Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

New Oil Cap Put to the Test; Bill Clinton's Mission In Haiti; Best Places To Live; Uganda Bombings; BP Replaces Cap on Leaking Oil Well; Diabetes Drug Avandia May Be Recalled; Barefoot Bandit's Life of Crime Examined

Aired July 13, 2010 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Tuesday, July 13th. I'm Drew Griffin, in for John Roberts this morning.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry.

This could be the last day we say day 85 -- 86 of the oil spill because BP says that a new containment cap is in place and that the tests are set to begin today to see if the system holds. If it works as it's planned, it would actually effectively shut off the flow of oil in the Gulf. We're live with the latest.

GRIFFIN: We're also live in Haiti. Six months after the earthquake. Bill Clinton returns to Haiti, trying to speed up the pace of reconstruction. CNN's Anderson Cooper put him to the screws. We are going to give that with Anderson. He's joining us with his investigation -- no, interview with President Clinton.

CHETRY: And, also, looking to relocate? Well, we have the inside scoop on where you should start looking. "Money" magazine is out with the list of best places to live. They tell you which towns have the lowest unemployment rates, the lowest crimes, some of the best schools. And we'll show you a couple of them.

GRIFFIN: And, of course, like us, hate us, want to comment on the stories, the amFIX blog is up and running. You can join the conversation right now. Go to CNN.com/amFIX.

CHETRY: First, though, new hope this morning. The crude in the Gulf may be brought under control soon. Last night, a mile beneath the surface, a new containment cap was lowered into place and everything went as planned.

GRIFFIN: Eighty-five days later, the question now becomes: will this contraption work? To answer that, BP will put it to the test at least for the next 48 hours, they tell us.

Earlier I spoke to Don Van Nieuwenhuise, professor of petroleum geoscience at the University of Houston about BP's plan to test this new cap.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON VAN NIEUWENHUISE, PROFESSOR, PETROLEUM GEOSCIENCE, UNIV. OF HOUSTON: I think what they're going to probably try to do is close some of the vents that at times slowly so they can check the pressure response to closing those vents -- because they want to close the vents extremely slowly so that they don't create a hammer-like effect on the well by shutting it quickly. In other words, if they were to cut the pressure quickly, it would be like a train running into a brick wall rather than using brakes. And they need to be very careful with this equipment while they are testing it out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: So, now, let's bring in our Ed Lavandera. He's live in New Orleans this morning, covering the process of this new operation.

And so, if this works, and this new cap actually holds, this would be major accomplish many in terms of eventually shutting off the flow of oil.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Would be. It would be the first time in almost three months if this were to work. The way, ideally, they hope it does, that we would not be seeing oil escaping into the Gulf of Mexico. They still have a major problem on their hands, they need to get that relief well finished, completed, and kill off the well for good.

But in terms of the picture that we've seen, the live picture of oil, flowing endlessly into the Gulf of Mexico, if everything goes as planned, perhaps we could be seeing the last moments of this here in the -- in the next day or so, perhaps a little bit more.

But right now, we're awaiting technical briefing from BP officials this morning. That's expected to happen here within the next half hour or so. So, hopefully, we will be able to pass along some good news from there. The latest we've been told was that they were doing integrity testing on that well to make sure everything is OK and it would be able to handle this process.

So, Kiran, you know, this could go one or two ways. Either this cap could either work by itself and essentially cut off the flow, or they might need the pipes to mitigate the flow and bring it to the surface. They say they have enough capacity on the surface of the water with the vessels there to continue collecting it. Or worst case-scenario, that this doesn't work and they have to return to the previous cap that was on set they took off on Saturday which was only capturing about 25,000 barrel as day of oil.

So, given the tone of optimism, I can that imagine across the corporate headquarters and BP and people in the control rooms and out in the Gulf of Mexico who have been working so hard to get this under control, that these are very anxious moments for them as they see how this is going to play out here in the next couple of days.

GRIFFIN: Ed, certainly good news. And the reaction there has got to be positive among people living in the Gulf Coast. But the bad news is, the White House issuing this new deepwater oil drilling moratorium, 12,000 jobs at stake.

What's the reaction among the people there who are: number one, trying to get the Gulf clean, number two, trying to go back to work?

LAVANDERA: That continues to be a source of frustration for many people here who kind of feel they're getting punched twice. Not only are they dealing with the horrible effects of this oil disaster but they continue to view this moratorium as something similar. You know, the economic impact of, they say, of this moratorium or suspension, whatever you want to call it, will have a tremendous impact and essentially drive away more jobs and they call it two disasters instead of having just to deal with one.

GRIFFIN: All right. Ed Lavandera is live in New Orleans this morning with the latest on that.

And now, CNN has confirmed that a 12th person in custody on the heels of the feds busting of a Russian spy ring, he's unnamed but 23 years old and Russian. The FBI has been watching him, we are told, since he came into the country last October. He's not been charged but is in the process of being deported from an undisclosed location. A really mystery man here.

Our sources say the man did not commit any overt acts similar to the 10 Russians involved in last week's spy story.

CHETRY: He looks familiar, though.

GRIFFIN: Yes, silhouette.

CHETRY: A new audiotape allegedly capturing actor Mel Gibson in another profanity-laced tirade. And in the tapes, Gibson allegedly admits to hitting the mother of his daughter and then threatening her life.

GRIFFIN: Here is a portion of the secretly-taped recording. We bleeped out the profanities but you can still tell what they are. So, if you want to turn the kids away for just a little while, 36 seconds, to be exact, now is your cue. But here is what they are talking about.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You almost killed us, did you forget?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The last three years has been a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) gravy train for you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You were hitting a woman with a child in her hands. You. What kind of man is that? Hitting a woman when she is holding a child in her hands? Breaking her teeth twice in the face. What kind of man is that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, you're all angry now. You got what you (EXPLETIVE DELETED) deserved.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to answer one day, boy, you are going to answer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What, what are you threatening me?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nothing, nothing. I'm not the one to threaten.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll threaten. I'll put you in the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) rose garden, you (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END AUDIO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Bizarre.

CHETRY: Yes. And a lot of people in Hollywood are trying to now distance themselves from Mel Gibson. For his part, he is not commenting on those recordings.

GRIFFIN: There is no free speech in the NBA, apparently. Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert found that out. He was fined $100,000 for blasting LeBron James. After LeBron left the Cavs last week to sign with the Miami Heat, Gilbert posted a letter on the team's Web site calling it a cowardly betrayal and shocking act of disloyalty.

NBA commissioner David Stern says Gilbert's comments, though, understandable were ill-advised and imprudent and will cost 100 grand.

CHETRY: Also, the World Cup's eight-arm fortuneteller, Paul, the octopus, retiring after going eight-for-eight with his predictions. Paul the octopus correctly guessed the winner of all of eight matches by picking one of two marked boxes. They are both filled with the tasty seafood treat. The aquarium says that Paul staying put and they even gave him his own trophy garnished with three mussels which Paul quickly devoured.

GRIFFIN: Very interesting stuff. Let's go to Rob Marciano. He's got a lot of interesting stuff in the weather for this Tuesday.

Good morning, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys. A lot of disappointed odds-makers in Vegas with the retirement of that octopus. But like Bret Favre, may be coming out of retirement sometime soon.

We got some thunderstorms that are rolling across Northeast. Some of which were rough in the Delaware area and now into Philadelphia. And these are heading northeasterly about 20 to 25 miles an hour. The radar will be in fill in across New York City tri- state area here in the next few hours.

So, yesterday was a hot one, a dry one. Today will be more wet and for the second stay in a row, a wet start across Arkansas, the mid-South, through Memphis getting clobbered again with heavy rain and thunderstorms. Some of these are producing flooding situations in and around the Little Rock and Memphis area.

Another bull's eye across the Northern Plains today, heat continues across the Deep South. Nice weather out west. Temps in the 90s from New Orleans to Atlanta, and a rain cooled 85 degrees up there in New York City.

I'm a little disappointed with that octopus that retired. He certainly had a skill set that not many people have and a valuable one at that.

Drew and Kiran, back up to you.

GRIFFIN: Thanks, Rob.

CHETRY: Well, still ahead, a CNN exclusive: Anderson sits down with former President Bill Clinton to talk about Haiti and why the money is not flowing the way that it needs to. What the former president has to say about it -- coming up.

Nine minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back. Twelve minutes past the hour.

We check our morning's political headlines this morning. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote today on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's confirmation. But Republican committee member, Senator Lindsey Graham, says that vote will have to wait another week, calling that, quote, "the normal way of doing business." Republicans on the committee say they want the delay so that they can have more time to review Kagan's testimony.

GRIFFIN: President Obama probably glad he is not up for a vote today. America's confidence in him is hitting an all-time low. A new "Washington Post"/ABC poll shows 60 percent of Americans say they have lost faith in the president. A clear majority is also disapproving of how the president is handling the economy. The numbers singling an anti-incumbent move settling in just ahead of the fall's midterm elections.

CHETRY: Meantime, the first lady, Michelle Obama, is firing up the crowd when giving the keynote speech at the NAACP's annual convention. She's calling on a civil rights group to join her cause and fight America's childhood obesity epidemic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY: I think those founders would urge us to increase our intensity and increase our discipline and our focus and keep fighting for better future for our children and our grandchildren.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Meantime, the NAACP is expected to officially denounce what it calls racist elements of the Tea Party Movement.

GRIFFIN: Now, a CNN exclusive, six months after the earthquake in Haiti, still that country is struggling to rebuild what little it had in the first place and we've seen it. Progress is very slow.

CHETRY: Bill Clinton chairs the commission on reconstruction and the former president returned to Haiti, spoke exclusively with CNN's Anderson Cooper.

And Anderson joins us live from Port-au-Prince this morning -- with more on your discussion with the former president. How frustrated is he with what many say is just a glacial pace that we are seeing Haiti rebuild?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, he will say that he's certainly not satisfied. I don't think you talked to anybody down here and they all say that they're not satisfied with the pace of things. You know, they do say in their own defense that in Banda Aceh in Indonesia after the tsunami, it took more than two years to get people out of tents and into homes.

It's been six months. You still have a million and a half, 1.6 million people here living in these makeshift camps like the one behind me, virtually identical to the way they were when we left -- when many viewers -- our viewers probably last saw them.

But, you know, at least a lot of the immediate humanitarian needs of people -- water and food and shelter -- have been met. But a lot of the money pledged by donors has not arrived, $5.3 billion pledged over the next 18 months.

We also have been trying to track a problem that so many NGOs and charities have been telling us, that their emergency supplies and their building supplies that they are bringing into the country get held up at customs, at the ports, at the airports, and they get hit up for taxes of as much as 20 percent. And they have to pay storage fees sometimes and that money obviously goes to the government or perhaps to shady customs officials. It's not really clear where that money goes. I talked to former President Bill Clinton about that yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: I am -- as we get the donor money in here, I believe I will succeed in getting government to drop that fee. The government does not apply to the NGOs that are pre-registered and already working here. But when NGOs come into the first time and are not pre-registered and they don't know anything about them they do.

COOPER (on camera): But even NGOs that are working here are the ones that --

CLINTON: I have tried get them to change this whole customs system.

COOPER: They should fast track the emergency supplies.

CLINTON: They should. And they shouldn't charge them any custom fees. Zero. It is not right.

COOPER: I mean is that basically just about trying to generate money for the government?

CLINTON: It is -- it is what I call the choke hold theory of revenues. You know. What do people have to use to get into Haiti? They have to use support and the airports.

COOPER: That's how you get -

CLINTON: And so that's where the money flows through. The normal revenue base has been destroyed. But they should not apply to the NGOs. When we can get the donor money flowing in here, they won't need that money so much anymore. And I believe I will be able to get them to abandon it.

I have worked really hard do this. It is wrong. It makes them look bad. A lot of the NGOs are convinced it is some sort of a corruption scam. It really is that - there is - I checked the rules, I checked the law. They can do it. But I want them to leave it and I think they will leave it as soon as we get a revenue flow. As soon as I can say OK, look, the next 18 months, here's how much money is coming into Haiti. How much will be given to direct budget support? Now please let the NGOs come in here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: And that's critical as they both president -- former president Clinton and Haitian officials, the prime minister of Haiti is co-chairing a commission with the president. They are really going to be try to put the pressure on donor countries that promise billions of dollars which just frankly have not shown up. Only about 2 percent of the money, 2 to 5 percent of the money, has actually been sent. And the needs here are still overwhelming.

CHETRY: I know, it was just so heart breaking, as we saw, in Sanjay's piece, as well, to see that the a girl who immediately got treatment in the wake of the earthquake and because she didn't get antibiotics she need she is going to die. Knowing how much money people donated and wanted to help and to see now six months later, dealing with these problem, it really is heartbreaking.

COOPER: Well yes. I mean, you know, in fairness, the -- I don't think that people should feel that the money they donated, you know, disappeared. The money they donated went to a lot of it is still being held by NGOs in preparation for what's going to come next. But a lot of it, hundreds of millions of dollars, are going to saving lives and people.

And it saved countless numbers of lives. And brought medicine to people who would not have gotten medicine and would have died like that little girl for just a few -- you know, cents worth of antibiotics. So you know, it brought water to people, it fed, you know, more than a million and a half homeless people here on daily basis. It provided, you know, hope and a future for an awful lot of people here.

So it has done an awful lot of good. Remember there were 300,000 people injured in the earthquake according to the government estimates here. The question is what happens now? And the redevelopment, you know, as I said, the pace is very, very slow, it is very, very frustrating. It is infuriating to these people who are living in these camps. And that donor money is going to be critical in getting the government of Haiti and the commission President Clinton is co- chairing to move forward and actually get this rubble removed. Get homes built and begin to -- process of rebuilding this country.

CHETRY: Got you. Good point. There are some rays of hope. We saw the man fitted with the prosthetic dancing as well for the first time. But it is a tough situation. Anderson reporting there and again tonight from Haiti. Thanks so much, live from earthquake recovery on A360 tonight at 10:00 right here on CNN.

GRIFFIN: Coming up next right here is the best places to live in the U.S. we are going to tell you where they are.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Where you guys living? Welcome back to the Most News of the Morning. It is just about 18 minutes before the -- after the hour. Twenty one minutes after the hour. I can't read this.

Time for "Minding Your Business." If you are looking for a town that has everything, low crime, good schools, good unemployment rate, well, the folks at "Money" magazine have compiled a list of America's best places to live. And senior writer Donna Rosato joins us with this year's picks. You have got 100 of them, Donna. We are going to count the top five.

DONNA ROSATO, SENIOR WRITER, "MONEY" MAGAZINE: That's right.

GRIFFIN: Let's go five, four three, two, one, starting with number five which is in Texas.

ROSATO: That's right, McKinney, Texas. This is a suburb of Dallas. And there's a lot of great places right outside of Dallas that have low crime and good schools. We love McKinney because it is also a charming town. It has a great 19th century downtown and it also has lots of jobs right in the area. You can commute to Dallas but Raytheon has thousands of jobs right in the city there, too.

GRIFFIN: And number four another place with good technology jobs. I know this town well. Beliveau, Washington.

ROSATO: Right, Beliveau, Washington, is Microsoft is a neighbor. They've brought thousands of jobs into the city. Resente Mobile (ph) also has brought jobs. A lot of natural beauty as well. You have got Lake Washington and the mountains there. On a clear day you can see a lot there.

GRIFFIN: This next one is a little surprising because I thought the houses would be way too expensive. Newton, Massachusetts.

ROSATO: That's right. You know that's probably the one downside of Newton, Massachusetts. The typical three-bedroom two-bath home is almost $600,000. But it is a beautiful, beautiful town. It is made up of 13 villages, it is very close commuting distance to Boston. It is about 20 miles. You can take the "T" right into the city but great jobs there at the Newton-Wellesley hospital and Boston College too.

GRIFFIN: The runner-up is?

ROSATO: The runner up is actually two towns that run by the same county, Columbia City Daschle Cot City, Maryland and Columbia, Maryland. They are these beautiful towns. They have - they are close to the National Security Agency and Ft. Meade, which are bringing thousands of jobs there. The county unemployment rate is 5.2 percent. Almost half the national average.

GRIFFIN: Now number one was a bit surprising to me. Just because of the weather.

ROSATO: Yes.

GRIFFIN: How do you get around the weather in Eden Prairie, Minnesota?

ROSATO: People at Eden Prairie are pretty hearty. This is a suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul. It is a beautiful, charming town in its own right. People in Eden Prairie, OK, in the summer you have got miles of lakes and trails that you can spend a lot of time outside of ice fishing, you can go ice skating. It has great schools. It has got a very charming -- very, very charming community center. It is a very diverse community. So it has it all. And the people who live there are very hearty. They don't mind the cold weather.

GRIFFIN: Yes it is hard to move a family. It is hard to find jobs in some of the best places to live but the one thing you can do if you want to move, if you are rich and you are single, you can move to the towns you guys think are the best places to be. So why don't we put that up and you tell us how these rank and why.

ROSATO: That's right. If you are going to see at money.com, you will find a lot of the really fun lists as well. And one of the lists that we always like to run every year, the places where you can find a bit confluence of affluent young professionals. No surprise, a lot of the places are on the coast.

You found a couple of them -- actually one of them is Newton, Massachusetts. And you have got another one in Brookline, Massachusetts. Lots of great jobs, coastal city. Then, of course, number one, new important beach, California. And then of course, number one, Newport Beach, California. You know, it is a great place to be for work and also if you like to be on the beach and hang out with other young affluent professionals.

GRIFFIN: Really that looks beautiful. Wow look at that. All right, the other list you guys have is the affordable homes list.

ROSATO: That's right.

GRIFFIN: Big topic, of course. ROSATO: Right. If you go CNNmoney.com you will see a whole list - you see a lot of common themes there. You have a number of homes in the Texas area. That are very affordable. Spring, Texas, which is a satellite of Houston, you have San Antonio, there are a lot of great jobs in the area. But the thing about Texas is they never have the big housing boom or bust. Lot of stability in that area.

Of course, the other common theme you see with the affordable homes is Florida. Many very affordable homes. Of course, a downside there. Florida had the big boom and so a lot of homes are very inexpensive there now. In fact, the number one most affordable place for homes in Florida is Deerfield Beach. Not too far from Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. You can now buy a beachfront property five years ago $400,000, less than $200,000 today.

GRIFFIN: All right, Donna Rosato, thanks for coming in, "Money" magazine a list we get every year. It is almost a staple of the magazine right now.

ROSATO: Thanks, Drew. If you want to see more lists go to CNNmoney.com.

GRIFFIN: All right thanks a lot, Kiran.

CHETRY: All right guys, well, still ahead, Uganda makes arrests after terror attacks they happened during the viewing of the World Cup. Leaving 75 at least dead. We are going to have much more on the latest investigation, 26 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Welcome back. New developments now in a story we have been covering since yesterday. The weekend terror attacks in Uganda. Government officials saying an unexploded vest, suicide vest is how it is being described was found during the investigation into the bombings that have killed 74 people.

CHETRY: This suggests that the carnage could have been much worse. CNN's David McKenzie live in capital city of Kampala for us this morning. And David, explain where this unexploded belt or suicide vest was found.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): That's right. We've just actually are talking -- we had a camera go over to a popular bar in Kampala. Now that also was showing the World Cup soccer finals here in Kampala late Sunday night. They found not one but two possible devices. One, the suicide vest the police showed to reporters earlier today.

And the other one, some kind of device with a cell phone, with a mobile phone. Now the bom manager said that they -- only found these devices presumably were abandoned at the site. The following day, once they got word of these other attacks. Seventy-four dead right now. Scores wounded in this terrible attack included foreign nationals and one U.S. citizen. And they are hot on the trail and they say of these potential terror suspects. They say they have made arrest -- they haven't said what nationalities those people are. Back to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: And David, one of the Americans survivors I guess is speaking out to you about this.

MCKENZIE: Well, that's right. Kris Sledge, a teenager, was here in Uganda to do work. He was doing missionary work and aid work here in Uganda for just a couple of weeks. He had been here for just over three weeks and was asked one of those locations. And he described the scary scene at the moment of the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRIS SLEDGE, BOMB BLAST SURVIVOR: All I remember is I was watching the football game at the Ethiopian restaurant. And for some reason I put my head down and I just remember hearing a big explosion, a loud noise. I remember like falling down off my chair for like a couple of seconds. And I guess I was unconscious a couple of seconds or blacked out or something. I remember waking up and walking away from the scene, walking away from where I was sitting and I remember my leg hurt and that's when I had to stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: Well, Drew, there is a terrorist group, Al Shabaab, which is a group in Somalia, has claimed responsibility of the attacks. Because of the vests that have been found that didn't go off, it certainly could have been a lot worse. At least 35 people are still missing and scores are wounded in this hospital behind me in Kampala. Drew?

GRIFFIN: David McKenzie live from Kampala, Uganda. Thank you for that.

CHETRY: Time for a check of the other stories. BP today begins testing on its new containment cap that's now sealed atop the broken well in the Gulf of Mexico. The testing could take as long as 48 hours as they gauge the pressure. If it works the oil flow should decrease as the valves on the cap are slowly sealed.

GRIFFIN: I was trying to watch a live picture of that taking place. A group of lawmakers, though, wants to know if BP lobbied for convicted terrorist bomber of the Lockerbie incident. The bomber's name was al-Megrahi. He was released, as you can remember.

The lawmakers want to know if he was released not for humanitarian reasons you about so profit could prove from Libyan oil deals. Megrahi was supposed to die almost immediately after leased from prison. He was suffering from cancer, given three months to live. It turns out one of the doctors says that Megrahi, who is back home alive in Libya, and could live another ten years. CHETRY: We could learn today or tomorrow whether popular diabetes drug Avandia will be taken off the market. The FDA holding hearings on the drug and safety has been in question since 2007.

Earlier this morning, I had a chance to talk with Dr. Stephen Nissen, a cardiologist from the Cleveland clinic, whose study if 2007 found Avandia raises the risk significantly of heart attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. STEVEN NISSEN, CARDIOLOGIST, CLEVELAND CLINIC: If we don't act to take the drug off the market now, we will not be able to protect patients. And this is a very serious problem. A 40 percent increase in the risk of heart attack in diabetic patients, 70 percent of whom will die of heart disease, is a huge national tragedy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Dr. Nissan says the FDA needs to do a better job of ensuring drugs going to market are safe and also to not be afraid if later research shows them not to be safe to pull them off the market.

GRIFFIN: Back to the top story, in the Gulf, a glimmer of hope, more than just a glimmer for the residents along the Gulf coast. BP has successfully placed a new containment cap on the gushing well. It is still gushing, as you can see.

CHETRY: That's a live picture. The oil joint is hoping the cap will slowly stop the flow of oil into the gulf. Joining us on the phone now is David Mattingly. He is right now aboard a coast guard ship in the gulf. What are you hearing? What is the feeling out there? One of optimism this morning, David?

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, all eyes right now are on the operations here in the middle of the Gulf. It was really unusual this morning, experience this morning as we were coming out here. The sun came up in the east, but there was another glow on the horizon, a large orange flame as they are burning off the natural gas out here. So that was a really unusual sight.

Now as we are watching it, all eyes are glued to the flames because once this testing begins, the flames could go out and that would be a very dramatic moment here. That will tell us they are not producing any more oil out of the well. They are shutting it down, and that will be a huge turning point in this disaster.

We originally were coming out here to take a look at the helix producer, the massive vessel they brought in that will double their capacity for processing oil out of here. But that vessel may not be needed if that test is successful.

They are going to start that today, 24 hours, 48 hours possibly, to see p the well can handle the pressure. Everyone is hope thing is the moment everyone has been waiting for since this disaster began.

But for right now, everyone watching those flames as the natural gas is being burned off out mere, once those flames go out, that tells us we are taking a huge, huge step forward in stopping this disaster.

GRIFFIN: David, thanks. I know you will call us as soon as that happens. In the meantime we will wait and look forward to your report. Literally he is out there in the gulf right now.

Well, the Barefoot Bandit -- folk hero, crook, all of the above? We will ask those questions to an author writing a book about this guy. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: To the feds, the so-called "barefoot bandit" was just a felon on the run. They blamed him for a crime spree nearly two years long, burglaries in multiple states, including the theft of two planes.

CHETRY: He was so young, this is why he has gotten a lot of attention. The "barefoot bandit" has a Facebook fan page, 80,000 people fans of this young boy or young man. The people that posted videos about him on YouTube call him a hero.

What do we really know about 19-year-old Colton Harris-Moore? Joining us on the line is writer Bob Friel. He has been following the case and writing a book about the so called "barefoot bandit." Bob, thanks for being with us.

BOB FRIEL, WRITING BOOK ON "BAREFOOT BANDIT": Good morning, guys, nice to be with you.

CHETRY: Why the fascination with this young man?

FRIEL: Well, it's -- it is natural, I think, for folks to see this character who has this kind of traditional someone who came from nothing, from a very tough, a very poor background. You know, his formal education ends basically in grade school.

And then suddenly to see him teaching himself how to fly and, you know, living his version of a dream, of driving fancy cars, fancy boats -- airplanes, of course is what got the most attention. And, you know, there's kind of an anti-authority bent in a lot of young people which is natural, so that kind of struck a chord with them. And that's what started all the fame.

GRIFFIN: Your comments imply that he has made something of himself. Really he is just a petty criminal, started doing crimes, as we can tell, back when he was 12. One of our bloggers wrote in and said "Look, do heroes make headlines or, in this case, do headlines make a hero?" Is this guy really somebody who should be idolized?

FRIEL: Look, I live in the northwest. That was Colton's happiest hunting ground. He came to our peaceful, serene island, with an almost nonexistent to crime level. And he broke into and stole money from and property from nearly every store on the island.

These are all small businesses, all people who depend on the very short summer tourist season and then barely scrape by in the winter. And he came very close to putting a lot of people, you know, that are friends of mine, we all know each other on the island.

So absolutely he is a criminal. There is a very long line of victims behind Colton Harris-Moore. That's something that the Facebook people, they don't get. They are at a distance from that and don't see the victimization that he has caused.

CHETRY: Right. Or perhaps they view it more as a victimless crime in some cases. But speaking of crimes, he's allegedly stolen more than $3 million in property, suspected of crimes in the U.S. and Canada, and then where they finally caught up with him in the Bahamas. He got the name "barefoot bandit" because he wouldn't wear shoes in the crimes when he was captured on the surveillance video.

Why do you think it took so long for authorities to finally catch up to him?

FRIEL: Well, in the very beginning, you know, he was -- as the law enforce many termed him, a nuisance. He was a property criminal. He wasn't stealing millions of dollars worth of stuff. This has been going on a long time with Colt from a very early age.

And property crime in the United States -- we have murderers, rapists, you cover very serious crime every day. Property crime is solved, according to the FBI, statistics, a rate of 12 percent. And that's, you know, usually when criminals do something stupid, they fall asleep in a stolen car or something like that.

Colton was a property criminal, so he was a very low priority. And he also took advantage of the fact that he was operating on these very small Pacific Northwest islands with extremely small police forces.

We have -- Island County where he's from, San Juan County where I'm from, we live on a 60-square mile island where at times there's only two deputies on duty to cover that entire island.

So the fact that he would sneak into somebody's vacation home to take something or break into a commercial place and take something, and then run, be able to use the dense forest there to run around. And you have, you know, the deputies just didn't have the manpower to do it.

It was only when he raised his level higher and higher with the airplanes and running across the country, and finally took it internationally that this is where the chase began.

GRIFFIN: Bob, his mom -- if we are to believe the reporting correctly -- says she is proud of him. What do we know about mom, his upbringing, and the reality of how he was parented?

FRIEL: I spent an awful lot of time with his mom researching this book. Among the -- so far, over 150 interviews about this. And I have seen the forensic psychology exams from when Colton was younger, seen the medications he was on at a tragically young age.

He had a lot of challenges. The upbringing, when I started getting into it, it gave me nightmares. It was that bad.

That doesn't excuse anyone from turning to a life of crime. But he did have -- he had it about as tough as you can get. If we were talking about a serial killer at this point, and you looked at that background and, you would say oh, yes, I can see.

The fact that he -- you know, it ended peace reply without him physically hurting anybody -- he did hurt people, you know, by victimizing them. The fact that he didn't physically hurt anybody is a great thing for this ending.

Everyone I talked to who has known Colton personally, who has dealt with him, shown him some kindness, and taken some time, they all described him as a good kid, as a kind-hearted kid. His mom has said some quotes that sometimes are taken out of context with the media.

CHETRY: She had a sign -- she had a spray-painted sign on her property that said "Take one more step and you will be shot" or something to that -- you know, in that vein. And there are allegations the family may be looking to cash in on this. Is there any truth to that, in your opinion?

FRIEL:: Well, you know, that's -- that's a tough one. You know the -- Colton or his mom, Pam, or family members, you know, this -- this is the way our society is. That they -- they are free to write books about this or do what they want or do TV or things like that.

You know, it's -- and it depends what they're going to say and it's going to depend on people if they want to buy that.

GRIFFIN: Ok. Bob Friel thanks. Good luck with the book.

FRIEL: Thank you very much.

GRIFFIN: As "Barefoot Bandit's" time on the run has come to an end put the shoes on. Put some shoes.

CHETRY: Well, storms -- storms from Arkansas all the way to the East Coast, Rob Marciano tells us where it's going to be the worst today in terms of these storms. Its 45 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Good morning, Detroit. It's mostly cloudy there; 73 (ph) right now, with thunderstorms later today with a high of 82 degrees.

CHETRY: Eerie shot this morning.

GRIFFIN: Yes, but you can almost feel the humidity.

CHETRY: Wow, all right, well, our Rob Marciano takes a look at where we're going to get hit the worst today when it comes to these storms. Hey, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOIST: Good morning, guys. Yes, I think the Northeast is getting it right now. And then it will kind of continue to bubble up as we go on through the afternoon. Philadelphia getting hit the hardest at the moment. And this will be rolling up the turnpike and then through New York metropolitan area as we go through time.

A couple of these were severe in the way of the potential of seeing a tornado just west of Dover. We had a tornado warning earlier but that has since been allowed to expire. And nonetheless, rough weather with certainly some gusty winds and frequent lightning across south Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania.

Memphis, Tennessee, yesterday -- four and a half inches of rainfall -- can you believe that? And guess what? It's raining again this morning. So flood watches have been posted actually from Knoxville to Nashville, back to Jackson, Memphis. This little bow here I think it's some strong winds. And it's about to pass through I-55, into parts of northern Mississippi, and Little Rock.

They just issued a flash flood warning for the northern part of that state there. Two to four inches of more rain expected. And these red highlighted areas across western Tennessee also some flash flood warnings that are in effect for the next couple of hours with these heavy rainstorms that are rolling into that area.

And once that gets to the east, you might actually see some more in the way of severe weather across northern Georgia and western parts of the Carolinas, a little more atmospheric energy mixing in to the next tier.

Over an hour delay expected in places like Philadelphia and New York because of the thunderstorms that are developing now and will only get more intense as we through the afternoon.

Speaking of intense, how about the heat across Dallas -- 97 degrees is the expected high temperature there; 94 degrees in Houston; and 93 in New Orleans with the humidity heat advisory have been posted for parts of southeastern Louisiana as well as parts of southern South Carolina.

It's 77 in L.A. -- All-Star game tonight -- it couldn't be better in Anaheim.

Drew, Kiran -- back up to you.

GRIFFIN: Thanks, Rob.

(CROSS TALKING)

GRIFFIN: Yes, it's going to be fun.

Well, as New York City triathlon nears, our six athletes feeling great, feeling change. Dr. Gupta is coming next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: That's fastest I have seen Phil move in years.

GRIFFIN: Something must be coming immediately --

CHETRY: That's right, it's like art -- like take off.

GRIFFIN: Yes.

CHETRY: Well, welcome back to "The Most News in the Morning". And time for your "A.M. House Calls" -- somebody who doesn't eat a lot of -- I know I haven't --

GRIFFIN: I don't know.

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: -- and he doesn't want to talk. Anyway six months ago Dr. Gupta picked six AMERICAN MORNING viewers to compete with him in the New York City triathlon.

GRIFFIN: Yes, we're just days away from that race. And our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is giving us a look at how the training has been going.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Its 6:41 a.m., Sunday July 18th, the exact moment six of our viewers and I have been training for, the start of the New York City Triathlon. We first met the gang right here on AMERICAN MORNING back in January.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: He choose six AMERICAN MORNING viewers to join him on the journey to --

GUPTA: And each one was there for a very specific reason.

MEREDITH CLARK, FIT NATION TRIATHLETE: I found the statistics that 79 percent of African-American women are overweight or obese. So I really wanted to inspire everyday people that their family history doesn't have to be their future.

GUPTA: Linda Fisher Lewis retired from police work after a bad car accident. She wants to return to her dream job.

LINDA FISHER LEWIS, FIT NATION TRIATHLETE: I just want to show myself and others that I'm ready to get back to the road.

GUPTA: Angie Brouhard had just finished treatment for breast cancer.

ANGIE BROUHARD, FIT NATION TRIATHLETE: Any time have you an illness, you are -- you're feeling like you just are never going to be back to normal. And I want to show everyone that we can not only be where you were before but you can be better than ever.

GUPTA: Teachers Rickey William and Stanley Sovlet (ph), say it was about inspiring their kids.

RICKEY WILLIAM, FIT NATION TRIATHLETE: They're pumped, they actually want to train with me and try to be part of it.

STANLEY SOVLET, FIT NATION TRIATHLETE: I really want to inspire them to work out and live healthy and be happy.

GUPTA: And police officer, Dean Hannon who wants to have kids of his own.

DEAN HANNON, FIT NATION TRIATLETE: My dad was always running; he provided a really good example for me. I want to be able to do that for the kids that I will have in the future.

GUPTA: Since that day, they have been on a strict workout regimen and diet. They have worked their way up to a combined 18 miles of swimming a week, 78 miles of running, and almost 500 miles of cycling. All told, they've lost 137 pounds.

Now as they enter the homestretch each and every one says they are confident they will cross the finish line.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: All right. I will go in a kayak and cheer them on.

GRIFFIN: You will. I will go in a power boat and cheer them on.

CHETRY: Well, it will be in the Hudson.

GRIFFIN: They have power boats for that?

CHETRY: Yes.

GRIFFIN: Ok.

Just about 5 minutes -- well, it is 5 minutes before the hour. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Very cool but bad news for Apple. "Consumer Reports" giving the iPhone four thumbs down. The influential magazine says there is a design flaw in the hardware. Adding that they've confirmed the smart phone has reception problems with a spot on the bottom left side is touched.

CHETRY: Yes. They say it is especially a problem for left- handed people when trying to talk on the phone. You know, Apple had said before they said it was possibly a software problem, not a hardware problem. "Consumer Reports" is disagreeing.

And now it appears that Apple is getting touchy about the feedback. Techlog, CNet and NGadget say that Apple has actually been deleting comments about the "Consumer Report" review in the forums on the Web site. Plenty of tech blogs say that if you buy a case for the phone it fixes problem. Some of the other blogs have said, hey, either provide a free case with the purchase or recall the phone.

GRIFFIN: Exactly. Well, hardware, software problem, it is a problem.

CHETRY: That's true.

GRIFFIN: That's for sure.

CHETRY: Well, continue the conversation on today's stories by heading to our blog, CNN.com/amfix. We will see you right back here tomorrow.

GRIFFIN: "CNN NEWSROOM" with Alina Cho starts right now.