Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Saving Chile's Trapped Miners; Fears of a Second Slump; New Faces at Emmys; Counting Down Cady; Miracle on Subway Tracks; U.S. Open Preview

Aired August 30, 2010 - 08:00   ET

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

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING on this Monday. It's August 30th. I'm Kiran Chetry.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for joining us.

Let's get you caught up on what you missed overnight while you were sleeping.

A life-saving mission to free 33 Chilean miners is about to get underway today. Crews are expected to begin drilling a half mile down into the depths of the earth. We're live with details about the plan and also what crews are doing now to keep the miners alive.

CHETRY: Also, fears of a second slump after a drumbeat of grim economic news last week. Talk of a double-dip recession is getting louder. But is it a real threat? We're "Minding Your Business."

ROBERTS: And the planned site of an Islamic mosque in suburban Nashville is now a crime scene. The FBI has joined the investigation after someone set a piece of heavy equipment on fire at the construction site.

CHETRY: And, of course, the amFIX blog is up and running this morning. Join the live conversation right now. Go to CNN.com/amFIX.

ROBERTS: But first, developing news as we speak this morning regarding the 33 trapped miners in Chile. Drilling is finally scheduled to begin today to rescue the men. It's a process that unfortunately is expected to take months.

CHETRY: In the meantime, a telephone line was dropped to the miners, but so far, each relative has only had about 20 seconds to speak to their loved ones.

Our Karl Penhaul is live for us in Chile where all this is taking place.

Good morning, Karl.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran and John.

In fact, the work on drilling that rescue hole up on that rather foggy hillside behind me should have started in the wee small hours this morning. It didn't because we understand a power unit that needs to be attached to the drill has not yet arrived. And that is being flown in from Germany.

Now, there's been about a 12-hour delay on that according to the mine's minister, Laurence Golborne, but he is still optimistic that drilling will begin today. But, of course, it's going to be a long process as you say. The drilling down that almost half mile into the shell to where the miners are, the shell is now called refuge 33, could take until almost Christmas.

Meanwhile, of course, we know that the miners are receiving the survival rations they need through three bore holes that have already been drilled. But just to put that in perspective, for the next weeks and months, they have to live their lives through three 2,300-foot bore holes, and that diameter. Everything they need has to fit through there, that means food, it means water, it means oxygen, it means compressed air, it means clothing, camp beds, MP3 players and even a small TV projector that we understand they now are watching old soccer matches on.

But, yesterday, there was some good news, too, because down one of the bore holes, they passed a phone and so, the families, for the first time, were able to speak to their loved ones. And I can tell you, it was really amazing to see the families that have had more than three weeks of anxiety coming out, having spoken to their loved ones -- maybe only got a minute, maybe some only got 20 seconds, but they were beaming and saying they heard the voices of those trapped miners. They were briefed by psychologists first and told only to send them positive news, send them good messages, uplift their spirits.

And, of course, there was one lady there, she had already, by a letter, sent from a half mile underground from her boyfriend, from her man, she received a letter proposing a full Catholic wedding when he gets out. And yesterday, they also talked briefly by phone. He said, "Darling, hold on for me. We will choose the dress together and we will do this full Catholic wedding when I come out."

So within this drama of human survival, there are also very human stories, love stories blossoming anew.

ROBERTS: And, Karl, NASA is sending a team of experts there to Chile to help out. What exactly is their role going to be?

PENHAUL: It's a four-man NASA team, John. And they are expected to arrive in the country on Tuesday. And they should be here at the mine head between Wednesday and Friday.

Now, the health minister, Jaime Manalich, was telling us that there will be a chief medical officer, there will be a psychologist, there will be a nutritional expert and there will be an engineer who's an expert in logistics. Their aim will be to help keep this process of keeping the miners healthy in body and in mind over the coming weeks and months.

The logistics expert -- he will be trying to help speed up the flow of vital survival rations through those three-bore holes that the rescue workers are now calling the umbilical cord. You get the drift, keeping them alive from the surface down to below.

And the Chileans have done a meticulous job so far, but they believe that the astronaut experts will really give them some extra insight into how to keep men alive in confined spaces over long times.

And the health minister is clearly optimistic about the arrival of the NASA team. Yesterday, he was even joking. He said, I don't believe that those NASA experts are going to put a zero oxygen, zero gravity space down there. He says, I don't think we're going to have the miners floating around in zero gravity. He says, but you never know.

He's certainly optimistic that NASA will bring a lot to the table on this, John.

ROBERTS: All right. Karl Penhaul for us live outside the mine -- Karl, thanks so much. We'll hear from you a little bit later on today.

CHETRY: Meantime, BP engineers are about to begin a key step needed to permanently kill the damaged Gulf oil well. Today, crews will start working on removing the cap that began trapping oil in the well last month. That will then allow them to detach the broken blowout preventer and replace it with a new one.

ROBERTS: Right now, Hurricane Earl is picking up power in the Atlantic. Our Rob Marciano is tracking it from the CNN hurricane headquarters.

And this one is going to come pretty close to the east coast, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it might even hit the east coast, too soon to tell there. But certainly day four and five, when we'll show you forecast track, it will have folks from North Carolina up to New England a little bit on edge, that's for sure.

Category two storm has been bumped up as far as the wind speed in the last three hours, 110 miles per hour right now and is battering places like St. Thomas, St. Martin, and even the outer -- some of the outer bands getting into parts of Puerto Rico.

All right. Where is it going next? West-northwesterly movement, it will eventually go northwesterly. Notice it gets the major category storm status later on today, a three and then a three storm. Getting very close to the Carolina coastline Thursday and Friday morning, and then potentially getting close to the New England coastline as we get later on this weekend.

And notice that the cone of uncertainty, we get today's three, four and five, and our margin for error that the National Hurricane Center allows is 200 to 300 miles. So, it doesn't make much for that storm to go either way. In the last couple of runs, the models continue to kind of slide to the left.

So, we are definitely more concerned about this one than we were with Hurricane Danielle. And there's yet another storm, likely to be Fiona here, in the next 24 to 48 hours as well.

So, we are ramping things up. And folks who live on the east coast should start think going -- start going through their checklist -- their hurricane checklist at least mentally and later on the day, maybe you'll have to do that more physically -- guys.

CHETRY: Yes. We are already thinking about what to do. You got to plan because you never know if it's going to hit you or not. Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: (INAUDIBLE).

ROBERTS: Well, over the past couple weeks, we've had some pretty bad economic indicators. Are we heading for a double-dip recession? Our next guest believes we are.

Robert Shiller, along with our own Andy -- Andy Velshi.

CHETRY: It's so long you forgot his name.

ROBERTS: That's Ali's brother.

Ali Velshi is coming up next.

Nine minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Twelve minutes now after the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning.

After a succession of downbeat reports on housing and the GDP, many people are concerned that America's fragile economy is on the brink of a double-dip recession.

Joining us now is our chief business correspondent, Ali Velshi.

Welcome back to Ali. It's been a while since we've seen him.

And as well, Yale University economist, Robert Shiller.

Good morning to both of you.

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

ROBERT SHILLER, YALE UNIVERSITY: Good morning.

ROBERTS: Robert, you were one of the first to predict the housing bubble. So, you have a pretty good track record on all of this. You are now saying we may be on the edge of a double-dip recession. What do you think the likelihood is and what's leading you in that direction?

SHILLER: Well, I think that my concern is that we won't heal before the next recession. The unemployment rate is stuck at a high level. And now, we're seeing some signs of weakening. I don't know exactly what's going to happen, no one knows, but I worry that we'll just be in another bad situation shortly.

ROBERTS: Ali, what's your reading of the tea leaves out there?

VELSHI: Yes. I think that's exactly right. I think the double- dip doesn't make since because, usually, a recession -- you go down and then you go up. And if it's a double-dip, which we've never had in the United States, you go down again. In this case, we haven't -- we haven't taken that leg up properly. So what we might just be seeing is a very, very slow recovery.

Look, markets are not terrible. Home prices -- and I know this is a delicate area getting in with Robert who knows more about this than I do -- home prices are actually a smidgeon higher than they were a year ago. That probably won't last.

The issue is jobs. If our unemployment rate were 4.5 percent or 5 percent, we wouldn't be having this discussion. On Friday, we're going to get the mother of all reports, the jobs report, and we will, once again, have lost more jobs.

ROBERTS: Yes. Robert, you know, you mentioned unemployment as well. When you look at all of those numbers like the, you know, trade imbalance, GDP, housing, does that all -- does that all kind of become irrelevant when you got that 9.5 percent unemployment number staring at you in the face?

SHILLER: Yes, I think that we haven't focused enough on jobs. I mean, Congress can tell me they are getting letters from people saying, "We want jobs," but the economic theory has been, you know, the jobs will come later. Jobs are lagging indicator, just get the economy going. But that hasn't been working.

ROBERTS: So, how do you get the jobs back again? What would you suggest?

SHILLER: Well, I -- I think we have to -- I have two basic ideas. One is to go back to a kind of New Deal programs of hiring unemployed in temporary jobs. And the other thing, I believe, is we need to help the state and local governments hire back people because they -- they have a budget crunch and they can't borrow like the federal government can. So, we need revenue sharing with the state and local governments.

ROBERTS: So, Ali, it sounds like yet another stimulus package, a second --

VELSHI: Yes.

ROBERTS: -- or maybe a third or fourth --

(CROSSTALK)

ROBERTS: -- depending on how you parse everything that's happening in the last two years? VELSHI: And there's no political appetite for that whatsoever, although it may be necessary. Japan has put more money into the economy just this morning.

The reality is, Robert makes a very good point. We may not have a double-dip recession on the books, but cities and states have been broke for a while. And it's getting worse for them.

So, the issue here -- there's one thing that's different, John, than it was when you and I used to talk about this every day in 2007 and 2008, there is money. People are saving money. We have a savings rate of about 6 percent. Big companies have money. Just nobody wants to put their foot in the water until they see someone else either hiring or spending.

So, it's a bit of a confidence game right now. A little more help by the government strategically placed may actually do the job.

ROBERTS: And, Robert, in past recessions, the housing market -- you know, pick up on the housing market, it has helped to lift us out of recession. When you look at what's going on in the housing market now, is that calculation out the window? And does something else have to lift us out?

SCHILLER: Yes. We really don't know what's going to happen. We just ended the first time homebuyer and existing homebuyer tax credit. Sales plummeted. We saw the most striking drop in existing home sales last month ever. And we just don't know, is this the beginning of another downswing? Or not? Or will the government come back in and help again. It is really uncertain right now.

ROBERTS: And another point, Ali, that a lot of people are raising is, is this going to be for the United States a lost decade similar to what Japan suffered between 1991 and 2000?

VELSHI: I actually think that is possibly a bigger concern. In fact, a lot of people worry about inflation, but the fact that prices don't move anywhere and demand doesn't increase and interest rates don't go lower. You have 4.5% or less for a 30-year fixed mortgage and people still are not buying houses at depressed prices. That's a possibly bigger concern, but I don't actually think that's entirely real either. I think we've got to get through this tough patch and we've probably pushed the recovery back. And it is probably going to be flatter than we expected it to be. The best part of the recession, as you know John, is that it is supposed to be fun on the way up, prices go up and you get a job. There's no fun here.

ROBERTS: Robert, what do you think about this idea of a lost decade?

SCHILLER: Japan had two lost decades. I think it is a worry, but let's also put it in perspective. Japan has not been in a depression. Japan, for the last 20 years, has had GDP growth, low, but it is just kind of a loss of excitement and opportunity. People in Japan feel like it hasn't worked out as they hoped. And I do think that it is a worry for the U.S. Maybe not 20 years, maybe five years of slow growth is a possibility. But don't get alarmed. It is not the end of the world. If we get jobs back, if we have jobs bill that protect people, it won't be so bad.

ROBERTS: We are certainly looking forward to the fun whenever that happens. Ali Velshi, Robert Schiller, great to talk to you this morning. Thanks so much. Kiran.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Here is a little bit of fun, the Emmys last night. A newcomer stealing the show at the primetime awards. Some big winners and some fun moments coming up. Seventeen minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Twenty- one minutes past the hour right now. It was out with many of the old and in with the new at the Emmy Awards last night.

ROBERTS: A whole new crew of fresh faces and new programs were favored over the golden oldies at the Emmy Awards last night. Our Brooke Anderson has got a complete rundown of all the winners for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the Emmy goes to "Modern Family."

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Emmys are sometimes accused of going stale, but this time around the results were modernized.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are so happy that you have let us into your families.

ANDERSON: "Modern Family" led a parade of first-time winners at the ceremony, earning best comedy over "Glee", another newcomer to the category. The ABC sitcom won half a dozen Emmys altogether including one for supporting actor Eric Stonestreet.

ERIC STONESTREET: This is really incredible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Mad Men".

ANDERSON: There was no modernizing on the drama side. Emmy voters looked back to the '60s again awarding best drama to the retro series "Mad Men" for the third year in a row.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next time just have one meeting.

ANDERSON (on camera): This is what it is all about at the Emmys, winning one of these things, although the actual award is slightly smaller. But check out those prongs. It has been called the most dangerous trophy in entertainment.

JANE LYNCH, EMMY WINNER: This is rather dangerous, but it is solid gold. JIM PARSONS, EMMY WINNER: It is not dulled. I mean, it is really not. These are very sharp, threatening.

ANDERSON (voice-over): The "Big Bang Theory's" Jim Parsons joined the array of fresh face winners, his came for best actor in a comedy. "Glee's" Jane Lynch won her first Emmy too for best supporting actress in a comedy. The openly gay actress acknowledged her family from the stage.

LYNCH: I love you, my wife, Laura, and my little girl, Hayden.

ANDERSON: Emmy host Jimmy Fallon kept the audience entertained with a variety of musical numbers. And he made a sly illusion to Conan O'Brien's firing as host of "The Tonight Show."

JIMMY FALLON, EMMY HOST: NBC asking the host of late night to come to Los Angeles to host a different show. What can possibly go wrong?

ANDERSON: Presenter Ricky Jervace made a crack about an absent star.

RICKY JERVACE, EMMY PRESENTER: Mel Gibson, come on. No. Come on. He's been through a lot. Not as much as the Jews, to be fair.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, everybody.

ANDERSON: The late summer party set the stage for the new fall season, which begins in just a few weeks. Brooke Anderson, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

ROBERTS: Fallon looked like he was a good host.

CHETRY: Yes, now if only we could stay up late enough to either see any of the shows receiving awards or the awards show itself.

ROBERTS: Wouldn't that be nice. One of these days, perhaps. Coming up, an up-close and personal look at the war in Afghanistan. Our Jason Carroll tracks Sergeant Randy Shorter, a father of two who is on his third tour of duty from Fort Camel, Kentucky, to one of the most dangerous regions in the world, Afghanistan's Patsika province, CNN live in Afghanistan, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Twenty-six minutes after the hour. Your top stories just a few minutes away, but first an A.M. Original something that you will only see on "American Morning." We have been keeping close tabs on Astronaut Katie Coleman counting her down as she prepares for a mission to the International Space Station in December.

CHETRY: Well, this morning we are looking at how the planets have aligned for Katie in a different way. CNN's John Zarrella is live in Miami with that part of the story. Hey, John. JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey John, Kiran. You know, we focused a lot on Astronaut Katie Coleman, but this morning we are going to spend a little time with her husband, Josh Simpson. While he's not an astronaut, he is inspired by the heavens.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

ZARRELLA (voice-over): If you're ever at the Kennedy Space Center, there's a chance, although slim, that you might just find this tiny glass blue world.

JOSH SIMPSON, GLASS ARTIST: They might find it. On the other hand, it may stay here for years and years and years or a thousand years.

ZARRELLA (on camera): Well, you go hide it. And we are not going to show them exactly where you are going.

ZARRELLA (voice-over): For more than three decades, Josh Simpson, a world-renowned glass artist, has hidden more than 1,000 of his tiny planets all over our planet. Simpson doesn't hide all his pieces. He sells them, too. The man's got to make a living. Now, you see that woman standing there next to him? Look familiar?

SIMPSON: We made 99 of these before the first one was successful.

KATIE COLEMAN, NASA ASTRONAUT: I got to stay at home for a long time. This is one of my favorite pieces.

ZARRELLA: That's his wife, NASA astronaut Katie Coleman. In December she will be heading for a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station. For nearly a year we have been following her training. That's a priority, but so is time spent with Josh and son Jamie.

COLEMAN: I asked my schedulers to squish things as much as they can. I mean, if you can squish Monday to Friday into Monday to Thursday, then I can go to Massachusetts on Friday.

ZARRELLA: And go whenever she can with Josh to his traveling exhibits and museum shows. Here in Josh's world, he's the center of attention.

ROBERT SCHWARTZ, COLLECTOR: I'm Robert Schwartz. I've been collecting you since 1982.

ZARRELLA: Most of these people have no idea who Katie is.

SIMPSON: I love the fact that at one of my shows, Katie is just my wife. I absolutely love it that I can go and be at an astronaut event and I'm just -- I'm just a husband. Nobody knows particularly who I am.

ZARRELLA: Each of Simpson's pieces is unique. It is a process of building up layer upon layer. SIMPSON: On each layer, each specific layer, I put something else in, some other bit of color or a spaceship floating in orbit around the planet.

ZARRELLA: A unique prize for the lucky few who will find one of his hidden worlds. Simpson was already an established glass blower well before he started making planets. The planets came as a whim. Eighth graders visiting his studio got bored quickly with plates and platters, so he made them marbles.

SIMPSON: When you were a kid, did you ever have marbles? Did you ever wonder how that stuff got in there? How did it swirl around? Well, this is the same idea just on kind of a larger scale.

ZARRELLA (on camera): I'm still trying to figure that out.

ZARRELLA (voice-over): As josh tells it, Katie knew his planets before she knew him.

SIMPSON: I'm pretty sure she bought one of my planets when she finished her work at MIT.

ZARRELLA: There's a certain irony here. Katie the astronaut, Josh the artist who creates other worlds. His inspiration comes from looking into the heavens. Hers from traveling to them.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

ZARRELLA: Now, you know, John and Kiran, I like you guys a lot and I was thinking of picking up a couple of these planets for you, but when I saw the price tag on them, it is many thousands of dollars for some of the larger ones. But they are spectacular. John. Kiran.

ROBERTS: John, you know where he hid one, though. Did you get a good beat on that? You could, you know, late night with a little trowel, dig it up.

ZARRELLA: You know, in fact, I'm going to be up at the Kennedy Space Center today and tomorrow. I have a pretty good idea where it is. I might just do that.

CHETRY: Thanks, John.

ROBERTS: Thanks, John.

Crossing the half hour now, it is time for today's top stories. Today, crews hope to begin the process of grinding through some 2,300 feet of rock to free the trapped Chilean miners. The rescue took take more than three months.

So to fight the boredom crews are sending down MP3 players and also films, movies, even aluminum bed frames. And a team from NASSA is coming down this week to help them deal with the confinement and the loneliness.

CHETRY: Well, hurricane Earl is right now in Atlantic battering the Leeward Islands. The category two is gaining strength. Forecasters warn it could grow into a category four storm. It is too soon to tell though where it will make landfall, if it will make landfall along the east coast, but certainly the outer bands of Earl could be hitting the Carolinas by Thursday.

ROBERTS: And Roger Clemens is making his pitch against perjury charges. The seven-time Cy Young award winner will be arraigned in federal court in Washington, D.C. He faces six felony charges, including perjury, obstruction of Congress, and making false statements after telling a house panel he never used steroids or human growth hormone.

Clemens is expected to plead not guilty.

CHETRY: Between now and next summer U.S. troops will attempt to stabilize Afghanistan so that our soldiers can begin to withdraw. The process or success or failure of the mission rides on the shoulders of people like Sergeant First Class Randy Shorter.

ROBERTS: He's a 14-year veteran making his third combat tour. And our Jason Carroll is with him every step of the way. He is live this morning from Afghanistan with "A Soldier's Story." And certainly, Jason, there's a lot to do in Afghanistan, and the clock is ticking.

We seem to have a problem with our communications with Jason Carroll.

CHETRY: It he heard us because you said the clock is ticking and he said "better hurry." We have him back now. We'll try to hear from Jason again. It is difficult to get a signal that far away. Hey, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John and Kiran, Sergeant Shorter has been here before. He was deployed here in 2008. So this is familiar territory for him. It was actually a long haul for him and the rest of the men in his unit to get here.

But I want to sort of take you back to where we first met sergeant shorter back in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. That's where we met his wife Cheryl and his two daughters. And it was an interesting experience for us because we were there when he was saying goodbye to his family. It was a very emotional moment because his family has been here before.

This is Sergeant Shorter's third deployment of combat duty. And he's not alone. There are thousands of families out there that are like him. And that's why we wanted to profile him as part of our series.

Now, as he said his final goodbyes, we went along with him, as he left Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and eventually got here, but it was a long road for many reasons. The first reason is simply because of the surge. He is expected to be one of the people here as part of the surge, some 30,000 additional troops are being sent into Afghanistan. And what happens is when you are bringing in so many people to a particular region, sometimes you have to give time for the transportation system to catch up with the influx of people, in this case, soldiers, that are coming in. We spoke to sergeant shorter about how that affects him and the rest of those in his unit. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. FIRST CLASS RANDY SHORTER: Right now the majority of the guys are kind of in that mode where they want to get at it and go ahead and leave their brothers currently there.

And we are looking forward to meeting our counterparts to get started with the mission, because we know their reputation precedes them. They have been there for the last nine months and have been doing a great, outstanding job. And we feel it is our turn to go ahead and pass the favor along and help them out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: And hurry up and wait. I want to go over that expression. That's what we have been hearing a lot of here in the army. Hurry up and get into a position and then wait. That's what a lot of the guys have had to do.

But we have been out with the soldiers, we have been eating with them, we sleep where they sleep, we go where they go, and they are really just taking this in stride. You really get a sense that they want to just get here and get on with the mission. And that's why we are following sergeant shorter and the rest of his men as they go on to complete their mission, part of which includes engaging the Afghan people here as well as securing the area. Kiran, John.

ROBERTS: Jason Carroll for us this morning. Jason, thank you so much. We are looking forward to your continued coverage of that.

CHETRY: Big challenges ahead for them.

Well, arson is suspected in a fire at a proposed mosque in Tennessee. Now federal agents are investigating the incident. Is there a pattern? And is it a potential hate crime? We'll talk about it coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: It is 38 minutes after the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

They are not calling it a hate crime, not officially at least, but federal authorities are investigating an arson at the future site of an Islamic mosque in suburban Nashville, Tennessee, Murfreesboro.

The incident comes after protests and repeated acts of vandalism targeting the new site. Camie Ayash is the spokesperson for the Murfreesboro mosque and she joins us live from Nashville. Thanks for joining us. I'm sure this is quite a frightening incident not only for you but others in the community.

Explain what happened. This is the future site. What happened at the site?

CAMIE AYASH, SPOKESWOMAN, ISLAMIC CENTER OF MURFREESBORO: Well, thank you so much for having me. What happened is Saturday early morning I was told by detectives around 1:30 they received a 911 call from a passer-by that drove by and saw a fire at our future site.

They responded and called in the fire department and subsequently they notified us at around 4:30 to let us know arson took place on our side.

When I arrived the next day and spoke to the lead detective, he told me that there was an earth hauler, a heavy piece of equipment, that someone had opened the hood and doused it with some type of accelerant and set the engine compartment on fire. There was also three other pieces of heavy equipment saturated with the same accelerant, however they were not set on fire.

And he told me that he believes what happened is when someone drove by and made the call, whoever was setting the fire probably got scared and ran away at that point.

CHETRY: So bottom line, it could have been much worse. If there was an explosion, if there was any fuel tanks that had been ignited in the situation. What are neighbors living nearby and also people who are within your community who were hoping to eventually come worship here, what is going on in their minds after learning about this incident?

AYASH: We have had so many different mixed reactions. We have some supporters in the neighborhood and some still a little bit on the opposition side, but I think this incident has really raised the fear factor for everyone, not just in our community, but those that are living in the community as well.

Like you said, god forbid that has traveled to the gas compartment and an explosion would have occurred, and god forbid somebody would have gotten hurt.

Definitely within the Islamic community it has raised the fear factor tremendously, not just with the adults, but especially we see the different type of fear with our children. It is very hard to explain to children what is going on. It is hard to explain to the little kids when they ask you, mommy, are these people for us or against us? It has really taken a toll on the community.

CHETRY: And when you talk about that, what is going on? As I understand it, there have been other acts of vandalism and protests. There are many who are not in favor of this Islamic center being built there. It is important to note that you do worship at a site not far away, that's been there for decades or about a decade, right?

AYASH: We have had members in our community in this area for around 30 years. So all of this really took us by surprise and we are really trying to still soak it in, because we have been contributing members of the community for such a long time, and we really have never faced any type of opposition.

I think a lot of this has to do with timing. This was an election year. You had a lot of candidates that were running their campaign off of terrorism or things like that.

So I think it had to do with timing and misinformation. We are really trying to open our doors and let the public know whatever questions or concerns they have, just do the responsible thing and come and ask us. We have an open door policy and would be more than happy to answer whatever questions they have.

CHETRY: And of course, there's huge opposition over the plans to build the Muslim community center and mosque near ground zero. Do you believe that what's happening there in that debate that has played out nationally is having an effect on your site in Murfreesboro?

AYASH: I think that -- yes, I do think it is having some type of an impact. I think that once you have somebody on fire, everybody is going to run to it. People are scared of the unknown and don't know what to expect. They don't know what to think about Islam.

So I think we have to build a bridge with our neighbors, build a bridge with nose to who have a hard time understanding. We have an obligation to educate those who want to know, but then they have to take the larger step and come to us and ask us the questions and voice their concerns to us so that we can address them.

CHETRY: And just out of curiosity, how did you come to know Islam? Were you born Muslim?

AYASH: Actually, no. I was -- I converted about ten years ago, eight to ten years ago.

CHETRY: And how did you -- in an area of 35 miles outside of Nashville, Tennessee, come to know Islam?

AYASH: Actually, my husband is Muslim, but I've been married for such a long time. I have always been very interested in religion. It has been something that's -- I love to study religion and compare religion.

I did not grow up with any type of denomination. My parents didn't have any particular denomination. And so as I entered into adulthood and started being more serious in my studies, I found that Islam was the right religion and found truth in it and I found tranquility in it.

CHETRY: And right now you are facing a battle, unfortunately, with others in the area who may not feel that way. Keep us posted on the investigation. We are sorry for everything you are going through there. I know it will be a very tough time. But thanks for shedding light on the situation. Camie Ayash, spokeswoman for the Murfreesboro mosque, we appreciate your time this morning.

AYASH: Thank you so much.

CHETRY: John?

ROBERTS: Summer heat returns from the Midwest to the northeast. And there's a hurricane brewing out there. Rob Marciano has got the forecast track coming up for you. It is 45 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Welcome back. I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Severe Weather Center.

Hurricane Earl is strengthening overnight a Category 2 storm now and battering the Leeward Islands. Now some of the outer bands are getting close to San Juan, Puerto Rico; winds at 110 miles an hour sustained. It's moving to the west/northwest.

And that means that the U.S. has to worry about this one. Danielle didn't come close to us; this one is going to get close. It might even scrape if not make a direct hit, we'll have to wait and see later in the week.

The forecast from the National Hurricane Center get it to Category-3 and then 4 strength, so a major storm status as it gets closer to the Carolina coastline. The shaded areas are is the cone of uncertainty. And the margin of error allowed in the days four and five typically 200 miles and 300 miles in either direction.

And this could be close to the Carolina coastline Thursday morning and then maybe the New England coastline by Thursday night and Friday. And if it gets a little bit nudged to the west, then we're talking potentially a direct hit. Of course, we'll be monitoring this closely and keep you up-to-date.

This is the front that will help nudge it out to sea. If this thing slows down, then we might see a little bit closer to shore impact.

Meanwhile, a lot of heat across the East Coast and that's not good news if you want to take a dip in the ocean. We've had record high temperatures yesterday across Maryland and Jersey and Long Island and dangerous, dangerous rip currents exist again today because of Hurricane Danielle, which didn't come close to us, but the waves came in and are battering the eastern shorelines.

Ninety two in New York, 95 degrees in D.C. and 86 degrees for a high temperature in Atlanta.

That's a quick check on the weather. AMERICAN MORNING is coming right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Eight minutes now to the top of the hour.

It's being called the miracle on the subway tracks. Here is the picture from the "New York Daily News", a woman over the weekend fell into the path of the New York City subway train.

CHETRY: Oh and we've seen this end badly before, but bystanders frantically waved their arms and the driver was able to slam on his brakes. He stopped just 70 feet from the woman. She was taken to the hospital. The driver Francis Lock (ph) says he was just doing his job.

ROBERTS: Yes, I guess that she got too close to the edge of the platform and tumbled in.

CHETRY: Yes.

ROBERTS: Sometimes you can see when you walk along those platforms, they are crowded and you are trying to get by folks, it might be easy to tumble over.

CHETRY: Yes.

ROBERTS: It's very fortunate.

CHETRY: And there was a man who -- who actually jumped in and held somebody down remember --

ROBERTS: Yes.

CHETRY: -- while the train went over the both of them.

ROBERTS: Yes he just jumped right on top of him there and said keep your head down.

CHETRY: Wow.

ROBERTS: Not something I would want to do.

Well, are you ready for some tennis?

CHETRY: Yes.

ROBERTS: The U.S. Open begins today. Our Richard Roth, who has been known to have at it with the best of them, is coming up with his predictions for -- how things are going to go over the next couple of weeks coming right up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to The Most News in The Morning. Fifty-six minutes past the hour right now.

For the next couple of weeks New York will be the center of the tennis universe. The U.S. Open -- the season's final grand slam tournament gets underway today, in fact.

ROBERTS: And the open is wide open, at least on the women's side. For the men, it is Federer and Nadal. We would love to see an epic Big Apple battle between those two.

Richard Roth our number one seed, here with a preview. How is that serve coming along?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: It's good. I'm glad you're not pulling the tennis guru.

ROBERTS: Did you get it up to 40-miles-an-hour yet? Forty-mile an hour serve --

ROTH: I can be (INAUDIBLE) on serve but I'm horrible at my forehand; there's always been that.

Thousands of fans will be heading to Queens in New York City today and for two weeks more at the Flushing Meadow. And believe me, it is not to see the Mets play baseball nearby.

Yes, it's the U.S. Tennis Open, the last grand slam event of the year.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROTH: The bright lights and the big stars return to New York for the U.S. Tennis Open.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The great Roger Federer.

ROTH: It only seems like a heavyweight boxing match, but then it always does with Federer and Nadal.

BRYAN GRAHAM, TENNIS WRITER, SI.COM: I think on the men's side you really have two co-favorites; you have Roger Federer and you have Rafael Nadal.

ROTH: Federer won his last tournament in Cincinnati. He has been written off by some critics as too old or distracted by family.

ROGER FEDERER, WORLD RANKED NO. 2: I feel good. I feel good, believe it or not, in the crisis I'm stuck in.

ROTH: Federer losing in the finals last year after five straight U.S. Open titles shocked people.

FEDERER: I have a great chance to win again, but then he's obviously playing the best tennis of his life.

ROTH: Nadal, for all his success, has never won the U.S. Open.

RAFAEL NADAL, WORLD RANKED NO. 1: Well, the last three years I did semi-finals, so I improved a little bit. I wasn't -- bad tournaments for me. Right now I am ready to try in all time to be in this finals round.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome Kim, our defending champ.

ROTH: Kim Clijsters came out of a two-year retirement to win the Open last year.

Now, you might have another child and then retire again -- KIM CLIJSTERS, WORLD RANKED NO. 3: No.

ROTH: Are you like Brett Favre of the football Packers.

CLIJSTERS: No, not yet. Not yet. I would like to try and make it to the Olympics in 2012. That's going to be my goal.

ROTH: Serena Williams is not playing this year citing a foot injury.

GRAHAM: With Serena out of the women's side, it is wide open. A lot of people think it could be Maria Sharapova's year to come back after she went down to I think 128th in the rankings last year.

ROTH: Players say the U.S. Open is different than the other grand slam contests.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC, WORLD RANKED NO. 3: I think it is entertainment. It is entertainment, it is just the great show that they are doing.

ROTH: Which helps attract the fans.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love New York, love tennis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are all my autographs on my cap.

ROTH: You get them to sign your cap, not a tennis ball.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, because this way I can wear it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are more than tennis players, they're celebrities, they are rock stars.

ROTH: Analysts say don't forget about Andy Murray on the men's side -- Andy Roddick at number 9; he's the only American ranked in the top ten. Venus Williams is playing on the women's side. Last year she had to battle injury; her sister is out. Sharapova is excellent, too.

ROBERTS: Djokovic was hanging out over your right shoulder as well.

ROTH: And he's known -- you can look up on the web. He does imitations of all the other stars.

ROBERTS: He's great. He does McEnroe to a T. He's fabulous.

ROTH: Sharapova is one too.

CHETRY: At imitations or tennis?

ROTH: No, imitations. I think he's ranked third.

CHETRY: Maybe there's (INAUDIBLE) award.

ROTH: Yes. Well, they gave out the Emmys last night but -- ROBERTS: How is your Sharapova, by the way?

ROTH: My Sharapova? I think it's at home on the refrigerator. She is, by the way, very nice. I just talked to her briefly. She remembered I had interviewed her a few years ago at the U.N. because she's a goodwill ambassador.

ROBERTS: You know you make an impression upon people.

ROTH: Yes, like Djokovic's impressions.

CHETRY: They follow you around.

All right. Well, we'll be watching, and I know you will, too, because you won't be playing.

ROTH: No, we'll be out there again doing another story and maybe we'll be back again in the next two weeks.

CHETRY: We would love to have you.

ROBERTS: Looking forward to it. Bring a ball next time.

ROTH: Yes.

CHETRY: No boo-boo. Just a couple more years.

Well, continue the conversation on today's stories; go to our blog, CNN.com/amfix.

ROBERTS: That's going to wrap it up for us. We'll see you again bright and early tomorrow morning.

Meantime the news continues on CNN with Kyra Phillips in the "CNN NEWSROOM".

Good morning Kyra.