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American Morning

Airport Death; Jones And Steroids; Sex-Sting Senator; Young Heartburn; Death At Airport; Minding Your Business

Aired October 05, 2007 - 07:00   ET

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I lost my dog.
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JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: CPR on a German Shepherd?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good boy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Meet the canine cop and his four-elected partner, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

I'll tell you how that all happened. It's Friday, October the 5th. I'm John Roberts. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.

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

Brand new this morning, there are new details about the final moments of Carol Anne Gotbaum's life. Police releasing video of her arrest at the Phoenix Airport. It was one week ago. And they released this video of before she was found dead in a holding cell. They also released transcripts of a phone call that took place in which her husband called police at that airport to say that his wife was an alcoholic and suicidal and she should not be treated like any drunk on an airplane.

We talked with an attorney for the family. He released some new family photos as well to us. We're going to hear more from him in a moment. Still, though, no one is sure yet what happened to the 45- year-old mother of three in that holding room where she died alone in handcuffs and shackles. Alina Cho does have some new details for us from our national update desk this morning.

Hi, Alina.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Kiran, good morning.

You know, this airport surveillance video that you talked about is really the only inside look we have of Gotbaum just moments before she died in police custody. Now there's no audio on the tape, but you can see for yourself that Gotbaum is visibly upset. She's eventually surrounded by several police officers. And moments later, Gotbaum is either forced to the ground or falls to the ground before she's handcuffed.

Now the 45-year-old mother of three later died in a holding cell. She was left alone there. Gotbaum's family says she was manhandled, but police maintain they followed procedure and say that she likely strangled herself while trying to escape from the handcuffs. They say Gotbaum, who was on her way to alcohol rehab when she missed her flight, may have been drunk when she went into a tirade at the airport.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. ANDY HILL, PHOENIX POLICE DEPARTMENT: We have information in the case that alcohol may have been involved, yes. And that either came through observations of officers. But as far as definitive information that that was a part of her physiology, that will have to be determined by the medical examiner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: All right. We also learned that Gotbaum's husband, Noah, made several calls to emergency dispatchers while his wife was still alive. He was trying to warn them she was in a deep depression, saying in one call, "she is suicidal. The police have to understand that they're not dealing with someone who's just been drinking on flight and acting rowdy. That's not what is going on here."

But despite repeated attempts, Noah Gotbaum never got through to the officers who were holding his wife. Police say they weren't unaware Carol Anne Gotbaum was depressed and suicidal. And, Kiran, on the question of whether she was drunk, it could be weeks before we get back test results.

Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. And the autopsy's already been performed, but are they going to find out more about her cause of death?

CHO: Well, that has not yet been released. There have been two autopsies performed, you'll recall, Kiran, one by the medical exercise. The second by an independent pathologist hired by the family. But so far no official cause of death released to the media.

CHETRY: All right. Alina Cho with the latest details on this. Thank you.

CHO: You bet.

ROBERTS: Three minutes after the hour now.

Suicide in front of the city council last night. Police say a Clarksville, Tennessee, man shot himself in the head with a small pistol after lawmakers refused to rezone his property. It was witnessed by about 50 people at the council meeting, many of whom left in tears. The man wanted his property rezoned as commercial so he could put a barbershop in his home. There's a manhunt right now in Philadelphia for a man caught on tape gunning down two armored car guards. It happened in broad daylight yesterday as the guards were emptying money from an ATM at a Wachovia bank. Security cameras caught the man on tape, gun in hand. Both guards were retired police officers. Police say the suspect took off in a black Acura.

And breaking very early this morning, an explosive end to a hostage standoff at a law office in Alexandria, Louisiana. Police fired tear gas into the building, eventually blew holes into the back wall before the shot and killed the gunman. He was accused of shooting five people and holding two of them hostage.

Kiran.

CHETRY: Also new this morning, the U.S. top diplomat in Myanmar meeting with military leaders in the capital city of Yangon today. The State Department saying that Shari Villarosa will urge them to meet with opposition groups and to stop the crackdown on demonstrators. The U.N.'s envoy is also briefing the security council. It's an unprecedented open session on his recent visit to Myanmar.

Also, actor Jim Carrey expected in a news conference later today to urge the security council to take action. Carrey recently posted a plea for the people of Myanmar on YouTube.

Breaking the al Qaeda propaganda machine. The U.S. military saying its captured at least six al Qaeda media centers in Iraq and arrested 20 suspected propaganda leaders since June. One home raided recently in Samarra had 12 computers, 65 hard drives and a filming studio.

John.

ROBERTS: Olympic gold medallist Marion Jones admits to using steroids before winning three golds and two bronzes at the Sydney Olympics back in 2000. That revelation came out in a letter by Jones to her friends and family. Jones also said that she is coming to New York City today to turn herself in on two counts of lying to investigators. Our Mary Snow joins us now with more.

And this is somewhat surprising, but to many people, Mary, not exactly shocking.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, John, she has denied it for years and she was once considered the greatest female athlete in the world. Marion Jones insisted she had never used steroids and she challenged anyone to prove otherwise.

But now seven years after winning five medals at the Sydney Olympics, Marion Jones is reportedly admitting she used steroids to prepare for the 2000 Olympic games. "The Washington Post" reports Jones sent a letter to close family and friends telling them she used the steroid known as "the clear" for two years leading up to the Olympics. And it reports she is prepared to plead guilty to two counts of lying to federal agents. She'll do that in a New York Court later today.

Also in that letter, Jones says her coach told her the substance was flaxseed oil. She says she trusted him, in her words "never thought for one second" that she was using a performance-enhancing drug. Now her coach, Trevor Graham, faces trial in November. He's pleaded not guilty to lying to federal investigator in a steroids investigation.

Now CNN has been unable to reach Jones' lawyers for comment. But "The Washington Post" reports that she states in this letter that she expects to be sentenced to three months in prison. Now, of course, this could also mean she'll have to give back her three gold and two bronze medals that she won in 2000.

ROBERTS: You know, actually the maximum penalty for those charges, too, I think five years in prison on each count. So we'll see if she gets some leniency there. She's also facing charges, though, Mary, unrelated to this steroid investigation.

SNOW: Yes, one of the charges has to do with a $25,000 check that was given to her by her former boyfriend. He has pleaded guilty to a bank fraud and money laundering scheme. This was years ago. And "The Washington Post" says that in the letter Jones explained that she panicked when investigator had asked her about it.

ROBERTS: Right. Mary Snow for us this morning.

Thanks, Mary.

I want to remind our viewers that coming up next hour, we're going to be talking with Carl Lewis about this whole thing and can we have any more faith in our athletic heroes.

Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. We look forward to that.

Meantime, what is next for Senator Larry Craig? You might remember it wasn't too long ago when he held a news conference and said this.

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SEN. LARRY CRAIG, (R) IDAHO: It is with sadness and deep regret that I announce that it is my intent to resign from the Senate effective September 30th.

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CHETRY: Well now Senator Craig's lost the appeal to have his guilty plea thrown out over that men's room sting at the airport. Turns out he's not going anywhere. In fact, sticking around until after the 2008 presidential elections. So what could that mean for his fellow Republicans on the campaign trail? I'm joined now by "Times" senior political analyst Mark Halperin.

Thanks for being with us today.

MARK HALPERIN, "TIMES" SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure.

CHETRY: You know, there was a lot of pressure. I don't know how more clear Republican leadership could have made it that they wanted him to leave. Especially because they're going to be defending, what is it, nearly two dozen seats in the 2008 election cycle. So now that he's decided to stay, is this going to cost the GOP seats?

HALPERIN: It puts them in a real problem because they don't want to make a big deal about this. The more they complain, the more they make noise, the bigger attention it will get and that's what they don't want. But, you know, some people are comparing this to that episode of "Seinfeld" where George Costanza quits his up but then shows up the next day at work and just is there. And the question is, how do you tell the guy to leave?

They're in a delicate dance. They're trying to send him signals. If it doesn't work and he follows through and stays, they're going to have to figure out if they want to escalate this.

CHETRY: Speaking of sending signals, let's listen to what Senator John Ensign of Nevada said about renewed calls for Craig to leave.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN ENSIGN, (R) NEVADA: He gave us his word he would do something. He's backing out on us. I don't think it's the right thing to do.

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CHETRY: Is Craig listening to any of these comments? John Ensign also said -- I mean DeMint said, you don't even want to know what I'm thinking right now.

HALPERIN: Exactly. And Senator Ensign also said, this is going to get worse if he stays, including for his family, probably trying to send a signal. Larry Craig's former pollster told "The Los Angeles Times" in the paper today, when he thinks he's right, he's as stubborn as an old mule. Hard to get an old mule who thinks he's right to move.

These Republicans, again, they face a choice. Do they highlight this? Do they bring more attention by trying to get the ethics committee to investigate him?

You needs 67 senators to vote to expel a guy. That would only happen after a long process. I think they're going to hope he changes his mind or that the story quiets down. But it puts him in a very tough spot.

CHETRY: A tough (ph) something because for at least up until this point the Democrats have remained relatively quiet and low-key about this. So now are they going to be calling for this Senate ethics investigation?

HALPERIN: I think they'll still key -- basically this is the Republican problem. The Republicans are the ones who are going to be asking about it. The Democrats are going to quietly enjoy it and hope that it contributes to a national environment which we saw a little bit in the last election and with some other Republican senators in ethics tails where the Republican party is branded as the party of eth-evits (ph), ethically challenged. The Democrats think they can stay quiet and that will happen all by itself and it's up to Senate Craig to decide what goes on next. There isn't much leverage the Republican senators have.

CHETRY: Yes or no, ethics committee investigation happening in the Senate on him?

HALPERIN: If he stays, I think the Republicans are going to have to push for it and the Democrats will have it and let it happen slowly so they get maximum, political benefit.

CHETRY: All right, Mark Halperin, always good to see you. Thanks for being with us.

HALPERIN: Thanks.

ROBERTS: The number of kids taking drugs for heartburn is on the rise in America. Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta in Atlanta now to tell us why.

That's the question, Sanjay, why?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, the numbers themselves, first of all, John, are pretty amazing. Actually there's been about a 56 percent increase over four years in the number of children taking some of these medications for GI, gastrointestinal type symptoms, and that's in the ages between zero and four. So very, very, young children. A huge uptick there.

A 30 percent increase between the ages of five and 11. So those are just some of the numbers. Gastrointestinal problems, such as reflux, such as heartburn, is what we're typically talking about here. Several different reasons, John, I think, as we sort of investigated this event.

First of all, there was some approval of some of these drugs around 2002 specifically for children. So that could be part of it. Another part of it, is that I think doctors are better at diagnosing heartburn and reflux in children than they ever have been before.

But sort of at the heart of this, John, I think is the obesity epidemic that we've been talking so much about. Underactive children who are eating the typical western diet. There's a lot of evidence now to suggest that that typical western diet really does contribute to reflux and to heart burn, talking about the high carb, high fat and high caffeine diet. Those types of foods really seem to exacerbate those heartburn-type symptoms even in the youngest of us, John, even in the ages between zero of four. Now there are some legitimate reasons to take the medications for sure and there are a lot of people who need to take the medications. But this uptick is pretty startling, John.

ROBERTS: Right. Any other possible reasons for this increase in kids taking these drugs, other than diet and lifestyle? I mean, kids are under a lot of stress these days to perform at school. It seems that the workload has increased. A lot of them under stress. That can trigger it as well, couldn't it?

GUPTA: Yes, absolutely. And I think you've hit the nail right on the head. You talk about this thing called the brain's gut sort of relationship. And this was something that I think doctors and researchers intuitively knew for a long time. But now there's a lot of evidence to show that your brain changes in certain ways, certain pain areas of your brain actually light up in response to certain foods and this idea of heartburn and reflux sort of worsening.

So, yes, stress and anxiety, even in children, a huge problem and possibly leading to some of these symptoms, John, from school, from just the home life, whatever it might be, could have some physical manifestations.

ROBERTS: Always important to get it treated, though, right, because sometimes this reflux can lead to other problems, like esophageal cancer.

GUPTA: Yes, but not always medication. It could just be some lifestyle changes. Just avoiding the carbonated foods and the spicy foods, things like that.

ROBERTS: Good advice. Sanjay Gupta for us this morning.

Sanjay, thanks.

GUPTA: Thank you.

ROBERTS: We'll see you soon.

We'll also have Sanjay's mail bag for you this morning, by the way, which got postponed today from yesterday. See you soon, Sanjay.

GUPTA: Thank you.

ROBERTS: Kiran.

CHETRY: Well, Elizabeth Edwards has some harsh words for Rush Limbaugh. We're going to tell you how she's getting in on the controversy over his "phony soldiers" comment.

Also, the lawyer for the woman who died in the Phoenix Airport tells us about his client's mental state and her family's frantic attempts to call police. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: We have some of the shots you have got to see in the "Quick Hits" now this morning.

Getting the high ground on a huge inferno. A ladder truck sprays water on a fire at a cereal packaging plant in Minnesota. No injuries were reported. Two hundred people who work there, though, are not, obviously, going back to work for now at least. They say that building was destroyed.

This is a school bus that jumped the curb and crashed into a yard. This was an i-Reporter, Bill Johnson (ph), who snapped this picture in St. Louis. He says about 10 kids were on the bus, not clear how injured they were. He also says that similar crashes have happened four times in just the past two weeks.

And a statue depicting a dead Prince Harry. The New York-based artist behind it says it's supposed to represent those who are unable to serve in Iraq. Certainly not playing well. Many people outraged, including the mothers of people who lost their sons serving in Iraq. They say that this just adds insult to injury for Harry, who's going through a tough time because of the inquest of his mother's death.

John.

ROBERTS: Coming up to 17 minutes after the hour.

We're finding out more about Carol Ann Gotbaum and what happened at the Phoenix Airport with the release of that surveillance video. The video shows Gotbaum standing in the middle of the concourse, at some points doubled over apparently screaming. Here she's being confronted by police. Three of them together arrest her. They eventually put her down on the ground. They handcuff her and then they take her away. All of this just moments before she died while handcuffed and shackled in a holding cell. I spoke with Michael Manning. He is the attorney for the Gotbaum family in Phoenix, just before that videotape was released.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL MANNING, ATTORNEY FOR GOTBAUM FAMILY: We know that when she landed in Phoenix, she was absolutely committed, determined, and absolutely stone cold sober when she landed here about 12:20. And she was very calm and very determined to get to Tucson to get well. By the time she reached the gate and found out she was denied boarding, she had a very, very strong emotional reaction to that and we believe that that just wasn't just a result of her being upset because of her determination to get well. We believe she may have been drinking but we have no evidence of that at this point yet.

ROBERTS: Do you believe then, based upon that assumption that she might have actually been drunk?

MANNING: Well, it's certainly possible. And if she was inebriated, she was also very, very emotionally distraught, all the more reason why, when authorities approached her, they have to approach her with great care and a significant level of humanity.

ROBERTS: Mr. Manning, we have heard from some eyewitnesses who say they did not observe the police officers try to calm her down before they took her to the floor, handcuffed her and took her away. Police spokesman Sergeant Hill says that's just not the case. That's not true.

MANNING: Well, we've talked to witnesses and they've said the same thing, that they did not try to calm her down. They just went after her.

ROBERTS: But the Phoenix Police also specifically point out here that they were not aware of her medical condition with alcoholism. They had no idea that she was on her way to a treatment center. So could they have known that she might have posed a danger to herself or others and should not have been left alone unobserved?

MANNING: Well, police in the field never know that. That's a slight exaggeration. But they never really know what emotionally distraught citizen, what kind of conditions they have, which is precisely why you calm -- you approach, you calm, and if there's a problem, you get medical involved and you humanely restrain.

ROBERTS: You have no problem with the fact that police intervened, it's the way that they intervened?

MANNING: This family has absolutely utterly no quarrel with the fact that Phoenix PD was called and that they intervened, because she need to be talked to. She need to be perhaps even restrained humanely.

ROBERTS: Mr. Manning, during her time at the Sky Harbor Airport, she made several calls to her husband. Do you know what the content of some of those phone calls was?

MANNING: I do. The first one was perhaps the most heart- wrenching. She said, Noah, three-quarters of my journey is over. I'm going to do this for our kids. I'm going to do this for you and I'm going to do this for myself. And so it was on that continuum of happy, confident, determined, and committed to getting well, to being very distraught and upset that she couldn't get on that plane.

ROBERTS: Michael Manning, attorney for the Gotbaum family, thanks for joining us today from Phoenix. Good to talk to you, sir.

MANNING: Nice to meet you, sir.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: And again, according to the police report, one minute after her arrest is the time stamp on this police report. Her husband tried to contact police to say that she was suicidal, deeply depressed and need to be treated with kid gloves. He called repeatedly. He did not ever, though, make it through to the police department, particularly the resting officers there.

So what do you think? Did Phoenix police use excessive force when they arrested Carol Anne Gotbaum? Cast your vote on our webpage at cnn.com/am. Right now here's the tally. Forty-two percent of you say yes, 58 percent say no, they did not use excessive force.

Kiran.

CHETRY: Well, Japan launches into the space race. Your "Quick Hits" now. Its first satellite went into orbit around the moon today. China is expected to launch its own moon probe by the end of the year. And India will launch an unmanned lunar mission next year as well.

Well, the next time a Russian rocket heads to space, it will be carrying members of the country's parliament. That's right. One member at least is going to the International Space Station next year and his party will be picking up the bill to the tune of about $20 million.

Well, the decision is in. So what will happen to the student editor of the Colorado State University newspaper for using an obscenity in an editorial about President Bush? We'll find out after the break.

Also, she was sued by six record companies for downloading songs on the popular online service Kazaa. Record companies winning big, but is the punishment too tough? Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business," ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Twenty-four minutes past the hour. Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business."

And there is some concern now about just how aggressively record companies are going to be going after people who download illegally, in light of the woman -- $220,000 for downloading illegally 24 songs.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Twenty-four songs. They say it was more than 1,700 songs but the six record companies decided to focus on 24 of them.

And here's the issue. They were downloaded by her and then, they say, put on to Kazaa, a sharing service.

Now here's what happens. They say that they provided testimony from an Internet service provider and a security firm to say that there was a user name on Kazaa which was associated with this sharing and that user name belonged to this woman, Jamie Thomas, a 30-year-old single mother from Minnesota. And they were able to say, as a result of that, that she was making these songs available for sharing.

She denies that but a lawyer for Sony BMG, which is one of the companies bringing the lawsuit, said this is the testimony she had, she said, "when an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song." This is not about offering it to other people. It's the copyright according to what the company says.

Now what does the law say about this? These are the penalties. If you download a song and do something that the industry thinks is not the right thing, including, according to this person from Sony BMG, making a copy for yourself, $750 to $30,000 per infringement and up to $150,000 if it's a willful violation of the law, as opposed to an accidental violation. So the jury awarded the company somewhere in the middle of that range of the $750 to the $30,000. They awarded her $9,000 roughly per song of those 24 songs. And they wanted to send a message.

CHETRY: Did they do any warning like, if you continue to download illegally, you're in trouble? I mean, or is it just . . .

VELSHI: They claim that they sent her a message to say . . .

ROBERTS: Cease and desist.

VELSHI: Cease and desist. But she claimed she wasn't selling or sharing it. The interesting thing is making it available to others appears to be the crime here, not the fact that you were actively selling or sharing, that you are somehow putting it somewhere in where ether where someone else can take advantage of your songs, including, according to the Sony BMG person, yourself, your family or your friends. Very interesting. There's a lot to think about here.

CHETRY: Sure is.

ROBERTS: Getting tough out there.

VELSHI: Yes.

ROBERTS: And getting tougher, too, as this becomes an increase in fines here, right?

VELSHI: And five years ago and 10 years ago when this was a big deal with Napster, it was a tiny part of the industry. Now it's over 10 percent of the industry downloads and it's going to be a quarter of the industry within five years, in terms of the revenues.

ROBERTS: Wow. Ali, thanks.

VELSHI: Yes.

ROBERTS: A look at a story coming up in the next half hour now that you just can't miss. Remember in the season premiere of "Grey's Anatomy" where Katherine Higl saved the deer by, you know, CPR methods?

CHETRY: I didn't see it but you did.

ROBERTS: Absolutely I did.

CHETRY: Now I know what you do on, what, Wednesday nights, Thursday nights.

ROBERTS: I couldn't remember what it is. But thanks to some quick thinking, a police officer saved his partner. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I grabbed him and he was lifeless, you know, hundreds of things go through your mind. But the first thing is, I lost my dog. And I brought my right hand up on his neck. I felt a lump in his throat. Immediately I knew it was his tennis ball.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: So he's going to tell us a little bit later how he was able to save the life of his partner, his buddy. I was thinking more George Costanza saving the whale with a golf ball in the blow hole but, you know, different strokes for different folks.

ROBERTS: Exactly.

Those stories and more coming up when we return on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Shot this morning from WEWS, our affiliate in Cleveland, Ohio, 68 degrees, a little bit of fog out there today. Shaping up to be a little bit warmer than that because, 85 by the way for a high today and mostly sunny, so it will be a perfect day for the Yankees. They're going to be in Cleveland today.

ROBERTS: Can you imagine, 85 degrees, on the 5th of October, in Cleveland?

CHETRY: I know. It's a little bit crazy here. They better do better than they did because this says Yankees scout Indians massacre bombers, 12-3. The weather wasn't good luck for them yesterday.

ROBERTS: Pretty ugly at this point.

CHETRY: It better happen today.

And thanks once again for being with us. It's Friday, October 5th. I'm Kiran Chetry.

ROBERTS: I'm John Roberts.

Carol Ann Gotbaum's final moments alive. Police have released video of her Phoenix Airport arrest before the New York woman was found dead in the holding cell. There, you can take the look at the video as the officers arrest her. They take her to the ground and she actually, the police say, went down and they followed her down, that's where they hand cuffed her.

They also released transcripts of a phone call between authorities and her husband in which he says his wife is an alcoholic and suicidal and warned that she needed to be treated with "kid gloves."

Earlier, I spoke with the Gotbaum's family lawyer who told us about one of her last conversations with her husband.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL MANNING, ATTORNEY FOR GOTBAUM FAMILY: She said, "Noah, three-quarters of my journey is over. I'm going to do this for our kids. I'm going to do this for you and I'm going to do this for myself," so it was on that continuum of happy, confident, determined, and committed to getting well to being very distraught and upset that she couldn't get on that plane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: She was speaking about her journey to an alcohol treatment center in Tucson that was her final destination. It's still unclear what happened to the mother of four in that holding room where she died all alone in handcuffs and shackles.

A tense standoff in New Hampshire is finally over. Convicted tax evaders, Ed and Elaine Brown were arrested last night after being hold up in their home for almost a year. They were heavily armed and threatened that they would not be taken alive. Earlier this year, their power and their telephone service was cut but the couple said they had generators. The Feds say the Browns will begin serving 63 months in a federal prison.

CHETRY: Elizabeth Edwards taking some shots at Rush Limbaugh. The wife of presidential candidate John Edwards saying that Limbaugh has no right to criticize troops.

(BEGIN AUDIOTAPE)

ELIZABETH EDWARDS, WIFE OF JOHN EDWARDS: My classmates went to Vietnam. He did not. He was 4F. He had a medical disability, the same medical disability that probably should have stopped him from spending a lifetime in a radio announcer's chair but it is true, isn't it? If he has an inoperable position that doesn't allow him to serve, presumably it should also not allow him to sit for long periods of time the way he does.

(END AUDIOTAPE)

CHETRY: Ouch, Elizabeth Edwards speaking out once again. Limbaugh has been criticized by Democrats for the reference to the phony soldiers on his radio program.

Well, he was busted in a men's bathroom sex sting but Senator Larry Craig now says he's not going anywhere despite losing a bid to overturn his guilty plea. Craig says he will finish out his Senate term. Many fellow Republicans made it clear they were hoping Craig would be gone by now, since he said it was his intent to resign on September 30th.

We have an AMERICAN MORNING follow-up for you now, the student editor of the Colorado State University newspaper admonished for using an obscenity in an editorial about President Bush. But David McSwane will be allowed to stay on the job. The one line editorial read "Taser this F Bush." It was published in response to the tasering of a University of Florida student who disrupted a forum with Senator John Kerry. McSwane told us last week that the paper was just starting to spark dialogue on campus although Colorado state's communication board says McSwane violated the paper's code of ethics barring profane or vulgar words in opinion writing.

ROBERTS: From Blackwater to corruption, Congress has been taking the state department to task over Iraq and things got pretty heated up on the hill.

CNN's Zain Verjee joins us now from our Washington bureau. Zain, what happened?

ZAIN VERJEE, STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, the chairman of the hearing, Henry Waxman is really calling into question the whole U.S. effort in Iraq, saying corruption in Iraq is undermining the U.S., wasting taxpayer's money and American blood. Now former head of the commission investigating corruption in Iraq told the committee that corruption is rampant. He estimates $18 billion has disappeared in corruption. His colleagues tortured, murdered, his own family threatened.

And Judge Rahdi (INAUDIBLE) also said that corruption has brought reconstruction projects to a halt and that Prime Minister Nuri Al- Maliki is protecting his allies and his family from corruption probes. Recently a leaked U.S. document also laid out corruption by the Maliki government. Lawmakers ask where the money was going, and if Nuri Al- Maliki was involved or even capable of fixing the corruption problem. I want to you listen to one exchange the chairman had with a state department official.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY WAXMAN, CHAIRMAN: Why can you talk about the positive things and not the negative things? Shouldn't we have the whole picture?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chairman, Ii would be very pleased to answer those questions in an appropriate setting.

WAXMAN: An appropriate setting for positive things is at congressional hearing but to say anything negative has to be behind closed doors?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This goes, as you know to the very heart of diplomatic relations and national security. This is our ability to --

WAXMAN: It goes to the heart of propaganda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERJEE: Now, the State Department says the corruption is a serious issue and they take it very seriously, but it is insisting that it's not publicly going to discuss the details of corruption. We asked one U.S. official why, and he told us that the reason is that they don't want to put Iraqi lives in danger and they don't want to do any damage to their relationship to Prime Minister Maliki. Otherwise, this official says that the U.S. wouldn't be able to get things done in Iraq -- John.

ROBERTS: Zain Verjee for us this morning in Washington. Zain, thanks. Kiran.

CHETRY: Well, a man saves dog, we're going to meet the canine cop who did CPR on his four-legged partner and saved his life, coming up.

ROBERTS: Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Killer in the lakes.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's beyond description to watch your most precious, beautiful, wonderful, loved ones go, become a vegetable essentially.

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ROBERTS: Kids dying after swimming in lakes. The deadly amoeba that's taking innocent lives. Why is it attacking now and what can be done to prevent it? Find out next on AMERICAN MORNING.

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ROBERTS: Twenty minutes to the top of the hour. Be careful what you download. An Ohio state legislator was giving a computer presentation to a high school class, when a picture of a topless woman suddenly popped up on it. It turns out one of the speaker's children downloaded the image on to the drive where he had prepared the presentation.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Computers and schools, you know?

ROBERTS: Do you think the kid is in trouble for that?

MARCIANO: I think so.

ROBERTS: Rob Marciano in with us here in New York City, good to see you, with the weather. Looks like we got Minneapolis in the (INAUDIBLE).

MARCIANO: Yes, Minneapolis. As you know, John, any time there's a little red on the map, never a good thing. So, we got flood warnings and watches out for parts of Minneapolis. The radar is highlighting just that, a pretty good ban, that's actually now moving into parts of Wisconsin also. So move along the next map, you'll see the flash flood watches and warnings still in effect for the next several hours. Most of the heavier rains have moved north and east of Minneapolis and a couple of lightning strikes east as well. On to another radar shot for you, a lot of action this morning most of which is on the fringes of some pretty warm air, which is across the northeast and sends pretty cool air that's trying to filter down, trying, not having a great success. There's Omaha, east of Omaha is where we're seeing some action now. A pretty strong storm now moving across the Rocky Mountains and in through the bitterroots and the northern Rockies of Wyoming, and this is all slowly heading east.

The problem we're seeing is that the warm air is firmly in control, John. Boston, 86 degrees for a record high yesterday. Newark, 87 degrees. Scranton, PA, 85. New York City, La Guardia, 85, tying a record. We should be somewhere around 68 for a high temperature and it's pretty soupy out there.

ROBERTS: It's nice to get a little more summer. How long is this expected to last?

MARCIANO: It should break as we head towards the weekend. But we're trying to get what's called a back door cool front in here to bring in some cool air but it's having a tough call. By next week, we should be into somewhat more average conditions.

ROBERTS: Rob, thanks.

MARCIANO: You bet.

ROBERTS: See you soon. We'll check back with you. Kiran.

CHETRY: Well, we have an AMERICAN MORNING follow-up now on our stories on a deadly organism in lakes around the country. After years of not seeing many cases, this past summer, six people have died after getting infected. We wanted to find out why kids were dying and why so many this year.

CNN's John Zarrella has been looking into it. He's live this morning in Orlando. That was one of the places that had a couple of these incidents taking place where somebody went swimming, a few days later they have a stiff neck and a fever and then they die.

JOHN ZARELLA, CNN, CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): Hi, Kiran.

Well, this morning, I can tell you that a lot of federal agencies, state agencies, everyone is trying to find out why so many this summer, why primarily in kids. The good news is summer is over. The bad news is that here in Orlando, where three boys died earlier this summer the water temperature is still above 80 degrees and that seems to be the trigger point for these amoebas.

Now, we brought a thermometer out with us this morning here to Lake Jasmine. And you're not going to be able to see it too well but the temperature here above 80 degrees, still at 83 degrees.

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ZARELLA (voice-over): They were all healthy, and young. RAY HERRERA, JACK'S FATHER: Played sports, played lacrosse.

ZARELLA: Ray and Deidre Herrera lost their 12-year-old son, Jack, in August. He had been swimming in Lake LBJ in Austin, Texas.

R. HERRERA: It gets beyond description to watch your most precious, beautiful, wonderful loved one go, become a vegetable essentially, and then die.

ZARELLA: Jack died from a microscopic organism, an amoeba that entered his brain through his nose. Something the Herreras had never heard of.

DEIDRE HERRERA, JACK'S MOTHER: This is the United States of America. Cutting edge technology. Why does no one know about this? Why have they never heard about this before?

ZARELLA: Because, health officials say it is very rare, but not this summer. Six deaths now in lakes from Florida to Arizona. The most recent, a 14-year-old swimming in Arizona's Lake Havasu. The amoeba lives in the shallows of freshwater lakes. It flourishes when water temperatures go above 80 degrees. It can kill within two weeks. Because symptoms mimic the flu, health officials say it often goes misdiagnosed.

DR. KEVIN SHERIN, ORANGE CO. HEALTH DEPT.: If they've been in the freshwater bodies in the intervening week or two prior that certainly has to be considered.

ZARELLA: Health officials have no idea why it seems to affect primarily young boys. They may be more likely to roughhouse in the water, stirring up sediment and amoebas, but why so many now? During the past two decades, there have been only 23 cases in the U.S.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because it's been such a hot summer, that it has contributed to warmer water temperatures, and lower water levels, and that makes an ideal environment for the amoeba.

ZARELLA: And if climate change means hotter, drier summers become the norm, some health officials worry, that may translate to more cases of amoeba deaths in the future.

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ZARELLA: Now, as we've been telling our viewers the past month during our reports, the only real way to prevent this is to stay out of the water but if you're going to go in the water, you've got to take a precaution. The only precaution, wear a nose clip, so those amoebas don't enter through your nose. Kiran.

CHETRY: What an unbelievable phenomenon. John Zarrella looking into it more for us. Thanks for being with us.

All right now, Dr. Sanjay Gupta also looking into this one. He's in Atlanta this morning. And one of the health department officials in John's piece blames the increase of deaths in warmer water temperatures and lower water levels, from what you know about this amoeba, does that explain it?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think so. I think it's a huge part of it. The amoeba is known as Naegleria fowleri. You don't need to remember that name but we have been talking about this particular organism quite a bit. We know that it's ubiquitous, meaning that it exists in several places around the world but we also know that it loves the heat and we know that it loves stagnant water.

So to your question, Kiran, it does seem to like the water temperatures warmer and it does seem to like lower water levels as well because it allow it to be more stagnant. So, those two things sort of in combination, as we mentioned, could be sort of leading to the increase in having these amoeba sort of available in the bottom of these lakes. You sort of kick it up and it gets all over the water and people get it into their nose and subsequently into their brains.

CHETRY: You know, the other thing is it seems so arbitrary who gets it. I mean, a group of boys could all be swimming, they could all be roughhousing but only one comes down with it. Is there something about a person that makes you more vulnerable to it?

GUPTA: Well, you know, it's interesting because most commonly we say look, this is something that's going to affect the elderly and it's going to affect the very young. This doesn't seem to fall into that pattern.

First of all, it does seem to affect healthy people, even if they're younger boys but still not the very young. It does seem to have, it's so rare, that it's hard to say that there's a characteristic pattern, where, you know, some people may actually sort of get it into their nose and subsequently sort of travels along a nerve called the olfactory nerve, all the way back into their brain.

It could be that certain boys are snorting in some of the water accidentally as they're playing or roughhousing around, I don't know, but it's so rare that it's really hard to sort of pinpoint as to what exactly is happening here and why certain people get it and others are not.

CHETRY: All right. Sanjay, thank you.

GUPTA: Thank you.

ROBERTS: The teacher who wants to bring a concealed weapon to school. She speaks out, fear over a relationship gone wrong, and why she wanted to keep things concealed.

And an Indiana cop is back on the job after a near death experience with a tennis ball. We'll talk to the canine cop's partner, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. There they are right there. Smile, wave for the camera. All right, we'll get to them soon.

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ROBERTS: A high school teacher from Oregon fighting to carry a concealed weapon to classes is speaking out. We told you yesterday that Shirley Katz did it in fear of her ex-husband. She filed suit against the school district as Jane Doe, then the district released her identity. Now, she says officials miss the whole point.

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SHIRLEY KATZ, SUING TO BE ARMED TEACHER: Now that I have been identified, I certainly wouldn't even with concealed carry permit, I don't know that I necessarily feel comfortable carrying my weapon on school grounds because that's the whole point of a concealed carry permit. Nobody is supposed to know you have it. It is important that teachers who feel comfortable doing so, have the right and are able to exercise that right to carry a concealed at school.

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ROBERTS: Well, a hearing is scheduled for October the 11th. Katz claims her ex-husband tried to choke her and threatened to hit her son. He also has a concealed carry permit. The husband denies those abusive allegations.

Yesterday, we did an AMERICAN MORNIGN Quickvote on this. Opinion was split, 50/50, over whether she should be allowed to carry the gun to school.

CHETRY: Well, there are many heroic stories of police officers saving lives and saving their partners even but none quite like this one in Indiana. Officer Josh Halsey saved his canine partner, Samo, who was choking on a tennis ball.

Joining us live now from Ligonier, Indiana, the crime fighting duo, Officer Josh Halsey and his canine partner, Samo. Thanks for being with us.

OFFICER JOSH HALSEY, SAVED K-9 PARTNER'S LIFE: Thank you for having us.

CHETRY: Well, he doesn't look any worse for the wear this morning. How is he doing?

HALSEY: He's doing great.

CHETRY: That's good news, because there were some scary moments for you. When did you realize that something was wrong with Samo?

HALSEY: I was in the garage working, and my daughter, she comes in and said "dad, there's something wrong with Samo." And when I went out to the garage and I'd seen him laying out in the yard and him not responding to me talking to him, I knew something was the matter.

CHETRY: And so then you rushed over to him and tell us when you realized he had started choking on his tennis ball.

HALSEY: When I ran up to him, he wasn't responding. When I got there and I grabbed him, his motion was just, he didn't have any, I mean, he just flopped. So I grabbed him, immediately ran to my patrol vehicle, hollering for my keys, and when I got to my car, I put him down on the ground, he still wasn't moving.

At that time, I still didn't know he had a tennis ball in his throat. When I started CPR and I grab this and when I went to grab his throat and his muzzle, that is when I felt the lump and immediately I knew it was a tennis ball. That's when I started just taking his esophagus and squeezing it, and try to extract the ball and when I ended having to pull it out of his mouth, continued CPR. And he came to...

CHETRY: So, even after you started, even after you got it out of his mouth he still wasn't breathing at that point?

HALSEY: No. He didn't -- it took probably another six breaths before he even responded. I mean, he kind of twitched and I looked down at him and his right eye was kind of bulging out.

CHETRY: Oh, poor guy.

HALSEY: So, I blew again, and he just, he kind of came to like in a daze.

CHETRY: First of all, for people who don't even know, how do you give CPR to a dog? Because I mean, they have a long muzzle, it seems like it would be hard to make sure you're sealing their nose and mouth.

HALSEY: To do it, you just seal the mouth and blow through the nose.

CHETRY: You blow into the nose. And you knew how to do this because you actually gave CPR to a sheep once when you worked on a farm?

HALSEY: I worked on, grew up on a farm and actually took veterinary and science class in 4h. So through the 4h is actually where I learned how to do CPR and then continued training into the canine program.

CHETRY: Because you were saying that, you know, they teach you a lot of things, how to take care of your animal, how to make sure they're OK but they don't go that far. So, it really was quick thinking on your part with what you were able to do. And good thing that your daughter actually noticed that he was laying there because how long do you think he went passed out like that?

HALSEY: I explained to the vet it couldn't have been no more than two minutes. I'd just seen him, he was in the garage, seen her out there throwing a tennis ball for him and then she came in the house. So two minutes might be a long stretch because the results of the vet, from the chest x-ray, he didn't have much fluid in his lungs or blood vessels breaking.

CHETRY: Well, it is good news now. Now, he's ready to go back on the job, right, he's all recovered?

HALSEY: He is all recovered. We start back tonight. CHETRY: Good for you. Are you letting him play with tennis balls anymore?

HALSEY: Yes, I am. He's continued, but he's got adult supervision now.

CHETRY: He does. All right. Well, I know that you said you think of him as a child, you guys are so close, and so thank goodness it ended the way it did. Quick thinking on your part as well.

Officer Josh Halsey as well as Samo, looking great after his near death experience. Thanks for being with us this morning.

HALSEY: Thank you, ma'am.

CHETRY: And still ahead, there is some new video today from the surveillance cameras at the Phoenix Airport that captures the woman who died in police custody, Carol Gotbaum, as she's being arrested by police. We'll have more of the video for you and you can see for yourself whether or not you think excessive force was used in this situation at the airport.

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ROBERTS: New video...

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two officers grabbed both arms. She just goes to the ground.

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New details. Does airport surveillance video help explain how a mother of three died in custody? Plus, her husband's frantic calls to warn police.

Fallen star, Marion Jones, admits to using steroids. Do athletes have to cheat to win? Will ask Olympic hero Carl Lewis?

Plus, outside the box, the new look that's coming to cereal. To let you know, what's inside, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ROBERTS: Good morning and welcome back. Thanks for joining us on this Friday, October 5th. I'm John Roberts.

CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry.

Brand new this morning, some new details of Carol Ann Gotbaum's final moments alive. Police releasing the video of her arrest at the Phoenix Airport before she was found dead in a holding cell and they also released transcripts of a phone call with her husband in which he says that his wife was an alcoholic and suicidal. It was a call placed about 5 minutes after her arrest.

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