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American Morning
New Developments in Natalee Holloway Case; Thanksgiving Day Parade; Turkey Making You Feel Sleepy?; Ed Lavandera Makes it to New York
Aired November 22, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: A one-woman army on a 20-year mission to help families in need, on this Thanksgiving edition of AMERICAN MORNING.
We have some great stories to warm your heart as well on this Thanksgiving. Thanks for being with us. It's Thursday, November 23rd. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm John Roberts. We begin this morning with startling new developments in the missing teenager Natalee Holloway. The Alabama student disappeared on the island two and a half years ago while on her senior class trip. Now prosecutors say they have new evidence against the three major suspects last seen with Natalee before she disappeared.
Joran Van Der Sloot was arrested in the Netherlands, Deepak and Satish Kalpoe were arrested in Aruba all on suspicion of involving in manslaughter. We spoke with the Aruba's chief public prosecutor earlier on AMERICAN MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF HANS MOS, ARUBA CHIEF PUBLIC PROSECUTOR: We came to a sort of a standstill in 2006 and we didn't see any more leads in this case. And then, there was a request from the Aruban authorities to the Dutch to help them out and see whether they could review the whole investigation and that's what happened last year, earlier this year and during the last few weeks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And Emily Chang is live in London at our World News update desk with more on this. Do we have any idea, Emily, when Joran Van Der Sloot might be going to Aruba? Can't really call it an extradition, but he would have to travel there.
EMILY CHANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, he's expected to be transported there in the coming days. We're told he has up to eight days to get back there, but it could happen as early as today. What the public prosecutor won't say is what this new evidence is except that it does indeed involve new material. We do know that back in April, investigators went to the Van Der Sloot's home, dug up the area around it, but never said what prompted those new searches.
Van Der Sloot is scheduled to appear in court in the Netherlands today. We do not know exactly when he's been in the Netherlands attending school. The Kalpoe brothers expected to be in court in Aruba tomorrow morning. Now all three of them were arrested shortly after Natalee Holloway's disappearance.
They were the last three people seen with her as she was leaving a bar in Aruba, but they have consistently denied that they were involved and were eventually released given a lack of evidence. Now, given this new arrest, this is what one of their attorneys has to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE TACOPINA, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR JORAN VAN DER SLOOT: This is not Joran Van Der Sloot. Anyone who knows Joran knows that's not his character. He feels awful about the fact that something may have happened to Natalee, but he had no involvement in her disappearance is what he said repeatedly. And quite, frankly, with the evidence seems to scream out as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANG: Now in court today, Van Der Sloot may be given some indication about what this new evidence is. Again, we don't know a lot about it. What we do know is clearly that Dutch authorities have been working very closely with Aruban authorities to build a case against these three suspects -- John.
ROBERTS: All right. Emily Chang for us this morning from London. Emily, thanks. And in the programming note, we'll be speaking with Attorney Joe Tacopina coming up in our third hour of AMERICAN MORNING. Right now, let's go over to Kiran.
CHETRY: Oh, what a way to end the short trading week. Stocks struggling overseas and Asian markets dipping sharply in volatile trading. Hong Kong closing down two percent. The Nikkei bouncing back to close slightly up. All of that was a reaction to the Dow's plunge hitting a seven-month low yesterday.
Ali Velshi is at the business update desk with more on that for us. And we got a look at those numbers until Monday now because there's no trading.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And it's going to be one of those, you know, trading even in a light week is usually choppier than it normally would because there are fewer people trade so the moves are more exaggerated.
Take a look at what happened yesterday. As you mentioned, the Dow taking another beating, 200 points lower, now below 13,000. The Nasdaq down. The S&P 500 down, but most people, of course, don't trade on a daily basis.
Take a look at where your investments are this year. If you've got investments that have matched the major indices, you're just a little bit higher on the Dow. You're doing OK on the Nasdaq, but look at that S&P. If you've got the broadest range of investments that these indices show you, you're actually down for the year and that's got folks worried.
One of the reasons they are worried is the price of oil, which we have constantly been sort of seeing taking a shot at $100 a barrel, not really getting there, getting up as high as $99.29. This is where it settled yesterday, $97.29.
But look at that, it is up 60 percent since January. You're paying 60 percent more than you were for oil, which means that the things you were buying to heat your home or fill your car, you're getting the same amount of product for that much more money. That's a bit of a problem for the economy -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes. What a mess. All right, Ali, thanks so much -- John.
ROBERTS: Other headlines new this morning. Pakistan's Supreme Court clears the way for Pervez Musharraf to continue serving as president. The court is stacked, by the way, with Musharraf loyalists. It rejected a final challenge to his re-election.
Musharraf is expected to resign as army chief within days and swear a new oath of office as a civilian for another five years.
A Democratic plan to bring soldiers home is now being supported by a former commander of troops in Iraq. Retired Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez is backing the $50 billion funding bill which calls for an end to combat by next December. General Sanchez said Iraqi leaders aren't willing to work for peace. The Pentagon says if Congress does not approve a funding bill that the president can accept, 200,000 civilian employees could be laid off.
An on-air confrontation caught on tape in Venezuela. The host of a morning news program slapped in the face repeatedly by Congresswoman Iris Varela. The politician slapped Gustavo Azocar in the face several times, even broke his glasses.
Varela is a supporter of President Hugo Chavez while Azocar is one of his most outspoken critics. But she says that her anger was not politically motivated. It stemmed from a book the journalist wrote about her.
And a Utah state trooper could be in hot water after dash cam video shows him using a taser on a driver who refused to sign a speeding ticket. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED UTAH STATE TROOPER: Turn around. Put your hands behind your back now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is wrong with you?
UNIDENTIFIED UTAH STATE TROOPER: Turn around. Turn around.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What the heck's wrong with you? No! No! Lauren, Lauren! UNIDENTIFIED UTAH STATE TROOPER: Down on the ground. Down on the ground. Turn around. Stay down. Stay in the car.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The video, all 10 minutes of it was posted on YouTube by the driver who got it by filing a public record's request. The Utah highway patrol has since launched an internal investigation of what happened. The young man claims he wasn't speeding, but he hadn't reached the speed limit sign for which the officer was citing him for violating -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, why wait for Black Friday. At least one major chain is open today, Wal-Mart, keeping its stores open on Thanksgiving. Tomorrow, of course, the traditional Black Friday and a lot of chains like Kohl's, JC Penney and others open their stores as early as 4:00 a.m., hoping to lure customers by offering sales and prices that are only good for the first few hours.
But analysts and retailers say they should not expect to bank on deep holiday discounts to save them after the weakest fall shopping season in a decade. They say retailers should instead be working on a recovery plan for 2008.
They're cheering in Hooville this morning. Dr. Seuss's childhood favorite "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" is back on Broadway. A Manhattan judge ordered everyone back to work saying "I think one grinch in town is enough."
The theater owners were forced to reopen the doors despite the ongoing stagehand strike. The producers of the show say they got their "miracle on 44th street." The Grinch" will open again tomorrow with an 11:00 a.m. show -- John.
ROBERTS: Time now to check in with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents for other stories new this morning.
The balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will be floating up the street just right across from us later on this morning. Our Jason Carroll is live on the parade route. Jason, at the moment, you really couldn't ask for better weather.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is the best out here, John. I mean, take a look at it. I mean, it's warm. There's no wind. Not like last year when it was rainy, it was cold.
Take a look at what's happening right up the street here in Central Park West, the balloons are being staged. Everything about it is underway. We want to take a quick look at what it was like here last night. The balloons are being pumped up and ready to go. They had Picachu being blown up.
Three new balloons making their debut this year -- Abby Cadabby, a Sesame Street character, Hello kitty and Shrek. But, of course, John, what would a parade be without the spectators? Can't have a parade without spectators. We've got lots of them here. This is a family of 28 people. Four families, all from jersey. The oldest here -- Happy Thanksgiving to you, too. I know this is your first time at the parade.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is.
CARROLL: What do you think so far?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's wonderful, very wonderful, enthusiastic, great crowd.
CARROLL: And well-behaved kids.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got up at 4:00 in the morning.
CARROLL: And good for you, good for you. Well-behaved kids in this family, too. I want to introduce to you some of them. Right down here. So girls, who are you looking forward to seeing in the parade this year? Quickly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ashley Tisdale.
CARROLL: "American Musical," if you don't know that. We'll be talking to them a little bit later. Now we've got some people from New Jersey, Germany, Frankfurt, correct?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, that's right.
CARROLL: Your English is very good, not bad. And from Ohio, somewhere out here. There you are.
CROWD: Ohio!
CARROLL: Ohio as well. So say hello to everyone out there from Ohio.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi everyone from Sisson University!
CARROLL: There you go. All right, John. Parade gets off at 9:00 a.m. We'll be out all morning long. Back to you. We'll check in with you a little bit later.
ROBERTS: Everybody having a lot of fun there this morning. Now that family of 28 could use that 72-pound turkey we showed a picture of earlier today.
Jason, thanks. We'll check back in with you soon. Of course, you know, when it comes to the Thanksgiving Day Parade, weather really is key. As Jason said, it's beautiful out there now. Will it last, though?
Our Rob Marciano at the weather desk tracking extreme weather today. So what's the verdict?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Winds are picking up. I'll tell you that much, John. It's helping the cause for visibility. Let's go to the radar here and show you where the precipits -- well, it's not around the icy (ph) areas. These little blips are starting -- trying to show up. They made you speed a little bit.
These are winds the last hour, and you kind of see the numbers ratcheting up out in West Hampton, New York. Winds direction out of the south-southwest and miles per hour, four, five, six miles an hour. So that be good -- that's good news. Temperatures, of course, good news. And what the limits are with this parade, are sustained winds of 23, 24 miles an hour. And it looks like we should stay below that limiting criteria, 58-degree temperature at game time or parade time and winds at 10 to 20 miles an hour.
A little bit of snow across parts of northern New England. Let's show you some video of snow yesterday in Iowa, where they saw anywhere from two to four inches across that state, making for a slow go across the Midwest. We had snow in Omaha, Nebraska, as well and we'll probably see a little bit of snow across parts of the mid Great Lakes as well.
Stop the press. It's raining in north central Georgia, which is something that we certainly like to see. Showers and thunderstorms stretch from north Georgia all the way down to the Gulf Coast. Also, rain not good for the holiday but always good for the reservoirs. We'll take it.
We've got a high-powered new Doppler radar specifically set up for this holiday, John and Kiran. It has the ability to track those balloons as they roll down Central Park west, and we'll unveil that new technology for you in the next hour and a half.
ROBERTS: No, come on! You got balloon Doppler?
MARCIANO: I wouldn't lie to you about something as dramatically scientific as that.
ROBERTS: Wow.
CHETRY: That's pretty cool. First, they can track Santa Claus. Now, the Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to seeing that. All right. Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: All right.
CHETRY: Also we now have the results of our AMERICAN MORNING travel experiment. Sorry, Ed Lavandera was our experiment. How about that one? He sent -- we sent him to travel across the country to see what it was like to make your way from airport to airport, coast to coast on what was one of the busiest travel days of the year.
ROBERTS: There was a little bit of a security risk to get here. He started his journey in Los Angeles, then went to Denver then went to Dallas and then finally to New York, and he has made it here, though. That's the good news, family in tow and in time for Thanksgiving. Ed, welcome to New York. We saw you yesterday during the day.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.
ROBERTS: Actually broadcasting live from inside the airport.
LAVANDERA: That was really bizarre. We thought, we were walking around, we got this technology, let's see if it will work. I never in a million years thought it would work out of the airplane. I just thought, you know, you're inside the plane, the signal won't get out.
ROBERTS: People looking at you kind of cross-eyed?
LAVANDERA: Always. They thought we were from Mars, and they're talking to the camera. People are walking by. Why is that guy talking to himself? You know, the guy in aisle six is really crazy.
And then I thought, well, it's just a matter of time before the airlines figure it out. The FAA is calling to the pilots. We're going to get kicked off the plane. I'm not going to get anywhere near you guys. But all in all, it was an incredible journey and if you look at the map, we hit four time zones, four cities in two days, and that will give you jetlag.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (on camera): You want to wish me luck? You know what I'm up to this week?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you up to?
LAVANDERA: I am flying from Los Angeles to Denver to Dallas to New York by Thanksgiving morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, man.
LAVANDERA: Is that pretty good?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Man, that's a journey.
LAVANDERA: We just checked in our luggage, got our boarding pass and now we're going to head into security.
(voice-over): A thick fog bogged down our departure from Los Angeles.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, please step in this line.
LAVANDERA (on camera): I appreciate it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Happy Thanksgiving.
LAVANDERA: Thank you. Guys, we just landed in Denver, and the flight was a little late. We're about 30 minutes behind schedule.
(voice-over): Then we came across a Denver airport ambassador just hoping to get a quick sense of how travelers were handling the holiday rush.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you guys up to? What airline?
LAVANDERA (on camera): He wasn't very friendly. We're on our way to get our luggage. We're going to check into the boards here, and there aren't that many flights that are delayed. All and all, it seems to be going pretty well.
Luggage is intact, can't ask for anything more.
(voice-over): But we didn't ask for the several inches of snow that fell overnight in Denver. Could this be the storm that spoils our travels?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep moving in and filling in, please.
LAVANDERA (on camera): The airport here in Denver is known for the longest security lines in all of the country. There's a real step-up effort to make this a lot faster, so we'll see how it goes. How's it going for you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, not great.
LAVANDERA: No?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We flew down from Fort Collins, and we're late.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): The snowstorm left planes on the tarmac iced over. Our plane pulls away from the gate on time, but it takes an hour for crews to de-ice the plane. The extra time on our connection through Dallas gives us a chance to do something that's never been done on CNN, live television reports from inside the plane.
(on camera): Not only are we putting new technology to the test, we're putting newborn kids.
(voice-over): A few hours later, we land at New York's La Guardia airport, only about an hour late, with the entire family in tow.
(on camera): Done four airports in four time zones, 2,868 miles in the air, and we are finally in New York. This is over. Good night!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: Yes. It's always good to end with your kids at the end of the piece.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: It's always good to have them and the luggage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And babies in it.
CHETRY: Did you ever feel like Chevy Chase of "National Lampoon" at any point in that trip?
LAVANDERA: You know, I tried -- you know, we travel a lot for this job, and it's been a brutal summer. I said yesterday in one of our reports, I've gotten more e-mails over the last three months from airlines apologizing for how bad my flights have been. You know, and you get like $5...
CHETRY: Wow.
ROBERTS: What?
LAVANDERA: All the time. I get an e-mail. It says, here, take 5,000 miles as a sign of, you know, we feel sorry for what we've done to you.
ROBERTS: Wow.
LAVANDERA: You know, so I've sat on planes for hours upon hours. I was well prepared mentally for having a brutal couple of days, and it just didn't happen.
CHETRY: So why -- do you think they were better prepared, they had more people? Why did Thanksgiving seem to go smoothly?
LAVANDERA: Well, I think they -- I definitely saw a stepped up, and there were lines. Even in Los Angeles, we flew with United Flight from Los Angeles to Denver. They had some 50 kiosks open. Now, they had three or four people. The employees are almost like carnival barkers on microphones and telling people go to number 36, number 37.
ROBERTS: Well, as long as they can do that every day.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: Ed, great report. Glad you made it here.
LAVANDERA: I had a good time.
ROBERTS: Enjoy your Thanksgiving.
LAVANDERA: Happy Thanksgiving.
CHETRY: You, too.
All right. Well, there's a new information now and new evidence apparently in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. She is the teen who disappeared in Aruba while on a trip, a high school trip. Well, three former suspects are back in custody.
Our legal contributor Sunny Hostin weighs in on the stunning new developments, years after they were released the first time. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Coming up now to 19 minutes after the hour. We've been telling you this morning about new developments in the disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway in Aruba, back in 2005. Three of the original suspects in the case are under arrest again. AMERICAN MORNING legal contributor Sunny Hostin joins us now.
This is a result, Sunny, of an investigation that was conducted not only by Aruban authorities but by Dutch authorities officials who were there as recently as last month. What kind of new evidence could have been developed in that time that would lead to the re-arrest of these three?
SUNNY HOSTIN, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, let's face it, John. There must be new evidence, and we know that the Aruban authorities asked Dutch authorities to come in and help. It's always wonderful in an investigation to get a fresh pair of eyes and apparently, they had a lot of pairs of eyes.
My guess and I hate to speculate, but I think what we've been seeing, you could make an educated guess that they do have something else. They don't have a body, I think we know, but they could have some sort of forensic evidence. They could have some sort of blood evidence. Most importantly, maybe they have a witness. Maybe, they have testimony.
That's usually what prosecutors are looking for in a circumstantial case. They're looking for someone to come in and say, I saw this, I saw that, I know this. This is over here. This is over there.
ROBERTS: Right. Let's take a look at the actual charges that they're facing at this point. It's involvement in the voluntary manslaughter of or causing serious bodily harm to Natalee Holloway resulting in her death. What does the wording of the charge tell you about the case?
HOSTIN: It tells me that there is no body, and it tells me that the theory of the case is sort of the heat of passion. When you have a murder charge, you need intent. Someone has to have malice. When you have a voluntary manslaughter charge, it's commonly referred to as the heat of passion, some sort of provocation and a reasonable person would be provoked to do something, so you don't meet prior intent. And quite frankly, that kind of case is a little easier to prove so it's a very smart charge.
ROBERTS: Officials in Aruba said that they wanted to bring this case to some sort of a conclusion by the end of this year. The fact that they still don't have a body, we don't know what this evidence is. Does this sound like a Hail Mary, or does it sound like they may have developed some legitimate, new evidence that they think they can take to prosecution?
HOSTIN: I think they must have developed some significant and legitimate new evidence. It could be Hail Mary but the bottom line is, this woman was missing, this girl has been missing since 2005. They've been under a lot of scrutiny. The public has been calling for this. Her family must be commended. They kept this at the forefront, and families have to do that. They have to work with prosecutors. And my guess is, they've got something. They decided they were going to go forward on it.
ROBERTS: We should find out soon. Joran Van Der Sloot is going to be back in Aruba to face a court date sometime within the next eight days.
HOSTIN: That's right. That's right.
ROBERTS: To see if that's almost the evidence. Sunny, thanks for coming in this morning. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
HOSTIN: Oh, Happy Thanksgiving.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
CHETRY: She's cooking for 25, so I don't know if it's going to be a happy Thanksgiving for poor Sunny today. Thanks for coming in.
HOSTIN: OK.
CHETRY: Well, still ahead from the front lines to your living room, we're talking to some real life action heroes, soldiers that fought in Iraq and are now behind a new computer game. John talks to them, coming up.
Also, do you want to go to sleep after you stuff your face for your Thanksgiving meal? I mean, most people would say yes. But is it really the turkey that's making you tired? Our Sanjay Gupta weighs in on some Thanksgiving myths ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, turkey day is all about family, food and fixings, and of course a good, long nap. But what is it about Thanksgiving that makes so many people so sleepy? We're paging Dr. Gupta right now in Atlanta.
Hey, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. You know, you think you may know because a lot of people toss around this term tryptophan. You probably heard that yourself, and it is true.
There's a chemical that's released from certain foods in particular, turkey is one of them. This chemical tryptophan tends to induce sleep. Now, there's no question about it.
We asked a lot of experts about whether or not tryptophan was the sole culprit when it came to those long naps, just that feeling of lethargy around the holiday season. And they said it probably has more to do with sleep debt, Kiran. It's interesting. Holiday time, as you may know, maybe for you as well, is one of the first times people finally get a chance to try and catch up with sleep. They may not have some of the standard stressors or pressures from work, and they get a chance to finally take those naps and get that. So tryptophan may help, but the sleep debt probably a bigger role here. Again, as you know, Kiran, seven to nine hours, sort of the sweet spot at least for adults.
CHETRY: Right. And most don't get it until they conk out on the couch on Thanksgiving. But you know, it's funny because everyone blames the tryptophan in the turkey. When you think about how much you're actually gorging on, no wonder you're tired, after you eat that entire Thanksgiving meal.
GUPTA: Yes, absolutely. I mean, there's a couple of things that are going on there. First of all, there's something known as eating thermogenesis. Don't even remember the name, but basically when you eat a lot of food, your body temperature goes up a little bit as is tries to digest all that food.
Just a little bit of a rise in the body temperature gives you the snoozes. I mean, you want to go to sleep. So, they a look at the sort of typical holiday meal. This may be a bit tame by some people's estimates, but you could see the food. You could see the calories there. Of course, you add a little bit of alcohol to that, which a lot of people sometimes do with their meal, and you get a lot of calories and you get some of that increase in body heat and the sedating properties of the alcohol and suddenly you want to sleep again.
Also, here's another interesting thing. If you add the carbs, Kiran, to the turkey, carbs actually make it easier for the tryptophan to get into the brain so it sort of acts as a second inducer. So all these things again adding up to someone feeling very tired.
CHETRY: All right. Sanjay, thanks so much.
GUPTA: Thank you. All right.
ROBERTS: I asked the old carb coma. Then if you're getting ready to put the bird in the oven and you got a last-minute cooking question, we've got just the people for you. We have invited the folks from Butterball U to be with us this Thanksgiving morning. They'll be answering your questions live for us today.
So drop us an e-mail. Here's the address. It's turkey@CNN.com. Turkey@CNN.com. We'll do our best to answer them live on the air.
Time for this morning's "Quick Vote" question, by the way, Thanksgiving-themed of course. If you had a chance, who would you rather have Thanksgiving dinner with, Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?
Cast your vote at CNN.com/AM. Right now, 35 percent of you say Hillary Clinton. Seven percent say Giuliani. Fifty-two percent say Barack Obama. Five percent say Mitt Romney. We'll continue to tally the votes throughout the morning.
Maybe, they know that Barack Obama cooks cookies and Hillary Clinton doesn't.
CHETRY: Right. I was just going to say maybe they're deciding whether they're going to get the best meal. Who knows.
Well, here's a look at a story coming up that you can't miss. And this is a safety warning for those who are thinking about maybe doing the deep frying method for the turkey. It doesn't always turn out the way you want it to if you're not careful.
ROBERTS: No. I mean, we've had some questions about deep frying this morning. Our Greg Hunter is looking out for you. He's going to demonstrate some deep fryer don'ts. There are some do's as well.
The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts -- well, I say the next half hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts in just a minute. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: There's a shot of Central Park West with Central Park in the background there, as we are, that's actually Columbus Circle and you can see the stands, people will be filling those stands soon, because the Thanksgiving Day parade will be starting in about an hour and a half's time. It's been going just about consistently with the exception of a couple of years, right, Kiran, since 1924.
CHETRY: Yes. We were looking at some of the fun facts about this and it's just interesting that the only interruption in the parade's history since it started all the way back in 1924 was during the war in 1942 to '44. Rubber was so scarce they couldn't fly those balloons. Here's another shot of 72nd and Central Park West, street level as we see, boy, a lot of balloons in the background. No giant balloons in sight yet. They usually start about five, six streets up.
ROBERTS: Yes, this is just a couple of the floats that actually had to come in through the Lincoln tunnel to get through there. They had to close down a section of the Lincoln tunnel so they can bring those slugs in. This should be a lot of fun for everybody. Right now, it's sort of in the high 50s and the weather is fairly clear. There's supposed to be showers later on today but they might hold off long enough to get the parade in. So, we got our fingers crossed this morning.
Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It's Thursday, the 22nd of November. And a happy Thanksgiving to you all. I'm John Roberts.
CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry.
We start with stunning new developments in the Natalee Holloway disappearance out of Aruba. Three men that were previously detained as suspects in her disappearance two and a half years ago are now back in custody. Holloway vanished on a school trip to Aruba back in 2005. Joran Van Der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe were the last people seen with Natalee Holloway. Prosecutors say there is new evidence of their involvement in her death.
Natalee's father, David Holloway, told "Headline News' Nancy Grace Show" says he's encouraged by these new developments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID HOLLOWAY, NATALEE HOLLOWAY'S FATHER: You know, all along we've known that they've been the three primary suspects or the three persons who were last seen with our daughter, Natalee. The Dutch and the prosecutor in Aruba, I think, you know, they're on the right back and I think they're committed, as well as we are, to finding answers for Natalee and getting justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Van der Sloot is due in court today in the Netherlands, where he was arrested. The Kalpoe brothers will face a judge in Aruba tomorrow.
Well, the town calls it safe parenting but civil rights activists say it is wrong. The town of Lexington, South Carolina, wants to limit where registered sex offenders could live. The plan would block them from living near places where kids gather like schools and day care centers. The ACLU calls it unconstitutional. A similar plan in Georgia was overturned by that state's supreme court.
An internet harassment now a crime in Darden Prairie, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. City officials passing that measure after learning that the harassment over the internet is what caused 13-year- old Megan Meier to take her own life last year. Megan's parents say that one of their neighbors, a mother, created a fake profile of a boy on MySpace to see if Megan is gossiping about her daughter when the alleged boy began to torment Megan she killed herself. Megan's mother want state and federal leaders to push for more action against cyber bullying. But right now, she is thankful for the local law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TINA MEIER, MEGAN'S MOTHER: No matter how hard I try, I couldn't bring her back. So, obviously I want 100 percent justice for Megan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The Darden Prairie measure makes internet harassment a misdemeanor. It's punishable by 90 days in jail and up to a $500 fine.
ROBERTS: Well, on this Thanksgiving Day, we're pleased to report that an American tradition 87 years strong is safe this morning. New Hampshire announced that it's going to hold its primary on January the 8th. Since 1920 the state has led the nation in the nominating process. In fact, it's a state law that they had the first primary. With the rush of other states moving up their dates, New Hampshire wanted to keep its place in history. So what does it all mean? Three dozen states will have selected their delegates by Valentine's day and it would likely be all over by then. And in Germany, take a look at this video. Police defuse a hostage situation. A man held another man at knifepoint for more than two hours at a train station in Berlin. Police were able to wrestled him and pin him to the ground and get him into custody. Neither he nor his hostage were injured.
CHETRY: 35 minutes past the hour now. Rob Marciano keeping a check of the weather for us on this Thanksgiving Day and a lot of people were traveling yesterday, Rob. But today the big Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and so people are hoping that the weather will cooperate here in New York City. So many people both on television and in person can see this parade.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That would be optimal. It's tradition, be it on Central Park West or actually watching it from your home. By the way, OK, I'm going to do this now. I'm going to unveil this new balloon Doppler that we've got in combination with Google Earth, Central Park, Central Park West. Now showing up on the scope, boys and girls, there is Charlie Brown, and there's Snoopy. I can't confirm that's what's happening on the ground but that's what our super duper balloon Doppler is showing at this hour and of course the Time Warner.
ROBERTS: That is the cheapest thing I've ever seen.
MARCIANO: Come on. That's some good stuff right there. Legal is already - journalism hitting an all-time low right here.
All right. Back to the radar, this is actual radar that actually works and it shows rain and snow across parts of northern New England. We have winter storm advisories and watches that are posted for parts of Maine, could get up to a foot of snow. So, if you're feeling a little bit more like Christmas than Thanksgiving there.
And then lake effect, snow showers will start to fire up off those great lakes so later on. Already starting to see a little bit of white filling into the radar scope here but more important news, some rainfall, some heavy at times, rolling across northern parts of Atlanta. Hartsfield has ground stops in effect until 9:15. So if you're traveling in and out of Atlanta you might see some delays there and some rain across parts of the Florida panhandle. What do you mean that's cheap, John? Come on.
ROBERTS: I tell you what...
MARCIANO: We blew the weather budget on this piece of equipment here.
ROBERTS: I will see your balloon Doppler and raise you a wind direction indicator. How about that?
MARCIANO: You would win on that one I'm sure.
ROBERTS: Rob, thanks.
Some Hollywood stars celebrated Thanksgiving by helping to feed the homeless. Kirk Douglas, Harrison Ford, Calista Flockhart, just some of the celebs serving meals along Los Angeles Skid Row yesterday, nearly 3,000 dinners were handed out at the L.A. mission.
Now, you're thinking of deep frying your turkey this year instead of putting it in the often? The taste is delicious but the process could be dangerous. Our Greg Hunter, and yes that's in there and the fireman's up, is going to have more on fryer fires. That's coming up.
Plus, one woman's quest to help dozens of families this is Thanksgiving. We went along as she helps some neighbors in need. She joins us live ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SPC. FRANZ MANNING, BALAD, IRAQ: I'm Specialist Manning from LS Anaconda. I want to give a shout out to my mom, and my step dad, and my little brothers, Teresa, Renee, Luke, Slate out from Illinois. I also want to give a shout out to everyone in my (INAUDIBLE), Huey, Chris, Matt, Poodle and my girlfriend, Katie, love you all. I wish everybody happy holidays and I'll see you soon! Peace!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: From war hero to action hero. A new video game called "America's Army" uses real life soldiers as video game stars to show case the heroes serving America. Here to explain more about this, Colonel Casey Wardynsky. He's the director of "The Army Game Project" and Sergeant Tommy Rieman, who's one of the models for the program.
Good to see you folks here.
COL. CASEY WARDYNSKY, DIR., THE ARMY GAME PROJECT: Good morning.
ROBERTS: Colonel Wardynsky, what is the goal of this, is it really to showcase the men and women of the military? Is it to get young people interested and invested in this? What are your goals?
WARDYNSKY: It's all of the above. Our interest is young folks don't know much about the army, other than what they see in pop culture. This is a way to touch young Americans, and let them ask questions. Find out what it's like to be a soldier.
ROBERTS: Is it this idea of rather than having some nondescript generic character, make true American heroes, like some of this action figures?
WARDYNSKY: Sure, it's much easier to relate to a human, a story perhaps somewhat like your own. Tommy came from a small town in the midwest and came in the army and did some pretty extraordinary things. When you connect up all the dots and hear his story, you know, you can envision yourself going into the army and perhaps doing something similar. ROBERTS: Let's hear a little bit about your story. You were in the initial invasion in Iraq back in March of 2003. You were awarded the Silver Star and the Purple Heart for valor in action and for being wounded in combat. Tell me a little bit about your story.
SGT. TOMMY RIEMAN, "REAL HERO" MODEL FOR GAME: It was December 3rd, 2003, we were about 15 kilometers south of Baghdad, my team and I were hit with three RPGs, three IEDs and a hailstorm of gunfire. I used my body as a shield to protect my gunner. I was shot in the arm, chest and took multiple shrapnels throughout my body.
ROBERTS: So, technically, Colonel, how do you turn him into a video game and an action figure? This is actually Tommy's action figure here.
WARDYNSKY: Well, what we do is look for young folks like Tommy that had experiences in the war on terror and once we've identified somebody and they agree to be part of the program, which means a lot of traveling, a lot of interviewing and so forth. We take them, get their body scanned and get their pictures taken and so forth to make the action figures.
ROBERTS: Yes, we're seeing some of those pictures now. What did he have to go through to become a video game star?
RIEMAN: It was a pretty awesome experience. I got to go out to California, where we did this three-dimensional scan. You stand in your action figure pose. They scan you. They press print and it basically comes out on a piece of plastic. And then they send it off to a painter and sculptor. That's what you get.
ROBERTS: So, obviously, these action figures you can buy them at toy stores. Where do you get the video game?
WARDYSNKY: That's at Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy. It actually started going on sale on Friday. That's for X-box 360.
ROBERTS: And you can download it offline?
WARDYNSKY: The PC game is free. That's for download online at americasarmy.com.
ROBERTS: I tell you it's an amazing concept and great way to honor so far the men in the military. Are you going to do this with women?
WARDYNSKY: Yes, we're working on some women right now.
ROBERTS: Good thing. It's great to see you. Thanks for coming in, Colonel Wardysnky, Sergeant Rieman. All right. Appreciate your service, both of you.
WARDYSNKY: Thank you.
REIMAN: Thank you.
CHETRY: Very neat.
RORBERTS: Yes.
CHETRY: Very cool.
ROBERTS: It's cool. If you're going decide between a G.I. Joe or a real American action figure, you know, I don't think there's much of a debate there.
CHETRY: I know. That is wonderful. A little bit later in the show also, we're going to reunite a family, who hadn't seen each other since June. The father and the son both deployed in Balad right now and they're going to get to say hello on this Thanksgiving.
ROBERTS: Great time to do it.
CHETRY: Absolutely.
Well, tens of thousands of troops serving overseas will be celebrating Thanksgiving with their military families, actually.
ROBERTS: Veronica de la Cruz joins us now. She's along the parade route for the Thanksgiving Day parade with a new way to show troops some appreciation and love.
Good morning, Veronica.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, John and Kiran. This is a very special moment for me. I actually grew up watching this parade on television. So it's nice to be here in person. We've made a couple of friends. Take a look. Good morning, everyone! Woo!
CROWD: Happy Thanksgiving!
DE LA CRUZ: Everybody gearing up for the big parade. We want to show you how you can do something special for our men and women who are serving overseas. Right now, you can text the troops. Very simple process, 89279 on your cell phone. We're going to check in with some of our friends who's been doing this this morning. What's your name, ma'am?
LEE ANN: Lee Ann.
DE LA CRUZ: Lee Ann, what are you saying to the troops today?
LEE ANN: Happy Thanksgiving, hope you come home soon. We miss you.
DE LA CRUZ: All right. Love it. And what about you?
LAURA: My name's Laura and I'm saying happy Thanksgiving. We're very thankful for all of your support.
DE LA CRUZ: Thanks so much, Laura. What about you, sweetie?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm saying happy Thanksgiving and thank you for everything you've done for us.
DE LA CRUZ: And where are you from?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Long Island.
DE LA CRUZ: Are you excited for the parade?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, very.
DE LA CRUZ: Awesome. Thank you so much. Again, John and Kiran, it's a very simple process, 89279 on your cell phone. This is all being set up by americasupportsyou.mil. That is the web address if you want to check it out yourself. And I'm actually sending one for us, John and Kiran, it says happy Thanksgiving from CNN's AMERICAN MORNING. I'm hitting "send." Well, you know what? I'll show you when I get back to the studio. How's that? Happy Thanksgiving from CNN's AMERICAN MORNING. 89279 on your cell phone and americasupportsyou.mil is the Web site.
I'm sending it back to you, guys.
ROBERTS: Great. Thanks for doing that this morning. Appreciate it, Veronica.
CHETRY: Yes, I'm writing this down, too. That's a great idea.
ROBERTS: 87279.
CHETRY: How about that? All right, now to a holiday tradition for one woman. She spent the past 20 Thanksgivings not worrying about what she's doing on Thanksgiving but instead helping others and at least 50 families are thankful for Loretta Warfield, her co-workers and employer the WR Grace Company in Baltimore as well. And we rode along with Loretta as she delivered Thanksgiving dinners.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That means everything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It means everything.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It means everything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because we've had hard times this past year.
LORETTA WARFIELD, 20 YEARS OF GIVING: Happy Thanksgiving.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We love you so much. You're so great.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thank god for you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I appreciate you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And your helpers, and grace.
WARFIELD: God bless you. God bless you both. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: God bless you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Wasn't that wonderful to see? Loretta Warfield joins us now from Baltimore at the Bay facility where she has worked as a janitor for 14 years. Loretta, good morning to you and Happy Thanksgiving.
WARFIELD: Good morning and happy Thanksgiving to you.
CHETRY: You know, just to see the joy on people's faces, it must be very rewarding when you deliver that big box of goodies for Thanksgiving, and see how much you're touching a family.
WARFIELD: Yes, you need to come and go with us and see just how we make these parents happy, the children happy and a lot of them don't have food and stuff out here. When we take these baskets out here, just the joy that you see on their faces will make you feel good.
CHETRY: You know, I can imagine...
WARFIELD: And it's a joy that I do.
CHETRY: You know, I can imagine how great it must feel. We'd love to go along with you actually. You started this in 1988.
WARFIELD: Yes, I did.
CHETRY: You've been doing it for almost 20 years now. What motivates you to start doing this? When you first decided you wanted to do this, to spend your holiday helping others?
WARFIELD: Well, I think my mother really motivated me, because my mother coming up, she told to us take the pies next door. Take them down the street, and I never realized while we were taking these pies down the street to other people until I got older because the homes we'd take them to were the homes that did not have. And she always told us to do a good deed every day, to look out for one another and people around us and this is what has instilled me to do it this way. And also, god tells to you look out for those that are less fortunate than you are. And being in church and all, this is something that I do and enjoy doing.
CHETRY: It is wonderful. A lot of people go to church and maybe they don't live that message in their everyday lives. I mean, for you, what makes it so amazing, you're a two-time cancer survivor, you're going through chemotherapy. You could have easily felt sorry for yourself but instead you continued doing this to help others which is really what the most amazing part about this. Is it personally as rewarding for you as for the people who get the benefits of what you're giving?
WARFIELD: Yes, it is. When you go out of here and you see what you're doing and when I go out here and deliver these baskets, I can feel it. I can sit here and tell you about it all day long but you have to go out here and really see for yourself the joy that you do for these people out here.
CHETRY: You know, Loretta, you don't just do this on Thanksgiving, you do it at Christmas as well. And boy, it's absolutely wonderful. We're going to let our viewers know in a moment just how they can help out as well with what you're doing. Loretta Warfield, thanks so much for joining us this morning. Have a wonderful holiday.
WARFIELD: Thank you. Could I say hello to everybody?
CHETRY: Absolutely.
WARFIELD: Thank you.
CHETRY: Say hello. Happy Thanksgiving.
WARFIELD: I just want to say hello and happy Thanksgiving to my church family, to my family, and to my friends down here at WR Grace. Thank you again and happy Thanksgiving.
CHETRY: All right. Loretta, you certainly spreading the love. I'm sure they appreciate it. Thank you.
By the way, at Christmastime Loretta also prepares much larger baskets with gifts, grocery, bicycles, gift certificates, even gift certificates so that people can get for shoes. And you can join her mission if you're interested by sending donations to the WR Grace Foundation, and we have that information on our web site, CNN.com/am.
ROBERTS: What great work she does. Hey, I want to clear something up. That number for texting the troops, it's 89279.
CHETRY: That was my dyslexic writing.
ROBERTS: 8-9-2-7-9. Here it is right here. This is Kiran copying down the number. She wrote it down a little bit wrong. So that's a mistake there. 89279 to send a message to our troops.
All right. The dangers of deep frying. We'll show you just how dangerous this popular way to cook a turkey can be. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 53 minutes now after the hour. It sounds like the perfect Thanksgiving meal, taking the turkey out of the oven and dropping it into a fryer. It cooks up faster and some say it's far tastier than roasting it. But the turkey fryer is not more amateurs.
AMERICAN MORNING's Greg Hunter looking out for you this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GREG HUNTER, CNN, CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The owner of this Tennessee home says he left hot oil in his turkey fryer for only a few minutes, long enough for his house to catch fire. And an Oregon home owner says his attempt at putting out a turkey fryer fire was futile.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought well you know if something happens I've got a fire extinguisher and that will take care of it. And it was like spitting in the wind.
HUNTER: Underwriter's laboratory, an independent product safety organization won't put its seal of approval on any propane turkey fryer until the manufacturer first develop a thermostat that won't allow the oil to get hotter than 350 degrees.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because we don't believe it's safe enough for people to use.
HUNTER: UL warns if the oil gets too hot, the fryers can self- ignite. Watch. As you can see, even putting the lid on doesn't stop the fire and within seconds, flames are leaping four feet over the fire. Within two and a half minutes, the demonstration wall catches fire, which shows how quickly one of these fires can get out of control. And when UL's firefighters tried to extinguish the fire, watch what happens, they spray foam on the fire but even in this controlled situation, it's not easy to put out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTER: The Hearth Patio Barbecue Association says propane fryers are safe and some fryers even come with a valve that shuts off when the fryer reaches, when the oil reaches 400 degrees. But the industry group does say that you need to follow manufacturer's directions. For instance, you should always, you should always, hold on a minute. Hold on. You should always, can't even see here. Well, listen, you should not cook...
ROBERTS: Never use inside an enclosed area like a patio or a garage.
HUNTER: There you go. That's right. That's how these fires get started. Never leave unattended, keep children and pets away, and also, you should also never fry a turkey that's partially frozen. Because if you do, they can leap up and fire can get really hot. Always use the thermometer. The new ones do come with thermometers and keep that oil temperature below 350 degrees.
ROBERTS: Now, even if you manage to avoid a fire, which we hope everybody will do, there's still a burn risk, is there not? What do you need to avoid that burn risk?
HUNTER: We haven't really talked about this a lot. I talked to the guys at UL, talked to doctors about it. There's a tremendous burn risk when you have a pot of oil with three or four gallons of oil with 350 - 400 degrees. Also, ULS recommends that nobody should be frying a turkey unless they have at least some protective clothing like an apron and a pair of leather gloves is a must. Because the burn risk is pretty tremendous. ROBERTS: Yes, good idea. You're going to get some splatter anyway, right? At least. OK. Greg, some good tips. Thanks very much. Happy Thanksgiving to you.
HUNTER: Happy Thanksgiving to you.
ROBERTS: And if that made you change your mind about deep frying and need a last-minute bit of advice on how to cook your turkey the traditional way, send us an e-mail. You know, we could also probably give you some tips on deep frying, too. We invited the folks from Butterball U to answer your questions. So, drop us an e-mail, turkey@cnn.com. We'll do our best to answer them live on the air.
It's a Thanksgiving tradition, right up there with football and turkey -- the Thanksgiving Day parade. It's going to be starting soon. We'll get a live report from the parade route coming up. There are folks waiting for the balloons, the floats and everything else, the festivities to get under way. Kiran has gone outside. She'll give you a little taste of what's ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Back in custody. Same suspects, mysterious new evidence in the disappearance of teen Natalee Holloway. A ticket and a taser. Stopped for speeding, a driver ends up being tasered and face down on the highway.
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