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American Morning
Another Toyota Recall in Corolla Possible; Taliban Leader Captured: Turning Point of War in Afghanistan?; A Look at Our Broken Down Congress; Big Census, Big Waste; Obama: $8B for Nuke Reactors
Aired February 17, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Wednesday morning to you. Thanks for joining us on the Most News in the Morning. It's February 17th. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. Here are the big stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes.
First, Toyota admitting another issue overnight. The company says it's now investigating a possible problem with the Corolla's power steering. Now the Corolla is the best selling car in the world. We're live in Tokyo where Toyota's president faced the media again today.
ROBERTS: A big break in the Taliban's chain of command. Its top military man, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is now in custody. What is he telling interrogators about the terror network and could this be the beginning of the end of the war in Afghanistan? A live report from Pakistan just ahead.
CHETRY: Plus his story has been one of ancient Egypt's biggest mysteries, but now researchers have uncovered incredible new details into the life and death of the boy pharaoh King Tut. We're going to be live in Cairo to tell you what's been uncovered.
ROBERTS: But we begin this morning with more possible trouble for Toyota as the U.S. government tightens the screws. The company held another news conference in Tokyo overnight announcing that it is investigating a possible problem with the Corolla's power steering. This comes on top of the eight and a half million cars that have been recalled already. Toyota's president also saying the company will cooperate with Washington, but he won't be coming to the United States to answer any questions.
Our Kyung Lah has all the highlights for us this morning. She's live in Tokyo.
Good morning, Kyung.
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. What we heard today was that Toyota trying to be a little more transparent, so we got a little more detail about its recall and how it is going. Toyota also announcing that in the future, it will be making a number of developments, number of technological changes beginning with a system called the brake override system. So in all future vehicles, if you buy a Toyota, if you hit the gas and the brake at the same time, this brake override system will kill the engine.
Toyota saying it's also going to start using so-called black boxes a little more frequently in its newer cars so if there is a problem, if there's an accident that they can't figure out, they'll be able to plug in to those black boxes to figure out exactly what happened leading up to the crash. Toyota saying it's continuing its recall process and trying to answer all those questions about the sticky accelerators, but saying that the electronic throttle control system right now they believe is safe. They're going to have a third party test it. They will make that report available to the public.
And Toyota saying it's also going to listen to its customers a little better. They're going to put somebody in the United States called a chief quality officer. This person, his sole job is going to be to listen to quality issues that customers have.
So Toyota is definitely trying to talk a little more, but someone who is not talking to U.S. lawmakers at least is the president of Toyota. Akio Toyoda saying that he has no plans as of this moment to travel and testify in the United States before Congress next week. People who are listening to that, analysts say, that is a huge mistake.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFFREY KINGSTON, PROFESSOR, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY: It's a concern to me that the Toyota management still thinks it's an option whether or not the president testifies in the Congress. This is something he has to do. He can't just say I'm too busy or he can't send somebody else. This is Toyota's biggest crisis it's faced in its history. He has to be seen to be out front.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: In regards to the Corolla and its power steering issues, Toyota says there are fewer than a hundred complaints. They're taking all those complaints very seriously, but right now, John, not issuing a recall -- John.
ROBERTS: All right. We'll continue to watch this and see where it goes. Kyung Lah for us in Tokyo this morning. Thanks so much.
For an in-depth look at the Toyota recall, go to CNN.com/Toyota. Find out whether you are driving one of the eight and a half million cars that have been recalled and what to do if you've got that sticky accelerator.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, the battle for Marjah rages on for a fifth day in Afghanistan. Afghan soldiers and NATO troops are said to be making some progress in their effort to gain control of the Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan. Marines also facing nearly constant attack from Taliban forces in Marjah for the past four days. It's the biggest military offensive since the war began. Two NATO members were killed yesterday in the fighting. Meantime, the Taliban continues to deny that its top military commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is now in custody. Baradar considered the Taliban's number two leader and his capture in Pakistan could have a crippling effect on the insurgent military operations in that nation at least in the short term.
CNN's Reza Sayah is live in Islamabad, Pakistan, this morning, digging deeper now on the big blow to the Taliban.
Hi, Reza.
REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran. New information about the arrest of Mullah Baradar. Of course yesterday, both U.S. and Pakistani officials told CNN he was arrested. But Pakistan officials said they had not completed what they're calling an official identification process. Today that process was completed and it indeed reveal that had one of the most wanted men in the Afghan Taliban is now in custody.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAYAH (voice-over): In the nine years U.S. forces have been fighting the Afghan Taliban, never have security forces arrested a figure more significant than Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, this according to a senior U.S. administration official. In the Taliban's chain of command, Baradar is second only to its leader Mullah Omar. One Pakistani-based analyst called Baradar the Taliban's de facto leader. With Mullah Omar staying out of the scene, Baradar was running the operation, he says.
Two Pakistani intelligence officials tell CNN Baradar was arrested in Karachi, a crowded and chaotic city in southern Pakistan. A place, analysts say, senior Taliban leaders have recently used as a safe haven.
According to intelligence officials, Baradar was nabbed in a secret joint raid conducted by the CIA and Pakistan's ISI, two spy agencies which haven't always been trusting partners.
(on camera): For years, U.S. intelligence officials believed some elements within the ISI protected the Afghan Taliban instead of going after them, with the end goal of securing the Taliban as an ally in Afghanistan once U.S. and international forces left the region.
(voice-over): U.S. Senator John Kerry in Islamabad on Tuesday told CNN Baradar's arrest shows trust between the U.S. and Pakistan is building.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: What it convinces me is that there is a growing level of cooperation, and it's an important level of cooperation.
SAYAH: But in a sign that is significant disconnect remains between Washington and Islamabad, Pakistan's interior minister downplayed reports of Baradar's arrest and flatly denied the CIA was involved. REHMAN MALIK, PAKISTANI INTERIOR MINISTER: (INAUDIBLE) the CIA is never and will never report of any raids. Yes, we do share information. The cooperation stands limited of intelligence sharing, nothing else.
SAYAH: Malik well aware that reports of CIA agents operating on Pakistani soil could spark a public backlash here in Pakistan where polls show it's America that's the number one enemy, not the Taliban. For the Taliban, the arrest of Mullah Baradar means the loss of their military commander at a time when they're facing perhaps their toughest test in years, a new U.S.-led offensive targeting the Taliban stronghold of Marjah.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAYAH: Now neither U.S. nor Pakistani officials are revealing details about this arrest or where Mullah Baradar is. But one thing's clear, if anyone knows where Osama bin Laden is or where Taliban leader Mullah Omar is, it's Mullah Baradar. So you can be sure, Kiran, investigators will be asking him a lot of questions.
CHETRY: Absolutely. Reza Sayah this morning in Pakistan for us. Thank you.
ROBERTS: Seven minutes after the hour now, and other stories new this morning. A tragic end to that drama on Mount St. Helens.
The body of a climber who fell into the volcano was recovered yesterday. Joseph Bohlig fell 1,500 feet into the crater yesterday. Bohlig had climbed the volcano 68 times before the accident. Low visibility, high wind and snow hampered rescue efforts. An autopsy is being conducted to determine if he died of injuries, hypothermia or a combination of factors.
CHETRY: After 12 years and a hundred billion dollars, major construction on the International Space Station is complete. Overnight, astronauts ventured out on their third and final spacewalk and put the finishing touches on an observation deck. The new port offers 360 degree views of the outside. The shuttle "Endeavour" and its six astronauts are expected to leave the space station Friday.
ROBERTS: America has a new top dog. A charming jet black Scottish terrier, Sadie, or Sadie (ph) as it might be pronounced that her name is Scotts, pranced her way into the winner circle last night after taking the best in show title at the Westminster dog show in New York City. Sadie came into the dog show a fan favorite already winning 111 best in show ribbons.
CHETRY: Oh, so cute. Congratulations, Sadie.
Well, Sarah Palin slams FOX's primetime cartoon "Family Guy" after one of the show's characters dates a girl who has Down syndrome.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what do your parents do? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's better. My dad's an accountant and my mom is the former governor of Alaska.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, on her Facebook page, Palin called the scene a, quote, "kick in the gut." She then asked her daughter Bristol to make a statement saying it would be more restrained and gracious what she might write. Bristol wrote that if the writers thought they were being clever, they, quote, "failed." All they proved is that they're heartless jerks.
ROBERTS: Coming up now on nine minutes after the hour. Let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines. Rob Marciano is in the weather center checking all the extreme weather across the country. What have we got, Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Cold air driving all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico, so winter doesn't want to let up here. We're getting towards the end of February and it still feels like the beginning of January. That includes lake-effect snows that are spiraling around this area of low pressure that continues to bring in that Canadian air with northwest winds across parts of the Great Lakes. Still firing off some showers.
No warnings or watches at this point, but Syracuse, the Binghamton and Scranton, and then getting to Pittsburgh where it's winding up to be one of their snowiest months ever. Currently 28 degrees in Atlanta and 35 degrees as they clean up on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.
It's the beginning of lent and we'll be back in about 30 minutes, I promise you, with more on the weather.
Guys, back to you.
ROBERTS: What are you giving up for lent, Rob? How about bad weather? Will you give a bad weather for lent?
MARCIANO: Yes, I tried that before. It didn't quite work out pretty much with every other sort of New Year's resolution I've made. I'll work on that for you.
CHETRY: Good luck with that. Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: Yes. See you guys.
CHETRY: Still ahead on the Most News in the Morning, reaching out to the tea party. Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele trying to find common ground.
Ten minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twelve minutes past the hour now. A quick check of the other stories new this morning.
President Obama is determined to have a deficit commission with or without congressional approval. Tomorrow he's expected to announce the creation of his own commission by executive order. The president is going to it alone after senators on both sides of the aisle rejected his idea of a congressional panel that could force lawmakers to reduce the debt. Last year's deficit was $1.4 trillion and this year's could top that.
ROBERTS: The Republican Party forging an uneasy truce with the conservative tea party. Yesterday, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele sat down with about 50 leaders of the growing grassroots movement. At issue, will they be partners or bitter rivals.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LISA MILLER, TEA PARTY WDC: It was congenial. Everybody wanted to figure out what kind of assets he could bring to the game. I've wanted to return to commerce, charity and the individual, their rights and responsibilities. And if his agenda or the people that he backs don't support that, I find that I'll put my energies like they will in an area where I think it will achieve the most good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Republican Chairman Steele says the two groups do share a common goal and that is stopping President Obama's agenda.
CHETRY: They can agree on something.
Well, last week the blizzard in Washington essentially shut down the entire city. Even Congress was closed, and lawmakers pretty much weren't able to get anything done.
ROBERTS: But the big question, is that really any different from the days when lawmakers are at work? Some people might say at least they didn't do any damage.
Our Tom Foreman has the breakdown on our broken down Congress.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The top Democrat calls for cooperation saying voters will tolerate nothing less.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're tired of partisanship and the shouting and the pettiness. They know we can't afford it.
FOREMAN: The Republicans say the same.
GOV. BOB MCDONNELL (R), VIRGINIA: We want results, not rhetoric. We want cooperation, not partisanship.
FOREMAN: And yet both parties have failed repeatedly to reach such an accord. The past year saw a steady stream of party line votes with almost no Democrats or Republicans crossing over in the name of compromise.
The Democrats fought off Republican filibusters 39 times with cloture votes, more than in the 1950s and '60s combined, while bitter fighting between and within the parties crippled health care and banking reform and spurred sharp complaints about even programs that passed like the stimulus plan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This government is out of control.
FOREMAN: No wonder retiring Indiana Senator Evan Bayh says...
SEN. EVAN BAYH (D), INDIANA: Even at a time of enormous national challenge, the people's business is not getting done.
FOREMAN: That theme is being echoed by many departing politicians amid soaring unemployment, a lingering housing crisis, and gridlock, gridlock, gridlock. Political analysts predict it could all produce a great many more upsets like the one that gave the late Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy's seat to a Republican.
SEN. SCOTT BROWN (R), MASSACHUSETTS: What happened here in Massachusetts can happen all over America.
FOREMAN (on camera): After trailing a very long time, the Republicans now have a statistically insignificant lead over the Democrats in who voters want in Congress, but that is cold comfort in a winter of great discontent.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Tom Foreman reporting for us this morning from Washington.
CHETRY: Well, coming up on the Most News in the Morning, the government's accused of wasting millions on the census. Gerri Willis is "Minding Your Business".
Sixteen minutes now past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Nothing like a little Barenaked Ladies to start off your morning, I always say.
Nineteen minutes after the hour. That means it's time for "Minding Your Business".
Vice President Biden is going to release a stimulus report card today on the one year anniversary of the $787 billion program, which is now, I guess, up over $800 billion, right?
CHETRY: Yes. $862 billion (ph) and counting.
ROBERTS: Gosh. Administration officials say the pace of stimulus spending should increase in the year ahead, the government expected to distribute $32 billion in stimulus money per month. That's up from an average of $27 billion a month over the past year.
And coming up at 6:30 Eastern, our Jim Acosta reports on taxpayers dollars going to stimulus programs in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
CHETRY: He just wanted to go to the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Burger King launching a new line of coffee, trying to boost slumping breakfast sales. Beginning this summer, the burger chain will serve the Starbucks-owned Seattle's Best Coffee in its restaurants across the country. Burger King's taking a page from its chief fast food rival McDonald's which has had great success with its from its McCafe line of coffees.
ROBERTS: Now, in fairness to Jim, I -- I think he was already in the Virgin Islands to do that story on the Tea Party cruise.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: So he was just -- he -- he was actually being fiscally responsible, you know, killing two birds with one stone.
CHETRY: He just was, but...
ROBERTS: He was there so he did another story.
CHETRY: Well, we're just jealous because it's freezing here and snowy, and he's sunning himself.
ROBERTS: Exactly.
So it hasn't even started yet officially, and already it's over budget. We're talking about the -- the decadal census, and our Gerri Willis here "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Over budget already, huh?
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Unbelievable. Yes.
ROBERTS: What a surprise.
WILLIS: We haven't even started. It's a month away, you know, and we haven't even filled out the first census form and already we're over budget.
Let's take a look. The very first phase of this census is updating the mailing list, but we've already overspent by 25 percent or $88 million.
Let's take a look at how managed to do that. First of all, we handed out some excess mileage reimbursement to the tune of $136,000. And then there was some 10,200 workers who were hired, trained, but never worked. Then there were folks who were trained and worked less than a day for $2.2 million in overhead. So, as you're seeing, the Inspector General of the Commerce Department saying that we're wasting a lot of money here.
The census of course is going to count all 300 million of us, and the total budget is $14.7 billion. That's a whole lot of money. You've got to wonder, if this is our track record so far, how we're going do over the course of the census as this whole thing runs out.
And, of course, this is important because this is how we distribute U.S. House seats, billions of dollars in federal aid go out based on the census. It's critically important that it be conducted efficiently and correctly.
And, guys, you know, I'm just wondering at this point, can't we do this online? Isn't there an easier way than having somebody go to your front door and have you fill out these forms? I guess they want to know that you actually live in at those locations.
ROBERTS: Isn't -- isn't a lot of it done online, or people can -- you know, they're sent the census form or -- it's not done online. They send the census form...
WILLIS: Give you (ph) the census form...
ROBERTS: ... they fill it out, they send it back in. They only go knock in your door if there's a problem?
WILLIS: Well, they're knocking on the door right now to update those mailing lists. That's what's going on right now, and they're doing it in some minority communities because that's where undercounting typically goes on. And so they're trying to fix that before we do the whole census next month.
So, at the end of the day, I think people are going to watch to see how the spending goes, but, you know, it's critically important to the political, the democratic process, that we get this thing right.
ROBERTS: But the fact that they're training people and then -- spending money to train them and then not using them?
WILLIS: Yes. Yes. Some people quit is what...
ROBERTS: Who's in -- who's in charge of that?
WILLIS: Well, exactly. Let's go find that person.
But what they're saying is that some of these folks probably quit because they're temporary jobs, and then some of these jobs just never got underway. So they went in, they did the training, and nothing happened.
ROBERTS: Tax dollars at work, huh?
WILLIS: Yes.
CHETRY: Exactly. ROBERTS: Thanks, Gerri.
CHETRY: (INAUDIBLE). Thanks, Gerri.
Well, next on the Most News in the Morning, there's a new push for nuclear energy, but what do you do with the waste? It's an old debate and it's now flaring up again.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Forty-five and a half minutes after the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
The Obama administration is getting on the nuclear power bandwagon in a very big way, the president announcing more than $8 billion in federal loan guarantees to build new reactors in Georgia. It's the first reactor construction since the 1970s.
But with nuclear power comes nuclear waste, and that's producing a politically charged controversy.
Our Brian Todd is digging deeper this morning.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Kiran.
The president's announcement of funding for two nuclear reactors again sparks debate over the safety of nuclear power and it reignites another major controversy over the storage of nuclear waste.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): Some 70,000 metric tons of nuclear waste stored in so-called casts of steel, concrete and lead, at more than 100 commercial nuclear power plants across the U.S. and other locations, 2,000 tons added to the pile every year.
U.S. officials say the spent fuel can be safely stored in these containers for 90 years, but that's storage, not disposal. And it's the disposal problem that's got some in the industry worried.
TODD (on camera): If the nuclear fuel is safe at the sites where it's stored now and if it can be safe almost indefinitely, why do you need a nuclear repository?
JACK EDLOW, PRESIDENT, EDLOW INTERNATIONAL: You ultimately need a nuclear repository because, just like all wastes in a society, we have to put them someplace. You deal with biological waste, you deal with chemical waste, you deal with trash, every day trash.
TODD (voice-over): Jack Edlow runs a company that transports nuclear material. He's against President Obama's decision to cut funding for the Yucca Mountain project in Nevada. That was supposed to be the nation's underground storage facility for nuclear waste.
Why did the president pull the plug? South Carolina's Republican governor, Mark Sanford, accuses Mr. Obama of what he calls a Chicago style political payoff to Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Reid is from Nevada, where Yucca Mountain is located, and he's in a tough re-election battle.
GOV. MARK SANFORD (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: It is the Obama administration's choice in this instance, based on election outcome that they might fear in Nevada, to make this decision.
TODD: Sanford has political motivation, too. His state ranks third in the country in the amount of nuclear waste stored.
Contacted by CNN, an Obama administration official emphatically denied this is political, saying the president's always been against Yucca Mountain. The White House official says there have been mounting cost overruns for the project and serious concerns about its scientific viability and the security of transporting nuclear fuel to Yucca Mountain from all the commercial nuclear power plants across the country.
An aide to Senator Reid also denied political motivations. He cites Reid's own concerns about costs and security fro Yucca Mountain.
SEN, HARRY REID (D), MAJORITY LEADER: Leave it on site, where it is. You don't have to worry about transporting. It saves the country billions and billions of dollars.
TODD: In place of Yucca Mountain, the president's appointed a blue ribbon panel to study alternatives. The Nuclear Energy Institute, a lobbying group for the industry, is against the decision to cut the Yucca Mountain project, but does support the president's new panel.
ALEX FLINT, NUCLEAR ENERGY INSTITUTE: There are significant developments over the last several decades that can be taken into consideration. France has gone forward with recycling. They're spending their (ph) fuel. They're having a lot of success with that program.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: But one energy industry executive points out the United States has other types of nuclear fuel that cannot be so easily recycled, from places like naval facilities where they process fuel for nuclear powered ships and submarines.
John and Kiran, back to you.
ROBERTS: Brian Todd for us this morning. Brian, thanks.
And coming up at 8:38 Eastern, Christine Todd Whitman, co-chair of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, and environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will join to us debate the nuclear power controversy. Good idea or bad idea?
Thirty minutes after the hour now. That means it's time for this morning's top stories. Toyota saying a Corolla recall could be the next step. The company admitting that it's looking into a possible problem with the power steering in the world's best selling car.
CHETRY: Well, the Taliban's still denying it, but the reported capture of the number two Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is being hailed as the most significant of the Afghanistan war. Baradar now being interrogated in Pakistan.
Officials say that his arrest could cripple insurgent military operations in Afghanistan.
ROBERTS: And police in Massachusetts say they have found the missing records in the 1986 death linked to Alabama professor Amy Bishop. According to police documents, in December of 1986, Bishop shot and killed her brother, but it was ruled an accident. They also say that the newly uncovered records do not contradict that.
Bishop now stands accused of murdering three of her colleagues in a shooting at the University of Alabama last Friday.
CHETRY: Well, there's a brand new study giving us some amazing insights into the life and death of Egypt's King Tut. He's fascinated historians since his tomb was discovered in 1922, and now, using high- tech forensics and DNA testing, researchers have uncover details about the boy pharaoh that have been buried in the sands of Egypt for more than 3,000 years.
Dr. Zahi Hawass, he's the secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. He joins me now from Cairo.
Thanks for being with us this morning, Doctor.
DR. ZAHI HAWASS, SECRETARY GENERAL OF EGYPT'S SUPREME COUNCIL OF ANTIQUITIES: Thank you very much.
CHETRY: Well, this study is just fascinating. You guys were able to collect some really incredible new details about King Tut and reveal several things through modern technology. Tell us what your analysis revealed about his life and also, how he died.
HAWASS: You know, I can tell you that this amazing discovery could be the most important discovery after the discover rift of the tomb of King Tut by Howard Carter. And all of this will be shown on Discovery Channel this coming Sunday.
We found the mummy of Akhenaten. He was the father of King Tut and the son of Amenhotep III. The amazing thing that we found has no deformities. You know, people thought that this man is not normal. Now, we found out that the artist put what in the (INAUDIBLE) of Akhenaten in the body of the statue.
CHETRY: Right. So, what you were talking...
HAWASS: To say you are the man, you are the woman.
CHETRY: Right. So, what you were talking about is some depictions of him...
HAWASS: Pictures of man and a woman can be seen on the statues.
CHETRY: Right. Some depictions that make King Tut look a little bit more feminine than what he was, is what you were saying. But tell us a little bit about how he died.
HAWASS: Now -- yes, but before I tell you about how he died, we found the mummy of Queen Tiye and the mummy of the mother of King Tut. And the mother of King Tut was the daughter of Amenhotep III, means Akhenaten married his sister.
CHETRY: Right, so...
HAWASS: How the king died.
CHETRY: So, you found out that, yes...
HAWASS: We found out...
CHETRY: ... his parents were actually brother and sister. You were able to do genetic testing.
You also found out that he actually had some crippling degenerative bone issues. He also suffered multiple disorders. And you also were able to discover that he suffered from malaria, which is probably what contributed to his death. How were you able to find out all of that?
HAWASS: You know, first of all, when we found by the CAT Scan machine, the deformities in the left foot, it shows actually that the foot was swollen and this has been shown in the CAT Scan machine. He was limping. He cannot walk. That's why in the tomb of King Tut Howard Carter found 130 sticks.
CHETRY: Yes...
(CROSSTALK)
HAWASS: And the severe malaria caused a high fever. And that's why we believe that we reveal the mystery of the death of this golden boy King Tut.
CHETRY: Yes, it is amazing and I apologize for the delay because you're coming to us from Egypt, but really fascinating, at the Cairo museum there in Egypt, Dr. Zahi Hawass, and really fascinating discoveries that you guys made. And as you said, they'll be showing these new findings in had this King Tut unwrapped which does air on the Discovery Channel on Sunday and Monday. A lot of people will be watching.
Thanks for your time this morning.
Also, how did scientists figure out what diseases the boy pharaoh suffered from and what likely killed him? We're going to also be taking a look at the medical mysteries uncovered about King Tut with our Dr. Sanjay Gupta. That's coming up in our next hour on the Most News in the Morning.
ROBERTS: Fascinating stuff. Did you ever see the King Tut exhibit when it toured the museums?
CHETRY: Yes. I was fascinated with the whole history of Egypt and I made sure that I had a chance to see it. It really was -- there was so much intrigue and mystery. There was fears that perhaps he was murdered, and also, that people who uncovered the tomb were cursed for the rest of their lives.
ROBERTS: Amazing story and the artifacts are so incredible, too.
Well, coming up on the Most News in the Morning: why are millions of dollars in taxpayer money going to paradise. Jim Acosta with the tough assignment this morning following the dollars to the U.S. Virgin Islands.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It was a year ago today, President Obama signed the stimulus bill into law, then $787 billion to jump-start the U.S. economy. But one surprising area is getting more than $130 million of that, three tiny islands in the Caribbean.
CHETRY: Our Jim Acosta braved the elements of a tropical paradise as part of our ongoing effort to uncover where your stimulus dollars are going. And he joins us now from Washington this morning.
Hi, Jim.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran and John. You know, I guess could you call this work.
The stimulus is now one year old and you can find stimulus money in all 50 states. But did you know taxpayer dollars are also going to stimulus programs in U.S. territories? Take the U.S. Virgin Islands. While we were in St. Thomas on a different assignment, we saw those green and orange stimulus signs and started doing some digging of our own.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): Nicknamed "America's Paradise," the U.S. Virgin Islands are riding a wave of federal tax dollars these days. The three islands that make up this tiny U.S. territory are slated to receive more than $130 million in stimulus money. The territory's governor, John deJongh, says the islands are entitled to the funds.
GOV. JOHN DEJONGH, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS: We've been part of the United States since 1917. We're the furthermost destination within the Caribbean. So, this really does help us to a very large extent.
ACOSTA (on camera): You're Americans.
DEJONGH: We're Americans.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Shaquille Bruno (ph) and Isaiah Thomas (ph) are looking forward to the new stimulus-funded sidewalk that will be built outside their high school in St. Thomas. The school got a visit from President Obama during the '08 campaign.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Safer for the children walking home up the hill.
ACOSTA: And TV ads in the islands urge residents to apply for $8 million in Energy Department grants to buy stimulus-funded solar hot water heaters. The territory's leaders say the stimulus is creating jobs.
SEN. LOUIS PATRICK HILL, PRESIDENT, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS LEGISLATURE: They're manufacturing solar hot water heaters in the territory, which is something we've never done in the past.
ACOSTA: But the government's stimulus Web site shows of the $19 million received by the Virgin Islands so far, 152 jobs have been created, about $127,000 per job.
TOM SCHATZ, CITIZEN AGAINST GOVERNMENT WASTE: What the stimulus has done is it has alerted the American people to how government works in general. Because the money went into existing programs, people are beginning to understand how many of them simply don't work that efficiently.
ACOSTA (on camera): Even in paradise, there's a debate over how the stimulus is being spent. Last year, the territory's legislature passed a bill requiring the governor to disclose exactly where stimulus dollars are going. The governor vetoed the legislation.
(voice-over): So the territory's legislature overrode that veto last June. Still, six months later, during our visit in January, the governor had not produced one stimulus report.
(on camera): He's not complying with the laws is what you're saying.
SEN. USIE RICHARDS, MINORITY LEADER, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS: Not in compliance with the local law in regards to submitting the report.
DEJONGH: My veto of it was no intent not to share information.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Since our visit, the governor has complied with the law and issued that report. In the days ahead, he says he hopes to increase the Virgin Island's share of the stimulus to $250 million.
(on camera): What would you say to folks who wonder about a quarter of a billion dollars going to paradise?
DEJONGH: Well, paradise needs it. I mean, it really does help us to be able to accommodate the over 2 million Americans that we get every year in terms of tourists to the islands.
ACOSTA (voice-over): The stimulus has reached these islands. The critics say the program is still lost at sea.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: After we turned our cameras off, one Virgin Island senator told us our visit did prompt the governor to issue that report, and in case you're wondering, the Virgin Islands are nowhere near the biggest stimulus recipient among U.S. territories. Puerto Rico will get over $2 billion in stimulus money. That's more than nearly 20 states -- John and Kiran.
ROBERTS: All right. Jim Acosta this morning -- at least, Jim, you got some results which is great to see.
ACOSTA: Exactly. And a tan.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: That's the most important.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Jim.
It's forty-one-and-a-half minutes after the hour. And Rob is going to have this morning's travel forecast right after the break.
CHETRY: Also, in 10 minutes, models wobble, and yes, they fall down. And Jeanne Moos is there to capture of the fashion week faux pas.
It's 42 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: We're back with the Most News in the Morning. It's forty-four-and-a-half minutes after the hour. And that means it's time for an "A.M. House Call."
A new study says kids with a sweet tooth are also more likely to have a family history of alcoholism and symptoms of depression. It's already known that sweet tastes and alcohol activate many of the same circuits in the brain, but doctors say the results do not necessarily mean that a child who has sugar cravings will become addicted to alcohol.
CHETRY: It's 45 minutes past the hour right now. Time to get a check of this morning's weather headlines. We turn to Rob Marciano in the extreme weather center this morning.
Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys. Chilly again across the south. Mardi Gras folks cleaning up with time. Subfreezing temperatures yesterday were a few records set down across parts of Louisiana. No snowfall records across Connecticut, but 11 inches in yesterday in Maryland, West Milford, New Jersey 10.5, North Andover, Massachusetts 9.1. So, this storm which brought all the snow is heading out to sea, but the backlash of it in the form of some chilly northwest winds across the Great Lakes causing some lake-effect snow showers.
No lake-effect warnings in effect, but wheeling towards Pittsburgh might get some snow and Syracuse and Binghamton also in line for a little bit of snowfall today. If you are doing some travel, there will be some wind delays, I think, in Boston and the New York metropolis and airport. Atlanta and Charlotte will also see some wind delays and then some snow and low clouds across parts of Detroit.
The pattern remains the same for the next couple of days with cold air pouring as far south as Florida. They could use the cold air across parts of the Olympic. Here are some late snow -- wet snow across Whistler, so much so that they had to actually cancel some of the men's alpine events yesterday because of too much snow at least at the higher elevations, but at the lower elevation, still fairly wet and that continues to be a problem at Cypress.
Forecasts for Vancouver today calls for temperatures, believe it or not, into the lower 50s with sunshine. So, their warm weather troubles continue even though they got some snow at the higher elevations. So, can't seem to get a break there in Vancouver. Maybe by the end of the games next week, we'll get some better weather.
John and Kiran, back up to you.
ROBERTS: Yes. That's the problem which is said the lay of geography for folks might not be familiar with the Cypress mountain; it's just kind of a little bit west and a tiny bit north of Vancouver right along the shore there, but Whistler's about 90 miles further north and then inland, so they get some pretty good snows up there.
MARCIANO: And you know, it goes to beg the question, you know, would Seattle get the Olympics because it's pretty much the same climate, and you know -- these numbers aren't too far off from their averages in Vancouver.
ROBERTS: Yes. All right, Rob, we'll keep watching it. As long as they get buried at Whistler and have good snow, you can wait it out for a day or two. Thanks, Rob.
But all the snow may have actually been a good thing for team USA's best hope for gold. Downhill skier, Lindsey Vonn says it gave her extra time to rest her bruised shin and now she's getting antsy and ready to race today.
CHETRY: She's actually never won an Olympic medal, but she could pick up five before the games were over. Our Mark McKay is in Vancouver this morning. He had a chance to chat with Vonn before her first big race.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK MCKAY, CNN SPORTS: John and Kiran, hurry up and wait. That's been the drill for American skier Lindsey Vonn at the Olympic winter games. The weather has delayed Vonn's debut here in Vancouver. Not a bad thing considering she arrived with an injured shin that's healed considerably allowing Vonn to take up her pursuit of Olympic history.
MCKAY (voice-over): To spend time with American skier Lindsey Vonn, you may sometimes need an interpreter.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
But you will never need a baby-sitter.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
MCKAY: Vonn is America's great hope on the mountains of the Vancouver Olympics, and she is embracing that role much tighter than the person who filled it at the Torino games, Bode Miller, whose only success came in his words in partying at an Olympic level. Vonn knows the question before it is asked.
LINDSEY VONN, SKIER: My answer is always the same. You know, that's just not who I am. I'm not a party girl. I feel like I'm a totally different person than Bode.
MCKAY: Vonn loves ski racing so much that she learned German to better interact with her European fans. She eats and sleeps it, but unlike Miller, she does not drink it. She does, however, admit to one vice that kept her going when she first get up on sits (INAUDIBLE) Minnesota.
VONN: When I was two-and-a-half, I think my favorite thing was the hot chocolate and donuts. That was kind of my like treat. I always wanted the donut with the sprinkles on top.
MCKAY: The rewards have grown considerably since. The back to back overall world cup champion, Vonn has a chance to win all five events she's entered in, a possibility that had been considered for Miller as well, but he failed to bring home a single medal.
VONN: For me, you know, honestly, I've never won an Olympic medal, so, yes, is it possible to win five? Yes. But is that likely? Probably not.
MCKAY: Her confidence is tempered by her last Olympic experience where she was also shut out of the medals. After crashing in her second training run in Italy, she spent a night in the hospital before returning to compete, barely.
VONN: Maybe it wasn't the smartest idea. I definitely was in a lot of pain and that was the situation where that was what the Olympics was about for me. You know, just trying and give it your best. From that point on, I never wanted to have an experience where I was in the finish and I thought I could have done better, I could have done more, and that's been kind of my motivation and my determination for the last four years. MCKAY (on-camera): Weather permitting, Vonn gets her start in the downhill, perhaps her best event. That comes later today. The key phrase there, though, weather permitting. John, Kiran, back to you.
ROBERTS: So, ski like Bode, but don't act like Bode.
CHETRY: Right, and she's a sweet girl, very focused. And as we said, this delay working in her favor, because she did have a bruise on the shin that she had time to rest now.
ROBERTS: Couple of days, if the weather at Whistler, that's where I broke my leg as a matter of fact, it can be really iffy. You can get rain at the lower level, snow at the upper levels, it can be foggy for a couple of days, and then suddenly it will clear up. It's just -- part of the world where the weather is just a little sketchy.
CHETRY: All right. We will wish her luck. She has a chance at five medals. Good luck to her.
This morning's top stories just minutes away. Toyota now considering a recall on its best selling car in the world. First, gas pedals, then breaks, now steering. The news coming from Toyota overnight.
ROBERTS: Four minutes after the hour. "Family Guy," the cartoon known for going there goes there with Sarah Palin. How she responded to a joke targeting her and her special needs kids.
CHETRY: Also, a nearly 3,000-year-old mystery solved. King Tut's autopsy now complete. Those stories and much more at the top of the hour.
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ROBERTS: Life of a fashion model. Designer clothes, trips, parties. Definitely one of the more glamorous jobs in the world.
CHETRY: Yes, but as Jeanne Moos shows us, there's also an element of danger every time a model steps out on the runway.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If there's one thing that can bring a model to her knees, it's falling to her knees. How New York kicked off fashion week.
UNKNOWN MALE: Not once, but twice.
MOOS: Less than five seconds after Agnes Guinarose (ph) drew applause for the fashion for Haiti relief show down, she went again. A perfect excuse to recall our favorite falls, to recall our favorite sprawls. From catching a heel in the pants to falling through the runway. Apparently, unaware the center was only paper, someone ran to her rescue. No one helped the time the great Naomi Campbell went down. UNKNOWN MALE: Get a photo.
UNKNOWN MALE: Idiot, what is wrong with people?
MOOS: Naomi made her fall into an insurance commercial.
UNKNOWN MALE: Because Naomi Campbell is smart.
MOOS: Jay Alexander (ph) teaches models how to walk and how not to. Carmen Electra demonstrated how not to. And the lady running to her rescue, followed in her footfalls. Most of the time, you can blame the high heels.
MOOS (on-camera): What we have here is a potential shoe emergency.
MOOS (voice-over): A beaded spat come undone could undo a model here at the Pamella Roland Show, but the shoes here are tame compared to the late Alexander McQueen.
UNKNOWN FEMALE: Did you see the shoes being show last year?
MOOS: Armadillo shoes, they were dubbed.
UNKNOWN FEMALE: There are a couple of girls that wouldn't do the show because it's so dangerous.
MOOS: After falling twice in seven-inch heels of the show for Haiti relief, what a relief.
Take those heels off. We've seen Miss USA's fall twice in recent years.
We've seen models conk their heads. We've seen a martial arts performer make a hole in the runway and then watch the model who followed his act fall in, but there's one classic.
UNKNOWN FEMALE: Oh my God!
MOOS: Leaves even the models chortling.
Maybe it's the Washington, D.C. anchors.
UNKNOWN MALE: Never quite recovered after that. There she goes.
MOOS: Preserved forever on YouTube, replaying and laughing.
UNKNOWN FEMALE: You try walking in those shoes.
MOOS: Laughing and replaying.
UNKNOWN MALE: Hold on, hold on.
MOOS: Fashion can stagger more than just the imagination.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York. (END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: That last one, it was like in slow motion.
CHETRY: I know. She just kept catching herself on a fall, and those shoes are ridiculous.
ROBERTS: Totally.
CHETRY: Best to just use the flat.
ROBERTS: (INAUDIBLE) They're like this thick. Crazy. Top stories coming your way in 90 seconds. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
