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"Jihad Jane" Indicted; The Massa Mystery Tour; Toyota Attorney Turns Tables; Number of US Millionaires Increase; Tweaking American Politics; Conan O'Brien Random Twitter Follow; Actor Corey Haim found dead; U.S. Jobs Market Improves; Little League Disabled List

Aired March 10, 2010 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you on this Wednesday. It's March 10th.

Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks for being with us today.

Here are the big stories we'll be telling you about, coming up in the next 15 minutes.

New developments this morning about a Pennsylvania woman who calls herself Jihad Jane. She is charged with recruiting people on the internet to carry out jihad.

In just a moment we'll take you to Washington for the latest into this investigation.

CHETRY: Former New York Congressman Eric Massa is denying that he touched a male staffer in a sexual manner. He's offering another take, though, on why he quit Congress.

Our Brianna Keilar following the latest developments. Her live report just ahead.

ROBERTS: Now, thousands of internal Toyota documents have been turned over to Congress by an attorney who once defended Toyota for a living. He insists they prove the automaker kept safety problems from the public and routinely defied the law, and he says when he tried to obtain court orders to turn over company documents, this is what he was told by Toyota supervisors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIMITRIOS BILLER, FORMER TOYOTA LAWYER: He said, "Well, you're not screwing the client, that you have to protect the client at all costs." I said, "Even if that means committing criminal acts or violating the law?" And he said, "Yes."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: More on the documents that may seriously damage an already staggering automaker -- just ahead. CHETRY: First, though, new developments are emerging on a woman from suburban Philadelphia, who's now been indicted in an alleged terror plot. Officials claim that the woman calls herself "Jihad Jane," she allegedly used the Internet to try to recruit jihadist fighters and was also allegedly plotting to kill on foreign soil.

Our Jeanne Meserve is live in Washington.

And, Jeanne, bottom line -- how far did she get in these alleged plans?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, her name is Colleen LaRose, and the indictment says she traveled to Europe with the intent to train, find and kill her target. The Justice Department won't comment on who that target is. The indictment doesn't name him.

But a government source familiar with the investigation says it was the Swedish artist Lars Vilks, whose cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad with the dog's body led al Qaeda to put a price on his head.

The indictment says that LaRose joined an online community he hosted and became a citizen of his artist enclave in Sweden, writing in an online communication at that point that "only death will stop me here, that I am so close to the target."

We do not know why she came back to Pennsylvania, but that is where she was arrested about two weeks later. She has been held quietly while the investigation continued -- an investigation which yesterday resulted in the arrests of seven people in Ireland. Although the alleged murder plot did not come to fruition, sources say LaRose was successful raising money and recruiting men and women for jihad online -- Kiran.

CHETRY: You've been doing some digging into her background. What else have you learned about LaRose?

MESERVE: She's 46 years old, blond, green-eyed, a convert to Islam, according to a law enforcement source. We know that before moving to Pennsylvania, she lived in Texas. In 1997, she was arrested there for DWI, and there was a warrant that same year for her arrest for writing bad checks.

She was prolific online, according to the indictment. In one YouTube posting, she called herself "Jihad Jane" and said she was desperate to do something to help the suffering of Muslim people, but how or why she became radicalized, we just don't know at this point, Kiran.

CHETRY: Jeanne Meserve for us this morning -- thank you.

ROBERTS: Well, thousands of people with potential links to terrorism have reportedly been added to the government's no-fly list. According to "The Associated Press," the no-fly list has nearly doubled since the attempted Christmas Day airline bombing. CHETRY: The officials tell "The Associated Press" there are now 6,000 names on the list, it used to be 3,400. People associated with al Qaeda are included, al Qaeda in Yemen, people who may have been contact also with the alleged Christmas bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

ROBERTS: Well, now, to politics and former New York Congressman Eric Massa's campaign to clear his name after resigning amid allegations that he sexually harassed a member of his staff. Massa denies that he sexually groped a male staffer, saying the contact came during -- there it is on the screen -- tickle fights.

Brianna Keilar is following developments live from Washington for us this morning.

Brianna, the explanations just seem to be rather convoluted and confusing in this particular case.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and bizarre, John -- a very bizarre explanation here. And you see Eric Massa really saying that what's happened is much more innocent than reports would indicate.

Listen to what he told Larry King last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": At your 50th birthday party, you groped a male staffer. What is this all about?

FMR. REP. ERIC MASSA (D), NEW YORK: Well, when four guys jumped on you to wrestle you, to prove that you're 50 years old, anything can be called anything, Larry. And what it's all about is innuendo.

KING: You said, quote, "Not only did I grope him, I tickled him until he couldn't breathe and then four guys jumped on top of me." So you did grope someone, right?

MASSA: So -- Larry, when you grab someone and you're wrestling, I don't know how to describe that word. So, if that's -- if that's the word that you want to have an entire debate about, then I can't stop you.

KING: No, I'm just asking the -- you said you groped.

MASSA: Yes, you know --

KING: A lot of people associate groping with sexual.

MASSA: Well, it wasn't sexual, period.

KING: OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And important to remember here, John, that we really only have one side of the story, Eric Massa's, because we haven't heard from any of the victims of this alleged sexual harassment.

ROBERTS: Well, you know, some people may be wondering at home this morning why a 50-year-old is engaged in tickle fights anyways. But did he explain why he was leaving?

KEILAR: You know, he's had so many explanations, right? He said that his cancer may have came -- may have come back. He said that he was forced out by the White House by Democratic leaders because he was going to be a "no" vote on the health care. He said this ethics investigation would tear his family apart.

And what we really saw last night was -- what wasn't his explanation. I mean, he really threw all of these things in and made a stew out of them when he was talking to Larry King, though earlier in the day, on a different network, he did say that he hadn't been forced out. So, we're kind of hearing everything all over the map.

ROBERTS: He had some really tough words for Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, over the past few days. Is he saying anything about Emanuel this morning?

KEILAR: Yes. Well -- so, listen to what he said last night. He sort of had a sarcastic apology for Emanuel, because over the weekend, he had said that Rahm Emanuel was the son of devil's spawn. He said that he would tie his children to a train to get the vote that he wanted. And Massa said, "Actually, I owe him an apology." So, I was kind of waiting for it, and he said he wouldn't tie his children to the front of a train, he would tie mine -- Eric Massa's children.

So, you heard that. But this came on the heels of White House sources saying that shower episode, where Massa said that Rahm Emanuel confronted him in the showers at the congressional gym naked because he wasn't going to vote for the president's budget, this comes on the heels of White House sources saying that incident never even happen.

ROBERTS: Yes. Didn't the White House spokesman saying that all of these allegations were crazy just the other day?

KEILAR: Yes. And we're hearing that as well from, you know, with some of the other things that Massa has said, that sort of absolutely untrue, crazy -- we've heard that from Democratic leaders as well.

ROBERTS: All right. Brianna Keilar for us on Capitol Hill this morning -- Brianna, thanks.

Some people say that Eric Massa's feud with fellow Democrats is just one more example of how broken government is. At 25 minutes after the hour, Carol Costello wonders whether it's time to tweak the system. Could we actually fix the problem by sending even more politicians to Washington? You won't believe who came up with that idea. It's an "A.M. Original" that you don't want to miss.

CHETRY: All right. We look forward to it.

Meanwhile, we're checking in with Rob Marciano right now to get a look at the forecast and see what's cooking around the country.

Hey, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning, guys.

Good-looking day to start things off in New York City, but you go south and west and that's where the action begins to pick up. A matter of fact, a good chunk of the central third of the country is dealing with some weather this morning. From Chicago all the way down to Atlanta, that's where we're seeing some of the action.

And down across the south, it's in the form of some thunderstorms. They had some heavy rain, tapping the moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. So, the rain is not going to stop and there are some flash flood watches that have been posted. Air and ground travel will be slow across some of the major cities down south.

And then once that moves out, later on this afternoon, sun will recharge the atmosphere in places like Louisiana, Arkansas and Missouri, and we'll probably see some severe thunderstorms break out. It's getting towards that time of year where that starts to happen.

Seventy degrees for Memphis, and that will definitely get the atmosphere cooking. It will be 58 in Chicago, and 57, another good- looking day for you in New York City. We'll try to do it again tomorrow, and then rain heads in towards the Big Apple closer to the weekend.

More weather details, John and Kiran, in about a half hour.

CHETRY: It's been great. We'll take it where we can get it.

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: Out there on the bike, with the kids attached to the back. It's great.

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: You got them the trailer (ph).

CHETRY: Just don't take the corners too hard.

(LAUGHTER)

CHETRY: Thanks so much, Rob.

Well, last week, Sarah Killen -- heard of her? She had three followers on Twitter. Now, she has over 19,000.

ROBERTS: Yes.

CHETRY: We're going to find out how Conan O'Brien changed her life.

ROBERTS: And then, an attorney who ones defended Toyota, turning over 6,000 pages of documents about safety issues. Is it the smoking gun? We'll find out.

Eight minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Eleven minutes past the hour right now. Time for an "A.M. Original" -- something you'll see only on AMERICAN MORNING.

A former attorney for Toyota is now claiming that the company actively conspired to conceal evidence from the courts and from the public about safety problems.

ROBERTS: And he is confident that thousands of internal Toyota documents that he has turned over to Congress will prove it.

Deb Feyerick is with us this morning. She's been tracking this latest development.

Could this be the smoking gun? That's what people are asking.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This could definitely be the smoking gun. These documents have never before been made public. Congress is now reviewing them. NHTSA wants them. A lot of people want to read through them.

And the person who is bringing them forward isn't just any lawyer. This is the lawyer who defended Toyota in liability and negligence cases brought by people hurt in Toyota vehicles. He's accusing the carmaker of playing by its own rules time and again. Toyota says this guy is just a disgruntled employee, but what he's saying has a lot of people listening.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK (voice-over): When Dimitrios Biller left his job as a top in-house lawyer for Toyota, he walked out with a nearly $4 million buyout. He also walked out with something perhaps even more valuable: internal documents, 6,000 of them, some potentially damaging.

DIMITRIOS BILLER, FORMER TOYOTA LAWYER: Not potentially. They are. They are very damaging because these documents can be used to establish liability against Toyota.

FEYERICK: Biller, who defended the auto giant in liability cases from 2003 to 2007, is now accusing Toyota of withholding information it was legally required to turn over during lawsuits.

BILLER: There was a regular pattern and practice of not producing memos, minutes, reports, e-mails.

FEYERICK: The documents, now the focus of hearings on Capitol Hill, include e-mails and memos Biller sent to Toyota officials concerning so-called "Books of Knowledge" -- a highly secretive data and testing records allegedly generated by Toyota engineers on everything, from rollovers and roof safety to sudden, unintended acceleration.

(on camera): Are the documents that you have seen -- are they a smoking gun? Or are they worse, potentially?

(voice-over): Committee Chair Ed Towns says Toyota's documents show a systematic disregard for the law.

REP. EDOLPHUS TOWNS, CHAIRMAN, HOUSE OVERSIGHT & GOVT. REFORM CMTE.: The material, I must admit, is very, very disturbing.

FEYERICK: Toyota defends its action, saying, "We are confident that we have acted appropriately with respect to all product liability litigation."

Yet, so far, the company has fought to keep the documents confidential and away from court cases -- like Pennie Green's.

PENNIE GREEN, PLAINTIFF IN LAWSUIT AGAINST TOYOTA: We were going to the movie, and I didn't make it.

FEYERICK: Pennie Green was 17 when the 1997 Camry she was driving swerved, rolled over, and landed upside down.

GREEN: I remember when I opened my eyes, my nose was -- I felt like it was almost touching my belly button. It was -- I was so curled up.

FEYERICK: Green never walked again.

GREEN: The roof didn't withstand the weight of the car like it's supposed to.

FEYERICK: The case in 2006 settled for $1.5 million. The summary email Biller sent to his bosses says, quote, "TMS concluded that it would be better to pay a premium to settle this case and avoid producing the 'Books of Knowledge.'"

Believing he'd been given all relevant Toyota documents, Green's attorney Jeff Embrey had no idea how close it come to uncovering Toyota's alleged secrets.

JEFF EMBRY, PENNIE GREEN'S ATTORNEY: They were very careful to keep design information and very important information in Japan out of reach of our system.

FEYERICK (on camera): Toyota says these are trade secrets. Do you feel that way?

EMBRY: Saying they're trade secrets doesn't mean you get to keep them secret from the court system.

FEYERICK: So, why, if Biller knew a judge had ordered all information be produced, didn't he produce it? He says he tried and was told not to by a superior who told him -- BILLER: That you have to protect the client at all costs. I said, "Even if that means committing criminal acts and violating the law?" And he said, "Yes."

FEYERICK: I asked about Biller's charges, Toyota says, "Mr. Biller continues to make inaccurate and misleading allegations about Toyota's conduct that we strongly dispute and will continue to fight against vigorously." Before leaving Toyota four years ago, Biller had a nervous breakdown, caused, he says, by stress. Still, he's confident his e-mails left a trail, showing he tried to change Toyota.

BILLER: The documents speak for themselves. I know what happened. I know exactly what happened. I know the names of the people who are responsible for it. I know where the skeletons are hidden.

FEYERICK: As for Pennie Green, if a judge finds Toyota did hide documents --

GREEN: All I want is justice for that. They just need to take responsibility for their actions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Right now, Green's lawyer is asking a judge to review the Biller's documents to see whether in fact the company should be held in contempt. In case you are wondering, they're battling lawsuits. Toyota is suing Biller to keep quiet, and Biller is suing Toyota for criminal conspiracy as well.

CHETRY: Wow, so a lot more to this. And we are probably going to get more information because Congress and, as you said, NHTSA wants these documents.

FEYERICK: It's going to make for some very interesting reading especially to see what Toyota was thinking about in its product development and see where the problems were in all the vehicles. And that's what everybody wants to know.

ROBERTS: How soon might they become publicly available?

FEYERICK: Right now, they're under seal. These have not gotten out. So, it's unclear. That's the best answer I can give you.

CHETRY: Thanks so much. And of course you've been following all the latest on this story. If you'd like to do the same, just log-on to CNN.com/Toyota.

ROBERTS: Well, despite the bad economy, guess what, the number of millionaires in the United States has increased quite dramatically. Christine Romans, "Minding Your Business" coming up next. 17 minutes now after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Coming up at 20 minutes after the hour, it means it's time for "Minding Your Business." And Christine Romans is here with us this morning. The number of millionaires in this country going up even in this bad economy?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Gwen Stephani is probably in this club, I would venture.

CHETRY: No doubt.

ROMANS: No doubt. Very clever, Kiran.

ROBERTS: Where's the snare drum and the cymbal?

CHETRY: Under the desk.

ROMANS: Look, the millionaires' club grew last year. It grew pretty nicely actually. In fact, this news came out a year to the day after 12-year lows in the stock market. We all thought the world was going to end, right? People with a net worth of over $5 million did very, very well, up 17 percent last year. That group now counts 980,000. These are, in case you don't know, the ultra-high net worth individuals, and this is not including their primary home.

OK, so how about net worth over $1 million. That group grew by 16 percent to 7.8 million Americans. What if you're just considered broadly affluent, those are people with over $500,000, not counting the primary home, those grew 12 percent to 12.7 million. This is all from a group called the Spectrum Group in Chicago, which analyzes the affluent behavior and buying patterns and the like.

Here is what's happening here overall. These people are much more likely to have much more exposure into financial instruments in the market, so this last year has been fantastic for them, really fantastic. The middle class and the upper middle class, which most Americans are fighting very, very hard to try to get into, that is the American dream, much more exposed to real estate, much more of their wealth is in their home and they have really been hit, so this group less likely to be so tied to their house for their economic well being.

CHETRY: Because they're excluding their house in the net worth.

ROMANS: Right.

CHETRY: If you just were an everyday, living on main street, trying to save some money, you couldn't make any money by putting your money in the CD, in the bank. The interest rates were so low, you were not really getting return on your investments, so how do you make money?

ROMANS: The safe plays didn't work. Also, it's a jobs thing, too. So many of these people are involved in finance for how they're making their money and growing their money. In the middle class and the upper middle class, it's the job. The job is still the driver, and the job situation has been very bad. That's why you're seeing this rift between what's happening in the middle class and upper middle class, people who might think of themselves as affluent, and then this group is affluent, ultra-high net worth.

ROBERTS: You're saying the way the stock market has been going up in the last 12 months, is it creating another bubble?

ROMANS: I don't know. That's a good question. It has been a very, very big, no one expected we would see 68 percent gains in the S&P 500. This has helped this high net worth group for sure. But I will point out that it's down dramatically from 2007. In 2007 you had my gosh, you had much more -- many, many more people, the peak the 9.2 million people who were considered this rich group.

ROBERTS: But you're talking about that quick growth, within one year jumping 67 percent that was unprecedented. If you went in at the right time.

ROMANS: I mean look, yesterday I was reporting that 16 percent of people were comfortable with their retirement, only 16 percent. The next day I'm reporting to you that hey, there's more millionaires. This is the up-side-down world we live in. The haves have more, and the have-nots are trying to get a job.

ROBERTS: Christine Romans "Minding Your Business" for us this morning. Thanks, Christine.

CHETRY: Last week, Sarah Killen had three followers on Twitter, now she has more than 20,000. It's how Conan O' Brien changed her life. She's going to join us to talk about it next. Twenty-three minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONAN O' BRIEN, COMEDIENNE: The problem with the then-lieutenant governor, now-governor David Paterson is, he may have violated ethics laws as governor. I thought, wait a minute, I thought that was a requirement to be governor. Wasn't that part of the package? Paterson, though, is being adamant. He refuses to stand down, he says he's not quitting, he's going to serve out his term. I thought, who does this guy think he is, Leno?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Two zings in there. Sad fact. I mean, the sad reality of what has been going on in New York politics. He's right.

ROBERTS: Every day another layer of the onion comes off.

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Top stories just four minutes away.

First an "A.M. Original", something you'll see only on AMERICAN MORNING. If you're finding it hard to stomach what's happening in Washington, you're certainly not alone. It seems more politicians than ever, according to you know, their constituents, are out of touch. ROBERTS: We did a whole week of series on it. Our government is broken, and we don't exactly have a stellar record, even when it comes to electing the right people to run this country. So our Carol Costello is wondering this morning if it's time to do a little tweaking to the system. She joins us live from Washington.

Good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'd like to tweak the people in our audience, because you know, you elect these people. We know how most people feel about politicians, not good, not even close. You would think that all politicians would fight to overcome that horrible image. Many are, but there are more than a few who don't seem to get it. This morning a get check. Is it time we tweaked the system to find a way voters can make better choices. After all, as I said, you put them in office.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HIRAM MONSERRATE, FORMER N.Y. STATE SENATOR: I am taking this opportunity to officially announce my candidacy for the return of State Senator Hiram Monserrate.

COSTELLO (voice-over): A typical political campaign wish unless you know the back story. Hiram Monserrate was actually booted out of the New York state senate after he was convicted of a misdemeanor for assaulting his girlfriend. Part of the attack was captured on an apartment surveillance tape, yet Monserrate is positive that voters will reelect him. Tuesday he announced that he was running on a "Yes We Can" ticket. To his critics in politics?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it will be the pot calling the kettle black for anyone in government pointing a finger toward Hiram Monserrate.

COSTELLO: Some political observers are aghast, but not surprised.

PROF. LARRY SABATO, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: They're very quick at justifying actions that most of us would have to apologize for.

COSTELLO: And rarely do they just go away after justifying their actions. South Carolina's governor admitted to an affair, to lying to voters, but he has resisted calls to step down, confident of voter support.

GOV. MARK SANFORD, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: I'm not going to be railroaded out of this office by political opponents or folks who were never fans of mine in the first place.

COSTELLO: It's a battle cry long echoed by U.S. Congressman Charlie Rangel, who's accused of failing to pay taxes and violating house ethics rules.

REP. CHARLES RANGEL, (D) NEW YORK: In order to avoid my colleagues having to defend me during their elections -- COSTELLO: He finally stepped down as chairman of a powerful committee, but the congressman elected 20 times did not apologize or resign. Gut check. Is it time to tweak the system?

SABATO: The average voter would love to see through the persona projected by the consultants in the TV ads, but how do you do that?

COSTELLO: More politicians. Example. Right now each member of the U.S. Congress represents roughly 700,000 Americans, far too many voters for their elected representatives to get to know. So instead of 435 house members, why not elect 10,000?

SABATO: The smaller the unit is, the more likely it is that people will get to know the candidates and they'll vote not just on the basis of party, but on the basis of the character of the candidates.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Because you'll actually get to know the candidates. I know, some of you are scoffing at the thought of so many members of Congress, but the idea of keeping a representative constituency rather small actually came from George Washington himself, because he foresaw the reality of what we're dealing with today.

So the idea here, John and Kiran, is if, you know, somebody represents a smaller number of people, that smaller number of people can make better decisions because they can actually get to know the candidate.

CHETRY: I'm just trying to think of how 10,000 representatives could get anything passed. Can you imagine?

COSTELLO: Well, you know, I asked people for comments, and our blog lit up with many comments, and they were very interesting. I'm going to read you a few.

CHETRY: Please do.

COSTELLO: If you want to join in, CNN.com/amfix.

This is from Candy, who said "The last thing we need is more politicians. More politicians will give us more lobbyists, more lobbyists will give us more corruption, less regulations, and bigger deficits."

But here's the other thing, and John, you pointed this out in the 6:00 hour of AMERICAN MORNING. This guy writes, "I've heard worse ideas. There is some logic to this, but the cost of running such a body could be astronomical. So the new electees would need to accept lower pay and scaled-down benefits."

That is just the thing, they would have to accept lower pay. You know, how many staff members does the average representative have, John?

ROBERTS: Probably about 15 or 20, I would think.

COSTELLO: That's right.

CHETRY: That would make for a big tickle fight.

(LAUGHTER)

ROBERTS: Whoa.

COSTELLO: I had to laugh at that one.

CHETRY: This is what we're talking about that this morning. Is that pitiful or what?

COSTELLO: If you had a smaller constituency that you represented, perhaps you wouldn't need so much staff members, perhaps you wouldn't even need to have an office in Washington. Maybe you could do all of your work online.

ROBERTS: Here's the thing, too, a lot of smaller municipalities where constituency is smaller, they're part-time jobs. And they pay something along the lines of $6,000 to $10,000. Maybe that's the model.

But office space as tight as it is with 435 members. I don't know where the heck you'll put 10,000.

COSTELLO: They wouldn't even have to go to Washington.

CHETRY: That's why they invented Skype. Carol Costello for us, thanks so much.

ROBERTS: Crossing the half hour, and that means it's time for this morning's top stories. A suburban Philadelphia woman who authorities say called herself "Jihad Jane" has been indicted on charges that she conspired to support foreign terrorists.

Colleen Larose is also accused of plotting to kill a Swedish cartoonist who drew controversial images of the prophet Mohammad.

Irish authorities also say they arrested seven people who are suspected of plotting with Larose to attack that cartoonist.

CHETRY: More than seven months after they became prisoners in Iran, three American hikers were allowed to call home. Their parents say it was a tremendous relief to finally hear their voices.

Relatives say that Josh Betall, Shane Bauer, and Sarah Short were hiking in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region in July when they accidentally crossed the border. Iran though is still claiming they're spies and says they will stand trial. According to Iranian law, the charges could result in the death penalty.

ROBERTS: And embattled former New York Congressman Eric Massa admits to having physical contact with a male staffer, but he tells CNN's Larry King there was nothing sexual about their tickle fights. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING: You said, quote, "Not only did I grope him, I tickled him until he couldn't breathe and then four guys jumped on top of me." So you did grope someone, right?

MASSA: So -- Larry, when you grab someone and you're wrestling, I don't know how to describe that word. So, if that's -- if that's the word that you want to have an entire debate about, then I can't stop you.

KING: No, I'm just asking the -- you said you groped.

MASSA: Yes, you know --

KING: A lot of people associate groping with sexual.

MASSA: Well, it wasn't sexual, period.

KING: OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Well, the tickle episode is one of several explanations that Massa has given in recent days since allegations of sexual harassment surfaced.

CHETRY: CNBC host Conan O'Brien has been sort of laying low since his short-lived "Tonight Show" gig ended in January, but he has popped up on Twitter. Fans of course flocked to his page, and Conan was having a little bit of fun with it.

ROBERTS: On Friday he sent on the this tweet -- "I've decided to follow someone at random. She likes peanut butter and gummy dinosaurs. Sarah Killen, your life is about to change."

Sarah Killen just had a handful of Twitter followers until that tweet went out. After that Sarah's Twitter page exploded. She just broke 20,000 followers a few minutes ago.

Here for the "A.M. Breakdown" is Twitter's newest star Sarah Killen and her fiancee John Slowa (ph). Was Conan right, Sarah? Has life really changed?

SARAH KILLEN, PICKED RANDOMLY ON TWITTER BY CONAN O'BRIEN: Absolutely, a complete 360.

ROBERTS: In what way?

KILLEN: We were really hard up for stuff. I never -- it was very quiet where we were. I was just at home every day. Now we're out and doing everything. People have been helping us out and being amazing.

CHETRY: So it really is just a life-changing experience. So walk us back to how this all started. I think you got a heads-up from Conan's team that he was going to do this. How did they contact you in the first place, and how did it go from there?

KILLEN: They contacted me via MySpace on Thursday. I responded on Friday and told them, sure. I didn't know I was the only person who got that message, but a few minutes later he was following me, and I had hundreds of followers.

ROBERTS: So, you know, some interesting things have been coming your way as a result of this newfound Twitter fame. It's kind of strange, talking about Twitter celebrities, but you have definitely have become one.

Somebody sent you a new computer, I guess, because the computer you had been using to go on Twitter with was somewhat unreliable. But you're also using your exposure for good. You're very much into charities.

KILLEN: Yes, we were going to do -- we are doing the three-day walk for the cure for breast cancer. And we couldn't get anyone to donate any money. So we put the link on there, and we had over $2,500 in a couple days.

ROBERTS: That's for you. And you're also now trying to get money for your mom who wants to walk with you? And we should mention it's the Susan G. Komen three-day for the cure.

KILLEN: I'm actually the team leader, we're on the same team, and you need $2,500 to be able to walk. And I want her to walk with me as well.

CHETRY: So for the two of you, this is also exciting, because it's helped you in planning your dream wedding, because, like many celebrities, you're in and out getting freebies. What's that been like?

KILLEN: It's been amazing. We're not really trying to accept too many things, but people have been giving us wedding gifts and it's helped tremendously. We weren't really going to be able to have a nice wedding, and now I can have a wedding dress and we can have a limo and things like that.

CHETRY: You're getting a limo, some wedding bands. You also are getting some wine donated, right, from a California vineyard?

KILLEN: Yes, three cases of wine.

ROBERTS: Wow, look at that. So here you are, you're helping out charities, and the Susan G. Komen isn't the only charity you're helping out. You're helping out some others as well, and people are giving back to you. It comes full circle.

And you've got, as I understand it, a new Twitter fan. She was out somewhere. Tells us about meeting Ludacris.

KILLEN: Yes, a radio station contacted me, and I was talking to him. He said they were going to have Ludacris in, and I told them how much I loved him, and they said come down. So we left immediately and we came down. And we met him, he gave us tickets to his concert, and we went to his concert right after.

ROBERTS: John, I want to ask you a couple questions about this whole entire thing. First of all, what's it been like for you? You guys were basically doing your thing, and now you're celebrities and your fiancee's every move is being tracked by 20,000 and counting followers from across the country. What's that like for you?

JOHN SLOWA, SARAH KILLEN'S FIANCEE: It's been hectic, but I'm happy for her. I've taken on her position as a manager for a bit.

(LAUGHTER)

CHETRY: Now you guys are like Heidi and Spencer.

KILLEN: Oh, gosh.

CHETRY: Were you Conan O'Brien fans before this?

SLOWA: Yes, we used to stay up and watch his show every night. We were disappointed when he was taken off the air.

ROBERTS: He'll be back, I'm sure.

SLOWA: Yes.

ROBERTS: I read an article in the "Chicago Tribune" today, Sarah. You're getting a lot of praise for the way you're conducting yourself here. The writers say, quote, "Apparently somebody failed to get Killen the requisite rulebook that state faux celebrities must behave like self-absorbed ninnies.

She's comporting herself like a decent, normal human being. Cut it out, Ms. Killen, you're making the rest of the world look bad."

I read something you were in girl scouts, had a charitable background. Is this going to go to your head, or will you continue to be the same person you were?

KILLEN: I don't think I'm changing at all. I'm glad people think that. I mean, the only thing you can do is continue to be yourself and people like it or they don't. So I'm glad they do really like it.

CHETRY: Well, we're happy to talk to you two. I hope you have a blast at your wedding. I hope you'll tweet a bunch of pictures, right, so everybody can follow it. And good luck to you two in the future, thanks for talking to us this morning.

SLOWA: Thank you.

KILLEN: Thank you.

ROBERTS: Thanks.

Just before we go to commercial break, too, I had something made up. There is of course on Twitter more than one person to a name. There's another Sarah Killen out there. Here's her Twitter page. She has a whole 21 followers. She's still waiting for her life to change, she says. She's going to go to the store and buy some peanut butter and gummy dinosaurs, trying to get some recognition.

(LAUGHTER)

CHETRY: All right, well, we'll follow both Sarah Killen for the heck of it.

ROBERTS: The job market is looking up. "Building up America" is coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: This just into CNN. The Los Angeles police department says Cory Haim died this morning they believe of an apparent drug overdose. He was just 38 years old. Haim was a teen heartthrob back in the 1980s, a frequent co-star with the other Cory, Cory Feldman, in movies like "The Lost Boys" and "License to Drive."

Cory Haim dead at the age of 38 this morning.

CHETRY: Today in our "Building up America" series, a success story, good news for people looking for a job. Christine Romans joins us now, "Building up America today." So this is a bright spot. It's certainly nothing close to 2007 when there were many more jobs, but we'll take the good news.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Building up America tiny brick by brick. Small gains in the jobs market in January. The labor turnover survey from the Department of Labor shows job openings up 193,000 in January to 2.7 million job openings.

Well, that means that there are 2.7 million available jobs today versus 4.4 million available jobs in December 2007. So you can see we still have lost a lot of jobs.

Today there are 5.5 applicants for every job opening out there. You've heard me say there are six people for every job opening. It's shrunk just a little bit. But again, back in December, 2007, a healthy labor market is just under two people fighting for every job out there, or even less.

Quickly where there have been gains in the jobs, education and health care, also hotels and restaurants, which economists say shows a little bit more confident on the part of consumers. Arts and entertainment lost some jobs, and government as well. No surprise there, because they have been building up just so many.

You've heard me say so many times six people fighting for every job opening. Now this study shows 5.5 people fighting for every job opening.

ROBERTS: Still not liking the odds.

ROMANS: No, but the numbers are moving in the right direction, and that's what we're hoping for here.

ROBERTS: Small miracles.

ROMANS: Yes.

ROBERTS: Christine, thanks so much.

ROBERTS: Severe thunderstorms springing up later on today. You'll want to know about this, particularly if you're traveling. Rob Marciano has the forecast coming right up.

It's 46 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, a rainy Chicago this morning, as we take a look right now where it's 49 degrees and more showers in the forecast. So bring your umbrella if you're in the Windy City today. It is going to be 58 for a high.

And our Rob Marciano is tracking all of it for us. You had a little rain in Atlanta yourself down there huh?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, a lot of rain as matter of fact, much heavier in Atlanta than in Chicago. But obviously in Chicago just enough to keep the streets damp and depending on how tough you are, you may or may not need the umbrella. Goulashes and umbrellas, they're necessary down across the Deep South and whatever heavy duty rain gear you've got at least in the Atlanta metropolitan area.

You see it's -- this radar just keeps looking worse and worse as the morning progresses. Brighter colors mean more rain and it's coming down in a hurry. You could see up to three inches of rainfall by the time Friday morning rolls around. So this will be a long term event.

Some of this is trying to get up toward the north and east, Baltimore, D.C. and Philly, but just having a hard time doing so. I don't think it'll make in to New York. So you folks should remain dry and quite pleasant once again today.

But all the focus remains down the south. After that heavy rain moves out, another punch of energy will come out of the Rockies into the Plains. And this has got some pretty good dynamics with it; a lot of high to the upper levels of the atmosphere. So we're thinking that severe storms are a good possibility today from Missouri all the way down to the southern coastline of Louisiana. So we'll be watching for that potential mid to late afternoon.

Aside from that, if you are traveling today, Atlanta and Charlotte will see the biggest problems in the form of low clouds of rain and then light rain in Chicago and Minneapolis and Houston may slow you down from time to time as well. 55 in Atlanta, it will be 71 degrees in Memphis, 59 in New York, still chilly in Ohio where some of the ponds are still frozen. And if you're a little puppy dog, you just don't want to be venturing out this time of the year because you never know where you're going into thin ice. And sure enough, a little puppy dog in the right side of you screen. There he goes through the ice.

ROBERTS: They can't read. That's the problem. They post the signs and as much as we think dogs are really smart, they just can't read.

Anyway a fire rescue (INAUDIBLE) got out to save a little puppy and he's a cute little guy. Really on the young side, you know, he's got a lot to learn. And I think this lesson will be marked down.

CHETRY: Oh, he's shaking.

MARCIANO: He is, cute guy or gal.

ROBERTS: First lesson, learn how to read.

MARCIANO: There's your obligatory dog rescue moment of the day.

ROBERTS: OK, thanks Rob.

And just for the record, the drought in Atlanta is officially over, right?

MARCIANO: Oh, yes.

ROBERTS: Yes.

MARCIANO: Without a doubt, we are swimming fine.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Rob.

Little Leaguers getting some Major League injuries, it's happening more often. How to avoid those injuries; we've got some tips for you coming right up. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to The Most News in the Morning. Its 53 minutes past the hour right now and time for your "A.M. House Call" stories about your health. More than two million kids play Little League Baseball.

ROBERTS: And many of them are getting injuries that would put big leaguers on the disabled list.

Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us from Atlanta with more on this story. What type of injuries are we talking about here, Elizabeth?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We're talking about injuries to the ligaments and the shoulders, a ligament that kind of helps you do this, that helps you rotate your shoulder. When kids are pitching -- especially when they're pitching -- but when they're play too much baseball, they can start to lose flexibility in this ligament.

And so there was a study presented by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and what they found is that a lot of it depended upon what position the child was playing. It's very interesting, so let's take a look.

We have our little chart here. What they found is that 32 percent of the pitchers who they looked at had some problem with shoulder pain or with flexibility with the ligament here.

And then, when you go down to the catchers, it went down to 25 percent. And then when you went to the outfielders, it went to 21 percent. So you can see that the pitchers really are the ones who are at highest risk here, so this is definitely a lesson for parents who have kids in Little League. Of course they should play, but you want to be careful.

CHETRY: You need to protect them then.

COHEN: Right. Exactly. Exactly. You do need to protect them.

CHETRY: What do you do?

COHEN: Well, you know specifically what you do is that the parent ought to be keeping track of how many pitches the child is doing, because the parent can say, wait a minute, my child has gone beyond their pitch limit.

So the first thing is to know the pitch limits. The Little League sets them out in very specific terms by age. You should know them. The coach may not catch it.

Also your child should not pitch in pain. So if your child needs a Tylenol or an Advil to pitch, take them out. Also don't play on more than one team and take at least three months' rest throughout the year.

ROBERTS: Are the incidents of this actually increasing? Kids these days are -- I mean they were competitive back when we were all growing up, but kids these days are really, really competitive. Are they -- you know maybe are they saying I'm feeling fine when really they're not? Is it just a greater sense of competition leading to all of this Elizabeth?

COHEN: You know what John, this study didn't address that specifically, but it does make sense. I don't know much about Little League because I have four daughters. If indeed it is more competitive and they are pushing kids more.

Here is the problem. If your son is really good, he's at highest risk. It's kind of ironic. If they're good, the coach is going to put them in more. It's not so much that something terrible is going to happen now, it's the problems with the ligaments which may not be such a big deal now could be a bigger problem later on. It could even mean that the arm will start to separate from the socket.

ROBERTS: Wow, that's not good. Elizabeth Cohen this morning. Elizabeth thanks for that.

COHEN: Thank you.

ROBERTS: We have 56 minutes after the hour. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: We're following some breaking news this morning to tell you about. The Los Angeles Police Department is telling us today that actor Corey Haim died this morning, they believe of an apparent drug overdose. He was just 38 years old. He was a teen heartthrob back in the 1980s, a frequent co-star with the other famous Corey Feldman in movies like "Lost Boys" and "License to Drive". Again, Corey Haim dead at the age of 38, apparently from a drug overdose.

CHETRY: Also developing right now, after nearly two months in Haiti, the Navy hospital ship the USNS Comfort and its brave crew of sailors, soldiers, airmen and civilians now headed home. The ship left the Port-au-Prince Harbor late last night, getting ready for the long trip back to Baltimore.

The official Navy tally shows that the crew treated 871 patients, that its surgeons performed 843 different operations, also nine babies were born on the ship during Comfort's mission in Haiti, including one set of twins. And they said that over the past week hospitals in Haiti were able to handle these patients. They were receiving less and less so they figured now was the time to sort of end that mission.

ROBERTS: The hospital ship living up to its name once again.

CHETRY: Oh, yes.

ROBERTS: Continue the conversation on today's stories today, go to our blog at cnn.com/amfix.

That's going to wrap it up for us. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you back here again tomorrow morning.

CHETRY: All right. Meanwhile the news continues. Let's head over to the "CNN NEWSROOM" with Fredricka Whitfield -- hey, Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hi John, Kiran, have a great day today.