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American Morning
Malibu Burns; World Market Jitters; GOP Debate; Going Green
Aired October 22, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It came so fast, there was no stopping it.
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ROBERTS: State of emergency in southern California.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They say to get out. We're going to get out.
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ROBERTS: Thousands on the run from exploding wildfires. Thousands more at risk.
Stock sell off. Signs this morning from markets overseas after the Dow's Friday free fall.
Plus small, smart, and coming to America.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is nice.
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ROBERTS: Kiran behind the wheel of the smart car's mini revolution on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And when you get to wherever you're going, just put it in your pocket and take it right upstairs to work.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Right. And, don't worry, they sent out warnings throughout Manhattan before I turned the key in the ignition.
ROBERTS: Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. Thanks very much for joining us as we begin a brand news week. It's Monday the 22nd of October. I'm John Roberts.
CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. We start with breaking news this morning. Southern California keeping up the fight this morning against devastating wildfires. Many of these blazes still raging out of control right now and no one is immune. Well-known celebrities and average American families all in the line of fire.
Ten thousand people around Ramona, that's just northeast of San Diego, have been told to leave their homes. Two fires are burning near the city and crews say the flames could cross city limits.
There are seven more fires that are burning in the ritzy Malibu area and another in Angeles National Forrest, north of L.A. At least one person is dead and more than a dozen others hurt.
Several homes, landmarks and even a church have burned to the ground in Malibu. Crews say that the fire may have started when power lines were blown down by powerful Santa Ana winds. And right now the concern is that those winds could send embers flying "a mile or two" that far and that could, of course, trigger flames wherever they land.
John.
ROBERTS: We are on the fire lines and tracking the severe weather this morning. Our Chris Lawrence is standing by in Malibu, where expensive homes, even castles are burning to the ground, and our Rob Marciano at the weather update desk as the hot dry Santa Ana winds fan the flames. Let's start with Chris in Malibu.
And, Chris, it looks like you're inside a burnt out home there.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not a home, John, a church actually. The congregation thought they'd be waking up, going to Sunday services yesterday. It just wasn't to be.
That fire came through here so quickly literally burned this church and scorched it. There was actually a sanctuary, a second floor above me. That is completely gone.
You can see here what is left of the church and it's not much. If you kind of push in there, you can even see that even today you're talking about an entire day later, still smoldering. A few little sparks here and there.
This church burned. Another building burned. Five homes. And we're talking about an area where some of Hollywood's biggest stars live, even to this day. People like Jennifer Aniston, Tom Hanks live here. And they are not immune to when these fires comes through.
It was just earlier this year when we were at Suzanne Somers' home when it literally burned to the ground. This time Nashville singer Tanya Tucker, who lives here now, she was in Vegas performing but her teenage daughter and the dogs had to be evacuated when the fire got that close to their home. Olivia Newton-John's home also threatened.
This was just a perfect storm of events that happened here in Malibu. You know, two years ago we had this wet, wet winter. A lot of rain. That caused the brush to really grow and then you get this year, the driest in recorded history, it's like a tinder box here.
Those super hot Santa Ana winds pushed through this canyon and when we heard Kiran talk about the possibility of some of those embers, we saw it. Embers , embers up to a foot long getting blown well over a half a mile. That's what caused this fire to hop scotch over different place. At one point up to a dozen small firestorms blowing and erupting at any one time.
John.
ROBERTS: I remember more than a decade ago, Chris, I was covering the Malibu fires and I remember Olivia Newton-John's ranch being threatened. What's the forecast for today in terms of those winds and what might that do to the fires in the hills there?
LAWRENCE: Not out of the woods yet. We expect just in a couple hours, you know when the sun starts going -- starts rising again, winds are going to kick up and they are forecasting pretty high temperatures and really high winds at least through tomorrow.
ROBERTS: Chris Lawrence for us this morning in Malibu, California.
Chris, thanks very much.
Let's get the official forecast on what crews can expect from those Santa Ana winds today. Will they catch a break or will it be just as bad as it was over the weekend? Rob Marciano at our weather update desk tracking the extreme weather.
Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John.
The situation isn't going to improve any time too quickly it looks like. These events typically come in days of, you know, two on, maybe a break and maybe two back on. It looks like today we're going to kind of restart the engines once again.
The situation is the same. Area of high pressure over the Rocky Mountains, the Great Basin, and that puts the wind offshore. So you get this offshore winds which creates the critical fire danger. Compressional heating of the winds and then they're dry and pretty warm to start with.
So not only out of the storm prediction center this morning and yesterday morning, not only is it critical. Critical is typically the higher level of what kind of fire danger we look at. They've actually upgraded to extreme, which means that's even beyond that.
So Chris Lawrence mentioned the extreme drought in this area. We could see winds 30 to 50 miles an hour, at times gusting to 75 miles an hour, in the same areas and relative humilities at about 4 percent to 8 percent. So we do have wind warnings and advisories that are out. High wind warnings for most of the southern California area from Los Angeles, all the way down to San Diego. Winds will be picking up as we go on throughout the day.
John, back to you.
ROBERTS: All right. Rob, we'll keep watching it this morning. We'll get back to you. Thanks.
MARCIANO: OK.
ROBERTS: Rob Marciano in Atlanta there.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, new this morning. There is growing fear that Iraq could be invaded again, this time from the north. According to "The Times" in Great Britain, Turkey's prime minister says that his country will launch an attack on Kurdish rebels despite pleas from the U.S. for Turkey to stay on its side of the border. Tensions with Turkey, on another front, appear to have eased a bit. According to the Antolia (ph) news agency, Turkey's ambassador to the U.S. has come back to Washington. He withdrew over a congressional push to put the "genocide" label on Turkey's 1915 massacre of Armenians.
Bare-knuckle politics at last night's debate in Orlando. Eight Republican presidential hopefuls attacking each other on who's got the best conservative credentials. But they saved some of their best shots for Hillary Clinton. Clearly the candidate that they think is the one to beat if they want to win the White House.
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MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She hasn't run a corner store. She hasn't run a state. She hasn't run a city. She has never run anything. And the idea that she could learn to be president as an internship just doesn't make any sense.
RUDY GIULIANI, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have a million ideas. America cannot afford them all. No kidding (ph), Hillary, America can't afford you.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Senator Clinton tried to spend $1 million on the Woodstock Concert Museum. Now, my friends, I wasn't there. I'm sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event. I was tied up at the time.
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CHETRY: Now McCain, of course, referring to the fact that he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam at the time back in 1969.
Well, we're going to have more on last night's debate fireworks coming up at 6:15 Eastern when we talk to Politico's chief political correspondent Mike Allen.
Louisiana facing a new day now. Governor-elect Bobby Jindal using a congratulatory call from President Bush as a chance to schedule a meeting on hurricane recovery issues. Jindal, the Republican, will be, when he takes office in January, the nation's first Indian-American governor. Also the youngest in office. During his speech he says he's taking on corruption and incompetence saying, "don't let anyone talk badly about Louisiana. Louisiana is very soon going to be on the rise." He also talked about breaking promises, saying that's "not an option."
ROBERTS: Space shuttle Discovery is expected to lift off tomorrow to begin with NASA engineers are calling the most challenging construction job ever attempted in space. The goal of the 14-day-long mission is to deliver a new multi-hatch module to the International Space Station that will serve as the gateway to European and Japanese research labs. Some engineers want to delay the launch due to possible hairline cracks in some of the Discovery's wing panels. Forecasters say rain and possible thunderstorms could delay that launch.
Fewer eyes watching the skies. The FAA says nearly 830 air traffic controllers retired in the fiscal year that ended last month. That's almost a third more than the agency predicted. The union blames unpopular rules imposed by the Bush administration, including staff cuts and new dress code. It's also warning of safety risks with overworked controllers in undermanned transportation hubs but the feds say there isn't a problem.
Red Sox nation in a state of euphoria this morning. The Sox clinched the American League pennant and their second trip to the World Series in four years with an 11-2 over Cleveland in game seven. They had to dig out of a three to one series hold to get there. Pitcher Josh Beckett was named the series MVP. He'll start game one at Fenway on Wednesday against the National League champion, Colorado Rockies.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, world market jitters after Friday's sell-off on Wall Street. Asian markets tumble in trading today. Our Stephanie Elam is in for Ali Velshi. She's at the business update desk this morning.
Hi, Stephanie.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran.
It was almost like the markets wanted to mark the 20 year anniversary of Black Monday. That was on Friday. The markets here in the U.S., the major indices losing all more than 2.5 percent of their value. That compares nothing to 20 years ago when the marketed had to lost 23 percent of their value.
But as you can see, the markets really slid. A few reasons there. We've got some mixed corporate earnings. We also have oil. We had a few records last week ending close to $90 a barrel. That's enough to freak people out about what's going on with consumer spending and how they're going to continue spending there. That led the Asia market to go ahead and tumble overnight. So we're looking at numbers there. I can just tell you for one, South Korea's index dropped nearly 5 percent. That showing that people, investors around the world are pulling back on their positions as they see how everything works out, including this credit crunch. European markets also opening up sharply lower and we are poised to be lower again here today.
Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, Stephanie Elam tracking it all for us. We'll check in with you in a few. Thanks.
John.
ROBERTS: Kid Rock is free on bond this morning after being arrested outside of a Waffle House in Atlanta. Here's the mug shot for you there. The singer's real name is Bob Rich. He was charged with simple battery. Police say he was finishing up a post concert meal when a customer recognized a woman in his entourage and began exchanging words with her. It escalated into a physical fight. The singer signed autographs for fans after he got out of jail. Always able to please, the Kid.
CHETRY: That's right. Well, he's known for being really friendly with his fans. So even the worst of times for him he's out signing autographs.
ROBERTS: Yes, unless somebody messes with a member of his posse.
CHETRY: Yes, exactly.
ROBERTS: Yes, all right.
The U.S. won't let Iran get nuclear weapons. That tops your "Quick Hits." Vice President Dick Cheney says the U.S. and other nations are "prepared to impose serious consequences" if Iran continues on its current course. He did not make a specific reference, though, to military action. A lot of ambiguity in what he said there. The administration accuses Iran of secretly trying to build nuclear weapons.
It's the worst drought in north Georgia's history according to Governor Sonny Perdue. He's declared states of emergencies for over half of the counties in the states. Perdue wants to limit the water coming out of Lake Lanier, which also supplies parts of Florida and Alabama. Without rain, the lake will run completely dry by January.
Going to a Bill Maher taping and an episode of Jerry Springer breaks out. Cameras were rolling as the political comic got a little bit hot and went after an audience member. We'll have that for you.
At last night's GOP debate, things got personal as candidates argued over who was the most conservative politician in the White House race. So which one scored big with the party's right wing? Some morning after analysis ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, some of the shots that you've got to see in our "Quick Hits" now.
You couldn't pay me millions to do this one. There they go, base jumpers taking the 900-foot death-defying plunge. Four hundred and fifty of them, in fact. They were leaping off of the New River Gorge in West Virginia on Saturday. It's the only day of the year that jumpers are legally allowed to take the plunge. They can do it for only six hours. Organizers have always push to have this bridge day extended. They say they want it to be a full day to be able to harness tourism dollars and showcase the sport. And there you see it, a perfect landing.
How about this one? Fueling the fire. A gas station erupts in Miami Beach after a car plowed into a pump and then burst into flames. The station attendant went at the fire with an extinguisher. Police say the driver tried to make a run for it but did not make it far because he was hurt. There were no other injuries reported.
Bill Maher gets politically incorrect with his rowdy protester during his TV show. Let's take a look.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
BILL MAHER: Hey, do we have some (EXPLETIVE DELETED) security in this building or do I have to come over and kick this guy's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of here? Could you get the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of my building?
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CHETRY: There you see it. You know, you're allowed to say that word on TV, on HBO at least. It was all captured on live television. The guy smuggled in a "9/11 is a coverup" sign. You see Bill Maher actually helping push him out. Maher also threatened to kick out another woman who had called him a coward. Don't mess with Bill.
ROBERTS: Well, it didn't get quite that bad last night, but the Republican presidential candidates squared off Sunday night in Orlando, Florida. The debate was their most contentious to date. When they weren't blasting Hillary Clinton, they were attacking each other's conservative credentials.
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FRED THOMPSON, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mayor Giuliani believes in federal funding for abortions. He believes in sanctuary cities. He's for gun control. He supported Mario Cuomo (ph), a liberal Democrat, against a Republican, who's running for governor.
RUDY GIULIANI, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, Fred has his problems, too. I mean Fred was a single, biggest obstacle to tort reform in the United States Senate. He stood with Democrats over and over again.
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ROBERTS: Mike Allen is the chief political correspondent for politico.com. He joins us live from Washington this morning.
Is that a reflection of just how close this race is, how fluid the whole thing is, Mike, that the way that these guys attack each other?
MIKE ALLEN, POLITICO.COM: Well, good morning, John.
And it is. And it was amazing to see Senator McCain be the one who's very personal talking about how Governor Romney managed for- profit and then talked about how he was fooling voters with his changes in issues, positions. But, John, I think a lot of us during the debate were cheating over to the baseball game and the world -- don't tell my bosses -- but the World Series performance last night came from Mayor Giuliani.
Now the Romney team will tell you their guy had substance over one-liners, but Mayor Giuliani worked this crowd very adeptly and he showed why, if it winds up being him and Hillary Clinton, it will not necessarily be the cakewalk for her, as a lot of pundits and even some polls will tell you.
ROBERTS: Yes. A lot of people believe that he is the one who is best positioned to take her on. She was, I don't want to call her an elephant, but she was the elephant in the room last night. Not there, yet everyone was talking about her. Here's some of what they had to say.
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MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Anyone here want to vote for Hillary?
GIULIANI: You got to be kidding.
MIKE HUCKABEE, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's nothing funny about Hillary being president.
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ROBERTS: So part of this, Mike, is going to be, who can best take on Hillary Clinton. Do you think that Giuliani has got a lock on that or, you know, could Romney mount a good challenge, could Mike Huckabee give come in there and give her a run for her money?
ALLEN: Well, both Romney and Giuliani use that over and over. The Romney team will tell you that their guy took the lead in posting up on here. Mayor Giuliani, even when he says her name, it's funny. He knows how to work that and he says "America, we can't afford you." And that shows you sort of how it plays with the national audience.
But there's a twist here, John. And that is, that as you know, right now he's not going for a national electorate. And this weekend, when he had a very masterful, even humble speech with Christian conservatives, showed he had some range. And when it came time to vote in the straw poll, they gave him a Heisman. He got fewer votes than Tom Tancredo (ph). So that's the tough collaboration that Mayor Giuliani has at this point.
ROBERTS: Polled less than 2 percent of values voters. Some admit Romney and Mike Huckabee being the big winners on that one. So we'll see if that gives them any kind of momentum.
Mike Allen from the Politico joining us this morning.
Mike, always good to see you. Thanks.
ALLEN: Have a great week, John.
ROBERTS: All right. You too.
So, listen, we want to know what you think. The Republicans believe that Hillary Clinton is going to be the Democratic nominee for president. What's your opinion? Cast your vote at cnn.com/am. We will have the first tally of votes in the next half hour. Will Hillary Clinton be the Democratic nominee for president?
Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, Stephen Colbert's true intentions topping your "Quick Hits" now. The Federal Election Commission says that if the talk show host from "Comedy Central," Colbert, wants to declare, he needs to do it or stop promoting himself as a candidate for president. Colbert announced that he was running for the White House on his "Comedy Central" show last week. Lawyers say this is just a joke. Continuing to promote himself could violate election laws.
Words of wisdom from Arnold Schwarzenegger. He's telling "The Financial Times" that he hopes GOP candidates for president move to the political center and focus on health care and education. Schwarzenegger believes candidates have drifted too far to the right in order to please social conservatives.
And all week long we're going green. I don't see our green bug right now, but it's up there a lot. We are going green as we countdown a CNN special worldwide investigation -- oh, I' m told that it's there -- "Planet in Peril." Would you believe that you can do something that's actually quite easy right at your computer to safe energy. Veronica De La Cruz is going to show us how coming up.
Also, the Denver area's first winter storm of the season packing a one-two punch. Snow plows out clearing the streets and farmers taking extra steps to save crops. Is there more nasty weather in the forecast? We're going to get a look with Rob Marciano. He's at our CNN weather center, coming back on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: How high will oil prices go? Well, you can now bet on it. An Internet gambling website is now entering the energy game. Metchris.com (ph) is offering seven to five odds that crude will cost over $95 a barrel by the end of the year. That would seem to be a sucker bet because it now just stands a little over $90. Going up every day.
It's a battle that we may see popping up a lot more. An Atlanta resident is drawing the wrath of his neighbors after he installed a 45-foot-tall wind turbine on his property. He says it's to cut his power bills and be more environmentally friendly. His neighbors say that there's not enough wind in Atlanta to make it worth it and that the turbine amounts to nothing more than "echo bling." The extreme drought and the unusually warm fall means more trees are going from green to brown with not much in between. From New England, all the way down to the Carolinas, the brilliant golds and reds are more muted this year, though scientists say that we haven't yet hit the peak color.
And you may have noticed something a little bit different on the bottom of your screen today, as Kiran mentioned just a moment ago. The CNN logo in the lower left center has turned green. That's because CNN is going green all this week, along with my tie. We're digging deeper on environmental issues, covering stories that affect all of us, from the air that we breath, to the fuel that we use. It all coincides with the premiere of "Planet in Peril." A special worldwide investigation from Anderson Cooper, with Dr. Sanjay Gupta and "Animal Planet's" Jeff Corwin. Don't miss "Planet in Peril" Tuesday and Wednesday, 9:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.
CHETRY: So while we're doing our part to be green here at CNN, we wanted to say, if you at home want to try it out, we have some tips for you. AMERICAN MORNING's Veronica De La Cruz is here to break down our website and show us just some little things we can do in our everyday life that we might not pay attention to.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, I didn't get the green memo. I think we both got the red memo this morning. Oops.
CHETRY: Yes, we did. We're making up for the fact that our -- that the CNN logo, which used to be red, is green.
DE LA CRUZ: Is a bright green. That's right.
All right. So we're continuing to look at various ways that we can save our ever-changing planet, Kiran. You want to log on to cnn.com/planetinperil. We have a host of green tips that you can use at home, at work, even when you're on the go, when you're traveling.
For example, Kiran, at home, do you think it's best to shower or take a bath? What's better?
CHETRY: It depends on how long it takes to you shower. Doesn't it always takes guys way longer to take a shower.
DE LA CRUZ: In some instances. I have really, really, really bad news for women because I love to take a bubble bath. But if you take a shower for five minutes, you only use 10 to 25 gallons of water, compared to the 70 that you use if you take a bath. So really you have to think about it. You know, maybe special occasions taking a bath.
And if you are buying a computer, you want to invest in a laptop because they use considerably less energy than a desktop. So they also save space.
CHETRY: That's pretty good. Now that one works at home or at the office.
What about some of the other things you can do when you're on the job?
DE LA CRUZ: Well, you want to turn off your computer. It's so simple to do, and we all forget to do it. We think that the energy saver is going to kick in, maybe the screen saver, turn off your lights, your computer. And when you're headed into work, if you drive, don't drive aggressively. The EPA says that speeding, braking, rapid acceleration, all of these things waste gas. So forget the road rage. Drive conservatively.
CHETRY: How about when you're traveling?
DE LA CRUZ: OK. Well, if you're going to check into a hotel, you want to see if your hotel offers electronic checkout. It saves paper. When you leave your room, turn off the lights, adjust the thermostat. There are so many easy things you can do. I mean, simple tips. They're online at cnn.com/planetinperil. And also, send us your I-Reports. Let us know what you are doing to help save the planet.
CHETRY: That sounds good. You know my dad's told me my entire life, because they didn't have a lot of running water where he grew up in Nepal, he said always shut the faucet off while you're brushing your teeth. Only turn it on at the end.
DE LA CRUZ: Do you do that now?
CHETRY: I do just because he's drilled that into my head for life.
DE LA CRUZ: Good. Good. All right. Well, you're a step ahead of me.
CHETRY: One tiny, little tip. But I still take baths, so that cancels that out.
DE LA CRUZ: I know.
CHETRY: Veronica, thanks.
ROBERTS: Here's a story coming up in our next half hour that you just can't miss. A fancy new ride. I mean this one's really incredible. Maybe the answer to conserving fuel. All at the same time can be found in this teeny, tiny little package.
CHETRY: That's right. I had the chance to test drive the smart car. This is the new subcompact by Mercedes.
ROBERTS: It looks like you forgot the back of the car.
CHETRY: It really does, doesn't it? Feels normal when you're in the front seat, actually, and then you catch a glimpse of yourself in a passing building and say, hold on, where's the back of the car. Forty miles to the gallon, though, if you're somebody who doesn't have a large family and you like to zip around in different locations. What are the pros and cons? How safe is it and what's it like to drive? We're going to take a look at that coming up. That story and the day's headlines when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
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CHETRY: And welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It's Monday, October 22nd. Glad you're with us. I'm Kiran Chetry.
ROBERTS: And good morning to you. I'm John Roberts.
New this morning.
The nation's highest honor for a man who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan. President Bush today will posthumously award the Medal of Honor to Lt. Michael P. Murphy. The Navy Seal gave himself up to try and save his four-man team during a fierce fire fight with the Taliban back in 2005. Only one that team made it out alive. The Long Island native's family will accept the medal from the Commander-In-Chief at 2:50 in the White House rose garden. CNN will have a live Murphy's story told in the recent book by that surviving Seal member Marcus Luttrell, the book titled "Lone Survivor".
Former prime minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto making her first public appearance since the bomb attempt on her life on Thursday. She met with families of the 136 people killed in that attack. Bhutto says, the bombing could serve to unite her and President Pervez Musharraf against al Qaeda and extremists in Pakistan. Musharraf had survived several assassination attempts himself.
The First Lady is in the Middle East on a mission to raise breast cancer awareness today. It's a topic rarely discussed in public in the region. She touched down in the United Arab Emirates yesterday. She also plans to visit Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month here in the United States.
The Denver area's first winter storm of the season packing a one- two punch in the region. Forecaster say up to seven inches fell in some parts. The nasty weather forced the Colorado Rockies to practice indoors just three days before their World Series. The team worked out in batting cages and on indoor pitching rounds.
CHETRY: Well, Breaking News out of Southern California. Wildfires growing in size and number, and becoming more dangerous by the minute. More than a dozen fires are now burning. Thousands of homes in danger and there are brand new evacuation orders including 10,000 people just north of San Diego, and now there's fear that these fires could cross city limits.
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JERRY SANDER, MAYOR OF SAN DIEGO: This is a very quickly- evolving situation. Out of an abundance of caution, we want San Diegans to be aware of this potential now, so they can take appropriate actions and collect important belongings so that when evacuations are necessary they can evacuate immediately.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Several homes, landmarks and a church have burned to the ground in Malibu. Crews say that the fire may have started when power lines were blown down by the powerful Santa Ana winds. Chris Lawrence is live in Malibu where crews were still at the mercy of those winds this morning. Hi Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran. Yes and it's going to get worse in a couple of hours as soon as the sun comes up and those winds start whipping around again. These fires broke out just a few hours before the congregation was going to come into this church for Sunday service. You can see what's left of the organ. These were scenario where the congregation would come after the service to eat. Just nothing left. When these winds came through, that spark so hot literally just burned this church to the ground.
There was a sanctuary right above us on the second floor, that is completely gone, and if you can look there, you can see some of the smoke and embers a little bit. Still smoldering even a day later. This fire really is the cause of a couple years of buildup. A couple years we had a very, very wet winter. A lot of rain. That caused the brush to grow and then this year, the driest in recorded history, hardly any rain, bone dry, those Santa Ana winds blow through, sometimes yesterday up to 60 miles an hour, super hot, super dry and when that spark went, those winds were whipping those embers all over the place.
At one point, there were embers up to a foot long blowing half a mile away and that's why, with this fire, which we had was all these smaller firestorms breaking out all over the place. It jumped the road. It would jump fire lines. It was a very difficult thing to get a hold of, and again, right now, hundreds of homes, perhaps thousands still in danger as the sun comes up in a couple hours.
Kiran?
CHETRY: All right, Chris Lawrence. We'll be checking in with you throughout the morning for the latest as the situation rapidly changing situation there in California, thanks.
ROBERTS: Strike two for New York Cabbies. Your "Quick Hits" now. An organized group of drivers shut off their engines at 5:00 eastern this morning. They are protesting required new GPS technology that they say will slow them down. The same cabbies struck for two days last month.
Police are trying to figure out what caused a van possibly carrying Amish passengers to crash near Muncie, Indiana. Five people were killed, including three children, 11 people are injured. Police believe at least some of the victims are from an Amish Community. The Amish generally stay away from modern conveniences but sometimes higher outsiders to drive them.
The Smart Car is turning heads as it rolls through Manhattan but does it really save you gas and space?
CNN REPORTER: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, man versus nature.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did not have any complaint on the.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are at the mercy of the wind at this moment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CNN REPORTER: Firefighters battles the raging fires. Homes burned, lives destroyed. What's behind it? CNN's fact check ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. Documenting the damage and the danger in Southern California. We had a bunch of I-reporters sending in amazing pictures from the fire line, especially in and around Malibu. This is where Pepperdine University and this was taken by a student, Kelly Sayer. Pictures of the canyon fire as seen from campus as students were evacuating. She was able to capture the orange glow of the sky because of the fire over the campus.
And this is how it looked outside of Kevin Park's Dorm room, bright flames just over the hill. He said, students were sure that it was going to hit the campus, as we said as a precaution; all of the students were evacuated. They were given the all clear sign a little bit later though. Pepperdine student Paul Sunderson also was able to shoot this video of the fire as it was closing in as everyone was ordered out of the gym and cafeteria yesterday. He says, as soon as he walked outside, he was hit by the stiff Sta Ana winds right when he walked out there.
So, some amazing pictures of Pepperdine University and the scare they got because of these fires. Since then, they have been given the all clear. Also, remember if you'd like to send in an I-report please head to our website at cnn.com/ireport. Of course, we ask that you don't put yourself in danger. If you have an opportunity to capture something and you can do it safely, then please, do.
HARRIS: 39 minutes after the hour. Man versus nature as hundreds of firefighters battle the raging wildfires in Southern California right now. Homes burned, lives destroyed. People are wondering this morning is global warming to blame? A CNN fact check now with Alina Cho. We'll get to that global warming component in just a moment, if there is one. But first of all, what is causing these fires?
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, there's a couple of reasons for this. The fires in California were told are being fuelled in part by the brush and timber that actually grew during the especially wet winter about three years ago. Then to make matters worse, there was a record drought over the past year. Chris Lawrence was talking about that. And as one official said we're cruising for a bruising. At a dozen wildfires, as you mentioned, are burning right now in Southern California. According to one report, the last fire season was the worst on record and, John, this year is already a close second. And remember, we still have two months left in the year.
ROBERTS: So now to this idea of global warming. Whenever we hear anything about massive wildfires or larger hurricanes, talk about global warning always comes up. Is there any truth to the idea that global warming may somehow be responsible for the intensity of these fires?
CHO: Well, it depends on who you ask, John. To be clear, there are those people of course who don't believe in global warming or climate change but having said that, one theory is that global warming is making things worse. Case in point, according to several sources, including "Science" magazine over the past few decades the fire season in the western U.S. has increased by 78 days. Fires are also burning longer. The average duration of a fire back in 1986 was just a week. Now those fires are burning for more than a month on average. Now, those are the fact.
Here is the controversial part of all of this. Some in the science community believe wildfires are actually adding to carbon emissions. Translation, more wildfires could contribute to the buildup of so called greenhouse gases which could make global warming even worse. Now those on the other side of this, John, say bad forest management is to blame. As one fire official said because we successfully fought fires over the past century, there's been a huge buildup of fuel and that's the root cause.
Now, just last month congress held a hearing on this very issue, John. Next month an Intergovernmental Panel will meet to try to come up with some solutions. But hard to say if the earth is getting warmer, what can be done about it. But no doubt about it, it is getting worse. Just a decade ago, 100,000-acre fire was a big fire, considered a really big fire. Now, as one official said a 200,000 acre fire is just another day at the office.
ROBERTS: Yes. I guess there's little question that the earth is actually getting warm. It's a matter of what's causing it to get that way. Natural cycle or man made. Alina Cho for us this morning. Alina, thanks.
When can crews expect to get a break from those infamous Santa Ana winds? Our Rob Marciano with the weather update desk tracking the extreme weather for us this morning. Good morning, Rob.
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CHETRY: All right, Rob. Thanks a lot. We are all hoping for that for sure. Well, some stories on your "Political Ticker". Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee says last night's GOP debate was like a demolition derby. The eight presidential candidates attacked each other over their conservative credentials. They saved some of their best shots though for Hillary Clinton. Apparently, they think she'll win the democratic nomination. So we want to know what you think. The Republicans seem to believe she will. So, do you think that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee for president? Cast your vote at cnn.com/am. A quick check of our quick vote right now and 60 percent of you say, yes you do believe she will be the Democratic nominee for president. 40 percent say no. We're going to continue to update the numbers throughout the morning. So, get in there and cast your vote.
Louisiana governor-elect Bobby Jindal is using a congratulatory call from President Bush as a chance to schedule a meeting on hurricane recovery issues. Jindal says the president agreed to the meeting and breaking the promise is "Not an option." He'll become the nation's first Indian-American Governor when he takes all this on January. He said his parents came to the United States in pursuit of the American dream and they quote, "Found it, right here in Louisiana."
Well, the value voters have spoken and Mitt Romney is their choice for president but only by a hair. Romney narrowly won a straw poll of the mostly Christian Conservative voters at the family research council summit Washington this weekend. Romney getting nearly 28 percent of the vote but Mike Huckabee just 30 votes behind. Ron Paul was third with 15 percent and Fred Thompson came in fourth with 10 percent.
Four years after the CIA identity was leaked, Valerie Plame writing a book about the experience titled "Fair Game, My Life As A Spy, My Betrayal By The White House". It's here account of the political scandal that followed her husband, Ambassador Joe Wilson rejecting the Bush administration claims that Iraq had nuclear weapon. Plame will be a guest tonight on "Larry King Live" and she'll be right here on AMERICAN MORNING, Wednesday. You can find all of the day's political news around the clock at cnn.com/ticker.
ROBERTS: 45 minutes after the hour. It's tiny and oh, so cute. It would seem obvious that it saves space but does it save fuel and money and will it fly or rather drive in America? Kiran takes a spin in the Smart Car, that's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING."
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ROBERTS: If you're just joining us, here's a look at what's making headline this is morning. Rising tensions today on Iraq's border with Turkey. Kurdish rebels ambushed the Turkish Army Patrol on Sunday, killing at least 12 soldiers. Defense Secretary Robert Gates spoke with the Turkish defense minister and says, he does not believe the Turkey will retaliate.
Asian markets are down considerably this morning. This after the DOW plunge almost 400 points on Friday and the value of the dollar fell against the Yen. DOW futures pointing down 100 right now, looking like lower opening on Wall Street.
It's going to be The Boston Red Sox and The Colorado Rockies in the World Series. Boston blasted Cleveland, an 11-2 Sunday night to complete a comeback win at the American League Championship Series. They were down 3-1. The World Series starts on Wednesday. Kid Rock is free on bond this morning after being busted outside of an Atlanta waffle house. The singer whose real name is Bob Ritchie was arrested last night and charged with battery. Police say, Kid Rock was finishing up a post concert meal when a customer recognized a woman in his entourage and began exchanging words with her and escalated into a physical fight.
Firefighters prepared to do battle for yet another day in Southern California as wind-whipped fire sweeps across the hills of Malibu. There's some live pictures for you there. You can see that there were just no let up in the fires. These pictures are actually coming from just outside San Diego. The fires there have burned more than 6,000 acres. The mayor of the town is worried that they could actually come inside the city limits. And so, increasing urgency this morning to try to knock those flames down. We'll have live reports for you. Stay on the story throughout the morning here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Really is all up to the winds. That's pretty much it. They're having a tough time getting to handle on it. We'll check in with Rob Marciano also to find out more about the weather situation there. In the meantime, CNN's going green all week, as we've told you. And you may have noticed our logo in the lower left of your screen is green. That of course is only the beginning. We're digging deeper on environmental issues and covering stories that affect all of us from the air we breathe to the fuel we use and it all coincides with the premiere of "Planet in Peril". It's a special worldwide investigation that is hosted by our own Anderson Cooper and premieres tomorrow night. And one area that we're going to be looking at is the cars that we drive. The Smart Car, there it is, is all the rage in Europe. It's coming to America in January. So would you be ready to, let's say trade in your SUV for something the size of a golf cart? Some people are skeptical about it. So, I took a test drive on the streets of New York City.
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CHETRY: Today we're going to test drive the new Smart Car, not available yet in the United States, but coming soon. And it gets 40 miles to the Gallon. You can also parallel park it perpendicular because it's as long as some of these other cars are wide. So, let's check it out.
CHETRY: Hey! DRIVER: I like that.
CHETRY: What do you think? It's small right?
DRIVER: I need that for my kids.
CHETRY: It gets 40 miles to the Gallon.
DRIVER: Yes on the gallon huh?
CHETRY: 40 miles to the gallon.
DRIVER: I got four kids. I need like one each.
CHETRY: I wonder if this guy (INAUDIBLE). OK, there we go. Now, I got to try to see if I can get past this van. It is actually so easy to navigate. So, do you feel like you have enough room?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
CHETRY: How tall are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 6'4". I don't know about my head.
CHETRY: Yes. You're going to always have to keep the convertible top down. Now, this is crazy. Look at how easy for me to get past this dude, go through construction. Wow, that was pretty fun.
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CHETRY: The other weird thing is you can parallel park it perpendicular to the curb because it's actually so -- the length is just so short that it's about the size of the width of an SUV. Well, a basic Smart Car will cost you about $11,590. That's all before taxes and fees and as we said you get about 40 city miles to the gallon. Then there's also of course the mini cooper. It's $18,700 and gets 31 miles per gallon. That's 9 less than a Smart Car. It actually looks humongous next to the Smart Car and the Toyota Yaris that will run you $11,300 and you get about 29 miles to the gallon. Coming up a little bit later to the show, we're going to talk to the makers of the Smart Car. Find out a little more about the safety and some of the features and whether or not it would be practical to fit into your lifestyle. Also, don't forger to catch the premiere of "Planet in Peril" with Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta. In the "Animal Planet" is Jeff Corwin. Its tomorrow and Wednesday 9:00 p.m. eastern only on CNN.
John?
ROBERTS: Does it actually feel like a car, some more like a go- kart.
CHETRY: It feels like a car when you're in the front seat. But, like I said, when you catch a glimpse of yourself, you realize there's no back seat. There certainly no trunk. But if you're living in a city like Manhattan it's perfect. I don't know if I'd want to be, you know, traveling around the Capitol Beltway in it.
ROBERTS: You wouldn't want to be traveling around the beltway in anything.
CHETRY: That's true.
ROBERTS: A big day for a little jaguar. In the past four months she's simply been known as baby. But today, you can help change all that. The Brevard Zoo in Melbourne, Florida is conducting an online contest to find a fitting name for the new jaguar. The choices Maya, Nindiri, Belleza, Beli, and Malaya. You can vote at floridatoday.com. You can also find it at brevardzoo.org but florida.com is the one that's actually running the contest. The zookeeper is going to be here live later on AMERICAN MORNING to announce the winner.
CHETRY: All right. Well, some major American companies are deciding that outsourcing may not be the answer. Some of these companies that have been sending a lot of their business, their customer service business overseas are saying, you know what, maybe it's time to bring it back. And they're having a lot of success. We're going to explain how it's working for them, putting Americans to work ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Well, you have a customer service issue many times, depending on the company you're talking about. You get help from India on the phone line. The next time you call though, you may actually get IOWA, as many of these overseas jobs previously outsource overseas are actually coming back home.
ROBERTS: Yes, Iowa or some other rural area. Our Polly Labarre is here now with more on that. What is causing this shift from India to Iowa, Idaho places like that?
POLLY LABARRE, AMERICAN MORNING CONTRIBUTOR: There are a few reasons that off-shoring is going to on-shoring. And let me just say the macro trend is still towards off-shoring but there's been a new twist in migration. A big piece is that sort of frustration you get when you call customer service and you get someone in Mumbai who maybe can't quite understand your problem or the translation skills are a little tough so Dell which was at the forefront of outsourcing and off-shoring is actually created a big tech support center in Idaho recently. (INAUDIBLE) a big defense and technology company is now creating a series of I.T. centers in small towns here on America. Helena, Montana, Corsicana, and Texas, et cetera.
CHETRY: It is interesting because of how much this customer backlash factor plays into the decision making when we are going to buy our next computer. I'm thinking maybe not Dell this time because you're good for an hour or two no matter what problem you have just getting through the translation issues of a customer service rep.
LABARRE: That personal frustration is part of the picture. The cost savings are obviously part of the picture. They're comparable to off-shoring and the added benefits are these companies which are complaining about no pipeline of high tech skilled workers in the U.S. are now investing in that pipeline. Then they get these loyal workers who say, wow you just gave me a job in my hometown. You just cut my commute from 90 minutes to 5 minutes in a small town America so there's some real benefits there.
ROBERTS: And it's not just a customer service area that they're making changes either. Companies like Netflix are doing away with that web only stuff. That drives people nuts.
LABARRE: Absolutely. Netflix is even more progressive on this. They're the knockdown dragging out that with blockbuster. So they're trying to compete on customer service. They just eliminated e-mail customer service. So, you get one of their 200 customer service reps in Hillsborough or in just outside of Portland which they hand-picked for the friendliness, politeness, and upbeatness of their people and you get them 24 hours a day to pick up the phone.
ROBERTS: I got a Netflix account. I got to say, their customer service is great but their new releases section of their website just blows. They got to fix that.
LABARRE: Well, they're trying to solve the blockbuster complex and introduce you to new films that you never would be looking for in the first place.
CHETRY: How about that. Very interesting, a very interesting trend. Polly Labarre, thanks so much.
LABARRE: Thank You.
ROBERTS: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
Breaking News.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It came so fast, there was no stopping it
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ROBERTS: Wild fires on the move, right now.
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