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American Morning

Discovery's Final Mission Home; "Flight To Everywhere"; Money For Madoff Victims; NFL Players Prepare for Lockout; Salahi Kicked Off "Celebrity Rehab"; How to Take a Financial "Hit"; Profits Take Off

Aired March 09, 2011 - 08:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. We are watching severe weather down south right now. Tornado warnings in place in Louisiana and Mississippi, and we do have reports this morning of tornadoes on the ground in both states.

Meanwhile, in Texas, a tornado hit there in Lamar County and they are cleaning up on this AMERICAN MORNING.

It's at the top of the hour now. Welcome you all to this AMERICAN MORNING on this Wednesday, March 9th. I'm T.J. Holmes.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry.

We want to get right to this extreme weather we've been talking, dangerous happening right now in the South. Rob Marciano is in the extreme weather center tracking it all for us.

Hey, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, guys.

In the last half an hour, New Orleans airport reporting a wind gust of 77 miles an hour, all right? So, no tornado warning out for the New Orleans area, but you could say that sort of wind gust -- that's going to do some damage. It's, obviously, hurricane strength force gusts. And that particularly cell continues to move across New Orleans. So, they're getting hammered right now.

Here's what it look like. Take a look at this video of what it looked like about 15 minutes ago as the storm was about to approach and take over this tower camera from WWL. Obviously, lots of lightning strikes, tremendous amount of wind and tremendous amount of rain as well.

Just of the north of New Orleans, back to the radar we go, this is Lake Pontchartrain. And just now moving over the lake and making landfall, if you will, across parts of southern St. Tammany Parish, the strong, rotating cell. This may very well have a tornado in it moving between Slidell and Lacombe, which earlier this morning had a tornado touched down with some debris on the I-12 here. And just north of I-12 around Bush, Louisiana, there was damage and an injury there because of that particular tornado that moved just south of Picayune. And now, we have a tornado warning over the same areas that got hit with a tornado earlier this morning that resulted in at least one injury. A couple of other tornado warnings just across parts of southern Mississippi, not quite as populated here, but nonetheless a dangerous cell and that's moving to the Northeast at 30 to 40 miles an hour.

Then where there are no tornadoes, there are strong winds like we saw in New Orleans. This line of thunderstorms is about to roll into Montgomery. That's going to hit Montgomery hard here in the next 20 minutes. Certainly, some heavy rain but going to be some straight line winds with this, no doubt about that. And there could be some damage with that.

Birmingham to Atlanta, just mostly, heavy, heavy rain at this hour, and that will be increasing as we go through time, and then moving up the northern corridor. So, two parts -- actually three parts of this system, not including some snow across parts of the Upper Midwest. But the two big parts are -- is the severe weather across the South and tremendous amount of moisture that's going to affect millions of people here over, in some cases, still saturated ground from the last batch of rain that we saw. So, flooding is going to be a big story here in the next 48 hours as well and it stretches all the way up into the Northeast.

T.J., Kiran, back up to you.

CHETRY: Rob, thanks so much.

HOLMES: All right. Rob, thank you.

A very difficult story to tell our viewers about here now, a tragedy in Pennsylvania. Seven children, all under the age of 11, dead in a fire. Their ages range from 7 months to 11 years old. This was a rural Pennsylvania family.

The fire was in their farmhouse and it caught fire. Don't know the cause just yet.

A state police spokesperson summed it up this way -- it's the kind of tragedy that puts life into perspective. Apparently, the mother had gone out early that morning. She was actually working, milking cows out in the barn when the fire started at the farmhouse.

The father was nearby, actually. He had fallen asleep taking a nap in his milk truck after an overnight shift. One of the kids was able to run out and try to get the attention of the mother to say, hey, there is smoke in the house, but she was not able to save most of those children.

CHETRY: It's an awful, awful story.

Well, to Libya, where Moammar Gadhafi's forces are said to be locked in a ferocious fight to retake an oil-rich city just 30 miles from the capital. Right now, there is a major onslaught under way in Zawiya, the closest rebel-held city to Gadhafi's main stronghold in Tripoli.

Now, "Reuters" is reporting the oil refinery there is shutdown, amid the bombing. And Gadhafi forces are reportedly pounding Zawiya with planes, tanks and rockets -- of course, renewing the calls for the international community to enforce a no-fly zone.

In the meantime, just hours earlier, another ranting speech from Colonel Gadhafi, telling his people on state TV, quote, "America and France want to take your gas." The Libyan leader is also telling Turkish reporters that the Libyan people would fight the West if they tried to enforce any no-fly zone over their land.

HOLMES: And probably by now, you've heard about the controversy over some highly anticipated hearings taking place tomorrow on Capitol Hill. New York Congressman Peter King says there's a concern about al Qaeda among us, and he wants to hold these hearings on the radicalization of Muslims in the U.S.

The controversy here is many people just say, hey, you're putting Islam on trial. This is going to be a witch hunt.

But Congressman King said earlier this morning, it is not about that. I asked him specifically if he thought that Muslims in this country aren't patriotic enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: I would say the outstanding Muslims are outstanding patriots. Obviously, there's a very small percentage who have allied themselves with al Qaeda. And there's others -- for instance, there is a Pew Poll several years go saying that 15 percent of young Muslim men could support suicide bombing. This is a fertile ground for al Qaeda to recruit in.

But, no, there's doubt that, overwhelmingly, the Muslim American community is a tremendous asset to our country. They are a part of the American mosaic.

I am proud to work with Muslims. I meet with Muslims on a regular basis. But the reality is there's a threat now coming from certain elements within that community and that's what the purpose of this investigation is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: King went on to say that he believes the hearings are absolutely essential and, again, they are scheduled to start tomorrow.

CHETRY: Listen up, space nerds. Today is the last landing day for Discovery and it is really more than just space nerds, for all of us. I mean, you know, in our entire country, this is a moment in history that we're witnessing. NASA's most traveled space shuttle, 148 million miles on the odometer, is now going to be coming home for the last time.

Up next, we are talking to a former NASA astronaut who flew on Discovery about what this means and what it's next for the space program. Colonel Bob Springer is going to be joining us live.

HOLMES: Also, think of your worst airline travel story and it's probably not going to top the one you're going to hear this morning. They were just coming back from vacation just trying to get home. The flight ended up being three re-routings, two aborted landings, a whirlwind tour of the East Coast airports. We are talking to one of the passengers on what's being called the flight to everywhere.

Six minutes past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have main engine start. Three, two, one -- we have SOV ignition and we have liftoff -- liftoff of mission 41- B. The first flight of Discovery and the shuttle has cleared the tower.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Still gives you goose bumps to see it today. That was shuttle Discovery's first liftoff back in 1984. And, now, today, space shuttle Discovery gearing up to make its final landing in about four hours. No shuttle has spent more time in space, 365 days, a full year.

Joining me is Colonel Bob Springer. He flew on the shuttle back in 1989.

Welcome. Thanks for being with us today, Colonel Springer.

COL. BOB SPRINGER (RET.), FMR. NASA ASTRONAUT WHO FLEW ON DISCOVERY: Well, Kiran, thank you. Thanks for having me.

CHETRY: So, you flew on Discovery's eighth mission. Thirty-one missions later, we're now looking at the final touchdown.

What's going through your mind? What are some of your thoughts this morning as we see this shuttle land for the last time today?

SPRINGER: Well, it's going to be a little bit emotional from the standpoint, you know, with the final flight of that vehicle and it was my first space flight. So, you know, an emotional attachment there. Of course, we all knew that the program would eventually come to an end. That's happening. And we're just having to deal with it.

But it's bittersweet. It's such a successful program. As you've mentioned earlier -- 148 million miles in space, 365 days, an entire year, up there in space flight.

Of course, my role was a very small part of it. I spent five days on board Discovery on my flight in 1989. That anniversary is coming up here for me, by the way, in just another month. So, March was when I flew in 1989.

So, an emotional time to see that wonderful vehicle retired.

CHETRY: Yes, it is amazing. It's also interesting when you take back -- a look back at the history. It was the first return to flight after the Challenger explosion. As growing up, we all remember, of course, the tragedy and how difficult it was to deal with that and how difficult it was for NASA to go up in the air again.

SPRINGER: Well, it really was. And, you know, an emotional time from the standpoint of personal associations and, you know, friends that were lost on the Challenger crew. But you knew you had to put the program back together.

And I know -- having been there at that point in time and having been a part of the team that recertified the fleet for flight again when we first flew after the Challenger accident -- that everybody wanted to make it work. And we put the program back together and very successfully and made major, major improvements to the program, to increase safety and improve the viability of what we've been doing in space.

CHETRY: You know, a lot of people are wondering, I, myself included, how do you guys feel about -- I mean, you've made enormous strides in so many ways and done such incredible things. When this shuttle fleet goes down, we don't have a way yet to get ourselves into space without relying on Russia.

SPRINGER: Yes. This is a difficult time, you know? We -- and it's still a little bit incomprehensible to me that we are shutting down one program before we have another viable program online. Of course, NASA is struggling to re-identify itself and find out exactly where NASA wants to go in the future.

There are other possibilities now. Of course, commercial industry, private entrepreneurs are getting into the act. There's any number of companies that are being actually quite successful in their endeavors, and they run the gamut from everything from suborbital flights to purely tourism aspects of it, to people who want to put up significant improvements in what we're doing.

It's going to be a challenge and I -- nobody knows exactly where that's going to end up. It's just sad that we're -- we don't have a better focus on where we're going today.

CHETRY: Right. Was that -- I mean, was that a mistake, an error on the part of NASA? Or was this unavoidable?

SPRINGER: I think it was a mistake. You know, they announced, what, about six years ago, that we were going to retire the shuttle fleet. So, we've known that was coming. And for some reason, the effort just never coalesced in such a way that we came up with a viable replacement program for it. There was a program, Project Constellation, that was on the books, but as so many of the high technology research and development programs come, it was over budget and behind schedule, and it ended up being canceled by the current administration. So, now, we're left, when we fly the last flight, and we think it's going to be Atlantis in the middle of the year this year. So, two more flights after Discovery lands today. But we are kind of mired in the politics and the economics and the decision-making process. We don't have a real viable alternative on the books today.

CHETRY: Right. And we know it's a huge source of national pride, our space exploration. So, we certainly look forward to the next chapter.

Colonel Bob Springer, thanks so much for joining us -- former NASA astronaut who flew on Discovery back in 1989. Thanks so much.

SPRINGER: Thanks.

CHETRY: T.J.?

HOLMES: Well, Kiran -- it was a flight that was supposed to land in New York. It ended up, it seems, everywhere except for New York. We'll have one woman's travel nightmare that will make your worst travel nightmare look like a walk in the park.

Also, a little later, a lot of us are used to cutting back. A lot of people in this country certainly are. But maybe not so much for NFL players? Until now.

They are having to make some adjustments. And the players association is giving all of the players a handbook on how to save in case of an NFL lockout.

It's 14 minutes past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Seventeen minutes past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Think of your worst travel nightmare and you probably cannot top this one. Barbados, just got done with vacation. You're feeling great, heading back to New York, back home, four-hour flight. It took 12 hours.

CHETRY: That's right, and they didn't even get home after the 12 hours. They were stuck in another city. Two hundred people packed on this plane. They were supposed to go to JFK. After circling, they were sent to Boston for refueling. There, they sat on the tarmac and then took off again for JFK, tried to land once.

That didn't happen because of weather, tried to land twice, didn't happen again. Then, they headed to Pittsburgh, at least, they were told, but then, no, they changed their minds and told they were going to Philadelphia. They finally landed at about 2:00 a.m. Monday morning.

Caitlin Gorry was one of the 200 on the flight. She's back from vacation. She went with her boyfriend and members of the rugby team, of his rugby team. So, you had a blast in Barbados. You get on this flight. You think it's going to be a quick flight back to JFK. I know there was bad weather happening Sunday night, but when did you guys realize this is not going well?

CAITLIN GORRY, STUCK 12 HOURS ON A FOUR-HOUR FLIGHT: Probably around when we were circling JFK the first couple of times, then they said, OK, the weather is bad, we're going to try and head to Boston to refuel and, you know, when it's getting low, I feel that things are not going great.

HOLMES: When did things start to turn? It was a four-hour flight supposed to be and turned into 12 hours, but when -- in what hour did things kind of start to get ugly on the flight with passengers and the situation with water and drinks and food? When did it kind of start getting ugly?

GORRY: Probably around three and a half when we realized we should have landed at that point, and we were shooting past our destination and turbulence and everything.

CHETRY: You guys said that you were actually seeing it on the in-flight screens on the international flight. They actually tell you -- have a tracker.

GORRY: Shooting us in a different direction.

CHETRY: So, they weren't even telling you. It was the tracker that was telling you what was going on. So, they felt that the weather would be better in Boston to land?

GORRY: Yes. They were kind of hoping, I think, that the weather would pass New York, and that we could refuel and go back and give it another shot.

HOLMES: You said things start to turn around hour three and a half four. How bad did they get when you get up to hour 10, 11, and 12? Were people patient and understanding or was there frustration even on your part?

GORRY: Everyone was a little bit frustrated. Some of us were more frustrated than others, but --

HOLMES: What do you mean by that?

GORRY: You know, definitely there's unrest. The babies and the children were not happy, and everyone was hungry and tired and just wanted to be at that point on the ground anywhere, whether in Pennsylvania or in New Jersey or Massachusetts.

CHETRY: Yes. So, just give us some little anecdotes. When did they start running out of food? When did they sort of start running out of water?

GORRY: Well, the food thing, when we got on the flight, they said that there was food for purchase, but that it was kind of limited, so that if we wanted it, we should buy it immediately, but we had all eaten in the airport so didn't really feel the need to purchase the food. And then, later on, when we realized that the food was pretty much gone, that was, you know -- CHETRY: It didn't turn as the lord of the flies, did it?

GORRY: No, it didn't, but, you know, people were scrounging for granola bars and what not better left in their bags. So, you know -- but it wasn't until we'd done a few of the trips all over the place that it really started to get, you know, everyone was hungry and tired and you wanted dinner and a bed.

HOLMES: I can't imagine the challenge of the flight attendants trying to take care of all you all, and the pilot, as well, trying to give you all updates. Were you pretty well informed? Did they do their best? Only so much you can do after 12 hours, but did they do a pretty good job?

GORRY: For the most part, they kept us pretty well informed. They informed us every step of the way whether or not, you know, where we were going, what was happening and that whole deal. So, you know, they were pretty good with trying to keep everyone kind of placated, and you know?

CHETRY: Well, we asked American Airlines. This is the statement they gave us. They said, "Given the weather situation on the northeast, we did our best to get these folks home safely in a reasonable period of time, but as it so happens, the weather chooses not to cooperate. We do not risk the lives of our passengers or employees." At any point, did you feel that your safety was at risk that you, guys, may crash or something because of the weather?

GORRY: Only really the first descent into JFK when we had that, like, near landing. That one was a little rough. We kind of got a little shook up by that, but once you were above the clouds, it was more smooth. So, it was pretty fine, but then, it wasn't really dangerous, I would say.

HOLMES: They haven't offered you all any concessions or anything?

GORRY: I haven't received anything from them, but I haven't tried either, so --

HOLMES: When is your next flight?

GORRY: Next month.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: Where are you going?

GORRY: I'm going to San Francisco.

CHETRY: Pack some energy bars.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK) CHETRY: Energy bars, beef jerky. Exactly. And, by the way, how did they get you all back from Philly because you still had either to stay at a hotel, right?

GORRY: Yes. They did hotel voucher us. We got to the hotel around 4:30, slept for two hours, and then got up and they had us re- ticket for the next day to back to JFK but where we lived it made more sense to get a ride home than it was to take the flight and then drive back from JFK. So, we opted not to.

HOLMES: It's good to see you this morning. How did you get here this morning? By car? Did they take a pretty direct route?

GORRY: Yes.

HOLMES: All right. Caitlin Gorry, good to see you this morning. Thank you so much.

CHETRY: Good luck on your next flight.

GORRY: Thank you.

HOLMES: Well, coming up this morning, two of the most influential people in all of American politics. There's a good chance you have never heard of them. Some billionaire brothers who are using their money to affect your vote, also having an effect on the labor war.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Twenty-five minutes past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Bernie Madoff's victims could start seeing some paychecks by the end of this month. So, maybe getting some payback here. The trustee in charge of recovering assets stolen by Madoff says they are ready to start now distributing the $2.6 billion they have been able to recover.

CHETRY: Well, two years ago, stocks hit rock bottom. We remember it was in the 6,400 range. People were really panicking about their retirement funds, their 401(k)s. Since then, we've had a raging bull market. So, where do we go from here? Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business." You know, we've seen the stock market take off like gang busters and a lot of the other indicators like employment not go anywhere, but are we in for a correction?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Biggest stock market rally in 50 years, and some are saying, when you look at two- year long stock market, it's kind of middle age of bull market to look at it that way. It depends on what your outlook is about middle age, too, I guess, but, look, 6547 was the level on the Dow two years ago today. We have lived through history. You have lived through history.

Two years ago today, we were talking about Warren Buffett who said the economy had fallen off a cliff. Here's a little remembrance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: I mean, this is as bad as he thought it could possibly be, and it's exactly his worst case scenario playing out.

Patience and confidence are what's lacking here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: All day long, for weeks after that, we were talking about patience and confidence, what brings it back, stimulus, bailouts. I mean, it has been a horrific two years, and two years in which Apple computer, their shares are up 328 percent. Bank of America, those shares from $3.75 Bank of America you can see on there to $14.69 a share. Now, that's up almost 300 percent.

Ruby Tuesday, let's look at that one. Ruby Tuesday then, the stock fell to 99 cents, today, $13.40. I know you can't read it very well, guys. Sorry. Ford then $1.74. Today, $14.47 a share. Up 731 percent. Again, the biggest bull run in 50 years. We have lived through history. Question is where do we go now?

A lot of analysts tell me there's more to go. People continue to have corporate process moving up. Warren Buffett, by the way, today compared with two years ago, he says the economy is recovering on its own. It's finally working on its own momentum, and he is also said that he thinks unemployment will keep falling to maybe, eventually, 7 percent which would be good if that happens. So, moving finally in the right direction.

CHETRY: If you were somebody who is retiring at that time when the Dow was all the way down to 6400 --

ROMANS: I don't think you retired.

CHETRY: Or living on that type --

ROMANS: No.

CHETRY: Living on their nest egg (ph). Are you OK now?

ROMANS: You're still down. You're still down. Depends on what your situation was. It depends on what your mix was. Hopefully, at that time, if you were really close to retirement, you didn't have everything you own in the stock market.

HOLMES: Right.

ROMANS: But you might had something in a house, and that house value is down a third depending on where you bought it, again, of course, but so look, things -- we have not recovered everything, but those last two years haven't been a remarkable ride. You look at some of those stocks, it's just incredible.

What I get a lot from people is, look, I wasn't thinking about the stock market. I'm just thinking about my house and my job. The middle class cares about a house and job, and those two things have not fully recovered yet. So, there you go.

CHETRY: Thanks, Christine.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

CHETRY: And you haven't aged a bit. Sorry.

(LAUGHTER)

CHETRY: You haven't aged a bit since 2008.

HOLMES: That was 2008?

ROMANS: 2009. 2009. March of 2009. Two years.

HOLMES: We will be playing this segment again in two years.

ROMANS: I know!

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: A couple of the headlines to bring you now here. We're at the bottom of the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Severe weather. Some dangerous weather across the south. Now, possible tornado touching down on Lake Pontchartrain. Tornado warnings and flood warnings up in Louisiana and Mississippi. New Orleans get a hit really hard by a storm right now. They've got some 77-mile-per-hour winds that have been reported at the airport there. Also reports of a tornado touching down on a nearby interstate. Rob Marciano is all over the weather for us this morning.

CHETRY: Also, lots of wet weather in the northeast. Flood warnings issued for much of the east coast. We're expecting heavy rains and snow again and also created some ice jams in parts of New Hampshire. Parts of Connecticut again under water this morning, as well. More than three inches of rain fell in some areas overnight, and again, as we said, more rain and precipitation is in the forecast.

HOLMES: And we shall see if the weather cooperates today for the landing of the space shuttle. Space shuttle, "Discovery," returning to earth for the last time. It won't take off again. If it does land today, this will mean it will have spent a record 365 days in space. After this, we've only got two more space shuttle launches left of Endeavour and Atlantis before we close the book on the chapter of the shuttle program.

CHETRY: There are some signs today that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker might give some ground in his labor standoff with state senate Democrats. Private e-mails just released show Walker willing to concede some of the collective bargaining restrictions set in his budget proposal. Those e-mails between Walker staffers and two senate Democrats surfaced after reporters filed a Freedom of Information request.

HOLMES: If I asked you to name who you thought were the two most influential people in American politics you might come up with big name senators, the president, of course. But you probably wouldn't come up with two people' names we are about to give you, two people you've never heard of in all likelihood. But they have some deep pockets that are affecting your vote possibly.

Our Jim Acosta is with us this morning. These are two names we're hearing more of but a lot of people had probably no idea.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. They have been dabbling in state politics as well and giving big contributions in places like Wisconsin and Indiana. And T.J., they have their names on exhibits in the Smithsonian and on theaters in New York City. Who are these guys? Most Americans have never heard of the Koch brothers but with battles under way in Washington and Wisconsin and Ohio and Indiana, liberal activists are trying to change that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: When Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown made this fund-raising appeal to billionaire and conservative activist David Koch it was caught on tape by a liberal blogger. Weeks before that another progressive blogger posed as Koch to make this prank phone call to Wisconsin governor Scott Walker.

GOVERNOR SCOTT WALKER, (R) WISCONSIN: Hi, this is Scott Walker.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Scott. David Koch. How are you?

WALKER: How are you, David? I'm good. And yourself?

ACOSTA: Democratic activists see a curtain being pulled back revealing one of the most powerful and mysterious forces in politics.

SOPHIE KORN, LIBERAL ACTIVIST: The Koch brothers have been able to operate in secrecy and use vast amounts of their personal wealth to control our democracy.

ACOSTA: Two of the world's richest billionaires David Koch and his brother Charles control Koch Industries, a global energy and manufacturing giants with products ranging from petroleum to paper cups and they have used that wealth to back conservative causes aimed at shrinking the size of government.

DAVID LEVINTHAL, CENTER FOR RESPONSIVE POLITICS: Be that campaign contributions, lobbying, the funding of political groups or the funding of nonprofit groups.

ACOSTA: They seem to be doing it all?

LEVINTHAL: They seem to be doing it at all because they have the ability to do it all.

ACOSTA: Candidate contributions from the Koch's political action committee has soared since 2006 to more than $4 million, more than 80 percent going to Republicans. David Koch also helped create Americans for Prosperity, a major backer of Tea Party events across the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who decides Wisconsin's future, voters or government unions?

ACOSTA: The group has joined the budget fight in Wisconsin, taking sides with Scott Walker, who received $43,000 from Koch industries in his 2010 race for governor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: The Kochs have also given money to John Kasich, the governor of Ohio. One thing we can say about the Kochs, they rarely do interviews. Both Koch Industries and Americans for Prosperity did not return our request for comments on this story.

Still the Koch brothers have their defenders who say the brothers do donate money to a variety of causes and they have given a small portion of their contributions to Democrats, including the governor of New York Andrew Cuomo. So they do spread the money around. T.J.?

HOLMES: A name people are starting to hear more of. Jim Acosta, good to see you.

ACOSTA: Good to see you.

HOLMES: A lot of Americans are dealing with no job and no paycheck, but now NFL players are bracing for the same, getting ready for possible lockout this fall. They are being taught now, giving a lesson how to cut some corners in their personal spending and getting tips from the Players' Association in a new handbook, things like make sure you leave the club with your wallet intact. We have some more of those things coming up as we talk to New York Jets fullback Tony Richardson. He's joining. It's 35 minutes past the hour us on this "American Morning."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: It's 37 minutes past the hour right now. Take a look at this. This is what is going on in New Orleans, Louisiana, this morning. Thunderstorms, 69 degrees right now, but the story really is how much severe weather they are getting in parts of the south today. You can even see the lightning strikes through that camera.

(WEATHER BREAK)

HOLMES: Coming up, a lot of people getting ready for fall possibly without NFL football. You may want to. The players seem to be doing the same thing. They've given the players now a lockout survival guide. One of the tips, you might want to get rid of that personal shopper and that stylist.

CHETRY: You might want to do that even if you are going to play, you know? Money is a finite resource.

HOLMES: But if you got it.

CHETRY: Yes. It doesn't last forever, though.

HOLMES: What is your relationship status on Facebook, single, married, or divorced? Apparently more and more Facebook is playing a role in divorce proceedings. We're going to have more on why coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: You enjoy posting pictures on Facebook. There is a new study out suggesting women may do it to boost their self-esteem. Based on a survey of 300 college-aged participants a University of Buffalo researcher found that not only women share more photos on Facebook but base their self-worth more strongly on their appearance.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: That's great. We have all seen people we know in person when we look at their Facebook page and looks like a glamour photo shoot, and you don't recognize them sometimes.

CHETRY: Put your best foot forward.

HOLMES: Also in the Facebook realm right now, this isn't so good and could be unhealthy for your marriage. A survey no of some attorneys, American divorce lawyers are saying, two-thirds of them say that Facebook was a major source of evidence in divorce proceedings or custody fights they had gone through. Photographs can be some damming evidence and also people, oftentimes, they reconnect with exes on the Facebook page.

CHETRY: An infamous White House party crasher getting the boot from reality TV now. Remember Michaela Salahi? She has been asked to leave "Celebrity Rehab" according to VH1 because she doesn't have an addiction.

Salahi's manager claims the network and the show's producers knew that all along. You'll recall Michaela Salahi and her husband made headlines back in November 2009 after they crashed the White House party attending President Obama's first state dinner without an invitation.

HOLMES: I guess that should be a good thing, we find out she does not have an addiction.

(CROSS TALK)

CHETRY: Right. She's not addicted.

HOLMES: That's good.

CHETRY: But except don't try to get yourself on a reality show about fighting your addictions when you don't have one. You'll just win.

HOLMES: She just wanted to be sure she didn't have an addiction.

A quick break here; a quarter to the top of the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Well, former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber is coming back. Not with the Giants but Barber's agent says that he filed papers with the NFL to come out of retirement. He left the game in 2006 for a career in television. He was a correspondent for "Today Show" and "Sunday Night Football".

Barber turns 36 years old next month. But he says he surprised himself with his strength and his workouts. A little old for a running back but if anyone can do it, its Tiki. His brother Ronde (ph) by the way is still playing cornerback for the Tampa Bay Bucks, it will Ronde's 15th season.

Well, Ohio State head football coach Jim Tressel fined and suspended for two games for violating NCAA rules. Tressel failed to notify the school for months after learning that some of his players were involved in a drug trafficking investigation and selling memorabilia. The NCAA is still investigating. It could reject Ohio State's self-imposed penalties and add even more sanctions.

HOLMES: Well, are you ready for no football possibly? Are you getting ready for a fall without the NFL? The players seem to be. The NFL Players Association helping its members prepare financially for the lockout, a possible lockout with a new handbook.

In this handbook, tips like this. Some that you're already probably putting in place in your own life like go to grocery store instead of going out to a restaurant to eat. Also, turn the heat down. Also, use cold settings on the washer to save the most energy.

Yes, some things that you're doing but maybe you don't think about NFL players having to worry about things like that.

But New York Jets fullback Tony Richardson is joining me here now. He's a 16-year league veteran also a player rep.

Sir, good morning to you, we appreciate you being here. Let's start with this. What do you think is the biggest misconception the public has when it comes to NFL players and their salaries?

TONY RICHARDSON, NEW YORK JETS FULLBACK: Well, I think that, you know, the biggest misconceptions they feel like everyone in the National Football League, all players are -- are millionaires and that's not the case. And obviously, we realize that our careers are you know, 3.3, 3.5, 3.6 years long.

And so that's -- that's a tremendous misconception that that everyone is driving Rolls-Royce and wearing expensive jewelry and things of that nature and that's not true at all.

HOLMES: No certainly the case there's a league minimum out there that is around $320,000.

RICHARDSON: Yes. HOLMES: Now, a lot of Americans would love to have that but that's certainly not the same as we see with the Peyton Mannings and the Tom Bradys and the -- those higher echelon guys that make literally tens of millions of dollars a year.

I want to put up another graphic here, some more that's in this -- this little handbook. It says maybe you should try getting rid of that personal shopping assistant, stylist. Most people don't have that problem but also leave the club with your wallet and budget intact. Also stop shopping for clothing and jewelry.

So what segment? You tell me. You kind of hit on it there, but what segment of the NFL player population is this handbook meant towards? Certainly not Tom Brady and Peyton Manning; so what population are we talking?

RICHARDSON: Well, you know, the population that we're trying to reach are pretty much all of our guys. Because the thing about it is you know, like you said you know maybe a guy like Tom Brady or you know, Peyton Manning might not be affected by this. But you know what, they are leaders in our -- in our locker rooms and the fact that if -- it they take this handbook and they are talking to the guys, the young guys about you know what, you need to put some money aside because you know, we don't know how long this thing is going to last but we want to be prepared.

So it -- it affects all of our locker room because we want to, you know, like I said be examples and teach our young guys that you know the way we're going to be able to sustain whatever happens, you know, here in the next few months is we need to be smart with our finances.

HOLMES: And Tony, I know this -- this battle -- part of this -- I call it a battle. But there are -- there's the PR battle going on between the owners and the players right now and this whole lockout mess and people call it the millionaires versus the billionaires. And I know maybe -- not necessarily --

(CROSS TALK)

RICHARDSON: Now billionaires -- the billionaires part is true. So --

HOLMES: The billionaires part on the part of some of those owners, no doubt. But I guess you -- maybe not asking for sympathy necessarily but do you understand why that many people in the population, the regular folks -- we're still at 8.9 percent unemployment, tough times -- are having a tough time understanding what the problem is and having a tough time having sympathy for guys who even if the league minimum is $320,000 that's more than most and a lot of these millionaires. They have a tough time feeling for you guys.

RICHARDSON: Well, you know, the biggest thing is, you know, we're not out really looking for sympathy but more so just kind of talking about the issues. Because the thing that -- I'm starting to see -- a lot of guys in the league are starting to see that, you know, as soon as if -- if football stops, there's a lot of guys that are going to be hurt.

I mean, you already read some of the stories where guys are inducing their wife's pregnancy because they don't understand -- they don't know where their health benefit and things like that are going to come from. So it's not -- it's not a good thing, we're standing on the corner with -- with -- with our hands asking for handout, but we understand that as soon as the doors are locked it affects everyone, not only our players but the people around the National Football League as well.

HOLMES: Now, Tony is it wrong of any of us to mischaracter -- are we mischaracterizing things when we say it is literally a fight going on behind closed doors between the owners and the players and this fight is simply over money?

RICHARDSON: Well, you know, you can -- you can call it a fight. I just call it a negotiation.

Yes, it's a negotiation. There's you know obviously --

(CROSS TALK)

HOLMES: Over money, though, right?

RICHARDSON: It's definitely over finances is one issue that that we're definitely negotiating over. But it's one of those things that we are business partners and any time you have a business relationship, you want to make sure that -- and that's my legacy, that's the thing that myself and, obviously, Kevin Mawae (ph) and guys on the executive committee we just want to make sure that this -- this game that we've been -- we've been so fortunate to play that the guys that come after us, the guys that came before us are taken care of and that's the only thing that you know we really are concerned about is having to deal -- deal is fair to both sides.

And we're going to continue to keep hammering this thing out. And so I don't necessarily characterize it as a -- as a knockdown, drag-out fight; it's a negotiation --

(CROSS TALK)

HOLMES: Yes.

RICHARDSON: -- and -- and we're going to continue to keep going back and forth until hopefully, we get a deal --

HOLMES: Those negotiations wrap up. There's a deadline at the end of the week. As I let you every NFL fan wants to know. Just give me your opinion. Football next year?

RICHARDSON: You know, I don't want to get into the hypotheticals and say that --

HOLMES: Hypothetical? Come on, Tony. Are we going to play ball next year?

RICHARDSON: I'm not sure. You know, from the players' standpoint, we want to play football and that is our stance. We want to play football. We have a great game. Our fans are the best and we want to do everything we can from our standpoint to make sure there's a deal is done and that we will play football next year.

HOLMES: All right. Well, Tony Richardson, Jets fullback, maybe we will see you on the field and maybe we won't but we hope to see you at some point down the road. We appreciate you being here this morning.

RICHARDSON: Thanks so much for having me on this morning, T.J.

HOLMES: All right. We're just about five to the top of the hour. A quick break, we're right back.

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HOLMES: Well, they survived the Great Depression and now the Great Recession.

CHETRY: Today in "Building up America", Tom Foreman takes us to a flight school that has been a virtual bunker in tough times for decades.

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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oklahoma's aviation industry is massive. A cornerstone of the state's economy and even in the backwash of the recession, the Spartan College of Aeronautics, where Jeremy Gibson is president, is booming.

JEREMY GIBSON, PRESIDENT, SPARTAN COLLEGE OF AERONAUTICS: Our enrolment has grown in our technical school programs almost 110 percent in the last four years as a result of the need for technicians in our industry.

So when you look back underneath here, you're going to see a lot --

FOREMAN: The promise of a two-year education for an average $35,000 draws students from all 50 states and dozens of countries including Lawrence Mayo who could have gone to a traditional university but wanted immediate marketable skills.

LAWRENCE MAYO, STUDENT: Yes. I'm good with books. I can do the books. I can read the books. That's the really simple part but I also got to learn it hands-on.

FOREMAN: That hands-on training and growing demand for technicians especially to refurbish an aging air fleet has more than two dozen companies calling every week looking for new talent.

It sounds like you guys are always hiring. RYAN GOERTZEN, AAR AIRCRAFT SERVICES: We are. So we've got anywhere between 10, 20 and sometimes up to 30 people that we are hiring on almost on a weekly basis.

FOREMAN: So you want your students to be able to work on everything from a small craft all the way up to a commercial jetliner?

GIBSON: Absolutely.

FOREMAN: Many students have jobs waiting already.

TRINA BOBO, INSTRUCTOR: Obviously, aviation isn't going anywhere. I mean it's here to stay.

FOREMAN: They say jobs often started at $40,000 a year.

Do you have any doubt you're going to have a job?

MAYO: Oh, not a doubt at all. No doubt at all.

FOREMAN: And next fall, enrolment is expected to rise even higher.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Foreman: The simple equation is this. All of the young people we talked to out there say we want real jobs right now and this is the way to get them. It's not big money, but it's really steady money and the aviation industry says we desperately need those people.

It all fits very nicely into what we have been hearing from the president and many or politicians who are saying, look, we have a shortage of technical workers in this country. We have people that we need to do these jobs and industries that need it if the recovery is going to keep going.

I'm telling you it's boom times out there at the school -- T.J., Kiran.

CHETRY: It's great to see. Absolutely.

Tom Foreman for us today in Tulsa, thanks so much.

HOLMES: Tom, thank you so much. And thank you to our viewers for spending some time with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. We'll be back with you tomorrow morning.

CHETRY: That's right. Meantime, "CNN NEWSROOM" with Kate Bolduan starts right now. Good morning Kate.

HOLMES: Hey, Kate.