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American Morning
Reverend Wright Speaks; Indiana Battle for Blue-Collar Voters; Criticizing Bill Clinton; Dealer Who Sold Virginia Tech Gun Speaks on Campus; Global Food Crisis
Aired April 25, 2008 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Just crossing the top of the hour, Barack Obama's long-time pastor is finally breaking his silence. Reverend Jeremiah Wright is speaking publicly for the first time since excerpts of his sermons hit the Internet last month. Critics say Wright's sermons were racially divisive and condemned America but Wright told PBS's Bill Moyers that his remarks were taken out of context.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL MOYERS, PBS: What do you think they wanted to communicate?
REV. JEREMIAH WRIGHT, SEN. BARACK OBAMA'S FORMER PASTOR: I think they wanted to communicate that I'm patriotic, I'm un-American that, I'm filled with hate speech, that I have a cult at Trinity United Church of Christ. And, by the way, guess who goes to his church, hint, hint, hint.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Interview with Reverend Wright and Bill Moyers airs tonight at 9:00 eastern on PBS.
And polls show it could be another tight race in one of the next key battleground states in this primary season. Indiana is expected to be another test to see if Barack Obama can bring in more white working class voters.
Our Suzanne Malveaux is live for us in Jeffersonville, Indiana.
Suzanne, Obama not quite on home turf but pretty close for this upcoming contest.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He certainly is. If you take a look at the northwest part of the state that really borders Chicago, there's actually a media market that the two states share. A lot of voters have been growing up watching Barack Obama. This is a state where there are 72 delegates up for grabs. Obviously, the Hoosiers are going to play a very big role in this. They are trying to get a sense of who has the advantage.
When it comes to Clinton, there are about 92 counties, each one of those counties has at least one small town that's really been economically challenged. But you also have these big cities, urban areas, Indianapolis, Gary, Ft. Wayne, that would tend to favor Barack Obama. I mentioned that Chicago media market as well. This is where the candidates are going to be going today. They are crisscrossing. Clinton will be in Bloomington, Gary and East Chicago, Obama in Kokomo.
We have seen these candidates already reaching out to voters. They are doing everything they can. There are ads that are just blitzed on the TV stations talking about the Hoosiers. This is going to be a very, very tight race.
John?
ROBERTS: Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning; Suzanne, thanks very much.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Former President Bill Clinton under fire for his behavior on the campaign trail. South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn telling the "New York Times" Clinton's "bizarre conduct is threatening to damage his once vibrant relationship with the black community;" the comments coming after Clinton told a radio station in Pennsylvania that the Obama campaign played the race card on him.
FMR. PRES. BILL CLINTON: I think that they played the race card on me. We now know from memos from the campaign and everything that they plan to do it all along.
PHILLIPS: Well, Clyburn went on to say it was the black community that backed Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. "When he was going through his impeachment problems, it was the black community that bellied up to the bar, I think black folks feel strongly that this is a strange way for President Clinton to show his appreciation."
ROBERTS: Never again, that pledge from John McCain as he toured the still hurricane devastated lower ninth ward in New Orleans yesterday. The presumptive Republican candidate called the response to hurricane Katrina a "perfect storm" of mismanagement by federal, state and local governments. He said it should never happen again.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Somebody said to me the other day, said, well, New Orleans is off the front page, so Americans have forgotten. I want to tell you, America is a great nation and America cares and America has compassion for those who have suffered disasters. America will never forget. I will never forget and never again will there be a mismanaged natural disaster, manmade or natural again that will occur in this country.
ROBERTS: Hillary Clinton is questioning McCain's commitment to New Orleans. Speaking at a rally in Asheville, North Carolina, she accused McCain of wanting to tear down the ninth ward instead of rebuilding it.
The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog is blasting the U.S. for keeping his agency in the dark about a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor that was built with North Korea's help. Mohammed al Mardi says his international atomic agency should have been briefed sooner. The white house revealed yesterday evidence of the nuclear facility in Syria, seven months after Israeli jets destroyed it. U.S. officials claim Pyongyang was involved and that the site was not intended for peaceful purposes. Syria denies the charges.
PHILLIPS: A number of kids taken from a polygamous compound rising again today because officials say 25 mothers are actually minors. It brings the total number of children in state custody to 462. Child protective services says the girls initially claimed to be adults. About 260 children remain at the San Angelo coliseum. The others have been bussed off to foster homes.
And in less than an hour, the verdict is expected for three New York City police officers in the deadly shooting of Sean Bell. Bell was shot 50 times outside a strip club hours before his wedding. Three undercover detectives charged in the shooting chose to have a judge decide rather than a jury. Two of the detectives face 25 years behind bars if convicted of manslaughter.
In Virginia, the gun dealer who sold a weapon to the Virginia Tech shooter made an emotional speech on campus. Eric Thompson spoke at a rally supporting the idea of allowing students to carry guns. Just a year ago, last week, shooter Cho Seung Hui used one of Thompson's guns to kill 32 people including himself. Thompson spoke to about 60 students sharing his emotional account of the backlash against him after that tragedy.
ERIC THOMPSON, INTERNET GUN DEALER: To read somebody that says I hope that your children die in the same fashion or I hope somebody breaks into your house and shoots every one of your kids in the head. That is something I had to read.
PHILLIPS: A spokesperson for the school called the visit terribly offensive. Students are now wearing empty holsters to class to protest the law against concealed weapons.
ROBERTS: Six minutes after the hour, a bargain no more. Earlier this morning, the price for a gallon of regular gasoline along the New Jersey Turnpike jumped and did it ever, 22 cents to $3.39 a gallon. That is still well below the national average. At $3.17 it was almost free. The sharp increase was because service areas along the Turnpike only change their prices once a week. Those lineups you see there were for people trying to beat the increase. Gas prices reached a new record high overnight. According to AAA, the new national average is at $3.58, that's up 32 cents from a month ago and 70 cents higher than a year ago.
Should corn be used for food or fuel? A farmer says ethanol is being used as a scapegoat for the world's food crisis. His side of the story from his farm in Kansas just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now I approach it with a list and get only what's on the list and I get what I have coupons for. I don't buy spur of the moment purchase that is I would have brought before. Basically what I have coupons for. PHILLIPS: We've been telling you about the global food crisis all week. This morning the U.N. secretary general is speaking about it. He says that the sharp rise in food prices has developed into a full-blown crisis. He says immediate action needs to be taken to fix the problem.
Let's take a close look at those prices. Exactly how much more is the food you buy really costing you? A one pound loaf of white bread now costs $1.28, that's according to the Boston Globe. That's up 23 cents in only two years. A dozen eggs now about $2.18 compared to $1.45 in 2006, an increase of 50 percent. Red delicious apples, a pound now costs $1.16 compared to 96 cents just two years ago.
ROBERTS: Of course a lot of people are blaming production of ethanol with the high price of food. We'll be talking with the chairman of the corn association about all of that.
PHILLIPS: Corn fed beef.
ROBERTS: You can rest easy though because all of this ends on June 8th.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I did point out yesterday it all end on June 8th. I made that up. Don't take that number seriously. Don't write it down anywhere.
Ethanol is one of the things that has contributed to the rising cost of first of all corn because we are making it out of corn in the United States and other grains. What is happening is it's advantageous to grow ethanol, so what happens is farmers replace other crops with ethanol. We make some out of soybean. In the rest of the world what's happened is you've lost growing area for wheat through drought and weather. The interchangeability of basic grains has become a problem.
Another problem with the cost of food is that it all gets transported. It all gets grown on a farm which uses diesel fuel and it gets transported by trucks which uses diesel fuel. Diesel is more expensive than gasoline.
Gasoline, if you were wondering is $3.58 a gallon as a national average right now, a big increase, that is a two cent increase, I say big increase because if you wanted to extrapolate and think that gas was going up one or two cents a day, count how many days there are in a year, you don't want that sort of thing. Diesel is what you are dependent on for a lot of stuff that gets to you.
ROBERTS: That is the fifth time you've said that, gas has gone up two cents a day and there's 365 days in a year. Stop already.
VELSHI: But it's the truth.
ROBERTS: Don't encourage them.
VELSHI: I'm not encouraging them. Didn't I just tell you about squeezing gas from coal and using smaller cars? I'm encouraging you to buy less gas. But we are in a trap where we buy what we buy because we use it.
ROBERTS: People are buying less gas these days.
VELSHI: We are still a consumer of 10 percent of all of the world's output of oil in a day. American drivers consume 10.
PHILLIPS: We also keep buying SUVs too.
VELSHI: That is right.
PHILLIPS: Big vans, big gas guzzlers.
ROBERTS: If you are serious about selling your home, we will tell you how to reel in potential buyers in what's become one of the toughest housing markets in more than a decade.
PHILLIPS: Rob Marciano at the CNN Weather Center, tracking extreme weather as usual.
Hey Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Storm chasers no doubt this time of year are burning up gas chasing tornadoes across tornado alley. We had nine drop out of the sky last night. All of that action is moving east. We will highlight where it's going to go when AMERICAN MORNING comes back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Rob Marciano tracking a line of intense thunderstorms right now that's moving across the Midwest . Some of this action last night dropped tornadoes, seven of which fell on Kansas, a home or two destroyed there. Four and a quarter inch hail, the size of grapefruits. Unreal how turbulent this air mass is. All moving into this yellow watch box which is a severe thunderstorm watch in effect until 11:00 local time.
Also what's being issued by some of the national weather service offices are flash flood warnings for the rainfall that is falling out of the severe thunderstorms over very saturated ground, the swollen Mississippi cutting right through this area. All of this is heading right over that area, so flooding will become more imminent as we go through time.
At this hour, these thunderstorms aren't deemed severe but certainly will have gusty wind, maybe some small hail and certainly some heavy rain.
Also some heavy snow behind this, Nebraska, parts of South Dakota, one inch to one and a half inch snow rates per hour. And winter storm warnings posted for parts of the upper Midwest. You do expect to see colder air in northern Minnesota. But I'm sure they are saying enough already up there.
Kyra and John back up to you. PHILLIPS: If you've lived in Minnesota, like I have, there is a point that you reach, you are like enough already. Where is spring? Digging your car out for the eighth time in a week.
All right. Thanks Rob.
We are watching the most news in the morning.
Extreme sellers trying to unload their homes in a dire market. Gerri Willis shows us how.
ROBERTS: The debate over what to do with corn. Should it be used for food or fuel? That story in today's headline when is AMERICAN MORNING comes back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Keep on coming for the struggling housing market. Sales of new homes sunk to lowest level in 16 1/2 years according to the Commerce Department. New home sales dropped 8.5 percent last month. New homes dropped as well. Dropping 13.3 percent a year ago. Extreme sellers and CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis here to explain. Everything has an extreme in front of it.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: You are so right. In this case it actually makes sense, I have to tell you, because people are desperate out there. If you are in the market to sell a house right now, it is not because you want to test the waters, it is because you have to unload your home.
One of the things to think about in pricing that house, that is always the critical step, what price do you put on the house, a breakpoint. This is a word you need to understand. There is an elect actual psychological barrier to some prices. Most folks are happy to spend maybe $299,000 for a house but they don't want to spend $301,000 for a house because $300,000 is the breakpoint. The breakpoints occur at $25,000 increments and $100,000 increments.
PHILLIPS: Psychological impact.
WILLIS: That's exactly right. If you are smart and you are in a market where prices are falling, you aren't going to price it $305,000, $310,000, $320,000, you are going to bring it right under the $300,000 to $299,000, $285,000. You are going to get interest. More people will come in. You are more likely to sell that house. It is all about understanding the psychological barriers that buyers have when they come into the marketplace.
PHILLIPS: And of course these extreme sellers, the Internet, you see Web sites all over the place and how creative they are getting online.
WILLIS: Yeah, a lot of creativity out there. One thing to understand, we are talking about swapping houses now, swapping houses for people who want to buy and sell maybe in different parts of the country. Now, these are two separate transactions, you might be thinking how does that work. You each get your own mortgage. You have to find somebody with like value because you can have your mortgage value at whatever level you want it. This is a new thing online, a couple Web sites where this is going on.
Another thing to think about, lease to buy, rent to buy. Kyra, this was really popular back when interest rates were in double digits because nobody could unload real estate. So people started doing this as a creative way to get houses to move.
PHILLIPS: I know a lot of people who actually did that, it was very beneficial. Not now though.
WILLIS: This may become something that becomes more popular now because so many folks are having a hard time qualifying for mortgages. Some are staying in some marketplaces like California especially that prices are too high even though they are coming down. We may see more lease to buy options out there. That is something you may be able to negotiate with a desperate seller out there if you are eager to buy.
PHILLIPS: You wouldn't end up paying more doing that? Because I had a couple friends who thought about doing that and the numbers didn't crunch right.
WILLIS: All about the interest rate you are paying, how much you're paying for that. You've got to make sure the house is priced correctly. There's a lot of details to work your way through. In fact, there's been problems in the marketplace. If you are smart about it, you may be able to sell that house in a market where otherwise you can't find buyers.
PHILLIPS: Gerri Willis, thanks a lot.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
PHILLIPS: All right.
John?
ROBERTS: Coming up on 22 minutes after the hour now. Strong words for Bill Clinton from South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn. Clyburn is the third ranking Democrat in the house and an undecided superdelegate. He told the "New York Times" last night that President Clinton's behavior on the campaign trail is bizarre and threatening his relationship with the black community. Bill Clinton told the radio station in Pennsylvania that the Obama campaign "played the race card on him."
That brings us to this morning's "Quick Vote" question. Should Bill Clinton, as Congressman Clyburn advised, just chill and stay out of the race? Right now 60 percent of you say yes get out Bill. 40 percent say heck no, stay in. Head to CNN.com/AM to vote. We'll tally your votes throughout the morning and send us your thoughts on this as well. Let us know what you think about Bill Clinton's involvement in the campaign. Go to CNN.com/AM and drop us an email.
Is ethanol the answer to America's fuel crisis? Some say it's adding to the world's food crisis. What do farmers think? We're live in Kansas ahead.
First, the new Fortune 500 list is out this week. You may know who number one is. But we are looking at some of the names behind the numbers. Before we tell you who they are, we give you a chance to guess.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He got a start in woman's clothing and still into lotion and lingerie. He is the longest serving CEO on this year's list. Who is the billionaire with an interest in all things beautiful? Find that out after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which Fortune 500 CEO has the most years under his belt. Leslie Wexner opened the first Limited store in 1953 from a loan from his aunt. Almost 45 years later, Limited brands include Victoria's Secret and Bath and Body Works.
ROBERTS: 25 minutes after the hour, not long ago turning corn into fuel was a smart way to do it. Now it's being challenged because of the food crisis. The chairman of the National Corn Growers Association, Ken McCauley joins us from his farm in White Cloud, Kansas.
Good to see you, Ken, thank you for joining us this morning. As you know, so many people are pointing fingers at ethanol production as one of the reasons why food costs are going so high. An official from the United Nations went so far to say using food sources to create biofuels is a crime against humanity. What do you say?
KEN MCCAULEY, CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL CORN GROWERS ASSOCIATION: We don't agree with that, John. We think there's many factors affecting the price of food. Corn is one of the least and biofuels is one of the issues. It's just one of the issues. When you look at the energy as it spreads through the food system, it magnifies itself at least three times more than the price of corn.
We've also got a low value of the dollar right now. That's helping the person that's buying our corn for export and not to mention the speculator in the market, the hedge funds who is also in the oil market. So, we think there's a lot of factors and biofuels is not the main one.
ROBERTS: You know what the critics say, one fifth of the corn crop is used for ethanol. Critics say taking that much corn out of the system takes away from the corn you could use to produce food products which drives up the price of corn, takes away from the amount of corn you can use for feed, for cattle, poultry, drives up the cost of meat and poultry as well. What do you say?
MCCAULEY: When you make ethanol, you've got about 20 percent product left after you make ethanol. That is a valuable high protein livestock feed that the livestock industry is adapting to very well. We don't have any left at the end of the day almost in any plant. The livestock industry is using it, it's economical. That is an issue that doesn't get brought up much at all. The other part of it is, the commodity aspect of the food industry farmers only get 20 percent of that or less. When you look at a six cent cost of corn value in a box of corn flakes, you talk about any increase, it's very minute. When you get done with the price of corn increase, you are looking at a two to three percent increase due to cost of corn. We think that is really important. We are the scapegoat here, we're the easy target, and there's a lot of other factors that make a lot more difference in the price of corn.
ROBERTS: You mentioned a couple of minutes ago that there are other factors involved. There's demand, drought, transportation costs, things that you can't control. Some say one aspect you can control is the amount of corn that goes into ethanol production. What would happen in your mind if we were to decrease the amount of ethanol produced from corn?
MCCAULEY: Well, I don't think that's a reasonable tactic at all because we're just growing the ethanol industry into a bigger thing. It is contributing to lowering the cost of gasoline, it is been documented now by Iowa state, the Merrill Lynch study. 45 to 50 cents per gallon less gasoline cost due to the volume of ethanol on the market. We believe that $3.50 gasoline price you don't notice it as much. If you had $2.00 is a huge factor.
We are contributing to energy security, we are buying less Mideast oil because of it, and we are producing a renewable fuel that we can grow again next year, we are not emptying a well of oil that we will never see again. This renewable is an important part of this.
ROBERTS: How much corn do you plan to plant this year?
MCCAULEY: We are planting 80 percent of our 4,000 acres this year. We had 75 percent last year, 50 percent the year before. Farms across the country grew a record bushel crop last year on a record number of acres. We think that if the weather cooperates we will get that done again. We are going to produce as much corn as we need long term, we are looking at increased yields, we are growing corn in a more sustainable way, we're using less nutrients to grow more corn, we're using no till.
ROBERTS: Ken at the same time you say that though analysts say that because of the increased pries of soybeans, a lot of farmers are going to cut down the amount of corn they plant. There is going to be 6.2 million fewer acres planted in corn than last which may contribute to the crunch we are experiencing?
KEN MCCAULEY, CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL CORN GROWERS ASSN.: Well, I think the market is still at work. And we as the National Corn Growers have been very good to let the market work. And I think that is what we need to do here. The price of food, fuel, exports, feed, all of those things can work together. But we want to make sure that we keep this momentum going in the renewable fuels areas because it's really important to the fact of our energy security for the country not to mention all of the things that we are contributing, rural America is thriving right now when a lot of the rest of the economy isn't. So, you know, this country was founded on agriculture. And we think agriculture is stepping up to the plate right now and contributing quite a bit.
ROBERTS: Ken McCauley, chairman of the National Corn Growers' Association. Ken, thanks for giving us your side of the story and of course, this is something that we are going to continue to follow very important issue here, the price of fuel, the drive for biofuels, the price of food. Ken, thanks very much. Good to see you from White Cloud this morning.
MCCAULEY: Thank you, John.
ROBERTS: Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: New York City is on edge this morning as a judge prepares to deliver a verdict in a case that made national headlines. Remember Sean Bell was killed just hours before his wedding in November 2006. Officers fired 50 shots at his car. Those officers chose to have a judge, by the way, to decide their fate, rather than a jury. CNN's Deborah Feyerick is live at the Courthouse in Queens, New York. Why decide that, Deb?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, what we can tell you right now is there's a huge police presence outside this Queens County Criminal Courthouse, a lot of supporters have also come to hear what the verdict is going to be. Three detectives on trial for the shooting of three black men, all of whom turned out to be unarmed. Still N.Y.P.D. officers firing a total of 50 shots. Prosecutors say it was a crime, manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment.
The detectives say they acted in self-defense, and it happened at a strip club in Queens that was being targeted by undercover cops who were investigating complaints of guns, drugs and also prostitution. A bachelor party was also going on in that club. The groom just hours away from getting married. The party broke up. There was an argument outside, and one of the groomsmen was overhead to say he was going to get his gun. One of the undercover cops followed the man into the car. They climbed in and then what happened next is what is at the heart of this trial.
Detectives say they identified themselves as police officers thinking that one of the men inside was actually reaching for a weapon. But the two men in the car testified that nobody ever identified themselves as police officers, that, in fact, the groom was trying to get away thinking that they were under attack. Detectives opened fire. One of them actually reloading, shooting 31 times. The groom was killed, his two friends were injured. The judge today scheduled to hand down a verdict on whether this was a justified shooting or not. Kyra.
PHILLIPS: We will follow the case and also the rally that is expected there on the streets of New York. Deborah Feyerick, thank you so much. Alina Cho here with other stories making headlines right now.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there. Good morning, guys. Good morning, everybody. New this morning, for the second time in two months disturbing allegations of a cover-up by the FAA. This time in Dallas. An internal FAA investigation has confirmed that between 2005 and 2007, air traffic officials at Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport covered up more than 62 mistakes by blaming pilots. The safety errors allowed planes to fly too close together.
The Food and Drug Administration is taking a closer look at LASIK, that's the popular laser eye surgery. Many people have had it. The move comes after patients complained about double vision, blurry vision and other complications. The FDA says it wants to educate patients about the risk of LASIK and also find out how widespread the problems are. There's potential for it. More than 7.5 million Americans have had LASIK surgery.
Another way the slowing economy is hitting Americans. Millions are reportedly behind on their gas and electric bills. In some states are record number of people could have their power shut off in just the next two months. Utility officials around the country say the rising cost of heating oil and natural gas are to blame.
Well, $100 for two weeks of sweat. How does that sound? New York City's power company has come to a settlement with Queens New York customers who lost power for 10 sweltering days back in 2006. Who can forget that blackout? Con Edison says it will pay a total of $17 million. Sounds like a lot but that comes out to $100 a customer. Some business will get a little more, $350. The power failures happened in the summer of 2006 when temperatures hit the 90s and usage hit record highs.
And the Philadelphia 76ers want you to know that they feel your pain at the pump. The NBA team which has had a surprising run in the playoffs will sell gas today for 76 cents a gallon for 76 minutes at a Philadelphia gas station. Pretty good gimmick, huh. The sale will start at noon and end at promptly 1:16 p.m.. You can bet it will end promptly. All of this part of an effort, of course, to get fans pumped about the game. The Sixers take on the Detroit Pistons tonight. So, prayer. People are praying for lower prices, they are going to turn to gimmicks, they'll try anything at this point.
ROBERTS: Can you imagine what the lineup will be like at that station?
CHO: If you had the time you could drive from New York. Not a bad deal.
PHILLIPS: There you go.
ROBERTS: They better have some big guys there.
CHO: Yes, yes, it's going to be quite a line, you can bet.
ROBERTS: Thanks.
CHO: You bet.
PHILLIPS: So, we all remember "Thriller."
CHO: I had a Michael Jackson poster in my room, one or two.
PHILLIPS: Do you have the members only jacket?
CHO: I sure did.
PHILLIPS: And you did a little moonwalk action.
PHILLIPS: What color was your members only jacket?
ROBERTS: It just goes to show that everything comes around, whether it should or not.
PHILLIPS: Including big hair and bell bottoms. All right. Break out the white glitter glove, practice your moonwalk. Oh, yes, Michael Jackson's legendary "Thriller" video celebrates a milestone. So does our Lola Ogunnaike. Wait till you see her move.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Healthy eating and restaurant chains. The two just don't seem to go together.
PHILLIPS: But editors at "Health" magazine put more than 43 restaurant chains across the country to the test and came up with healthy dishes that you can find there. CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look. Sanjay, any that John and I would recognize.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, you know, you don't think of national chains and healthy foods sort of going together. But yes, you would recognize some of these. Olive Garden, for example, Denny's, Ruby Tuesdays. They were looking for some very specific things. Take a look at the list there while I tell you. Bob Evans is on the list as well. Denny's. Healthy food preparation, availability of organic foods, limited or no transfats. And something that we all have a love-hate relationship with, Kyra, portion control. That was something else that they looked at. You know, a lot of these restaurants compete on the basis of proportion, portion size. So, it has become ridiculous in fact. But some of these restaurants have been able to tailor that back a little bit and they got a nod, at least from "Health" magazine there.
ROBERTS: So, Sanjay, the Olive Garden has go the all you can eat pasta bowl or the never-ending pasta bowl.
PHILLIPS: And the soup and salad too.
ROBERTS: All the breadsticks you can eat.
PHILLIPS: That's right.
ROBERTS: That doesn't sound like portion control.
GUPTA: But it is about choices though. You're absolutely right. You have an all you can eat place, you have to obviously regulate the portion control there. But the thing that they were most impressed with Olive Garden is what some of the choices are. If you order some of the dishes, how few calories you might get. So you have the garden fare menu, for example. And if you order the Venetian chicken. It's only 448 calories. If you love fries, you got to have transfat free fries which does make a difference, and whole wheat pastas. So, yes, you're right, you've got to show a little bit of self control there. But if you do eat a fair amount, you still get some pretty good choices.
PHILLIPS: Well, as John knows I have no self control. I eat all morning long. And of course, I love to go to Denny's when we are on the road, right? The big breakfast specials. But those are definitely not low cal.
GUPTA: Do you get the Lumberjack Slam, do you?
PHILLIPS: yes, I do.
GUPTA: Or the moon over my hammy. I love that one too.
PHILLIPS: See, he knows also.
GUPTA: I know. Actually, I was ready about this here. You know, what is interesting. They've actually tried to do a good job with this as well. On their Web site, in fact, has posted nutritional information. Denny's have fit fare dishes. We are starting to see something happen in this country if you have Fit Fare dishes at Denny's. Again, the transfat free, this is something you guys deal with a lot in New York but it is starting to be come something across the country. They have a lot of transfat free foods except for the fries, in their case, but you can get those choices even at Denny's.
ROBERTS: I texted Sanjay last week because I thought I was having a stroke. But it turned out to be a migraine. I think it was brought on by some Chinese food that I ate.
GUPTA: Well, first of all. I'm glad you are feeling better, John. We were a little concerned about you there but you know when it comes to P.F. Chang's and a lot of Chinese restaurant, two things that you mentioned that are of huge concern obviously: the sodium and also the sauces a lot of times. P.F. Chang actually uses lower sodium foods and they use a soybean oil which is a little bit healthier. Also, again whole grain brown rice, wild salmon and all natural chicken. These are the type of choices you can get there including wok based cooking. So, again, a lot of this is dependent on the consumer still to make good choices. But if you have the options people are starting to choose those more and more.
ROBERTS: Well, Sanjay, thank you very much for helping us make those choices. I'll have P.F. Chang's next time and I won't get the sodium hit. What was the thing at Denny's that you were talking about?
PHILLIPS: That's right. The lumberjack breakfast.
GUPTA: Moon over my hammy. Thanks, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: In Miami. Sanjay, good to see you.
ROBERTS: And you can see the whole list of healthy chain restaurants and a whole lot more, head to cnn.com and click on health.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: I'm Rob Marciano at the CNN weather center. We're going to take a quick break and we'll come back and run down the severe weather that happened last night and where it's going today. AMERICAN MORNING will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MARCIANO: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Rob Marciano. We had nine tornadoes touch down yesterday. Outside of that, grapefruit-sized hail. And in some cases 80 mile an hour winds, all with this system that is moving off to the east. We've got a freshly issued severe thunderstorm watch box that is in effect for this area of the country, northern Missouri, eastern parts of Iowa and stretching as far north as Wisconsin. These line of thunderstorms producing in some cases hail in the nickel to quarter size variety. And also some heavy rains. So, this is an issue over a very water logged area. Eastern parts of Iowa, especially through Wisconsin, even Minnesota. So, the next 48 hours will bring another one to three inches of rainfall in some of these areas. Near the Mississippi Valley, the river is still swollen. First order of business though is the severe weather rolling through eastern parts of Iowa. Jones County severe thunderstorms there for nickel sized hail and gusty winds. This is all heading off to the east. And what we also have is some snow that could dump anywhere from 8 to 14 inches in parts of upper Minnesota later on tonight. That is the latest from here. John, back up to you.
ROBERTS: Rob, thanks very much.
She is a doctor who gave up her practice, 80 percent of her salary and her home to help some of the 47 million Americans left unprotected by health insurance. Dr. Lorna Stuart is today's CNN hero.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was nervous, scared, wondering, hey I don't even got a dollar to my name. What am I going to do?
DR. LORNA STUART, MEDICAL MARVEL: Every single person knows somebody without health insurance. There are so very many people who fall through the cracks. Over the years of my private practice, I was getting more and more frustrated with insurance companies, finding reasons not to pay for a procedure or a visit. And I said, we should start clinic.
I am Dr. Lorna Stuart and I provide quality healthcare to people without health insurance.
OK. I'll need his chart. When I began, there wasn't any spare money around to pay me. It didn't feel like a sacrifice because the difference in the reward is huge. Jesse, good morning. The clinic provides something very special to uninsured people. Respectful, dignified health care.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Dr. Stuart.
STUART: You are welcome. We are here to see people no matter what their ability to pay is. Since there's no need to spend a lot of time doing paperwork. Two more done. We have time to talk to the patient and really hear what they are saying. So, the patients go away feeling they have been heard, that they have been helped.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The clinic made me feel comfortable and at ease. I just want to say thank you. It's greatly appreciated.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you care to make a contribution for your health care today?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do. I only have $10. Is that all right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That would be fine, thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Great.
STUART: I like to do this way. Nobody restricting n how the care is provided, but simply health care, one person at a time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And if you know somebody who you think should be a CNN hero, tell us about him or her at cnn.com/heroes.
PHILLIPS: CNN NEWSROOM just minutes away. Tony Harris - he's my hero. He's at the CNN Center with a look at what's ahead. Hi, Tony.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And you are mine. Kyra, good morning to you. Good Friday, everyone.
A verdict for three New York City detectives minutes away in the CNN NEWSROOM. Sean Bell, unarmed, gunned down on his wedding day. Police fired 50 times. Will a judge convict or did the officers act in the line of duty?
Barack Obama's pastor speaks out. His first interview since his fiery sermon became a presidential campaign issue.
Gas prices, you know the story here. A new record high every day this week. Today, no exception. A busy Friday shaping up for us in the NEWSROOM. We get started at the top of the hour on CNN. Have a great weekend, Kyra, and pass that along to your main man there, John.
PHILLIPS: I will do that. He got a little jealous because I called you my hero and I called him my hero.
ROBERTS: Yes, 30 seconds...
PHILLIPS: I'm fickle. HARRIS: Try to balance it out there.
PHILLIPS: Put on your white glove and your members only jacket and get your jerry curl back like you used to have. OK. Because many believe it is still the greatest music video ever. Here we go. Coming up, our Lola Ogunnaike and our Tony Harris. He's going to join in. We'll show us how the anniversary of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" is being celebrated. Guess, how many years, whoa, a whopping 25.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Can you believe it's been 25 years? Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video still thrills fans worldwide. Thousands of people celebrated last night at the Tribeca Film Festive, right here in New York. Our Lola Ogunnaike was there to bust a move.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's the haunting music video that just won't die. How many times have you watched the "Thriller" video in your lifetime if you had to guess?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I'm going to say in the past week alone I've probably watched it about close to 100 times.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just brilliant. To this day I get goose bumps every time I see it.
OGUNNAIKE: An estimated 2,000 fans moon walked into lower Manhattan to pay homage to the video that made Michael Jackson a superstar. So, why do you think it's managed to endure after all of these years? I mean, we're talking well over two decades here.
VINCENT PATTERSON, LONGTIME JACKSON CHOREOGRAPHER: I think that first of all, it's the genius of the choreography. It is not simple but it looks simple enough. And there's a couple signature moves that are easy enough for everybody to pick up. This is kind of the Swan Lake of the pop world, you know. It's everybody learns it, everybody does it.
OGUNNAIKE: The ground breaking 14-minute long classic has inspired countless imitations. Inmates at a Philippine prison became an Internet sensation when they performed the routine. This wedding party and these Legos have also thrilled online. Naomi Campbell and a group of lizards work it in this commercial for SoBe Water. Jennifer Garner gets her grove on in "13 going on 30." And even Avatars kick up their animated heels in Second Life "Thriller" dance party room.
JOHN LANDIS, DIRECTOR "THRILLER": They do it at quinse anos. They do it at bar mitzvahs. They do it at baptisms. I mean I've been sent videos from all over the world, African tribes, in China. I mean, just bizarre.
OGUNNAIKE: The dancers from Bravo step it up and dance taught me some of the classic choreography. Five, six, seven, eight. Again. OGUNNAIKE: ah, ah.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Oh, Lola. You got it going on. Why do you think this video was so revolutionary?
OGUNNAIKE: Well, Kyra, at the time nobody was doing anything like this. I mean, big budget films, conceptualization, nothing out there like this before. And Michael Jackson had the money to burn, and he spent it on this. He was really into making movies, he pulled it off, and after 25 years still very relevant.
PHILLIPS: As you say so seriously with the glove on.
OGUNNAIKE: I know.
PHILLIPS: I have to tell our viewers, as well, she wasn't ready for this, but let's go.
OGUNNAIKE: I will not.
PHILLIPS: I got to see you in action.
OGUNNAIKE: I'm going to show you what I learned last night. OK.
PHILLIPS: We're going to key the music.
OGUNNAIKE: There we go. I need backup some dancers.
PHILLIPS: Boys, we need the backup dancers. Let's go, Phil.
OGUNNAIKE: Where did Phil go? One, two, one, two. Now, a little attitude. Stack, stack, stack, come on Bill. If you are uh, uh. Billy.
PHILLIPS: Just a little moonwalk as the glitter goes crazy.
OGUNNAIKE: I can't moonwalk in stilettos. I can't. Sorry, Kyra. Next time.
PHILLIPS: A little moonwalk, John Roberts?
ROBERTS: No, it is your boring old news guy.
OGUNNAIKE: Oh, please.
ROBERTS: Bill works for "Saturday Night Live" on the weekend. He's used to this stuff.
PHILLIPS: He knows how to do it. That's right. That's our crew. Lola, I think, you know, you've got a future, my friend.
OGUNNAIKE: Thank you.
ROBERTS: A lot of memories. OGUNNAIKE: I'll be a backup dancer for J. Lo.
ROBERTS: Thanks, guys.
PHILLIPS: She was at the cabaret on Friday.
ROBERTS: We got to run. The three stooges perfected it. Then, political activists ran with it. We got the latest pie in the eye/
Plus the history of America's funniest insult from who else but our Jeanne Moos, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Four minutes now to the top of the hour. He won the Pulitzer Prize and got a pie in the face. This award-winning journalist was not the first person to get his unjust desserts, here's the Moos' news in the morning with Jeanne.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The good news for Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Thomas Freedman is he took off his nice jacket, the bad news is he's about to get hit with a pie. You know, it wasn't really a pie. It was more like a pie shell filled with whipped cream colored green in honor of earth day. Environmentalists calling themselves the green wash guerrillas carried out the pie toss at Brown University and posted it on the Internet. A female student got caught, the man did not. What Thomas Freedman got was a sympathetic round of applause. He also got a laugh. For trying to make light of the incident. Though you could tell he was really mad by the way he tossed that hanky. This pie-throwing hanky panky has been going on forever. Targets range from the then head of Proctor & Gamble.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Procter & Gamble poisons animals, shame on you.
MOOS: To the then Secretary of Agriculture.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't a balanced meal.
MOOS: The truly classic pies in the face get thrown over and over on the web. Be they directed at Bill Gates, Anita Bryant was attacked by gays back when she used to campaign against them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, at least it is a fruit pie.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's pray for him right now, Anita. Let's pray.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Father, we want to thank you.
MOOS: First, her husband prayed, then he went out and splattered one of the pie throws with their own pie. Protesters love to post their pie jobs on YouTube. They hid the face of a person throwing a pie at a Fox reporter covering anti-Iraq war demonstration. Reporter Jennifer Jolly was anything but.
JENNIFER JOLLY, FOX REPORTER: You are a coward. Who did that? Why don't you come talk to me in my face?
MOOS: Usually it's the pie throwers who tend to be left leaning going after conservatives like Ann Coulter.
ANN COULTER: Liberals would hate --
MOOS: Which is what made the attacks on "New York Times" columnist Thomas Freedman different. He tends to be a hard to label hockish liberal. Freedman did finished his speech, but he didn't do what Ralph Nader once did, give his attacker a piece of his mind as well as a piece of their pie. Jeannie Moos, CNN, New York.
PHILLIPS: What happened to a good old-fashioned spit ball?
ROBERTS: Not quite as dramatic.
PHILLIPS: That wraps up our Friday. Time for a final quick check on our "quick vote." We've been asking should Bill Clinton just chill and stay out of his wife's race for president. 60 percent of you say yes, 40 percent say no.
We've also got a lot of e-mails.
ROBERTS: Yes, absolutely. We got Carmen from Clarksfield, Tennessee writing to say "The black congressman from South Carolina misspoke when he stated that Bill Clinton is alienating the black voter. I am a black woman who supports Hillary Clinton for President and no individual is so important that he or she could dare speak for an entire race of people unless that entire race of people have given their permission.
PHILLIPS: And this one came from Anna in Oswego, New York. Hope I said that right.
ROBERTS: Oswego.
PHILLIPS: Thank you. "Bill Clinton needs a "Honey Do" list form Hillary as well as a "Honey, don't List" Ask most women what happens when their husbands retire. They may just say he's driving me crazy. So Hillary and ladies let him feel useful and important, but give him "the list."
To all of you who voted or wrote in, thanks a lot.
ROBERTS: Have yourself a great Friday and a great weekend ahead. Thanks so much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. We'll see you again on Monday.
PHILLIPS: CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris and Betty Nguyen begins right now.
HARRIS: And good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris. BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen, in for Heidi Collins who is still on maternity leave.
