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American Morning
Manhunt for Fugitives: Dramatic Escape from New Jersey Jail; Donda West's 911 Tapes Released; Race Heats Up: 16 Days to the Iowa Caucuses
Aired December 18, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: It's Tuesday, December 18th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you, I'm John Roberts. We begin this morning with a massive manhunt in New Jersey after two fugitive inmates made a daring prison break over the weekend.
Police say Jose Espinosa and Otis Blunt stole a page from a popular Hollywood movie to get their getaway. They're accused of concocting an elaborate scheme that involved digging through their cell walls and jumping over a 30-foot high metal fence covered in barbed wire. The brazen duo even left something behind for their guards.
Our Jason Carroll is following this story. He joins us now. This is a page right out of "The Shawshank."
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Definitely one of those interesting ones. It's definitely one of those kind of prison outbreaks that one might see played out on the big screen. But what happened at the Union County Jail in New Jersey is real and has left officials there wondering how two dangerous inmates got the best of them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (voice-over): Jose Espinosa was looking at 17 years for manslaughter. Otis Blunt was facing robbery and weapons charges. Together, they hatched a plan to chip their way out of doing hard time.
TED ROMANKO, UNION COUNTY PROSECUTOR: I'm angry that two prisoners would escape a secure facility and not even know when they did it.
CARROLL: Guards noticed both inmates missing from their high security cells at the Union County Jail at 5:15 p.m. Saturday. They found this metal wire and say they believed Blunt used it as a tool to chip away a hole into Espinosa's adjoining cell. Then, they use it to chisel an 18-inch wide hole from Espinosa's cell to the outside. The holes were concealed with pin-up posters. If their plan sounds a little familiar, that's because that's basically what a character in the critically acclaimed film "The Shawshank Redemption" did to escape. ROMANKO: I really prefer not to compare it with any movie, although I can understand why you might because it does to a certain degree, it does look very similar to some of them. Except I think in "The Shawshank Redemption," they had a better poster on the wall.
CARROLL: In the movie, the character crawls to a sewer pipe to freedom. Blunt and Espinosa took a different path. The hole they created opened up to a third floor landing. And once outside, authorities say they presumably took a running jump 15 feet out, clearing a razor wire fence and landing 30 feet below.
The duo left a note to a guard reading "Thank you officer for the tools needed. You're a real pal. Happy holidays." It was marked with a smiley face.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: They definitely have a sense of humor. No signs of blood out there on the ground outside the cell, but there were footprints each heading in different directions. Blunt, it turns out, had tried to escape in September using the exact same method. Authorities would not elaborate on whether they have any leads as to where these inmates might be.
ROBERTS: It's all very intriguing, but we should remember that they're considered armed and dangerous as well.
CARROLL: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: It's obviously embarrassing for the jail. Are they looking to this idea that they actually had helped, or was the help unintentional?
CARROLL: They are looking into the possibility that they possibly had inside help with this plan. Obviously, they're going to be reviewing their security systems there as well. They're also going to be barring any inmates now from being able to post posters in their cells.
ROBERTS: Wow. Just an incredible story.
CHETRY: Yes, it really is. I can't believe they still allowed that after that high-profile movie and book as well. Trick that they all use.
ROBERTS: Yes. You see it happened. All right. Thanks a lot, Jason.
ROBERTS: Jason, thanks.
CHETRY: We're going to be talking about this a little bit later with Sunny Hostin as well, our legal contributor. What are the types of penalty if you get caught after the fact?
Also, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice making a surprise visit to northern Iraq. New video this morning from her meeting with a civilian military reconstruction unit in Kirkuk. There she is pictured in the middle of the table. Kirkuk is a holy city for Iraq's Kurdish population. Several groups lay claim to the oil-rich city, but U.S. officials say they have seen signs of cooperation there. Secretary Rice will meet with Iraqi leaders later today in Baghdad to stress the need for political reconciliation.
And if Secretary Rice makes that trip, there is new tension in the region. The Kurdish army is sending about 300 soldiers into northern Iraq searching for Kurdish rebels. Two days ago, Turkey's military fired missiles at rebel positions in Iraq. Turkey saying it believes that several thousand PKK fighters are hiding in the region, and the Kurdish government it threatening to launch a full scale military offensive against those separatists.
And in Afghanistan, a Taliban ambush leaves 15 Afghanis dead. They were employees working for an American security contractor. It happened in the Farrah province. This is near Kabul. Nine others were also wounded in the attack. The contractor, U.S. Protections and Investigations, is based out of Houston, Texas. One Afghani official says most of the trucks were burned, but one was taken by the Taliban.
ROBERTS: The markets slip again, and U.S. builders have weak expectations for new home sales in the upcoming months. Our Ali Velshi at the business update desk to explain. Good morning, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. You were away yesterday. I didn't talk about markets once. Can you believe that? But you're here, and you --
ROBERTS: You should have. Every time we talk about them, they go up.
VELSHI: Yes. Well, here we are and unfortunately, we didn't have one of those days. So I'm glad you are back, but markets were off yesterday. Take a look at this.
The Dow lost about 171 points. Second day in a row now for a loss on the Dow, about 1.29 percent. You always want to look at the percentages more than the number drop given where these markets are right now.
A couple of things that led there. First of all, home builders sentiment. That is the opinion of home builders on how things are looking. December sentiment is the lowest since 1985, which is when they started keeping those numbers. The third straight month at a record low, and it has declined for eight straight months this year. So that's not very good. That weighed on markets now.
We're looking at home -- the housing starts a little later on today, but the projection for home sales in 2007 now that we're almost at the end of it, 788,000 new homes. That's down 25 percent from 2006. I should remind you that these are new home sales. New homes have been traditionally about 15 percent of the market. Existing homes or used homes tend to be a bigger part of the market.
Later on today, we're going to housing starts. We're going to get shopping numbers, and we're going to get earnings from Goldman Sachs and Best Buy. Both of those will tell us a little bit about how things are going right now. We'll bring those to you live. I'll see you in about half an hour, John.
ROBERTS: All right. Looking forward to it, Ali. What are the futures looking like for now?
VELSHI: The futures are looking up. Despite all of that, futures are looking up. I think that Goldman Sachs is going to give us some good numbers.
ROBERTS: Oh, back up the hill on the roller coaster. All right. Ali, thanks very much.
VELSHI: Right.
ROBERTS: Kiran?
CHETRY: Two women desperately trying to revive Kanye West's mother. Dramatic 911 tapes of Donda West's final moments were released last night. In the recording, a dispatcher tries to tell her friend how to perform CPR.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CALLER: Because she had a heart attack and she's not breathing and she's not moving and I'm trying do CPR.
911: Ma'am, how old is this person?
CALLER: She's 58 years old.
911: 58?
CALLER: She just had surgery.
911: 58? Now, you're doing CPR?
CALLER: (INAUDIBLE)...
911: Ma'am? Is she not breathing at all?
CALLER: ... Her medication... She complained she couldn't breathe... hands were clammy.
911: Ma'am? She's not breathing?
CALLER: She can't breathe.
911: OK, is she breathing?
CALLER: No, she's not.
911: She's not breathing.
CALLER: She threw up and has black stuff around her mouth, and we're trying to do CPR on her.
911: OK, she's not breathing at all?
CALLER: She's not responding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: CPR did not begin until approximately five minutes into that call. A couple of minutes after that paramedics did arrive, but they were not able to save West. She died one day after undergoing several cosmetic surgery procedures. The coroner has performed an autopsy, and the results are still pending.
Time now to check in with Alina Cho. She's going to look at some of the other stories new this morning. Hi, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Kiran, John. Welcome back. Good morning guys and good morning everybody. Another close call in the skies to tell you about this morning.
The FAA says a military jet came within three miles of a commuter plane. It happened over northern Illinois, and the FAA admits it was the air traffic controller's fault. Officials said the United Express jet was told to go to the wrong altitude, but the planes apparently were never in danger of colliding.
An unbelievable story coming out of Los Angeles this morning. Police say they found an elderly woman's body in a car that was towed to a police impound lot. The 78-year-old woman was in the car when her son who was driving it crashed into an office complex. The body was hidden by an inflated airbag. The County Coroner's Office says the woman died within minutes of impact, but the report did not say whether she could have been saved had paramedics gotten to her earlier.
The standoff over money for the war in Iraq could come to a head today. The House passed a whopping $516 billion budget last night. It would give money to 14 Cabinet agencies and troop operations in Afghanistan, but no new money for Iraq. The president says he will not sign the bill unless Congress approves another $40 billion for the Iraq war.
The Bush administration says it's going to fight to keep White House visitor logs secret. A federal court ruled yesterday the logs are public documents, but the White House calls them privileged information. They are fighting it as the Bush administration fights a lawsuit alleging the White House was influenced by Conservative Christian leaders.
A story that a lot of people will be talking about this morning. A new push this morning for microwave safer popcorn. The nation's leading popcorn makers are actually changing their recipes. Why? They want to remove a chemical linked to a respiratory illness known as popcorn lung. Apparently, that chemical gives microwave popcorn its buttery taste, but it's also been linked to lung problems in popcorn plant workers. The major popcorn companies say they'll change the recipes by next month, but it could take several months for the reformulated popcorn to make it to store shelves.
Well, looks like the shows must go on despite the writers strike. The Writers Guild refused to grant a waiver for its writers to work on the Golden Globes, which will air on January 13th. The writers for now are also forbidden to work for the Academy Awards in February. The guild is trying to block the use of movie clips during the Oscars too.
Meanwhile, Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien will resume their shows on January 2nd, with or without writers. They say the move is being made to save the jobs of non-striking members of their staff. Other late night shows could follow suit.
And finally, a story that you won't want to miss, guys. Feathers were flying on Capitol Hill yesterday. Take a look at this.
A small bird somehow made its way into the Senate TV and radio studio. Reporters aren't normally stunned, but I think they were by this. One man actually held out his hand, as you can see there. The bird actually landed on his finger for a couple of seconds. Yes. There you go.
ROBERTS: Bird whisperer.
CHO: That's right. Well, eventually the bird left the studio and flew off to another part of the Capitol. But apparently, you know, we don't hear about it, but apparently it happens more often than we think because that net was readily available. And unless that guy carries the net around with him normally --
CHETRY: You never know what he is trying to catch.
CHO: Birds tend to fly in the Capitol.
CHETRY: Alina, thank you.
CHO: You bet.
CHETRY: Well, dark and very cold just days after an ice storm hit Oklahoma. The power company says that close to 100,000 homes and businesses are still out, more than a week after that extreme storm, that deadly storm, in fact, hit. The state of Florida's electric utility had set up temporary walk-up stations for customers to report power failures. Hundreds of people found a hot meal and a warm place to sleep at shelters over the weekend. That's when temperatures dipped into the teens.
Rob Marciano tracking extreme weather here in the studio for us here in New York. It was the ice that was so devastating, but it's unbelievable that a week and a half later they still have so many thousands without power there.
ROB MARCIANO, METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you know, we saw a similar situation last year in Missouri and Illinois and well, this happening again a little bit farther south and west. The good news this morning is that we are seeing temperatures that are above freezing, and with temperatures in the lower to mid 40s from Oklahoma City down to Dallas, Texas, we can expect the temperatures to rise into the mid 50s before the day is done.
The northeast today, you're at five degrees right now in Albany, thanks, in part, to some of that snow pack. This does not include the wind chill. In some spots, the wind chill is well below freezing. So we go from the cold air to the cold down south. Twenty-eight degrees right now in Atlanta, Georgia.
Where are the storms going to be this week? The pacific northwest into California, they're going to get hammered with a number of storms. One coming in right now with heavy rain into parts of San Francisco. Just north of the Bay area, there are urban flood advisories out. And into the mountains, winter storm warnings are posted until at least 1:00 p.m., and winter storm watches for the next storm to come in. We could see one to two feet especially above 7,000 feet.
So here's your range from northern California. All of this into Eugene, Salem, and Portland. Seeing rainfall there. Of course, the ground still saturated from the storms that they saw a couple of weeks ago, and a wind maker and a rainmaker coming in tonight. So two or three storms now this week.
Some of the situation is what we saw with the bad storms coming in last week, John and Kiran, but it looks like it shouldn't be quite as bad. I don't think we're going to see 120-mile-an-hour winds with this system, which would be a good thing for sure.
ROBERTS: Yes. Let's hope. That caused an awful lot of damage last week. Rob, thanks. We'll get back to you soon.
MARCIANO: All right.
ROBERTS: In fact, very soon because look, up in the sky. A cloud that made it look like the heavens were about to open up. Take a look at that. Rob will be back in just a little while to explain the weird science behind that formation.
And 16 days and counting now until the Iowa caucuses. Both the Democrats and Republicans are kicking off their push into the homestretch. Some are showing emotion. Some are bringing out the celebrity big guns. We're live on the campaign trail next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Some of the best shots of the morning in our "Quick Hits" now. Playing defense. Japan has become the first U.S. ally to pull off a successful missile intercept at sea. Japan saying it shot down a ballistic missile in space high above the Pacific Ocean. It was part of joint efforts with the United States to build a missile defense shield against any possible attack. And stepping outside happening right now. Two astronauts inspecting joints on the international space station. Today's spacewalk will mark the fourth for the expedition. Sixteen crew and the 100th dedicated to space station construction.
And more than two million Muslim pilgrims praying on the Mountain of Mercy. It's near Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It's the site of the prophet Mohammed's last sermon 14 centuries ago. It's a ritual that marks the climax of the annual Hajj or Muslim pilgrimage, which is one of the five basic obligations of Islamic faith.
ROBERTS: To politics now. With 16 days to the Iowa caucuses, the race for the White House is heating up this morning. The celebrity big guns are coming out.
Hillary Clinton is getting emotional, and both Barack Obama and Fred Thompson are literally revving their engines. We've got all the angles covered. Our Suzanne Malveaux is in Des Moines with the Democrats this morning, and Dana Bash in Manchester, Iowa, not New Hampshire with the Republicans.
Let's start with Suzanne. And Suzanne, yesterday, we saw a new soft focus on Hillary. I guess the campaign would call it the Hillary I know. What's this all about? Is this an indication that the attack Hillary just wasn't working?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, John, it's all about the tone right now because for weeks these candidates have been giving their message to the Iowans. They have been talking about health care. They've been fine tuning all the policy positions. People know all about what they believe here. But really what they are doing is they're addressing the one vulnerability that keeps coming up on those polls for Hillary Clinton, and that, of course, is likability.
So that's why you are seeing these ads with her mother, with her daughter, Chelsea. That's why she's emphasizing her work with vulnerable children, and it's also, John, why you see her demeanor changing slightly as well. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Here in Iowa, I want you to have some flavor of who I am, you know, outside of the television cameras when all the cameras and the lights disappear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So, John, we'll have to see whether or not that has actually going to work for her. Her opponents, Senator John Edwards, is really emphasizing that he is the fighter. He talks about how Americans need a president with guts and that he is born to do the job.
Senator Barack Obama striking a different type of tone. He is trying to portrait himself as very confident as he is the one who is electable. You may recall that one of his New Year's resolutions was the fact that he was trying not to be so timid -- John.
ROBERTS: Yes. In 2004, Edwards suddenly surged in the last two weeks of the campaign. Briefly, Suzanne, do you think he can do it again, or was 2004 the time when lightning struck?
MALVEAUX: Well, I don't want to place any bets on striking -- the lightning strike here, but he's very, very strong in the polls, and just covering him, even talking to him, there's a real sense here that he is discussing and addressing what Iowans want to hear, and that is about health care. That is about education. It's those domestic issues. It really seems to resonate.
ROBERTS: All right. We'll see if he can do it again. Suzanne Malveaux for us in Des Moines, thanks.
Let's go now to Manchester Iowa. Again, we stress, it's Iowa not New Hampshire. Dana Bash is there. Fred Thompson, he's trying to get back in the game. He's on a bus tour of Iowa that we see his bus behind him. Can he do it?
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, if this was a movie, this would -- especially for "Monty Python" fans, John, this would be called perhaps, the I'm not dead yet tour. This is something that Fred Thompson, for many people who supported him just a few months ago when he got him in late, that they wanted him to do. He's going to take this bus for the next 15 days, which is essentially now until the Iowa caucuses hit 50 cities, have five stops a day.
And what he is saying, what his campaign is saying is that they really think it isn't too late for him to try to catch fire in the state of Iowa. There are a lot of skeptics about that, as you can imagine, but here is what his goal is, John.
His goal is to appeal to some conservatives who don't like Mike Huckabee, for example, on fiscal issues like taxes or immigration, and his goal is to appeal to conservatives who don't like Mitt Romney on social issues. What his theme is now and has been all along is that he is the real conservative in the race. Again, really unclear if he's going to be successful here.
But I can tell you just in listening to him in his first stop last night and talking to some undecided voters there, it really is remarkable. We are very close. And we've been talking about this for a long time but there are a lot of Republicans who still have not made up their mind, and they are giving Fred Thompson a second look. We'll see if this has any effect as he is still a distant third in the polls here.
ROBERTS: Of course, Mitt Romney is still trying to attack Mike Huckabee, cut some of his momentum. Huckabee has sort of answered all this with a new ad talking about Christmas. He is one of these candidates not afraid to talk about Christmas. Let's take a quick look at that ad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MIKE HUCKABEE CAMPAIGN AD) MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's that worn out of all the television commercials you have been seeing? Mostly about politics. I don't blame you. At this time of year, sometimes it's nice to pull aside from all of that and just remember that what really matters is the celebration of the birth of Christ.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So what everybody is talking about today, Dana, is that slow move across the window when you see the divided lights in that window, is that meant to represent a cross?
BASH: Absolutely. I mean, there's no question about it. You know, that ad is interesting for two reasons, John. First of all, the fact that Mike Huckabee is sort of his closing argument, if you will, isn't something talking about his position, isn't talking about his opponents' position. He is trying to say I get it. This is a tough time of year to talk about politics. Go enjoy yourself.
But the other thing he is trying to say in a not so subtle way is to remind people that he is a man of faith, and he is tying that into, of course, the Christmas theme. Interesting, though, the opposition to that, Mitt Romney has an ad that is going against him in a very, very tough way on a classic issue. That is crime. Attacking him on his crime record, and Mike Huckabee did hit back on that yesterday saying...
ROBERTS: Well --
BASH: ... you know what, I am very tough on crime, and so he's really hitting back on the stump. Not necessarily on the air.
ROBERTS: Well, you know, Huckabee's real appeal to evangelicals there in the state of Iowa and that Christmas ad certainly hitting home for them. Dana Bash for us this morning in Manchester, Iowa, in front of the Fred Thompson bus. Dana, thanks very much -- Kiran.
CHETRY: What the heck is this? Let's take a look. It's a wild cloud. It has people looking up and asking questions. Rob Marciano is going to give us some answers coming up.
Also, a very unusual rock what one woman claims to see. We'll show you next on AMERICAN Morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: A crazy cloud over Mississippi. It's your Tuesday "hot Shot" now. Check it out.
It looks kind of like a funnel and almost like a black hole. It looks like it's sucking up other clouds around it. I-reporter Brian Moore snapped it with his cell phone from Kessler Air Force Base in Biloxi and was hoping that our weather experts could weigh in and tell him exactly what it was. So our weather expert --
CHETRY: All we could find was Rob. MARCIANO: Yes. The best little fluff there you could find -- what the fluff? It's a little suspect.
ROBERTS: So Rob is really inspecting. Rob is here this morning to try to explain what's going on with this cloud.
MARCIANO: It's a pretty rare thing.
ROBERTS: She's looking for a serious answer.
MARCIANO: OK, fine. It's called a hole punch cloud, and to best explain it really is that clouds have -- these high clouds have a combination of ice crystals what we call super cooled water drops. Water drops actually exist below freezing, well below freezing and whenever there's a trigger, something kind of disturbed the cloud, those ice crystals can grow at the expense of those super cool water drops.
So basically if you get a plane flying through there, which looks like that's what happened. A plane kind of punched that cloud deck, caused a disturbance, and that set off this chain reaction where the ice crystals begin to grow at the expense of those water droplets, and they kind of fall out of the cloud in a circular way. So --
ROBERTS: It just really does punch a hole in the cloud.
MARCIANO: I'm looking for some other NASA pics to see what it looks from above and maybe later in the show --
CHETRY: How long does it last once it happens?
MARCIANO: You know, that's a good question. Probably, you know, for a couple of hours. Just like a --
CHETRY: Pretty neat. Pretty neat. OK, cool. So something interesting over the skies. For Kessler, thanks for sending that in, Brian. If you have a "Hot Shot," by the way, send it to us. The address amhotshots@CNN.com. Be sure to include your name, where you're from, a little bit about the picture and video or have a weather guy on hand to explain a little bit about the video or picture like we just did, and please make sure the image is yours.
Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: Thank you.
CHETRY: What about this one? What do you see when you look at this? This is now the image of Jesus found on a rock. However, this rock has a split personality because Ray Oliver says that on one side it resembles Jesus, but on the other, we just saw it for a second, it's George Washington.
The Arizona woman found it last week while walking along the Santa Cruz River. She says she's keeping it on her mantle, but you know, there's always a chance she could sell it on eBay, like the grilled cheese before. ROBERTS: You can sell anything on eBay.
CHETRY: Well, still ahead. It's not so sweet news for soda lovers. Why the mayor of one of the nation's largest city is now targeting soda and why it may cost you more to drink it. We'll explain.
Also, a little girl in hot water for something that she used for her lunch. She's now suspended and possibly facing felony charges. Did the school go too far? We're going to take a look at that story and also today's headlines when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Live pictures from the International Space Station this morning. This is a milestone. It's the 100th space walk. They're out there checking into a mechanism that's gone a little bit funny. Hobbling power generation this morning. This is the fourth expedition for the current crew and probably many more to come as well. It's like owning the house. You got to get outside, you got an issue that the shingles are all buckled down and make sure the paint is good, you know.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And we take it for granted. It's just amazing that we're able to get these live pictures as they are up in space this morning. What a pretty shot.
ROBERTS: Cool stuff. It's Tuesday, December the 18th. Thanks for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. I'm John Roberts.
CHETRY: I'm Kiran Chetry. We're also following this case out of New Jersey. A fascinating case of a prison break. How two prisoners were able to use some pretty old -- old methods to sneak out. Literally digging their way out. Our Sunny Hostin, our legal analyst is going to be here to talk about that.
But also new this morning, a surprise visit to Iraq by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. New video now of her in a meeting. This is with the joint Civilian Military Reconstruction Unit in Kirkuk. It's in northern Iraq. The U.S. considers the city vital to Iraq's future, but it's also a flash point for fighting. It's populated by every religion and with several groups trying to wrestle control of its oil hub; it has made for some contention. But officials say that there are now breakthroughs in cooperation. Secretary Rice will also meet with Iraqi leadership in Baghdad.
ROBERTS: The Federal Reserve Board meets again today, but interest rates are not on the agenda. Instead the fed will announce plans to protect consumers taking on subprime mortgages. The new proposed rules would restrict lenders from penalizing subprime borrowers who payoff their loans early. New figures indicate that the government is some $45 trillion -- is promising some $45 trillion more than it can deliver on Social Security, Medicare, and other benefit programs.
The Bush administration's financial report for 2007 says the gap between benefits that have been promised in projected revenues is up more than 67 percent from just four years ago. To hear the head of the government accountability office tell it quote, "The administration has made a lot of promises in the long-term that it just cannot possibly keep."
The battle over your privacy and security will spill over into the New Year. The Senate has delayed action on a new government Eavesdropping Bill. Senate majority leader Harry Reid said there is not enough time left to go through more than a dozen amendments before the holidays. The bill would replace a temporary terrorist surveillance law Congress passed in August, which expanded the government's authority to listen in on private conversations without court approval. We'll talk more about this with Senator Arlen Specter coming up in our next hour of AMERICAN MORNING.
And failure to get anything done is one reason why Congress just hit a new low in its approval rating. In the new USA Today-Gallup Poll, only 26 percent of Americans say they approve of Republicans in Congress. A whopping 68 percent disapprove. Democrats didn't do much better. 30 percent approve of the job that they're doing. 64 percent disapprove.
Kiran?
CHETRY: In the Omaha, Nebraska department store where a gunman killed eight people less than two weeks ago is going to be reopening this week. Reopening its stores on Thursday. The Von Maur Store at the Westroads Mall will hold a brief ceremony in honor of those who died before it reopens. On December 5th, Robert Hawkins killed six store employees and two shoppers inside the store before committing suicide.
Well, a Florida girl just 10 years old is arrested for bringing a steak knife to school to cut her lunch. Teachers saw her cutting the meat, and they called police. Deputies did not handcuff her, but they did take her to a juvenile center. School officials say that although the girl did nothing wrong, they had no choice. She's now facing a felony charge and even though they said she did nothing wrong, the principal actually suspended her for ten days. It's assured to raise some legal eyebrows.
ROBERTS: I would imagine so. Hey, we got some other legal issues we want to tackle this morning. A statewide manhunt underway in New Jersey after two prisoners made a Hollywood style escape from jail. Police say Jose Espinosa and Otis Blunt dug through their cell walls and use posters of bikini clad women to hide the holes just like the movie the "The Shaw Shank Redemption". They got into the prison yard and jumped a razor wire fence after they got out. There's an $8,000 reward posted now for the capture. If they're caught though, what will breaking out mean for their sentences? And what does it say about prison security in general?
AMERICAN MORNING legal contributor Sunny Hostin is joining us now with today's legal brief. We got to remember, that it's intriguing as this whole thing is. These guys are considered armed and dangerous. They were serving sentences. What will this mean once they're caught again because I don't imagine unless they manage to escape the country that they'll stay out for long.
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, it means that once they get caught and typically the statistics are they will be caught, they're going to serve much more time. Escape, bail jumping, that sort of thing is a crime in and of itself, and, of course, we take it very seriously. Law enforcement officers take it very seriously. So my guess is, you know, some cases they're looking at ten years. They're looking at 25 years. And these are dangerous men. I think that the wonderful thing is that we are showing their pictures and I hope that the audience is looking out for them. That's the important thing. That's the operative thing.
We've got to catch them, but it is scary because we know that one of them had already tried to do this before, and so, you know, the question now has come up. What's going on in the prison system because since we had advanced notice that this guy was really interested in doing this and now he succeeded and he has done it again, and we've got two escaped felons on the loose?
ROBERTS: And what does it say about prison security, the fact that he had an outside cell and he was just one cinder block away from getting to the outside? He managed to somehow through the prison, get the tools necessary to be able to get the concrete out of -- from around that cinder block and remove it.
HOSTIN: Well, you know, prison is not a nice place. As a prosecutor, I visited people in prison and it isn't a nice place, and people want to get out. And so, you are talking about folks that commit crimes, wanting to get out, and the human spirit is what it is. And people try to get out. So, I'm not surprised. This isn't uncommon that folks try to get out, but I'm not surprised that they were able to. Our prisons do the best that we can. They're overcrowded. Prison officials do the best that they can, but it's something that, obviously, is broken and needs to be fixed at this particular prison and in prisons around the country.
ROBERTS: Pretty clear, in this case, they needed to be better.
HOSTIN: Yes. I think so.
ROBERTS: Sunny Hostin for us this morning. Sunny, thanks.
HOSTIN: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Kiran?
CHETRY: San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom proposing a tax on drinks containing high fructose corn syrup. His idea is to charge business box stores a fee when they sell sweet sugar soda. The mayor says the syrup is putting a strain on the city's health care system. San Francisco Health Department survey found that nearly one-quarter of the city's fifth, seventh, and ninth graders are overweight. The survey also showed that high sugar drinks made up one-tenth of their daily calorie count.
Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to be joining us in the next hour for a reality check on that proposal, and it brings us to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. Should there be a tax on sugary drinks? Cast your vote, cnn.com/am. I guess, the larger question is, should cities, states, individual municipalities regulate the things that we eat and drink? We're going to have the first tally of votes coming up a little bit later in the hour.
Also, the Golden Globes will have to go on, but without the writers. The union refusing to grant striking workers a waiver. We're going to tell you what that means for the Oscars and for the negotiations coming up.
Plus, shark attack. A surfer's close call at sea and the race to save his life. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: 41 minutes after the hour and this just in to AMERICAN MORNING. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is now in Baghdad. She arrived in Iraq in a surprise visit this morning. This is video taken from just a short time ago of her meeting in Kirkuk. We don't have the video, though. With members of a joint civilian military reconstruction group. She's in Baghdad for talks. The White House is concerned, of course, that while there has been a significant drop in violence, there is still little progress toward reconciliation in Iraq.
ROBERTS: Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, its 41 minutes past the hour, we have Rob Marciano with us giving us a look in the weather in person today. Good to see you. It's cold. A little below average.
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CHETRY: A 31-year-old surfer is recovering this morning from a shark attack off of the Australian Coast North of Sydney. Medics say the shark bit him on the buttocks slicing him open. The injuries though are not life-threatening. He was airlifted to a hospital. It's not clear what kind of shark bit him.
Squaring off over the war in Iraq tops today's "Political Ticker". The House passed the $516 billion budget that has no money in it for Iraq. Today the Senate debates whether to demand troop withdrawals as a condition of paying for the war.
President Bush will sign the budget bill only if he gets war funding with no strings attached.
John Edwards' latest campaign ad plays more like a movie trailer. The ad opens with a message that says the following preview has been rated CG for caucus going audiences. Then over the sweeping musical score, the solemn voice says that in our most desperate hour one man could clean up George Bush's mess. And it closes with the coming attraction type of message, dated January 3rd, the same day of the Iowa caucuses. The Mitt Romney campaign is mailing it in when it comes to attacking rival Mike Huckabee. The Romney campaign in South Carolina has sent out a direct mail attack on the surging Huckabee. He calls the former Arkansas governor a quote "Tax and spend governor." It accuses him of supporting amnesty and special benefits for illegal immigrants.
Rudy Giuliani's campaign is pulling nearly half of its television campaign spots from the pricey Boston ad market. The market is a key avenue for reaching voters in the early primary state of New Hampshire. Giuliani campaign says it wants to make sure that it has enough money and reserve for future contests.
And you can find all of the day's political news around the clock at cnn.com/ticker.
CHETRY: All right. Well, you're "Quick Hits" now. And today the Federal Communications Commission is expected to relax its rules and to allow television broadcasters in the nation's 20 largest media markets to also own a newspaper. And that would ease a 32-year-old rule. There are some objections, though, from consumer groups and from some senators who are threatening to revoke the action.
Paying it forward. A North Dakota bank offers its full-time employees $1,000 each, but there is a catch. The workers have to use the money to help someone in need. The bank has asked them to use a video camera to document their good deeds.
Also, a few of your favorite TV shows are coming back. We're going to tell you who will be doing these new shows even without the striking writers, but will they look the same? Especially, late night comedy. We're going to take a look at that coming up.
And our founding fathers (INAUDIBLE). It's the 800-year-old Magna Carta, but now it's for sale? You can own it. It's going to take a whole lot of Ben Franklins, though. We're going to have details about this auction coming up ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: 49 minutes after the hour now and if you're just joining us, here's a look at what's making headline this morning. Two inmates are still at large after their daring escape from a New Jersey jail over the weekend. Police say Jose Espinosa and Otis Blunt concocted an elaborate scheme and involved digging through their cell walls and then jump in 32 foot barbwire fence to freedom. There's an $8,000 reward posted for their capture.
Another close call in the skies to tell you about today. The FAA says a military jet came within three miles of a commuter plane that took off from O'Hare Airport in Chicago. It happened over Northern Illinois, and the FAA admits it was the air traffic controller's fault. Officials say the United Express Jet was told to go to the wrong altitude, but the planes were never in danger of colliding.
A fresh warning about pulling you U.S. troops out of Iraq too quickly. A top U.S. commander in Iraq says it would spell failure in some parts of Baghdad, and people should not confuse recent reports about violence declining in the country. He says criminal networks remain very potent threats. The U.S. troops still have a lot of work to do.
Raising speculation about Fidel Castro's political future. In a letter read Monday on Cuban television, Castro said he doesn't want to quote "Obstruct the rise of younger people by clinging to power." The 81-year-old dictator has not been seen live in public since undergoing intestinal surgery 16 months ago. Raul Castro has been serving as interim leader since July of 2006.
England's Queen Elizabeth is a new grandmother this morning. Her youngest son, Prince Edward and his wife just had a little boy. The baby still hasn't been named. This is Queen Elizabeth's eighth grandchild. Congratulations to the family.
CHETRY: Absolutely. A new addition. How about that?
Well, the Golden Globe and Academy Awards shows will have to go on without the striking writers. Also, a couple of late night talk shows plan to do that as well. Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien will return to the air without their writers if the deal is not reached by then. But more on the latest news in the writers strike, we bring in our Lola Ogunnaike and boy, I'm trying to picture, how the Golden Globe. They did try to see if they could get a waiver, and the Writers Guild said no. How are the Golden Globes and the Oscars going to look, and how different are they're going to be without the writers?
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's safe to say that they're going to look wildly different. The Writers Guild has also said that they don't want them to use movie clips, so if you don't have movie clips and you don't have writers and you have a handful of actors saying that they're not going to cross the picket line, you don't have much of a show. And you know, I guess they would want to try and cancel it, but they can't because they've already sold all the advertising time, so the show has to go on. They've got to figure out a way to make TV out of this, but they don't have a lot to work with, Kiran.
CHETRY: The one bright side is that everyone complains the show is too long. It will be real short this year. Here's your award. Here are the nominees. Here's the award. See you later.
OGUNNAIKE: Exactly.
CHETRY: You know, the other thing, too, is that actually some of the late night shows, The Letterman in particular, taking it upon himself because he does own a production company, to try to work out an agreement so that he can get back on the air and get these shows going.
OGUNNAIKE: And this is essentially what the Writers Guild is hoping will happen more often. They're saying, look, we've tried to deal with the board that represents the studio executives, and the producers, and it's not working. We've not been able to come to an agreement. It's been seven weeks. They've been negotiating since July. So, essentially they want to cut out the middle man and just go straight to these production companies and go straight to these studio executives and try to work out individual deals.
CHETRY: (INAUDIBLE) because he has the company, but what about his competition? What about Leno and what about Conan?
OGUNNAIKE: Well, it works for Letterman and it also works for him because he can bring back his writers, but for Leno and Conan, they are not allowed to use their writers. So their shows, like the awards shows, they're going to look drastically different. They're not going to be able to have monologues. They're not going to be able to have sketches because they have no writers. So, essentially what they're going to have to do is a either, just riff off the top of their head or do a lot of celebrity interviews and a lot of musical acts on their shows. Letterman's show, if the Guild does allow him to come back with his full staff of writers, will look exactly the same, and so he is going to have the advantage.
CHETRY: And he will get a ratings win over Leno, which he has wanted for years, right?
OGUNNAIKE: Finally.
CHETRY: That's very interesting. It's also interesting to note that both Leno and Conan are saying, look, it not just about the writers. It's all of these other workers that are out of jobs at this time of the year. And we have an obligation for them as well. Because it's a hairy situation in terms of how it looks, public perception.
OGUNNAIKE: It's true. They're in a precarious position here. They've got the writers to be concerned about. There are also writers and producers but they've also got staffs. Conan has a staff of 80 that he has to worry about. Leno has a staff of a hundred that he has to worry about. So, it's just not the writers that they have to think about.
CHETRY: All right. Lola Ogunnaike thanks. Hey, it might be interesting to watch the Oscars and see the heck it looks like without all the bells and whistles.
OGUNNAIKE: Thank you, Kiran.
ROBERTS: A British model gets a new ear using a part of her rib cage. We're paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta to explain this unique surgery coming up. And dramatic 911 tape revealing the frantic attempts to save the life of rapper Kanye West's mother. We'll have them for you ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: It is considered the grandfather of the American constitution. That's how old it is. Today, Sotheby's will auction off the Magna Carta. It's one of the 17 remaining manuscripts of the 800-year-old British document. If you have been to the National Archives in D.C., you may have seen it. It's owned by former presidential candidate Ross Perot who bought it back in 1984. It is expected to go for $30 million with proceeds benefiting injured U.S. troops. What's next? The Declaration of Independence.
CHETRY: I didn't know those were for sale.
ROBERTS: I didn't think so either.
CHETRY: Or you thought it would stay within the family. Look like a museum is buying it and keeping on this place so people could see it.
ROBERTS: They won't be selling The Declaration.
CHETRY: Constitution, not for sale.
Meanwhile, about three minutes...
ROBERTS: Some people watching tonight.
CHETRY: Yes, right. The campaign ad right there. Two minutes before the top of the hour now. Ali Velshi, "Minding Your Business" this morning, and all eyes are going to be on the fed for a different reason today.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, we're looking at the Fed because it's coming out with rules about mortgages. The ways to protect the average consumer from, you know, loose lending practices. Now, when we're talking a little about this yesterday, what they're going to do is come in with practices that prevent things like loose mortgages to people with no income verification. They're going to prevent penalties for people who want to prepay their mortgage because that becomes difficult. They're going to make sure people with mortgages actually know that they've got to put money aside for their taxes and for their insurance.
While that seems typical to most people, believe it or not, for a lot of subprime borrowers that's just not taken into account. So, people have a struggle in making their mortgage payments. And we don't actually have -- they don't have the money for it, so the sense that they'll set up an account and put the money aside for that. That's going to be announced today by the Federal Reserve in an effort to try and contain this growing crisis. It's probably not going to help a lot of people who are already in trouble, but the idea is that these moves that they put into place today will, you know, come into effect in 2008 and you won't get a whole new string of people taking what we call these exotic mortgages and getting into trouble with them. So, we'll keep a close eye on that.
ROBERTS: As you said, a lot of that stuff just seems basic.
VELSHI: It's very basic and it's some basic rules to say let's protect people who are taking mortgages so they understand what they're getting into.
ROBERTS: All right. Ali, thanks. See you in about half an hour. New taste in microwave popcorn. Buttery tasting additive is being removed from the most popular popcorn brands. We'll tell you, why? And a unique new surgery could help hundreds of children. We'll tell you about the procedure that gave a model an ear. Coming up. The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
CHETRY: On the run.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These people are considered dangerous.
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CHETRY: Two convicted criminals who pulled off a daring escape Shaw Shank style. Today, the thank you note left for one guard.
New 911 tapes from the night Kanye West's mom died.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She had a heart attack and she's not breathing and she's not moving and I'm trying to do CPR.
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CHETRY: The emotional struggle to keep her alive in the mystery that still surrounds her death.
Buyer beware. Some everyday products post a cancer.
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