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American Morning
U.S.-Russia Negotiating Spy Swap Deal?; Northeast Heat Wave Continues: Demand for Power a Concern; Two Tourists Still Missing on Philly Duck Boat Crash; Google's Tough Break; "This Wasn't God's Plan"; Decision Day for LeBron; Fly-By-Night Success
Aired July 08, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Thursday morning to you. And thanks so much for joining us on the Most News in the Morning. It's the 8th of July. I'm John Roberts.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kate Bolduan. Obviously, that means Kiran Chetry is off today.
ROBERTS: Good to have you with us this morning.
BOLDUAN: Thanks, John. It's great to be here, again.
ROBERTS: Always good to have you around.
BOLDUAN: I brought even more warm weather just for you.
ROBERTS: Well, it's actually a little cooler today than it was previously.
BOLDUAN: All attributed to --
ROBERTS: So if it's the warm weather that you brought isn't as warm as it was, we're thankful.
BOLDUAN: Right. It's all relative right now, huh?
ROBERTS: Yes.
BOLDUAN: Oh, goodness. So there is a lot to talk about this morning, so let's get right to it.
A spy swap cold-war style in the works right now. Russia and America reportedly trying to hammer out a deal. Your prisoners for ours. A lot has been happening with this story since you went to sleep. All the late-breaking intrigues right ahead.
ROBERTS: A relentless heat wave gripping the northeast just refusing to let go, soaring along with the temperatures, the demand for electricity and that has raised fears that the power grid may not hold. A live report on that just ahead.
BOLDUAN: And decision day for LeBron James. King James reveals his next move tonight in a live prime time TV event. Will he stay in Cleveland or will LeBron have a new NBA address in Miami, Chicago, New York, New Jersey? We just don't know and we want to know, John.
And the amFIX blog is up and running. Join the live conversation right now. Just go to CNN.com/amFIX.
ROBERTS: Some intrigue to spice things up this morning. The United States and Russia behind closed doors right now, hammering out an old- fashioned cold-war style spy swap. It's been decades since we've seen anything like this. Ten suspected sleeper spies rounded up last week by the Feds, including one fetching femme fatale, all reportedly being hustled to Manhattan this morning. They could be out of the country in just a matter of hours.
Our senior international correspondent Matthew Chance is live in Moscow this morning. He's our international man of mystery and intrigue. A lot of moving parts to this story right now, Matthew. What's going on there in Moscow?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's certainly, John, a lot of mystery and intrigue. I'm not sure we're ever going to really get advance notice about whether this spy swap deal is going to come off, but certainly that's what the speculation is. And Moscow is rife with rumors at the moment that there is this deal in the offing to swap those 10 accused spies accused of being involved in that spying in the U.S. to swap them for people who are already in jail in Russia for spying for the United States and for Britain and for other countries over the course of the next 24 hours or so.
Nothing is being confirmed, John, at the moment either by the Kremlin or by the White House or anybody in the Justice Department in the U.S. But again, we are expecting that something could happen, if you believe the rumors.
ROBERTS: You know, if we look back at the history of cold war spy swaps, some of them have been very public. The very last one involving Natan Sharansky was very public along the bridge in Berlin. Do you expect that we'll see a public swapping? And who is this person that the Russians are willing to trade for the 10 spies who are being held here?
CHANCE: Well, I don't think it's going to be as dramatic as the Sharansky swap across the bridge. I think what's being talked about according to the guy who floated this rumor in the first place, who was convicted in 2004 of spying for the CIA here in Russia, he's saying that he's been told he's going to be taken to Vienna, the capital of Austria, where the actual swap will take place. And then moved on to the United Kingdom. It's not quite clear why Britain has been put in the mix in the way that it has.
This guy, his name is Igor Sutyagin. He's a nuclear physicist, a researcher at -- he was a researcher at an institute here in Moscow, and he was, again, convicted in 2004, sentenced to 15 years for passing nuclear secrets to a company which was a British registry company, in fact, which is believed to be a front for the CIA. He's always said he never carried out any spying. He denies being a spy for the United States. But he was convicted of passing those nuclear secrets. And he said that he's been made to sign a confession of his guilt as one of the terms of this spy swap which he said is going to go ahead today.
ROBERTS: All right. We'll be keeping an eye on all of this. Matthew Chance for us this morning in Moscow. Matthew, thanks.
BOLDUAN: Now, to the blistering heat wave that continues to grip much of the northeast. There may be some relief today from scorching temperatures but not much.
ROBERTS: We've had days of record-breaking triple-digit heat putting a strain on the power grid, the water supply, people's tempers and frustrations as well. Utilities up and down the East Coast are pleading with the public to conserve energy and water.
Our Jason Carroll is following that part of the story. He's live outside the Time Warner Center here in New York City.
How's it feeling this morning, Jason? As warm as it was yesterday?
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not as warm as it was yesterday. It feels a little bit cool today. I don't know if you felt it when you came in this morning. But we do have a bit of news for you, coming from the state of Maryland, where there was a heat- related death reported there. The governor urging people there to take whatever steps necessary to stay cool.
Meanwhile, here in New York City, we checked in with Con Edison. We had some time, spent some time at their command center and saw the steps that they're taking to try to stay, keep the power on.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (voice-over): Day four of the Northeast heat wave brought some lower temperatures but not low enough in Boston.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One thing about guys, people from South View (ph), we're not that bunch of wimps. You know, I mean, we'll take it.
CARROLL: Record highs in several eastern cities, including Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware. Record sales of air conditioners in many New York City stores.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, they're going as fast as they're coming in.
CARROLL: The city's pools filling to capacity.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's refreshing, it's cool. And it's keeping us from passing out in the sun.
CARROLL: Demand for power, a concern in New York where Con Edison has been running its emergency response center since Tuesday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Below it is 12,525 megawatts. CARROLL: Inside their war room, various departments work together to prevent blackouts.
(on camera): As you take a look around the room, you can see that the center is broken up into different sections. You've got logistics back here. You've got customer service right here next to me. Back over there, you have gas and steam. We're told that the center will stay open until the temperatures are back to normal.
JOHN MIKSAD, CON EDISON: All the analysis is happening right over here.
CARROLL: John Miksad oversees the entire operation.
MIKSAD: I look at this for us as round two. I think this might be the last round of these fight.
CARROLL (on camera): You're using all of these fight references, so what --
MIKSAD: It is a fight.
CARROLL: So are you on defense at this point? Are you on offense? Where are you?
MIKSAD: That's a really good question. I think right now we're on offense.
CARROLL (voice-over): Some 5,700 customers are without power in New York City. Majority of the system is holding. Thanks in part to the city's large office buildings and businesses heeding calls to help by reducing energy consumption. Yet the center's numbers show demand is still high.
MIKSAD: 12,491 megawatts of demand.
CARROLL (on camera): Translate that. What does that mean?
MIKSAD: That's 12,500 million watts. So one megawatt is enough to light a thousand homes.
CARROLL: Does that make you nervous?
MIKSAD: It does make me nervous. Yes.
CARROLL (voice-over): The operation here will run 24 hours a day until temperatures and demand begin to drop.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: And again, John, some cooler temperatures today. That should definitely help ease demand in some ways. But those folks there at the command center that you saw will be working in 12-hour shifts every day until things are back to normal.
BOLDUAN: But, Jason, yesterday, you profiled a couple here in New York who had a really tough story.
CARROLL: Oh, yes.
BOLDUAN: Really suffering through the heat in their apartment. A bit of good news this morning, you have an update?
CARROLL: That is true. That's a very good point. Alfred Roblero, we found him. He lives like thousands of people do without air conditioning. He lives on the sixth floor. We did a story where we profiled him. He basically can't afford an air conditioner because he's using the money to put his daughter through school.
And a good Samaritan saw the story. Heard about it on CNN, e- mailed CNN, said I want to help, I want to do something. Alfred got not one, but two air conditioners. And our cameras were there when it all went down and happened. And here was Alfred's reaction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALFRED ROBLERO: Yes, he's a good Samaritan, you know. Thank God for him because not everybody takes that chance. You know, think about another person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: So it was good to see Alfred there get the air conditioner he needed. Of course, it is a reminder, though, of the thousands of people who live every day in cities like New York, Boston, Baltimore, living without air conditioning and doing what they can to try and stay cool -- Kate.
BOLDUAN: Absolutely tough.
ROBERTS: I knew when we saw that story yesterday we could get him and his wife some help. Because she's confined to the apartment, right? She's too ill to just sit or walk up.
BOLDUAN: You couldn't go down the stairs.
ROBERTS: So she can't go down the stairs, right?
CARROLL: That is correct. Very typical for them to make it out to a cooling center. And it makes you think about all the people who are shut-ins who can't get out to cooling centers to cooler places to try to get some relief from the heat.
ROBERTS: Yes. Days like this it's when everybody needs to pitch in. If you know somebody who's in dire straits, help them out.
CARROLL: Absolutely.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
CARROLL: Good point.
ROBERTS: Jason -- BOLDUAN: So put something on the amFIX blog.
ROBERTS: There you go. Jason did it and it got results. Jason, thanks so much. Good job,
CARROLL: All right.
BOLDUAN: So is there an end in sight to the oppressive heat? Do you have the answer, sir?
ROBERTS: No, I don't, but I know somebody who probably does. Rob Marciano who's in the extreme weather center in Atlanta this morning. Good morning, Rob.
BOLDUAN: Hi, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys. It's a couple degrees cooler today. Yes, 78 degrees right now in New York. 81 degrees in D.C., which any other day would seem stiflingly hot for 6:08 in the morning, but compared to yesterday, it is a couple degrees cooler. So that's the good news.
We did see record highs up and over the 100-degree mark in many spots. Richmond, Virginia, 104; Philly, 103; and Baltimore, Maryland seeing 101. And yes, the hot air is beginning to moderate just a little bit but it's also sinking a little bit farther to the south. And that's where we're seeing the heat I think today and later on tomorrow as well. But they'll still be in the 90s or at least the upper 80s across much of the northeast over the next 12, 24 hours. Eighty-seven degrees the expected high temperature in New York, and 93 still in D.C. We're not going to see temperatures into the 70s or 60s for as many weeks to come. So a moderate cooldown, but I think you'll take it.
We'll talk more about tropical depression number two in about a half an hour. Two hundred miles off the coastline of Brownsville, Texas. Will it strengthen? Details coming up, guys.
ROBERTS: All right, Rob. Thanks so much. Looking forward to that.
Developing story to tell you about this morning. Norwegian police say three people have been arrested, suspected of plotting a terror attack for Al Qaeda. There are reports that the attack would have been similar to those that were planned in New York City and the one that was carried out in London. Security police say the arrests are part of a long, ongoing investigation that included surveillance of the group. We're continuing to track developments on this. We'll bring you the latest just as soon as we have it.
And still no sign this morning of a teenaged girl and another young tourist who disappeared in a boat crash in Philadelphia. We're going to talk to the Coast Guard about any hope of finding them alive and what they've learned about the cause of the crash. Coming up.
It's ten-and-a-half minutes after the hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Thirteen minutes after the hour. New developments to tell you about this morning involving a tour boat crash in Philadelphia. Two people still missing there. The National Transportation Safety Board investigators are expected to arrive in Philly this morning. A barge hit the sightseeing duck boat yesterday as it was sitting in the water stalled. Everyone was dumped overboard. The boat sank to the bottom of the Delaware River.
BOLDUAN: And 37 passengers and crew members are safe, but no sight of a teenaged girl and a 20-year-old man. For the latest on the search, we're going to bring in Lieutenant Commander Mathew Fine with the Coast Guard.
Thank you so much, Lieutenant Commander, for joining us by phone this morning. Good morning to you.
LT. CMDR. MATHEW FINE, COAST GUARD (via telephone): Good morning to you.
BOLDUAN: So real quickly, the Coast Guard clearly has been searching through the night or was going to be picking up the search this morning. What is the latest on the search efforts for this missing man and a teenaged girl?
FINE: Correct. We had at least two vessels out yesterday evening along with our pro partners. We did search throughout the evening. No new news has been seen on the search area. We continue to search. We'll have more vessels out this morning. It is an active search. We are still looking for survivors.
ROBERTS: Lieutenant Commander, I know that you located the vessel on the bottom of the river using sonar, put some divers down there. Do you have any idea whether or not the two missing people might actually still be trapped inside that vessel?
FINE: There's no information on that. The Army Corps was able to locate it with their sonar. The divers did go down. They were not able to find anything there, but they did not physically entered it. That's ongoing so no new information on that.
ROBERTS: And visibility is pretty horrible down there, isn't it?
FINE: It is. It's down to less than a couple feet. So it's what they consider a black water dive so it's tough when they go down there.
BOLDUAN: In terms of investigating the incident, the NTSB is now getting involved. We know getting to know a little bit more about mechanical problems, of course, and the fire that forced the duck boat to stop. But do we know yet more about how the barge came back to collide with the duck boat?
FINE: Yes. It's still ongoing with the (INAUDIBLE). They came in last -- yesterday evening and took over the investigation. We're obviously supporting them in every way, giving them all the information we have. But it's not clear right now what series of events occurred to cause the collision just that there was an accident around 2:39, 2:40 yesterday Eastern Time.
ROBERTS: Yes, Lieutenant Commander, the duck boat had been sitting there disabled in the river for about 10 minutes' time. As far as we know, it had communications. Do you have any idea if some sort of call went out to other vessels on the river that, hey, there's a disabled vessel on the river and everybody should be on the lookout for that?
FINE: There's been some talks of calls going out on channel 16, which is the hail and distress channel. We review our records. We did not have anything that identified the vessel as being distressed at that time. However, there was a call at the same time that sounded like confusion. But, again, it didn't come out where it identified the vessel or we're in distress or anything like that.
But we're trying to review all the records we have. As of right now, we do not have anything in the form of an emergency call coming from that vessel at that time.
ROBERTS: You know, that would certainly explain why there were no police boats or Coast Guard boats around it.
Lieutenant Commander Matthew Fine, thanks for joining us this morning with an update. Appreciate it.
FINE: Great. Thank you.
ROBERTS: So Google, the king of search engines, but when it comes to branching out, the internet giant has been having a little bit of bad luck. Things aren't going as well for this search engine has. Christine Romans here with a preview. What's Google up to?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting. A company that's had 40 percent annual sales growth, I mean, amazing dominance in search engines over the past two years, right? But the stock is down 30 percent as their, hey, the founders have lost $5 billion on paper, and if you own the stocks, you've lost -- you've lost a pretty penny this year too.
I'll tell you why and whether they can do to turn it around right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: Hey, hey, hey. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's a good morning so far.
ROBERTS: So far, yes. And with 20 minutes into it, nothing's blown up.
BOLDUAN: That's fine with me. I'm happy with that. Speaking of blow -- I'm just kidding. Christine Romans -- ROMANS: It was at 87, I was -- when I was driving in, it was only 87 degrees at 4:52 this morning which is such an improvement from yesterday --
BOLDUAN: I know.
ROMANS: -- when it was already 90.
BOLDUAN: I put on a sweater.
ROMANS: I know. Exactly. I -- I know. I had to warm up for the morning.
I want to talk about the Stock Market yesterday, an amazing rally yesterday. I'm still, in fact, trying to figure out whether the computerized trading behind some of these rallies in the Stock Market and Google shares went up yesterday after being down for 13 days in the row. I mean if you own the stock, you've noticed it's down about 30 percent this year. It's lost some billions of dollars in market value.
How could that be for a company that for the past five years has had growth of some 40 percent in sales? Probably it's going to have growth of 20 or 25 percent this year. It dominates, what it does. I mean, "Google" is a verb for crying out loud.
But something is happening here in Google and my colleague (INAUDIBLE) money.com says Google is not feeling very lucky. A couple of things here. Google Buzz supposed to be the Facebook killer. Facebook isn't dead. It had a phone store debacle. And these troubles in -- in China, the world's largest search engine many investors are saying it's not going to have a good foothold in the world's largest internet market.
And so maybe to make you fell a little less for yourself, we thought we'd tell you how the stock toll has taken -- the tool has taken on the -- the wealth of the founders and executives of that company. Look at how much money this year. Larry Page has lost $5 billion on paper. It must be nice to lose $5 billion on paper, you know? You know, there's a lot --
ROBERTS: It must be nice to be able to lose that.
ROMANS: That's what I mean. Because that means you have a heck of a lot more where that came from. I'm sure.
Sergey Brin, another 5 billion and Eric Schmidt, the CEO, 1.7 billion.
But the bottom line here is, can Google do anything besides be just Google, the biggest, most powerful search engine in the world? Can they diversify? Its attempts to diversify so far have been a little bit disappointing. It does what it does.
ROBERTS: (INAUDIBLE).
ROMANS: Well, that's a funny thing. Growth investors monitor --
ROBERTS: So if you --
ROMANS: -- hey, what's the next big thing? And they get --
ROBERTS: But if you have the ability to lose $5 billion, why the need to diversify?
ROMANS: Some people are saying that, you know --
ROBERTS: How much do you need? I guess that's what I'm asking.
ROMANS: That's -- the Wall Street is -- investors are too pessimistic on this. They rode this -- they rode this wave for this company for the past five years and have their --
ROBERTS: Do you need a rubber suit?
ROMANS: I do. Thirty-eight hundred a second, this one actually I know you guys are going to get.
ROBERTS: That -- that's how much money they -- they're losing.
ROMANS: They kind of losing more than 3,800 a second. It is how many times people Google, 3,800 times a second.
BOLDUAN: Really?
ROMANS: Yes. 329,000 Google searches a day in May, they are -- I mean, Google is it and stocks are down 30 percent and a lot of people are just looking at it and why is that. Why is that that investors can be board with something that is so powerful?
BOLDUAN: When your name becomes its own verb --
ROMANS: Right.
BOLDUAN: -- you know that.
ROMANS: Exactly.
ROBERTS: It is (ph) connected with attention deficit that sort of this country suffers from --
ROMANS: Yes. Investors do. Well --
ROBERTS: Well, thank you for that news. Thank you for that news about the Google this morning.
ROMANS: The Google, yes, exactly.
BOLDUAN: Yes, the internets.
ROMANS: On the worldwide interweb.
ROBERTS: Poor guy is not going to live that down, isn't it? Thanks, Christine.
Will BP actually have its next plan to plug the huge oil leak already ahead of schedule? The company boss says maybe. We'll explain and look at some of the reasons behind the word game, because other people are saying, well, it's maybe unlikely.
It's 23 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BOLDUAN: Welcome back. Welcome back, John.
ROBERTS: Welcome back to you, too.
BOLDUAN: Here's to what (ph) to the Most News in the Morning. The largest oil spill in American history now into its -- if you can believe it, 80th day down in the gulf. And this morning, BP is reportedly hinting that its latest fix, two relief wells, could be ready before mid-August. The Wall Street Journal quoting a BP boss saying in a perfect world it will be ready between July 20th and 27th, but adding that, quote, unlikely.
ROBERTS: So why those two dates, the 20th and the 27th? Well, possibly because as the report points out, British Prime Minister David Cameron meets with President Obama in D.C. on the 20th. And BP desperate to prove that it has this disaster financially in check is expected to release second quarter earnings numbers. That will come on the 27th.
BOLDUAN: Meanwhile, the fight over President Obama's deepwater drilling ban is back in New Orleans courtroom today. The judge overseeing Hornbeck versus Salazar will begin to hear oral arguments.
ROBERTS: And that weather system that we've been eyeing in the tropics now a tropical depression. The National Hurricane Center says it could become tropical storm Bonnie today, likely making landfall today along the Coast of Texas or Mexico.
After some families in the region, the only thing helping get them through this disaster is their faith. Our Brooke Baldwin talks to some people who are looking for guidance from a much higher power than BP.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VANASA BARTHOLOMEW, BARATARIA BAY RESIDENT: I think a lot of people is not praying like they should pray.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Born on the bayou, this Louisianan calls upon her faith to survive this massive spill.
BARTHOLOMEW: God is really testing us to see how strong if we're really getting to get to God or unless, you know, it destroys.
BALDWIN: Vanasa Bartholomew is one of many in these oil-soaked communities who this group wants to talk to. They're religious leaders of multiple denominations who come from across the country to witness the damage firsthand. The trip sponsored by the Sierra Club.
JIM WALLIS, CEO, SOJOURNERS: Now, this isn't god's plan. It's human quality, human sinfulness, human greed, and it --and it's wrong.
BALDWIN: Jim Wallis, CEO of Sojourners in Washington isn't playing politics here. He says this is a moral issue. Wallis is praying for an epiphany starting with our nation weaning itself up of oil.
WALLIS: Epiphany is a religious term for -- for waking up, you know? Something hits us and we feel something we've never seen before and some -- it's all new now, it's like conversion. If this doesn't lead to a conversion or epiphany, then all of the suffering and the pain that we're seeing will be in vain.
BALDWIN: The pain is evident within these tight gulf communities. Tom Constanza says he sees it every day as he works with the archdiocese of New Orleans.
TOM CONSTANZA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CATHOLIC CHARITIES: They have been questions of there are substance abuse. These are issues of -- family issues we have to be very aware of the family unit and keep it together.
BALDWIN: Constanza's concern is for the fishermen's families. If they're lucky, feeding their children like these men by doing clean-up, but their boss is BP. That is if they're working at all. But at the same time, this man of faith insists Louisianans are resilient.
CONSTANZA: You know, they're pulling together. It is hard on them and it's --
BALDWIN (on camera): I mean, Katrina was just five years ago. Aren't people saying, why? Again?
CONSTANZA: You know, it's this -- it's the strength and the testament of these people. They're going to come back. They -- there's no doubt about that.
BALDWIN (voice-over): And according to this rabbi, they're going to come back with the spiritual strength of the entire nation.
JULIE SCHONFELD, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, RABBINICAL ASSEMBLY: Ultimately, the issue rests not with the people of the gulf alone, it rests not with BP alone, it rests not with our government and administration alone. It rests with people of conscience saying we are busy, we lead lives of great stress, but I will give my attention here.
BALDWIN: Attention this woman would welcome despite doubts from those who don't believe.
BALDWIN (on camera): Do you understand why some people say this is a man-made disaster --
BARTHOLOMEW: Right.
BALDWIN: -- and God has nothing to do with it?
BARTHOLOMEW: Right.
BALDWIN: God can't fix it, man needs to fix it?
BARTHOLOMEW: Right.
BALDWIN: What do you say to those people?
BARTHOLOMEW: But, you know, God gives the man wisdom to do what they have to do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Brooke Baldwin reporting for us this morning.
Half past the hour now -- crossing the half hour. Yes, because it's 10 past the hour. This is one of those mornings where you just --
BOLDUAN: Here we go.
ROBERTS: -- can't wait. Smack me upside the head with something, will you? Wake me up?
BOLDUAN: Hey.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: That's just an invitation that's too tempting to pass up.
OK. This morning's top stories, United States and Russia are trying to cleanup a messy scandal, working on a deal to swap spies. Ten suspects rounded up in America last week could be out of the country sometime today. While in Russia, the family of a jailed scientist convicted of spying for America says he has been released and may soon be headed for Vienna.
BOLDUAN: And another red, hot day in the Northeast, with literally from a sweltering heat wave that just won't quick. It's blamed for at least two deaths. And the record-breaking temperatures are putting a big strain on the power grid. Utility companies are urging people to conserve electricity, which is tough.
ROBERTS: Norwegian police say three people have been arrested, suspected of plotting a terror attack for al Qaeda. CNN has confirmed the attack is related to the thwarted attack on New York City's subway system last fall. And the other successful in London back in 2005. The suspects were under surveillance for several months and were taken into custody with the help of the U.S. intelligence.
And on a much more important story --
ROBERTS: This is it!
BOLDUAN: -- it's decision day for LeBron James. We are just 14 1/2 hours away. Set your counters for the big announcement. King James will reveal on primetime TV which NBA team he'll be playing for next season.
ROBERTS: Could he be part of the dream team in Miami? Or does LeBron want a bite of the Big Apple? Or will he stay at home in Cleveland? So, which city is fit for a king?
CNN's Mary Snow on the LeBron watch for us this morning.
Good morning, Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Kate.
So many rumors out there, LeBron James will reportedly make that announcement tonight from Greenwich, Connecticut, from the Boys and Girls Club.
His reps say proceeds from tonight's show will go to the charity. And that's fueled guesses about whether its proximity to New York gives any clues. But just about everyone is weighing in. President Obama, of course, is hoping he'll pick the Chicago Bulls. But LeBron James isn't showing his hand.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW (voice-over): Was a yawn a sign he made up his mind after being courted by six NBA teams or not? Well, LeBron James looked relax at this basketball camp in Akron, Ohio, Cleveland is on pins and needles, waiting to hear if he'll stick with the Cavaliers or pack his bags.
GREG BRINDA, ESPN CLEVELAND: If he goes, I mean, the mood is going to -- it's going to be really, really bad. Right now, people are just -- you know, they can't wait for the hour to come to finally know what he's doing.
SNOW: Despite Ohio's begging where the governor is even joining the chorus --
CROWD (singing): Please stay, LeBron, we really need you!
SNOW: -- speculation turns south to Miami, where two of James' NBA friends are heading. On YouTube, Dwyane Wade announced he and Chris Bosh will sign with the Miami Heat.
DWYANE WADE, NBA PLAYER: At the end of the day, my heart led me back here, to Miami.
SNOW: FOX Sports radio host Steven Smith is convinced James will follow.
(on camera): What will it mean for the city of Miami if he goes there?
STEVEN SMITH, FOX SPORTS RADIO HOST: It's instant millions. You're talking about paraphernalia being sold. You're talking about hotels being filled, the restaurants are being filled. The whole night scene improving dramatically and millions upon millions of dollars being generated for that respective city.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, LeBron!
SNOW (voice-over): And that's one reason why cities like New York tripped over themselves to court LeBron James.
One University of Illinois economics professor did the math on potential revenue for cities assuming James brought its team deep into the playoffs, the larger the population, the higher the number. Cleveland by its estimate, $100 million; Miami, $275 million; Chicago and New York stand to gain even more.
Cleveland has already felt the financial impact.
BRINDA: You're probably getting 6,000 to 7,000 more fans per game after LeBron than before LeBron. That's a lot more money that they're generating per game.
SNOW: While Cleveland is crossing its fingers, what does Miami think?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm really tired of hearing the name LeBron. It's over, it's played out. He's milking this for all he's worth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My friend just called me and he's like, I'm buying new season tickets -- and that's just with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. So, I can only imagine when LeBron James comes. It's amazing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: But hopes for the New York Knicks were also alive on Wall Street. Shares of Madison Square Garden, the company that owns the Knicks, those shares were up more than 6 percent yesterday on speculation that LeBron James will go to the Knicks.
BOLDUAN: One woman says he's milking this for all he's worth. But why not? I would -- if I could go an entire hour just to announce where my next (INAUDIBLE) I would -- I don't know.
(CROSSTALK)
SNOW: And he has his Twitter account, I mean, more than 200,000 people signed up immediately.
BOLDUAN: Right.
ROBERTS: If I only had a dollar for every one of all those people who signed up for Twitter.
But when it comes to money, you know, and you look at Miami, you look at Cleveland, you look at New York, the earning power is greatest where for him?
SNOW: It seems to be in New York, because one economics professor who did the math on this I talked to yesterday, said, you know, the greater the population, the more money he can gain just because of all the business that he can bring. So, it seems that, you know, New York, Chicago, L.A. -- those are the bigger cities that stand to gain the most.
ROBERTS: You can bet that if he does come to New York, you're going to see him everywhere on everything.
SNOW: And we're already seeing him on many places, right? You saw that big mural that was put and the billboards. Jay-Z is out there with the billboard.
ROBERTS: So, what time all this happen?
SNOW: Nine o'clock Eastern.
ROBERTS: All right. A lot of people are going to be watching that.
Mary Snow, good to see you this morning. Thanks.
SNOW: Good to see you guys.
BOLDUAN: Thanks, Mary.
SNOW: Sure.
BOLDUAN: So, more than 2 million jobless Americans are about to lose their employment benefits because Congress went on recess without extending them. An act of cruelty or is it time to kick away with some are calling a crash? A hot debate -- ahead.
Stay with us.
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BOLDUAN: By the time Congress returns to work next week, 2.1 million unemployed Americans will have lost their jobless benefits. That's because lawmakers failed to pass an extension before taking their summer break -- we've talked about that a lot -- and that has a lot of Americans angry, including some of the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's constituents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whether we have embraced the tea party, but we are teed off because of the fact that we just don't have the money to pay our light bill, our gas bill. We're losing our homes. This is what we're frustrated about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: Some economists insist unemployment extensions have to stop, though, claiming they add to the deficit and keep people out of work longer, actually. Others called that perspective simply cruel, considering this economy.
Breaking it down for us this morning is Michael Tanner, senior fellow at the Cato Institute.
Hi there, Michael.
And Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute.
Let's get right into it, gentlemen.
So, Michael, you heard that man's frustration in that sound bite. People are hurting even with unemployment benefits. But you say it's actually more harmful than good in terms of helping these people and helping the economy. Why do you say that?
MICHAEL TANNER, CATO INSTITUTE: Well, no one can deny the pain of people who are out of work and frustrated because they're having trouble finding jobs. But the academic literature is overwhelming that unemployment benefits when they're extended for as long as we're talking about, two years, do increase the amount of unemployment. They discourage people from looking for work as hard as they might otherwise do. It's just human nature. And they discourage people from taking suboptimal jobs.
And when we're doing this with borrowed money, which is only going to hurt unemployment in the future, I think this is just not necessarily the way we want to go.
BOLDUAN: So, Lawrence, I can only imagine, you disagree with that very strongly. But taking into account that this will, as Michael said, will add tens of billions of dollars to the deficit, and Republican senators in voting against this, essentially, they said that they just don't want to add to the growing national debt. Is that not a valid concern?
LAWRENCE MISHEL, ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE: Well, this is a great expenditure of money for two reasons. One is we do have the most challenging job market in a generation. There are five unemployed for every job openings. So this is a great time to give these people support.
Secondly, the spending on unemployment compensation is the thing that most stimulates the economy, if any that we have ever considered. This is according to the Congressional Budget Office and almost every economist I know. That's because unemployed people who are desperate get the money and they're going to spend it.
I calculate that unemployment compensation we've been paying out earlier this year is responsible for around 1.5 million jobs now that we didn't have back in 2007.
Now, when you borrow money at this point for a few years to support the unemployed, first, you get back at least half that money in the higher revenue and taxes from the jobs you generate and the greater output you generate and lower spending as we -- as we create jobs. Secondly, this is the cheapest you can ever borrow money. The interest rates are extremely low.
And by supporting the unemployed in creating these jobs, you're actually stopping a lot of scarring. Young people are coming out to find work and they can't find work. They're going to be scarred for their lifetime. There's a lot -- there's harm done by not supporting the economy right now. It's not just a matter of debt for the future.
TANNER: I'm afraid that's sort of old-fashioned Keynesian economics is way behind the time. The most recent academic literature suggests that there's nowhere near the stimulative effect that people thought, that's because this money is not necessarily consume, that people do tend to save a portion of it because they are looking towards the long term and their long-term economic prospects.
It tends to discourage second earners, they bring in less money. The spouse brings in less money when you have unemployment benefits coming in.
And overall, it adds only a little bit to the economy. There's far better uses of this money in terms of investment to create jobs, than there is trying to extend unemployment benefits for two years.
BOLDUAN: Well, Michael --
(CROSSTALK)
MISHEL: Michael, I don't know what you're talking about. The Congressional Budget Office ranks this as the most stimulating thing we can do. Goldman Sachs --
(CROSSTALK)
BOLDUAN: Real quick, gentlemen.
MISHEL: Can I finish what I'm saying? Can I finish what I'm saying?
Goldman Sachs last night in its report said this is the best thing you can do. Mark Zandi, the Economy.com, says this is the best thing you can do other than giving people food stamps. So, I don't know what you're talking about. Plus, we need to help these people.
You know, there's all sorts of spending that goes on for military, for tax cuts for the rich, for all these other things that people like you support, and now, you won't support unemployment compensation.
And one more thing, Kate, I think you're wrong what's going on right now in Congress. This is not Congress recessing and not extending the unemployment benefits. They had a vote. There were 59 people for extending the unemployment compensation. Only two Republicans voted for that.
This is basically the conservatives and the Republicans saying they don't want to help the unemployed.
BOLDUAN: I want to get to one point that, Michael, you've also been making that we haven't touched on yet. You say that these unemployment benefits actually act as a disincentive for people to get their jobs. They stay unemployed longer.
Lawrence, do you see that?
MISHEL: I think that's a ridiculous thing to say at this point when we have five people that are unemployed for every job opening. So, for instance, there is proportionately as many college graduates that are long-term unemployed and getting U.I. as any other people. They make roughly $1,000 a week. Do we really think that getting $300 or so, $400, in unemployment benefits, they're taking a longer vacation?
In surveys of the unemployed, we see that these people are downsizing, moving in with friends and families, borrowing money, putting off medical care, spending down their savings and retirement. These are people that are -- that are desperate. If someone, one person is not taking a job because they're waiting, there is somebody else on unemployment insurance who will probably be taking that job or 25 percent of the unemployed who don't get unemployment benefits, they're going to take the job.
This is not raising the unemployment rate. Plus, that kind of analysis doesn't take into account that when we provide these people with money, they spend it and it creates millions of jobs.
BOLDUAN: Gentlemen, unfortunately, we're going to have to leave it there. Thank you so much. A lot more to debate on this topic. Michael Tanner, Lawrence Michel, thanks for joining us.
ROBERTS: We got a follow up this morning. This is a great one to a story to Thelma Gutierrez who reported on earlier this week in a two-part series. She introduced us to Carla, a teenager who is in foster care system in California who was aging out, wouldn't have had a place to go. If it weren't for this organization called the teen project which built a house which is giving Carla place to live while she goes to cosmetology school.
Of course, the teen project is having difficulty making into me (ph) this well. They built this house, but they had quite a substantial mortgage on it. They just received $150,000 donation to help pay off the mortgage and the property. Somebody else apparently matched that. So, now, they've erased the mortgage. So, isn't that terrific? It's great to see when you bring these things to public attention as we do with the poor couple in New York City who didn't have air conditioning, people come forward to help.
BOLDUAN: People care, they're just often so busy maybe they don't notice.
ROBERTS: Or maybe they don't know.
BOLDUAN: Right.
ROBERTS: Maybe they don't know. So, bring it to people's attention is a great thing to do. Even in this economy, people is here to help out (ph).
BOLDUAN: Even in this economy.
Absolutely. It is 46 minutes after the hour. Rob is keeping an eye on the extreme heat along the east coast. He'll have this morning's forecast. I can tell you pretty much what it is. Hot after the break. Stay with us.
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BOLDUAN: It's hot.
ROBERTS: Oh, yes, it's a hot one, but not as hot as it was a couple of days ago. Seventy-eight degrees in New York City right now because there's a little bit of cloud cover out there right now. And today, the high, somewhere around 88 to 90 degrees which is a lot better than 102, 103 which it was on Tuesday.
BOLDUAN: Absolutely. That really looks pretty comfortable, so far.
ROBERTS: Yes.
BOLDUAN: All right. We'll check back on that. Let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines, shall we? Rob Marciano is in the Extreme Weather Center. So, what's up, Rob?
MARCIANO: Not only the heat, but we have something that's heating up in the Gulf of Mexico, tropical depression number two, although, it hasn't gained a whole lot of strength over the last few hours. That's good news. But for the folks who live along the Texas and Mexican border, Brownsville, Texas especially, the Rio Grande is already in flood stage from what was hurricane Alex, and today, it could get to about 40 feet before it begins to recede.
But with this storm, which I know doesn't look organized right now is going to be heading right towards Brownsville and will have with it a whole lot of rain, 4 to 8 inches, maybe up to 10 inches in some cases.
Right now, about 150 miles to the southeast of Brownsville, it's moving in that direction. Northwest at 14 miles an hour. It may strengthen to a tropical storm, but at this point, it looks to be fairly disorganized. Nonetheless, tropical storm warnings are up to the southern tip of Texas with landfall probably happening later on tonight. Already the rain from just south of Houston toward the Mexican border is beginning to rotate in. Corpus Christi down to South Padre Island will be getting the brunt of this rainfall as we go through time.
Also, a little bit of rainfall trying to come out of those clouds around the New York City area, especially out in Long Island. These are rain showers that are trying to cool off. It has been a sizzling hot city. Temperatures right now in the mid to upper 70s, that's a few degrees cooler as compared to when we started the day yesterday. So, that's good news. But, yesterday, Richmond, Virginia, got up to 104. These are striking numbers, 103 in Philadelphia and Baltimore, high temperatures of 101 degrees. I don't think we'll see those numbers today.
Most of the heat advisories have been dropped and shifted a little bit farther to the south. Atlanta will be 98 degrees and 97 degrees in Raleigh. So, that's where the core of the hot air has shifted to, but still, 92 degrees or right around 90 for a high temperature in New York City. By any standard, that is still very hot and very uncomfortable, so try to stay cool out there.
ROBERTS: You know what's interesting, Rob, is on Tuesday, we hit more than 100 degrees here, but yesterday, even though it wasn't as hot, it actually felt warmer because of the humidity.
MARCIANO: Yes. We have that south wind. And often you get that west wind in New York and that really cranks up the temperatures. But you're right, it doesn't feel quite as hot. You get that and it's just 60 as nasty stuff (ph).
BOLDUAN: Everyone is huddling on the shaded side of the street.
ROBERTS: Or gather in front of stores that had their doors open, light the air conditioning to entice people in. Thanks, Rob.
This morning top stories just minutes away now, including the cold war comeback. Secret meetings behind closed door. Are Washington and Moscow arranging a spy swap? We'll take you live to the Russian capital for some answers.
BOLDUAN: Plus, if you drop your pricey smart phones one too many times, meet the man who says he can bring iPhones back from the dead. Who is he and how did he do it?
ROBERTS: And it's decision day for Lebron King James. Landed the NBA's most sought after free agent is a crowning achievement for any city, but where will Lebron hold court next season. Our own sports expert, Max Kellerman, joins us coming right up. Those stories and more coming your way beginning at the top of the hour.
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ROBERTS: Four minutes now to the top of the hour. New this morning, a plane powered by the sun that can fly through the night. Sounds a little odd, but that's exactly what the experimental solar impulse was designed to do. Sun-powered plane safely landed in Switzerland after spending, listen to this, 24 hours in the air. The developers of the flight around the globe using technology that stores energy in both batteries and solar cells. BOLDUAN: Here's my one question on that, though.
ROBERTS: Yes?
BOLDUAN: Do they use the battery solar power for liftoff as well? There's no way.
ROBERTS: I don't know if they have to take off in the sun or if they can do it on battery power. I would assume, to take off, you need to have full power.
BOLDUAN: Right. I mean, the --
ROBERTS: We'll check back on that, we'll look at back to you.
BOLDUAN: Thank you, sir. I would appreciate it.
ROBERTS: You bet.
BOLDUAN: Top stories are coming your way after the break.
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