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American Morning
Interview with Florida Governor Rick Scott; Homes for Detroit Police; Google Exec Freed By Captors; Band of Brothers Deploy; Singles in America Study
Aired February 08, 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: If you're just waking up, it is a cold one, brutal cold, plunging south. Many across the country this morning waking up to at or near 0 degrees, and the wind chills make it feel much colder. This could be, actually, the coldest weather we've seen all season on this AMERICAN MORNING.
And welcome. So glad you're with us this morning. It's Tuesday, February 8. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning you to all. I'm T.J. Holmes.
Also, ahead for you this hour, reading, writing, and Arabic. One school district making the language mandatory, some parents this morning outraged. We'll have both sides of the story.
CHETRY: Also, the Super Bowl seating saga continues. The NFL knew about the problem but had ticketholders come to Texas anyway. And this morning, they're offering new concessions for the screw-up and an apology from the owners of the stadium.
HOLMES: We'll turn back to this bitter cold. About 150 million people in this country, across 40 states, will be hit by this arctic air at some point this morning, maybe even into tomorrow. Lows below 0 in dozens of states. More snow is on the way in the plain and the south. Rob Marciano, do tell.
MARCIANO: This stuff is going to be following some snow across parts of the -- central part of the country. And as it does so, places like Texas and in through Mexico, as you mentioned, temperatures that could be 30 to 40 degrees below the seasonal averages. So, a couple of storms that are going to be proceeding this. This cold air followed by some warming later this weekend. Until then, it's going to be bitter out there.
Northeast right now, you're getting snow across parts of upstate New York and northern New England. But the bigger story, I think, today and tonight and tomorrow, is going to be six to ten inches of snow in Oklahoma city where they're still digging out from the last batch. And in Dallas, one to four inches of snow and some sleet.
And of course before the Super Bowl they got hammered with about five inches of snow, so unbelievable winter for a lot of people, including the folks who live in north Texas. You will see warmer temperatures this weekend, but until that happens, you know, it's -- not a lot of comforting news.
Here are the forecast high temperatures for today. Ten degrees in Chicago, it will be eight degrees in Minneapolis, ten degrees in Kansas City, and 14 degrees in Denver, and the Dallas temperatures will be much, much colder come tomorrow.
We're have details about where the storm track after it gets through Texas, it will head across the south. That could mean more snow for places like Atlanta. So winter not over yet, for sure. Back to you.
HOLMES: Rob, thank you. We'll talk to you again shortly.
MARCIANO: Sounds good.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: A Google marketing executive who was abducted by the Egyptian government nearly two weeks ago has now been released. It turns out that Wael Ghonim was administrator of the Facebook page that helped organize the protests in Cairo. That's something he didn't want publicized when he was seized by military police, he says, in the dead of the night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WAEL GHONIM, GOOGLE MARKETING EXECUTIVE (via translator): I was going get a taxi, so I went one way. I was walking down a straight road. And I found all of a sudden four people surrounding people. They were kidnapping me. And I yelled "Help me!" Of course, I knew these were security forces.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: At 7:30 eastern we'll check in with our Fredrik Pleitgen. He's going to join us from Cairo with more of that interview with Wael Ghonim.
HOLMES: Also new for you this morning, the Department of Transportation expected to release results of a Toyota unintended acceleration probe. We expect that later today. This is a ten-month investigation looked into possible defects in Toyota and Lexus vehicles. Nearly eight million vehicles were recalled for defects related to gas pedals as a result of sudden acceleration complaints.
CHETRY: Controversy over a movie about an American in prison in Italy for murdering her roommate. Lawyers for Amanda Knox have sent letters to Lifetime TV threatening court action if they don't agree to cancel the broadcast, sets to air February 21st. They say they're against the film because the trial is in a delicate stage and could affect Knox's appeals process.
Knox was convicted in 2007 of killing her roommate as part of a sex- game-turned-violent. The movie is set to premiere on February 21. No word if Lifetime will pull the plug.
HOLMES: Also, take a look at a scary scene on a California highway, a busy highway, Interstate 5. This is an 83-year-old man driving the wrong way on interstate 5. You see the result as it happens. These other folks were in this other vehicle and started filming as they saw this playing out. They had time to pull out cell phone cameras and get it on tape.
The driver's been charged with driving the wrong way with a suspended license. He says he was confused about his surroundings. No serious injuries, amazingly, to report from this crash.
CHETRY: Federal immigration officials targeting the Chipotle restaurant chain for allegedly hiring illegal immigrants. The company says it dismissed hundreds of workers in Minnesota, nearly half the staff, after receiving notices of suspect documents from the feds. Dozens of Chipotle restaurants in Virginia, Washington, D.C., will be the subject of an immigration audit.
This week marks the first anniversary of the first lady, Michelle Obama's, "Let's Move" campaign to fight childhood obesity. Today the first lady is launching a multi-day media blitz, and her next target is your neighborhood restaurant. CNN's Ed Henry is live at the White House for us. She's passionate about this, Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No doubt about it. You mentioned that two-day blitz. She's going to make a series of calls with health leaders, also with Drew Brees, quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. He's on the president's council on sports and fitness.
As you said, it's the first anniversary of Let's Move. The goal now is to really focus on restaurants and try to get them to be serving more healthy meals for kids, specifically smaller portions, that's one of the key goals.
But secondly, making sure that the restaurant menus actually have some healthy options for kids, have more carrots, apple slices, milk, have things like that so it's not just fried food and whatnot.
And I think when you take a step back from the White House perspective this is a chance for them amid all the controversy about health care reform, to actually focus instead on the less controversial parts, some of the more popular parts with one of their best spokespeople in the first lady. Her approval ratings, as you know, better than the president's, so this gives them something they can focus, they can target, that's going to get the attention of millions of Americans in a positive way.
CHETRY: Good for her. Childhood obesity is a huge problem.
Also, switching gears, a high profile member of the president's administration, Robert Gibbs leaving later this week.
HENRY: Yes. We've known he was going to be leaving at some, replaced by Jay Carney, the former "TIME" magazine reporter, the communications director for Vice President Biden.
An interesting transition because, look, Jay Carney's got big shoes to fill. Robert Gibbs has been not just press secretary but one of the administration's most senior advisers dating back to his days as a senator.
Yesterday Robert Gibbs when he announced that Friday would be his last day said, "Look, I'm going to miss just about all of you." I don't know when I'm not in the "miss me" category or not. I think that list and figuring it out. But obviously there's give and take between the media and the press secretary, and Robert has been at the center of all of that action over the first two years of this administration.
CHETRY: So he gets to go out with a little dig, get you guys thinking. Will he miss you?
(LAUGHTER)
HENRY: I'll miss some of you, maybe not all of you.
CHETRY: Ed Henry for us at the White House. Thanks.
HOLMES: Meanwhile, the president was extending an olive branch to big businesses yesterday.
CHETRY: Christine Romans is here "Minding your Business." This was a big meeting with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and president. Was it a love fest that will yield results?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: More "frenemies." For two this Chamber of Commerce has spent millions and millions fighting the president's signature agenda. He went there, and he said, look, joked, I'm going to make it up to you.
He said "We need each other," we need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-compete the rest of the world. And he sounded a little like John F. Kennedy when he said ask not what we can do for you but what you can do for your country.
Here is what they want. Business want lower taxes. They talked about a corporate tax cut. They would like less regulation. All kinds of red tape and bureaucratic nightmares that they say they have to go to.
But included in that, a lot of companies don't like health care reform, and they don't like Wall Street reform, and they don't like a lot of things that are the president's signature, the president's signature agenda. And they like some of these free trade agreements. They want to be able to go out and sell their stuff in more places and want the White House to be doing more to lower some of the burdens and make sure that we don't erect any kind of protectionist barriers that will hurt them overseas.
What does the president want? He wants jobs -- jobs, jobs, and jobs. He specifically said, look, I know you're sitting on almost $2 trillion. American companies sitting on almost $2 trillion just in the bank. They're not investing it. They're not giving it back to shareholders. They're not hiring people with it.
The president wants to figure out how to work with business to try to get that money moving into the U.S. economy. Here is the trick, though. For those of you in the know, you know that it's a lot more than a big meeting because there's an awful lot going on behind the scenes. Someone critical of three successive administrations that they say and people frankly say have decoupled the American worker from American business, she said that the president was going, frankly, in front of the international gang of -- I want to bring up the screen to see -- "the club of America's notorious job-off-shorers."
Also others pointing out that 48 percent of the earnings of S&P 500 companies are from overseas. So do these big companies even represent American workers anymore? What is their incentive to try to help American workers?
There's a big kind of intellectual academic debate going on right now among economist and business types that maybe the middle class just -- we don't need it in this country. Maybe all the action is someplace else and the corporatist (ph) agenda doesn't really see eye to eye with the president.
All the markets yesterday up, NASDAQ, S&P, up, down, above 12,000. We're watching a China interest rate hike. We'll see if it has something to do with the stocks today. It's always a busy day. All comes down to your money in the end, you know.
CHETRY: Just yours.
(LAUGHTER)
If you watched Super Bowl LXV you were part of television history. Sunday's Super Bowl on FOX was seen by an estimated 111 million people, making it the most-watched program in TV history. In fact, it broke records set by last year's Super Bowl which had 106.5 million people watching. And in case you were wondering, that game beat the 1983 series finale of "Mash," which had 106 million.
HOLMES: I guess we can call is "seat-gate" now -- 400 ticketholders thought they were going to see the big game in the stadium. They bought a ticket, they had a seat. The seat, however, did not exist for the most part. You know this by now. Temporary seats weren't finished in time and weren't Okayed for them to use, so they were just left out.
The NFL now saying they knew in the week before the game that this could be a problem. The NFL is inviting folks, those 400 who did not get a seat, to next year's Super Bowl, which is going to be in Indianapolis. So if those folks are lucky enough to have their teams once again in the super bowl, it will be great. If not, it will just be OK.
The commissioner says this should not hurt Dallas' chances of hosting another Super Bowl down the road.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROGER GOODELL, NFL COMMISSIONER: Sure, it's a membership vote. But I think they did an outstanding job, a great event. And I'm sure that they'll be seeking another super bowl. I'm sure the ownership will look at that very seriously.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Hopefully it won't snow the next time they get the Super Bowl, if they do.
HOLMES: It was a mess.
CHETRY: Well, there will be a big rally today at Lambeau Field to honor the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers. The team arrived home yesterday to a hero's welcome after beat the Steelers with thousands of fans lining the Lombardi Avenue to greet the Packer motorcade.
Meantime it was a less festive scene in Pittsburgh, although there were people to support their players. The Steelers returned home with a little bit less fanfare. Players said they were disappointed with the loss, but they thanked Steeler fans for their continued support.
HOLMES: Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was the MVP of the Super Bowl, but the next biggest star might this little guy. That is six- year-old Max Page. You never see him in the Volkswagen commercial, but you know him by now. He played little Darth Vader in a Volkswagen ad. It has gotten some 20 million views on YouTube now.
This is the cool part. He thinks he start the car with the force. That reaction is golden.
The little guy is making the rounds now. He got to meet -- look at that -- James Earl Jones who played the voice of the original Darth Vader in the "Star Wars" movies. Max says he's been asked by everyone to do the force, his hands are hurting a bit. We will see if he will do the force for us when the little guy comes in to our studio this morning on "AMERICAN MORNING," 8:20 Eastern Time live.
CHETRY: And with a face that precious, it shouldn't be covered by the mask. Maybe his next big gig will be to see the cute face.
Still ahead, the state of being single in America, the largest study ever interviewing singles, trying to figure out the attitudes of the new young people. You may be surprised to learn what people think. Who wants to settle down? Is it men now, women now? How much does ethnicity matter anymore? How much does religion matter? Very interesting.
HOLMES: Also we've been talking a lot about how states are in the red. What are they having to do? They are having to get creative. They're having to cut and try to raise revenue at the same time. Governor Rick Scott of Florida is here with us live, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Fifteen minutes past the hour now on this AMERICAN MORNING. As we have been reporting, states around this country are flat-out broke. Florida is doing worse than many, $3.6 billion short. The new governor is in place now and he has promised to make government leaner. And he has done that by introducing his plan, his budget, that would cut corporate and property taxes -- also cut spending.
The governor of Florida joins us now, Governor Rick Scott from Tallahassee.
Sir, thank you so much for being here. You got a lot of Tea Party support during the campaign. And you presented this budget proposal in front of a group of Tea Party supporters.
Is it fair of me to call this a Tea Party budget?
GOV. RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: Well, first off, it is cold in the rest of the country. I hope everybody comes and visits Florida. So, we get a lot of new tourists.
No, we -- one thing I'm doing is traveling the state, making sure everybody knows what I'm doing. Not just sitting in the state capitol. So, yesterday, I announced my budget plan, is going to get -- it's a jobs budget. We're going to get our state back to work. That was my whole campaign, seven steps to 700,000 jobs over seven years.
And so, I gave -- I gave my talk to a group, my budget announcement to a group of Tea Party activists, over 1,000 of them in Eustis, Florida, and it was a great event. And I came back and I did the same in the capitol.
But this is -- this is a budget that we're going to watch how we spend money. I'm reducing the size of the state budget by $5 billion. I'm cutting taxes by $2 billion.
HOLMES: Well, Governor --
SCOTT: We're going to get our state back to work.
HOLMES: -- you called this a jobs budget. It's a jobs budget --
SCOTT: Right.
HOLMES: -- that cuts about 8,700 jobs out of the state government. Why was that a necessary step? That's the part that's got a lot of people's attention. You were getting rid of a lot of state workers, a lot of employees, quite frankly, in a state that already has 12 percent unemployment.
SCOTT: Sure. Sure. As you know, a lot of those were vacant positions. But what we've got to do is get the money back into the private sector, give it to you, the taxpayer, you as a businessperson, because you'll go and build private sector jobs.
My focus is on building private sector jobs. We're going to make sure our taxes are low enough that, you know, everybody wants to be in business says we've got do business in Florida, because this is a state that they treat businesspeople better -- lower taxes, less regulation. We need regulation, but only for things we have to have.
So, my focus is jobs, jobs, jobs. I want to be the jobs governor. And that's what I did yesterday, put a jobs budget out.
HOLMES: And, Governor, you said you want to compete with other states. And you want to make your state very attractive to business. Your state already has some of the lower corporate tax rates in the country. Some would argue you're not going to make your state that much more attractive.
So, at a time when you're already at 12 percent unemployment, at a time when you're about $4 billion in the hole, why cut that revenue out at a time you clearly need it?
SCOTT: Well, because -- business people go where they can get the best return. Florida is going to be the place where you get the best return. We're going to have the lowest taxes. We're going to have a governor that understands that businesspeople don't need a bunch of regulation that's killing jobs.
You know, the federal government needs to do the exact same thing. As a country, we've got to reduce our taxes. I'm starting in the state of Florida. But, hopefully, the same thing will happen across the country.
HOLMES: And, Governor, on that point of cutting -- at least the corporate taxes in the state, you're hoping you can get businesses to create jobs. But there are plenty out there, including the CBO, that would say that's not necessarily what's going to get businesses to hire. Even if they -- we're talking about the president yesterday with the -- talking to the Chamber, they're sitting on money. A lot of businesses are. But they're not ready to hire because there's just not the demand for their products.
And in a state at 12 percent unemployment, your people are hurting. They're not necessarily going to run out and start spending their money to spur businesses so they can, therefore, hire. So, is that really going to work?
SCOTT: It's clearly going to work. You know, businesspeople, they want to -- they want to build businesses. They want to add more services, add more jobs. They've got to get a return on their money.
So, if -- we've got -- one of the things we're dealing with in our state is, you know, Obamacare is killing jobs. It's killing jobs all across the state. People are worried about. Fortunately, it was declared unconstitutional. I hope the federal government stops all those taxes.
But, no, reducing taxes puts money back into the private sector, in your pocket. You'll spend the money in a business person's pocket. They'll go take that money and add jobs. That's what my focus is.
This is a jobs budget. We are going to get jobs going in our great state.
HOLMES: Well, sir, I have to ask you as well, let you address, because one part that got people's attention as you were cutting 8,700 jobs, also asking state employees to contribute to their pensions, 5 percent. That's first time that's happened in that state -- one of the few states that hasn't done that actually.
Why is your office, the budget for your office doubling, your governor's office and your increasing staff? Why was that necessary?
SCOTT: Sure. Well, so what we -- first off on the pension plan, I want to make sure we have a viable pension plan. I want to make sure that our state workers know that their pension plan's viable. So, I've asked them to contribute their money to it like they do in most states.
Now, the budget in the governor's office was increased because I moved the Department of Emergency Management to our budget. That's the only reason.
HOLMES: All right. Well, Governor, we appreciate you being here. Many governors having to get creative; some tough decisions are having to be made. But again, your budget's going to have to be approved, though. It doesn't mean all this is going to --
SCOTT: That's right.
HOLMES: -- all your requests are going to get OK'd. But, Governor, thank you so much. Hope to see you down the road.
SCOTT: Sure. I'll come down, nice and sunny down here.
HOLMES: All right. A good spokesman for your state, as well. That's parts of doing business, as well. Thanks so much, Governor.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Still to come this hour: an Eagle honored in cowboy country. Not just any Eagle. Michael Vick gets the key to the city of Dallas and it's apparently news to the mayor.
Also, coming soon to a classroom near you, perhaps mandatory Arabic. We'll tell you how one Texas school district is taking steps to make learning the language a requirement and what's some parents are saying about it.
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. It's 22 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Twenty-four minutes past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.
There is a new proposal in Texas that's meant to combat teen sexting. If you don't know what that is, that means sending sexual image or message to someone's phone. Now, this particular law is meant to kind of lessen some penalties so a teenager wouldn't end up having to register as a sex offender. But this bill would hold also parents more accountable, and a judge can make the parents attend education classes with their teenager if the child is caught sexting.
CHETRY: Well, for some Texas students, their class may not only have math and science, but mandatory Arabic as well. The Mansfield School District wants at least two schools in the district to require an Arab language course. But for others, it would be optional. They were awarded $1.3 million federal grant to launch the program. School officials say that Arabic is the language of the future.
Some parents, though, were very upset about it, packing a meeting on Monday night when Mansfield school officials apologized because they say the parents had not been notified about the mandatory curriculum change. Some parents also said the school doesn't teach Christian. So, I don't want them teaching Islam.
HOLMES: Well, Detroit is trying something new, an effort there to revive the city. The mayor is offering renovated homes. Many of them have been fear closed on. They're offering them specifically to police officers and firefighters for $1,000 in some cases.
Jason Carroll here with this -- they have been trying a lot of things in Detroit. This is a new and creative way.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Creative and hopefully economically, it will help give a little jolt to some of these areas that desperately need it. You know, it's actually called Project 14, which is police code indicating that a situation, a problem situation, has been resolved. We'll see if that ends up working out.
But the big question for Detroit is how do you revitalize a city when you can't get people to live there. Well, in the city of Detroit, the mayor is starting with its police officers. More than half of the force live outside the city.
Now, the mayor is offering them an incentive to move back. That's for as little as $1,000, police officers can buy an abandoned home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVE BING, MAYOR OF DETROIT: Police officers living in their neighborhoods have the potential to deter crime, increase public safety, and improve relations between the community and our sworn officers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Well, not only is Mayor Dave Bing offering low-cost housing, he's willing to put federal stimulus dollars, as much as $150,000, towards fixing up the homes. The incentive is being offered to fill some 200 abandoned houses currently owned by the city in Detroit's Boston Edison and East English village neighborhoods.
As for Detroit police who already in the city, they could also get in on this deal. The mayor says he'll offer these officers the opportunity, albeit a smaller one, to improve their existing homes with some of those stimulus dollars.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got to regard the ones that did stay. I never left, never had a plan to leave. I made Detroit work for me. It's my home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Well, the mayor's office told us 50 calls have already come in from officers wanting to participate. Eventually, the incentive will also be offered to Detroit's firefighters.
The mayor's office also told us that the hope is that this might catch on with some of Detroit's large corporations, offering employees incentives to live where they work.
And, you know, there are a lot of studies out there that show when police officers live in the communities that they serve, crime goes down.
CHETRY: Future community policing effort, but also just for neighborhoods where -- I mean, after a while, I mean, just blight takes over. It's much harder to keep those neighborhoods rejuvenated when no one is living there.
CARROLL: And you know what's interesting. I was just in one of these neighborhoods not too long ago and they were dealing with all of these abandoned lots that are there. And there was a high school group that was turning some of these abandoned lots into garden as a way to sort of get people in there.
So, anything that they can do to get folks into some of these abandoned places.
HOLMES: All right. Jason Carroll, we'll see if that works. Thanks so much.
CARROLL: All right.
CHETRY: Thanks, Jason.
Still ahead, we're going to update you on a major power failure that shut down a huge airport, all three terminals. How are things right now? We'll update you.
HOLMES: Also, Michael Moore says he didn't get as much money as he deserved for one of his most popular movies. We'll explain.
It's 28 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Crossing the half hour right now, this "American Morning," and we start with a beautiful shot this morning of Washington, D.C., on this Tuesday, February 8. Rob is going to be here with a full forecast. It is getting cold. D.C., I think going to a high of 38 today. But boy, enjoy it while it lasts. Because a cold front is moving in for much of the country.
Good morning, I'm Kiran Chetry.
HOLMES: And hello to you all, I'm T.J. Holmes. Here are a couple of the stories we are keeping a close eye on this morning. Newark International Airport back to normal, things were certainly abnormal for a while. Power was knocked out. There was a switching problem that knocked out power to all three terminals there. It caused a ground stop at the airport yesterday afternoon.
Also, filmmaker Michael Moore is suing. He wants more money. And he says he deserves it. He is suing for "Fahrenheit 9/11" profits. He's seeking at least $2.7 million from the film studio saying that the studio heads kept money from him illegally. He says - the other side at least say this is just utter rubbish.
Also, to Egypt. We're keeping a close eye on things there. And new numbers out this morning from human rights watch claiming that nearly 300 people have died in the fighting and clashes there so far. There are other estimates of death toll that have been much lower than that. Kiran?
CHETRY: Well, you're right. Well, thousands of protesters continue to form a human chain in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Meanwhile, a Google marketing executive who was abducted nearly two weeks ago by the Egyptian government has been freed and he is now speaking out about his detention and his status among Egyptians as a hero. Fred Pleitgen joins us live from Cairo with all of these developments.
First of all, tell us more about the ordeal for this Google exec.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, horrible ordeal. He was released - he was taken by the Egyptian authorities. They finally admitted yesterday that he was taken 11 days ago. And on television when he went on the interview yesterday, he said that he was kept blindfolded the entire time that he was in custody. So 11 days in custody, blindfolded. He gave an absolutely emotional television interview yesterday, Kiran. Let's listen to one of the things that he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WAEL GHONIM, MARKETING MANAGER, GOOGLE, INC. (through translator): I'm not a hero. I slept for 12 days. The heroes were in the streets. The heroes are the ones who went to the demonstrations. The heroes are the ones that sacrificed their lives. The heroes are the ones that were beaten. And the heroes are the ones that were arrested and exposed to dangers. I wasn't a hero.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: And Kiran, that interview, as I said, absolutely emotional. He broke out into tears several times. He actually had to leave the room at the end because he was crying so heavily. And it seems like something that really has mesmerized a lot of people here in Egypt. If you look behind me, you see that Tahrir Square is really much fuller than we've seen over the past couple of days.
So it does appear as - so it does appear as though - I mean impossible (ph) to verify but it does appear that that television interview and the man's story might have pulled more people and re-energized this movement that's going on here in Egypt. Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Frederik Pleitgen for us this morning from Cairo. Thanks so much.
HOLMES: We have a new band of brothers to tell you about this morning. Five sets of brothers deploying to Afghanistan together. Our Ed Lavandera, live for us in Dallas this morning with the story. Ed, good morning.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, T.J.. Well, this has been a pretty fascinating story. There's a battalion of marines, made up mostly of Texas reservists, that will soon be deploying to Afghanistan. But the unique thing about this unit, it has five sets of brothers. And we brought them all together for the first time.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): A deep bond runs through this line of Marines. But this is a brotherhood beyond the uniform.
LT. COL. TODD ZINK, COMMANDING OFFICER: I didn't realize we had five sets of brothers right away.
LAVANDERA: The U.S. Marine Corps's first battalion, 23rd regiment, is a family. An infantry unit made up mostly of Texas reservists and includes five different sets of brothers. All about to deploy to the war in Afghanistan.
(on camera): Have you leaned on each other quite a bit?
LCPL. WILL HERNANDEZ, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Yes, it gives us a sense of home.
PFC. RAUL HERNANDEZ, U.S. MARINE CORPS: I don't think there's anybody better to keep me safe than him.
GYSGT. HECTOR VEGA CIGARROA: This will be, you know, one of the biggest struggles we go through together as brothers.
CPL. DANIEL BEANS, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Do we worry? Absolutely. You never know what's going to happen out there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: any brothers are in a situation where they are both able to deploy together.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): The families of these Marines face an emotional time during their seven-month deployment. Double the fear, twice the stress.
(on camera): How about your folks?
LCPL. JONATHON FASELER, U.S. MARINE CORPS: They're having a hard time back home knowing that we're here. You know -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But they support us.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): In the dangerous days ahead, good, old- fashioned sibling rivalry will help lift their spirits.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I always call my mom and say he's picking on me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He used to beat me up a lot. I didn't do too much beating on him.
LAVANDERA (on camera): Who's the better Marine?
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He takes the prize for this one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is.
LAVANDERA: Really?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's the better Marine.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Here they're all brothers in arms. And that's where the rivalry ends for this band of brothers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: You know it's fascinating, T.J., we spent quite a bit of time with them in Camp Pendleton a few weeks ago, in California, and that's where they're going through their final preparations, getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan later this month and end of march, as well. It was funny. After all the conversations we had with them, that one question that seemed to stump them all was when you asked them to kind of tell which one was the better Marine, the kind of the sibling rivalry stopped right there. T.J..
HOLMES: Imagine it would. You know, it's something that I bet parents and family members glad they have each other to look after when they go all to Afghanistan. But at the same time, it's probably very sad to see two go instead of just one. Ed, we appreciate that story. Very interesting look this morning. Thanks so much, Ed.
LAVANDERA: You got it.
CHETRY: Amazing.
Well, ahead on "American Morning," wish you could return that iPad and get your money back? A used iPad? Well, you can. Best Buy's launching an electronics buy-back program. We'll tell you what you need to know about it.
Also, for all you single ladies out there, it turn out he's just not into being single. A surprising study that's turning some of the gender stereotypes on their heads.
36 minutes past the hour.
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HOLMES: I don't know who picked the song before I start the segment. We're at that time of year, aren't we? We got to go buy the roses and the chocolates. You know, just suck it up, you got to too it, all right? Valentine's day, less than a week away. But maybe you are at a loss for love. We have a new list of the top places to find it. The top places to find love in this country. As far as cities go.
Number one on the list, all you lovers in San Antonio, Texas. That is the number-one city, at least according to "Daily Beast," which looked at the number of marriages, divorces, as well as looked at the culture in each city. Coming in at number two, Milwaukee, Wisconsin? It is cold there. A lot of snuggling going on, I suppose. Next on the list, Austin, Texas. That's a college town. There's no love in college. Also Virginia Beach, Virginia, and San Diego, California, rounded out the top five. Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Well, speaking of Valentine's day, the dating web site match.com paid for a large study. In fact, the largest study ever done on singles in the United States. And the findings somewhat unexpected. It turns out that men want to settle down just as much as women. In some age groups even more.
Joining me now is biological anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher, she helped conduct the conduct the study as the chief scientific adviser for match.com. Thanks for joining us.
DR. HELEN FISHER, BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGIST I'm delighted.
CHETRY: This is interesting as we said it's a groundbreaking study in that they sampled a large group of people.
FISHER: And based it on the United States census. So in other words, if there are so and so many people in Oregon, we sample so and so many people in Oregon. We had the right number of gays, and straights, right number of men and women, the right number of people from every different city. So it really does represent the American population.
CHETRY: Let's get to some of the interesting parts, you found that 62 percent of both men and women, these were the ones in the ages of 21 to 34, want to marry. And interestingly enough, among this age group, more men than women, by a slight factor, want to have children.
FISHER: Yes. In every -
CHETRY: That's changed over the years.
FISHER: And in every single age group, more men want children, all the way from age 21 to over age 65. More men want to have children. And just as many want to marry. It's remarkable. And I asked a question - would you marry somebody who had every single thing you were looking for, but you were not sexually interested in them - sexually attracted to them. And more men would be willing to do that than women would.
CHETRY: That's interesting, as well. I want to get back to the question about the children. Is it - I mean, this is a shifting attitude because women maybe are more aware of how much they're going to have to put into it? I mean, are they more leery about stepping into that versus men or what caused that change?
FISHER: I would guess that it's a number of things. I mean, first of all, men - for centuries, men's responsibility was to provide for the children and the family. And now he's got a co-provider. So it - it sort of relieves some of the tension on the man and so he can more likely, particularly as a young man - I mean for hundreds of years, a man really needed to have a good career before he could really have a family because he needed to support all these people.
But now that he's got a co - a partner that can bring in some money, too, I would guess that men's attitudes have changed just as much as women's.
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CHETRY: Do you think that conversely women feel that they have more of a co-parent than perhaps they did when it was expected that women did most of the childrearing and housework?
FISHER: Yes, in fact, we asked - do you think that - that women should be the sole responsibility for the children.
CHETRY: Right.
FISHER: And 49 percent said no. They wanted to co-parent. They want somebody - we're looking in. I mean, we're looking for different kinds of things. I mean, we're now looking for somebody who's a companion, somebody who you can trust. Somebody who you can respect. And we're far less interested in marrying somebody who isn't from the same ethnic group or the same religious backgrounds.
CHETRY: Yes, we found that that went down a lot. This is interesting. And maybe you can tell me how much it went down but they say "how important is it that you married somebody from the same ethnic group?" For men, 20 percent, women, 29 percent.
And then even fewer thought it was important that they come from the same religious background. 17 percent of men and 28 percent of women. Is that a big shift?
FISHER: I think that is a huge shift. I think we've been seeing that shift, but that shift is continuing. And also age groups. I mean, 21 percent of women had gone out for a period of time with a man who was 10 or more years younger. And 23 percent of men had gone out with a woman who was 10 or more years older. So we're seeing less emphasis on ethnic background, on religious background, and on your age. And much more focus on the things that you really need to build a core relationship with somebody.
CHETRY: I mean this is interesting as well when you talk about what people are looking for in a partner. 71 percent said they fell in love with someone that they didn't initially find attractive. But then after they had great conversations or shared interests, they did fall in love with them.
FISHER: I think that's probably the most important thing that singles should remember. I mean, we're about to go into Valentine's day. And the bottom line is that 35 percent of these individuals, these men and women said that they had not initially been attracted to somebody and later they fell intensely in love with that person. After having great conversations and shared interests. So take a second look. Give somebody a chance. Think of reasons to say yes.
CHETRY: That's interesting. And one quickly - I thought this was interesting, as well. The fidelity issue. At the end of the day, 70 percent of the people that you interviewed, singles, say that fidelity in a relationship and a marriage is a must-have.
FISHER: Must-have.
CHETRY: 70 percent believed that it is acceptable to divorce somebody who cheats.
FISHER: I think that is a huge change. I mean, for hundreds of years, if you were in an unhappy marriage, particularly with somebody who cheated, you really have to stay in the partnership. And now more bad marriages can end. And people can go on to make a good marriage. Really at any time in their lives.
So, actually, if I -- I've written this in some of my books and I've looked at that (INAUDIBLE). I think if there ever was a good time to make a really fine partnership, that time is now.
CHETRY: Very exciting stuff, just in time for Valentine's Day.
Dr. Helen Fisher, thanks so much for joining us this morning. Great to see you.
FISHER: Thank you.
CHETRY: T.J.?
HOLMES: I'm glad I'm not single anymore.
Well, coming up still on this AMERICAN MORNING, what do you guess is the healthier item? Dark chocolate or fruit juice? We'll have the showdown coming up.
Also, the weather. We have another storm that's going to be affecting a lot of folks in this country. We're talking about an arctic blast of air. Rob Marciano up with the forecast.
Stay with us. It's 45 minutes past the hour.
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HOLMES: About 12 minutes until the top of the hour. Welcome back to this AMERICAN MORNING.
Donald Rumsfeld, he's out with a new memoir. It's called, "Known and Unknown." He, of course, was the defense secretary under President Bush and a lead architect of the Iraq invasion in 2003. To this day, he remains a controversial figure.
CHETRY: Keith Olbermann has a new television home. Reports say that he's joining Current TV, the public affairs network run by Al Gore. An announcement could come today. Olbermann parted ways with MSNBC after eight years.
HOLMES: Also, Best Buy is launching an electronics buy-back program. Customers will be able to get partial refunds depending on how quickly your item is returned. Here's an example for you. Suppose you bought an iPad for around $600. Then you decide you don't really want the thing. You can get $300 back if it's returned in less than six months.
Now, these refunds that you get, not in the form of cash, however. You get Best Buy gift cards. The plan right now, initially, is free. After February 12th, there will be a fee.
CHETRY: That's not a refund. You have to spend it again -- you have to spend your money again at Best Buy.
HOLMES: In the store. So they're getting all the money back anyway.
CHETRY: The other thing, too, so they can take it a step further, do they then sell refurbished iPads for a lower price?
HOLMES: Of course, they do.
CHETRY: There you go.
HOLMES: All the money stays at Best Buy.
CHETRY: Yes, it sure does.
Fifty minutes past the hour. Let's get a check on this morning's weather headlines. Yes, they do.
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CHETRY: Everybody's writing a book these days. Bristol Palin is now one of them. She danced with the stars and now she's going to be penning her memoirs. At least that's the word out there, that she's set to do this and it'll hit bookstores in June. Not titled yet. Bristol's plate is pretty full these days. She's reportedly set to star in another reality TV show and she also could soon become spokeswoman for a fashion line. HOLMES: Well, take this one to the bank (ph), folks. Dark chocolate healthier for you than fruit juice. Let me explain, though. We're talking about dark chocolate here and it could be healthier for your heart. A new study out that found that dark chocolate and cocoa have more antioxidants than most fruit juices. This doesn't apply to milk chocolate or hot cocoa mix because they're processed. One other note here. The study was conducted by Hershey's.
CHETRY: Love it.
Well, Michael Vick was in Dallas last week, not playing the big game but getting a key to the city. Critics are now slamming the decision to honor someone who spent 19 months in prison for dog fighting. Dallas mayor pro tem Dwaine Caraway is the one who gave him the honor. He said he thought he had authority to give keys to the city and that he believes Vick has now become a good role model.
Well, now the current mayor of Dallas wants to distance himself from that saying that he wasn't involved in the decision and it wasn't sanctioned by his office and, in fact, the key is not actually official. The official keys are made from gold and crystal and given out to mainly to foreign dignitaries under strict protocol.
HOLMES: Also, take a look at this smash and grab robbery attempt. This is in North Hampton, England. It's foiled by a little heroine. A little old heroine, we should say. An elderly woman and her hand bag. You see her running in, in the red there. Arrives to the scene and starts taking guys out. The robbers are armed with sledge hammers. She starts whacking at the guys. I'm sure they're pretty shocked to see this going on. Hits one guy so hard, he comes off of his scooter. Now some people nearby finally came and helped out and pinned one of the guys to the ground. But four of the six men who were involved in this robbery are now in custody.
CHETRY: Take a quick break. Your top stories coming up in a moment.
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