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American Morning

Mystery in the Sky: Pentagon Can't Explain Streak at California Coast; Carnival Cruise Ship Stranded at Sea; Obama Arrives in South Korea for G-20; The Alpha Wife; Slice of Life in the Afghan War Zone; Facebook Firing; The New Face of Autism; America's Aging Drivers

Aired November 10, 2010 - 06:00   ET

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

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: What was it? The mysterious unidentified flying object seen shooting across the sky off of the coast of California. Was it a missile? Something else? What the Pentagon is and is not saying this morning.

Good morning to you. It's Wednesday, the 10th of November. Thanks for joining us on AMERICAN MORNING. I'm John Roberts.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. We're going to have more on the mystery missile in just a moment. But first, a look at the top stories today.

More trouble for the world's newest and biggest airliner, the A380. Singapore Airlines has grounded nearly half of its super jumbo fleet after tests revealed engine problems. This comes less than a week after an engine on a Qantas A380 exploded shortly after takeoff.

ROBERTS: Stranded at sea. A Carnival cruise ship with 3,300 passengers onboard crippled by an engine-room fire now being towed to San Diego. The USS Ronald Reagan coming to the rescue with food, water and supplies.

CNN has a correspondent onboard, and we'll get a live update in just a moment.

CHETRY: And President Obama is in South Korea this morning getting ready for the G-20 summit. The main focus will be to stabilize the world's financial markets. The president will also have to answer to critics who say the U.S. is manipulating its currency at the expense of other economies.

ROBERTS: But first from the Pacific to the Pentagon this morning, people are trying to figure out exactly what was shooting across the sky on Monday evening off the coast of California. Have a look for yourself. You can see the huge streak arching over the waters just west of Los Angeles. The images sent the military into a frenzy because many people thought it looked just like a missile would.

Our Chris Lawrence is live from Washington. And, Chris, some people have speculated that this was just the contrail of an aircraft. Looks a little different than that. What's the military saying this morning? CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. And I mean, even very respected professors at MIT were saying no, this looks like a missile launch. So everyone was looking at this trying to figure out what it was.

This morning right now, most of the government agencies can tell us what they think it was not. But not necessarily what it was, if that makes any sense.

You know, right now, they're saying that the Department of Defense has no record of any launch. In fact, the Pentagon put out a statement saying all DOD entities with rocket and missile programs reported no launches scheduled or inadvertent during the time period in the area of the reported contrail.

NORAD also was telling us that they didn't monitor any foreign missile launch, that there was no threat to the homeland. And the FAA even went back and did sort of a radar replay of this area west of Los Angeles for that time period. And from what they saw, there were no fast-moving, unidentified objects. And they also say no pilots reported seeing anything unusual around that time.

Now, we spoke to a pretty respected weapons analyst who said the real story here is how long it's taken the government to figure out it wasn't us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN PIKE, GLOBALSECURITY.ORG: Why the government is so badly organized that they're not able to get somebody out there to explain it and make the story go away, I think that's the real story. I mean, it's absolutely insane that for all of the money we're spending, for all of these technically competent people that they can't get somebody out there to explain what's incredibly obvious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: Now, he says he believes this is clearly an airplane contrail. That he says the reason it sort of looks different is that it's flying now over the horizon. You're accounting for the curvature of the earth and the angle at which you're looking at. Even though it's really coming at the helicopter pilot, it appears to be shooting straight up into the air. So, unfortunately at this hour, John, mystery unsolved.

ROBERTS: Yes, I mean, that's what John Pike is saying about it. Other people are saying it looks like it could be a launch from a submarine. And, of course, President Obama is in the Koreas. And they're putting two and two together to say is this a show of American force that we're just not talking about?

LAWRENCE: Show of force. Exactly.

ROBERTS: Wow. Well, the mystery deepens. Chris Lawrence for us this morning. Chris, thanks so much.

LAWRENCE: You're welcome.

CHETRY: Now, to what's turned into the vacation from hell for a lot of passengers. Thousands stranded as well as crew members at sea on a crippled Carnival cruise ship. The Splendor is more than 100 miles south of San Diego this morning, drifting at sea off the coast of Mexico. There's a shot of the cruise ship. It lost power Monday after an engine room fire and the ship is now being towed to southern California, expected to reach port late tomorrow. The USS Ronald Reagan delivering 60,000 pounds of food, water and supplies.

CNN producer Paul Vercammen is onboard the Reagan this morning. Tell us more about the operation. How's it going?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN PRODUCER (via telephone): Well, it's going very well, and in fact, the Reagan concluded its operation. They were on maneuvers literally preparing for deployment and going through all of the rounds when they got the distress call.

And so, Kiran, what they started to do is they jumped into the fray by supplying water and critical supplies to the cruise ship. And they used their helicopters as they were about 1,500 yards away from the Carnival cruise ship. Helicopters transported the water, bread, paper plates, luncheon meats, all sorts of other things and then literally dropped it right on top of the Carnival cruise ship. In fact, they left six crew members aboard the cruise ship to help them sort of steer themselves to safety.

Also, one good news is they did not have to bring anybody off the cruise ship on to the Ronald Reagan to be treated for any medical reasons. And the pilots who are making these runs, there was one helicopter in particular that made 15 runs back and forth today. They said every time that they dropped another load, they would see the passengers come on out with their cell phones and their cameras and the bulk which is splashed everywhere. After they got done dropping all the supplies, they received all these congratulatory waves from the people here.

Now, the ships were in contact from bridge-to-bridge, captain-to- captain, making sure that everything went smoothly. But the Ronald Reagan has a mission here and that's to get ready for deployment. So they are headed now back on to maneuvers and getting ready to go through that part of the process, Kiran.

CHETRY: So this is really interesting because it's interesting that the engineers were not able to restore power to the ship. They say it was operating on auxiliary generators and that there is no air- conditioning, hot food service, no telephones available. You'd think that they would be able to have backup systems if they were crippled by an engine-room fire.

VERCAMMEN: Well, from the perspective of the Ronald Reagan looking across there, we could see a single tug boat pulling that ship along. And it's just a massive undertaking. And perhaps there just wasn't enough power with the auxiliary generators to bring everything back up to full speed, Kiran. But one thing -- good news is we do know that at least a second tug has joined in on the operation and perhaps the third will be there by morning.

CHETRY: Got you. All right. Well, I mean, things are moving along. Everybody's safe, but I'm sure quite inconvenient for people who thought this was going to be a little bit of R&R for them. We understand that they are going to be getting full refunds.

Thanks so much, Paul. Appreciate it.

ROBERTS: You can imagine how much it's going to cost the cruise company too.

CHETRY: Yes.

ROBERTS: The food they had to bring over, full refunds, getting towed back and forth, wow, big bill.

Also new this morning, more safety checks for the world's largest aircraft. Singapore Airlines taking three of its A380 super jumbo jets out of service. The airline says it's replacing an engine in each of the planes after inspections were found that they were stained with oil. The inspections followed last week's engine failure that forced a Qantas A380 to make an emergency landing shortly after takeoff.

CHETRY: And delivery delays are not the only issue grounding Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner. One of the flight test planes was forced to make an emergency landing in Laredo, Texas yesterday because of smoke in the cabin. The crew had to evacuate down the emergency slide. Everyone got out safely. Boeing says that until they understand what happened, they're not going to schedule any new test flights.

ROBERTS: Washington State set to ban the sale of caffeinated alcohol drinks. Nine college students were hospitalized last month after drinking Four Loko. It's a caffeinated malt liquor known as a blackout in a can. The state liquor authorities expected to vote on a ban today. For its part, the maker of Four Loko says they're doing all they can to ensure the product is consumed safely and responsibly.

CHETRY: Are you fed up with your boss? Well, here's some good news. Saying what you really think about him or her online may not get you fired. A ruling by the National Labor Relations Board says that comments are protected speech. A Connecticut woman who was fired was fired illegally for criticizing her boss on Facebook. It is a ground- breaking case and we're going to get more perspective on it from Paul Callan when he joins us live in just about 30 minutes.

ROBERTS: That's a lot of nuances here, such as if you post something and it just stays there, it might not be protected. But if your colleagues weigh in on it, it forms a discussion then maybe it is. So before you go posting anything, you're going to want to hear what Paul Callan has to say this morning.

Eight minutes now after the hour. Let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines. Rob Marciano in the weather center for us.

Good morning, Rob. You'd never say anything nasty about us, would you?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No, no. If you're dumb enough to say something nasty about your boss on Facebook, you're not smart enough to have a job.

CHETRY: Tell us how you really feel about this situation this morning?

MARCIANO: I mean, use a little common sense here. You know, it's a tough job market out there. Do what you can to keep what you have.

ROBERTS: Rob will be posting his views on his Facebook page later this morning.

MARCIANO: I love CNN. Everybody runs it.

Here's a look at what's going on across the northeast today. We are looking at showers still across eastern New England and a little bit breezy, but this is trying to move out. Once it does, it's going to be real nice. And temperatures will rebound from the 40s where they are right now, into the 50s, and eventually into the 60s as drier and more mild air moves in. But eastern New England still getting pestered by this onshore flow from that system that sort of refuses to leave. So a bit of a slow-go this morning.

But, there -- here's a little taste of what's to come. 76 in St. Louis, 78 degrees in Dallas, and 69 in Raleigh. So that's all heading to the east. The west continues to get inundated with rain and higher elevation snows. And we'll talk more about that. A lot of ski resorts are opening this weekend. We'll run down a few for you in the next half an hour.

John and Kiran, back to you.

CHETRY: All right, sounds good. We'll be checking your Facebook page a little later just to make sure everything's cool.

MARCIANO: All right.

CHETRY: Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: See you.

CHETRY: Still to come, two freight trains full of fuel collide. The incredible video as car after car goes up in flames.

ROBERTS: And the president is in South Korea this morning. Why recent moves by the Federal Reserve may shake up his meeting at the G- 20. We're live in Seoul with the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Thirteen minutes past the hour right now. President Obama is getting ready for the G-20 summit. It's in Seoul, South Korea this morning. Air Force One touched down less than an hour ago. There you see the president deplaning. His visit will include meetings with presidents of both South Korea and China. And the president will also deliver a speech to U.S. troops Thursday to honor Veterans Day.

Paula Hancocks is in Seoul right now. What are we expecting from the president's third leg of his tour of Asia, Paula?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, we do know that he is walking into a little bit of a war of words. We've seen from the Federal Reserve's decision to pump $600 billion into the U.S. economy that there are other countries that don't appreciate that. Now, of course, we've heard in the past that the U.S. is calling on China not to allow its currency to be so weak. It's not helping the U.S. economy. But now, there are accusations that the U.S. is being hypocritical by trying to really lower its own currency by putting this extra money into the U.S. economy.

So we've heard from the German finance minister calling the plan, quote, "clueless." So certainly he's coming in for a bit of a battering when it comes to the economic side. He'll certainly be welcomed. It's a very diplomatic occasion. On the political front, he'll be welcomed. But when it comes to the economics, when it comes to sitting down and talking about the nitty-gritty of how to make sure the economic crisis is over, then he could find a little bit tricky.

CHETRY: Right. He's talking to the U.S. audience when we talk about the fed pumping the billions into the economy in an effort to shore up our economy and then how it plays globally is a different story. A lot of concerns about that.

HANCOCKS: Absolutely. And the German finance minister did say that basically the U.S. with that Federal Reserve move is effectively doing the same as China is doing, which is allowing its currency to be artificially low. Of course, it makes exports cheaper. It's very good for a country. Not so good for the countries that need to import those goods or want their exports to be sold elsewhere, as well. So this is going to be really the main issue. It's going to be all about currencies, and we are going to be seeing that over the next couple of days. Of course, that communique coming out on Friday, they have to come out with something concrete for this meeting to be seen as a success -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Paula Hancocks for us in Seoul today. Thank you so much.

ROBERTS: Fifteen minutes now after the hour. And still to come this morning, fired for comments on Facebook. Did a Connecticut company have the right to lay off an employee for what she said online?

CHETRY: Also, the rise of the power wives. Christine Romans will join us with more on why women are more and more becoming the breadwinners of the family.

It's 16 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: It's 19 minutes now after the hour. And time for some of the stories that got us talking in the newsroom this morning.

It looked literally like a bomb went off. Some incredible video to show you this morning of a fire ball shooting more than 100 feet in the air after freight trains collided in Poland. Not just any freight trains, though, one of them hauling oil, the other gasoline. More than half of the 33 tanks caught fire in an incredible chain reaction. The most amazing part of it all, Polish media said there were just a couple of minor injuries.

CHETRY: That is amazing. Oil and gasoline, bad combination.

Meanwhile, a beer for a buck. This deer busted through the window of a bar. This was in Bluffton, Ohio. We got to show - the poor thing scrambling around on the floor frantically trying to get out. It was right before happy hour, of course, on Friday. Made a mess of the place. Tore table up and chairs. A waitress even got on top of the bar in a panic.

But then one of the quick-thinking employees - the poor thing's sliding all over the bar floor and he's trying to get out, opened that back door, and that's when the deer - there you go. He opened the back door to run out himself. But, anyway, the buck made it out OK as well.

ROBERTS: Deer - deer don't do well on -

CHETRY: No.

ROBERTS: -- linoleum floors, do they?

CHETRY: No. Don't jump in the windows. Poor thing.

ROBERTS: Well, Mr. Peanut will not be silenced anymore. For the first time in all its (INAUDIBLE), the Planters mascot finally has a voice in a new ad campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERT DOWNEY, JR., VOICE OF MR. PEANUTS: At Planters, we know how to throw a remarkable holiday party, just serve classy snacks and be a gracious host, no matter who shows up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, there.

DOWNEY: Richard, didn't think you were going to make it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, sorry about last week, I don't know what got into me.

DOWNEY: Yes. Well, forgive and forget.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: That voice sounds familiar, it might. It's the voice of Iron Man, Robert Downey, Jr. CHETRY: Pretty cool. Well, they're also calling this a random act of culture. Six hundred and fifty opera singers dressed as average everyday customers at a Macy's in Philadelphia breaking out into the "Hallelujah" chorus. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY (voice-over): There you go. It may happen to you, too, if you're lucky this holiday season. In fact, there are a thousand more of these planned over the next three years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Actually, they sounded pretty good.

CHETRY: Not bad.

ROBERTS: Pretty darn good.

CHETRY: Coming up, the City of San Francisco putting its stamp of disapproval on McDonald's Happy Meals, voting to ban the kid's treats until the actual ingredients in the Happy Meal meet nutritional standards.

ROBERTS: And Conan O'Brien off to a strong start, getting a little revenge on the competition and also settling a score with his old friend Tom Hanks, the man who invented "Coco". The highlights from night two, coming right up.

It's 22 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Twenty-five minutes past the hour right now.

Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business." She has a very interesting story this morning, dubbed "The rise of the power wives." It's about how households and who's earning the money in households have changed pretty dramatically over the past few years.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, and women still make, like, 80 cents for the male dollar. That's still the overall trend. But since the recession, a real hastening of a trend that we've seen where more and more women are actually making more money than their husbands.

Now, first, this week, some new numbers from TD Ameritrade that show that women will save more this year than men. When asked, 68 percent of women say that they will save more of their money, compared with 62 percent of men. So that shows you that women still are a little bit unnerved about their financial situation and still concerned about the future. They're more likely to save.

But when you look at other numbers and you broaden it out a bit, you can see that this rise of the wives has been taking hold. In 1970, only four percent of men made less than their wives. By 2007, 22 percent of men made less than their spouse. Twenty-two percent, and that's from 2007. Everyone - many demographers think that that number has even gotten larger -

CHETRY: That's pre-recession, right?

ROMANS: Pre-recession. The recession that was a he-cession or the man-cession.

In 2008, the worst of the job losses, some 75 percent of the job losses were men. You look at the unemployment rate for men, it's 9.7 percent; for women, it's 8.1 percent. So women have fared a little bit better here because men have been hit by manufacturing, housing, construction trades. They've lost a lot of these jobs. So, women, as they've acquired and accumulated more education over the past few years, past few decades, have found themselves, in many cases - a fifth of women, are out earning their husbands right now.

When we look at other statistics, it's fascinating, too, because the divisions of labor in the household haven't necessarily changed all that much. Women's still primary responsibility for either acquiring the caregiver or doing caregiving. It's - it's - also the household work. There are many studies - the Center for Work-Life Policy has found that women still are responsible for more of the housework than men.

So the division of labor hasn't changed as quickly as the situation has for - for couples. It's a really fascinating look at marriage in America.

ROBERTS: I know that this sort of gets well out of the realm of business, but the situation's creating increasing tensions on - on marriage, because there are a lot of men who don't like the idea that they're not the breadwinner in the family, and so a lot of marriages are going south because of it.

ROMANS: And, also, when you look at the demographic trends, fewer people are marrying. We saw that from the census numbers. And - it's - younger people are - are sort of remaking their idea of success.

It used to be that the best cohorts, as they call it, to be in in the demographic tables was married -

CHETRY: Right.

ROMANS: -- married women, with education, with two children. I mean, you knew that that was - that was where you were with an - with an advanced degree. Now, maybe not so much. Things are - are changing a lot.

I think it's going to be fascinating to watch these trends over the next few years, especially when you're looking at how households are run and what kind of opportunities that's creating, and what kinds of tensions it is creating. One thing I know from a lot of the research that I've done for my book, in fact, about families and money, is that debt is the single biggest concern, money concern of families, and that if - if families can pare down their debt, they can stay more happily married, no matter where they are on the income strata. So that, I think, is interesting as well.

So it might be one reason why women are saving more in some of these studies. They show that women are very concerned about saving more, because studies show that if you save more and you have less debt, you are happier in your marriage, no matter where you are and how much -

CHETRY: And no matter who's earning the money. That's interesting.

ROMANS: And no matter who's earning the money. That's right.

CHETRY: Christine Romans for us this morning. Thanks so much.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

Twenty-eight minutes past the hour. Time for a look at our top stories.

It could be a while before Alaska's Senate race is decided. More than 30,000 absentee ballots have to be counted, then all the write-in votes will be tabulated by hand, and that could take three days alone. But, as it stands now, Republican Joe Miller with 34 percent of the vote, with 41 percent of the ballots cast for write-in candidates, the majority of those, presumably, are for Senator Lisa Murkowski.

ROBERTS: And it's today that they start counting all those write-in ballots.

The on-time performance of the 18 largest U.S. airlines slipped a bit in September. Eighty-five point one percent of their flights were on time. That's down over one percent from September of 2009.

Hawaiian Airlines is the top performer. Nearly 96 percent of their flights were on time. But, then again, there's not a whole lot of bad weather in Hawaii. At the bottom of the list, JetBlue and Comair, with on-time performances of just over 78 percent.

CHETRY: Teens who constantly text appear to live more unhealthy lives. The results of a study by the American Public Health Association that found that teenagers who send more than 120 texts a day have more likely tried cigarettes, illegal drugs, and alcohol, and have also been more likely -- 3.5 times more likely than their peers to have had sex.

ROBERTS: The U.S. Military surge in Afghanistan has a flip side, a civilian surge, and nowhere is it more evident than inside the bustling U.S. embassy complex in Kabul.

This morning, in the final part of her special series, "The Other Afghan Offensive", our Jill Dougherty takes us behind the walls of the heavily fortified compound. And Jill is here with us this morning. Good morning. Good to see you.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Good morning.

You know, you walk around the embassy grounds in Kabul and you can see how the embassy has grown. Just two years ago, there were only 320 U.S. government civilians in Afghanistan, and since President Obama's civilian surge began, that has tripled to 1,100. They're from 16 different departments or agencies.

Now, those civilians are slowly moving into locations throughout Afghanistan, but 740 of them live and work at the embassy. And even finding room for them is a real challenge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOUGHERTY (voice-over): We're getting an exclusive tour inside the massive U.S. embassy compound inside Kabul.

AMB. KARL EIKENBERRY, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO AFGHANISTAN: You'll see that crane right over there, and that's more construction going on.

DOUGHERTY: Our guide, former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and current ambassador, Karl Eikenberry.

EIKENBERRY: We believe this is the largest and most rapid build- up of civilians that we've had in any mission globally since the Vietnam War.

DOUGHERTY: The day starts with a staff meeting and a tribute to those killed in action.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sergeant Steven Lucio (ph) and Specialist Christine Southward (ph), Army, killed by shrapnel wound suffered during the complex attack --

DOUGHERTY: Then some quick business in the hall.

EIKENBERRY: I got that report that you had on the governance which is excellent. And you're turning that into a table?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. We set it up last night.

EIKENBERRY: OK. Good. Thanks.

Assalamu Alaikum. How are you doing?

DOUGHERTY: But it's not just about diplomacy.

EIKENBERRY: Hi, guys. How are you doing?

DOUGHERTY: He's also a facility manager in chief.

EIKENBERRY: What's the -- what's on the menu today here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, we've got some veal.

DOUGHERTY: Upstairs, the ambassador's wife invites us into the residence. U.S. diplomats can't bring their families. Ching Eikenberry is the only spouse living in Kabul.

CHING EIKENBERRY, AMBASSADOR EIKENBERRY'S WIFE: So, I'm the first woman ever live in this residence. So, I decided to make it a little bit more homey.

DOUGHERTY: Some living quarters are less spacious. The State Department's Matthew Case shares this tiny room with five other men.

MATTHEW CASE, U.S. EMBASSY WORKER: We have no bathroom. We have no shower. We have to walk outside to another hooch about 100 yards away to take a shower and go to the bathroom.

DOUGHERTY (on camera): Not easy.

CASE: Not easy at all.

DOUGHERTY: So, there are some compensations for working at a pretty difficult post, and this is one of them. It's the coffee corner where you can get a pretty mean cappuccino.

(voice-over): Even in a war zone, some other comforts of home, like a gym and a pool.

EIKENBERRY: There is a lot of pressure here. And people that they can predict Friday will be their slow day. It's a day where they come to the pool and exercise.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOUGHERTY: So even though U.S. troops will begin to slowly reduce their presence in Afghanistan next July, the civilian effort is going to continue long after those troops begin going home. And the State Department is planning to open two new consulates in Herat, western Afghanistan, and in Mazari Sharif in the north in the first half of this coming year.

ROBERTS: So, how many pools are there in Afghanistan?

DOUGHERTY: I think it's just one, but it looks pretty darn good.

(LAUGHTER)

CHETRY: Pretty cool. And a coffee cart. So --

(CROSSTALK)

DOUGHERTY: It's not luxury because it's pretty tough over there.

ROBERTS: Of course.

DOUGHERTY: Yes.

CHETRY: It's nice they can give them a few creature comforts, though.

DOUGHERTY: Absolutely.

CHETRY: Jill Dougherty for us this morning -- thanks so much.

ROBERTS: Great series. Thanks, Jill.

CHETRY: Well, she was fired for making some comments about her boss on Facebook. Now, she has the backing of the National Labor Relations Board.

We're going to talk to Paul Callan, legal expert for media affairs, about whether she has a good case.

ROBERTS: And Happy Meals may be just a happy memory in San Francisco. The city's board of supervisors has banned them.

Thirty-three minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC)

ROBERTS: Thirty-six minutes after the hour.

She was fired for complaining about her boss on her Facebook page. But now, the National Labor Relations Board has jumped in, saying that the firing may have been illegal. So, are you protected if you complain about your boss on social networking sites?

Paul Callan, professor of media law at Seton Hall University is with us this morning. This is a big one because this is the first time that the NLRB has ever jumped in to a fight like this.

PAUL CALLAN, PROFESSOR OF MEDIA LAW, SETON HALL UNIV.: It's a very big one, John. And it's just another example of the social networking -- networks getting into all aspects of American life. We've seen it with college students. Now, we're seeing it with labor issues.

ROBERTS: So, what the NLRB is basically saying is, your Facebook page is kind of like your water cooler at work. And people gather around the water cooler at work, and say, well, this is wrong. You know, they're talking about working conditions. And maybe that involves dissing your boss, as well. And the labor relations board is saying Facebook would be just like a water cooler as long as there's a conversation going on.

CALLAN: That's right. And it's really interesting because traditionally American companies, as a matter of fact, most workers probably look in their manuals and they will see they are prohibited from making postings on Facebook or other social networking sites, violation of company policy, you can't wear a company outfit and post a picture. And these rules have thought to be sacred in the past.

Now, the NLRB says if you are discussing work conditions on Facebook and other workers are participating, it's legal conduct and it can't be prohibited.

ROBERTS: So, that's the key, is it? Other workers, co-workers have to be participating. It's not like you can have a blog where you ranted about something, it has to be a conversation.

CALLAN: Yes, it's kind of a technical rule. But the rule is basically that the workers have to be engaged in what's called concerted activity. And that means they have -- a number of them have to be discussing work conditions.

Now, in the case here involving this ambulance service, the woman made a posting critical of a supervisor and then other workers chimed in also attacking the supervisor. She was then fired for disloyal conduct and violating the Facebook policy -- and the NLRB came in and said this is protected activity.

But I think you have to remember here, this is the first part of the situation. Early stages, there's a whole appellate process. I don't know if ultimately the courts will uphold this ruling. It's going to be very controversial.

ROBERTS: Companies across America, of course, are wrestling with social media, and the policies that they have in place and what people can and cannot do. For companies that have a blanket policy, as this ambulance company did, that said you cannot post anything about the place that you work, particularly in derogatory fashion, on a social networking site. Does that render that policy now either ineffective or just basically illegal?

CALLAN: Well, any company that has such a policy has to look at it and weigh whether -- and they're going to have to consult with their attorneys about this -- whether this rule is going to be applied nationwide. So, they're going to look at this policy.

But I think companies are really worried about this, because remember, if a worker criticizes a company on a Facebook site and let's say they have 500 friends on Facebook, it's not only going to the fellow workers, it's going to the 500 friends. And I think when lawyers start arguing about this, they're going to say, you know, this is really not about workplace conditions. This is about a company's entire national reputation and the NLRB should take a different look at it.

So, it's going to be a fierce battle in the courts, I think.

ROBERTS: But the labor relations board also said even if you're making disparaging or discriminatory comment about the company, that may be protected.

CALLAN: Well, in this ruling, they did say that because the woman who worked for the ambulance service she described her supervisor as a 17, which is a psychiatric patient, OK? That's what they used.

ROBERTS: In the parlance of the ambulance word.

CALLAN: Exactly.

So, she was saying her -- he's a psycho, her supervisor. That would be disparaging, normally. And one would wonder whether that would be protected. That's not really criticizing work conditions. It's really attacking and libeling a supervisor.

But the board here said, because he was a supervisor, she did have the right to criticize.

ROBERTS: Interesting. I was wondering where the line is drawn. If you're having -- if you're posting things online, do they have to be specifically about working conditions or you can just say, "My supervisor, my boss Joe is a real jerk," and get away with it?

CALLAN: Well, the first thing I would say to workers out there and union workers in particular is be very careful about this, because even though you might have a legal right to post, you might not advance very quickly in the job if you're attacking your supervisor online. And, you know -- but I -- and you can't attack them for personal qualities outside of the workplace. As long as you focus on inside, you're OK.

ROBERTS: You just raise one point. We were talking about this off camera, but we like to mention, but who can and who cannot do this?

CALLAN: Yes, you've got to be careful about this. This only applies to unionized workers and workers who are capable of joining a union. So, for instance, people who are professionals, defined as professionals, a lot of white-collar workers, would not apply to them. If you have a supervisory role in your company, it does not apply to you. So don't criticize the boss higher on the food chain there. You might get fired legitimately.

So, be very careful about who you criticize on Facebook.

ROBERTS: So, the bottom line here is -- if you're going to write something derogatory about the place that you work on your social networking page, you want to talk to Paul before you do. Thanks, Paul.

CALLAN: That's a great idea, John. Thank you very much.

ROBERTS: Good to see you.

Kiran?

CHETRY: Sorry, guys (ph). Thanks.

Well, still to come: Conan O'Brien and Tom Hanks go way back. So why was Coco so upset on just his second night of the show?

Also, a return to summer for the midsection of the country today. Rob's going to have this morning's travel forecast. Seventy-eight in Dallas, 76 in St. Louis, what is going on?

Forty-two minutes past the hour.

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CHETRY: Forty-five minutes past the hour right now. You know, it's estimated that 1 out of every 110 children is now diagnosed with autism, and it remains a medical mystery. And for the parents, the questions are endless.

ROBERTS: But a group of researchers has developed the piece of cutting-edge technology that could unlock this mysterious disorder. Our Rob Marciano is live with this morning's "Edge of Discovery." Rob, what's this all about?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Quite a fascinating technology. This autism, certainly, as Kiran mentioned, a lot of mysteries behind it. And the University of Southern California developers there have unlocked some of those mysteries with a very interesting technology in the form of robots. And that could be the next big step in education.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARCIANO (voice-over): Could this face inspire learning? Researchers at USC think so. Designed with kid-friendly features like big eyes and the ability to blow bubbles, this robot named Bandit is a magnet for children.

MAJA MATARIC, USC: Kids get really excited, and they get very motivated. We can use it for motivating exercise, for motivating doing homework, for motivating studying, for learning social behavior. We think of robots as social integrators. If you can put a robot in a playground, a lot of kids will flock to it and play with it.

MARCIANO: This tireless 3-fott tall robot is guided by artificial intelligence software like motion tracking and speech recognition. Researchers believe that fully an autonomous robots might make ideal teachers one day, especially for subjects that require more memorization like foreign languages.

MATARIC: They can teach them school material and also get them to do jumping jacks.

MARCIANO: While that may be years away in the U.S., Bandit's special talent for patients in repetition is already helping rehab post-stroke patients and providing a resource for children with autism.

MATARIC: There are a lot of people, children, adults who need one-on-one care and attention. And there just not enough other people to provide that care. Robots can step in and provide the care for which we don't have human care.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARCIANO (on-camera): Well, they cost about $10,000, and that price will be dropping. So, a lot less than I originally thought. And they got about six of them and they're being tested in some L.A. hospitals. So, the future is near, my friends.

All right. This thing is near as well and refuses to go away for folks in New England. So continued showers across parts of Eastern Massachusetts, a little bit breezy and damp, but this will finally go away and then we're going to get into some really a nice weather across parts of the East Coast. But some of that wind will translate to some delays at the airport at Boston and at New York, LaGuardia Airport, especially 30 to 60-minute delays there. Some light snow in Salt Lake City, yes.

They saw about 15 inches or so in the past 48 hours. As a matter of fact, let's take a look at some of the snow. Just out of Colorado where a number of ski resorts are either open or beginning to open. Breckenridge scheduled to open this weekend. Keystone Assistir (ph) Resort has recently opened. So yes, they are piling it up there in high country of Colorado and in Utah, as well.

Of course, Timberline in Oregon is open, and we mentioned yesterday that the North Carolina ski resorts of all places are already open. So, we're off to a good start. Still snowing in parts of the sierras and the cascades and the Wasatch, as well. So, a pretty good, moist flow for these folks, but it's kind of being blocked to get any farther east by pretty big ridge of high pressure that's pumping up some warm temperatures in through the midsection of the country and places like Chicago and Minneapolis, got into the 60s yesterday.

China (ph) town may very well hit 71 today, 77 degrees the expected high temperature in St. Louis, and 80 degrees in Dallas, 58 in New York, but 60s are on the way for you guys up there in the Big Apple. You'll feel a little bit like spring over the next couple of days. Just get through today.

ROBERTS: Looking forward to that. Hey, Rob, as far as the snow goes, I've heard that we're heading into a La Nina year which will be good for snow particularly in the northwest, is that true?

MARCIANO: Yes, northwest will typically get a little bit more during the La Nina year, so place like Mt. Bachelor, Timberline Lodge, Mt. Hood Meadows, and then up through Crystal, south of Seattle. Yes, so, those are the spots to look for, but let's just hope that everybody has a white Christmas.

ROBERTS: That'll be great. Thanks, Rob.

CHETRY: Thanks.

MARCIANO: All right, guys.

CHETRY: Still to come, a mysterious object shooting across the sky off the coast of California raising a lot of questions still unanswered this morning. Was it a missile? What is the Pentagon saying? And what is Pentagon not saying this morning about it?

ROBERTS: And Washington State expected to ban the sale of caffeinated alcohol drinks, the same type of beverage that sickened nine college students at an off-campus party last month. We'll have all of those stories coming right up. It's 10 minutes till the top of the hour.

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ROBERTS: And it's six minutes till the top of the hour. New this morning, the graying of America out on the open road. According to the Associated Press, 1 in 5 drivers will be 65 or older by the year 2025. More aging drivers means more risks for everyone on the road. Researchers say fatalities from crashes begin to increase of around age 75. And a driver over 85 is more likely to die in a crash than a teenager. Not to mention the kid on the skateboard and the bicycle that they hit before the crash.

CHETRY: We first told you about this yesterday. San Francisco's Board of Supervisors banning most McDonald's happy meals with toys as they're currently served. The new ordinance requires McDonald's and other fast food outlets to meet certain nutritional standards for their kids' meals.

ROBERTS: Red head revenge. Leno, Letterman, Stewart. Conan O'Brien beat all of them on opening night. Nielsen says more than 4 million viewers watched his first show on corporate cousin TBS. And his Twitter army probably had a lot to do with that. The median age of his audience was 30.

CHETRY: Wow. An advertiser's dream and probably Conan's, as well. Last night on show number two, Coco, took a little time to settle another score, this one with Tom Hanks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST: Can I mention this? You ruined my life because -- you started -- you did. You have.

(CHEERING) Coco! Coco!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Careful with that hand gesture because out of context, it looks like you're doing the shake weight.

TOM HANKS, ACTOR: This is what happens when -- here's what it looks like when you take grandma to Applebee's.

(CHEERING) (CLAPPING)

O'BRIEN: Now, you're talking. Now, I have to say, you started -- it was just --

HANKS: It was just a thing. You guys did it on another thing. Someone referred to you as Coco, and I thought it was a thing that they called you.

O'BRIEN: Yes. And so, you repeated it. You got people chanting it. And now, my kids -- I have little children who call me sometimes Coco instead of daddy, which enrages me.

HANKS: It's a sample of my power.

O'BRIEN: Do not screw with this guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Well, the revenge was, a little later in the interview, they were talking about whales, and they doused Tom Hanks with water. Tonight, Coco welcomes Mad Men's John Hamm, Charlyne Yi and musical guest, Fistful of Mercy.

CHETRY: Hopefully, we'll able to show you the water dousing because it was really funny. Just take a look on Tom Hank space. We're going to take a quick break. Your top stories coming up in just a minute.

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