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American Morning
Drugs in Tap Water; Democrats: Do-Over in Michigan and Florida; Sit Down and Relax in Stores
Aired March 10, 2008 - 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: "The Associated Press" did a big amount of research on this, and the findings show that there were traces of prescription drugs in the water supply used by 41 million Americans in some of the biggest cities in the U.S. The list includes over-the-counter pain medication, mood stabilizers, even hormones.
CNN's Elizabeth Cohen joins us now from the medical update desk in Atlanta. First, explain where they found it and what it is that they found, Elizabeth?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Associated Press, Kiran, they spent five months investigating this, and they looked at various municipal water supplies. Not all of them keep track whether or not there are pharmaceuticals but the ones that do, they all had traces of various medicines. I'm going to give you a list. This will give you some idea of the kinds of things that they found.
For example, in Atlanta, where I am right now, they found that the water contained traces of antibiotics, blood pressure drugs. In Cincinnati, cholesterol drugs. They found a trace of one of those, and estrogen, that women sometimes take for medicinal reasons. And in New York City, they found a trace of a seizure drug and an anti- anxiety drug. Now, to give you sort of the big picture how many drugs did they find in the drinking water? In Philadelphia, they found trace amounts of 56 different drugs. In New York City, they found traces of 16 drugs. And in northern New Jersey, 13 drugs.
Now, these are teeny, teeny-tiny amounts that's really important to say right up front. It's also important to say that no one really knows what affect this has on our health, because really they're kind of just reporting this for the first time. But "The Associated Press" went to the EPA, the Environment Protection Agency, and said, you know, what's up here? What's going on? And I'll read you the EPA's response.
The response is, "We're taking it very seriously. We recognize there's a growing concern about the presence of pharmaceuticals in our water. We're evaluating the potential health effects of contaminants at low levels, when they occur and how best to remove them."
Now, I'm sure the question that right now is on everyone's mind is, how in the world did drugs get into our drinking water? Well, it's not very pretty and I'll give you sort of sanitized version. We all take drugs, and our body does not absorb 100 percent of everything. Some of it passes through our body, ends up in sewage. Sewage is then treated and ends up back in the water system -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Right. And I think a lot of the questions also, you know, because it's an incomplete picture, I guess, to say, OK, so Philadelphia has caffeine and this one has this one. It's because some municipalities don't do any testing. Some only test for certain compounds, and so you're not really necessarily getting a complete picture. But the other question is what do you do with that information? Is there any way that you can find out how detrimental it may be? And also, is there any way you can avoid ingesting it if you find yourself concerned?
COHEN: You know, you really asked a couple of different, great questions here. So let me take them apart. First of all, if you want to know what's in your water, you can certainly go to your water system and ask. But as you said, not everyone tests for everything. In fact, some people don't test for much at all. So you may not be getting a full answer. And as far as what it means for your health, that is very difficult to know because people really haven't done studies on what these trace amounts mean for our bodies. It's tough to know.
So, of course, the next question is what about bottled water? Well, I hate to sound so pessimistic here. Bottled water often is just as repackaged tap water, and that doesn't help as much as all either. Or even sometimes if it's spring water, it could still possibly contain these trace amounts. Humans basically have an impact everywhere, and those filters at home, they are not sensitive enough to get rid of the pharmaceuticals.
CHETRY: Yes, we actually brought in our AMERICAN MORNING water purification. I guess this does us no good either, Elizabeth. So, you know, we are going to be asking about this throughout the morning. How concerned people are. Again, you don't really necessarily know. You're talking about trace amounts, and they haven't done a ton of research on exactly what that means for us long-term. But fascinating nonetheless, and a great investigation by the "AP".
Thanks for breaking it down for us, Elizabeth.
COHEN: Thanks.
CHETRY: Well, for a complete list of the cities and states affected and the drugs found in their water, you can go to our show page at CNN.com/am. We also have a "Quick Vote" on it this morning, so if you like to weigh in go ahead and do that.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Right. Contaminated water may have made dozens of U.S. troops in Iraq sick. A new Defense Department report say soldiers got skin infections and diarrhea after using the water to shower and do their laundry. The water was not used for drinking. The Pentagon's inspector general found water quality problems at military bases inside. It's operated by the military contractor, KBR.
And some stunning predictions on the future cost of the war. A new book by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says the cost could rise to $12 billion a month this year. Triple what it was in the early years of the war. He projects that U.S. military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan could cost $2.7 trillion or more by the year 2017.
Turning now to the race for the White House, Barack Obama has two campaign events today in Mississippi ahead of tomorrow's primary there, and fresh off winning Wyoming's caucuses on Saturday. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton has already turned her attention to the Pennsylvania primary. She will be campaigning in Scranton today, nearly 200 delegates up for grabs on April 22nd.
Let's have a quick look at the delegate count now. CNN puts Obama at 1,527 delegates. Clinton at 1,428. Just 99 behind; 2,025 is needed for the nomination.
And a possible solution for Michigan and Florida that would allow both states to send voting delegates to the party's presidential nominating convention this summer. Democratic leaders discussed a new ballot by mail option on the Sunday talk shows. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean calling the idea a potential resolution to the conflict.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD DEAN, DNC CHAIRMAN: We don't think knock-down drag-out fights are ever good between Democrats. We'd much prefer to have this all settled before -- well, before we get to the convention.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The lawmakers addressed concerns about possible voter fraud as well, saying Oregon began mail-in balloting for all elections 10 years ago and no problems have been reported thus far. Florida and Michigan were stripped of their delegates when primaries were scheduled early in violation of party rules.
And his campaign for the nomination may be over, but the revolution lives on. We'll speak with Ron Paul at 7:40 Eastern about his decision to wind down his presidential campaign -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, we're also following extreme weather this morning. Deadly winter storms slamming Ohio. In fact, Ohio getting 20 inches of snow over the weekend breaking a record that was set nearly a hundred years ago. In fact, they're reporting close to 2,000 crashes on local highways. Hundreds of travelers stranded in airports and at least five deaths being blamed on that storm.
It was the same storm system that hit Alabama as well. Snow fell for 12 straight hours making roads extremely slippery and dangerous in parts of the state. And then to West Virginia and, boy, you have to see this one again. The road so slippery because of an ice storm there that cars were literally skating on the roadways. It's turned Charleston's Fort Hill Bridge into a virtual ice rink. They had nine crashes reported, but again, this one caught on tape. Not only did this individual slide, but then another car smashes right into him. Rob Marciano tracking extreme weather at our update desk this morning. It might be easier to talk about which parts of the country were not affected by extreme weather over the weekend.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, it would be easier to do that. But the good news is that as we head toward this week, Kiran, it should be a little bit more quiet. But I think we'll get into some concerns that we haven't really talked about and that would be maybe some flooding due to snow melt.
Speaking of snow, let's go over the current totals that we have for you over the weekend. Some of them are very impressive. As you mentioned, a record in Columbus, Ohio, there; 20 inches with this weekend storm. Cheektowaga in New York, just east of Buffalo, just over 20 inches. And Richfield just south of Cleveland, Ohio, two feet. Dayton, 13 inches. That's a record also.
Hey, you're getting some more snow across the Buckeye State. Not a whole lot but just enough to remind you that winter is not quite over. It doesn't want to give up even though the official start of spring is right around the corner. Texas, this is kind of an impulse that's going to wind itself out and kind of rain itself out over the next day or so, with some rain heavy in spots and some hail across western parts of Texas. Just around San Angelo, we're seeing some rough weather. This is slowly moving off to the east, so we're watching this area. And just to the east and south of Dallas, looking at some heavy thunderstorms moving through Waco.
And here's the warming temperatures that will potentially bring some flood issues across the Midwest. You know, we had the record snows in parts of Ohio over the weekend, Kiran, but a lot of the Midwest and western Great Lakes, seeing almost in some cases or more than twice as much snow for the entire season. So you have that much snow pack, you start to get some warming here. As we get toward spring, we could see some river flooding due to all the snow that is on the ground. Kiran, back up to you.
CHETRY: Hey, does any of this help the drought situation we were talking about back in the spring?
MARCIANO: Well, you know, they've had a tremendous snow pack in the western states. That's typically where we're concerned about drought. Across the southeast, we're still in a drought, although we've seen some improvement. So we definitely could use some more water.
CHETRY: All right. Rob Marciano, we'll check in with you throughout the morning. Thanks.
MARCIANO: OK.
ROBERTS: It is nine minutes now after the hour, and Alina Cho is here with other stories new this morning. Good morning to you.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, John, and everybody. Good morning, happy Monday. Good morning, everybody. New this morning. The FBI is launching a criminal investigation into the nation's largest mortgage lender. CNN has learned the FBI will look into whether Countrywide committed fraud which may have contributed to the subprime mortgage crisis. The investigation will also examine whether the company misrepresented losses related to subprime loans. Reports say Countrywide is among at least 14 companies, the FBI is checking out as part of a larger review of the mortgage industry. A Countrywide spokesperson says the bank is not aware of any investigation.
Gas prices are climbing once again to an all-time record. The new average $3.20 a gallon, and prices are expected to go higher, of course, as we head into the summer driving season. Again, $3.20 is the new national average as you can see there on your screen. That is up 26 cents in the past month, and 64 cents in the past year.
Police in North Carolina announced a big break over the weekend in a murder case involving UNC's student body president. Investigators say ATM surveillance photos appear to show a second person in the back seat of what could be Eve Carson's blue 2005 Toyota Highlander. The new lead comes as hundreds attended a memorial service in Carson's hometown of Athens, Georgia, over the weekend. Carson was found shot to death Wednesday morning, just a mile from campus.
And police in Oklahoma City are looking for the suspects in a midday kidnapping attempt, and it was all caught on tape. Sandra Fleming (ph) says she was just minding her own business, unloading groceries at a Wal-Mart parking lot when somebody tried to grab her. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This guy comes around and grabs me here and here from behind me, and spins me around. And when he does, he jerks me and I fall. And then, he drags me to the car and I'm yelling help, help. And then, he has me partway in the car, and this little lady comes and helps me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: She looks roughed up there. Fleming says the suspects took off with her purse. It turns out she fractured her wrist but otherwise she says she's OK.
An apology this morning from an Australian magazine that broke the news of Prince Harry's deployment to Afghanistan. "New Idea" magazine published a formal apology today saying it made a "serious lapse in judgment." Now, the editor say they weren't aware of the British military's agreement with news organizations not to disclose what the prince was doing. The magazine ran the report in January, but it went largely unnoticed until last month when the "Drudge Report" published it. Harry was later pulled out of Afghanistan after 10 weeks on the front lines.
And a 19-year-old medic from Texas will become only the second female soldier since World War II to receive the Silver Star. Her name is 19-year-old Army specialist Monica Lin Brown. She'll be awarded the nation's third highest medal for valor. She's being cited for saving fellow soldiers after a roadside bomb tore through the convoy of Hambis (ph) and Afghanistan last year. The military says Brown actually used her own body to shield her wounded comrades while mortars fell less than 100 yards away. The Pentagon says Brown will get her Silver star later this month.
As you guys know, you know, there's -- women typically and officially are not allowed to fight on the front lines but in Iraq and Afghanistan, there really are no front lines.
CHETRY: Exactly.
CHO: There you have it.
ROBERTS: Front lines everywhere.
CHETRY: 19 years old and sacrificing herself to try to help everyone that was with her that day.
CHO: Yes.
CHETRY: Just an amazing story.
CHO: And no surprise. She says I didn't have enough time to be scared. You know, she just acted. So --
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Congratulate a real hero.
ROBERTS: By the way, happy birthday to you.
CHO: Oh, thank you very much.
CHETRY: Happy birthday.
CHO: My 10th annual 20th.
CHETRY: Keep it going.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: If flowers start showing up at our joint office, I know what they're for now.
(CROSSTALK)
CHO: That's right. Yes. They're hopefully for me.
VELSHI: Yes, I'll save them for you.
CHO: It could be from the ranchers, you know.
VELSHI: They could be from the ranchers. They're probably for you. Happy birthday.
CHO: Thank you.
ROBERTS: So Alina is springing forward by a year. The clock sprang forward by an hour. And unfortunately, though, the markets seem to be going backwards.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROBERTS: Ali Velshi is here with that. What's going on?
VELSHI: Well, you know, this is not a great time for people to want to check on their investments. But it's actually probably a good idea. If you can get access to your 401k, you can see what the performance of your portfolio has been over the last year or since the beginning of the year. Now, I want you to compare to what the broader market has been doing.
Take a look at the Dow over the last 52 weeks. This is the lowest point that it's closed at. Now, you'll see in January, there was a point that looked lower. That was a sort of crazy day when the Fed cut rates in an emergency move. You remember, John, you and I were in South Carolina that day. So that was a lower -- it traded lower but didn't close lower.
This is the worst close we've actually had since 2006 on the Dow. The S&P 500 is a broader measure of the market. Take a look at the chart of the S&P 500. It looks very, very similar. So if your -- if your stocks are down, you should feel bad but just make sure that, you know, they're not done much worse than the broader market.
Take a look at what they've done since the beginning of the year. A lot of you will be able to measure your portfolios based on what has happened since January 1st. The Dow is down 10.34 percent. The Nasdaq, which had been a strong performer or a stronger performer than the other markets in 2007, down almost 17 percent. The S&P 500 down about 11 percent.
The dollar is down against the euro, but I'll be back in a little while with actually a piece of good news about that. What happens when the dollar is down for a long time, it actually starts to reverse and have some benefits on the economy. So I'll tell you a little bit about that, but you already talked about gas prices. And that poor woman at Wal-Mart, I mean, you're paying all that money for, you know, the increase that you pay on stuff to have somebody try and snatch your stuff.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: Yes, yes. True.
CHETRY: That was the least of her problems.
VELSHI: That's right. This is the business reporter in me. Don't touch my stuff. Don't take my stuff.
CHETRY: Wow.
ROBERTS: Speaking of stuff, the cowboy hat on its way to the American museum of American History?
VELSHI: Well, I'm keeping that just in case for a little while, but that got a lot of good wear.
CHETRY: You had a good time in Texas.
VELSHI: I had a great time.
CHETRY: I think you're going back.
CHO: Ali claims -- Ali claims it was cold. But I think it was called a fashion statement.
VELSHI: It was cold, it was hot. You know, but no hat right now.
ROBERTS: I think the consensus is the ballot should just --
VELSHI: Stay with the vest?
ROBERTS: You should make sure that the hat somehow disappears.
CHETRY: Poor Ali.
Well, you're watching the "Most News in the Morning." Still ahead the Democratic Party is now talking seriously about a redo, a do-over for voting in both Florida and Michigan. How will they pull that off? We're going to talk about some of the options.
Also, check out this. Is this a car dealership or a country club? Well, Polly LaBarre is going to explain why companies are sprucing up their stores to try to get you to stay awhile ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, the Democrats are talking do-over in Florida and Michigan. The states were punished for moving up their primaries, something the DNC told them they could not do and they get anyway. Well, now, voters there could be the deciding factor in who will be the party's nominee.
CNN's political analyst, John Dickerson, joins me now from Washington. You know, we've talked about this a lot but it's taken on a new form over the weekend when Howard Dean talked about the possibility, that what they would do is just almost like an absentee ballot system. You just get mailed a bunch of ballots, and you send them all in and vote again. What do you think?
JOHN DICKERSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, that's right. That seems to be what we're moving towards. In Florida, in particular, there are about 4.7 million Democratic voters, and they would all get a ballot in the mail. The chance for high participation would be pretty good, and now it's just a question of money. And one of the interesting wrinkles in Florida is that you can have unlimited donations to the party and you can have unlimited donations to the party, and you can corporate donations. So you could have, you know, this primary brought to you by Disney or by American Express. And so, it's just a question now of finding money to get these contests going forward.
CHETRY: And you got Clinton supporter James Carville saying, you know, our camp can raise $15 million. Can Obama's camp raise $15 million? And then, that's how it will be paid for. That's another option that's out there. It seems that a lot of this is taking place in the public forum. And how much at risk is DNC and the Democratic candidates look to being a little disorganized, if you will?
DICKERSON: Well, it is the Democratic Party after all, and so disorganization is part of their sense of self. But that's the problem in why everybody wants to get this figured out quickly, because questions about the kind of primary and the rules and why Michigan and Florida were punished in the first place, and why they may not be able to participate are a pretty good distance away from what regular people want to hear from their politicians and what they're worried about in their daily lives. And so, as a party Democrats, it's in their interest collectively, whether you are an Obama or Clinton supporter, to get things going here and get a system in place that looks real and adult and that allows them then to get back to talking about the issues that people really care about.
CHETRY: But does it get back to it? Or does it just put them in an even more dead heat when it comes to delegate count as they march toward the convention?
DICKERSON: Well, look at where things are at the moment. You have two states that are disenfranchised and you have both sides sniping. So any solution, whether it's a mail-in ballot or whether they come to, is better than the current state of play. So it looks at the moment like a situation that seemed completely unworkable and unfixable is actually moving now to some sense of order. And so, that's -- it's all trending in the right direction for Democrats.
CHETRY: Is this a -- what's going on, is it a miscalculation on the part of the DNC and these two state's leaders? Do they think this wasn't going to happen?
DICKERSON: Well, you know, both sides are pointing fingers at each other. I think, certainly the state leaders tried to get clever and move their contests up so that they can get themselves in the limelight. They've sure won themselves some time in the limelight now. Now, it's certainly not necessarily for the reasons they wanted it. And the Democrats in Washington have to stay firm because they have to basically have their rules mean something and matter, and they don't want the other states going off and misbehaving as well. So there's plenty of finger pointing. Now, the question is whether everybody can just stop that and get something done.
CHETRY: Very interesting. John Dickerson of slate.com, good to see you this morning, thanks.
DICKERSON: Thank you. ROBERTS: A fortune in a heap of used clothing. A thrift store worker finds $30,000. We'll tell you what she did with that big find coming up next.
And East meets West at a popular fast food chain. Why some McDonald's are getting a Feng shui makeover. Our Polly LaBarre is here to explain the business plan behind this interior decorating ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Hey, look at your "Hot Shot" now. How about it? This is the cutest cub in the word, and I feel comfortable saying that by, you know, all of our cub viewing over the years here on AMERICAN MORNING.
This is Flocke -- released the newest pictures of this little one at the Nuremberg Zoo in Germany. That polar bear is a day shy of its three-month birthday. By the unofficial count, the adorable animal is the current leader in "Hot Shot" appearances as well How about it?
ROBERTS: But as we saw from that recent photo of Knut, they do grow up to be big, angry bears.
CHETRY: Exactly. So enjoy them while they're cute and cuddly. Hi there, bud.
Well, if you have a "Hot Shot," send it to us. Head to our Web site CNN.com/am. Follow the "Hot Shot" link. We'd love to see some of your shots as well.
It turns out honesty does pay off. A thrift store worker in Southern California found $30,000 while sorting through some clothes. The money belonged to a woman who had recently passed away, and her family had dropped off some of her belongings. Well, it was returned to the family and the worker got a reward. She says she will spend some of her reward money to send her mother to Mexico, so she can get an eye operation and then she's going to buy herself a digital camera.
ROBERTS: Peace, serenity, harmony, and how about a side of fries with that. Check out this McDonald's in California. No bad lighting. No plastic furniture and no Ronald McDonald decor.
Our Polly LaBarre joins us now to explain the Feng shui makeover. And the first thing that's got me all edged and ready, is it Feng shui? Is it Feng shui? Is it Feng shui?
POLLY LABARRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's all about harmonius peacefulness, so it doesn't matter how you pronounce it.
ROBERTS: There you go. What's up with this?
LABARRE: Well, this is what you don't think for McDonald's cookie cutter place, cookie cutter food. The last 15 years, this neighborhood in Hacienda Heights in California has had a boom in the Asian population. So when the owners decided to redo this McDonald's, they consulted a Feng shui master and it incorporated the earth, wind, fire, metal element. So you see rippling walls. You see water elements. You see fire elements. There are two water walls that surround a booth which the Chinese customers call the love booth now, because apparently it's full of prosperity and good vibes when it comes to love.
So this is really about retailers saying, wait a second, we don't want people in and out as fast as possible. So it's not just about transaction. It's really about creating an emotional bond with people. I call it the "Starbuckification" of all of retail. You know, how do you turn everything into a cafe where people stay and hang out?
ROBERTS: You know, I've always wondered why people hang out at Starbucks tapping on their computer all day long?
CHETRY: They don't have any type of limit. At our McDonald's, it says, please enjoy your food within a 30 minutes time limit and then get out.
ROBERTS: There you go. OK. So that's McDonald's.
LABARRE: Sure.
ROBERTS: I got to say that the decor of that McDonald's inside is really lovely.
LABARRE: Quite pleasant. It's not the old yellow plastic booths...
CHETRY: Right.
LABARRE: ... that actually did encourage you to eat your hamburger really quickly and get out of there.
ROBERTS: But as good as that is, nothing compared to this Lexus dealership in Newport Beach.
LABARRE: So McDonald's is kind of a low end mass market. Lexus, of course, is a luxury brand which has distinguished itself not just with great cars, but creating a really high-end luxury experience. So you see the putting green here. This Newport Beach dealership has fireplaces, lounge areas that almost look like an upscale hotel lobby. They're catered. Their food is catered by a local restaurant. They have a boutique.
ROBERTS: Look at that.
LABARRE: You get a coffee bar. When you leave, your car is filled with bottled water and chocolates. I mean, it's fully like staying at the Ritz Carlton when you buy a car.
And the whole idea again is they're not in the business of selling cars. They're in the business of creating deep and enduring connections with customers, and I think that's what everyone in the business for. CHETRY: Does it work for them? Are they selling more Lexus?
LABARRE: Well, Lexus is doing incredibly well. They're thriving in a really competitive market right now, and I think it's because they've created this experience above and beyond the cars themselves.
ROBERTS: Well, at the very least if you don't come back for the car, maybe you come back for the chocolates.
LABARRE: There you go.
ROBERTS: Polly, thanks. Fascinating stuff.
CHETRY: Thanks, Polly.
CHETRY: Well, you're watching the "Most News in the Morning." And still ahead, a grandmother taking cover after a tornado, only to put her life in greater danger. How she found a way to help herself. It's amazing survival story still ahead.
And new details in Nevada. A clinic health scare? Officials say that the possible number of exposed victims to dirty syringes could be much larger than they first thought. A mother of five speaks out to AMERICAN MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What's your biggest worry, your biggest fear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My babies alone without a mom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: CNN's Chris Lawrence shows us why the health alert may have to be expanded when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. This is a look right now at our own John Roberts reporting in Iraq for CNN special investigations unit. Congratulations are in order. John and his team won a National Headliner Award.
In fact, first place for coverage of a major news event for SIU Death Squad. Some great reporting and it was actually a very great hour of television. So congratulations on that.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Well, a lot of people also worked on that. So big thanks to everybody who was involved with that project.
CHETRY: It was actually a really great showing for CNN in general. CNN winning 13 headliner awards. In fact, more than any other television news organizations in great work. Other first place award winners Dr. Sanjay Gupta, also of AMERICAN MORNING, winning for his special investigation "Chasing Life" and won for health and signs reporting. Also, "Planet in Peril" won for environmental reporting.
You and I had a chance to attend the premier of that and fabulous work as well. "ANDERSON COOPER 360" won for Michael Ware's continued coverage of the war in Iraq. So congratulations to everyone who worked very hard on those reports.
ROBERTS: Yes, yes. It's great to see. A great showing as well.
Hey, it's a story that everybody is talking about this morning. A virtual medicine cabinet in your drinking water. An Associated Press investigation being released later on today found several drugs in the drinking water supply of at least 41 million Americans from New Jersey to Georgia to California.
Antibiotics, anti-depressants, estrogen, painkillers. So far, no reports of people getting sick because of their water. Utility companies insist that the water is safe.
But it brings us to today's "Quick Vote" question. Will you change your drinking water habits because of this study? We're asking folks yes, you will, no, you're not that concerned about it or no, because there doesn't seem to be anything that we can do about it. Cast your vote at cnn.com/am. We'll have the first tally of votes coming up later on this hour.
You can also send us an e-mail. What do you think about the whole thing? Our address is am@cnn.com. We'll read some of your e- mails a little bit later on this morning.
Also new this morning. The Federal Aviation Administration reportedly giving Southwest Airlines a pass when it came to safety inspection. That's according to this morning's "USA Today." The newspaper reports the agency allowed the airline to skip critical safety inspections for years. The news comes as FAA inspectors are scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill today. Last week the agency fined Southwest $10.2 million for failing to perform mandatory inspections.
Chinese officials this morning are assuring the world that the Olympic Games are safe from terrorism. China's news agency says it broke up a plot against the games by separatist from an autonomous region in Northwest China. It says the same group tried to hijack an airliner last week. The Summer Games are set to begin in Beijing in August.
And NASA says everything is a go for the rare nighttime shuttle launch plan for overnight tonight. And Endeavour said to lift off at 2:28 Tuesday morning. Launching in the middle of the night will get the crew to the International Space Station in the least amount of time. And Endeavour's crew will be delivering a lab module as well as new robot arm to the space station in its 16-day mission.
There's a new information this morning about a health scare in Nevada. 40,000 clinic patients have already been alerted to the potential they were exposed to Hepatitis or HIV. That was 40,000. And now there is word that could be just the beginning. AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence shows us why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Nevada health scare that put 40,000 people at risk of Hepatitis and HIV may have caused even more infections than first believed. Some people treated it as outpatient surgery center were left off the first alert and health inspectors have now turn up violations at other clinics.
LISA JONES, STATE LICENSING BUREAU: In some places we're seeing reuse of medication vials and in some cases issues with house syringes are used.
LAWRENCE: Investigators are promise to inspect all 50 of the state centers. Five nurses have volunteered to give up their licenses and the doctors could be next.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Carrying a lot of lives and minor one of them.
LAWRENCE: We're concealing this patient's identity to protect their family's privacy. Pam is a married mother of five who says she went in for hernia treatment and came out infected with Hepatitis C.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I can't believe that me -- how could it happen to me?
LAWRENCE: Pam recently got one of the 40,000 letters sent to patients at risk.
(on camera): Is there any way you could have had Hepatitis C before you went to this clinic?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Never. There's no way.
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Hepatitis C is typically transmitted through blood or semen. It attacks the liver and kills as many as 10,000 Americans every year.
SUSAN GERHARDT, NEVADA STATE ASSEMBLY: I think that the people who perpetrated this are absolutely monstrous.
LAWRENCE: At least six cases of Hepatitis have been traced to this clinic and five of those patients were treated on the same day. The owner has agreed to stop practicing medicine until the investigation is complete but he says the problems have been corrected. And the chances of contracting an infection are extremely low. There is no proof Pam was infected here but she seems sure of it. What's your biggest worry? Your biggest fear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Leaving my babies alone without a mom and it could have been prevented. It could have been.
LAWRENCE: It's too late for patients like Pam but this week the CDC is sending several experts to Nevada and it calls the crisis that tip of the iceberg of a potential national problem. Chris Lawrence, CNN, Las Vegas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: State health officials admit that the clinic at the center of the scare had not been fully inspected since 2001. That's even though there are rules stating that inspections are due at these clinics every three years.
ROBERTS: Maybe it's the bright side of a weak dollar. Somebody is outsourcing to the United States. BMW and an effort to cut its cost is upping its workforce. Our senior business correspondent Ali Velshi joins us with more. We're down right a bargain these days.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And this is the bright side. And if the dollar stays low for a long time, by the way, it's a little worse than $1.54 to buy a Euro. This is the kind of thing you might actually see happen. Here's what's happening.
BMW is cutting about 3 percent of its permanent workforce in Germany and they are going to transfer some of that work over to the United States. It may not be the same work. They have plant in South Carolina in Greer, South Carolina which builds X5's and Z4's.
Now, there are 4,500 people permanently employed at that South Carolina plant. Another 900 people are employed on a temporary basis. We spoke to BMW this morning and they said that this might result in about 200 more jobs. They're not quite sure yet. But maybe 200 more jobs in South Carolina. They want to up production by 50 percent by 2012.
Last year, they made 155,000 cars in the United States. They want to up that to about 240,000 by 2012. Now, that means it will create some jobs. 200 jobs isn't that great big number but considering it on Friday, we heard that we lost over 60,000 jobs in a month in the United States. The fact that that low dollar might be attractive particularly to European manufacturers because the U.S. is a deal might be a bit of a silver lining on that low dollar cloud.
And you might see a little more of this. Again, not a big number if it's a couple hundred jobs but it's better than losing jobs.
ROBERTS: And American exports of course become more attractive.
VELSHI: We've seen that. We've seen the fact that American exports are now up in other countries.
ROBERTS: So we should start making things again.
VELSHI: Yes. Well, I mean, this is an experience in Canada went through for a long time. Canada was having a tough time with the dollar there strengthening against the U.S. dollar. They were loving the fact that people were buying Canadian goods and factories were opening up. So, we'll see. There might be a good sign of this.
ROBERTS: The problem of course is when you go on vacation somewhere outside of your country. VELSHI: No, no. Vacations are -- that's why I went around Texas. It was fantastic. I figured out my vacation for summer.
CHETRY: Speaking of that. Coming up a little later, we're going to show you just how far that will get you. We sent Richard Quest out with the -- I think it was a certain amount of money. I think its $100 and to see how far he could get.
ROBERTS: Did he get a few blocks from here.
CHETRY: No. He was in Europe. He had $100 American dollars and he went in to see how far he can get to Europe. And so we have a cute little -- I guess, playback of his day.
VELSHI: I would like to see that.
CHETRY: See if he made it past breakfast.
VELSHI: Very good.
CHETRY: Thanks, Ali.
Well, also in North Carolina, grandmother credited her brute strength for being able to get herself out of a 20-hour ordeal. Susan Mitchell was trapped in her closet. The door locked behind her after she took cover there after a tornado. After 20 hours passed without food, water or her medication she realize she had to get herself out and she grabbed a wooden board and busted through the wall.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN MITCHELL, STUCK IN CLOSET FOR 20 HOURS: There in the floor and a pillow and squeezed through the hole. Not bad for a grandma.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Not bad at all, Susan. She walked away without a scratch. Her advice anyone in the same situation is keep a hammer in your closet. Tie your cell phone around your neck and be in shape.
VELSHI: Don't go into a closet that locks.
ROBERTS: Exactly from the outside.
VELSHI: I didn't know they did that kind of thing.
CHETRY: We just moved in to a new house and those are the types of things you have to think about. I have a couple of those with little ones. They love to you. They love to lock themselves in or lock you out, one or the other. So you got to be careful.
VELSHI: And not to put a business angle on this, but locks and doors are expensive.
CHETRY: Exactly.
VELSHI: You don't want to be throwing one away for no good reason.
ROBERTS: I'm trying to figure out what good a closet is that locks from the outside.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: No monsters.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: There's no getting those monsters. You know, they have locked themselves in there. And the skeletons. All right, Ali, thanks.
VELSHI: OK.
ROBERTS: A young boy gets pulled down by undertow. Dozens of people scrambled to rescue him including a 16-year-old, Good Samaritan. We've got that story coming right up.
A Web site that rates cops across the nation. A service for citizens. Or a danger to officers in the line of fire? Our legal brief weighs in, that's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. The search resumes today off of the coast of Oregon for a 16-year-old Good Samaritan who went missing while trying to save another boy. Ross Barfuss has dove into the water when he saw an 11-year-old River Jenison struggling in the surf. Rescuers pulled Jenison out of the water but he died at a nearby hospital. The coast guard also had to rescue two kayakers who were caught in a rip tide over the weekend.
It's 45 minutes after the hour. Rob Marciano checking in on the extreme weather today across the country.
Rob, what's causing these terrible rip tides off the coast of Oregon?
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: We have an update now on a story that we first told you about last week. And it was the video that captured national attention. A mother was caught on camera spraying her child with a car wash hose. She's free on bail now after she was arrested Friday and charge with felony child abuse.
The mother who is five months pregnant says she was trying to stop her 2 1/2-year-old daughter from throwing a tantrum. She says she never use the power wash function. The girl is now staying with family members. She had no visible injuries. She was examined 11 days though after the incident. We bring in now AMERICAN MORNING's legal analyst Sunny Hostin.
You weighed in on the case and said you thought clear cut, they're going to have some charges. But you also brought up some other interesting points about this. What's the latest?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think the latest is that while she's been charged with child abuse, there was another person on that video that some people did not notice. There was a friend with her. And apparently the friend held the child while the mother came out with the power washer. When I was a prosecutor, that person would have been charged. I don't know if the person has been found, charged. But the only reason that she would not be charged in my view is if she is cooperating with the authorities and she is going to testify about sort of the pre-meditation.
Because if you look at later on in the video, the mother then leaves the child, disrobes the child, completely naked and then goes in and get a dry set of clothing. And that shows me pre-meditation. I mean, who wakes up in the morning and decides this is how I'm going to discipline my kid. I'm going to pack the car with dry clothes. I'm going to power hose her in a garage and then I'm going to take her clothes off and redress her. And the other woman was there the entire time, Kiran.
And so I think they certainly conspired to do this or there's evidence of it and I think that's where this investigation is going.
CHETRY: All right. We'll see where it goes from here. Also, I want to get your take on this story. It's a new Web site that has got some law enforcement pretty angry actually. It's called ratemycop.com. And it allows users to rate the performance of more than 130,000 officers.
Now, some police agencies are saying this site needs to be shutdown because it puts the lives of police officers and their families in danger. Not to mention their reputation.
The creators though say that the purpose of the site is to break the stereotype that people have that all cops are bad by having police officers become responsible for their actions. And say that they will screen the site for inappropriate comments and undercover police do not show up on this. Police worry though that it could put police officers in danger.
First of all, you talked to some people in law enforcement. What's your take on this site?
HOSTIN: Well, I spoke to two former police officers. One, a 21- year veteran and he was very, very nervous about it. His quote was, you know, the bad guys use these sites to gain tactical information. No good can come of it in the long run. As a police officer, apparently, he had over 500 arrests. Did all, you know, delivered baby, saved lives but the thing, you know, one bad disgruntle apple may post something on the site.
The other officer that I spoke to clearly said, you know, this could escalate any situation that a police officer may encounter if someone has read something about a police officer and that person goes in and maybe reacts in a certain way. So I think that cops are very, very concerned but bottom line is the First Amendment applies to the Internet. I don't think that there is anything that can be done. I think this is probably free speech opinions that would be protected.
CHETRY: Well, (INAUDIBLE) there something about the transparency. I mean, I know that we've talked about the video cameras, the dashboard cameras, and how they may actually, in the long run, help because people can see that police officers are doing the right thing.
HOSTIN: Sure. And that's the more appropriate thing. I think this kind of situation, let says there's an undercover cop and that person's information gets put on this ratemycop. That's going to be putting someone in danger. And although, this sort of speech is protected under the First Amendment, when there's a threat of violence and that sort of thing, that speech may not be protected. And I think this Web site needs to be very, very careful in that area.
CHETRY: Well, they say they are vetting it for inappropriate comments and they're also not allowing undercover police officers info on here.
HOSTIN: Let's hope.
CHETRY: We'll see how it goes. Sunny, great to see you. Thanks.
Also, be sure to stay tuned to AMERICAN MORNING tomorrow.
Sunny brings us another look at another Web site that's rocking some campuses across the country. It's called juicycampus.com, encouraging students to post gossip about their classmates for the whole world to see whether it's true or not. Some people say their reputations have been completely shattered because this.
So, what, if anything, can be done to stop it? That's tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING. We'll look forward to that. Thanks, Sunny.
HOSTIN: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Well, a game erupts into violence. We're going to have much more on a soccer match that ended up with 80 people injured. That's coming up. Wow. He took one on the chin right there.
And it's never encouraging news for college grads when the economy shows signs of recession. This year, the hiring outlook, not as grim as you might expect. We'll tell you why, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Coming up at six minutes to the top of the hour. And if you're just joining us, a look at what's making headlines this morning.
Tough economic times don't necessarily make it a tough job market for college graduates.
A new study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers finds companies plan to add 16 percent more grads to their payrolls than they did a year ago. Companies say many of the new hires will be replacing baby boomers who are now approaching retirement.
The strong market for graduates is in contrast to the job market in general. The government reported on Friday that U.S. employers cut 63,000 jobs in February.
The prime minister of Spain will stay on the job. Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his Socialist Party won the parliamentary elections despite worries about a faltering economy. Zapatero was first elected in 2004 right after the Madrid train bombings. One of his first major decisions when he took office was to pull all of Spain's troops out of Iraq.
And 80 people were hurt when a brawl broke out during a soccer game in Colombia. It started with the two coaches, then players got involved and then violence spread around the stadium. Fans set up firecrackers, tried to tear down a fence. Riot police used tear gas to try to control the crowd. Ten people were seriously hurt, 18 of them were stabbed.
CHETRY: That is unbelievable video. Look at that. Wow.
Well, a virtual medicine cabinet in your drinking water. An Associated Press investigation that's being released later today found several drugs in the drinking water supply of at least 41 million Americans from New Jersey to Georgia to California. Antibiotics, anti-depressants, estrogen, pain killers.
So far, no reports of any people getting sick and so a lot of questions as to what the long-term implications are of those trace amounts of pharmaceuticals. Utility companies still insist the water is safe.
That brings us to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. Will you change your drinking water habits upon finding out this news? Right now, 39 percent of you were saying yes, 8 percent say no because you're not that concerned, and 25 percent say no because there doesn't seem to be anything that you can do about it.
Continue to cast your votes throughout the morning, cnn.com/am. We're going to talk to an environmental expert a little bit later as well as our own medical department about the implications of this study. And we've also been asking for your e-mails on in. We want to know what you think. Send us an e-mail, our address, cnn.com. It's am@cnn.com. And we'll read some of them throughout the morning.
ROBERTS: Iraq earns billions of dollars from oil so why aren't they spending more to pay for the country's reconstruction. Two U.S. senators want an investigation. A live report on that coming up at the top of the hour.
And the Democratic presidential candidate is digging in for a battle to the bitter end. Next stop, Mississippi tomorrow.
Coming up, Senator Barack Obama's campaign on its fight for a few precious delegates. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Signs of the times. Gas prices smash records across the U.S. and could look like bargains within weeks.
Bio battle. Democrats move to Mississippi. Who has the momentum now? It's the "Most Politics in the Morning."
Great white mess.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm ready for spring. I've had enough of snow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Digging out. Skidding out. A blast of winter before we slide into spring, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
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