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American Morning
Tornado Soars Through Arkansas: Mobile Homes Destroyed; Obama Outraises Clinton; Job Numbers Out Today; Martin Luther King Remembered; Naomi Campbell Arrested in Heathrow Airport
Aired April 04, 2008 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We'll talk about that as well.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. A lot of money made on that. Ali, big news on the jobs front today as well.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, today will be the jobs report for March. We'll be bringing that out. We are expecting to have lost more jobs. We'll probably top the 100,000 number for the year in terms of the number of jobs lost, so that's a big concern.
Also, the price of commodities soaring again. Corn, which has really been driving a lot of those commodity prices, hitting a new record yesterday. So that's going to affect you in everything you do from eating to filling your gas tank. We'll be talking about that as well.
ROBERTS: Growers actually making some money for a change.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: That's right. Always the right type.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to all of that this morning. Let's get you caught up right now on what happened overnight. We've got breaking news to tell you about.
As severe storms leave behind a trail of fire in central Arkansas, witnesses say a tornado touched down near the capital of Little Rock. It sparked an inferno in a mobile home community. Police say one person was hurt. Many more went running for shelter as winds tore roofs off of homes and trees out of the ground.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The roof is totally gone off his house. It's flattened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Even National Weather Service forecasters got into a bunker as the storm roared by. Our Rob Marciano is standing by with extreme weather on the move right now. And Rob, this system is fairly large moving up there through the Ohio Valley. ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is. It's a big one. It stretches from Texas, pretty much all the way to the northeast. Here it is on the radar scope. The yellow boxes that are highlighted are severe thunderstorm watch boxes. Many of which are in effect until 10:00 and 11:00 Local time, and they encompass a large amount of real estate.
We'll zoom in to the Arkansas area. Obviously, this is the area that got hit hard last night. Notice that the severe thunderstorm box is now south of the Little Rock area, and that's where we expect to see the heavy rain, the thunderstorms, and the gusty winds, potentially damaging winds in spots and the hail as well. This thunderstorm watch in effect until 11:00, Local time.
Sliding up into the Tennessee Valley, Nashville getting hammered pretty good this morning with some thunderstorms, some of which could be severely embedded within that and sliding up into the Ohio Valley as well. We're looking at some strong thunderstorms into an area that does not need the rain anymore.
And probably the most ominous-looking storms right now rolling across the central and southern Texas within this thunderstorm watch box just to the north of Austin and San Antonio. These as they split apart like that. We worry that they become their own weather systems unto themselves, and when that happens they can become even stronger. So we'll certainly watch for that.
All right. A Google Earth animation showing you exactly what happened last night. We have seven reports of tornadoes in through the Little Rock area. Likely all the same as you see that they have traveled up in a similar path. So from Benton just to the north of Little Rock area, here's the north Little Rock. The National Weather Service, this is where, John, you reported that the National Weather Service employees actually took shelter there, and at that time at 2:30 last night, they passed off their duties to the Memphis National Weather Service office until this storm passed by.
This airport reporting some damage and some airplanes actually being swirled about. And then the last report around Gravel Ridge where that tornado eventually went back up into the clouds, very, very active. And for some folks, definitely a horrific night last night up into the north Little Rock area. Really another tale of almost miraculous nature that no one was killed with this particular storm. John, back up to you.
ROBERTS: Of course, a lot of people watching this morning, Rob, may be headed to the airports. Some of them may be at the airport already. As this storm system moves into the northeast in some of those really heavily populated areas and heavily traveled areas as far as air traffic, is that going to cause delays today?
MARCIANO: Yes, I think so. We're going to see rainfall across into the northeast as well, and some of the bigger airports are going to be affected by that. And we'll be reporting that throughout the morning.
ROBERTS: All right. Looking forward to it. Rob Marciano for us in Atlanta. Rob, thanks.
The "Most Politics in the Morning" now, and the race to raise cash. The Democratic campaigns released fund-raising numbers for March. Look at this one.
Barack Obama raised more than $40 million last month. That is twice what Hillary Clinton took in during the same period. So far this year, Obama has raised a total of $131 million compared to Clinton's $70 million.
And Obama is spending it, specifically in Pennsylvania, with the primary just two weeks and four days from now. Our John Dickerson, CNN political analyst, he's also the chief political correspondent for slate.com. He joins us from Washington. John, why is Obama raising so much more money than Hillary Clinton?
JOHN DICKERSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, he's got a huge number of donors, and he's tapping them a little bit at a time each period. And so, because he has such a big number of donors, they can give $25, $30 and he can keep going back to them. That's really the key for him.
ROBERTS: Hillary Clinton is pretty pragmatic about this whole thing. Let's listen to what she said about it yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am being outspent. You know, I haven't seen final numbers, but I think I was outspent four to one in Ohio, and three to one in Texas. And goodness, I think I was outspent five to one in Rhode Island. So I'm being used to being outspent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: She just happened to mention states that she was outspent in that she went on to win. Can Obama effectively use this money on the ground to gain advantage? You know, she still leads in most polls by double digits in Pennsylvania, John.
DICKERSON: Yes. She's mentioning it right, exactly, that she's outspent so that she looks like the underdog and so her victory in Pennsylvania, in particular will seem bigger. Obama can use it but there is a point of diminishing returns certainly with advertisements on the air. But he's using it in every way possible that he can to shrink that margin in Pennsylvania.
ROBERTS: There was also that big controversy that erupted earlier this week where an aide to Bill Richardson or somebody close to Bill Richardson said that in trying to woo his support, Hillary Clinton said Barack Obama can't win. She seemed at first to deny that yesterday when she was asked by a reporter about it. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't talk about private conversations. I can win. I know I can win. That's why I do this every day, and that's what my campaign is about.
I'm in it to win it, and I intend to do just that. It's a no.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So she says that's a no. And initially, people thought that the no was, no, I didn't say that. But then apparently, the campaign clarified that to say, no, I'm not going to tell you what was said in that private conversation.
DICKERSON: Yes. Well, here is the funny thing. They've been saying for months that Barack Obama can't win in the general election. They don't come actually out and say it though, which was what was slightly new here. But -- and the reason they don't is if she loses and one day has to support Barack Obama, they don't want John McCain turning into campaign ads the idea that she thinks that he's fundamentally flawed.
But that is the view the campaign has and certainly they have been pushing with superdelegates to make the case that Barack Obama is just not electable. So she -- whether she wants to talk about it or not, it appears that she said in private what they all believe.
ROBERTS: All right. John Dickerson for us this morning from Washington. John, thanks.
Hillary Clinton will be in Memphis today for ceremonies honoring Dr. Martin Luther King. But last night she showed off her lighter side in Los Angeles during an appearance on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno." When she walked out, Leno's band played the theme song from "Rocky," jumping off of her comments earlier this week where she compared herself to the fictional fighter. And then, Mrs. Clinton went on to make fun of her recent controversial comments where she said that she was the target of sniper fire on a trip to Bosnia as first lady.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is so great to be here. You know, I was worried I wasn't going to make it.
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": Oh.
CLINTON: Yes, I was pinned down by sniper fire.
LENO: Really?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Leno also took a shot at her 3:00 a.m. commercial saying it's got to be tough handling all of those middle of the night emergencies.
And presumptive GOP nominee John McCain wraps up his cross- country biography tour in Memphis today, where he will also honor Martin Luther King, Jr. And here's an interesting side note about McCain's style of campaigning. He has so far declined Secret Service protection. The agency's director told Congress that McCain has not asked for it and he has not required to take it. McCain says that he's never been a fan of the protective detail because it prevents him from getting up close and personal with voters, and he's going to try to last as long as he can without it.
We should point out that Hillary Clinton, because she's a former first lady, has had Secret Service protection for years. Barack Obama also has had it because of perceived threats against him.
Back to the breaking news now. An extreme weather tearing through Arkansas overnight. Reports of that tornado near the capital of Little Rock. Peter Thompson of affiliate KARK is live for us today in Bryant, Arkansas. That's about 15 miles southwest of the capital city. What's the situation like on the ground there this morning?
PETER THOMPSON, AFFILIATE REPORTER, KARK: Well, this is something that Arkansas residents are getting used to. For about the third time in the past three months, we've had tornadoes and floods back-to-back.
Taking a look behind me here, this neighborhood just north of Bryant, Arkansas. You can see debris scattered everywhere after a tornado passed through here at about 9:30 last night. Now, all the houses all of them down this block, you can see where chunks of the roof have literally been removed. An impressive thing about this tornado is that it was actually caught on tape at a distance you don't normally see this type of thing.
This video right here was taken off a surveillance dashcam of a Bryant police officer. He took cover just seconds after the tornado hit. The tornado flung cars and scattered debris. We talked to residents up and down the tornado's path, many of whom said they had some very close calls, as you can tell from this video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of a sudden electricity went off, and then we decided we better get into the closet. Grabbed the dogs, grab some treats (ph) and water, all our lighting and stuff, and then grabbed something. And next thing we knew it was, you know, it was big thunder -- everybody says it sounded like a train coming through. And then, we heard the wind and the roof was rattling. And then, 15 seconds later it was done.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't say exactly what a tornado looked like, but I saw a big cloud of something. People were inside of -- (INAUDIBLE) was laughing at me because I was shaking so bad. They didn't think a tornado was coming, but when they walked outside, they saw. They saw why I was so scared.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
THOMPSON: You can take a look down here right now. You're taking a look at some of the debris. Back up in here, some of the worst damage was back up in this neighborhood. Like we said, we're at Hurricane Creek neighborhood. It's just north of Bryant. About 25 homes here have been damaged. Two mobile homes caught on fire. There is also one injury.
This is the second round of storms. You know, we told you back in February 5th, we had a tornado outbreak here. One tornado traveled about 120 miles across the state killing 14 people. This is something that people around here are getting used to, and they say right now they're just very fortunate that nobody was killed. Back to you.
ROBERTS: Terrible thing to have to get used to. Peter Thompson for us this morning from our affiliate KARK there in Bryant, Arkansas. Unbelievable video there.
CHO: Really.
ROBERTS: Alina Cho here this morning with more news this morning. You said it looked like an air strike.
(CROSSTALK)
CHO: It did look like an air strike, and I've never seen anything like that. Of course, unfortunately, we're going to see more of the damage at first light. You can't get a look while it's still dark out. But --
ROBERTS: And we're just beginning to get in to tornado season as well.
CHO: That's right. That's right. And I was in Florida covering local news, and you were saying earlier that they described it like the sound of a freight train. That's absolutely true. You hear it over and over and over again every time a tornado hits.
But yes, just awful for the people in Arkansas, and as you mentioned, just starting this tornado season. But we've got a lot else going on this morning, John.
Good morning, everybody. And new this morning. A Virginia tech- style plot police say they discovered online, and they say it led them to a 20-year-old with a stash of automatic rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Police in Homestead, Florida, say Calin Chi Wong was threatening to stage an attack similar to the one at Virginia Tech nearly a year ago.
Police say Wong had more weapons than most local SWAT teams, including four AK-47s and body piercing ammunition. Wong has been charged with making written threats to kill. He was released on bond.
Well, runways are back open at Kennedy Airport in New York this morning. The landing gear of a small plane collapsed last night, and the plane skidded off the runway and into the grass. The airport shut down all but one runway last night leading to some delays, of course. One person was slightly hurt.
Explosive testimony about safety in the skies and about the agency that's supposed to ensure it. The founder of Southwest Airlines testified before a Congressional committee that Southwest made a mistake when it allowed planes to fly that should have been grounded. Lawmakers also heard from two FAA safety inspectors. One of them says he tried to raise a red flag about missed safety checks, but managers at the FAA blocked him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOBBY BOUTRIS, FAA INSPECTOR: My experience, I believe, the priority of the regional office is damage control and I see no interest in accountability or doing the right thing. At the end of the investigation, no matter what evidence shows, it's disregarded by the division management team who cherry picked the information from the investigation reports. And while looking at the big picture, they apply band aids instead of fixing the root of the problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Lawmakers now plan to call the FAA in on a regular basis to see what progress it's making to improve its inspection program.
Well, a consumer alert now. A government report says Americans are being ripped off in record numbers by online scams. More people on the Internet, more scams, unfortunately. Records from the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center show Internet crimes topped $240 million last year. That number is up $40 million from two years ago.
The Feds say many of the crime cases involved pet scams, online dating fraud and scammers trying to profit from natural disasters, like the I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis last year. The report interestingly also found that men were more likely to be scammed than women, John.
Finally, a letter written by Abraham Lincoln sets a record at auction. Listen to this one. President Lincoln wrote this in response to the "Little People's Petition" in 1864. School kids were asking then President Lincoln to free slave children, and Lincoln wrote back. "While I have not the power to grant all they ask, I trust they will remember that God has."
The letter sold for $3.4 million at Sotheby's to a private American collector. And that American collector was bidding by phone. Now, they seem to bid by phone. But interestingly, as you know, the Emancipation Proclamation signed in 1862, 1863, but all the slaves weren't freed until 1865, which is why that letter was written in 1864. So interesting. And the last record that was set, $3.1 million for another Lincoln manuscript.
ROBERTS: Wow.
CHO: Yes.
ROBERTS: Something is going up these days besides corn, at least.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROBERTS: Ali Velshi here with us this morning. Yesterday we had this jobless claims way up.
VELSHI: Right.
ROBERTS: Now, we got job figures that we're looking forward to today.
VELSHI: Today we're getting the main figures for March. Job numbers we're probably expecting and a lot of jobs to be lost. Unemployment rate expected to go up to five percent. But, you know, we got to sort of put the rate aside for a second, because what we're looking for is jobs being created.
Now, if you take a look at the map of the country, I have sort of separated it into red states, where the unemployment rate for a given state is higher than the national average, and green states, where the unemployment rate is lower than the national average. You can definitely see a pattern there. You can see that there are a whole bunch of states in the middle there with lower than normal unemployment rates.
Now, that's one piece of information. But one of the areas that we're going to see job losses in today, just like we've seen for the last several months, is losses in manufacturing jobs. For those of you who are thinking that there's going to be a manufacturing turnaround, those six states on the map, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, Utah and Washington, are the only states that created manufacturing jobs in 2007. They are the only states.
Notice, none of the typical rust belt states are in there. Louisiana created manufacturing jobs still because of the remainder, the hangover from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. There's a lot of building to be done there. In other cases, it's probably industry specific, transportation or airplanes, and things like that.
Bottom line here is that manufacturing jobs are not growing in the United States. The low dollar may bring some of them back, but for those of you who are young and in the manufacturing sector or young and thinking of getting in the manufacturing sector, it's going to be a really good opportunity to think about something else. This is not a growing area in America, and I'll be giving you more detail on that later.
ROBERTS: Although I got Lakshman Achuthan who was here yesterday suggested that exports really have a potential to grow because of the low dollar, which then would trickle down.
VELSHI: Yes. We will have some manufacturing. We're not going to get into t-shirt manufacturing and bicycle manufacturing. It might be that America can get into high-level manufacturing. Because of the wages we pay, the product that's manufactured has to be of some great value. So where you think we're getting into low level manufacturing, that's gone. We may be able to manufacture some high-tech items.
CHO: Encouraging.
ROBERTS: Ali Velshi this morning.
CHO: The working people are going back to Louisiana, though.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: That is good. Yes.
ROBERTS: When does that number come out, by the way?
VELSHI: 8:30 a.m. Eastern. We'll have it for you live.
ROBERTS: All right, great. Ali, thanks.
You're watching the "Most News in the Morning." Cell phone throwing supermodel Naomi Campbell is out of jail this morning. We'll tell you how she ended up there in the first place. That's just ahead.
And 40 years after his death in Memphis, new insight from Americans about who they think killed Martin Luther King.
Plus, how his life is being honored today. Next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. A live look right now at the King Center in Atlanta on this April 4th, the 40th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King was shot and killed in Memphis. It was 40 years ago today, and Americans still have theories about who was responsible.
A CNN/"Essence" magazine and Opinion Research Corporation poll shows that 33 percent of people believe that King was killed by a lone gunman. Fifty-eight percent believed it was part of a conspiracy.
James Earl Ray confessed to the murder, but later changed his story and insisted to his death that he did not kill Dr. King. Several events as you can imagine are being planned today in Memphis, including visits by presidential candidates.
CNN's Don Lemon joins us now from Memphis. He's right at the scene of the crime in front of the Lorraine Motel. Good morning, Don.
DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, John. Absolutely right, in front of the scene of the crime, and I'm going to show you that a little bit later on. We're going to push in.
But I always like to do this just to show you sort of the mood of the community here. And obviously Memphis, this is sort of a bittersweet moment for them because he died here but also made a lot of change. This is the front cover of the "Commercial Appeal." Very beautiful cover and as you can imagine, every newspaper, every magazine that has anything to do with Memphis, Tennessee, same sort of sentiment.
But this is really -- we're here for this, but also this is what started all of this off. Remember the garbage workers' strike, John, and those two workers who died in the back of that garbage truck? Which is what brought Dr. King to Memphis. And as you said, we have several events today planned because of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Of course, over my left shoulder here, Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel. That's where he was gunned down by whoever you want to believe the gunman is. There's several theories about that. But there were several people who were on that balcony with him as well, including, as we all are familiar with, the Reverend Jesse Jackson was there, and he remembered that moment for us very vividly yesterday, and it was also a very emotional time for him as well as others.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSE JACKSON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: He didn't have to die. Not for hating, not for lying, not for robbing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You remember that day like yesterday.
JACKSON: Well, yes. I mean, they planned to kill him. They killed his reputation and somebody paid the price.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And, of course, John, we talked about all the events that are going to happen today. There's a family day, a King Family Day program going on at the famous Peabody Hotel here. There's also civil rights leaders panel that's going on, and just about every civil rights leader of note in the country you can imagine is here.
And also, there will be a march today, a recommitment march to Dr. King's dream which will happen today. We will be broadcasting from here today with a special conversations with black America, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll be here as well as at that march, as well as several members of our staff.
And then also today, we're going to be talking to people who had to do -- who had very personal moments to do with this tragedy. The sanitation workers, again, which is why I said Dr. King was here. We'll talk to two generations. One person who was there when it happened and then his son who's also now a sanitation worker. We're going to do that in the next hour of AMERICAN MORNING. John, back to you.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to all of that. Don Lemon for us this morning there in Memphis.
Do you think the country is headed in the wrong direction? Well, join the club. A brand new poll that is revealing a real half-empty feeling here in America.
And from the catwalk to the perp walk, supermodel Naomi Campbell strutting her stuff on the way out of jail this morning. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's coming up on 26 minutes after the hour. Foul ball. It's your "Hot Shot" now. A 13-year-old from Connecticut is a little bit shaken up and said to be OK after a red-tailed hawk swooped down on her while she was touring Boston's Fenway Park.
That hawk has been building nests at Fenway for the last several years. Her current nest was taken down after the attack. And it all may be a bad omen for Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez the next time he plays up there at Fenway because the girl's name who was involved in the attack, Alexa Rodriguez.
And if you got a "Hot Shot," send it to us. Head to our Web site at CNN.com/am and follow the "Hot Shot" link.
News from the world of entertainment now. Let's go over to Alina. She's got that.
CHO: John, thank you. Supermodel Naomi Campbell in trouble again. Campbell was released from jail this morning after getting herself arrested yesterday at London's Heathrow Airport. We hear it all started when Campbell boarded a flight and one of her bags didn't make it. Another casualty of Terminal five. That's Heathrow's new terminal that's having major glitches with its baggage system.
Campbell apparently didn't take it well. Lola Ogunnaike joins us now. So Lola, she checked two bags, one of then didn't make it and that just set her off.
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: It's true. I mean, this terminal has been having problems. It's only been open for a week and it's already lost 28,000 bags.
CHO: Not everybody reacts that way.
OGUNNAIKE: No. Not everybody ends up spitting on somebody as it's been alleged. Apparently, she got so angry and so irate that she was dragged off of the flight and ended up spitting on a police officer. And that is reportedly what got her arrested.
CHO: OK. And she was taken into custody, released on bail, right? So she's out free early this morning.
OGUNNAIKE: Yes. She's out free early this morning. She was released shortly after midnight. Yes, she was on her way to a memorial service in Los Angeles. Don't know if she's still going to make that. But again, this is not the first time that Naomi Campbell has gotten into trouble. We know that. It usually involves a cell phone or a telephone. This time it didn't involve anything. Just some saliva
CHO: Who could forget those? At least in New York who could forget the pictures of Naomi Campbell, you know, strutting like she was on the catwalk on her way to community service decked out in couture clothing, you know. I mean, really, it's memorable.
OGUNNAIKE: Leave it to Naomi to turn, you know, lemonade -- make lemonade out of lemon, fashion lemonade.
CHO: Yes. So, you know, we always ask this question when something like this happens. But how do you think it's going to affect her career going forward? I mean, she's still modeling.
OGUNNAIKE: She's still modeling and she's still an icon, but unfortunately, she's never been able to parlay her fame into something really grand. If you look at Kate Moss, I mean, she's infamous, yes, but she still has major ad campaigns in places like H&M and Burberry.
CHO: Worth a lot of money.
OGUNNAIKE: Worth a lot of money. On the other hand, you have Tyra Banks, who for better or worse, is parlaying this into a major media empire. And then you have Naomi Campbell dancing in this flavored water ads. I mean, that is not couture or very chic at all, Alina.
CHO: Well put, Lola. All right. I know you'll be watching all of this for us. Keep us up-to-date.
OGUNNAIKE: Absolutely.
CHO: Lola Ogunnaike, thanks so much. We'll talk to you later -- John.
ROBERTS: She did look pretty happy with herself though.
Eight out of every 10 Americans now think that the country is headed in the wrong direction. That's according to the latest "New York Times"/CBS News poll asking that question. Eighty-one percent of people say that we're on the wrong track. That is the most since they started taking that poll back in the early 1990s -- 81 percent.
Which, of course, brings us to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. What do you think is the primary reason that the country is on the wrong track? Is it Iraq, the economy, political gridlock, health care, or education? There's five choices for you there.
Cast your vote at CNN.com/am. We're also asking for your thoughts on this issue. Didn't see a choice on our "Quick Vote" that you like? Think that something else is driving the country in the wrong direction, or you just want to expound on your reasons why you think the country is headed in the wrong direction? E-mail us this morning, CNN.com/am. We'll have your e-mails and the first tally of votes coming up later on in this hour.
You're watching the "Most News in the Morning." A tornado sends sparks flying, igniting parts of central Arkansas on fire. A live update on the rescue and cleanup effort.
And tracking more extreme weather. There's all kinds of it next on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It is Friday, the 4th of April. Kiran Chetry is off today. I'm John Roberts along with Ali Velshi and Alina Cho. We got breaking news to tell you about this morning. People in Arkansas wake up to see the destruction that a tornado left behind. Several tornadoes ripped through Central Arkansas. One of them near the capital of Little Rock. It sparked a fire that spread to several trailer homes, and police say there were injuries.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything was torn up. Doors were torn off the buildings, people's house, their roof were taken off. I felt the wind literally almost take me off my feet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: What happened there in Arkansas overnight is part of a fairly large storm system. Our Rob Marciano is standing by now at the weather center in Atlanta with more on the extreme weather.
And Rob, it's on the move.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is. First, I want to tell you what happened last night. This is the cell as it rolled through Little Rock last night. The radar imagery, you see this huge super cell thunderstorm, and as we roll this in a time sequence as it rolls through Little Rock, you can even see this little emptiness here, it's what looks to be at least in this imagery as a hook. So that would be where the tornado dropped down just right through Little Rock.
We had seven reports of tornadoes, but likely it was all the same tornado just kind of dropping in from this particular system. Horrifying night, no doubt about that. What do we have right now?
On top of the severe weather, we have flash flood watches and warnings right around Little Rock area. A lot of torrential rain with this system as well. And that's their next item up for business as far as what they have to deal with in Southern Arkansas this morning.
Texarkana, seeing some heavy thunderstorms. These yellow watch boxes, by the way, severe thunderstorm watches that are in effect until 10:00 and 11:00 of local time. We slide the map down to Texas, and we'll zoom down just towards the San Antonio and Austin. A couple of cells here very impressive that are rolling to the northeast at about 30 miles an hour. These are severe thunderstorms, and they have had a history of producing nickel to at times quarter-sized hail.
And again frequent lightning, especially with that cell just to the north and west of Austin, Texas. Just to the south of Dallas, Texas, this cell is also severe thunderstorms. That is rolling east at about 30 miles an hour. It should pass through just south of De Soto.
This thing stretches well to the north and east and through Nashville, Tennessee. This line of thunderstorms could easily become severe, and then less severe but just as much rainfall all the way up into the northeast, John. And as you mentioned earlier, this is going to cause some problems at some of the larger airports across the northeast today. Back up to you.
ROBERTS: A lot of weather out there. And Rob is on the job for us today. Rob, Thanks very much.
Let's turn now to Gary Hunnicutt. He is a spokesman for Saline County which is where the tornado touch downed. He joins us on the phone now from Benton, Arkansas.
Gary, thanks for being with us. What's the situation on the ground there right now in terms of the amount of damage, number of injured people who were displaced from their homes?
GARY HUNNICUTT, SPOKESMAN FOR SALINE COUNTY: Well, right now it's wet, and looks like we have more to come. We've had two confirmed injuries, had a number of homes damaged, probably in the neighborhood of 50, and that's, you know, some of these may be double reports. So we're just confirming that as daylight approaches.
We have two shelters open at Bryant First Pentecostal Church and Bryant First United Methodist Church. About 120 people in the shelters. And got folks on the ground working and trying to help people.
ROBERTS: You said that there were reports of a couple of people injured. Are you aware of any potential fatalities at this point?
HUNNICUTT: No. At this point, I believe there are no fatalities.
ROBERTS: Yes. Gary, we're looking at some video right now as you're on the air with us here that was taken from the police car dash cam as the tornado blew through. And it almost looks like an air strike, the way that it seemed to ignite -- I don't know if it's structures on the ground or it hit a gas line. Any idea what caused the fire that was associated with this tornado roaring through?
HUNNICUTT: I don't know. I have heard reports both here and in Little Rock of a lot of gas line damage and some of that may be as a result of that. Some of those flashes are transformers going, at least some of the footage I have seen. So I don't know about all of it and the lighting. We had incredible lightning early on in this. Well, we have had all night, but it seemed like especially early on.
ROBERTS: Our meteorologist, Rob Marciano, was showing us the size of the super cell that touched down there. Do you have any kind of a preliminary estimate on what the force of this tornado was?
HUNNICUTT: Do not.
ROBERTS: All right.
HUNNICUTT: Do not.
ROBERTS: Gary Hunnicutt with Saline County for us this morning. Gary, thanks very much for the update on that. Appreciate it. Good luck in your efforts by the way.
HUNNICUTT: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Turning to politics now. Hillary Clinton having trouble keeping up with Barack Obama's fundraising machine. Clinton wrapped up two days of fund raising in California with an event last night in Beverly Hills. She had her second best fundraising total in March taking in $20 million. Pretty impressive, huh?
Well, now, It's only half of the $40 million that Obama raised in the same month. So far this year Obama has raised $131 million compared to Clinton's $70 million.
Former President Jimmy Carter is superdelegate, and may be ready to support Barack Obama. Carter was in Nigeria for a ceremony celebrating advances in medicine. He said that his family is behind Obama, but despite the hints, he's not willing to reveal his choice.
Carter said quote "We are very interested in the primaries." Don't forget that Obama won in my state of Georgia. My town, which is home to 625 people is for Obama. My children and their spouses are Pro-Obama. My grandchildren are also Pro-Obama. As a superdelegate, I would not disclose who I'm rooting for, but I leave it to you to make the guess.
And former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards says he would turn down any offer to run for vice president. Edwards, who was John Kerry's running mate in 2004 was asked the question at a convention in Las Vegas. Edwards answered sternly and despite a roar of laughter, his expression never changed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Would you accept your party's nomination for vice president? You've done this before, John, what do you say?
JOHN EDWARDS (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Former Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson was also on hand, and he was asked who he was voting for. He said that he would answer if Edwards did the same. Edwards responded quote "The only thing I know for sure is that we're not voting for the same guy." Didn't say woman. After a long pause though he did add the words, or woman. For the first time Americans are going to have a realistic chance to elect someone other than a white male as president. Our senior political analyst Bill Schneider has got a look at American's attitudes towards this potentially historic election.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): This is a historic moment in America.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have an election where the two people vying to be the Democratic nominee are an African-American man and a woman. And I think that says a lot. It says a lot about who we are as a party and who we are as a country.
SCHNEIDER: But is the country ready? We asked people exactly that question. The answer, in the new CNN Opinion Research Corporation Poll more than three-quarters say yes, the country is ready for a black president. Do people think the country is ready for a woman president? That number is a little smaller, 63 percent say yes. Do Americans see more prejudice against a woman than an African- American? More likely they seem more negative feelings about this woman than about this African-American.
GOV. ED RENDELL (D) PENNSYLVANIA: The two candidates have done a terrific job in trying to say, judge me for who I am and for what I've done.
SCHNEIDER: Do African-Americans believe the country is ready to elect a black president? They are a little more skeptical than whites. But blacks, too, have come around. Particularly, after the Iowa caucuses demonstrated that Obama could win in an overwhelmingly white electorate.
Barack Obama is the first African-American presidential candidate who does not come out of the civil rights movement. He is not running on racial issues, but he is asking Americans to make a statement about race.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are going to put aside fear, and we are going to reach out for hope this time. We are going to turn out like never before, and we're going to vote at record numbers this time. We won't be turned back by racial division.
SCHNEIDER (on camera): That's the good news about this election. Voters are responding to real candidates, not to stereotypes. Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: There you go.
41 minutes after the hour. Our Alina Cho here now with other stories making headlines this morning. Good Friday morning, to you.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It is Friday, finally. Good morning, guys and good morning, everybody. New this morning, despite recent violence, the latest national intelligence estimate says conditions in Iraq are improving. The classified report released to key lawmakers reportedly focuses on security and improvements in the Iraqi government. Democrats are already raising questions, of course, saying the report appears to be designed to bolster the administration's Iraq policy.
Backed by full NATO support for his missile defense plans in Europe, President Bush and the other allied leaders met with Russian President Vladimir Putin today. It happened in Bucharest, Romania. Putin has strongly opposed the U.S. plans for missile defense shield. NATO's chief says the meetings with Putin were frank and open and quote "ended on a good note." President Bush and Putin will meet again this weekend at a Russian resort.
This morning two foreign journalists have been arrested in Zimbabwe and charged with violating that country's media laws by reporting without accreditation. They were taken from their hotel by government forces. Meanwhile, officials announce yet another delay in releasing the results of last weekend's election. CNN and other news organizations had been prevented from entering Zimbabwe. The U.S. State Department is calling for the immediate release of all-American citizens being held there.
And thousands of travelers are stranded in Hawaii after the sudden shutdown of two airlines in less than a week. People are scrambling to book flights with other carriers, but travelers say ticket prices are soaring since the shutdown of the two low cost airlines, ATA and Aloha. Industry experts say the shutdowns will make vacationing in Hawaii more expensive.
Fewer options, of course. Apparently Hawaiian Airlines stands to gain from all of this. But I guess if you're going to be stranded, why not a bad place to be stranded.
ROBERTS: Although it is very difficult to get back from it in a timely fashion.
CHO: It certainly is.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: (INAUDIBLE), no flights.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: I'm going to be here for at least six months before I can get a flight. It's 44 minutes after the hour. And we talk a lot about whether or not the country is in recession, slipping into it, may pull out of it. The jobs market may really tell the ultimate story. And Ali Velshi here with more on that.
VELSHI: Well, I think it's one of the biggest deals actually. Every month we get the jobs report and today is that day. We'll find out how the job situation looked in March. We are expecting to lose jobs again. Now, there's an unemployment number which we are expecting to be at about five percent. And that is relatively low. That's got a lot of people saying what's the problem?
The problem is we have to create jobs. Some economists say more than 100,000 jobs a month just to keep up -- with the growth in the working age population in the United States. Because yes, the population here is growing. I want to just look back at the number of jobs gained or lost over the last six months. Starting back in September where we gained 110 jobs that month.
ROBERTS: 110?
VELSHI: 110,000 jobs. That's what we gained. 110,000 jobs. That is actually pretty healthy. And then in October, 166,000. That's very healthy. Anything over 100 is pretty good. By November we were at 94,000. Still not bad. Trending the wrong way but not bad.
Look at December. We dropped off to just plus 18,000 jobs, including the loss of retail jobs, which you shouldn't be losing in December because that's the holiday shopping season. Then you look at January. We lost 17,000 jobs. February, we lost 63,000 jobs, and the expectation for this month, it's a broad range but at low into the range, we are expecting to lose 25,000 jobs. At the high end about 70,000 jobs. That's where now this becomes concerning.
Because every job lost, that's really people who don't spend. You know, we have questions about whether that stimulus check will get spent or not. That's a different story. Lose your job, it's not a different story. All of a sudden you're spending it to cut down very, very quickly and it creates fears amongst other people about job losses. So that's what we want to contain. That's where we most want to not see things happen.
CHO: Or you spend it on other things like rent.
CHO: Right. Right. You don't spend it on things that stimulate the economy. So we'll be watching that very closely. That report comes out at 8:30 this morning. I'll be breaking it down telling you what sectors we have lost in or gained in. And hopefully, there will be some good news. If there is, I'll bring it to you.
ROBERTS: It would be some good news (INAUDIBLE) for a change. Ali, thanks very much.
Praise for Barack Obama's former pastor. The parish comes to the defense of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. But is there a disconnect with the rest of the community?
And dozens dead. Tens of thousands infected after a major disease outbreak in Brazil. What is being done to stem the deadly dengue fever? That's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Coming up on 11 minutes to the top of the hour. Welcome back to the most news in the morning. Members of Senator Barack Obama's Chicago Church say the media is getting it wrong when they talk about controversial comments from the Reverend Jeremiah Wright.
CNN's Susan Roesgen talks with some of the parishioners who are defending the reverend.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REV. MICHAEL KINNAMON, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES: In recent weeks, I have seen the United Church of Christ more than occasionally portrayed as some kind of radical sect. This, of course, is nonsense.
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Standing behind the pulpit where former pastor Jeremiah Wright inspired his congregation and enraged critics, national church leaders defended the church and blasted the news media.
PASTOR OTIS MOSS III, TRINITY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST: We have received unprecedented scrutiny that has taken its toll on our members, our staff, and our senior pastor.
REV. JOHN THOMAS, PRESIDENT, UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST: The intersection of politics, religion, and race has heightened our awareness of how easy it is for our conversations about race to become anything but sacred.
MOSS: As a church, we say no more, enough is enough. Today we, the pastors, members, and supporters of Trinity United Church of Christ proclaim that we take back our sacred space.
ROESGEN: Beyond what they say is the hurtful glare of the cameras, church leaders also say parishioners are hounded by reporters and they say the church received bomb threats. A church that feels under siege now getting national support.
KINNAMON: If there are threats against one church as there have been here, all churches are threatened. If the privacy of church members in one place is violated, as it has been here, all places of worship are violated.
ROESGEN (on camera): Those national church leaders are encouraging congregations all across the country to have a sacred conversation, as they call it, about race on May 18th. And by the way, neither Reverend Wright nor Senator Barack Obama was at today's news conference.
Susan Roesgen, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: An urgent push to wipe out a deadly outbreak of disease in Brazil. The largest outbreak of dengue fever ever seen. What health officials say is the cause, next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Health officials in Brazil say the country is being hit hard by a deadly outbreak of dengue, a mosquito-born disease. 70,000 cases have already been reported with most of them in the state of Rio de Janeiro. At least 67 deaths are being blamed on the disease. CNN's Harris Whitbeck has got more for us this morning on what's being called an epidemic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A woman takes her sick child to a tented waiting area. Another woman, weak with fever, is brought in on a stretcher. This field hospital is flooded with patients, and Brazilian military authorities say more might be on the way.
MAJOR ROBERTO TURY, FIELD HOSPITAL COMMANDER: We have to go into this fight as if we are going into war combat in order to minimize the population's suffering.
WHITBECK: The fight is against dengue, a mosquito-born disease that causes severe fever and headache and if left untreated can lead to death. 70,000 people all over Brazil have been struck in the last few weeks. In Rio de Janeiro state alone, 45,000 cases have been reported since January.
Authorities say 1.4 new cases crop up every minute. Public hospitals have been overwhelmed and patients say they waited for hours in emergency rooms for care. Dengue is common in Brazil and other tropical countries, but never before has there been such a large outbreak.
The Brazilian military is entering the sprawling densely populated slums around Rio de Janeiro to carry out mass fumigations and look for the stagnant pools of water where the carrier mosquitoes breed.
The Pan American Health Organization says urban sprawl is the main culprit behind the increase in dengue cases and says global warming leading to more intense rainy seasons could also be a factor.
Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Mexico City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: It's 56 minutes after the hour now. Barack Obama's money machine keeps churning out campaign donations. Ahead, a look at the latest Democratic fund-raising totals and what it could all mean for the all-important Pennsylvania primary.
And buyer beware. Money being lost in Internet scams is at a record high. A look at who is being targeted, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Now a quick check of this morning's "Quick Vote" question. What do you think is the primary reason that the country is on the wrong track? Right now, 50 percent of you say Iraq, 24 percent say the economy, 17 percent say political gridlock, 3 percent say it's the state of health care and 7 percent are putting it down to the state of education.
Cast your vote for us this morning at cnn.com/am. We'll continue to tally your votes throughout the morning. We're also asking for your thoughts on this. Didn't see a choice in our "Quick vote" that you agree with? Think something else is driving the country in the wrong direction? Just want to expound on your choice? E-mail us at cnn.com/am. We'll be reading your responses throughout the morning.
The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
Wind and fire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything was torn up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: A twister lights up a town overnight. Extreme weather on the march.
Hitting home, the mortgage meltdown slams John McCain's home state. What's his plan to solve the national nightmare?
And plain truth.
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