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American Morning
New Plan to Help Struggling Homeowners; Members of Congress Head to Head with Executives of Big Oil; Gift of Life Becomes Transplant Tragedy
Aired April 02, 2008 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Also, Senator John McCain speaks to his Alma Matter, The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis this morning.
Our own Dana Bash had a chance to sit down with Senator McCain and talk to him about key issues like the mortgage crisis. Dana joins us from Annapolis, Maryland, this morning.
Hey, Dana, good to see you.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Kiran. Well, this morning is going to be a speech that John McCain is going to give. It actually is third in this biography tour that he is on all week long. I am here in Annapolis because this is where he went to the Naval Academy. And you know he is going to talk about his time here. He's going to talk about the kind of impressions that it left on him with regard to service.
We just saw at least the portions of his speech that the campaign gave to us. He's not going to talk about the fact that he graduated fifth from the bottom of his class. Actually, 50 years ago. He graduated in 1958. But he is going to talk about something that we understand, just from sources who are actually in the room that he complained about to President Bush back in the days and weeks after 9/11.
And that is he does not think, and he actually says this publicly now, that the president did enough after 9/11, to encourage service among Americans. He said that he and other administration officials said that Americans should go shopping, but what he said then and what is he going to say here later this morning is that he thinks it is a time that Americans should not just potentially join the military, but find other ways to serve their country. So that's the kind of message that Senator McCain is going to give here at his alma mater.
Kiran?
CHETRY: And he is also going to be talking the economy. Of course, the top issue on the campaign trail. Both the Democratic presidential candidates have criticized Senator McCain's views on how to deal with the housing crisis. They think that he is turning a blind eye. What did he say about it?
BASH: You know, it's really interesting, Kiran. You're exactly right. The Democrats have been pounding away at him. One of the things that the McCain campaign thought and taking the time to reintroduce him to the American people and talk about this biography is that the Democrats would really be fighting amongst themselves as they have been over the past couple of months.
But they had been turning more and more to John McCain. Hitting him very hard on the idea that Senator McCain said himself last week with regard to the housing crisis the government, in general, does not have much of a role in fixing the crisis.
Well, I sat down with him yesterday and asked him if he was worried about voters out there listening to that philosophy that he has and thinking well, maybe he sounds heartless. Listen to him -- at least try to clarify what his position is on this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Actually, I think the government should facilitate a lot of things and there have been numerous proposals, many of which I have supported and some that I will be coming forward with.
What we really need to do is fundamentally is make sure that we take every action to have the lender and borrower sit down together so that the millions of Americans who are facing terrible challenges will be able to afford to keep their home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: So there is Senator McCain trying to clarify that he does think that there is a role for government. But he was still very clear, he does not agree with the idea of a bailout for what he calls irresponsible lenders or homeowners.
Now, Kiran, the McCain campaign insists that he is going to give a more detailed, economic plan. We'll probably see that in a couple of weeks because we have yet to see that from Senator McCain or his campaign. They say they will probably see it around tax day.
Kiran?
CHETRY: He has got a little more time on his side -- you know, of course, because he's done having to worry about campaigning against a primary opponent. All right, Dana Bash, thanks.
ROBERTS: We should mention, too, that John McCain is going to be on this program tomorrow morning. So we look forward to that. And McCain sparred with a new opponent yesterday. He took a break from the campaign trail to trade insults with David Letterman. Letterman was taking some shots at McCain's age when the senator showed up -- like unannounced and fired back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, THE DAVID LETTERMAN SHOW: He looks like the guy who has always got wiry hair growing out of new places. He looks like the guy who points out the spots they missed at the car wash. SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You think that stuff is pretty funny, don't you? You look like a guy whose laptop would be seized by the authorities.
LETTERMAN: What?
MCCAIN: You look like a guy caught smuggling reptiles in his pants.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Before he traded barbs with Letterman, McCain visited with students at his old high school in Alexandria, Virginia. He told students that he was given the title of worst rats after his freshman year there.
The Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean says he is not going to take sides in the fight over delegates. He is responding to criticism that he is not being more aggressive in trying to end the conflict. He did try to answer some of the criticism on CNN's Election Center last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD DEAN, DNC CHAIRMAN: I have to chuckle a little bit. The people who are complaining that I'm not taking a stronger role when you drill down on that a little as I have, when they've call is I see what you mean is you'd like me to be a strong leader and adopt you point of view and then ram it through the DNC. I'm not going to do that for either side. There are going to be donors and supporters on both sides that are mad at me. I'm going to play this one by the rules.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Dean is expected to meet with Democrats from Florida today to talk more about a way to seat that state's delegates. And you know, overall, he says he wants a nominee picked by July the 1st. Doesn't see any reason why that can't be done.
That brings us to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. Do you think that Howard Dean is a strong enough leader to bring peace to the Democrats? 44 percent of you say, yes. 56 percent say no, he's not. Cast your vote at cnn.com/am. We'll have a final check of the votes coming up later on this hour.
CHETRY: Well, members of Congress went head to head with executives of Big Oil yesterday. They are trying to get some answers about the sky high price of gas among other things. Top executives defending their big profits as well as their big tax breaks, insisting they are not to blame for the rising fuel prices. But one congressman saying that the biggest joke on April Fool's Day, of course, when they testify is being played on American families.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. ED MARKEY (D), COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: On April Fool's Day, the biggest joke of all is being played on American families by Big Oil while using every trick in the book to keep billions in federal tax subsidies even as they rake in record profits.
JOHN HOFMEISTER, PRESIDENT, SHELL OIL COMPANY: Although oil and natural gas will be used to meet more than half our energy needs for decades, U.S. oil and gas production has fallen steadily for the last 35 years. Why? Because government policies place domestic oil and gas resources off limits. The U.S. government restricts supply to U.S. consumers. The result? We import more oil to meet our growing demand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: The House has voted twice now to end those tax breaks instead using the money to support renewable energy sources. That measure though which President Bush has promised to veto has not pass the Senate.
Alina Cho joins us now with some other stories new this morning, including a trip overseas with the president.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. One of his last considering he only has a couple more months left in office as we watch the election. Good morning, again. Good morning, everybody.
New this morning, President Bush is Romania and he's calling on NATO members to step up their efforts on the war on terror. Overnight, President Bush said he wants to increase troop levels in Afghanistan. President Bush is also taking a hard line against Russia on this trip calling on NATO to offer membership to two former soviet republics, Georgia and Ukraine. Russia is opposed to that. He is also trying to build consensus on a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe.
Ireland's Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, abruptly announced his resignation in Dublin today. He's one of Europe's longest serving heads of government in power for nearly 11 years. He's hold on power there has been steadily weakening, though, since investigators accused him of accepting undocumented cash payments from developers dating back to the 1990s. Speaking this morning, Ahern said he never put his interests ahead of the public good.
A wild and bizarre standoff in Queens, New York, to tell you about after a man told police, well, he had a bad day and just snapped. Here's what happened. Police say the suspect using a machete attacked a rabbi who just happened to be walking by after getting off a train. Imagine that.
The victim fought the guy off with his umbrella. Police then say the suspect climbed on to a building's rooftop and hurled fire bombs at cars. One car even caught fire. The man was arrested and charged with attempted murder and multiple accounts of criminal possession of a weapon. The Olympic torch will get an unfriendly welcome when it reaches U.S. shores. San Francisco has passed a resolution protesting China's human rights record. Their resolution calls on city official to express their disapproval when the torch relay arrives a week from today on April 9th. San Francisco is the only U.S. stop for the Olympic torch.
And listen to this one. New York City has gone to the dogs. It's been given the Dog Bone Award for being America's friendliest destination for pets. The readers of "Animal Fair" magazine voted the Big Apple number one for catering to their pets and its many hound hospital hotels and K-9 cuisine restaurants. There are lots of spas for pets in New York as you guys know.
Continental, by the way, was voted the best airline for the way it transports large animals and Volvo, the best car for pets because of all the space for pet's crates and all their toys.
CHETRY: Dog for Volvos.
CHO: That's right. When given the choice if mom, dad and dog had the decision on which car to buy, yes, dog picks the Volvo.
ROBERTS: There is enough room in the back that you don't need to put shamus on the roof.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: Never going to forget that one.
CHETRY: Alina, thanks.
CHO: You bet.
ROBERTS: Final opening day in The House That Ruth Built. And the Yankees win it after a Monday rainout. The Bronx Bomber beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3 to 2 last night in front of 55,000 plus at the Old Yankee Stadium. It was new manager, Joe Girardi's first win with the team. The Yanks will move across the street into a new billion dollar ballpark next season.
Nobody happier in AMERICAN MORNING about the Bronx Bomber's win than our own Rob Marciano. A real Yankee's fan. He joins us this morning with a look at the weather.
Good morning, Rob.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: It is and congratulations on the win yesterday, Rob. I know you're very happy about that. Thanks, Rob.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Why did you just end it now? You know, the DOW up 400 points and the Yankees winning, you guys would all be happy. But the whole month to go.
ROBERTS: You can't. There's a whole lifetime ahead of us.
CHETRY: Sure do.
Well, a help could be on the way for homeowners struggling to make their mortgage payments. We're going to tell you what Congress is doing to try to help, coming up.
And also, they donated their son's organs. They wanted to save lives after a tragedy, only to learn that there was more tragedy to come after it turns out he died of cancer. And that donation ended up infecting other patients. We're going to talk with the donor's parents and ask Dr. Sanjay Gupta how something like this could happen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
It was supposed to be the gift of life but it became a transplant tragedy, instead. Fifteen-year-old Alex Koehne died suddenly last year. Doctors told his parents it was meningitis and his parents donated his organs trying to help save other lives.
But months later they learned that he actually had a rare cancer that had spread to people who received the transplant. Two of them ended up dying, as well. Alex's parents, Lisa and Jim Koehne, join us now along with their attorney, Edward Burke, Jr.
Thanks to all of you for being with us. And I know for Lisa and Jim, this is a horrible tragedy made even worse by what you found out.
When did you know that it was not bacterial meningitis that took your son's life?
LISA KOEHNE, SON'S ORGANS SPREAD CANCER: About three to four weeks after he passed. We had actually asked for an autopsy after, you know, we donated the organs. We said we also want an autopsy. They called us about four weeks after to give us the results. We were brought back to Stony Brook for a meeting and that's when they told us that it was, in fact, brain cancer and it was not...
JIM KOEHNE, SON'S ORGANS SPREAD CANCER: It's a rare, aggressive brain cancer that he passed away from.
CHETRY: What was your reaction? What did you say to them at the time?
L. KOEHNE: Both of us -- just -- we were floored.
J. KOEHNE: We were devastated. We never thought of anything and if you have any questions, I mean, we had lot of questions at that time. And we were so shocked so I have to think about it.
L. KOEHNE: The first thing that came --
J. KOEHNE: But the first thing my wife said was --
L. KOEHNE: Was that -- what about the recipients?
CHETRY: And what did they say at the time?
You said that you wanted to donate because he had been somebody who wanted to help people throughout his young life. And so you thought that was the right thing to do. Were you sure that they were safe?
L. KOEHNE: They told us that they were being monitored and that everybody was doing fine.
J. KOEHNE: We were told that the cancer was just in the lining of his brain and it wasn't in any of his organs and it was OK to do the donation.
L. KOEHNE: So everybody would have been fine.
J. KOEHNE: And we were very happy about that.
CHETRY: You know, Ed and you are the family attorney right now. First of all, there's a few issues at play. Is there any possibility that they would have known what he was suffering from initially, that he could have been saved? Or is that out of the question?
EDWARD BURKE JR. FAMILY ATTORNEY: We believe so. We're certainly looking at that very carefully, Kiran. And what you bring up in terms of that decision to donate the organs, that decision as heart wrenching as it was to make. They had wanted to do that so they could obviously give the gift of life to other families.
But what we see here -- immediately actually from this very case is that hospitals have changed their policies by way of organ transplantation. They've made immediate policy changes to better screen the organs that are going to be donated, to better look at the processes that are involved.
CHETRY: Right now Stony Brook Hospital saying that -- this is the statement they sent. They said "Every matter that involves organ donation or transplantation is handled according to the guidelines of the United Network for Organ Sharing, which are used by all hospitals in the U.S.
The State Health Department has investigated and cleared Stony Brook of any wrongdoing but they say that some hospitals have actually changed their donation policies because of your story?
L. KOEHNE: Yes. What university?
CHETRY: I think Minnesota. What are they doing differently?
L. KOEHNE: If there's any, any indication that it was...
J. KOEHNE: Bacterial meningitis. L. KOEHNE: That it was not, you know, they don't have that. You have to show them this is exactly what this person died of. We didn't have that. We were told possible...
J. KOEHNE: We felt it was all a lot of uncertainties.
L. KOEHNE: ...Possible bacterial meningitis. We didn't even get definite when he did pass away. Which was our reason for saying, you know, we need an autopsy.
And I think that the hospitals need to look at what they're getting and, I mean, our hearts go out to those. We've been to hell and back this last year. And now they have to go through that. And to us, we were giving them maybe a little bit longer with their loved ones.
CHETRY: Exactly. Has this changed the way that you view organ donation?
L. KOEHNE: If I had to do it again, I do it again. I do it correctly.
J. KOEHNE: Not at all. It's a great gift of life. Our reach out is to try to better the situation, try to better the protocols of doing this. And making sure that no other family goes through what we've been through. And it's very important to us.
L. KOEHNE: Very important.
CHETRY: This is coming up on the one-year anniversary. In fact, this Sunday...
L. KOEHNE: This past Sunday was.
CHETRY: This past Sunday. What do you want people to know about your son, Alex?
J. KOEHNE: What a wonderful, young man he is and always will be in our lives. And how he reached out to young people, his friends, his schoolmates and just the caring of love. He had a lot of love for people. He cared a lot about people.
BURKE: So much so that I believe that in his -- in his name we have set up a foundation Alex, Alex's Promise, to bring awareness to T-cell lymphoma, to bring awareness to -- again these issues that we speak about today.
L. KOEHNE: Right.
CHETRY: He's a beautiful, young man and we certainly are very sorry for your loss. Thank you for bringing attention now to this issue and joining us today about it.
L. KOEHNE: Thank you for having us.
J. KOEHNE: Thank you very much. CHETRY: Right now we're going to bring in our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, as well.
You know, we talk a lot about organ donation and how vital it is and how, when it works well, you really are giving other families and other people new hope and life. What is your take on whether or not the hospital in this situation should have done a better job of screening?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Kiran, hindsight is always 20/20. For sure, we are talking, as Alex's parents pointed out, a pretty rare form of cancer here -- T- cell lymphoma.
People may be most familiar with this from the story of Lyle Alzado, the football player. He had T-cell lymphoma as well of his brain, which ultimately lead to his death. He said it was caused by steroids incidentally which -- but that's never been proven to be true.
So you know, when a patient has this sort of symptoms which are sometimes stiff neck, they may have headache, they may have what is known as photophobia, which is aversion to lights. It sounds like meningitis. They do the spinal tap. They don't find bacteria or viruses. But they still think it's probably meningitis. That was the most common or likely thing for it to be.
Could they have looked further? Yes. If they had actually sent off some of that spinal fluid and looked for these particular malignant cells, they probably would have found them making the diagnosis of T-cell lymphoma. But again, hindsight is 20/20. Sounds like some of the screening policies may change as a result of this case.
CHETRY: Yes. They are talking about one hospital, in particular, the University of Minnesota, that is changing some of the protocols in doing that type of testing.
Also, when it comes to receiving an organ, the last thing you would worry about it seems is whether or not you would actually get cancer. In this case, two people had the organs removed and are undergoing chemotherapy. Two passed away. How does that work?
GUPTA: Well, what happens unfortunately with this type of cancer, is that it's a cancer of the lymphatic system. And so when you transplant an organ you're essentially putting these cancer cells into just about every organ in the body. So the organs that are going to see a lot of those types of cells, for example, the liver, are going to be essentially become cancerous almost right away.
And so, someone who sees a liver transplant, for example, is going to, you know, have a significant problem with this. You're just basically injecting cancer cells into lots of different organs.
Now, to your other point. If you look at the numbers overall, over 12 years for example, there had been 200,000 people who have received organ transplants, about 64 did develop cancer after transplant in part because of the reasons we are talking about now. But impart, also because you give these immunosuppressive drugs.
Kiran, as you know, you have to give drugs that suppress someone's immune system. Well, unfortunately, the immune system also does a pretty good job of sort of knocking off cancer cells as well. If you suppress the immune system and otherwise, a cancer cell that may not have been a problem could suddenly start to divide. So that's why you get these cancer rates, as well.
CHETRY: All right. Sanjay, thank you.
ROBERTS: 8 minutes after the hour now. A new plan to help struggling homeowners. Congress is acting quickly to break even more foreclosures. We've got that story, coming right up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, scattered nationwide trucker strike caused some big problems in parts of the country. Check out this video. There you see a lot of independent truckers who parked their rigs for the day, willing to lose the money for one day to make a point about the high price of diesel fuel and the fact that they don't think they're getting any help when it comes to paying for how much more it's costing them to do their job.
A lot of them saying it's very difficult for them to make a living. Some of them saying that the fuel surcharge that many of us pay for items that are shipped should be going to the truckers. Right now, it is not.
Meanwhile, sales are down for all major automakers. GM, Ford, Chrysler and Toyota all saw sales fall by double digits last month compared to a year ago. Sales of big SUVs and pickup trucks falling as high prices force Americans to turn -- maybe not force but they're choosing smaller cars. Hybrids and even Crossovers. Crossovers look like SUVs but actually built on car chassis instead of trucks.
ROBERTS: Well, relief could be on the way for home owners who are struggling to pay their mortgages. Senate leaders are promising to come up with a bill by noon today that could offer millions for homeowners' counseling and help cities by foreclosed properties. The bill is getting bipartisan support.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD (D) CONNECTICUT: And most importantly send a message to the American people that we're on top of this issue and we're making a difference in their lives and want to turn this issue around. Inaction is not an option. Failure is not an option.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: A lot of passion there on the Hill about all of this. But does it going to mean anything to homeowners. Our Gerri Willis joins us now. What is the plan all about? Will it work? GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Fascinating plan. And these folks have to act quickly. As you know, Democrats and Republicans coming together. Let's talk about what could be in the bill. We don't know for sure right now.
First of all, 200 million to expand foreclosure counseling. That will be a very big deal on this bill. $10 billion in tax exempt bonds to allow local housing authorities to refinance loans. $4 billion to local governments to buy properties. And here's an interesting one, $15,000 tax credit to folks who buy foreclosed homes.
The Senate and the House, meanwhile, have been talking about allowing the FHA to buy $300 billion to $400 billion worth of these insured mortgages. $300 to $400 billion worth of mortgages. They would stand behind these mortgages so that if folks fall, that the government would be on the hook for that money. And it's also very interesting.
And as I was mentioning, John, these folks have to act quickly. We have 1.5 million American homeowners out there who are facing resets this year on their adjustable rate mortgages and could go into foreclosures.
ROBERTS: That tax credit for people buying a foreclosed home is pretty interesting because you would save money on the foreclosed home.
WILLIS: That's right.
ROBERTS: This price would be lower and then you get a $15,000 tax credit, as well.
WILLIS: And that's a dollar for dollar. That's not a deduction. That's a dollar for dollar.
ROBERTS: That's great. What's the likelihood that they're going to get on this before the 4th of July?
WILLIS: I think there is huge pressure right now for the Senate to do something. As you know, it's not just the right thing to do, it's not just what Americans are asking for, it is all about -- also about politics here. And I think there's incredible pressure from constituents to take some kind of action.
ROBERTS: There is a lot of people who are going to be looking ahead to re-election this year and they want to be on the record with doing so.
WILLIS: That's right. You're right about that.
ROBERTS: All right. Gerri Willis for us. Thanks, Gerri.
WILLIS: Thank you.
CHETRY: And still ahead, you're watching the most news in the morning. The scary moment at Orlando International Airport. A passenger charged with carrying an explosive on to an aircraft. How he was nabbed. We have a live report ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. 8:30 right now here on the East Coast this morning.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much for joining us on this April 2nd, it's a Wednesday morning. And new this morning, it's that time of year when we learn just where our tax money has gone. An hour from now, Citizens Against Government Waste will release its latest installment on pork barrel spending. It's the 2008 Congressional Pig Book.
CNN's Kate Bolduan joins us now from Capitol Hill with more on what we can expect in this pork report. Good morning, Kate.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
I'm glad you're laughing because it really is a funny name, but we are talking about some very serious cash here. This annual report is compiled by the non-partisan watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste. And really what it is, is a report or a summary of the year's earmarks. Basically, how much federal money is steered or directed by lawmakers to their pet projects and, of course, their home states. Now, according to the summary, there is more than $17 billion went towards more than 11,000 pet projects for fiscal year 2008. And that brings the total amount of congressional earmarks to $271 billion rather, I should say, since 1991.
Now, broken down by state Alaska received the most money in earmarks and that's followed by Hawaii and North Dakota. But the state with the least number of earmarks is Arizona. Now, this summary also highlights what they call their award winners of pork and this spans basically from both sides of the aisle, Democrat and Republican.
One example is the Democratic congressman from New York Charles Rangel. He won what the group is calling the Narcissist Award for $1.9 million that was directed towards a city college building for public service, a building with his name on it. Now, another Democratic congressman House Majority Whip James Clyburn from South Carolina. He got the so-called Teed-off Award and the president of the watchdog group explains this a little better.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM SCHATZ, PRESIDENT, CITIZENS AGAINST GOVT. WASTE: The Taxpayer's Get-Teed-Off Award goes to House Majority Whip James Clyburn for $3 million added for the first tee, a golf program that he decided to add in conference on the defense appropriations bill. Congressman Clyburn even said at one time that golf helps you make generals and colonels. So, the next time someone gets recruited or go to officer candidate school, skip the basic training and just go for the golf lessons.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BOLDUAN: Now, both parties are highlighted, as we mentioned, in this report or I rather should have said called out in this report and the Republican senators from Maine, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe as well as the Democratic Congressman Allen, they were awarded the Taxpayers Get Steamed Award for $188,000 that was directed towards the Lobster Institute, a lobster research organization.
Now, the Democrats in Congress, they say they have been very successful at slashing the number of earmarks here, as well as promoting more transparency in the earmark process. But critics, meantime, they continue to say that these pet projects are a waste of taxpayer money, although some lawmakers say they're very worthwhile and critical to their home states. John.
ROBERTS: Not surprising that Congressman James Clyburn would be promoting golf, a lot of golf courses there in South Carolina. Thanks very much. Kate Bolduan for us this morning. And it's humorous in a tragic kind of way, isn't it, to find out where all those money is going.
CHETRY: I was going to say what happened last year, she said, there are people who, no matter what the project is, believe it's extremely important.
ROBERTS: And a lot of these earmarks are very important, but a lot of them seem rather unusual, don't they?
CHETRY: John McCain taking none this year.
ROBERTS: None again.
CHETRY: Right?
ROBERTS: Not since the 1990s.
CHETRY: Not since the 1990s and I'm sure we'll find out more about the other senators that are running for president, as well.
ROBERTS: Very soon.
CHETRY: Well now to a focus on safety in the skies this morning. United Airlines telling customers be ready for delays or even cancellation. The news of this comes so that it can do inspections on Boeing 777s. United says a review of records showed a missed inspections on fire suppression systems in the cargo area. The top U.S. lawmakers are blaming the Federal Aviation Administration for being too lax with the airlines. Drew Griffin of CNN's Special Investigations Unit has been following this. He has a closer look now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN, INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: The news from overnight from United seems to bolster Congressman Oberstar's points that maintenance records have not been conducted and he's blaming the FAA oversight as a result. What United announced is that a check on a fire-suppression system in its cargo hold was not done.
So, now, they have to go back and check and test all 52 of its 777. The United Airlines says these checks are related to compliance. United will not operate these aircrafts and told that tests are complete and United will conduct a check on all 52 Boeing 777 aircraft in the company's fleet. This all stems from the reviews of maintenance records that the airlines began after Congressman Oberstar's committee announced that it had whistle blowers pointed to Southwest Airlines actually being allowed to slip on some of its safety inspections. Congressman Oberstar held a news conference yesterday in which he said he doesn't like what's happening at the FAA.
REP. JAMES OBERSTAR (D), MINNESOTA: My observation was that complacency has set in at the highest levels of FAA management. And this reflects pendulum swing away from vigorous enforcement of compliance towards a carrier favorable, cozy conduct at the FAA.
GRIFFIN: Later today, the FAA will release its result of the maintenance review that it ordered just recently for the nation's airlines and then tomorrow there will be an actual hearing on this in which the whistleblower that blew the whistle on Southwest Airlines will testify before Congress. Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Well, of course, we'll continue to follow that for you right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Also, a warning about guns accidentally firing in the cockpit. An airline pilots group is saying that its federal rules themselves that actually increase the risk of a weapon going off in flight. A 2002 law prohibits pilots from pilots carrying guns outside the cockpit without a trigger lock. So pilots are often attaching or removing those locks in flight. The union says that rule may have led to this incident when last month a U.S. Airways pilot accidentally shot a hole in the cockpit.
ROBERTS: A man who the FBI says was attempting to board a flight with bomb making materials is due in federal court today. That happened at Orlando's International Airport. Federal authorities say Kevin Brown was acting suspiciously as he attempted to board a flight to Jamaica.
CNN's Susan Candiotti is live at our Miami bureau this morning with more details. Where does this all stand this morning. Susan.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're still waiting to get more details, but we can tell you this, John, the FBI says this man had been living on the street lately, but he was checked on to a flight heading for Jamaica, apparently with pipe bomb components in his checked luggage. He is identified as Kevin Brown, 32 years old. Authorities say he had shown up at the ticket counter, checked in his luggage but something just didn't look right to a plain clothed TSA employee. So they pulled him aside and looked into his luggage and here's what they found. Two galvanized pipes, a couple of end caps, some BBs, batteries, a laptop computer, two containers with some kind of liquid and bomb literature. About a dozen flights were affected by the time everything was sorted out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEE KAIR, TSA, FEDERAL SECURITY DIRECTOR: I can say that there was no immediate threat to anyone in the terminal. There was no imminent threat to any person or any of the incoming public.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: Now, Brown is charged with checking explosives and taking them onboard a plane. But remember, they were inside his checked luggage. He is due to appear in court this morning. He is identified as a Jamaican national with a valid green card -- John.
ROBERTS: Susan, there are some reports in Orlando newspapers this morning that he may have shown signs of mental instability. Any idea where this behavior was that he exhibited that clued TSA officers in on?
CANDIOTTI: No one is saying. I did talk to the FBI about it last night, tried again this morning. Other than he was acting oddly, the FBI will not confirm that he had any mental health issues, per se.
ROBERTS: Perhaps we'll hear more about that later on today. Susan Candiotti for us this morning from Miami. Susan, thanks.
CHETRY: Well, it's increasingly common, no easier to understand, though. Why are more children showing signs of autism? What causes it? Are we getting closer to finding the answers? CNN turning the spotlight on "Unraveling the Mystery of Autism" today and our own Sanjay Gupta is searching for answers. He joins us next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: CNN is devoting its worldwide resources today to understanding autism. Trying to unravel the mystery. As many as 35 million people around the world have some form of it, but there are still a lot of questions. Sanjay Gupta joins us now with more on this. First of all, why is it so hard, Sanjay, to even get reliable information regarding autism?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think there's a couple of reasons. First, when it comes to the diagnosis, people talk about the spectrum of autism. So there may be mild symptoms, there maybe more serious symptoms and personally, I hate those scales anyway. This idea of trying to pinpoint that at three months if your child is not smiling socially, there's a problem and it gets somewhat vague. It also has to do a lot with the causes of autism. If the cause was known for sure it would take care of a lot of this misconceptions or misperceptions. We've tried to investigate a little bit, dig a little deeper. Here's some of what we found.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): One out of 150 kids may be diagnosed with some form of autism. No doubt the numbers are staggering, but I still had this lingering question. Is autism an epidemic?
DR. JULIE GERBERDING, CDC: Is it becoming more common? We need more information over time to say that. We should just agree that it's way more common than we ever thought it was. It needs to be experienced as an urgent health threat.
GUPTA: Not an epidemic but an urgent health threat. As the urgency mounts, so does the misinformation. One perception, autism is solely caused by environmental factors like vaccines.
Are we ready to say right now as things stand that childhood vaccines do not cause autism?
GERBERDING: There have been at least 15 very good scientific studies and the Institute of Medicine who have searched this out and they have concluded that there really is no association between vaccines and autism.
GUPTA: So what do we know about the cause? Right now, all signs point to genetics.
DR. ERIC HOLLANDER, SEAVER AND N.Y. AUTISM CTR. OF EXCELLENT: There's a stronger genetic predisposition for autism than any other neuro-psychiatric disorder.
GUPTA: But something in the environment can actually trigger it in some cases.
"RAIN MAN," UNITED ARTIST: You memorized the whole book? You start from the beginning? How far did you get?
GUPTA: Dustin Hoffman's character in the 1998 movie "Rain Man" had extraordinary mathematical and memory skills. So, another perception, every person with autism has savant abilities.
DR. FRED VOLKMAR, YALE UNIVERSITY CHILD STUDY CTR.: When you have a skill in autism, typically you have one skill. Maybe 10 percent of people with autism will have one of these unusual abilities.
GUPTA: So much in the world of autism is unusual. Even controversial. But researchers and patients agree that for now there are still more questions than answers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: And there are new developments just about every day, as you know, Kiran. Brain imaging actually allowing researchers to peer deep inside the brain of children and adults with autism and seeing what changes may be accounting for some of these symptoms. Also, recently as we talked about quite a bit on your show, Kiran, Hannah Poling, a 9-year-old girl the federal government conceded that her autism-like symptoms may have in fact been caused by vaccines. So, you know, there's a lot that we're going to talk about all day long here trying to unravel the mystery, as we have been saying.
CHETRY: Yes and there certainly has a lot to go over which is why we're going to be doing this all day. Sanjay, thank you. And again, stay with CNN to hear all the breaking news, with new information coming in today. It is Autism Awareness Day and we're doing our best to unravel the mystery in a CNN worldwide investigation.
Also, you don't want to miss Sanjay's special report "Finding Amanda." Sanjay introduces us to people living with autism who show us how they experience the world. A very fascinating inside look. We're going to see it tonight at 11:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
ROBERTS: 15 minutes to the top of the hour. CNN NEWSROOM just minutes away. Tony Harris at the CNN Center with a look at what's ahead. Good morning to you, sir.
TONY HARRIS, CNN, ANCHOR: John, good morning to you. Good morning, everyone. Wednesday in the NEWSROOM. United warning passengers of delays and cancellations. The airline grounding its 777s for inspections today.
A Jamaican man in court today. The FBI says he tried to bring a suitcase filled with bomb parts on to a plane at Orlando International.
Money check. The Fed Chairman gives Congress an update on the economy next hour.
Also, Washington smells the bacon. The "Pig book" on pork barrel spending out shortly. NEWSROOM, top of the hour on CNN. John, back to you.
ROBERTS: Tony, we will see you then. Thanks very much.
ROBERTS: It has the got the Capitol Building, the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, museums, monuments and statues and if that's not enough to draw tourists now Washington has a new ad campaign. We'll be talking with D.C.'s mayor Adrian Fenty coming right up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Eleven minutes to the top of the hour, a beautiful picture this morning of the White House and the Washington Monument in the background. Our nation's capital, by the way, is getting a makeover. Today Washington D.C., is launching a new ad campaign that invites people to create their own power trip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The power in D.C. does belong to you. Create your own power trip.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Joining me to talk more about this is Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty is live from the Tidal Basin in Washington which is beautiful scene this morning because the cherry blossoms are out. Mayor Fenty, good to see you. The old slogan was D.C., the American experience. Why the need for the change?
MAYOR ADRIAN FENTY (D), WASHINGTON: Well, I think that was a good one, but this one for lack of a better word, just better. It really kind of, in one word, just kind of says exactly what D.C. is all about and that's power, but it's not just the power of the monuments and the cherry blossoms and the museums, it's the power about the great historic neighborhoods and great restaurants and we'll be able to highlight all those through the unique use of the word power.
ROBERTS: So how is it that people create their own "power trip" there in the nation's capital?
FENTY: Well, you're going to go to a restaurant or a jazz bar and we're going to call that "Soul Power." You may come running through Rock Creek Park or go on a hike through Rock Creek Park and we're going to call that a "Power Play" or you can go to a "Seat of Power," either the White House or Lincoln Memorial or the U.S. capital. Lots of different ways to create your own powerful experience here in Washington, D.C. and we think it's just something to catch on to and the great thing to see once you get here.
ROBERTS: I was on Saturday I was standing exactly where you are right now. Looks like the cherry blossoms are out a little bit more. How is the cherry blossom festival going? Are you getting good crowds? It was packed when I was there a week ago.
FENTY: Yes, it is packed. By noon today you won't even really be able to walk and drive around. There will be so many people here and it's great. We just opened up the new baseball stadium about a mile away from here. We're going to revitalize the southwest water front. So, just plenty to see in the nation's capital and like most other cities in the country a real renaissance is happening right now.
ROBERTS: You know, Mayor Fenty, I live in the area, I commute back on the weekends. I'm still very familiar with what goes on in the city itself. So many people pass through and they see the city and the monuments but they don't really get a sense of the city itself. You were elected a little more than a year ago on a pledge to improve the schools there in the district. You know, Colin Powell's organization, America's Promise Alliance has come out with this new study that suggests that only 70 percent of students nationally graduate on time and there in D.C., it's only 58 percent. It's 12 points off the national average. What are you doing to improve the quality of education in the city?
FENTY: Well, what we did, we followed New York's model. We just had the schools taken over by the mayor. So, we know who's in charge now and got rid of the political board of education and we're making a lot of tough decisions everything from closing down schools to firing a lot of people in central administration. It is really energizing the community and, like, we got great stuff here in D.C., but if the schools aren't successful then there is a real cap on how great we can be, but people are recognizing the changes being made all over the country already. And like I said, it really is a great, great time for the city and we already get a huge amount of tourism, but, obviously, having a real good marketing campaign is especially important for us because a lot of tourism dollars spent here.
ROBERTS: Yes, a lot of tourism dollars and a lot of it flows to the business community and like Mayor Bloomberg has done here in New York City, you try to get the business community involved in improving the schools there. They helped out with your buff and scrub campaign, sort of cleaning up the schools a bit but have you been having some difficulty in getting the m to pony up the type of cash that is really needed to improve the school system there?
FENTY: No, it's really the exact opposite. If you talk about the buff and scrub, we got organizations of businesses that made $100,000, $1,000,000 contribution. One organization Fannie Mae paid for the complete renovation of a football field and we're going to do a fund raising campaign like Joel Kline and Caroline Kennedy up in New York and tried to raise millions of dollars that we can just pump into the school. People are excited to give money to the schools as long as it will be spent well.
ROBERTS: Hey, on more quick question. Of course, you know, a couple of highly publicized incidents back in 2006 where tourists were accosted, robbed there on the mall, a crime emergency was declared. Let's take a quick look at the crime stats. 2007, your first year in office, crime was up 5 percent from the previous year. Homicides also up 7 percent in 2007 over 2006. But homicides are down a little more than 20 percent this year. Where do you stand with crime there in the district and can people be assured they will be safe if they come and visit?
FENTY: There really can. There are occasional blips as they are in every part of the country. You only have to watch CNN to know that. But what we're finding is that after the past 15 years or so, the steady decline and like a situation like what happened on the mall, there were a couple of incidents and we partnered with the park police and the capital police, arrested some people and it has been quiet ever since. And we'll make sure that happens, if anything else surfaces.
ROBERTS: All right. Mayor Adrian Fenty, mayor of D.C. this morning. Coming to us from the Tidal Basin there with the Jefferson Memorial in the background. Thanks for joining us. Good luck with the cherry blossom festival.
FENTY: Thank you.
ROBERTS: All right. By the way, we should point out that a very strong candidate is ruling out a run for the White House. Larry King asked Jesse, "the body," Ventura last night about speculation that he might join the race. The former ex-wrestler and ex-governor of Minnesota said, nope, not planning to jump in. But he did say and shared his opinions on Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and the other candidates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSE VENTURA, FORMER GOVERNOR OF MINNESOTA: She's a very intelligent woman, I don't take anything away from her. But let's look, are we a dual monarchy now, Larry? I mean, we've had only Bushes and Clintons for the majority of my voting life have been running this country. Barack Obama, to me, is the best of what they're offering us because he's new, he's got fresh ideas but he's still going to get his strings pulled by the Democratic party. I like John McCain as a person. I respect him for his military service, but I don't like his positions at all when he starts telling me that we could be in Iraq for 100 years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Ventura said he wouldn't vote for any of the candidates. He said that he would pick a third party candidate because he doesn't want to vote either Democratic or Republican.
CHETRY: Well, there's Jesse Ventura. Wonder if he has an iphone. It has gone from store shelves, apparently. Our Veronica de la Cruz has more on that story. I'm sure they would make an exception for Jesse.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT; Yes. No, what's going on with the iPhone?
Well, you know, the Apple iPhones so popular. It might be a little bit too popular these days because the word on the street is at least 20 of Apple's 180 U.S. stores are out of them. Just last week, three Manhattan stores didn't have any iPhones. I just went to Apple's online store and the iPhone is taking as long as seven days to ship. So, the buzz is that the sudden shortage means the much- anticipated 3g, or third generation, iPhone might be coming sooner than expected.
Now, the problem here is that the FCC must approve all mobile devices in the United States and so far no word that they have approved the new Iphone but there might be a good reason for Apple to get the model out sooner. Sprint is announcing its new smart phone hits store shelves in June.
It is called the Samsung Instinct. Let's see it right there. Looks just like the iPhone, don't you think.
CHETRY: Copy cat. Well, you know it has the whole like touch screen and device and sprint executives are saying that this could actually deliver data a lot quicker than the iPhone and analysts are saying, don't get your hopes up because the only thing different about this new Iphone is that the Internet connection is going to be faster. So, they might have some competition.
CHETRY: Right, but there are a few complaints about the iPhone. People loved the design and they loved some things about it but they wished that -- DE LA CRUZ: A little slow, a little slow on the Internet connection. Yes.
CHETRY: All right. Well, is there a way to comparison shop if you're a techie and you want to figure out which phone or device is best for you?
DE LA CRUZ: OK. You know what, let's go ahead and hypothetically say that you and I are shopping for an XBox 360. OK, maybe not a phone but an Xbox 360 for John over there because we know that he loves to play video games in his off time.
So, go over the store and shopping for an x-box. It's $400 on store shelves. I'm an Amazon customer, I can now use my phone to text Amazon by punching Amazon right to my phone and they're going to write me back with their price, $349.95 is what they're selling the XBOX for. Right now and if and if we want to buy it right then and there, we write them back with our e-mail address and they call us and we can complete the purchase. It is that simple to comparison shop now while you're in the store.
CHETRY: You rank the products that you're interested in and you text message it to the company.
DE LA CRUZ: All I did was text message the Amazon Xbox 360 and they wrote me back $349.99 and I can order it right now. John, are you interested?
ROBERTS: No, thanks. I have been considering it, but I'm not ready it pull the trigger just yet.
CHETRY: What about the guitar here? You like to play that, right.
ROBERTS: Well, my daughter's got it and every once in a while dad likes to spend a little time with daughter. So, yes.
CHETRY: Hey, no complaints. All right. John.
ROBERTS: Two minutes to the top of the hour. Everybody freeze. That's what happened in Beijing and Brussels and other cities around the world as hundred of people gather to stop whatever they were doing. The so-called Flash Mobs gather on busy streets and then stand still frozen in time for about five minutes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's going on?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know either.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's some sort of a protest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's an acting class.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're not moving. I can't move, I need some help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: That is the surprised reaction of New Yorkers when a similar stunt was pulled in Grand Central back in February. Everybody wondering what the heck was going on. It was unbelievably effective, as well.
CHETRY: The poor kids are looking around like, what the heck.
Well, as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama battle it out on the campaign trail, Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean is hearing a little bit of criticisms saying that he's not doing enough and that he needs to step in there more to settle this nomination fight. We asked about it in the Quick Vote today. Do you think Howard Dean is strong enough to bring peace to the Democrats? Final tally 56 percent of you saying, yes; 44 percent saying no. Also been reading a few e-mails about it. Edward from Puerto Rico writes to us, "Mr. Dean has attempted to be leader in command of the Democratic party but has failed. Howard does not have the wherewithal to be the shot in the arm type of leader."
ROBERTS: And Jerry from Florida, writes us to say "when you are the leader of any kind of group, like Howard Dean, you have to make tough decisions. When you do that, there's always someone who is not going to be happy. Dean had decided to take the medium and should be removed from this position. All of you who e-mailed us this morning, thanks very much. We'll do it again tomorrow. Thanks for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING.
CHETRY: We'll see you back here tomorrow. Meanwhile, CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.
HARRIS: And good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Heidi Collins this morning.
HARRIS: Watch events come into the NEWSROOM live on Wednesday, April 2nd. Here's what's on the rundown.
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