Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

"Jihad Jane" Allegedly Cooperating With Authorities; Former Obama Campaign Aide Criticizes White House; Boy Saves Family From Burglars; Twitter Not Social: Tweeters or Slackers; Fume Events on Passenger Planes

Aired March 11, 2010 - 07:00   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. Glad you're with us on this Thursday. It's March 11th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Acosta. John Roberts is off today, but we have lots to tell you this morning. Here are this morning's top stories.

She calls herself Jihad Jane charged with using the internet to try and recruit terrorists for attacks overseas. This morning, reports she is talking, and we have an interview with her former boyfriend to find out what he thinks about Colleen Larose's alleged double life.

CHETRY: Three armed robbers in California foiled by a 7-year-old boy. Police say the quick thinking child may have saved the lives of his family, including his parents and little sister when gunmen broke into their home this week. You're going to hear the 911 call that has everyone calling little Carlos a hero.

ACOSTA: And check this out -- shocking findings from a CNN investigation. Find out how dirty the air circulating through airplanes really is. Our Allen Chernoff with a behind the scenes look at the toxic air at 30,000 feet.

CHETRY: We start this morning with a woman who is a suspect and many say in a way represents one of the greatest dangers facing U.S. intelligence, a suspected terrorist who fits no profile. The Pennsylvania woman who called herself "Jihad Jane" is reportedly talking to authorities and has been for some time.

According to "The Wall Street Journal," Colleen Larose provided information in the case of seven people recently arrested in Ireland for allegedly conspiring with Larose to kill a Swedish cartoonist. We're also learning more about what others thought of Larose, including her former boyfriend Kurt Gorman who says she was "no rocket scientist, but had a good heart."

Our Susan Candiotti is live in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania where she lived. And Susan, you had a chance to speak with her boyfriend. What did he say about what she is now accused of?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, he says the woman that he thought he knew was at one time a Catholic. And if she converted to Islam, that would be news to him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: Did Colleen Larose, aka "Jihad Jane," lead a double life? Her ex-boyfriend says the charges left him stunned.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): What do you think when you see her dressed like that?

KURT GORMAN, "JIHAD JANE'S" EX-BOYFRIEND: Can't believe it.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): The person Kurt Gorman says he knew was a twice-divorced woman he met in 2004 on a visit to Texas. They hit it off and she moved to Pennsylvania with him.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Did you feel you knew her?

GORMAN: I thought I did.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): But apparently his girlfriend had demons. A 2005 police report says Larose attempted suicide mixing pills and alcohol. Gorman did not think she was suicidal.

GORMAN: I know a couple of years earlier after her father passed away from cancer she was very depressed.

CANDIOTTI: The Colleen Larose he knew took care of his ailing father who lived with them, not someone who used their home computer allegedly to recruit and help terrorists overseas.

GORMAN: It doesn't seem like her personality.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): In what way?

GORMAN: If you're a nice person taking care of an elderly man there, I mean, that doesn't in my mind go with somebody who wants to hurt somebody else.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): No one in the small town of Pennsburg seemed to know her. Yet on the Internet Larose made the rounds. CNN found online postings and evidence she tracked groups including Revolution Muslim that advocates attacking Americans overseas.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): She called herself "Jihad Jane."

GORMAN: Yes. I don't know. It doesn't make any sense. I don't know if there's ways that people are manipulated or not.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Last August Kurt Gorman says Larose bolted a few days after his father died, took her clothes and left without a word. Sometime later he noticed his passport missing and reported it. A month later the FBI showed up and took his computer hard drive and questioned him.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Did you worry she might be involved in something? GORMAN: I worried something might have happened to her.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): A few weeks later she was arrested after a trip overseas.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Anything you'd say to her?

GORMAN: Hope she's well. I don't understand it, so it's just a shame.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: And since last fall she has been sitting in a jail cell in Philadelphia. One week from today she'll be back in court and is expected to enter a plea. Kiran?

CHETRY: Susan Candiotti in Pennsburg this morning, thank you.

ACOSTA: And an unbelievable story coming out of Kansas City this morning. Before you send your kids off to school, consider this -- nearly half of Kansas City's public schools will shut down by summer to keep the district out of bankruptcy.

The board narrowly passed the decision last night, hoping to fix a $50 million budget shortfall. Nearly 300 teachers will lose their jobs and some will have to reapply for jobs they already have. One board member says it was his most painful vote in ten years.

CHETRY: Former Congressman Eric Massa's lunch date with a 20- something Congressional aid prompted his chief of staff to call House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "The Washington Post" is reporting that the warning in October included claims that the Democrat often tried to spend time alone with unmarried male staffers.

Despite Massa's resignation, Republicans are pushing for more investigations into his alleged misconduct.

ACOSTA: And a sobering warning for Democrats from one of the men who helped put President Obama in the White House. A former Obama campaign adviser says Democrats are not making good on their promise to reform Washington, and that could mean a quote, "slaughter on Election Day this fall."

For more, let's bring in out Ed Henry live at the White House this morning.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Really, a wake- up call to the White House that even some of their allies believe that without a dramatic course correction they could really take it on the chin in November.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY: Steve Hildebrand was one of the top advisers who help put President Obama in office. Now he has a stark warning for his old friends. STEVE HILDEBRAND, FORMER OBAMA CAMPAIGN OFFICIAL: I think there's a real shot we'll get slaughtered in election if we aren't leading the efforts to reform Washington. It's what we campaigned on. If voters don't see that change, we haven't lived up to the promise.

HENRY: Hildebrand, who helped deliver Iowa for the president, is now an outside consultant pushing issues like campaign finance and lobbying reform. He came to the White House Thursday for a quiet meeting with David Axelrod to express a fear Republicans are seizing the high ground on cleaning up Washington.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Charlie Rangel stepped down after breaking ethics rules.

HENRY: Hildebrand is baffled his party is allowing Republicans to capitalize on scandals the same way Democrat did in the last two elections.

HENRY (on camera): Is the president doing enough on this?

HILDEBRAND: I don't think anybody in Washington is doing enough on this.

HENRY: Hildebrand is known for speaking his mind. Last summer he told "Politico" he was losing patience with the White House and the president needed to be more bold in his leadership. But a few weeks later the president praised Hildebrand at a White House reception celebrating gay rights.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Somebody who helped ensure we are in the White House, Steve Hildebrand. Please give Steve a big round of applause.

HENRY: Hildebrand, who is openly gay, gives the president credit.

HILDEBRAND: When the president signed the hate crimes bill last fall, it was the first piece of legislation ever in the history of Congress to affirm the rights of gay people in this country.

HENRY: And overall he says the president deserves a B-plus for his efforts to stabilize the economy and reform health care.

HILDEBRAND: I'm thrilled we're on the cusp of passing health care reform. This is something that we've waited for so long. And it's so important, it's so necessary. And so I'm thrilled that the president has not given up and that he's been persistent.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HENRY: David Axelrod told me last night that his friend has some fair criticisms, but Axelrod also pointed out the president has tried to be more transparent about how lobbyists work and curb their influence by kicking lobbyists off executive branch boards and commissions, et cetera. But Axelrod said there is more work to be done, and said the president is just as committed now as on day one to really push campaign reform, lobbying reform. He realizes a lot of his allies are getting nervous about those elections that are coming up, Jim.

ACOSTA: Thanks a lot, Jim, appreciate it.

CHETRY: Orange juice drinkers are in for a bit of a surprise. The deep freeze in Florida this winter means you'll see the prices climb for orange juice. Tropicana raising the price of a gallon by five to eight percent and squeezing five ounces of juice out of every 64 ounce container, so you're actually getting less for a higher price.

ACOSTA: And the IRS has $1.3 billion in unclaimed refunds from the 2006 tax year. Kiran, check your tax returns. If you didn't file a return that year and don't claim your refund by April 15th, it goes back to the Treasury Department. Don't let that happen.

The average refund amount for the unfiled returns is $604. Most of the unclaimed money is in California, Texas, and Florida.

CHETRY: All right, is it a friendly reminder from Uncle Sam or a waste of taxpayer money? There is a debate about a letter from the Census Bureau that went out to 120 million households this week reminding them to fill out the census when it arrives in the mail next week.

The cost for the reminder -- tens of millions of dollars.

ACOSTA: And a tornado watch for parts of Arkansas has now been lifted this morning. A series of tornadoes touched down last night, critically injuring two people. Dozens of homes were also damaged. Forecasters say golf ball-sized hail fell during the storms, which thankfully missed the most populated areas of the state.

(WEATHER BREAK)

ACOSTA: Police say a seven-year-old boy in California may have saved his entire family with a fast-thinking phone call. At 7:12 meet Carlos and find out how he turned the tables on three armed robbers holding his parents at gun point.

CHETRY: And at 7:41, they were friends for decades, co-stars, and even starred in their own reality show. We'll hear from Corey Feldman on the death of Corey Haim.

ACOSTA: And at 7:55, with midterm elections just months away and a whole lot of voters sick of government that spends more than it has, will a new plan to cut pork in the House really work? Some answers coming up from Capitol Hill. It is 11 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Police are calling him a hero. But to the kids in his California neighborhood, he's just Carlos. The fast-thinking seven-year-old foiled three armed robbers who broke into his home Tuesday night and held his parents at gunpoint.

Carlos somehow kept his composure, then he grabbed his little sister and a telephone and made a bee line for the bathroom. Randi Kaye picks up the story from there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Courage sometimes comes in small packages, like this seven-year-old from California.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like to introduce our hero from yesterday's 911 call that may have saved his family's life. His name is Carlos.

KAYE: Carlos, a second grader from Norwalk, California, had a good reason for missing school yesterday morning. Three armed men entered his home through an unlocked front door. They had guns and threatened his mom and dad.

KAYE (on camera): Carlos quickly grabbed his six-year-old sister and hid in the bathroom. From there he made this desperate call for help to 911.

CARLOS: Can you come really fast, please?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you tell me what happened?

CARLOS: They come, they ring the door, and they have guns to they shoot my mom and dad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now?

CARLOS: Yes, can you come really fast? Bring cops.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. We have them coming.

CARLOS: Lots of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE (voice-over): 911 operator Monique Patino knew she had to act fast.

911 DISPATCHER: Listen to me, I have them coming, hon. Listen, OK?

CARLOS: OK.

911 DISPATCHER: Listen to me. Take a deep breath. I already have the police coming.

CARLOS: Right. And bring soldiers too. Can you come, really fast? Hurry up.

911 DISPATCHER: Yes, stay on the line with me. Don't hang up. Listen to me. We're coming to help you, but listen to me, OK?

CARLOS: OK.

MONIQUE PATINO, 911 DISPATCHER: I couldn't think too much about the emotion. It was more of just an instant reaction. I needed to get help to him.

KAYE: But before help could get there, the suspects figured out someone was hiding in the bathroom. They busted open the door to find Carlos on the phone.

911 DISPATCHER: Just stay where you are and don't hang up, whatever you do.

CARLOS: OK. OK. There was a guy.

KAYE: When the bad guys asked who was talking to, the brave little boy told them straight up he had called 911. The suspects took off and left Carlos's family intact, nobody injured.

PATINO: Once I heard the screams toward the end, I honestly, I'm holding the phone and I'm in tears. I can barely talk, I'm shaking. I'm in tears because all I hear is them screaming, and it was very, very tough for me.

KAYE: Carlos told reporters it was his mom who taught him to use 911.

CARLOS, 7-YEAR-OLD HERO: We practiced it every day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you scared last night?

CARLOS: Just a little bit.

KAYE: If Carlos was scared, there was no mistaking who got him through it. A stranger on the other end of the phone line who in just moments became a friend.

Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: It just could have turned out so differently.

ACOSTA: Absolutely.

CHETRY: Thank God that it turned out the way it did.

ACOSTA: And you have to stick your hat off to the dispatcher, too. I mean, she kept her cool during all of that.

CHETRY: And she had no idea when the kids were screaming what the end result was until much later and boy, she held it together. ACOSTA: Great kid. Great kid.

CHETRY: He sure is.

All right. Well, still ahead, the social networking site Twitter making people not so social. Christine Romans "Minding Your Business" after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: You guys got good music here.

CHETRY: You're all right?

ACOSTA: Just wanted to point that out.

CHETRY: I always ask to burn me a copy. Whatever it is you put on the show, could I have a copy of that?

ACOSTA: Burn me that show.

CHETRY: Yes. Exactly.

ACOSTA: It is 20 minutes after the hour. Time for "Minding Your Business." Christine is here with us. Good morning, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Twitter, Twitter, Twitter. Listen, a new survey shows that Twitter people might not be so social after all. That really a minority of people are using Twitter for social networking reasons.

Seventy-three percent of people tweeted 10 times or less. Think of that. And 21 percent are true users. That means they have 10 followers. They follow at least 10 people and have tweeted 10 times.

This survey from Barracuda Networks finds that there was this heyday, the red carpet era of Twitter from about November 2008 to April 2009 when most people, almost half of Twitter accounts were created, and they started following people like Ashton Kutcher, Oprah Winfrey, John Mayer, Kim Kardashian, a lot of other names. Those people -- all those people there have been on Twitter for more than a year. And they're saying that this survey kind of finds that people are using Twitter more to follow news from celebrities or things that they like and also news feeds, to post news other than --

CHETRY: Right.

ROMANS: Rather than true social networking. So I asked some people on Twitter, because we're all on Twitter, you know, this report suggests that this is evolving less as social networking, more as -- more as a news feed.

The sas (ph) says, "I totally agree. News comes fast via Twitter because the news agencies have to verify the info before they report it." Interesting. Of course, we always verify everything before we put it on Twitter. EDHEADfan also says, "I agree. As a NASCAR follower, Twitter was a very fast way of knowing what was happening in media circles before print & TV."

So you can see that people --

CHETRY: It's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just different, right?

ROMANS: Totally.

CHETRY: I mean the reason that I think that happens with Facebook, you go back and forth. Your whole conversation is posted.

Twitter still hasn't. I mean, you have to actually cut and paste a re-tweet --

ROMANS: Right.

CHETRY: -- of what somebody said to you. So you're only getting one-sided conversations for the most part.

ROMANS: And that's why it's working so well as a news feed, which makes it -- but it also many people are saying maybe perhaps that means its growth might be limited.

It's interesting I just had a shoot with Paula Deen at the Food Network. She's, you know, the queen of butter. And I asked her I'm going to tweet this. And she said, yes, what's my tweeter number? You know, it was like funny. I mean, she's very well followed as well that it's funny we all call it tweeter, tweeter number. We don't quite get the lingo right after a certain age.

ACOSTA: And speaking of which, could you tweet your roman numeral this morning?

ROMANS: 34,722 tweets per --

CHETRY: Hour, minute?

ROMANS: Minute. 34,000 --

ACOSTA: Very good.

ROMANS: Think of that. You can follow just about -- think of how much news is flying and opinion flying and unverified news flying. We always verify our news on Twitter, just so you know. So it's interesting.

ACOSTA: Wow.

CHETRY: It's also interesting people take to their account to sort of get their get their message out without having to cross the media.

ROMANS: That's right. CHETRY: That's interesting as well. A lot of people quote Twitter in articles.

ROMANS: And you guys have a lot of followers on "amFIX" too. I mean I noticed that this morning. A lot of followers on "amFIX." People wanting to see pieces of this show via Twitter too. So it's kind of a different news filter. It's interesting. It will be interesting to see how it evolves too.

CHETRY: Christine, thanks so much.

ACOSTA: Thanks, Christine.

CHETRY: We're going to take a quick break at 23 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Twenty-six minutes past the hour right now. Your top stories just four minutes away. First though, an "A.M. Original." It's something you'll see only on AMERICAN MORNING.

Is the air you breathe onboard a plane hazardous to your health? Our ongoing investigation is focused on the safety of the air circulating inside passenger jets.

ACOSTA: Our Allan Chernoff joins us now with more on the danger from toxins at 30,000 feet. Good morning, Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you. Unfortunately, this is not all that common but the fact is a growing number of crew and passengers are falling victim to toxic air exposure on board their flights. One US Airways plane in particular had repeated problems in recent weeks. That has caused pilots and flight attendants to suffer serious health problems.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF (voice-over): January 16th, ambulances meet US Airways Flight 1041 arriving in Charlotte from St. Thomas. Eight passengers receive medical treatment. Seven crew members are rushed to the hospital after complaining of headaches and breathing problems. Neither the pilots nor flight attendants would speak with CNN for fear of losing their jobs. But Judith Murawski, industrial hygienist for the Association of Flight Attendants, has been talking with her union members.

JUDITH MURAWSKI, INDUSTRIAL HYGIENIST, ASSOC. OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS: Headaches, confusion, some disorientation, dizziness, nausea, these are -- these are of the symptoms that they described.

CHERNOFF: US Airways tells CNN there was a leak on a seal of the right engine of the Boeing 767 that allowed toxic engine oil mist to enter the cabin.

CAPT. PAUL MORELL, V.P. OF SAFETY, US AIRWAYS: And there was a little bit of oil that seeped into that system and that's what caused vaporizes and that's what caused the symptoms of the passengers.

CHERNOFF (on camera): How could engine oil mist enter the air onboard a plane? Well, half of the air we're breathing in the cabin comes through the jet engines. It's called bleed air because it bleeds off the engines and travels through the wings and into the cabin where it mixes with re-circulated air.

(voice-over): Engine oil contains a toxin Tricresyl Phosphate that can cause neurological damage.

Terry Williams who is a flight attendant for another airline says that's what happened to her after being exposed to a fume event nearly three years ago. She says she suffers severe headaches and tremors in her arm.

VOICE OF TERRY WILLIAS, FORMER FLIGHT ATTENDANT: It just feels uncontrollable. I can't stop it from twitching or trembling.

CHERNOFF: Indeed, all seven crew members of Flight 1041 have been unable to return to work because of their symptoms.

MURAWSKI: They continue to experience neurological symptoms that impair their daily living and have precluded them from returning to flying.

CHERNOFF: Two weeks prior, the same plane, tail number 251 suffered two separate fume events. December 28th, Charlotte to San Juan, US Airways service difficulty report with the Federal Aviation Administration, says a very strong odor smelling like wet socks and/or dirty feet circulated through the passenger cabin and flight deck. Crew members reported trouble breathing, itchy eyes and stomach cramps.

Two days later, the same plane on the same route, a foul odor entered the cabin. Passengers and flight attendants were feeling faint and nauseous. US Airways says hydraulic fluid was released into the bleed air system on both flights. That fluid, Skydrol, is a known irritant to the respiratory tract.

MORELL: US Airways takes this very seriously and we do everything to our utmost to maintain the safety of the air quality for both our passengers and our crew.

CHERNOFF: The airline says the plane was taken out of service after the January 16th incident for maintenance work. When it returned to service on January 21st, US Airways reported to the FAA a scorched odor like a gym or locker room filled the aircraft. Maintenance found no problems and the plane remains in service.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHERNOFF: This is a problem that all airlines share. Northwest Airlines also suffered a series of three fume events over the past several weeks on the same aircraft flying between Frankfurt and Detroit. Northwest says "we are investigating each case of employee illness but at this time we cannot pinpoint a specific cause." Boeing concedes there is a chance of fume events but the company says the air on board its aircraft is "safe and healthy." Jim, Kiran.

ACOSTA: And Allan, how frequently does this happen? I mean, should folks are worried when they get on a plane.

CHERNOFF: Well, as we said, it's not common but there has been a study done for the British House of Lords indicating that there are fume events in one of every 2,000 flights. Now there are 40,000 flights in the United States every single day. So that's something to consider. That doesn't mean though that one in 2,000 has oil mist coming onto the cabin.

CHETRY: It's scary though, because as a passenger you're basically stuck. I mean, you're on a cross country flight and you can't do anything. But what about the airlines themselves? Is there anything that can be done about this?

CHERNOFF: Well, certainly what they can do is they can have monitors on board the aircraft. They can have monitors that tell the pilot when carbon monoxide levels are rising. And so that he knows when to bring that plane down. So they can do a better job at least of monitoring the air on board the planes.

CHETRY: Yes. Allan. Thanks so much for this. And also tomorrow, Allan's going to have the second part of investigation into so-called fume events. He tested air samples on board a transcontinental flight. What he found may surprise you.

ACOSTA: Great story. It is 31 minutes past the hour. And that means it's time to check this morning's top stories. New details about an American woman who calls herself "Jihad Jane" and is accused of plotting terrorism. Her former boyfriend tells CNN he had no clue Colleen Larose was using the internet to try and recruit terrorists for attacks overseas. He says the woman he knew was "no rocket scientist but had a caring heart."

And it turns out the Christmas day bomber may not have been able to bring down the Detroit bound jet after all. A test explosion by a BBC documentary team found the blast would not have created a hole in the aircraft and the explosive device probably would have killed just the bomber and the person next to him. But most passengers would have suffered just ruptured ear drums.

And House Republicans and Democrats are trying to one up each other when it comes to earmarks. Democrats yesterday ban budget earmarks to private corporations but not for non-profit organizations like colleges and research groups. Republicans are proposing a ban of earmarks across the board. But so far the Senate is cool to the idea. Kiran.

CHETRY: Jim, thanks. Well, a picture is now coming together this morning of Colleen Larose, the woman who was known, called herself "Jihad Jane" online, according to authorities.

Her ex-boyfriend talked to CNN and said he was stunned by the case. Reports also say that she is cooperating with authorities. So what can police and the feds learn to help find other possible "Jihad Janes" out there? Bringing in now Mike Baker, a former covert operations officer with the CIA and now the president of the business intelligence firm, Diligence. Thanks for being with us this morning, Mike.

MIKE BAKER, FMR. CIA OPERATIONS OFFICER: Sure. Thank you.

CHETRY: First of all, we're learning more about this, that she was held actually since October in Philadelphia, first on an identity theft charge but that she's cooperating with authorities in the arrest of these seven other Muslims in Ireland, all of it in this alleged plot to kill this cartoonist who depicted, I believe, the prophet Mohammad on the body of a dog.

What do you make of the fact that she is cooperating?

BAKER: Well, I mean, this has been going on for a while. And as you pointed out she's been arrested in mid-October, I think 15th of October. They unsealed the indictment a couple of days ago. So that's why this is breaking now and becoming public. But her journey, I guess, developed over the course of about a year.

And she became increasingly radicalized through her contact over the internet with a variety of people in south Asia and Europe and elsewhere, in the Middle East. And it's quite a group. The other seven that have been indicted include Libyans, Algerians, Croatian. So it's a very international group and I think that points to part of this problem overall.

I mean, aside from Colleen Larose, you know, we are facing this continuing and increasingly sophisticated effort by Al Qaeda and by extremists to use the internet, to try to lure disenfranchised or impressionable people into the fold.

CHETRY: Right. But the interesting thing is it's also through the internet that CIA officers as well as others are able to catch these people. I mean, so it really is in some ways a double edge sword.

BAKER: It is. There's a good and a bad to this. Obviously for Al Qaeda's purpose it's makes the world smaller. It allows them -- because one of the great uses of the internet is social networking. Well, that's for well intentioned and less well intentioned people. So they use it to try to lure people in. Others who are disenfranchised use it to try to find like-minded people and get moral and financial support, whatever it may be.

From our perspective, from trying to track down terrorists, it is a tool. It can be difficult. It can be extremely labor intensive to try to troll through, you know, the internet and find what seem to be likely suspects. Because again, you've got to separate all of the noise and find those individuals, like Colleen Larose to eventually, who will be led down the path and try to attempt terrorism.

CHETRY: Let's get your take on what was out there a lot yesterday when this first broke, which is this means there's no profile. She didn't fit the profile. She's blond hair, blue eyed. But at the same time, did she fit the profile and if that she was on the internet, that she was posting under "Jihad Jane," according to authorities. And that she was actually in the mix with people, with other people with these terror links?

BAKER: Yes. If you're using the moniker "Jihad Jane," and you're spending a great deal of your time talking to radical jihadists, that should be a clue for those out there charged with protecting our national security. And indeed, it was. She started to create this trail. There is a great deal of effort and resource expended by a variety of agencies in the U.S. and our allies to try to identify and track down these individuals.

So she was leaving this trail as she went along. That's good for us because as she's doing that, she's making contact with others, that leads to other inquires, which is ever widening circle for law enforcement and for intelligence organizations to follow. She didn't fit the profile but in a sense, she's exactly what Al Qaeda looks for.

And people may look at this and may look at Colleen Larose. They may look at Abdulmutallab, the Christmas day bomber whose underpants didn't explode and they may think, well, you know, they don't seem to be the sharpest tool in the box. Al Qaeda is not looking for Lex Luthor, they're looking for people who are impressionable, who they can manipulate and importantly who can cross borders, who can travel off the radar screen of law enforcement.

CHETRY: And this another question about that (INAUDIBLE) you mentioned Abdulmutallab, we heard about that quite quickly after it happened obviously. And he was read apparently what, he was read his Miranda rights and he stopped cooperating. In this case she's held for six months or more ion detention. How do the feds determine how each of these cases are handled?

BAKER: Well, in part it depends on nationality of individual, it depends on the location where they are picked up, the jurisdiction where they are picked up. The degree with which they hold operational intelligence of real criticality. So they look at Abdulmutallab, and there was an immediate awareness, but this individual had information related to safe houses, to communications perhaps, to locations of people of real importance. They'll look at some --

CHETRY: Why wasn't he held? I mean, in this situation and -- I mean?

BAKER: Well, yes. A lot of people are asking that question. And you know, it's not a perfect system. And there is this pressure to try to bring people into the U.S. criminal system. And there's good reasons for that. There's also some drawbacks to that. The reality is once you lawyer somebody up, the likelihood that you're going to get operationally useful intelligence in a quick period of time is diminished.

With Colleen Larose, they're looking at this individual and thinking OK, exactly how much intelligence did she have?

CHETRY: Right. BAKER: There was an effort to try to find that out but each case is different and there's a variety of factors that go into how we're dealing with these individuals.

CHETRY: All right. Well, we do know, according to the reporting that she is cooperating with authorities. So we'll find out what else probably quite soon. Mike Baker, great to talk to you as always.

BAKER: Sure. Thanks very much.

CHETRY: It's 38 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

ACOSTA: Welcome back to Most News in the Morning.

The death of actor Corey Haim shocked his closest friends. The 80's teen movie star died early yesterday. And last night Corey Feldman, Haim's close friend and reality co-star spoke publicly about it for the first time on "Larry King Live." He said that Haim seemed to be winning his battle against drug abuse in the weeks before his sudden death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COREY FELDMAN, ACTOR: The first thing I need to say is people need to stop. They need to stop jumping the gun. They need to stop saying it's a drug overdose. They need to stop saying, you know, their theories of what they think it is or isn't.

Because at the end of the day, until the coroner's report comes out, until we have specific evidence, until we know exactly what the toxicology reports say, nobody knows. And nobody is going to know. We all are aware of the fact that Corey Haim has had a long and detailed drug history and battled addiction for many, many years. I know it better than anybody because I've been the guy stuffing charcoal down his throat when he was OD-ing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Wow. Sadly our society has almost come to expect things like this from former child stars falling off the deep end after being so famous for so long. Kareen Wynter is taking a look at Corey Haim's 20-year struggle and why he's far from alone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Corey Haim slashed with vampires in the 1987 cult classic "The Lost Boys," a film that helped launch his career.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

COREY HAIM, ACTOR: I'm a lonely boy. WYNTER: That lonely road to the top came at a price for the child star whose real-life demon was something many young Hollywood actors battle, drug addiction. Police say he had been experiencing flu-like symptoms before he died but officials are investigating whether his death involved an accidental overdose.

PAUL PETERSON, FORMER CHILD ACTOR: It's unexpected.

WYNTER: Paul Peterson, a child star from 60s sitcom "The Donna Reed Show" says sudden stardom sends many young celebrities into a world of addiction. Peterson who started his own foundation in 1991 to help struggling child stars says he worked with Haim.

(on camera): When something tragic like this happens, what's first thing that goes through your mind?

PETERSON: My own life. You know, I have flashbacks of my problems with alcohol and the easy way that drugs are available.

WYNTER (voice-over): Kristen Stewart, who plays 70s rocker Joan Jett in the upcoming film "The Runaways," says times haven't changed.

KRISTEN STEWART, ACTRESS: We're definitely in a position where it's easier and it's around.

WYNTER: Jett has her own take.

JOAN JETT, SINGER: You need love and support and somebody strong enough to tell you, you know, you're in trouble.

WYNTER: After a series of films, Haim's career was in trouble. The actor found himself out of work and filing for bankruptcy. He resurfaced in 2007 with the A&E reality show, "The Two Coreys," where he starred with friend and fellow 80s icon, Corey Feldman.

That same year, Haim appeared on Larry King and spoke about his drug abuse, calling himself a chronic relapser.

HAIM: I think I have an addiction to pretty much everything. I mean, I have to be very careful with myself as far as that goes.

WYNTER: Haim's story may feel like a re-run. That's because it is. Addiction specialists Ken Sealy explains why this happens so much in Hollywood.

KEN SEELEY, ADDICTION SPECIALIST: They are not used to having any consequences, they're brought up with fame and fortune. The message that's being sent to you is you do no wrong.

WYNTER: This is one of the last videos of Haim outside a Hollywood night spot in February with Feldman. Who called Haim his brother, a beautiful and tormented soul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WYNTER: Haim's agent says he doesn't believe his death involved an overdose and that Haim had cleaned up his life and was about to make a career comeback.

Jim, Kiran.

ACOSTA: Thanks, Kareen.

And coming up at 8:30 Eastern, we'll to Dr. Joseph Lee, a teen addiction specialist about Corey Haim's struggle, and also why things like this keep happening in Hollywood and suburbia.

It is 45 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Shot of Atlanta this morning, where it's 48 degrees right now. A little bit later they're expecting some rain, 62 degrees for a high.

ACOSTA: Sounds good.

It's 48 minutes after the hour. Let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines. Rob Marciano is in Atlanta this morning.

Good morning, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Jim. Good morning, Kiran.

Georgia Peach is definitely getting wet again today, and we had rough weather yesterday across parts of the south. Check out these pictures coming out of Arkansas. There was damage done because of three tornadoes that rolled through mostly the center part of that state, around the Little Rock area.

Centerville (ph), Arkansan and Pearson the hardest hit and unfortunately as many as three injured in this particular storm. Some rough weather there and it's all moving to the east.

Also, flooding an issue across parts of Alabama. Pelham (ph) and (INAUDIBLE), there had to be some water rescues because of high water, and the rains continue to come down today and I think that's going to be the main threat, the tornado threat right now across Mississippi and Alabama has come to an end, and the radar showing just that as that watch box begins to expire.

But the threat for severe weather will get down into Florida, I think, today. Georgia, Alabama and the Carolinas, at least for the next few hours, especially in the southern part, will be in the form of some flooding rains.

You see the rain kind of weakens a little bit as it wraps around this low, which is weakening up here but strengthening down to the south, and that's where we expect to see the severe weather outbreak later today, especially across the Florida panhandle, and then later on this afternoon into the Peninsula of Florida. So Miami, Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale, if you're heading into those areas, maybe some delays. Chicago a little bit, Atlanta for sure and Charlotte and Memphis also. Heading into tomorrow, we'll get another batch of it, so everything's kind of slowly progressing off towards the east. You'll finally get into some rain tomorrow, maybe a couple of sprinkles across the New York area.

And then over the weekend things get a little bit more nasty as the storm begins to wind its was up and looking to head towards the northeast this weekend. Heavy rain and strong winds a good possibility, so I hope you guys enjoyed what you've been enduring the past few days, because it gets nasty over the next couple.

Jim and Kiran, back up to you.

CHETRY: That's why we broke out the kerosene yesterday.

ACOSTA: Yes.

MARCIANO: Oh, always a (INAUDIBLE).

ACOSTA: Oh, are we going back to that again? Come on.

CHETRY: Propane --

ACOSTA: It's propane. I know that now.

CHETRY: OK. Good. I was thinking --

ACOSTA: That's from watching too much (INAUDIBLE).

CHETRY: Your hot dogs get a strange aftertaste.

ACOSTA: Yes.

CHETRY: Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: See you guys.

ACOSTA: Thanks, Rob.

It is 50 minutes after the hour. This morning's top stories just minutes away, including the man who dated Jihad Jane for five years before she took off in the middle of the night. Did he have any clue that she was allegedly a want-to-be terrorists?

CHETRY: Also at 12 minutes after the hour, Carlos, the 7-year- old hero. We're going to meet the boy who saved the day by calling 911 as his parents were held at gun point.

ACOSTA: And at half past the hour, young and hooked. Corey Haim's struggle with addiction started when he was just a child. How legal drugs turn lethal in the wrong hands and why it's not only happening in Hollywood.

Those stories and more at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Fifty- four minutes past the hour right now.

Leaders in the House say that they're ready to cut the pork, announcing a ban on any earmark for companies that turn a profit. The Democrats are already battling ethics problems of their own.

ACOSTA: They're also facing a lot of voters who are sick of government spending just four (ph) months before the mid-term elections, but will this pork prevention plan really even work?

Our Brianna Keilar is breaking it down from Capitol Hill this morning.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kiran and Jim, even with this moratorium in place, some of the most egregious earmarks could still sail through Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR (voice-over): House Democrats are purging the pork, with a ban on earmarks to go to for-profit businesses.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Starting with the first day that I was Speaker of the House, we began with our earmark (ph) reforms.

KEILAR: The ban would be for next year's government spending, and it's not complete. Earmarks could still go to nonprofits, local governments and universities.

One watchdog group commended the move.

RYAN ALEXANDER, TAXPAYERS FOR COMMON SENSE: The greatest opportunities for corruption in the earmarking process exists where earmarks are being sent to private companies, because those private companies can make campaign contributions, can spend a lot of money lobbying.

KEILAR: The House Appropriations Committee says the new restrictions would have taken $1.7 billion off this year's spending bills, but that's just a fraction of the earmark total, $16 billion according to one count.

Not to be outdone by Democrats, Republican Leader John Boehner announced his party will mull over a prohibition of all earmarks.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), MINORITY LEADER: Well, I think it's appropriate for our members to have a conversation about an earmark moratorium, and I'm talking about a real moratorium. There's no way to be, you know, half pregnant on this issue.

KEILAR: But both bans wouldn't even touch some of the most infamous earmarks. Remember that bridge to nowhere that was never built? That would still be OK because it wasn't tacked on to a government spending bill. It was attached to a highway measure, and the money went to the State of Alaska, not a business.

And then there's the C-17 cargo jets the Pentagon didn't even want, but last year Congress set aside $2.5 billion for them anyway. That funding request would still go through, simply because the Appropriations Committee doesn't consider it to be an earmark.

The ban isn't a cure-all, say watchdogs, but it's a step in the right direction.

ALEXANDER: So not every earmark that's problematic will be covered by this, but a lot of really dangerous earmarks where there's real opportunities for corruption will be covered by this and it will make a difference.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: This is going to be a tough sell for Democrats and Republicans who cling dearly to their earmarks, and this is just the House. The Democrat in charge of spending in the Senate has panned this idea -- Kiran and Jim.

ACOSTA: Thanks, Brianna. And that is a story that gets a lot of people hopping mad, those earmarks, and I -- I suppose the House is beginning to deal with this issue but only because the public has been crying for this for some time.

CHETRY: Right. But -- but the ironic part, though, is that, you know, if you're -- anytime we point out an earmark --

ACOSTA: Right.

CHETRY: -- or we take a specific earmark, people will vigorously defend that. We need that in our community, because --

ACOSTA: Absolutely. Yes.

CHETRY: -- blah, blah, blah. So one person's earmark is another person's necessity, and that's just sort of the cycle.

ACOSTA: It is how Washington works. It may not -- it may not be what everybody likes to see what their government is doing, but, at the same time, it is how politics sometimes gets done in Washington, but it may not much longer if this goes through.

CHETRY: All right. Well, we'll keep you posted on that.

Meanwhile, we'll take a quick break. When we come back, your top stories two minutes away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)