Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Contaminated I.V. Bags: Bacteria Suspected in Nine Patient Deaths in Alabama; Fight for Libya Continues; Japanese Workers Describe Hellish Conditions Inside Plant; Stalker: The Reagan Shooting; Put Your Music in the Cloud?; A Fish Tale; MLB Concussion Policy; Snowboarder Buried Alive; Ohio Governor Calls Officer an Idiot; Libya Woman's Rape Claim
Aired March 30, 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: Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, a disturbing story today. Nine people are dead and 10 more are very sick. All of them had one thing in common. They were patients in Alabama hospitals, six of them. Now, investigators say it appears it was something inside those hospitals that killed them.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: In Japan, radiation levels in the sea water spiking to their highest levels yet. Near Japan's crippled nuclear power station, they are 3,000 times higher than normal. And if you ever wondered what hell is like, wait until you hear an e-mail that was written by one of the workers inside that plant.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And a brutal new offensive by Moammar Gadhafi's troops delivers a big setback to rebel forces in Libya. Now, President Obama says he won't rule out the possibility of arming the opposition.
CHETRY: And remember yesterday, we talked about this hole found in the fuselage of a US Airways jet. Now they say it was a bullet. How did that happen at an airport? We have details on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: A lot happening overnight. I'm Christine Romans. Let's get you caught up.
Moammar Gadhafi's forces are on the offensive in Libya. A battle for control of a key eastern city raging right now as the Obama administration considers arming the rebels.
VELSHI: New this morning. A deadly bacteria sweeps through six hospitals in Alabama. I'm Ali Velshi. Nine patients are dead. Doctors suspect something in the I.V. bags are to blame.
CHETRY: They have no beds, no showers. They eat crackers that are rationed for food. I'm Kiran Chetry.
We have new details on the grueling conditions inside of Japan's crippled nuclear power plant. What workers are enduring as they try to prevent a catastrophe on this AMERICAN MORNING. ROMANS: Good morning, everybody. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. It is Wednesday, March 30th, 6:00 on the East Coast.
And we're watching developments right now in Libya where Moammar Gadhafi's forces are pushing back rebels. And some of the ground that they had gained over the past couple of days, they are now ceding. So as we speak, raging battles in Libya as that offense is contained.
VELSHI: Important town there.
CHETRY: And now, there's some big decisions for the president to make.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: -- for President Obama to make, talking about possibly arming the rebels while there are some -- I think the NATO commander said, yes, there are elements or hints of Al Qaeda in some of these groups of rebels. So a big decision as to, you know, who we're arming and are we sure that it's the right thing.
VELSHI: We'll have both of those stories coming up very shortly. But first, let me tell you about a deadly infection that is sweeping through six Alabama hospitals. Health officials are saying the harmful bacteria came from contaminated I.V. bags. Nine of the patients infected have died. Ten others still have not recovered. The CDC is launching an investigation into the deaths. Our Elizabeth Cohen joins us live now from Atlanta.
Elizabeth, tell us what happened here.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I want to tell you, Ali, those 10 people who are still recovering we're told are not doing very well at all. And what happened here is very simple and very sad.
These folks all had I.V. bags, and the material in the I.V. bags was found to be contaminated with a bacteria called Serratia marcescens. This is a bacteria, Ali, that is in the grout of your bathroom tile, you know, that black stuff. That's what that is. And so it was being pumped into their veins -- Ali.
VELSHI: I guess it's not fatal when it's on the grout in your bathroom tiles, but it's a problem when it's in those bags.
COHEN: Right.
VELSHI: How often -- you know a lot about this. You studied this a great deal. How often do things like this in hospitals get contaminated?
COHEN: You know, with this particular bacteria, Ali, hardly ever. The folks in Alabama tell us maybe once a year they see this. Now people get contaminated with other kinds of bacteria, but this bacteria is very unusual. And you know what, there's a lot of unanswered questions how it got into these bags. They know it came from one factory that put these bags together. Did someone not wash their hands? Were the raw materials contaminated? The equipment that was used to make this, was that contaminated? They don't know. They still need to figure that out.
VELSHI: All right. And I always ask you this question because our viewers are going to want to know, is this something you can protect yourself against?
COHEN: You know what, Ali, you know that I am the empowered patient.
VELSHI: Yes.
COHEN: And I am all about telling you how to protect yourself in the hospital. Experts tell me there is nothing you can do. If an I.V. bag is contaminated --
VELSHI: Wow.
COHEN: -- and it is being pumped into your veins and it's coursing through your veins, there is really nothing you can do.
VELSHI: All right. Elizabeth, we'll stay on top of this story with you throughout the morning. And Alabama state health officer, Dr. Ronald (ph) Williamson, is going to join us at 7:30 Eastern with more on this very frightening story.
CHETRY: Also, we have new developments this hour in Libya. First, rebel fighters have been driven out of one of the towns they were trying to gain ground in Bin Jawad by Moammar Gadhafi's forces. Rebels are now battling troops loyal to Gadhafi for control of a key oil town of Ras Lanuf. This is in eastern Libya.
Meantime, President Obama says he is not ruling out the possibility of arming the opposition to help them gain ground. Later today in Washington, administration officials will give members of Congress a classified briefing on the situation in Libya.
And meantime, there are also new developments in Syria this morning. The president of Syria expected to address the nation very soon. Bashar al-Assad accepted the resignation of his cabinet yesterday. This is a move that other nations recently tried in an attempt to cool things down. People gathered in Damascus to support the president yesterday. And state-run media claims the crowd was in the millions. The government trying to get the images out of people showing they're on his side, but the country -- across the country the U.N. says that 37 people have been killed in a deadly crackdown on protesters.
ROMANS: Now to the nuclear crisis in Japan where there's been an unprecedented radiation spike at sea. Take a look at these new -- new aerial photos at the Daiichi nuclear power station in Fukushima. They showed just how badly these reactors are damaged.
Meanwhile, tests on the ocean water surrounding the crippled power plant show radiation spiking to more than 3,000 times normal levels. It's by far the highest reading recorded since the tsunami hit. Now it seems all the stress from this nuclear nightmare is too much to take for the president of the Tokyo Electric Power Company.
Masataka Shimizu has been hospitalized. We're told he's suffering from fatigue. A spokesman for the company, for the power company says the executive's health has been declining from overworking.
There is no time for fatigue and no release from the stress for hundreds of workers inside the Daiichi plant. They're sleeping on lead mats in corridors and in stairwells and they're getting two rationed meals a day. Crackers and juice for breakfast, canned foods for dinner. There are no showers. Moistened wipes are what they're using to bathe. Japan's chief cabinet secretary says the conditions are regrettable.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The workers are working under very dangerous and very hard conditions, and I feel a great deal of respect to them. I'm very apologetic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Listen to these e-mails from two of the workers. One writes, quote, "My parents were washed away by the tsunami, and I still don't know where they are." And from another plant employee, quote, "Crying is useless. If we're in hell now, all we can do is crawl up towards heaven."
VELSHI: Wow.
CHETRY: It's unimaginable what they're going through. And each day presents a new problem.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: So there really is literally no rest for the weary. I mean, they can't bring in new workers.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: They've been exposed to varying levels of radiation --
VELSHI: It's very sad.
CHETRY: It is. It's terrifying.
Remember yesterday, we were wondering what the heck was that hole in the plane?
VELSHI: This is not what I would have expected.
CHETRY: Yes. Now they say that it was a bullet. This is the US Airways jet that was inspected after landing and they found a hole in the fuselage. Well, it's a bullet according to government sources. That bullet penetrated the cabin and has now been recovered. They actually got -- found the bullet inside of the plane. It's believed it was fired in Charlotte yesterday after passengers had exited that plane. It was coming in from Philadelphia at the time. A pilot noticed that hole while it was being prepped for the next flight. They don't suspect terrorism at this point, but the investigation is underway. That plane still grounded as they try to figure out who fired it.
VELSHI: Who knew that a mystery could get -- become more of a mystery. Who's shooting at a plane? All right.
New concern this morning for victims of last year's gulf oil spill. BP says it lost a laptop containing personal information on some 13,000 people who filed claims related to the Deepwater Horizon spill. The oil giant says the laptop was lost during a business-related trip and there is no evidence that information has been accessed.
Spring storms soaked southern Louisiana last night. Powerful rains ripped through the region complete with hail and 100-mile-per-hour winds. Some even spotted a funnel cloud. The storm left plenty of damage behind. Power lines were down. Many roads were flooded out. Luckily, though, no reports of injuries.
ROMANS: All right. It's seven minutes past the hour now. Time for a quick check of the morning's weather headlines. Rob Marciano has more on those Louisiana storms. The kind of damage they left or leaving down there.
Hi, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys. Widespread damage but luckily as you mentioned, no reports of injuries. We have one confirmed tornado or report of a tornado in St. John's the Baptist Parish. And then that 100, 110 mile-an-hour wind gusts down around Belle Chasse and Plaquemines.
We still have a tornado watch that has been posted just to the east of New Orleans, so the southeast getting hammered this morning with really intense thunderstorms. Some of which have become severe. No tornado warnings out right now. But more thunderstorms rumbling across the big easy after these damaging storms that were there last night.
Mobile, you're getting it. Montgomery, Alabama, you're getting heavy rain, as well. And a soggy, soggy commute with heavy rain and lots of actions around the Atlanta metropolitan area this morning. It's going to cause some travel delays both on the ground and in the air.
Philly, New York, Boston, you are dry today, but the moisture will be encroaching tonight and likely be there during the day tomorrow and in through tomorrow night and Friday. And temperatures by that time will be right around the teasing mark for potentially some snow. Fifty-one degrees is the high temperature in New York City, 61 in Atlanta. Opening day tomorrow, Yankee stadium, might have a -- might have a little mix of rain and snow. We'll see by then --
CHETRY: Wow.
VELSHI: Come on. CHETRY: That will keep things interesting.
ROMANS: Just trying to torture us every morning. All right. Thanks, Rob Marciano.
CHETRY: Well, Rob wants it to be nice at Yankee stadium.
ROMANS: That's true.
CHETRY: Well, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, in the air, in the ground, and in the soil, radiation spreading from the badly damaged nuclear reactors in Japan. How are they trying to get a handle on this? We're going to talk about it coming up.
ROMANS: Also, today marks 30 years since President Reagan was shot and nearly killed. Now a CNN documentary suggests the would-be assassin, John Hinckley Jr., had been stalking Reagan. We have a preview.
VELSHI: And the clouds are alive with the sound of music. Amazon wants to change the way you listen to music, and Amazon changes the way you do a lot of things. So this is where things are headed to. We'll explain. It is 10 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back. We've been following the latest in Japan right now with the nuclear reactors. There have been heroic efforts on the parts of technicians and engineers trying to prevent a full nuclear meltdown at the damaged site. But the material is still seeping into the underground. And we want to show you -- let's just make this big and give you a couple of headlines right now on what's going.
First of all, they're concerned about radioactive water now found for the first time outside of the reactor in a tunnel building. They're also looking at the low levels of plutonium that has been detected in soil samples near the plant, another big concern. And also radioactive iodine and cesium found in the sea water at larger levels than they've seen before. And the reason that this is a big concern is because plutonium is one of the most lethal substances on earth and becomes a danger to humans. If it becomes airborne and ingested, it could eventually lead to cancer.
A lot of people are wondering exactly how all of this happened. And let's just take a look right now.
This is a closer look at reactor number two. And I'll just play this for you right now. We get inside of reactor number two and we look at what's happening there.
Japan's chief cabinet agency says he received a report that the containment vessel itself, which is right here in reactor two, is damaged and that water is leaking. The contaminated water may be finding its way into the sea even though Japan's nuclear agency say there's no evidence of it. And here's a look at how it's getting there. It's being pumped in, trying to cool these fuel rods, coming down, making its way through here and then into the ocean. You can see where this is happening. The underground maintenance tunnels where this radioactive water has been discovered. The water could also be escaping from the reactor as radioactive steam. Still a lot of questions about exactly what is causing it. But we want to show you why it's so concerning, about what's happening with the plutonium.
So here's the nuclear reactor building. And what happens here is these particles of plutonium make their way into the air. Japan's cabinet chief secretary told reporters it was likely that it came from the plant. So how would that happen? When it makes its way into the air, it's then released into the atmosphere. At this point, it comes down into the soil. And the reason this is concerning is because if they bind to dust, travel a distance and get into the ground water, farm produce can then become contaminated. And the main way this happens is it gets into milk. Because it falls into the grass, it's then eaten by the cows. So experts who spoke with CNN say that finding plutonium anywhere is dangerous because if it's ingested, the rays can cause cancerous growths.
Back to you, guys.
ROMANS: All right. Thirty years ago today, the country was shocked by an attempt on President Ronald Reagan's life. Reagan thought the shots he heard were firecrackers and he didn't know he'd been hit until he was laying on a hospital gurney.
CNN presents "Stalker: The Reagan Shooting" this Sunday night. Drew Griffin is live in Miami with a preview of the documentary.
Good morning, Drew. We were just remarking, I can't believe it's been 30 years. It seems like yesterday to me - it seems like yesterday to me that that news came. It was so shocking an American president fell like that.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE UNIT CORRESPONDENT: You know, it - it is incredible, Christine. I was - I was a teenager at the time, and I was glued to the TV, glued to the newspapers, thought I knew everything about this shooting. But it really wasn't until this documentary, the reporting that we did on this, that I realized just how close Ronald Reagan came to losing his life that day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I heard a noise, and we came out of the hotel and just headed for the limousine. And I heard some noise, and I thought it was firecrackers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: God! Oh.
REAGAN: One of the Secret Service agents behind me just seized me here by the waist and plunged me headfirst into the limo.
JERRY PARR, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT: And, as we go in, I go in on top of him. I'm sure I hit my radio or my gun or something, hit him on - in the back.
REAGAN: And then I said, Jerry, get off. I think you've broken a rib of mine. And he got up very quickly.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Inside the limo, Parr checked whether Reagan was all right.
REAGAN: I didn't know I was shot.
PARR: So I ran my hands up under his coat, felt all around his belt with my hands.
GRIFFIN (on camera): You're feeling for blood?
PARR: Looking for blood. I took my hands up, no blood. I ran my hands up under his arms, no blood.
REAGAN: And, just then, I coughed, and I had a handful of bright red, frothy blood.
PARR: He took out a napkin out of his pocket. He took it out, he spit up on it, and it was a lot of blood. It got on my (INAUDIBLE) raincoat.
And he said, I think I've cut the inside of my mouth, and I said let me look. And it was pretty profuse. Bubbly, bright red.
REAGAN: And so I said, then I guess the - evidently the broken rib has pierced a lung. Well, he simply turned and said George Washington Hospital, and we were on our way.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): When the president's limo pulled up to the nearest hospital that day, Reagan wanted to walk inside.
PARR: He hitched his pants up and walked out.
GRIFFIN: This is a magazine artist's sketch of what happened next.
PARR: He walked in. About 18 to 20 feet, he collapsed.
REAGAN: And a nurse met me and I told her I was having trouble breathing, and what I thought it was. And the next thing I knew, then my knees began to turn to rubber and I wound up on a gurney, and -
PARR: And I thought, when he was lying there on the - on the gurney, I did think we had lost him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: You know, Christine, it obviously could've killed him that day. It didn't. It certainly did change him, gave him a theological sense of purpose for his presidency and galvanized a nation around what was then a controversial elected president. And I think many people around him say, you know, you can make the case that this shooting, this near death experience, made him a much stronger president. ROMANS: Interesting. All right. Drew Griffin, thanks so much. We'll - we'll check it out for sure.
You can see "Stalker: The Reagan Shooting" Sunday night, 11:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.
VELSHI: OK. Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, a peaceful family boating trip interrupted when the mom has a run-in with a 300-pound sea creature. We'll explain it to you.
It is 18 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: The threat of a veto didn't stop the House from passing a bill that would end the Obama administration's main foreclosure prevention program. The vote was largely along - largely along party lines, with 11 Democrats joining Republicans.
The program, which was supposed to help three million to four million struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure, has so far managed to help only about 500,000 homeowners.
VELSHI: Well, that certainly didn't work out the way it was expected to.
ROMANS: No, and now Republicans are, you know, showing their - their pushback to the president -
VELSHI: It's an easy target -
ROMANS: Right.
VELSHI: -- because it just didn't - they didn't do anything close to what the administration said it would.
CHETRY: So Amazon rolling out something new right now. It's a service that could change the way you listen to your music.
Our Stephanie Elam is here, "Minding Your Business." For once we're talking about music and we're not talking about iTunes.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I know. That's true.
VELSHI: Yes.
ELAM: And this is actually something that a lot of companies have been trying to find their way to get in on the music scene and also to keep customers locked into the service.
So what Amazon is doing here is they've got something called the Cloud Drive. You probably have heard about the cloud, like "take it to the cloud" right? You've heard that, like -
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: (INAUDIBLE).
ELAM: Well, the idea of Amazon is saying hey, look, you're got five gigabytes for free. You can come along, put your music there, put your pictures there. That's great. If you buy an album, that wouldn't - I mean, if you buy a song from us, it wouldn't count towards that, but if you buy a whole album, then we'll give you 20 gigabytes for a year, and then after that you'd have to probably pay for it.
And it works for PCs, it works for (INAUDIBLE) Androids. But what works here is - let me just break it down. You have music, and it's stored in digital files and it's on Amazon's server. So whenever you want to access it, you go to the cloud on your phone, on your computer, and -
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: And the cloud is Amazon's server, basically?
ELAM: In this case, yes. And then you get your music to you.
The problems with this - there's some pros and some cons. Pros, you can listen to your music anywhere. You can back up your music library, don't have to worry about losing it.
But there are some downsides to this as well. What if you're in a dead zone, you can't get internet access, then you don't get access to your music or your pictures. And what if you want to change services? That may be hard. You may have to download all of your music again with a different company.
And then, another issue here, privacy. Who's in control of it? If you have a picture up there of, you know, your baby, does Amazon now control that picture? Is it still yours? Can they use it for anything else?
So this is something that a lot of the companies have been trying to do. Google wants to do it, Apple wants to do it. But a lot of the labels are concerned about licensing, so it's (INAUDIBLE) more on the -
CHETRY: So is it similar to having Shutterfly or Photobucket or -
VELSHI: Yes. It's the same -
(CROSSTALK)
ELAM: It's the same idea. It's the same idea.
CHETRY: But for your -
ELAM: Yes. Yes, your music is there and then it doesn't take space up on your hard drive.
CHETRY: Right.
ELAM: So that's what (INAUDIBLE) -
VELSHI: So the issue of the cloud, that you store everything in the ether, the servers are not yours.
ELAM: Right.
VELSHI: That - these privacy concerns come up with all the people who use Google for saving their documents and things like that. So the idea is it's convenient, you don't use your storage space, but there is always the concern that it is in the cloud. It's somewhere.
ELAM: And do you own it or do they?
VELSHI: And do you own it? Where is it? Can anybody access it?
CHETRY: Did - was it Google or - which one - the Gmail - what - recently they said that we - we can't find any of your mail. I'm sorry.
VELSHI: Yes. That was Gmail.
ELAM: That was Gmail (INAUDIBLE). And there's some people who lost their data (INAUDIBLE).
VELSHI: So, it's the way of the future, but it is - it is still fraught with some issues.
ELAM: A lot of them. We'll hear more about this.
CHETRY: Thanks, Steph.
ELAM: Sure.
VELSHI: All right, imagine a - a lovely family boating trip, and then, all of a sudden, face to face with a 300-pound sea animal.
That is exactly what happened to Jenney Hausch while on vacation in the Florida Keys yesterday. A spotted Eagle Ray hit her in the chest, knocked her to the deck, and landed on top of her.
She was pinned down for minutes. Her family was stunned. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNEY HAUSCH, HIT BY EAGLE RAY: It jumped up. They say it was probably 200 to 300 pounds, hit me in the chest, and I fell backwards. I just remember pushing it away with my hands and scooting backwards.
DELANEY HAUSCH, JENNEY'S DAUGHTER: I was freaked out. Like, how would that happen without something really, really, really bad happening?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: I would be freaked out too.
CHETRY: She's adorable.
VELSHI: Hausch - she's doing OK. Jenney's doing OK.
Wildlife officials say something like this is very rare. Eagle Rays are not typically aggressive toward humans.
ROMANS: Wait, and I don't think this one was being aggressive either.
VELSHI: I think it just wanted a hug.
ROMANS: I think the boat got in the way - I think the boat got in the way of the Eagle Ray.
CHETRY: Right. They were actually photographing them leaping into the air. They jumped into the air, which is kind of cool.
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: And so - I mean, this jumped a little too far.
ROMANS: That's a great - I mean, I'm glad everything turned out great, but what a great little story for those kids to remember about their vacation - their vacation in Florida.
VELSHI: I would have freaked out.
ROMANS: All right. Up next, a Supreme Court judge ticketed after a fender bender on his way to work. Now everyone's wondering if Anthony Scalia will be looking for a little justice of his own in court. I wonder if he'll fight it.
It's 26 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: We're crossing the half hour right now. I want to bring you up to date on some top stories this morning.
A very disturbing story about Alabama hospitals, six of them now, I.V. bags contaminated with a potentially deadly bacteria ended up infecting 19 patients, and nine of them died. Ten others are sick and still in the hospital right now. Meantime, state officials - health officials and the CDC suspect that bacteria may have directly caused these deaths.
The I.V. bags have since been recalled. Health officials say that they no longer pose a threat to other patients.
Rebels are on the run now in Libya. Moammar Gadhafi's forces in a fierce battle with rebel fighters between the cities of Al Jawad and the key oil town of Ras Lanuf. All of this taking place in Eastern Libya. An offensive by pro-Gadhafi troops has now forced the opposition to retreat from some of the ground that they gained since the no-fly zone took effect.
President Obama is now saying he's not ruling out the possibility of arming the rebels in their efforts to try to overflow the Libyan dictator.
And to Japan -- where radiation levels in the seawater surrounding Japan's crippled nuclear power plant are now measuring more than 3,000 times the normal readings. That is the highest level yet in the water. Meanwhile, the Tokyo Electric Power Company says it will completely write off four of the six reactors at its crippled power plant. It's the first time that TEPCO has acknowledged that much of the multi-billion dollar facility is beyond repair -- Christine.
ROMANS: The war between state workers and the governor in Wisconsin is taking another turn this morning. A judge has blocked Governor Scott Walker's law that strips the union of collective bargaining rights. And he issued a strong warning to anyone who tries to put it into action. Senate Democrats fled the state -- as you recall -- to prevent the bill from coming to a vote. But Republicans found a way to pass it anyway.
And move over, Wisconsin, here comes Ohio. The same battle between a Republican governor and public employees is now repeating itself. The statehouse has now passed a bill taking away some union rights to close an $8 billion budget gap.
But the governor may have a tougher job selling his plan to state employees because of what he called one of them -- what he called one of them after he was pulled over.
Jim Acosta live for us in Washington.
Jim, what's this all about?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine, as you know, some of these newly elected governors across the Midwest are seeing their poll numbers plummet as they clash with public worker unions in tough battles over state budget cuts. And as you mentioned, in Ohio, where the Republican Governor John Kasich appears to be on the verge of winning his own budget fight and battle with the union, the clash has gotten personal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): Three years ago, before he became governor, John Kasich was stopped by a Columbus police officer for a routine traffic violation.
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), OHIO: I have this idiot pulled me over on 3-15.
ACOSTA: Flash forward to 2011 -- just days after being sworn in, Governor Kasich told a group of state employees the officer was an example of how not to deal with taxpayers.
KASICH: He's an idiot.
ACOSTA: Even though Kasich later apologized, it was a rocky start for a bold agenda. Balance an $8 billion deficit and a controversial bill to limit the collective bargaining rights for the state's public workers. (on camera): Do you regret referring to that police officer as an idiot?
KASICH: Oh, yes, of course. I've already said that I do. Yes. It was just -- you know, it was a mistake, period.
ROBERT BARRETT, COLUMBUS POLICE OFFICER: This is exactly what I'm seeing out the hood of my cruiser.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Robert Barrett, the officer who pulled over Kasich, still has the cruiser camera video to prove he was just doing his job.
BARRETT: What bothers me about this is he was treated professionally.
ACOSTA: But Mike Taylor, with Ohio's Fraternal Order of Police, wonders whether the governor respects public workers.
MIKE TAYLOR, OHIO FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE: Police officers are used to being called names. I don't think they're used to being called names by the governor of the state in which they work.
ACOSTA (on camera): It's gotten personal.
KASICH: Well, but not with me. I mean, not with me, because, first of all, I understand people who -- who are concerned and upset. And I respect them.
ACOSTA (voice-over): A recent poll shows only 30 percent of Ohioans approve of the job he's doing. But this lifelong fiscal hawk -- takes comfort in knowing he's in the company of other new Midwestern GOP governors who are risking their own political skin to balance their budgets.
KASICH: I'm aware of the polls, but my job is to lift Ohio.
ACOSTA: Kasich is still fighting for collective bargaining limits, arguing they're crucial to bringing benefits in line with the private sector.
KASICH: These are people who don't want any change. I mean, they have a good situation and they don't want it to change.
ACOSTA: The unions accuse the governors of turning the Rust belt into the bust belt.
TAYLOR: A lot of lifelong Republican police officers who have said that they will never vote for Republican again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: Ohio's Republican-controlled statehouse is expected to pass this collective bargaining bill as soon as today. But the unions -- get this -- are already planning to put a referendum on the ballot this fall to repeal the measure. So, like the rest of the Midwest, Christine, this union battle is not over yet. ROMANS: Not by a long shot. All right. Jim Acosta -- thanks, Jim.
ACOSTA: You bet.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it looks like Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia may have to tell it to the judge. Scalia was involved in a chain reaction fender bender yesterday on the George Washington parkway in D.C. No one was hurt. Scalia got a ticket for following too closely. He faces $90 in fines or he can challenge the ticket in court. That'll be an interesting one to follow.
CHETRY: He'll probably pay the fine, right?
VELSHI: I think. It would just be interesting to see him in court. I think a lot of people will show up.
ROMANS: A bit intimidating, perhaps.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Do they walk around in their robes all the time? Or they're coming in like a belord (ph) judges?
ROMANS: Don't they call the vista (ph) court? The highest court in the land.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: There you go. Well, we'll follow that one.
Hey, listen to this story -- a small plane missed its mark. This is some home video shot in St. Petersburg -- oh, ouch -- on Florida. It happened on Sunday. The aircraft crashed into the water, just a little shy of the runway.
I always worry about that when I come into airports like LaGuardia where you're landing and it's water and then the runway.
ROMANS: Whoa!
VELSHI: Look at that. He's attempting to land, though. It did have mechanical problems. It's not that this guy just didn't get to the runway. A rescue team pulled the pilot and one passenger to safety. They got minor injuries but they'll be OK. The FAA is investigating exactly what went wrong.
ROMANS: All right. Next on AMERICAN MORNING, a Libyan woman tells the world she was raped by Gadhafi security forces. Then, she dragged away in front of all of these television cameras, all of these -- all of these eyewitnesses and hasn't been seen from since. We're taking a closer look at her cry for help.
CHETRY: Also, baseball's new disabled list. We're going to tell you about some of the steps Major League Baseball is taking to protect players who suffer concussions.
It's 36 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Her desperate story has made headlines around the world, and it appears the Libyan government is trying to make this whole thing go away. The woman, Eman al-Obeidy, burst into a Tripoli hotel telling foreign journalists she was attacked and raped by Gadhafi soldiers.
Here's what it sounded like.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
ROMANS: A desperate woman who says she was manhandled by government officials who dragged her out and then took her into custody in front of all of these witnesses. Libyan officials later claim she was set free, but her family says they haven't seen her.
Now, it appears the regime is trying to smear her name, accusing her of slander. We've been riveted by this woman's story.
Joining us now to talk about her ordeal and look more broadly at women in the Muslim world, Mona Eltahawy, columnist in Arab -- on Arab and Muslim issue.
VELSHI: We should say -- before accusing her of slander, they also accused her of being a prostitute.
ROMANS: Right. I mean, look, the reaction -- you look at what's happened, the wave of revolution that spread through the region. You look at the Tunisian fruit seller who's held up as a model of speaking out against the regime -- this woman may say should be the same sort of role model, except seen in a completely different light because she's a woman.
MONA ELTAHAWY, COLUMNIST: Exactly. I mean, many Libyans I know online, on social media, are holding up Eman al-Obeidy as a hero, and many people across the region, you know, Egyptians, Syrians, people across the region are demanding to know where she is and fearing for her life, because her courage in speaking out -- you know, for a woman in any country, in the U.S., in the Egypt, in Libya, to come out and say she was raped -- I mean, no one would do that unless they were raped, and especially in a conservative society.
In Libya, there were social rehabilitation center, that Human Rights Watch have said girls and women who are survivors of rape are taken to because of the shame that is associated with rape. And so, these are centers where the girls and women are held as prisoners basically just because --
ROMANS: They're not rehabilitated, quote-unquote, "rehabilitated."
ELTAHAWY: Social rehabilitation centers.
ROMANS: They're held away from the rest of society.
ELTAHAWY: They're practically prisoners. CHETRY: And so -- but, that's the part that's most amazing here is that you also say that sources have told you that she's being held still even though they claim she's been set free. They want her to retract it.
ELTAHAWY: Her mother and her relatives have appeared on television, Arabic satellite television, and said that Libyan officials have told them if she retracts the story, they will release her, which gives me some hope she's alive. But I won't believe she's alive until I actually see her.
And I know how brutal Gadhafi's troops are because I was a journalist in Libya, I went with a group of journalists in 1996, and they kept us in a hotel, just as those journalists you saw, practically prisoners of Gadhafi's ministry of information.
And during a news conference because I was considered a troublemaker because I tried to leave the hotel without my minder, they tried to push me out of the news conference and one of his male guards twisted my nipple in the middle of a news conference. And I appeal to Gadhafi to help me, he stopped, we made eye contact for a few seconds, and he continued as if nothing happened, and afterwards --
ROMANS: This happened in the press conference?
ELTAHAWY: In the press conference, and the TV cam is revolving. And afterwards, a Nigerian journalist told me he heard them say, "Just shoot her."
VELSHI: Wow.
ELTAHAWY: So, this is the kind of the casual violence that is associated with Gadhafi's regime. And they don't care if you're a journalist. They don't care if you're an attorney -- you know, Eman al-Obeidy is an attorney.
So, this is a regime that does not hesitate to use violence, hasn't hesitated to use violence for the past 42 years. It is brutal and it must end.
VELSHI: And as our reporters, Nic Robertson, one of them, trying to get to the bottom of what has happened to her, who she is again, these accusations she's a prostitute. They are trying to discredit her in every way possible. Tell me -- give me your sense of whether this will work. Is it going to be like Christine says where she might actually become a martyr?
ELTAHAWY: Well, you know, Libyan television was they were on the roll. They had -- and the interesting thing here is they're using women to silence this woman who has been so courageous. They called -- first they said she was insane, and then they said she was drunk, and then they said she is a prostitute. And this will ties to the idea of sexual shaming where if you speak out about sexual violence, there's something wrong with you.
And I also tie it to what happened in Cairo where the military detained several activists from Tahrir Square and some of them detained said they were subjected to virginity testing. Again, in a conservative society where women are not supposed to speak out about sexual violence, these women have been incredibly courageous which says to me the revolution has -- men and women together are speaking out in ways that are unprecedented.
ROMANS: And that's the key, is to make -- for women's rights to try to move forward to whatever is changing in the Middle East to make sure women are brought along with it because we know in many countries -- I mean, even in Saudi Arabia, the right to drive in Saudi Arabia is still something that women are fighting for.
ELTAHAWY: You know, and even in Saudi Arabia, there are Saudi women who have gone on record and said that watching Mubarak fall in Egypt has energized their revolution. And one Saudi woman has published actually a manifesto online called the Saudi women's revolution. So, there is -- even countries where you think there isn't a lot of activism, women are being incredibly courageous speaking out.
CHETRY: They're being (INAUDIBLE vote, this September vote in Saudi Arabia.
ELTAHAWY: Exactly two days ago, the officials said they won't vote. But the women are demanding the right. So, you see, thousands of revolutions we need in the Middle East and North Africa. And women are courageously speaking out and saying, Islam does not hold us back, our own culture must not hold us back. And these women truly are heroes in the way that Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian fruit vendor was a hero.
CHETRY: Well, we hope that there is a good ending to this for this woman, Obeidy, who's become this symbol, international symbol right now whereabouts still unknown.
Mona Eltahawy, always great to have you on the show. Thanks so much.
ELTAHAWY: Thanks, Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, Rob is going to be along. He has our travel forecast. There's some severe weather down south Louisiana, particularly. What's it going to be like today? We'll find out.
Forty-four minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: We talked a lot about concussions in the NFL, but the Major League Baseball Association also wants to try to protect their players, as well. A new seven-day disabled list will be instituted for players who get concussions. The player will then need clearance from Major League Baseball's medical director before being able to return to play. Teams will also be required to designate a doctor as a concussion specialist in their home city. The new list will supplement the standard 15-day disabled list. ROMANS: A helmet cam capturing a snowboarder's dangerous and life- threatening plunge down Mt. Shasta, California. You're not going to believe this. He lost control and tumbled into a tree well, a soft patch of snow, you know, that forms around the base of tree, and you can be buried alive in here.
A fellow snowboarder on the same mountain suffocated and died in a tree well just a few months ago. This guy thought he'd suffer the same fate. He dug a little hole just to breathe. Somehow, he's eventually able to reach his cell phone. Miraculously, his wife called him as he was trying to call her. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leanne. Call the Ski Park! I'm stuck in a tree well.
Hello? Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't panic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Don't panic. I would have been panicking before I was going down the mountain.
CHETRY: Thank, God he had a cell phone.
ROMANS: Yes. Rescue crews were able to find him, pulled him out about an hour later. It's dangerous. They can be pretty deep, full of soft snow. You get stuck down in there and no one even knows where you are.
CHETRY: Yes. But this is the second time in two days. We've got a story on someone surviving, falling into the hole -- the other lady with sinkhole who happened to have a cell phone in their pocket. They both probably would have died if they didn't have their phones.
ROMANS: Unbelievable.
VELSHI: Keep your phone with you.
All right. It is 49 minutes after the hour. Time to get a check of this morning's weather headlines. Rob Marciano is in the Extreme Weather Center where we did see some extreme weather in the last hours.
What do you got, Rob?
MARCIANO: You know, extreme weather across the south, part of that energy coming from the Rockies which has just seen so much snow, the Rockies, the sierras. All the mountain ranges out west have seen so much snow this year. Those tree wells are just that much deeper and that much more dangerous. So, riveting stuff coming out of that part of Northern California. They're starting to get a little bit of a break finally, but don't tell that to the skiers, and unbelievable amounts of snow out there. In past couple of weeks -- past couple of months, really, has just been -- I hate to use term epic too loosely, but it's beyond that. And some of the pictures coming out in the past couple of days have been unreal.
If you're going to do some traveling today, we've got some issues across parts of the southeast. This storm is beginning to expand. So, it's going to encompass more folks. D.C. metros, you're going to see some rainfall increase throughout the day, a cold rain at that. Thunderstorms right now in Atlanta. We're seeing flooding around the city, and that's going to slow down the air travel as well out of ATL.
And Charlotte, Jacksonville, and Tampa seeing thunderstorms too. Here's your thunderstorms rolling through Sandy Springs (ph). Atlanta, heading over towards, say, Conyers and Covington, the events towards UGA (ph) back through La Grange, looking at heavy rain with this, it's fairly slow-moving. So, it'll be with us for a couple of hours, and we have this tornado watch that's in effect across I-10 including much of the Florida panhandle.
For the next few hours, we had rough weather, tornado watch out for parts of Southeastern Louisiana, including New Orleans. Plaquemines Parish and Belle Chase reported a wind gust over 100 miles an hour, and there was straight-line wind damage there. Thankfully no injuries. Here's the rain shield expanding now into parts of Virginia, and we will see that cold rain in through D.C. increasing throughout the day today.
As far as what it's going to do as we go through the next 48 hours, track the moisture, track the low off the Delmarva. Cold enough air in here, guys, to where there's actually a winter storm watch out for portions of the tri-state area, at least, north of New York City.
Might see a little snow mixing in the Big Apple, but that really should be about it. But north of town, winter's not over yet. Little April fool's joke coming up at the end of the week. There you go, enjoy that. Head up the throughway there if you want to get back into (INAUDIBLE). I know you guys miss it. So --
VELSHI: I do. I love the snow. I'm always sad at the end of winter, but then, I get happy because the spring flowers come in. And I love rain because it gives life.
CHETRY: Tell us more.
MARCIANO: Waxing and waning over the benefits.
VELSHI: I'm a happy guy. What can I say?
MARCIANO: You can wear your tout (ph) all year round.
ROMANS: All the snow is made me crazy. It's what happened.
CHETRY: Exactly. ROMANS: Rob Marciano, thanks.
MARCIANO: All right, guys.
CHETRY: He's one step away from, what was his name in the shining?
VELSHI: Yes, him.
CHETRY: OK. Here's Johnny.
Anyway, this morning's top stories just minutes away, including he says the U.S. is tap dancing around the problem of radical Islam. Bill Bennett has a new book out. He joins us with what he says needs to be a wake-up call for America.
ROMANS: You're used to have it tracked down the web, but what about the TV? Your television, boys and girls, is watching you. It's 52 minutes past the hour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It fits in the trunk of a car, unfolds in seconds, and has you cruising with stares from everyone around. It is called the Yike bike. Grant Ryan (ph) is the New Zealand inventor whose aim was to reinvent the bicycle. This one requires no pedaling.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks a little difficult in a normal bike, but there's nothing in here and actual (ph) about us. This is what we used to. You've got a nice upright running position and your hands just naturally lay down here. You've got an accelerator here. You got to brake here.
SIMON: He inspired by the segue, Ryan wanted to make it electric, only lighter, and faster. It weighs 20 pounds and zips along at 14 miles an hour.
SIMON (on-camera): The bike goes six miles on a single charge. So, it's really ideal for going those short distances. And as you can hear, it makes a little bit of noise, which is there on purpose to let cars and pedestrians know of your presence.
SIMON (voice-over): The Yike is made out of high-tech carbon fiber, which accounts for steep $3,600 price. It's got anti-skid brakes and lights on all the time. It's unclear if the Yike will be a success, but if you're looking to attract attention, you won't go wrong.
Dan Simon, CNN, San Francisco.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: All right, guys. You are about to see something that no one on earth has ever seen before.
VELSHI: That's overselling. CHETRY: No, it is the southern pole of the planet, Mercury. There it is.
ROMANS: Whoa.
CHETRY: The first picture of the solar system's first planet taken by NASA's messenger spacecraft. NASA plans to release more images today. Messenger will be orbiting Mercury for a year and mapping the planet's surface, observing its magnetic field and examining its surface make- up. So, that is it. The southern pole of Mercury.
VELSHI: At first blush, it looks a little bleak.
CHETRY: Yes, it does, and a lot of craters.
ROMANS: I wouldn't be looking for a condo for --
VELSHI: That's right. There you go.
All right. Talk about a bird's eye view of nature. You're going to see something that you've never seen before. To use the expression Kiran just used. Three baby bald eagles are about to hatch live on the web. The first one could happen any minute now.
ROMANS: Looks like it's already hatched.
VELSHI: No, that's mamma eagle. That is mamma eagle. It's hard to see, but that's mamma eagle protecting her eggs. A non-profit group in Iowa, of all places, set up two cameras perched 80 feet high in a cotton wood tree.
ROMANS: Beautiful breeding ground along the Mississippi River and Iowa, that's why.
VELSHI: That's what I always think about when I think of Iowa. It says there are -- these pictures are such high resolution, you should be able to see cracks forming in the eggs before the babies come out. You can check --
CHETRY: Is this live right now? What is this?
VELSHI: This is not live right now.
CHETRY: Is this a still --
VELSHI: But you can watch it live. You can go 24/7. You can watch this happening on you stream.
ROMANS: OK. Top stories coming your way right after the break. It's 57 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
