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American Morning
Eruption Gets Stronger; Obama Bound for Big Apple; Interview with Austan Goolsbee; Green Day Heads to Broadway; Extreme Teen Texters; Some Small Businesses Growing in Downturn; Vitamins & Breast Cancer
Aired April 20, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Tuesday morning and thanks so much for being with us on this 20th day of April. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're here. We have some big stories to tell you about, coming up in the next 15 minutes.
We're talking about a lot of flights now resuming this morning across Europe, set to perhaps get things back to normal until a new ash cloud may actually be keeping people grounded for at least another day.
We're going to show you amazing new pictures of the eruption in Iceland this morning that's causing all of this and what it means for the millions of travelers that are still stranded right now.
ROBERTS: President Obama heads to New York on Thursday to begin his big push for Wall Street reform, and it looks like he's going to need at least one republican vote to stop a GOP filibuster when the measure reaches the Senate floor, possibly by the end of this week.
republicans already slamming what they call a bailout fund in the bill that could lead to future government interventions when firms fail.
CHETRY: And we dare you to try. Try to find a teen that is not texting these days. Millions right now caught up in the communication craze, but are they texting too much?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEBORAH FEYERICK: How many texts do you send and receive every day?
SARAH MATZKIN, TEEN TEXTER: Probably around 200.
SARAH MARSHALL, TEEN TEXTER: Definitely a lot, a couple hundred.
FEYERICK: All right.
MARSHALL: It's right by my bed when I go to sleep and it's right in my bed when I wake up. It's like the first thing I go to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Find out why this texting obsession has some doctors, teachers and parents concerned.
And, of course, the amFIX blog is up and running. Join the live conversation. If you have a teen who texts all the time -- do you have any tried solutions and true solutions to sort of keeping a lid on it? We want to hear from you this morning. Go to CNN.com/amFIX and we'll be reading your comments throughout the morning.
ROBERTS: But, first, some flights are resuming across Europe this morning, not nearly enough, though, to ease the backlog of millions of stranded passengers around the world, some 6.8 million of them. Just as things were clearing up, the eruption intensified again last night, sending a new plume of ash some 15,000 feet into the sky. Forecasters say it's spreading over the U.K. and deeper into Europe.
Many airlines are flying again -- although, with lots of caution. The U.K. is reopening air space this hour to flights traveling above 20,000 feet. And flights overseas have finally started leaving JFK and New York. With many more delays are expected. Still, about half of all scheduled flights may not leave the ground. The State Department says 40,000 Americans are stuck in Great Britain alone.
So, where is this new volcanic ash cloud headed? Our Rob Marciano is tracking it for us this morning from the extreme weather center.
Hi, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John.
You made an important distinction and that is that above 20,000 feet, things are a little bit more clear. Below that is where the ash plume has gone just about everywhere. And think about how complicated the atmosphere is. Winds change direction and speed going up with height and this plume is going up pretty high in spots.
Surface to 20,000 feet, all that red, including parts of North American, is where the ash is. In Europe, the air space is now open above 20,000 feet. But obviously, getting through that, especially in the U.K., that continues to be an issue.
All right. Here's the latest picture from NASA's Aqua Satellite taken Monday and showing some of the ice and glacier fields in north Iceland. And there's the ash plume in southern Iceland with the volcano eruption. Notice that the wind field or the plume itself is pretty much going due south, towards the U.K. So, that is the issue, is that latest plume is heading towards the U.K. albeit smaller and lower.
Check out these pictures, though. This is cool stuff. If you are traveling, you don't want to think about how cool this is. But the eruption is so intense and so turbulent.
I mean, that looks like a cumulonimbus cloud. So, what happens in those kinds of clouds? You get thunder and you get lightning. Well, you can get lightning as well.
And check out some of these spectacular photos taken near the volcano with lightning strikes and strokes happening in and around the ash cloud. The same similar process to what happens in thunderstorms, with a lot convection and particles rubbing up against each other, creating that static electric charge and some point, that charge is released in the form of some spectacular light.
All right, guys. I know that's no comfort to those folks trying to get in and out of an airport, all those businesses that are suffering from this debacle. But it is a cool sight for Mother Nature for sure.
CHETRY: Exactly. If you are sharing soap at JFK, you're not as enthralled with the pictures like us this morning. But, yes, they are quite amazing.
Rob, thanks so much.
MARCIANO: OK.
CHETRY: Well, you have millions of travelers stranded on both sides of the Atlantic, and that includes our London-based correspondent, Richard Quest, who's now stuck with us for a second day here in New York.
You're actually stuck until Sunday, Richard.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely.
CHETRY: You know, we've been talking about these delays. There was a glimmer of hope earlier in the morning. And, in fact, I think France -- they resumed about 75 percent of their flights until, as Rob said, another ash cloud.
QUEST: What we've seen over the last 24 hours is most of the airlines trying to bring home the fleet. Lufthansa brought in 50 of its long-haul jets. They are all trying to get the fleet in so they can start moving passengers out from their home hub, what you call, is where they have most of their stranded passengers.
Now, under very specific visual flight rules, certain airlines, like Lufthansa, are being allowed to do a limited amount of flying. This means they can't rely purely on instruments. They can only fly in the most perfect of conditions. They've got to be able to see where the clouds are.
What we know is that even though air space, for example, in Germany is closed, Lufthansa is intending to operate up to 200 flights today -- as do Air France, KLM. It's the U.K. at the moment which is the most seriously affected where, of course, British Airways are still saying, it's the last testament I saw a couple of hours, who knows.
ROBERTS: We talked about all of these people who were stranded there, and some 40,000 Americans stranded in the U.K. alone. But in addition to passenger traffic, there's a lot of cargo traffic that's not moving as well -- goods flowing in to Europe, goods flowing out of Europe. African farmers are complaining that they can't get their goods to Europe, and so, it's wilting in warehouses. Big problem.
QUEST: And the importance of that is, you only send goods by air if they are perishable or high value. Otherwise, we send them by road or rail.
Those are the most important, because they are time-sensitive to companies and, of course, they are extremely valuable. Some semiconductor chips, these sorts of things, computer (INAUDIBLE).
What is important here is to note what the economic effect could be on Europe. I saw one statistic that said that it could be down as much as 1 percent or 2 percent, in terms of knocking off economic growth. For a continent that is in serious difficulties at the moment --
CHETRY: Right.
QUEST: That, of course, is really bad news.
CHETRY: And what's even more worrying is the uncertainty of it. You can't -- it's the Mother Nature.
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: Yes. I mean, you just can't plan. You just can't plan.
ROBERTS: And you can plan to go to a Broadway show, a lovely dinner and a couple of other things while you're here, right?
QUEST: And I can also plan to remove your credit card from your pocket and I can that to pay for it all.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: Done and done.
QUEST: I mean, you heard it here first on AMERICAN MORNING.
ROBERTS: All right. Richard, great to see you. And we do hope that, eventually, you'll get out, but we love having you around. So, we don't mind you being stuck here.
CHETRY: Thanks, Richard.
ROBERTS: New this morning, civil rights pioneer Dorothy Height has died at the age of 98. We're learning that from doctors at Howard University Hospital in D.C. Height worked alongside civil rights leaders of the 1960s, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. She also served as the chair of the National Council of Negro Women.
CHETRY: Well, new developments from NASA this morning. Scientists -- they are trying once again to bring the shuttle Discovery home. They're going to try again in just about an hour and two minutes, right? That's their next window, 9:08 Eastern Time at Kennedy Space Center. This morning's forced landing opportunity scrubbed because of rain, as well as two prior landing tries.
Earlier this week, the Discovery crew is wrapping up a two-week resupply mission to the International Space Station.
ROBERTS: Goldman Sachs' reputation may be reeling, but it still managed to make an awful lot of money. The banking giant posted a $3.5 billion quarterly profit. That's nearly double its earnings from a year ago.
Goldman is also holding a conference call this hour to discuss charges that it ripped off some of its customers by selling investments that were essentially designed to fail. Goldman calls those charges unfounded.
CHETRY: Well, reforming Wall Street is top of mind right now for the White House. And we're going to be speaking with the economist, chief economist Austan Goolsbee -- coming up next. He joins us live in the studio.
ROBERTS: All right. It's sex, drugs, and punk. Green Day's "American Idiot, The Musical" opens on Broadway tonight. We go behind the scenes to give you an inside look and find out what it's all about for the band themselves.
Seven minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
President Obama heckled during a Los Angeles fundraiser for Senator Barbara Boxer. Protesters shouted at the president, asking what he was going to do about ending the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She's passionate about fighting for California's families.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Repeal "don't ask, don't tell"!
OBAMA: She is -- we are going to do that. Hey, hold on a second. Hold on a second. We are going to do that. So --
AUDIENCE: Yes, we can! Yes, we can!
OBAMA: What the young man was talking about was, we need pass -- we need to repeal, "don't ask, don't tell," which I agree with and which we have begun to do.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTS: The president has called on Congress to change the policy that keeps gays and lesbians from serving openly.
CHETRY: Well, President Obama is back to New York. He's coming into town actually this Thursday. The Big Apple is serving as a backdrop for his big push for financial reform.
So far, though, republicans appear united in their opposition to the plan. But democrats are working hard to try to win over -- they need at least one or two converts.
ROBERTS: Right, to break that filibuster.
Here with more on the bill and its prospects for passage, Austan Goolsbee. He's the chief economist for the White House Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
Good to see you.
AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, CHIEF ECONOMIST, ECONOMIC RECOVERY ADVISORY BOARD: Great to see you guys.
ROBERTS: So, what are you going to do to bring republicans on board? Because to a person in the Senate, they have signed a letter saying they don't like the deal as written and they're not going to vote for it.
GOOLSBEE: Yes, they'll be a little careful with the -- if you looked at the letter, it's true they all signed it. But the language in the letter is not perhaps as robust as Mitch McConnell would want it to be. They committed to read whatever else came out.
I think, in the end, this is going to be a bipartisan bill -- not bipartisan in the sense that everybody is going to trade loopholes to get to where they can agree. But, instead, it's going to be a strong bill that ultimately republican members and democratic members, they're re not going to care what the leadership says. They're going to go look at it.
I think there is a lot to like in the bill and it is fundamentally what the country needs. I mean, it was more than two years ago that Bear Stearns went under and we started the financial crisis in earnest.
CHETRY: Right.
GOOLSBEE: And that's why the president is coming to New York on Thursday to reiterate, it was two years ago, March, that the president came and said, we need to have financial regulatory reform. It's not bad for financial markets to have public trust and oversight. It's absolutely vital.
And the crisis has shown us that. You know, we got 8 million people out of work from this.
CHETRY: Well, one aspect that's getting a lot of criticism from the republican side is the $50 billion liquidation fund, as they call it. Banks would actually pay into this, and what it would is, it be used to unwind a collapsing bank, perhaps stop it from taking other banks down with it.
But republicans are calling it a bailout fund, even though it is not paid for by the taxpayers. Is -- if this is the big roadblock right now to reform, can this bill live without it?
GOOLSBEE: Well, look, the characterization of this as a bailout bill is borderline insane. I mean, it specifically outlaws bailouts. As you say, the money can only be used for funeral expenses and breaking them up and selling them off. That's all the money is used for. And the money is paid for by the banks themselves.
So, every objective analyst that's looked at that has said, no, it's not a bailout bill at all.
CHETRY: But would be --
GOOLSBEE: Whether it is an ex-anted fund or an ex-post fund, certainly, that's a subject of negotiation. But the basic idea that we end bailouts, that's not negotiable. The president made that clear.
ROBERTS: There are other provisions in the bill, though, that do amount to a bailout, the Fed's discount window would still be open to banks that are in trouble should they hit a crisis, even if the crisis is precipitated by the banks. And critics have said, this does nothing to stop them from becoming too-big-to-fail.
Even Robert Reich said -- let me quote from him -- "At a time we ought to be trimming the sails of the giants on Wall Street, the Dodd bill actually puts more wind in them."
What do you say?
GOOLSBEE: Well, he got several points there. The discount window has existed since, whatever, 1914.
ROBERTS: Sure.
GOOLSBEE: There is nothing new in this bill that's changing the way that we deal with commercial banks, official banks, and the FDIC ensures their deposits.
I hope they're not coming back and saying, let's end deposit insurance because that's a bailout. It's not. That solved the bank- run problem that was created in the depression.
As to Bob Reich who is a friend of mine and I'm an admirer. If you look at the Dodd bill, it does end too big to fail. To go with what the republicans' alternative is, let's just hope they can go through bankruptcy, that doesn't work. That is what happened. That's how we got into the bailout scenario.
What this bill does is bring derivatives out into the open so that they're transparent and there will be oversight. Separate through the vocal -- some of the speculative investment that banks are doing for their own accounts, and put in place a system that we can, quote, unquote, "resolve," these financial institutions, which means either liquidate them or break them into pieces and sell them off, firing the management and wiping out the shareholders.
That's not a bailout. This bill is about giving the government the tools so that there don't ever have to be any more bailouts.
CHETRY: Chris Dodd said that if this bill was enacted in the way that it was -- in the form it is in now, it would have prevented what happened in 2008 with the meltdown. Do you agree that --
GOOLSBEE: Yes, I do agree.
CHETRY: What is specifically in this bill --
(CROSSTALK)
GOOLSBEE: There are several pieces. First, you'd have the Consumer Protection Agency who would have been throughout the 2000s putting in stronger limits on mortgage originations and the subprime and multi-mortgages which end up blowing up.
Second, you'd have the derivative regulation so that when AIG gets in trouble, they can't go to the bank and say, if you don't bail us out we're going to blow up everyone in their neighbor and the entire financial system is going to go under. So you could let AIG go under without giving them a bailout.
Third, you would have had -- many of these institutions have much stronger requirements that they have loss reserves and higher capital so that they could themselves weather these problems.
And then the fourth, I think, it -- this is going to establish stronger and better oversight from a variety of regulatory perspectives, which even if through all three of those they had not prevented it, the regulators themselves might have looked and said, whoa, now what's going on here. What -- the credit defaults swaps, this is threatening the system. Why don't we reign that in?
So I think Senator Dodd is right.
ROBERTS: All right, well, we'll see where this goes at the end of the week probably. And the president coming here for the big speech on Thursday.
Austan Goolsbee, great to see you.
GOOLSBEE: Great to see you, guys.
CHETRY: Thanks for coming by.
ROBERTS: Thanks for dropping by.
"American Idol." "American Idol." Did I say "American Idol?" "American Idiot," right here. Guilty as charged.
CHETRY: Canadian -- no, no, no.
ROBERTS: No. I'm American. But Green Day's new rock 'n roll musical opens tonight on Broadway. We go behind the scenes. We'll show you more about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: And you know that song is so catchy and so are many of the other tunes by Green Day. They've come a long way since their big break in 1994 with an album what we all bought called "Dookie." 9/11 changed their approach to music and they released back-to-back albums that only defied their simple roots, more rock opera than punk rock.
ROBERTS: Now those two records, "American Idiot," and the more recent "21st Century Breakdown," have become a Broadway musical. The show is also called "American Idiot," and after a month of previews, it opens tonight.
In this "AM Original," I had a chance to talk with the band, the cast and the director about how it all came together.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS (voice-over): From multi-platinum recording to rehearsals to the great white way, "American Idiot" brings to the stage Green Day lead singer Billy Joe Armstrong's anger and frustration in a post 9/11 world.
BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG, LEAD SINGER & GUITARIST, GREEN DAY: After 9/11, there was a sense that there was an opportunity for us to sort of join the world a little bit more. And -- but what I think ended up happening, you know, for the next seven, eight years was that we ended up becoming more alienated just by -- sort of the remarks and the things that -- the policy and going to war.
ROBERTS: That outrage was the underpinning for the "American Idiot" CD which has sole more than 13 million copies.
MICHAEL MAYER, TONY AWARD-WINNING DIRECTOR: And it's this thing.
ROBERTS: From the moment he heard it, Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer wanted to take it to Broadway.
MAYER: It's about a response to the culture at large. And it's about not wanting to be the American idiot who just sits in front of his or her television set accepting everything that comes in.
ROBERTS: The story focuses around Johnnie, the so-called Jesus of Suburbia, a small-town lay-about with big time dreams who travels to the city only to find his soul torn between an evil drug dealer and the woman who loves him.
ARMSTRONG: I think it's someone that's seeking a new thrill, a new sense of adventure, and I think he ends up feeling lost on the way but somehow sort of trying to find some sort of meaning through the journey.
ROBERTS: Tony Award-winning lead actor John Gallagher Jr. knows the music and the sentiment well. Down and out of work in the winter of 2004, his sister gave him the CD as a Christmas present.
JOHN GALLAGHER, JR., ACTOR, "AMERICAN IDIOT": I loved the energy of it, I love the message of it, I love the desperation and the loneliness. . I remember driving around and listening to that record on repeat. And so it's always had such a special place in my heart. All that music.
ROBERTS (on camera): It really spoke to you, did it?
GALLAGHER: Absolutely, yes. Totally.
ROBERTS: People have called this the hair of the post-punk generation.
MAYER: I'll take that.
ROBERTS: Yes?
MAYER: I'll take it.
(LAUGHTER)
MAYER: I love hair. What was great about "hair" to me was that it was like "American Idiot," a direct response to where the country was at. And it felt like at the time it was the voice of a whole generation of Americans.
ARMSTRONG: And this next song is a big (EXPLETIVE DELETED) to all the politicians.
ROBERTS (voice-over): If Green Day is the voice of a new generation of Americans, it is a brash, aggressive and uncompromising one. It has also been misunderstood.
ARMSTRONG: This song is not anti-American. It's anti-war.
ROBERTS: They may be critical of the policies that took the nation to war in Iraq but they insist they are not anti-American or anti-military. In fact, drummer Tre Cool is immensely proud of his father who flew helicopters in the Vietnam War.
TRE COOL, DRUMMER, GREEN DAY: I consider myself a proud American. You know my dad is a veteran of -- you know, the Army. And, you know, for us to travel around the world and to be viewed as idiots and (EXPLETIVE DELETED) because we are Americans kind of bummed us out.
MAYER: To me, "American Idiot" is one of the most pro-American albums I have ever heard because it's all about how can we be a better country and a better population. And that -- what could be more American than wanting to be the best.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: And "Idiot" did opens tonight on Broadway. It's a great show. No intermission for 90 straight minutes, flat out. Kind of sap the energy out of you.
CHETRY: Sounds fun.
ROBERTS: The cast members as well.
CHETRY: I'd love to go. That looks fun.
ROBERTS: Yes, the only knock on it is being that, Green Day grew up as a punk rock band. I don't know that they're so much punk now as they used to be. But the knock on this is that it's Broadway's interpretation of punk rock and Broadway is Broadway and punk rock is punk rock. But I think the two (INAUDIBLE).
CHETRY: It looks like a great show, high energy, fun.
ROBERTS: Very high.
CHETRY: Would you go back?
ROBERTS: Yes, absolutely. I'd like to see how it's evolved because I saw it the third day of previews. That's why I'd like to see how it's evolved since then.
CHETRY: Pretty cool.
Well, still ahead, we're talking about texting, whether or not it's an addiction, especially for teens these days. Some of them sending as many as 3,000 texts a month. Our Deb Feyerick looking into what parents, what teachers, what the kids themselves can do to make sure it doesn't turn to a problem that affects other aspects of their life.
Twenty-six minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Twenty- eight minutes past the hour right now. Top stories just a couple of minutes away. But first, an "AM Original," something you'll see only on AMERICAN MORNING.
If you have a kid, especially a teen, you know they have it down to a science. We're talking about texting.
ROBERTS: For many it is their social lifeline, communicating with friends, anytime, anywhere. In fact one study found 30 percent of teens send 100 texts a day. So are our kids texting too much?
Our Deb Feyerick joins us now live for more on that.
Good morning, Deb.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, John.
ROBERTS: Hundred a day? That's a lot.
FEYERICK: A hundred a day, absolutely, because that's 100 little interruptions. But this is how teens are talking to each other now. They make instant plans, they want instant feedback. They see no problem doing it in class or at the dinner table.
It is as automatic as breathing. But a growing number of brain experts say there could be long-term consequences.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK (on camera): On your mark, get set, go.
(voice-over): How fast can your average 15-year-old text a single line? Let's just say faster than someone not in high school.
(LAUGHTER)
FEYERICK (on camera): Mine is not even English.
(voice-over): For tenth graders -- Sarah Matzkin on the right, Sarah Marshall in the middle, and April Polubiec -- texting may be as important as talking.
(on camera): How many texts do you send and receive every day?
SARAH MATZKIN, TEEN TEXTER: Probably around 200.
SARAH MARSHALL, TEEN TEXTER: Definitely a lot, a couple hundred.
APRIL POLUBIEC, TEEN TEXTER: It varies.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Varies studies show to the tune of well over 3,000 texts a month for the average teenagers. The question now -- are teens texting too much?
MARSHALL: It's right by my bed when I go to sleep and it's right by my bed when I wake up. It's like the first thing I go to.
FEYERICK: Eighty percent of all kids own a cell phone and rate of texting has skyrocketed 600 percent in three years.
(on camera): Why is it important for you to know when somebody is trying to reach you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You feel like you're missing something. If someone like text me and I'm (INAUDIBLE), like, I missed out on a moment. Like --
(LAUGHTER)
FEYERICK: Do you sometimes feel your moods changing depending on how often you are receiving the texts or the speed?
POLUBIEC: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
FEYERICK: Like what? Give me some examples.
MATZKIN: Well, I mean, like, if someone responds right away, like, you're like, yea, they responded. But if they respond, like, two to three hours later, you're like, what's going on? Like --
FEYERICK (voice-over): Sound addictive? Well, could be. Doctors say texting and the instant gratification of getting a text back floods the brain's pleasure center with a mood enhancing dopamine.
DR. MICHAEL SEYFFERT, CHILD NEUROLOGIST: Neuro-imaging studies have shown that those kids who are texting have that area of the brain light up the same as an addict using heroin. And they will actually describe, when I don't have it, I feel anxious or sad.
FEYERICK (on camera): It is like the new nicotine?
SEYFFERT: That's a good description, and for many it may well be.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Brain doctor Michael Seyffert treats teens with sleeping disorders at this New Jersey sleep clinic and has discovered that one of five of them are interrupting their sleep to texts, triggering problems.
SEYFFERT: With a lack of sleep, they are having a problem performing, going from honor roll students to barely passing.
FEYERICK: That's the worst case. These teens, on the other hand, get good grades and take part in afterschool activities, though texting does sometimes get them in trouble.
(on camera): When was the last time you had your phones taken away?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yesterday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today.
FEYERICK: So basically within the last 24 hours, you each had your phone taken away from you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
FEYERICK: There school, like many, struggling to maintain a growing distraction for students.
TRACEY BAILEY, ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN EDUCATORS: Most administrators will tell you if it is not their single greatest problem in terms of discipline and school management, it's at least in the top three.
FEYERICK: Despite the potential downsides, these parents say texting has become a necessary evil.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They don't answer the phone. They will answer a text.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They don't do e-mail at all. Forget about e-mail.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The only way to get a hold of them is to text. So I had to get text messaging to communicate with my kids.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes they will only communicate that way.
FEYERICK: And while the behavior can be addictive, teens like Sarah Marshall says they are confident they can quit cold turkey.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe I would have withdrawal symptoms. I would get anxious and wonder what's going on? Once I realize that nothing bad is happening, I am fine without my phone.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: And so the dynamics of teen relationships really are formed this way. Teens may text but they may not interact in the hallway for example. A teen who doesn't get as many texts, they may begin to feel much more vulnerable when it comes to interacting with their peers.
ROBERTS: It is so interesting to me that these young people will text each other but they won't talk to each other.
FEYERICK: Exactly right. And some said, it gives us time to put our thoughts together. The girls were very verbal. But who needs that kind of pause? I don't know.
ROBERTS: Not me. I'm a long way away from adolescence. Thanks so much -- Kiran.
CHETRY: The question this morning, is this texting addictive and what should parents do about it? Joining me now are two experts on the subject, psychotherapist Karol Ward and clinical psychotherapist Jeff Gardere.
What is behind why we seeing this explode. We are talking about, as Deb told us in the piece, 3,000 texts a month. One of my friend's sons had texted 5,000 times in a month. What's going on?
KAROL WARD, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: It is accessible to teens. It is literally in their hands. So if it is available, they are going to use it.
JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: It is also fun for them. If you look at something like the iPhone or the blackberries, and so on. And that technology is exciting for them.
But it is also part their social upbringing, part of being a teenager, to be able to text that quickly and to be able to have that instant communication at all times. And kids with their peer groups, that is important, communication and staying in touch.
CHETRY: We see it amongst ourselves. We are always looking at our phones and our blackberries. There is nobody in the business world these days or not who isn't always connected to where they are or not. Do we know what type of impact that has on all of us, especially young minds?
WARD: You have to ask, what are you modeling for your kids? Are you expecting them to follow your behavior? If you are, if you are on your cell phone and texting all the time and not interacting with either them or the rest of the family members, you are sending a message. And the message is this is more important, what's in my hand.
CHETRY: And so you are having dinner with them but you are looking at the phone. I see it all the time. I admit myself, you are always looking at your device.
GARDERE: Peer groups are very important for kids. They learn from these peer groups, they develop their skills. But the number one source as to how they learn how to behave and interact is form us, the parents. So when they see us doing this, they want to be like us, it just becomes so natural.
CHETRY: So what is the solution? There are limits and there are also freedoms that you want your child to enjoy, some sort of private space, but at the same time, making sure they are OK. You always talk about how that is important, you have to have that trust.
So what do you do? How do you make realistic decisions about when they can and cannot text?
WARD: I think it is important to have a family conversation and to approach it as if you expect the best outcome. You are expecting your kids to be able to response, and you're going to ask them, this is what we expect as a family. This is what we need from you. We need you to shut off your phone during family time. We need you to be able to engage in activities and not have your phone, not to be texting.
And then, if not, you lay out the consequences.
GARDERE: And as part of that, Kiran, You don't want to demonize the texting activity or the phone and so on, because when you say "a," the kids do "b." So it's important you say, yes, we understand why you need to do it. It is important, a way to stay in touch. But at the same time, we have to set the rules and limits to that.
CHETRY: One of the things that was interesting that Deb was talking about that some people had suggested is making sure that all the parents of the close circle of friends are on the same page. Can we all get together and agree that 9:00 is the time they all shut off their phones so at least they don't feel they are missing out?
Is that effective parenting in a group or that unrealistic?
GARDERE: It's real community. And therefore the kids don't feel, oh, it is just my family or you are picking just on me. It becomes part of the culture of using the phones.
WARD: It's really true, because kids do not want to feel like they are the only ones. So if you can get a loose agreement with other family members and with parents in the community, that's a win- win for everybody.
CHETRY: Bottom line -- punishment, is it more dangerous? Do you end up doing more damage in the long-run by take ago way the device? Should punishment not be surrounding the device and the texting, something different, or do you take away the phone? WARD: I like to use it as a consequence. Here is what we expect, here is the consequence. If you don't do that, here is the next thing. So taking away the phone might have to be one of the things you do if your child is not responding.
GARDERE: Absolutely. And don't overdo it. "I am going to punish you and you are going to be ground for the next five years."
CHETRY: My parents always forget two days later.
GARDERE: Exactly. And we do forget, and that's when we don't have consistency and it doesn't mean anything. Whatever you do as a parent, don't take it away for a month. They will find another phone and find a way to do it and have resentment. And don't call it punishment -- consequence.
CHETRY: Ten years ago, we didn't have to worry about this stuff. Well, thanks to both of you, Karol Ward, Jeff Gardere, great to talk to both of you.
GARDERE: Did you get my text, by the way?
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: I texted my niece. She is in school. Good girl, Laura.
Anyway, tomorrow in our series "Texting Too Much," talk to teachers and many will say that texting in class is becoming a huge distraction. We are going to find out what some schools are doing to keep kids off of their phones.
It is 38 minutes past the hour. John?
ROBERTS: And a lot of comments coming into our live blog right now. Carry Heath writes in to say "OMG, IDK what to do about my kids' texting habits. We sit down together once a week to go over their texts online. My two teens feel less like I am invading their privacy by sitting down with them to take a look at their texting."
Bob P. writes us this morning to say "I have one of those addicted-to-texting teens. She has lost her phones on numerous occasions. As of today, she has sent, received 6,300 messages for the month. We are only halfway through the billing cycle. Guess who doesn't have her phone? LOL."
You can join the conversation right now at CNN.com/amFIX.
Tom Foreman has the CNN Express out and rolling. He is in Kansas today looking for home grown success stories in a tough economy. We'll be right back with that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's 41 minutes after the hour. We are back with the most news in the morning.
Kansas is ground zero this week for our series, "Building up America." Traveling across the Jay Hawk state, Tom Foreman is meeting people who are making good in hard economic times. He joins us this morning along with the CNN Express from Prat, Kansas.
Good morning to you, Tom.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Everywhere you go out here, people are telling you, you are along a famous cattle drive route or a stagecoach route, and they talk about it as people coming from afar with big business to do.
This is one of those states though where that actually rarely happens. Building up in Kansas is not about recruiting business from outside because while some of the states get a lot of that, they don't get much of that here. But, they are still building up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN (voice-over): In the showers of sparks and hot metal, Terry and Debbie Schag are building success at Cannonball. Ten years ago, they opened the shop to make one of Terry's inventions, a fully automated hay loader, and they are turning them out as fast as the can.
(on camera): Why do you think your business is doing well when others aren't?
TERRY SCHAG, CANNONBALL: Number one, we have an excellent product, and we have personal contact with almost everybody we sell to.
FOREMAN (voice-over): But there's more. The Schags could not get a loan when they started, so they paid for everything. That kept them from getting too big too fast or sinking money into buildings or help. And it prepared them for hard times.
(on camera): So you didn't have the loan money to work with, but you also didn't have the debt to be saddled with?
DEBBIE SCHAG, CANNONBALL: That's correct. Since we have always worked out of our pocket and made our cash flow work, I think we weren't hit with that when all the banks started tightening up on their money. FOREMAN (voice-over): At Wichita State, the Small Business Development Center said such home grown success stories are critical to the state's rebound, because, David Mace says, only a tiny fraction of new jobs come from out of state companies moving in.
(on camera): So what makes the difference between a small business that succeeds and one that does not?
DAVID MACE, KANSAS SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER: I think the biggest thing is probably customer focus. And it really starts with, I think, identifying a real need that exists and going after it and meeting that need and really taking an outside-in approach to the market.
FOREMAN: He should know. Back in the late 50s, two of the school's graduates borrowed $600 to start Pizza Hut and 20 years later sold it for $300 million. Cannonball is not that big, but it provides 18 full-time jobs with $3 million in annual sales. And --
TERRY SCHAG: If I was 20 years younger, I would double the size of it.
FOREMAN (on camera): It could be that big? You have that much business?
TERRY SCHAG: Oh, yes. I could double it.
FOREMAN (voice-over): For a farm equipment maker in the middle of a recession, not a bad harvest.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: The Schags will tell you the real secret is that, a focus on quality, customer service, and gradually reaching out from where they were in the town of Kingman down the road here to serve markets all over this country.
And their business really is booming. It works over in Kingman. It works here in Pratt and in so many places all across Kansas where they are reaching out and finding their success with home grown businesses -- John.
ROBERTS: And that hay loader, Tom, seems like a no-brainer, it's amazing that could find a niche market from that. That somebody hadn't come up with the idea.
FOREMAN: You know the real secret that he had there is he came up with some refinements to it that make it more versatile than other -- some other ones. And it allows you to both pick up the hay and put it off without ever leaving the cab of your truck. That's a big change compared to some other ones out there. That's what seems to make it so popular.
And you can see it in everything they do. They tend to details. That they finely made piece of equipment and you can see why people out there will have to use load hay or cattle and that sort of things and you can see why they like it.
ROBERTS: Oh yes, where are you going next?
FOREMAN: Tomorrow, we're going on to Greensburg, which is just down the road here.
ROBERTS: Yes.
FOREMAN: Which is a town that was wiped out by a tornado but has rebuilt itself not just as the town it was but as a model of fitting into the environment, of saving energy and of being green on the landscape out here. An excellent story for earth week -- John.
ROBERTS: Yes, I am looking forward to that. I was in Greensburg the day after the tornado hit. And I thought to myself, how is this town ever going to come back? So I will be looking forward to that.
Tom thanks so much. It's good to see you.
FOREMAN: And you'll be amazed at how it changed.
ROBERTS: I'm looking forward to it, thanks.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Well there are limited flights that are going out across Europe right now but not as many as people would like to see. And that's because the volcanic ash cloud sort of kicked back into gear in the middle of the night causing more problems.
Our Rob Marciano is going to be tracking where it's headed next and what it could mean for the hundreds of thousands of stranded passengers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Almost 50 minutes past the hour right now. And the volcanic eruption we've been talking about that shut down air travel across the Atlantic is now unfortunately getting stronger.
Our Rob Marciano is tracking it from the Extreme Weather Center for us.
ROBERTS: Should we ask him?
CHETRY: He knew the Billy Kurrington (ph) song. So perhaps he will know the pronouncer that has caused many a twisted tongue around -- around these parts.
MARCIANO: I do know.
CHETRY: Go ahead.
MARCIANO: But I haven't attempted it and I'm not going to. It's kind of like --
ROBERTS: Oh come on. MARCIANO: It's kind of like -- I applaud you guys for giving it a go. And both of you did relatively well and I'm just not going there. I choose not to go there. It's kind of like snow angels. I choose not to do that. It could be a career ender as is pronouncing this volcano.
Here it is. A north to south trajectory of the ash yesterday and that has prompted the more cancellations. But above 20,000 feet, we're OK. Surface to 20,000 feet, the ash cloud extends all the way to North America. North America obviously is more dense over to U.K. in northern Europe but as long as you can jump up about 20,000 feet, we are seeing some flights.
Speaking of flights, space shuttle right now right around the Denver area going Mach 20. So if you live in Denver, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Little Rock, head outside. You might be seeing this thing streaking across the sky. You might hear the sonic boom. By the time it gets to Little Rock, Arkansas and Montgomery Alabama, it'll still be traveling at 10,000 miles an hour on its rapid descent into the Kennedy Space Center where it will land at approximately, or it should be exactly 9:08.
And finally, we got the rains to clear out just a little bit. We had some fog issues earlier this morning. But now, things are clear enough for the space shuttle to land there in just about 20 minutes. It's good stuff. We'll cover that of course, live right here on CNN.
A little rain disturbance rolling across parts of Nashville, Atlanta, this is pushing across the Tennessee Valley. It may be agitated and become more in the way of thunderstorms later on today. But we don't expect at least today to see some severe weather.
It's 64 rain cold degrees in Atlanta. It will be seven degrees in D.C., and 69 degrees up there in New York.
All right, trying to get planes in the air and trying to get that shuttle on the ground. We'll do that in about 20 minutes. John and Kiran back up to you.
ROBERTS: Last chance, Rob.
MARCIANO: That volcano in southern Iceland continues to erupt.
CHETRY: There you go. Air on the side of safety. Thanks Rob.
ROBERTS: Thanks Rob.
MARCIANO: See you.
ROBERTS: Do you take vitamin supplements?
CHETRY: Yes, multivitamins, multiple vitamins, the emergency packet, the whole nine yards. Why, are they not good for you?
ROBERTS: Well, I don't know it depends on what study you believe. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is looking at a couple of studies this morning separate fact from fiction; they have exactly opposite conclusions.
One study says that multivitamins cause breast cancer. Another says that they prevent breast cancer. So which is it? We're going to the doc coming right up.
Fifty two minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's time now for your "AM House Call", stories about your health. Do multivitamins actually increase your risk of breast cancer or do they help prevent breast cancer?
CHETRY: Well, who knows if we have any definitive answer but we're going to try.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us this morning for our "Fit Nation" report. You are going to try to help us sort this out because there are two studies that came to opposite conclusions. So what happens when they clash like this?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, it is interesting because on this show, we talk a lot about sort of the definitive answers as you just mentioned. But part of the reason we are going to talk about this today, is because oftentimes, there is not definitive answers. It is worth just for a moment taking a look at the process of what happens in a situation like this.
First of all, you are absolutely right, two different studies, two different conclusions.
Take a look. Specifically, there was a study out of Puerto Rico back several years ago. Basically it found that it actually -- taking multivitamins lowered one's risk by about 30 percent if they took multivitamins for breast cancer.
A Swedish study a couple years later actually found that you had a 19 percent higher risk in people who took these supplements; again, different conclusions.
If you look a little bit at these studies in particular, the Puerto Rican study for example, 700 people in that study. The Swedish study, 35,000 people in the study. That sounds like one is going to have a lot more reliability than the other.
But if you look deeper at the Swedish study, you'll find that the way they figured out people were taking multivitamins, was through questionnaires, asking them about their multivitamin use in years prior. Most people can't remember what they had for breakfast yesterday let alone whether they took multivitamins a few years.
And most concerning about both studies is that neither one of them really looked at what types of multivitamins were being used. Multivitamins can be different. Some may have higher concentrations of folic acid, another one B-12, another one Niacin. The point is, not only did they not know what they were taking specifically in these studies. They didn't even know if they were taking them for sure.
The point is that it's very hard to place any faith in terms of an individual's use of these multivitamins on these studies. So don't take it probably if you are trying to prevent breast cancer. Take multivitamins if you are trying to make up simply for gaps in your diet.
ROBERTS: All right. So are there any instances where the science is settled? Are there certain supplements that we should all be taking?
GUPTA: Yes, you know, I think there are a couple. I wrote a whole book about this. I am wildly interesting in this. I can tell you what I think about what I take specifically. I base it on the data.
First of all I think fish oil, for example, is a pretty good supplement to take. I have a history of heart disease in my family. Taking fish oil and making sure it has omega 3 fatty acids -- that's the good stuff -- that's helpful. Vitamin D can also be helpful too in terms of your cognitive function. And I also take a baby aspirin a day as well.
But again, with multivitamins, they can be expensive. $10 a month, $100 bucks a month, you have to make sure you know what you are taking it for.
CHETRY: Right. Right. And then just quickly because I know we're almost out of time here. But on the flip side, is there anything that they say, you know what -- you can overdo it. You can overdo this vitamin, try to limit it.
GUPTA: That's right. And that's the potential harm. Vitamin E for example, there are a lot of studies saying could you potentially get to toxic levels of Vitamin E. Vitamin C, if you take too much, you simply expel it from your body. You are sort of wasting your money.
So either a potential harm to your body or potential harm to your pocketbook just because it is over the counter. Just because it is a supplement doesn't mean it is entirely safe.
ROBERTS: Good advice this morning from our doc, Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, great to see you this morning; thanks so much.
GUPTA: Thank you.
ROBERTS: We are back in 45 seconds with a live update on the space shuttle. It's landing in about ten minutes time.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: The space shuttle Discovery almost home now. Just about 10 minutes away now from Discovery's scheduled landing, 9:08 Eastern at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida; the crew taking the scenic route home. Weather permitting it's been visible -- zooming over to Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Georgia and Florida.
Fog scrubbed this morning's first landing attempt. Two tries yesterday as well. The Discovery crew wrapping up a two-week re- supply mission to the International Space Station. So if you live along that corridor, eyes to the sky. You just might see it.
CHETRY: There you go and look, there is a shot right now. And the white dot right at the center of your screen that is the shuttle. So now we give you a sneak peek live as well. All right. That shot's not as good. But the other, we did see it for a second there.
All right. Well, it is time for us to say good-bye. Thanks for being with us this morning. And remember you can weigh in on anything you've seen on our show, CNN.com/amFIX.
ROBERTS: The news continues here on CNN with Kyra Phillips in the "CNN NEWSROOM".
Good morning, Kyra.
