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American Morning
Wisconsin Town Stunned Over Deaths Of Six in Shooting Rampage; Extreme Weather Causes Major Problems at Chicago Marathon
Aired October 08, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: An AMERICAN MORNING exclusive, what's on this accused pirate's playlist, live with the first person convicted of illegal downloading.
Plus, Tasers in the news.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hands behind your back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Police tool or weapon? A new study on the dangers and safety on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome back. Thanks very much for joining us on this Monday, October the 8th. Columbus Day. I'm John Roberts.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Kiran Chetry is off. I'm Brianna Keilar.
ROBERTS: Good to have you with us today.
KEILAR: Good to be with you, thank you.
ROBERTS: Thanks for coming up from Washington.
A community is reeling in grief after a 20-year-old off-duty police officer stormed a party and opened fire in Crandon, Wisconsin. Tyler Peterson is now accused of shooting seven people, killing six of them before police hunted him down. CNN's Susan Roesgen is in Crandon, following the story for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): This is such a small town that the high school will not have classes today because nearly every student and staff member knows the victims of this shooting.
(Voice over): In this house, at a late-night high school party, a young sheriff's deputy, barely out of high school himself, 20-year- old Tyler Peterson, shot and killed six people. Then he ran. Dozens of fellow officers hunted for him and after a few hours of searching, took him down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The subject was located by law enforcement officers. The subject is deceased and no longer a threat to the public.
ROESGEN: The police won't say what caused Deputy Peterson to become a killer, but friends of the victims say one of the dead was Peterson's ex-girlfriend. All the victims were current or former students at the high school, where he was also a graduate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the kind of scenario that I think every small town in the USA says, this could never happen here.
ROESGEN: Now, parents, like Jenny Stahl (ph), are in shock.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I haven't seen her yet. So, there's something in the back of my mind saying maybe they made a mistake, and my daughter is somewhere just hiding out waiting for everything to be safe to come out.
ROESGEN: Jenny's daughter, 14-year-old Lindsay Stahl (ph) was apparently Deputy Peterson's youngest victim.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't believe it. She's supposed to be 15 next month. She's just starting to live, and the sad thing is who killed her. You know, a cop?!
ROESGEN: A shooting that has left this small town of just 2,000 people stunned.
(On camera): The police will hold a news conference here at the high school at noon local time to give us more details so that that we can hopefully learn more what might have prompted Deputy Tyler Peterson to kill. Susan Roesgen, CNN, Crandon, Wisconsin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Extreme weather causes major problems at the Chicago marathon. Temperatures got as high as 88 degrees, creating major problems for runners. Hundreds were treated with heat-related illnesses and one runner, Chad Scheibert (ph), died after running 18 miles of the race. Scheibert was 35 years old. He was a police officer from Michigan who was running the marathon with his wife. Race organizers closed the course. Thousands of runners never got to finish, and they say there wasn't enough water and Gatorade available for such a hot day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People were saying, you need to walk, you need to walk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the hottest race I've ever run in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been hot, but if they had enough fluids out here it wouldn't have been any problem. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is probably one of the hottest marathons I've seen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My understanding is that from witnesses that the runner was running, and he fell down, and was unresponsive and didn't have a pulse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's some ill will. It was a tough decision, obviously, but given the circumstances and weather conditions I thought it was prudent for the safety and well-being of the individuals that were participating in this event.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: We'll talk with a runner who made it to mile 21 before she was told that the race was over.
Another runner died at another race, the army 10-miler in Washington, D.C. on Sunday. He was closing in on the finish, when he collapsed. Temperatures were about 70 degrees when that race started.
Reynolds Wolf is on the CNN Weather Desk. He's tracking our extreme weather. What do you have for us, Reynolds?
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: Five minutes after the hour. Other headlines new this morning, a helicopter crash involving the convoy escorting Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. It went down in northern Kashmir this morning. Crowds mobbed the scene of the crash. The chopper was one of three traveling in Musharraf's convoy, but not the one the president was riding in.
Some top Iraqi politicians are giving up on reconciliation, a key U.S. goal for the Iraqi government. Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish leaders are telling "The Washington Post" that the anger and differences between the three groups cannot be settled through negotiations. Both the U.S. and Iraqis are saying the government is paralyzed by its ethnic differences.
Reports from Myanmar today say students have been arrested for throwing rocks at government troops. The government says it has seized guns, knives and ammunition from Buddhist monasteries. Buddhist monks led the protest that sparked a brutal crackdown in Myanmar over the past couple of weeks. The U.N. Security Council is meeting today under pressure to condemn the crackdown.
A Russian newspaper report says prosecutors know who murdered an investigative journalist in a contract-style killing exactly one year ago. The killing of journalist Anna Politkovskaya drew international condemnation. She was a tireless critic of the Kremlin and President Putin. Authorities still have a lot of work to do. They still don't know who ordered the killing. And even though they identified the shooter, he is still at large -- Brianna.
KEILAR: Also, new this morning, Michael Devlin, the former pizzeria manager charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting two boys is expected to plead guilty this morning. Devlin is charged with holding one of the boys, Shawn Hornbeck for more than four years. In all, Devlin faces some 80 charges, several of which carry a life sentence.
A taxi cab jumps a curve in New York City, killing a helicopter pilot walking on the sidewalk. Sixty-year-old Paul Smith was the pilot for a local TV station. A young boy and woman were also injured. They each suffered broken bones but will be OK.
And talks pick up again this morning between Chrysler and the United Autoworkers. Word over night is that the union is adding pressure to the contract talks by threatening to strike possibly as soon as tomorrow.
A Nobel prize in medicine awarded this morning to a team that manipulated genes in mice. The process known as gene targeting has helped study diseases like cancer and diabetes. Nobel prizes for chemistry, physics, economics, literature and peace will be given out over the next week -- John.
ROBERTS: Time to check in now with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents for other stories new this morning. Hundreds of people attended the funeral service for the woman who died in police custody at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, a week ago Friday. Alina Cho has the latest now from our National Update Desk.
Good morning, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, good morning to you.
Carol Ann Gotbaum was remembered as a loving wife and mother, but also as a woman who fought and ultimately lost a battle with alcoholism. Hundreds of people, including some elected officials, gathered at her funeral in New York City yesterday.
Her husband was among those who eulogized the 45-year-old mother of three. Noah Gotbaum says his wife was ashamed of her alcohol problems and added if things had been just a little different, her life could have been saved.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her husband said, "If only one person, in that airport, had come over to help her, she'd be alive today." It is quite a comment about a busy airport, that not a single person could come and give her some aid and comfort.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: It was a week ago Friday that Gotbaum died in police custody at Phoenix airport. She was headed to alcohol rehab when she missed her connection to Tucson. By all accounts Gotbaum went into a rage, was arrested, hand cuffed and shackled. This is surveillance video that was released just last week. Police have said she may have accidentally strangled herself in a holding cell while trying to escape from the handcuffs. Her family says considering her mental state, she should have never been left alone, and this morning, a local paper, "The Arizona Republic" is reporting that mental health experts say Gotbaum's hysterics may have been driven by alcohol withdrawal. In fact, doctors say she may have been in such a frantic state, John, that she was not completely aware of her actions.
ROBERTS: Alina, any idea on when we're going to get the results of the toxicology tests, and the overall results of that autopsy?
CHO: Well, the toxicology tests are not expected for a couple of weeks, John, as you know. There were two separate autopsies, we could get those results by the end of the week.
ROBERTS: Alina Cho for us this morning.
Alina, thanks. We'll get back to you a little bit later on.
"Don't Tase me, Bro" -- it's became the buzz phrase in America when it comes to high voltage police work. The guns are controversial. Do they harm people? A new study suggests getting Tasered is not as dangerous as it might seem.
Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now from Atlanta with the details.
This is pretty substantial and significant because there have been people who have died after being Tasered.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right there have been people who have died from being Tasered. But, John, this study says there's no cause and effect linkage for many people who have died after being Tasered.
The bottom line of this study says most people who are Tasered, sure they're in pain, sure they lose muscle control, they're supposed to, but it's damaging -- but doesn't cause -- it's damaging for that particular moment, but it doesn't cause any permanent damage. And if people die, maybe it's just a coincidence.
Now we all remember Andrew Meyer. He is the student in Florida. When you were saying, "Don't Tase me, Bro", that was actually a quote from Andrew Meyer. He was at a Kerry event. You can see him here speaking and he got Tasered. When you see someone getting Tasered it looks terrible, but according to this study, 99.7 percent of the people who were Tasered did not have any terrible injuries happen to them. They said there were people who were injured from falling. There was one person who was hospitalized, but other than that, they said you can't blame the Tasers -- John.
ROBERTS: Elizabeth, who did this study? How big was it?
COHEN: Right, that's an important question, who did this study? It was done by the Department of Justice -- it was funded, rather, by the Department of Justice. And it was done by doctors who work for SWAT teams. So it's always important to know who did the study and they looked at about 1,000 cases of people being Tasered. And they said 99.7 percent of those people were perfectly fine afterwards.
ROBERTS: Well, it's still something best avoided.
COHEN: Right.
ROBERTS: Elizabeth Cohen for us this morning. Elizabeth, thanks.
Brianna.
KEILAR: A Columbus Day parade leads to 83 arrests. Those arrested were activists in the American Indian Movement. They were spilling fake blood and dismembered baby dolls on to the parade route Saturday. Some of the protesters will be charged with resisting arrest. The rest will face charges of blocking a parade route. The parade had to be delayed an hour.
Meanwhile, a rocky road for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. "Quick Hits" now, Gordon holds his monthly press conference today. He's been accused of losing his nerve over calling for an election after negative poll ratings. He's also going to brief the House of Commons later today on British troop levels in Iraq. And last week, while visiting Baghdad, Brown said 1,000 British troops would be home by year's end.
The military is seeing a big decline in black enlistees. Defense Department statistics show the number of young African-Americans enlisting has fallen by more than 58 percent since fiscal year 2000. The Army, in particular, has suffered major losses. Military analysts say the unpopular Iraq war is the biggest reason.
And a priceless painting damaged by vandals who broke into a museum in Paris. We're going to show you what they did to it.
Also, the Chicago marathon ended early due to brutal heat. We'll talk with one marathoner who made it through 21 miles, only to be forced to call it quits. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's 16 minutes after the hour now and some of the best shots in the morning, in our "Quick Hits".
Police are trying to figure out how this car flipped over and crashed into a house in Saugus, Massachusetts. The driver was pinned inside the car. She was treated and released from the hospital. The woman who was inside the house, though, sleeping at the time s in serious condition.
A massive fire destroys a school in East St. Louis. The fire burned for more than three hours before firefighters finally got it under control. No word on what caused the fire. An emotional tribute to fallen firefighters. President Bush hugs Teresa Curtis, whose boyfriend died while battling a fire in Dennison, Texas. The ceremony at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Emmitsburg, Maryland, honored 87 fire fighters who died in the line of duty last year -- Brianna.
KEILAR: It was the hottest Chicago marathon on record. And a Michigan man died after collapsing, and dozens of others ended up in the hospital with heat-related ailments. For first time in its history, they closed the course while runners were still out.
After training for months, thousands of runners never crossed the finish line. And that includes first-time marathoner Arzu Karimova. She's joining us now live, from the race finish line, in Chicago.
And, Arzu, obviously, this is a terrible story. Many people injured, a man lost his life. I want to ask you first -- you got to mile 21, just tell us how you're feeling today. You must have been terribly disappointed yesterday.
ARZU KARIMOVA, FORCED TO QUITE CHICAGO MARATHON: Oh, I can't even describe how disappointed I am. Yesterday was hard, but we pushed it to 21. You know, water supply and Gatorade was not enough and because they knew it was going to be hot day, they should have put in a like a closer distance, a mile and a half.
KEILAR: So I know there has been -- so, obviously there was some criticism maybe there wasn't enough water. But what you're saying is the water stations were too far apart. That people were going too long distances before they could get fluids, is that what you're saying?
KARIMOVA: Yes, that's what I am saying. Also, like I ran a little bit faster than some of my friends, who were running like 15- minute miles. They say there was nobody at the water station and nothing was there, for the people who were coming after me.
KEILAR: So, there just weren't enough fluids there, your friends said.
Describe for us the scene. Because I know that when you are on -- or close to mile 18, you saw someone who was seizing, having a seizure, is that right?
KARIMOVA: Yes, I saw a couple of people had a seizure and a few people fell down on the ground. After I saw them I said OK, I'm not going to finish the marathon in 4 hours, 15 minutes, I'll push for 5 hours, or 5:15. I slowed down because of it.
Another thing that was amazing to me, there wasn't enough medical assistants on the roads. And there was no ice. Like they knew it was going to be hot, they should have ice, the individual people were handing out ice, than giving water to people. I think it wasn't well- organized.
KEILAR: Did you know that this was an unusual circumstance? Did it stand out to you? You're obviously a first-time marathoner. But did you know something strange was going on?
KARIMOVA: Based on my own personal experience I generally run 1:9:30, but I couldn't keep it up with that pace. So I had to lower it down, but then I saw some people walking like after five miles people started walking, which I thought was weird. I'm like am I so disciplined or is everybody so weak? So people were like -- it was like unbelievable.
KEILAR: I'm sure it was, just an amazing scene. We've seen the pictures. It just looks terrible, a terrible experience for a lot of people there. Arzu Karimova, first-time marathoner, thanks so much for joining us. We know you'll try to run three marathons in the next couple of years before you turn 30, and we know you're going to stick to that. Good luck with your efforts there.
KARIMOVA: Thank you.
ROBERTS: It's 19 minutes after the hour. Protection for British clergy, that tops your "Quick Hits". A church safety group in Britain says the stiff white collars worn by clergyman could make them targets. And they should remove them while off-duty. National Church Watch says that clergy are often targeted by criminals who think they have money. A recent University of London study found that seven in 10 clergy experience some form of violence.
Police in Sweden are investigating an online assault on Swedish websites by computer hackers in Turkey. More than 5,000 sites have been targeted in just the past week. At least some of the sabotage appears to be linked to Muslim anger over a Swedish newspaper drawing that depicted the prophet Mohammad's head on a dog's body.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(BUILDING IMPLOSION)
ROBERTS: Taking the fall for progress. Why this 10-story garage was demolished, and what's taking its place.
Plus a shocking twist after two firefighters die in the line of duty. Autopsies find drugs and alcohol in their system, the shock and the fight to keep the details silent, that's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Coming up to 24 minutes after the hour now. Stephanie Elam in Ali Velshi this morning, "Minding Your Business". If you thought that CEO pay had come down out of the stratosphere, because of all of the controversy, ha, think again.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Not at all, John and Brianna.
Taking a look at executives' pay, come on, it's one of our favorite things to talk about. Looking at how much they earn. Looks like according to a study that "The Financial Times" had done, by Salary.com, we can see that they're still making a lot. In fact, some of the CEOs are making 10 times as much as their number twos, the next tier of executives. That's a lot.
Let's look here at this graphic. You can see the top at Sallie Mae, Thomas Fitzpatrick, his total compensation, $16.2 million. His number two, June McCormick, $1.58 million, so that is 10.25 pr more.
Hershey, you're looking at the same story, Richard Linney --
ROBERTS: Wait, wait, 10.25 percent more?
ELAM: Ten times more, I'm sorry. That's how much we're looking at, they're making 10 times more than what the other person is making.
Hershey seven times more, Black & Decker, you can see, right there, five times and Halliburton four times. If you look at the average compensation of an S&P CEO, it's actually about two times more. There is a huge range, about 30 companies, there are some of the times between four and seven times more that these CEOs were making than just their number two. We're not talking about like way down the stream somewhere.
So, obviously, the SEC is looking to find a little more clarity here, and find out where there is a huge gap in CEO pay and if it really does any justice for the companies.
I mean, investors are saying does this mean we're driving away talented young executives? Does it mean the CEO has too much power? What does this mean for my dollar when I invest in a company?
KEILAR: And in the case of Sallie Mae it makes it a very difficult pill to swallow for students and parents who might borrowing money for students loans.
ELAM: Right.
KEILAR: Especially.
ELAM: And just -- any way that they spend money, and the executives on top of it, think about the things that they don't pay for anyway. Right? At the top of a company, you're getting away with a lot there. So, obviously, people looking for more clarity on how they're doing things, at these publicly traded companies, anyway.
ROBERTS: Stephanie, thanks for that. As we toddle off this morning to our subsidized cafeteria.
ELAM: Right.
(CROSS TALK)
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: Eggs this morning, thanks.
Don Imus may soon be returning to the air waves. Reports this morning indicate that Imus is close to a deal with Citadel Broadcasting, which means he could be back on the air by December. Imus was fired in April, you remember, by CBS Radio and MSNBC following his racially charged remarks about the Rutger's women's basketball team.
KEILAR: So we want to know what you think. Should Don Imus be given a second chance? You can cast your vote at cnn.com/am. Right now 80 percent say yes; 20 percent say no. And that's kind of surprising, but maybe it just shows a vocal minority in people who were targeting Don Imus, I suppose.
ROBERTS: Earlier it was said that he was radioactive. Obviously, there seems to be a half life, about six months.
KEILAR: Yes, definitely.
ROBERTS: Hey, a look at a story coming up in our next half hour now that you just can't miss, she is going to have to pay big time for illegally downloading songs off of the Internet.
KEILAR: What songs did she share? Here's one of her favorites.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
AEROSMITH, "CRYIN": Crying when I met you, now I'm dying to forget you ...
(END AUDIO CLIP)
ROBERTS: She's probably crying, too, after that court judgment; $220,000 she has to pay for downloading or sharing 24 songs. We've got an AMERICAN MORNING exclusive. We'll speak with the woman at the center of this case.
KEILAR: Yes, is this the first of many online music pirating cases? Those stories ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: It's Monday, October 8th. Columbus Day. Kiran Chetry is off. I'm Brianna Keilar.
ROBERTS: And good morning to you. I'm John Roberts.
Schools are closed this morning in Crandon, Wisconsin. The small town is grieving over the deaths of six young people gunned down by an off duty police officer.
Police say the accused gunman, 20-year-old Tyler Peterson, stormed into a house early Sunday morning and opened fire. The six victims were having a homecoming weekend pizza and movie party. Three of them were students at the local high school; three of them had just graduated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My thoughts and prayers are with them, and, but everyone is thinking about them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope no community has to go through what Crandon is going through right now and I really hope that the people that have passed away are in a better place now.
ROBERTS: The seventh shooting victim is in critical condition in the hospital. The suspect, Tyler Peterson, was killed several hours later by a police sniper.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: 88-degree heat and sweltering humidity is being blamed on a marathon meltdown in Chicago. One competitor died, hundreds of others were treated for heat-related illnesses. This morning, "Chicago Sun Times" said the runner who died is 35-year-old Chad Scheibert. He is a veteran police officer and father of three from Midland, Michigan. He collapsed while running ahead of his wife, near the 17-mile mark and just could not be revived. Runners are accusing organizers of failing to supply enough water and sports drinks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People are saying you need to walk, you need to walk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the hottest race I've ever run in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been hot but if they had enough booths out here it wouldn't have been any problem.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is probably one of the hottest marathons that I've seen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My understanding is from witnesses that the runner was running and he fell down and was unresponsive and didn't have a pulse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's some ill will but it was a tough decision but given the circumstances and the weather conditions, I thought it was prudent for the safety and well being of the individuals participating in this event.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The race was cut short after about three hours. Thousands of runners were not allowed to finish after being out on the course for four hours.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN, ANCHOR: Britain's Prince William is mourning the death of his friend and former platoon leader, killed in Afghanistan. Major Alexis Roberts was killed Thursday by a roadside bomb. The prince trained under him at Sandhurst, the elite military academy.
The jury is taking a field trip to Paris today to see firsthand the tunnel where Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed died. The jury for the British coroner will also try to answer whether Diana and Fayed were going to announce their engagement the next day.
And French police are looking for the vandals who went after a priceless Monet painting at the Museum d'Orsay in Paris. A surveillance camera captured the vandals and the alarm scared them away, but not before they punched a four-inch hole in the masterpiece, Le Pont d'Argenteuil. It happened during an all night festival in Paris. French officials think the intruders were likely drunk.
ROBERTS: One half of the American League championships is all set. The Boston Red Sox await their archrivals, the New York Yankees, or the Cleveland Indians. David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez had back-to- back homers to power the Sox past the Los Angeles Angels.
For their part, the Yankees held on against the Indians. Johnny Damon hit a three-run homer to give the Yanks the lead in the game but the Yankees still need to win the next two games to advance to the American League championship. They've got to make it three in a row or they're out.
KEILAR: They sure do. A spectacular demolition in downtown Baltimore. Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four, three, two, one, fire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Dozens of folks watched Mercy Hospital's parking garage come down in a matter of seconds yesterday. It was knocked down to make room for a new 18-floor patient tower. This is a project that's expected to cost $400 million.
And an explosion at a foundry in Tacoma, Washington. Check this out. Some amazing video sent in to us by an i-Reporter. There a propane tanker bursting into flames that set off this series of explosions. Officials say they don't know what caused the tanker to explode. The driver of this truck is in critical condition, and an electrical substation was damaged in the blast, knocking out power to 13,000 homes, almost all of those homes have their power back. And if you witness anything like this, you want to see it and we want to show it to our viewers. Send us your i-Reports by going to CNN.com/ireport but remember, stay safe. We certainly don't want you in any danger.
ROBERTS: An update now on a story we told you about last week. The mayor of Jena, Louisiana, is upset about a new song by John Mellencamp called "Jena."
(MUSIC SONG): Whoa, Jena...
ROBERTS: The video shows footage from the 1960s of civil rights marches and police beatings. Mayor Murphy McMillan called it so inflammatory, "so defamatory."
One 10-year-old boy tried to take the bus literally. The boy stole a bus from a bus yard in Arkansas and led police on a chase for nearly 40 miles before they spiked the tires and finally got him out. At first police did not know that they were chasing a 10-year-old. Brianna.
KEILAR: "Quick Hits" now. A federal grand jury in Utah has charged two men with unlawfully attempting to export parts for American-built F-14 Tomcat fighter jets, which the U.S. Navy retired in 2006. The only other country to fly the F-14 is Iran. And Iran says it welcomes President Bush's call for high level talks between the two countries but refuses to suspend its nuclear program as a condition for those talks. The U.S. and other western countries have voiced concern over Iran's uranium enrichment program saying it's aimed at producing nuclear weapons. Tehran, of course, rejects that claim.
And she took on the record industry, the recording industry. She was ordered to pay $220,000 because of it. We're going to talk to the woman who got hit with that huge bill for downloading music.
And two firefighters died doing their jobs, but autopsy reports are raising some important questions about them, and other firefighters on the job. Stay tuned. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning here on CNN. Damage from the California landslide tops your "Quick Hits" now. Last week's landslide in San Diego, just outside of San Diego, in La Jolla, did about $48 million in damage, $26 million for broken sewers and water mains and another $22 million of damage to private property.
And a typhoon kills five people in Taiwan. The heavy rains caused the evacuation of 1.4 million people on Mainland China and a separate storm killed 55 people in Vietnam.
2007 has been a relatively moderate hurricane season but when it picks up, perhaps next year or the year after, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will have a brand new tool at its arsenal, an unmanned aerial drone which can fly directly into the eye of the storm. It should help researchers learn more about what fuels hurricanes.
Coming up to 40 minutes after the hour, Reynolds Wolf in for Rob Marciano at the CNN weather desk. It's going to be a pretty handy tool for forecasters in the future, won't it?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Oh, no question about it. I mean, the more information we can get about these tremendous storms the better. The more you know, more informed we are, the better we can really determine those storms, and remember, the season ends November 30. So, we got a lot of time left in the tropics. And speaking of the tropics and speaking of warm conditions, we've had a lot of tropical air that's making its way through the eastern third of the country.
And look at the highs yesterday, Chicago getting up to 87 degrees. 91 in Columbus, which was not only a record just yesterday, it was a record for the month of October. Also record highs in Cincinnati, Dayton, Green Bay, Wisconsin, too, for that matter. And we're going to see a lot of warm air drift a little bit more to the east in places like Detroit, maybe into Cleveland, southward into parts of the bluegrass region of Kentucky. Some temperatures are going to be some 10 to 20, even 30 degrees above normal. The reason for this is because of the big sprawling ridge of high pressure that has been building over the eastern third of the U.S. but we have a bit of a dividing line, a frontal boundary that is just easing its way from Minneapolis southward into the Dallas, Fort Worth area.
And as that boundary just pushes its way more to the east, it's going to interact with that warm air. So you got cold air on one side, and warm on the other and this is the going to be the result. Heavy showers, some thunderstorms, maybe a little bit of street flooding in spots near Kansas City. You got one batch of showers coming through. A little bit of a break right here, some dry air coming in. That's going to give you maybe some 20, 30 minutes of a little bit of a reprieve. But then, here comes the second shot near Wichita that's going to come through, as where you could have big puddles on the roadways, especially along i-70 and i-35. Be careful this morning.
Meanwhile, we are still watching possibilities and development in the Caribbean. Got some hot spots to watch not far from Cancun, some also in the Caribbean, something we'll monitor throughout much of the day. That's a look at your forecast. Let's send it right back to you guys at the news desk.
ROBERTS: Reynolds, thanks very much. Will see you soon. Brianna.
WOLF: You bet.
KEILAR: The city of Boston is grieving this morning and there are questions about what the public has the right to know about its public servants. Autopsies show two firefighters who died in the line of duty in August had drugs and alcohol in their systems. Here's CNN's Dan Lothian.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN, BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): (inaudible) year-old Warren Payne and 55-year-old Paul Cahill died while battling this fast-moving restaurant fire in August. Both veteran Boston firefighters were hailed as heroes, honored at their funerals by brothers and sisters from departments across the country. Now, their reputations are being tarnished and their death benefits are in question, after allegations that both men may have been impaired when they responded to the blaze.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Paul Cahill had a high level of alcohol in his system that night.
LOTHIAN: But this story gets even more complicated. The firefighters' union angered that someone had leaked private autopsy reports to CNN affiliate, WHDH, went to court to block the station from airing the details.
EDWARD KELLY, BOSTON FIREFIGHTERS UNION: The reckless and illegal release of confidential information has placed an undeserved emotional trauma on the Cahill and the Payne families.
LOTHIAN: The judge ruled in the union's favor, but the next day, local newspapers, unaffected by the ban, ran with the story and reported even more details. It was explosive. The "Boston Globe" and Boston Herald said Cahill's blood alcohol level was 0.27, more than three times the legal limit and that Payne had traces of cocaine in his system. So, why were these public servants allowed to be on the job and who, if anyone, was aware of any potential problems? Cahill's brother says don't jump to any conclusions.
JIM CAHILL, FIREFIGHTER'S BROTHER: I still believe that there's been a mistake made.
LOTHIAN: But already, Boston Mayor Tom Menino is pushing for answers.
TOM MENINO, MAYOR, BOSTON: I will honor a stern look at the procedures and practices of our fire department.
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LOTHIAN: The Boston firefighters union is demanding a criminal investigation into the leaking of autopsy results, which, under state law, are private, and this case has brought new attention to an old debate in the city, whether mandatory random drug and alcohol testing for firefighters should be required. Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.
ROBERTS: Quick check of the top stories of the morning for you now. Chicago marathon organizers under fire after a runner drops dead in the heat and hundreds are forced to quit. Thousands more never got to finish the race when they closed the course after about three hours.
Schools are closed this morning in Crandon, Wisconsin. Police say a 20-year-old off-duty police officer is accused of opening fire at a party. Six young people were killed, another critically wounded. The officer, Tyler Peterson, was later killed by police.
Guilty pleas expected this morning from Michael Devlin. He is the former pizzeria manager charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting two young boys. Devlin is charged with holding one of the boys, Shaun Hornbeck, for more than four years.
This morning in Iraq, the prime minister says Blackwater security guards committed "deliberate murder" and should be put on trial. Iraq's investigation of the shootout on September the 16th in Baghdad now raises the number of people killed to 17. The Iraqis dispute the private contractor's story that it came under attack before firing. The State Department and the FBI are still investigating.
And talks pick up again this morning between Chrysler and the United Autoworkers. Word overnight that the union is adding pressure to the contract talks by threatening to strike, possibly as soon as tomorrow. Brianna.
KEILAR: And no small problem for Nintendo, possibly a national emergency in your "Quick Hits" now. The company warns to expect shortages of its Wii game system again this holiday season. 5 million of the consoles have sold in the U.S. and just last month, the Wii passed Microsoft's X-box as the most popular game system.
And a new shopping cart that can steer you away from junk food, this is the so called intelligent cart that reads labels and can trigger alarms to warn of foods high in fat, sugar or salt. You do though have to scan the bar code on each item so you could always sneak those Twinkies in the cart and it would never know.
Meanwhile, Iowa is a key test state for democrats. New poll numbers are out, and the political world is buzzing. Where do Hillary Clinton and her competitors stand? We're going to tell you.
Also, what's one music download worth to you? How about $9,166? We're going to tell you why this cost one woman big time, that's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: Coming up now to 49 minutes after the hour. If you think that $10 is too much to pay for an album on iTunes, how about $220,000? That's what a Minnesota single mom is ordered to pay after losing a record industry court battle for illegally sharing 24 songs online. Jammie Thomas joins us now live from Minneapolis with her attorney, Brian Toder. Jammie, $220,000 judgment here, $9,000 per song. That had to be quite a shock when the jury came down with that amount.
JAMMIE THOMAS, FINED $220,000FOR SHARING 24 SONGS: I was actually pretty devastated when I heard the amount. I don't know anybody out there who wouldn't be devastated, being told you have to pay $220,000 for something you didn't do.
ROBERTS: Now, the Recording Industry Association of America had offered an out of court settlement to you, pay several thousand dollars, I think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of $5,000. You decided to take this to court to court, why?
THOMAS: Because I didn't do this and I was not going to be bullied by the RIAA or anyone else.
ROBERTS: You say you didn't do this.
THOMAS: No.
ROBERTS: They say they have evidence that you did. I mean, what did you do?
THOMAS: They have evidence that the IP address that was assigned to me by my ISP was used, and they have evidence that that ISP was on the kazaa network, using a user name that I've publicly used for the last 13 years. ROBERTS: Right, now, that user name is terrea star. You also use that for e-mail, online shopping. You got a myspace profile, some internet dating as well. Are you saying that somebody stole that identity?
THOMAS: Yes, they did.
ROBERTS: All right. Now, you have all the songs that were allegedly shared, you have on CDs. Have you ever uploaded those CDs onto your hard drive on your computer?
THOMAS: I have ripped approximately 90 percent of my CDs onto my computer. I have roughly 240 CDs, and 90 percent of them are on my computer right now.
ROBERTS: And what program are you using on your computer to handle your music?
THOMAS: Windows media player. It's the standard program that came with my computer.
ROBERTS: So you say you never had a Kazaa account? You never got anywhere close to file sharing on the internet?
THOMAS: I've never used any file sharing except for Napster. I used Napster in college to do a business study and that's the only file sharing I've ever used.
ROBERTS: So, let me ask your attorney. Mr. Toder, what are you going to do now? You've got this judgment against you, $220,000. Are you going to continue to fight or does she have to pay?
BRIAN TODER, THOMAS' ATTORNEY: Well, the record companies are pretty giddy because what they see is a victory. Really they've opened the door to an appeal that may stop this whole machine dead in its tracks. There was an issue as to whether or not simply offering these recordings was in and of itself an infringement, versus an actual sharing, and that issue has never been squarely addressed by a court of appeals, and we certainly plan to do something about that, and if we prevail on that, this whole harvesting that they do client by client is gone.
ROBERTS: Well the jury thought that the prosecutor had you dead to rights but I guess, you know, the legal system offers you an avenue to appeal. We'll say good luck to you as you head down that road. Jammie Thomas, Brian Toder, thanks you for being with us this morning.
THOMAS: Thank you.
TODER: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Brianna.
KEILAR: 52 minutes after the hour. Some top stories on today's political ticker. Senator Hillary Clinton is campaigning in Iowa again today. While the latest "Des Moines Register" poll has her pulling ahead, we've got Senator Clinton at 29 percent, John Edwards at 23 percent, Senator Barack Obama at 22 percent.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is saying her side of Congress is less than 20 votes short of overriding the president's veto on the children's health program. She's trying to get 14 Republicans to vote with her and the democrats. The senate already has enough votes to override the veto.
And Senator Larry Craig is up for a spot on Idaho's hall of fame. The Hall of Fame made the selection well before Craig got caught in a men's room sex sting. Some state officials are saying it might be more appropriate to delay Craig's induction for a few years.
You can find all of the day's political news all day long at cnn.com/ticker.
ROBERTS: Don Imus may soon be returning to the airwaves. Reports this morning indicate that Imus is close to inking a deal with Citadel Broadcasting, which means that he could be back on the air by December. Imus as you'll remember was fired in April by CBS Radio and MSNBC following his racially charged remarks about the Rutger's women's basketball team.
So we want to know what you think, should Don Imus be given a second chance? America is the land of second chances, after all. Cast your vote at cnn.com/am. Right now, here it is, 83 percent of you say yes, he should have a second chance, only 17 percent say no.
Lindsay Lohan is out of rehab again. Lohan reportedly checked out of the exclusive Cirque Lodge Treatment Center in Utah on Friday. It was Lohan's third stint in rehab this year. This one brought on by a plea deal related to a drunken driving and cocaine charge.
Your morning cup of Jo, why more and more young adults are drinking coffee on the go, that's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: Coming up two minutes to the top of the hour. Stephanie Elam in this morning for Ali Velshi in "Minding Your Business." It might be good to the last drop but young people are not buying the concept.
STEPHANIE ELAM, "MINDING YOUR BUSINESS:" Not buying the concept. So, here's the question, do either of you drink coffee?
ROBERTS: Are you kidding?
KEILAR: Only very, very early in the morning. If it's 3:00 a.m., I'll drink it. So this morning, I did.
ELAM: You're having coffee.
KEILAR: But normally, I'm a tea drinker.
KEILAR: OK. So, well, it's kind of going along the point because I don't drink coffee and a lot of my peers don't drink it either. But that's very different in what we're seeing here is a trend away from the supermarket brands of coffee, ala Folger's and the Maxwell House. Their sales are on the decline because younger adults prefer to get their coffee on the go. They want to get it at a retail place like Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts. They want it quick and if they make it at home they tend to buy the beans and grind it up themselves.
So, let's look at some of the age differences. We got a little graph to break them down. This is according to the National Coffee Association. They're saying people between the ages of 18 to 24 drink, 37 percent of them are coffee drinkers. Between 25 and 39, 44 percent. You see how it's going up here as we go up the rage range, too. Between 40 and 59, 61 percent. People over 60, 74 percent of them drink coffee and that's directly affecting sales. Now, before you feel really sad for brand like Maxwell House, Kraft says it is one of seven of their brands that actually makes more than $1 billion a year. While their sales are trending down, they're still making a lot of money.
KEILAR: They're not hurting.
ELAM: No.
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