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American Morning
Al Qaeda Falling Apart?; Cracking the Health Care Whip; Fargo Flood Fear; What States Have the Safest Teen Drivers?; Southern Shipbuilding Companies Looking to Foreign Markets; Blockbuster Going Down; What's the Score?
Aired March 18, 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. Thanks for being with us on AMERICAN MORNING. It's Thursday, March 18th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for being with us.
CHETRY: Here are the big stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes.
Al Qaeda in turmoil. CIA chief Leon Panetta says that Osama bin Laden and his deputies have gone further into hiding and that al Qaeda is (INAUDIBLE), pleading with leadership from Obama -- I mean from bin laden. We're live from the Pentagon with the latest.
ROBERTS: In the upper Midwest the Red River rising nearly three feet in just the past 24 hours. Volunteers are filling a million sandbags to help keep the river in its place. We'll talk with the mayor of Fargo, North Dakota. Mayor Dennis Walaker just ahead.
CHETRY: Also long-time hold-up on health care reform. Back in the fold now after a lot of arm-twisting, a ride on Air Force One, liberal Democrat Dennis Kucinich is on board with his party. Will others follow his lead? We're live on Capitol Hill this morning just head.
But we begin with new developments in the war against al Qaeda. A progress report coming from CIA Director Leon Panetta and the keyword is "progress." Panetta says that al Qaeda is now weak and desperate and begging for help from Osama bin Laden who's been driven deeper into hiding by relentless attacks inside of Pakistan.
Barbara Starr is live for us at the Pentagon this morning.
So, a key development that's coming to light about this situation this morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: A lot of breaking news about al Qaeda today, Kiran. In fact, CIA Director Leon Panetta, in an interview with the "Washington Post" revealed that a message had been intercepted from an al Qaeda lieutenant to bin Laden begging the al Qaeda leader to show more leadership. Of course, Osama bin Laden deeply hidden away for years now and a lieutenant saying that the organization needed basically in so many words to see him, to see that he was still there, still exercising leadership.
We don't know a lot of details other than that from what the CIA director said. We don't know the lieutenant, who this person is, whether he had direct communication with bin Laden, whether bin Laden even ever knew of this message. But it is an indicator of what Director Panetta is talking about, that at least the core leadership of al Qaeda so hidden away that at least parts of the organization are very dispirited.
Nonetheless, it should be said, there's plenty of al Qaeda muscle power still out there, a lot of concerns. Even Panetta says that al Qaeda could strike again -- Kiran.
CHETRY: There's also a new development of a devastating suicide attack in Afghanistan where seven people working for the CIA were killed. What do we know about anybody behind that?
STARR: You know, a U.S. counterterrorism official confirming to reporters that they now believe that in a drone strike last week, they killed a man named Hussein al-Yemeni in Pakistan, a man they believe was one of the key facilitators possibly for the weapons explosives in that suicide attack back in December in Afghanistan that killed seven people working for the CIA and a Jordanian army officer.
This is very important to the CIA if they got their man. It's going to go a long ways in that agency to making them feel better about what happened. That was a devastating day for the U.S. intelligence community. Seven people lost to a suicide bomber.
Now, they think they got one of the key operatives behind it all, Kiran.
CHETRY: It's great development. Barbara Starr for us this morning -- thanks.
STARR: Sure.
ROBERTS: The sounds of numbers crunching can be heard on both sides of Capitol Hill. Two hundred and sixteen votes are needed to pass or kill the Democrats' health care bill. Only 205 confirmed "no" votes right now. That leaves opponents 11 votes short to stop health care reform.
And they cannot count on Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich anymore. The liberal holdout from Ohio announcing that he will now support the bill in an exclusive interview on CNN's "LARRY KING LIVE."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DENNIS KUCINICH (D), OHIO: It wasn't my way, but I'm not a "my way or the highway" kind of guy, Larry. I thought that when all was said and done, I'd made my point. I couldn't get my way. That it was more important to see people get a chance to have some coverage, even if it's from private insurance companies than kill the bill. I didn't want to be responsible for killing the bill even though I didn't get what I wanted out of the process. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Kucinich had a change of heart after accepting an offer to fly to Ohio earlier this week with the president aboard Air Force One. In the political parlance, he got whipped on that flight.
Our congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar live in Washington for us this morning.
And with this vote looming on health care potentially this weekend, there's an awful lot of whipping going on in Washington right now.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's such a violent visual term, isn't it? We call it whipping. We call it arm-twisting. This process of wrangling the votes, of rounding up the votes here on Capitol Hill.
And this is such a significant process that both Democrats and Republicans have a leadership position, a top position called the whip. They're supported by a whip team, other members of Congress and a lot of aides whose job is to secure a yes or no vote on a bill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
KEILAR (voice-over): In the words of the '80s group Divo, that's just what Democratic leaders are doing.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: I never stop whipping. There's no beginning, there's no middle, and there's no end.
KEILAR: With many rank-and-file Democrats on the fence about whether to support the health care reform package, Democrat leaders will be counting the yeas and nays, whipping their members until the bill hits the floor for a vote.
JAMIE HARRISON, FORMER HOUSE FLOOR DIRECTOR: There have been some difficult whip counts, one that I was part of in the last Congress. But I think, in terms of this Congress, it's the most difficult.
KEILAR: Jaime Harrison is a former whip director for the Democrats, responsible for identifying which members need convincing.
HARRISON: That's when you are basically finding out who's their best buddy in the Congress. And you're sending that person to go talk to them to tell them how important it is to the Democratic Caucus.
KEILAR: And if that doesn't work --
HARRISON: You know, you go up this chain of command. And so, it'll start off with a regional whip and move up to one of the chief deputy whips. And then you get to the big enchiladas, you go to the speaker, the leader and the majority whip to really bring -- KEILAR (on camera): And the next thing you know -- the next thing you know is Speaker Pelosi is calling you into her office.
HARRISON: Calling to chat with you, to see how important you can be supportive to this legislation.
KEILAR: That's mighty uncomfortable, isn't it?
HARRISON: Yes, she's very persistent. And I wouldn't want to be the one called into her office.
KEILAR (voice-over): Because years before, she wielded the gavel as speaker, Nancy Pelosi held the position of Democratic whip.
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Don't you just love '80s music? But, you know, it really does explain the point here. And there's really an unofficial whip that is going on as we speak. These Democratic leaders touching base with their members -- be it on the House floor, or even in the case of President Obama and Dennis Kucinich on Air Force One.
But, John, the official whip you really can't do until the bill comes out. That hasn't happened yet. It could come out as early as this morning as well as that all-important price tag, those numbers from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
ROBERTS: It's going to be a busy couple of days there on Capitol Hill with the strains of Divo sounding in the background.
Brianna, thanks so much.
CHETRY: Six minute past the hour.
Also new this morning, Toyota is admitting a possible electrical problem but nothing to do with sudden acceleration or runaway cars. The company telling federal regulators it's considering a fix to more than 1 million Corolla and Matrix models that may stall out because of an electrical short. Toyota says it believes the problem does not put drivers in any danger.
ROBERTS: More than 1 million Graco high chairs are being recalled for fear that they might tip over and cause children to fall out. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says the screws holding the front legs can loosen and fall out. There have been 24 reports of injuries because of the defect.
CHETRY: Well, do not click on e-mails that say your Facebook password has been reset. There's a security firm now saying it is a virus and it could actually steal your other passwords like the ones that link to your bank account. Hackers have flooded tens of millions of Facebook users with the spam since Tuesday. The messages are going to people's real e-mail addresses, not through the internal Facebook system. ROBERTS: Well, 7 1/2 minutes after the hour. Let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines.
Rob Marciano is in Atlanta for us.
Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John. Good morning, Kiran.
We're looking at warming temperatures not only across the Northeast but across the Upper Midwest with maybe some records broken as well. We had a number of records broken yesterday. And everything is just filtering into the western Great Lakes.
New York might even touch 70 degrees today. Now, that's not all great news for the folks who are dealing with snow melt. And, obviously, the warmer it is, the faster that snow melts.
And the Red River is now forecast to crest at 38 feet. That, of course, could change. But right now, we're gunning for Sunday afternoon. So, that town is scurrying to fill those sandbags and protect the levee system there. Right now, over 1 million sandbags filled and they're pretty confident they can hold back those rising water levels.
But with 62 degrees up in Minneapolis, that's going to melt some snow in a hurry. Sixty-six is expected in Memphis. And it might even hit 70 in New York City.
I'll talk more about the flooding situation and forecast for tomorrow, which includes another snowstorm, believe it or not. We are not done with winter just yet.
John and Kiran, back up to you.
ROBERTS: Where's the snowstorm?
CHETRY: Colorado?
(CROSSTALK)
MARCIANO: Well, in Denver, where it'll be 66 degrees today. So, So I love this time of year. We get wild swings either way, especially out west.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Rob.
Eight and a half minutes after the hour.
The mayor of Fargo, North Dakota, joins us coming up next. Their battle to save the town from the Red River.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: Raging rivers are growing more dangerous by the hour in the Upper Midwest. And in the Northeast, lingering problems from this weekend's storm. In New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, frustrations are mounting as the waters recede. More than 40,000 people remain without power. Governors in the Northeast are also asking for federal assistance to help defray the clean-up costs.
CHETRY: In Fargo, North Dakota, the danger is rising along the Red River, now more than 30 feet above flood stage. Volunteers yesterday filled their 1 millionth sandbag without a minute to spare. The Red River is expected to crest this weekend at 38 feet.
And the scene in Fargo is really deja vu all over again. It was the same thing last year when the river hit a record flood level of over 40 feet, cresting twice.
ROBERTS: And joining us now to talk about the situation on the ground there is Fargo's mayor, Dennis Walaker. He joins us live this morning from just across the Red River in Moorhead, Minnesota.
Mr. Mayor, good to talk to you this morning. I know you're awfully busy. You've got a tremendous amount on your hands.
How you doing in terms of your preparations here to meet the rising water from the Red River?
MAYOR DENNIS WALAKER, FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA: Well, if the forecasts stay where they're projected to be, we're in good shape. We finished the sandbagging yesterday. All the sandbags are in place. Our earthen dikes should be finished sometime today. So, then we get into what we call maintenance mode.
And until the river gets back down to, oh, say, 30 feet, it's still -- we still have some problems. But they're not insurmountable.
CHETRY: Mayor Walaker, thanks for being with us, by the way.
NOAA is saying that this is a case of deja vu, but this time the flooding will likely be more widespread because of that big snow pack that you guys had. You got a colder than usual and more precipitation this winter. What are you doing to prepare any differently than perhaps you guys did last year?
WALAKER: Well, last year was such a difficult event because of the time we had a chance to get ready. This time, we've had more chances for planning. They did move the crest up into March, when we thought it was going to be in April. So, that's been the game plan, to try and get ready for that.
Right now, I took a trip down to South Dakota yesterday where the Red River starts, and was pleased to see not as much water as we saw in 2009. But to have back to back floods, this is the first time we've had two major floods in successive years. And normally, we get a break. People remember 2009 very vividly.
ROBERTS: It wasn't that long ago. And I can just imagine the sense of anxiety and exhaustion to the people there in Fargo, too. You did it last year. Now, here, 12 months, doing the whole thing again.
Mr. Mayor, you're employing some new technology, at least the National Guard is, this year in terms of trying to keep the water back. Something called an aqua fence? What is that and how well do you think it's going to work?
WALAKER: Aqua fence.
ROBERTS: Yes.
WALAKER: Well, last year we tried some different devices. This year, we had a kind of symposium at our civic auditorium, bringing all the vendors into one place and looking at their process and so forth.
And we're going to try this aqua fence. And it's similar to what we saw down in St. Louis where they had a wall, you know, at 90 degrees with a backup. And I saw some of that down in St. Louis years ago on the Mississippi and the Missouri. And it seemed to work quite well.
So, new technology, we need to try it. And that's what they put in place yesterday, about 400 or 500 feet of it. We'll observe it, we'll test it, we'll have somebody test it. Maybe if we can use it in the future.
CHETRY: We're showing some animations of it right now. It looks pretty amazing if it does work. One of the other things is worst-case scenario I understand you guys are prepping for the possibility it is going to crest and very high, maybe at 40 feet or more, and that there are going to be rescues needed.
As I understand it, you have some national guard troops, 350 of them, on standby with some emergency equipment and FEMA also saying they were going to be preparing for possibly emergency rescues with airboats and helicopters. How likely do you think it might get to that point?
WALAKER: Well, there's a possibility in the county. The city of Fargo is not going to have that emergency. But last year there was a tremendous amount of rescues. People thought they were going to be OK, and the national -- the federal government along with airboats came in here and rescued an awful lot of people. It was amazing. But that's in the rural parts of our area. That's not in the city of Fargo. But some people were rescued by helicopters the majority of them are rescued by the airboat airboats.
ROBERTS: Well, Mr. Mayor, we thank you for taking time out of your busy day to talk with us. We certainly wish you a lot of luck in the next couple days in your efforts to keep the water at bay there. Thanks very much.
WALAKER: Well, we appreciate your attention to our problems here. Maybe it'll help us get something -- long-term protection for our community. ROBERTS: All right. Good luck, Mr. Mayor.
CHETRY: You guys need it, certainly, thanks so much and good luck.
Well still ahead, we are going to be talking about the results from a big study on teen driving. Where are teens driving the safest? What states are they doing better?
And also, just some interesting information that you may not know. How is technology playing a role? Is it a distraction or in some cases does it make teen drivers safer?
Seventeen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Nineteen minutes past the hour. It's time for "Minding Your Business."
The view of the famous world Hollywood sign is just a few million dollars away from being preserved. A group known as the trust for public land is trying to raise $12 million to buy the property around the sign to keep it from being developed. New donations from Hollywood studios and heavyweights like Tom hanks and Stephen Spielberg have the group 75 percent of the way there.
ROBERTS: And Blockbuster may be ready to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy. The video store chain took a 30 percent hit on Wall Street yesterday, its stock price plunging to 22 cents a share. Competition from Netflix and DVD kiosk have forced Blockbuster to close 1,300 stores, and the company is projecting a further decline in sales moving forward. Blockbuster stock down yesterday. The stock market still did pretty well.
Our Stephanie Elam is "Minding Your Business" this morning. And it's in the realm that it hasn't been in for quite a while.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. The Blockbuster story is one of those ones where it just is a slow decline to the end.
ROBERTS: Yes, slow one.
ELAM: It's a sad one there. Trading less than 30 cents at this point. But the rest of the market maybe was feeling, I don't know, the luck of the Irish? St. Patrick's Day? Because the green was just all over the place yesterday. I was down at the stock exchange and we were looking at it and it looked good.
Look at that. Yesterday we closed at 10,733. That's up 48 points yesterday. That's the highest close since October 1st of 2008. The low of this bear market cycle happened on March 9th of last year. On that day we closed at 6547.
So a lot has changed since then. We're up 64 percent since then. For this last little run that we've been on, the DOW has been up seven sessions in a row. That's the longest streak we've seen since the end of August last year. So obviously things looking better right now.
NASDAQ also at 18-month highs. S&P500 close to that as well. And there's a few things that helped out yesterday. The passing of the jobs bill that helped out. That's one thing that really did help.
Also, you had the Central Bank here in the United States say that they were keeping interest rates steady, that they expect to do that for an extended period. Those are the words they keep using.
Then Japan did the same thing overnight. So that reaffirmed that all of the world is looking at things on the same page. So that also helped out there as well.
So all of that adding to the lift and we will see how it looks today. But overall it's good to see things are moving in the right direction.
ROBERTS: So people who didn't get scared and bail out when the stock market down doing pretty well these days.
ELAM: Yes they're doing much better. And that's the thing about people. They get nervous and they pull out at the wrong time. And then you miss out on the rise back. And if you think about last year.
CHETRY: And people really doing well are the ones that actually doubled down when it was bad.
ELAM: All those people. You've got to also have a really strong spine for all of that.
CHETRY: You've got to have money.
ROBERTS: Not such a terror opening up your 401(k) statement.
CHETRY: Yes. Things are back to normal.
ELAM: Yes, exactly, and hopefully you are looking at them.
ROBERTS: Whatever normal is.
ELAM: Exactly.
ROBERTS: Coming up on the Most News In The Morning, have your brackets picked? Even the president filled out his. But we'll tell you why some of his match-ups wouldn't be possible if his own education secretary had his way.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News In The Morning. 26 minutes past the hour right now. We're talking about basketball. They show talent on the court. But some teams competing in the NCAA tournament this year have a real problem when it comes to academics. There's a new report revealing a dozen teams have graduation rates below 40 percent and for black players that falls to 20 percent or less on five top men's teams. And of those blackball players who started at Maryland and California, between 1999 to 2002, none graduated.
Kate Bolduan joins us live from Washington this morning where some say these are shocking statistics, and they're calling for a change -- higher standards.
So what's the deal, Kate?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, very interesting. And they're calling for some drastic change if it would actually happen, Kiran. The start of the NCAA Basketball Tournament means it's that time of year again when sports fans get a little crazy. But some of these teams surprisingly low graduation rates may make people even crazier, and it's grabbing the attention of the Obama administration.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN (voice-over): President Obama, like of millions sports fans across the country, made his NCAA picks, announcing his bracket on ESPN.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And here, what I think may end up being the best game of the tournament, Kentucky and West Virginia. And I think Kentucky pulls it out.
BOLDUAN: But the presidential choice for the championship game, Kentucky versus Kansas wouldn't be possible if his own secretary of education had his way.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
ARNE DUNCAN, SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: I want to reiterate my proposal to the NCAA that teams that fail to graduate 40 percent of the players should be ineligible for post-season competition. Frankly, it's a low bar and not that many teams would be ineligible. Over time, I think we should set a higher bar. But it is a minimum, a bright line, which every program should meet to vie for post-season honors.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Secretary Arne Duncan wants any school graduating less than 40 percent of its athletes banned from post-season play, citing a new study by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports. It shows 12 teams in this year's tournament graduated less than 40 percent of their players, including Kentucky at 31 percent, Maryland at 8 percent, and Louisville at 38 percent. The study examined NCAA statistics of four recent graduating classes, the last in 2009.
BRUCE PEARL, HEAD COACH, UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE: We are very disappointed and apologetic in many, many ways to be on that list. BOLDUAN: Tennessee also falls below the line, but men's head coach, Bruce Pearl, defends his program, saying the problem starts far before the students hit the college court.
PEARL: If he wants to fix it, fix it at the high school level, the middle school level, at the elementary school level. His problems in this country, in our educational system, lie elsewhere.
BOLDUAN: And sports reporters like Andy Pollin say educators may not like it, but it's the reality of college sports today.
ANDY POLLIN, SPORTS DIRECTOR, 980 ESPN RADIO: If the NCAA was actually concerned about graduation rates, they wouldn't schedule weeknight games that start at 9:00. NCAA isn't concerned about the graduation rates. They're concerned about basketball programs and they're concerned about the billions of dollars that they bring in from this three-week tournament that everybody plays in their office pools.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: Now, the NCAA says it shares the concern over low graduation rates. But also said in a statement, quote, "imposing a ban on teams for the academic performance of student athletes who entered as freshman 8 to 11 years ago is probably not the best course of action." Going on to say, "basing post-season bans on graduation rates penalizes the wrong students."
And when I asked secretary Arne Duncan about how exactly the department of education can implement and enforce his proposal, he said really they can't. This isn't going to be a federal mandate, Kiran, of any kind. His goal here is to raise awareness on the issue and get people talking about this critical issue. He says education can't come second, while sports are very important.
CHETRY: Yes I know those numbers are very shocking. Looking at my alma mater there, University of Maryland and seeing 8 percent. Coach Gary Williams, though, says it's not telling the whole story. That they're not accounting for transfer students for people that left to go play pro and are coming back. And he claims this year the four seniors are graduating.
BOLDUAN: That's one thing is this data does look at classes past. Four consecutive graduating classes, they followed the class from entering freshman year to graduating, the latest in 2009. So it doesn't reflect this particular team on the court.
But the author of the study says this data is good because it looks over a course of four consecutive classes, so it shows a pattern, not just a fluke of one year. So he stands behind the data.
But many coaches are sharing the concerns and the criticisms of Gary Williams, saying that this is not looking at the guys that he has on the court today who are working hard in this tournament.
CHETRY: Hopefully they are, because you got to have something to fall back on if basketball doesn't pan out.
BOLDUAN: For you, go Terps. I'm not rooting for them, I must say.
CHETRY: I don't blame you, I must say. We all have our alma maters. Thanks, Kate.
BOLDUAN: Of course.
ROBERTS: Crossing the half hour now, which means it's time for this morning's top stories.
CIA Director Leon Panetta saying Al Qaeda is falling apart, that it's acts inside Pakistan have crippled the leadership and not even the terror group itself can find Osama bin Laden for advice. But he also warned that Al Qaeda will look for new ways to attack inside the United States.
CHETRY: Philadelphia woman who called herself "Jihad Jane" is set for arraignment today. Colleen Larose is accused of conspiring to support terrorists. Justice officials say she and five co=conspirators recruited men on the Internet to wage jihad in Asia and Europe. She faces life in prison.
ROBERTS: And the very same products that are supposed to keep your pets safe from ticks and fleas kill hundreds of cats and small dogs each and every year. That's according to the Environmental Protection Agency which received more than 44,000 complaints about the treatments last year.
The agency says it will now develop stricter testing requirements and review labels to determine which ones may be confusing.
CHETRY: Now to teenagers behind the wheel. Teens are four times as likely to have an accident as drivers over the age of 20.
ROBERTS: In an effort to improve those statistic statistics, many states are cracking down on young drivers. So which states are the safest for those just learning to navigate the road? "U.S. News and World Report" ranked the best and the worth.
CHETRY: Joining us to break down the study is Brian Kelly, editor for "U.S. News and World Report." Thanks so much for being with us this morning.
BRIAN KELLY, EDITOR, "U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT": Thank you.
CHETRY: Let's take a look. Your study ranks the best states for teen drivers starting with the top five states. And let's throw them up real quick -- Washington, D.C., California, Colorado, Maryland, and Illinois. What made them top the list? What are they doing right?
ROBERTS: A number of factors. As we usually do with our rankings, we try to look at a variety of things. We look at the licensing laws in these states. A big issue is these graduated licensings, states that make it tougher on kids to get behind the wheel or gradually bring them in where maybe they can drive alone for a period of time.
They need to drive with an adult, they can't drive at night. There's a variety of things that are going on out there on the laws, but they do seem to have a good effect on accidents.
We also look at things like seat belt laws, texting laws, a big new factor that's come into play. People are just beginning to understand the dangers of texting, the proliferation of cell phone use. We even looked at road quality, which has a big effect, too, on accidents.
ROBERTS: Brian, let's take a look at the worst states. You found them to be South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Wyoming, and Oklahoma, all states that have a lot of open spaces.
KELLY: Yes. There clearly is a correlation between the rural states or the big wide open states. The tradition there is to let kids drive at a really young age. A lot of it goes back to the farm economy. They were supposed to be able to drive a tractor at 14. They can drive a pickup.
But the combination of a 15-year-old behind the wheel of a pickup truck and perhaps a couple beers, because alcohol is also a big factor here, you clearly see the effects.
But you've also got other rural states -- Minnesota, for instance does quite well. Colorado does quite well. So there are ways to change the picture here depending on what the state legislatures do.
CHETRY: One of things, of course, that's just added to the dangers of being inexperienced on the road is being distracted and inexperienced on the road. Now you have everything from satellite radio to texting to people calling you, your smart phones. It seems we've added more layers that can really increase the risk, especially for young drivers.
KELLY: Yes, absolutely. We're just starting to see that.
The statistics show that experienced drivers have a problem when they're getting cell phone calls or, more important, texting. I have to say, I've seen myself on a couple of occasions when you get a blackberry message and you're driving, and you really have to force yourself to pull over on the side of the road.
But then you think about a 16-year-old, a 17-year-old with an iPhone that, you know, they're attached to, and suddenly they get behind the wheel. This is a whole new factor which really has only become an issue in the last year or so.
Some studies are being done. Pretty clear what the correlation is. You see these laws that -- they're beginning to come into play. But then there's also the enforcement question. Just because the law says you can't be reading a text when you're driving, are the police actually going to pull you over for it?
So this is a new world that we're all going to start to deal with in the next few years here.
ROBERTS: So maybe, then, it comes time for some monitoring technology inside the vehicle itself. What kind of monitoring technology is available there to watch teens while they're driving, make sure that they're not texting or talking on the cell phone?
KELLY: There's a bunch of things that are in development and some things that could be put in place now. They would like to have some devices that would make cars cell phone free zones where you couldn't actually receive the signal.
The secretary of transportation, Ray LaHood has been very outspoken about this. He would like to see car manufacturers put these into place for every vehicle, not just teens.
The parental piece is important as well. Parents would like to have monitoring ability with their kids, or in some cases it's just make a rule that you can't have your cell phone on while you're in the car.
CHETRY: And more and more companies are figuring out ways to do this. You can tell how fast, you know, you can download information now to tell how fast your kids were when they were in the car, whether or not they used the phone, a lot of other things that could possibly really help in this front.
I hope by the time my four-year-old is driving there's something more amazing, like I can watch her the entire time in the car.
KELLY: Yes. And I think the technology's clearly there. They can do whatever they want to do. It's a question of the demand. Is it consumer demand? Is it parents that want this? Or does the government enforce some rules and regulations here? And, you know, we'll see where that debate goes very, very soon here.
ROBERTS: Best place in the country to drive in terms of teenage safety, D.C. Who knew? Brian, thanks for joining us this morning. Good to see you.
KELLY: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Tom Foreman continues his trek across the southland in his "Building up America" series. Today he's in Mobile, Alabama, hit hard by the economic downturn and Mother Nature, but on the road to recovery.
Stay with us. It's 37 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's 39 minutes after the hour. Today in "Building up America," a town that knows all about rebuilding. It's taken the worst of what Mother Nature has to offer a couple of times. Now it's adapting to life after the economic crash.
Tom Foreman has the story and joins us live this morning from Mobile, Alabama. Good morning, Tom.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John, how are you? I'm standing here next to the USS Alabama, which of course is a big tourist attraction here, but also is somewhat symbolic about what we're talking about today.
You're right. This part of the coast here, all along the Gulf coast, of course, has been hit by many hurricanes. Hurricane Katrina had effects down here.
Especially one particular small town down here where we went to look at an initiative that is under way here in Alabama that is making some big results precisely because it's looking far beyond Alabama's shores.
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FOREMAN (voice-over): It's about as far south as you can go in Alabama without getting your feet wet. But here in the Horizon shipbuilding yard they have discovered the secret to building up is not stopping there, but going offshore to find new markets and new customers.
They build state of the art work boats for pushing barges, servicing oil rigs, that sort of thing. And Horizon is relying much more on sales to places like Nigeria, Mexico, even Iraq. Travis Short helped start this business almost a dozen years ago.
(on camera): How important has international trade been to this company?
TRAVIS SHORT, SR., HORIZON SHIPBUILDING: It's been very important, of course, in particular, because of the downturn in the domestic market.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of small boat yards have closed down.
FOREMAN (voice-over): That's Ron Gunther, a vice president. He says the days are simply gone of counting on the domestic marketplace as much as they used to, especially for $10 million marvels like these.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the best part here. Wait until you see this, Tom.
FOREMAN (on camera): This is the pilot house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is where you drive the boat.
FOREMAN: And he's not alone. State officials say Alabama firms have increased their exports by 36 percent in a half dozen years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to do what you got to do. Whether it's here or overseas or where it is, you got to go out and find it.
FOREMAN: They've certainly been affected by the recession here. They've lost more than 100 jobs. But the point is they still have more than 200 jobs. And they're still in business, and in this industry, that is saying something.
(voice-over): It is saying the global marketplace is here to stay.
(on camera): Do you think that any business out there can really afford to not be thinking globally at this point?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think not, particularly in our type of business, in the hard manufacturing business.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Because business these days is hard, and finding success can mean searching the seven seas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: In just the past few years, Alabama has sent trade missions to more than 20 countries all around the globe, places like India, China, Russia, reaching out and signing trade deals with them. This has been an emphasis in Alabama for a long time. There's been talk about it as there is in many states.
But they really have stepped it up under the current governor, saying that this is a global economy. You've got to play on the global stage -- John.
ROBERTS: Tom Foreman for us this morning. Tom, thanks so much. Great to see you -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Still ahead, we're going to be joined by Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He's going to be answering questions when he makes his "A.M. House Call." Sanjay's mailbag, next.
It's 43 minutes past the hour.
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ROBERTS: It's now coming up on 46 minutes after the hour. Let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines. Rob Marciano is in Atlanta with a look. And in the northeast, at least, Rob, we're looking pretty good today.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, not only today but for the next several days. We have nice pattern finally setting up for the East Coast and actually the Great Lakes as well, at least for the next couple of days.
A little sore spot down across the southeast we've got a little storm here that was in Texas two days ago, Florida yesterday and now spinning its wheels off the Carolina coastline and spinning in some cooler, more moist air across parts of Georgia and interior parts of Carolina.
It's dry as far as rainfall across the upper Midwest; but it is wet as far as the rising rivers are concerned. We continue to watch the Red River here in Fargo; 38 feet is the forecast crest just a couple of feet below the record that were set last year. And judging from what the mayor was talking about they are fairly confident as long as they can maintain those levees and the sandbag walls.
Sixty six degrees for a high in Memphis, it'll be 70 in New York today and 64 degrees in Denver today. But the forecast for some snow in Denver later on tonight. As a matter of fact, that snowstorm will develop and get into the plains. Parts of Kansas and Nebraska will get hit. Missouri getting up to parts of Northern Illinois and parts of Wisconsin over the weekend.
It should be a tremendous amount accumulation here but Denver could see five to 10 inches of snow. Interior sections of the mountains will see a good foot, a foot and a half, but no snow or rain in the forecast for the Northeast right now through the weekend. You guys deserve it. Enjoy.
CHETRY: And you know good luck to them in North Dakota. We talked to the mayor, as we said, of Fargo. And they just -- they've got that new -- what do they call it? The aqua -- the aqua wall?
ROBERTS: Aqua fence.
CHETRY: Aqua fence.
MARCIANO: Yes that's a fascinating stuff. You know, when there's demand, technology definitely steps forward. But beyond Fargo guys, the main river systems including the Mississippi are going to be under the gun really for the next several weeks. So this story will be ongoing right through spring for sure.
ROBERTS: All right, well, there certainly is no lack of demand there, last year or this either. Rob, thanks so much.
MARCIANO: All right, guys.
ROBERTS: So coming up now on 48 minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back. Time for your "AM House Call" -- it's 51 minutes past the hour -- our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us from Atlanta to answer some of your questions.
And Sanjay, we have a question from Iris. She wants to know what causes hypotension. Not hypertension, but hypotension.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, and --
CHETRY: So is that low blood pressure?
GUPTA: -- exactly. And you know a lot of people obviously hear about hypertension quite a bit being high blood pressure. But your pressure can run low as well, hypotension, it's called. There are some people whose blood pressure just tends to run low at their normal baseline. But typically the -- below 90 over 60, that's a number to sort of keep in the back of your head. If it gets below that, that's typically considered hypotension. The heart is just not pumping enough blood to get blood to the brain, to other parts of the body. And people can have all sorts of symptoms as a result of that.
In fact, if you look at hypotension, often it's the number one cause of people fainting. It happens a lot when they get dehydrated. But fainting can certainly be one of the things. Blurry vision can also occur when someone's blood pressure starts to get really low. They can have clammy skin.
You can sort of guess some of the things that happen to the body when it's simply not getting enough blood flow.
What's interesting Kiran, is that simply hydrating more is often the number one way to take care of this. People are just typically dehydrated. They could also be taking not enough sodium in their diet. We always talk about people taking too much. But there are some people who don't take enough. And also look at your medications. If you're on any new medications, sometimes that can cause hypotension.
ROBERTS: Sanjay, we have another question here and it comes from Richard who writes, quote, "How dangerous is food containing aspartame. Should we be avoiding it?"
GUPTA: Yes and this is, you know, it's interesting, this is one of more controversial questions that we did. And if you look at the FDA's Website, the people who report side effects due to aspartame, it's quite high.
There's a lot of people out there who say that it's caused some sort of side effect in me and if you look at a lot of the studies regarding aspartame, a lot of them are funded by the artificial sweetener companies. So there's a lot of suspicion around aspartame, there has been for some time.
From a medical perspective what was interesting was that in the early '90s there was this paper written that said at the same time the rate of brain cancer increased in the United States was around the same time that aspartame was introduced in large numbers. Was there a correlation?
After that there was this animal study saying could it possibly be causing leukemia and lymphoma in mice. And you know, again, all of this added to the concern about aspartame. But I'll tell you, according to the FDA Website, according to independent organizations like the American Dietetics Associations. They all say, look, it seems to be safe. It's in over 6,000 products out there including soda, chewing gum, pudding.
We don't see any concerns about cancer in moderation, no more than 50 milligrams per kilogram if you're someone who follows that sort of thing. But they think it's generally safe. CHETRY: It's interesting though, and it might get more attention because they want to replace sugared sodas in schools. A lot of the diet sodas at this point contain aspartame.
GUPTA: That's right. And so -- and a lot of those studies, there's about 200 objective studies, Kiran, if you look at the population of people who were studied, they're most often adults. And this question that you're raising, could aspartame or could some of these other substances affect a child's nervous system or their brain differently --
CHETRY: Right.
GUPTA: -- than adults is a valid question.
I don't think we know actually the answer to that.
CHETRY: Sanjay Gupta --
GUPTA: Or the quantities that people drink as well. I mean, they drink a lot of that nowadays.
CHETRY: Exactly.
ROBERTS: Yes, everything is super-sized these days. So you get more than you used to.
CHETRY: Oh, yes. All right, Sanjay, great to talk to you. We want people to --
GUPTA: Thanks.
CHETRY: -- send more questions to you, CNN.com/amfix if you'd like to ask Sanjay a question.
We're going to take a quick break, 55 minutes past the hour.
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ROBERTS: We've got about three minutes to the top of the hour now which means it's time for "The Moost News in the Morning".
It's the latest buzz word in a highly partisan health care debate.
CHETRY: As Jeanne Moos tells us, the word "deem" is facing a crisis of low self-esteem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been deemed the latest four-letter word.
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), OHIO: Deem it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Deem and pass. CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Quote, "deem the bill" --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This deem and pass or whatever that phrase is they're using in Washington.
REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC), HOUSE MAJORITY WHIP: What we'll be deeming already got 60 votes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's the so called "deem and pass" rule.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This "deem and pass" whatever the heck it is they want to do.
MOOS: Whatever the heck it is it's got reporters running for the Congressional rule books.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- talking about is a procedure called "deeming". It can be found in volume 6.
MOOS: Republicans have their own mocking name for it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The scheme and deem proposal.
MOOS: They're mopping up the house floor with it, using it sarcastically.
REP. LYNN JENKINS (R), KANSAS: As a mom, I'd never allow my kids to deem their rooms clean.
MOOS: And most non-politicians --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Deem and pass?
MOOS: Clueless. Do you have an opinion on deem and pass?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do I believe in demons in essence?
MOOS: No. That would be demon pass. Though health care has been mostly at an impasse --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would pass.
MOOS: Rather than deem.
Deem and pass is a legislative procedure House Democrats may use to vote indirectly on the Senate health care bill so members who don't like the Senate version don't have to be associated with it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So is it passed if it's deemed passed? How does it all work? What happened to just yes or no and all that?
MOOS: Republicans are having a field day watching Democrats try to explain it. Note Republican Eric Cantor's smile grow as his Democratic colleague struggles --
REP. STENY HOYER (D), MAJORITY LEADER: In the process that the Republicans used 72 percent of the time that it's been used.
MOOS: Sure, the Republicans did it. And when they did, Democrats like Steny Hoyer often objected.
HOYER: We don't have the courage to put the bill on the floor but this rule roost.
MOOS: The rule roost is also known as the self-executing rule.
REP. GREG WALDEN (R), OREGON: As a Democrat colleague said to me, you know what a self-executing rule is for them. They're self- executing.
MOOS: Take it from bill.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not easy to become a law, is it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I hope and pray that I will, but today I am still just a bill.
MOOS: Maybe if it didn't sound so devilish.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A deem and pass.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's talk about the deem and pass.
MOOS: A pass -- like the demons go through, also known as Congress.
Jeanne Moos, CNN -- repeat after me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Deem and pass.
MOOS: -- New York.
CHETRY: And we found a book, "Demon's Pass".
ROBERTS: There you are. Everybody's talking about it.
That's going to wrap it up for us. Thanks so much for joining us. We'll see you back here bright and early again tomorrow morning when it will be Friday. That's always a good thing.
CHETRY: It sure will. Meanwhile, the news continues; "CNN NEWSROOM" with Fredricka Whitfield.
Good morning, Fred.
