to Chicago, the reason I started working with unions, the reason I march on pick it lines, the reason that I am running for president is because of you. Not because of folks who are writing big checks.

EDWARDS: The one thing you can count on is you will never see a picture of me on the front of "Fortune" magazine saying, I am the candidate that big corporate America is betting on. That will never happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: You know, everyone seemed desperate to be the pro labor candidate. But is anyone the clear favorite?

MARIN: I don't think so. Though Clinton and Obama and Edwards, I think, certainly got their fair or their larger than fair share of the audience's attention.

Right now, labor is in a great situation. They like all of these guys. I mean none of them are saying anything at all that would disturb big labor. And this audience was very attuned to that. So no one challenged labor last night. What you were seeing were candidates challenging Clinton because her poll numbers are even better today than they have been in the past.

CHETRY: I mean, you know, you -- John Edwards using terms like no scab is going to cross your picket line to many cheers. Obama got a lot of cheers. He seemed to be the crowd favorite. But, I mean, at times it came off a little bit as pandering. Will any of this come back to haunt them in future debates or in the general election?

MARIN: Well, you know, it's a good question that you ask because Hillary Clinton was booed at one point, though she is also an Illinois girl. Not quite the same way as Obama is a favorite son.

But I'm not sure it's bad to get a little booing because you don't want to be seen as a unilateral candidate. So you don't want to represent just one constituency. And so if you can differentiate yourself and be challenged at some point by the audience, I don't think that's such a terrible thing.

CHETRY: Carol Marin of the "Chicago Sun-Times." Thanks for being with us this morning.

MARIN: My pleasure.

ROBERTS: Twenty-one minutes after the hour. Stolen Picassos recovered. Tops your "Quick Hits" now. French police are holding three suspects caught with a drawing and two rolled up canvass worth more than $60 million all told. A portrait of Picasso's daughter and one of his second wife was stolen from his granddaughter's apartment back in February.

And thieves in California have apparently taken to stealing those collapsible third row seats found in some SUVs. First it was air bags, now it's the collapsible third row seat. The seats are usually easy to remove. They can be sold for up to $3,000.

And a dramatic twist in that foot and mouth outbreak in England. Investigators now saying it could be an act of sabotage. The latest on that investigation coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, this has to be one of the all time great questions. Hey, pal, is that a money in your ponytail. Well, that's what passengers were asking one man on a flight from Florida to New York. It was a monkey. Let's take a look. There he is. The man smuggled the fifth size primate on to the Spirit air flight yesterday. He had the monkey cling on to the underside of his ponytail, then covered him up wearing a hat.

Well, the monkey didn't want to stay, of course, on a flight like that, stuffed under the ponytail, so, of course he crawled out. Passengers spotted the little guy after takeoff. Then he spent the rest of the flight sitting in his owner's lap. The monkey is now in quarantine, though, and the man was detained by authorities when the plane landed.

ROBERTS: Yes, can't put your monkey under your hat there. Got a story coming up in our next half hour. One that you just can't miss. It's a showdown on the Savannah. Take a look at some of this video here as well you a little bit about it.

So there's the lonely water buffalo walking across the Savannah and the lions.

CHETRY: The lions poised to strike, looking for their meal. Well, they get a hold of one of the baby buffalo -- water buffalo's calves.

ROBERTS: Watch this. He was cut off from the herd right here. Boom.

CHETRY: There you see him right there. Knocked him into the water, although this story has an unbelievable surprising outcome that not only involves those two, but a crocodile. We'll show you more when we come right back on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: That's a beautiful shot this morning. Pretty hazy out there in Charleston, South Carolina. A shot of the Cooper River Bridge. The longest cable stay (ph) span in North America. It goes 1,546 feet over the Cooper River. A pretty shot this morning.

ROBERTS: Just had its second birthday back in July.

CHETRY: Yes, it was actually built to replace an old truss bridge, similar to the one that we've been covering all week in Minneapolis.

ROBERTS: You know, we have a fascination with bridges in this country now since the Minneapolis I-35W collapse. And every time people go across the bridge, I think a lot of them wonder, oh, is this going to stay up.

CHETRY: You think twice, for sure.

Well, welcome back. It's Wednesday, August 8th. I'm Kiran Chetry.

ROBERTS: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts.

New this morning.

Investigators looking into the foot and mouth outbreak in England say that it might be an act of sabotage. The virus is believed to have come from a laboratory that produces a vaccine for foot and mouth. But investigators say it's unlikely that the virus spread through the air or water and was either spread by accident or done intentionally. So far the virus has been found in cattle at two farms near the lab.

A Florida judge is clearing the way for a notorious child killer to be executed. The judge just ruled John Couey is not mentally retarded and therefore can be put to death. Back in 2005, Couey kidnapped, raped and then buried nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford alive. Couey will be sentenced later this month.

And the feds are getting ready to kick off a major crackdown on illegal workers across the country. The government is expected to announce though, new rules requiring employers to fire anyone using a fake social security number. Many people, though, including employers are worried about the fall-out from targeting the nearly 6 million illegals in the United States work force.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: A demand for war-torn Sudan. The U.S. says the country must drop its objections to non-African peacekeepers. A special envoy in Sudan say there aren't enough trained soldiers on the African continent to fully staff a peacekeeping force of 26,000 they say they need. Hundreds of thousands of people have died there in four years of war.

North and South Korea announcing their leaders will meet this month, the first in seven years and the second time they have met since the Korean War ended in 1953. The two sides have never signed a formal peace agreement. North Korea shut down its nuclear reactor last month.

ROBERTS: Discouraging news about efforts to reach the six miners trapped in the Utah mine. Rescue efforts are on hold this morning and the owner of the Crandle (ph) Canyon Mine says they are back to square one and the shifting ground wiped out all the progress made so far. He now says it will take at least a week to get to the miners.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT E. MURRAY, MURRAY ENERGY CORP.: All the work we have done since yesterday morning. And you being here with me was wiped out by this seismic and tectonic activity underground. We are back to square one underground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: While the tunneling to reach the miners has been suspending, Bob Murray says they will keep drilling to drop down air, cameras and radios to the miner whose haven't been heard from since the initial collapse Monday and it will take two to three days.

Dennis O'Dell is the occupational health and safety chief of United Mine Workers of America. He joins us from Washington.

Back to square one, a week to reach them, qualify that for us, if you would. What's the situation inside that mine?

DENNIS O'DELL OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH-SAFETY CHIEF, UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA: Every time you get into a rescue recovery situation like we have in Utah, sometimes there are setbacks, sometimes it's hard to guess exactly how much time it will take to reach those you're trying to get to.

In this case, there's been underground mountain activity by MSHA that caused it to become unstable although they said they continued work to repair ventilation controls and move forward. The ventilation process will take a little longer than they first anticipated. That's what their anticipation is at this point.

ROBERTS: MSHA, we should point out, it the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Bob Murray, the CEO of that mine, part owner of the mine, in a press conference last night said repeatedly, at every opportunity he could, it was an earthquake that caused the activity in the first place and hammered geological efforts but a U.S. geological survey points to the mine collapse triggered by the machines. What do you think Bob Murray is up to here?

O'DELL: It's hard to say. We rely on the investigation itself to reveal the exact cause of what happened in a case like this. We have to rely on the experts.

I'm not sure what Mr. Murray's intentions or thoughts are. A lot of times, operators like to try to steer an investigation a certain way. I don't know if that's what he's up to at this point in time or if he actually believes that is what happened. I think we need to rely on the experts. In the investigation, once we get to the miners and once the recovery has been done, the miners are found, brought outside, there'll be an intense investigation and those facts will actually come out at that time, to tell everybody exactly what did happen.

ROBERTS: Also, Dennis, this issue of retreat mining, a way they go in and carve out the remaining coal they go and get it through this room and pillar method, where they leave big swats of coal through the roof and the roof collapses behind it. Bob Murray denies it was going on but the "Salt Lake City Tribune" says, with U.S. geological survey, says it was pulling those pillars. What have you heard?

O'DELL: That's the information we got from the Mining Safety and Health Administration, they were doing that type of mining. I think there's maybe a play with words. I don't know at this point why that would be the case. We should be honest about it. What they were doing, blocks of coal, the remaining blocks of coal in that mine, they were splitting those blocks of coal, that is what is known as retreat mining.

ROBERTS: We heard about the safety violations, more than 300 since January of 2004, more than 100 significant. You've inspected those mines. What are they like?

O'DELL: I was a field rep in Ohio and frequently visited the mine he had in Ohio when I was a field rep. Those mines had problems just like some of the other mines. I can recall being brought in by the safety committee on roof conditions where they had to determine what size roof bolts to use to hold the top. They had machinery problems, brought me in to look at a miner they were concerned about as far as miners who operated that maybe being hurt. We worked through those problems and did what we needed to do to correct those problems. ROBERTS: Anything significant?

O'DELL: Typically, at that time, when I first came on staff in 1995, there were a lot of problems but we worked through them hand my management worked through to get those problems taken care of.

ROBERTS: Dennis O'Dell from the Mine Workers of America. Thank you for being with us this morning. Appreciate your expertise.

CHETRY: We all remember the ads, just say no, this is your brain on drugs, the campaigns to get kids to avoid using. Maybe we need more of that. Your "Quick Hits" now, showing an annual study by the Partnership for a Drug-free America says parents are spending less time talking to their kids about drugs. Last year, just 49 percent of parents with kids in grades 7 through 12 reported frequent conversations about drug and alcohol abuse, and down from 55 percent in 2005.

A mother charged with giving cocaine and pot to her 3-year-old son. Police in Texas say someone gave them a tip in early June and they took the kid away. Then, the mom showed up in court last week and witnesses say she was high.

Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, road rage outrage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I guess that would.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had somebody throw a socket at me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We had to close the road down because of road rage.

CHETRY: We take you to a stretch of highway where some angry commuters actually attacked construction crews. It became so bad the state shut down the highway, a case of extreme road rage, next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: This just in to CNN. You can take a look. Got some heavy rain in New York City, as people try to make their way into work. Bring your umbrella, if you're headed to the big apple. Some streets in Manhattan are starting to flood, not that particular one. That's at the corner of CNN.

Within the last couple of hours, we've seen heavy rain and thunderstorms expected to last for a while. Bob Marciano will be with us in a couple minutes. Oppressive heat in the south, heat warnings all across the eastern part of the country. We'll let you know what you need to stay safe.

Scientists have said they discovered the universe's largest known planet. Time for your "Quick Hits" now. The giant ball of hydrogen, 20 times the size of earth, orbits the star Hercules, which is some 1,400 light-years away.

Beaches were closed a record number of days last year, due to contamination in the water. Swimming in contaminated water can cause stomachaches and skin rashes. A lot of that is due to old infrastructure sewage leaking into the water.

CHETRY: That's pleasant.

A construction zone that never seems to go away. We all felt that road rage creep up. On one stretch of California highway has reached a fever pitch, drivers taking it out on the road construction crew.

AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence in San Bernardino County this morning with details.

What's going on out there, Chris?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Chaos, Kiran, in a word. So many people were getting killed in car crashes. They started calling this highway blood alley. Officials knew drivers could be a danger to each other. Nobody expected them to become such a menace to construction crews working here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE (voice-over): You are rushing to work or back home from the office and there it is. Construction. blocking your way. holding you up. Some commuters are so angry. They're attacking the construction crews.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I actually had somebody throw a socket at me and actually hit my car.

LAWRENCE: You think that's bad, one worker was pelted with a burrito. This woman was shot with a BB gun.

MICHELLE HOKWITH (ph), CONSTRUCTION FLAGGER: I have no idea what's wrong with people. I have no idea. There's nothing I did to aggravate it.

LAWRENCE: Just her job. Michelle Hokwith (ph) is a flagger, directing traffic along a California highway partially closed for repairs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got a couple cars there waiting.

LAWRENCE: Highway 138 connects two areas outside Los Angeles with where the population has exploded, so have some drivers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been called names I never even knew existed.

LAWRENCE: This highway had nearly 3,000 collisions in the years leading up to construction. The project was designed to make it safer. It didn't account for road rage. JEFF PEREZ, CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL: A gentleman came up to the closer and disobeyed the flagman at the entrance, and ended up running over one of the workers on scene.

LAWRENCE: It got so bad, state officials said, forget it. No more open lane, no more escorts through construction.

HOKWITH (ph): They want to get through real bad so we had to close the road down just because of the road rage.

LAWRENCE: So now commuters have to drive another half hour around the construction.

WAYNE MCKORKINDALE, MOTORIST: It totally sucks right now. I have to go a long detour, I guess.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: Doesn't that sound even more frustrating than the hassle the commuters initially had to put up with? Anyway, there have been no incidents around the highway since Caltran (ph) shut it down and they say they hope to finish it next month, a few weeks ahead of schedule -- Kiran?

CHETRY: That is unbelievable. Chris, thanks for bringing us that story.

ROBERTS: Here's a piece of interesting information. The road crews inspecting the bridge in Mississippi said they were in Minneapolis said they were the victims of road rage whale they were trying to do their job.

CHETRY: That's right. Slow down traffic on a very busy through- way.

ROBERTS: And happening all across the country.

We promised it to you, a safari smack-down. Amazing video capturing animals in a desperate battle for survival.

CHETRY: Even though you've seen a battle for survival, you've never seen an outcome like this. Let's take a look. This was from a tourist who filmed it on safari at Krueger National Park. This has been called the battle of Krueger and gotten close to eight million hits on YouTube.

There you see the lioness grab that baby buffalo, pull it into the water.

ROBERTS: As they try to pull it from the water, along comes a crocodile who says, no, that's mine and there's a tug-of-war between the lion and crocodile

CHETRY: The herd comes back and surrounds the pride. You see the buffalo literally goring the lioness. The lions retreat still gripping the baby water buffalo and run away. And finally drove them away. There is no way this baby survived. You'll see in a second, the baby water buffalo is OK.

ROBERTS: That's amazing. I've seen videos where the babies have been well chewed on by the lions and still survived. But there's a case...

CHETRY: Wait. We didn't show the baby water buffalo getting back up. You have to really see it. We don't have it.

ROBERTS: It's interesting the baby's cries brought the herd back. Typically the herd just goes away.

CHETRY: Called survival of the fittest.

ROBERTS: Mama fighting back.

CHETRY: Here, the water buffalo. The fittest. One of the guys who does a lot of these safaris. He said he went back to the area to see whether this baby water buffalo survived and he saw no carcass and no vultures moving in. He believes in his heart this baby water buffalo cheated not only the lions but the crocodile.

ROBERTS: Water buffalo, one, lions, none.

CHETRY: Amazing. We're going to look at the severe weather that's going on in Atlanta, but really concentrated in New York. We'll have much more on that. Rob Marciano is following with extreme weather radar, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: This just in, crossing the wires just a couple moments ago, a tornado warning now in effect. We told you about the severe weather in the New York area, Kings County as well as Brooklyn and Staten Island on the southeast part of the boroughs.

We head over to Rob Marciano following the latest, the tornado warning for those areas coming in a couple seconds ago.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: This is our radar indicated tornado. As of right now, there's nothing reported on the ground. What the national weather service does when they see a twist in the atmosphere, via the Doppler radar, they put out the warnings and have saved lives because of this.

A lot of red on the map there. Hard to tell where exactly the tornado is by just looking at that. Let me tell you what the higher resolution on the other end of the Doppler scope say, Bay Bridge, Flat Bush, Crown Heights, all areas under the gun for seeing the possibility of a tornado roll through that area. Even if we don't get a tornado out of this, John, certainly as you experience, outside your studios in New York, heavy weather rolling through the eastern -- western part of Long Island now. Looks like it will hold together a good half hour or so, warning in effect until 7:00 a.m. -- John?

ROBERTS: And if something else develops, we'll get you on the air. With an Iraq progress report expected to come out in five weeks time, two Senators decided to put their august recess aside and head to Baghdad to see what's happening for themselves. What did they find?

Joining us Dick Durbin from Illinois and Bob Casey from Pennsylvania.

Senator Casey, let's start with you since this is your first trip to Baghdad, what were you expecting and what did you find?

SEN. BOB CASEY, (D), PENNSYLVANIA: The expectation I had was what we see on the news. When you see the battlefield Iraq is. in particular, what I noticed was evidently, as soon as we arrived here, the great dedication of our troops, tremendous young men and women from across the country, who have done great work already, I think it's time that the president sit down with the Congress and work on a new direction for Iraq. We haven't seen that yet from the administration.

ROBERTS: Certainly. no one is questioning the dedication of the troops. What they are questioning is whether or not the troops are making any progress.

Senator Durbin, the Brookings administration went over there and said there is progress and they should stay on the ground at least until the beginning of 2008. Did you see any of the progress they were talking about?

DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: There were two important parts of this story, the military type as Senator Casey said the men and women were doing their best and making real progress. We found that today as we went to a forward base. The fifth year of the war, it's the first time we're putting troops on the ground to intercept al Qaeda. There's another side to this story the Brookings institution shouldn't miss. As we are seeing military progress, any political scene is discouraging. We are seeing the al Maliki government once branded the government of unity coming apart. We are seeing Sunnis and others leaving and not becoming the stability of this country.

ROBERTS: Let me back up there. You said you did see military progress?

DURBIN: What we find is that the surge has troops going into areas, where for 4 1/2 years we have not seen our military in action. Naturally, they are routing out the al Qaeda in those areas. That's a good thing but there is no evidence of the government of Iraq in these areas. There are no Iraqi policemen, no Iraqi soldiers, these are Americans .

ROBERTS: I understand all of that. Everybody in the Democratic Party is saying the surge has failed.

Senator Casey, do you agree with your colleague there are some signs of military progress here? CASEY: Sure, there are, John. We have said in the beginning, our troops are doing their job. The problem is the president of the United States continues to insist on stay the course policy, no change in direction, no sense the American people can determine there's a light at the end of the tunnel. That's why I think there's a bipartisan agreement right now to change the course. I think the president should listen to the will of the American people

ROBERTS: Senator Casey, you supported this bill to bring troops home. Have you seen anything to change your mind on that while you're there?

CASEY: No. I supported it and I voted initially, way back in the beginning of the year, against the surge. I think they're the right votes and continue to be the right votes. we have to make sure that the diplomacy and the political work done in Washington, as well as in Baghdad, what we're seeing now is the Iraqi government officials have left, we're seeing Sunni representatives have walked out and are boycotting. So the political work in Baghdad and Washington has to match the courage and the dedication of our troops. We haven't seen that yet.

ROBERTS: No question, there's some political problems there. Enormous political problems, not the least of which parliament is on vacation for a month.

Senator Durbin and Bob Casey, thanks very much. Good to see you this morning.

CHETRY: Talk about thinking on your feet, a store clerk takes advantage of a not so bright thief, all caught on tape. You won't want to miss this coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Shot from the top of the Time Warner Center here in downtown New York. A look at some of the severe weather blowing through. Incredible thunderstorms a little while ago. Now, you see the weird looking clouds that could pretend the formation of a tornado. In fact, that and the tornado warning is in effect until 7:15 a.m. eastern this morning for southern queen's county in southeastern New York, Southwestern Nassau County and eastern Kings County, including JFK Airport.

If you're traveling out of New York this morning, you're just tuning in, this is obviously going to affect your travel plans, JFK, with a tornado warning and not sure but possible a ground stop there. La Guardia, somebody walks in with a wet hankie and they close that down. Newark the same thing. Check with your airlines to see what's going on. We'll try to get you the latest here from CNN.

CHETRY: One step up from a tornado watch. When they say a warning, that means there's a strong rotation detected in the storm or a tornado is already spotted on the ground or expected to develop shortly. If you're in those areas, Jamaica, cedar wood, they say it will pass by in two minutes. ROBERTS: It's near Jamaica, a minute and a half. Kennedy Airport 7:05. Cedar Airport, 7:10. Do use precautions if you're living in that area. If you hear a very, very loud noise, try to get in your basement or somewhere where there's a lot of support and jump in the bathtub. We'll keep a watch on this for you. Rob Marciano is monitoring it in Atlanta as well. We'll have the latest.

Amazing video in a convenience store in New York fighting back against not the brightest of thieves. Check this out. A guy comes into the store with a shotgun, points it at the clerk. While he's grabbing the money, puts the gun down in the corner. Big mistake. The clerk, who might be the more experienced of the two, grabs the gun, points it back at the guy, who says, that didn't go the way it was supposed to go, and takes off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAFIZ ALAM, STORE CLERK: It's more important he grabs the money. Pretty much see that. I was thinking maybe I could grab this way quick. That's why I grabbed the gun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: There's actually more. The guy came back into the store for the gun, jumps the counter. The two struggle, one shot fired. The thief takes off again without his gun. But it was long enough of a delay that someone got the license plate on his get-away car. The police tracked him down. Arrested him. It was the third time that clerk had been held up. He was at the end of his rope there.

CHETRY: He got lucky because they don't always end well.

Right at the top of the hour now and Ali Velshi is "Minding your Business" and we're getting an early Christmas gift, if you will, when it comes to the price of gas.

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