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American Morning
BlackBerry Experiences Another Blackout; Dems Doing Victory Lap; Lobbyists On Pace for Record Year; Geithner: We'll Do Whatever It Takes; Madonna's Malawi Mission; Blackberry Outages; Turn It Down; Drinking Water; H1N1 Vaccine Fear
Aired December 23, 2009 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Carol Costello in for Kiran Chetry.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good to be with you again.
COSTELLO: And we're just talking about how great it was we got to work together again.
HOLMES: Yes. It was a while ago. Hello there, I'm T.J. sitting in today for John Roberts, so don't adjust your screens, the normal crew, they're off today on this Christmas Eve, December 23rd. Thank you for being with us.
Here are some of the big stories we're going to be telling you about in the next 15 minutes. This was a big deal overnight. Maybe some of you were sleeping and didn't notice it. You may be noticing it when you get up this morning, but a massive BlackBerry blackout. Yes, another one. This is the second one we've seen in less than a week.
The service is mostly restored now. We'll tell you who is affected and what the device maker is saying about it all this morning.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Bing Crosby. Thanks a lot. Another major winter storm moving across the country right now. This one will have snow and ice. Will it make you miss Christmas? Rob is watching the extreme weather for you this morning.
HOLMES: Also, a special series you'll only see on AMERICAN MORNING. Talking about big stars making a big impact.
This morning, they don't get much bigger than Madonna. She is talking for the first time about her new $15 million mission in Malawi. Our Alina Cho continues her series with a rare one-on-one with Madge, something you'll only see right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
COSTELLO: I love Madge. But first, let's talk about that breaking news. BlackBerrys from the United States to South America and even overseas, useless for hours. The service for many went down late last night and it was only restored just a few hours ago. It's the second time this week an outage has paralyzed the handheld wireless e-mail devices. Thirty-two million people rely on their BlackBerrys.
I know I was suffering from withdrawal symptoms. Christine Romans joins us now. And -- so, what's the problem? I mean, you go on BlackBerry's Web site, there's no information.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Look, this is the second outage in two weeks, or in six days actually. This is a very big one. I mean, it could be almost as many as 32 million people could have suffered problems with their BlackBerry overnight. While they went to sleep, so did their BlackBerry.
And the company is not saying exactly what the problem is. Didn't say so six days ago either. That's leaving people very, very frustrated. So many people rely on these for business and for, you know, their own technical productivity for communication that when you have that many people losing their means of communication, it makes them frustrated, especially when they don't know why.
This is what the company says, Research in Motion, the Canadian company that owns BlackBerry. "Some BlackBerry customers in the Americas are experiencing delays in message delivery. Technical teams are actively working to resolve the issue for those impacted."
So again, we don't know why, but we know that around 6:30 Eastern Time the outage hit last night. That it was about eight hours of outage and it could have been tens of millions of people who were unable to use their device. They were unable to send or receive e- mails regardless of which phone system they use. It is the second outage for BlackBerry -- blackout for BlackBerry in just six days and the company is not saying why it happened.
COSTELLO: And it's strange it happened not just in this country but in other countries.
ROMANS: That's right. We don't know how widespread it is, but we do know that it is a widespread blackout for BlackBerry customers. And you should be getting BlackBerry service then, sporadically. I mean, I started getting e-mails at 2:45 this morning, 3:00 this morning. People are starting to get their service restored. The company says technical teams are working on it. But again, they're not saying why it happened and why it happened twice in just six days.
HOLMES: You know, we see this every once in a while, but two back to back like this, what in the world is going on?
ROMANS: Well, you wonder is it a volume issue. But it was in the evening last night, you would think that the business kind of volume would have been winding down. It happened overnight. Was it a software glitch? We just don't know. The company is not saying.
COSTELLO: And it could be a cyber crime. Who knows?
ROMANS: The company is not telling you. I mean, I guess any kind of thing is up for consideration.
COSTELLO: We're going to talk a lot more about this. Stay with us. We're going to hear from government leaders to CEOs, millions -- you know what? I'm just going to say it this way.
We'll have two experts come on later in our show at 6:30 Eastern time.
HOLMES: Yes.
COSTELLO: And I'm going to ask them exactly why they think the BlackBerry service went down, not only in this country but overseas as well.
HOLMES: And some other stuff we're keeping an eye on this morning. An air disaster averted overnight. American Airlines plane carrying 154 people from Miami overshot the runway at a Jamaican airport, crashed into a fence though. Ninety-one people had to be taken to the hospital. They were treated for broken bones, cuts, bruises, things like that. Here are some of the pictures of it.
The Boeing 737 sustained some damage to the fuselage and landing gear. It was raining at the time of this incident, but still, no definitive word on exactly what caused it.
COSTELLO: After a five-year custody battle, New Jersey dad David Goldman is one step closer to bringing his son home. Yesterday, Brazil's chief justice ordering the relatives of his 9-year-old son Sean to hand the boy over. Sean was taken by Goldman's ex-wife to her native Brazil back in 2004. She then divorced Goldman and remarried and she died last year in childbirth.
HOLMES: Well, a U.S. general in retreat now. Major General Anthony Cucolo, we've been telling you about the last couple of days, he's now dialing back. His new policy making pregnancy in a war zone a punishable offense, now saying he would not jail a soldier for getting pregnant or getting another soldier pregnant. Four women were disciplined under his command so far, and had actually received letters of reprimand.
Well, we're told now the end is near. The White House says when it comes to the health care reform debate, it's not a matter of if, but when. Democrats, already celebrating a win. In about 24 hours from now, senators will have a final vote on their bill. Our Dana Bash looking at what we can expect this Christmas Eve.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol and T.J., this time of year, senators are usually long gone, home with their families for the holidays. The fact that they're still here working around the clock on such a highly partisan issue like health care means that the atmosphere is anything but Christmas cheer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BASH (voice-over): The sun was barely peeking through when senators dragged themselves back in for this day's odd hour vote.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning. Afternoon in paradise.
BASH: Sarcasm from a punchy senator, hardly rare during this marathon health care debate colliding with Christmas. Sometimes you do still see this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, thank you, guys.
BASH: A gentlemanly gesture, even across party lines. But inside, tensions are flaring.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I don't know what's happening here in this body, but I think it's wrong.
BASH: Nerves are raw.
SEN. TOM COBURN (R), OKLAHOMA: What the American people ought to pray is that somebody can't make the vote tonight.
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: I don't think we should be wishing misfortune on any of our Senate colleagues on either side of the aisle.
BASH: This senator expressed his frustration with a Christmas poem.
SEN. ROLAND BURRIS (D), ILLINOIS: It was the night before Christmas when all through the Senate, the Right held up our health care bill no matter what was in it.
BASH: The Democratic leader made this appeal.
SEN. HARRY REID (D), MAJORITY LEADER: I would hope that everyone would go back to their gentlemanly ways. I've said to a number of people, Rodney King. Let's just all try to get along.
BASH: Some rancor is fueled by fatigue. Signs of exhaustion are everywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Section 2717 of the public health service act.
BASH: From the clerks forced to read a nearly 400-page amendment out loud.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know where I am.
BASH: To the Senate majority leader's 1:00 a.m. blunder.
REID: These are some of the reasons the AARP, the American Association for the Advancement of Colored People -- I'm sorry, American Association of Retired People.
BASH: It's no wonder he won't even entertain the question about the next big health care hurdle compromised with House Democrats.
(on camera): Is the reality that the House is going to have to get it back from the Senate, the House is going to have to accept much of what you're doing?
REID: No matter how many ways you asked the question you're going to get the same answer. We are focused on passing this bill in the Senate.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: But all of the tension and exhaustion, Republicans won't allow that final health care vote until the morning before Christmas. It's not that they think they can stop Democrats from passing health care reform, they just believe delaying it is good political strategy for next year, an election year -- Carol and T.J.
COSTELLO: So how tired are you of us talking about health care reform?
HOLMES: Yes, we're not done, though, in case you're not tired of it. No. Tomorrow should be it for a while. You'll at least get a break until the New Year.
COSTELLO: Thursday morning then a vote.
HOLMES: Yes.
COSTELLO: We're going to talk about it. But anyway, I'm done, because I'm supposed to be talking about the weather right now.
HOLMES: Yes.
COSTELLO: Because another big winter storm is supposedly coming our way.
HOLMES: People are probably tired of hearing about that as well. We've got another doozy here. Rob, I'm looking at your map here. We had it on the big over here.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
HOLMES: And look at the mess for some folks trying to fly through at the mid-south and some midsection of the country there.
MARCIANO: Well, as you guys know, most weather in the U.S. goes from west to east so we always look west to see what's coming east and it's a big mess out there.
A number of watches and warnings are posted, including winter storm warnings and even a couple of blizzard watches out for central Kansas. The good news with this storm is that most of the action is going to be in somewhat less populated areas, but it's a wide scan.
Look at the size of this, of what's going on as far as the amount of warnings that are posted for this. And the moisture that stretches from Canada all the way back down to the border. We're looking at severe weather also to be a problem with flooding rains down across the south.
Six to 18 inches of snow potentially for parts of Kansas, Nebraska and in through Iowa. The front side of this system, T.J. and Carol, looks to be fairly warm. Although some parts of the east coast will start as freezing rain. I think most everybody will turn to rain by the time Christmas rolls along. This looks to be more of a Midwest storm. But if you're traveling through the Midwest, it's going to be an issue over the next 48 hours.
We'll keep you posted. Much more in 30 minutes. Back to you guys.
COSTELLO: We'll keep listening. Thank you, Rob.
HOLMES: Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: Bye, guys.
COSTELLO: Well, it's the end of the year, and you know it's also time, not only for gifts but for taxes.
HOLMES: Already? I've got to start thinking about that too?
COSTELLO: I know. We're going to tell you how not to get audited. Tried and true ways.
It's nine minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We saw that. Can we get a shot of the hat again? They're wearing their hat in the studio. Everybody's in the Christmas spirit.
That's lovely. That's Bruce. Don't show your face, OK? Just let them see the hat.
He's our guy. Good guy there.
Eleven minutes past the hour now. It means it's time for an "A.M. Original," something you will only see on AMERICAN MORNING. First, we do want to give you a quick check of what's new this morning, though.
COSTELLO: Oh, yes, the taxman.
HOLMES: The taxman.
COSTELLO: You want to beat the IRS odds?
HOLMES: Yes.
COSTELLO: There's only one way to do it.
HOLMES: They'd love to.
COSTELLO: Make under 200 grand. According to new figures just released, returns less than that amount only get audited one percent of the time. If you make $1 million or more, that jumps to six percent.
HOLMES: I would think it might even be higher if you make $1 million or more. But six percent, that's pretty good odds at the same time.
COSTELLO: Well, hundreds of folks showing up at a hearing last night in western Illinois about a plan to bring alleged terrorists to their town. The governor plans to sell a nearly super max prison to the federal government so we can start moving Gitmo detainees. Supporters of the plan say it could bring the town back, putting thousands of people back to work.
COSTELLO: Lobbyists are on pace for a record year in Washington. Even with a down economy and fewer of them in town, they're proving again that money talks louder than you. Lisa Sylvester shows us who's profiting.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Recession? What recession? Certainly not for the lobbyists on Capitol Hill. The lawyers and representatives of special interest groups are having a banner year, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
DAVE LEVINTHAL, CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS: Despite the recession, despite all the economic turmoil, lobbyists and the clients of lobbyists are on pace to spend a record amount of money in 2009, breaking even the high watermark that they set in 2008. It's probably going to be over $3.3 billion, with a "B" that was the number set last year.
SYLVESTER: Driving the lobbying boom is the massive health care bill being debated in Congress. Levinthal says and only the first nine months of this year, Pharma (ph), the lobbying arm for the pharmaceutical industry, has spent $20 million on lobbying. Individual drug companies added even more. Pfizer, more than $16 million. Eli Lilly topping $9 million. GlaxoSmithKline, a little over $6 million, and Johnson & Johnson, more than $4 million.
Spending to get their message across seems to have worked for the pharmaceutical industry which recently managed to defeat a congressional amendment that would have allowed the re-importation of less expensive prescription drugs from countries like Canada. Pharma (ph) argued there was no way to guarantee the safety of those drugs. But health care is only one of the major issues that Congress has taken up.
The stimulus bill, proposed new financial regulations, and energy reform have also brought out the lobbyists. The gas and oil industry, for example, has spent more than $120 million, the first nine months of this year.
MARIANNE LAVELLE, CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY: The industry is really making its voice heard. We've looked at the lobbying on this, and there are about 2,800 lobbyists working on climate change on the hill.
SYLVESTER: The group with the deepest pockets remains though the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which so far this year has spent more than $65 million on lobbying, three times more than anyone else.
(on camera): On the health care bill, it's not just drug companies and insurance companies who you might expect that have hired the big lobbying guns, but groups like the American Beverage Association are also jumping in. The organization is actively lobbying to try to keep a soda tax out of the final bill.
Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, our Christine Romans is coming up. She's of course "Minding Your Business" and she has what some would say some good news, at least to hear, from the Treasury secretary.
After all this we've been through, we're not going to have to go through it again, if you will. No second wave of financial disaster. She's up next to explain.
It's 15 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: See, that's putting me in the spirit.
HOLMES: Hey! That is my -- probably the one song I look forward to hearing every Christmas.
COSTELLO: That's your fave?
HOLMES: That's the one. That -- that might be the one. It's upbeat, it's fun. Yes.
COSTELLO: I like "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen."
HOLMES: That's not -- that's not for me.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Anyway, it is 6:18 Eastern time. That means it's time to "Mind Your Business."
HOLMES: Yes. Let's explain what we're -- you're seeing here, these little -- I think they're hamsters, right? Little Zhu Zhus, I think they're called.
COSTELLO: They're toys. They're little toy hamsters.
HOLMES: There's always somebody -- there has to be a hot toy every year. This is the one. Now, of course, everybody's having a hard time finding these things, the highly sought-after mechanical hamsters.
It zooms around on wheels, selling faster than stores can keep these things in stock. Online, toy's -- $8 price tag gone up to about $50 in some places. Of course, some parents willing to pay it. You know, they're desperate to make the child happy on Christmas morning and they are hiking those prices and parents are paying for it. The Zhu Zhu.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm still back on Carol's Christmas song. Do you like, "We Three Kings," Carol?
COSTELLO: Yes, I do (ph). I like traditional Christmas songs. I'm so boring.
Why? What's your favorite Christmas song?
ROMANS: Oh, I don't know. I'm mean, I'm in "Jingle Bells" mode because I have a preschooler. All they know is how to sing "Jingle Bells" so that's what we've been doing.
But, look, I've got a Christmas pledge for you from Timothy Geithner, the Treasury Secretary. He has pledged there will be no second wave of the crisis -- of financial crisis. The financial system will not see another crisis like we have last fall, that he will do everything in his power -- the Treasury Department and the government will do everything in their power to make sure that that doesn't happen again.
That's your Christmas pledge or Christmas vow from the Treasury secretary. He said this yesterday on -- on NPR -- National Public Radio. And this is the way he said, literally, we cannot afford to let the country live again with the risk that we're going to have another series of events like we had last year.
In terms of the economy, he said growth is picking up. He said banks need to begin lending. They need to make capital available for businesses so they can grow, so they can hire people. He says that is what poses a risk to the economy. But in terms of some sort of systemic, financial crisis, a second wave, he doesn't see it coming and he's vowing that it wouldn't happen.
Let's talk about where the economy is, though, here. And we got that GDP number yesterday, economic growth in the third quarter was weaker than many people had expected. It was 2.2 percent. Democrats will say, look, if we didn't spend all this money, we would still be in a recession. True. Republicans will say, what? We spent all that money and we only get 2.2 percent? Also true.
It's also -- the GDP is -- is down pretty substantially from where we thought it was going to be, a 3.5 percent. So, look, that was a weak recovery. But the fourth quarter is expected to be better, and that's where I think Timothy Geithner is talking about, that growth is picking up, that we've seen that third quarter move into a fourth quarter that's probably a little bit stronger than we have thought.
COSTELLO: Well, it's Christmas time, so we'll take the positive, right?
ROMANS: That's right.
COSTELLO: Roman's Numeral?
ROMANS: It's a positive. Twenty-four percent, and this is, I think, the stock market telling us what Timothy Geithner told NPR yesterday, that there's not going to be another letdown in the financial -- in the financial markets, that -- that there wouldn't be a second wave of the crisis. Twenty-four percent. Any guesses?
HOLMES: You said the stock markets?
ROMANS: If you looked at your 401(k).
HOLMES: Yes.
ROMANS: The S&P 500 is up 24 percent this year. Can you believe that? It's one of the -- I think it's (ph) the second best performance in a year in a generation. Twenty-four percent, the S&P 500 is up this year.
That's why the stock market is up. It's been telling us -- the stock market's been telling us for months they don't see another letdown. Let's just hope Timothy Geithner and the stock market are right.
HOLMES: We can tell when it's -- it's positive. You get this little twinkle in your eye, you start to grin a bit. You're always good (ph) to bring some positive. You love bringing the positive.
ROMANS: It's because I'm singing "We Three Kings" in the back of my head. I'm singing Carol's (INAUDIBLE) song.
COSTELLO: "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen." I'll sing it for you later.
ROMANS: "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen."
HOLMES: Christine, thank you so much. We'll see you again here shortly.
ROMANS: OK.
HOLMES: Well, coming up here, more fabulousness than you can probably stand. Madonna and our Alina Cho -- that's all you got to say. That's next.
It's 22 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Did I mention I love Madonna?
HOLMES: You don't have to. We can tell by the little groove you had going on while the song was playing.
COSTELLO: It's 24 minutes past the hour. Top stories are only five minutes away. But first, an "AM Original," something you'll see only on AMERICAN MORNING. All this week we're shining a light on Hollywood, Hollywood A-listers making a big impact, using their celebrity to help those in need. And today...
HOLMES: And this morning, yes. They don't get any bigger than Madonna.
The global superstar, building a $15 million school for girls in Malawi. She's talking about it for the first time with our Alina Cho for Alina's special series, "Big Stars, Big Giving."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She's a woman who only needs one name.
CHO (on camera): So you're Madonna.
MADONNA, FOUNDER, "RAISING MALAWI": No, I'm not.
CHO: Yes, you are.
CHO (voice-over): Madonna has spent most of her life being provocative. But these days, nothing is more important than her children, two of them adopted from Malawi, a small African nation where more than a half million children are orphaned by AIDS.
CHO (on camera): All of those orphans. I mean, a million...
MADONNA: I would love to take them all home. Yes. If I could.
CHO (voice-over): Because she can't, and because she's Madonna, she made a documentary about the country.
MADONNA (voice-over): People always ask me why I chose Malawi. And I tell them, I didn't. It chose me.
CHO: She also founded the charity "Raising Malawi," to help the orphans she can't bring home.
MADONNA (on camera): We found and met a lot of people who are -- who are sick and dying of HIV and with no medical help, and -- and it -- it just felt like a death camp. And -- and it was astonishing. And so --
On the other hand, though, everybody that I met was also incredibly brave. So it's a very confusing paradox.
CHO (on camera): It's an interesting dichotomy, because I know that Malawi is known as the warm heart of Africa.
MADONNA: Yes.
CHO: As much suffering as there is there, there's a certain spirit to the people. MADONNA: Yes, there is. Because, on the one hand, I went there and I thought, I -- I have to -- I have to help. I have to save these people. And then I thought, wait a minute. I think it's the other way around. I think they might be saving me.
CHO: Why do you say that?
MADONNA: Because they help you to get a sense of appreciation for -- for -- for life, for -- for what you have. I mean...
CHO (voice-over): A new appreciation for life, and a new sense of responsibility. Her latest project? Breaking ground on a $15 million boarding school -- the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, slated to open in 2012.
MADONNA: I never intended to go to Malawi and just sort of, you know, dump a bunch of, like, aid on people and flee the country. It -- it's always been about partnership.
CHO: And she's putting her money where her mouth is. Every dollar donated to RaisingMalawi.org, Madonna will match.
CHO (on camera): So you just said, hey...
MADONNA: Match my dollar.
CHO: I'll keep going?
MADONNA: Match my $100,000. Yes.
CHO (voice-over): Make that $300,000 and counting.
MADONNA: My biggest asset as a human being is, I would say, my resiliency and my survival skills, you know? That, you know, I'm like a cockroach. You can't get rid of me.
CHO (on camera): But that's helpful in philanthropy.
MADONNA: It is.
CHO: Yes, right?
MADONNA: It is. I mean, you have to -- you have to be pretty tireless.
CHO (voice-over): Her tenacity was on display back in 2006, when many people, both in Malawi and around the world, accused her of using her celebrity and her money to buy an adoption. She won. David, now 4, calls Madonna "Mom."
MADONNA: It seems that a lot of the things I do end up being controversial, even when I don't mean them to be.
CHO (on camera): Right. Does it hurt your feelings?
MADONNA: Hurt my feelings? I don't know if it hurts my feelings. I think sometimes -- I -- I'm pretty prepared often for some of the things I say and do. I go, I know this is going to freak some people out.
But then other things I do, like adopting a child who's about to die, I don't think I'm going to get a hard time for it, and I do.
CHO (voice-over): Yet Madonna says she'll take the criticism if it means one more child in Malawi gets to go to school, survive and thrive.
CHO (on camera): Do you ever get overwhelmed by all of the work that needs to be done? Because it seems like you help one kid and there's like a thousand more standing in line.
MADONNA: Yes.
CHO: And it can be overwhelming.
MADONNA: Yes, it can. I mean, sometimes you just -- it stops you dead in your tracks and you think, oh, my God. I can't do this.
But then, I see that the success rate --I talk to the people in Malawi whose lives have been changed, and that just helps me and keeps me going.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: I asked Madonna, after being in the spotlight for more than three decades, how aware is she today of her celebrity? Is it something that she thinks about all the time? Well, she told me, "I'm aware of it when I'm on the red carpet. I'm aware of it when paparazzi is waiting outside my door, and I'm aware of it when I have an opportunity like this to talk about my work."
And, guys, it really was a thrill for me to meet her, I have to say. I know it would have been for you too (ph). I know you wish you would have been there, Carol. Listen...
COSTELLO: I'm so jealous (ph).
CHO: You know, a lot of people say, why Malawi? She got a call a couple of days -- a couple of years ago, rather, from -- from a woman who was born and raised there, and she said, listen. You have a voice. You have to help.
And she told the woman, "I'm embarrassed to tell you this, but I don't know where Malawi is." The woman hung up on her.
And so -- can you imagine? So she took an investigatory trip, as she says, to Malawi. She said what she saw there really moved her and she had to do something about it.
HOLMES: I haven't heard that story. A lot of people probably don't know that story.
And a lot of people probably would not hang up on Madonna. COSTELLO: Good for them.
HOLMES: The cockroach, right? That stands out. Called herself a cockroach. Thank you so much for that. We will see you again here shortly.
A check of the top stories this morning, bottom of the hour now. First here an American Airlines jet carrying 154 people from Miami overshot a runway in bad weather near Kingston, Jamaica, this happened late last night. Most of the injuries are said to be just bumps and bruises but officials say more than 90 passengers did have to go to the hospital, four of those were in serious condition.
COSTELLO: Chicago shutting down early for the Christmas holiday. Clinics, libraries and city hall will be closed Christmas Eve, forcing city workers to take the day off without pay. Police and fire department operations are not affected. Officials say the extra time off will save over $8 million.
HOLMES: All right. So you blackberry users may have experienced some delays and outages last night. You are not alone. Blackberry, reporting an eight-hour widespread outage across North America. Service started coming back around 3:00 in the morning here on the east coast. This is the second drop in Blackberry service we have seen in less than a week.
COSTELLO: Joining me now to talk more about this mysterious outage, Rob Beckstrom, CEO and president of ICANN Internet Corporation for Assigned Names, he's also the former director of the U.S. National Cyber Security Center, and Nick Thompson, senior editor of "Wired" Magazine, he is joining us on the phone from Boston. Well to you both.
ROB BECKSTROM, CEO & PRESIDENT, INTERNET CORP. FOR ASSIGNED NAMES AND NUMBERS (ICANN): Good morning to you, Carol.
COSTELLO: Good morning. Nick, let's start with you. This Blackberry outage it not only affected customers here in the United States, but also in the Americas. We suspect millions and millions of people were affected and it didn't matter who the carrier was, whether it was AT&T or Verizon, Blackberry service just stopped. Do you have any guesses as to why this happened?
NICK THOMPSON, SR. EDITOR, "WIRED" MAGAZINE (via telephone): It appears to be a problem with the software used by Research in Motion, the company that makes the Blackberries. So it's not a problem with the actual physical device, it's a problem with the software on the device that helps you get your e-mail. There are actually a lot of users who have Blackberry phones that use non Research in Motion software and they've been OK.
The problem appears to be either upgrades that Research in Motion has been doing, or perhaps a consequence of the fixes they made when they had a similar outage last week. It does appear though that the problem has been resolved and some of the outrage on twitter is now dying down. COSTELLO: Thank goodness. Rob, at first we suspected this might be a cyber crime, because it just seems like such a strange thing to happen to so many people in different countries.
BECKSTROM: Right, yes, especially at this time of night. The load is less on the e-mail systems overnight, yet it hit then. But you know, that's like a lot of cyber activities, you've got to really dig and find out and it sounds like Nicholas has got some good data here that this was an inside, software issue, which is often the case.
COSTELLO: So Nick, one more question about this. This has happened before to Blackberry, do you think it's figured it out this time, and this sort of thing won't happen again?
THOMPSON: That's very hard to say. In fact, every time there is an outage, it makes the next outage more likely because you have to do all these complicated fixes which create the possibility for potential errors in the future. So we'll see. If the next few months go by and there's not another Blackberry outage, remember the last major one that happened was about a year ago. So Blackberry has a pretty good track record, if they can solve this one and if it last for a few months without another problem, I think Blackberry users should feel very secure.
COSTELLO: Alls mine was asking for is when you went on to their Website there was no information whatsoever. So like a little hint might be great for customers in the future.
THOMPSON: Yes.
COSTELLO: Yes. OK. Let's move on to another topic, because President Obama has appointed Howard Schmidt as cyber security chief, and Ron I know you know Mr. Schmidt, and I'd like to tell you something -- I'd like you to tell us some things about him and what his priorities will be.
BECKSTOM: Sure. Well, Howard's got a really long experience working inside U.S. government in many of the different key departments and agencies that are involved in cyber, and in fact was a special adviser for cyber security under President Bush between 2001and 2003. But he started his career in the Air Force, so he's been in D.O.D., Department of Defense. He's worked in Homeland Security. He's worked in the White House. He's worked in the key players, so he's got a wealth of U.S. government experience.
So that coordination role, Carol, is going to pull together the efforts across entire U.S. government. And having had personal experience in the system for so long, as well as in the private sector, I think Howard Schmidt is very well position to do an excellent job here.
COSTELLO: So, Nick, what sorts of things will he be looking at? You hear President Obama saying that cyber crimes threaten national security. Will that be tops on his agenda?
THOMPSON: Yes, absolutely. He'll be looking to make sure that we've secured our computers at the Department of Defense, at the White House, all sorts of government agencies. Then one of the most complicated questions, which I think Rob speaks to well here is that he's going to have to figure out how to coordinate these efforts with the private sector. And here's where his background, both with eBay and Microsoft and in the government, is very helpful. There's a complicated balance.
You want to include the private sector to a maximum degree, because they can help you, you can share software, you coordinate efforts, and you can track people better. But the more people you add into the system and the more people you coordinate with, the more potential problems there are and the more potential leaks there are.
It's like if you make your house bigger and you invited more people and you build more windows and doors, suddenly there's more opportunity for thieves to get in or more of a possibility that there a traitor in the midst. So it is a very complicated balance, and he seems to have an ideal background for managing that well.
COSTELLO: It just seems like such an impossible task. You know, Rob I wonder how much heft Mr. Schmidt will have. Will he have constant access to the president? Will he really have the power to do what needs to be done?
BECKSTROM: You know look, he's in a more powerful position in cyber than we've had in the U.S. government before. He's in this new cyber coordination, cyber security coordination role, reporting on the National Security Council and the National Economic Council. It's a very powerful position. He'll have some access to the president, but he's got a lot of work to do.
I mean, herding the cats, as it were, and bringing together these different departments and agencies. But again, as Nicholas mentioned, he's got a very strong background for this. So I think he knows what he's getting into. And if anyone can do a good job of this, it's probably Howard Schmidt.
COSTELLO: Rod Beckstrom, Nick Thompson, thanks so much for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.
BECKSTROM: Thank you Carol.
THOMPSON: Thank you.
HOLMES: Well "AMERICAN MORNING" has been doing a special series, profiling Cady Coleman; she is an astronaut getting ready for a mission next year. Given some extraordinary access.
COSTELLO: Oh, the astronaut you dissed?
HOLMES: See, why did have you to bring that up? Well actually, I may have accidentally insulted the lady yesterday live on the air. Well, this morning, she is getting her revenge. That's up next.
COSTELLO: I can't wait.
HOLMES: its 37 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: I'm a little nervous about this. Welcome back to the most news in the morning, 40 minutes past the hour here. Time now for an "am" exclusive. We're getting an all access look at astronaut mom Cady Coleman, she was nice enough to allow us this access but then here I go and insult the lady yesterday accidentally about her taking her flute up with her on her mission going to the International Space Station. I simply just said the other guys and the crew would have to --
COSTELLO: You dissed her flute playing.
HOLMES: I haven't heard it, but it would have to deal with her flute playing, is simply what I said.
COSTELLO: You said it would irritate the others.
HOLMES: I did not say irritate. Did I say irritate?
COSTELLO: I don't know. But I thought it was funny.
HOLMES: Well, I'm trying to get this cleared up this morning. But she took the time to send the message back my way. John Zarrella, this was totally, this was just a total flip on my part. I didn't mean to get this whole thing started.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know T.J., I spent so much time building bridges with this wonderful lady, and now I've got to start all over again.
The situation is this, when you go -- in the piece yesterday we talked about how the astronauts go to space, they're only limited to bringing with them two pounds of personal items. So each of the astronauts have their own idea of her crew, what they're going to bring. This is what Cady said yesterday in the piece.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CADY COLEMAN, ASTRONAUT: I'm probably going to bring my flute.
HOLMES: Bring your flute?
COLEMAN: That's probably about two pounds right there.
HOLMES: You'll have to put up with listening to her play the flute now.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Of course.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZARRELLA: So of course coming out of the piece, that's when you went and you dissed her, and she was watching, of course she was watching. And when I talked with her yesterday, she was none too happy with you, T.J., so she sent this message to you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLEMAN: T.J., I was devastated by your comments about my flute playing yesterday.
Actually, not. I was laughing so hard at our local diner that I almost fell off my stool. So I think we should have a truce, and in honor of that truce, I'd like to play you a song, for you, and also for your namesake my fellow astronaut, T.J. Kramer, newly arrived to the International Space Station. T.J and I did a winter survival in Russia together, and I think you'll relate to this song.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZARRELLA: So there's Cady, she is playing a little "Frosty the Snowman" for you, and she's pretty good. And you know, T.J., the space station is about the size of a football field. So if anybody gets tired of listening to her play while they're up there, there's plenty of room to spread out in the space station.
And you know she mentioned at the top there how she went and saw the piece at her local diner. Here's another little one. We're working on her. She doesn't have cable TV or Dish TV, so she has to go to the diner to watch the pieces we do on her. So.
HOLMES: And she did all that just to hear me -- she can actually play. She's a mom, she's a working mom, she's an astronaut and she has time to set me straight.
ZARRELLA: And she's a PH.D in polymer chemistry. Just an incredible woman.
COSTELLO: John, should I tell you what T.J. was saying about her Christmas tree? He said is that a Ficus?
ZARRELLA: That is her family tradition that is their Christmas tree. Now here I go again, more bridges to rebuild.
HOLMES: John, you start rebuilding those bridges, buddy, and I did not say that about the tree. I swear I didn't. John, we'll talk about this offline, buddy. Why did you just do that?
COSTELLO: Because I like you so much. I'll move on, now, and spare you the continued grief.
It may not be as important as health care but for millions of us it's a huge issue. I'm talking about the loud TV commercials, more annoying than effective. Now a congresswoman from California is looking to turn down the volume on loud TV. Here's Louise Schiavone with an am follow-up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOUISE SCHIAVONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Don't deny it, advertisements that are louder than the program in which they appear, TV commercials like these, for instance, get on your nerves.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Every time you put on the TV and try to watch a show, the next thing you've got is these really loud commercials.
(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): I usually mute the television.
SCHIAVONE: You might even have thought, there ought to be a law. Actually, there might be one soon. Approved in the House and awaiting action in the Senate, legislation mandating that TV commercials are no louder than the programs in which they appear.
MARK HUGHES, AUTHOR, "BUZZ MARKETING": This is kind of a dumb bill, but I love it, you know, I really do.
SCHIAVONE: Media analyst, Mark Hughes says it's obviously not a world class political issue, but for irritated Americans, it rings a bell.
HUGHES: It's important in my household that, you know, I don't wake up the kids when they're sleeping, and I don't, you know, kind of tick off my wife when she tells me to turn it down, and then it's high volume.
SCHIAVONE: It's a back-handed compliment, but the bill's author, California's Anna Eshoo will take it.
REP. ANNA ESHOO, (D) CALIFORNIA: I have never said that this is going to solve the huge challenges that face us. I have no idea that people across the country would relate to it and be drawn to the legislation, and I mean, I've gotten more mail, e-mails, telephone calls saying atta-girl, do it, it might even save my marriage.
UNKNOWN MALE: The show goes off and commercials go on, and they like blast it up.
UNKNOWN FEMALE: We always have to turn the volume down when the commercials come on.
SCHIAVONE: Political strategist John Ashford, says it's a neat little issue for a time when the big challenges are not so tidy.
JOHN ASHFORD, HAWTHORN GROUP: When congress can't solve big problems like Iraq and Afghanistan and 10 percent unemployment and how to implement this health care bill they're trying to pass, they turn to small problems like blasting television commercials.
SCHIAVONE: The bill gives one year to advertisers and production houses to adopt industry technology that modulate and sets sound levels and apply it to television commercials. Sources at the FCC say that for the most part, issues associated with the internet have been topic A over there, but if congress sends them a bill to regulate the sound of TV commercials, they'll implement it.
Louise Schiavone for CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Forty-six minutes past the hour. There's another big storm brewing out West. Rob will have this morning's travel forecast right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Welcome back everybody to the Most News in the Morning. We're about 49 minutes past the hour now. That means it's time for an "AM House Call," stories about your health. The Environmental Protection Agency is taking the first steps toward possible new standards for your drinking water. The agency will look for hundreds of contaminants at dozens of water treatment plants across the country.
Also, new polls suggest Americans still aren't convinced the swine flu vaccine is actually safe. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health say 35% of parents won't get the H1N1 vaccine, and 60% say safety is the major reason for it. Several studies have shown the vaccine does not, however, cause any unusual side effects.
Also, Food and Drug Administration alleges Nestle made false claims about the health benefits of some of its kid's beverages. Officials says the company meets led consumers about the nutrient content in its juicy juice products. They also side the Nestle for promoting it BOOST Kid Essentials Drink as medical food.
COSTELLO: Really?
HOLMES: Yes. I don't know if anybody bought that, if it says medical food, I don't know if anybody believed it in the first place, but they might have to backtrack a little bit on that.
COSTELLO: Maybe so. One person who's not backtracking, unfortunately, is Rob Marciano.
HOLMES: No, never.
COSTELLO: He's always right. Your forecasts are 100 percent accurate.
MARCIANO: Carol, why don't you work more often in that seat? T.J., just simmer down all right? You've already insulted enough people this week.
(LAUGHING)
HOLMES: Good point.
MARCIANO: Good morning, guys. A couple of big storms rolling across the Midwest. These are combining, and this storm is going to be a doozy, but it will affect different people than the last one. It is going to have some severe weather with it. It is going to have some blizzard conditions with it, and yes, it is going to have some ice with it as well. Let's break it down for you. It's just now coming out of the Rocky Mountains. The moisture with this is prevalent and abundant from the Gulf Coast, stretching now up toward the Great Lakes. This bit of ice will be from Chicago back through parts of Nebraska, but it shouldn't last too long as the ice changes over to rain, and then back to snow. Severe weather is going to be an issue across parts of the South as well.
If you are traveling by car from Chicago, 94, 90 and 80, East and North are going to be your problem spots. If you're traveling by air today, Denver and Chicago will be the spots of worry as well. Houston and Dallas might see some issues too, and looking at more on the way of cold weather across the Northeast, but that will warm up by the time Christmas rolls around, so by the time this storm gets to the East Coast, I think it will be mostly a rain event come Friday night and Saturday.
Right now, 30 for a high temperature in New York, so still cold there today. T.J., Carol back up to you.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Rob.
HOLMES: Thanks, Rob. This morning's top stories are just minutes away. Top of the hour, oh, my goodness, oh, the humanity. A lot of people just lose their minds when the Blackberries don't work, don't they? Millions and millions of e-mails right now just floating around somewhere in North America after a second monumental Blackberry outage this week.
COSTELLO: At 07:10 Eastern, your life on sale online for 10 bucks. This last couple of days of shopping are prime time for cyber crimes. We'll show you the scams and how you can send them to spam. Those stories and much more at the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Oh, look at that group. Look at that group. They're actually supposed to be over here cueing us to tell us which camera is to be on.
COSTELLO: They're drinking eggnog over there, as can you tell.
(LAUGHING)
COSTELLO: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's 55 minutes past the hour. That means it's time for the Moos News in the Morning. Most Christmas presents come gift wrapped.
HOLMES: Yes. This was a huge surprise. Most of them come wrapped like this. Jeanne Moos shows us what happen when a guy in Chicago left town and made the mistake of asking a friend to look after his apartment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you hate to wrap, try to wrap your head around this. You return to your apartment and the TV, the chairs, everything is gift wrapped from the vacuum cleaner to the clock, to the couch and cushions, from the toilet lid to the toilet brush, to the light switch. It's the ultimate holiday prank, and when the unsuspecting occupant came home, he said the same three words.
LOUIE SAUNDERS, PRANKED BY HIS FRIENDS: Oh my God.
MOOS: Over and over.
SAUNDERS: Oh, my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.
SAUNDERS: Almost like a hallucination.
MOOS: While Chicago resident, Louie Sanders (ph) was off on a trip, about 16 friends who do improvisational comedy wrapped up his apartment. It took eight hours.
MOOS (on-camera): Was there anything that was disgusting to wrap?
ADAL RIFAI, PRANKSTER: Probably that bath mat.
MOOS (voice-over): Everything was left exactly as they'd found it, the towel and the rack, the food in the fridge from butter to brew.
MOOS (on-camera): They wrapped your beer?
SAUNDERS: They wrapped the six-pack I had in my fridge, and they wrapped each individual beer.
MOOS (voice-over): Prank ring leader, Adal Rifai, put video of the gift wrapped apartment to music on YouTube. That's Louie's shampoo. What is the thing in the tub?
RIFAI: I think there was a towel laying in the tub, so we wrapped and then put it back in the tub.
SAUNDERS: There was a towel laying in my tub?
MOOS: At least when everything is gift wrapped, you've got a nice place to throw the excess wrapping.
MOOS (on-camera): So, how many rolls of paper does it take to gift wrap everything in a studio apartment? About 35.
MOOS (voice-over): It was December 13th when Louie walked into his gift wrapped home.
SAUNDERS: I can't live here.
MOOS (on-camera): Have you unwrapped yet?
SAUNDERS: Only unwrapping pretty much the necessary items like shampoo.
MOOS: Sure, a gift wrapped couch is noisy. The place is staying wrapped at least through the holidays.
Did you wrap anything that was already wrapped?
SAUNDERS: I did have Christmas presents for people that they wrapped, and I now cannot find.
MOOS: We mean everywhere.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: That would be painful.
HOLMES: Can you imagine, the toilet?
(LAUGHING)
HOLMES: Yes, it would.
COSTELLO: No, I can't imagine, T.J., that someone would come into my home and gift wrap everything.
HOLMES: That is a great, great prank. Hope he finds his gifts that he had in there he can't find.
COSTELLO: I hope so, too. Top stories coming your way in 90 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
