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American Morning
Homebuyers Beware: Harder to Get a Mortgage; Nancy Grace's Twins; New Iraq Milestone: 2007 Deadliest Year for Troops
Aired November 06, 2007 - 07:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Breaking news. Five soldiers killed in Iraq and a deadly new milestone for U.S. troops.
Extreme weather. Killer mudslides on top of devastating floods in Mexico.
Hot or not?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's nice to have a good professor, but it's also nice to have something nice to look at.
CHETRY: How students are grading their college professors on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: And welcome. Thanks so much for being with us once again.
It is Tuesday, November 6th.
I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. I'm John Roberts.
We begin in Iraq, and a dramatic new milestone to tell you about this morning. 2007 is now the deadliest year for U.S. troops in Iraq since the war began. Five more soldiers were killed on Monday, making 854 troops killed this year according to a CNN count of Pentagon figures. The death totals for September and October were much lower than months earlier in the year, so perhaps not yet a trend, but at least a reduction toward the end of the year.
In Pakistan today, brutal beatings and arrests for anyone protesting the president's crackdown. The country's judicial system has been suspended, and one in every four lawyers in Pakistan is now in jail.
President Bush is telling President Musharraf to restore democracy. Washington is reviewing its aid package to the Musharraf government. The United States has given $10 billion to Pakistan to help fight the war on terror. Just got some news in from the AP a little while ago. It says that militants have captured a town in Pakistan in the northwestern part of that country. Not saying which town. And former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has just touched down in Islamabad, where she plans on talking with her supporters about maybe getting out and protesting in the streets of the capital.
A breaking story out of Afghanistan to tell you about as well. There's word that a suicide bomb blast at a sugar factory north of Kabul has killed now some 50 people, including six members of the Afghan parliament who were about to tour the facility. According to the AFP, the Agence France-Presse, it was a suicide bomber who detonated his explosive belt just before that tour began.
We'll stay on top of this and bring you more information on it as we get it.
An alarming discovery this morning about security breaches at our borders. The Government Accountability Office has found that as many as 21,000 people were able to slip through U.S. border checkpoints last year.
At one point of entry GAO investigators found no agents in the inspection booth The report did not specify where the security breaches happened. The deputy commissioner of Customs and Border Protection says part of the problem is a lack of the consistent rules.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAYSON AHERN, CBP DEPUTY COMMISSIONER: Today there is currently not a requirement either statutorily or regulatory requiring everyone to have a document coming across the border. So no, they are not all being checked.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The GAO report blames, among other things, staffing shortages and poor management.
His confirmation as attorney general appears almost certain this morning. In a short while, the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to approve Michael Mukasey's nomination and then send it to the full Senate for confirmation. Mukasey's reluctance to define waterboarding as torture, even though he called the interrogation tactic "repugnant," put his nomination at jeopardy. The two key Senate Democrats agreed to vote with Republicans and approve Mukasey -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, we have some breaking news just coming in this morning. A big arrest.
Police say that they've caught the man suspected of killing a police officer in Philadelphia. The suspect, John Lewis (ph), wanted for killing Officer Chuck Cassidy during a robbery of a Dunkin' Donuts. He was apparently picked up at homeless shelter in Miami. Authorities telling the local Philadelphia news station that it was an Eagle-Eye bus driver who recognized him and was able to identify him. He was trying to take a bus, and then was found a few blocks away at a homeless shelter.
He -- the officer who was killed died last Thursday after he was shot in the head. That officer was 54 years old, a married father of three.
Reruns across the board for late-night comics on the first night of the writers' strike. Leno, Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, they all aired repeats last night. Jay Leno even delivered doughnuts to his writers in L.A. Tina Fey picketed with her fellow writers here in New York.
The writers want a bigger cut from the sales of DVD and downloads. The studios say it is impossible to predict how much the digital content will be worth.
New York mayor Michael Bloomberg apologizing to the father of a police detective who worked at Ground Zero for saying that his son was "not a hero." Bloomberg made the comment after a city medical examiner ruled that James Zadroga died from abusing prescription drugs, not from inhaling dust at a World Trade Center site.
Bloomberg caught a lot of flak for that comment and met with Zadroga's father yesterday. He insists -- the father insists that Zadroga was not abusing any drugs.
ROBERTS: Coming up now to five minutes after the hour. And time to check in with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents for other stories new this morning.
Homebuyers beware. The fallout from the credit crunch means that it's now harder to get a mortgage from the bank.
Ali Velshi at the Business Update Desk with more on that.
Good morning, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
And this is regardless of whether you've ever had a credit problem or what you're buying. A survey by the Federal Reserve of 49 major banks in October said that 41 percent of them are now saying that they have tightened either somewhat or considerably the lending standards to prime borrowers.
Now, take a look at how this moved.
In July -- this is prime borrowers, people with no credit risk, no credit problem. In July, 15 percent of them had increased their standards for those loans. Now in October, 41 percent of them.
Across the board, banks had increased their standards for subprime borrowers, or what you call nontraditional loans, loans that don't have income verification and, you know, anything that doesn't seem normal. The interesting thing is out of the 49 banks that the fed talked to, only nine of them are still actually making loans to subprime borrowers. Five of those nine say they have tightened the standards for subprime borrowers, four of those nine say they haven't.
That's a risky business to be in, as you know. So we'll have to see what happens to those four. But for now, lending standards, or borrowing standards if you're trying to get a house, have become a lot more stringent across the board, regardless of whether you are a subprime borrower or not -- John.
ROBERTS: It's going to take a while longer for this whole thing to shake out.
VELSHI: That's right.
ROBERTS: Ali Velshi, thanks very much.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: Well, we have some wonderful baby news at the CNN family. Headline News anchor Nancy Grace and her husband, David Linch, had twins, Lucy Elizabeth and John David, born on Sunday.
Now, Linch called in to Nancy's show last night to say that everybody is doing fine even though the twins had to be delivered a little bit early.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LINCH, NANCY GRACE'S HUSBAND: Nancy is resting and the twins are doing fine. And in the comfort of this great hospital here in Atlanta. And thanks for the congratulations. And Nancy wanted to send her wishes, too, and thanks for the many prayers, thoughts and e- mails.
Nancy got rather ill Sunday morning and started undergoing some -- you know, got very ill and severe cramping and shortness of breath, and went to hospital. And the doctors almost immediately recognized the shortness of breath being a gathering of fluid in the lungs. And while it was way ahead of time for the twins, they thought it was much healthier for her to go ahead and deliver the twins at that point in time and ensure her health, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Nancy had what is called pulmonary edema.
Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is at our Medical Update Desk in Atlanta with more on this.
So, a very happy time, of course, for Nancy and her husband and for the babies, but also a scary time as they had to decide whether or not to go ahead and deliver those twins early.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, right. I mean, this is a very scary and serious condition, and it's terrific that she got such great medical care.
Pulmonary edema is a fancy way, Kiran, of saying fluid in the lungs. It's a dangerous condition when you're not pregnant and certainly very dangerous when you are pregnant, for both the mother and the babies.
Thankfully, this is not very common. This happens in fewer than .1 percent of all pregnancies.
Now, let's take a look at some of the signs of pulmonary edema. Nancy's husband mentioned them just now -- coughing, extreme shortness of breath, and water retention in the legs and the ankles.
Now, you might wonder, why Nancy? Or, you know, why do some women get this while others don't?
There's are a number of reasons why. One of them is possibly an underlying condition. Someone might have an underlying heart condition, or they might be taking drugs to put off pre-term labor. Or they might have hypertension already, and so that might be causing part of the problem.
Now, usually doctors do what Nancy's doctors did, which is deliver those babies to save the life of the mother and the child -- Kiran.
CHETRY: And so then once you deliver, do you quickly go back to normal with the fluid on the lungs?
COHEN: Not necessarily always quickly. I mean, it can sometimes take some time, but usually the situation resolves itself.
CHETRY: In terms of the babies, her little boy, 5 pounds, 1 ounce. I mean, a little bit small, but OK. But her daughter was 2 pounds, 15 ounces.
Does weight have a lot to do with how they end up doing, or can a baby be just fine, just happens to be very low birth weight?
COHEN: Oh, sure. Babies at that low birth weight, the size that little Lucy is, they often -- they usually do just fine.
Now, that kind of a size, like 2, 2.5 pounds, you know, you would think that was very, very scary decades ago. Often those babies did not do well at all. But today, babies even that small usually do just fine.
And Kiran, I want to add one thing here, because we talked about these symptoms of shortness of breath and swelling in the legs. You know, you and I both know as people who have been pregnant that happens a lot. So I don't want women to think, oh, my gosh, I'm short of breath, maybe I have pulmonary edema.
We are talking extreme shortness of breath. I mean, you can really feel it, your doctor would note it. We're not just talking feeling a little out of breath. CHETRY: I got you. So these are signs you have to pay attention to. And, you know, these days, you get checked so often as well by your doctor, so hopefully they are monitoring some of that for you, too.
By the way, Nancy's husband said that baby Lucy came in the world screaming. He said she is going to be just fine and certainly going to give Nancy a run for her money.
COHEN: Right. I saw that. It's a great sign when a baby that small is born screaming. It's a wonderful sign.
CHETRY: Elizabeth, thanks.
COHEN: Thanks.
ROBERTS: Eleven minutes after the hour now.
What happened to Stacy Peterson? Is she on the run escaping a bad marriage, or is something more sinister at work?
That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Breaking news to tell you about this morning, the latest developments out of Pakistan.
Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has now landed in the capital Islamabad within the last half hour, and there's a report that Islamic militants have taken over a town. This in northwest Pakistan.
Pervez Musharraf, the president, has put the country under a state of emergency, placing thousands of protesters -- in fact, a quarter of the country's lawyers -- in jail.
We also have developments out of Iraq this morning.
As we told you at the top of the hour, 2007 now the deadliest year for U.S. troops since the war started. Now, that is despite the reduced violence over the past few months.
We have Barbara Starr following this story from the Pentagon this morning -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning to you, Kiran.
Indeed, now this year becoming the deadliest year of the war, and people might wonder how we got to this point. Of course, a lot of it reflects what went on earlier this year with the troop surge, that spike in U.S. casualties over the summer. But now the death rate is dramatically declining for U.S. troops because of the very success of the surge.
So let's put it all in context and look at a few numbers here at this point.
Of course, all of this now being discussed today because it has been announced in Baghdad five troops were killed Monday in two separate roadside bomb attacks, just an indication of how the violence continues. But let's look at some of the numbers.
Eight hundred and fifty-four killed in Iraq this year. That compares to 849 as you see in 2004. And it goes back a couple of years there.
You can see how the casualty rate in Iraq has continued to climb. But really, the overall story of 2007 is the dramatic decline in troops being killed in the field.
In the month of October, it was just 40, and that compares to the height of the activity in the summer, in May, 126 in June, 101 killed. That's when the surge was getting going and when the violence was really at its peak.
So overall the U.S. military feels they're still on a good track. Still, the news is getting better, but make no mistake, for every family, every one of these it's certainly a tragedy -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Undoubtedly, it sure is.
Barbara Starr, thank you -- John.
ROBERTS: Seventeen minutes after the hour.
The search is expanding for a missing mother in Illinois. Stacy Peterson, a young mother of two, has been missing for more than a week. Friends and family say her marriage to a police sergeant was in trouble. The sergeant says Stacy ran off with another man.
We're joined now by Stacy's aunt, Candace Aikin. She's joining us live from El Monte, California.
Candace, thanks for being with us. I know it's extremely early.
What are you thinking today about where Stacy may be, what happened to her?
CANDACE AIKIN, MISSING MOM'S AUNT: I'm not sure. I'm beginning to wonder if she is alive, because I just don't feel like she would not have communication with the family for this long a time. She has never, ever done that in her life before.
ROBERTS: Well, we certainly hope that is not the case.
You saw Stacy...
AIKIN: Yes.
ROBERTS: ... just before her disappearance. What was her state of mind? And as importantly, what was the state of her marriage at that point? AIKIN: When I saw her in October, like, 5 through 11, I stayed at their home. She was pretty confused, and I've never seen her like that. She was very, very full of stress and just not happy in her marriage at all. Everything was magnified. Her life was full of chaos, actually.
ROBERTS: Wow. You know, another aunt, Susan Robeson (ph), says that Stacy told her husband she wanted a divorce two days before she disappeared. Do you know that same thing?
AIKIN: Yes. She had been talking to him. They had been talking about divorce for a while, and she was getting very, very serious about that.
ROBERTS: There was also this e-mail that she wrote to a friend, Steve Cesare (ph). It said, "I have been arguing quite a bit with my husband. As I mature with age, I am finding that the relationship I am in is controlling, manipulative and somewhat abusive. If you could keep me in your prayers, I could use some wisdom, protection, and strength."
"Keep me in your prayers. I could use some protection." It sounds like a cry for help.
AIKIN: Yes, very, very much so. She was, I think, getting very desperate, but she was so confused, she just didn't even know what to do anymore.
ROBERTS: Yes, I mean, there seemed to be something unusual, and I don't want to pass judgment on this, something unusual about the relationship from the get-go. They met a number of years ago.
She was 17 at the time, he was 47. Drew Peterson had also dated Stacy's older sister. She died from colon cancer last year.
The husband, Drew Peterson, says that Stacy phoned him to say she was running off with another man. Does that sound like something she would do? Did you know of any other relationship?
AIKIN: No, I don't believe there was any other relationship. She was always being accused of having another relationship, but she did not. I believe she would of told me. I don't feel like she had time to have a relationship. She was running the home and trying to keep the family together because of the children. But I just know she wanted out of this relationship.
ROBERTS: The case is still being treated as a missing persons case, it's not a criminal investigation at this point. Do you think the fact that Drew Peterson is a police sergeant has any bearing on the way that this case is progressing?
AIKIN: I think that, you know, all of the people -- or it's becoming so well known is because of him being a police sergeant. I think that's really helping, because my sister Christy (ph), who had a history of disappearing, we have no media attention really on that, except for now. She has been missing almost 10 years. So I feel like because he is a police officer, that that is just really helping a lot with getting the people to know and to look for her.
ROBERTS: Wow, two people missing in the same family. I wasn't aware of that.
Candace Aikin, the aunt of Stacy Peterson.
Thanks for joining us this morning. It's good to talk to you. Best of luck. We certainly hope that this turns out well for the family and that she has, indeed, just gone missing.
AIKIN: Sure.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, still ahead, imagine going to a store and suddenly noticing your own baby's face staring back at you from the package of something on one of the store shelves. We're going to talk to the mom who experienced it and why she is now suing.
That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-four minutes after the hour. Welcome back to the most news in the morning.
And your "Quick Hits" now.
A major dogfighting operation break up in Santa Rosa County, Florida. At least 30 Pit Bulls were found at a home chained to posts and in cages. Many of the dogs had injuries believed to have come from fighting.
One man was arrested in connection with the case. The dogs were all taken to a local shelter.
And police in Mount Dora, Florida, are looking for a man who took his cell phone to take a picture up the skirt of a 13-year-old girl. Surveillance video from a Wal-Mart store shows the man take the picture -- look at that -- and then walks off.
As if Oprah Winfrey wasn't busy enough, now she's got her own channel on YouTube. Oprah will be like anyone else on YouTube, posting videos that she makes herself. She says the clips will give a behind-the-scenes look at her show. She won't be crashing through fences or doing tricks on a skateboard.
CHETRY: Right, exactly. There's other things to be found on YouTube.
All right. Well, here's a story coming up that you can't miss -- students grading their professors. However, they're not giving them marks based on their teaching ability in the classroom.
ROBERTS: Yes. The teachers are also being rated on looks.
We'll have that story and today's headlines when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Well, sunrise in Houston for you this morning. Thanks to our friends at KPRC for this picture.
It's not a lovely day there. It's 65 degrees, partly cloudy, going up only to a high of 68 today and partly cloudy.
That cold front that Rob Marciano has been talking about all morning sweeping way down into the Deep South, bringing some extreme weather here to the Northeast as well. And snow to some places up near the great lakes.
CHETRY: Right. I'll take the Houston weather over the lake- effect snow.
ROBERTS: Yes, thank you very much. A little early in the season for that.
I'm John Roberts.
Welcome back. It's Tuesday, November the 6th.
Good to have you with us.
CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry.
We have breaking news from Pakistan right now.
Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has landed in Islamabad within this past hour. There is a report that Islamic militants have taken over a town in northwest Pakistan. The nation has been in turmoil since President Pervez Musharraf placed it under a state of emergency.
Our Emily Chang is live monitoring the story for us in London.
These newest developments, how is it changing this already volatile situation, Emily?
EMILY CHANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran.
Well, we've just learned that Benazir Bhutto, Musharraf's perhaps biggest political rival, has landed in Islamabad, but we're told she has no plans to meet with Musharraf. And it just goes to show how the situation keeps changing by the minute.
The Pakistani cabinet has been meeting all day long, discussing a timetable for these democratic elections. And we're now told there could be up to a three-month delay for these elections. A big step forward from yesterday when they were talking about a year delay.
But all day long, angry protesters have been clashing with police in the streets, pouncing each other with stones and other weapons. These protesters calling Musharraf a criminal and a traitor, and it just goes to show how volatile the situation really is. Now, President Bush has come out condemning Musharraf's actions, but he is also emphasized that Pakistan remains a very important ally to the West in the war on terror. However, opposition groups are saying more than 3,500 people have been arrested, many of them respected lawyers and journalists. And of course, many of them members of Benazir Bhutto's own political party. And right now the U.N. is calling for the release of all of these political prisoners -- Kiran.
CHETRY: So while that is going on, we also got the news that in the lawless northwest, at least in one town, Islamic militants were actually able to seize a town. Apparently, they outnumbered the security forces. Those security forces surrendering without a fight.
This is what Musharraf claimed was part of the reason for needing to crack down is because of this -- these possibilities of terror attacks by militants. So what is the significance of the militants supposedly seizing this northwest Pakistan town?
EMILY CHANG, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes, Musharraf has said he had to declare this state of emergency to quash these militant actions, and it just goes to show, you know, how volatile the country is right now.
Everyone is waiting to see what happens, what's going to happen. And Musharraf seems to be waiting to see how -- what actions develop on the streets, what politicians are stating, well, just what the politicians are saying and we'll just have to wait and see how the situation develops -- Kiran.
Emily Chang, following the latest developments, which are changing by the minute out of London this morning for us regarding Pakistan. Thank you.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning. 2007 is now the deadliest year for U.S. troops in Iraq. Five more soldiers were killed on Monday, raising the total to 854 troops killed this year. According to a CNN count of Pentagon figures, the death totals for the months of September and October were lower than months earlier in the year.
And some breaking news out of Miami to tell you about this morning. Police telling us that they have caught the man suspected of killing a police officer in Philadelphia.
John Lewis was wanted for killing officer Chuck Cassidy during a robbery at a Dunkin Donuts last week. He was apparently picked up at a homeless shelter in Miami. Police followed him there after he was caught by a security camera this weekend boarding a bus that was headed to Miami.
Officer Cassidy died last Thursday, a day after he was shot in the head. He was 54-year-old married, father of three.
Britain's chief of intelligence, domestically, at least, is warning of a growing domestic terror threat in the country. Jonathan Evans who is the director general of MI-5 says at least 2,000 people in Britain pose a "direct threat to national security and public safety" because of their support for terrorism.
Evans also says British extremists are grooming young people, including children to carry out attacks -- Kiran.
CHETRY: NASA engineers pouring over photos of Discovery's wing as the shuttle heads back to earth. They're checking for any damage sustained while Discovery was docked at the International Space Station. Discovery is scheduled to return to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida tomorrow.
Well, the most popular story on CNN.com right now, the Air Force grounds F-15s in Afghanistan, after a crash in Missouri this week. There's the video from it. The air National Guard pilot managed to eject and was treated for minor injuries.
The Air Force had preliminary findings show a structural problem with the F-15 may have been the cause. Six hundred seventy-six F-15s flown by the Air Force were all built by Boeing.
A new report out this morning suggests airlines might not be doing as badly as we think when it comes to delays. AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho has that story for us. Hi, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kiran. Good morning. It's kind of a good news/bad news situation. The good news first. For the month of September, overall flight delays across the nation are down. But the bad news, the record for on-time arrivals is still the worst in 13 years.
Now, the key to avoiding delays according to the transportation department, steer clear of New York, where flight delays are up 23 percent. JFK in particular. Not the kind of news we want to hear, especially here in New York.
But, we should mention this, excluding New York, delays at the 31 nation's largest airports are actually down 8 percent over last year. Even Chicago's O'Hare and Atlanta's Hartsfield airports, two of the world's busiest posted improvements. Now, here is the breakdown in case you're thinking about booking a flight.
The airlines with the highest rate of on-time arrivals, Aloha Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, and Frontier Airlines. Those with the worst records: Atlantic Southeast, Alaska, and Northwest Airlines. And the flight you want to avoid the most, Comair Flight 5042 from Philadelphia to New York's JFK. That flight, as you can see there on your screen, late 90 percent of the time.
Now, last month, as many people know, the airlines and the FAA met to talk about just how to fix what they call epidemic delays, especially at JFK. Among the proposals, charging airlines fees for taking off during peak travel times in the early morning and the afternoon and evening hours, and putting caps on the number of flights that can take off during those peak times. And another interesting point, Kiran, is that the number of complaints has actually skyrocketed over the past year by 60 percent, some 10,000 complaints last year versus 6,500 or so the year before. So a lot of people are talking about it. People are less patient and, remember, the holiday travel season is around the corner.
CHETRY: Yes, it sure is. But that Comair flight, you might as well drive from Philadelphia to New York.
CHO: Yes, that's it. You spend more time on the tarmac.
CHETRY: Exactly. All right. And you don't have to take off your shoes when you get in the car. Thanks, Alina.
CHO: You bet.
ROBERTS: Twenty-five minutes now at the top of the hour. An update on the breaking news story to tell you about this morning out of Afghanistan. According to the AP, an Afghan official now says, at least 64 people have been killed at that sugar factory, a suicide bombing in Baglan province, that is north of Kabul. That would put it as the deadliest attack since the ouster of the Taliban in 2001.
Among the dead said to be six members of parliament who are about to tour that sugar factory.
Your "Quick Hits" now. A California National Guard is being investigated for allegedly taking donations intended for wildfire victims. The Guard launched its investigation after volunteers reported troops taking away cartons of snacks and diapers, items that were intended for displaced fire victims near the U.S./Mexico border. One soldier has already been relieved of duty.
As the days get short and the weather gets colder, are you finding yourself feeling down, craving comfort foods like Chilean cheese? You might have a seasonal affective disorder, but you don't have to suffer. High-tech tools and tips to beat the blues. That's ahead.
And the great diaper caper. A mother gets a surprise at the supermarket when she sees a picture of her own son smiling back at her from a package of diapers. How in the world did this happen? Mother and son join us next. There he is on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, welcome back. It is 39 minutes past the hour. Rob Marciano keeping a check on things for us in many parts of the country. Boy, it feels wintery already, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, METEOROLOGIST: It is. This time of year, we can go from one extreme to the other. We're kind of seeing that right now. If you live in Boston, if you live in Harper back to New York, the major metropolitan areas across the northeast, you're getting a lot of rain right now. But behind this rain will be drier air but cooler air for sure. We're already getting a taste of it in D.C. New York to Boston, that's where most of the heavier rain is. Right now, most of the heavy rain actually in Long Island beginning to clear out just to the west of New York and suburbs there. But the front not quite through you. It is through the D.C./Baltimore area, where temperatures have dropped five, 10 degrees already this morning.
Coldest air of the season here comes down the pipe being pushed all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. And we'll see repercussions of that. So it's not just at the northeast. It's not just lake effect snow, even though we'll see temperatures in the spots.
There will be widespread frost tonight across the mid and deep south, and that lake effect snow across the great lakes will be piling up throughout the day today. We've already seen upwards of five inches of snowfall accumulating. And here it is on the radarscope.
The white, snow. The blue is rain. Those around the shore line, it's more rain than it is snow. It was such a warm October that the great lakes are actually above average for temperatures. And because of that, it's not quite cold enough for it to snow. But where it is snowing, it is piling up a fair amount and that will continue to be the case today.
But rain for New York. No forecast for snow in the New York area, at least for the time being. Let's swing it back over to John.
ROBERTS: Just this past week, we reset our clocks and fell back. But for some people, this is the season that they fall into a winter depression. It's known as seasonal affective disorder, and my next guest says it can affect as many as one out of 10 people.
Dr. Arthur Spielman is a clinical psychologist for the Center of Sleep Medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital in the City College of New York.
Thanks for coming in and explaining this to us.
ARTHUR SPIELMAN, NY-PRESB. HOSP WEILL CORNELL MED. CTR: Good to meet you.
ROBERTS: What is it about the change of season that leads to seasonal affective disorder?
SPIELMAN: Well, we're not actually totally sure. But, certainly, as light exposure becomes lessened, the day length gets shorter, that changes the effects on the biological clock, may change neurochemicals in the brain.
ROBERTS: Now, what's the difference between seasonal affective disorder and real depression?
SPIELMAN: They share many things in common. Seasonal affective disorder is a subtype of depression. So certainly, you have depressed mood, fatigue, poor concentration. You feel bad about yourself. But the thing about seasonal affective disorder that went to depression is that there's some atypical features. In regular depression, you lose your appetite, you lose weight. You don't sleep as well. The opposite is true with seasonal affective disorder.
ROBERTS: In fact, we have got the symptoms of seasonal affective disorder we want to put up on the screen. Lethargy, depression, which could be shared between depression and seasonal affective disorder.
Carb cravings...
SPIELMAN: Yes.
ROBERTS: That's an interesting difference. When should you know, though, that you should get treatment?
SPIELMAN: It's when it has a significant impact on your social occupational functioning or other important functioning or symptoms like mood or social withdrawal becomes significant.
ROBERTS: Now, now, here's the interesting part and the exciting part. We've got some treatments here for seasonal affective disorder in the form of light.
Let's start with the first two on the side. Here's a fluorescent light. This has been sort of prescribed, if you will, for seasonal affective disorder for sometime?
SPIELMAN: Absolutely. There's lots of evidence that it works quite well when you get half an hour to an hour exposure in the morning. It's best in the morning.
ROBERTS: Now, this is the newest technology. This is a blue light.
SPIELMAN: Right.
ROBERTS: Why are blue lights emerging as the preferred treatment?
SPIELMAN: Well, we discovered that it's this narrow spectrum blue light that really affects the biological clock. It's much more potent. You can use less intense light or use it for shorter periods of time.
ROBERTS: Here's an interesting alarm clock. I don't know how well you can see this effect. But as it turns on, it slowly brightens. This is what's called a dawn clock?
SPIELMAN: Dawn simulator. So you are asleep and then light's on, light slowly appears and will awaken you.
ROBERTS: Bottom line, you believe this is a real disorder?
SPIELMAN: Oh, yes, this is a real disorder. It's been described for over 20 years. We have effective treatments. We'll understand the underlying pathophysiology later.
ROBERTS: Yes.
SPIELMAN: But we've helped lots of people, and they are very, very pleased.
ROBERTS: So perhaps if you're not feeling well, you have lethargy and you've got carb cravings to go along with it, perhaps light is just the thing that the doctor ordered.
Arthur Spielman, thanks for being with us this morning.
SPIELMAN: My pleasure.
ROBERTS: Appreciate you coming in.
CHETRY: All right. Well, imagine walking down the supermarket aisle and you see a familiar face. It's not just your cute little boy shopping with you, but it's actually his face on a pack of diapers on the shelf.
Well, that by the way, is Chase Oliva. He's on a pack of Luvs diapers, and his mom Aliette has since filed suit against Proctor & Gamble, the maker of Luvs because she said she was never paid for the use of these photos.
They both join me now from Miami. Thanks for being with us this morning.
ALIETTE OLIVA, SON'S PICTURES ON LUVS PACKAGE: Hi. How are you?
CHETRY: He is adorable, by the way. I can see why they wanted him on the diapers. He's got a little change in hairstyle, though. It was curly in the picture.
OLIVA: Yes. His hair has gotten straight since he was 4.
CHASE OLIVA, SON OF ALIETTE OLIVA: Hiccups.
CHETRY: Now, these pictures are when he was 3 years old. And you actually took him to go try out and get a photo, right? To see whether or not they would decide to use him? Then three years later walking through the store is when you discovered, oh, I guess they did pick him after all.
OLIVA: Exactly.
CHETRY: What went through your mind when you saw that?
OLIVA: Oh, when I saw him on the packaging, I was like, wow! I mean, it was an air. I even went down that aisle. I was that cutting through, and I saw him and I was like ecstatic. I took the package and I bought it.
Went home, showed my mother-in-law and my father-in-law and everyone was really happy, calling everybody. And then all of a sudden, it dawned on me, you know, these people never called me. You know? We waited and waited and waited and I thought that they were never going to use him.
CHETRY: So did you try to contact Luvs after you saw this to say, wait a minute. Why are you using my son's picture without telling me?
OLIVA: Yes.
CHETRY: And what did they say?
OLIVA: I didn't get a hold of anyone, and that's when I spoke to an attorney.
CHETRY: We actually tried to talk to the folks at Proctor & Gamble as well. They say they are unable to comment due to pending litigation. But when you initially took him to, I guess, to these tryouts or to see whether they wanted to use him, did you have to sign anything? What did they tell you about future use of a photo they took?
OLIVA: Nothing. I went to a very large casting the first time. There were over 500 kids there. They called us back, and we went to another casting and there was about maybe between 15 and 20 kids. And it was a three-hour shoot. I signed. I signed for the shoot and they said if we use him, we'll call you. We'll contact you. And nothing, never contacted me.
CHETRY: And then, you come to find out three years later, there he is on the package of diapers. What do you want to happen? What do you hope to see happen out of this? Do you want them to stop using his picture? Do you want to be compensated for it?
OLIVA: They've already stopped using the picture since, I think, they were informed, I guess, of the lawsuit. And the attorney, I mean, you would have to ask the attorney exactly what he put in the lawsuit.
CHETRY: Ask Chase what did he think when he saw his face on the diaper pack.
OLIVA: What did you say when you saw your picture?
C. OLIVA: Oh, I'm famous!
OLIVA: Put down your hands.
CHETRY: He's very cute that he said, "Oh, I'm famous."
OLIVA: Yes.
CHETRY: And you know...
OLIVA: I'm all over the place. I go, "Yes, you are."
CHETRY: Right. And how many of those did you get your hands on, by the way, before they stopped making them?
OLIVA: No, I actually bought the big bag, the big box, and bought a couple of the smaller packages for the in-laws and my stepmom because my father, at this point, had passed away and he was the one that was always calling me. At least once a week, did they pick him? Have they called you? No, dad, no.
And, you know, after a year, I said, you know, dad, I don't think they're going to use him. There are a lot of cute kids out there. And, you know, don't even think about it anymore.
CHETRY: Wow.
OLIVA: I don't think they're using him.
CHETRY: That's a shame. But you always say that this is going to be his first and last modeling experience for Chase?
OLIVA: Yes.
CHETRY: All right. Well, let's us know how it turns out. I understand there's another family also who is going through something similar and they say they were surprised to see their kid's picture on the diaper pack as well.
OLIVA: Yes.
CHETRY: Aliette Oliva, as well as Chase, thanks for being with us.
OLIVA: Thank you. Say good-bye.
C. OLIVA: Bye.
ROBERTS: What a cute little boy.
CHETRY: He goes bye.
ROBERTS: Forty minutes after the hour. The CNN NEWSROOM just minutes away. Heidi Collins now at the CNN Center with a look at what's ahead. Good morning, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, John. Here is what is on the rundown today.
One in four lawyers in Pakistan now jailed under emergency rule as opposition leader Benazir Bhutto makes a move today. I'll talk with a man who knows her well.
And doctors trying to fix nature's mistake. This girl born with four arms and four legs. Our medical correspondent explains today's extreme surgery.
And police searching for this man now. A security camera catches him snapping inappropriate cell phone pictures, to say the least, of children. Tell you all about it. Plus breaking news any time it happens. Newsroom gets started at the top of the hour right here on CNN.
ROBERTS: All right. We'll see you then. Heidi, thanks very much.
Coming up, their students say they are among the hottest professors in America. What do you think? Coming up, we'll hear from the teachers ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: How about this for a reversal of roles? College students around the country are now grading their professors not just on their ability to teach. Our Lola Ogunnaike followed two professors who are making the grade in the looks department as well.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Meet the hottest teacher in America.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE PROFESSOR: If you saw how I looked when I was teaching, goggles and, you know, lab coat, I'm not hot in any manner. It's a way cheaper form.
And what are you guys doing?
OGUNNAIKE: Her students strongly disagree. They voted the 27- year-old Chemistry professor one of the best looking in the Web site, RATEMYPROFESSORS.com.
Did you have any idea they were looking at you and thinking, no, she's hot, she's gorgeous?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE PROFESSOR: Absolutely not. When I'm in class, I'm only thinking of one thing, portraying chemistry to my students and having them learn it. So I was not thinking they were looking at me in that manner at all.
OGUNNAIKE: And Professor Disavino (ph) isn't the only one receiving high marks.
ANDREW BERAN, CALCULUS PROFESSOR, PACE UNIVERSITY: The derivative of the variable with respect to (INAUDIBLE)
OGUNNAIKE: Andrew Beran, a Calculus professor at PACE, NYU, and Marymount College ranks number nine on the Web site's hotlist.
BERAN: At a 167 range, actually, many ratings and I think the last time I checked 112 said I was hot actually.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE STUDENT: It's nice to have a good professor who teaches well, but it's also nice to have something nice to look at.
OGUNNAIKE: Do you feel pressure to maintain your hotness?
BERAN: Not at all, no. I am very flattered, but the important thing is really the teaching.
OGUNNAIKE: Disavino agrees. When I'm up in front of the classroom, my main goal is to teach, not to look good. And if I'm looking good while I'm doing it, that's a plus.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: There you go. I still remember being madly in love with my eighth grade English teacher.
OGUNNAIKE: I never had a hot teacher! I'm so upset about that? If I had Professor Disavino (ph) for Chemistry, I would have gone to class, too.
CHETRY: Exactly, especially Chemistry, right? How do the teachers feel about it, though. I know she talks a little bit about it. Do they think it's an honor, or do they think it's a little demeaning?
OGUNNAIKE: Well, they're flattered by it. But they don't want their kids lusting after them. They'd rather have them focus on the periodic table or, you know, eighth (INAUDIBLE). I don't know. Is that Calculus?
Anyway, they'd rather focus on their work and not on their looks. Professor Disavino is actually married. She just got married last year to her high school sweetheart, who she tutored in Chemistry. And her husband was a little put-off by it at first, but he since come around and he thinks that's cool.
CHETRY: All right. And how about the teacher, Andrews?
OGUNNAIKE: Andrew Beran. Andrew Beran, he thinks it's great to have, you know, the kids interested. But, again, he wants to maintain a distance.
CHETRY: No. Is he single?
OGUNNAIKE: He's single. Oh, yes, Kiran.
CHETRY: No. No. Not for me.
OGUNNAIKE: For your friends, right?
CHETRY: Everyone is so (INAUDIBLE) in college.
OGUNNAIKE: Yes, I know. He's single. He's single. I don't know if he's ready to mingle, but he's definitely single. He's a -- and, you know, he's having a good time with it. I think he is really into checking how people feel about his performance.
He visits the site pretty often. He knew exactly his score.
CHETRY: Wow.
OGUNNAIKE: And, you know, they get a red, hot chili pepper, these professors next to their names. So they're sizzling hot.
CHETRY: All right. Pretty good. Lola, thank you.
OGUNNAIKE: Thanks.
ROBERTS: Now, with CNN NEWSROOM is working on for the top of the hour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS (voice-over): See these stories in the CNN NEWSROOM.
A new round of arrests in Pakistan. One in four lawyers now jailed under the state of emergency.
Terrorist grooming children for suicide messages. That warning from Britain.
Extreme surgery today for a girl born with four arms and four legs.
A woman takes a lightning bolt in the head and lives. NEWSROOM, top of the hour, on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Before we leave you, we want to talk a little bit more briefly about the debate over whether to get driver's license to illegal immigrant. The debate is being waged in several states across the country.
Of course, most high profile right now in New York. But in New Mexico, illegal immigrants can get them. In New York, the proposal of Governor Eliot Spitzer has gotten lukewarm support not with a lot of controversy. Even though State senators, Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer talking about it. Schumer suggesting Social Security cards with a photo I.D. should still be needed in order to get a job.
And that brings us all to our "Quick Vote" question. Should illegal immigrants be given licenses to drive. A final check of you, all for voting all day today.
Seventeen percent of you who voted say yes. Eighty-three percent say no. That's one of our biggest splits in terms of the "Quick Vote."
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHETRY: 1,700 of you voted and we say thanks to that. ROBERTS: Yes, Lou Dobbs office is right next door here. I think I can hear the faint sound of cheering.
One final story before we go this morning. A man, a bathtub, and 87 rattlesnakes. Jackie Bibby, known as the Texas snake man, spent 45 minutes in the tub with the snakes breaking his own world record by 12 snakes.
His also tops in suspending rattlesnakes from his mouth. The current record of ten at once, he is going to try to break that one today by adding another one -- 11. We'll keep it posted on how he does. We'll tell you tomorrow now.
He started doing this 39 years ago. He entered a contest. He won $30 bucks and got his name in the paper and said, hey, you can't beat that. And he kept going.
CHETRY: How about it? So I like this picture, but I would love to see the 11 rattlesnakes in his mouth tomorrow. How do we have it?
And that's going to do it for us. Thanks so much for being with us on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ROBERTS: See you in the NEWSROOM. Heidi Collins right now.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
Watch events come into the NEWSROOM live on Tuesday morning, November 6. Here's what's on the round down.
Thousands of protesters now jailed by the Pakistani government as a key opposition figure steps up for role today. I talked with the man who knows Benazir Bhutto in just a few minutes.
And born with four arms and four legs. Today doctors tried to fix nature mistake. Our medical correspondent shows us how.
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