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American Morning
Uphill Battle for Hillary Clinton; Flu Vaccines Not Just for Kids Anymore; Search for Gunman who Opened Fire into Crowd; Number of New Homes Sales at 13-year Low
Aired February 28, 2008 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Bus stop barrage. The search right now for a gunman who open fire into a crowd.
He's out. Bad news if you like Mike in '08. Now, the battle for Bloomberg's vote.
Hunger pain. The shrinking dollar and your growing grocery tab, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And welcome. Glad you're with us this morning. Boy, John, I was saying, you know, a lot of people feeling the pinch of rising gas prices, rising grocery bills. I got my first as a new homeowner, oil bill in the mail and, ouch. That one hurt.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: It's like your pocket or your pocketbook has got a huge hole in it no matter how much money you put in the front end, it keeps coming out the back end. Any relief in sight? And any would be welcome, for sure.
Hey, to politics now. He was never really in, but now he's really out. New York mayor and self-made billionaire, Michael Bloomberg, has announced that he will not make an independent run for the presidency. Bloomberg put it in writing in this morning's "New York Times." And laid out what the candidates need to do to garner his support.
Our John Dickerson is CNN's political analyst, chief political correspondent for slate.com. He joins us this morning.
So why do you think Bloomberg choose now to get out and why do you think he got out, even though he never really got in?
JOHN DICKERSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, he had to make some decisions about getting on the ballot. And also, he basically -- the candidates, John McCain is a candidate sort of above the middle, although of course he's been trying to woo the right. And Barack Obama, who looks like he might get the Democratic nomination, is a candidate who talks about the same kind of things Mike Bloomberg talked about. So there wasn't room there for Bloomberg candidacy.
ROBERTS: Who do you think he might throw his support behind?
DICKERSON: Oh, I think, you know, he'll be a kingmaker for a while. A little kibitz. Help to push the candidates. I think he can run this out for a while before he has to pick one candidate and, you know, it will be great. It will be the candidate that actually...
ROBERTS: Will he have a substantial amount of clout?
DICKERSON: Well, he'll have. Not the clout that he had when he was kind of thinking about running. He's in a big major medium market in New York and he had a lot of money he could put in ads in turn to change the state of the race. But he'll still have some clout as a kibitzer.
ROBERTS: All right. Another big development yesterday. Congressman John Lewis from Georgia, who is a firm supporter, longtime friend, very close to Hillary Clinton switched his support to Barack Obama. Listen to what he said about it yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN LEWIS (D), GEORGIA: This has been hard. This has been difficult. There comes a time when you have to make a decision. As a super delegate to the Democratic convention next summer, I will be casting my vote for Barack Obama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: How difficult is this for Hillary Clinton? And could he be the crack in the dam of a coming flood of members of the Congressional Black Caucus to decide a switch?
DICKERSON: The real crack of the damn is going to be next Tuesday. How she does in those primaries. But this is significant for two reasons. He said things like I want to be on the right side of history. I want to be where the people are. And these are big blows in this question of who's going to lead the Democratic Party.
And it's also a big deal if it turns out to be a fight over super delegates as the math suggested it might be if Hillary survives next Tuesday. Because he's one of them and he says, basically, we've got to go with history and that means Barack Obama.
ROBERTS: Now on the campaign trail, it looks like John McCain and Barack Obama have elbowed Hillary aside. They're going after each other, one on one. Listen to what they said yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have some news. Al Qaeda is in Iraq. Al Qaeda, it's called al Qaeda in Iraq.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have some news for John McCain. And that is that there was no such thing as al Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: They're going after each other like it's the general election already, but Hillary is still in the race. DICKERSON: That's right. Well, Barack Obama would love it to be the general election already. So he'll engage in this fight. It shows he's up to the task. Of course, one of the remaining questions for his candidacy is what Hillary Clinton is trying to raise is whether he can take on John McCain. And John McCain is trying to get his licks in while Obama is still somewhat distracted by Hillary Clinton. So, you know, it's almost like they cooked up this little fight at the bar before.
ROBERTS: It's all about electability as well for a lot of people too. So, maybe he believes that makes him more electable. John Dickerson, good to see you as always. Thanks.
DICKERSON: Thanks, John.
ROBERTS: Kiran?
CHETRY: All right. Well, thanks a lot, John.
Well, Veronica de la Cruz joins us now with more stories making news this morning.
Hey, Veronica.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kiran. Hello, Rob. And good morning to all of you. We begin with some news from the White House. President Bush will hold a news conference two hours from now. He plans to talk about funding for Iraq, the Terrorist Surveillance Bill, and helping homeowners avoid foreclosure. CNN will bring it to you live. It begins at 10:05 Eastern.
A small plane crashes in a residential neighborhood in Riverside, California, killing all three onboard. Witnesses say the plane had trouble shortly after taking off from Riverside Municipal Airport. The plane landed on a car, then burst into flames. No one on the ground was hurt.
Anti-terror raid is conducted today in Sweden and Norway. Police say six suspects, all Swedish citizens were arrested. The raids were part of a joint operation between both countries. The six are accused of organizing terrorist activities and financing terror organizations abroad.
Well, you know, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is heading to the Middle East next week for what the State Department is calling part of the follow-up to the Annapolis process. She will try to push along peace talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Rice also called for an end to Palestinian rocket attacks against Israel.
And despite a record drop in prices, sales of new homes come to a new low in January. It is the third decline in as many months. And a new search in your low, the Commerce Department reports the average price of a new home, now $216,000. That's down 15 percent from a year ago. Our Gerri Willis has some advice whether you're buying or trying to sell. That's coming up in the next few minutes. And unfortunately, Kiran, that is advice that a lot of people need right now.
CHETRY: It is. All right. Thanks, Veronica.
DE LA CRUZ: Of course.
CHETRY: Well, we've also following this story out of Los Angeles this morning. Police still on a manhunt right now for a gunman who fired several rounds into a crowd at a bus stop. It happened just as the children were getting out of school for the day yesterday, around 3:15 local time. Five of the eight people hurt are kids.
Kim Rouggie from our affiliate KTLA joins us from the scene right now with a look at what's going on.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eleven-year-olds, 12-year-olds, 14-year-olds who were shot, who are very apparently just randomly shot by a suspect who's got a target very possibly. And it's a terrible thing.
KIM ROUGGIE, KTLA REPORTER: The crime scene is on Vernon and Central, right near Wadsworth Avenue and Carver Middle School. Students had just let out for the day at 3:15, right when the shooting happened.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: (INAUDIBLE) in the busses and on the same side, the car passed by and started shooting on the other side.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: The girls screaming and shouting for help and everything.
ROUGGIE: Police later determined the suspect was on foot. Teachers immediately rushed as many kids as they could back into the schools, which were on lockdown for several hours while police searched for the gunmen. Officers believe the man ran away down an alley but wanted to make sure he wasn't on campus. Parents waited anxiously to see their kids.
UNIDENTIFIED PARENT: They should let us know something more. They're not letting us know anything. Just, you know, stay behind the tape and that's it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: That was Kim Rouggie of our affiliate KTLA reporting. Again, as we said, there are still four people in the hospital including three children who were seriously hurt in that shooting.
John?
ROBERTS: Kiran, flu vaccines aren't just for little kids anymore. A panel of CDC advisers says nearly all kids under the age of 18 should get the flu shot.
Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, joins us now.
Why the change?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it's been increasing over the years. If you look at the vaccine recommendations, currently, they are up to about five years, but they're going to increase to 18 years. For one reason mainly, they say that kids are great spreaders of the flu. They go to school and as a result, a lot of them spread it back and forth. And this becomes a very vulnerable population.
Now the current recommendation as of now, are going to be 6 months to 18 years old. The previous recommendation, some of it still stands 6 months to 5 years old. But also people who are chronically ill, for example, have some sort of illness that might make them more likely to suffer, you know, particular consequences.
ROBERTS: So parents are being told that all children should get the flu shot and there's a graphic there telling people who should get it. But is it good for everybody? We're hearing some reports that even this year's flu vaccine doesn't cover enough strains to really, truly be effective?
GUPTA: Yes. It's kind of hard for me this year to be out there, really counting the benefits of the flu shot. Because as we've reported on your show, about 40 percent effective this year. And you know, it's interesting, John. If you look at the way the flu vaccine was made, a lot of it is just making some guesses.
Last year, they had to make some guesses and try and guess what strains are going to be the most problematic this year. They got a couple of them. They missed on one of them, which is why it's only about 40 percent effective. Typically, it's about 70 percent to 90 percent effective.
ROBERTS: So out of this huge group of people now that the CDC is recommending to get the flu vaccine, are there any children who should not get it?
GUPTA: Yes. You know, it's interesting. First of all, under the age of 6 months -- you know, what the flu vaccine is designed to do is stimulate your own body's antibodies and immune system to react. Under the age of six months, your immune system isn't quite developed enough to handle that as far as the flu shot goes.
If you're allergic to eggs -- yes, because the flu vaccine, as you know, old-fashioned but still to this day, as the way they do it, they make it using eggs. So if you're allergic to eggs or if you got some sort of bad reaction in the past, you shouldn't be getting the flu shot.
ROBERTS: All right. Good tips as always. Sanjay, you'll be back in just a little while with your mailbag?
GUPTA: Yes. I got a report to it.
ROBERTS: Got some interesting e-mails to answer this morning?
GUPTA: Yes, always.
ROBERTS: All right. Thanks.
Kiran?
CHETRY: All right. Well, a slow-moving storm dumping several inches of snow across West Virginia overnight. And drivers were being warned about the nasty road conditions. Look at this car. Maybe going a little bit too fast for road conditions there, but just spinning out on ice. That's happened in Charleston. And you see the car just winding around, going totally backwards hitting, I guess, what look like a Jersey wall there.
DE LA CRUZ: What are you supposed to do in a situation like that, Rob?
CHETRY: That's right. Keep it park.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. When you go to sideways like that, you just pray.
CHETRY: You took an extreme driving class, Rob Marciano, by the way.
DE LA CRUZ: Do you turn into it?
MARCIANO: Well, I mean, when your back end skids out like that, you got to hit the gas a little bit. You kind of try to correct it. But when it's black ice like that, you know, so pretty much all bets are off.
CHETRY: It's really, forget it. They do sell certain tires (INAUDIBLE).
MARCIANO: Yes, they do. Actually, most tires look pretty good. The studless winter tires are really grip the ice. So, now that winter is coming up close, maybe you can get them on set.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: Well, while homeowners are seeing their house values slump, there are others who are catching it. Other secrets to making money in a down market. Well, Gerri Willis is on "Financial Security Watch" and she's going to give us some advice coming up.
And the Clinton campaign has its back up against the wall. So what is going to turn things around between now and those critical March 4th primaries? We're going to talk to the Clinton campaign co- chair Senator Robert Menendez, next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: 14 minutes after the hour and there it is. The big prize in the November election. Welcome back to the "Most Politics in the Morning".
It is an uphill battle for Hillary Clinton heading into Tuesday's primaries. She lost the support of one super delegate, legendary civil rights leader Congressman John Lewis. And a new poll puts her now behind Barack Obama.
Senator Robert Menendez is the national co-chair for the Clinton campaign. He's heading to Texas this weekend to try to help shore up Latino support just days before the primary. Senator Menendez joins us this morning.
Thanks for coming in, senator. Good to see you.
So how is the mood over there in camp Clinton these days? You know, some advisers who we have talked to are quietly saying, you know, it doesn't look good.
SEN. ROBERT MENENDEZ (D), CLINTON CAMPAIGN NATIONAL CO-CHAIR: Well, I don't know who they are, but I know we're feeling pretty good moving into next Tuesday. Looking great in Ohio and Rhode Island. We've got a contest in Texas, but it's a contest we think we'll win. And I think it's Hillary's message that is going to achieve victory on that day. She's been very specific in Ohio about how this economy doesn't work for working families. How she's got a plan to make sure that NAFTA brings about what it should have at the beginning. And ultimately gets dealt with in terms of environment and labor issues.
In Texas, she's been talking about the foreclosure crisis. The only candidate that has plans to deal with it. She has some great opportunities.
ROBERTS: And as we mentioned, she lost Congressman John Lewis yesterday, a longtime friend of hers, big supporter of her as well. He said he just had to throw his support behind Barack Obama. How significant is that?
And I asked from the perspective of, you know -- looked like she had a lock on the African-American voter, a number of months ago. She's pretty much lost that now. Barack Obama in Wisconsin got 91 percent of the votes. So does it really matter that much for her?
MENENDEZ: Well, John Lewis is a great American and certainly we respect his decision to join Senator Obama at this late stage. But the reality is that, you know, Senator Obama has reached out and clearly created aspirational opportunities in which the African- American community has flocked to his campaign and, you know, to some degree I think that's to be expected. But the reality is that we think that notwithstanding that we'll be heading into the right direction this Tuesday.
ROBERTS: So she lost her grip in the African-American vote and now, at least in some states, her lock on the Hispanic voters is looking a little bit shaky. We mention that you're heading down to Texas to try to shore that up. Can she hang on to the Hispanic vote there in Texas?
MENENDEZ: You know, I haven't seen anywhere this illusion that she's lost the Hispanic community. Every state, all the Super Tuesday states, Nevada, even Latinos standing up to the union and deciding to go with Hillary. California New Mexico, New York, New Jersey, Florida didn't count in terms of delegates, but there she did well as well. So I haven't seen a place in which the Latino vote hasn't overwhelmingly being supportive.
Of course, Senator Obama is now soft to engage it at this late stage and try to make that a challenge, but I think that her long- standing history in Texas from her early days as an attorney in the Rio Grande Valley, registering voters with (INAUDIBLE). Her relationship with our community as being an advocate for many of our key issues is going to serve her well in Texas.
ROBERTS: On that particular point, Ruben Navarrette Jr., who you know is a columnist for the "Washington Post" and other newspapers said that Clinton benefits from brand loyalty. But he also believes that Bill Clinton did little for Hispanics to further their public careers. So the support isn't necessarily deep. He said it's wide but it's not necessarily deep.
MENENDEZ: It's been deep in every state where the Latino community has had a significant population to come out ant vote. It was deep in New York. It was deep in New Jersey, it was deep in California. It was deep in a huge contest in Nevada and the reality is, is that under the Clinton administration, we had a program to reduce the Hispanic dropout rate.
Unfortunately, President Bush did away with it. 2 million of the 6 million children in the country who Hillary Clinton got health care for are Latino children. And on the floor of the United States Senate, Hillary joined me and others in trying to promote family reunification as a core value of our future immigration policy. So that's pretty deep.
ROBERTS: Well, good luck on Tuesday. You know, so many people say this one's for all the marbles. And have a great time down there in Texas. It's a great place to be.
MENENDEZ: Thank you, John
ROBERTS: Senator Bob Menendez, good to see you this morning.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Thanks a lot, John. You know, it's a question that's come up before gaining some steam now that John McCain is the presumptive Republican nominee. And that is, would his birthplace rule him out of the White House. You see, McCain was born on the military installation in the Panama Canal Zone back in 1936. That's where his father who is serving in the navy was stationed.
Now, the constitution only says that a president needs to be a quote, "natural born citizen" to hold the nation's highest office. And that precise meaning has been left open over the years to debate about whether only those born on American soil can truly be considered "natural born." And to date, no Americans take the presidential oath has an official birthplace outside of the 50 states.
So it brings us to our "Quick Vote" question of the morning. Should all Americans, regardless of the country of their birth be allowed to run for president? Right now, only 23 percent of you say, yes. 77 percent say no. Very interesting "Quick Vote" response today. We still want to hear from you and there's still time. So, cast your vote, cnn.com/am.
Still ahead, opportunities knocking. Home prices way down and so are sales. Our Gerri Willis has some advice about whether you're trying to buy or sell. Coming up.
And the Coast Guard comes to the rescue. No water around. No, this was a rescue on land, but still high up in the air. We're going to show you more of the "HotShots," coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 23 minutes after the hour. Check out our "HotShots" of the morning. It's a dramatic rescue on land for the Coast Guard. Two utility workers got stuck on a 140-foot pole in Glenolden, Pennsylvania, when the bucket lift they were using failed. Police called the closest rescuers around which happened to be the Coast Guard from Atlantic City.
Rescuer dropped down from the chopper. He locked limbs with one worker, also put a harness on him, pulled him back up, and went back for the second worker. Everybody, as we understand, is doing fine. What a dramatic rescue though.
And if you've got a hot shot, send it to us. Head to our Web site. It's cnn.com/am and follow the "HotShots" link.
Kiran, always good to know that the Coast Guard is close at hand.
CHETRY: And they're great. I mean, they can pull off the impossible. So, kudos to them.
Well, the number of new homes sales is now at 13-year low. The numbers have not looked good in a while. But now there's a way to perhaps make the most of a dismal market. CNN's personal finance editor Gerri Willis joins us from Atlanta with our "Financial Security Watch."
I call you the silver lining because you're going to tell us in the midst of all this bad news. What do the numbers tell us, though, Gerri?
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's take a look at the numbers you that you should be tracking, following over time, to just understand the housing market to begin with. And you mentioned the first one, new home sales, down 33 percent in January. Of course, also existing home sales, that's the big number. How many homes that are already out there on the marketplace are being sold and bought, down 23 percent again in January.
And the really tough number here, these are home prices. What's going on with home prices? S&P Case-Shiller says that prices are down over 9 percent in December for homes in some of the nation's largest markets. So, not great news there, but there is hope. There are strategies you can you can follow, of course, if you have to buy and sell.
Kiran?
CHETRY: And some advice. Let's start off with the sellers. If you're trying to sell your home right now, what should you do?
WILLIS: Well, you know, the agents like -- real estate agents like to say price it right. Now, that's their jargon for dropping your price. You're going to have to drop your price out there, probably, in a lot of markets if you're trying to sell. If you've based in assumptions about how many money you need to take out of that transaction, you may have to change them.
And of course, you want the house to look as good as it possible can as you put it on the market. Because remember, this is a competition. You're competing with neighbors who are also selling their home. You got to clean up, make it as attractive as possible to potential buyers out there.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Yes, that's right, because they don't want to think they're going to come in to something and have to do all of these repairs. They don't want to get to fix it up in this market either.
What if you are a buyer right now? I guess -- I would say that it's probably a good time, if you can afford it?
WILLIS: Well, the world's your oyster, if you're a buyer right now. Prices obviously on the decline. There's more inventory than ever. Here's your problem. Your problem is getting financing, because the banks are really stingy right now. They're making it difficult for people to borrow unless they have pristine credit. So, you want to have the absolute best possible credit score to get the best possible loan.
You're going to have to negotiate aggressively because you could get concessions in this market. You want to ask for the world. Any help you can get. Maybe help with closing costs, any help with fees, maybe they'll pay for an expert to investigate your house and make sure it's in great shape.
Good news here if you are bottom fishing, because a lot of people still can't afford the prices even now. You might be able to buy a foreclosure. So, that's a great place to look if you're afraid your money's not going to go far.
CHETRY: Hey, what's coming up on the "Financial Security Watch" today? WILLIS: Well, we will be talking about investing in foreclosures. How to do it? And for folks who can't sell their house out there in the market, we're going to be talking about renting your house out. What you need to know if you can't unload it on the market. How you might rent it out for a while and make sure you get at least some stream of income coming in.
Of course, we'll be taking your live phone calls for the hour. We want to hear from you. Tell us about the problems you're finding in the market, whether it's the stock market or the real estate market right now. How you're struggling with debt. We want to hear from you.
CHETRY: Sounds good, Gerri. "Financial Security Watch" airing all this week at 12:00 noon Eastern. Thanks.
WILLIS: Thank you, Kiran.
CHETRY: John?
ROBERTS: You're watching "The Most News in the Morning" here on CNN. Our Alina Cho just back from inside North Korea. She has caught up with defectors who were trying to spread the word of democracy into the communist North. We'll hear from her.
And as he does every Thursday, our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to dig into his mail bag and answer your medical questions.
What do you got today?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We got lots of great questions. First of all, when can pregnant women fly? When should they not fly? We'll talk about hypoglycemia as well. We talk a lot about diabetes, talk about hypoglycemia, and also the worst kind of headaches. Why do women get them more than men? We'll talk about that. Here's my music.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN, ANCHOR: Here it is, the CNN "Election Express." What happens when the CNN "Election Express" meets the Alamo? That's what's happening today. Our Ali Velshi out there in San Antonio, Texas, word is 37 degrees. Climbing today to 78 degrees. And you know, John I said, wow, double check that with Rob, Rob Marciano who is sitting right next to me. It's going to warm, you know, change about 35, 40 degrees, and he says I don't know. I'm not on the clock right now.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN, ANCHOR: Sounds reasonable.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: You can't expect me to know every town and every forecast going out there.
CHETRY: He knows.
ROBERTS: Are you telling me that Ali is not going to need the coonskin cap?
CHETRY: I don't know. Rob won't tell me. Rob won't even let Ali know if he needs that hat.
MARCIANO: He can leave the hat off new a couple of hours. It will warm up to near 80 give or take 20.
ROBERTS: Ali still has a lot of work to do for the rest of the day. So maybe we will see that coonskin cap again.
Hey, after months of speculation, a resounding no this time from New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg put it in writing in this morning's "New York Times" announcing he is not running for president but he may still be a player in the race. The mayor said if a candidate takes an independent non-partisan approach, he will join in helping that candidate win the White House.
Senators John McCain and Barack Obama are sparring over the war in Iraq. They traded verbal shots with McCain questioning whether Obama knew about Al Qaeda in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Have some news. Al Qaeda is in Iraq. Al Qaeda. It's called Al Qaeda in Iraq.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have some news for John McCain and that is there was no such thing as Al Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Well, a new "Los Angeles Times" poll suggests that a tight race between McCain and either Obama or Hillary Clinton but McCain has the edge when it comes to dealing with the war in Iraq.
And an icon of the Democratic party says he has had a change of heart. Georgia congressman and superdelegate John Lewis is switching his support to Barack Obama. Lewis had backed Hillary Clinton in Georgia's primary, been a longtime friend of Hillary Clinton. But since voters in his district went for Obama, Lewis says, he will, too. Kiran.
CHETRY: John, thanks. Also new this morning a small plane crash happened in a residential street in Riverside, California, and all three people onboard killed. Witnesses say the plane looked like it started having trouble just after takeoff from Riverside Municipal Airport. The plane then landed on a car and burst into flames. No one on the ground was hurt.
And police in Los Angeles on the hunt this morning. They're looking for the man who opened fire at a bus stop yesterday afternoon. Eight people shot including five children, who had just been let out of school. Four of them are still in the hospital. Three children and a woman, all of them expected to recover. Police have been working to get information that will help them find this shooter. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. RUBEN DE LA TORRE, LOS ANGELES POLICE: We are searching, and we have video, we have witnesses. So, well, the videos around here will be sought, in terms of businesses, see what we find. So, you know, we're actively involved in finding who this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Police think the gunman was shooting at someone else, but missed his target. Other witnesses at the scene though said it appears that he was just randomly firing a what they thought was semiautomatic pistol into the crowd.
A setback in the plan to secure the Arizona border with Mexico. This morning's "Washington Post" is reporting technical problems forcing the White House to rethink a 28-mile virtual fence. Officials say the $20 million worth of sensors and cameras did not work as planned. That project will now reportedly be delayed by at least three years to improve the technology.
And Amtrak announcing it is slowing down along the tracks between Washington and Boston, very popular route known as the northeast corridor. Amtrak worried about cracks in the concrete that support the rails. Amtrak says it was caught early and doesn't pose a risk, but until repairs are made they want these trains to slow down sometimes from 135 miles per hour to 60 in some spots.
34 minutes past the hour. Time to check in with Rob Marciano. He's going to be giving us a look at the weather right now. I hope.
MARCIANO: I hope.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN, INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Back on the clock, Rob.
MARCIANO: Yes, back on the clock. I was actually trying to look up the San Antonio forecast to see how accurate I was, give or take 20 degrees.
Meteorology 101, always give yourself a little leeway! All right. Let's start. Actually I was trying to get in touch with my weather producer. What do we got going? Let's draw the first map there. We got a number of things to talk about. First off, airport delays. La Guardia, 35 minute delays at the moment. Newark, ground delays also to 50 minutes and Chicago, O'Hare, 20 minute delays. Look for those to be on the increase.
All right. Windchills right now, 7 degrees in New York City. That's what it feels like, 8 degrees in Boston. 4 in Philadelphia. Much, much colder than it was this time yesterday. The deep freeze on the way and definitely down into the deep south. Freeze warnings in effect in northern Florida and through southern parts of Georgia and windchills advisory almost as far south. 25 is what it feels like in Atlanta right now. 26 in Birmingham and 17 is the current windchill in Nashville. Some snow moving across the northern plains that will be driving towards the Great Lakes, and dumping as much as five inches of snow in some spots, namely Detroit, Milwaukee, Chicago we'll see a little as well but these are areas that have seen, for the year, almost, in some cases, twice as much snow as they typically would see. So we're watching that system as it drives down. Other than that, it looks fairly quiet, at least until we get towards the beginning of next week and then there are some storms running down right there.
CHETRY: All right. Sounds good.
MARCIANO: Can I punch out now?
CHETRY: Yes.
DE LA CRUZ: Wait, wait. What's the highest for southeast today? 51 degrees, right now?
MARCIANO: Fifty-one? It will be like 71, give or take 20.
DE LA CRUZ: All right. Kiran, at hitweather.com. I think that's much more reliable.
CHETRY: Oh, no way! No way. I would say --
MARCIANO: That means go to weather.com. You'll catch all these replays.
CHETRY: I'll go to Rob Marciano.com any time. Don't worry about it.
DE LA CRUZ: There you go.
CHETRY: John.
ROBERTS: All week long we've gotten a rare week beyond the most militarized border in the world. AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho took us inside North Korea, where she reported live from Pyongyang. This morning, Alina is back in Seoul, South Korea with the story of an underground radio station that many North Koreans are tuning into illegally. Hi, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, John. Good evening from Seoul, as you well know, here in the Democratic South Korea, the TV and radio options are endless. People, of course, have the freedom to watch and listen to whatever they want, but quite a different story in the communist north. People caught listening to foreign broadcasts can be sent to labor camps. Average citizens are fed a constant diet of state propaganda. But a select few are hoping to make a difference one listener at a time.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice-over): What you're seeing here is rare. A radio broadcast for North Koreans by North Koreans. These aren't ordinary reporters. They're defectors who have fled the communist north and are now working to spread the word of democracy.
KIM SEONG MIN, FOUNDER, FNK RADIO (through translator): The North Korean people need bread and milk but they need food for their minds, too.
CHO: That food is Free North Korea radio. Based in Seoul, FNK airs on frequencies, founder Kim Seong Min, believes are being picked up by people in North Korea.
KIM: North Koreans need to wake up. If they don't, they will have more deformed children and people with deformed minds.
CHO: Kim says there's growing evidence people are listening. He gets letters from defectors, and every day he says listeners actually call him from North Korea using smuggled cell phones. These are some of the videos he posts on FNK's Web site targeted to South Koreans so they can see what life is like inside the north. The pictures the government doesn't want you to see. The most heartbreaking, the starving, abandoned children.
KIM: These are Kim Jong-Il's children.
CHO: These reporters have all changed their names to protect the families they've left behind.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (though translator): My family is important, but what I'm doing now is more important.
CHO: Kim says they often grab each other and cry when they learn the very people they were trying to reach are hearing them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Amazingly, the founder of FNK radio used to be a military propagandist for the communist north. Then, he got a hold of a radio, listened to South Korean broadcasts and says it changed his life. He says it was at that point he realized in his words, "everything he had learned was a lie." He also told me, John, that he has big dreams of returning to North Korea, his homeland, of course, under a different Democratic regime. John.
ROBERTS: So many people in that area hold that dream. Alina, incredible that they actually hear from people in North Korea. They actually have sources there in North Korea?
CHO: I was shocked to hear that, John, but it's true. The founder of FNK told me there are actually 20 sources inside North Korea, from every province he says. He says they actually call in using smuggled cell phones. Very close to the DMZ, so they can't be detected and ultimately so they can't be caught. John.
ROBERTS: Wow. Taking a real chance, nonetheless, though. Alina Cho for us this morning in Seoul, where it's nighttime. Alina, thanks very much. Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, still ahead, you have questions and he has answers. Dr. Sanjay Gupta ready to open up his mailbag as he does every Thursday. Stick around.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY (voice-over): Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING. Grocery store report.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where do you think it's going?
CHETRY: 5.49 for a loaf of bread? Start clipping your coupons. Why prices are sky high at the checkout.
Greg Hunter is looking out for you ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, as he does every Thursday, our Sanjay Gupta opens us his mail bag, answering questions viewers have e-mailed in to him.
ROBERTS: Sanjay joins us now as we dig into his mailbag to answer your questions. I don't know Kiran but I don't actually see a real mailbag.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right here, John.
ROBERTS: Just bunch of pieces of paper. All right. First question comes from a viewer who writes us from Puerto Rico. Why does no one talk about hypoglycemia? It seems everyone just cares about diabetes. Please talk about the causes and dangers for a hypoglycemia.
GUPTA: Interesting question. We do, in all fairness, do talk about diabetes a lot more than we talk about hypoglycemia. So interesting, diabetes, obviously, when you have too much sugar in your blood stream. Hypoglycemia is just the opposite, too low a blood sugar. Sometimes, they can be connected. Someone who is diabetic gives themselves too much insulin actually lowers their blood sugar. People can have sweating. They can have heart palpitations. They just often feel miserable. The treatment for diabetics is to give them insulin. For hypoglycemics is to give them more sugar, more specifically, several small meals throughout the day seems to be a benefit to them.
ROBERTS: Well, good information.
GUPTA: Got another question? Batter up?
CHETRY: Another question?
ROBERTS: Hello! Ring in. Hello!
CHETRY: I have the mailbag here and I couldn't reach in there and get it out. OK. Earlier this week, you talked about the dangers of flying while sick. You also blogged about it on cnn.com. And one of our bloggers responded with a question. Anubha writes, "what about flying during various stages of pregnancy?" You know, is it, Sanjay, a concern in terms of your health or is it a concern that if you were to get into labor you wouldn't see any one of your doctors?
GUPTA: Well, more of the latter than the earlier. You know, this question could have been written by you, Kiran. Obviously, a lot of pregnant women out there asking about this a lot. You know, what's interesting, we actually did digging into this and we talked to the Society of Obstetrics and Gynecologists and asked them specifically. And they say, actually it's the second trimester that is probably the safest in terms of overall flying. All of pregnancies is probably fine to fly. When you get beyond 36 weeks, most doctors will say cool it at this point as far as flying because you want to be closer to home in case you do go into labor, but the second trimester, by safest. First trimester, slightly higher risk of miscarriage.
A couple of tips, drink plenty of water, also try to get an aisle seat because you're probably going to the bathroom quite as well. So, courtesy to your fellow passengers there.
ROBERTS: Kiran's pregnant? I thought she ate a lot at breakfast.
GUPTA: She does eat a lot which is remarkable. And final question here, Rosa in Illinois writes, seriously, "I'm 29 years old. I suffer from constant monthly migraines. My doctor believes that they are hormonal." Sanjay What could be the cause? This is really your area of expertise?
GUPTA: Yes. And I'm fascinated by this because I, you know, I study neuroscience. Also, I get migraine headaches. You know, what's interesting, John, is that women get them about three times more commonly than men and they do believe it's because of hormones. I think your doctor's absolutely right, Rosa. Typically around a woman's menstrual cycle, they be more likely to develop migraine headaches. We know that when women go through menopause, for example, their migraines get better. So, controlling those hormonal balances, if they're taking birth control pills, for example, that might be the cause.
Unfortunately, this is something you may have to live with for some years to come. You can take certain medications to sort of prophylax yourself against migraine. So, to keep them from coming out in the first place.
ROBERTS: And there's a lot of good migraine medications out there.
GUPTA: They have a lot of medications out there.
ROBERTS: Sanjay, thanks very much. Appreciate it.
GUPTA: All right.
ROBERTS: I'll have to buy you mailbag one of these days. If you got a question for Dr. Gupta, e-mail it to us. Go to cnn.com/am. He answers your questions every Thursday here, on AMERICAN MORNING. Kiran.
CHETRY: That's right. One day, I'll walk in with a bundle of joy and surprise all of you and you'll never even know.
GUPTA: Great.
CHETRY: Well, CNN NEWSROOM just minutes away. Heidi Collins at the CNN Center with a look at what's ahead. Good morning, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN, ANCHOR: Good morning, Kiran. And that's right presidential politics on the NEWSROOM rundown today. An influential congressman switches sides, John Lewis is backing Barack Obama now. Will other superdelegates abandon Hillary Clinton?
And the wobbly economy. President Bush facing questions about rising prices and the credit crunch at his news conference that will happen at 10:05 Eastern out live right here in the NEWSROOM.
A great save on the playground. You guys were talking about this earlier. A Texas town honors an 8-year-old because he made all the right life-saving moves.
Breaking news when it happens here in the NEWSROOM, top of the hour on CNN. Kiran.
CHETRY: He did something amazing. You have a 6-year-old, right? A 6-year-old son?
COLLINS: Yes.
CHETRY: Do his friends eat rocks?
COLLINS: Yes, and -- right now, it's just a 6-month-old puppy who's doing that. Who's really not much smarter for him either.
CHETRY: That's right. You'll spend more time running to the vet than the pediatrician. All right, Heidi, thanks.
COLLINS: See you later.
CHETRY: You're watching the most news in the morning. Forget about filling up your tank or even loading up the grocery store is getting more and more expensive. Our Greg Hunter is looking out for you. He's checking prices this morning. He's in a grocery store in New York, but really it's happening across the country. Paying more for the essentials. He's going to have a live report coming up ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Nine minutes now to the top of the hour. Welcome back to the most news in the morning. Some of the best pictures of the day for you. Here, a horse taking an unexpected plunge after wandering on to a frozen pond at a farm in Lebanon, Ohio. The animal was shoulder deep in frigid water, about 20 feet from the shore. A firefighter went out on boat, and attached a rope to the horse's halter and guided him back to safety.
Here's an interesting picture. Attack by bees. One of the local Phoenix reporter hit perfect timing. He was at a park covering a previous bee attack when a swarm suddenly surrounded two people. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get away from there! Run!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See. That's what I'm talking about.
ROBERTS: look at this poor fellow trying to swat the bees away. It gets worse and worse. He's got the hat flapping, watch this, finally, get out of here! Let's get rid of these bees. My goodness.
On Tuesday, fire officials say a man was walking a dog when bees stung him 100 times landing him in the hospital. Imagine what that's like? And beachgoers, beware, something is lurking in the waters off south Florida. Hundreds of sharks, most of them black tips and spinners making their annual migration to the north. Wildlife experts say they're not considered man eaters but warnings are posted to keep swimmers out of the water. Annual shark convention down there in Florida. Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes, when you look at that, I mean, can you just see all the black little sharks swimming around, there is no -- no way. It's pretty to look at. Wouldn't want to go in it. John, thanks.
Well, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke saying there's really no end in site at this time to the economic downturn and the pain is spreading from the gas pump to the housing market and even to the corner market. Here's how Bernanke described the situation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN BERNANKE, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: The incoming information since our January meeting continues to suggest sluggish economic activity in the near term.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: So what does that mean to you? Our Greg Hunter grabbed a shopping cart to find out what how, what we're dealing with right now, this notion of stagflation, where everything is costing a little more and more. And no one's making anymore money, per se, is taking a hit on your wallet when you're at the grocery store. Hey, Greg.
GREG HUNTER, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kiran. Well, I'm at the Amish market in New York City. And no matter where you shop, things like eggs, milk, bread, all going up. Here's why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Things are on sale. I use coupons.
HUNTER (voice-over): Consumers trying to save money with food prices skyrocketing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I used to spend about $100 week. Now it's $170 a week.
HUNTER: In just over a year, milk prices have gone up more than 17 percent. Eggs nearly 35 percent. Bread almost 6 percent and with wheat spiking over $12 a bushel, Garden of Eden Supermarket manager Juan Larios says bread prices continue to rise. This loaf cost $4 last year.
Where do you think it's going?
JUAN LARIOS, MANAGER, GARDEN OF EDEN: It's going to $5.49 starting next week.
HUNTER: Why? With the dollar near historic lows, it costs more to import the fruits and vegetables people like to eat year-round. Higher fuel prices mean farming and shipping costs more. And with more corn being used to produce ethanol, cattle costs more to feed, which means the price of milk is up, too.
LARIOS: This costs $3.49, about year ago, it was down to $2.99, $2.79.
HUNTER: Food price inflation suggests more problems for an already slowing economy.
JOHN WILLIAMS, SHADOWSTATS.COM: People have to eat. They have drive to work. They have to heat their homes. So we're not going to be cutting back on food and energy. As food and energy prices go up, the amount of money we have to spend on more optional items declines.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTER: John Williams at shadowstats.com says bad news on the horizon. Prices for food and energy are going to go up. The economy's will go down and he says the real inflationary - the real inflation rate right now minus the techniques the government uses to lower that inflation rate is between 7.5 and 11.5 percent and he predicts that the real inflation rate will hit 20 percent in two years. Back to you guys.
CHETRY: Not good news for sure. Greg Hunter, thank you.
ROBERTS: A quick look now at what CNN NEWSROOM is working on for the top of the hour.
COLLINS: See these stories in the CNN NEWSROOM. New York's mayor makes up his mind about a presidential bid.
Clinton campaigns in Ohio today. Obama looks for votes in Texas.
L.A. police searching for the man who opened fire at a bus stop.
What caused a small plane to crash in a California neighborhood?
And South Africa, outraged by a racist video.
NEWSROOM, top of the hour on CNN. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CUNNINGHAM, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: John McCain threw me under the bus. Under the "Straight Talk Express," I got thrown under the bus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Earlier this week choice words from John McCain right after conservative radio talk host Bill Cunningham called Barack Obama a political hack. Conservative radio now declaring war on John McCain. What will Cunningham say tonight? Find out at 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN. He will be my guest again on a special election center, 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
And a reminder, President Bush will hold a news conference in just about an hour's tile. He plans to talk about funding for Iraq, the terrorist surveillance bill and helping homeowners avoid foreclosures. CNN, of course, will bring you that live beginning at 10:05 Eastern. Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes. A final check of this morning's "Quick Vote" question. We asked it because John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee not born in the 50 U.S. states, but actually born in the Panama Canal zone. His dad was serving in the Navy at the time. We asked the question, should all Americans regardless of the country of birth be allowed to run for president? 23 percent say yes. The majority of our voters this morning though, 77 percent, of those who voted in the "Quick Vote," say, no. To all of you who voted this morning, thanks so much and we're glad you're with us this morning. See you back here bright and early tomorrow.
ROBERTS: All right. See you back there in New York, Kiran. On my way to the airport right now. CNN NEWSROOM with Heidi Collins begins right now.
COLLINS: Good morning, everybody.
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