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American Morning
Greece Fires; Extreme Weather; Dubai Port Fire; Housing Prices; Al Qaeda Recruits; Fiery Balloon Crash
Aired August 27, 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: Breaking news. Fire at one of the world's busiest oil ports.
Plus, Hulk Hogan's son in a high speed crash. What went wrong.
And you've seen the amazing pictures. This morning, survivors of a fire in the sky speak out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIANA RUTLEDGE, BALLOON FIRE SURVIVOR: As I was leaving the balloon, I put my arms around the woman next to me and I took her with me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Her dramatic escape, in her own words, live on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And good morning to you. Thanks very much for joining us. It is Monday, the 27th of August. I'm John Roberts.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Kiran Chetry is off today.
ROBERTS: Welcome. It's good to see you again. It's been a long since we've had . . .
COLLINS: Thank you. Welcome back from vaca.
ROBERTS: Thank you. Appreciate it.
COLLINS: You were gone for like months.
ROBERTS: Well, no. It only felt like that at the time. Now it feels like I haven't been gone for a day.
It is being called and unprecedented disaster. One fire department spokesman in Greece says, wildfires are now burning in more than half of the country. Police are now offering $1 million for information on the arsonists involved in some of the fires, who may be responsible for killing dozens of people. Crews there say that new fires are starting faster than they can put out the old ones. But they also say they have saved the ancient site of the first Olympics that dates all the way back to 776 B.C. Our Frederik Pleitgen is live for us in Christina (ph), Greece, and joins us now.
Frederick, how's it looking? Because this is not -- we've got to remember, that this is not one fire. That this is dozens of fire that are burning in Greece.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, John.
These are dozens of fires. Officials here said well over 100 fires are still burning here all over Greece. And they say that just in the past 24 hours, 89 new fires have broken out. One of the largest ones is right behind me in the hills around Christina. And we have seen the helicopters here trying to put out the fires. There's also one plane flying around, trying to put those fires out.
The big question here right now, John, is, what are the winds here going to do. As you know, these winds, very strong winds, they just fuel these fires further on. Make them very fast. Make them very dangerous. And many people who have died in the fires here died because they were trying to escape and the flames were simply quicker than them.
Now last night I actually got to go to that ancient archaeological site in Olympia. Of course, that's the place where the first ancient Olympic games happened. And really you could just see that all around that place there were just massive fires everywhere. And I could see the earth charred right all the way to the foot of that site. And really the officials there were telling us that it was very close to that site getting destroyed.
John.
ROBERTS: You know, Frederik, we have seen in California that after years and years and years of people not clearing brush away, there's a tremendous amount of fuel for these fires. Is that a similar situation there in Greece? We saw a man who was striking away at a fire there with a branch. And it looked like there was a tremendous amount of undergrowth there along the hillsides.
PLEITGEN: Well, certainly there is a lot of brush here when you look into the forest. But when you also look on the ground in many places that you go to, there is a lot of this brush still there. Another big problem in this country is, is that, first of all, it's obviously very, very dry here. The temperatures are well in the 100s. And also the wind has been a very big problem in the past couple of days. And also, you have a lot of these pine forests. And those, when they get dry and when it gets hot, I mean, they just burn so quickly and so extensively and that really is a major problem here.
John.
ROBERTS: Frederik Pleitgen for us this morning from Christina in Greece. Fred, thanks. We'll get back to you throughout the morning.
And now Greece is dealing with two disasters. Just hours ago, an earthquake struck as those fires continue to burn. The U.S. Geological Survey says a 4.7 magnitude quake hit the western Greek island of Kefalonia. So far there are no reports of any major injuries or damage there, though. But that island is also one of the latest victims of the forest fires that have been plaguing that nation since Friday.
Heidi.
COLLINS: A wildfire burning in central Idaho has more than 1,000 families out of their homes now this morning. Near the Sun Valley Ski Resort, the winds are just to strong to fly tankers over the fire, so the resort is using its snow making equipment to help fight it.
And in Ohio, you can see all across the Midwest too, the flood waters are finally receding. What a relief for these folks. Ohio's governor says, though, the level of devastation just can't be exaggerated. FEMA is now assessing the damage and a federal state of emergency could be declared today.
Pretty awesome pictures now. Look at this one. On top of all of the flooding, several tornadoes touched down near Columbus, Ohio, over the weekend. Trees are down. Large cranes were brought in to move them out. The power is still out in some parts. Thankfully, though, no one was hurt.
ROBERTS: Coming up to four minutes after the hour. Other headlines new this morning.
The son of pro-wrestler Hulk Hogan is in serious condition this morning after a crash in Clear Water, Florida. Firefighters had to extricate 17-year-old Nick Bollea and another passenger from Bollea's Toyota Celica Supra last night. Hogan arrived on the scene to see his son get freed. Police say the car was speeding when it hit the median, flipped over and then slammed into a Palm Tree. Bollea is in serious condition this morning. His passenger is in critical condition.
Actor Owen Wilson is reportedly in the hospital today. TMZ and other entertainment sites are reporting that Wilson was taken to the hospital Sunday at round noon. Santa Monica police would only say that they responded to a 911 call and that the person that they responded to was being treated.
Michael Vick goes to court today. He's expected to plead guilty in the federal dogfighting case against him. Vick will appear in court in Richmond, Virginia, this morning. Last week he agreed to a plea deal in which he admitted to funding a dogfighting business that included victimizing and killing of pit bulls. The judge will schedule a sentence for November or December. Vick's team, the Atlanta Falcons, will open their home season tonight without him. The NFL has suspended Vick indefinitely.
The self-described pedophile who first fled Washington state for Los Angeles now says he's going to leave California. We've been following the case of Jack McClellan and his Web site where he put up pictures of young girls and talked about his fascination with them. A judge in California has now extended a temporary restraining order which bars McClellan from coming within 30 feet of a school or playground. McClellan says that it's so extreme he's going to have to leave the state.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK MCCLELLAN, SELF-DESCRIBED PEDOPHILE: So much just based on my thoughts and speech, given that I haven't done anything illegal across the line in terms of anything sexual to kids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So where does McClellan go now? We're going to talk with the man who filed the original temporary restraining order and hand delivered it to McClellan. That's going to be coming up at 7:30 Eastern here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Heidi. COLLINS: The search for six trapped miners will go on in Utah. Crews are now planning to drill a seventh hole into the Crandall Canyon Mine. They will also lower a camera, similar to the one used in the wreckage of the World Trade Center, into a previously dug hole. Mine owner Bob Murray had says the sixth hole would be the last. He still says he will never mine there again if the effort fails.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB MURRAY, PRESIDENT/CEO, MURRAY ENERGY CORP.: The day after I physically help pull those dead and live men out on the rescue effort, I said, that mountain's alive. I'm closing it. That's an evil mountain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Murray also said he will lay off about 170 workers and shut down another mine over safety concerns.
Meanwhile, Republican Senator John Warner says he could vote with the Democrats on a timetable for troop withdrawals from Iraq. Warner says that's not a threat, it's an option. He wants President Bush to make the call on troop withdrawals. The report on Iraq's progress is due in just about two weeks from now. And Warner has a blunt assessment of what's going right and what's going wrong.
SEN. JOHN WARNER, (R) ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Our troops have performed magnificently under brilliant leadership and have done precisely as the president asked. They have made measurable gains in bringing about a degree of stability in Baghdad and the environs. But the government, under the leadership of Maliki and other Iraqi leaders have totally failed to put the other part of that partnership in place, namely deliver greater security.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki clearly resents the criticism he's getting from U.S. politicians saying, "there are American officials who consider Iraq as if it were one of their villages."
Well, gas prices again heading down. The national average is now about $2.75 a gallon. That's actually down from $2.91 a month ago and $2.87 at this time last year. ROBERTS: Time now to check in with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents for other stories new that we're following this morning. Our Rob Marciano is tracking extreme weather live from flooded out Des Plaines, Illinois, and he joins us now.
How's it looking out there, Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a lot drier today than it was over the weekend and last week. And, John, good morning to you.
Here in Des Plaines, Illinois, a northwestern suburb of Chicago, a tremendous amount of rain last week that led the river that winds through this neighborhood to come up and over its banks. It crested on Saturday at nine feet. Since then, thanks to some dry weather yesterday, it has been slowly receding.
So the cleanup efforts begin. Now folks getting back into their homes to clean up some of the water damage of homes that did get flooded and move sandbags now away from those areas.
This is not the only area that saw tremendous amount of rain and flooding. We talked about Ohio earlier in the broadcast. Wisconsin. Nine spots in Wisconsin set 24-hour rainfall records late last week. Madison, Wisconsin, August, so far, the wettest calendar month on record for that city.
Yesterday, President Bush declared five counties in Wisconsin a federal disaster area to free up some money for that area. And now this morning, a quick check on the radar. There is a batch of thunderstorms with heavy rain moving through Rochester, Minnesota, towards LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and could very well be making its way towards Madison also.
Here, today, it should be a dry day. But there is a little bit more rain in the forecast for this area as we head towards the rest of the week.
John, back to you.
ROBERTS: Rob, we have seen this cycle repeated all across the Midwest and the deep south throughout this summer. When's it expected to break?
MARCIANO: Well, it looks like we have seen a shift in the weather pattern as a whole. So that's done a couple of things. It's stopped the rain, at least temporarily where, where the flooded areas have seen the worst. And down across the southeast, where the heat has been just tremendous, they are seeing some beneficial rains, which are alleviating some of the drought and also cooling them off just a little bit.
So hopefully this change in the weather pattern will stick and we won't go back to that weather pattern that brought all the heat and other spots and rain here. Hopefully we won't shift back to that weather pattern. We'll have to wait and see how that pans out.
John.
ROBERTS: All right. Rob Marciano for us in Des Plaines this morning. Rob, thanks very much.
We told you about this at the top of the show. Breaking news in Dubai this morning at the world's largest man-made port. CNN's Monita Rajpal is following this from our world update desk in London.
Good morning, Monita.
MONITA RAJPAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, John.
Several blast explosions ripped through a chemical storage depot housed in the United Arab Emirates second largest oil refinery in Dubai. The firefighters are still at the scene trying to battle the blaze. Now fire broke out in the early hours of Monday morning local time.
Fortunately, at this point, there are no injuries to report. But smoke could be seen from as far away from Dubai's main highway as commuters went in to work. And clouds of thick, black smoke could be seen blanketing parts of the city.
Now, no word yet on exactly what caused this explosion. What is known is that this chemical storage depot stored some 25,000 barrels of chemical combustible material and bags of chemical powder. Now the good news in that, if there is good news in addition to the fact that there were no injuries, is that the explosion took place at the entrance to this port, opposed to the where their main production facilities take place right now.
Again, still, the investigation is pending to determine the exact cause of this blast. To put it in perspective in terms of how big this port is, this is the largest man- made port in the world, as you were saying. But it is so big that the U.S. Navy also regularly stops at this port. But according to the U.S. Navy spokesman in Bahrain, no U.S. aircraft carriers were scheduled to stop at this port today.
John.
ROBERTS: Our Monita Rajpal for us this morning outside our bureau in London. Monita, thanks. We'll check back with you a little bit later on.
And we're anticipating new numbers this week on home prices nationwide. Our Stephanie Elam, in for Ali Velshi today, with that.
Good morning, Stephanie.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John.
Well, we are looking at median prices for homes an they are expected to drop. This will be the first drop in at least 30 years. So, obviously, that's noteworthy, especially since many people though that we would never actually see a drop here. They're saying the softening could affect us through 2008 and 2009 and then eventually go ahead to affect consumer spending, as well as the overall economy as well.
Part of the reason we're seeing this is that the real estate meccas of California and the Northeast are no longer the only places being affected by this decline. So it seems to be a little bit more pervasive across the country, although I'm sure a lot of people are not to surprised to hear that.
John.
ROBERTS: Although it doesn't seem to be affecting things here in New York City.
ELAM: We always get out of it. Always.
ROBERTS: Yes, never us. Stephanie, thanks very much. We'll see you back in about a half an hours time.
Heidi.
COLLINS: Now to our terror watch and a new warning from the Department of Homeland Security. It appears al Qaeda may be targeting minorities as possible recruits for terrorism. CNN's Kelli Arena is in our Washington bureau this morning.
Good morning to you, Kelli.
KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. It's good to see you. Now this new advisory for law enforcement is a bit difference from the others that we've seen. It warns that some recent al Qaeda messages seem to be aimed at minorities in the United States, but particularly at African-American Muslims. Now according to this notices, "al Qaeda propaganda targeting U.S. African-Americans appears intended to convince them to adopt violence in the face of perceived injustice."
It has some examples. One al Qaeda message quoted ten statements that we attributed to Malcolm X, referring to him as a martyr. Another implored African- American who (ph) not to fight for the U.S. military in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Now the Department of Homeland Secretary says it has no information that this approach is working for al Qaeda, but it says that it could influence like a lone wolf or a small group who may be inclined to try to cause some harm. And this advisory does follow a report by the Pugh Research Center and that suggested that African-Americans are the most disillusioned segment of the U.S. Muslim population. And that study also showed that their opinions towards al Qaeda were less hostile than other groups. And the bottom line here, DHS rejects that this is an area that needs some more in-depth analysis.
Heidi.
COLLINS: Boy, it sure sounds like it.
Have you had a chance to speak to anyone in the African-American community about it? And, if so, what's the response been like?
ARENA: You know, I did. I spoke to a variety of African- American scholars, religious leaders, academics. Now they all said, and it was a pretty, you know, majority opinion here, that last year the U.S. historically has not responded to messages from foreigners. But instead they respond to leaders who rise up from their own ranks.
Now, obviously, they also want to point out that there's no reason to believe that African-Americans are going to respond differently to terrorists than any other Americans. So they have some real problems. But again, an issue to explore.
COLLINS: Yes, no question about that. All right, Kelli Arena for us this morning. Thanks, Kelli.
ARENA: You're welcome.
ROBERTS: Quarantined behind bars. A teenager is thrown in jail after he tests positive for a potentially deadly disease and then tries to make a run for the border. His story is coming up.
And falling from a fire ball in the sky. A woman makes a terrifying leap from a burning hot air balloon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIANA RUTLEDGE, BALLOON FIRE SURVIVOR: It skyrocketed straight up. And I thought, OK, it's do or die. So I got my legs over the balloon. And as I was leaving the balloon, I put my arms around the woman next to me and I took her with me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The horror captured in her voice and the incredible pictures as it happened. A survivor joins us live from her hospital bed next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: An incredible view from space tops the best shots of the morning. This is what those huge and deadly wildfires now burning in Greece look like from high above. At least 51 people have been killed, but firefighters say the area around ancient Olympia is now out of danger.
Get ready for a celestial show. The second total lunar eclipse this year. The earth's shadow will creep across the moon beginning early tomorrow, turning it shades of orange and red before blocking it out completely.
And police are investigating a break-in at the Hartford office of Senator Christopher Dodd. No one is exactly sure what was taken. Dodd, a Democrat, is running for president.
Heidi.
COLLINS: "Quick Hits" now.
China is hitting back at Mattel saying designers and importers should share the blame of more than a million recalled toys. A government official said he thought the backlash hitting Chinese goods is politically motivated and unfair, but also called for tougher regulations.
O.J. Simpson's book, "If I Did It," will not be on stores shelves at Barnes & Noble despite being a hot seller online. It's in Barnes & Noble's top 50 online. The book comes out in the fall. Borders says it will stock it but won't promote it.
You might soon be able to feel a little better about yourself for having a Dunkin' donut. And I know you've been waiting for that. A chain says it's working to cut nearly all trans fats. We still need to get the gluten out. The trans fat's gone. So that's a good first step.
ROBERTS: Can you imagine? Can you imagine, a donut that might be not so bad. Not going to say good for you, but not so bad.
COLLINS: No.
And get out your Powerball tickets. We've already checked here. We're not winning. There's one lucky winner out there making off with more than $300 million. That's before taxes, of course. Find out where the ticket was sold ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-four minutes after the hour.
Going green in the desert tops our "Quick Hits." Protecting the environment will be the theme of this year's Burning Man Festival outside of Reno, Nevada. That festival starts today. Forty-five thousand people are expected to show up for the annual Labor Day display of self expression. The main event every year comes when people burn a 40 foot tall figure, known as "the man."
Sunbathing on billions of tiny pieces of shattered grass. Sounds painful, but leaders from Broward County say it's the key to battling beach erosion in south Florida. The county could become the first in the nation to combine recycled glass with beach sand reserves. And they say you'll never notice and sand is the main ingredient in glass anyways.
And "Superbad" is super hot at the box office. The sleazy teen tale, repeated at number one, pulling in another $18 million over the weekend. Those three geeky guys also helped give Hollywood its first $4 billion summer ever.
COLLINS: It was literally a do or die decision for our next guest. She was forced to jump from a flying inferno when a hot air balloon caught fire. The horror was all caught on tape. It was carrying 12 people when it went up in flames in British, Columbia. Witnesses say relatives watched from the ground as people jumped, some with their clothes on fire. Police say a mother and daughter were killed. Diana Rutledge was one of the passengers who made the leap. Joining us now on the phone from her hospital bed in British Columbia is Diana Rutledge.
Diana, how are you feeling this morning?
DIANA RUTLEDGE, BALLOON FIRE SURVIVOR: Well, about as good as I can be expected.
COLLINS: Sure. Understandable. Tell us a little bit about what happened. Obviously you learned something was terribly, terribly wrong after you went up in the balloon.
RUTLEDGE: Yes. Immediately after the balloon started, I had never been in a balloon before, and I knew that there was going to be a certain amount of heat. But all of a sudden fire came -- a shot of fire came right past my face. And I thought, well, this doesn't seem right. And then another shot of fire came from behind my head, past my face and the girl I was with, my friend, started screaming, "Diana, we're on fire. We're on fire."
COLLINS: Diana, where was the pilot at this point?
RUTLEDGE: He was right -- he's in the center of the basket. And we were off to one side of the basket. The basket is very tight. It's worse than a sardine can. Worse than a sardine can.
COLLINS: Yes, I've never been in a balloon where there's 12 people. It sounds like a lot.
RUTLEDGE: It is really a lot. And the pilot was right in the center. He ended up jumping off from what I saw (ph).
COLLINS: Was he telling you to jump. I mean how did you actually make that decision? You looked down below you, which I understand you're about three or four stories high in the air.
RUTLEDGE: Right.
COLLINS: How did you finally decide that, yes, I have to jump, I've got to get out?
RUTLEDGE: Well, at the beginning, I saw the balloon was about 20 feet off the ground. And I kept saying, Leann (ph), come on, let's get off of this balloon. And I was trying to grab my friend, Leann, to get her off the balloon. She was behind me. So it was very tight and I couldn't get her. And she was saying, jump, Diana.
So then I looked. And because some people had jumped off the balloon, the balloon shot straight up in the air because of the lack of weight. And we were at oh, 50, 60 feet. And I looked down and I thought, it's do or die. You'd better get off this balloon or you're going to die. So I climbed to the top of the balloon and I got ready to jump off. And as I did, I put my arm under this woman next to me, threw my arms under her armpit and said, you're coming with me. And I grabbed her like a rag doll and threw her with me over and then I released her about 10 feet from the ground. She got battered up pretty good.
COLLINS: Well, Diana, you may have helped save someone else's life. We're so glad that you survived this. I know that two people were killed in all of it and you were very shaken up. Your injuries include cracked ribs, crushed heels. You're having some surgery today on those and we know it's going to take about six months or so for you to get back to walking. So we appreciate you sharing your story and certainly wish you the very best of luck.
Diana Rutledge, thank you.
ROBERTS: Oh. And she was saying to you just as you were checking in with her this morning, that she was going to be in that hospital bed for at least six months. That her feet weren't going to touch the ground for that long.
COLLINS: Crushed heels. That's a very, obviously, severe injury. It takes a long, long time to even put some weight on them at all.
ROBERTS: Unbelievable that she is alive today.
COLLINS: Yes.
ROBERTS: And imagine the presence of mind and the courage to be able to leap from that balloon when it was that high before things really got totally out of control.
COLLINS: I know.
ROBERTS: Wow.
Hey, here's a look at a story coming up in our next half hour that you just can't miss. You know, we've seen dash cams before.
COLLINS: Yes.
ROBERTS: But, of course, you know, in England, there aren't a lot of policemen who drive cars. They walk the streets. The bobbies. So they're putting cameras on the bobbies.
COLLINS: The bobbie, the bobbie cam.
ROBERTS: There it is on the helmet. That helmet's big enough that you could probably put the VCR and a big screen TV on too. For now it's just the camera. Our Paula Newton is going to have not only the story but the bobbie cam. She's going to show it to us in person when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: A shot this morning of the sun is coming up on New York City. Right now, it's 69 degrees. It was a great night for sleeping if you had the windows open.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: And if you could sleep.
ROBERTS: Going up to 80 degrees today with lots and lots of sunshine. It looks like it's shaping up to be a terrific day here in New.
Good morning. Welcome back. Thanks for joining us on this "AMERICAN MORNING." It's Monday, August the 27th. I'm John Roberts.
COLLINS: I'm Heidi Collins, in for Kiran Chetry.
ROBERTS: Good morning.
COLLINS: Good morning.
ROBERTS: It's been a long time since we had you.
COLLINS: I know.
ROBERTS: This is a very special occasion for me.
We're following breaking news for you this morning. A fire burning at the largest man-made port. It's happening in Jebel Ali Port in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. No word yet on what caused the fire, but as of a couple of hours ago firefighters were still trying to put it out. So far, no injuries to report.
CNN has learned that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet tomorrow in Jerusalem. This is preliminary work for a meeting in the United States scheduled for this fall where Mideast leaders will talk about the creation of a Palestinian state.
And Iraqi leaders announced announcements this morning, agreements at least, on sharing oil revenue, allowing former Baath Party members to hold government jobs and the release of detainees. U.S. politicians are pressuring Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki to make progress. And he is responding to calls to remove him by Democratic Senators Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NOURI AL MALIKI, PRIME MINISTER OF IRAQ (through translation: I disagree with Hillary, but say that Hillary and Carl have not gone through differences and political problems in their political life to the depth of that which is happening in Iraq. That's why when they make their judgments, they do so without knowledge of what national interest requires. That's why I excuse them. It is true the national reconciliation is slow but within the right path. Compared with others, it could be regarded as quick.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: A spokesman for Iraq's largest city block says this morning's agreements are not enough to get them to rejoin the government.
COLLINS: Coming up on the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, when it struck the Gulf Coast, some of the Democrats running for president are in New Orleans today.
Barack Obama said he would work from the top, down to speed up the recovery by cutting red tape and by helping blue collar workers in the devastated city.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We need to make sure that the hardest hit areas get attention they need and that the jobs of rebuilding go to the folks who have been displaced. You don't need to ship folks in to rebuild here in New Orleans. A lot of folks need work right here. We can train them. Take those young men on the street corners and give them a job, give them a chance, give them an opportunity. That's how we rebuild.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: President Bush is also scheduled to visit New Orleans. That will happen on Wednesday.
A teen is in jail this morning for refusing tuberculosis treatment. Health officials in Gwinnett County, Georgia, say he tested positive for an active contagious form of TB. Then he tried to leave and threatened to carry the disease to another country. The health department says 17-year-old Francisco Santos lives in Mexico with at least one parent and several siblings. He is now the only inmate held by the county in a special isolation cell. This comes just months after an Atlanta lawyer, Andrew Speaker, sparked an international scare after he boarded a trans-Atlantic flight while infected with TB.
Some one or some group near Richmond, Indiana, is 300 million bucks richer this morning. More than $314 million, to be exact. The payout from this weekend's Powerball drawing. All we know so far is the ticket was sold at this gas station. The prize hasn't been this big since last year when co-workers at a ConAgra Foods plant, they all went together and bought a ticket. Those in Nebraska split that record $365 million.
ROBERTS: Imagine how you would be feeling this morning.
Thirty-five after the hour. Rob Marciano is checking on extreme weather this morning. He's in Des Plaines this morning.
How is it looking out there, Rob, because they had an awful lot of water there this weekend?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: They did. It's looking much better than two days ago. The water has receded along the Des Plaines River. It should be another dry day here, can't say that for the northern part of the Midwest. In this scenario, where they were staging, filling up sandbags, and today the cleanup effort begins. People are moving the sandbags now away from their homes. Behind me there is a boat that was used as a neighborhood ferry. But the good news is that those flood waters have receded.
Just north of us though, in parts of Wisconsin, federal disaster areas have been declared in five counties there. $48 million of flood damage has been estimated in Wisconsin alone. We do have rainfall moving through that area, to the east of Rochester, Minnesota, moving over the border towards Lacrosse. Heavy thunderstorms, none severe but potentially more rain with this system. The rivers that flowed this way begin up there. We could have more water issues. Right now, nothing too alarming.
Good news on the weather front for water. Across the southeast, the hot weather, at least temporarily, has broke. And we could see beneficial rainfall. Hopefully, Heidi, this weather pattern that we've been stuck in, this extreme heat across the southeastern third of the country and extreme flooding across the upper Midwest, at least temporarily, that weather pattern has shifted temporarily. Let's hope it holds. Back up to you.
COLLINS: I hope so, Rob. It has been a long, long time, it feels like. Thanks so much.
If you start your morning with a Dunkin Donut, you will soon be able to feel a little bit better about it. The chain says it will all but eliminate transfats by the middle of October. They will use an alternative oil, a blend of palm and soybean and other oils. Fifty menu items have all been reworked. Fifty menu items? Do they have 50 different things? And, yes, that does includes donuts.
ROBERTS: Not quite a donut that's good for you, but a donut that's less bad for you. Anything is an improvement.
A recruiting success for the Army makes you "Quick Hits" now. Ninety percent of new recruits are opting for the quick ship initiative, a bonus that pays $20,000 if they report for basic training by the end of September. That's more than a year's pay for many of those new recruits. Investigating a mass killing inside a Texas home. Police outside Austin say they were checking on a house and found inside four bodies. They've opened up a murder investigation. They have not said how they died or who the victims were.
And Big Brother takes another big step in England. Police there will soon be wearing video cameras mounted on their heads. Just like the dashboard camera that we have in the United States, but on their helmet. We're going to show you how it all works in a live report.
Plus, it's a day of reckoning for Michael Vick, pleading guilty to federal dog fighting charges, suspended from pro football indefinitely. Is Vick getting what he deserves or have other athletes accused of worse been treated differently? That's ahead on "AMERICAN MORNING."
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COLLINS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. Flugtag tops your "Quick Hits". What's that? It's Red Bull's insane flying competition. Participants make their own planes, in case there is any question about that. The first ever night flugtag was in Austin, Texas, over the weekend. The Austin set a North American attendance record for these things.
They're getting out of the line of the fire in Idaho. More than 1,000 people have been evacuated in the resort town of Ketchum. That's because a 35,000 acre wildfire is getting close. Firefighters are worried winds will whip the flames closer to the multi-million dollar homes there.
Evacuation orders have been lifted in parts of Wisconsin after a week of intense rain and flooding there. And the floodwaters are starting to recede in some places, but thousands of people are still without power across the lower half of the state.
ROBERTS: Coming up now to 42 minutes after the hour. It's a day of reckoning for Michael Vick. The NFL superstar will formally plead guilty today to dog fighting conspiracy charges.
Joining us now with some opinions on this much scrutinized case is the New York Daily News columnist, Errol Louis. He's got a bit of a unique perspective on all of this.
Good morning to you, Errol. What are your thoughts on all of this?
ERROL LOUIS, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: Good morning. I was really struck by all of the outrage, not just the public outrage, but the attention from prosecutors that went onto this one case. It's a horrific case for sure. But I started to think about all of the different cases involving domestic assault, drunk driving, or kinds of bad behavior against humans that have gone on with professional sports figures over the years. When you start to line it up, it doesn't get nearly the amount of attention, number one, and not nearly the amount of prosecutorial attention where you get a suspension for horrific attacks on people.
ROBERTS: Let me get this straight. You're not arguing with what's happening with Michael Vick. You're saying if this is happening with him, something should be happening with other cases?
LEWIS: Sure. When you see people lined up outside the courthouse to make sure he gets his justice, which I'm totally in favor of, I wish the same number people would be out in front when somebody is accused of beating a wife or rammed a car into somebody who's been harmed in a really bad way.
ROBERTS: In fact, in your article, you cite pretty egregious cases. A few we have edited out here.
Let's take a look at this. Michael Pittman from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, running back, four domestic arrests, rammed his Hummer into a car carrying his wife and infant son. Penalty, three game suspension. Lionel Gates, Buccaneers running back, charged with beating a pregnant woman. Penalty, anger management course. And Brett Myers, pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, arrested for allegedly dragging his wife by her hair down the street. Penalty, paid leave of absence.
Why do you think when it comes to animals, people are much more eager to mete out punishment than with these domestic cases?
LEWIS: I think what happens is the animal rights movement has been very organized and very determined. And I certainly heard from them late week after I wrote this article. They believe in protecting innocent animals and will go to any length to make that clear. They have letter-writing campaigns. I think thousands, if not millions, of e-mails were sent to the NFL when this first broke.
ROBERTS: Why do we hear so much more about animals than we do other human beings?
LEWIS: I think what happens is it's easier for people to justify. In a domestic violence case, a lot of people are not informed. They think that, well, the woman could just leave. They assume people can just walk out. I don't think they realize -- we report on this all the time -- woman after woman is found dead or badly hurt with an order of protection in her pocket. It's not a simple clear-cut case.
ROBERTS: Are you hopeful this will shine any kind of light on other abuses?
LEWIS: I tried to shine a light on it. I hope so. I think maybe when the next wife or girlfriend or innocent victim of a NFL or professional sports figure steps forward, maybe that person or their lawyer will wave the case of Michael Vick around and we will all come to our sense and try to be consistent with how we deal with these cases.
ROBERTS: Do you think his NFL career is over? LEWIS: I don't know. We will know later today when the sentencing is clear. It makes a difference whether he has a suspended sentence, at which point the NFL can impose its penalty and then maybe he will come back to sports pretty soon. Or if he spends 12 to 18 months in prison, as has been rumored, he'll lose a step or two. Even a professional athlete can't sit behind bars that long and still be as valuable. We'll see.
ROBERTS: America is the land of second chances. We'll see if it applies to Michael Vick. Errol Louis, thank you very much.
LOUIS: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Good to see you. Appreciate it.
Heidi?
COLLINS: The promise of some relief at the airports tops your "Quick Hits". The government is expected to award a $1 billion contract to build the next generation air-traffic control system. The system will rely on satellites instead of radar and should allow planes to fly closer together and take more direct routes. Hopefully, that will cut down on some of the delays. Unfortunately, we might not see the benefits until 2020.
Definitely relief in sight by Labor Day. Nearly 16 million people expected to take to the skies for the holidays. That's up nearly three percent since last year. That's has been the worst year on record for delays. In June, one out of every seven flights was delayed by 45 minutes or more.
ROBERTS: Coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING," the bobby cam. How a simple helmet camera is helping England increase convictions and thwart crime. An up-close look at the bobby cam is next on "AMERICAN MORNING."
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ROBERTS: Coming up at ten minutes before the top of the hour. A new weapon for Iran. Your "Quick Hits" now. Iran says it has developed a 2,000-pound laser-guided smart bomb. Iran's defense minister says it will use it on its enemies, quote, "when the time comes." The U.S., in the past, has warned that statements like these may be exaggerations on the part of Tehran.
A great wall between China and North Korea. A report out of North Korea says it has started building a fence on part of the 850- mile border with China. China has already made a similar move with a barbed wire and concrete barrier on its side.
Camilla, the wife of Britain's Prince Charles, is staying away from a memorial service 10 years after the death of Princess Diana. She says she doesn't want to distract from the purpose of the occasion, which is to focus on the life and service of Diana.
COLLINS: A new way to look at crime and officers fighting it. Police officers in the U.K. are testing out a new weapon they wear on their heads.
CNN's National Security Correspondent Paula Newton is live in Scotland Yard with the new helmet cam.
Paula, I see you have it in your hands. How does it work?
PAULA NEWTON, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I do. It's pretty interesting actually when you look at it, it's hard to say this is some kind of gimmick, but when you go out on the beat with it, it's quite effective. It's a lipstick camera attached to the traditional bobby helmet. This is as old as police work itself. Right now, they're going digital with it and it could revolutionize police work.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON (voice-over): This is what we call the bobby cam, from the drunken brawl that's broken up to all the arrests that follow.
UNIDENTIFIED BOBBIE: You're under arrest for fighting.
NEWTON: The police officers helmet camera is recording valuable evidence.
COLLIN PRICE, POLICE CONSTABLE: I can see you in the camera.
NEWTON: Police Constable Collin Price helps pilot the head camera project in Plymouth, England.
PRICE: There's a microphone fitted inside of this.
NEWTON: He's been amazed how the cameras have transformed his job.
(on camera): Less paperwork, more time on the beat?
PRICE: Definitely. It makes a big difference. We don't have to document as much.
NEWTON (voice-over): We walked the beat with Constable Price, to see how it all works.
PRICE: From where I'm standing, I think I can see someone who I know to be wanted.
NEWTON: Off he goes, all of it caught on camera.
PRICE: I want to check you on the system. I'm arresting you now on the grounds of that warrant.
NEWTON: Later, he reviews the arrest on a digital recorder that he will then hand in at the end of his shift so the video can be saved for court.
(on camera): While crime prevention is still a goal of this program, it's been very effective in gathering evidence that helps with prosecutions and convictions. (voice-over): It is this kind of compelling evidence, indisputable in most cases. that police say will lead to more convictions.
BOB SPENCER, DEVON AND CORNWALL POLICE: Absolutely, yes, which is great news, because it's brought to justice, victims being satisfied with justice. That's what we want.
PRICE: Both of you calm down. Go and stand over there while I find out what's going on.
SPENCER: If you say someone is violent and aggressive, well, you say they're violent and aggressive. Or you can see the video and you say, wow.
NEWTON: Police say the bobby cam is already busting crime. Violent crime down eight percent. Proof, they say, this is no gimmick.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Key to this is that the police will not become cameramen here. They adjust it at the beginning of an incident, try not to touch it again, go back to old tactic if it is not working.
Let's just give you an idea of how it works. It is a lipstick camera. If we split the screen, you'll see the video coming out right now. You'll see our cameraman, Darren. If I turn it around a little bit, you should see the Scotland Yard sign there, Heidi.
It is interesting because the video quality and audio quality is quite good. I've seen it work and seen them try and use some of the video. It really is amazing, especially since they now have judges and juries looking at this stuff in court, using it as real evidence.
COLLINS: You did say they take the video and they use for court. Paul, any privacy issues here? Have you heard concerns about that?
NEWTON: There are certainly privacy issues here and some people have raised those. If they're in a private home, they turn them off. The little recorder device can't be erased or altered in any way. Some privacy groups here have said that the police have done a good job at trying to protect those privacy issues.
One thing though, Heidi. In terms of using this in the United States, we'll be a long way away from that. The privacy concerns and civil liberties concerns are quite significant. It will be a long time before we see something like this back home.
COLLINS: All right, Paula Newton reporting live from Scotland Yard this morning. Paula, thank you.
ROBERTS: We'll see helmet or hat cams in the United States about the same time bobbies see dash cams.
COLLINS: We already have the dash cam. Interesting. ROBERTS: Cracking the iPhone codes tops your "Quick Hits" now. Seventeen-year-old George Hotz of Glen Rock, New Jersey, has figured how to get around Apple's exclusive deal with AT&T. That means that he can use his iPhone with T-Mobile and hook up to many overseas networks. Apparently, it took him hundreds of hours to do it. You see him with the inside of the phone. He destroyed one to get the information inside. Another one he reprogrammed is for sale on eBay.
Gasoline prices are heading down, the national average about $2.75 a gallon. That's down from $2.91 a month ago and $2.87 at this time last year.
Ben Franklin getting a makeover for the 21st century. A new look again with computer hackers and counterfeiters staying ahead of the $100 bill. That's coming up next on "AMERICAN MORNING."
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COLLINS: Good Monday morning to you. About 6:58, if you're watching the time. Stephanie Elam is here "Minding Your Business," just in time for a trip to Vegas. They're redoing the $100 bill. Bring a lot of those or at least win a lot of them.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: They are. Although, you have time because it won't affect us until next year. But they are redoing the $100 bill because they want to slow down counterfeiters.
This was surprising to me. Did you know most of the $100 bills were faked outside the country? They're actually not done here.
This new $100 bill is going to take 650,000 tiny lenses and they're used to microprint the $100 bill. So if you move the bill from side to side, it appears that Ben Franklin's going up or down. And if you move it up or down, it seems like Ben Franklin's going side to side.
COLLINS: I'm so confused.
ELAM: I don't know how that looks and obviously we can't show you yet because the redo is about one-third of the way completed at this point.
But the other thing that is interesting, the $100 makes up about 70 percent of the $776 billion of currency in circulation, two-thirds of which actually outside of the U.S. So it's a big deal.
ROBERTS: A lot of it happening in North Korea, right?
ELAM: There is that. And it's other places. And the other thing that's been happening -- bleaching the $5 bill and printing the $100 bill over that, so the $5 is being redone. That will begin in September.
COLLINS: Sounds like a good deal, maybe a little bit illegal.
ELAM: But, you know, $95 your investment. Yes, sure. ROBERTS: These printers are getting so sophisticated these days that you have to fight to stay ahead of it.
ELAM: Yes, so it looks like magic now.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Stephanie. See you in the next hour.
And the next hour of "AMERICAN MORNING" begins right now.
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