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American Morning
Larry King Announces Retirement; Hurricane Alex Seems Headed for Gulf Coast; Elena Kagan Confirmation Hearings Continue; Elena Kagan vs. GOP; Economy in Double-Dip Recession?; A Look at a Deadly Schoolyard Brawl in Inner-City Chicago; The Road Ahead in Afghanistan; Fat Nation
Aired June 30, 2010 - 7:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. It's 7:00 a.m. here in New York on this Wednesday, June 30th. Glad you're with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for joining us.
Lots to talk about today, so let's get right to it. Thousands along the gulf this morning are bracing for a giant hurricane and taking cover. Alex is now a category one storm, winds hitting 80 miles per hour. Landfall is expected within hours. We're live from our hurricane headquarters and from the path of the storm.
CHETRY: Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan getting grilled but giving little ground at her Senate confirmation hearings, day two. More tough questioning from Republicans in day three set to begin in two hours.
ROBERTS: Plus something you'll only see on "AMERICAN MORNING." In the wake of a landmark Supreme Court decision striking down a 28- year-old ban on handguns in Chicago, we're looking at the deadly inner city violence there. This morning we start our special series "Walk in my Shoes" with a case that shocked the entire nation.
CHETRY: Of course, the "A.M. Fix" blog is up and running. We'd love for to you join the live conversation right now, CNN.com/amfix.
ROBERTS: First, he's the king around here. We're talking about Larry King. One of our longest serving anchors announcing last night it is time for him to hang up his suspenders.
CHETRY: After 25 years, 50,000 interviews, Larry told viewers he plans on retiring this fall from the daily broadcast. The broadcasting legend says he is looking forward to spending more time with his family.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, CNN HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Twenty-five years ago I sat across this table from New York Governor Mario Cuomo for the first broadcast ever of "LARRY KING LIVE." Now decades later, I talk to the guys here at CNN, I told them I'd like to end "LARRY KING LIVE," the nightly show this fall.
CNN has graciously accepted to agree to giving me more time for my wife and I to get to the kids' little league games. I'll still and part of the CNN family hosting several Larry king specials on major national and international subjects.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: CNN released a statement saying, "Having conducted nearly 50,000 interviews over 50-plus years in broadcasting, Larry deserves to take some time for himself and his family."
ROBERTS: As Larry just mentioned, his first interview 25 years ago was with then-New York governor Mario Cuomo.
CHETRY: Mario Cuomo joins us on the phone. Governor, good morning.
MARIO CUOMO, FORMER NEW YORK GOVERNOR: Good morning, my pleasure.
CHETRY: Tell us a little bit about your thoughts, knowing you were Larry King's first guest ever and just how his career has spanned the decades, and now he's saying he's going to hang up his daily suspenders.
CUOMO: Well, don't take that that to mean he is going to hang up his career, because he's not. Knowing Larry the way that I do, he's going to be back, as he just told us, on very important stories. After 50,000 -- did you say it was 50,000 interviews?
ROBERTS: Close to that.
CUOMO: Yes, he figures he's good it right at this point. He's not going to walk away after having worked so hard to achieve the kind of excellence that he's demonstrated over the years. So I look forward to the stories.
Why has he been such a success? The very idea that he's been there for 25 years means that he has been important. He's been useful to the people. He's been more than the people who hired him thought he would be, I think. And the proof of that is that he's lasted 25 years.
He's always been interesting. He's always been probing without being nasty. He's always been there on the big stories, and usually gets from the source -- because it is the source he interviews, not the reporter on the source -- he gets details sometimes that you don't read in the papers, because only the source reveals them.
So he's been a phenomenon, that's for sure. And I was proud to be his first guest.
ROBERTS: Yes, governor. It's been said that you never forget your first time. What was your first time with Larry King like? CUOMO: Well, I think, if I recall correctly, we did a rehearsal first in which he bantered with me with, "This is Mario Cuomo from Queens." The guy in the booth started waving, let's try it again. So we started all over again.
He was Larry. I have been asked about him because I'd done some radio shows with him before CNN decided to replace the person they were using for this interview show. And they said, how do you think he'll be on television compared to radio?
I said, well, first of all, his magnificent voice, that sound, if it is the same on television as it is on radio, that will be a big plus. And he will ask important guests and he'll get plenty of important guests because they'll love to come to him because he will be probing but not nasty.
And he will ask the same questions that the people at home would ask if they had the opportunity to talk to these celebrities. And that's what he proved to be. He proved to be what you wanted to hear. He asked the questions that you would have asked of people.
And then every once in a while he was very good at having fun. I brought Tony Bennett with me once and we did an interview. It was a sensation.
So he's a phenomenon, he's not going away, he'll be back, and he'll be back and he'll be back.
CHETRY: Governor Cuomo, it was great to get your thoughts this morning, a very, very meaningful distinction as the first guest of Larry king. So that's wonderful. Thanks so much for joining us this morning.
CUOMO: Have a good day.
ROBERTS: Our other big story this morning, right now hurricane Alex roaring across the Gulf and expected to slam into the coast today. The category one storm is packing winds at about 80 miles per hour. Let's take a look at the radar. You can see it is a huge hurricane. It covers the entire gulf.
It is already churning up 12-foot-high waves, sending oil skimming boats from Louisiana to the Florida panhandle back to shore.
CHETRY: Alex is expected to hit near the Texas-Mexico border. People all across the region are already feeling the effects this morning. It is the earliest Atlantic hurricane we've seen in 15 years, signaling the start of what's likely to be the start of a very busy hurricane season.
The CNN weather team is tracking Alex from all angles this morning. Jacqui Jeras in our hurricane headquarters is getting the latest information, and also Reynolds Wolf who is directly in the storm's path on South Padre Island in Texas.
Right now let's start with that. We'll start with the forecast and the warnings. Jacqui Jeras in our hurricane headquarters, what are you seeing? What's the latest on the path of this now-hurricane, category one hurricane?
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's moving west-northwesterly. A little bit more after westerly turn could be expected. That makes it more likely that we're going to be seeing a north Mexico landfall.
But even if we see that, keep in mind it is that right front quadrant as we call it of the hurricane that causes the worst damage and some of the strongest of winds. We could see some of that on South Padre island as well as the Brownsville area.
You can see some of those bands already beginning to move in at this hour. This is a large storm like you mentioned so those tropical storm-force winds extend out 200 miles from the center of this storm meaning we're going to be feeling those winds, especially with these squalls, in just another hour or two.
Now this storm has stayed steady overnight in terms of the max sustained winds, 80 miles per hour with higher gusts. However, the central pressure has dropped and that's a good indication that this storm may be intensifying a little bit.
The hurricane hunters are flying in to this storm as we speak so we'll get a better estimate on intensity and direction in the next hour. We'll bring that to you as soon as we get it.
There you can see that forecast cone. You can see it does stay just south of the Rio. That's a little bit of good news. But we do need to be prepared for hurricane landfall and those types of conditions which are just going to continue to deteriorate throughout the day.
Look at the showers and thundershowers all along the Gulf coast. We're seeing these bands all the way into parts of Florida. The rainfall amounts are going to be extremely heavy, expecting three to six inches easy, and southern parts of Texas could potentially see isolated amounts around a foot or so.
Well, the flooding rains will be a big deal here. We're also worried about some of the coastal flooding because those strong easterly winds are pushing in and that could push some of that oil a little further inland along Louisiana's coast. John and Kiran, back to you.
ROBERTS: Jacqui Jeras with the forecast for us.
Now, what's it like on the ground now? Reynolds Wolf is on South Padre Island, Texas, this morning looking straight at the storm. It is only a couple hundred miles away. What's it like there now, Reynolds?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: What it's like here, John, just over the last couple of minutes we've seen raindrops come in intermittently, a few occasional heavy raindrops, then a light mist. But one thing steadily on the increase is the wind. Earlier this morning it was a few gusts here and there, now it is beginning to come up. We're kind of shielded by a couple of buildings here, but later on today there will be few places that will be safe as the storm edges closer.
We are right on the island. All bridges leading back to the mainland will be shut down once the winds reach 39 miles per hour. On the other side of this bridge, back towards Brownsville and the mainland, they're already taking many measures. The city has sanded out over 60,000 sandbags and provided shelter for roughly 2,000 families statewide.
Governor Rick Perry has activated the Texas National Guard. In fact, 2,500 national guardsmen will be moving around the state. We saw many of these troops made their way southward in convoys. Not only are these big humvees but they're also pulling a lot of generators with them because of the inevitable power outages.
And with those power outages many other utility crews have amassed throughout much of the Texas coastline, 19 counties already declared disaster areas. Power outages are inevitable and crews will be standing by to dish out assistance as needed, and there will be plenty. Back to you.
ROBERTS: Good to have you on the scene there, Reynolds Wolf for us this morning.
A knockdown, drag-out fight is on to keep the U.S. economy afloat. The Dow's 200-plus drop yesterday sending shockwaves. Is a double-dip recession on the horizon? We'll have the answer to that question coming up. It's 10 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's coming up now on 13 minutes after the hour. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan faces one more round of questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee today.
CHETRY: On day two though, Republicans tried to knock her off balance, but Kagan did manage to fend off the attacks and scored with a little bit of humor as well. CNN's Dana Bash is following the Kagan hearings and she joins us this morning. Hey, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Kiran and John.
Elena Kagan is going to be back right here in this chair in a little under two hours. She was here all day yesterday until 7:00 last night trying to convince the senators who are on this panel that while her Democratic politics may be clear, she will be an impartial Supreme Court justice.
But perhaps the biggest flash point of the day came from the Republican who sits right here, the ranking Republican on this committee, and he was decidedly unsatisfied with her answers. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: Republicans launched their first missile at what they call Elena Kagan's most vulnerable target.
SEN. JEFF SESSIONS, (R) JUDICIARY COMMITTEE, RANKING REPUBLICAN: You are punishing the military.
BASH: Trying to block military recruiters while Dean of Harvard law school, in part because of the Pentagon's ban on gays serving openly.
ELENA KAGAN, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: I do oppose the don't ask, don't tell law.
SESSIONS: And you did then.
KAGAN: And I did then.
BASH: With a sharp barrage of questions, GOP Senator Jeff Sessions accused Kagan of violating the law an denigrating the military.
SESSIONS: You were taking steps to treat them in a second-class way, not give them the same equal access because you deeply opposed that policy.
BASH: Kagan defended what she called a difficult balance.
KAGAN: And we were trying to do two things. We were trying to make sure that military recruiters had full and complete access to our students, but we were also trying to protect our own anti- discrimination policy.
SESSIONS: I'm just a little taken aback by the tone of your remarks because it's unconnected to reality.
BASH: Kagan once derided Supreme Court nomination hearings as a vapid and hollow charade because nominees deflected substantive questions.
SESSIONS: Now you set the standard. You probably reread those words.
KAGAN: Many times.
BASH: But now that she's the nominee, a different standard.
KAGAN: That I did have the balance a little bit off and that I skewed it too much towards saying that answering is appropriate even when it would, you know, provide some kind of hints. And I think that that was wrong.
BASH: So, like past nomination hearings, questions and some non- answers. SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: Does the president, in your view, have the authority to detain American citizens without criminal trial if they are suspected of conspiring to aid terrorists?
KAGAN: Senator Feinstein, this will I think very much be a case that may come before the court.
Senator Kyl, I would not want to characterize the current court in any way. I hope one day to join it.
SEN. JON KYL (R), ARIZONA: And they said you're not political. Right?
BASH: On that point, Kagan admitted --
KAGAN: My political views are generally progressive.
BASH: But also promised --
KAGAN: That my politics would be, must be, have to be completely separate from my judgment.
BASH: Throughout the day, Kagan tried to disarm senators by interjecting with humor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is softball. Wouldn't you say --
KAGAN: The promise?
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I promise. I just ask you where you're at on Christmas.
KAGAN: You know, like all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: And Kagan really made a point early on on setting that light-hearted tone, interjecting all the time with quick whips and -- quips, I should say, and then witty comments. And you know, it really did change the tenor of things, for example, when one of her starkest opponents, Senator Tom Coburn, who sits here was trying to ask her some questions she wouldn't answer it. Instead of really going after her, he made a joke. He followed her lead and said maybe you're dancing so much. Maybe you should be on "Dancing with the Stars" -- John and Kiran.
ROBERTS: Well, it's interesting to see that difference in perspective that it's the observer back in 2005, oh, vapid and hollow charade. We want to make you the nominee. Oh, better not say much.
BASH: Never mind.
ROBERTS: Right. Thanks, Dana. BASH: Thank you.
CHETRY: As she said herself, I hope to sit on that court one day, so hope to be one of them so I'm really not going to comment on that.
But it is interesting. And a lot going on today as well. As Dana said, in just under two hours, the Kagan confirmation hearings resume, 9:00 Eastern Time. You can watch right here on CNN, online at CNN.com/live, and on the CNN app if you have the iPhone unlike John's who's working this morning.
Seventeen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty minutes past the hour right now. It was a rough ride in the markets yesterday, to say the least. With news of weakening consumer confidence, as well as persistent concerns about the global market, the Dow tanked. It actually dropped 268 points, or 2.7 percent? I think it was even higher than that actually. And the Nasdaq lost close to four percent. S&P had its lowest close since November. And this tumble brought on the nagging fears of a possible double-dip recession.
We're "Minding Your Business" this morning. And joining me now is Reuters global editor-at-large, Chrystia Freeland. Thanks for being with us this morning.
So there seems to be a debate. You know, you see Paul Krugman, noted economist, Nobel Prize winning economist in "The New York Times" warning that we could actually be in the third depression and that what we do in terms of policy now is going to make all the difference. What's your take?
CHRYSTIA FREELAND, GLOBAL EDITOR-AT-LARGE, REUTERS: Well, I think that you're exactly right, Kiran. What we're seeing now is a real weakening of the economy and not just the U.S. but this is a global weakening. So we saw all those problems in Europe with the Greek debt. People are now worried about European banks and even China, which is the real engine is getting a little bit softer. So the big policy issue is, should the government be spending a little bit more right now?
We had the Senate balk on extending unemployment benefits last week. We have states now running out of money. State employees are being laid off. But on the other hand, you have a real constituency and real kind of public focus on deficits. So the big question right now is, what do you want your government to be focusing on? Getting down the debt or, you know, just a little tiny touch on the gas pedal of the economy?
CHETRY: So when we talk about consumer confidence, what is scaring off consumers, of late?
FREELAND: Well, no one knows for sure but surely the unemployment numbers have to be an issue. And I think what we're seeing also, you know, consumers are also business people. And business people are looking at what's happening and are saying, we don't know for sure what's happening.
Maybe it's -- I mean, double-dip is quite an extreme scenario. Maybe it's just a weakening. But what it does I think for everybody is have a chilling effect and people saying, you know, let's put that off. If I don't need to buy it, either for my small business or for my household, why not wait a little bit and see?
CHETRY: And you talk about that. The June jobs report comes out Friday. The expectation is that it will show more jobs lost in June, and that's a continuing worry. Even though there is some growth in private industry, full-time hiring with benefits, we're not seeing that happen.
FREELAND: That's exactly right. And one thing about the composition of unemployment right now is, it's a lot of people who've been looking for work for a long time. And one thing that economists really worry about is that long-term unemployed number. Because a lot of studies show if you've been unemployed for more than six months, you become increasingly unlikely to ever get a job again. I think that's really frightening also just from a human perspective.
CHETRY: It is frightening. It is frightening.
And this other interesting in the "Times" today as well, they say the parallels to 1937 are not reassuring. They say that during this time from '33 to '37 we did grow, our economy did grow. And then what happened is that there were spending cuts because of the same concerns, and also a social security tax. And then you see the following year the economy shrinking and there are some who are warning we better learn lessons from this. What's your take?
FREELAND: Well, that's a really important point to bring up. Right? That in the experience of financial crises, it tends not to be a one-act play. It's a multi-act play. And I think at the beginning of this year there was sort of a sigh of relief and a feeling of, oh, it's over, it's safe to go back in the water. Everything is going to be OK. I think people are starting to say, well, you know what? Maybe this is going to be longer term.
What's especially hard is Europe, which is a big part of the world economy, is really struggling after the Greek debt issues. And European governments are saying, we just can't afford to spend to stimulate our economies. That's not just a European problem. That becomes a worldwide problem and paradoxically maybe puts more pressure on the U.S. government to spend a little bit more.
CHETRY: Well, no easy answers but thanks for helping us break it down and get some perspective today. Chrystia Freeland, always great to see you. Thanks.
FREELAND: Good to see you too.
John? ROBERTS: Well, in the wake of a major decision on handguns from the Supreme Court, AMERICAN MORNING is looking at the problem of deadly violence in Chicago's inner city. Part one of our special series "Walk in My Shoes" coming up next.
It's 24 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Top stories just about four minutes away now. But first, an "A.M. Original," something that you'll see only on AMERICAN MORNING.
Reigniting the Second Amendment debate, this week the Supreme Court struck down Chicago's 28th-year old ban on handguns. The case could have a huge impact not only in Chicago but across the nation.
CHETRY: Here at AMERICAN MORNING, we're taking an in-depth look at the deadly violence in inner-city Chicago, starting with a case that shocked the nation. T.J. Holmes joins us live now with part one of his special series, "Walk in My Shoes."
Good morning, T.J.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John and Kiran. Good morning, guys.
Another school year just wrapped up in Chicago. And at the end of this school year, the count -- 31. That's how many school-aged children were killed in Chicago during the school year. Another 200- plus were actually shot during that time period.
Now, it may be nothing new in Chicago for them to deal with this violence day in and day out. But for the nation, everyone was shocked. This all started when we all saw this cell phone video of a young man who was beaten and killed in a brawl. Now there was a lot more to it than you would get from that video. That's what we found when we went to Chicago to speak to some of these kids. We want to warn you though before you see this, that some of the images you are going to see are disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES (voice-over): It shocked the nation. But for 17-year-old Vashion Bullock, this brawl was only a step removed from his every day reality.
(on camera): What happened that day that had you end up in the middle of all of that?
VASHION BULLOCK, FOUGHT IN DEADLY STREET BRAWL: One of the kids threw a rock at my brother's car. So I approached the boys, like why you all throwing rocks and stuff out the cars?
HOLMES (voice-over): For weeks, Vashion says tension was brewing between two rival factions at Chicago's Fenger High School. Fights between the teens were nothing new really, but on this day some kid came with makeshift weapons.
BULLOCK: They brought those weapons to the fight. They picked up bricks and bottles. They picked up bottles and brought them. They ripped the railroad tracks up just to fight.
HOLMES: The video shows a shirtless Vashion with his brother Eugene Riley standing next to him, both empty handed as another teen whacks Vashion with a wooden plank. When the brothers appear again, they're holding planks.
(on camera): So your brother comes over and does what?
BULLOCK: Swung on one of the women. He was fighting women. He had to protect himself and me because I am his little brother.
HOLMES: You're telling me you just -- your brother was simply defending himself and defending you at the time with whatever was around and whatever the other side was using.
BULLOCK: Come on, I got hit in the back of my head. He got hit in the back of his head with a stick.
HOLMES: Now did Derrion, as far as you know, did he ever -- was he ever part of the group that was jumping you?
BULLOCK: I ain't going to say he was fighting me, because I couldn't tell.
HOLMES: So you assumed he was over there trying to swing on you and trying to fight you and your brother?
BULLOCK: No, I ain't assuming. I know for a fact.
HOLMES (voice-over): But authorities have repeatedly said Derrion was nothing more than an innocent bystander on his way home from school caught between two rival groups.
(on camera): So from what you see in that video, what do you see your brother doing to Derrion?
BULLOCK: I see him fight. He hit him with a stick. It was a fight.
HOLMES (voice-over): Derrion was still on the ground when Vashion's brother, Eugene, delivered a final blow.
(on camera): I know he's your brother and I know you love him, but did you think it was necessary to take it that far.
BULLOCK: They brought those weapons to the fight. That's what people are not understanding.
HOLMES: But Derrion was down. Why did you think your brother had to go after and hit this kid who clearly wasn't a threat anymore, at least?
BULLOCK: He was another body, another body with two hands that could have been swinging on anybody.
HOLMES (voice-over): After video of the brawl was released, Vashion's brother, Eugene, was taken into custody, one of five teens charged in the killing of Derrion Albert.
BULLOCK: I'm just saying, like, they should let all them go because it was just a fight. Fights happen daily.
HOLMES (on camera): But you know, for the police and for our justice system, that ain't good enough. Your brother picked up something and hit a kid and the kid died.
BULLOCK: What about the other people that picked up the weapons and hit me? Where are they at?
HOLMES: Don't you think somebody should be held accountable for Derrion's death?
BULLOCK: No, not accountable for the whole thing because it was a mistake. Ain't nobody even wanted him to die. And nobody meant for him to die. We just -- it was a fight. Fights took out of hand. Not intentionally. Just because.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: So it is fascinating to go and talk to those young people. And what we see on the cell phone video, how it is totally a different perspective from them being there. Give you an update. I told you that 31 kids were killed this past school year. Well, compare that to the 49 that were killed last school year.
Now, as far as his brother, Shaun's (ph) brother, he is still in jail right now. He is still waiting. They're in pre-trial of his case right now. They do not have a court date just yet. One other note guys, the stimulus package, the stimulus funds, some of them that went to Chicago are now going to be used for certain mentoring programs that they hope will be able to make some kind of a difference, make some kind of a headway in stopping some of this violence that those guys are doing, those young people, I should say are dealing with every single day.
John, Kiran?
ROBERTS: T.J., thanks so much. Great series. It's amazing to see it from the inside there. Great perspective.
HOLMES: Thanks, guy.
ROBERTS: And tomorrow, we're asking the question, why do teens fight? T.J. sat down to talk with kids in Chicago to ask is it about survival, power or honor and what, if anything, can be done to change this behavior? That's tomorrow right here on the most news in the morning.
CHETRY: 31 minutes past the hour. Time for a look at our top stories. Attorney General Eric Holder makes a surprise trip to Afghanistan. Meeting with both U.S. and Afghan officials in Kabul to talk about improving the nation's justice system and battling corruption. Holder says supporting the rule of law is one of President Obama's top priorities. The trip is the first for an attorney general.
The State Department confirming the United States is accepting help from 12 different countries and international organizations to deal with the gulf oil spill. Now in its 72nd day, Japan is the only country that's been identified so far. Dozens of nations have reportedly offered their assistance. The State Department hasn't said why some offers are being accepted and some rejected.
CHETRY: And Hurricane Alex roaring across the gulf this morning. The storm getting bigger and better defined but sustaining its category 1 strength for now. Winds are hitting 80 miles per hour and landfall is expected some time today near the Texas-Mexico border. The storm's already kicking up 12-foot-high waves and that's forcing oil clean-up boats, skimmers, from Louisiana to Florida to head back to shore.
ROBERTS: For 25 years, Larry King has been a prime time staple here at CNN But this morning, we are nearing the end of an era.
CHETRY: Last night, the legendary TV host announced he is going to be stepping aside from his nightly show in the fall.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": I talked to the guys here at CNN and I told them I'd like to end "Larry King Live," the nightly show, this fall. And CNN has graciously accepted to agree to giving me more time for my wife and I to get to the kids' little league games. Until then, we got more shows to do and who knows what the future is going to bring.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Larry King has been there, always been with us and I'm going to miss you terribly, Larry, because frankly you're one of a kind. I'll miss you, I'll miss your suspenders, I'll miss your voice. I'll miss everything.
KING: I'm not going away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, that's what I want to hear. That's why I called, I want to make sure you're not going away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Well, King said that he will continue to host regular specials for CNN on major national and international subjects.
ROBERTS: Well, a lot of comments coming in to our live blog this morning and on Twitter. Let's take look at just a couple of them. Here's one from Romans 12. I guess Christine is up early this morning says this would be a Twitter. "Wow, Larry I wish you wasn't ending your show. You are the best all-time interviewer in the world. Just like Michael Jordan is to basketball."
CHETRY: That's right. Larry King's interviews will always be remembered for many reasons. CNN won't be the same again without "Larry King Live," that has been the signature talk show of the network. God bless Larry as he starts a new chapter not only for himself but for CNN as well. And a lot of people on twitter as well saying "you're great, we'll miss you and glad you're still going to be on for regular specials."
ROBERTS: 25 years, at least five nights a week. Wow. It's a lot of interviews, almost 50,000 interviews. You can join the conversation going on right now as well at cnn.com/amfix.
Still ahead, a tough road in Afghanistan. The goals, the obstacles and the exit strategy. 34 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Developing story right now. The intensifying situation in Afghanistan. General David Petraeus is sailing toward a full confirmation as the top commander but there is still plenty of debate about Afghan policy. The biggest being the July 2011 deadline for troop withdrawal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, U.S. CENTCOM COMMANDER: It is important to note the president's reminder in recent days that July 2011 will mark the beginning of a process, not the date when the U.S. heads for the exits and turns out the lights. As he explained this past Sunday in fact, we'll need to provide assistance to Afghanistan for a long time to come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, this morning's attack on the Jalalibad airport by Taliban insurgents only underscores the difficulties there. NATO says that troops killed at least eight insurgents but the fighting continues.
And joining us to talk to about this in Washington, Brett McGurk from the Council on Foreign Relations, also a former senior advisor to the National Security Council. Great to have you with us this morning.
BRETT MCGURK, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Thank you.
CHETRY: So, we have with us our own CNN Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. Barbara, great to have you as well. So we're talking about the challenges and of course, yesterday really when General Petraeus was testifying there was a lot of emphasis on this July 2011 deadline for troop withdrawal.
And Brett, let me ask you, Petraeus says it has to be based on conditions on the ground but do we have a clear idea what the goals are, what conditions would be acceptable for beginning to withdraw? MCGURK: Well, the conditions are basically that you have a local security structure that can allow us to pull back, slowly, deliberately, responsibly. Those local security structures can hold the lines so you don't have a massive Taliban-type sanctuary. And we're talking a lot of time here, July is still a year away.
And if you look at the Iraq parallel, we drew out the first surge brigade beginning in December of 2007, and that was less than a year after -- less than a year after President Bush even announced the surge policy. So overall, we are talking about an 18-month surge here and you know, General Petraeus is pretty clear yesterday.
I think that's now our policy. We're going to be trying to set conditions, July will be the start of a process and the slope -- it's not a waterfall, it's a slope to begin to pull out some of those surge forces. But we're going to have to see how steep the slope is.
CHETRY: And Barbara, this is a nine-year conflict now. You got close to 100,000 troops in Afghanistan. And June, unfortunately, has been the deadliest month for NATO forces in Afghanistan. Is there a clear picture emerging of what goals need to be met moving forward militarily?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, they are looking to try, as Brett said, to establish security in key areas and the focus now, of course, Kiran, is on southern Afghanistan. One of General Petraeus' most immediate moves once he hits the ground in Afghanistan is to get that offensive in to Kandahar moving.
Everyone is poised to get the troops in there, try and clear out the Taliban, establish economic assistance, economic aid. But, it is going to be very tough fighting. Already this month, the worst month in terms of casualties for the coalition. More than 100 troops have lost their lives.
And just for the United States alone, 400 U.S. troops have been wounded in the fight this month. It's not going to get any better any time soon.
CHETRY: And so that also brings up the question, Brett, of the latest audit about the ability of the Afghan fighting forces. Did not look to be very heartening. They talked about a lot of problems with lack of preparation, desertion, drug addiction. How does that all suddenly get turned around in 18 months?
MCGURK: Oh yes, there are problems. There are problems all over the place. Let's remember one of the reasons why. We left this part of the world in 1989 and we didn't even come back at all until after 9/11. Afghanistan was a totally failed state. So building up security institutions and an army from that starting point is going to take an extremely long time.
It's not going to take a year, it is not going to take two years. We are talking about a generational challenge here but we have to get our position in place which is sustainable. A surge is not sustainable over the long term. What the surge is designed to do is build a bridge. You're enhancing the capacity of your local actor which then allows us to start to pull back so the local forces can hold the line.
Again, start to pull back. That's what the surge was in Iraq. It was a bridge which allowed our forces then to pull back, for Iraqis to hold the line which is happening now. Our forces are coming out quite rapidly.
CHETRY: Right.
MCGURK: So that's what we're going to be trying to do. And again, a year is a long time. It's going to be tough though. We still have 10,000 more U.S. troops to get in place. There's going to be operations throughout the summer. It is going to be tough. As Petraeus said, it will get harder before it gets easier. We have to now let him go fight the war.
CHETRY: And Barbara, let me ask you about that. Some of the reporting that I've been reading about, when you talk to the troops they are saying that there's not really -- the troops are facing people, villagers in these areas who simply don't believe what they're saying, that, you know, help us build this school. They're afraid that the United States will leave and then the Taliban will come in and punish them.
How do you deal with that challenge of them simply not believing that the United States or the coalition forces are going to emerge the victors in this battle?
STARR: Well, it is the key challenge, isn't it? That's the problem with that 2011 date on the calendar. Many people will tell you, that we're telling -- that the United States is telling the Taliban, hey, you know, just hang on, we'll start packing up in July 2011. That's why General Petraeus is trying to be so firm that he's not turning out the lights and heading for the exits because he has to convince the people that the U.S. is really into this for the long term, that the U.S. is really committed to stay.
But let me also follow up on that issue of the Afghan security forces. That's not a problem in a vacuum. That is central, that is the bottom line for the Obama administration because the only way U.S. troops are coming home from Afghanistan in a responsible fashion, people will tell you, is if those Afghan forces can get trained and take over. Kiran?
CHETRY: All right. Brett McGurk, as well as Barbara Starr, great to talk to both of you this morning. Appreciate it.
MCGURK: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Obesity rates are shooting up in 28 states. With all this emphasis on healthy eating, diet, fitness, why are those rates going up and which states are successfully fighting the epidemic? Dr. Sanjay Gupta coming right up with information on that.
And we've got a cold front coming in which is going to give some welcome relief to some of the northern states that have been just sweltering in the last little while. But look at this, in the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Alex churning. Where is it headed? We're following the forecast track for you. Jacqui Jeras has got all that coming for you.
Forty-four minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Coming up now on 47 minutes after the hour. Jacqui Jeras is tracking the forecast for us with all eyes on Alex this morning.
Now, we actually, Jacqui, a moment ago thought we're going to have a picture from South Padre Island, but the wind there is up and the satellite truck keeps going down, so no picture this morning.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. We've been getting gusts well beyond 30 miles per hour, even pushing 40 at times as the storm really slowly makes its way toward the Texas coast. This is really kind of a long lashing today because of slow forward speed. In fact, the storm has only moved 10 miles closer to Brownsville in the last three hours. So this thing is just crawling along.
We just got the 8:00 advisory in a little bit early and the winds are the same at 80 miles per hour. But the pressure has dropped consecutively in the last two advisories, so usually when we see that happen, the wind speed then correspondingly will increase and we haven't seen that just yet. So we'll have to wait and see what happens in the next couple of hours. But I've got to think we're going to see a little bit more intensification. See those winds become a little bit stronger.
Now, you can see, by the way, take a look at this -- this is the eye of the hurricane now, showing up on our radar picture right there. And you can see it's moving in that west-northwesterly direction. Look at squall lines now as they move across the northern parts of Mexico, all across the Texas coast and, really, across the entire Gulf of Mexico. It's a really large storm, and that wind field expands out about 200 miles from the center of the storm.
Here's the latest track, and it does continue to show that those wind speeds will increase even up to a category 2, probably, before landfall. We think that will happen later on tonight or maybe real early tomorrow morning. But, again, Texas is going to be feeling those tropical storm-force winds certainly by this afternoon.
Other weather happenings across the U.S. is that we have the stationary boundary down here, so all of the Gulf Coast states not just impacted by Alex but also by that front, triggering showers and thunderstorms. So if you're traveling today, we're looking at delays from Houston to Dallas to New Orleans. Most of the Florida airports could see delays because of thunderstorms, as well as Atlanta, and then maybe into the Charlotte area.
Northern tier of the U.S. looking just gorgeous. High pressure is in place. That cold front has swept through, so much more pleasant temperatures, 80 degrees today in New York and 82 degrees in Washington, D.C.
Kiran and John, back to you. Enjoy the day.
CHETRY: We will. Thanks, Jacqui.
Well, still ahead on the Most News in the Morning, our top stories minutes away, including she's a real-life Bond Girl, femme fatale, one of the accused Russian spies hiding in plain sight in the U.S. for years. More on who they were and who we thought they were.
ROBERTS: A city that lived by the car may survive by literally going green, planting seeds in all those abandoned lots. One teenager's answer to saving Detroit and why it just might work.
CHETRY: And it truly is the end of an era. The microphone, the voice, the suspenders. Some of the best of the King as he gets ready to say good-bye.
Those stories and much more at the top of the hour.
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CHETRY: Phil (ph) can't be stopped. He can't be tamed.
ROBERTS: He's peripatetic, Phil Perniss (ph).
CHETRY: Fifty-two minutes past the hour.
ROBERTS: Goodness (ph).
CHETRY: Welcome to the Most News in the Morning. It's time for your "A.M. House Call", stories about your health, and there's new evidence suggesting that America is losing the fight to keep a healthy weight.
ROBERTS: Yes, the battle of the bulge. Adult obesity rates shot up in 28 states over the past year.
Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is in Atlanta to break it all down for us. And we know the federal government, Sanjay, is paying attention. There are obesity provisions built into the new health care --
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.
ROBERTS: -- reform law, White House and First Lady crusading against childhood obesity. So, are people just not getting message here? Where's the disconnect?
GUPTA: You know, it's funny, I -- since I've been a reporter here at CNN, we've been talking about this issue in some way or another. And I think more people than ever are getting the message and you're seeing some payoffs. But, as you point out, if you look at the numbers across the country, they're still very much heading in the wrong direction. One of the things that people pay attention to I think more than anything else, especially at the national level, has to do with the cost. And I think when you look at some of these numbers, Kiran and John, these numbers are quite staggering in terms of what this costs overall. I mean, if you look at cost of obesity overall, as things stand now, about $147 billion a year. You break that down specifically in childhood obesity, just per year, $14 billion associated with chronic disease associated with childhood obesity.
What's projected to happen over the next eight years -- just in eight years, not even a decade -- $344 billion will be the cost of taking care of diseases associated with obesity, and specifically if you want to break that down overall into health care expenditures as a country, almost a quarter, 21 percent of total medical cost used to treat this sort of diseases, $144 billion a year now.
Just to give you some scale of reference, to take care of all cancers out there, the diagnosis and the treatment of cancers is about $104 billion. So this has surpassed that as things stand right now.
People are paying attention. You're starting to see more incentives for people to stay healthier, both at the national and the state level, and you're seeing about three-quarters of people who say they get the message. About a quarter of people simply don't seem to respond at all. They're not changing their diet. They're not changing their -- their activity levels at all based on all the messaging that's out there.
Now, there are significant racial, ethnic, geographical differences that simply make it harder for people living in some areas, some backgrounds, to try and get access to healthy foods and to -- to places where they can be active. But still, I mean, think about that, a quarter of all health care costs due to this somewhat preventable problem.
CHETRY: Yes. And, you know, it is a complex issue because, I mean, there -- we've dealt with poverty, we've dealt with, you know, all of that before. But we're still seeing this spike, it seems, and I know they're spending a lot of money on it. What did they point to any type of initiative that actually seems to be working and making a dent in this?
GUPTA: Right. You know, with -- with regard to many of the things that we talked about, Kiran, over the last year in health care reform, you know, looking at some of the incentive programs, admittedly that's going to take some time to actually see the effects of that.
But one place that actually did decrease its obesity rates this year, as compared to last year, was Washington, D.C. And what was surprising to me when we talked to these folks was that some of the simplest measures seem to have an impact.
For example, take a look at some of these things. Doing things like simply adding more bike lanes, creating wider walking paths, adding more parks. They have this big renovation project where they added more parks. They opened rec centers, free nutrition classes. It's amazing how high the health illiteracy rate is when it comes to nutrition specifically.
And also in schools, specifically, starting mandatory health classes. I -- I don't know if you had health classes when you were in school, but mandatory health classes, mandatory Physical Ed classes. We know a lot of schools have cut those programs back.
School lunch overhaul. I mean, so many school lunch programs simply did not help with the childhood obesity problems, and nutritional standards across the board become stricter.
So that, at least in D.C., seems to have made a difference if you sort of take that in aggregate. It's hard to assign any one of those things as the biggest sort of benefit, but, you know, if you look at those things, they're not complicated things and they've made a difference in a state -- in a place, I should say, Washington, D.C., that had a significant problem.
ROBERTS: You know, I remember when I was at school, we had health class, but we never talked about nutrition. We just -- we ate fairly healthy. School lunches were pretty healthy. And we just got outside a lot and we didn't sit around on the couch playing video games.
GUPTA: Right.
ROBERTS: And there were hardly any overweight kids in our school. I mean, look at you, you're a shining example. You just got to get out there and exercise, right?
GUPTA: You do have to exercise. There's no question. But -- but I tell you, it's funny. My kids are in school now as well. I had a health class just like you, but they're actually learning how to cook. They're learning that food comes from the ground --
CHETRY: Right.
GUPTA: -- not just in the grocery store. And -- and a lot of people just simply don't get that message. Once -- once you start getting simple messages like that at a pretty young age, you can see some -- some of the benefits of that.
CHETRY: Right. You know, and I've never been a huge fan of, you know, what people say the nanny state or the government telling you how to eat. But if you look at what is in these processed foods and -- and most of the time that's the cheapest food out there, it's ridiculous. It's -- far more salt and far more fat than anybody should be consuming on a daily basis, and it's already in the can.
GUPTA: No question. And, you know what's interesting is that when you talk about some of these racial, ethnic and socioeconomic differences, go to McDonald's and feeding a family of five for $20. You get a lot of calories for $20. It's a pretty good bargain if you're living near the poverty line. So, you know, is the real question trying to make healthier foods that we're talking about here cheaper instead of, you know, simply getting rid of those foods, you know, trying to make those other foods more accessible. It's easier to get handguns in some places in Chicago, people tell me --
ROBERTS: Yes.
GUPTA: -- than it is to get a fresh tomato. So that's a problem (ph).
ROBERTS: I know when I was a kid we used -- we used to stay lean running from the dinosaurs, so that always helped, too.
Sanjay Gupta this morning. Sanjay, thanks so much.
GUPTA: Goodbye, guys.
ROBERTS: Top stories coming your way right after the break. Stay with us.
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