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American Morning
Deadly Superbug; Housing Crisis; Gauging The Truth; Minding Your Business
Aired October 17, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Drug resistant superbug.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't feel safe at all going back in there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Staph infection moves out of the hospital and into schools. One student dead and more cases than ever before.
Plus, caught on tape. A life and death struggle over a rifle at KFC. The robber pulls the trigger and the worker fights back on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And good morning. Thanks very much for joining us on this Wednesday, the 17th of October. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us.
A 17-year-old high school senior is dead, apparently killed by a drug-resistant superbug that federal officials are now calling a major public health problem. Today all 22 schools in Bedford County, Virginia, are closed. They're closed for a thorough cleaning. Doctors say that Ashton Bonds, a former football player at Staunton River High School in Virginia, died Monday from a staff infection that then spread to his kidneys, liver, lungs and muscles around his heart. His classmates organized a protest and they took the superintendent on a tour to show him just how exposed they feel, demanding that officials clean house before they go back to class.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're just trying to find answers. We want to know what's going to be done about cleaning up the school.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't feel safe at all going back in there.
Not only to remember Ashton, but get it through to the administration and all that we don't want another one of our friends or another one of our classmates gone because of them not doing anything and we want something done about this.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CHETRY: This situation in Bedford County came the same day that the CDC released a new report showing that this kind of drug-resistant staph infection called MRSA is more widespread than previously thought. That infections could affect as many as 90,000 people each year.
CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is at the medical update desk with more on what we need to know.
And, Sanjay, you know, we've heard about this for years at places like hospitals. But at high schools, is that something new?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is relatively new. And we're going to have much more on that CDC report as well coming up, Kiran.
When you think of MRSA, which means Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus. So this is a bacteria that has become resistant to a big class of antibiotics. They simply don't work any more.
You think about those typically being found in hospitals where antibiotics are used a lot. But slowly over time, Kiran, it has found its way into the communities. So it's gone from hospitals into the community. In fact, they have a name for that. It's now called community-acquired MRSA. And that's exactly what we're talking about here.
He was the third high school student, as you mentioned. What happens with this particular infection, it can spread throughout your body. As you mentioned, the kidneys, the lungs, and that's when people get into trouble. That's when it can get into real problems in terms of overall infection.
There were two other high school students there who actually were able to return to school. So you can sort of get a sense of the random nature of this.
This particular organism, Kiran, it's called staphylococcus. It's on your skin right now. When it becomes a problem, though, is when it becomes resistant to these antibiotics and you have few options in terms of being able to treat it..
CHETRY: Now do you have to have a compromised immune system or, you know, is there something about a person that would determine whether or not they catch it versus the other, you know, several hundred high school students or is it very random?
GUPTA: It's a great question because, for the most part, it used to be sort of relegated to people with weakened immune systems. They just couldn't fight the organism, where as a healthy immune system could. A couple of things have happened. One is that it's become, you know, it's become more ubiquitous. So more people are sort of exposed to it. And number two, because the antibiotics don't seem to work, even people with normal immune systems can be very hurt by this if they don't treat it in time. There are antibiotics that are further generation of antibiotics that could potentially be used. But if you don't catch it in time, it sort of spreads throughout the system, several organs and then it becomes very difficult to treat.
CHETRY: All right. Sanjay, we're going to be talking about this throughout the morning. Thanks for joining us.
GUPTA: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Three minutes now after the hour and a startling warning about the nation's housing crisis. The secretary of the Treasury says we have yet to hit the bottom and he called it the most significant risk facing the economy. Our Ali Velshi at the business update desk with more on this.
This is not good news, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, John.
And, in fact, Henry Paulson said this yesterday morning and then this morning we have a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association, which tracks mortgages, with some forecasts about how bad it's going to get. They say that house price in the United States, the median house price, will drop about 2 percent to 4 percent this year and another 2 percent to 4 percent next year.
They also say that seven states are going to be the hardest hit. They are, John, the states that we know of, California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada. States where there had been big raises in house prices because of speculation. And then other states like Ohio, Michigan and Illinois, which are suffering because of job losses and depressed home prices as a result of that.
They also say that if you are the kind of person who's applying for a conforming loan, that is less than $417,000, and want a 30-year fixed mortgage, you should still be OK if you've got good credit. They're expecting that mortgage rates will be in the 6.4 percent to 6.6 percent rate for that type of mortgage. And that's not a big increase over where we are now.
In terms of time lines we're looking at a housing crisis, as they call it, that doesn't really end until 2009. And you'll remember, John, yesterday we heard from Ben Bernanke who said maybe 2008. So now we're trying to figure out -- all indications is that this will end. Does it end in 2008 or does it go into 2009? Remember, if you don't have a house to sell and you're OK on the credit front, you're probably OK. If you're trying to sell a house or you're moving from a bad market to a strong market, that's where you're going to get hit.
John.
ROBERTS: All right. Ali Velshi for us this morning.
Ali, thanks. We'll see you soon with some other business news.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, there are some other headlines new this morning.
And a warning about a potential cyber attack that could cut power to a major portion of this country for months. The threat is real enough that a House subcommittee is now holding a hearing on it today. Our own Jeanne Meserve broke this story about the operation known as Aurora (ph). It showed that hackers could actually blow up part of an electric grid not even being there but being a few -- with just a few clicks on their computer in a different location. Lawmakers will be looking at her report as part of the investigation and also hear a frightening assessment of the economic impact.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT JAMISON, ACTING UNDERSECRETARY, DHS: What's new here is that, through a cyber attack, you can actually get in and cause physical damage to equipment. That's the new piece of this.
SCOTT BORG, U.S. CYBER CONSEQUENCES UNIT: It's equivalent to 40 to 50 large hurricanes striking all at once. It's greater economic damage than any modern economy has ever suffered.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Homeland Security agents say they've been working with the electric industry to devise a way to prevent such an attack.
Well, it looks like lawmakers are backing away from the Armenia genocide resolution that caused such an uproar in Turkey. "The New York Times" reporting that up to a dozen lawmakers are now reportedly dropping their support for it. Both Democrats and Republicans are concerned that the resolution alienates Turkey and could affect Turkey's willingness to cooperate with the U.S. and the war in Iraq.
President Bush is going to go ahead with plans to honor the Dalai Lama today, despite some fierce objections from China. The president expected to speak during a ceremony this afternoon awarding the Dalai Lama the Congressional Gold Medal. The Dalai Lama fled to India after an uprising against the Chinese more than 40 years ago. China considers him an enemy for supporting freedom for the people of Tibet. He won the Nobel Peace Prize back in 1989.
ROBERTS: Two political headlines new this morning.
Democrat Niki Tsongas, the widow of one-time presidential candidate Paul Tsongas, held off Republican Jim Ogonowski in a special election last night. Even with the help of Democratic superstars like Bill Clinton and Edward Kennedy, though, Tsongas had a tough fight in a district that Democrats have dominated for more than 30 years. Republicans saying today it could be a sign of trouble ahead for the Democrats in 2008.
Happy new year time. Dukakis (ph). The Iowa Republicans have picked January 3rd as the date that they will caucus for president. The date moves up from January the 14th. They moved it up after Florida and Michigan moved their contests up so that the Iowas would be the first caucus in the nation.
Do you see any resemblance here? Because it turns out that Dick Cheney and Barack Obama could actually be related. The vice president's wife, Lynne, says she discovered that her husband and Obama are eighth cousins linked by a common ancestor from the mid 17th century. She said that she discovered the link while researching her latest book.
Encouraging news this morning for Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett. You'll recall that he suffered a potentially life threatening spinal cord injury in the Bill's season opening game. Everett's agent now says he is moving his legs and is now able to stand upright with the help of a specialized walker. Doctors are optimistic that Everett will eventually be able to walk on his own.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, a real threat of extreme weather today. Tornados possibly a threat for many parts of the country. Rob Marciano tracking it for us from the weather update desk.
Good morning, Rob.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: It's almost 10 minutes after the hour now.
As if there aren't already enough presidential candidates in the race, last night we got another one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN COLBERT, "THE COLBERT REPORT": Nation, I shall seek the office of the president of the United States!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Comedy Central Stephen Colbert made the announcement on his show last night. He is running as a favorite son, reaching out to South Carolina, his home state. No word yet on a potential running mate, although Colbert did tossed out a couple of options, like fellow presidential contender Mike Huckabee and Russian President Vladimir Putin. After all, he's not going to be able to run for president again, though he may run for prime minister.
CHETRY: I wonder how he decided which talk show to announce it on?
ROBERTS: It's a difficult decision for him to make, no question about that. But I think he chose the right one.
CHETRY: Well, he talked about the possibility of a third party candidate jumping into the race. There's Colbert.
ROBERTS: I don't think that's what they were talking about though. A speeding train slams into a car parked on the tracks. The driver saved in the nick of time thanks to one cool-headed police officer. Unbelievable video. You can hear the train a coming. Boom, there it is.
Democrats and the president fighting over the future of the children's health care program. What do the '08 candidates say about it? We'll run their statements through the truth-o-meter next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back. Some of the most compelling shots of the morning to show you now.
Police say it was a blinding sandstorm that caused a deadly pile- up in southern California. In fact, two people were killed in it. It happened north of Los Angeles. Sixteen other people were hurt.
Here's a look at what's left of what was a brothel in Bolivia. Protesters emptied the building and then set fire to furniture and mattresses. They say it was over fears for their security.
Rocky Mountain high. May a little bit ,higher in fact. It's a group of rocks on Mars and they're being named after some peaks in Colorado. Here's a look at them from the Mars Rover. This is as the robotic arm actually swooped in for a closer look.
John.
ROBERTS: Hillary Clinton pulls ahead this morning and is carrying a 30, that is right, 30 percent lead over Barack Obama. It's from a new nationwide CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll. And here are the numbers. Hillary Clinton, look at that, up about 50 percent, 51 percent, compared to Barack Obama at 21 percent. John Edwards well back at 15 percent.
On the Republican side, Rudy Giuliani still leading at 27 percent. Fred Thompson, take a look at this, he's dropped nine points since the last time that we polled, 19 percent. McCain follows with 17 percent. Romney back in fourth place with 13 percent. Though Romney's still leading in the primary states.
The House is going to vote tomorrow on whether to override President Bush's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP as it's known. So what have the '08 candidates been saying about SCHIP? And has what they've been saying -- really does what they've been saying actually, you know, pass the truth-o-meter test? Bill Adair is the Washington bureau chief of "The St. Petersburg Times." He's also editor of politifact.com. We turn to him for the truth in the campaign as we try to keep our politicians honest. And Bill joins us now from Washington.
Bill, good to see you.
BILL ADAIR, "ST. PETERSBURG TIMES": Good morning, John. ROBERTS: On the topic of health care, let's run our first statement through the truth-o-meter. At the Dearborn debate in Michigan on October the 9th, John McCain said, and this is talking about president bush, "another one he should veto is the SCHIP program, which he should say, 'take the c out of, because now it's for everybody, like every other entitlement program."
Where did that one land on the truth-o-meter?
ADAIR: False. We gave that one a false because of the word "everybody." There's just no way that you can read the bill and come to the conclusion that everybody would be covered. If we were, none of us would have to have health insurance.
ROBERTS: Right. Is this a bit of -- you know, was it a slip of the tongue on his part or was he playing a semantic game, do you think?
ADAIR: Well, I think what you're seeing here is a real effort to appeal to the base in the Republican base on McCain's side. And the same thing with the children's health comments by the Democrats. They're trying to appeal to their base voters who are most likely to vote in the primaries.
ROBERTS: All right. Now Hillary also mentioned health care for children, though she didn't mention SCHIP by name. And, of course, health care a big pillar of her campaign. Here's what one of her campaign ads said about her support of health care. And then let's run that through the truth-o-meter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary stood up for universal health care when almost no one else would and kept standing until 6 million kids had coverage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Bill, where does that one fall on the truth-o-meter?
ADAIR: We gave that one a half true. We thought it was an exaggeration for her to say that she stood up when almost no one else would. We found there was plenty of support back in 1992 for universal health care and by the other candidates who ran against Bill Clinton. And then once he got elected by Democrats in Congress, although it obviously was not enough support to pass the bill. So we gave it a half true.
ROBERTS: And on this idea of she stood up until 6 million children had health insurance, that's the SCHIP program that she's referring to, which was passed by a Republican Congress in 1997.
ADAIR: Well, and although she does deserve credit for pushing that vigorously when she was first lady, and it's one of the outgrowth that came out of her health care plan, but in terms of the specific claim about standing up for universal health care when almost no one else would, we thought that was a stretch.
ROBERTS: All right. On to the John Edwards campaign. Joe Trippi, senior campaign advisor, on September the 20th said, "John Edwards never has ever, from the beginning of his political career, has never taken PAC money, (Political Action Committee money), or the money of Washington lobbyists. Ever."
Where did that one come down on the truth-o-meter?
ADAIR: Half true. We felt, and this was similar to one that we had with Barack Obama a month or so ago where he's made a similar claim. And there are some expectations here in that although the Edwards campaign goes to great lengths to return money from registered lobbyists, money from the Washington influence business and from firms that do extensive lobbying can still get to Senator Edwards, as it can get to Senator Obama. So we gave him a half truth.
ROBERTS: Yes, we should point out, we have the wrong graphic up for the truth-o-meter up there. It said mostly true. It should have read half true.
Final one this morning for you, Bill. Americans for tax reform have been asking Republican candidates for a number of years now to sign a pledge that they will not raise taxes. Mitt Romney on Tuesday said, I am "proud to be the only major candidate for president to sign the tax pledge. The others have not."
Where does that one come in?
ADAIR: We debated hard on that one. Gave it a mostly true. And it really hinged on the issue of whether Huckabee, Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, could be considered a major candidate because he's the only one among the second -- well, of the top tier candidates, Giuliani, McCain, Romney, have not signed the pledge. And you have to go down to Huckabee to get someone who did. And so we debated whether we could consider Huckabee a major candidate and decided that probably not. And for that reason we thought that Romney's comment was mostly true.
ROBERTS: So the mostly true and that hinges on that idea, the only major candidate and what constitutes a major candidate.
ADAIR: Exactly. And, you know, it became an issue of, if you asked people on the street who are the major Republican candidates, we didn't feel people would name Huckabee, although he did placed second in the Iowa straw poll. So mostly true.
ROBERTS: All right. Bill Adair from the "St. Petersburg Times," politifact.com and the truth-o-meter.
Thanks for being with us this morning. We'll see you again next Wednesday.
ADAIR: Thanks, John.
ROBERTS: All right. Take care. Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, your "Quick Hits" now.
A federal appeals court is siding with a fantasy baseball company in dispute over Major League licensing fees. The court ruling means that the company, CBC Distribution and Marketing, doesn't have to pay Major League Baseball's Players Association even though it profits from using player names and statistics. The decision could have a significant impact on the fantasy sports league industry, which generates more than $1.5 billion each year from participants.
Congress a step closer to letting journalists stay silent when asked to reveal their confidential sources. The House just approved a shield bill for the press that would require reporters to name their sources only if they had information on terrorist attacks or other threats to national security. The Senate still needs to vote on the shield bill. And even if it survives, the White House is expected to veto it.
Well, "Star Wars" fans take heart because it appears the saga isn't over yet. We're going to tell you about the new project that George Lucas is working on.
Also, Toyota downgraded two notches in a new survey on car reliability. We'll tell you why ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Four minutes after the hour. Welcome back to the most news in the morning here on CNN.
A new force coming to the small screen. George Lucas now working on a live action television series based on the "Star Wars" movies. Lucas won't reveal much about the story, but he says it's going to be about minor characters from the films, no Skywalkers in this show. Without a Skywalker, how do you make it a hit, you know?
CHETRY: I'm sure that anything that has "Star Wars" and George Lucas in it, people will be interested. Another excuse to dress up, you know, and walk around with your light saber.
ROBERTS: Yes, exactly.
CHETRY: What the heck.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Or conventions.
ROBERTS: Like you needed another one.
CHETRY: Twenty-four minutes past the hour. Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business."
And this is interesting. We're talking about owners of cars of the different makes and models talking about what they think of their car in terms of reliability. VELSHI: And I have to explain this to everybody I speak to because nobody believes it. The "Consumer Reports" annual automobile reliability customer satisfaction survey has coming out, or is coming out, and it is a survey of car owners, 1.3 million car owners. And this is what they have said.
Toyota has lost the top spot after a long time in number one. It hasn't slipped much. It's down to number three. Honda actually holds the top spot and number two is Subaru. This is in terms of reliability.
But the story here is the most improved student. Ford, 93 percent of Ford's models, 41 out of 44 Ford brands, are now ranked in the most reliable category. And this has come as a lot of a surprise to people. Ford is not anywhere near the top of the list. Mercury, for instance, is number 11 and they hold the number 12 and number 14 spot. But it is a big, big jump from people who say, are you kidding me? I'm going to buy a Ford because it's most reliable?
Well, as you know, the United Auto Workers is now in negotiations with Ford. They're the last of the Detroit three. And yesterday I had a chance to speak with the president of Ford's North American car division to ask him sort of how this plays into the negotiation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK FIELDS, PRES., FORD AMERICAS: Well, I think the quality is a little bit different from the costs of inheriting our business. But I think what it does say is working together as a team, the Ford team, the UAW, et cetera, that we can come out with products with quality that's best in world. And I think that's encouraging for all of us as we move forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: And we're all keeping a close eye on Ford right now to see how those negotiations go. As you know, the last two, which we thought were going OK, ended up in two national auto strikes. So a bit of good news for Ford today to share with their workers and hopefully makes its way down, trickles down to people buying cars.
CHETRY: Well, the first strike was two days. The next one was six hours. So maybe Ford's will be 45 minutes.
VELSHI: Right, so maybe it will be a short one. That's right. Yes.
CHETRY: And it will work out.
Still love the Buick, though. I didn't get a survey to fill out, but . . .
VELSHI: Buick is the highest rated North American brand on the survey.
CHETRY: Really? ROBERTS: All right. Ali, thanks. We'll see you soon.
VELSHI: OK.
ROBERTS: A look at a story coming up in our next half hour now that you just can't miss. It's incredible.
CHETRY: Yes, this one really is. A store manager -- imagine the terror, someone's holding a gun to your head. He was robbed at gunpoint on the job. The whole thing caught on tape. And the gunman actually pulled the trigger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As soon as I heard that click, I figured that's it, he's going to shoot me no matter what, even if I give him the money. So I fought back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: We will tell you what happened next. That story and today's headlines when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING on this Wednesday, October 17th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
ROBERTS: And good morning to you. I'm John Roberts.
New this morning, confirmation hearings begin at 10:00 eastern today for Michael Mukasey, the president's choice for Attorney General. Mukasey will try to convince the Senate Judiciary Committee that he will stand up to the president and balance national security needs with people civil rights. That's according to the associated press which going to hold of his opening remarks.
The 12-year-old sister of one of the Fort Dix Six says that she was attacked in school. Her brother goes on trial in January for allegedly plotting to kill troops at Fort Dix. An Islamic civil rights group says a teenage boy punched the girl, choked her and called her a terrorist.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, we're hearing from people who knew Chester Stiles. He is the arrested Monday night and accused of video taping a sexual assault on a 3-year-old girl. He is due in court today. CNN's Nancy Grace spokes exclusively last night with Stiles' ex-girlfriend who said she contacted police when the tape first surfaced last month.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELAINE THOMAS, CHESTER STILES FORMER GIRLFRIEND: My roommate came in and confirmed but I was not insane and that it was definitely him. And I felt very physically ill. I was hyperventilating a little bit, and after a few minutes of calming myself down, and my roommate saying, "Elaine, what are you going to do? What are you going to do?" and I said, "Well, I need to turn him in. How could I not tell them who that man was? That little girl suffered unimaginable things, and I knew for a fact it was him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well Stiles' alleged victim is now 7 years old, living with her mother and said to have no recollection of the incident. Chester Stiles meanwhile is now facing 21 felony counts.
We're also hearing from the family of another suspected pedophile. A 32-year-old Christopher Neil, a Canadian. International police were able to unswirl his image and identify him in photos that were posted online where he was abusing children. Interpol has tracked him to Thailand. Neil's brother is now appealing for him to surrender.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW NEIL, CHRISTOPHER NEIL'S BROTHER: Since learning of the allegations, we're devastated. A range of emotions from anger, shock, devastation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Thai police are looking for Neil.
Well, Facebook is launching a new safety procedure this morning. It comes less than a month after New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo launched an investigation into the social networking site. Among the changes, new safety disclosures for parents and a more efficient complaint process to report unsolicited sexual advances and inappropriate content on the site. Facebook also agreed to be reviewed by an independent examiner for two years.
It killed a healthy high school athlete in a matter of weeks. Well now schools and gyms across the country are on alert as health officials warn that potentially deadly strain of an antibiotic- resistant superbug are spreading through locker rooms.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Football and wrestling are two main sports that are, you know, susceptible to Staph infections. And that's just because the way the sports played with the equipment, and the practices and the sweating, and you know, going back into the locker room.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Doctors say that a lot of the Staph infections are being spread in gyms where athletes may have cuts or share sports equipment.
Also new this morning, high drama in Atlanta. A man suspended 300 feet on the tip of a crane. There you see the pictures. It took police hours to talk him down. The standoff shut down Peachtree Road, a major artery through the city. He was reportedly going through a divorce, and depressed and was taken to a hospital for a mental evaluation.
ROBERTS: Caught on tape, a driver owes her life to a quick thinking police officer. You got to see the video. Here's Betsy Duvall. She is being led away by police officer Marcus O'Shields, somehow gotten stuck on the tracks there. You can hear the whistle of a train coming to the intersection. Watch what happens. Hits the car at 70 miles an hour. Betsy owes her life to this officer. She looked like she wasn't going to get off the tracks at all, but Marcus O'Shields managed to talk her out of it.
Apparently, she was on a cell phone asking her friend for some directions when she accidentally wandered onto the tracks. The police say that cell phone use was a factor in that crash. So we want to know what you think. Should you be banned from using your cell phone while driving? Cast your vote for us this morning at cnn.com/am. Should you be banned from using your cell phone while driving? We'll tally up the votes a little bit later on this hour. Quick programming note. We can hear from Officer O'Shields in about 45 minutes time. He is going to be joining us here on AMERICAN MORNING to talk more about that.
Also, take a look at this caught on tape. A man fighting for his life with an armed robber in a North Carolina Kentucky Fried Chicken. The robber pointed the gun at the store manager's head and pulled the trigger. It clicked. So the store manager decided that he was going to fight back, knowing all along what could have happened, had he lost.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As soon as I heard that click, I figure that he might shoot me no matter what, even if I give him the money, so I fought back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Well, the store manager wrestled with him all through the restaurant. Finally managed to push him toward the door, got him outside. The gunman took off. Police are looking for him because they believe that he could be extremely dangerous. The victim, the store manager did suffer injuries from repeated blows to his head.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Unbelievable, though, just how quickly, I mean, how miraculous that is, because the guy did pull the trigger and the gun just misfired.
Well, In South Carolina a police officer running for mayor of Charleston is being cleared now after a shooting in a convenience store. Omar Browns was off duty at the time, fired his gun at the man that you see in a green shirt after some sort of back and forth at the counter. Surveillance video showed what looks like an innocent bump and how it escalated out of control. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Surveillance cameras rolled as police officer and candidate for Charleston mayor, Omar Brown reached around another man to grab his items off the counter. The other man apparently not happy about it, runs to his car and police say approached Brown's car, gun in hand. Brown stepped out of the car and that's when the shooting began. Panicked witnesses called 911.
DISPATCHER: North Charleston 911.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a bunch of shots just been fired here! There was a black guy running around and somebody's shooting the hell out of him.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police contend the other man, Antonio Rivers fired first. His lawyer denies it. Rivers was shot several times in the back and survived. Brown was hit, too, and managed to call 911 himself.
OMAR BROWN: Listen, this is Officer Brown. I've just been shot. I just got shot on North Chester Road. I am driving now to the hospital. I'm bleeding very badly.
DISPATCHER: Sir, is it possible you can stop somewhere? We're going to get an ambulance on the way.
BROWN: Ma'am, I'm bleeding terribly.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: So the pictures are just astounding. Were the shots justified? We're going to talk exclusively with officer and mayoral candidate Omar Brown. He is going to be joining us coming up in our next hour.
John?
ROBERTS: NASA is giving the space shuttle "discovery" a green light to launch. That tops your "Quick Hits" now. Late last night, engineers cleared the shuttle for liftoff next week. Safety groups had wanted NASA to take a closer look at possible cracks on the shuttle's wings? But officials decided, it wasn't necessary.
On Michigan, people are back home after a hydrochloric acid leak at a plant near Detroit. A 3000 residents and school children in Melvindale were evacuated last night. Officials made them leave because hydrochloric acid can form a toxic gas when it comes into contact with rain. And storms were moving through the area yesterday. One person went to the hospital with breathing problems. Everyone else though is said to be okay.
The search for an autistic boy in a West Virginia forest intensified today. Have dogs picked up on his scent? We'll talk to his siblings. And a thrilling site from faraway. A chilling sight as you get closer. A severe storm lights up the sky. We'll show you the pictures ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the "Most News" in the morning. We had pictures of extreme weather from around the world to show you. Here, people rowing through the streets of Vietnam after heavy rains triggered floods and killed at least three people, forcing tens of thousands of others from their homes. This is a spectacular shot of a lightning strike over Cairo. Bolts of lightning hitting the ground and streaking across the horizon as heavy rains hit the area in Egypt.
And a blinding sandstorm in Southern California, it was just north of Los Angeles caused this deadly pile-up on the Antelope Valley Freeway. Two people were killed. 16 others hurt. California highway patrol says it was total chaos, 15 vehicles involved including a few big rigs.
Well, Rob Marciano is at the weather desk to talk more about these sand storms. You know, I mean, they come without warning, and boy, if you're driving in them, you literally are blinded.
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ROBERTS: A 43 minutes after the hour. He says he's willing to tell the White House no. That tops your "Political Ticker" this Wednesday morning. Attorney General-designate Michael Mukasey will be before a Senate Judiciary Committee today. He met yesterday with Democrats and promised that he would review the administration's eaves dropping and interrogation techniques.
All right. Get out your calendars. Iowa Republicans have moved their presidential nominating caucuses up almost two weeks to January 3rd. The move makes Iowa's caucus the first in the nation which means that New Hampshire, which by state law, must hold the nation's first primary has to pick a new date as well.
Many Republican donors are slow to give this year. Through September the 30th, Democrats have raised $223 million, Republicans only $150 million. "The Washington Post" reports that many Republicans are just not that interested in any of the candidates that are sitting on their wallets.
Barack Obama and Dick Cheney related? That's right. And it seems that Lynne Cheney's book tour is shedding even more light on the little known relationship. They're actually cousins. Mrs. Cheney discovered the link while researching her latest book and Obama's spokesman, tongue-in-cheek says, "Obviously Dick Cheney is sort of the black sheep of the family." Find all of the day's political news around the clock at cnn.com/politics.
CHETRY: Maybe related. They don't have a lot in common when it comes to their political views. Well, "Quick Hits" now. Virginia Senator John Warner expected to return to work this week after minor surgery. The 80-year-old Warner, had a procedure yesterday to repair a false aneurysm, they're calling it, in his thigh. Doctor's say it is related to the senator's recent hospitalization for an irregular heartbeat.
There's a new study suggesting that U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals may be too closely tied to the pharmaceutical industry. Nearly two-thirds of medical department heads are said to have either received money or had some other type of financial relationship with the private sector. The researchers question whether drug companies are trying to buy influence while potentially harming the integrity of medical research and education programs.
Coming up, an 18-year-old autistic boy missing in the mountains of West Virginia. He went hiking with his family, got separated and now the desperate search to find him before it's too late is on. We're going to get an update on the search from the boy's brother and sister when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
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ROBERTS: A 48 minutes after the hour. If you're just joining us this morning, let's get you caught up on today's headlines. An antibiotic resistant Staph infection has killed a Virginia high school student. Ashton Bonds who went to Staunton River High School died yesterday after more than a week in the hospital. The centers for disease control says more than 90,000 people get potentially deadly Staph infections every year, and the death toll is greater than the death toll every year in this country from AIDS. Dr. Sanjay Gupta's got more for us coming up at the top of the hour.
The safety of our electric grid will be the topic of a House Homeland Security hearing today. Our Jeanne Meserve first broke the story about how, with a few clicks of a keyboard, terrorists could actually take down the infrastructure by destroying equipment. The committee will present her report as part of its proceedings today.
Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan says black Americans should separate from main stream culture and establish their own community. In a rare public appearance in Atlanta, Farrakhan said, "Successes of recent decades should not distract from the millions of blacks in America who live in poverty."
Wanted buyers in Southern California. Sales of houses and condos their fell in outstanding 30 percent in September. That is the lowest since they started keeping records back in 1988.
Kiran?
CHETRY: A 49 minutes past the hour. Ali Velshi here "Minding Your Business". A battle going on between the government of Alaska and oil companies regarding the pipeline.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, Alaska has had a new governor and she takes a slightly different view than the prior governor. Here's the thing, we talk a lot about oil and if you heat your home with oil in the northeast like we do here, the price of oil is a big deal. A whole swathe of America heats with natural gas and we have to move that natural gas. We don't have enough of it in the United States. There's a lot of it in Alaska. We don't have a way to get it from Alaska to the United States.
Now, there's a pipeline that goes from Alberta into the United States. So, they have got to get that natural gas from Alaska to Alberta. How do you do that? Well, pipeline. Except, the deal was that these oil companies would build this pipeline and they get a big discount on their taxes as a result. The new governor of Alaska says, oil companies don't need any discounts. They don't need any subsidies from the government. They should just build the pipeline and make the money they make out of it.
As a result, the pipeline isn't getting built for the moment because the oil companies are not committing to this. They want the break. The government is saying you're not getting the break and in the meantime, those of you who heat with natural gas; know that you've seen up ticks in the price of natural gas. So this is going to be very important, because a lot of oil, where you find oil, you typically find natural gas and there is an abundance of natural gas in Alaska.
If we need to use it here in the United States, it's going to have to get to us, so who blinks first in this one? Does the governor of Alaska say fine build the pipelines? Still going to be several years away before they do. But we know that we are using all the oil and natural gas that we can generate in this country. So, this is going to be an interesting thing to see. How it comes down. Most people will have an opinion on this, whether or not, there should be subsidies but we do know that we need the gas.
CHETRY: And you're talking about the same oil companies that...
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They have the money to build the pipeline but they want the taxes. Ali, thank you.
VELSHI: OK.
ROBERTS: All right. It's 51 minutes after the hour. More "Quick Hits" for you now. Now the Catholic Diocese of San Diego is asking parishioners to donate $25 million. They help a giant settlement with clergy sex abuse victims. San Diego's bishop says, "Without the donations, several big pieces of church property may have to be sold."
A controversial Jesus sculpture is back in New York City. The six foot chocolate sculpture titled "My Sweet Lord" depicts a new Jesus and select saints. A New York gallery will show the work later on this month. The original exhibit was canceled after a public out cry four days before Good Friday. That was back in April of this year. A room without a view. A man makes an attic his own living rent free in a prime piece of real estate only he doesn't tell the owners. Now, they're fighting to kick him to the curb, that story ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: Five minutes now to the top of the hour. Owners of a business in Houston heard a racket from up in the attic. They went up and took a look, they didn't find a raccoon or a bird's nest, they found a bachelor pad complete with flat screen TV and cable. They say, the guy has been living on the roof for about a year, stealing electricity and living rent free.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Best place and the best part of town, Midtown Galleria, you know.
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ROBERTS: The owners have called the police saying this guy is creating a fire hazard, making them feel unsafe but he's still there. He refuses to leave.
CHETRY: Unbelievable. He had track lighting, an air conditioning unit, a microwave and bathroom and they said they saw that he must have repelled out and all they can see left was the hope ranging. Everything left behind. Creative -- dangerous but creative.
Well, as the debate rages over, illegal immigrants working in the U.S., just how to crack down on the employers who hire them. There's a massive multibillion-dollar construction effort that's painting a disturbing picture of why something needs to be done soon. Our Ed Lavandera takes a closer look at what happens when a group of illegal immigrants manages to get jobs inside a government facility.
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ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Construction workers have invaded the million acre Fort Bliss Army Post.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE), all right now we got $3.2 billion worth of construction that's going to occur here.
LAVANDERA: At any given time, there could be several thousand workers inside this secure military installation. But even an army post isn't immune to the infiltration of illegal workers. Last month, at least nine illegal immigrants were arrested while doing other construction work on military housing.
According to the contracting firm in Balfour Beatty, the workers did show the proper paperwork except that documents turned out to be fake. The company says, it takes immigration documentation seriously and has reminded its subcontractors to be more vigilant. The contracting firm says some 3,000 workers have been cleared to work inside Fort Bliss in the last two years. The number highlights the challenge in checking out so many people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And unless we give employers some kind of tools to sort out, who these people actually are, this problem's going to get worse, not better.
LAVANDERA: And the fear is a terrorist could follow in the footsteps of a construction worker.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is a danger. Because, we don't know who is following this or that illegal person across.
LAVANDERA: And like in this case, get too close to army soldiers. Ed Lavandera, CNN, Fort Bliss, Texas.
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ROBERTS: Well, here's a story coming up in our next half hour that you just can't miss. A woman wanders onto the rail road tracks in her car, unaware that an arm truck train bearing down on her at 70 miles an hour.
CHETRY: Yes. There is a shot of a train going through. But there were some incredible moments beforehand of the police officer coaxing her off of those tracks. She may not have left if it wasn't for him. We're going to talk to the quick thinking officer who saved a life, coming up.
ROBERTS: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
Superbug scare.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't feel safe at all. I'm not going back in there.
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ROBERTS: Schools being scrub down, after Staph infection moves in and kills a student.
Shaky foundation. New alarms this morning that the mortgage meltdown could cripple the economy.
Plus seconds to spare.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, get back.
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ROBERTS: A driver yanked from a passed of a speeding train. We're live with the man who saved her life. On this AMERICAN MORNING.
Unbelievable pictures there. Good morning. Thanks very much for joining us. It's Wednesday, the 17th of October. I'm John Roberts.
CHETRY: I'm Kiran Chetry. We start though with a 17-year-old high school senior who died, apparently killed by a drug resistant superbug that health experts say they're calling a major health problem. He likely got it at school. Today, all 22 schools in Bedford County, Virginia, are closed. They're going to be thoroughly cleaned after what happened to Ashton Bonds.
Doctor say, a former football player in Virginia died Monday from a Staph infection that then spread to his major organs. His classmates outraged. They organized a protest and took the superintendent on a tour to show him just how exposed they felt to germs and they demanded officials clean up before they go back to school.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want to find answers. We want to know what's going to be done about cleaning up the school.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't feel safe at all going back in there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not only to remember Ashton but get it through to the administration and all we that. We don't want to know another one of our friends or another one of our classmates gone because of them not doing anything and we want something done about this.
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CHETRY: Well, a new CDC report shows this kind of Staph infection called MRSA is more widespread than previously thought and it could infect more than 90,000 people each year. CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is at the medical update desk with what we need to know about this. So MRSA, is this something that anybody can catch or should we all be concerned about it and how do you protect yourself from it?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think this is one of those things that people need to be thinking about. Remember, for the most part, it is still relatively a real thing.
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