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American Morning

Search for Two Missing Sailors in Afghanistan; Afghan War Documents Leaked; Scientists Examine Gulf of Mexico for Lasting Environment Damage; ADHD & Marriages; Sue Your Bully Boss

Aired July 26, 2010 - 08:00   ET

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


SARA SIDNER, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Good morning. It's Monday, July 26th. I'm Sara Sidner, in for Kiran Chetry.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Great to see you this morning.

SIDNER: So happy to be here this morning. We're going to try to make Monday a little less painful for folks this morning. Got lots of stuff to talk about.

ROBERTS: Well, that would be good. What's most ironic, though, is that Sara came over to the United States from India to get away from the heat, for a little R&R.

SIDNER: That didn't work out so well.

ROBERTS: Sorry about that, enduring some of our hottest weather that we've had in quite a few years. Good to have you here with us this morning, though.

SIDNER: Thank you, John.

ROBERTS: Lots to talk about today, so let's get right to it.

A massive air and ground search is underway in Afghanistan for two U.S. Navy sailors who disappeared south of Kabul. The U.S. military is offering reward money for information about their location. We're following this developing story from the Pentagon. Our Barbara Starr is on the case, just ahead.

SIDNER: And a treasure trove of classified documents on the U.S. war in Afghanistan released online by a whistle-blower Web. The White House condemns the leak. But it's raising new questions about the war effort and whether Pakistan has been aiding the enemy.

ROBERTS: And our Rob Marciano is assessing the damage to the Gulf from the air, while CNN's Amber Lyon goes deep beneath the surface in a submarine on a mission to test the ocean's sensitive coral reefs for signs of oil spill distress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMBER LYON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are just being lowered into the water right now, about 88 miles off the coast of Florida, and we are here with a group of scientists for Florida Atlantic University. We're going to be heading down to survey some deep water reefs.

(INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roger that, we are diving.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: It's CSI beneath the sea. What Amber and the crew of scientists discovered -- straight ahead.

SIDNER: And, of course, the amFIX blog is up and running. Join the live conversation right now. Just go to CNN.com/amFIX.

ROBERTS: We begin with a massive military search now underway in Afghanistan. Troops are trying to find two U.S. sailors who went missing in a Taliban stronghold south of Kabul. There are reports the two were captured by insurgents and one of them killed. But the U.S. will not confirm that. So, exactly what happened to the sailors remains a mystery.

Barbara Starr is following developments for us live from the Pentagon.

What do we know at this point, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Very little. Officially, John, the big question right now: where are these two Navy sailors? Why did they leave the compound in Kabul, the capital city, on Friday -- pardon me -- in a single armored SUV vehicle?

Not one of the typical heavily armed military convoys of multiple vehicles. They were by themselves, by all accounts, in one single vehicle, drove south of the capital into Logar province. This is a known Taliban stronghold.

Still, no idea of what they were doing there. We are not being told that. They apparently got into a firefight with some Taliban who found out they were there.

Afghan officials say one man killed, one captured. The U.S. is not confirming the fate of them, but they are missing. And this air and ground search is underway.

Every hour, very vital, there's a lot of concern about them possibly being moved across the border into Pakistan.

The only official statement at length we have is from the chief of naval operations, Admiral Gary Roughead, who says, quote, "The thoughts and prayers of our entire Navy go out to the missing sailors, serving in Afghanistan and their families. We've been closely following the situation from the outset. Forces on the ground in Afghanistan are doing they can to locate and safely return our missing shipmates."

So, again, the search goes on there, families have been notified, and everyone is waiting to see the outcome of this -- John. ROBERTS: Do we know yet, Barbara, when we might learn the names of these two missing sailors?

BARBARA: Well -- pardon me -- well, you know, the identities, certainly, are being very closely held at this point. Their families have been notified, but the military says, for now, they're going to hold off on publicly naming them. They want to keep this search going and keep it going as forcefully as they can with this little publicity as they can -- John.

ROBERTS: Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon this morning with the latest -- Barbara, thanks.

SIDNER: The White House this morning is condemning the release of more than 90,000 classified documents on the war in Afghanistan. The secret files were leaked online by the whistleblower Web site WikiLeaks. The White House says the release puts U.S. troops and their partners on the ground at risk. The WikiLeaks founder defended his action at a press conference just this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS FOUNDER: Some of the information was inaccurate, that would be leading to our illegitimacy, quite correct. However, we have never released mis-described material, and I don't expect this case to be any exception.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: CNN's Atika Shubert is following this story. She joins us live from London.

You were at that press conference, Atika. What more can you tell us about what was found and was put on the Web site?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The press conference is actually still ongoing. This is actually the Frontline Club, that's a local press club here. You can see, there's a lot of media attention here. Already, some satellite trucks set up here, taking this live.

Basically, Julian Assange says these are 90,000 official U.S. military records that really

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: England --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- fascist nation of the world!

SHUBERT: Excuse me, sir. Sorry. Sorry about that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love England!

SHUBERT: That these are official record that are coming forward to show, really, the grim reality of the war on a day-by-day basis -- from the smallest events, to some of the most severe.

Here's what's in some of those reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHUBERT (voice-over): This is the video that sealed WikiLeaks reputation as a clearinghouse for classified materials. It created a stir over the killings in 2007 of two "Reuters" journalists and others in an attack by U.S. forces in Iraq.

Now, WikiLeaks is publishing what it says is more than 90,000 U.S. military reports filed about the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2009 -- raw data from the front line, a day-by-day unvarnished view of the war by U.S. soldiers themselves.

WikiLeaks will not say how it received the documents and CNN has not been able to independently confirm their authenticity. But if confirmed, it would be the biggest leak yet of classified documents to WikiLeaks.

JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS EDITOR: It is sort of the total squalor of the war. All of these people killed and the small events we haven't heard about which numerically eclipse the big events, casualty events. It's the boy killed by a shell that missed a target.

SHUBERT: In a statement responding to WikiLeaks Afghan document release, the White House said, "The United States strongly condemns the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organizations which could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk, and threaten our national security."

But Julian Assange, editor for WikiLeaks, denies that the site has put troops in danger and says it did hold back some sensitive material.

ASSANGE: There certainly have been people that have lost elections as a result of the material appearing on WikiLeaks. There have been prosecutions as a result of the material on WikiLeaks. And there's been legislative reform as a result of the material appearing on WikiLeaks. What has not happened is anyone being physically harmed as a result.

SHUBERT: Assange says his aim is to shine some light on abuses in the field and give the general public the information it needs to have an informed opinion on the war.

ASSANGE: This material doesn't just reveal occasional abuses by the U.S. military. Of course, it has the U.S. military reporting on all sorts of abuses by the Taliban suicide bombers and IEDs going off and so on. So, it does describe the abuses by both sides in this war and it's how people can really understand what is actually going on and whether they choose to support it or not.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SHUBERT: Now, the fact is there's such a massive amount of information inside all of this raw data that WikiLeaks says it has barely scratched the surface. And this is a job not for just one single media, but, really, it's for more than just the media. It's really a public resource. WikiLeaks says it for anyone who may have any interest, who may be able to shed some light on how the war is conducted in Afghanistan, and that is how WikiLeaks says they hope this will be used.

SIDNER: Atika, we should also mention and talk to you about this bit because CNN is, of course, looking at these documents, pouring over them. We have several different teams looking at this, a legal team, a standard and practices team, to really determine what the news value of this is, but also to look into really if it does endanger troops, American or NATO allies, in the field.

How is -- how is that happening this morning?

SHUBERT: We do. We have several points, as you point, legal standards and practices, in addition to the fact that our Pentagon reporters, our reporters in Afghanistan are also trying to get reaction and that keeps streaming in. But, obviously, trying to figure out exactly what is in the reports, whether or not they could be potentially harmful to those in the field. This is something that we take very seriously. And so, that's why we are pouring through the records at this moment.

We have not been able to independently verify the authenticity of these documents. We have been getting reaction from the White House as you saw from -- also on the ground in Afghanistan. But in terms of what exactly is in these documents, whether or not they could be harmful, we simply don't know yet. There's just too much information there, and we're just going to have to go through it with a fine tooth comb.

SIDNER: Atika, let me ask you one more question. We talked a lot about Afghanistan, but there's also information I understand about Pakistan and its possible role in aiding possibly the Taliban (INAUDIBLE). Can you tell us anything about that and what you are hearing from the editor of WikiLeaks?

SHUBERT: Well, what's important to note is that these are really reports coming from soldiers in the field, reporting back to the command center. So, what they're doing is picking up intelligence on the ground. And what Julian Assange, the editor of WikiLeaks, is saying is that a lot of these reports are showing reports on the ground where people on the ground are saying, the ISI, the Pakistan intelligence service, has been in contact with the Taliban, is cooperating with the Taliban.

So, there are these sorts of little reports coming up here and there, but that doesn't mean there's any definitive proof, but it does show that's sort of the chatter that these field reports are capturing -- and this is what is the big concern for the ISI, but also the White House.

SIDNER: OK, Atika, it can be potentially damaging to several different parties. We're keeping an eye on that and of course have our teams looking into this information that's been put out by WikiLeaks. Thank you, Atika.

ROBERTS: The U.S. and South Korea are flexing some military muscle, trying to send a message to the North. Two countries are conducting joint military exercises off the Korean Peninsula involving 20 ships and submarines and some 200 aircraft. The drills are in response to North Korea's sinking of a South Korean warship back in March. Pyongyang is threatening to retaliate with, quote, "sacred war."

SIDNER: Reports this morning that BP's Tony Hayward won't survive a board meeting today in London. Bob Dudley, the company's highest-ranking American executive and the man in charge of the day- to-day cleanup effort, is expected to take over.

ROBERTS: Well, efforts to plug the leaking oil well, are they back on track? Our Rob Marciano is on the Gulf Coast this morning. He's up live, coming up next.

It's 12 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC)

SIDNER: That will wake you up.

Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

Work is resuming in the Gulf of Mexico on those two critical relief wells. And cleanup crews are back in the water as well. But they're not finding much oil oddly enough to clean up.

ROBERTS: It seems the Tropical Storm Bonnie created some churn, moving a lot of oil to the north, and the storm evacuations over the weekend had delayed operations to kill the well by about a week.

Our Rob Marciano is live in Gulf Port, Mississippi, this morning.

And, I guess efforts to kill the well, Rob, are getting back on track. They're also thinking, in addition to that relief well, attempting a static kill. What's the timetable for that?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, so everything that we talked about before Bonnie is still what we're talking about now, but obviously that delay. You know, the drilling rig that they are using to drill the relief well, when they start to move that thing, it only moves three or four knots. I mean, it just crawls across the ocean. Any time you get it out of place, just getting it back into place is a process.

Just got confirmation that they have lowered the apparatus, the cap there for the relief well. They have to unplug the hole and then start to lay this casing and cement that casing. That process takes five to seven days. Until that's done, they can't start that static kill. So we are looking at the week of August 1st, or basically next Monday, a week from today and beyond is when they would try that static kill, which, in the benefit of that, I am told, is that it will help speed up the bottom kill, which will completely end this thing, which is still sometime in mid-August, but potentially seven days after or to the right, as the Admiral likes to say, beyond where their original deadline was.

So, that is what Bonnie has done, but the good news is that bonnie could have been a lot worse, they could have delayed things further and it certainly could have pushed more oil onshore than it did.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Rob Marciano there in Gulf Port, Mississippi. All right. We got to show you this video. This is caught on tape. And you see these every now and then, but this is just amazing video. There you see a plane, a fighter plane, practicing. And see right there, that is the pilot ejecting right before that plane smashes into the ground and explodes. What video. Good luck for the pilot he got out of there, but man, a fireball.

ROBERTS: Pretty incredible. He got out just in time. An attention deficit disorder, is it taking a toll on marriages across the country? And if it is, what the heck do you do about it? We'll talk to an expert who has written a book about it from personal experience. Seventeen minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It is just about 20 minutes after the hour now. It is time to "Mind Your Business" for you. The White House is out in full force defending the administration's push to let the Bush tax cuts for wealthy Americans expire this year. Airing on ABC's This Week, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said eliminating tax breaks would alleviate the national deficit without hindering economic growth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMOTHY GEITHNER, TREASURY SECRETARY: We also see as responsible to let the tax cuts expire that just go to 2-3% of Americans, the highest-earning Americans. We think that is the responsible thing to do because we need to make sure we can show the world that we are willing as a country now to start to make some progress bringing down our long-term deficits.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: But there are other financial experts, Alan Greenspan, among them, who say you can't cut the deficit on the backs of just the wealthy, that if you really want to trim the deficit, you have to have a combination of tax cuts across the board, or tax increases rather, across the board as well as a cut in spending as well. These tax cuts, by the way, said to expire midnight, December 31st.

SIDNER: The sci-fi thriller "Inception" held on to the top spot of the box office for the second straight week. The Leonardo Dicaprio flick earned another $43 million. Angelina Jolie's spy flick, "Salt", debuted at number two. "Inception" by the way is a Warner Brothers film owned by CNN's parent company Time Warner. ROBERTS: But it doesn't mean now that there's going to be a little something extra in your pocket at the end of the year. New Jersey's Governor is going on record to defend his state's reputation for the likes of Snooki, the Situation, and JWoww. Chris Christie told ABC's Jake Tapper that he wanted the nation to know the New Jersey shore is nothing like the one you see on MTV's reality show of the same name.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, NEW JERSEY (R): What it does is, it takes a bunch of New Yorkers, who most of the people aren't sure are New Yorkers, takes a bunch of New Yorkers, drops them at the Jersey shore, and tries to make America feel like this is New Jersey. I can tell people, they want to know what New Jersey really is, I welcome them to come to New Jersey any time. The Jersey shore is a beautiful place. And it is some place that everybody should come out vacation this summer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Governor Christie went on to remind everyone, there's still six weeks of summer left, and New Jersey's beaches are waiting.

SIDNER: Did I hear him slam New Yorkers there? He said there's a bunch of New Yorkers -- oh, I'm sorry, am I stirring up something?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are.

ROBERTS: He stirred it up. You are pointing out that he stirred it up. I mean, remember what was the movie, "Miss Congeniality" and Sandra Bullock said, why do they call New Jersey the Garden State?

SIDNER: Not right. I am not going there. You can go ahead.

ROBERTS: I used to live in New Jersey and I had a really great time living in New Jersey. And our Executive Producer, Jamie Kraft (ph), who also lives in New Jersey in my ear saying, right now, watch it, or we are meeting in your office after the show.

SIDNER: This is a little boss bullying there. When it comes to close calls, it doesn't get much closer than this. Take a look at the incredible video from an air show in Alberta, Canada. All right, there you are seeing the plane flying, the captain of the CF-18 Hornet right there, ejecting and then that plane just smashes and blows up. His fighter jet crashing and bursting into flames there. But obviously, he was okay. Amazing.

ROBERTS: Captain Bryan (ph), he is reportedly in stable condition at a local hospital. Obviously, there are effects when you punch out like that. And he punched out sideways as well. He's expected to be just fine though. You can see the parachute open and he did manage to land all right. No word yet though on what went wrong with the jet.

SIDNER: Well, coming up, most researchers are studying the oil slick from the top of the water, of course, looking down to find where the oil has gone. Amber Lyon (ph) goes on a dive to look for damage under the water. We will have that coming up. Twenty-three minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: Arizona's controversial immigration law set to take effect on Thursday, but just over the State's Northern Border, one Utah lawmaker pushing ahead with a similar bill for his state. And two Utah state employees were just fired for now an infamous immigration list.

ROBERTS: It had names and information on 1300 Utah residents all accused of being in the country illegally. The debate is really starting to divide the state, that's why our Ted Rowlands went to Salt Lake City for this A.M. Original.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the back room of the Salt Lake City market, Latino activist, Tony Llapias has a hotline for people to call to find out if they are on the list.

TONY LLAPIAS, UTAH RESIDENT: It has sent a chilling effect throughout our community.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's not on the list, okay? No.

ROWLANDS: The list surfaced two weeks ago. Two state employees who are now being terminated allegedly used medical data to come up with the personal information of 1300 reported illegal immigrants. The list was sent to government agencies, law enforcement and the media with this letter demanding that the people on the list be deported immediately.

JESUS, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT: I got here illegally. So, by that I didn't know that I was doing a bad thing because I was young, by then, but now I know that it is a bad thing.

ROWLANDS: We met 25-year-old Jesus at a park. He didn't want us to show his home or use his last name. Jesus is on the list. He says he's lived in Utah illegally since he was 15 when he says his father brought him here from Mexico. He has a wife, who is also here illegally, and a 2-year-old daughter who was born in Utah.

JESUS: It is pretty sad and scary because what if somebody comes to your door and knocks, hey, let's go.

ROWLANDS: Jesus says the tension he feels living in Utah is growing with the ongoing immigration debate and now the list.

ELI CAWLEY, UTAH MINUTEMAN PROJECT: To think that there's fear in the hearts of these illegal aliens, I celebrate that.

ROWLANDS: Utah Minuteman, Eli Cawley is pretty clear on where he stands. CAWLEY: They swam here, they walked here, they crawled here. By whatever way they got here, they can go back that way.

ROWLANDS: Cawley says people may call him a bigot, but he believes a lot of Utah is on his side when it comes to illegal immigration. In an April poll, 65% of Utah voters surveyed said they support an Arizona 1070-type law here. One is in the works and is expected to pass next year.

PAMELA ATKINSON, COMMUNITY ACTIVIST: I'm tired of the lack of civility, I'm tired of the hatred and I am tired of the hostility. I think Utahans or the majority of Utahans are above that.

ROWLANDS: Last week the Republican Governor, Gary Herbert hosted a discussion on illegal immigration. While there were disagreements on what, if anything the state should do about it, all sides were quick to blame the federal government for not doing something years ago.

CURT BRAMBLE, UTAH STATE SENATE: In the absence of Federal action on this, there may be no other alternative but for states, like Utah, to move forward.

ROWLAND: As for the list, the Attorney General announced the criminal investigation into the leak. Although Jesus admits he is in the country illegally, officials say some of the people on the list are here legally.

ROWLAND (on camera): Do you think you should be able to stay?

JESUS: Yes, I think I should have the chance to stay here.

ROWLAND: You can see Jesus' name here on the list. But he is hoping that the federal government will pass immigration reform and have some sort of path to citizenship for he and his wife. He says if it doesn't happen though, he does have plans to move back to Mexico. John, Sara.

ROBERTS: Ted Rowlands for us this morning. Ted, thank you so much. With Arizona's immigration law taking effect on Thursday, CNN will be there on the ground tracking it all. Join our Chief National Correspondent John King. He'll be broadcasting his show, live from Arizona, starting on Wednesday night. That's John King USA, 7:00 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN.

SIDNER: Thirty minutes after the hour now. Time for this morning's top stories. A massive military search continues in Afghanistan for two U.S. sailors who disappeared at a Taliban stronghold. A $20,000 reward is being offered for any information. There is a report that one of the sailors was killed by insurgents and the other is taken captive, but U.S. troops are not confirming that at this time.

Wikileaks is dismissing White House criticism over its release of classified documents on the war in Afghanistan. The whistle-blower website published more than 90,000 pages of military reports on the war. Its founder says they are doing a public service.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS FOUNDER: When we publish material, what we say is the document as we describe it is true. We publish CIA reports all the time. They are legitimate CIA report. That doesn't mean the CIA is telling the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: The White House says the document leak could put the lives of Americans and their partners in Afghanistan at risk.

SIDNER: And BP's CEO Tony Hayward, well, he may not make it through the day with his job today. Several reports are that he could be out as soon as today. BP at this point in time is denying that.

ROBERTS: Scientists are heading deep below the surface of the Gulf in search of damage to the environment. They are trying to determine whether the oil spill has had any impact on the Gulf of Mexico's sensitive reefs.

SIDNER: Amber Lyon is live this morning in Florida. Amber, you didn't just look on the top of the water, you got down in a submarine and looked underneath. What are you seeing? Any damage?

AMBER LYON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, as of now we went to visit the reef. There's no visible damage, but they are still waiting on test results.

But we did get a unique perspective here. We went down in a mini submarine like out of a science-fiction movie. The dispersed oil underneath the well are like the blood pressure of the ocean. For this urgent mission, scientists saw their rolls shift from researchers to investigators.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LYON: We are just being lowered into the water right now about 88 miles off the coast of Florida. We are here with a group of scientists from Florida Atlantic University. We are heading down to survey deep water reefs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, we are heading down.

LYON: As we are gliding along here, it almost looks like you are swimming through the water, but we have five and quarter inches of Plexiglas holding us in here.

SHIRLEY POMPONI, CHIEF SCIENTIST, HARBOR OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTE: I think people tend to think that the deeper you go, the deeper wells, there's nothing living down there. Look around you, Amber, there's a lot living down there. There's a school of fish swimming along the side of us.

LYON: The reefs are known as the "rainforest of the sea" because of their potential in lifesaving medicines. Pomponi says this reef gets a clean bill of health for now, but it's still a rush to collect as many samples as possible for a baseline.

LYON (on camera): So you guys are kind of the crime scene investigators of the ocean?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I guess so.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are going to collect a sample of red value gee.

LYON: We are using the end of a vacuum cleaner to suck up some algae.

LYON (voice-over): Back on the research vessel, water samples are collected and analyzed for oxygen levels or any evidence of oil or dispersants. Just released, EPA and NOAA samples shows decreased oxygen levels in areas near the spill site. The movement of these oil plumes worry scientists studying these reefs.

POMPONI: It is harmful for marine animals and fish because they need oxygen to live. So that's why --

LYON: It would be similar to not having a lot of oxygen in the air we breathe above water.

POMPONI: Right.

LYON (on camera): So we are in what is like a police department crime scene in this room. They are extracting tissue for DNA samples. But instead of using humans, they are using sponge tissue, coral tissue.

LYON (voice-over): Pomponi has been studying deep sea sponges like these for more than 20 years. To her they're priceless.

Meanwhile, this sub missions continue in hopes of shedding light and attention into these deep Gulf waters. Amber Lyon, CNN, in the Gulf of Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LYON: And those scientists tell us it may take several months to get the results of the test back. They also say if the coral reefs were to have damage, when they return in years from now, then they hope to bring their before and after picture.

ROBERTS: Amber, those researchers at FAU who first discovered what they called evidence of massive plumes of oil under the water, is there any more information about those? Are they still out there?

LYON: As of now, like we said in the piece, the EPA and NOAA just came out with a research study showing they are monitoring levels. That came out on Friday the day we took off, saying these plumes do exist and the oxygen levels within the plumes are reading decreased oxygen levels, John. ROBERTS: Thanks so much, Amber.

SIDNER: BP is facing allegations of mishandled maintenance and structural problems with its pipelines.

ROBERTS: Attention deficit disorders can take a toll on your marriage, so what to do if your spouse is not paying attention. We have some tips coming up. It's 37 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: A marriage is a partnership, but what happens when one of the partners suffers from ADHD and the responsibilities begin to pile up on one side of the relationship? Even though 15 percent of adult Americans could have some form of ADHD, very few couples recognize the disorder's impact on the relationship, and even if they do, they have no idea what to do about it.

Melissa Orlov joins us now. She is the author of the upcoming book "The ADHD Effect on Marriage." Welcome, good to have you this morning.

MELISSA ORLOV, ADHD RESEARCHER: Thank you.

ROBERTS: Refresh us, what is ADHD. And on a general level, how many people does it affect?

ORLOV: It depends in terms of whether you are doing the symptoms very closely or more broadly, but somewhere between five percent and 16 percent of the population has ADHD. It is, simply put, a chemistry issue in the brain. There's not enough dopamine in the brain that has an effect on your ability to organize, plan, et cetera.

ROBERTS: And you have personal experience with this because your marriage was fairly significantly impacted by ADHD. What are the signs that ADHD is beginning to take a toll on your marriage?

ORLOV: Well, my marriage was completely dysfunctional, to be honest with you.

(LAUGHTER)

ROBERTS: True confession this is morning.

ORLOV: A true confession.

The signs include things such as a very distinct disorganization in the marriage, so you have a lot of responsibility and the non-ADHD partner, perhaps 90 percent of the household tasks are done by that partner, which is much more than typical.

You would have sometimes parent--child interactions where the non-ADD partner is constantly reminding, et cetera, and the ADD partner is a child. There is a lot of chronic nagging. It is not nagging once in a while, it is nagging all the time. The only way you can get it done is if it becomes verbal and difficult. And a good sign is if you have a child diagnosed with ADHD, it is highly inheritable.

ROBERTS: As we said, true confessions here, you say your marriage was highly dysfunctional. What was going on?

ORLOV: You have patterns that happen when you have an ADHD symptom, then a response to the system and a response to the response. There is a lot of misunderstanding. So distractibility, for example, around household chores could mean things don't get done by the ADD partner. You start to determine that as your partner doesn't care.

So when you start to think your partner doesn't care, there's resentment and anger and that shows up and goes back to the partner. Then it becomes very messy.

ROBERTS: So what do you do about it? How do you take a dysfunctional relationship because of ADHD and turn it into a functional relationship?

ORLOV: I have done that. We have a fabulous marriage now. We have completely turned it around. You have to understand you have the ADHD. Get a full evaluation, because there may be something else as well.

ROBERTS: What does that entail?

ORLOV: Well, you would go to a psychiatrist or doctor and they would do a whole history of questions and ask you about the various symptoms and try to determine if you've had them your whole life.

ROBERTS: So there's identifying the problem. What else?

ORLOV: And then there's also, I think it is very important in a relationship, identifying how much the symptoms impact the non-ADD partner, so you really get reason to change things. An ADD person has been living with this their entire lives. The non-ADD partner has not.

ROBERTS: So identify the problem, realize what you're doing. But then what do you do about it in terms of behaviorally or physically?

ORLOV: There are three things you want to do. It's a three- legged stool, you need all three. One is make physiological changes so you address the dopamine and chemical issue in your brain. You can do that in a number of ways. One is with medication. So you can take a stimulant or an anti-depressant.

You can also use exercise to do that, fish oil.

ROBERTS: You were mentioning that when we were off camera, the fish oil is the stuff that you get. The fish oil capsules that you burp and taste like you ate a salmon. That's good for ADHD?

ORLOV: You don't have to burp, yes, it is. it's very good. It's been shown in research actually to help improve focus. And it affects dopamine levels, so that's why.

So that's the first sort of leg, the second leg is behavioral changes. Once you can focus better and once you're a little less disorganized in your brain, then you can start to change some of the coping strategies you put in place. You put in what I call external structures to help you do things better. Learn not to walk away from difficult conversations, things like that.

ROBERTS: How long does all of this take?

ORLOV: It depends on the couple. We had to experiment a lot. There was no real guide for us. That's why I wrote this book, in fact, it was to be able to help people move through it faster than my husband and I did.

So I have seen everything from a couple of months to a year or something, a couple years where you really get things reorganized in your marriage.

ROBERTS: But in your particular case, at least. Well worth doing?

ORLOV: Well worth it. Absolutely we've moved from completely dysfunctional to very happy --

ROBERTS: I mean, were you just about on the outs there or --

ORLOV: We had already told our children we were separating -- ROBERTS: Wow.

ORLOW: -- and getting a divorce. Yes we we're definitely --

ROBERTS: So where did the lights go on? Just say, wait a minute there's something wrong here, we've got to take a look at it?

ORLOV: Well, it's a matter of not only understanding of ADHD but understanding that both partners are contributing --

ROBERTS: Yes.

ORLOV: -- to this. And symptom response, response, response kind of thing goes on, and it took me quite frankly a while to realize that I have an impact as well.

ROBERTS: Well, good on you for saving the marriage as opposed to --

ORLOV: Thank you.

ROBERTS: -- breaking up.

ORLOV: Yes.

ROBERTS: And thanks for being with us this morning. It's certainly some stuff that you're on for a little a while. Melissa Orlov it's great to talk to you. ORLOV: Thank you.

ROBERTS: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Thank you John.

No matter where you were in the U.S. this weekend you probably had some nasty weather. Either it was scorching hot or stormy. So what's in store for the week? Jacqui Jeras is with us next.

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SIDNER: Over here and playing the drums and you can't see him but -- he's a rocker. Kid Rock there "All Summer Long" and it feels like a long one. You're looking at Miami, Florida, former hometown -- hi, Miami -- partly cloudy, 87 degrees. Thunderstorms are expected. What can you do?

ROBERTS: Yes, we'll it's a typical --

SIDNER: It's normal.

ROBERTS: -- it's a typical summer day in Miami, right? And not just a rocker, a Kid Rocker.

SIDNER: A kid rocker.

ROBERTS: That was the song of the summer two years ago. I still love it, though.

SIDNER: Let's toss it over to Jacqui Jeras who is in the extreme weather center. And it has been extreme.

ROBERTS: Checking out the forecast.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It really like -- who's not complaining about the weather these days, right? I can't tell you how many like Facebook postings I have seen, can you get rid of the storms, its hot. Can you get rid of the heat?

Well, today finally, I'm happy to say we are helping you out a little bit at least across parts of the Midwest and the northeast where things have been dramatically improving. Unfortunately, it's not getting better for those of you across parts of the south.

Our frontal system has finally nudged a little bit and that's allowing things to get better across parts of the north. But that's going to help trigger some showers and thunderstorms. And we still have high pressure in the upper levels here, so that's going to kind of trap the moisture into place, which means it's going to be really humid for a whole lot of folks the next couple of days as well.

There you can see the radar picture. Well, we do have a lot of showers and thundershowers coming in with that onshore flow across the Gulf of Mexico, so all those Gulf Coast states will see some pop-up showers and storms on occasion throughout the day. And we do think they'll become a little bit more widespread across the Deep South and the Tennessee River Valley a little bit later on today.

Delays because of that; expect it in Atlanta. A few delays in the northeast as well. And the heat will persist in the southeast where we have a lot of advisories still ongoing. 100 to 110 can be expected after a weekend of record highs. John and Sara, back to you.

ROBERTS: yes, but it is a dry heat, right?

JERAS: Not so much.

SIDNER: It won't even matter. It is so hot.

And rock bands deal with exhausting schedules, cramped tour buses and bad catering, but the Kings of Leon draw the line at pigeon droppings. (INAUDIBLE) say they were forced to walk off stage at the Verizon Amphitheater Friday night in St. Louis because of a pigeon infestation above the stage.

You can imagine what was happening to them. (INAUDIBLE) they really tried to hang in there, but the aerial attack was just ridiculous. Live Nation is offering fans a full refund.

ROBERTS: And hopefully they'll do something about those pigeons.

SIDNER: Who knows what's going to happen there.

ROBERTS: Lance Armstrong says good-bye to the Tour de France. Yes, he's hanging it up after his final, final race after winning it seven times. He finished 23rd in the race, not as well as he hoped to do, but what a career.

Fifty-two minutes after the hour.

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SIDNER: Hard working crew there in the control room.

For the third time in four years, Spain's Alberto Contador is the winner of the Tour de France. He finished nearly 40 minutes ahead of 23rd place finisher, American Lance Armstrong. Yesterday's final stage was delayed when cycling officials ordered Armstrong's team to change their jerseys. They tried to wear their own but they said, look, you have to put your other jersey back on. Lance Armstrong was trying to promote his cancer charity.

ROBERTS: And the baseball hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York has some distinguished new inductees; former slugger Andre Dawson and manager Whitey Herzog, the newest inductees. Dawson hit four of the 138 home runs playing for the old Montreal Expos and the Chicago Cubs. Herzog managed the Cardinals to a World Series crown in 1982.

Got about five minutes until the top of the hour; we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: Here's a question for you. Is your boss a jerk? And is that illegal? New York State may become the first in the nation to outlaw workplace bullying.

SIDNER: The State Senate has passed a bill that would allow workers to sue their bosses for medical expenses and lost wages for emotional stress. Sixteen other states are considering similar workplace bullying legislation. We asked lawyer and time.com contributor Adam Cohen about it earlier on AMERICAN MORNING.

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SIDNER: Why is this law important now?

ADAM COHEN, TIME.COM CONTRIBUTOR: Well, people have been working on this for a while. New York State was a big victory, but there is a feeling that particularly right the workplace is becoming more of a jungle. Some of it is the economy. Some of this is the decline of unions. But there's a sense that bosses are getting away with a lot more than they used to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Critics of the workplace bullying law say the cases could be very hard to prove and lead to more frivolous lawsuits.

ROBERTS: Of course, anybody who's watched "Madmen" knows that bosses used to get away with a whole lot than they can't get away with now.

Continue the conversation on today's stories; go to our blog at cnn.com/amfix.

That's going to wrap it up for us. Kiran will be back again tomorrow. Sara thanks so much for joining us this morning and I guess --

SIDNER: Thanks for having me.

ROBERTS: -- we'll see toward the end of the week, too, right.

SIDNER: Yes. I'll be back.

ROBERTS: Fabulous.

SIDNER: Thank you John.

ROBERTS: "CNN NEWSROOM" with Kyra Phillips starts right now, Stay with us.