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American Morning

Changing of the Guard in Congress; Ikea Cans Old-style Bulbs; Laying Off Layoffs; Dead Bird Mystery

Aired January 05, 2011 - 07:00   ET

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

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: It's 7:00 a.m. here in New York. Good morning to you, thank you so much for being with us on this AMERICAN MORNING Wednesday, January 5. Time's flying by in 2011.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely. And a big day up on Capitol Hill today. The takeover has begun, the Republicans taking over in Congress, and 87 GOP freshmen, just count them, taking the oath in the House. New speaker John Boehner, takes the gavel away from Nancy Pelosi. All of this just hours away.

CHETRY: Red tie, red tie or blue tie. Red blazer or blue blazer.

ACOSTA: Some things never change in Washington. Job one, an attempt to repeal President Obama's signature achievement health care reform.

CHETRY: If you're here, you know you didn't win. And there were two winning tickets sold in the mega millions drawing, the jackpot of $355 million the seconds largest ever. And -- second largest ever. Two winning tickets -- 4-8-15-25-47 and the mega ball was 42. We'll let you know where the lucky tickets were sold straight ahead.

ACOSTA: Nobody won here, which explains why the staff is in this morning.

And a bizarre encounter with a parking lot attendant. This story gets even more bizarre. Just two days before a former Pentagon official was found dead in a Delaware landfill, it's a murder mystery that has everyone talking up and down the east coast. We are tracking the latest developments.

CHETRY: We begin with the hour with the big power shift in Washington. A product of the GOP's sweeping victories in November's midterms. Here's a live look at Capitol Hill. This is where the 112th Congress convenes just hours from now. And by sundown, Republicans will control the House. The Democrats still keep a slim majority, though, in the Senate.

ACOSTA: Ohio's John Boehner moves from minority leader to house speaker, taking back the gavel for the GOP. He will take aim at president Obama's agendas right away. In a statement released this morning, "Our spending has caught up with us, and our debt will soon eclipse the size of our economy. No longer can we kick the can down the road. The people voted to end business as usual, and today we begin carrying out their instructions." CHETRY: First up, health care reform. House Republicans plan to take action against President Obama's signature achievement before the end of the week. They don't have enough votes in the Senate to pass an actual repeal or to even override a presidential veto of the bill that he signed. So Republicans might try to block funding for it instead.

Congressional Correspondent Brianna Keilar joins us live on Capitol Hill. So they are going forward with this. Where it goes from there, though, is still up in the air.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is still up in the air. I mean, we sort of have an idea of what's going to happen. You have the House that is going to be pursuing a procedural vote on repealing health care reform, and it really lays the foundation for an actual vote on repealing health care reform that's going to take place next week.

But this morning, we are gearing up and waiting for what is really going to be an historic day. It's going to start with the bipartisan church service. Democrats and Republicans are going to be at a catholic church for a prayer service right before this whole day start. The House is going to come into session at noon.

We will ultimately be seeing some remarks from Speaker Pelosi who is going to be introducing speaker-elect John Boehner. I think that's going to be a pretty interesting moment. Then John Boehner will be sworn in as speaker by the dean of the House, John Dingel from Michigan, a Democrat.

And you have the feeling of the first week of school with the new members of congress, but it will almost have a feel of graduation. There are going to be ton of family around. John Boehner has ten siblings and they'll be here.

And then right away they'll move forward with vote. Thursday, tomorrow, there's going to be a vote to reduce congressional spending committees, members' offices by five percent, and then we are going to be seeing that procedural vote on health care reform repeal on Friday, guys.

CHETRY: So we know it's going to be a contentious term. And it's looking like the issue of health care will again be the most divisive. This is interesting since poll after poll shows that the American people really want the economy tackled and jobs created and spurring of job growth in the economy. It looks like, are we going to be back to square one with health care?

KEILAR: I think that's one of the reasons Republicans are saying tomorrow they're going to vets on reducing their own spending. They're trying to say, look, we're trying to tighten our belts as Americans tighten their belts.

But on Friday, this is House Republicans coming up against president Obama. And I actually spoke with a Tea Party Republican, one of the new freshmen. His name is congressman-elect Raul Labrador from Idaho. And here's what he told me when I said, you know, the sense is that this repeal of health care, while it may pass the House, isn't going to get through the Senate. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAUL LABRADOR, (R) IDAHO CONGRESSMAN-ELECT: I wouldn't say that it's not going to be -- it's not going to pass the Senate. I think there's a lot of senators, even Democrats now, who are looking at what just happened in this last election. And they realize that they're up for reelection in two years. And I think you're going to see a lot of Democrats actually defecting and voting to repeal Obama care.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now there are still 53 Democrats or 53 senators who caucus with Democrats in the Senate. A lot of people don't feel the way Congressman Labrador feels. They actually think that this repeal would not clear the Senate. Certainly it's not going to get past President Obama.

But the plan b, guys, is for then in the House of Representatives where Republicans will have power is to try to sort of incrementally dismantle health care through the appropriation process and delaying it through a lot of congressional investigations. That's one of the powers they're going to have now is to investigate this administration and certainly they're really going to be taking that as far as they can.

CHETRY: Brianna Keiler for us this morning, thank you.

Senate Democrats, by the way, have changes of their own in mind. They are pushing for new rules limiting filibusters. What they're claiming is that Republican counterparts use this stall tactic too often to avoid final votes on bills and to hold up presidential appointments.

Democrats have a short window of opportunity. Usually a rule change would require a supermajority of 67 votes. But in the opening session a simple majority gets it done. it seems like it's whoever's not in power at the time wants to make a change.

ACOSTA: That's right, the Republicans will tell you that when they had the chance to do this several years back, Mitch McConnell first among them, said no. We're not going to do this. We have to have the filibuster set aside as a tool that we can use to set ourselves apart from our colleagues in the House.

CHETRY: Right.

ACOSTA: So we'll see what happens. That's going to be fun to watch.

CHETRY: Relieved of his command, the Navy captain who produced and then starred in these offensive training videos that came to light is no longer in charge of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. Admiral John Harvey says Captain Owen Honors demonstrated a profound lack of good judgment. The videos were made public last week, and they included anti-gay slurs, simulated sex acts, and what appeared to be two female sailors in a shower. Honors has been reassigned to administrative duties. ACOSTA: And this is a remarkable story. A Texas man free at last after more than 30 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. DNA evidence helped exonerate Cornelius Dupree of rape and murder. A Dallas judge made it official in court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're free to go. Thank you very much. Sorry for --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And that's Barry Scheck there from the "Innocence Project."

CHETRY: He started this project because he said there were so many cases where DNA evidence was not available and used at the time that could exonerate people. So he says he claimed for 30 years that he was innocents and no one believed him.

ACOSTA: Wow. It's just an amazing job they're doing at the project, making a big difference.

CHETRY: Absolutely.

There wasn't much time for Virginia Tech fans to be able to smile in their Orange bowl loss to Stanford. But star quarterback Taylor displayed fancy footwork on this play in the first half, spinning along the sidelines, finishing with the touchdown pass that gave them an early lead. Of course as we know, Stanford ended up winning 40-12.

ACOSTA: And two mega millions ticket holders have something really big to celebrate and none are here this morning despite our valiant efforts to line up for tickets.

CHETRY: Should have moved to Idaho.

ACOSTA: Exactly. Lottery officials say two winning tickets were purchased in Idaho and Washington state and will split the estimated $355 million jackpot. It is one of the largest lottery payouts ever, and ticket sales were furious last night. Whenever the jackpot gets really large this store in Wisconsin gets really busy. It sold two dozen big lottery winners in the past including a $206 million power ball winner in 2006. No such luck this time.

CHETRY: Last night's mega millions numbers, by the way, were 4-8-15- 25-47 and 42. It was interesting because this recurring theme in Lost, those numbers were similar. I believe the four, the eight, the 15, and 42. Conspiracy theorists, have a ball.

(WEATHER BREAK) ACOSTA: By the way, this just coming in from London this morning. We're getting new details this morning about the big royal wedding this spring.

CHETRY: Yes, about how Kate Middleton will plan her grand entrance and what Prince William plans to do immediately after the "I dos." Matthew Chance with all the royal details joins us from London. Good morning. Good morning, Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning you to, as well. Kiran, we just had this message from Buckingham Palace giving us some more details about what's going to happen. We knew that this wedding was going to take place in April on the 29th in Westminster Abby. Now they've given us details about the route which Kate Middleton will take on the way to the church, a traditional route, a road that leads into Trafalgar Square, through the parliament square, through the middle of official London, a route which I expect will be watched by tens of thousands of onlookers and supporters on that day.

They'll be married in, as I say, Westminster Abby, a place where many kings and queens of England have been married in the past. And the archbishop of Canterbury, the cleric of the Church of England, will be conducting the marriage service.

Once they're married, the couple will return along a processional route in a carriage to Buckingham Palace with tens of thousands onlookers looking on. They're saying they don't want this wedding to be particularly lavish, not as lavish as Prince William's mother's wedding to Prince Charles back in 1981. For instance, it won't be a state occasion. There may be heads of state invited, but only as friends of the family.

Nevertheless, the security operation in all of this Kiran is expected to run into millions and millions of dollars. Back to you.

CHETRY: It's going to be quite a production. A lot of people looking forward to it. Matthew Chance in London, thanks so much.

ACOSTA: Coming up, it's the first day of class for the 112th congress. We will talk to two House freshmen, one Republican, one Democrat, just ahead.

CHETRY: Also, how's this for a new year's resolution? One man saying I'm going to spend a month living in the lion enclosure even if I have to sleep in a tree. That's a new way to deconstruct your jeans.

ACOSTA: And a former Pentagon official killed and dumped in a landfill. New details about the days before he died are coming up also. It is 12 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Welcome back. Big day on Capitol Hill. It is their House in just a few hours when the 112th Congress is sworn in. John Boehner will be wielding the speaker's gavel, and House Republicans will be in charge. Their first order of business, trying to repeal health care reform.

And joining us now from Washington, two freshmen members of the House. Karen Bass is a Democrat from California, and Paul Gosar is a Republican from Arizona.

Good morning to both of you and thanks for sitting side by side. We hope it's a sign of things to come, maybe some bipartisanship in Washington, D.C. Thanks again for joining us.

PAUL GOSAR (R), ARIZONA REP.-ELECT: Thank you.

KAREN BASS (D), CALIFORNIA REP.-ELECT: Thank you.

ACOSTA: And Congressman Gosar, I want to start with you. I understand you are a dentist from Arizona, which might come in handy seeing how you pulled some teeth in your days and sometimes passing legislation can be just like that. What do you hope to accomplish in Washington?

GOSAR: I hope to accomplish what getting back to what people want to have done. And that is get our financial House in order. Getting back and empowering people to be involved in the process.

ACOSTA: And Congresswoman Bass, I suppose I should be technically speaking referring to both of you as Congressman-elect and Congresswoman-elect, but --

BASS: For a few more hours.

ACOSTA: For a few more hours. Congresswoman-elect Bass, you were the speaker in California so you know a thing or two about counting votes. You're going to be very much in the minority these next couple of years. How are you going to get things done? How are you going to move your agenda forward?

BASS: Well, you know, first of all, I think our first order of business has to be jobs. It has to be getting Americans back to work. That's the number-one thing we need to do. And frankly, you know, it will definitely feel familiar being in a crisis like we were in California. It will be very different being in the minority. But you know what, I want to start the day off right. I'm sitting side by side with my colleague, and I'm hoping that we'll be able to work together because I do believe everybody has the best intentions.

ACOSTA: And I understand Congressman-elect Gosar, you do believe in symbols a little bit. You have a lapel pin that you wear from time to time. It is in the shape of a shovel. What's that all about?

GOSAR: Well, it just kind of reflects on the everyday, average guy. When the everyday person is surrounded by the pile that we're, you know, imposing on the American people, the only way you dig out is dig in one shovel at a time. And each one of us have to pick up our own shovel and start digging out.

ACOSTA: And where do you stand on health care reform? Are you going to vote to repeal health care reform as soon as that vote comes up? GOSAR: Yes, I am.

ACOSTA: And Congresswoman Bass, Congresswoman-elect Bass, what do you make of that? What do you make of the fact that the Republicans, their first order of business is to go after health care reform?

BASS: Well, I actually think that's unfortunate. Frankly, I was very excited by the health care reform legislation. And Paul and I have a lot in common because we both have a health care background. I worked in health care for a number of years and was very excited the fact that when a child reaches 23 they don't have to lose their insurance. If you have cancer -- for example, my stepdaughter had leukemia. And, you know, as she becomes an adult, she wouldn't be able to get insurance because that's a pre-existing condition. But now she can have insurance. And the idea that we would actually take those benefits away from people, that's just hard for me to fathom.

And then, frankly, we know that it won't pass. And so I'm very concerned about doing symbolic things when we still have unemployment as high as we do. We need to get to business. And I don't think that means doing symbolic measures. Voting to repeal health care reform that we know won't pass.

ACOSTA: Yes. And Congressman Gosar, she's calling it symbolic. Your take on that? Is this just symbolic?

GOSAR: It isn't symbolic. I think what's happened, the elections brought it forward. It's an unpopular bill. Any time you allow a bureaucrat, one bureaucrat to dictate your health care, you got something flawed. And the way that we've built this health care system around a flawed system is erroneous, and bills like this shouldn't be passed.

ACOSTA: And Congressman, I understand you brought in some associates of Sarah Palin on your staff. We understand that that is the case. Are you going to be sort of speaking on her behalf up on Capitol Hill? Getting her message across to your fellow House members?

GOSAR: I just have some friends that I met through dentistry that have some connections and have met Governor Palin so --

ACOSTA: She endorsed you.

GOSAR: She did, and I'm proud of that. And I thank -- but Governor Palin speaks for herself, as does Paul Gosar.

ACOSTA: And Congresswoman Bass, Congresswoman-elect Bass, one final thing. You know, we've been talking about the debt ceiling all morning long. We'll have to make this very brief.

BASS: Go ahead.

ACOSTA: If you could cut one thing to go after this $14 trillion debt that we have, what would be the one thing you would cut?

BASS: Well, I would definitely look at the defense budget. I do think we have room there, especially around the world. We have a lot of bases that I wonder whether or not they still need to be functioning. So I think there's room to cut. But one thing that I think is very important, it would always be irresponsible to bring the government to a halt. And if we don't vote to raise the debt ceiling, that's exactly what happens. We can't do that.

ACOSTA: Congressman Gosar, are we going to see a government shutdown?

GOSAR: I don't think so. But I think in order to raise the debt ceiling we have to get at the problem and what caused this problem and set landmarks and benchmarks that we have to achieve and dates that we're going to achieve it by government.

ACOSTA: And you're willing to go -- are you willing to go for a government shutdown if it means reining in spending, or is that out of the question for you?

GOSAR: I need some cooperation on both sides of the street to make sure that we're getting benchmarks and getting true reform because we just can't keep raising the debt ceiling without having true reform with this financial crisis.

ACOSTA: All right. Paul Gosar --

BASS: So Paul and I are going to cooperate, right?

ACOSTA: All right. Let's see them shake hands there. Very good. That's a good sign of things to come. We hope it lasts. Paul Gosar and Karen Bass, thanks so much for joining us this morning. And good luck up on the Hill.

BASS: Thanks for having us on.

GOSAR: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: Appreciate your time -- Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. Well, it's lights out for old school bulbs. Coming up, a major retailer pulling the plug on incandescent lights. There you see it. It's Ikea. But we'll have more on that.

Also, a Florida man settling in to life with a pair of big cats, lions. One male, one female. We'll tell you why he's doing it. Why he's going to live with the lions for 31 days.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Twenty-four minutes past the hour. "Morning Talker" time.

Can't get the old-school light bulbs anymore at least at Ikea.

ACOSTA: Oh, my goodness. Wow.

CHETRY: The retailer says they're phasing them out. They're the first major retailer to do it, they claim. A government-mandated phase-out starts next year. Only compact fluorescent bulbs and other energy savers will be on sale at Ikea from now on.

ACOSTA: That's incredible. And some people prefer the old bulb --

CHETRY: The incandescent light.

ACOSTA: -- because of the light it puts off. Interesting.

It is the most popular game on Facebook ever. Eighty-four million users play the game Cityville last month, breaking the previous record held by Farmville. In case you're not familiar, and I'm not, in Cityville, players build a city full of people, businesses and infrastructure. The game encourages users to build connections with Facebook friends. And every once in a while, I have a Facebook friend who says, "I did this on Farmville or Cityville," and I'm like, I don't know what that means.

CHETRY: Yes.

ACOSTA: But way to go.

CHETRY: Yes, I'm going to say. Another news, productivity in the workplace is at an all-time low.

ACOSTA: Yes.

CHETRY: I mean, this stuff --

ACOSTA: The two may be connected.

CHETRY: Wow.

All right. Well, your New Year's resolution may be I want to lose weight, I want to quit smoking.

ACOSTA: Right.

CHETRY: But for Jim Jablon it is to actually try to save his rehab facility.

ACOSTA: Oh, wow.

CHETRY: He is going to be living with the lions. Living with two big cats at the Hernando Wildlife Rehab Facility in Hernando County in Florida. He's going to do it to try to raise money to keep it open. They say they need about $50,000 to $70,000 each year to run it.

ACOSTA: Wow.

CHETRY: And he plans to spend the entire month inside the enclosure with the two African lions. He says that he's going to be eating when they eat, sleeping on the hay right next to them. And he says that he's building a nest in a tree so that if the cats fight with each other he has a safe place to go.

ACOSTA: Apparently they come running when he opens up a can of tuna fish. Was that in the story? I mean, we should -- maybe the next time we tell that. The -- OK.

CHETRY: I can't wait to see that.

ACOSTA: Sorry.

CHETRY: Well, if you have a job, chances are you're going to keep it. There is evidence that American companies are done with the downsizing, which is good news. What if you want to break out and try to improve your chances of getting hired this year? We're going to talk to Christine Romans coming up.

ACOSTA: And we're tracking the investigation of a former Pentagon official found dead in a Delaware landfill. New details from a parking attendant who had a strange encounter with the victim just before his death. You're not going to want to miss that. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Welcome back. Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" here this morning. We talked earlier this morning about the debt ceiling.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Now we're talking about layoffs.

ACOSTA: Layoffs.

ROMANS: Is the age of the mass layoff behind us?

ACOSTA: I hope so.

ROMANS: I reported to you before that I think that that part of this whole thing is behind us. And some new numbers from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the outplacement firm, backing that up. In fact, when you look at layoffs for the month of December, they were the lowest since 2000. Now a cynic would say, yes, because they already fired everybody. There's nobody left to lay off, down 34 percent.

ACOSTA: Let's not dare them.

ROMANS: I know. I just had to get that out there.

But in 2010, it was the lowest layoffs since 1997, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. So that tells you that that period of just massive downsizing, the downsizing is over. It's something we've heard over and over again. We're going to get three or four different pieces of jobs news this week. And we're going to be very closely watching to see if we can say that that is definitely behind us. It hasn't been replaced by mass hiring.

CHETRY: You said they're being more selective. Even if they are hiring?

ROMANS: Absolutely.

CHETRY: And also the notion that some jobs because of technology may not come back at all. ROMANS: And new jobs are coming in their place quite frankly. But the economy is changing, and what's coming on the other side of it is much leaner. When you look at the kinds of layoffs that the challenger, gray, and Christmas is watching -- automotive sector layoffs in the year down 91 percent. You know, we've already restructured that industry. So you're not going to be seeing, you're not seeing massive layoffs in autos.

In fact, car sales recovered in 2010. Bouncing back from a 30-year low in 2009. Industrial goods, manufacturing, down - layoffs are down 97 percent - 79 percent. But that's because we've already seen the massive disruption in that industry. Retail employment, layoffs down 61 percent. Retailers, we're going to get the same-store sales results tomorrow. And we're looking for three to four percent growth for the retailers.

ACOSTA: Is that good? Is that big?

ROMANS: That's good. I mean, after - look, it's been a horrible two years. We'll take a green arrow wherever we can get it. So we're just starting to see these signs of stability. Next hour, I'm going to tell you the best and worst jobs of 2011. We got a new survey that doesn't come out until 8:00. I had a little sneak peek. This will tell you where you should be looking for a job and where to send your kid to college, what they should study. That's in the next hour.

CHETRY: All right. We look forward to it. Christine, thanks.

Time for a look at our top stories now as we cross the half-hour. The power shift on Capitol Hill today. Republicans take control of the House. And John Boehner takes Nancy Pelosi's job, I guess you could say. Pelosi takes Boehner's old job. So I guess they're switching, minority leader. All this setting up another showdown over President Obama's health care reforms.

ACOSTA: It's not what most of us were hoping for, but two mega millions ticket holders have $355 - 355 million reasons to celebrate this morning. Lottery officials say two tickets, one sold in Idaho and the other one sold in Washington state, matched all six numbers in last night's mega millions drawing. Get out your tickets if you have them handy, the winning numbers - 4-8-15-25-47, and the mega ball, 42. Every time I see the picture come up of the two them I think that that might be you and I.

CHETRY: Yes. I - no, I mean, I have that suit, as well. Just I have it in hot pink.

ACOSTA: And I wear a tux often. Yes - to work.

CHETRY: Yes. You have tuxedo pants.

There's a new captain in charge of the "USS Enterprise." Captain Owen Honors, who produced and starred in those offensive training videos, is now relieved of his command. Admiral John Harvey says that Honors demonstrated a "profound lack of good judgment." The videos were made public last week showing anti-gay slurs in some cases, simulated sex acts, and what appeared to be two female soldiers in a shower. Honors has been reassigned to administrative duties.

ACOSTA: And now to a murder mystery. It's been five days since a former Pentagon official's body was discovered in a Delaware landfill. And investigators still have not found the actual crime scene. They did locate John Wheeler's car yesterday. Now they're hoping for some new information that will move this case forward.

CHETRY: A parking attendant says that she had an odd encounter with the 66-year-old Wheeler just two days before his body was discovered. Deborah Feyerick joins us this morning with details. It's interesting that they're trying to piece together a timeline of where he was and when this murder may have happened.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. And it is getting stranger by the day as police really try to sort out what happened in the last few days of John Wheeler's life. Here's a respected Washington insider, a former Pentagon official and defense contractor, and it now appears that the day or so before he disappeared, he was wandering around Wilmington, Delaware, looking for his car at the wrong parking garage.

Take a look at this frame from the surveillance camera. That's the parking garage where he actually went. But this frame from a surveillance camera shows that he came in on a freezing, cold day, wearing just a suit. And according to the parking attendant, holding his shoe, a burgundy loafer in his hand. He seemed confused, was searching for his car, and asked to stay inside the booth for a few minutes to warm up.

The parking attendant was clearly rattled by the encounter and said she couldn't stop thinking about him. And she says she apparently called the police the next morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IMAN GOLDSBOROUGH, PARKING ATTENDANT: He didn't have a coat on, and what really struck me as odd, he didn't have a coat on and he didn't have his shoe on. Then when I asked where was he parking ticket at my garage, he said he couldn't find it. It was inside his briefcase. So when I asked where was his briefcase, he said his briefcase was stolen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Now, Wheeler told that woman that he couldn't remember where he parked, just that it was near an old hotel, likely referring to the famed Hotel Dupont in Wilmington. That's where he was last seen about 3:30 in the afternoon Thursday. 13 hours later, John Wheeler was dead. Police do not know where he was murdered or who stuffed him in a dumpster, a 20-minute drive from Wilmington.

Police have retraced the route the dumpster took. They believe based on the position of the body in the truck and then at the landfill that the body had not been in the dumpster very long. And we called all those businesses on that route. Two of them told us that police had requested surveillance video. The 66-year-old Vietnam veteran helped build the memorial in D.C.. He was apparently returning from Washington when this bizarre string of events took place. Wheeler was suing a neighbor, but the lawyer representing him in that case says while that litigation was not pleasant, certainly he had no known enemies. Question, who would want to kill John Wheeler?

CHETRY: Have we heard more from the family? I mean, are they cooperating with them? Are police trying to find out more details from the family about what may have happened?

FEYERICK: The police have gone and questioned the wife. The wife apparently has a business here in New York. They did go to the business. She may not have known that he was missing because they hadn't been together in the hours before the disappearance. Again, he worked in Washington, she worked in New York. They had a home in the Wilmington, Delaware, area. So that may be one of the reason that he wasn't immediately reported missing.

CHETRY: Sad situation, and the mystery, of course, continues. Deb, thanks so much.

ACOSTA: Thanks, Deb.

CHETRY: Well, also, the mystery of the dead birds widening this morning.

ACOSTA: Absolutely.

CHETRY: Hundreds more found. This time in Louisiana.

ACOSTA: Look at that video.

CHETRY: Yes, by the side of the road. The same type of bird, the blackbirds and starlings. Now some with the Wildlife Federation are trying to figure out what may have happened.

ACOSTA: And if you or someone you love has a heart implant or planning to get one. New research shows that the procedure is not necessary more than 20 percent of the time. Details ahead. It is 36 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Well, the first case was a bit bizarre. But now another report of a large flock of birds mysteriously falling dead from the sky. That is downright eerie.

CHETRY: It has a lot of people talking. On New Year's Eve in Beebe, Arkansas, you may remember, just outside of Little Rock, 5,000 birds just fell from the sky. Then on Monday, about 300 miles away in Louisiana, 500 birds. Similar species, the starling, as well as the blackbirds, also found dead all along a highway.

Doug Inkley is a senior scientist at the National Wildlife Federation. He also studies birds. Thanks so much for joining us, Doug.

DOUG INKLEY, NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION: Yes, good morning, Kiran. CHETRY: So let me ask you about this. As we said, these cases two cases about 300 miles apart as the birds fly, I guess you could say. Are you surprised to see the two cases happening at the same time? Or is this something that we see, that you guys see and study in nature?

Well, these are what are so-called mass mortality events. And they do occur. It is a bit unusual to have them occurring so close together and so close together in time. But I don't really see that they're related at all. And I really do think that sometimes these things just happen.

ACOSTA: Yes, and Doug, I read another expert out in California at U.C. Irvine say that perhaps this is just something weather related. And that this has happened from time to time. Big, severe weather event will happen and you'll see hundreds, sometimes thousands of birds fall from the sky, as strange as that sounds.

INKLEY: Well, the most frequent cause of mass mortality events in wildlife is actually disease, certainly pollution, like the Gulf Oil spill disaster, can also cause mass mortality events.

ACOSTA: Right.

INKLEY: But sometimes there are indeed just plain accidents. In this particular case, I believe what happened is that these birds, which get together in very large flocks, sometimes roosting in the millions in the wintertime, were simply scared. And they stampeded, if you will. And it was night time, they couldn't see where they were flying and no doubt flew into objects. I believe that that is exactly what happened in this case.

CHETRY: Wow. So you do think that that's what happened. Then some people are wondering why don't we see this all the time, then. I mean, if it's a loud boom or they're startled by something, why isn't this a common sight?

INKLEY: Well, there's only a few species of birds which usually get together in such large flocks. The blackbirds are certainly one of those species. And they congregate in these large flocks, tending to be only in the wintertime when they're breeding, when they're wintering over. So most of the time, these areas are not near human habitation, such as in forests or in the woods. So I'm not surprised that they don't occur all the time. But they do occur.

ACOSTA: And the phenomenon that you described sounds a lot like shouting "fire" in a crowded theater and then a panic ensues. And that what you're basically saying is that these birds in this panic fly into each other, is that essentially what may have happened here?

INKLEY: They may fly into each other, but I believe it's more likely that they flew into objects they couldn't see. It was dark. There's trees, there's power lines, there's houses.

CHETRY: Right.

INKLEY: And they literally flew right into them. CHETRY: Well, I want to ask you about this. Because this has certainly spawned some conspiracy theories. Some say first of all that the Little Rock Air Force base isn't far from where the first case happened. Could they have been perhaps conducting test, one of them was about microwave blasts perhaps to knock planes out of the air.

Another theory may be that it had to do with poisoning based on the oil spill. I know we talked to you a lot about the oil spill and the after math of the gulf oil spill. Do you believe that any of these theories or perhaps an upcoming earthquake is another one that people had pointed to?

INKLEY: Well, Kiran, there are 1,000 ways to die. But I actually don't believe this is a conspiracy in this particular case. I think it is simply an accident, and these things happen.

CHETRY: All right. Well, some people won't buy that, but we're glad we brought you on because you made us feel better about it.

ACOSTA: Yes, and got some answers. I mean, at least we know that this does happen from time to time. It's sort of a naturally occurring phenomenon.

CHETRY: Doug Inkley for us this morning, senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation, thank you.

INKLEY: Thank you.

ACOSTA: About 100,000 Americans get defibrillators implanted in their hearts every year and thousands of those procedures may be completely unnecessary. Details ahead.

CHETRY: Also, Rob is going to be along with the morning travel forecast for us right after the break.

It's 44 minutes past the hour.

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CHETRY: Shot this morning of New York City, sun rising. Beautiful shot, this morning. It's 30 degrees. It's only going up to about 37 today here in the Big Apple. So, bundle up.

ACOSTA: There's still a lot of snow everywhere.

CHETRY: Yes. I see a little bit right there.

ACOSTA: You can see it right there.

CHETRY: It's hard to make out through the piles of trash, but, you know, you can see them.

ACOSTA: That's right. And 45 minutes after the hour right now.

(WEATHER REPORT) (CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: $350 million, just two winners. Last night's Mega Millions drawing. If you live in Washington State or Idaho, check your tickets this morning. You may be lucky.

ACOSTA: And how many diets have you tried? That's a personal question. Well, we will rate them and let you know which might actually work for you.

CHETRY: Also, new details from Buckingham Palace this morning about the royal wedding this spring. Back after this.

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CHETRY: Well, 52 minutes past the hour. And a disturbing story today about heart defibrillators, the devices that are implanted -- pacemakers as some of them know them -- as to help the heart keep a normal rhythm. Well, it turns out that thousands of patients who got the high-tech implants never needed them in the first place. And, actually, they could be doing more harm than good.

ACOSTA: About 100,000 patients get them every year and a new study says one out of five surgeries should have never happened.

And here to tell us why, Dr. Robert Michler, director of New York's Montefiore-Einstein Heart Center -- and I hope I got that right.

Dr. Michler, tell us why this is happening, because you hear about this procedure happening all the time. And it would seem that they would happen for good reason.

DR. ROBERTS MICHLER, DIRECTOR, MONTEFIORE-EINSTEIN HEART CENTER: Well, first of all, these devices are lifesaving. And with good evidence-based guidelines, they do, in fact, save lives. They save lives because they detect irregular heartbeats. And those irregular heartbeats can degenerate into ventricular fibrillation. These devices shock the heart and save lives.

Now, doctors are very well intentioned individuals and what this study shows is that the true experts in implanting these devices -- electrophysiologists -- are, in fact, not always the ones making the decisions. So this is a wake-up call to the medical community and to patients.

CHETRY: Yes. So, you know, sitting at home wondering, I had this procedure done, I mean, do I not need it and could it cause me more harm? I mean, what would you say, this morning, to people who are wondering?

MICHLER: Well, I think people at home need to understand that they should always be certain that an expert in the device is the one who's making the recommendation. And often, it's best to be sure that their doctor is consulting with an electrophysiologist to make that decision. Please understand, as well, that probably one in two patients out there in the community who could benefit from one of these devices are not being offered the device. So this is really a very, very important landmark study that not only shares with us the fact perhaps it's over-utilized in certain circumstances, but also that patients who could benefit from the device are, in fact, not receiving the device.

ACOSTA: And. Dr. Michler, what is behind this? Do we know why this is happening? Is it because defensive medicine goes on and some doctors say, well, we're just going to give it everything we've got here and let's go forward with this procedure?

MICHLER: No. I think really the issue is that these are complicated and sophisticated devices which have with them the complex indication. So the guidelines really need to be examined, doctors who are not electrophysiologists need to understand what the appropriate use of these devices are.

So, for example, what we've learned is that patients who have had a recent heart attack or recent bypass surgery should not have these devices implanted because the heart is recovering from an event. So they may need them but we need to wait before we implant them. And this was brought out in the study.

CHETRY: This is an invasive surgery. I mean, you're putting wires in the heart, among other things. I mean, this isn't small potatoes. What are the dangers when we said it could increase chances and the complications of actually more harm -- what is that harm that could potentially be done?

MICHLER: So what the study showed was that there was a slight increase -- a significant increase in death associated with these devices implanted when the guidelines were not met.

That difference was not enormous. The mortality was .57 in those who had non-evidence-based guidelines, and only .18 in those who had evidence-based guidelines. Not a large difference. In fact, the morbidity, or complication rate, was similarly only about a percent point difference. The overall mortality, the overall complication rate fortunately is very, very low.

But you're right. Patients need to ask questions. The best advocate for a patient is the patient and their family and they should be talking to their doctors, making sure that their doctors are, in fact, following guidelines.

ACOSTA: Well, Dr. Robert Michler with a wakeup call, not only for heart patients and families, but for the doctors, as well.

Thanks so much for your time this morning, doctor. We appreciate it.

MICHLER: It's my pleasure.

CHETRY: Good to see you. Thanks so much.

We're going to take a quick break. Your top stories coming up in 90 seconds.

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