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Possible Threat Against Pope; Violent Storms Slams New York; Tax Cuts Mixed Messages; Tax Cuts Mixed Messages; A Portrait Of Pain; Breast Cancer Drug Review; Non-Approved Cancer Drug Expensive; Five Men Arrested in Britain on Suspicion of Terrorism
Aired September 17, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Happy Friday to you, September 17th. I'm Drew Griffin in for John.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. We have a lot going this morning. We're following breaking news out of London. Word of arrests, five men arrested, potentially because of a suspected terror plot. We'll bring you the latest on that.
But we're also following the latest on damage and destruction in and around New York City after a fast and furious fatal storm hit yesterday. The big apple is still recovering this morning.
A lot of people still without power and many don't have a way to work or school. Was it a tornado? We'll find out more from the National Weather Service later today. We'll also show you video of the aftermath.
GRIFFIN: Mixed messages from Democrats. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not ruling out the possibility that the Bush tax cuts could be renewed for everybody, including those they think are wealthy.
And that had Republicans on the attack so is the House Speaker wavering on the issue? Our chief political correspondent Candy Crowley following it all.
CHETRY: The FDA is expected to soon decide the fate of a popular breast cancer drug. It's debating whether Avastin should continue to be approved for fighting the disease even though many women say that it is helping them stay alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONNY VILLAREAL, BREAST CANCER PATIENT: So, it's going to be two years with my daughter. And to me that's kind of priceless.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Smile big for mama.
VILLAREAL: I mean, again, will willingly take whatever I can get to give me more time with my family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, pulling its approval means insurance companies could stop paying for it. Our Elizabeth Cohen looks at the debate and a woman's emotional plea to the FDA.
GRIFFIN: And, of course, the amFIX blog is up and running. We've enjoyed what you sent so far. Please send some more. The conversation is going on right now at CNN.com/amFIX.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
CHETRY: Well, we have some breaking news this morning about the Pope's visit to London and police in London saying they have arrested five men. There are reports they're being held on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack linked possibly to the state visit of Pope Benedict. Police say they were forced to review security for his visit after the arrest. But the Pope's itinerary did not change.
We have Atika Shubert following the developments on the phone from London this morning.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, basically, what we know is that they were arrested very early in the morning, at around 5:30 in the morning. They were arrested at a business address and they are still being interrogated. Now, we also know that searches are being conducted at -- excuse me, there's a lot of security here. They're also doing searches at residences and other businesses in central London.
Now, the police will not say whether or not these arrests are linked to the Pope's visit. What they have said, however, is that as a result of these arrests, they did review the security arrangements for the Pope's visit. They are satisfied with the security arrangements as they are.
But again, they won't link these two -- the arrests to the visit. But they are saying they did, as a result, have to review the security for the Pope.
GRIFFIN: Atika, do you know what kind of business this is that these men were arrested at or what kind of neighborhood?
SHUBERT: We don't know at this point. What we know is that it was in central London. And central London is, of course, where most of the Pope's events are happening today. Also, in north London, which is also where the Pope was earlier this morning. I don't know if those locations are connected to the Pope's agenda today, but it certainly does seem to coincide.
CHETRY: You know, the other question is, a lot of people talked about how historic this visit was. The first state visit from the Pope, you know, the first time he's been in the U.K. in nearly three -- a Pope had been in the U.K. in nearly three decades. Were they prepared for the potential of a terror attack? Is it something that they had spoken about prior to the visit?
SHUBERT: Well, certainly something that they had considered. Security is very tight. I'm right now in front of Westminster where I can tell you there are police everywhere here. They blocked off all of the traffic on the roads here. So, certainly, the idea that there could be an attack was one of the contingency plans that they have.
And, clearly, they feel that they are prepared for it. The fact that they reviewed the security again and they are happy with what they have got perhaps indicates that, you know, that this is something they have taken into account already.
CHETRY: All right.
GRIFFIN: Atika, let me just ask one more question. Any sightings or any work being done by possible bomb squads, et cetera, in removing material or anything from the businesses as you know? I know you're not in that position to see that, but have you heard?
SHUBERT: Not that I know of. I do know those searches are ongoing and the questioning of the suspects, these men that are arrested, is still ongoing. So, it's something we might see later on. But, no, I have not heard of that yet.
GRIFFIN: OK. Metropolitan police spokesman telling U.K. "Telegraph," a newspaper, that no hazardous items have been found so far. Initial searches have not uncovered any hazardous items. That's according to "The Telegraph."
CHETRY: They also say that they haven't made any changes to the Pope's itinerary, which would make you believe they don't think there's an imminent threat at this point. In terms of what these people were plotting, potentially plotting, that remains to be seen. We'll continue to follow the story though.
GRIFFIN: Yes, absolutely. Also this morning, thousands are still reeling this morning, some scrambling for a way to work here in New York after a powerful and deadly storm tore through the city last night.
CHETRY: The National Weather Service is going to confirm later today whether or not it was a rare tornado that touched down. A lot of residents though say they don't need confirmation. They know what they saw.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY (voice-over): It seemed to hit out of nowhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see the rain just coming down in sheets now.
CHETRY: A fast-moving, ferocious storm exploded over New York City and the surrounding area just as people were headed home in the afternoon rush.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.
CHETRY: Commuters became storm chasers and in a matter of minutes, sheets of rain, dark, black clouds, 80-mile-a-hour winds. Powerful enough to rip the brick off of store fronts. And for block after block, from Brooklyn to Queens, trees came down, crushing cars, blocking roads, ripping down power lines. One woman was killed when a tree came down on the car after she pulled over on the highway.
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: The only thing that's important is that people are safe. We can always -- we'll get power back. The trees will regrow. But you lose a life, you never get that back.
CHETRY: Severe weather also slammed parts of the Midwest. People in Ohio say they saw a funnel cloud leave this trail of debris. And high winds tipped over this tractor trailer as neighbors looked on in shock.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought it would take my house and family, but it didn't. I was lucky.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I looked at my wife and said, "We got to run. We got to run right now."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: All right. Well, we're going to continue to follow that with Rob Marciano right now in the extreme weather center.
So, they're going do get out there today. Man, I mean, they're trying to clean up all this damage. The Long Island Railroad still out in some of the places. Is it a tornado?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, we'll see. Certainly, there was a little bit of twist and a tornado warning that went out, but it was rain wrapped if it did occur. So, we didn't get any verification by an actual observer. So, we just check out the damage later on today and they'll get a pretty good chunk of it.
But I can tell you this, if you have straight line winds of over 80 miles an hour, it will produce the kind of damage that you saw in that piece, and, unfortunately, for the folks who live in Brooklyn, back to Long Island, even through Jersey, as this line just came through, it really just knocked things around pretty good. Actually, as it came across the Delaware, really fired up and I almost start to wonder, you know, a little heat island adding to the daytime heating, whether that thing blow up, nonetheless, it was a rough storm.
We do have this front that's about to come through now and it will be cooler and quieter. Severe weather, though, a threat across parts of the Northern Plains with the second batch of cold air.
And then, where it's warm is Hurricane Karl -- I have to mention this. More on this later in the program. Now, it's a category three storm, guys. It's a major storm with 125-mile-an-hour winds. It's about to hit northern Mexico as a major storm. Major storm surge expected and obviously, wind damage.
Look at that eye. It's well-defined and scary proposition for our friends at the South. More on that and Igor later on the program.
CHETRY: It looks big at least from your satellite picture. We'll have to wait and see where it goes.
MARCIANO: OK, guys.
CHETRY: Thanks.
Well, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now not ruling out the possibility that the Bush era tax cuts could be renewed, at least temporarily, for everyone, including the top income earners. But is she wavering on the issue or responding to other Democrats saying they may not vote for it? We're going to be speaking with our political correspondent, Candy Crowley, up next.
It's 7 1/2 minutes past the hour.
GRIFFIN: Also, the worst oil spill in the U.S. history may come to an end over this weekend. The Gulf oil well is on the verge of being plugged for good. The latest developments are next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: We're following breaking news that's happening in London where the Pope is visiting. Police have arrested five men. There are reports they're being held on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack that could be linked to the state visit of the Pope. Police say they were forced to review security for his visit after the arrest, but they're confident that the Pope is safe.
Atika Shubert told us that two locations apparently are where these arrests were made, central London and north London.
Other newspapers in London reporting that no hazardous material has been found so far, but the searches are continuing.
CHETRY: All right. And we're going to get an update from Atika in just a couple of minutes.
Meantime, it should finally be over in just a couple of days. Drilling has been completed on a relief well that intersects with the BP damaged well that triggered the Gulf oil disaster. BP can now proceed with a bottom kill, the process of pumping the heavy drilling mud and then cement into the new well into the bottom part of the original well to permanent he seal it. Officials expect that this will be complete by Sunday.
GRIFFIN: The House Speaker Nancy Pelosi leaving the possibility open for extending tax cuts for everybody. That's after she dodged the question of what would happen if wealthier Americans -- to wealthier Americans if their tax cuts expire.
CHETRY: And joining us from Washington now to talk more about this, as well as the other interesting -- there's a lot of interesting stuff going on lately, Candy -- CNN chief political correspondent, host of "STATE OF THE UNION." Great to talk to you, Candy, as always.
Are these mixed messages from the speaker talking about, you know, we will pass a middle class tax cut no matter what it takes? Well, it could take having to give it to the wealthiest Americans, too, right? I mean, the way that some of these Democrats are sort of depicting?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think what you're hearing, and this didn't come in to me, these two statements from our the kind of DEFCON level that it seems it will come in to Republicans who think she's trying to have it both ways.
Here's how I read what she said: We are going to have an extension of those middle class tax cuts. That's going to happen.
Then when she was asked sort of directly -- well, what about, will it just be for the middle class or -- this is not the exact question -- just be for the middle class or will it be extended? She said, "All I can tell you is that it will -- there will be this middle class extension of the tax cuts," and then she said that she didn't see any justification for extending tax cuts for the rich.
Well, one to me is her political position that she doesn't think there ought to be extensions for the rich and the other is practical and the political outlook which is she does have more than 30 Democrats who want to extend those tax cuts for wealthier Americans. And she's not really sure how this is going to work out.
So, I didn't see it as her wavering. I saw her as sort of looking at it realistically. You know, all I can tell you is, middle class tax cuts will be extended.
CHETRY: It's important to explain why, which is that if they can't come to some agreement and nothing gets done, thus nothing gets passed --
CROWLEY: Right.
CHETRY: -- all of the tax cuts expire, including those on the middle class.
CROWLEY: Exactly. It's all one -- it is -- it was current -- it was passed as all one big bill and it will expire as all one big bill in January. So, they need to do something about it and have another bill to extend those before January.
GRIFFIN: What is so interesting about this, Candy, and shows the chess game wide open and how this is being played is a couple of days ago John Boehner, the Republican leader, was in the same pickle, only he was fighting the other way around. He says, OK, I'll compromise --
CROWLEY: Tough to be leader.
GRIFFIN: -- I'll give up the rich, right?
CROWLEY: That's right. Yes, it's hard to be leader, you know? Because you have what you think should happen and then you have the reality of what might happen.
And I think, yes. I think it puts -- this is a political issue at this point, although it means very real money for American taxpayers. We're coming up against November and so, this has been played out in a hotly contested political year.
And what you see is John Boehner trying to look both able to work with Democrats and to look as though -- he doesn't want to look as though he's standing in front of middle class tax cuts, that he wants to have that extension. So, he's sort of trying to, you know, play the politics of it which is, listen, there's going to be -- I want to extend them for the middle class and, of course, if the only bill I get is for the middle class, I'm going to go for that. So, that's a political position rather than one he kind of overall wants. And I think the same holds true for Pelosi.
CHETRY: Maybe a punt, though. This may not even come up for a vote, right, before election?
GRIFFIN: Yes. They could play chicken. They can both run.
CROWLEY: They're good at that.
GRIFFIN: Yes, they are.
CROWLEY: Yes.
CHETRY: We're going to see what happen here.
But, meanwhile, I'm sure that you are watching with this as much fascination as everybody else -- what happened and what went down in Delaware with Christine O'Donnell, the Tea Party favorite, taken and trouncing the, you know, long-time and, you know, pretty popular Mike Castle, who was a congressman there, for the Senate race. Now, today, we have the Values Voters Summit and she's going to be speaking there. Tell us a little bit about what people will be listening for and exactly what it is.
CROWLEY: Well, listen. I think it's not going to be surprising that she is very conservative on the social issues, on abortion the only exception that she sees as valid is if the life of the mother is threatened. She's had some other sort of social issues that are near and dear to the heart of core Republicans.
I think what's fascinating about this, though, is less about what her positions are because I don't think that they'll be all that different from what we believe they'll be but that the Tea Party success has been made on fiscal issues. It's been about government spending. It hasn't been about these social issues.
Why? Because the Tea Party at least those at the heart of it know that, you know, attracting independents is hard when you get into those social issues so now to have the darling of the Tea Party appear at a Values Summit where all of these issues will come up is fascinating to me because this is the kind of thing that most Tea Party organizers have tried to avoid is putting the social issues front and center. They have been far more about fiscal responsibility.
CHETRY: Very true. What's coming up on "STATE OF THE UNION"? CROWLEY: Well speaking of Values Voters and the tea party, Jim Demint of South Carolina senator who has been -- poured a lot of money into the candidates who have brought us the surprises of the season, I am going to talk to him a little about what it means for the Republican party and what it means for November.
CHETRY: All right. We look forward to hearing your take as you question him and we'll be watching, of course. Candy, great to see you, as always.
CROWLEY: Thanks.
CHETRY: Nine o'clock, Sunday morning right here on CNN.
GRIFFIN: I mean that is a great show. Candy's great.
CHETRY: Love her.
GRIFFIN: Let's move on.
CHETRY: Love to have her here every Friday morning.
GRIFFIN: I know, I know. A record number of Americans are living in poverty. Uh huh, but it is people you may not expect, your neighbors, co-workers, we are going to have you meet the face of poverty next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: Not good. We haven't seen statistics like this in decades. Some sobering, new data of the census bureau, one in seven people in this country are now living in poverty. That means 50 million Americans without health care.
CHETRY: If you think that's bad is unfortunately expected to get worse next year. Poppy Harlow is with us this morning and, you know, we talk about the numbers but you have to talk to the people. You sort of have the preconceived notion of what poverty means.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Sure. I certainly did before yesterday. We found out from the government yesterday 44 million Americans, almost, living in poverty. Record high. Highest number seen in this country ever since they started to count the people under that poverty line. The numbers don't tell the whole story at all. Neighbors, colleagues. They're a lot of people you may not have expected. We spent the afternoon with a woman named Ann Valdez with three children. She's been living in public housing since she was born and she's been fighting to get out of poverty since she was 18 years old.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW (on camera): President Obama said today the number of people living in America in poverty is unacceptably high.
ANN VALDEZ, LIVING IN POVERTY: This is true. Poverty is really very serious. It's very demoralizing. It's made to feel demoralizing, hurtful. There's so much going on and there's no jobs available. No one wants to live the way we have to live.
HARLOW: How do you get by every day, Ann? I mean what do you live on?
VALDEZ: I live on approximately $5,000 a year. Sometimes I have to skip a meal to make sure I can save the money so that my son Brian has what he needs. And if it wasn't for my sister, my son would not have half of his school supplies or any of his clothing for school.
HARLOW: Joseph, how's it been for you? Do you feel like you grew up in poverty?
JOSEPH: Yes. But I wasn't deprived a good childhood. I'm happy. It doesn't matter where you come from. Money isn't an issue.
VALDEZ: I gave everything I can to my children. If I had to go without, it's OK. As long as my children had.
HARLOW: If you could have one message to send to the people watching, what would it be?
VALDEZ: My message would be never judge a book by its cover. Never make assumptions. Come outside. Meet the people in your community where you live. Meet the people in the communities where you work. And the meet the people in the communities where you represent.
HARLOW: See the face of poverty?
VALDEZ: See the face of poverty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: The afternoon with Ann certainly changed my perception of what it means to live on poverty. Especially here in New York City. Ann's been out of work since 2005. And her unemployment benefits ran out four years ago and she says she has two years of college, still can't find work and I think the most troubling part of the government's report on poverty is that it is now American children that are suffering the most. Those under 18 years old, they are the ones, Kiran and Drew, that saw the biggest increase in poverty. A million American kids now living below the poverty line.
CHETRY: We saw her son sitting next to her. He is 28 -
HARLOW: Yes.
CHETRY: In a similar situation. They live in the same --
HARLOW: They live in the same housing projects. Her mother lives there, she lives there. Her son lives there. Ann doesn't have a job. Her son doesn't have a job. And what's scary is that it's the cycle. And he has a 3-year-old child, as well. And you hope that you can break the cycle but, you know, she -- you saw how emotional she got. She's trying to get out of it asking for more government help. How much can the government do? How much can the private sector do? How do you break the cycle. GRIFFIN: Well I mean you break the cycle by getting a job so either we have to create jobs in this economy or these people have to figure out a way to get a job. And I know it's tough. I know it's tough.
HARLOW: I talked to a man that owned a small business last week and he said, look, I have jobs and people rather be on unemployment than take this job so I'll try to connect Ann with that person hiring and see what we can do.
GRIFFIN: All right, well I hope it works out.
HARLOW: Let us know if that gets anywhere. Poppy great stuff. Thank you.
GRIFFIN: For more on the new census data and the state of the economy, head to cnn.com for all that.
CHETRY: That's right.
And also, we are following the latest information on this terror -- potential terror plot disrupted in London. We are getting new information on that. We are going to bring you the latest on that, as well. Five men arrested in central London today according to a police there.
Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration is considering the unusual step of revoking its approval of Avastin, it is a treatment for breast cancer. Many cancer patients are saying it is a lifeline and they're pleading with the FDA not to take it off the market. We are going to have more on that coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: A decision looming over the heads of breast cancer patients across this country, the Food and Drug Administration may revoke its approval for the drug Avastin.
CHETRY: It is a popular treatment for advanced breast cancer but in July an advisory panel voted 12-1 that it's not effective. Our chief medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is live for us in Atlanta. And this is a very emotional issue as you find for women finding out the disease and believe that the drug is the lifeline.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh Kiran that's right. They have stage IV breast cancer which means it spread to other parts of their body an they're hoping to keep taking the drug. They think it's brought them precious more time with the ones they love.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN (voice-over): The first time Ronnie got breast cancer she was 27 years old. When it came back, she was 31 and pregnant.
RONNY VILLARREAL: And when I was 27 weeks pregnant is when I found out it was a reoccurrence of my cancer in which it spread from the original site into my bones and this particular case into my right hipbone.
COHEN: Little Maddy was born healthy but the cancer is still in Villarreal's bones and now it's in her liver, too.
VILLARREAL: I had a healthy, beautiful baby.
COHEN: Most patients who get a diagnosis of stage IV breast cancer like Villarreal can expect to live only another year and a half. But Villarreal's lived two and a half years and counting and her tumors have shrunk a bit. Why has she lived longer than most?
VILLARREAL: I think first and foremost it's my faith and in God.
COHEN: And also, she says, because of one of her medicines, Avastin. Like other patients, Villarreal uses it in combination with chemotherapy drugs.
VILLARREAL: People respond differently to different types of treatments and for whatever reason I have responded positively to this treatment.
COHEN: Dr. Edith Perez is her doctor.
DR. EDITH PEREZ, MAYO CLINIC: She was in pretty bad condition.
COHEN (on camera): You have seen tumor shrinkage?
PEREZ: Oh absolutely yes, yes. Definitely.
COHEN: This is the Avastin here?
PEREZ: Yes.
COHEN (voice-over): She is afraid the insurance might soon stop paying for Avastin that's because recent studies show breast cancer patients on average don't live long we are Avastin. Plus, the drug has serious dangers including high blood pressure and internal bleeding. Dr. Joan Mortimer was on the Food and Drug Administration advisory committee that voted against Avastin.
DR. JOANNE MORTIMER, CITY OF HOPE NATIONAL CANCER CENTER: I think based on the objective data that we have right now there really is no evidence of the benefits of Avastin with chemotherapy outweigh the risk to the patient.
COHEN: Without insurance coverage, there's no way Villa Real could pay for Avastin on her own.
COHEN (on camera): If patients have to pay for this themselves, how much money is it per month?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Again, it varies from institution to institution, but it's more than $5,000 a month.
COHEN: That's a lot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of money, yes.
COHEN: Do you think Avastin is the reason why you have lived longer than expected?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. I couldn't say that Avastin is the reason why I have lived longer than I have expected. I would say that it is a combination of a lot of things.
COHEN (voice-over): Maybe it's her other medicines or maybe just good luck. But Villa Real doesn't want to change the treatment that seems to be working.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, it's given me two years with my daughter, and to me that's kind of priceless. I, again, will willingly take whatever I can get to give me more time with my family.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN: Women who are taken Avastin know that it likely is not going to cure their cancer. What they're hoping is at least a few more weeks or months of life.
GRIFFIN: Elizabeth, what is going to happen? So, her insurance won't pay for it or it gets banned or taken off the market. Is there any other option for her? Can she get the drug somewhere else?
COHEN: It really depends on what happens. If the FDA says this is no longer approved for breast cancer, it's still on the market for several other cancers. Doctors can still prescribe it.
But here's the catch. If the approval gets taken away for breast cancer, insurance companies might say, wait a minute, we don't want to pay for something not approved by the food and drug administration, and that's where the money comes in. So patients like Ronnie might have to pay for it on their own, which is really impossible for most patients at $5,000 or more a month.
GRIFFIN: But if her doctor prescribes it for her, is the insurance company beholden to say yes you can have or it says no?
COHEN: No, they're absolutely not beholden. Especially if it is not approved by the FDA and the doctor prescribes it anyhow, an insurance company is free to say, sorry, we are not paying for it.
GRIFFIN: Wow.
CHETRY: All right, well, it's a tough situation. There's no easy answers with that one. Keep us posted on the ruling, as well as that family. We wish them the best. Thanks so much, Elizabeth.
We want update you on a story breaking this hour out of London. Police there say they have arrested five men on suspicion of terrorism. It comes as the Pope is visiting the city. Police say they're reviewing security surrounding the Pope's visit following these arrests and searches under way right now. GRIFFIN: We are following this all morning. Atika Shubert is in London and she's joining us live. Just bring us up on the latest on this, Atika.
SHUBERT: Basically, what we know is that five men were arrested early this morning around 5:30 this morning at a business address in central London between the ages of 26 and 50. The police say they arrested them on suspicion of conspiring to either commission or commit a terrorist act. They won't go any further on that on any other details.
What we know is that they're still being questioned and that searches are continuing at a business address and also a residence in central London and in north London. We also know that it was because of these arrests that police prompted a review of the Papal visit security. As you can probably see behind me, there are a number of police officers out here. The streets blocked off with traffic. That is normal.
That was already being done because of the Pope's visit. The police say they are not -- they're satisfied with the security in place already and there will be no change to the itinerary.
CHETRY: It's interesting. We're taking a look at the press release, as well, that came out from the metropolitan police there, saying suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. Is there anything in the language that gives you any clues as to what may have been potentially happening here?
SHUBERT: We don't know what it may be potentially. What may have been the plot there. What it does seem to indicate is whatever it was perhaps in a planning stage rather than actually being carried out. That's what it seems to indicate from the statement, but, frankly, we don't know because the police aren't giving out details at this point.
What I can say, however, is that the Vatican spokesperson very briefly spoke to the press earlier and said he had informed the Pope and that the Pope was aware of the arrests and he remained calm and he had full confidence in British police and security here.
So, whatever it is, it does seem that police certainly feel that they're in control and the situation is certainly safe for the Pope to go about his schedule as it was organized today.
GRIFFIN: And apparently he is going on with his schedule, Atika. Have you've seen any changes in what this was supposed to be? We have information where he will drive, how much time to take. Have you seen any changes whatsoever even behind the scenes?
SHUBERT: I have not seen any changes at all. I have to say the Pope is expected to come right through here. We're actually standing in front of Westminster and he is expected to go to Westminster Hall and then later on in the evening go to Westminster Abbey. We are already seeing a lot of people gathering hoping to catch sight of the Pope.
The traffic is closed off. But again, this is standard. This is already organized from way before. This is a state visit. And the U.K. really invested a lot of money into securing the visit by the Pope, more than $20 million to -- was invested into his visit, so there is a lot riding on this.
GRIFFIN: All right, Atika Shuber, thanks. We'll continue to follow your work all day today as we follow this. Five men arrested, possible terrorists there in London.
CHETRY: And still ahead, we're going to be joined by CNN anchor Rick Sanchez who has a new book out -- "Conventional Idiocy -- Why the New America is Sick of Old Politics." He's coming up in just a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. My next guest says it's time for the conventional idiots to wake up. He's CNN anchor Rick Sanchez and author of the new book "Conventional Idiocy -- Why the New America is Sick of Old Politics." I'm glad you woke up this morning to get in here to talk to us, Rick.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I had a little help from my wife, my kids and my dog.
CHETRY: That's right. And you finally made it here, yes.
I want to ask you, though, because you have been watching all of this happen, all of this unfold, some of the big upsets on primary night in places like Alaska and Delaware where everyone said they don't have a shot. And it was, you know, grassroots and a lot of angst that really brought these people that didn't have any experience in the political world into a new role. What's going on in America right now?
SANCHEZ: Well, the reason I named my book "Conventional Idiocy" is because for the longest time we're told there's a conventional wisdom out there. These pundits, so-called experts appearing on television telling us this is the way this is the way this have to be.
And there's no question that there are a lot of Americans out there who are finally getting together, they're engaged, they're getting together in social media, places like Twitter which I use, Facebook, which my wife and a lot of her friends are on, Skype -- I could go on and on.
And this is kind of creating a cyber porch, if you will, for the first time in 100 years in this country. I've discovered it. It's made me better. It's made me more aware of what's going on out there. And it's why I think this is the kind of book that you can give to someone and they would be able to improve their lot just understanding how they themselves can now connect with everything else that's going on out there.
So these people who are doing this, these people at the front of this movement that we call the Tea Party movement, or whatever we want to call it, that's part of this. That's part of this engagement.
Now, the focus that they take, that's another matter entirely. CHETRY: Yes. I was going to say that's the portal. You are talking about the access that we have because of technology and because of social media advances. But what's the spark right now? Is it the economy?
SANCHEZ: Oh, no question. There's no question that what's going on in this country is frustration. People are feeling it. And people don't know exactly how to vent it, but they just know that they want to vent.
Usually they'll take the very first path they find. And the problem is using social media they will be able to gather in groups. Look, there -- Kiran, there's two big social media phenomenon that's happened in the last three or four years in this country. One is the election of Barack Obama. A lot of folks forget that was all social media driven.
His social site when he hired Chris Hughes, which I explain in my book, put this guy in the White House, right? Then you have the Tea Party group. Who are those folks? They folks were essentially established on social media, as well.
The problem is oftentimes some of these organizations and groups co- opted, if you will, by organizations to funnel their energies in a direction that they even themselves may not be able to understand they're being driven toward. But, you know, it happens.
That's why I did my interview with Rick Scott who essentially was doing that very thing, using his money to get the Tea Party folks to be completely against the legislation to change health care when, in fact, that's not what the Tea Party got together for. The Tea Party was about making sure we didn't over tax and that we reduce the size of government.
CHETRY: So that brings me to the next point. A lot of people that write in, when they write to me on twitter and send e-mails say "What I'm frustrated by is all the noise," meaning everybody's got a megaphone now in part because of technological advances, and so these extreme views get out there, rumors get out there, misinformation, and at times very incendiary things, like the burning of the Koran debate that co-opted the national conversation all last week.
SANCHEZ: But it's less apt to happen if there's a dialogue as opposed to a dual-logue. This is why I believe in social media. This is why I believe it's made me a better journalist. This is why I believe it's now being incorporated by folks like you and all other extremely competent people in our business.
It gives you an instant consensus. It gives you a reaction to a story. It gives you the story sometimes when people tell you like they did last night -- "Here's what's going on in my backyard in Brooklyn, Rick. Trees are down. People can't get out of the city. Here's a twit pic. Here's new information on that fire."
CHETRY: We love that, I know that. That's opened up and whole other world. SANCHEZ: It's fantastic.
CHETRY: In fact, you write about in your book, you don't think Katrina would have happened to the extent that we say the tragic aftermath if we had social media or at least used it as much back then.
SANCHEZ: Well, because we weren't able to build the consensus of what was going on. And unfortunately many of us in the media came to the immediate conclusion that there were a bunch of minorities down there who were rioting and they were misbehaving and killing and shooting each other and they were looting.
Well, in fact, there were a bunch of people who were very hungry, very desperate, un-led, and some of them were taking things to feed their children in most cases. And somehow that changed.
If those folks at the time had been able to have the ability to tweet, the ability to Facebook, MySpace, reach out to others, that consensus would have been built. The problem is not as we interpreted it. And that's the thing that I get is that immediate reaction.
And you know what? It works for me and I'm a broadcaster, right, and made me better and improved by show. It can work for a guy who has a drugstore in a small town. It can work for somebody trying to connect in their own community politically.
And that's why we have seen this guys like John Boehner and Sarah Palin and John McCain tweeting Rick Sanchez every day to get their message out because now even they understand, hey, guess what -- there's a bunch of people in that community. We want to reach them, too. I think it is a good thing.
CHETRY: That's right. You can teach old dogs new tricks. Even my parents a little bit, a little bit. Not into Twitter but getting there.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: It's good to see you, Kiran.
CHETRY: You, too, Rick. It's great to talk you and your book is great. I've been enjoying it.
SANCHEZ: All right, I appreciate it.
CHETRY: It's called "Conventional Idiocy: Why the new America is Sick of Old Politics."
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: Ok, we're going to talk about storms coming up next. We've got hurricanes, tornadoes, tropical storms and Rob Marciano is wrapping it all up for us.
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GRIFFIN: Sunday, International Pirates Day. CHETRY: We're going to talk like a pirates day.
GRIFFIN: Oh there's a distinction?
CHETRY: Oh yes. International Pirates Day is actually month from now. I'm kidding.
GRIFFIN: Hey, Rob. New York City is looking pretty good today -- sort or kind of -- a lot better than it was yesterday.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. Definitely looking better, I'm going to sending Dean Baxter up there on the steady cam right now. He's been down here all week, doing a great job. And making me look bad but I'm buying everybody doughnuts.
Yes, we're looking better in New York today. It's currently not looking like this. This is what it looked like last night when that radar, when those storms came through, just blew up as they cross the Delaware River.
And boy, check out some of those damage from the video -- from the New York City area from Brooklyn especially, parts of Long Island including Queens and some damage, also, in parts of Jersey. Trees down. Power lines are down. There was one fatality with a tree -- landing on a woman's car.
We also had a fatality in Ohio with a tornado that ripped through that. Athens, Ohio and then went into West Virginia, so a turbulent weather on doubt about that yesterday.
Today it looks to be a little bit more tranquil. Thank goodness this front is pushing off shore. This is a pretty strong cyclone for this time of year. And then you know the sun is still pretty strong in this time of the year, as well. So you have that heating of the day in Jersey and New York and that helped antagonize things just a little bit.
Severe threat across parts the plains today in advance of our next cool front which actually is going to be downright cold and we're going to see some snow at the higher elevations of the interior west there and folks in the western Great Lakes will be seeing temperatures that will feel a little bit more like fall.
All right, hurricane season. Hurricane Karl is now a Category 3 storm. Look at this eye developing here as it continues its march to the west. This is making landfall or will be making landfall in the next few hours.
It could be a Category 4 storm before it does that because this is looking even more intense, it'll slam into the coastline. Storm surge, flooding. No doubt about that. Hit the mountains; wring out maybe some mud slides on the eastern slopes.
Will kind of sort of get to Mexico City. But you know, they are so high up in elevation it's never that big of a deal. But the mountains there east of Mexico City are certainly going to get hammered. Getting hammered will be the folks in Bermuda and I'm not talking with the -- you know 12 ounce curls there. Hurricane Igor, a Category 3 storm; we're still tracking it to potentially hit Bermuda on Sunday.
Reynolds Wolf and a CNN team is en route to report live from the scene over the weekend.
You're up-to-date weather-wise AMERICAN MORNING is coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: Welcome back. This is The Most News in the Morning.
You know all year we've been introducing you to remarkable, every day people changing the world and in just one week we're going to reveal our top ten "CNN Heroes" for this year.
Today, we wanted to check out with one of our 2009 Hero of the Year to see how the recognition has transformed his life and his work. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "AC360": The CNN Hero of the Year is Efren Penaflorida.
From the slums of the Philippines to the stage of the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, Efren Penaflorida has come a long way.
EFREN PENAFLORIDA, 2009 CNN HERO OF THE YEAR: We are the change that this world needs to be. Mabuhay.
COOPER: For 12 years, Efren and his team of volunteers have pushed their mobile classrooms through the streets of their neighborhoods teaching kids who never make it to school.
But after being named 2009 CNN Hero of the Year, Efren became a national hero.
PENAFLORIDA: This is really overwhelming.
COOPER: Upon his return, Philippine President Gloria Arroyo presented him with one of the country's highest honors. One year later the pushcart classroom model has been replicated more than 50 times across the Philippines and inspired the construction of an education center funded in part by the CNN Heroes grant.
PENAFLORIDA: Before pushcarts they see it as a symbol of poverty but now they see a pushcart as a symbol and education.
COOPER: Recently Efren has had his story told in six countries and languages and can be seen weekly in his own search for heroes on Philippine television.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Si Efren Penaflorida.
COOPER: A young man from the slums has turned the attention of a nation toward a common dream.
PENAFLORIDA: My fellow Filipinos they are unleashing the hero inside them.
Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: So who will be the CNN Hero of the Year for 2010? You actually get to decide. Next Thursday, we are going to announce the top ten finalists, I guess, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. That's when you can vote online for the CNN hero who inspires you the most.
All ten will be gathered on Thanksgiving Night at "CNN HEROES, AN ALL- STAR TRIBUTE" hosted by our own Anderson Cooper. Only one is going to be named the CNN Hero of the Year.
CHETRY: I wouldn't want to be a judge. I don't know how you decide. I mean there's so many people doing so many amazing things.
GRIFFIN: It's great to see no matter who wins. Who cares? They're all great.
Just about four minutes before the hour. We'll be right back.
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CHETRY: And we want to update you now on breaking news. There have been five arrests in London on suspicion of terrorism. These arrests five men come during the Pope's state visit there. Police saying that they have reviewed security and that they're actually not changing the Pope's itinerary but searches are under way right now. So far, investigators say they have not found any quote hazardous material. But we will continue to update this as we get more information from our London bureau throughout the morning.
GRIFFIN: Yes. This will continue all day long until we know what the bottom line is here.
And you can continue the conversation and it has been a good one this morning on our blog, CNN.com amfix.
Thanks for joining me; thanks for having me.
CHETRY: Well, it's great to have you here.
GRIFFIN: Thanks to the whole pirate crew this morning. There they are.
CHETRY: Have a wonderful weekend, as well.
Meanwhile, the news continues. "CNN NEWSROOM" with Kyra Phillips starts right now. Good morning, Kyra.
