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American Morning
A Conversation With Congressman John Murtha; Teddy Bear Teacher; Mortgage Meltdown
Aired December 03, 2007 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: The same amount of weight as that truffle in gold, $40,000. The truffle is worth ten times.
ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: There you go.
ROBERTS: Onto our top story this morning, parts of the northeast expected to get hammered today with snow, ice and rain after the season's first major winter storm made its way across the country over the weekend. The slippery mess is being blamed for at least 11 traffic deaths in the Midwest. Forecasters say a foot of snow could blanket parts of the northeast with as many as 20" possible. That's right. You heard it. 20 inches in some parts of New England. Hundreds of flights have already been delayed. Not looking much better for frustrated flyers this morning.
Rob Marciano is off today. Our Jacqui Jeras at the weather update desk tracking the extreme weather. 20 inches of snow. Who is in line for that?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: A lot of folks, actually, especially into the higher elevations in northern parts of New England. That's where the heaviest stuff will occur. We're getting some really nasty things going on across parts of Connecticut and also into Massachusetts with freezing rain and ice. That can be a lot worse sometimes than getting 10 to 20 inches of snow, believe it or not. The storm system is pretty large, affecting so many people today. This is the good stuff down here into the southeast. We're seeing rain showers. There, we get into the ugliness across the northern corridor and all that pink that you can see there, especially along I-90. We've been seeing this from Albany, through Springfield and heading toward the Worcester area. Here in Hartford, freezing rain and ice, and reports out of Connecticut that people are without power because that ice accumulates on the power lines and knocks the grid out. You can see the warnings in place. The big thing I want you to notice, Springfield and Hartford, the ice storm warning has just been dropped. That just expired at the top of the hour. You can see the heavy snow accumulations up to the north. 6 to 12 inches, 8 to 14 into northern parts of Maine and we could even see some locally heavier amounts up to 20 inches. This is a powerful storm system. There's a lot of energy with it. Very strong winds are pushing in behind the system. There, you can see sustained winds sampling in the teens and 20s. We may be seeing gusts up to 50 miles per hour. The orange on the Appalachian chain, high-wind warnings where the gusts can be stronger than that. So it is going to be an ugly afternoon even once we get rid of some of this rain and snow. Also, an incredible storm out west. If those winds look nasty to you, how about 129 miles per hour, wind gust report two hours ago on the coast of Oregon. We'll have more details on that storm coming up around the bottom of the hour. John?
ROBERTS: It's incredible. They will be happy in places like Stowe and Killington in Maine where they haven't had a lot of snow on skeet slopes. Now they've got it.
JERAS: Absolutely. It brought three feet of snow in the Colorado Mountains too.
ROBERTS: Jacqui Jeras for us this morning. Thank you, Jacqui. Alina.
CHO: The silver lining.
There is some bad news. Schools are closed and thousands of customers are without power across the northeast. Ice is coating roads and power lines. Aleesha Chaney from our affiliate WFSB in Hartford, joining us from Ashford, Connecticut. What's it like where you are, Aleesha?
ALEESHA CHANEY, WFSB: Well at this point the freezing rain has been off and on throughout the morning. It has picked up a little bit. Overnight, it was a much different story as an ice storm made its way through eastern Connecticut, making a very rough morning commute for many drivers. You may be able to tell that by the drivers moving up and down Route 44. They have been all morning. The roads are very slick at this point. Sections covered under ice and water. Overnight, this area had been under an ice storm warning. As much as half an inch of ice was expected to accumulate on the trees and power lines. Cars were even covered in ice this morning. Fortunately, Connecticut D.O.T. had its full fleet out, treating the roads and making them possible for drivers to maneuver. They have been warned all morning to use caution and to allow extra time. At this point, we're being told that it may be a while before the roads are clear. It really will depend on how the temperatures increase throughout the day. We'll send it back over to you, Alina.
CHO: Luckily the road where you are is clear. Aleesha Chaney, thank you from Ashford, Connecticut. John?
ROBERTS: In Florida this morning, thousands are expected to attend the funeral of football star Sean Taylor's. It's later on this morning in Miami. On Sunday, Taylor's team, the Washington Redskins, paid tribute to him yesterday with a video to fans, a moment of silence and by wearing Taylor's number 21 on their jerseys.
A court hearing today for the man accused of taking hostages at Senator Clinton's campaign headquarters. Leeland Eisenberg was arrested Friday after a five hour standoff. He filed a civil suit in 2002 claiming he was sexually abused by a priest in the Boston archdiocese. He faces kidnapping and other charges in court today.
And the Amtrak train that crashed and injured dozens in Chicago was speeding. Investigators say the train's engineer admits he was going 40 miles an hour in a 15-mile-an-hour zone when it slammed into a freight train on Friday. More than 70 people were hurt. Most of the injuries, though, were minor. Alina?
CHO: Breaking news this morning from Sudan. A British school teacher has been freed from jail in the past half hour. Gillian Gibbons served eight days of a 15-day jail sentence, allowing students to name a teddy bear named Muhammad. Emily Chang joins us from London.
EMILY CHANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Alina. In the last hour, Gillian Gibbons has been released from police custody. She is at the British embassy right now in Khartoum. The president granted her a full presidential pardon after a weekend of negotiations with members of British parliament, who are also Muslim. She had been found guilty of insulting Islam, asking students to name a class teddy bear. They picked the name Muhammad, after the most popular boy in class, but also the name of the prophet of Islam. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets, some of them calling for her execution. Indeed, that will not happen. She will be home very soon. Let's listen to what her son had to say from their home in Liverpool, England. It looks like we don't have that sound bite. Her family very relieved she is coming home. There had been some discussion she will be going home as early as tonight. Given the flights, it looks like she'll be going home tomorrow morning. Gillian Gibbons released a statement as well in which she said she has great respect for the Islamic religion and would not knowingly offend anyone. She said she was sorry for causing any distress and she will miss her students terribly. Alina?
CHO: Any chance she might go before the cameras before she takes that plane back to the U.K.?
CHANG: We certainly are waiting for that. They're keeping her location very much under wraps. They've been in fear of her safety this entire time. I think they probably would like to keep her in safe quarters at the British embassy until she leaves. Hopefully, we'll be hearing from her when she arrives back in England.
CHO: Emily Chang live from our world news update desk in London. Thank you. John?
ROBERTS: Idaho Senator Larry Craig facing new allegations from his past sexual behavior. Idaho Statesman newspaper identifies four gay men who claim they had sex with Craig or were the subject of his sexual advances. The men describe their encounters to the paper in detail. It offers no physical evidence to back up its report. Described as "he said, he said allegations." In a statement, Senator Craig calls the claims completely false. In his words, "It is unfortunate that the Idaho Statesman has chosen to continue to lower it to the standards of what could best be described as tabloid journalism." He was arrested last June in a sex sting operation at a Minneapolis bathroom at an airport. He tried to withdraw his guilty plea after his arrest became public. Instead of resigning his seat, he has chosen to stay on until his term ends in January 2009.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will deliver a major speech this week about his Mormon faith. The speech is called "Faith in America." The Romney campaign has gone back and forth about whether to address the issue. It will be given Thursday at George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas.
Hillary Clinton going negative as her lead slips away in Iowa. Latest Des Moines register poll has Barack Obama leading Senator Clinton in Iowa. Clinton questioned Obama's ethics, character and courage yesterday, contributing money to candidates in early primary states. Obama says everything he has done is in accordance with the law. Alina?
CHO: Business news now. Oil pries retreat after hovering for weeks near the $100 mark. Will there be any relief in gas prices? Ali Velshi at the business update desk with more on that. I see your trustee barrel says $88.71.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And big sale. Not the prices we've been expecting. That $100 price for a few weeks. Friday, oil gave up big gains. This morning it's trading even lower. That has resulted in lower gas prices, by the way. We've seen a bit of a drop over the weekend in gas prices, a couple of cents, down to about $3.07 a gallon. $3.06, a gallon I'm sorry. On the expectations that this week, later in the week, OPEC oil ministers will be meeting, possibly discussing increasing the supply of oil out there. Most oil-producing countries would prefer oil at lower prices. As John and I have discussed in the past, long-term expectation for the price of oil is around $60. This $90 and $100 is messing things up. It causes people to actually, for a little while at least, pull back on their consumption of gasoline and oil. $88.71, trading almost a dollar lower than that this morning. It will open at 9:30 eastern. For now, enjoy the price of oil and slightly lower price of gas. Alina?
CHO: Ali Velshi, thanks. We'll check back with you later.
ROBERTS: Slightly the operative word there.
Worsening delays at New York airports, your Quick Hits now. New York City's controller report says that on-time at the airports is 13% below the national average, nearly three times worse than it was a few years ago. Should private jets be banned from New York's LaGuardia airport? Consumer group says thousands more people could be served if commercial jets could take off in landing slots currently allotted to corporate jets. They also say they should only serve people flying into or out of New York, not passengers making connections to somewhere else.
She came looking for Santa, but found her husband, home from Afghanistan. The heartwarming reunion coming up. You're going to want to see this.
Sky rocketing mortgage rates and possible foreclosure for more than a million homeowners. New plans to save their homes ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Some of the best shots in the morning in our quick hits now, smoke and steam rising from a volcano in Mexico. Incredible shot of that smoke plume there. It erupted early Saturday morning. In all, six eruptions in a 24-hour period.
Scoreboard catches fire during an NBA game during the Golden State Warriors and Seattle Sonics in Seattle. A spotlight caught fire, forcing officials to lower the entire scoreboard to the court to be put out and caused a 13-minute delay in the game.
Fire and ice? It happened. Zamboni machine caught on fire in Pennsylvania Friday night. The rink filled with smoke. The zamboni was badly damaged, but no one was hurt. Alina?
CHO: Take a look at that.
ROBERTS: How does a zamboni catch fire?
CHO: Who knows? That's crazy.
All right. A new plan is in the works to save homeowners on the brink of foreclosure. Treasury secretary will address the issue today. Questions, though, and there are many, would the plan work and are you eligible? It's a major issue facing more than a million Americans. We're here to break it down for you with AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence and Gerri Willis. Tell us about it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of folks have to make very serious compromises to get a deal done. This may not come for a few days yet. Homeowners may at least -- are hoping to get more information today when the U.S. treasury secretary sits down and speaks with the top mortgage lenders and home builders. We're also hearing that Senator Hillary Clinton is expected to go further than her colleagues and ask the treasury secretary to not only hold the rates, freeze the rates of some of these sub prime mortgages, but also to impose a moratorium on foreclosures for three months and set that freeze on those interest rates for the next five years. More than a million homeowners are asking the same questions as Ed Anderson.
ED ANDERSON: Am I going to lose the home? Will I be going into foreclosure?
LAWRENCE: He bought his home in suburban Maryland at the height of the housing boom in 2005. His mortgage payment was $2,200.
What is it now?
ANDERSON: $3,400. It's unreal.
LAWRENCE: Where do you get that extra money?
ANDERSON: Again, I have to work as much overtime as I can.
LAWRENCE: It's not enough to make up that much money. Anderson is a few months behind and facing foreclosure. He got an interest- only adjustable rate mortgage at 6.6 percent. It's already shot up to 11 percent with a potential to soar past 13 percent. Treasury department has been organizing a coalition of lenders, investors and community groups to work on a freeze. A source familiar with the negotiations tells CNN one of the plans being considered would allow qualified homeowners to keep paying their current interest rate if they could show that they can't make higher payments. Leading democrats are backing the plan.
SEN. CHRIS DODD (D), CHAIRMAN, BANKING & HOUSING COMMITTEE: This way, the homeowner can stay there, maintain some payments without losing their home or going into foreclosure.
LAWRENCE: Investors would lose out on a lot of profit. Critics say homeowners need to take responsibility for what they signed. As for Ed Anderson, a freeze could keep his rate from going any higher and maybe allow him to refinance closer to his original payment.
Could you save your home?
ANDERSON: Yes, definitely. I mean, that's what I initially was able to afford. But currently it's just impossible.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: Anderson told me with working this extra overtime, it takes him about three weeks' salary to pay this new monthly mortgage payment. That doesn't leave a lot of money leftover for food, bills, car payments, insurance. You get the pick, Alina.
CHO: A lot of people getting squeezed by this. Chris Lawrence from our Washington bureau. Chris, thank you.
ROBERTS: Who potentially would this help? It's narrowed down to a strict set of borrowers.
GERRI WILLIS, PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: That's right. Exactly. Keep in mind, this is still a proposal. This isn't an action yet. It's not going to go into law. This is an agreement that the lenders are talking about right now. That's all it is. This is who it would help, those sub prime borrowers, folks who got those toxic loan with his very high interest rates and very high costs. Those are the folks who are targeted. Not even all of them, only some of them, the folks who can't afford the resets on adjustable rate mortgages. Those are the folks who are targeted. If you couldn't afford your loan in the first place or if you can afford the interest rate reset, forget about it.
ROBERTS: These people who are currently making their payments, right, who could not afford to make the increase? People who can't afford to make their payments now wouldn't be included?
WILLIS: Exactly. Folks out there who will be in this situation in coming months and could be candidates for foreclosure. The other thing to say here, it's a plan. It's not law yet. It will be done in ad hoc way. These are volunteers coming to the rescue, not the federal government.
CHO: What about the lenders What's in it for them? WILLIS: It will cost them in the end. Keep in mind, it costs them about $50,000 to pay for a foreclosure. They're on the hook no matter what. They think, in the end, this is cheaper than going down the foreclosure route.
ROBERTS: What's your advice to anybody out there who might be facing foreclosures?
WILLIS: If you're in the situation right now, who knows when this will go into effect. Get on the ball right now, even if it's just one payment. Ask for the mitigation department, ask for some help, a new loan, modified loan. These lenders are under the gun now. Treasury department is telling them they have to do something. You can get help if you want it. FHA is a secure program out there to help people in this situation. Call 1-800-CALL-FHA or go to fha.gov for information.
CHO: A lot of people will be calling that number.
ROBERTS: Don't wait for this legislation to come through. Be proactive. Act now if you have a problem.
WILLIS: And it's not legislation. This is an ad hoc plan that the lenders are going to put together. Who knows whether it will actually go into effect. I don't know how we'll ever know if it's effective or not.
ROBERTS: Gerri, thanks.
CHO: The Supreme Court takes another looks at Guantanamo Bay. Topping your quick hits now, high court looking at whether terror suspects have a right to challenge their cases in civilian court. Twice before, the Supreme Court said detainees have a legal right, but not a constitutional one. A federal appeals said the U.S. constitution does not protect detainees because they are foreigners being held overseas.
Cold, hard steel for cold, hard cash. San Francisco's second gift for guns event saw 100 guns turned in for $100 to $200 gift cards over the weekend. Can you believe that? One critic said people could use gift cards to buy guns and wasted time at a photo op instead of patrolling crimes.
A family reunion ahead. Don't miss that story.
The tables are turned on the pepper spray pageant queen. Police say the evidence really shows. All the details coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHO: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. Quick hits now. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will be center stage at the super bowl, headlining this year's half time at the super bowl. Hopefully, there won't be any word robe malfunctions. Magical weekend at the box office for the fairy tale romance "Enchanted." Stars Amy Adams and the dreamy Patrick Dempsey came in at the top spot for the second straight weekend, bringing in $17 million, followed by "This Christmas," "Beowulf," "Awake" and "Hitman."
And she's 38 years old, academy award winner and Hollywood's highest paid actress. Reese Witherspoon commands $15 to $20 million a movie. Angelina Jolie was second, followed by Cameron Diaz. Somewhere in there is Julia Roberts, I think.
ROBERTS: Once at the top. Now not so much.
CHO: Well, yeah.
ROBERTS: Coming now to 25 minutes to the top of the hour. Time now for our hot shots of the morning. Samantha Miller of New Jersey got just what she wanted from Santa without even asking. Her husband came home from Afghanistan. Take a look. Samantha and her 4-month- old daughter had been waiting to see Santa in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. When Santa got up to take a break, Adam suddenly popped out. An extra special home coming. Adam hadn't met his daughter before. Deployed three months before she was born. He wasn't due back until January. He was able to switch leaves with a buddy.
ADAM MILLER: Came home. Let my mom know. My sister came up with the idea.
SAMANTHA MILLER: It's really overwhelming. I'm just really happy. I didn't think I would see him for a while.
ROBERTS: Samantha says having her husband back is the best Christmas present ever.
CHO: You can't put that kind of response ...
ROBERTS: Daughter a little oblivious to what's going on. They'll play the tape back and see her first visit to Santa was a memorable one. Unforgettable, really. Amhotshots@CNN.com. Please make sure the image is yours and not someone else's.
CHO: A final farewell to Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor. Thousands will attend the funeral service in Miami today. We'll have a live report from the scene coming up.
A possible plea deal for one of the so-called Jena 6 teens. What lawyers want him to agree to, coming up on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
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CHO: Live look there at Philadelphia, P.A., courtesy of WPVI. You're looking at the Ben Franklin Bridge. It's 46 degrees. That's the high. Showers and flurries expected there as well but a beautiful shot.
ROBERTS: Looks kind of sunny there.
CHO: It does, doesn't it?
ROBERTS: Guess the weather is going to go downhill.
CHO: Take a turn for the worse.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN, ANCHOR: I'm John Roberts. Just in at CNN this morning. President Bush will make a statement in the Rose Garden this morning. We're told it will be about Iraq funding and congressional priorities. Last week, in his weekly radio address, the president said the first priority should be funding our troops. CNN will carry the president's statement at 10:00 a.m. Eastern live right here.
Also, breaking news from Sudan this morning. Within the last hour and a half, a British school teacher has been freed from a jail there. Gillian Gibbons served eight days of here 15 days sentence for insulting Islam, for allowing her students to name a teddy bear, Muhammad. Some hardline protesters actually demanded her execution. Gibbons family says the news is a great relief.
JOHN GIBBONS, GILLIAN GIBBONS' SON: We are actually very pleased. We're saving god complete excitement until she's on the plane. I'm sure you all understand that. Obviously, it's been very good news this morning. Yes, it's been a very good news. The family will only be 100 percent thrilled until she's on the plane on the way home, which I'm sure you all understand.
ROBERTS: Gibbons is now at the British embassy, waiting a flight back to Britain.
Also new this morning, Venezuela hands a stinging defeat to President Hugo Chavez, one of America's biggest critics. Celebration erupted in Caracas overnight. Voters rejected a constitutional change that would have allowed Chavez to run for president indefinitely. There was a narrow defeat, 51-49. But it's the first political loss of Chavez's presidency. This morning, he says he respects the outcome, but adds he's not giving up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. HUGO CHAVEZ, VENEZUELA (through translator): None of this proposal will be withdrawn. I will continue proposing this to the Venezuelan people. The proposal is alive. It's not dead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: In addition to abolishing term limits, Chavez' referendum would have expanded his power over Venezuela's economic institutions like the Central Bank and broadened his political power, including the authority to declare states of emergency for unlimited periods of time.
A crucial step in Cuba for Fidel Castro to hold on to his presidency. Over the weekend, Castro was nominated to a seat in parliament. Holding a seat is a requirement to be president. 81- year-old Castro has not been seen in public for nearly a year and a half since he underwent emergency surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding. Castro's brother, Raul, is currently Cuba's acting president.
Israel released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners today, saying it's a show of support for Palestinian Mahmoud Abbas. The Palestinians say this is just a handful of the 9,000 of their people being held by Israel. Meanwhile, Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is backing off of a deal to reach a peace agreement by the end of next year, saying that that date that was agreed to in Annapolis, Maryland, is not binding. Alina.
CHO: Back in this country, parts of the northeast is expected to get hammered today with snow, ice and rain. After the season's first wintry storm made its way across the country over the weekend. This slippery mess is being blamed for at least 11 traffic deaths in the Midwest.
Hurricane-force wind gusts are ravaging parts of Oregon this morning, my home state. High surf, heavy snow and rain as well as power outages are reported. Also, there's some concern about swollen rivers and streams. Three tropical typhoons and cold air from Alaska are to blame for the unusually strong storm.
One of the Jena 6 teens could soon agree to a plea deal. The lawyers for 17-year-old Mychal Bell say it would avoid the trial in a Louisiana juvenile court. The deal would drop the conspiracy charge against Bell. In return, he will plead guilty to battery that stems from the beating of a white student last December, which followed months of racial tensions when white students hung nooses from a school tree.
New questions this morning in the disappearance of Stacy Peterson. Her husband, Drew, is denying an alleged encounter with two truck drivers just hours after she went missing in October. The drivers claimed Peterson and another man approached them at a truck stop and asked them to transport a package. Peterson's attorney says it never happened. The former Bolingbrook, Illinois police sergeant is a suspect in Stacy's disappearance. Police are also reinvestigating the death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
The man accused of taking hostages at Senator Clinton's New Hampshire campaign headquarters will be in court today. Police arrested 46-year-old Leeland Eisenberg on Friday after a tense five- hour hostage standoff. He allegedly went into Clinton's Rochester campaign office with a fake bomb wired to his body. Well, it turns out that fake bomb was actually road flares held together with duct tape. All the hostages, including a small child, got out OK. John.
ROBERTS: 35 minutes after the hour. The funeral for football star Sean Taylor will be held later on this morning. Thousands of people including the entire Washington Redskins team are expected to attend. The service will be held at Florida International University's arena. Luanne Sorrell of our affiliate WSVN is live in front of that arena now. And Luanne, it's a sad day in Washington yesterday as the Redskins paid tribute. An extremely sad day there in Washington for the University of Miami alumni there, who is being laid to rest.
LUANNE SORRELL, WSVN, CORRESPONDENT: Definitely. And a lot of people across the country are mourning the loss of Sean Taylor this morning. Take a look behind me. Sean Taylor's body arrived here at Florida International University about 25 minutes ago. The funeral service, which is scheduled to begin in about two and a half hours or so will be attended by, as you said, the Washington Redskins organization as well as many NFL layers. According to the program, the NFL commissioner will speak here today, as will the Washington Redskins owner, coach and several players. Now, last night, hundreds of people turned out for a viewing and separate vigil at the University of Miami. But it's clear that Sean Taylor may be gone, but he will never be forgotten.
ROBERTS: Luanne, what's the sense down there in Miami, regarding the four men who are in custody right now? Potentially we hear of a fifth perpetrator out there as well, is there a real sense of anger down there against these individuals?
SORRELL: There definitely is a sense of anger and a sense that this is just a senseless crime. Police are saying that they know these four men were involved in the burglary. They apparently were going into Sean Taylor's home, thinking that no one would be there and then they were surprised by Sean Taylor. We are told that the four men are remorseful because they did not intend on murdering him. But, nonetheless, they did fire two shots. One hitting Sean Taylor in the groin that. That would be the injury that would ultimately take his life. But those four men are now in a Ft. Myers jail. They will be transported here to Miami-Dade County within the next few days, possibly as early as this morning. But yes, there is definitely a sense of anger, a sense of sadness as we lay to rest not only an NFL star, but a star of the University of Miami as well.
ROBERTS: I tell you though, those shootings that occur like that just happen all too often there in Miami. Luanne Sorrell of WSVN, thanks very much for being with us this morning. Of course, we're going to have much more on this. CNN will be carrying the funeral live this morning, beginning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern. Our Rick Sanchez will be anchoring coverage there. Alina.
CHO: Just an extraordinary story. A jury convicted a black garbage man of robbing, raping and killing a white Cape Cod fashion writer. Now, more than one year later, the jury itself is being questioned to see whether race played a part in the verdict. Now, police say that Christa Worthington was found stabbed to death inside her home. A garbage collector named Christopher McCowan was arrested for the brutal killing three years later. Now, the judge has ordered the jury back to court for a rare public hearing. Joining us now, AMERICAN MORNING's legal analyst Sunny Hostin. I know, you covered this case. Sunny, jury deliberations are generally sacred. They're generally off limits. So what's going on here? I've never heard of this happening before. How common is it?
SUNNY HOSTIN, AMERICAN MORNING, LEGAL ANALYST: Absolutely. It is extremely rare. You never really hear about this. And as you said, the jury room is sacred. Jury deliberations are sacred. But interestingly enough, what is being reported that there were some racial epithets being said during deliberations. As a former prosecutor, I remember in closing statements saying don't forget your common sense, bring that common sense back into the jury room. But I don't ever remember saying bring your racist views back into the jury room. And that's something we have no room for in the jury system.
CHO: Some have intimated that there is no way that a black trash collector would have had consensual sex with a beautiful, white fashion writer. That's really at the heart of what's going on now.
HOSTIN: It really, really is. His defense in this case was, yes, my DNA was found on her body but we had a relationship. We had consensual sex. She was unmarried. We weren't dating, but we did have this encounter. And by all accounts, it is possible - maybe not probable, but possible. That was his defense. And apparently, the jurors did not believe that but they said it was impossible.
CHO: Now in the meantime, he is serving three consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.
HOSTIN: That's right.
CHO: Could we see a new trial here?
HOSTIN: I think we could absolutely see a new trial.
CHO: It's incredible.
HOSTIN: It's incredible. I remember covering this case. And I have to say as a prosecutor, you see these types of cases all the time. And you think if he did this thing, he needs to go down, he needs to go to jail. But it was haunting to me when the verdict came down in this case. I remember the tear coming down his face. We very well may see a new trial.
CHO: I remembered when this happened back in 2002.
HOSTIN: It was unbelievable. Unbelievable.
CHO: All right. Our legal analyst, Sunny Hostin. Sunny, thanks.
HOSTIN: Thank you.
CHO: John.
ROBERTS: U.S. troop deaths in Iraq were at their lowest level last month, in more than a year. 37 U.S. troops were killed in November. Is it a sign of progress. Democratic Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha has just returned from a visit with U.S. troops in Iraq. He has been one of the most vocal critics of the war. Earlier, on AMERICAN MORNING, I asked him if he thought the troop buildup was working.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN MURTHA (D), PENNSYLVANIA: I think you have to be careful with you just say a simple question like the "surge." There's a lot more elements to it. As I've said over and over again, there has to be a diplomatic effort. The Iraqis have to make substantial changes in legislation and the parliament. They've got 17 seats that are vacant in the cabinet post. But there certainly is some progress that's been made.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Congressman Murtha still believes that U.S. troops need to be re-deployed out of Iraq. However, he is in favor of reaching a compromise with the White House over this $50 million Iraq funding bill. A compromise that so far has been met with a firm rejection by the democratic leadership. But we wanted to know what you think. This morning's "Quick Vote" question asks do you think that the so- called "surge," troop increase is working? Cast your vote at CNN.com/am. Right now, look at this. 50 percent of you say yes, it is working, 50 percent say no.
CHO: Right down the middle.
ROBERTS: Right down the middle. We'll have a final tally of the votes coming up for you at the end of the hour. Alina.
CHO: Look forward to that. All right.
The pageant pepper spray mystery gets stranger and stranger. Listen to this, police are now investigating whether the new Miss Puerto Rico, Ingrid Marie Rivera, lied to police. Puerto Rico's Forensic Sciences Institute actually tested the gown and make-up brush that Rivera claims were laced with pepper spray. But guess what. They didn't find any. Rivera says she broke out in hives and had to ice down her face and body during the contest.
Are you ever out and about when nature calls? Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING , we'll tell you how you can find relief with your cell phone.
And back in business. Snow and plenty of it. Finally falling on one of America's most famous skiing destinations. That's good news. The bad news, not a welcomed sight everywhere. Some extreme weather in the forecast, that's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
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ROBERTS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning here on CNN. Winter weather in our "Quick Hits." Now, I don't hear any sleigh bells ringing, but certainly in the lane snow is glistening here. First snowfall of the year. A big one for Minnesota, six to eight inches falling in the twin cities. Snow emergency declared there.
Grand Marais, on the shore of Lake Superior got 20 inches. These pictures of the first storm of the year in Toronto, sent to us by i- reporter Janet Pierre. She took them Sunday morning on Bather Street. That's one of Toronto's busier streets. They got about three to four inches on Sunday. The storm is headed east. It could bring up a foot to Montreal, which is why they call it the Great White North, right? And the winter weather caused havoc in South Dakota, snow and ice fell across most of the state on Saturday, causing major problems for drivers. And it's not over yet. Jacqui Jeras in the CNN weather center tracking the extreme weather. Who's in the crosshairs today? A lot of white on the map behind you there.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Yes. And that's exactly who is getting it. The same people that are seeing the snow now are the ones who's going to get hammered really all day long. The biggest problem this morning has been along the Massachusetts turnpike, and then down here toward the Hartford area where you see all this pink. We've had freezing rain accumulating, causing power outages. Boston, even though it looks like pink is moving into the area, the warmer air starting to come in to you at 39 degrees, and that's just rain. The heavy snow up into the north and we're going to be seeing hefty totals, as much as a foot plus can be expected, particularly in the higher elevations across the northern tier. The ice storm warnings have been dropped now as those temperatures are starting to warm up. And we'll just be seeing more of a significant snow/rain line instead of a little bit of that in between stuff. Now, this storm system has a lot of wind behind it.
And also has a lot of energy with it and brought an incredible amount of snow as this thing moves through parts of the southwest and into the west. We've got some great pictures I want to show you out of the snow mass here in Aspen, from Aspen Mountain, Colorado. (inaudible) something to us. Look at that beautiful picture. This is the bright side of our snow storm here. Nearly three feet of snow came down this weekend there. So that brought the base steps up to normal. We kind of started out on the dry side there. We got more snow on the way, particularly in the pacific northwest. We're going to talk a lot about that big storm with incredible winds, coming up in the NEWSROOM. John.
ROBERTS: Boy, when it falls on the mountains, it's beautiful. When it falls on the cities, not so much.
JERAS: Yes, not so much.
ROBERTS: Jacqui, thanks very much for that. Alina.
CHO: CNN NEWSROOM just minutes away. Look who we have at the CNN Center in Atlanta, T.J. Holmes. Hey there, T.J., good morning.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN, ANCHOR: Good morning to you, kind ma'am. Good to see you. On the NEWSROOM rundown, we got this morning, we got a little snow, mix in a little wind, and how about some rain and ice for good measure in all of that across the northeast. Add all that up and not a delicious cocktail for those folks at the airports. It's going to be adding up to some pretty big delays for those airlines, passengers also. We're gong to be talking about this story.
We got a lot of people's attention, a lot of people scratching their heads. Sudan freed jailed teacher. Gillian Gibbons will head home to Britain. Her crime, as many people remember, she let her class name a teddy bear Muhammad.
Also, who would steal 16 tons of ham? Ham burglars, of course. I crack myself up. Hamburglar, you get it, don't you, Alina? We'll tell you about the hot ham on the lamb. Tony and Heidi off today. Betty and I are going to try to hold it down here in the NEWSROOM today at the top of the hour. Alina.
CHO: 9:00 a.m. to noon Eastern. I'll be watching every minute, T.J.
HOLMES: Well, thank you so much.
CHO: All right. Good to see you.
Diverse group of entertainers cited last night in Washington during the annual Kennedy honors. The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, Director Martin Scorcese, comedian Steve Martin and singer Diana Ross along with pianist Leon Fleischer, all received the prestigious award for excellence in the performing arts. The entire event, by the way, will air later this month on CBS. John.
ROBERTS: Some relief for laid off staffers on the "Tonight Show" tops your "Quick Hits". Host Jay Leno says he will pay salaries of about 80 workers let go because of the writer's strike. On Friday, the workers were told that there were no guarantees they would be rehired when the strike ends and production resumes. David Letterman and Conan O'Brien have already pledged to pay laid off staffers.
Actor Brad Pitt is committing $5 million looking for new designs to help the lower ninth ward of New Orleans. Some designs feature floating homes, the project called "Make It Right" will see 150 affordable homes built in two years. And Brad will be talking about the project with "Larry King." He is Larry's guest on the entire hour. That's Wednesday, 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
Cell phones come in handy for lots of different reasons, more than you might realize. We'll tell you what role your cell phone could play during some of life's little emergencies when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
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CHO: Getting kids to eat their vegetables - that tops your "Quick Hits." Now, researchers say mothers who eat vegetables while pregnant and breast feeding can actually help their children develop a taste for them. Apparently, the flavors are transmitted through amniotic fluid and the mother's milk.
New research to help understand autism and its effect on the brain. Researchers say a child with autism who gets a fever actually talks more, make more eye contact. The researchers think that fever somehow restores some links in nerve cells. Interesting.
ROBERTS: Wow! 53 minutes after the hour. Something new coming to you courtesy of Google today. CHO: That's right. Our Veronica de la Cruz, internet correspondent, joins us now with a look at that. Hey, so what's this about?
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN, INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys. Lots of news from Google. We're going to focus on Google now. So, I'm sure you guys use Google Maps, right? Well, here's the changes. It's a great service, it's not always perfect. So, Google is asking you to fix the map if you come across something that might be incorrect. You can log in to Google, edit the map and then click move marker. It's going to let the you drag the green pointer to the right location and then save. I know what you're thinking. Could be a big problem, right?
ROBERTS: Yes, if somebody wants to screw up...
DE LA CRUZ: There are limits. You can't move a business location and if you move a marker more than 200 meters, Google will review the change first. More news now from Google. This next is for the 85 percent of us who might want those GPS tracking devices on our cell phones but we don't necessarily want to pay for them by having to buy a new phone that comes with it. So, a new Google application called "my location" will give you directions on your cell phone. Instead of GPS, the phone will track you by using cell phone towers but the service is fairly limited, even though Google says it will work on most phones that use Microsoft Windows. It won't work on some of the more popular smart phones like the Treo or the Black Jack.
ROBERTS: What about the -- coverage has got to have something to do with this as well. I can't get a signal in half of New York.
DE LA CRUZ: I know. I feel your pain. But I'm running out of time. So, I go to move on to the next story. I got a question for you guys. What do you do when you've got to go, but don't know where to go?
CHO: Hold it.
DE LA CRUZ: I know. That's one thing to do. No, John.
In London, they're coming up with a solution. The city has launched a new service that will help you find the loo. The new toilet finding services called "SatLav." Here's how it works - the system covers 40 public toilets, pinpoint your position again through your cell phone, and then send you a text message, which will cost about 50 cents and the city council says that it hopes the service will stop people from urinating in the streets because apparently there's a problem with that.
CHO: By the time you get through with all of that, you could have found a bathroom.
DE LA CRUZ: I know. And you know, people here in the United States don't - I'm sure you're frustrated with this. We don't have that yet. But Vindigo is the service that you can download for $25. It's like a $4 a month and that will actually point you in the right direction when it comes to everything, restaurants, toilets, what have you.
ROBERTS: Wow. Technology to the rescue. Who would have thought it? Veronica, thanks.
DE LA CRUZ: Thanks.
ROBERTS: See you again tomorrow.
A quick look now at what CNN NEWSROOM is working on for the top of the hour.
HOLMES: See these stories in the CNN NEWSROOM. Snow, wind and ice, airports delays are likely across the northeast today.
Also, 100-mile-an-hour winds rip the pacific northwest.
Heading home to Britain, Sudan pardons a teacher. Her class named a teddy bear Muhammad.
Although the man held hostages at a Hillary Clinton campaign office in court today.
And his exile is over. Don Imus returns to radio this morning. NEWSROOM at the top of the hour on CNN.
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ROBERTS: Final check on our quick vote question this morning, we asked you, do you think that the troop increase in Iraq, the so-called "surge" is working? Awfully close. It was 50/50 for a while. Now, our final tally this morning, 48 percent of you say yes, it is working. 52 percent say no. To everyone who voted, thanks very much. Will do another quick vote again tomorrow. Of course, Iraq going to be driving the news today as well.
CHO: Yes, the president giving a Rose Garden speech in just about an hour, right?
ROBERTS: Right. He's going to be talking about the democrats and this 50 billion funding bill, the time to troop withdrawals to get everybody out by December 2008. Harry Reid, the senate majority leader, will be rebutting that a little bit later on today. So, we'll be watching all of that for you and of course, we'll be carrying the president live at 10:00 a.m. Eastern today.
CHO: And we're watching the weather all day today too.
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHO: It's going to be a nasty day across the northeast. So, stay tuned for that.
ROBERTS: Another report story. That's going to do it for us. Thanks so much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. Thank you for doing the duty.
CHO: It's always a pleasure. John, thank you.
CNN NEWSROOM with T.J. Holmes and Betty Nguyen starts right now.
HOLMES: All right. Thanks, guys. We are the aforementioned, T.J. Holmes and Betty Nguyen. You're here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN, ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody on this Monday. I'm Betty Nguyen. Tony and Heidi are off today. You can watch events come into the NEWSROOM live on this Monday morning, December 3rd. Here's what's on the rundown. Trouble on the coast. Hurricane like winds whipped the pacific northwest and snow piles up in the east.
HOLMES: Also, her class named a teddy bear.
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