Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
911 Tapes and New Details About Mall Shooting; Mortgage Meltdown; Dramatic Disclosure From CIA
Aired December 07, 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: Caught on tape. Gunfire erupts in a shopping mall as holiday shoppers run for cover. This morning, the chilling 911 tapes and new details about the teen gunman and his victims.
Bracing for the worst.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This river is mud and rock coming down from the other properties.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Protecting house and home from mudslides.
And digging out from a winter wallop.
Plus, mortgage meltdown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This plan is not a silver bullet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: How the plan to save struggling homeowners leave some out in the cold. One-on-one with Treasure Secretary Henry Paulson on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(INAUDIBLE) a White House program. Unfortunately though, a lot of people aren't going to be covered by it.
Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It's Friday, the 7th of December. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry.
We have some horrifying sounds from inside of an Omaha Shopping Mall. People screaming at the shooter fired. Men, women, and children running for cover. And the just released 911 tape show just how terrifying it was at that Nebraska department store. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DISPATCHER: 911, what's your emergency?
(GUNSHOTS)
DISPATCHER: Hello, 911.
(GUNSHOTS)
DISPATCHER: 911, what's your emergency?
CALLER: There is someone with a gun shooting people in the 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're on our way out there. Did anybody see the person shooting?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Another call came in from a woman barricaded in her office, who was watching her security camera and saw the shooter end the carnage with a final shot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CALLER: Oh my gosh. 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 laying by a gun (INAUDIBLE).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: There are also some 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. One friend says that he was suicidal. The state says he was in and out of treatment before walking into a mall and murdering eight people and then taking his own life.
John?
ROBERTS: Now, to that dramatic disclosure from the CIA. This morning, the spy agency is admitting it destroyed tapes that showed extreme measures being used in the interrogation of two al Qaeda operatives. The man in charge, CIA director Michael Hayden is offering an explanation for the decision. Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon with the latest details on that. What is the explanation?
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, the explanation is that they did it because the tapes were a security risk if they were ever going to be disclosed. But, listen, this story is just really beginning here in Washington. CIA Director General Michael Hayden disclosing yesterday that two years ago, the CIA destroyed videotapes of the interrogations, using those harsh techniques of two al Qaeda suspects in a letter to employees. General Hayden said, the tapes, quote, "If they were ever to leak, would permit identification of CIA people who appeared in those videotapes." That is his explanation.
But, John, two years ago, the topic in Washington was what about those harsh interrogations? What was going on? Was there waterboarding? Wasn't there, by all accounts, government officials now saying that one of the videotapes was of Abu Sabada (ph), a top al Qaeda operative, that it did show waterboarding, the technique that simulates drowning. This is getting a lot of reaction in Washington. It is a story we're likely to hear much more about.
John?
ROBERTS: In terms of that reaction, what are we hearing from members of Congress? Because this happened at the same time at the 9/11 commission, other congressional investigations were going on looking into all of this.
STARR: Absolutely. Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee are already saying they want to know a lot more about this because they only learned of the destruction of the videotapes a couple of months ago, at least, the senior leaders on that committee, and already in "The New York Times" this morning, one of the attorneys who works for the 9/11 commission in that newspaper article is using the phrase obstruction of justice, saying that it appears to him, this would be a very big deal that the government was withholding evidence.
He says, if these tapes existed, that the 9/11 commission wanted everything about the 9/11 attacks, simply to get its hands on. You know, there have been a lot of rumors about the existence of these tapes. Why now is General Hayden disclosing the destruction of them? "The New York Times" reporting this morning that they were about to publish an article about the tapes existence and their destruction. The CIA countered by disclosing that they did destroy them two years ago, John.
ROBERTS: It's going to be a big story all day today, Barbara. Look forward to what you get on a little bit later on. Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon, this morning.
Kiran?
CHETRY: We're continuing to follow some breaking news out of Indonesia where just two hours ago, a strong earthquake hit. 5.4 magnitude, about 150 miles southwest of the island resort of Bali. Now, it was not strong enough to trigger a tsunami warning and so far, there are no injuries reported. They set up for a conference on climate change shook for about 10 seconds. About 10,000 people are on Bali for that conference.
And another major story continuing to develop at this hour. The massive oil spill. There you see oil just gushing out of a tanker off the coast of South Korea. The picture shows some 6,000 tons of crude oil spilling into the sea. The tanker was hit by another vessel around 5:30 p.m. eastern time yesterday. About a hundred miles from Seoul. The hole has now been plugged, but the spread now covers 11 miles of ocean and is expanding. Officials say that high winds could push the oil to land by tomorrow morning.
Well, a strange turn of events and an even more bizarre story out of Great Britain. A man who is feared lost at sea shows up at a police station five years later. 27-year-old John Darwin said he can't remember a thing that happened to him. Now, he is under arrest for suspicion of fraud. A British newspaper reporting his wife admitted to knowing he was alive after a picture of the two surfaced together from just a year ago. Well, she is now on her way back to Britain from Panama and could be arrested for claiming thousands in life insurance and pensions over the past five years.
John?
ROBERTS: Coming up to 7 minutes after the hour.
The all time home run king is due in court just a few hours from now. Barry Bonds expected to enter a not guilty plea to perjury charges at the federal court house in San Francisco. Bonds is accused of lying to a federal grand jury in the BALCO investigation about whether he ever used performance enhancing drugs.
And there are questions 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 employ illegal at Romney's house or anywhere else for that matter. Romney was forced to hire a landscaping company earlier this week over chargers they hired illegal immigrants. You recall, during last week's CNN YouTube Debate, Rudy Giuliani accused Romney of having a quote, "Sanctuary Mansion."
And due to popular demand, a 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 an 18,000 seat arena in Columbia but the campaign says so many people wanted the free tickets that they decided to relocate. The rally will now be held at Williams Bryce Stadium which can hold upwards of 80,000 people.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, it's time to check in with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents for other stories. New this morning, the snow is also making travel dangerous in mountain areas but with the ski resorts, they are certainly thrilled. Rob Marciano tracking extreme weather this morning in Telluride, Colorado. By the time, its all said and done at weekend, you could be looking at one to three feet.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: Well, three years ago, a flu vaccine shortage kept a lot of people from getting their shots. Now people can choose between the vaccine shot or the flu mist. So, what is the difference and is one better than the other? Joining us now with more is CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. What is the difference and is one better?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: There are several differences between the flu mist and the shot. And you what, Kiran, it comes down in a way to personal choice. If you really hate shots, well, there is an alternative. And the big news this year, the flu mist, the spray is much less expensive than it used to be. Some people really found is prohibitively expensive in years past but not quite true anymore. Let's take look at a side-by-side comparison of the mist versus the shot. First of all, the big difference is that the shot is a dead vaccine. It's been killed.
The flu mist is a live vaccine. You're getting an actual virus. And it's surrounding your nose for a couple of days and so there are some safety concerns there. The cost for the shot is about $10-$11. That is what the doctors pay for and you're going to pay more. The flu mist is a bit more expensive, $17, 18. We saw people offering it up for $20. And now, to continue the comparison, who can get it? The shot is approved for pretty much everyone. Pretty much anyone can get a flu shot. For the flu mist, however, it's only approved for ages 2 to 49 so little babies are not going to get it.
People over 49 should not get it and it's not approved for pregnant women and for people with a weak immune system. So, the bottom line is, is that for many people, there is a choice now and people who should get vaccinated really need to go get vaccinated. Whichever one you choose, get vaccinated.
CHETRY: One quick question, a myth people think, OK, you can catch the flu from the flu shot because flu mist does use a weakened live vaccine. Is there a risk of that or is that not the case?
COHEN: No, there is not a risk of getting the flu from either of these. There are a few more safety questions when you're using a live vaccine, but still, both have been proven to be safe. Both have been proven not to give you the flu.
CHETRY: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.
COHEN: Thanks.
ROBERTS: For months, we have been bringing you stories of our CNN heroes. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
CHETRY: Yes and last night, we honored them right here in New York City. Rosario Dawson recognized one of them. Irania Martinez Garcia of Cuba in the defending the planet category. Garcia transformed her town dump into a garden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ROSARIO DAWSON, CNN HERO PRESENTER: So, she looked out at the toxic smoke and the swarming flies and said nature demands respect. She created a compost pile to bring back the plants and the animals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Well, our own Alina Cho was back stage at the event and she joins us now. It's quite a star-studded affair.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it certainly was. I know, you had to catch up on your sleep so you missed it, but Kiran and I were there. It was incredible. You know, the stories are heartbreaking and heartwarming. Each and every one highlighting a person who is making a difference in this world. A star-studded night as, John, said. Mary J. Blige, Nora Jones and Sheryl Crow were among the performers. Those we honored, you may not know their names but their story certainly are worth remembering. Take Pablo Fajardo. He took on big oil in a land mark lawsuit with a goal of cleaning up toxic waste he says was intentionally dumped in Amazon. Actor Jimmy Smits presented that award and I talked to him back stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY SMITS, CNN HEROES PRESENTER: Really profoundly moved by some of them. People from all over the world, all walks of life. You get a sense of what an everyday person can do with fortitude as Pablo.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: And one thing I learned last night was that Jimmy Smits is a huge CNN fan. He says he watched a lot of the heroes' stories and actually got involved because of that. So, that was great to hear. Now, another honoree last night was Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe. She's from Uganda. Now, Sister Rose Mary runs a school aimed at rehabilitating young girls who were abducted by soldiers, turned into sex slaves. She says, she never expected to be recognized for her work.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: You sound more than worthy of this award.
ROSEMARY NYIRUMBE, CNN HERO: Well, I feel very happy when I see this done changing but, overtime, there is no limit. God is saying, thank you, Rosemary, through the CNN people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: I will never forget that woman. She is just a really, really memorable woman doing such great work. Of course, I was back stage, but as I mentioned, a lot of other familiar faces were there, too. Kiran loves to take her camera to these types of events. You're always snapping photos. There is the two of us. Lola Ogunnaike, entertainment diva, and Kiran, there striking a pose.
CHETRY: Yes. She was headed in as well right when I was leaving. And there is my hubby.
CHO: Your real hubby.
CHETRY: My real life husband.
CHO: As well as your work husband.
CHETRY: As well as Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay was there.
CHO: Yes, he was a presenter.
CHETRY: He was a presenter. He made his way from Atlanta. A lot of Atlanta faces and good old Ali Velshi having a blast as well.
CHO: And the other husband.
We are having a great time last night. It was a late night but we had a great time.
CHETRY: Oh, John Smeaton, by the way, he was awarded the...
CHO: Everyday super hero.
CHETRY: For everyday super hero. He helps thwart the attack on Glasgow Airport. He was a baggage handler there. He is now, somewhat of a celebrity. He still works at the airport and people hug him and kiss him when he walks by.
CHO: He was so cute wearing his family kilt.
ROBERTS: Who is the young lady?
CHETRY: The young lady is his girlfriend. He met her when he first came to the U.S. in September. Also to be honored and recognized for the award. So, they had a blast. They said they never seen a museum like that.
CHO: Well, I asked them what he was going to do? He said, he was here until tomorrow. And I said, are you going to hit a couple of pubs here in New York or is that not worth trying out here on the other side of the pond? Then he said, no, I'm going to go, I'm going to go. He says he is going to Second Avenue in New York.
CHETRY: Well, they also joke around. He has 140 pints waiting for him at one of the bars at the airport that people have offered up for free, if he comes by.
CHO: He is a big celebrity in Scotland. You know, they ask for his autograph there. And hey guys, before we go, in case you missed CNN Heroes, the replay is at 8:00 p.m. tonight, again at midnight and again at 4:00 a.m., all eastern time. But you can catch it if you missed it. Something to see.
ROBERTS: That's a great show. Thanks.
CHETRY: Thanks, Alina. CHO: You bet.
ROBERTS: All right, thanks. Churches take a new approach to an old problem. A look at what they are doing with these comics coloring books. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, it's part of an abuse prevention program. The Catholic Arch Diocese in New York is distributing educational coloring and comic books. They teach children to protect themselves from predators. Now David Clohessy is the National Directors of the Survivors Network of those abused by priest. He joins me now from Los Angeles. David, you know, these comic books have raised some eyebrows and people have talked about whether they are a little bit vague when it comes to protecting children. And this is someone near and dear to your heart because you were abused by a priest when you were a child. Can you tell us a little bit about what happened to you?
DAVID CLOHESSY, NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF THE SURVIVORS NETWORK OF THOSE ABUSE BY PRIEST: Well, I was -- I was groomed over a period of several years and taken on out of town trips by parish priest who really won his way into our whole family. I was repeatedly abused, usually far from home, always late at night, always when the two of us were alone and he molested others as well.
CHETRY: You know, we take a look at one of the things in the coloring book and you said, often when you were alone, one of the pages says that if a child and an adult are alone in a room together, that door should be open and it shows a boy in the room with a priest. Would something like that have actually been helpful for you as a young child or does this really gloss over who is responsible for abuse?
CLOHESSY: Well, it's tough to say, but I think historically, we have error on the side of being too vague with kids instead of being too specific. And another concern we have about these book, is that the booklets seem to suggest there's a category of adults who are inherently trustworthy, doctors and priests. And in fact, we really have to go beyond that and explain to kids that it is most likely going to be an adult that they like and their parents trust, who will molest them, rather than a stranger and that no one group of adults is 100 percent safe for them.
CHETRY: It's also -- you know, kids are taught to obey authority and to obey, you know, their teachers and their parents and by extension, members of the clergy. At the same time, if you're an 8- year-old, can you say, you know what; I read in this comic book that we are not supposed to be closing the door. I mean, would they ever stand up against an adult who is doing something like closing the door and then, you know, unfortunately, other things that are far worst?
CLOHESSY: Well, there's a better chance of kids learning those lessons if they hear it at school, at church, at home, so it's really important that parents that see and have this coloring book, share it with their kids, but that they also talk about it. Because let's face it, kids learn best when they hear a message in various ways from various sources. No one...
CHETRY: I was going to say the director of the program didn't talk about that. What you just said, he said, that these books were created and he talked a little bit about what the goal was, so let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EDWARD MECHMANN, DIRECTOR NEW YORK ARCHDIOCESE SAFE ENVIRONMENT PROGRAM: The coloring book and the comic book are resources to be used as part of a curriculum. The overall curriculum addresses a lot of different issues and it goes into the -- more in-depth. These are not supposed to be standalone items.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: So, he echoes what you echo as well. But at the same time, you know, there has been so many high profile abuse cases within the church. Billions of dollars paid out to victims, dioceses having to go bankrupt and, you know, then we hear that there is a comic book coming out. I mean, is that, are we really addressing the main problem, the root of the problem?
CLOHESSY: Well, that's a good point. We in SNAP support any effort to prevent abuse, especially innovative efforts. We like the idea of teaching kids but you're right. Within the church itself, there still has to be tremendous reform especially at the top. We've seen a lot of public relations by catholic bishops and a lot of tinkering around the edges of this horrific problem but until the bishops themselves, who have enabled so much abuse and covered up so much abuse and are still doing so today, until they reform their behavior or society forces them to, ultimately, this problem sadly will continue.
CHETRY: David Clohessy, National Director of the Survivors Network of Those Abuse by Priest. Thanks for joining us this morning.
CLOHESSY: My pleasure. Thank you.
ROBERTS: Its 22 minutes now after the hour. The mortgage meltdown. Is there an end in sight? Gerri Willis talked with the treasury secretary about the new subprime freeze deal and what does it mean for your home? That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 25 minutes after the hour. New deal to freeze mortgage rates could bail out more than a million Americans drowning in dead end and in danger of losing their home but not everybody happy about it. Some critics say, it doesn't help enough, while others say the bailout is unfair. Our personal finance editor Gerri Willis joins us now with more including her one-on-one interview exclusive with the treasury secretary. Good morning.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Good to see you, John. You know, what surprise me about those conversation is that I expected the treasury secretary to be a little more upbeat, optimistic about the potential for this plan. He was a little guarded and he said this is not a cure-all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY PAULSON, TREASURY SECRETARY: This plan is not a silver bullet. It can't undo the excesses in the housing market over the last number of years. It can't undo the bad lending practices. But this is, I believe, a creative solution by the private sector to make a difference and to handle the number of resets that we have coming in a fair and expeditious way. It's not perfect. But I haven't heard any better ideas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIS: So, I asked the secretary whether it was the job of government to craft its own solution or to bring folks together. He said it's the job of government to bring folks to the table to craft a solution. And of course, he hedged his bets on the possibility for success here.
PAULSON: I'm not going to promise it's going to work perfectly. This is a complex, difficult problem, but we're doing everything we can to solve them and if we need to make changes, we will make changes and it will evolve over time.
WILLIS: OK. So, it sounds like the administration is under promising and hoping for over delivering on this plan. You know, we talked a lot about how many people might get helped and there is some debate over that.
ROBERTS: Yes. The president was saying somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.2 million people. How will people know if they qualify?
WILLIS: Well, 1.2 million people will be offered the potential to get in the plan. They're not guaranteed to be part of it. And whether or not, you qualify is the mystery wrapped in an enigma this morning. I went through this document from one of the trade groups involve in this, 31 pages. I went to business school, I'm having a hard time making any sense out of it. But we did find some things out about this.
You know, clearly as we were saying, if you've missed a mortgage payment, it's difficult to get in the program but it's not impossible. This plan will divide the people who are in trouble in three different groups and they will be treated all differently. So, people though, who have mortgages that are resetting or have already reset and are already in trouble, though, not part of the plan.
ROBERTS: All right, Gerri, thanks very much. Don't forget to join Gerri tomorrow for "Open House." Tomorrow morning, 9:30 eastern, again, Saturday and Sunday at 3:00. Time now for a look at what is ahead on "CNN Saturday Morning." Betty Nguyen and T.J. Holmes at the CNN Center with that. Good morning, guys.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, good morning.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENTS: We got three words for you this morning, John. Oprah, Obama and Iowa. Yes, quite a talk hitting the campaign trail, tomorrow and we will be there, live to cover it all.
NGUYEN: Yes, it is a tight race. And we will hear her impact on voters. Is it going to live up to the hype? "The Best Team on Television" has the answers for you.
HOLMES: Also, who is really to blame for the mortgage meltdown in this country? If you don't care, you should. We will show you how this is hurting every single American even those of you who don't own homes.
NGUYEN: And are you paying big bucks for a designer handbag , tie, maybe even a scarf, this holiday season? Well, you might think that that expensive purse has been handcrafted. That's not always the case. It could be made on China on the slide. We're keeping them honest.
HOLMES: Yes. CNN Saturday and Sunday morning,, beginning tomorrow at 7:00 eastern. I know, John, you love your designer bags. Something you need to pay attention to.
ROBERTS: I don't love them as much as you love your mini vans. But I know that there was that big bus of all those Chinese goods just recently so very important story this holiday season.
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: Yes, it was.
ROBERTS: Thanks, guys. We'll see you tomorrow morning.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, awake during surgery. It's the focus of a new film and just a nightmare to think about. Could it actually happen to you? I will talk with AMERICAN MORNING's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Also, some major players could be asset from the campaign trail this weekend. Just weeks before voters head out, we're going to tell you who is threatening to pull the senators back to Washington. You're watching the most news in the morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN, ANCHOR: Well, beautiful picture coming from our nation's capital this morning. The White House covered with a little bit of snow. That's where John Roberts is heading today after the show. Not to the White House but to D.C..
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN, ANCHOR: I'm going back home to my house right there. In the Lincoln bedroom. CHETRY: By the way, my mom and dad don't live far away from D.C.. It's my dad's birthday today so happy birthday.
ROBERTS: Happy birthday to him. Are you going to be spending some time with your dad this weekend?
CHETRY: Yes, of course. Bring in a little present.
ROBERTS: That's the good daughter.
CHETRY: How about it? Well, welcome once again. It's Friday, December 7th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
ROBERTS: And good morning to you. I'm John Roberts.
The latest now on that massive oil spill off the coast of South Korea. It's a story that we've been following all morning. A tanker was struck by another vessel about 5:30 p.m. Eastern time last evening just a few miles off of the coast. A little less than a hundred miles from Seoul in the Yellow Sea. As you can see from the pictures, take a look at this, the oil gushing out. Some 6,000 tons of crude spilled into the sea. That hole has now been plugged but the spread now covers 11 miles of ocean and is rapidly expanding. Officials say high winds could push the oil to land by tomorrow morning. Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, brand new this morning. Chilling sound from inside of a mall where a gunman committed mass murder in Omaha, Nebraska. Shots and screams in newly released 911 tapes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911: 911, what's the emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is someone with a gun shooting people in Von Maur out Westroads.
911: OK. We're on our way out there. Have you seen anybody who was shot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
911: OK. We're on our way out there. Did anybody see the person shooting?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lots of people shot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It shot up in the air. Oh, my god! Help us!
911: Ma'am, get away. I can't hear what you're saying.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She said there are a bunch of people shot inside of Von Maur.
911: OK. Police are on the way. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Also more red flags are popping up about the young man that opened fire. The state of Nebraska saying 19-year-old Robert Hawkins was sent to at least four treatment centers and group homes for use with substance abuse, mental, or behavioral problems. Meanwhile, Omaha's police chief says Robert Hawkins likely got his gun into the Von Maur department store by tucking it under his sweatshirt. And that leads us to this morning's quick vote question, a lot of people are asking with four different shootings taking place at malls this year alone, should shopping malls be doing more? And if so, what should they do? Would metal detectors at their entrances make a difference? Cast your vote at CNN.com/am. Right now, 38% of your say yes and 62% say no. Keep the votes coming. We'll update them in about 20 minutes.
ROBERTS: 34 minutes after the hour. Good news just in from the labor department and could mean up day on Wall Street. Ali Velshi is "Minding your Business." Good morning, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN, BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. This is good news. As I always like to say, if you pay no attention to any other economic indicators the one that it matters most is your job better than - more than housing, more than oil prices. Job numbers for November are just in. The unemployment rate widely expected to increase did not increase. It held steady. Unemployment rate for the United States is 4.7% and in November, there were 94,000 new jobs created. Which is more than what was expected. I often say that this economy needs about a hundred thousand jobs a month created just to keep up. 94,000 is a good number so 94,000 new jobs. 4.7%. Let's take a look at where the jobs are across the country. We created this map where the states in red have a higher than, significantly higher than the average unemployment rate and those states in green are where there is a lower than average unemployment rate.
Look at that swathe right down the middle of the country of those states, those mountain states and those Midwestern states with not bad unemployment rates. You can see in California, you can see in some parts of the industrial belt we've got higher unemployment rates. Incidentally, Texas and Louisiana look at that - construction jobs and oil jobs, those are strong. This month's unemployment report did show that there are further losses in housing and manufacturing and gains in the service sector. So all in all, good news for the market. Now, what you said about whether the market will do well today, it's iffy, John. Because you know what happens, a good unemployment rate means less pressure on the fed to cut rates and they meet on Tuesday.
ROBERTS: I was just about to bring that up. Maybe take the pressure off of a rate cut and it could send the Dow down.
VELSHI: It's anybody's guess at this point where the Dow is going. Futures are about flat right now.
ROBERTS: It's all about perception. All right.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROBERTS: Ali, thanks. We'll see how it goes. Kiran.
CHETRY: Senate majority leader Harry Reid is threatening to ruin one of the last big Iowa campaign weekend to bring all of the senators, including the five running for president back to Washington for a rare Saturday session tomorrow. This isn't the first time that campaigning has conflicted with senate responsibilities. Chris Lawrence is on Capitol Hill this morning to explain a little bit why Senator Reid wants them back now. Good morning, Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran. It's a comprehensive energy deal that would increase all of our automobile fuel economy standards for the first time in like 30 years. But the vote is going to be extremely tight and all of these senators who are running for president have, at times, been absent without official leave.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Senator Barack Obama missed a key vote on Iran.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It was a mistake. Just one of the hazards of running for president.
LAWRENCE: Hillary Clinton has missed 19% of the votes this year. Barack Obama and Chris Dodd nearly double that. Joe Biden even more. And John McCain, 54%. 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.
The 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 is not operating at full strength. In his defense, Dodd's staff says there are 12 other nominations he has 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 candidate had to show their financial strength early to keep donors from defecting to other campaigns but while they are out fund-raising, taxpayers pay a price.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: No one is suggesting that you can run for president from an office here in Washington. And we spoke with Senator McCain's staff and they said that a lot of times experienced lawmakers like him know ahead of time if the vote is going to be close and they make every effort to get back here to Washington for those votes. Another thing to keep in mind, all of these senators are competing with the other candidates for cash, raising, fund-raising and some of those other candidates like Mitt Romney, John Edwards and Rudy Giuliani, they don't have the same kind of obligations. Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes. It is mind boggling that there aren't rules that you have to show up for votes unless you have a reasonable excuse that you could just miss more than half. It just seems like a really bad way of doing things.
LAWRENCE: It is. But that is the way it goes. A lot of times, they'll say, well, if the vote is going to be 77-10, no need for them to fly all the way from California to Washington for a vote that is really not going to make that big of a difference. But when you look at some of these, a lot of the candidates will say it's easier for certain candidates like maybe a Clinton or an Obama who have a lot more cash on hand. You know, if a vote changes at the last minute, they can hop on a private jet and get back. We talked to Senator Dodd's staff. He says he doesn't always have those kind of resources to put into play.
CHETRY: I got you. So that is why he says he missed a double, what they missed because he was not able to get back as easily, let's put it that way. All right. Interesting stuff, Chris. Great reporting. Thank you.
LAWRENCE: You're welcome.
ROBERTS: 20 minutes NOW to the top of the hour. You're in the O.R., someone cutting open your chest. You can feel it but you can't say anything because you're under. It's in a new movie but can it happen for real? Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look.
And keep your germs to yourself. There is a reason for sick days. Why you should take them before you turn one cold into ten ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Three minutes after the hour. Some new videos protests in Pakistan, just coming to us in CNN. Police meeting protesters with batons and firing tear gas into the crowd in the city of Karachi. About 200 people, most of them students, turned out. Parliamentary elections are scheduled for early January but opposition parties are still trying to agree on terms before agreeing to participate. These people were out on the streets protesting the continuation of emergency rule.
Now let's go over to Kiran.
CHETRY: Picture yourself having surgery and you feel yourself waking up. You can feel the pain. But you can't move or talk to tell anyone. Well, it's a nightmare experience that is the basis of a new movie "Awake." but it also happens in real life.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(Courtesy of "Awake" from MGM/The Weinstein Company)
CHETRY (voice-over): It's your worst nightmare.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait, wait, wait, something is wrong.
CHETRY: Being awake while undergoing surgery. Good material for a Hollywood suspense film.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait. I'm still awake.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Scalpel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do something. Do something. Move an arm, finger.
CHETRY: But for some people, the story line is all too real.
KELLY HAAPALA, WOKE UP DURING SURGERY: I just kept thinking maybe I'm dreaming.
CHETRY: Kelly Haapala underwent surgery in 1999 after shattering her hip socket in a car accident but unlike most patients she did not remain unconscious. Sometime after the surgery began, Kelly became aware and she could hear voices.
HAAPALA: And as I was slowly realizing that I was in the operating room, that is when I started feeling the tugging, pushing, pressure, and then after that, I started feeling the pain.
CHETRY: While the drugs that were keeping her unconscious were wearing off, other drugs still kept her paralyzed.
HAAPALA: I don't know how to explain it, other than like a hot poker, just jabbing into you to scrape all of my fragments out of there and then like a big vacuum noise of the suctioning.
CHETRY: Kelly could feel and hear everything that was happening to her but had no way of communicating that she was awake.
HAAPALA: I was screaming inside. Stop! I'm awake! This can't happen! Stop, stop! And nobody is hearing me.
CHETRY: Eventually, Kelly could move. She began flailing her arms and legs. HAAPALA: I was in such terror. I needed to let them know so badly that they needed to stop what they were doing. They just dove on me and started screaming at each other that I was awake and put her back under, put her back under.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: That is such a nightmare scenario. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is a brain surgeon and our chief medical correspondent. When you hear the story like the one that she was telling, is that extremely rare? How does that happen?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is rare. And you know, the sort of promotions for the move liken this to "Jaws." I think that might be a little unfair. I mean there's 40 million anesthetics administered every year and this is a pretty rare situation obviously for Kelly. It happened. They estimate maybe 1 in 1,000 times someone may have some awareness during anesthesia. How does that happen? It's a good question. When you think about anesthesia, a good way to think about it is that you're getting medications to sedate you, you're getting medications to take away your pain and you're getting medication to paralyze you. It's a constant sort of balance of all these medication. If the medication that sort of sedates you starts to wear off before the other two do, you're still paralyzed for example. And you might get some anesthesia awareness. One thing that I want to point out, Kelly obviously had pain. But a lot of the pain medications last much longer than the sedating medication. So, it's unlikely that someone experienced pain as much as they might actually hear something that they remember afterwards.
CHETRY: So how do they take steps o make sure that doesn't happen?
GUPTA: What a lot of hospitals are doing now is actually putting monitors on the brain so you actually know how asleep, how deep asleep the patient is at any given time. It's not a technology that is being used everywhere but there are anesthesiologist, in fact, one of my hospital, who says it's important to do this so that not only do we know that the patient is not awake, we can see it looking at these brain wave monitors.
CHETRY: Sanjay, thanks so much. Good to see you.
GUPTA: Thanks, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Good, going to work sick do a lot more harm than good to you and your coworkers? The Center for Disease Control and Prevention says more than a fifth of the Americans get the flu every year and a survey by an office staffing firm says 80% of people go to work sick because many of them are discouraged from taking sick days and that translates into millions of cold and flu ridden Americans spreading germs around the office. It's a horrible situation and they say you can turn one cold into ten. Exponential growth of that virus. A New York City apartment building has shown one doorman the door over a case of bad breath. Jonas (inaudible) has ushered tenants into 525 East 89th Street since 1967. Now, he has been suspended. He says he was told not to come to work last Friday because of halitosis. He says his breath really isn't any worse than most people since this is the third time by the time he has been suspended. He says he uses mouthwash, breath mints on the job and even gave up garlic and consulted a specialist. The guy lives in Brooklyn and is trying to support his 81-year-old mother. The doorman's union has filed a grievance over the suspension.
CHETRY: Well, we'll see what happens. He said I did everything. I gave up garlic, I used breath mints. I used mouthwash.
ROBERTS: Go to the dentist. There is probably something wrong.
CHETRY: He did that, too. Poor guy.
ROBERTS: Oh, well.
CHETRY: OK.
ROBERTS: The CNN NEWSROOM just minutes away. Heidi Collins at the CNN Center now with a look at what's ahead. Good morning, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN, ANCHOR: Hi there, John. That's right. It is Friday in the NEWSROOM. Today you're going to be hearing the horrifying 911 calls from the Omaha mall shooting even a burst of gunfire that with caught on tape.
Plus, coping with this tragedy. We get a perspective from a Columbine survivor.
And baseball's homerun king Barry Bonds goes to court today. It's his first appearance on perjury charges. Plus a story that's happy and sad at the same time. Healthy triplets but their mother died after delivery and now dad needs a hand. We'll tell you how you can help. So, stick around for this one. You're in the NEWSROOM at the top of the hour right here on CNN. John.
ROBERTS: That's a terrible story.
COLLINS: Yes.
ROBERTS: Heidi, thanks very much. We'll see you soon. Kiran.
COLLINS: You bet.
CHETRY: Well, "Quick Hits" now. One witness says its worst that any hurricane he has lived through . Hawaii flood three feet of water moving 30 miles an hour in some places. This is an i-report. Flash floods ripping hydrants out of the street and gale force winds knocked down power poles and left thousands without power on the Hawaiian island.
Well, they can't fit down the chimney but thousands of Kris Kringles were all packed into one place. This was the Las Vegas Santa marathon. How about that? The big race attracts thousands each year and as many as 7,000 Santas showed up for the event. The official warm-up event for the actual Las Vegas marathon. All proceeds went to charity so I guess they didn't actually have to run in their humongous suit, buckles and hats and beards.
ROBERTS: That might be a little dangerous.
CHETRY: Yes. You might get a little overheated.
Well, check this out guy. He is snow-kiting over a busy road. That's unbelievable. We're going to have some of the other really cool viral videos. Veronica de la Cruz shows us what is hot on the web. Coming up. I think it's safe to say don't try that at home.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Seven minutes now to the top of the hour. Some dramatic pictures of a rescue going on right now in Burbank, California. Firefighters trying to free a person from a truck that overturned into some sort of waterway. Actually, that's not a big rig truck. That is an SUV. So, obviously, it's trying to get somebody out of that SUV there that is overturned.
CHETRY: You see another woman in the back seat as well it looks like.
ROBERTS: Yes. I think that's wrong. It's not big rig rescue. That's obviously a smaller SUV. I don't know if a big rig was involved in the accident that sent that SUV into that drainage canal but interesting to watch these guys working on this. We'll keep following this throughout the newsroom coming up this morning and we'll give you an update on the progress going on there.
Right now, time to check in with Rob Marciano this morning. He is live in Telluride, Colorado, where they are expecting to get dumped on for the second weekend in a row. They must be excited there, Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: They are. Piling up the base here. Snow coming down more furiously now and that will intensify. The problem with this system it stretches all the way back to California where rainfall has been coming into SoCal. We're just getting word now in of a flash flood warning that's in effect for San Bernardino county until 7:00 a.m. Two inches of rain estimated by the Doppler radar falling since midnight and it includes some of the communities that were burned out during the fires last month, including Lake Arrowhead and Crestline and Running Springs. Those areas potential are for mudslides and debris flow because of the tremendous amount of rain that has fallen there since midnight last night. There you see the radar shot showing the rain coming into southern California into northern California. It is a large system that will be slow to march across the Rocky Mountains before it gets into the plains. John and Kiran, back up to you.
ROBERTS: All right. Rob, thanks very much.
It's Friday which means of course it's time to go over some of the best viral video that ended up in our inboxes this week.
CHETRY: Veronica de la Cruz joins us now to show us that. We saw a little bit of a preview of whatever that guy was doing.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN, INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Snow-kiting. John is really good at that.
ROBERTS: Oh, I'm very familiar with that.
DE LA CRUZ: John does every weekend.
CHETRY: He had enough trouble riding his bike in Central Park.
DE LA CRUZ: We're going to go ahead and move on now. You know, those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. One web site in the Bay area like to warn. Richterscale.com has put together their own fancy music video warning of the next dot com bubble. The video first walks you through how to make it big online and ends with the bubble bursting. But it also talks about how trendy technology has become. With the popularity of social networking sites, instant messaging and of course, the ubiquitous blog. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DE LA CRUZ (voice-over): There is a little Billy Joel for you. We didn't start the fire. You guys know. They obviously changed the lyrics a little bit. All right. Let's get you now to this video. Winter sports. Check out this snow-kite video. And he is off.
ROBERTS: Check that out! Oh, my goodness.
DE LA CRUZ: Yes, this guy is snow-kiting right over a busy street while those cars are going by. You notice the cars that they didn't even bothered to hit his brakes. There he goes again.
ROBERTS: Well, how could they, he was already over them.
DE LA CRUZ: Pretty amazing. Just in case you're wondering, snow boarding or snow-kiting rather -
CHETRY: How do you do it?
DE LA CRUZ: It's suicide on a string. I don't know where to start with that one.
ROBERTS: Yes. I mean...
DE LA CRUZ: It's (inaudible) parachute.
ROBERTS: You do it in the water. You kite-board in the water at least you only land on the water but that looks very dangerous.
DE LA CRUZ: All right now. Speaking of never hitting the breaks. This one from Metacafe.com. Check this out. Pretty impressive. A young girl in Korea competing in a (Jeun Ju) Slalom Competition. What she does on a pair of inline skates is pretty impressive. Just check this out. As she goes between all of these cones and never knocking over one. That was just a shoot the duck there. She is going for another round here. There she goes from fancy footwork to (inaudible) The toes of both of her skates, she does a couple of turns there and check this out. She's going to go back down, this time for a backwards shoot the duck. There you go. There's my figure skating expertise finally coming in handy. My mom is totally proud of me right now.
ROBERTS: She's so good.
CHETRY: Wonderful job.
DE LA CRUZ: Pretty good, right. Amazing. And that's what we have in our e-mail inbox this week.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to next Friday.
CHETRY: Thanks, Veronica.
We got a final check of the Quick vote tally when we come back and we're also going to bring you the latest on that overturned SUV in the water as they try to rescue one person out of Los Angeles this morning. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
