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American Morning

O.J. Simpson in Court This Morning; Fall Allergies; Troop Limits: Home Stays Equal to Deployment?

Aired September 19, 2007 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Facing the music. O.J. Simpson in court this morning as a main player says he didn't trap "The Juice".

THOMAS RICCIO, MEMORABILIA DEALER: I didn't set anybody up. In fact, O.J. had some even stranger ideas on how to do this.

ROBERTS: Plus, Iraq via I-Report and the new effort to bring home the troops. Live with the senator leading the charge on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: And good morning. Thanks very much for joining us on this Wednesday, September 19th.

I'm John Roberts.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry.

Glad you're with us.

You know, we're just a few hours away now from seeing O.J. Simpson in court for the first time this time around. He's expected to be arraigned on 11 counts connected to that armed robbery in Las Vegas.

Ten of those charges are felony. Among them, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of robbery and two counts of assault, all involving the use of a deadly weapon. Now, it could put O.J. Simpson away theoretically for the rest of his life. Now his attorney is speaking out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YALE GALANTER, O.J. SIMPSON'S ATTORNEY: They are very serious charges. There are a number of witnesses. There are a number of evidentiary items that we have to examine. And we'll go through all that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Now, Simpson has insisted that he was pulling off his own sting operation on people who were trying to sell his stolen sports memorabilia -- John.

ROBERTS: Well, to complicate things even more, a key witness and an alleged victim in this case now is in critical condition after he suffered a heart attack. Before it happened, Bruce Fromong said Simpson and others stormed the hotel room commando style.

AMERICAN MORNING'S legal contributor Sunny Hostin is here to sort out the charges and major player in the case for us this morning.

First of all, what do you think is going to happen in today's arraignment?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Today's arraignment is the beginning of the criminal case for O.J., and it's really about all the charges being read to him in open court. He can waive that reading, of course, but likely in a high profile case like this that's not going to happen.

We're all going to hear exactly what he's charged with and he's going to plead guilty or not guilty. But the real, real issue is, what is the bail? Is he going to get out on his own recognizance, his promise to return to Las Vegas? I don't think so. I think it's going to be more likely a pretty significant bail.

ROBERTS: So, Monday on "LARRY KING LIVE" here on CNN, we heard from Walter Alexander, who was one of O.J.'s cohorts who was arrested as well. He was released on bail and said, hey, he thinks the whole thing was a setup.

Last night on "LARRY KING LIVE," we heard from Thomas Riccio, who is the memorabilia dealer who Alexander believes set up O.J. Here is what he had to say about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICCIO: He was supposed to go in there, give them the option of calling the police or turning the stuff over to him. That's it. That's all that was supposed to happen. All of this other stuff, I can't answer why.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: So he said it was not a setup. He is adamant about that whole thing. Now, here's a guy that, according to the smokinggun.com, has got quite a criminal record himself.

HOSTIN: He does have quite a criminal record, but let's face it, O.J. did do this. It's sort of a self-operated sting operation. It's just unbelievable.

I really think that O.J. is going to have to stand up to these charges. I can't imagine -- there are a lot of conspiracy theorists saying O.J. was set up, free O.J., poor O.J. I don't know. When you listen to the tape, it is pretty clear to me that he was a member of this operation. ROBERTS: But Yale Galanter, his attorney as you saw just a couple of minutes ago, said, hey, there's a lot of people saying a lot of things about this case and their stories don't necessarily correlate. So, could we get into a situation here where there are so many people who say there is so much he said/she said going on that O.J. walks?

HOSTIN: It's very, very possible. A jury has to determine his guilt, and in making that determination, the jury is going to really listen to the witnesses and determine credibility.

What makes me a little bit nervous, and I'm sure the prosecution as well, that a lot of these witnesses are on television now telling people over and over again what happened, and any good defense attorney is going to pull those tapes, compare the tapes to whatever testimony that person gives, and we're in for quite a show.

ROBERTS: Right. And very quickly, Bruce Fromong, the guy who was one of the two people in the room when O.J. and his cohorts burst in, in critical condition with a heart attack now. Should he pass away from this heart attack, what might that do to the prosecution's case?

HOSTIN: Well, I think it can be used in the prosecution's case. They're down a witness, but I don't think O.J. or any of his cohorts are going to be charged with murder.

ROBERTS: All right.

Sunny Hostin for us this morning on the O.J. case.

Sunny, thanks. We'll be calling on you a lot in the next few days.

HOSTIN: Thank you.

ROBERTS: Appreciate you coming in -- Kiran.

(NEWSBREAK)

CHETRY: Well, the end of summer often means the end of allergies. At least for a lot of people. But for millions of others it's just the beginning of a brutal ragweed season.

Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now from Atlanta with more on this.

In the fall, a lot of people I know, it actually gets way worse in terms of allergies.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It really does. And you know, it's interesting.

When I moved from Michigan to Georgia few years ago, I thought it would actually get better, but I come to find out that mid-August, sort of the end of October, every state in the country is affected pretty dramatically by ragweed. And you don't have to be near a field for it to affect you.

It can grow in vacant lots. It can grow on the side of the road. It is pretty ubiquitous stuff.

In fact, one ragweed actually produces about a billion pollen that just get into everything, and most specifically people, and causes these -- what can be awful allergy symptoms. And again, mid- August, sort of end of October. So we're talking about right now.

Now, there's another couple of interesting things about this. It has affected -- about 80 percent of allergy sufferers have sleep problems as a result of this time of year, having all that ragweed around. So it's something to think about.

If you've been having sleep problems and you're a ragweed sufferer -- there's about 36 million of you out there -- that's something to think about. And also, in terms of the best ways to treat it, certainly there's a lot of over-the-counter medications that are antihistamines and prescription medications. But also, just simple saline washes. Saline washes for your nose and your sinuses can be pretty dramatic actually in terms of getting that ragweed out of your system.

The best policy, obviously, Kiran, avoidance. Try and exercise indoors. Try and shower at night before you go to bed. It gets all that pollen out of the hair. And close the windows as well as much as possible.

CHETRY: Because it starts to get a little cooler out. People want to open up their windows after running AC all summer.

You know, the other thing that seems hard sometimes is to differentiate -- do I have allergies or do I have a cold? And how do you tell the difference?

GUPTA: Yes. You know, that's a good question. And there are some specific differences.

With regards to colds, for example, you're going to have some low-grade fevers, typically. You may have some muscle aches as well. You'll also have colored discharge. Not the best AMERICAN MORNING topic, but that's going to be a little different than with allergy- type symptoms, where it's going to be much more of a clear discharge coming from the nose. And also, you don't typically have fevers or the body aches.

Most specifically with the allergies, because it's mid-August to the end of October, you're having these symptoms for a couple of months in a row, as opposed to with colds, that last typically just a few days.

CHETRY: I think I'm sorry I asked. But no, it's good information.

Sanjay, thanks so much.

GUPTA: Thanks, Kiran.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ROBERTS: Still ahead, the amendment that could change the course of the Iraq war.

Oh, actually, you know something? That's all moved.

Ahead, the fed rate cut. There you go. It made stocks go up, but why it's also great news for banks and retailers.

That's coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.

They're calling it the Democrats' best hope of challenging the Iraq war. The freshman senator from Virginia, Jim Webb, is leading the charge to pass a law that would require troops to have as much time at home between deployments as they actually spend in the war zone.

Well, it's a highly-contentious amendment that fell short of approval earlier this summer but could see new life as some moderate Republicans appear to be backing it.

Senator Webb joins us now from Washington now to talk more about it.

Thanks for being with us, Senator.

SEN. JIM WEBB (D), VIRGINIA: Good morning.

CHETRY: So you need 60 votes to pass this measure. There is word this morning though of a potential defection from your most prominent Republican supporter, Senator John Warner, your fellow Virginian.

Have you talked to him about this?

WEBB: I've been talking every day to John Warner about this. And he did vote with us when we got 56 votes but, you know, obviously, he's a Republican, he was former chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and he's got a lot of pressure from the White House because of his former role. And he still hasn't really made up his mind from what I can tell, but he still has an open mind.

And one thing about John Warner, as with myself, is he has extensive time having served in the military and he knows in concept how important this issue is. So I'm still hopeful we will get John Warner.

CHETRY: Well, you need 60 votes. And what Republicans can you count on besides Warner, in your opinion, this morning? WEBB: We had a number on the first vote, I think we had seven on the first vote. We've got several others who are talking about this. And, you know, to me, this really shouldn't be that contentious.

The debate over Iraq is going to go on for years. What we're trying to do is just put a safety net under the troops who are having to make these repeated deployments here.

We've got people who made three or four deployments into Iraq, while for the last four and a half years, the administration has tried to figure out an operational strategy. And I just think when the historical notion is two years at home for every year you're gone, that's historically what the United States military has done. The minimum we can do to these people who are out there having to make these deployments, is to say that you're going to have as much time at home as you have in Iraq.

CHETRY: There have been questions though about whether or not that -- in theory that sounds good, but whether it would work tactically. And yesterday in Ohio, Senator John McCain, himself a war veteran, had this to say about the amendment. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: The Constitution of the United States gives no authority for the Congress of the United States to set lengths of tour or lengths of duty in the military. And I hope we will steadfastly reject this kind of micromanagement which would create chaos.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: That's what he said. Are you micromanaging or overstepping your bounds as a senator?

WEBB: First of all, Senator McCain, who I've known for 30 years, needs to read the Constitution. There's a provision in Article 1, Section 8, that clearly gives the Congress the authority to make rules with respect to the governance of the ground and enable forces. There's precedent for this.

I used to run the mobilization programs in the Pentagon when I was assistant secretary of defense. And there's...

CHETRY: Why did it fail earlier this summer then if it's not contentious?

WEBB: Well, because the Iraq war is contentious. And it was roughly along party lines, although we did get seven Republicans for it. And I think that from now -- from then until now, hopefully, we've had enough people begin to understand more clearly how difficult this is for the men and women who are making these repeated deployments.

CHETRY: Right, it is difficult.

WEBB: This is...

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: I know you know this firsthand because your own son was -- is just back. He was deployed, returned from service in Many, and is now back at Camp Lejeune.

But the defense chief also opposes it because he says we're having enough difficulty as it is with the 15-month deployments and 12 months at home making this work. Are we setting ourselves up for disaster if we...

WEBB: We're not setting ourselves up for disaster.

CHETRY: ... if we don't have enough troops in the war zone?

WEBB: We're -- we have a lot of troops in the war zone. The question, as Admiral Fallon said when he was in -- he's General Petraeus' operation commander -- said it's not how many you have, it's how you use them.

And I've been around the military all my life. It's not simply my service or my son's service. I talk to people in Iraq and who have been in Iraq on a daily basis.

This is something that can work. This administration can no longer be believed when it's talking about policy in Iraq.

CHETRY: Before I let you go -- before I let you go...

WEBB: You know, five years ago -- excuse me. Let me say one thing. Five years ago, I wrote a piece for "The Washington Post" saying that if we went into Iraq, there would be no exit strategy because these people didn't intend to leave. It's taken them five years to admit that. They did last week when they said we were going to be, in their view, in Iraq just like...

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: Well, hold on, hold on. Is this amendment part of a larger strategy of bringing the troops home or is this for what you said?

WEBB: What it is, is if this debate's going to go on like this, and if we now have an administration that's admitting it wants to be in Iraq for the next 50 years, we have to put a safety net under the way that they are using our people. And I think that's an appropriate role for Congress.

CHETRY: The president is threatening a veto, so will this be all for naught even if you do get the 60 votes, Senator?

WEBB: If I were the president of the United States and I had an expression of the Congress that basically said you can't keep people in Iraq longer than you're allowing them to be at home, I'd think twice before I vetoed that. CHETRY: All right. Senator Jim Webb, thanks for being with us and thanks for talking with us about the issue today.

WEBB: Thank you.

ROBERTS: Video of police tasering a student is spreading like wildfire across the Web, but it's causing a firestorm at the University of Florida.

We'll tell you who's in trouble ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

ROBERTS: Twenty-four minutes after the hour. Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business" this morning, coming to us from Chicago, where he was out at the Mercantile Exchange yesterday checking on the impact of the Fed rate cut.

And what are we looking at today in terms of the fallout?

ALI VELSHI, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You brought me over to the dark side. I was all about the rate cut and how everybody has got a deal and the markets were up and the Dow was soaring, but now I'm going to tell you what the bad news is.

The bad news, first of all, if you're a traveler -- yes, yes, bad news. Look at this.

If you're a traveler, you're paying in U.S. dollars, you want to buy a euro, look at that. Almost $1.40 for a euro. It's actually doing a little better against the pound, a little less than two dollars for a pound.

For a Canadian dollar, though, no discount. Ninety-eight cents is what you'll get if you -- you have to give over to get a Canadian dollar. So the currency is not doing too well right now.

The other thing, as we heard yesterday, that foreclosures are up in the U.S. and home builder confidence has hit its lowest point ever since they've started recording this, which is about 22 years or something.

Now, we are going to get some news today which will have an impact on markets. We're going to find out how many home building projects got under way in August, how many building permits were issued in August.

We're going to get the inflation number for August, which is something that has been very important to the Fed and their decisions about lowering interest rates.

And we're going to get an oil inventory report. We're expecting the 10th weekly decline in oil supplies, and that's why we're seeing oil at a record high. It closed a little below $81 yesterday. That's the highest ever, and it's trading above that right now.

And then I'm heading to Washington later on, John and Kiran, because tomorrow I'll be covering Ben Bernanke, who is testifying to Congress for the first time since this mortgage debacle has unfolded. And I'm sure he's going to get some tough questions from some of the congressmen.

ROBERTS: You stay away much longer, Ali, we're going to take it personally.

VELSHI: I'll be back on Friday.

ROBERTS: All right. See you then. Thanks.

CHETRY: Well, here's a story coming up that you can't miss, a vicious bear attack. This is a man who really is lucky to be alive.

ROBERTS: Totally. His arm is in a sling. Part of his ear got ripped off.

He is going to join us later on this hour with his incredible sale of survival. It's amazing what happened to this guy.

CHETRY: We're going to have much more when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back. A beautiful shot this morning of the Statue of Liberty from one of our cameras here in New York City. Fifty-nine degrees right now, shaping up to be 74 degrees and sunny. It should be a beautiful day.

ROBERTS: We've had so many beautiful sunny days here in New York recently. It's really nice. It's uncharacteristic.

CHETRY: It's a great time of year to get out there and enjoy yourself.

And welcome. It's Wednesday, September 19th. Glad you're with us.

I'm Kiran Chetry.

ROBERTS: And I'm John Roberts.

Good morning to you.

New this morning, O.J. Simpson's attorney is speaking out. Simpson is expected in court this morning on 10 felony counts, including kidnapping and armed robbery.

It's all connected to a suspected break-in last week at the Palace Station Hotel in Las Vegas. Simpson has insisted that he was the one performing a sting operation. The goal -- to get back some sports memorabilia that he claims was his in the first place. His attorney says that Simpson could have a good case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YALE GALANTER, O.J. SIMPSON'S ATTORNEY: I think that he's got a very substantial chance of being acquitted on these charges. Based on the conflicting media reports, the conflicting interviews that each and every one of these people has given to you guys, it's definitely fertile ground for any defense lawyer and we'll examine, and we're going to be pulling all the tapes, all of the interviews and comparing it and will be comparing it to what they initially told the police. Obviously, the stories have changed. You guys have been discussing that for the past two or three days. We'll go through it and do the appropriate things with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: A supposed friend of O.J. Simpson's is also speaking out. Tom Riccio says he helped Simpson arranged the confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers in Las Vegas. According to the smokinggun.com, Riccio is an ex-con with at least four separate felony convictions including arson, escaping prison and stolen property charges. He is free while Simpson is in jail. He's the man who taped the suspected robbery and sold it to tmz.com; but on "Larry King Live" last night, he insisted last night it wasn't a setup and that there wasn't supposed to be a gun involved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS RICCIO: They were going to give him the stuff before the gun came out. It wasn't supposed to be that way. We talked about it several times. I have proof of that that we talked about it. He was supposed to go in there give them the option of calling the police or turning the stuff over to him. That's it. That's all that was supposed to happen. All of this other stuff, I can't answer why --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Riccio also said that there was only one person with a gun and that person was not O.J. Simpson.

And if you're not in front of your TV because of course CNN will be carrying the arraignment live at 11:00 a.m. this morning, you could watch the O.J. Simpson arraignment streaming on CNN.com. Just go on there and then follow the links to the live event.

And we want to hear from you this morning. Do you think O.J. was set up? Go to our web page, cnn.com/AM. Click on quick vote to cast your vote. Right now, 56 percent say yes, he was set up. 44 percent say he wasn't. Those numbers beginning to change. There were more people an hour ago that thought he was set up.

CHETRY: It was 67-33, I think an hour ago.

Well, that taser incident at the University of Florida is still one of the hottest stories on the internet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't do anything! Don't tase me, bro! Don't tase me! I didn't do anything! Ow! Ow! Don't tase me, bro. Don't tase me. I didn't do anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: In fact, 'don't tase me, bro,' becoming the catch phrase of the web it seems.

Well, there is some new developments in the story today. AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho is here with that. We're learning a little bit more about that student as well. I guess he's no stranger to controversy in the past either, Alina?

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's certainly right, Kiran. You know, it's a youtube sensation. More than a million hits there and the most watched video on cnn.com. It is also now reigniting the debate over free speech.

Now, in case you missed it. Here's what happened on Monday, a University of Florida student, 21-year-old Andrew Meyer is his name. He was tasered after he loudly questioned Senator John Kerry at a campus event. Now, Meyer has been released after spending the night in jail. Now, University of Florida's president has placed two campus police officers on paid administrative leave and he has also opened an internal investigation and called the tasering incident regretful.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNIE MACHEN, PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA: We're absolutely committed to having a safe environment for our faculty and our students so that the free exchange of ideas can occur. Civil discourse, civil debate are hallmarks of universities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: On his website, Senator Kerry responded by saying, "I have never had a dialogue end this way. I believe I could have handled the situation without interruption."

Now, this morning, some students are actually calling on the university to ban tasers altogether, but university officials say in the wake of Virginia Tech, the tasers will stay. There are also some questions today about whether the student Andrew Meyer was trying to pull a prank. One officer reportedly said his demeanor completely changed once the cameras were out of sight and according to some reports he even asked a woman to tape the incident using his own video camera. Meyers is pretty well known in certain circles for taping his own practical jokes and then posting them on his website. Either way, Kiran, this is very serious business. Serious stuff. He could be facing charges of resisting arrest and disturbing the peace, though no formal charges have been filed just yet. Kiran.

CHETRY: I'm sure people will be watching.

CHO: Oh, yeah. We will.

CHETRY: And will wait what the outcome is. Still one of the most e-mailed stories and viewed stories on cnn.com.

CHO: That's right.

CHETRY: Thanks, Alina.

CHO: You bet.

ROBERTS: It's a traveler's worst nightmare stuck in an airplane for hours as you sit on the tarmac. Toilets overflowing. No air- conditioning and everyone on edge and no way out.

This morning, one group wants to give lawmakers in Washington a feel for what it's like to be there. It's called a strand-in. Kate Hanni is the founder for the Coalition for Airline Passengers Bill of Rights. She founded that organization after she was stranded on a flight last year, nine hours on the tarmac in Austin, Texas. She joins me now from the National Mall in Washington. Kate, you're hoping to subject members of Congress and their staffers to the experience of being stranded in an airliner. How are you going to do that?

KATE HANNI, AIRLINE PASSENGERS BILL OF RIGHTS: Well, we have erected the impossible, right? We've put together a mock fuselage called mock 1, which is 28 feet long, 12 feet wide, 10 feet tall. Inside, we'll have 50 seats. We will have overflowing port-a-potties with all of the smells that you would have smelled, had you been in our plane for nine hours. We will have all of the layered sounds that you would hear over a nine-hour period squeezed into about a 10-minute loop. We will have the sights that you would have seen, the babies screaming, and it will be hot and sticky as we humidify the inside of our mock jet.

ROBERTS: Kate, we were hoping to have you take us on a tour of this but apparently it's not set up just yet. Based on your experience, and maybe you can tell us a little bit about that, how realistic is this going to be?

HANNI: Well, it's going to be very realistic. The seats won't look like airline seats but they're going to be very close together like coach seats would be. And, of course, there will be no food, no water. And the smell will be exactly the same. And the sounds will be exactly the same. My older son prepared the sounds. Chase is a recording minor and he prepared all the sounds and was in the plane with us.

ROBERTS: So, tell me how much of a nightmare was that experience last December 29th in Austin?

HANNI: Well, let me tell you, I've never taken on a coalition before and it was a nightmare enough watching ambulances, police cars and hazmat go to planes to try to take care of a variety of different very grave issues, watching people get arrested on a plane. ROBERTS: So, all of this is about trying to convince members of Congress to push through a passengers' bill of rights. What do you want to see in that bill?

HANNI: Well, you know, what we want to see now, what we've got in the bill is essential needs on the tarmac and chronically delayed and canceled flights being reported at point of purchase. What we want is deplanement. We want to know that there is going to be a cutoff point in which the airlines have to let you off the plane. Right now, they can hold you indefinitely and it is just not okay. In any other country, it would be false imprisonment and we're not going to take it anymore.

ROBERTS: All right.

HANNI: So that's really our deal-breaker.

ROBERTS: We should point out the situation is pretty severe, too. In the first seven months of this year, 27 percent of flights were cancelled and, of course, we all remember that nightmare at JFK earlier this year where the planes were stuck out on the tarmac. Kate Hanni, good luck to you. We'll see if you get something done. Thanks for joining us this morning.

HANNI: Thank you so much, John. I'm sure we will.

ROBERTS: All right. Take care. Kiran.

CHETRY: Some scary new information on tainted toys topping your "Quick Hits." Newly released documents showing that some of the toys recalled by Mattel this summer had 180 times more lead in the paint than the law allows. Mattel said that some of those toys used paint that was 11 percent lead. The law sets the limit at less than 1 percent.

And the House Committee today is looking into crime on cruise ships, trying to get cruise ships to do a better job of reporting crimes to the FBI and others. Nearly all of the ships are registered outside of the United States. FBI director Robert Mueller is among those scheduled to testify.

Well, it sounds like a nightmare. A man was riding his mountain bike through the woods and he says when a bear literally jumped out of nowhere and attacked him. The story of how he tried to use his bike to fight the bear. He joins us live to tell us much more about his harrowing tale of survival.

A startling new research about junk food and your brain. How does your brain change, along with your body, when you go on a different diet? Sanjay Gupta has a look right now.

Hi Sanjay.

GUPTA: Good morning, Kiran. No surprise. We are what we eat. We certainly know the impact of junk food on our bodies. But what could it do to our brains? Could it potentially lead to depression? Could it potentially lead to anti-social behavior? We've been researching this for quite sometime. I'll have much more on this topic coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Forty-two minutes after the hour. A new trolley line in Seattle has taken on an unfortunate acronym. Its official name is the South Lake Union Streetcar. But local residents are having a little bit of fun calling it the South Lake Union Trolley. And when you put those letters together you get that unfortunate acronym. One local business is trying to make money selling t-shirts that say ride the S.L.U.T. The funny thing is the original name of the line was going to be the trolley but city officials figured that out really and changed it to streetcar but irresistible for the for the residents to change it back. Kiran.

CHETRY: Those acronyms will get you every time. Well, it's 42 minutes past the hour. Our Rob Marciano is, I'm sorry that story chirped me up a little bit.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I wonder why?

CHETRY: You're joining us to talk more about and we're looking at the storm activity in Florida.

MARCIANO: You know, Seattle is a kind of a clean place. They get a lot of rain at least in the wintertime and Florida getting the rain right now. How is that for a lame transition? Satellite picture showing interesting cloud pattern that has been developing over the past couple of days. There you see it. It's not anything tropical yet but it could become so. And here is what we think is going to happen. There's a lot of question marks on this map so forgive us but you know how these forecasts with tropical systems go. Once it becomes tropical or if it does, I should say, and enters the Gulf of Mexico, we think it's heading in that direction then the question marks go up for the weekend or maybe even the beginning of next week. Southeast Texas, Louisiana, parts of southern Alabama and Mississippi, even extreme western Florida possibly under the gun for a potential tropical system.

Nonetheless, there is definitely some tropical rains with this. Jacksonville and the area around it has already seen tremendous amount of rainfall with flooding in the past couple of days. This is the forecast for the next 24 hours with six, seven, maybe as much as eight inches of rain between Orlando and Jacksonville. So, this may be the one that wipes out the drought at least in a couple of spots but they'll have some headaches in the meantime. Seventy-two degrees and 74 degrees around about that here in New York City. Another beautiful almost fall-like day.

CHETRY: Perfect day actually to visit the grounds crew of the Yankees. Are you heading out there today?

MARCIANO: I am but I think there's going to be restrictions on whether or not I can actually run the bases but I will negotiate that. It will be fun. We'll see what it takes to make the grounds at Yankees Stadium or any stadium looking so nice.

CHETRY: That's right, especially with all the weather they get and they're going to getting that. All right. Thanks a lot, Rob.

ROBERTS: We already know what we eat can affect our bodies but what about our brains? There's a new study that could link junk food to rising rates of depression and suicide and even crime.

CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been looking at all of this for his special this weekend called "America's Killer Diet." And he joins us now. Sanjay, this almost sounds too incredible to be true.

GUPTA: Yes, we walked in with a fair amount of skepticism. This whole idea that the balance of certain oils in your body, the balance of certain nutrients could have an impact our brain and its development as well. It's pretty fascinating stuff. Could it also be possibly linked to depression, even anti-social behavior? And could correcting those things make a difference as well? We found out.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

GUPTA (voice-over): Here's a burger and fries.

Going through the blender.

In a laboratory at the National Institutes of Health.

DR. JOSEPH HIBBELN, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: This amount of oil comes from just one single serving of French fries. The brain is made of fats. And the brain is made of oils, so the type of foods that you choose to eat ultimately makes up what your brain is made of.

GUPTA: Your brain, like your body, needs certain oils to function. Including omega 3 fatty acids. There are a lot of those in salmon and omega 6 from seed oils like soybean, corn and canola.

According to the American Heart Association, Americans only eat about a third as much omega 3 fats as they should. Meanwhile, over the last century, the amount of soybean oil, the main source of omega 6, has gone through the roof. Now there's evidence that a poor balance between the two, omega 3 and omega 6, could lead to depression, suicidal thoughts, and even criminal behavior.

In one study in Britain, prisoners who got omega 3 supplements were 40 percent less likely to commit violent crimes later on. Here in the United States, a committee established by the American Psychiatric Association recommended last year that doctors consider omega 3 supplements as part of the treatment for mild depression.

HIBBELN: Food is medicine. It's not an either-or. You know, Hippocrates said when a patient is sick, correct their diet first and when that doesn't work, move to medicine.

GUPTA: Some ancient wisdom for the ills of the 21st century.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: To be clear even the American Psychiatric Association is somewhat conservative about this. They say that, you know, you shouldn't replace traditional therapies with increased omega 3 fatty acids but it could be something to supplement the treatment of depression and even anti-social behavior. This is the first time we're hearing some of that. Actually, using nutritional advice to treat some of these psychiatric problems. John.

ROBERTS: So Sanjay, this does sound far-fetched. How skeptical should we be about this research?

GUPTA: Well, you know, I think the research is actually pretty sound. There's been a lot of examples of how adding certain nutrients to our diet when it comes to iodine, for example, and salt to prevent mental retardation. They have existed. There had been some precedence for this in the past but with regards to the omega threes and omega sixes I think there's some pretty compelling evidence here. This whole idea of I think by increasing omega 3s or perhaps decreasing omega 6s could make a difference in terms of depression or anti-social behavior. Again, we saw that study out of Britain that said 40 percent of violent offenders they actually were able to decrease their likelihood-of-doing another violent crime because of actually changing their diet. I think that's compelling stuff. We get into a lot of this in the special this weekend. John.

ROBERTS: All right. Looking forward to that, Sanjay. Thanks very much for joining us this morning. And be sure to catch Dr. Gupta's special, Fed Up, America's killer diet. That's Saturday and Sunday 8:00 p.m. Eastern. And if you have a question for Dr. Gupta, be sure to e-mail us. Go to cnn.com/AM. Sanjay will be here to answer your questions tomorrow when he pays us a house call right here in the studio.

CHETRY: Well, it's a happy anniversary to the smiley face. It was actually 25 years ago that a professor at Carnegie Melon University typed a colon and hyphen and parenthesis, creating the first as they call it, emoticon. Of course, that is now evolved to the today's smiley face. And even the ones that we see has undergone a lot of chances since then. Now they can display a wide range of emotions that you see -- they're on your computer or either in your cell phones, crying, being drunk, love, how about that one? But it was 25 years ago that the first guy thought wouldn't it be neat with just a colon and a parentheses to be able to make a smiley face in anything he typed?

ROBERTS: The CNN "NEWSROOM" is minutes away. Tony Harris is at the CNN Center with a look at what's ahead. Good morning. Hey Tony, how are you?

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, John. Good morning to you. Good morning everyone on the NEWSROOM on the rundown for you this morning. Bail for O.J. Simpson, you will find out in the NEWSROOM this morning. He is scheduled for arraignment in Las Vegas this morning. Live coverage right here on CNN.

Thousands of people expected in Jena, Louisiana today, they will rally for six young defendants in a racially charged case.

And listen to this, a Florida mom could go to jail to for two years. A jury convicts her for getting on a school bus and ordering her child to fight another child. Breaking news when it happens. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM, just minutes away at the top of the hour, right here on CNN. John, back to you.

ROBERTS: Tony, thanks very much. We will see you then.

Some incredible pictures this morning. Students of Texas Southern University may have been exposed to rabies after bats were found in their dorms.

Students try to kill bats with brooms, and tennis rackets but they swarm all around. One student says he killed dozens of them. More than 200 students have been relocated to hotels. Health officials in Houston will determine if any student needs rabies vaccinations.

Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING -- bear attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He came on top of me and started eating but he bit right through the helmet and got my ear, I really thought I was going to die. You know, that this was it.

ROBERTS: A man locked in a fierce struggle with a 400-pound black bear. His ear ripped off. His body clawed. How did he survive? What is it like to look death right in the mouth? We talk to the bear attack's survivor ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, it started as routine bike ride in the park and then it turned into a nightmare. Anthony Blasioli attacked and nearly killed by a black bear. He joins me now from Gig Harbor, Washington, with his chilling story of survival. Anthony, thanks for being with us. This was a Labor Day weekend bike ride. Walk us through what happened.

ANTHONY BLASIOLI, MAULED BY BEAR: Well, I just got up that morning and just went for my normal bike ride with my two dogs. And we were just on the trail for about 45 minutes and we were going down and my young puppy, she barked a couple times and I stopped and got off the bike because I thought it might be somebody walking or another horseback rider. I usually get off the bike and wait for the horses to go by. Then, all of a sudden -- then, all of a sudden, the bear just showed up and then he just attacked me.

CHETRY: You had on a bike helmet. You have it with you right now. You say that you think that might have actually saved your life because you had that helmet on?

BLASIOLI: Well, I guess so. I think it did some help there because he bit through and got my ear and -- but the rest of my face is still here so I'm glad about that.

CHETRY: Tell us about some of the injuries you had to endure.

BLASIOLI: Well, first, I guess he first bit into my shoulder and bicep, and so it's been all sewn back up together again. So I haven't been able to move my arm up and down for a while. And I still can't. Then he bit on my chest a few times and I had stitches there. He scratched my face. And he almost got my neck and he kind of went down close to this part of my neck but it didn't go through and get any vital veins. Then, you know, of course he got my ear and my back is still all scratched up. He bit into my leg and I had teeth marks in each arm that have now scabbed over so I've healed up pretty fast.

CHETRY: You look remarkably great for what you've been through. But was it just sheer adrenaline? You were able to get back on your bike after all of the injuries and ride away?

BLASIOLI: I believe it was that, yes, for sure. When the bear started coming back at me, you know, I had, you know, a couple of seconds and I just got on the bike and I had hollered for help but nobody was there. So I just had to ride a mile back to the trailhead.

CHETRY: Unbelievable. That's where you got medical attention. Your dogs got separated from you. They're OK now?

BLASIOLI: They're back at my house now, yes, yes.

CHETRY: You also were saying that, you know, sometimes when you touch your dog's fur, it kind of haunts you because it reminds you of this bear attack. How are you dealing with the emotional aftermath of what you went through?

BLASIOLI: Oh, man, it is still there. That first sensation of, you know, petting my dog, I didn't know I had that one until I did it because when I wasn't looking, I reached over and touched him and that kind of like was an eerie feeling. So the memories are not too bad, but I'm getting through them, but they're still there. It's like a rape or something, I guess, and you know, he had full control of me and that is a lot to get over.

CHETRY: It sure is. In fact, they say if they encounter this bear, they're going to have to euthanize it. Do you think that should happen?

BLASIOLI: Well, I really don't know what is the best thing to do. I'm leaving that up to the game wardens and let them decide what is best to happen to the bear, because I'm not an expert. It just happened so quick, to me, I don't -- I didn't expect it and I don't know if it's a normal behavior or not.

CHETRY: Right. Wow. What an unbelievable tale of survival. You look remarkably great for what you went through. Anthony, thanks for sharing your story with us.

BLASIOLI: You're welcome.

CHETRY: That was Anthony Blasioli, mauled by a bear and lived to tell about it. We're going to take a quick break. AMERICAN MORNING will come right back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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