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American Morning
Possible Reactor Core Breach in Japan Nuclear Plant; Shifting Command and Control in Libya; Asleep in the Tower: Reagan National Controller Suspended; The Recession's Toll on Your Money; Fake Soldier Scam; Asleep in the Tower; OMG...It Landed!
Aired March 25, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: We've got breaking news on this AMERICAN MORNING. Overnight, a possible nuclear core breach at one of the badly damaged reactors in Japan. Radiation levels we know now are extremely high, but officials still can't say where those levels are coming from. We're going to ask an expert if it's already too late to reverse it.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Shifting command and control, NATO now announcing that it will start enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya. But just the no-fly zone. Coalition air strikes continue this morning. Some of the most severe damage we've seen yet in Tripoli.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: And all that door-knocking a year ago may be paying off. The latest census numbers revealing a shifting nation. A Hispanic population boom and minorities on pace to become the majority sooner than you may think.
CHETRY: All right. We're going to have all of that plus the breaking news and an interview with Bradley Cooper about his new movie. Still ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: New developments out of Japan this morning. We want to get you caught up. I'm Christine Romans.
High levels of radiation detected in water at one of the reactors. Could this mean a rupture in the core itself?
VELSHI: I'm Ali Velshi. A major development in Libya. NATO is taking control of the no-fly zone. But does this mean the U.S. won't be involved any longer?
CHETRY: I'm Kiran Chetry. An air traffic controller suspended now after he admitted he was asleep on the job. This morning, there are new calls for some big changes to make flying safer. We have a lot on that this morning. Let's get started. AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
ROMANS: Good morning. It's Friday, March 25th. A lot to cover here. We're watching demonstrations in Syria and Yemen, watching what's happening in the Middle East. Also, some very fierce air strikes again overnight. Some of the toughest we've seen in Tripoli. We're following that for you.
CHETRY: Yes, that's right. And we're also following the latest with Japan this morning. We want to get you caught up.
There is now serious concern about a possible core breach at a crippled nuclear plant after the discovery of high levels of radiation. The source of the reactor is number -- the source is reactor number three.
Remember when we told you yesterday that three men working there had to be hospitalized after they were exposed to water. We later discovered that that radioactive water tested 10,000 times above the normal level of radiation. It happened when the men were laying cable in the basement when the radioactive water seeped into their boots. Again, two of them had to be hospitalized with possible radiation burns. That water leak could point to a crack in the reactor's containment vessel. But we are told pressure in the core has remained consistent. So exactly what could be damaged? And what the extent of that damage is still not known this morning?
Right now, two U.S. Navy barges, each filled with 500,000 gallons of fresh water are now headed to the nuclear plant. The hope is that this fresh water will help cool the reactors without corroding equipment like salt water does.
VELSHI: I was trying to understand what all these means. Joining us on the phone to help sort it all out is Arnie Gundersen. He's a nuclear engineer and the chief engineer with fair Winds Associates.
Arnie, thanks for joining us. What do you make of this? We're getting conflicting and unclear reports. What we understand is that these workers were exposed to water that was many times the normal level of radiation, but the pressure is still holding steady in the core. What does that mean?
ARNOLD GUNDERSEN, NUCLEAR ENGINEER (via telephone): Well, the nuclear core is inside a pressure vessel. And it clearly shows that the core has really severe damage. There's no way that these -- that this quantity of radiation could be released at the -- if the nuclear core itself wasn't severely damaged.
Now, the pressure vessel it's in appears to still be holding, but you have to remember, they're putting in water and steam is coming out. And when steam comes out, it's carrying with it all sorts of contamination. It's getting on the floor of the building that holds that pressure. And it seems like there must be a leak in that building, which is the containment building.
CHETRY: So I want to ask you a couple questions just quickly. Because, I mean, when you say there's no doubt that the core's severely damaged, obviously that opens up a whole new area of concern and fear. And at this point, TEPCO, the power company in Japan, is not saying that. What leads you to believe with a lot of certainty that if we're talking about these radiation levels at 10,000 times normal that it would be a core reactor damaged?
GUNDERSEN: Well, it seems like the exposure these people got was on their feet probably from beta rays and actually a beta particle. That comes from contaminated fuel (INAUDIBLE) products. Pieces that are -- that came from the nuclear fission. Now, they're not detectable with a Geiger counter. So it would seem like the staff on end and put a Geiger counter in this area and they didn't detect high levels of radiation, allowed these people in. But these beta particles seeped into their boots, and if they're in the water that's clearly an indication that there's lots of radioactive fission products that are also in the water.
ROMANS: Now our reporting from CNN International says that they're monitoring all of these workers. Beta contamination has not yet been confirmed. One of the workers, they've put in something called a whole body counter, a chair-like gauge that they're trying to figure out just how to measure the radiation in his entire body. And TEPCO now says, Arnie, that it's going to put in new safety procedures before anybody goes into these facilities. They're, you know -- they're going to monitor the water. They're going to make sure people aren't walking in the water. They're going to be doing more to sort of safeguard the health of these workers. Which leads me to believe that until now it's been literally fire fighting and they're realizing that they've got a serious situation there.
GUNDERSEN: That's right. It shows a breakdown in the health physics, which is how they measure radiation. If they're in whole body counters, they did not get exposed to gamma radiation because gamma just goes away after the burst. But the contamination could be on their skin or it could be in -- under their skin and the whole body counter should pick that up.
CHETRY: All right. Well, we really appreciate your giving us some good insight into this and some perspective this morning because it is a scary situation as we talk about the possibility of a core reactor damaged.
Arnie Gundersen, 39 years experience as a nuclear engineer, thanks so much for joining us.
VELSHI: Command and control shifting in Libya this morning. NATO has announced that it will begin enforcing a no-fly zone over the country. That's expected to happen on Sunday. That's a shift from the coalition forces enforcing that no-fly zone. But that's only part of the tremendous military mission there.
Moammar Gadhafi's air defense is said to be nearly demolished at this point. There were new explosions and anti-aircraft fire over Tripoli this morning. Libyan TV showed the smoldering and crackling wreckage of a military base in Tripoli last night, saying it was a result of a coalition air strike. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying that so far the air strikes have done exactly what they were supposed to do. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: After only five days, we have made significant progress. A massacre in Benghazi was prevented. Gadhafi's air force and air defenses have been rendered largely ineffective, and the coalition is in control of the skies above Libya. Humanitarian relief is beginning to reach the people who need it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Now, so far, U.S. forces have taken on the bulk of the Libyan mission. According to figures provided by the Pentagon, a total of 175 tomahawk missiles have been fired; 168 of those have been from the United States, seven from Great Britain, and only two countries -- those are the only two countries that have tomahawk missiles. U.S. planes have flown almost two-thirds of all of the missions or sorties, and 26 U.S. warships are involved. That's more than twice as many as the entire rest of the coalition.
The revolution and retaliation also growing in Syria this morning. Tens of thousands of people turning out for the funerals of those killed outside of a mosque in the city of Daraa.
Take a look at this. One protest that appears to be outside that very same mosque. Protesters are seen holding banners that read "We will continue this revolution, and the traitor has killed innocents." Now, the Syrian government claims no live bullets are being used against demonstrators. It also blames outsiders for exaggerating the unrest.
However, this new video may tell a different story. It is said to show an attack by government forces on unarmed civilians. A human rights group reports at least 34 people have been killed in the past two days.
CHETRY: Well, now to the nap that opened everyone's eyes. A veteran air traffic controller at Reagan National is now suspended after telling investigators that yes, he fell asleep on the job. Now that would explain why two pilots were unable to get a response from the tower early Wednesday morning, which forced both flights to land without clearance. Here's how it sounded on the headsets.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRACON CONTROLLER: American 1900, so, you're aware, the tower is apparently not manned. We've made a few phone calls. Nobody's answering.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: All right. Sandra Endo joins us live from Reagan National this morning. So we understand that this air traffic controller was all alone in the tower that he was working his fourth consecutive overnight shift and he admitted that he just fell asleep.
SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Kiran. That's what he told investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board. He is a supervisor with 20 years experience on the job, 17 right here at Reagan National Airport. And he has been suspended for the duration of this investigation. Also, drug tested, as well, from federal investigators. And we understand that he told them yesterday as you mentioned that this was his fourth consecutive overnight shift. And now human fatigue issues are being explored. Still, the chief of the FAA is steamed over the incident.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANDY BABBITT, ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: In my 25 years as a professional airline pilot, I've never seen anything happen like this. I'm outraged by it. You know, we're going to have an investigation and we're going to get to the bottom of it. We're going to find out what happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENDO: Now, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood immediately ordered changes in the staffing level requiring two air traffic controllers to be in that tower during the overnight shift. Saying in a statement, quote, "It is unacceptable to have just one controller in the tower managing air traffic in this critical air space."
But the good news here, Kiran, is that federal investigators say that at no time were the 165 passengers and crew members onboard those two planes that landed unassisted, were they in harm's way at any point -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Sandra Endo for us this morning. Thanks so much.
And coming up in the next half hour, we're going to be joined by Bob Richards. We're going to hear his take on the incident at Reagan National. He's a former air traffic controller. He's written a book called "The Secrets from the Tower." He says that those two pilots should have never been allowed to land.
VELSHI: There might have been a fuel truck on the runway. And particularly, he's making a point that that's a busy and important airport. We should note there are many airports in America where there is no one in the control tower for many hours. Some are completely unstaffed. Pilots can land without a control tower.
CHETRY: Right.
VELSHI: The implication here, this is a busy and important airport very close to the important sites in Washington like the Pentagon and the White House and hence, there may be emergencies there and they need somebody in the criminal tower to handle that.
ROMANS: It wasn't that long ago that you have to have your seat belts on when you're coming into Reagan National because they were so concerned about --
VELSHI: That's right.
ROMANS: -- about the terrorism done.
VELSHI: That's right.
ROMANS: And now imagine going from having to have your seat belt on when you're near Reagan National to --
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: -- not even having someone awake in the control tower.
OK. We know what the calendar says, right? Spring.
Well, it looks like Mother Nature is pulling one over on us. Check this out. A Google Earth image shows the entire northern part of the United States right now, it's covered in snow. Gosh, it looks an awful lot like today like it did in January when you look at those Google images.
How about that, Rob? Rob Marciano in the extreme weather center in Atlanta.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, you remember in January we had 49 of the 50 states that were covered until all of them with the exception of Florida. So we had a lot of snow to begin with, and it's still sticking around. And the little storm that came through the last couple of days kind of just dropped enough across parts of Pennsylvania and New York to color up this map just a little bit.
That spring sun is pretty strong, so it will melt it just a bit. But it is pretty chilly out, and temperatures are below freezing. From Philly to Boston today, a whole lot of precip expected there. A little precip moving across the midsection. This is kind of falling apart. It's not as bad as it looks here on the radar. But Chicago may see a few snow flurries and maybe some thunderstorms that will be developing across parts of the south today. But it's going to stay chilly through the weekend, guys. Temperatures will be about 10, at times 15 degrees below average. But even so, the sun is strong enough to try to melt some of that snow. Trying.
Twenty-four states have some snow on them right now. It's been a long winter. And I guess now, it's been a slow start to spring.
CHETRY: Yes, I was wondering how long until this ice pack starts to melt. Remember how we had so much snow in the city that they just moved it into empty lots and transportation lots, things like that. There's still huge piles, so we'll see.
MARCIANO: And you got a half inch yesterday which broke a record for the day.
CHETRY: Wow.
VELSHI: All right, Rob. Thanks very much.
MARCIANO: See you/ VELSHI: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is walking, talking, and looking forward to a big event. Inside her remarkable recovery from the man who is closest to her.
CHETRY: You remember these amazing pictures we showed you yesterday of that semi literally hanging over -- the cab of that hanging over that overpass off Texas -- off Texas highway. Well, now police say they know who may be responsible for that accident. We'll tell you.
ROMANS: And the recession's toll on your money. What happened to your net worth? We're going to tell you just how big the financial crisis hit your money and what you're worth.
It's about 13 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords continues her remarkable recovery. Less than 11 weeks after being shot in the head during an assassination attempt, her husband astronaut Mark Kelly says it is increasingly likely that she'll be able to see space shuttle "Endeavor" launch in person a little more than three weeks from now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK KELLY, NASA MISSION COMMANDER: She's improving everyday. And in the realm of brain injuries, that is very significant and pretty rare. She's starting to walk, talk more, more every day, and she's starting to process some of the tragedy that we all went through in January, she's going through that as we speak.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Mark Kelly also said that Giffords gets briefings from her staff at the rehab center in Houston. They tell her what's going on in her district and in Congress.
Got an update now on that dramatic truck crash on a highway near Dallas yesterday we're telling you about. Remember these pictures? Look at that. The cab hanging over the edge of the overpass on I-20 near ft. Worth. Firefighters rescued the truck driver and two people who were in a car that was pinned underneath the truck.
Now, police say the driver that caused the wreck who was in that car - was in that car by pulling out in front of the tanker driver. He was arrested at a local hospital and charged with DWI and illegal possession of a weapon.
CHETRY: Well, most folks could use some money, let's put it that way. It hasn't been a very easy time over the past few years. And according to the Federal Reserve, the recession hit American families especially hard.
Carmen Wong-Ulrich is joining us this morning, "Minding Your Business". So, I mean, most of us knew it felt bad, but now we have the numbers behind it.
CARMEN WONG ULRICH, PERSONAL FINANCE EXPERT: Oh, it felt bad. We all knew and we all felt it. But 60 percent of American families saw their wealth go down between 2007 and 2009, during recession.
The Federal Reserve has a new report that's just released called "surveying the aftermath of the storm," examining the numbers, the assets minus liabilities of Americans between 2007 and 2009. You can see wealth was down 23 percent for most American families. Now why? Of course, stock holdings. Look at these numbers. This is mostly retirement funds down 35 percent.
Now, note that household debt went up eight percent, but this is a little bit of an illusion., because actually, we didn't take on any more debt. The trick here is, three-quarters of those debt numbers is mortgage and housing, and the values of our homes went down so much that it made our mortgages look so big.
ROMANS: And for 10 years before the bubble burst, American consumers were filling their homes and filling their middle class lives and filling their tuition bills, frankly, with the money out of their house.
ULRICH: Absolutely.
CHETRY: And then housing borrowed money, yes.
ROMANS: And then when housing market crashed, suddenly you still owe this money, this turns into very onerous debt, and it just shows what kind of a mirage American success was for a decade.
ULRICH: Hence, the foreclosure numbers which are very, very dismal. But here's the thing. Only we talk about this a lot. Only three to four percent of all of American debt is actually credit card debt. So much of it is housing debt. So it's interesting -
CHETRY: Right.
ULRICH: -- to see just how far things dropped in those two years.
CHETRY: And so, on the whole, just to make it a little more rosy, we are climbing back, though, right? I mean, we - we've seen the market -
ULRICH: We have - we've come far given where the market's gone in the past couple of years. This is two years ago. But this is really measuring just how deep and how far down we went.
The only bright number, of course, our savings rate. Our savings rate from - went from negative to a high of six percent at the height of the recession. That continue - it's hovering around five percent. So we've learned a little bit of a lesson.
ROMANS: You know, people always blame the companies. Oh, they're sitting (ph) all these cash, why don't they spend? VELSHI: Suddenly -
ROMANS: The companies are doing what Americans are supposed to be doing, which is sitting on your cash.
ULRICH: Oh, we've got to - we've got to protect. That's the thing. We have to - we got scared straight, right? We have to protect our cash.
CHETRY: Carmen Wong Ulrich -
ROMANS: Thanks, Carmen.
ULRICH: Thank you.
VELSHI: All right. Coming up on this AMERICAN MORNING, one woman's search for the man of her dreams online and how it turned into a nightmare. Her warning about scam artists posing as U.S. soldiers.
ROMANS: Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, no tweeting, it's unbecoming of a royal. New protocol for the first royal wedding where everyone is a potential photographer.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-four minutes past the hour now.
And a warning this morning about con artists posing as U.S. troops overseas. One woman found out the hard way. She went looking for love online only to find a fake soldier looking for money.
Jason Carroll is here now with her story. It seems - it seems the lowest of low to try to dupe people like this.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It really does, doesn't it, guys? I mean, it's really disheartening when you hear about things like this happening.
And it's happening in places like Alaska and as far away as Australia. Scam artists posing as soldiers using things like Facebook and social dating sites to rip off thousands of victims.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (voice-over): Denise Terramorse thought she had found her ideal mate. He said his name was Peter. His bio, her dream list, single, cares about family, a soldier serving in Iraq.
DENISE TERRAMORSE, SOLDIER SCAM VICTIM: If I could have molded the perfect man, I couldn't have made him more perfect.
CARROLL: But her dream man turned out to be a con man.
CARROLL (on camera): And it hurts too, doesn't it? It's got to.
TERRAMORSE: Oh, yes. No, it does. I - I would be lying if I said it didn't.
CARROLL (voice-over): Terramorse's man found her on a dating website. Within two weeks, he was already saying things like, "I want to marry you" and "I want to start a family with you." Then he asked for $200 for a satellite phone.
TERRAMORSE: Now, going back, people are telling me that they saw red flags. And I'm like that would have been nice for you to tell me. Thank you.
CARROLL: There were more money requests. Terramorse ended up sending a total of $1,700, then she became suspicious and Googled his name.
TERRAMORSE: This girl was saying how this guy with his name and his picture on the site said that this guy's a scam -
CARROLL: Terramorse had fallen victim to the soldier dating scam. The FBI says thousands have been ripped off worldwide. Army investigators say people posing as U.S. soldiers use real pictures and names of servicemen, some who have fallen in the line of duty to win over victims.
CHRIS GREY, U.S. ARMY CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION COMMAND: It's despicable and that's why we're going on the offensive to try to notify people. Whatever you do, do not fall for one of these romance scams.
CARROLL: The Military is trying to get the word out and is working with the FBI. Investigators say catching cons like the one who duped Denise Terramorse is a challenge.
AUSTIN BERGLAS, SPECIAL AGENT, FBI CYBER CRIME: It's a difficult thing. Oftentimes the scammers are originating out of West Africa.
CARROLL: Terramorse is working with investigators to try to catch her con man. She says if she can be tricked, others can be too.
TERRAMORSE: I have a Masters Degree, I'm obviously not stupid, but your heart is in it. It's - it's your heart starts to overrule your head.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: Well, Terramorse is from California and that's important here because that state is the only one that has made online impersonation a crime. It's a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. And for that reason, Terramorse is actually still in communication with the man who conned her. She's working with investigators to try and catch him, but it's going to be difficult because a lot of these people are overseas, so it's hard to track them.
CHETRY: How much money did she end up giving him in all?
CARROLL: $1,700. CHETRY: Oh, wow.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: Thank goodness it wasn't more.
VELSHI: I thought it was -
CARROLL: Yes. One woman - one woman, $125,000 - lost $125,000.
VELSHI: The one thing that she - that Terramorse said that I thought struck me is that all of her friends subsequently told her, they thought there were some red flags.
CARROLL: Right.
VELSHI: Please, if you got friends in this situation, I think in the online dating world, it's important for - for you to rely on your friends and for your friends to tell you when they think something is amiss.
ROMANS: But also remember, on Facebook -
CARROLL: That's very good piece of advice (ph).
ROMANS: -- people can say whatever they want about themselves on Facebook. You don't even know -
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: - who those people are. I mean, you know, that's the other thing. And we - we've gotten so used to just sharing all of this information. You don't know who to trust.
CARROLL: But the bottom line, wouldn't you agree, if someone is starting to ask you for money -
ROMANS: Yes.
CHETRY: Yes. It's a red flag.
VELSHI: Right.
CARROLL: It's a red flag. It's a red flag.
ROMANS: All right. Jason, thanks.
VELSHI: I have been asking these two for a quarter all morning to get a drink out of the machine.
ROMANS: I have no money.
CHETRY: And I can see him in person.
VELSHI: And they've been seeing red flags all morning.
CHETRY: And I'm still saying no.
VELSHI: All right. Ahead - ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, we've got some breaking news overnight, a possible nuclear core breach at one of the badly damaged reactors in Japan. We'll have an update on the situation there right after this.
ROMANS: A failure at Reagan National Airport after two planes coming in for a landing get absolutely no answer from the Control Tower. We'll take a look at what needs to be done to make sure something like this doesn't happen again.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome, guys. Glad you're with us on this Friday, March -- what is today? March 25th. It is nearly the end of March. And we're still dealing with crazy snow and extreme weather across many parts of the country.
ROMANS: It's been an incredible winter and now, an incredible spring on the weather front.
But, meanwhile, we are watching our top stories this morning. Fears of a possible core breach after high-level radiation is discovered seeping from a nuclear power plant in Japan. Engineers are trying to trace a water leak deep inside reactor number three. That water tested for radiation levels 10,000 times above normal and three workers are being treated after getting some of that water on their skin.
NATO has now agreed to take over enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya -- but just the no-fly zone. The rest of the military mission is still in the hands of the U.S. and its allies. France's chief of defense today saying that he thought allied military operations in Libya would last a matter of weeks and hopefully not months.
VELSHI: The FAA has suspended a veteran air traffic controller who admits that he fell asleep at his post, forcing two passenger planes to land without clearance at Reagan National Airport early on Wednesday morning. One controller, this one that was suspended, is working his fourth consecutive overnight shift when the accident occurred, creating a breach in aviation safety at an airport that just six seconds away from the White House.
Listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
TRACON CONTROLLER: American 1900, so, you're aware, the tower is apparently not manned. We've made a few phone calls. Nobody's answering. So, two airports went in the past 10, 15 minutes, so you can expect to go in as an uncontrolled airport.
PILOT: Is there a reason it's not manned?
TRACON CONTROLLER: Well, I'm going to take a guess and say at that controller got locked out. I've heard of this happening before.
PILOT: That's the first time I've heard of it.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
VELSHI: Bob Richards joins us live from Boston. He's a retired air traffic controller. He's also the author of the book entitled, "Secrets from the Tower."
Bob, good to se you. Thanks very much for being with us.
BOB RICHARDS, RETIRED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: You bet. Hello. How you doing?
VELSHI: Good.
Listen, talk to me about this. There are many, possibly hundreds of control towers and airports in this country that are not manned at all. Pilots can land, particularly on sophisticated planes with advanced navigation equipment like these passenger planes. They can actually land without a controller, is that correct?
RICHARDS: That's correct. And these are actually termed "uncontrolled airports." But when you start terming it uncontrolled when it's not really an uncontrolled airport, that's where you get kind of a gray area.
VELSHI: All right. So, Secretary -- Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has now said he wants two people manning these air control towers at all times. Do we need two people? Or do we need one person not to be asleep on the job?
RICHARDS: We absolutely need two people in the tower at all times. And that's for a number of different scenarios. I mean, it was nice that Ray LaHood said that. But if you go back to history, back in 2006, after the Comair crash in Lexington, three days after that crash, the FAA came out and said we're going to have two people in the tower at all times. And it was supposed to have been mandated since then.
And the reason is actually quite simple, it's almost common sense. The reason you need two people in the tower is if you have an emergency, because number one, you've got one controller then who can handle that emergency, deal directly with the airplane, any -- find out all the details of the emergency, and the second person you would have would be coordinating the emergency, calling out the ground equipment, calling out the airlines, calling out the other traffic facilities, whatever needs to be done -- and simply having one person do that is not a good thing.
Not to mention a million other factors, like what if something happens to the person. What if he gets sick? What if has a heart attack? What if he has -- I mean, two people is something that I think is not something we should do. I mean, it's a must. It's a must under any circumstance.
VELSHI: At what point does it become less than financially viable? I mean, there were nine flights that landed at that airport overnight. Now, clearly, if I were on any of those nine flights, I'd like to know that there was somebody steering that air ship in. But at what point do you that's two people for nine flights?
RICHARDS: Yes. But that's not how you're looking at it. You're looking at safety here, OK? And something can happen at any moment. Things can go wrong in a second, and you have to be able to react to it.
And having one people there -- one person there to do that is not what you want ideally to be efficient and working that situation. I've seen way too many -- hundreds of times in my 20 years, something happens at the last second. And having just one person there is not the way to go. And I don't think the public would feel secure in that -- in that sense either.
VELSHI: Bob, good to talk to you. Thanks for joining us. Bob Richards is a former air traffic controller, a veteran air traffic controller, is the author of "Secrets from the Tower" -- Christine.
ROMANS: Ali, a new report this morning from the Census Bureau reveals a more racially and ethnically diverse population. Of the 308.7 million people here in the United States, up 10 percent over the past decade, one in six are Hispanic. The 50.5 million Hispanics are now the nation's number two group, growing 43 percent since 2000.
When you break it down further, here's how the rest of the America looks. The white population, 197 million, is dropping five points to 64 percent of the U.S. population. The black population is 40 million, making up 12.6 percent, slightly up from 2000. And the Asian population grew 43 percent -- that tied with Hispanics for the fastest growing group, and making up about 5 percent of the population overall.
In all, racial and ethnic minorities make up about 90 percent of the total U.S. growth since 2000. About 9 million people said they were -- they were of more than one race. It's a historic trend in which minorities are expected to become the majority by 2050.
VELSHI: That's good. That's interesting information. I'm glad that we're able to sort of track some of these shifts with the census.
CHETRY: Major, major shift in just 10 years, it's amazing.
Still ahead on AMERICAN MORNING: Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann taking the first step towards a possible run for the nomination in 2012. We'll tell you what she said.
VELSHI: "I dos" on iTunes. Now, you can get your copy of royal wedding soundtrack. We'll tell you about that on the other side.
It's 36 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It's 40 minutes past the hour.
We want to update you about politics on the Political Ticker this morning.
Minnesota congresswoman and Tea Party favorite Michele Bachmann confirming a CNN report that she'll form a presidential exploratory committee in June and possibly earlier. She actually told that to me about a couple weeks ago when she was on the show as well.
But she made no official announcement. She did acknowledge, though, the story that CNN had posted on her Facebook page. The Minnesota Republican is currently visiting Iowa. Of course, that's the site of the first major Republican contest for 2012.
Also, another Tea Party favorite, Republican from Kentucky, Senator Rand Paul, says he'll think about running in 2012, but only if his dad doesn't. Paul's father, of course, is Texas Congressman Ron Paul. He's still considering a third presidential bid. The younger Paul says that the only decision he's made is that he won't run against his father.
It was also interesting because Ron Paul -- he's refreshing because he just says it like it is. He says if the economy's still bad, if our economy's going in the wrong direction, there'll be more fire in my belly to run. But if things start to improve, now, I won't. And that's a nice way to put it, you know?
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: It's not for his own ambitions.
ROMANS: Right.
VELSHI: All right. Royal wedding -- in case, you missed the royal wedding, not sure how you'll do that, but in case you do, you'll be able to download it this time.
Zain Verjee joins us live from London. Hey, Zain.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, guys, yes, you can. Within seconds of Kate and Will saying "I do" on April the 29th, you can immediately download it on iTunes. It's only going to be $1.29.
And guys, if that's not good enough for you -- good news, there is going to be an album, as well with the blessings, the hymns, the music, the singing. It's going to be a little bit more expensive though, about 12 bucks. But people expect it to rocket to the top of the iTunes charts.
So, you know, we did a little quick poll here in the newsroom and there wasn't one person here guys that would buy either "I do" or the whole album. Online, people are talking about it too and they're saying that, you know, we don't even watch our own wedding vows, why would we listen to anyone else's? So, I don't know if you're that cynical or whether you would do it.
ROMANS: Well, here's what I think it's really interesting. The idea all of these people are going to be coming into the wedding with maybe a cell phone in their pocket or their BlackBerry. I mean, are you going to have to check your digital devices at the door so that they don't -- you know, the stuff doesn't get out?
VERJEE: Well, the stuff's -- you know, basically you can't. There is a list of protocols that you have to follow when you get inside Westminster Abbey. I'll run you through one of them. It does address the phone situation.
So, this is the etiquette. If you're a guest, one of the lucky 1,900, you can't be late. That's number one. The wedding starts at 11:00.
The other rule is that you've got to blend in with your outfits. They don't want you to be standing out. So, no one can wear anything skimpy.
And with cell phones, you have to turn it off, OK, immediately on entering Westminster Abbey. It's a real faux pas. Even if you have "God Save the Queen" as your ringer tune, you just can't do it.
The other rule is no tweeting from the church. You can't update your Facebook page.
And major -- this is a major one, do not kiss the queen under any circumstances. No hugging, no back slapping, nothing.
VELSHI: Are these really official rules for guests? These are printed somewhere?
VERJEE: This is the etiquette that's been going around. And they do have an extensive protocol list over at Buckingham Palace.
VELSHI: Right.
VERJEE: So, yes, these are the rules and you need to stick to them.
Michelle Obama met the queen and there was that whole thing where she slapped her on the back --
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Right. Right.
VERJEE: So, guests are being told --
CHETRY: There'll be no fist bumping at the wedding, I guess. All right. We'll have to do that back here in the States.
Zain Verjee, great to talk to you as always. Thanks so much.
And also, you can catch Zain every morning 5:00 a.m., right here on CNN, for her show "WORLD ONE."
ROMANS: And you can watch AMERICAN MORNING for complete coverage of the royal wedding, Friday, April 29th.
VELSHI: Are we sending somebody?
ROMANS: I heard we're sending someone. Who could it be?
CHETRY: I'm studying up on the protocol, as well. I don't want to be -- I don't want to be that guy or gal at the wedding, you know?
VELSHI: Well, if you -- if you -- unlike, Kiran, if you didn't get an invite. OK, in fairness, you didn't get -- you're reporting.
CHETRY: I didn't get any invite.
VELSHI: If you didn't get an invite, you can send an iReport telling us why you would like to be there, why you would be the ideal royal wedding iReporter. You could win a trip to London to help us cover the festivities. Just go to iReport.com/RoyalWedding. So, make your video.
ROMANS: Can you tape my iReport? This is why I want to go with Kiran to cover.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: And still to come this morning, snow in the Midwest. Rob's going to have this morning's travel forecast after the break.
CHETRY: Also, he is the new Internet sensation. He is the Pennsylvania teenager tracking a tornado and freaking out in the process. He's like the new double rainbow guy. Jeannie Moos had a chance to sit down and talk to him.
We'll be right back.
Forty-four minutes past the hour.
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ROMANS: A beautiful morning shot of New York City. We're hoping it's going to warm up a little bit, you know, later. Rob Marciano was telling us 24 states still have snow. And, you know, parts of New York and New Jersey are two of them.
VELSHI: Forty-seven minutes after the hour. Let's get a quick check of the morning's weather headlines. Rob Marciano in the Extreme Weather Center for us. Any extreme weather today?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, just mostly out west, guys. There's a little storm that's rolling across the midsection of the country. The theme, though, I should say going through the weekend is going to be temperatures across the northern tier that are going to be pretty chilly, anywhere from 10 to 15 degrees below average. So, that'll continue. It'll be a decent weekend for a lot of folks.
No real massive storms coming through the eastern third of the country really until after the weekend, but it's going to remain chilly. We do have a little disturbance that's rolling across the midsection. Rain changing to snow in places like St. Louis. So, getting snow as far south as St. Louis this time of year, that's pretty unusual.
No serious accumulation expected, maybe some grassy surface or some side switch because it's moving fairly quickly, and it's fairly weak. Chicago seeing maybe a couple of flurries. A much stronger system, though, moving across parts of the West Coast. Rainfall from Seattle all the way down to San Diego. Now, that's a winter time pattern.
And for a week now, the West Coast has certainly seen some of that, and they've seen some damage across parts of the bay area. Not only flooding, but some areas where the earth has slid and portions of the one there in -- around big sur. This is in there. This is a little bit further inland, but nonetheless, numerous mud slides and flooding situations across Northern California.
And at one point yesterday morning, a couple thousand people without power across San Francisco. They had some gusty winds as well. Obviously, snow in the mountains above 3,000 to 4,000 feet, one to two feet of additional snowfall expected across sierras. And look at that, another six to 12 inches just north of Los Angeles across the grapevine of above 4,000 feet.
Watch a little system that will drive down to the south and may have cause a couple of severe thunderstorms across parts of Texas or Texarkana, but again, the eastern third of the country looks to be fairly quiet, all be it, a little bit on the chilly side. Temperatures will be around 43 degrees after the snow this morning in St. Louis, 33 degrees in Chicago, and 43 degrees in New York City.
It is chilly -- actually, it's cold enough for you, guys, to see more snow, although, you won't see a lot of moisture. But at least the sun this time of year -- it's getting higher in the sky. And if you're in the sun, away from the canyons of New York City, it does feel --
CHETRY: It's so weird when you're in your car and you start to sweat, then you get outside and you're freezing again and you need your earmuff, and it's crazy.
ROMANS: Everyday, I look at my daffodils and they're like covered with a glob of icy, wet snow. I mean, are they going to make it? Are they going to make it?
MARCIANO: You know, I can't speak to your daffodils, but there's certainly some hope for them.
CHETRY: Thanks Rob.
ROMANS: Thank you, Rob. CHETRY: I feel like if they actually made it out of the ground, that was the most surprising thing to me. When the daffodils made it through, I feel like now they're going to bloom. They have to. They came this far.
VELSHI: I have faith in your daffodils.
CHETRY: Your top stories are just minutes away, including your feedback has been pouring in the story that we did about parents protesting the measures of school taking to protect a little girl, a first grader, with a life threatening peanut allergy while one person is asking, where's the compassion? Another mother is saying, tough. It's too much to do for one kid. We're going to give it to you coming up.
ROMANS: Will it be the beginning of the end for the post office? Massive job layouts. They're buyout more than 7,000 postal workers. Will your branch be cut?
VELSHI: Fifty minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: Fifty-four minutes past the hour right now. This guy's the latest internet sensation. I mean, it could have been tragic, but he got lucky. He was in the middle of an approaching tornado, a teenager, and he just freaked out completely. He was on the cell phone with his mom, and he posted the whole thing online. And the rest, as they say, is viral history. Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): it's amateur video of a tornado with a twist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you see that twister? Do you see that twister?
MOOS: And the twist is the narrator.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could just call me the tornado boy.
MOOS: Seems like a pretty low-key teenager, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a tornado. Oh, my God! If you could see that! Oh, my God!
MOOS: Fifteen-year-old Tyler Tubs (ph) was talking to his mom on the phone at his home in Hatfield, Pennsylvania outside Pittsburgh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's right above us, mom. It is humongous. It's hailing golf balls.
MOOS: You'd be excited too. After all --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't get tornadoes here. MOOS: But there it was captured on various home videos. What Tyler Tubs managed to capture was the fear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God! It landed. Oh, my God! Tornado! Tornado!
MOOS: The tape ends as Tyler raced for the finished basement. Next thing you know is he's fodder for YouTube critics making fun of his accent calling him a sissy, a drama queen.
MOOS (on-camera): But before you go calling Tyler Tubs a sissy, look at all the damage that tornado caused.
MOOS (voice-over): Dozens of homes in Westmoreland County were damaged. Some were completely destroyed. To those who call him wimpy, Tyler says --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They didn't see it. They didn't see what I saw.
MOOS: The twister did not damage Tyler's house. His video is on its way to becoming an internet hit. Of course, it's been remixed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a tornado, guys. Oh, my God. Did you see that twister?
MOOS (on-camera): Now, tornado boy's being compared to another exuberant observer of natural phenomena.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh! Wow!
MOOS (voice-over): Double rainbow guy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God. If you could see that! Oh, my God!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's so bright.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's coming down hard.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What does this mean?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you see that? Do you see that?
MOOS: At least tornado boy didn't cry as rainbow guy did.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's so beautiful.
MOOS (on-camera): I can only imagine if you actually saw a double tornado.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, boy.
MOOS (voice-over): Jeanne Moos, CNN -- UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God! It landed! Oh, my God! Tornado! Tornado!
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: What did we ever do to entertain ourselves before we taped everything we did?
ROMANS: I don't know.
CHETRY: And then, we played it back.
VELSHI: Do you think this is going to get replayed? Would the reaction be the same?
CHETRY: And remember, go to the basement. Just go to the basement.
ROMANS: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: All right. Top stories coming your way right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
