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American Morning
Strong Earthquake Rocks Bali This Morning; Chilling Sounds From Inside of Omaha Mall Shooting; Superstar Power of Oprah for Barack Obama
Aired December 07, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: So many people out there on the trail. Nobody's left in Washington to do the people's business.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Exactly.
ROBERTS: It's Friday, December 7th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm John Roberts.
CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. We start with the latest from Nebraska. Horrifying sounds from inside of an Omaha shopping mall. People screaming, a madman shooting, men, women and children trying to run for cover. The just-released 911 tapes of the massacre.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(GUNSHOTS)
DISPATCHER: 9-1-1, what's your emergency?
(GUNSHOTS)
DISPATCHER: Hello, 9-1-1.
(Gunshots).
DISPATCHER: 9-1-1, what's your emergency?
CALLER: There is someone with a gun shooting people at Von Maur at Westroads.
DISPATCHER: OK. We are on our way out there. Have you seen anybody that was shot?
CALLER: No.
DISPATCHER: OK. We are on our way out there. Did anybody see the person shooting?
CALL: There's a bunch of people shot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Wow. It's unbelievable to hear these tapes. Another call came in from a woman who was barricaded in her office and was watching a security camera and saw the shooter end the carnage with one final shot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CALLER: Oh, my gosh. It looks like, it looks like the gun is laying over by customer service. There's an officer there now. I wonder if he --
DISPATCHER: Customer service on the third level?
CALLER: Correct, it looks like he might have killed himself.
DISPATCHER: OK. Do you see him laying by a gun?
CALLER: I see him lying by a gun. (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: There are also brand new disturbing details this morning about the killer's troubled past. The more we learn about 19-year-old Robert Hawkins, the more red flags pop up. A friend says the 19-year- old gunman was suicidal and that the state says he was in and out of treatment before he walked into a mall, murdered eight people, then took his own life.
Our Ed Lavandera is live for us in Omaha this morning with more of those new details. Good morning, Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran. Well, it was random, chaotic and the people inside the mall, it must have seemed like the whole ordeal lasted forever. But in fact, it only lasted a few minutes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DISPATCHER: Hello?
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Omaha police say Robert Hawkins may have fired off as many as 60 rounds on the third floor of the Von Maur department store.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I can't be because I'm still here in the shop. Hello?
(GUNSHOTS)
LAVANDERA: Shoppers trapped inside the store called 911 as they hid to survive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, we're up in the women's bathroom. There's a bunch of us on the window.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. There's a lot of people up there hiding so you all just stay safe. Let the police do what they got to do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm at Von Maur and I think there's shots being fired all over the place.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we're on our way out there. Anybody been hit?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I haven't seen anything. I'm hiding in a clothes rack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, we're on our way out there, ma'am.
LAVANDERA: Investigators have seen the security camera video of the attack. They say it only lasted a few minutes, not enough time for officers to save any victims. Shooter Robert Hawkins was dead by the time police arrived.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE OFFICER: It appeared that the shooting victims were randomly selected. It didn't appear as if anyone was specifically targeted.
LAVANDERA: Nebraska health officials say Hawkins spent four years in state care and was treated for drug abuse and in mental health hospitals. He was released in the summer of 2006.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This tragedy was not a failure, not a failure of the system, to provide appropriate quality services for youth who need it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Kiran, the authorities here also say that it doesn't appear that Robert Hawkins targeted anyone specifically. But everything -- after seeing the surveillance tapes, seemed random and the authorities here also say they continue to look into the text messages and the phone calls that Robert Hawkins made in the hours leading up to the shooting -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Those 911 tapes are certainly difficult to listen to this morning, shedding light on how horrific it must have been for those inside that store. Ed Lavandera live for us in Omaha, thank you.
ROBERTS: Just a terrifying stuff this morning.
Extreme weather and extreme danger unfolding right now in southern California. More than 1,000 families are being told to evacuate. Forecasters say some of the heaviest rainfall in more than a year is expected to soak the Los Angeles area and that could mean flash floods and mudslides in areas that have burned bare by those recent wildfires.
And in the pacific northwest, thousands of people have no power or clean drinking water after massive storms earlier this week. Six people died in Washington. Another two died in Oregon. The floodwaters are finally starting to recede. The damage is expected in the billions.
And road crews working overnight to clear main roads and sign streets across Iowa. Close to five inches of snow fell in Des Moines. Police say they responded to a number of spinouts and accidents on the roads. More snow is forecast for the weekend. Reynolds Wolf is at the weather update desk. He's tracking the extreme weather. And who's going to get socked today, Reynolds?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh, we're going to work our way from the west towards the east. But right now, it really does appear that much of the west coast making its way into parts of the Sierra Nevada, back in the great basin, the Rockies. That's really the big trouble spot.
A lot of territory to cover. Let's get to it right now. Let's go right to the weather map. As we do see, you can see on the west coast from San Francisco over to Fresno, we're seeing that rain northward into the high sierra near south Lake Tahoe. The snow is beginning to calm down, but as we drop a little bit farther south in the L.A. basin, southward to San Diego, this is really a big trouble spot for us.
As you mentioned, John, this is a huge area where we had many of those fires. Certainly good news to be getting rain in that area, they could certainly use it. But at the same time with those fires, you have all the vegetation. It is gone. The hills don't have that anchoring system that those root systems and these grasses, so there is this big, big, big potential for mudslides today and for tomorrow.
And flash flood watch is going to remain in effect for a good part of the day, up to 0.5 inch of rain an hour. Now, let's zip our way back in the Great Basin into the high elevations. Looking at one to two feet possible for parts of Nevada and back into Colorado. Same story, so John, no question, we're going to be seeing some rain, and of course, that heavy snow into the mountain passes. And we're going to be giving you more updates on that throughout the morning and into the midday hours as well.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to it. Reynolds, thanks very much.
WOLF: You bet.
ROBERTS: We should mention that our Rob Marciano is taking a snow day in Telluride and he'll be joining us a little bit later on to tell us exactly what it's like up there in the mountains of Colorado. Right now, let's go over to Kiran.
CHETRY: If he ever gets there through the course of our show, we'll find out.
Well, also new this morning. A dramatic disclosure from the CIA. The agency admitted it destroyed two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two senior Al Qaeda operatives back in 2005. The videotape showed agency operatives subjecting terror subjects to severe interrogation techniques.
Director Michael Hayden says the tapes were destroyed to protect the safety of undercover officers and because they no longer had intelligence value, but some on Capitol Hill as well as human rights groups are calling this illegal destruction of evidence. The CIA disclosed the incident after the "New York Times" said it was running a story in today's paper.
The all-time home run king due in court in just a few hours from now. Barry Bonds expected to enter a not guilty plea to perjury charges at the federal courthouse in San Francisco. Bonds accused of lying to a federal grand jury in the Balco investigation about whether or not he used performance-enhancing drugs -- John.
ROBERTS: Seven minutes now after the hour, and the presidential politics and a question of faith for one candidate. How will Republican Mitt Romney's speech on religion play in the early primary states?
Romney's goal in his speech yesterday was two-fold, to convince Christian conservatives that he is indeed a man of faith and that they've got nothing to fear from the Mormon religion. He also sought to reassure voters that the Mormon church would not shape his decision-making process should he become president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Not be elected because of his faith, nor should he be rejected because of his faith. Let me assure you that no authorities of my church, or of any other church for that matter, will ever exert influence on presidential decisions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Also shown that Romney's Mormon faith is a concern for many voters. He's also losing ground in Iowa to Mike Huckabee who's an ordained Baptist minister. We'll talk more about Romney's speech and the political pluses and minuses from it with CNN political analyst John Dickerson. He'll be coming your way in just a few minutes time.
And there are questions this morning about a painting company recently hired to work on Mitt Romney's Massachusetts mansion. According to "The Boston Globe," authorities are investigating whether the company dodged state labor laws and exploited workers, including illegal immigrants.
The head of the company claims they did not employee illegals at Romney's house or anywhere else for that matter. Romney was forced to fire a landscaping company this week after it was learned they were hiring illegal immigrants. Of course, that company denies that as well.
You recalled during last week's CNN YouTube debate, Rudy Giuliani accused Romney of having a "sanctuary mansion" -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, the race to save marine life right now going on in South Korea, after a massive oil spill. Nearly 2.8 million gallons of crude spilling into the sea, after a super tanker collided with a barge. Emily Chang is following the story live at the world update desk in London. What is the situation on the ground right now as they try to contain this massive spill?
EMILY CHANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well,, Kiran, they sent out more than 15 patrol boats and four helicopters to try and stop the spread of oil. So far, more than 6,000 tons of it have spilled. It started early this morning when a giant barge carrying a crane crashed into an oil tanker. It burst three holes in that oil tanker and sent black oil gushing into the seas.
The last of those holes was plugged only minutes ago. So officially, the oil has stopped leaking, but it is still spreading. The spill now, more than 11 miles long. So all of this happening a few miles off the coast of South Korea, about 93 miles southwest of Seoul. It's on an area of the coast where there are lots of scenic beaches, where fishing is popular.
So officials now only beginning to assess the environmental and economic impact of the damage. And once they stop the spread of oil, they'll begin the long process of collecting it. We're told this about 8:00 p.m. now in Seoul, so darkness is falling. That's going to make things a lot more difficult as they begin the enormous task of cleaning this all up -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Emily Chang for us from the world update desk. Thank you.
ROBERTS: For five months now, we have been bringing you stories of our CNN heroes, ordinary people doing extraordinary thing.
CHETRY: That's right, and last night we honored them right here in New York. Actress Rosario Dawson recognized Erania Martinez Garcia in defending the planet category. Garcia, from Cuba, was able to transform her town dump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROSARIO DAWSON, ACTRESS: So she looked out at the toxic smoke and the swarming flies and said, nature demands respect. She created a compost pile to help bring back the plants and the animals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Real star-studded event last night, and our own Alina Cho was back stage for the whole thing. I mean, it was a pretty impressive show.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, my goodness. I mean, you know, I'm sure you saw the repeat of it this morning, John. It really was incredible. Kiran, I know you were there. You know, the people CNN honored last night came from you, the viewer, in case you didn't know.
More than 7,000 nominations online from 93 countries, heart- breaking and heart-warming stories, each and every one of them a person who is making a difference in this world. Now, those 7,000 nominations were widdled down to six and last night we honored them. As John mentioned, really a star-studded night in New York at the Museum of Natural History. Mary J. Blige, Norah Jones, Sheryl Crow were among the performers. Glenn Close and Mira Sorvino among the presenters.
Those we honored, you may not know their names but their stories are worth remembering like -- take Pablo Fajardo from Ecuador, who took on big oil in a landmark lawsuit. His goal was to clean up toxic waste he says was intentionally dumped in the Amazon. Actor Jimmy Smits presented the award to Pablo, and I talked to Smits back stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY SMITS, ACTOR: Profoundly moved by some of them, people from all over the world, all walks of life.
CHO: Yes.
SMITS: You get a sense of what an everyday person can do with fortitude as Pablo.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Pablo's English was not so great. That's why we didn't speak to him so much. But we should mention another honoree last night, and her name is Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe from Uganda. This is a woman I will never forget. Sister Rosemary runs a school aimed at rehabilitating young girls who were abducted by soldiers, turned into child soldiers themselves, even sex slaves. She told me she never expected to be recognized for her work.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHO (on camera): You sound more than worthy of this award.
SISTER ROSEMARY NYIRUMBE, CNN HERO: Well, I feel very happy when I see this girls changing but over time. There's no limit. We don't give them a limit. God will say, thank you, Rosemary, through the CNN people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: She was so cute as she said that she was so struck by the tall buildings when she arrived in New York and that she stayed in a beautiful hotel, and she just lives very modestly. And so, this was a lot she wasn't used to. Now, of course last night there were the stars and the honorees, and let's not forget, we were there too.
And Kiran took some photos. She actually, there we are, Kiran and yours truly. Looking pretty good I might add. What do you think, John?
CHETRY: I love that color on you.
ROBERTS: You both look gorgeous.
CHO: Lola Ogunnaike, our entertainment diva, and Kiran there. Kiran, with her other husband, her real husband, Chris Knowles. ROBERTS: Who he's? Who's that guy?
CHO: And Sanjay Gupta our senior medical correspondent, who was a presenter as well. He presented the medical marvel award. And I think we have a couple more pictures. There we go. There's Ali Velshi.
CHETRY: My husband said, "I had to take a picture with you, Ali, because my mom's a fan." So, there you have it.
CHO: There you go. That's Chris.
CHETRY: So even though we are early risers, we did manage to go out last night.
Oh, this was a wonderful hero that was honored as well.
CHO: That's right. He was honored as an everyday superhero. Kiran, I know you spent a lot of time talking to him. I did too. His name is John Smitten.
CHETRY: He worked at Glasgow airport.
CHO: Yes.
CHETRY: You remember, of course, when the terrorist bombers drove that car into Glasgow airport.
CHO: Right into the terminal.
CHETRY: He was the baggage handler, and he actually ran to the rescue without thinking about his own safety and helped police. Great guy.
ROBERTS: Real mark of a hero. People who don't expect to get recognized. They just go out there and do it.
CHO: That's right. And I heard that time and time again back stage when I talked to these people. They were saying, "I really just did not expect to be honored. We were just doing something and hoping to make a difference."
CHETRY: Wonderful.
CHO: We'll bring you more of those stories in the next couple of hours.
CHETRY: Thanks, Alina.
CHO: You bet.
CHETRY: Still ahead, faith and politics. Could Mitt Romney's religion speech he made yesterday make or break his presidential campaign? We're going to take a look, coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHETRY: Well, this just in to AMERICAN MORNING right now. Minutes ago, a strong earthquake rocked the Indonesian island of Bali. Local meteorologists there saying this measured a 5.9. It was centered, they believe, in East Java province. An underwater tremor, about 155 miles southwest of its area called Jember. But again, they say it could be felt in nearby Bali.
It happened at a time where thousands of people were gathered from across the globe for a U.N. climate change conference. At this point, there are no immediate reports of any damage or injuries, but it was just last month that a 6.7 quake in the region left three people dead. We'll continue to follow this today -- John.
ROBERTS: Eighteen minutes now after the hour.
And the biggest speech of his presidential campaign, Mitt Romney addressed concerns about his Mormon faith head-on. Well, sort of. In his speech yesterday on faith in America, he promised that religion would not rule his presidency, though he used the word Mormon just once.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe in my Mormon faith, and I'm there to live by it. Some believe that such a confession of my faith will sink my candidacy. If they're right, so be it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Well, joining us now with reaction to Romney's speech and some other political news this morning is John Dickerson. He's our CNN political analyst, also with slate.com. You wrote in your article about this that he brought out everything except for the presidential seal, trying to look presidential in giving this speech. But as a political matter, did it work for him?
JOHN DICKERSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It worked for him because, you know, these candidates -- you know about this, they try and confect these moments -- big, big moments to look presidential, and he got that moment and he stood up in that clip you showed, and he stood tall. And this is a guy who has been criticized for not knowing his own gut and he showed that he knows and has a core set of convictions, and that's good for him.
ROBERTS: Yes. You know, in the speech that this is being compared to, which was John F. Kennedy's famous speech before the Senate Baptist Convention back in October of 1960, he advocated a very strict separation of church and state. Mitt Romney all but criticized that standpoint. Let's take a listen to what he said on that front.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: Religion is seen as merely a private affair with no place in public life. It's as if they're intent on establishing a new religion in America, the religion of secularism. They're wrong. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So that statement, was it aimed at middle America or was it aimed at those evangelicals in Iowa, who are now swinging toward Mike Huckabee?
DICKERSON: That's right. It's aimed at about 2,000 people in Iowa who are going to vote in the Republican caucus there. This is a fine line for Romney. He's saying in this speech, don't look too close to my religion but know that it's there, and this is one of the places in the speech you might have a little trouble because that's a tricky balance to keep.
ROBERTS: On the topic of Mike Huckabee, he's in the crosshairs in Iowa now because he released this rapist, Wayne DuMond, who went on to rape, to kill a young woman. Is this his Willie Horton moment? Could this be as damaging to him as Willie Horton was to Mike Dukakis?
DICKERSON: It's very damaging. You know, Mike Huckabee is the buzz candidate. He is the candidate of the moment, and this is buzz kill. This is bad for him and a number of reasons. He's got the mother of the dead woman who is out on TV all the time. He's got former aides contradicting him in public. And one of Mike Huckabee's great strengths is his affable winning nature. It's very hard to be affable and winning about rape and murder that you're in this difficult political position about.
ROBERTS: And Barbara Walters interviewed Bill Clinton who said, "I'm going to be there in the cabinet meetings." Does that play well for Hillary Clinton, for people who are looking for a two-for-one, or does that hurt her in her attempts to say I am the candidate of change here?
DICKERSON: It hurts with some voters, and it's great with others. And this is -- but the big problem I'm hearing from voters in Iowa is this, which is, we want to hear about Hillary. We're kind of tired of hearing about Bill Clinton. We like him, yes, but off stage, please. And he kind of -- he's in every news cycle and that's getting in the way of her efforts to try to make a case for herself.
ROBERTS: Yes. Well, we'll see how this plays out. But as you said, a lot of people love Bill Clinton but a lot of people are saying, hey, you know. It's time for somebody new. So maybe the two- for-one thing doesn't work so well. John Dickerson, it's always good to see you. Thanks for coming in.
DICKERSON: Thanks, John.
ROBERTS: Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, it's supposed to be one of the last big campaign weekends before Iowa's primary. Some of the major players could be absent from the handshake line. We'll tell you who's threatening to pull the senators back to Washington.
Also, inches away from losing his legs, a very close call for an officer on the side of a highway. Watch him escape in the nick of time, next on AMERICAN MORNING.
RICHARD LUI, HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: There's a metal frenzy in this week's "Fortune First."
If your gutters have been stolen, your siding missing or your air conditioning has been torn apart, you may have been a victim of metal theft. Rising cost of copper, aluminum and other metals have sparked a crime wave.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TELIS DEMOS, REPORTER FORTUNE: Metal prices have been going up because countries like India and China are growing quickly in consuming tons of metals for cars, construction and other projects. In China, manhole theft has been a big problem. In the U.S., we've seen all sorts of incidents like aluminum bleachers being stolen from a high school. People get a beer keg and don't return it.
Catalytic converters, those are being ripped right off of cars and sold to scrap metal dealers. Copper is the most typically stolen metal. First of all, because it's widely available at construction sites. It's also pretty light. It's usually packed in coils, and so it's pretty easy to just walk away with.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some states are trying to put a dent in metal theft.
DEMOS: In Texas and California, they've started special investigative police teams to track big thefts. Other states like West Virginia are passing laws that are requiring scrap metal dealers to ask more questions when people bring in large loads of metal. As long as metal prices continue to soar, it looks like theft will be with us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: Twenty-six minutes after the hour now. And caught on tape, a frantic close call for a cop during a traffic stop. Take a look at this.
A car takes out the cruiser door, nearly takes him out but a perfectly-timed jump over the hood saves him. It was all caught on dash cam from the Dallas County Sheriff. Another deputy says that the guy definitely should have lost his legs in the accident. The driver, by the way, was not ticketed. He told officers he simply didn't know that there was a curve in the road.
CHETRY: Oh.
ROBERTS: Wow!
CHETRY: Well, blocking legislation literally. This is your "Hot Shot" now. Check this out from Taiwan. If you think it gets ugly here on the Hill, lawmakers from the ruling party were piling chairs in front of the door to keep out other parties so they couldn't discuss the makeup of the new national election committee. When all else fails, start piling up the chairs.
Hey, if you've got a hot shot, send it to us. The address am@hotshots@CNN.com. Be sure to include your name, where you're from, a little bit about the picture or video. And one more thing, make sure the image is yours and not someone else's. As you said, they couldn't do this now in Washington because everyone's in Iowa, and they're not going to fight about this in Washington.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: Before that, they would nail the furniture down in Iowa as well because they'd steal it otherwise.
ROBERTS: Ali Velshi here this morning "Minding Your Business." You might have gotten something in the mail related to your credit card. He's here to explain it all for you.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I got this, guys. Good morning. I got this in the mail the other day. It's from the U.S. district court. It says approved refund notice. Now, typically when I get things like this, I think I might be in trouble. But I opened it up and this has been very calming. You probably have one as well.
If you have a Visa, a Mastercard or Diner's Club card and you used it overseas between February 1st of 1996 and November 8th of '06, now don't worry, no one stole your credit, but there's been a settlement in a class action suit. It has not been approved by the courts, but you might be entitled to some money back.
Now in this form if you open it up, there are three refund choices. You can take a quick refund, which is 25 bucks. You can take a refund that estimates how much you made -- how much you spent in a couple of different ways or you can file an objection or opt out. You have to do all of this within the next couple of months. But worst case scenario, you could get 25 bucks back.
CHETRY: So what's it for? So what happens?
VELSHI: It's for credit card companies who allegedly overcharged on the conversion rates when you bought something overseas and they charged you fees that were not in accordance with the law. So this is -- you want to go to court and like I say, you might get 25. Don't throw it away, you might get 25 bucks but you might get more than that.
ROBERTS: Oh, really.
VELSHI: So, worth looking to it. It's a little complicated. We spent some time trying to figure it out, but most people are getting one of these. So 25 bucks, free money. That's my job for this hour.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: That's your free money for the hour. There you go.
CHETRY: Invest it. Dollar cost. VELSHI: That's right. I'll tell you what to do next time how to invest it.
ROBERTS: Ali, thanks.
VELSHI: OK.
CHETRY: Thanks, Ali.
Still ahead, Oprah stumps for Barack Obama this weekend in South Carolina, and the demand for tickets has overwhelmed the event organizers. We're going to have more on that. Is that much of a surprise, though?
Also, new details this morning in the case of a Missouri mom accused of using MySpace to drive a teen to suicide. We'll tell you what police in her neighborhood are now doing. That story in today's headlines when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. There are some new details just in, breaking news out of Bali this morning on this Friday, December 7th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you, I'm John Roberts. The details coming in to the CNN newsroom after a strong earthquake rocked the island resort less than an hour ago. Meteorologists say that it measured 5.9. No word on injuries or any damage right now. The island is hosting thousands of people this week for a U.N. conference on climate change. The 6.7 quake struck the region back on November the 25th. You remember, that left three people dead and dozens injured.
New detail this half hour in the massive South Korea oil spill. Official say the oil has stopped leaking now and the hole has been plugged, but the oil that's already out is still spreading. The spill more than 11 miles long now, but 93 miles southwest of Seoul. A tanker was struck by another vessel around 5:30 p.m. eastern time yesterday, about 100 miles as we said southwest of Seoul. And take a look at these dramatic pictures. You can see crude gushing out of the tanker. That is oil coming out of that tanker. No word on the environmental impact yet. One official says it will take several days to get a floating fence around this slick.
An update now for you on last month's oil spill in San Francisco Bay. The pilot of the ship is now in danger of losing his license. A review board says John Cotter was going too fast when he hit a bay bridge support tower. That spill 58,000 gallons of heavy bunker fuel. They also say that he ignore warnings from two radars and failed to ask the coast guard for help. Federal prosecutors have also threatened to confiscate and sell the huge vessel to pay for cleanup costs. It was the city's worst oil spill in nearly two decades. Hundreds of birds died and more than dozen beaches were closed.
And in Missouri, police are bursting patrols around the home of a woman accused of driving a teen to suicide. Official say, Lori Drew is getting death threats and had a brick thrown through her window. Prosecutor say, she and her daughter sent fake MySpace messages to a neighbor, 13-year-old Megan Meier. The girl hanged herself thinking that the insults came from a boy. Prosecutors haven't been able to find statutes to allow them to arrest Drew or file charges against her. Neighbors are now demanding that the Drew's leave town.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, brand new this morning. Chilling sounds from inside of the mall when a gunman committed mass murder in Omaha, Nebraska. The shots and the screams all revealed in new 911 tapes just released.
Heartbreaking, terrifying phone calls and more red flags now popping up about the man who opened fire. The state of Nebraska says 19-year-old Robert Hawkins was sent to at least four treatment centers and group homes for youths with substance abuse or mental or behavioral problems.
We're also learning the names and faces of the eight victims this morning. 48 years old Gary Scharf was shopping at the Von Maur Store and in his way home to Lincoln from a business trip in Iowa. 55-year- old John McDonald was shopping with his wife of 40 years when he was shot. 47-year-old Beverly Flynn, was a gift wrapper there and 36- year-old Angie Schuster was a manager of the Girl's Department. She had worked there for ten years. Other co-workers lost in the tragedy, 53-year-old Diane Trent, 56-year-old Gary Joy, 66-year-old Janet Jorgensen and 24-year-old Maggie Webb.
Well, there are reports out this morning that say Hawkins was able to get his gun into the Von Maur Store by tucking it under his sweatshirt. How did it go unnoticed it? Well, it leads us to this morning's quick vote and a question that a lot of people are asking, is it practical and should shopping malls install metal detectors at their entrances? Cast your vote, cnn.com/am. We're going to have results throughout the show.
ROBERTS: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is threatening to ruin one of the last big Iowa campaign weekends and bring all senators, including the five running for president, back to Washington for a rare Saturday session tomorrow. It's not the first time the campaigning conflicts with Senate responsibilities. Our Chris Lawrence is on Capitol Hill this morning to explain. Chris, first of all, why does Senator Reid want them back now?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's for energy vote that he needs to get done on Saturday, John. And you know, that's part of the job. These senators get paid about $165,000 of your tax dollars, to come here, cast votes and go to committee meetings. But the five senators who are running for president have, at various times, been absent without official leave.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: Senator Barack Obama missed a key vote on Iran. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Then, it was a mistake. This is one of the hazards of running for president.
LAWRENCE: Hillary Clinton has missed 19 percent of the votes this year. Barack Obama and Chris Dodd nearly double that. Joe Biden even more, and John Mccain 54 percent. He missed more than he's voted, including the confirmation for attorney general, Mike Mukasey, the most important law enforcement official in the country. Clinton, Obama and Biden missed that vote, too.
NORM ORNSTEIN, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: This has made doing business in the senate much tougher.
LAWRENCE: Congressional watchdog, Norm Ornstein says senators have committee assignments, too. Several presidential appointments have been waiting on banking Chairman Chris Dodd.
Director of the Federal Housing Finance Board, president of the Government National Mortgage Association. I don't know what all these people do, but it sounds important to me.
ORNSTEIN: We've got a lot of nominations that have been sitting there because the committee hasn't been together to do hearings.
LAWRENCE: Which means your government's not operating at full strength. In his defense, Dodd's staff says there are 12 other nominations he's helped push through. The big difference during this presidential race, instead of a few months, candidates hit the road an entire year before the first primary.
Is this about shaking hands and kissing babies or is this about raising cash?
ORNSTEIN: This has been far more about raising money, than anything else.
LAWRENCE: Ornstein says candidates had to show their financial strength early to keep donors from defecting to other campaigns. But while they're out fund-raising, taxpayers pay a price.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: Now, no one is suggesting that you can run for president from an office here in Washington, and we called Senator McCain's office and they told us, experienced senators like him know in advance if a vote is going to be tight and they always make a real effort to get back to Washington when needed. And you got to remember, all these senators are competing with other candidates like Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, John Edwards, who don't have the same obligations.
John?
ROBERTS: Chris, here's what I found really surprising here. You said Hillary Clinton missed almost one in five votes but Senator Chris Dodd missed double that. I mean he's an old hand in Washington. If anybody's experienced it's Chris Dodd and she, it would seem, has far more campaign commitments than he does. Why that disparity?
LAWRENCE: I called his campaign and asked that very same question and they told me, it comes down to money. If a vote gets moved up at the last minute from say 5:00 in the afternoon to 10:00 in the morning, he says candidates who are fleshed with cash like Obama and Clinton can hop on a private jet and make it back in time for the vote. Someone like him or maybe even McCain might not always have the resources to do that. But just to put all of this in some sort of perspective, Republican Lisa Murkowski has only missed nine votes all year. Democratic Daniel Akaka, one vote. She's from Alaska, he's from Hawaii.
ROBERTS: But neither one of them is running for president, we should point that out.
LAWRENCE: That's right. Exactly.
ROBERTS: All right. Chris Lawrence for us on Capitol Hill this morning. Chris, thanks.
CHETRY: You have a long way to travel to get there, see that. They can make it. If they can make it, Rob Marciano can make it to Telluride by the end of our show.
Well, still ahead, the superstar power of Oprah for candidate Barack Obama. The two stars align for a political rally this weekend in South Carolina. The event is so huge that it sent organizers scrambling for a new venue. We'll have more on that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Well, it is 6:43 here on the east coast this morning. We get a check of the weather right now from Rob Marciano. It's not even 5:00 a.m., he's tracking heavy snow in Telluride, Colorado, this morning, for a Skiing's World Cup. By the end of the weekend, they could be getting one to three feet of snow in Colorado?
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: Slamming the brakes on new fuel economy standards. That tops your "Political Ticker" now. An energy bill has passed the House but it is expected to stall in the senate and face the veto if it gets to the president's desk, that's the vote, by the way, that Harry Reid is calling all of the senate presidential candidates back for. House speaker Nancy Pelosi calls the bell a "Shot heard round the world for energy independence." It would require cars and SUV to get about 10 more miles per gallon by 2020.
The White House is against an attached tax increase on oil companies, among other things, claiming that that will lead to higher energy prices.
After years of drifting right, it appears that Hispanic voters are again leaning left. A new poll by the few Hispanic center shows 57 percent of Hispanic voters favor Democrats, as opposed to 23 percent for Republicans, and the gap has grown significantly since last summer when a similar poll showed a 21-point difference. 41 percent of those polled say that Bush administration's policies have been harmful to Hispanics.
Due to popular demand, the Barack Obama rally featuring Oprah Winfrey scheduled for Sunday in South Carolina is being moved to a football stadium. The event was originally planned for 18,000-seat arena in Columbia. But the campaign says, so people wanted the free tickets they decided to relocate. The rally will now be held at Williams Bryce Stadium, which can hold just upwards of 80,000 people. Candy Crowley is going to have more of the Oprah-Obama rally, a lot of O's there, in our next hour here on AMERICAN MORNING. Find all the days' political news around the clock at cnn.com/ticker.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Still ahead, caught red-handed. A canoeist to his fear of lost at sea shows up five years later. Well, now his under arrest, accused of one giant scam, and the picture that could do him in.
Also ahead, a woman takes to the Internet to find herself a man, but she was only interested in one thing, that's a green card. That's story ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Welcome back. Ten minutes before the top of the hour right now. And if you're just joining us, here's a look at some stories making headlines this morning. A friend says he was suicidal, the state says he was in and out of treatment. This was before 19- year-old Robert Hawkins opened fire inside of an Omaha shopping mall, Wednesday, killing eight innocent people. Chilling 911 tapes are also out where you can hear the shocks in between the screams. We're going to be getting a live report. Ed Lavandera is still there finding out new detail this morning.
And breaking news. A strong earthquake rocks Bali this morning. We just learn that, no tsunami warnings have been issued. Meteorologists here measured it at a 5.4 magnitude. It hits just a few minutes before he went to air at 6:00 a.m. We're still awaiting word on damages and injuries. They come as thousands were gathered for a U.N. climate change conference. There's still no reports of any damage or injuries.
ROBERTS: We'll keep updating you on that story throughout the morning.
It's now nine minutes to the top of the hour. You can buy just about anything on Craigslist, including apparently a husband.
CHETRY: Yes, but one woman who tried that is now in trouble with the law. Veronica De La Cruz joins us with more details. Hi, there.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's more of an example of being able to find anything online, right? There are amazing story. This is from the "L.A. Times" website. A Russia woman now facing jail time and deportation after getting busted for a fake marriage. Apparently, 24-year-old Yuliya Kalinina said she didn't know it was illegal to advertise for a green card marriage online so she posted an ad to Craigslist.
The ad reads, "Green card marriage, will pay $300 a month, total $15,000. This is strictly platonic business offer, sex not involved, not required to live together." And Kalinina found a taker. A man in his late 20s, who was working at Disneyland at the time. She leased him a Ford Mustang instead of giving him cash because he had bad credit. She also took care of wedding arrangements. Her live-in boyfriend, also a Russian national, performed the ceremony after becoming an ordained minister by registering online.
Now, take a look at this. This is the criminal complaint filed by I.C.E. officials. We found it on The Smoking Gun Website. The document showed that Craigslist turned over the advertisement as well as the IP addresses for the two involved. Google turned over e-mail from Kalinina G-mail account and federal officials' states that's fairly blatant example of marriage fraud.
ROBERTS: You think?
DE LA CRUZ: County's lawyers said federal agents were aware of the ad two years ago when she posted it and instead of giving her a warning, they set back and waited for her to commit this crime. Both she and her green card husband were arrested last week at separate residences and according to the smoking gun, this is the first marriage fraud scheme that immigration and custom officials have uncovered on the Internet and I'm sure it is not going to be the last.
ROBERTS: Well, I tell you, you know, it's nice to dip your hook in the water for the first time and come up with such a huge fish as this one. My goodness.
DE LA CRUZ: Yes, unbelievable. But, yes, you can find just about anything online these days.
CHETRY: And the ironic part of it, her real boyfriend, also logging online.
DE LA CRUZ: Become an ordained minister. How great is that and marry the two.
ROBERTS: Well, you hit the trifecta on that one. Veronica, thanks.
Big fight in the art world. Now, your "Quick Hits." The Vatican has uncovered a long-missing sketch by Michelangelo. The design for the Dome of St. Peter's Basilica. It was recently found filed away in one of the basilica's offices. It's believed to be, the last thing that Michelangelo designed before his death, making it about 450 years old.
And in Mexico, police say they have busted a major illegal logging ring. They confiscated 6,000 tons of logs and boards, all taken from a nature reserve. Illegal logging has apparently threatening millions of monarch butterflies who call the reserve home. The raid is believed to be the biggest of its kind in the country.
What's an Italian Christmas dinner without pastas? Some families may have to find out this issue. The store prices forcing them to choose between pasta and presents. The rising cost to feed in the family, coming up.
And how do you make one cold become ten? Work when you're sick. A reason to stay in bed, the next time you're under the weather, that's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: 57 minutes after the hour. It is the worst thing that happened in Italy since jarred tomato sauce, the great pasta panic of 2007. There have been protests nationwide on the other side, over the store in pasta prices. Some prices are up 20 percent this year in Italy. Pasta makers who are defending it, they say wheat prices are up 60 percent. It's all being blamed on a number of things, globally, from the growing use of ethanol as an alternative fuel to a drought in Australia.
CHETRY: Wow, Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business" right now and I see you brought some with you.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I got my pasta. I got my Barilla pasta.
CHETRY: Is it not filtering over here because I feel like, you can still get your Barilla for like $1.99.
VELSHI: Actually, it is. Because there's a lot of price competition in pasta. It's very hard to increase the prices but the chairman of Barilla, which is the largest pasta company in the world, was actually telling me that 60 percent of the cost of this that you pay is raw materials, because of this very problem, that it's becoming very expensive. In fact, they're making their second factory in the United States just to save on the packaging and shipping costs because of energy costs associated with it. Take a look at the increase in the cost of pasta from 2000 to 2007. I mean, we've seen definitely more than a doubling in prices. This is becoming a bit of an issue. I actually spoke to the chairman, Guido Barilla about the issue of ethanol and here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GUIDO BARILLA, CHAIRMAN, BARILLA GROUP: Pasta consumption, wheat consumption, it's very important for the world to feed the people, and to transform a raw material so valuable as wheat, in energy. It is something that we really should think about, because there are not enough crops, not enough land dedicated to this initial for the production of ethanol. So it's a very debatable issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: His point is that, we shouldn't be taking land that's grown for wheat and using it to grow corn to fuel our cars. I've got that whole interview this weekend on "In Your Money" which as you know, comes on at Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. eastern and Sundays at 3:00 p.m.
CHETRY: Yes. It's a great show. So, we keep talking about how all of these things are affected. We talked about beer prices as well as with Ethanol. Are we seeing that much Ethanol being used?
VELSHI: Yes, we are. The incentive for farmers to get out of the business of growing soy, and hops, and barley and wheat and change over to ethanol because of the demand for ethanol is actually affecting the raw materials of other things. So, it's something to really think about. Because, we're moving in that direction of growing more ethanol and that's going to be a problem for us. By the way, the best part of the interview, which is worth listening to, that was the good news part, is he tells you what you kind of pasta he likes, how do you like his pasta and he gave me this whole grain Rotini.
CHETRY: Not bad.
VELSHI: He kind of did one these. When I asked him whether he liked it, he's not into the whole grain pasta.
ROBERTS: Oh, really.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROBERTS: Not exactly traditional.
VELSHI: Exactly. The whole grain he said its...
CHETRY: Works better with a center of variety
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