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American Morning
Sucking up the Oil; The Oil Spill You Can't See; Oxygen Level Low; World Markets Mixed; Fired Teachers To Return; Help Wanted: Tanning Butler; A Family's Journey
Aired May 17, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and happy Monday to you. It's May 17th. I'm Carol Costello, filling in for Kiran this morning.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for joining us on the Most News in the Morning, and here are the big stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes.
Finally, some hopeful developments in the Gulf. B.P.'s temporary fix, a mile-long tube, is now sucking oil up to a ship on the surface. But is it just a Band-Aid on an open wound?
COSTELLO: And catching a flight to or from Europe might be a little tricky this morning, because -- you know the culprit, that volcano in Iceland, well, it's spewing ash again. At one point overnight, London's Heathrow Airport was completely shut down. Rob Marciano was tracking the ash cloud and its impact on your travel plans.
ROBERTS: And brand new this morning, only on CNN, e-mails from the accused Times Square bomber revealing anger over Muslims being killed overseas as he was here getting his MBA in America.
COSTELLO: Oh, as usual, the amFIX blog is up and running this morning. Join the live conversation. Go to CNN.com/amFIX.
ROBERTS: But, first -- finally, some good news in the effort to stop the growing oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. B.P. says, on the third try, engineers were finally able to insert a pipe into the leaking well, the source of most of the oil that's gushing into the Gulf. It goes a mile up to the surface where a rig is waiting. But it hasn't stopped all of the oil leaking.
Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING, we asked B.P.'s chief operating officer why it's taking so long to get this all done.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Is there still 4,000 barrels of oil spewing out in the Gulf every day?
DOUG SUTTLES, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, BRITISH PETROLEUM: Yes, John. I mean, this doesn't capture all of it. There's still some oil coming out. But what we hope to do over the next 24 hours is continue to raise the rate, increase the rate coming out of that insertion tube and capture more and more of this flow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Our Ed Lavandera is live for us in New Orleans.
And, Ed, if they are scooping up 1,000 barrels of oil and there's at least 5,000 coming out -- that means an awful lot of oil is still spewing into the water this morning.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Actually, that's the first time we've actually been able to hear a percentage of how much is being collected. And as you heard, the chief operation officer there mentioned that they will open it up. Essentially, that insertion tube has gone into the riser where the oil is leaking.
They wanted to start off slowly. This is what they told us yesterday. That they wanted to kind of open up the valve slowly to make sure that those insertion tubes or that insertion tube doesn't get clogged up and essentially just kind of ruin the steps forward their making here.
But, obviously, John, a great deal of oil is still spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. It will be interesting to see how much of that flow rate changes in the next day or so -- of course, this is, if you are going by the 5,000 barrel a day marker. There are other experts who are starting to watch this and many people raising questions that perhaps this oil spill is flowing at a much greater rate. But, regardless, there is still a great deal of oil that's going out there.
There is another method beyond this insertion tube that B.P. officials will continue to work toward. I think we're still about a week or so away from these terms that you've probably heard a lot about in the last few weeks, the junk shot and top kill, which is essentially going into the valves of the blowout preventer, throwing a bunch of junk in there to try to limit the pressure that is sending this oil and gas out of the wellhead. And they would inject a bunch of special kind of cement, mud, if you will, to essentially seal the wellhead.
But, of course, government officials say, look, this is not the solution. This is just a temporary fix. And government officials are quick to point out that B.P. needs to work much faster to get this under control -- John.
ROBERTS: Ed, officials from the administration are going to be going before a Senate panel today to explain their response to this bill. What can we expect to come out of that?
LAVANDERA: It will be interesting. There will be a representative from B.P. there as well and government officials. And the response -- we suspect there will be a lot of questions about why there wasn't more of this precautionary in -- measures in place along the shoreline in case something is happening.
Of course, if you've been listening to B.P. and other Transocean oil industry officials, they say a catastrophe of this magnitude was never suspected or never really they believed to be something that could actually happen. So, there are a lot of -- there have been a lot of questions about why a lot of the tools that are being used now haven't been put in place leading up to -- it's taken too long to get them into place. For example, boom has had to be manufactured to get it out to the fishermen that have been putting that out along the Gulf of Mexico.
And then also, for example, this insertion tube, these are mechanisms that in the last few weeks have been tested onshore. A lot of that continues to go onshore. So, there'd be a lot of questions about why a lot of this wasn't done before -- John.
ROBERTS: Ed Lavandera in New Orleans for us this morning -- Ed, thanks so much.
And there is new evidence this morning that the spill could be far worse than we thought and that we are being told -- a shocking amount of oil under the surface of the water in various layers. In just a few minutes, we're going to talk with Samantha Joye. She's a marine science professor from the University of Georgia, who has been closely monitoring this spill.
What about the long-term effects of all that oil? We are potentially talking decades here.
COSTELLO: Could be very ugly.
What could be a major break through in the nuclear standoff with Iran -- Tehran says it's agreed to ship a major portion of its nuclear fuel stockpile to Turkey. The deal brokered by Turkey and Brazil is a lot like the one Iran struck with the west last year and then backed out of. Experts say Iran has produced more nuclear fuel since that time.
ROBERTS: Also developing this morning, chaos and disruptions plaguing European airports yet again. It's all because of ash from a volcano in Iceland. This morning, airports in Scotland and Ireland are closed. Britain's two busiest airports, Heathrow and Gatwick, had to close overnight. But they've since reopened, although many flights have been delayed.
COSTELLO: So, Rob Marciano has been tracking the ash cloud. He's at the weather center.
Is it lessening? Is it getting better?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, the problem with the ash cloud this go-around, guys, is the fact that it's upper in the 20s, as far as the 20,000 foot range where jets fly. So, that's the main issue. As far as where it is, the winds are showing it north to south. So that's the issue and that brings the ash cloud all the way down to northern Europe.
But, you see the arrows at the left of your screen going from the bottom to the top. That would begin to shift the ash cloud in a little bit more of a west to east direction and that will help things out as we go through the next couple days. But as long as that volcano continues to percolate and shows no signs of completely stop doing that -- we're going to have this problem from time to time, unfortunately. So, call ahead if you are traveling over the pond.
If you're traveling stateside, we'll talk about those issues as well. And we have a few. That's in about 30 minutes.
John and Carol, back up to you.
COSTELLO: Thank, Rob.
At the Miss USA Pageant in Las Vegas, a little drama. It all came down to Miss Michigan and Miss Oklahoma.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: The first runner up is -- Oklahoma, which means Miss USA 2010 is Michigan.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Whoo-hoo! Twenty-four-year-old Rima Fakih from Dearborn, Michigan, won the crown at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. Fakih is an Arab-American, originally from Lebanon. She moved to the States as a baby. She lived in New York until 2003, and then she went to Michigan and ran for Miss USA.
ROBERTS: Good for her. Michigan needs some good news these days.
COSTELLO: That's true.
ROBERTS: All right. Well, here's a plan: float a balloon about 23 miles above the Earth. Perfectly good balloon, and then jump out of it -- break the sound barrier and make sure you don't die while you are doing it. Daredevil space diver "Fearless Felix" Baumgartner is coming up this morning, in just a few minutes.
COSTELLO: It's just crazy, isn't it? I can't wait to talk to him.
Also, there are reports of these giant plumes of oil underneath the water in the Gulf. I mean, these things are huge. You're seeing video that B.P. has finally released. Well, it could be a whole lot worse than that.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Despite progress with the Gulf oil spill, there is new evidence this morning that it's much worse than anyone thought.
ROBERTS: Scientists say they are finding enormous oil plumes under the surface, including one that's 10 miles long, three miles wide and about 300 feet thick in spots.
Joining us now is Samantha Joye, who is a marine science professor from the University of Georgia. She's been closely monitoring this spill.
Samantha, the news over the weekend that B.P. managed to get this tube inserted into the riser pipe siphoning off -- according to Doug Suttles who we talked to last hour -- about 1,000 barrels a day. Is that encouraging news to you?
SAMANTHA JOYE, MARINE SCIENCE PROFESSOR, UNIV. OF GEORGIA: Very much so. I mean, this is a very difficult engineering problem. And I think the fact that they've managed to insert a siphon pipe successfully and pull off, even though in the beginning what might appear to be a small amount of oil, 10 percent to 20 percent, hopefully, that will increase over the coming days and they can reduce the oil that's getting into the water column in the Gulf.
COSTELLO: Yes, at least -- at least that's something.
We're going to talk about these plumes underneath the water in the Gulf. I mean, they are huge, 10 miles long, three miles wide. What, 300 feet thick. I mean, is this worse than the oil you see on the surface of the water?
JOYE: It's very hard to say because we don't exactly know the oil content of the plumes. We know that they are rich in color dissolved organic matter. And color dissolved organic matter which is measurable with a special instrument that we have on a CTD Array that we lower down to the water column.
The problem is that there are other compounds in addition to oil that generate signatures on the censor. So, it's impossible to see how much oil is in the water. But oil is certainly a component of color dissolved organic matter. So, we have samples that arrived late last night here in the lab and we'll be analyzing them over the coming weeks to determine the oil content.
The plume, itself, is a very interesting feature. Nothing like it has really ever been seen in the deep water of the Gulf of Mexico before. And it's not only a large feature but it's very -- it's a very complex feature. There's a lot of vertical structure to it.
So, it's not something we can explain. It's certainly not something that we expected to find. We don't understand it at this point. But, hopefully, in the coming weeks, when we really have a chance to analyze all the samples and the data, we'll have a better picture of the implications of what this feature really is.
ROBERTS: Yes, Samantha. I guess, initially, it was thought that any of the oil that was coming up from the bottom was making its way to the surface and became part of that surface slick. If you've got it caught between layers of water, different temperatures or whatever, in striations, it's probably not going to get out of there any time soon. So, what are the long-term effects here on sea life, on the oxygenation of the Gulf of Mexico? You got a whole lot of oil in there. It's obviously going to have a pretty profound effect.
JOYE: Yes, it -- we can -- we can make some statements regarding what the implications are. But, again, we don't have a very good constraint right now because we don't have the rights of processes yet. We'll have those in a couple of weeks.
So, any time that you inject a large amount of organic matter into a water body, you stimulate microbial consumption of the organic matter. In this case -- and this is the same for the surface and the deep water. You've injected a lot of oil and methane gas into the systems. So, the microorganisms that degrade that material are going to be stimulated. Most of those microorganisms use oxygen as their terminal electronic acceptor. So, the consumption of oil and methane will be -- will result in the drawdown of oxygen from the water column.
The plumes that were documented on the pelican crews had oxygen concentrations of about 5 milligrams per liter, that's about 30 percent less than water outside the plume, which is about 7 milligrams per liter. That concentration, 5 milligrams per liter, is more than sufficient to support animal life. Animals are not at all stressed by oxygen levels in the plume at this point.
What we don't know is how those oxygen levels are going to change over time and how fast or how slow they will change and how fast they'll recover back to the background levels. Those are just things that we really have no way to predict at this point.
If you think about long-term consequences, if the oxygen levels get drawn down in the deep water to below 2 milligrams per liter, then it could take, you know, some amount of time -- probably a long amount of time, years or longer, to rejuvenate the oxygen concentrations down in the deep water -- just because it's so separated from the surface water.
COSTELLO: That's scary and fascinating at the same time. Samantha Joye, thanks for joining us this morning and explaining the unexplainable at this point, we appreciate it.
JOYE: Thanks for having me.
ROBERTS: A lot of technical details but the bottom line, it is not going to be a good thing to have that oil down there.
COSTELLO: No. Well calling on the -- this is such a strange story. There is a big fancy hotel in Miami that thinks it is a great idea to have people lather suntan lotion on bikini clad women for only $20 a piece.
ROBERTS: What the heck? Somebody's got to do it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: Eighteen minutes after hour we are "Minding Your Business," this morning concerns over the debt crisis in Europe are dragging down markets in Asia this morning. Both Hong Kong, Ten Sheng (ph) and Japan's, Nikki both closed down. But right now, in Europe, the markets and that is despite the euro falling to a four-year low. You know if you have been thinking about the European vacation, now might be the time to start planning.
COSTELLO: Yes, maybe so. But then there is that volcano. Call ahead.
Teachers in Central Falls High School of Rhode Island who were fired in mass for poor student performance are heading back to the classroom. An agreement between the school district and teachers union will let staff members return without having to reapply for their job. They will have to work a longer school day, provide more after school tutoring, and accept a new evaluation system.
ROBERTS: Well here is a dream job for all you smooth talkers. Imagine getting paid to rub lotion on bikini-clad women. A luxury hotel, where else, Miami Beach, actually has somebody on the payroll whose sole responsibility is to help you get lathered up.
COSTELLO: Imagine telling your parents, hey, I got a job, I rub suntan lotion on --
ROBERTS: I'm a tanning butler.
COSTELLO: On naked women -- anyway, John Zarella hit the beach to find out what it takes to be the world's only tanning butler.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When you here hands-on job this, one beats all.
ZACH GILBERT, FILL-IN TANNING BUTLER: Would you mind if I apply a little bit here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
ZARELLA: it is literally just that, hands on?
GILBERT: All right, SPF 8 all right? Here we go.
ZARELLA: Zach Gilbert has what a lot of folks would say is the perfect job. He is a tanning butler. Yes, you heard me. A tanning butler at the Ritz-Carlton on South Beach.
GILBERT: I am the world's only tanning butler here.
ZARELLA: Where else but South Beach would you expect to find a guy in shorts walking around with a pouch filled with tanning products, spritzing and rubbing lotion on the guests.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes definitely. ZARELLA (on camera): So you would invite him back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sure if my husband is OK with it.
ZARELLA: So you are outside. I mean, this is your office.
GILBERT: It is, it is.
ZARELLA: It's not a bad office.
GILBERT: It's a great setting, it's a great setting and the complaints are minimal.
ZARELLA (voice-over): So what could possibly be the problem? Well, Zach has another job at the hotel. He was just standing in while the Ritz looked for a new permanent butler. The last one got some modeling gig and took off. To fill the SPF void, the Ritz held a casting call.
LORI LAQUATRA, TANNING BUTLER JUDGE: If we were guests, how would you do that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would definitely say that you guys are looking for beautiful today.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are looking for great personality, we are looking for someone who can interact with the guests.
ZARELLA: And someone who just, maybe, knows what the acronym stands for.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what exactly does SPF mean?
(LAUGHTER)
ZARELLA: Only a hand full of applicants showed up at the first audition, only one Luz Gallego.
LUZ GALLEGO, TANNING BUTLER APPLICANT: I have done this job before. But instead of using tanning clubs. I have put mud on people.
ZARELLA: Mud?
GALLEGO: Yes.
ZARELLA: Mud?
GALLEGO: Yes.
ZARELLA: Well, that would block out the sun.
GALLEGO: People love it.
ZARELLA: The judges settled on a college student from Miami. He will make $20 an hour plus tips and our boy, Zach --
GILBERT: Good afternoon, ladies, how are you today?
ZARELLA: He went back to his old job as a waiter at the restaurant. Why? I haven't a clue. John Zarrella, CNN Miami Beach.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Because it is weird.
ROBERTS: There is a real ick factor for you, on this, isn't there?
COSTELLO: I don't know, there is just something -- there is just something not appealing about it, let's just put it that way.
ROBERTS: You don't like to rub a dub dub.
COSTELLO: No, maybe the former suntan applier, the one who got the modeling job.
ROBERTS: Oh the one that got to model --
COSTELLO: At Armani --
ROBERTS: That's what it's always all about, isn't it? You get the cute guys rubbing suntan lotion, it is fine.
COSTELLO: Oh don't play that game with me, John.
ROBERTS: Don't you play that again with me.
COSTELLO: Coming up next, we're going to talk to a space diver. This guy is fearless. In fact, his nickname is fearless -- I can't even say it, it is fearless Felix. He is going to free-fall from space. His body expected to hit 690 Miles per hour. We are going to ask him why, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Welcome Back to the Most News in the Morning. It is 26 minutes past the hour. "Top Stories" only minutes away but first an "A.M. Original," something you will see only on AMERICAN MORNING.
ROBERTS: Love him or hate him. Mike Stein, love him or hate him?
MIKE STEIN: I don't care.
ROBERTS: He doesn't care. Love him or hate him, Curt Schilling made an impression on fans during his baseball career. Shilling is now retired sharing the story of his family's life since he his son was diagnosed with as Asperger's syndrome in 2007. Mike Stein is a diehard Yankee's fan, he doesn't care for anything that is North of the Bronx. Schilling's wife, Shonda has written a book titled "The Best Kind Of Difference." CNN Contributor Max Kellerman joins us now with part two of this conversation with the Schillings.
COSTELLO: Now you are also a cranky Yankee's fan.
MAX KELLERMAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes.
ROBERTS: Don't pay any attention --
KELLERMAN: But Mike's not telling you the truth --
ROBERTS: No he's not.
KELLERMAN: If you are a Yankee's fans, you care a lot about Curt Schilling. He's the kind of guy that you hated was pitching against you because you wished that he was pitching for you. But earlier today, we heard from the Schillings about dealing with their child, one of four children. This one, Grant, has Asperger's syndrome, which is, essentially a high form of autism. And they talked about dealing with that and what it is like. Now, you are going to hear a little bit about how they found out he had Asperger's and what they did about it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLERMAN: Can you describe in 2004, his reaction, what it was like to celebrate the World Series that your husband won in '04 with Grant at that time?
SHONDA SCHILLING, AUTHOR, "THE BEST KIND OF DIFFERENT": He could have cared less. He had no idea we were in the World Series. He had no interest in baseball. He had no idea. I mean the biggest thrill for him was that it was Red Sox Day and he was excited that he had a Red Sox shirt in his closet.
KELLERMAN: So what was the turning point that you realized, OK, wait a minute, this is not just like my husband, obsessive compulsive. Something is wrong in here.
SCHILLING: Right, right, it would have to be in summer of 2007. And he played Pop Warner football, which we thought was perfect, he would be able to play, it is you know, a controlled, very scheduled, you know, routine that he would love and he would probably thrive in that. And it was embarrassing, because he would fall on the ground after a play and literally not get up. And they would drag him by the helmet.
So here was this instinct as a mother going, I would like to drag him by the helmet but they are touching my baby. You know so, I would call them and say, this is not working. He said, stick with it, stick with it. When he came home from the road, I said, take him outside and throw the football. Maybe he will just get interested if you show some interest. He wasn't out there five minutes. He walked in and he said --
KELLERMAN: What de say?
CURT SCHILLING, BASEBALL PITCHER: I said, he is not processing. KELLERMAN: What did that mean?
SCIHLLING: Basically what it boiled down to, when I took him outside was, I could tell him to run a pass pattern. Go five yards, turn left, go three yards, turn right, he would basically go five yards and stop and then you would have to tell him to go the three yards and then he would stop and then turn right and stop. He could not put that multi-step direction together.
I couldn't figure it out. It didn't click with me, because he was and is a brilliant kid. When you talk to him about things he is interested in, he is 15 or 16 years old mentally. When you talk to him about other things, social things, he is five. And I couldn't, I wasn't seeing that. Again, I kept going back to, be the mom. Make him respect you. Be stricter, more discipline.
KELLERMAN: But you say he is not processing. Kurt comes inside, says he is not processing. Then what happens?
S. SCHILLING: Well, I Googled, I had already had an appointment, he had already been tested for ADHD. So I was the waiting for the appointment to go back get that diagnosis. But I Googled it and it said autism. And I said, that's not right. So when I went in for that meeting, what I was expecting was ADHD and what I got was Autism Spectrum Disorder and I can remember just this feeling of what does that mean? What does that mean, and just immediately going numb, going to fear, and then going right to guilt.
KELLERMAN: Because?
S. SHILLING: Because I had spent the last seven years yelling at frustrated with a child who has no idea why I was frustrated. As a parent, you think, how did I miss that?
KELLERMAN: Heartbreaking.
S. SHILLING: Heartbreaking. That's what happened when we were kids. If your parents got loud, that meant you better stop. They are really mad. I can't even tell you how mad we were with him all the time. So to think that he didn't do anything to deserve that was -- will be something that stays with me forever.
KELLERMAN: Let's fast forward to 2007. You just won the World Series again.
S. SHILLING: Yes.
KELLERMAN: What was Grant's reaction to that World Series win?
S. SHILLING: We waited until the eighth inning to be able to bring him out. I was able to explain to him each play -- this would be one out. This would be four outs. I prepared him for each individual thing that would happen.
I said this is coming down to the last out. There might be fireworks. It is going to get really, really loud and a lot of pictures. And I remember watching the last out, and he was on my lap. I remember thinking, oh, please, dear god, please don't let him be huddled up in a ball. I looked over and he was cheering louder than anybody else.
And it was such a special moment because this was a real moment that we were sharing. This is what I wanted him to see. Every time I took him to the games, this is the experience that I wanted him to have. I wanted them to have that experience of being at a ball game and what it meant to so many people. And we went on the field.
C. SCHILLING: We look out and Grant is in left center field by himself. He is running with his head like this and running and turning around and running back. He is watching himself, because they are filming him. And he is just as happy as can be.
And the thing that resonated with me is there are so few times in his life when he experienced just pure joy because of all the things that go with having Asperger's. Those moments for us resonate in a very big way, because we've been blessed. We've experienced pure joy on so many different levels in so many different ways.
And to see him not be able to do that the times that he can are just exceptionally memorable for us, and that was one of those times.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: So tough. So how are they getting him help? How are they getting Grant help?
KELLERMAN: They have a special camp in the summers and they have someone come over and work with him.
What's interesting to me is Kurt is a star. He was a star on the field. He is an interesting guy to talk to. But the star of that family, the star of the show is really, like so many American families, is mom. Not only is she raising four kids. You think, well, he was making all this money, it must have been easy. But raising four kids, and one of them is autistic.
COSTELLO: It's fascinating that he blamed her parenting, saying you have to be stricter, because then he'll behave.
KELLERMAN: He wasn't there to see it, because he was on the road, the life of a baseball player. You can imagine nowadays culturally to say "I want to be a homemaker. That's what I want to do," then your self-esteem is wrapped up in the child's behavior, in your children's behavior.
And if one of them is misbehaving and actually has a disorder but you're not aware of it, you can imagine what that does to your self- esteem. You're failing as a parent, not knowing that there is really something wrong.
ROBERTS: A fascinating look inside their lives. Max Kellerman, (sic) good to see you this morning. Thanks for bringing this to us.
KELLERMAN: Thank you.
COSTELLO: It's 33 minutes past the hour. Time for this morning's top stories.
Deep sea plumbing -- BP says engineers inserted a mile-long tube into a leaking pipe at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and it is now siphoning some of that oil to a rig at the surface of the Gulf. The company's chief operating officer told us that has cut the leak by a 1,000 barrels a day.
ROBERTS: Ash from the volcano erupting in Iceland is clouding the skies over northern Europe forcing several countries to suspend air travel, including Ireland and Scotland. Amsterdam and London's Heathrow, we closed overnight but they have now reopened. The flights are delayed there somewhat.
Scientists say it is unlikely the eruptions are going to end any time soon.
COSTELLO: NASA astronauts have started the first of space walks, expected to last about 6.5 hours. The astronauts are working on an antenna and the station's two-arm robotic device known as Dexter.
ROBERTS: Also, new this morning and only on CNN, a look inside the mind of the suspected Times Square bomber.
COSTELLO: It's pretty fascinating. CNN has obtained two e-mails Fasial Shahzad wrote before authorities say he drove a car bomb into the heart of New York City.
Susan Candiotti is here with the e-mails.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here they are, right here. And what they provide for us is indeed a window, a very small dose of what might have put Faisal Shahzad on a path that led him from the American dream to accused terrorist.
Some context here -- the two e-mails obtained by CNN were written by Shahzad in 2006 and just last year. In 2006, he had been in the U.S. about eight years, had earned an MBA, and was working as a financial analyst in Connecticut.
In that email Shahzad refers to attacks on Muslims overseas and mentions that controversial cartoons depicting Muhammad published in Denmark. It sparked riots in Pakistan, Libya, and other places. Quoting here, "It is with no doubt that we today Muslim followers of Islam are attacked and occupied by foreign infidel forces. The crusade has already started against Islam and Muslims with cartoons of our beloved prophet as war drums."
"Peaceful protests," in his words, "has achieved nothing, which appears to flag a growing political frustration. A fighter who gives his life to Allah can never disobey his commands," he says. "Friends with peaceful protests, can you tell me a way to save the oppressed? You would have to agree to the fact that there is a force out there fighting the west and is defeating them." ROBERTS: So has the FBI gone through these e-mails?
CANDIOTTI: They have. They have been provided to them through an intermediary. We know also that the FBI has interviewed at least one of recipients of these emails. It is all part of trying to put together a profile of Faisal Shahzad.
COSTELLO: It's fascinating that he seems to be talking endlessly about what he did, who was involved and why he did it. Why?
CANDIOTTI: He certainly faces life in prison if convicted of these crimes. Maybe he thinks he can get some time off because of his cooperation, be we do know that as long as he keeps talking, they won't bring him into court. Prosecutors say when they feel he is no longer providing useful information, that might be another bookmark to get him to court.
ROBERTS: But there is no schedule.
CANDIOTTI: They are in no hurry.
ROBERTS: Susan Candiotti for us this morning, thanks so much.
All right, so why would you jump out of a perfectly good balloon 23 miles above the earth, break the sound barrier? Why would you want to risk that death? See this guy leaping off the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lampur, he has his own reasons for it. We will plum the depth of his adrenaline-obsessed mind coming right up.
It's 37 minutes after the hour, Felix Baumgartner just ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: How is this for a free-fall? Dare devil Felix Baumgartner is planning to jump from a balloon 23 miles up. That would shatter a nearly 50 year old world record.
COSTELLO: This guy is no stranger to stunts, of course. If he makes this jump, he will break the sound barrier falling at 690 miles an hour. So why does he want to do this? Felix Baumgartner joins us now. I guess that's my first question. Why?
FELIX BAUMGARTNER, ATTEMPTING TO SKYDIVE FROM EDGE OF SPACE: I am a very competitive person. I like the challenge. I think there is nothing more challenging.
COSTELLO: What does it feel like when you are falling from that far above the earth?
BAUMGARTNER: Well I haven't done it so far. What I've done is a couple test jumps from 25,000 feet in that pressure suit. This is what we call the next generation pressure suit. It provides you with oxygen and pressure, because if you reach 65,000 feet, the oxygen line, the water in your body will start boiling at body temperature. And this suit provides you with pressure and it helps you stay alive. ROBERTS: So you want to go for -- the current record is what 103,000 feet?
BAUMGARTNER: A consultant in our program did a jump from 102,000 feet. We are going up to 120,000 feet.
ROBERTS: So you want to make sure you not only break the record but you have a substantial margin there as well.
BAUMGARTNER: Yes. Plus, you need that altitude to break the speed of sound.
COSTELLO: So jumping off lesser statues, mountains, I am interested in what kind of feeling that gives you. Is it just a big adrenaline rush? Because when you land, you have to run and get in the car and go, because sometimes people are not happy you are jumping from things?
BAUMGARTNER: I like it, because when you are a little kid, people are telling you not to jump off anything. Now you are now doing it on purpose. That's a lot of fun.
ROBERTS: We have some pictures here, and we'll put them up, of you jumping off the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rid de Janeiro. You scaled up and walked out on the arm and leapt off the hand. What was it like to be up there?
COSTELLO: Do you look down?
BAUMGARTNER: You have to look down, because you want to know where you are going. I had total confidence. What can go wrong if you are standing right on Jesus? He won't let you down.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: That's faith.
ROBERTS: With a parachute too. When you said when you were a kid, you wanted to climb up on things and jump off. What was the first thing you would jump off of?
BAUMGARTNER: I was spending a lot of time on trees. But when I was a little kid, I had no parachute. I started at 16 as a sky diver and then years later I started base jumping.
COSTELLO: This helium balloon that you are going to do, who owns the balloon and who is going to be in that?
BAUMGARTNER: The only way to get up to 120,000 feet is a helium balloon. I'm sitting in a pressurized capsule with this pressure suit. At that altitude I am going to slide the door open, bail out, and then within the first 30 seconds, I'm going to reach supersonic speed.
ROBERTS: That's 690 miles an hour at that altitude?
BAUMGARTNER: Yes.
ROBERTS: What's it going to be like? We have seen when a jet fighter or a space shuttle goes through the speed of sound, it creates this shock wave. No human body has ever gone faster than the speed of sound that we know and gone through that area of maximum dynamic pressure. Do you have any idea what it's going to be like?
BAUMGARTNER: That's a big question mark. This is what we want to find out, what happens to the human body when it breaks the speed of sound.
ROBERTS: Do you have anything to base that on?
BAUMGARTNER: We have developed emergency equipment. If something goes wrong, it will not kill me. But we definitely want to find out how it works.
COSTELLO: What is that thing on the ground?
BAUMGARTNER: This is a parachute. This is two parachutes. We have a main one and the other one higher up is a reserve just in case something goes wrong with the main one.
What we also developed is a break parachute. That means if you start tumbling around, this is connected to a censor, which measures the g-force. So it is timing-related. So if you have more than three Gs for five seconds, it slows you down and pulls you out of the spin.
ROBERTS: We have some other video of you riding a Delta wing across the English Channel. The things you have done, jumping off Christ the Redeemer and going across the English Channel on a Delta wing, jumping off the Petronas Towers, you jumped onto the Twisting Torso building from a helicopter and took another parachute and jumped off of that. You sky-dived into a cave.
What's life for you like on the weekend? Do you curl up with a good book or are you always seeking some adrenaline rush?
(LAUGHTER)
BAUMGARTNER: It is definitely not jumping because I have been doing that all week. No, I like to fly held capitol ter. I'm a commercial helicopter pilot as well. I'm working on my skills because this is definitely going to be my last jump.
ROBERTS: Yes.
BAUMGARTNER: And later on, I want to become a helicopter --
ROBERTS: So that's what you do to chill out is you -- you fly helicopters?
BAUMGARTNER: Yes.
ROBERTS: You never just sit down and kind of kick back.
BAUMGARTNER: Well, I like to be in the air. Just like my second home.
ROBERTS: Wow.
COSTELLO: Do you loved ones ever say, Felix, why are you doing this? We worry about you. And you said that this is going to be your last jump. Is that part of the reason why?
BAUMGARTNER: No. Actually, I think on base jumps, I've definitely reached the peak. So from that moment on, I could only repeat myself. And that's why I am working on Rebel Stratos because nothing is so complex (INAUDIBLE) in this project.
ROBERTS: Yes.
BAUMGARTNER: But then definitely, I mean, I'm 41 years old now. And I think it is time.
ROBERTS: Yes, time is running out.
COSTELLO: Yes.
ROBERTS: So when is this jump going to take place? Joe Kittinger's (ph) record-setting jump was 50 years ago in August.
BAUMGARTNER: Yes.
ROBERTS: You might sort of link up with that date?
BAUMGARTNER: Well, it depends on -- we have to do a couple more test jumps, and be -- we have to do a full operation test at Brooks Air Force Base. And based on the result that we are getting out of this test, we know when we are going to do it.
ROBERTS: All right.
BAUMGARTNER: It's definitely going to happen this year.
ROBERTS: Well, let us know. Felix, it's great to talk to you.
BAUMGARTNER: It's nice to see you guys.
ROBERTS: Thanks so much, we appreciated watching all your videos.
BAUMGARTNER: Oh thank you very much.
ROBERTS: All right, take care, good luck to you too.
BAUMGARTNER: Thanks.
COSTELLO: We're going to talk to Rob Marciano when we come back and talk about the stormy south, the ash cloud from the volcano and much more. Stick around.
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COSTELLO: Good morning Atlanta, Georgia you're going to lit up to your nickname, Hotlanta because it's going to be 80 degrees today and sunny. And you know it's only humid in Atlanta. So you will feel like about what 102 --
ROBERTS: Yes, Rob Marciano is at the weather center in Atlanta and checking the forecast across the country. Did you see Felix Baumgartner there, Rob? Did you ever seen any of his videos of him base jumping?
COSTELLO: Yes, have you jumped from any tall buildings, Rob Marciano?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, no not -- not -- well, there was one but I wasn't too happy with myself at the time. Luckily, I survived and got my head on straight.
Now, this guy is some pretty amazing dude for sure and God speed and good luck on that jump. That is awesome stuff. And it's just -- I marvel at the adrenaline junkies that they are.
Hey, listen, the storm chasers were out yesterday across parts of Oklahoma. They have big -- they have huge hail near Oklahoma City. This is just a dying part of that system that's heading towards New Orleans. It's not too bad of the system right now; back through Jacksonville up to just east of Atlanta and into parts of Charlotte.
The mid-Atlantic states today are going to see the bulk of the heavier amounts of rain. We could see some flooding in spots, like Richmond, Virginia. And this rain shield stretches from Chicago back to Pittsburgh; it's also getting up through D.C. It's running in some dry air say from Philly up through New York.
So it'll be a few hours before the rain gets to New York. But it'll probably arrive there later on today and then especially tonight. Tomorrow looks to be a little bit on the wet side especially to start things off tomorrow morning.
Threat for severe weather back-to-back to parts of western Texas today; so Oklahoma will get a bit of a breather before we get into Thursday or Wednesday. It really looks to be a day where I think we'll see active weather as far as tornados are concerned.
West Coast, a little storm coming in San Francisco, 65 degrees expected there; 63 degrees expected in D.C.
If you are traveling today -- Atlanta, Charlotte, seeing some low clouds and rain and at least to start things off, 30-60-minute delays there. Chicago seeing also 30 to 60 minute delays because of that rain shield that's heading in that direction and into Los Angeles and San Francisco; we'll se a little bit in the way of delays because of that weak storm that's heading through there.
We'll be tracking the ash cloud as well. Call ahead if you are traveling across the Atlantic Ocean -- John and Carol, back up to you.
ROBERTS: All right. Thanks so much. Tom Foreman, aboard the CNN Express; he's in New Mexico today as part of our "Building up America" series. He is going tell us how one man is beating the recession by going back to his roots saving a failing small town newspaper. Yes. Newspapers can still make it even in this day and age.
Ten minutes now to the top of the hour. We'll be right back.
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COSTELLO: With the sluggish economy, more people are turning to TV and the Internet to get their news. Times are pretty tough for the newspaper business.
ROBERTS: But after losing his job, one news hound set his sights on a small town newspaper that needed an awful lot of TLC. Tom Foreman joins us live from Santa Rosa, New Mexico with this morning's "Building up America" report. Good morning Tom.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning John, Carol. You know, I don't think I could pick a harder business to deal with in this day and time than the newspaper business. It is struggling all over the place.
But this is a fellow who thought he could build up America and his part of it by come together place where a lot of people came to pursue dreams a long time ago, the old route 66, and, it is working.
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FOREMAN: A bit more than a year ago, M.E. Sprengelmeyer had every reason to give up on the economy, the west, and especially newspapers.
M.E. SPRENGELMEYER: We just walked around the whole day with tears in our eyes.
FOREMAN: After ten years of reporting for Denver's "Rocky Mountain News", he and his colleagues were shocked to find it shutting down.
SPRENGELMEYER: That was a special place and it was a damn good newspaper.
FOREMAN: But rather than retreat, he charged straight down to his home state of New Mexico, an unusual choice, perhaps, as a place to rebuild a career. The economy here has been struggling with steep job losses in mining, manufacturing, construction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's dead. Nothing really going on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would say it is very hard.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could find one but it is going to be tough.
FOREMAN: But in the little town of Santa Rosa, Sprengelmeyer found a newspaper for sale. With every last dollar he had, he bought it. Was this a wise decision?
SPRENGELMEYER: It was the best thing I ever did, best thing I ever did.
FOREMAN: He says that because no matter what he is covering each day, he and his small staff are making a go of it. While other papers are dramatically cutting their costs, Sprengelmeyer increased his staff payroll by 40 percent adding more pages, more photos, more stories.
He killed the paper's Web site arguing that it hurts street sales. And through all of that he rebuilt the paper's relationship with its readers.
SPRENGELMEYER: The community hangs on every story. The community hangs on every cartoon.
FOREMAN: So now when he lampoons a local tourist attraction, a famous diving hole, even business folks who rely on it for a living seem to enjoy the joke.
SPRENGELMEYER: You like the cartoon?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like it. I'm going to keep one of these.
FOREMAN: Its tough work. One night a week, he drives 100 miles each way to pick up his papers from a printer and many more nights, he and his staff work far into the darkness, all to keep expenses down and quality up.
SPRENGELMEYER: Those things the readers don't notice but what they sure as heck notice is that a lot of these big city newspapers are getting thinner and thinner and thinner.
FOREMAN: While his paper is getting thicker and the result: subscriptions, street sales and advertising are all up, up, up.
SPRENGELMEYER: This is the big lesson that you can apply to any paper in the country. It's working here because I am spending more, not less.
FOREMAN: And because while other papers are folding all over, here, everyone knows every morning, M.E. Sprengelmeyer and his team will be back on the beat.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: And the message really is quite simple out here. Look, when times are hard, don't runaway from the core business of major community that made you great. He says, lean into it and you can build up.
And I am telling you, you travel through this whole area of Santa Rosa -- beautiful little town here -- and you can see people bouncing back. Partly because they are saying, hey, our stories are being told again. We matter again. Let's make new stories -- John, Carol.
ROBERTS: Who would have thought that a newspaper could be a growth industry in this day and age? Pretty amazing.
FOREMAN: They do a great job out here.
COSTELLO: Evidently people want quality and that's what he is giving him because there's nothing better than a good story told well.
Thank you, Tom. Fifty-seven minutes past the hour.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've come together to assure you we have many other ideas; ideas formulated by our top scientists using state-of- the-art technology.
The first plan is called, "Dolphins with Mops".
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's where we round up a bunch of dolphins and scotch tape mops to their fins.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our next plan is called "The Schweppes Offensive". That's where we fight the oil spill head on with a bunch of club soda.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Club soda gets everything out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You might ask, how can that possibly work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another idea we have is --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: "Saturday Night Live" is lampooning BP there. I was actually thinking if they can find a manatee that would be willing to sacrifice itself by swimming down and plugging the hole there.
COSTELLO: Hey, it's a good idea as any.
ROBERTS: Continue the conversation on today's stories; go to our blog at cnn.com/amfix.
That's going to wrap it up for us. Thanks so much for joining us. See you back here, bright and early again tomorrow morning.
COSTELLO: Yes. Let's head to Atlanta now and Brooke Baldwin and "NEWSROOM" starts right now.
