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American Morning
Extreme Weather and Deadly Flooding Across Heartland; Drug War at Sea
Aired March 20, 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: John Roberts has the week off and we have a lot to talk about today, again extreme weather this morning. We have a CNN exclusive as well, the drug war at sea. The military seizes submarines run by a drug cartel. We know where they're headed but where are they coming from and why are they harder and harder to spot.
Also, hold off on downloading the best of "Night Ranger." You may be able to get it for nothing off of iTunes in the near future. We'll explain, a possible proposal in the works. A new report saying Apple could make the entire music catalog available for free but nothing is really free, right. We'll tell you about the catch coming up.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN ANCHOR: We start with extreme weather and deadly flooding across the heartland. At least 13 people killed after two days of nonstop rains, more than a foot of rain slamming Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Arkansas, and Missouri and at least three people reported missing today in Texas and Arkansas. Missouri, the worst hit flood zone, the state there in spots haven't seen this kind of flooding in decades. Emergency crews took part in 50 water rescues. Thousands of people forced to flee their homes. Rivers are expected to reach record levels and spillover in the next few days. Reynolds Wolf is tracking the extreme weather at the weather update desk down in Atlanta, Reynolds, hoping for a little bit more dry weather today but as you know, these rivers take several days to flood. What you got?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well Rob, unfortunately they are still going through sheer hell in parts of Missouri. Let's go right to this very interesting map from the Missouri Department of Transportation. What you see on the map Rob, these are all road closures that we have throughout the state of Missouri. If you'll notice, many of the closures clustered right around parts of Cape Girardeau and into southeastern Missouri. Now there's a reason for that. Take a look at this. These are your rainfall totals. Cape Girardeau, over a foot of rainfall, same story in Mountain Home, Arkansas, a little bit farther to the south, Evansville, back over to Mount Vernon, Indiana, they're dealing with over seven inches of rainfall, even Hamilton, Ohio, impressive rainfall now. And of course, it is going to be a mess for many of the people as this water continues to find its way into many of the tributaries feeding into the major rivers. The flooding is going to continue.
In terms of rainfall right now, Rob, you were asking about that. What's in store for the rest of the day? Fairly dry conditions later on, but for the time being we're still seeing pockets of rainfall from Waterloo southward into the St. Louis area. As we make our way back over to the east, the rain and actually the system that caused the heavy rainfall in parts of the Midwest, the mid Ohio and Mississippi valleys now moving right off the eastern seaboard bringing some scattered showers to places like New York back up to Boston, heavy rainfall in some pockets, but mostly scattered showers from Boston northward to places like Bangor, Maine. And then back up to parts of upstate New York and out near parts of the lakes we're seeing that lake-effect activity as that northwesterly breeze continues to kick in. But I'll tell you Rob, things are going to look a little bit better weather wise in many of those flood-ravaged areas, but still, it's going to be something they're going to be dealing with no doubt for quite some time.
MARCIANO: All right. Reynolds, we'll certainly be back to you in the next half hour. Thanks buddy.
CHETRY: In politics today, a new primary in Michigan now in jeopardy. It seemed that just a few days ago, they thought that they were well on their way to a redo but the state legislature now has just until the end of today to approve the second primary before a two-week recess begins. Lawmakers are reviewing a bill that would allow up to $12 million in private donations to pay for a do over. Hillary Clinton is pressing Barack Obama to support the legislature's plan. Obama has not responded because supporters don't seem to be too thrilled about it. They say the plan is too full of problems. Michigan loss its delegates when it voted early against party rules. Hillary Clinton won that primary and Barack Obama actually removed his name from the ballot.
CNN's Anderson Cooper went on the trail with Barack Obama just a day after he tried to put the controversy surrounding his former pastor Jeremiah Wright behind him. Obama defended himself against new attacks from Hillary Clinton claiming that he's dragging his feet when it comes to backing that do over plan in Michigan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's hard for me to get a sense of how we could be to blame for that situation. We have consistently said we'll play by whatever rules the DNC has laid out. Senator Clinton I have to say on this has been completely disingenuous. She said when she was still trying to compete for votes in Iowa and New Hampshire, that Michigan and Florida wouldn't count. Then as soon as she got into trouble politically and it looked like she would have no prospects of winning the nomination without having them count, suddenly she's extraordinarily concerned with the voters there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Much more of Anderson's exclusive interview with Barack Obama a bit later in this hour.
Meantime, presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain landed in England overnight. He'll meet with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for the first time later today. On the agenda, Iraq, the world economy, as well as global warming. There you see him walking with Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman. McCain will also be holding a fund-raiser before traveling to Paris to meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. His trip also included recent visits to Iraq, as well as Jordan and Israel.
MARCIANO: Alina Cho is here working on other news that's happening this morning. Good morning Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there guys, good morning. Good morning everybody, new this morning, Vice President Dick Cheney is in Afghanistan today. He flew in from Oman, Jordan to meet with President Hamid Karzai as the country prepares for the traditional rise in insurgent attacks in the spring. Cheney's visit comes two days after he met with top commanders in Iraq. He says the so-called troop surge there has produced positive results.
A new warning from Osama bin Laden. This time he has set his sights on Europe. In a new audiotape, he warns of a severe reaction to European countries for allowing the publication of Danish cartoons depicting Islam's prophet Mohammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban. The five minute tape makes just one reference to President Bush calling him a quote, aggressive ally who is about to depart the White House. The Feds are still working to confirm that that tape was real.
China has acknowledged for the first time protests in Tibet are widening. According to Chinese state media, demonstrations are now taking place outside the capital city. The western media has been reporting it for days. Twenty four people have been arrested in last Friday's riots, at least 80 people killed. Protesters are calling for Tibet's independence and the return of their exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. The protests come just months before the start of the Beijing Olympics.
U.S. health officials say they have found the mysterious ingredient which contaminated some batches of the blood thinner heparin. They say the substance is a cheap manmade chemical compound that mimics heparin and preliminary testing so far has not identified it. Right now the Food and Drug Administration is trying to figure out how the chemical got into the drug, saying it's not clear whether it was deliberate or accidental. Batches of heparin were recalled last month after 19 deaths were associated with it. The drug's key ingredient was imported from China.
An update for you on a key stretch of highway here in the east, a three-mile stretch of I-95 is unlikely to open for rush hour this morning. We were hoping it would. The road was closed on Monday to repair a crack in a column supporting an elevated part of the highway, but steel supports near the damaged pillar are apparently sinking slightly under the load so engineers are proceeding with caution and that could mean more heavy traffic this morning and another difficult morning commute. Yikes, watch out in Philadelphia or if you are driving through there today.
Philadelphia meanwhile says the English only signs in a famous Philly cheese steak shop can be displayed. Do you remember the story? It's one that we first told you about way back in June of 2006. The city's commission on human relations says the signs don't violate Philadelphia's fair practices ordinance but critics say they discourage those who don't speak English from going to the shop. The owner, well, he says he's never refused to serve anyone who cannot speak English.
Apple is reportedly in talks to make iTunes free. That wasn't an iPod, Kiran's blackberry there, happy iPods. Listen to the story though. (INAUDIBLE) If it's true, customers may be able to download anything they want from the giant music library if they're willing to pay even more for an iPod or an iPhone. That's the catch of course. The money has to come from somewhere. No word on how much extra. The report says it all hinges on the way Apple shares profit with the major record labels and again, that was not an iPod.
CHETRY: Do you know what it was? You're going to laugh. It was our hairdresser Claudia saying what do you want for breakfast?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You don't miss the breakfast call around here.
CHO: It's the same thing every day. It's a sausage and egg biscuit.
VELSHI: With a side of pasta and red sauce and a hard boiled egg and some cottage cheese.
CHO: The girl's pregnant. Leave her alone.
VELSH: By the way, speaking about all that eating, I think that the cheese steaks over at Pat's across the road from Ginos are better anyway. Those two are right across from each other.
(INAUDIBLE)
CHETRY: You're not driving to Philadelphia any time soon. That's the thing.
VELSHI: You take the train because the gas prices out of control. Big -- and I-95 is closed.
MARCIANO: And the barrel...
VELSHI: The barrel, big, big sale on oil. Grab yourself barrel if you can. Look at that. $104.48. They are giving it away. That is a drop of $4.95 in one day. That's the biggest dollar drop in 17 years, kind of a weird statistic because oil hasn't been at that price. So if oil were at like, 20 bucks and dropped 5 bucks, that would be a much bigger deal, bottom line is a big drop in the price of oil, price of gold, price of all sorts of commodities yesterday. It is sending the price of gasoline down to what a discount on gas. National average for a gallon of self-serve unleaded is $3.27, OK, so not such a big deal.
I'm going give you some information from a poll that CNN and the Opinion Research Corporation have taken about gas prices and how they are affecting Americans. We asked whether rising gas prices have caused financial hardship for your family. Seventy two percent of respondents said yes, only 28 percent no. Then we asked how likely it is that gasoline is going to go to an average of $4 a gallon this year and 72 percent, the same number there, said very likely, 20 percent said somewhat likely and 8 percent said not likely. They are probably subway users in New York who don't know what the price of gas is. We also asked at what level, at what price would the price of gasoline per gallon cause a major change in your daily life. Thirty three percent said when it reaches $4 a gallon. 22 percent said, 33 percent said under $4 a gallon, where it is now, 22 percent said $4, 9 percent said between $4 and $5, 15 percent said over $5 and 10 percent said over $5 a gallon. There are a few states where gasoline has already going for $4 a gallon. I didn't make that stuff up. That's an actual poll taken by CNN and Opinion Research Corporation.
MARCIANO: People just starting to strategize maybe.
VELSHI: Correct. They're thinking about it.
CHETRY: It's a bit of a change though. For months and months people were complaining about gas prices but not necessarily doing anything differently, so this is....
VELSHI: People are now thinking they're going to do something different.
MARCIANO: What do you want to breakfast (INAUDIBLE) Claudia...
VELSHI: I wouldn't normally have it, but that pasta with red sauce that I saw you having yesterday, that has my name all over it.
CHETRY: Ali, that's called spaghetti. (INAUDIBLE) Thanks.
Well, it's not red October, but the hunt is on for elusive submarine-like ships in central and South America. Take a look at this. This is exclusive video to CNN of the submarines packed to the brim with cocaine. CNN's Jeanne Meserve has a closer look at the amateur smuggling ships and the strategies now in place to try to head them off coming up next.
Also March madness kicks off this afternoon. We'll tell you why a silly thing like work may get in the way. Veronica de la Cruz has some advice for keeping up with the games online and staying out of the trouble at the same time. That's all ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: As we've been reporting, most of Ohio is under flood warnings this morning. The state is dealing with melting snow and at least four inches of rain just from this storm alone. Dozens of roads turned into raging rivers and emergency crews used boats to save 16 people trapped by the rising waters. Our Sean Callebs is live in South Lebanon, Ohio this morning. Sean, obviously it's wet. What can you tell us?
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's the initial observation you get looking down this area. You are looking at part of the Little Miami River. You can see how it's just jumped its banks, came pouring in and all of this debris is from an apparent corn field and it's about I'd say a foot or two feet thick as you walk across. You can see down at the end of the road there's that turn sign. This is actually a highway that carves its way through South Lebanon, Ohio. This is just one of the areas simply swamped after being inundated by rains over the past 24 hours.
Coming in here, we saw a number of homes where the floodwater had gone down significantly over the last 12 or so hours. Cars flooded, a lot of houses flooded. So today authorities are going to be getting out in first light and do their first initial assessment on just how bad the damage is. We talked about the deaths, the dramatic rescue efforts that went on yesterday. They are concerned about more rain throughout parts of Ohio. It's cold out here, only one day from spring so it's going to be Rob, a very difficult, very messy job that's going to take some time and a lot of money.
MARCIANO: Sean, I don't know how long you have been on the ground there. You've probably been traveling all night, but any word as to how this compares to floods in the past and when the river may be cresting?
CALLEBS: We were able to talk to some emergency officials getting in here last night. You're right in the fact that we didn't get in until very late. But they said it's better than they expected. They thought that the river was actually going to go up an additional four feet, so you can imagine how bad that flooding would be. The problem is this has happened again and again and again in parts of Ohio and it's just so frustrating for the residents out here in this area, because look down to this road, how this road is just simply gone. Its going to take some time and this is just one of scores of roads all throughout this part of the state where folks are going to have to get out and do some damage assessment when the sun tries to peek out.
MARCIANO: Sean Callebs in the muck, South Lebanon, Ohio, thanks, Sean. We'll be back to you buddy. Kiran.
CHETRY: And security watch now and the war on drugs has a new battleground, the high seas. Smugglers around central and South America are moving tons of cocaine inside what's being described as almost submarines. They're fast. They're hard to spot and as CNN's Jeanne Meserve shows us, they are a new concern for the Coast Guard.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A high-speed chase on the high seas. In this video obtained exclusively by CNN, Coast Guardsmen on a Navy boat chase a semi-submersible, a vessel that rides almost completely under water. Its suspected cargo, tons of cocaine. This incident three weeks ago in the Pacific far off the coast of South America part of a growing trend. Between 2001 and 2007, there were 23 known smuggling cases involving semi submersibles. The Coast Guard projects 85 this year, 120 the year after that because they do the job for the traffickers. ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN, COMMANDANT, U.S. COAST GUARD: They are very low profile, very hard to pick up with radar. They go very slow and don't leave a wake.
MESERVE: And they are sometimes camouflaged with blue paint. Built in the jungles of Colombia for about $1 million a piece, new models can travel hundreds of miles without refueling at speeds as high as 12 knots and can carry as much as 12 metric tons of cocaine. Once made of fiber glass, many are now made of steel, making them more seaworthy. Some can even be navigated by remote control.
FRANKIE SHROYER, DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMIN: The traffickers are always trying to outwit us. They've got a lot of money. If these become successful or more successful, they will continue to use it until we get a handle on it.
MESERVE: Authorities say they often get good intelligence about semi submersibles but don't always have the resources to respond. When they are successful, the crew of the semi-submersible usually bails out, scuttling the vessels and drugs, making prosecution difficult. But that could change.
ALLEN: We're actually working with the Congress right now to pass legislation to make the operation of one of these vessels in and of itself illegal.
MESERVE: Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Right now those semi submersibles are used to smuggle cocaine from Colombia up to Central America or Mexico and the drug enforcement agency says it's concerned that the drugs may some day sail directly to the United States. Pretty amazing, you know what you'll do with a little bit of will and ingenuity, $1 million a pop and they are making these as they said in the jungles of South America.
MARCIANO: Money drives people to do some pretty desperate things for sure.
Check this out. A bus plowing down the road as a giant roadblock comes out of nowhere. No time to think or slam on the brakes. How did it end? We've got a hot shot for you, want to stick around for that.
Plus, March madness gets going today, you better believe it. Veronica de la Cruz tells us how to keep tabs on our favorite teams even at the office without getting in trouble. That's all ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: A billboard versus a bus. Wow. Look at that. That's your hot shot. Take a look, this amazing crash caught on tape in Monterey, Mexico during an intense wind storm, boom, 60 mile an hour gust tore down a sign right before a bus plowed into it.
CHETRY: What can you even do in that situation?
MARCIANO: Duck I guess (INAUDIBLE) Amazingly, nobody was hurt, so that's good news there, just a few minor injuries but no fatalities so that's the good news. We want to see more of this stuff. It's just enthralling television. Please send it to us, our hot shots. That's on our Web site, cnn.com/am and follow the hot shot link.
CHETRY: I guess you could have tried to maybe get out of that lane, but when you saw it blowing but who thinks it's going to totally come down and smash into your bus.
MARCIANO: Big coach buses are not known for taking sharp turns. They don't really hug the rails. I wonder if the driver got hurt.
CHETRY: They said they took six people to the hospital for observation but everybody was just a little bit banged up and that's about it. So yeah, you're right. It is amazing.
MARCIANO: Go Greyhound.
CHETRY: Leave the driving to us.
We're losing productivity right and left around this place this morning because it's a yearly ritual that apparently costs employers nearly $2 billion they say in lost productivity. Our Veronica de la Cruz takes a look at March madness online. We're all reviewing the brackets this morning. But I feel like we're still doing our jobs. It was just a small glance.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right about that. Twenty percent of the workforce will participate in March madness.
MARCIANO: We as journalists really need to keep up on this. It is --
DE LA CRUZ: I'm just doing my job. I'm just doing my job here. It's noon Eastern today and that is the tip-off time which means lots of us are going to be stuck in the office when those games begin. That is where the Internet comes in handy. According to the Consumer Electronics Association, about four in 10 college basketball fans will watch the games online especially the earlier games that aren't nationally televised. So where can you watch? Joost.com is one of many sites offering live streaming coverage of every game. It's j-o- o-s-t.com. Also CBS sports has partnered up with other sites like Facebook and YouTube to stream some of the games for free. They've even installed this so-called, guys, check this out, they've installed a boss button on the player. One quick click and then you pull up an official looking spreadsheet and that's going to cover up the game on your screen.
MARCIANO: No kidding? The boss button.
DE LA CRUZ: The boss button. CHETRY: Why didn't you think about that?
DE LA CRUZ: I really am doing some work here. March madness is so consuming even the presidential candidates were asked about it yesterday. Hillary Clinton said that she would have to discuss it with her expert, her husband, Bill. Word on the street is that Barack Obama is pulling for UNC and John McCain is taking this whole thing to another level. You can fill out a bracket on his campaign Web site and compare your bracket to his. The senator says that he's going to reveal his selection later today and to all those who play along, you can win some McCain gear. Check that out, a fleece. There's a button. You can even win a McCain baseball cap. And the Consumer Electronics Commission also says that this tournament is responsible for nearly one million HDTV purchases. Let's about $1 billion in retail sales and I have to say that I'm going to take a cue from Hillary here because she says that she has to employ her husband Bill who is the expert to set up her brackets. I had no idea. So Kiran, Rob, you get (ph) my picks.
MARCIANO: Cornell first time in 20 years taking on Stanford today.
CHETRY: And they're like 14th or something.
MARCIANO: (INAUDIBLE)
CHETRY: No one is paying attention to Maryland in the NIT (ph) tournament today?
MARCIANO: That's a good one.
CHETRY: Thanks Veronica.
MARCIANO: Might be consolation prize there.
It looks like Americans are finally changing their driving habits. High gas prices have people combining their errands, carpooling and using other transportation all of which resulted in a 1 percent decrease in gas consumption over an eight-week period compared to the previous year. Now 1 percent may not seem like much but considering that it usually rises by more than 1 percent every year, that's pretty significant. The popularity of hybrid cars has also helped people cut down on their gas usage. That brings us to this morning's quick vote question. Would you buy a hybrid vehicle? Cast your vote at cnn.com/am. We'll have the first tally of the votes later this hour.
CHETRY: All right, there was another day of heavy rain in the Midwest as well and now the concern is more flooding as water seeps its way into swelling rivers where those storms are also headed this morning coming up as well.
Plus, a hit-and-run a dash cam rolls as an officer uses his cruiser to run down a suspect but this is not the only tape raising eyebrows this morning. We're going to have more on this story when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Rob in for John.
CHETRY: I'm Kiran.
MARCIANO: Thank you.
CHETRY: And there's Ali and Alina.
MARCIANO: Oh yes.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys. We're all here this morning and we got a lot going on. And we're starting once again with this flooding that's ravaged parts of the Midwest. A second day of heavy rain hitting Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Arkansas, many say the hardest hit Missouri. The storm has moved on but the worse flooding could be yet to come as the rain water rises and these river levels are rising as we speak. The storm has left 13 people dead and forced hundreds more to evacuate.
A look at Missouri, the state that had the most extensive flooding in more than 100 years, where 500 homes were evacuated. And officials there say they attempted some 50 water rescues. Five deaths are being reported in the state, five in Kentucky, two in Illinois, and one person in Ohio. Three people are still missing, though, in Texas and Arkansas.
Our Reynolds Wolf is tracking the extreme weather for us right now. More on when we may see this start to quell for the Midwest as those floodwaters hopefully recede but then also where it's headed.
Hey, Reynolds.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: All right. We'll be tracking that with you all morning. Thanks a lot, Reynolds.
WOLF: You bet.
MARCIANO: Kiran, the torrential rains flooding much of the central U.S. claimed two lives in southern Illinois but a third person survived the incident. Police say two friends, a 35-year-old and a 20-year-old, were trying to drive across a flooded road when they were swept into a river and died. A third person was able to swim to safety before they became stuck.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICOLE ASBURY, SURVIVED FLOOD ACCIDENT: We thought it was going to get -- it wasn't as large of a thing of water as we thought it was. It went deeper instead of us coming out.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MARCIANO: Police say the road was properly marked and barricaded at the time of the accident.
We still have a number of flood warnings out and these rivers may very well not crest, many of them until Saturday or Sunday morning. So even though the rain is beginning to move out, the danger is still well under way. You can see all of these counties that are highlighted in this dark green, that is where we have these flood warnings that are still posted and some of the big rivers notably the Mississippi River out neat Cape Girardeau and down through here, that's going to see some serious flooding come Saturday and Sunday morning as well. Not quite what we saw in '93 but certainly approaching record stage there.
The key with flood safety, now keep in mind that flooding, flash flooding especially is the number one weather related fatality occurrence other than heat. And it doesn't take much to sweep you off your feet. It takes just six inches of moving water to sweep you off your feet and two feet to take an entire car away. So it's so important that when roads are barricaded and you see the floodwaters ahead of that barricade, not to even bother to try to drive through. It doesn't matter how high profile your vehicle is, it just doesn't take much water to sweep away.
And unfortunately we're seeing the fatalities this week with this tremendous amount of rain and flooding that's occurring across much of Midwest. Be careful out there.
Kiran, back over to you.
CHETRY: Yes, you're right. It's important to keep in mind. I mean we focus a lot on tornadoes and the damage from tornadoes and hurricanes because it is so dramatic but you talk about flash flooding being the number one weather related fatality besides heat really makes you think.
Thanks, Rob.
Meanwhile, Alina Cho is here with some other stories making headlines this morning including more trouble in baseball.
CHO: Oh that's right. Barry Bonds. That's right. Good morning, Kiran and good morning, everybody. New this morning, federal prosecutors say they're going to seek a new indictment of homerun king Barry Bonds. A judge threw out the first indictment on perjury charges ruling it was overly broad. Now the government says Bonds lied to a federal grand jury back in 2003 when he said he never knowingly used steroids or performance enhancing drugs.
It's an unprecedented peek into Hillary Clinton's experiences as first lady as she runs for president. The National Archives and the Clinton Presidential Library have released more than 11,000 pages documenting eight years of her schedule from her work on health care just three days after her husband's inauguration to being in on the Northern Ireland peace process to where she was when the Monica Lewinsky scandal started. I've been looking in to all of this. I'm going to have much more later on in AMERICAN MORNING.
Tonight astronauts will float outside the space shuttle. They're going to test potentially life-saving equipment. This is a key space walk. They've been given pre-damaged shuttle key chilled tiles and will use a special gel to reseal them just in case. The hope, of course, is that the substance will take the tiles strong enough to withstand the heat of re-entry. NASA came up with the plan after the 2003 Columbia tragedy.
A European vacation just got a little more expensive on two airlines. American and Northwest, get this, raised their fuel charges by $20 each way on flights to Europe. Ali has sighed. Total cost of U.S. to Europe flights this summer are expected to be two to three times what they are now. As if they aren't expensive enough.
Tough questions from two South Carolina state troopers this morning after dash cam video shows them chasing down and hitting two suspects. In one video the trooper slams into a man and then weaves his patrol car through trees and apartments dodging children in its path. And there's the chase there. In a second video, a trooper plows into a suspect who tries to cross in front of his patrol car. The officers involved were given two to three-day suspensions and remain on duty.
And a $10 million X-Prize is being offered for a car that gets 100 miles to the gallon. This will help with gas prices, huh? The X- Prize is best known for space flight competitions as many people know. International teams are challenged to build a car that is production ready, gets 100 miles to the gallon, goes from zero to 60 in 12 seconds, and can go at least 100 miles per hour. We're looking at...
CHETRY: It has to seat four, though, that's the catch.
CHO: Yes.
CHETRY: There's no way they can...
MARCIANO: Baby seats.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: (INAUDIBLE) not going to work so well.
CHO: That would seat one.
CHETRY: It has to seat four. That's the rub.
CHO: And I know you guys are going to look at a Chevy new hybrid SUV in the 8:00 hour to see what kind of mileage that car gets.
CHETRY: That's right. Gets good mileage. The question is: are people willing to pay a little bit more up front? They hybrid costs substantially more, at least that model does than the regular version.
MARCIANO: And does it have power? CHETRY: Oh we'll test it out. We'll be in there. But to the gas. Don't worry. Thanks, Alina.
CHO: You bet.
CHETRY: Meanwhile...
MARCIANO: Ali Velshi here.
CHETRY: Yes, Ali's here.
VELSHI: Well, let's keep talking about cars. It's the -- you know, the New York Auto Show is under way and that's why we've got a little bit more attention on cars right now and, of course, on gas prices. And the auto industry -- pardon me -- in the United States is looking at a, you know, a sales trough. Some people thought it's sort of V shaped but the CEO of Chrysler, Bob Nardelli, is saying it's going to be bathtub shaped, which is a financial term for meaning it's going to be a little bit longer.
Part of that is the price of gas, which, while it looks like a big discount on a $104.48, that's still making gas prices cost about $3.27 a gallon. Some people are expecting it could get to $3.50 or $3.75 this spring.
A little later on I'm going to go over to the auto show and I'm going to speak to the new vice chairman of Chrysler, Jim Press, who is the head of Toyota in the United States for many years and sort of oversaw the success of Lexus here in the United States.
The concern is that between bad debt, between high gas prices and fears about losing jobs, we are just seeing the number of cars sold in the United States dropping fairly precipitously. The United States has been the healthiest market in the world for automobiles for, well, the last 15 to 20 years. We already know that's sort of been slowing down as other parts of the world have stronger growth and we're going to see more cars coming into India and China, but because of these specific economic concerns in the United States this year, there are some expectations that things are going to be tougher than expected.
What are you going to see as a result of that? Well, we're seeing less emphasis on large size pickup trucks and SUVs. Obviously, the vehicles that use more gas. We'll see more emphasis on small cars and more fuel efficient cars but expect also to see an increase in the incentives that are offered. We're already starting to see those up tick in the next (INAUDIBLE).
And you know, yesterday we were talking about retailers, which try and sort of get your money by -- of those rebates that are coming, those tax rebates. You might see car dealers start to do the same thing.
CHO: But Kiran was alluding to the fact that you pay more up front. How much more expensive are they? Are they that much more expensive? CHETRY: I think the one that we're looking at today, and I have to double-check the numbers, but I think it's -- the hybrid one is about 50 grand and I think if you are to buy the regular one you're talking like 35,000, 38,000.
VELSHI: Right.
MARCIANO: That's huge.
CHETRY: And I think that's...
MARCIANO: Almost 40 percent.
CHETRY: And you have to ask yourself when are you going to make up that money?
VELSHI: Well, it depends on how much you drive. It also depends on whether you live in a state where there are tax rebates for buying the hybrid and the third thing, and this is probably very important for some people, in some states if you have a hybrid, you can drive on the high occupancy lanes to work on highways.
CHO: Alone?
VELSHI: Alone. In some places you can get parking incentives, you know, by having a hybrid. So it all sort of depends on what your particular circumstances. So for some people that premium might be worth it just to be able to zip to work.
CHETRY: Very true.
MARCIANO: I've got an SUV. I'll give you a good price on it.
VELSHI: Yes. That's right. In fact, I'll sell mine to you. You can have two of them for the price.
CHETRY: And my Buick is not for sale. I still got several thousand good miles.
CHO: 1990.
MARCIANO: Bring back the American car.
All right, Ali. Thanks.
Well, some college freshman looking to make a name for themselves on campus are instead finding out that their names are being dragged through the mud on a gossip Web site. We'll tell you about an effort to help these kids clear their names coming up.
And Senator Barack Obama in his own words on everything from his controversial former pastor to Senator Hillary Clinton. An exclusive one-on-one with CNN's Anderson Cooper. That is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
ANNOUNCER: "Minding Your Business" brought to you by... (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Keeping an eye on extreme weather this morning. We have rain that's moving off the East Coast but the big story has been the flooding that is just involved the entire Midwest. Could see rivers crest near record stage over the weekend. So even though the rain has moved out, the rivers will continue to rise so be careful out there if you live in Ohio, in Arkansas, Missouri. Boy, there's a slew of states under the gun here for flooding and just try not to drive through river or water that you think you can drive through because you never know. It could sweep you right off your feet -- Kiran?
CHETRY: All right. Well, students, too, who are victims of anonymous gossip on Juicycampus.com may be getting some help now. The New Jersey attorney general is going after the Web site and several colleges now consider -- are considering banning it. Oftentimes these anonymous posting talks about people's sexuality, accused them of being racist, name them and in some cases even publish their address.
AMERICAN MORNING legal analyst Sunny Hostin spoke with one student who says she was so humiliated about what was posted about her that she couldn't even show her face.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: My heart dropped into my stomach.
SUNNY HOSTIN, AMERICAN MORNING LEGAL ANALYST (voice over): This freshman never imagined she would be the subject of malicious postings on the gossip Web site Juicy Campus. She asked we not identify her or her school.
(On camera): They're calling you racist. They're calling you ugly. They're calling you overrated. How do you feel about that?
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: I cried a lot and I lost a lot of weight, and I was very, very emotionally stressed.
HOSTIN (voice over): Juicy Campus started last fall and has posts from over 50 schools. The site encourages anonymous gossip about classmates and told CNN thousands of students from across the country have written in to request that their campus be added. Many posts on the site target specific students by name like the freshman who talked to us and there may be little she can do.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: Once you research it online, it's easy to see that the Web sites are more protected than we are.
HOSTIN: Comments from students, no matter how caddy, may not be illegal if they meet the requirement of opinion covered under the first amendment. But now New Jersey's attorney general is investigating whether Juicy Campus violates that state's consumer fraud laws.
(END VIDEOTAPE) CHETRY: Now this is interesting, Sunny, because when we had talked about it, we were not hearing about any type of legal action and you had said at this point, you know, really legally speaking, there's nothing you can do.
What case is the New Jersey attorney general going to attempt to make here in terms of trying to get Juicy Campus to maybe change how they're doing things?
HOSTIN: Well, I have to say, Kiran, I think it's going to be a difficult case because as we've discussed before, federal law really does protect the Web site. There's an act, the communication decency act which really protects the Web site. But now the New Jersey attorney general is coming at it in sort of a different way. She is coming at it from the state law perspective and she's saying that there's this unconscionable commercial practices, they're misrepresenting certain issues.
Juicy Campus is claiming that they don't allow -- it doesn't allow offensive material when in fact we all know once you look at the site that there is offensive material there and so the New Jersey attorney general is going to try to bring them in on that hook. I think it's going to be a difficult case to prove quite frankly. I haven't seen this kind of thing before. And it's going to be an uphill battle.
CHETRY: It's interesting. They're saying that the consumer fraud act is being violated because they are claiming on the site that they don't allow offensive material, yet they're claiming, or the attorney general is going to try to claim that they have provided no enforcement of that rule and there's no way for users to be able to report it. It's very interesting because on some of the sites that you see like Craigslist, they say report, you know, questionable postings.
It will be interesting to see if Juicy Campus has to change the way that they're doing things or if they're going to be shut down completely.
HOSTIN: It really is going to be interesting to follow, Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. We're still awaiting -- we put out calls and we were hoping to get some word from Juicy Campus. We're going to hear a statement that they gave us a little bit later as well.
Thanks, Sunny.
HOSTIN: OK.
CHETRY: And coming up at 7:30 Eastern, we'll see you back again because we're going to be speaking with New Jersey attorney general Anne Milgram about this case.
Still ahead, Anderson Cooper on the campaign trail with Senator Barack Obama. The candidate talking about his opponent, Hillary Clinton, as well as Iraq and his relationship with Reverend Jeremiah Wright.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He had a blunt style. And -- so there are no doubt that there were times where he might have said something that I didn't agree with politically.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Anderson Cooper's backstage pass, his exclusive one-on- one with Barack Obama next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Our Anderson Cooper on the campaign trail one-on-one with Barack Obama spending the day with him talking about everything from his former pastor, to Iraq, to his opponent, Hillary Clinton. They covered it all.
And Anderson filed this report from the campaign trail for us in North Carolina.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, ANDERSON COOPER 360: Kiran, Senator Obama and his campaign would clearly like to move beyond this controversy over Reverend Wright but at this point the campaign is still in damage control mode.
I spoke to Senator Obama about his former pastor extensively.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (on camera): In the past you said you didn't think that your church was particularly controversial. Yesterday in the speech you said that -- you admitted that you did hear in the church remarks that could be considered controversial. Do you know specifically? Do you remember what you heard?
OBAMA: No, but -- you know, let me give you an example. It didn't necessarily relate to some of the statements that have caused such controversy over the last few days. Reverend Wright, on occasion, for example, would talk about infidelity or issues having to do with family life in pretty blunt terms from the pulpit and people would blush and blanch. So it wasn't just related to his political views. I mean, he had a blunt style. And so there are no doubt that there were times where he might have said something that I didn't agree with politically as I said before. I never heard him say things that were as incendiary as the clips that have been shown.
COOPER: You call for one to two combat brigades leaving each month in consultation with commanders on the ground, 16 months total time. Senator Clinton says, essentially, you're saying one thing but you're planning something else.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One choice in this election is Senator McCain, who is willing to keep this war going for 100 years. You can count on him to do that. Another choice is Senator Obama who has promised to bring combat troops out in 16 months, but according to his foreign policy adviser, you can't count on him to do that.
OBAMA: She has been trying to get as much mileage off this one comment from my former foreign policy adviser to the BBC as she can. Here's the bottom line. I have been consistent throughout about what my plans would be. What I've also said is that I will always listen to the commanders on the ground in terms of the pace of the withdrawal because I care about the safety and security of our troops. I would not want to endanger them.
COOPER: I want to play something for our viewers that Senator Clinton said about you and about Michigan today.
CLINTON: Senator Obama speaks passionately on the campaign trail about empowering the American people. Today I'm urging him to match those words with action, to make sure the people of Michigan and Florida have a voice and a vote in this election.
COOPER: She's essentially blaming you for holding up a revote in Michigan in June.
OBAMA: It's hard for me to get a sense of how we could be to blame for that situation. We have consistently said we'll play by whatever rules the DNC has laid out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Clearly these are issues Senator Obama is going to be dealing with for a long time to come on the campaign trail -- Kiran?
CHETRY: Thanks, Anderson.
Plans, by the way, to hold new primaries in Michigan and Florida are now thin ice. They're on thin ice. There may be one way to revive them and we're going to talk about that with our Candy Crowley at 7:15 Eastern Time.
Also, Hillary Clinton is running for president on her experience in Washington and now you can judge for yourself. The National Archives and the Clinton presidential library have released 11,000 pages documenting her first eight years as first lady and our Alina Cho will be highlighting them for you coming up at 7:30 Eastern Time.
And you know, for people that are probably writing and saying what happened to Anderson, he said he had a little bit of skin cancer, cancer removed from under his eye. So that's why he has a little...
MARCIANO: A little boo-boo.
CHETRY: Yes.
MARCIANO: He'll be OK.
CHETRY: Doesn't take away from his overall...
MARCIANO: Yes.
CHETRY: ...appearance at all.
MARCIANO: Absolutely not. He -- I don't know what the word is but it's good. All right.
CHETRY: The silver fox.
MARCIANO: Good days of heavier rain and the ground just can't take it anymore. Rain water is now making its way to the rivers prompting new fears of flooding across the Midwest. Where are those storms headed? We're going to talk about that.
Plus it's a difficult but potentially life saving decision you or your loved one might have to make. Now where's a new study that could help people pick the best treatment for prostate cancer. That also ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
Stay right there.
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