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American Morning
U.S. Navy Helping in Pakistan; Meeting in Works About Ground Zero Mosque; Blagojevich: Guilty On One Court; Wyclef Jean In Limbo; Austin Turns To The Arts; Better Care, Cheaper Care; Sherrod Makes Peace; Schools Failing Black Males; GM Recall; Good Burger; Buzz Off, Reporter
Aired August 18, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you on this Wednesday. It's August 18th. Glad you're with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes, sitting in today for John Roberts.
Let's get right to it this morning.
Aid cannot come fast enough to millions of people in Pakistan -- a fifth of the country under water. The U.N. says that it doesn't even have half of the $460 million needed. The U.S. Navy has a ship off Karachi to help. And our Sara Sidner is on board with the latest on the relief mission.
CHETRY: Well, the fight over the Islamic center and mosque planned near Ground Zero in New York. There is new word that a meeting is in the works with the governor, possibly to discuss moving the location. We're going to get all the new details -- ahead.
HOLMES: Also, Dr. Laura says she's done with her radio show. The talk show host planning to walk away from the microphone in the next few months after taking a lot of heat for using the N-word with an African-American caller. Why? Dr. Laura said she had no other choice. That's coming up in just a moment.
CHETRY: Also, the amFIX blog is up and running. Join the live conversation. Just go to CNN.com/amFIX.
HOLMES: And turning back to Pakistan now. It's a desperate race against time to get aid to those who need it most. Over 1,400 people are dead. But waterborne diseases will likely push that number higher. Officials say 20 million people have been impacted by the country's worst flooding ever.
CHETRY: And what refugee camps there are are overcrowded. At least 2 million people left without a place to call home and the aid and money cannot come fast enough. The United Nations is saying it received less than $230 million in aid -- that's half of the bare minimum to respond to the tragedy right now. And the Pentagon is trying to pitch in and help, sending in the Navy to help with the humanitarian relief. The ship, USS Peleliu, is being used as a staging area to launch chopper missions.
HOLMES: Yes. The Navy is assisting Pakistan's military and rescue and relief efforts.
And our Sara Sidner is onboard the ship off Karachi and has the latest this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're here off the shores of Karachi on the USS Peleliu, with the Expeditionary Strike Group number 5. It is their whole mission to make sure to be available when there is some sort of disaster. They patrol these waters and they were in the area to help those in the flood zone in Pakistan.
They've been able to get about 5,000 people out of those flood zones, rescuing them with helicopters. They've also been able to drop about a half million pounds of aid. They say they will be here for as long as it takes. There are more helicopters coming in. There are more ships coming in.
The U.S. says that it has a humanitarian commitment that they're going to make to Pakistan. They've already given about $90 million in kind.
But the U.N. is continually saying that there is simply not enough aid being offered to this country. And so, about $460 million so far -- less than half of that has been pledged. There is still a great deal of need here in Pakistan.
The U.S. military says they'll be here. The United States itself says that it will keep providing lots of help, as much as it can. But much more is needed here.
Sara Sidner, CNN, off the coast of Karachi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: And if you like to help and for a full list of all the charities taking donations for Pakistan's flood victims, go to CNN.com/Impact.
HOLMES: Also, Dr. Laura says she is done with her radio show. This is the embattled talk show host who, of course, has been taking a lot of heat after she, of course, used that N-word rant when she was talking to a caller last week. She says she will not be renewing her contract when it expires at the end of the year.
In an exclusive interview with CNN's Larry King last night, Dr. Laura said she needs to walk away from the microphone in order to exercise her constitutional right to free speech.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. LAURA SCHLESSINGER, HOST, "THE DR. LAURA SHOW": Well, I'm here to say that my contract is up for my radio show at the end of the year. And I've made the decision not to do radio anymore. The reason is I want to regain my First Amendment rights. I want to be able to say what's on my mind and in my heart, and what I think is helpful and useful without somebody getting angry and some special interest group deciding this is a time to silence a voice of dissent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, Dr. Laura used the N-word 11 times in five minutes during that conversation last week with a female African-American caller who was seeking advice about how to deal with racist comments from her white husband's friends and relatives.
Here's the initial exchange.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
CALLER: How about the N-word though? The N-word has been thrown around --
SCHLESSINGER: Black guys use it all of the time. Turn on HBO, listen to a black comic and all you here is (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
I didn't spew out the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) word.
CALLER: You said, (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
SCHLESSINGER: Right. I said that's what you hear.
CALLER: Everybody heard it.
SCHLESSINGER: Yes, they did.
CALLER: I hope everybody heard it.
SCHLESSINGER: They did, and I'll say it again.
CALLER: So, what makes it OK for you to say the word?
SCHLESSINGER: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) is what you hear on HB -- why don't you let me finish a sentence?
CALLER: OK.
SCHLESSINGER: Don't take things out of context. Don't double N -- NAACP me.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CHETRY: Dr. Laura also told Larry King that she's not quitting or retiring. That she's going to expand her Internet presence so that she can express her views without living in fear.
HOLMES: But take a look at this. Dr. Laura is a big deal. No matter what you think of her show or what she said on the show last week, her syndicators call her the most listened to woman in radio broadcasting history.
Her show reaches more than 9 million listeners a week on nearly 200 stations; also heard on Sirius/XM radio. Right now, Dr. Laura has more listeners than any other radio host on the air except for two, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.
We turn now to the new developments we're seeing in the fight over that planned Islamic cultural center and mosque near Ground Zero.
CHETRY: A high level meeting could be happening soon about an effort to move the planned community center and mosque further away from the site of the September 11th attacks.
Mary Snow has new details on that this morning.
Do we know any more about whether this meeting is actually going to be taking place?
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We don't. We do know, though, that the pressure is building. The developer, though, says he's not moving. New York Governor David Paterson is renewing efforts to hold talks with the developers of the Islamic center near Ground Zero. This comes one week after the governor suggested that state land could provide an alternative site.
Now, a spokesman for the New York Congressman Peter King says Governor David Paterson spoke with him Tuesday, told him that he had plans to meet with the developers to discuss plans to move to an alternative site later this week.
The governor's office wouldn't elaborate, saying only there had been no formal discussions between the imam or developer. But there are expectations for a meeting to be scheduled in the near future.
Now, the developer of the 13-story building isn't budging. He says he's not aware of any meeting but that conversations with many officials continue.
The center is slated to house mosque along with things like performing arts center and a gym. The developer, Sharif El-Gamal, says the project has also been about serving Lower Manhattan. And in an exclusive interview with our affiliate New York 1, he calls this a defining moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHARIF EL-GAMAL, GROUND ZERO ISLAMIC CENTER DEVELOPER: We are nowhere near the World Trade Center site. It's a really sad day for America when our politicians choose to look at a constitutional right and use that as basis for their elections.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: Sharif El-Gamal has at least one powerful ally in this fight, and that's New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Earlier this week, the mayor told one opponent of the Islamic center to go to the library and get a copy of the Bill of Rights.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), NEW YORK CITY: It is not the government's business to get involved in religion and religious organizations, where they are, or what they say, or how they are funded. This is the fundamental right that Americans have to say and pray the way they want to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: The public opinion is not on the mayor's side. A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll taken last week shows that two-thirds of the country is against building this center close to Ground Zero.
HOLMES: And you heard the developer there saying, if we are nowhere near Ground Zero -- that is just not the case in that neighborhood.
SNOW: It's not the case. And -- one of the things that we did the other day is do a report on just where this center is going to be, because the debate has spread nationally. Some people are calling it the Ground Zero mosque. That's not accurate either. It is two blocks from Ground Zero.
You know, the developer says that he's not close enough to Ground Zero, but on the day of 9/11, landing gear from one of the planes actually landed on the roof. So, it gives you a sense of how close it is.
HOLMES: All right. Mary Snow for us -- a story that will not be going away any time soon -- thank you so much this morning.
CHETRY: Thanks, Mary.
HOLMES: Also new that we're getting this morning, starting today, BP is no longer going to be accepting claims from people hurt by the Gulf oil disaster. Don't fret though. Instead, people will be directed to the Gulf Coast claims facility which is in charge of BP's $20 billion compensation fund.
CHETRY: And you may remember the outrage in California after they found out just how much some public officials were making, hundreds of thousands of dollars. Well, "L.A. Times" reporting that city officials and employees are using city funds to take out loans. Nearly $900,000 over the past few years, two council members did not report the loans on state forms last year. And some used these loans to actually buy homes -- something that experts call highly unusual.
HOLMES: Also, listen to this call that firefighters got near Fresno, California. Somebody stuffed in a chimney. Not that time of the year where it should be Santa Claus. It was an 11-year-old boy stuck in there.
The family talked to our affiliate KFSN and they say they were moving in, got locked out.
So, how about this for an idea? The boy offered to climb down the chimney and open the door. The dad, stepdad, initially said, no way, but they say the kid tried it anyway. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEW MCCAMMON, GOT STUCK IN CHIMNEY: (INAUDIBLE) black, my whole face is black. I didn't look like myself.
REPORTER: Was it scary in there?
MCCAMMON: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, the fire chief asked him if he was hurt. He said, no, he wasn't hurt. He was just hot.
CHETRY: Well, there you go, from the mouths of babes.
HOLMES: Yes.
CHETRY: Well, they're brushing themselves off around Phoenix after a dust storm blew through yesterday. And this is no ordinary dust storm. I mean, take a look.
The picture shows the dust literally blanketing the skyline. The area was also hit with heavy monsoonal thunderstorms. Those dumped three inches of rain as well.
HOLMES: Well, hopefully, the weather won't be that interesting. Jacqui Jeras for us in Atlanta this morning.
Jacqui, boring weather is usually pretty good weather.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. You know, you can't complain about that, right? But we've got extreme weather and that's what we do here at CNN, and there's plenty of it to go around, unfortunately today.
And you could see some more dust storms in the Phoenix area as those monsoonal storms pick up again this afternoon and evening.
It is a wet Wednesday across the mid-Atlantic and the Appalachians. Look at all of the heavy rain coming down from D.C. to Baltimore, across southern Jersey. This is going to be kind of scooting through Philadelphia as well today. So, be aware that you will likely have some flight delays as a result of that and some low clouds in New York could even hold you out.
We've got a stationary boundary across the Southeast, and as things heat up throughout the afternoon, that could trigger some thunderstorms and torrential downpours and a slight risk of severe thunderstorms across the Upper Midwest. The one good thing about all of the rain, guys, is that it keeps your temperatures down. D.C., today, should be the first time you don't hit 80 degrees since sometime in June. How about that? About a month and a half for you, the 80s, and we are seeing shy of that today.
T.J. and Kiran, back to you.
CHETRY: Jacqui Jeras for us -- thanks.
Well, a victory of sorts for former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich -- prosecutors failed to convince a jury to convict him on charge, including extortion, bribery and attempting to sell the U.S. Senate seat that was once held by President Obama. He's not out of hot water, though. We're going to hear why jurors just couldn't agree on a verdict.
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CHETRY: Sixteen minutes past the hour now. Prosecutors once said that the evidence against former governor Blagojevich would make Abraham Lincoln roll over in his grave. Well apparently the jury didn't see it that way. The former Illinois governor was found guilty of lying to the FBI only yesterday. He ended up escaping convictions on 23 other counts. Now two of the jurors in the case spoke out about why the 12 men and women struggled to agree.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES MATSUMOTO, JURY FOREMAN: I believe that they proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt. But to others, they didn't. And it is the same evidence. So it is -- it is just a matter of opinion.
ERIK SARNELLO, JUROR: He listened to a phone call and, you know, people would say that supports his guilt. She would say that supports his -- you know, the innocence. Not guilty side. She had such different views, that is the way she saw it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: While prosecutors are quick to say that they will try this case again.
HOLMES: Wyclef Jean says he wants to be the next president of Haiti. You about the question is this morning, is he even going to be allowed to run? Haiti's elected commission was supposed to rule on the hip hop star's eligibility last night because he's not lived in the country for five consecutive years as mandated in Haiti's constitution. A decision now expected on Friday.
Well coming up, a lot of American towns have been hit hard by the tough economic times. And some of them are turning back to their roots. Like Austin, Texas. They are turning back to their roots in the arts and it is paying off for them. Seventeen minutes past the hour. Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: Music, theater, galleries. The town of Austin is an oasis for the arts in the middle of Texas. During these tough economic times Austin is giving one of the storied venues a face-lift and itself giving it set of an economic boost at the same time. Our Tom Foreman has this morning's "Building Up America" Report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is impossible to address the economy of Austin without noting the symphony of arts that flows through this town. And the long center downtown is evidence of how a vibrant arts community can be good for residence and business, too.
For 40 years, the multi-purpose aging Palmer Auditorium sat here. When the city decided to replace it in the '90s, the town was flush with dot-com money. A $125 million plan was developed. By 2002, however, many dot-comes were dot gone and the plan was, too. That is when the real ingenuity kicked in.
STAN HAAS, ARCHITECT: People were accustomed to come in here and knew what it was.
CLIFF RED, RUNS CENTER: It was so odd but yet it was also such a simple for the city.
FOREMAN: Cliff Red runs the center and Stan Haas was a key architect of its revival.
HAAS: So to give it a new life and new place if people's hearts in Austin was a really seductive project for us.
FOREMAN: Unable to afford an entirely new facility, the city, like many homeowners, remodeled. Really remodeled.
We began to investigate what's the idea of maybe taking the great bones of this building and make it more than it was. The eureka moment for us was finding a foe owe of it in 1958 and what it showed was this beautiful concrete perimeter.
FOREMAN: Striping the old building down to the bones, they reused every piece they could to create a state of the art new performance center. A hidden con sea ring beam came into the light and as a sweeping architectural element. Old weather beaten roof tiles were converted into stylish hip siding. Windows were made into decorative panels. Old light fixtures rewired, reworked, and re-hung for a retro-splash. Five hundred tons of steel were melted down and returned for use and in all, 45 million pounds of debris recycled and used again. The results are staggering. Not only do the long center open on time and on budget, but listen to how much they saved by using the old to build up the new.
HAAS: Typically when we research these across the country, the mind numbing figure is they are running $1,100 a foot. We were able to build it for $278 a foot. So it becomes one of the most studied projects and it -- iconic example of Austin ingenuity at best. FOREMAN: Now that's a finale. Tom foreman, CNN, Austin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Thanks, Tom.
Well a hospital that says cheaper care is actually better care and saving money by delivering babies the old fashioned way. Our Elizabeth Cohen is going to check in just a moment. Twenty three minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty six minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Your "Top Stories" just minutes away. But first an "A.M. Original," something you will see only on AMERICAN MORNING.
HOLMES: A huge response. We first brought to you a medical waste series back in March about the mind-boggling prices hospitals are charges and are actually getting away with this. Elizabeth Cohen is with us to show us one hop trying to solve this problem. Good morning to you.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you. This hop in Utah, I was there. I was really struck by how simple their mission is. And that mission is less expensive care that gives better results. It seems so obvious when you finish watching this it will make you wonder, gee, why don't all hospitals do this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(on camera): We are here at the medical center in Utah where Haley Nelson is about to have a baby. How is the labor going?
HALEY NELSON, PATIENT: It is going well.
COHEN: Any pains yet?
NELSON: No. We are good to go.
COHEN: Epidural kicked in?
NELSON: Yes.
COHEN: OK well we are going to catch up with you in a bit. I will say something that is going to sound a little bit crass. But how Haley has this baby affects my pocketbook and yours, too. Let me explain. I'm here at Intermountain with the Doctor Brent James who is the chief quality officer. It looks like Haley is doing well in there.
DR. BRENT JAMES, INTERMOUNTAIN, CHIEF QUALITY OFFICER: Very well. I think in about an hour we will have another citizen of the state of Utah.
COHEN: All right here at Intermountain you are very focused on not wasting money. So can you take me on a little tour of the hospital and show me how you do it.
DR. JAMES: I would be delighted.
COHEN: So you found that you had a lot of CT scans that were unnecessary, wasting money. How much money did you save when you stopped doing repetitive scans?
DR. JAMES: We dropped the total number by about 20 percent. It is would have been measured in the tens of millions of dollars. And it is not just CT scans. It is other imaging exams.
COHEN: And here is another way Intermountain saves money. It is so much cuter than an MRI. Here at this hospital, two out of every ten babies are born out caesarian section. Hospitals around the country, three out of ten born by c-section. Now you think one baby, what's the difference? Well a c-section costs about $2,000 more than a vaginal birth. So if you do the math, if every hospital in the country has statistics like this hospital, the nation would save about $1 billion. So by instituting all of these changes to get rid of waste, how much money are you saving?
DR. JAMES: We estimate that we are saving about a minimum of about $150 million per year.
COHEN: That's a lot of money. So why can't all hospitals do this?
DR. JAMES: Frankly, they can.
COHEN: I have to tell you, makes me nervous when I hear that hospitals are trying to save money because I want you to spend money on me when I'm sick. So you are saving all this money. Are you delivering good care?
DR. JAMES: It turns out that in almost all circumstances, better care is cheaper care.
COHEN: How could better care be cheaper care?
DR. JAMES: Well you avoid complications so you don't have to pay for the complication. We have a great way of saying it, the best patient outcome at the lowest necessary cost.
COHEN: OK so Dr. James, I'm going to go check on Haley now.
DR. JAMES: Wonderful.
COHEN: So congratulations, Haley.
NELSON: Thank you.
COHEN: She's beautiful.
NELSON: Thank you. We think so, too.
COHEN: So she was not born by c-section.
NELSON: No.
COHEN: So she saved everyone a little bit of money.
NELSON: Why. It is a good way to look at it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: So cute. Now Elizabeth in your book you also talk about choosing the right hospital and how you go about figuring out which hospitals are like this. And, you know, you have to wonder why aren't more hospitals trying to do what this hospital is apparently having a lot of success doing.
COHEN: Right. I will take the second part of the question first. I mean you do have to wonder why aren't more hospitals doing this. The reason is it is not as easy as it sounds. Let's take changing the way obstetricians deliver by babies. The doctors are used to doing what they do. The hospital has to convince a large number of doctors to change their ways. It is not that easy. Now as far as finding a hospital that has good outcomes like this one, in my book, I have several websites that you can consult. One of the best is U.S. News and World Report does a ranking of the best hospitals in the country.
CHETRY: All right well, we look forward of checking that out, Elizabeth, thanks so much for that story.
COHEN: Thanks.
CHETRY: Thirty minutes past the hour. Time for a look at our top stories. She says she needs to walk away from the mic to regain her right to free speech. We're talking about Dr. Laura Schlessinger announcing that she is leaving her radio show at the end of the year, and it comes a week after she used the "N" word 11 times at a conversation with an African-American caller.
HOLMES: Also, a high level meeting in the work over the planned Islamic center near ground zero possibly discuss moving it somewhere else. New York's governor has suggested that state land to provide an alternative site.
CHETRY: Also, Shirley Sherrod making peace with the NAACP. She is the ex-USDA official who lost her job after comments about race were twisted and posted on the web. There you see her hugging the white farmers that she had talked about in the story. She ended up helping.
Sherrod and NAACP president, Ben Jealous, are scheduled to appear together at a rural development conference in Alabama Saturday. Jealous and other state man (ph) saying that her comments were quote "shameful and intolerable based on the edited tape." Then, the NAACP apologized after seeing the full version saying it was quote snookered by a right wing blogger.
HOLMES: Love her or hate her, some people out there just can't think to get enough of Sarah Palin. They are about to get some more. She's about to hit prime time. Our Kareen Wynter reports the popularity now about to be put to the test in a whole new way. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the kind of unscripted drama that only Sarah Palin can create. Americans just can't steam to get enough of this provocative political family. But that could all change when the former vice presidential candidate's reality show debuts this fall.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To be a part of the political process instead of becoming a celebrity so that you could -- and if that is the best you can do, then good for you.
WYNTER: For Sarah Palin's Alaska, (ph) the cameras will follow their every move.
ROY SEKOFF, EDITOR, "HUFFINGTON POST": A lot of it is sort of just watching this train wreck happened. Oh my, God! What are they going to do next? Oh, no, not that.
WYNTER: The Huffing ton Post founding editor, Roy Sekoff, says the palins are cashing in on their 15 minutes of fame.
What is it about the Palins, America's obsession? People just can't seem to get enough of this family.
SEKOFF: I think that they are a soap opera come to life. I mean, the stuff that happens to this family, you couldn't put these together if you were a writer for "all my children." You have the people who love her, you have the people who hate her, but everybody is talking about it.
WYNTER: And that includes Levi Johnston, the Palin's most famous former son-in-law to be.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's tough being in a relationship in the limelight, you know.
WYNTER: Sekoff says it's that limelight that's propelled the Palins and Johnston to celebrity status. The headlines about Levi and Bristol Palin's love child. Their two broken engagements, the buzz about Johnston shopping his own reality show. Oh, and that music video that Johnston just appeared in that had tongues wagging because many said it poked fun at the Palins which Levi denied.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch the video. It's going to be hot.
WYNTER: But when it comes to the media firestorm over this family, Sekoff says it's Palin's persona as a political lightning rod that's fuelling the public's appetite.
SEKOFF: Right now, she's all about promoting the Sarah brand. There's a reason why Oprah book or when her book came out. There's a reason why her book was a best-seller, why Barbara Walters did a five- parter with her. People are interested in the Palin.
WYNTER: And it's that interest that's creating a gravy train for this family proving it pays to be a Palin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WYNTER (on-camera): As for Levi Johnston's reality show, that hasn't been picked up as yet, but producers say they have shot footage here in Hollywood and plan to shoot more in Alaska -- T.J., Kiran?
HOLMES: All right. Coming up, the numbers are just mind-boggling. In some places, only one out of every four African-American males is graduating from high school. We're taking a look at the failures of America's schools with our education contributor, Steve Perry. He is up next. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Thirty-six minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. You know, there are some new numbers out showing that across the nation, public schools apparently seem to be failing black males in particular.
The graduation rates coast to coast just 47 percent. The shot foundation crunched these numbers. Some states that were defying the trend, black males in Maine, for example, have a 98 percent graduation rate. In New Jersey, one of the largest percentages of black students has a 69 percent graduation rate.
HOLMES: In some urban areas, things a lot worse than even those numbers you're seeing. New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Nashville, Ft. Lauderdale, the Florida area there, all at the national average or lower and some cases well below. So, what's going on? How can schools start to turn things around? Joining us now live, Steve Perry of CNN education contributor and principle and founder of Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, Connecticut.
Steve, always good to see you. A lot of schools will tell you and a lot of people will tell you while these young men have issues at home, they have other distractions, they have other problems; however, the way you see it, is there any other way to see this other than an absolute failure of America's schools?
STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: It is a profound failure of the American public education system to engage the population that is part of our community. We have to begin to realize that we know how to run effective schools. Many schools throughout the country have proven that children from historically disadvantaged populations can perform on par or better.
Standing in the way is we have committed to the adults in the building as opposed to the children in the building, and that means that we want to make sure that grown people get to keep their jobs, so we're not going to make any fundamental changes to the way in which schools run. We're just going to say that we're going to hope that the kids get better.
CHETRY: I want to ask you about this because we're saying that the nation's schools are failing our black male students. What, in your mind, are the biggest differences between black male students and white male students that account for these huge discrepancies in some cases?
PERRY: Expectations, expectations, expectations. Children, African- American males, from as young as 5 and 6 and 7 years old are the most likely to be suspended. We see educators, my group, the people I work with, we see the behaviors of African-American males beyond being mischievous as far as -- and being dangerous and so we actually react more adversely to their behaviors than we do those of white children. That's just a fact.
So, what we need to do is we need to begin to treat children the same. In addition to that, we need to begin to expect African-American children, males in particular, to perform on par with every other group. When we see these very same children in schools and which the expectations are the same or higher like you see in urban prep, Midwest, or you see Eagle Academy, or our school where the last year two years, our valedictorian has been an African-American male, we can get children to perform.
Kids respond to expectations and discipline. That's what they want. They crave it, and when they don't get it, they begin to react negatively. When we think that children want us to pity them, that's when they begin to turn on us.
HOLMES: And Steve, you said you have to treat them all the same, have the same expectations, but in your estimation as well, are we making a mistake? The school system, and that we're thinking every kid has to learn the same way. If you can't learn like this white boy or this white girl, then something is wrong with you, but haven't we seen that kids react differently and need to be taught differently? Even boys and girls need to be taught differently.
PERRY: But that's not driven by race. Yes, every individual learns different from every other individual. However, there are similarities. What we know is that when we look at some of the most successful private schools and some of the most successful public schools, they are run exactly the same. They're smaller. They have high expectation from the outset.
So, no one is asking you if you're going to go to college. Maybe, you'll go to college. You already know you're going to college. So, now, it's how we get you there. We backfill. The expectations have to be high and the support has to be high. But more important than anything, the schools have to be designed to support the children. Too often, principals, they're scared.
They're scared to fire people because they don't want to make enemies. They're the wrong people for the job. Too often, teachers are not compelled to expect more and give more homework and support, stay later, do what they need to do. And so, they don't get the results. Those schools that have the highest performance regardless of race are the ones in which the expectations are high, the support is high, and children are first.
CHETRY: Why aren't we replicating these tactics than on a larger scale? You've given us those examples of successful schools. We've seen them. We profiled some of the schools. And in some cases, they're not necessarily spending more money. Why can't that be put to practice in more of these districts? For example, New York City, 28 percent of black males graduated according to the study. That's appalling.
PERRY: Absolutely. The reason why is because when we do that, parents are going to choose those schools. Right now, the teachers unions and the civil rights organizations, strange bedfellows, have come together to stop the proliferation of these schools. They have said that they don't want any more charter schools. They have focused and fought against them because the conditions that exist with them are children focused and not adult focused.
So, that means that when we begin to open more schools like the ones that I just mentioned and many others, what's going to happen is we're going to respond to the faculty based upon their performance. If they fail, they get fired. And nobody wants that. So, it's easy to blame the circumstances, the socio-economic circumstances or something else that we cannot control for the performance of the children instead of the performance of the adults.
When we make the commitment to put children first in the United States of America in front of the political pandering, then we will get the results. That's what the best schools do. That's what the best teachers do. That's what the best principals do. The ones who fail simply do not. They put adults' desires against children's needs and adults' desires went up every single time.
We know how to do this. There's no -- this is not like a traffic accident. These numbers are not something that just sort of happened. We know how it's happening. We absolutely do. And it's all fixable today.
HOLMES: Well, it is -- it may be fixable, Steve, today. But nobody thinks it's going to be fixed any time soon. We have talked with you plenty over the years about how you feel about some of the teachers unions and how much money has gobbled up by them, tied up there, that should be going elsewhere. Steve, we appreciate it. I know we're going to be talking to you plenty down the road when we continue to cover what is absolutely an education crisis. Steve, good to see you, buddy.
CHETRY: Thanks, Steve.
PERRY: Thank you.
CHETRY: General Motors recalling nearly a quarter million crossover SUVs, potential problems with the rear seat belts. There are four models involved, the Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave, and the Saturn Outlook. GM says the rear seat belt buckles can be damaged when the second row seat is returned to its upright position and that then they may latch improperly.
HOLMES: We have got some nasty storms making their way across parts of the country. That is going to make things tricky if you're travelling in certain areas. Our Jacqui Jeras has your travel forecast right after the break. Eight by the quarter (ph) to the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Right in Denver this morning, it's 66 so far this morning. But Denver, I didn't realize they were capable of getting to 97 degrees even in summer time in Denver but they will today.
CHETRY: It's so pretty.
HOLMES: Yes.
CHETRY: I want to go on a road trip. It's 47 minutes past the hour. Let's get a check on the morning's weather headlines. Because not everywhere is going to be so pretty today, Jacqui Jeras.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, not so much. You know climb Pike's Peak by the way, Tuesday, and that will cool down just a little bit. Temperatures go down as you go up that way.
Not nearly as beautiful as the day across the Mid-Atlantic States today; we've got two clusters of thunderstorms that are going to be rolling on through. And it has been a really steady rain with torrential downpours bringing down between an inch and two inches of rain.
And we've got flood problems from Washington, D.C. up towards Baltimore. It's been real heavy across southern parts of New Jersey. Philadelphia, if you live on the east part of town, you're getting it a bit. But not so bad out west and New York City will get some spotty showers and probably hold it off until later on today.
So the big question is that second cluster of thunderstorms going to get into Maryland again. And it is a good possibility. So flood watches have been posted across the area. All the way down through the Appalachians.
Then we also have an area of low pressure across the lower Mississippi Valley that could cause some flooding concerns as well.
Travel today is going to be a big issue as a result of that because it doesn't even just take the rain; just low clouds can hold you up into the northeast. So we've got 15-minutes departure delays right now at Reagan National. The only reported delay but you can see we're expecting quite a few up and down the Eastern Seaboard as heavy rain triggers late this afternoon.
Across the southeast and the upper Midwest looking for a slight risk of severe thunderstorms; we are looking good out west, Denver as well as Phoenix where you can see an isolated thunderstorm later on today.
T.J. and Kiran back to you.
CHETRY: All right, Jacqui thanks so much. HOLMES: Now new for you this morning a salmonella outbreak triggering the recall of 228 million eggs. The eggs were produced by an Iowa company that's called Right County Eggs who sold under multiple brand names. They come in cartons ranging from six to 18 eggs.
You see some of the numbers here. They're marked in one of three plant numbers. You'll see them on your screen. If you have that you might want to reconsider scrambling it.
CHETRY: Yes. There you go.
Well, the FBI has agreed to review this videotape. It's a 24-year-old being taken down and struck by a police officer. It happened outside a nightclub in 2009. The officers were disciplined for filing a false report. An independent monitor is now calling for them to be fired saying that they tried to cover up that incident.
HOLMES: And a North Carolina sheriff's deputy trapped for three hours in his car because of bees. This happened yesterday. The officer was responding to a broken down truck that was transporting these little things. The bees eventually were taken off of the vehicle by the professionals, as you see there. But again, he stayed in his car for some three hours.
CHETRY: That guy is completely covered, right.
HOLMES: Yes.
CHETRY: In this whole protective suit. Then there is a woman in shorts and a t-shirt also collecting the bees right next to him so --
HOLMES: But they say they were the only the ones collecting only had I think three to four bees stings themselves. So clearly professionals know what they are doing but the officer wasn't going to mess this.
CHETRY: It just -- it just makes my skin crawl with like layers of layers.
All right, JetBlue bringing back the most successful promotion that it has ever offered. All you can fly for one low price. How you can get in on the deal. It's 50 minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to The Most News in the Morning. JetBlue probably relieved we're not talking about JetBlue and Steven Slater.
HOLMES: Of course. Not that story.
CHETRY: No it's not the emergency chute and the beers. It's actually the "all you can fly" promotion that the airline's are bringing back. For just $699 you can travel unlimited for a month. It starts September 7th. For $200 less than that, you get the same deal only you can't fly on Fridays or Sundays.
But you only have a couple more days to get in on the offer. A lot of people would fly on this -- (INAUDIBLE) that's a great deal.
HOLMES: It doesn't work south but I didn't realize I had to ask only it's a certain month. That's not like they'll let you do it over the holidays.
CHETRY: Right, they do it during the low period.
HOLMES: So you can't pick you're month.
CHETRY: Yes, I'll take any month between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Oops.
HOLMES: You can't do that. Sorry, folks.
We have a new champion out there in the burger business. We talked about this a little earlier. There's new survey out says that Five Guys is America's favorite fast food burger. If you've never heard of Five Guys, which a lot of people have not, there are only about 500 in the U.S. right now. That certainly pales -- it sounds like a lot, but it pales in comparison to the big chains like Burger King and McDonald's.
CHETRY: Right, I just found out about this a couple of hours ago. It seems great apparently there was like four of them in this, you know its five-block radius of this building. I'm going to head there today.
Well, to beat out some of the bigger competition, of course, it was a tough one: In-N-Out Burger, of course everyone loves; Wendy's -- you know Wendy's; Burger King; and of course, McDonald's.
So would you like fries with that? When you talk about fries, McDonald's actually made up for its poor showing in the burger column, taking first place in the French fry category. Five Guys also coming in second place there.
HOLMES: All right.
CHETRY: From Mary Snow, who is, of course, a lifelong New Yorker also said today you guys made me hungry and I'm heading there now. I didn't know there were any so close.
HOLMES: I'm sure you guys will have a Five Guys report tomorrow morning.
Also coming up, there is a new way to get the press to bug off. Jeanne Moos will tell us the new methods being used now to get rid of the pesky press.
It's 54 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to The Most News in the Morning. Three minutes until the top of the hour.
It's time for the "Moos News in the Morning" with Jeanne. How do you get rid of a swarm of cameras?
HOLMES: Well, the same way you get rid of a swarm of bees. You could make us scatter as well. Jeanne Moos shows us the latest way to repel the press.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You may think we and the press are obnoxious pests. That's no excuse to aim a can of wasp and hornets spray at us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got it.
MOOS: The cameraman got it all right. Next thing you know, the insecticide is being sprayed all over the web.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got to go up there and get these firemen to hose me down.
MOOS: The WTIZ cameraman did get first aid at a nearby fire station. The guy who was later arrested for doing the spraying outside a Connecticut courthouse was Sean Quayle. The media were chasing Quayle and his wife because they were already charged with allegedly receiving stolen beer from none other than the man who went on a shooting rampage in the beer distributorship two weeks ago.
(on camera): Normally when people want to get rid of us, they use the "cover the lens and shove" technique.
(voice-over): A technique demonstrated by model Naomi Campbell on an ABC crew. Usually the press is pelted with things like tear gas canisters. Occasionally someone throws water at a reporter and uses the empty bottle to battle the press.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's not appropriate.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't give a (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
MOOS: There was even a Florida grandmother --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, don't put that camera in my (EXPLETIVE DELETED) face, man. Get out. (EXPLETIVE DELETED) right now.
MOOS: -- who chased away the media wielding a hoe.
(EXPLETIVE DELETED)
MOOS: And those camera crews are sometimes subjected to tear gas at protests. We protest when hit by bug spray.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Find out what it is before I have to go to hospital.
MOOS: A poster on Gawker quibbled with the choice of insecticide. I think you are supposed to use roach spray on Fox cameramen, wasp and hornet sprays for CBS. The sprayer was arrested on charges of reckless endangerment and third -degree assault. At least he followed instructions and shook the can. I guess I rather be sprayed than hoed.
We sure do bug people.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: I hope Jeanne is okay.
HOLMES: She's fine. Of course, she's fine. But it's interesting he shook up the can before he sprayed them.
CHETRY: Look one more time at the directions. Yes, spray directly on the pest.
HOLMES: Nobody would ever try to get Kyra Phillips to bug off.
CHETRY: No way.
HOLMES: She's in the "CNN NEWSROOM". We're going to hand it over to her. It starts right now.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": No idea -- absolutely no idea. I've had more than bug sprays sprayed at me.
CHETRY: Oh come on --
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: Thank you, T.J. Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Trust me. I'll tell you my stories off camera. Thanks, guys. Have a great day.
