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American Morning
Fukushima: Maximum Nuke Alert; U.S. Offer to Ivory Coast Strongman; Cage's Stolen Comic Book Found; Oklahoma's Changing Face; "I'm Trying to be a Role Model"; Cop vs. Squirrel
Aired April 12, 2011 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Biggest commercial plane on the planet coming through. I'm Ali Velshi. A collision on the runway at JFK in New York. Not only is there video, we had reporter on the flight.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans, maximum nuclear alert. We are now officially talking about another possible Chernobyl. Japan raises the nuclear crisis to the highest level on the international scale on this AMERICAN MORNING.
VELSHI: Good morning. It is Tuesday, April the 12th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. Kiran is off today.
ROMANS: Let's start with disaster averted.
When David met Goliath on the tarmac at New York's JFK airport, video posted on the WNBC Web site shows an Air France super jumbo Airbus A-380 taxiing and hitting a Delta connection flight. The commuter plane had just landed, was heading to a gate. The Airbus A- 380, of course, is the world's biggest passenger plane, capable of holding more than 500 people.
And CNN's Jim Bittermann happened to be on board.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Pulled away from the gate, going probably five to seven miles an hour, probably something like that, made the turn away from the gate and the slight rumble felt to me like they hit a rough patch of pavement or something like that. But they immediately stopped the plane and within, I would say, a minute or two, the fire trucks started arising around the plane.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: No one on either plane was injured, but I cannot imagine what it must have been like to have been on that Delta flight to have just whipped around. The FAA is now investigating the incident.
VELSHI: Yes. I'm always on a plane as it lands, somebody tries to get up, and get sit something, and they announce, please sit down, get in your seat, keep your seat belt on.
ROMANS: There's a very irritated flight attendant saying, no, no, no, wait until you get to the gate.
VELSHI: Now, you know why.
All right. It's Japan's version of Chernobyl, the nuclear threat level at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi power plant has been raised from a category five, where it was, to a category seven. That is the highest level on an international scale. It reflects a major incident. It's also on par with Chernobyl, the worst nuclear accident in history. Official says only a tenth of the radiation that escaped at Chernobyl in escaped has leaked from the Fukushima plant.
ROMANS: Aftershocks are fraying nerves in and around the crippled nuclear plant. A fresh round of tremors today it, including one with a magnitude of 6.3. There have been hundreds of aftershocks in Japan since the March 11th quake and then tsunami. Many have been stronger than 6.0.
Jacqui Jeras is looking that for us. She's is in Atlanta.
And this -- seismologists say this could go on for a year. When you're looking at a nine magnitude quake, these aftershocks will be big and frequent?
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. Yes. And the bigger the shock, the more frequent and the bigger the aftershocks tend to be. So, what we've been seeing, you know, seems terrible and seems excessive, doesn't it? We've been seeing an aftershock an hour, easy, when you take a look at the averages and the numbers. Not only could this go on for a year, Christine and Ali, this could go on for years, plural. In fact, it maybe even a decade or more.
Now, take a look at the map that you see there behind me. That's the latest in terms of what we've seen for aftershocks after the big quake. There you see the big 9.0 on March 11th there. All of the orange dots that you see are earthquakes that happened in the last 24 hours. All of the yellow dots are ones that have happened just in the last week.
So, as we take a look at the numbers and we break this thing down, we've had a total of nearly 1,000 aftershocks. Now, when you look at 4.0 or so in Japan, you know, most of these buildings are really built to withstand something like that. So, that's not that big of a deal, when you see 500 of those. But you start seeing 6.0s, you start seeing those 7.0s -- that is major. And we've seen, you know, more than 7.0 -- or 6.0 and above.
So, when you break it down on average, when you get an earthquake magnitude 9.0 or so, what would you expect in terms of how many more aftershocks you're going to see. You usually see about one, on average. And again, not everything runs by averages right, 8.0. You usually see 10 7.0, we're almost half there already -- 6.0, you see about 100, you see about 1,000 5.0 and you see about 10,000 4.0s.
So, just to put it in perspective, we are going to continue seeing more and more of these. And yes, it's possible that we're going to see another quake 7.0 or greater, you know, in the upcoming days, weeks, months, year ahead.
ROMANS: Jacqui Jeras -- thanks, Jacqui.
VELSHI: In a manufacturing country, where they manufacture so much precision stuff --
ROMANS: Absolutely. Absolutely.
VELSHI: -- even those small earthquakes, they have to recalibrate everything. They can't keep working.
ROMANS: And the rolling blackouts too, on top of the small earthquakes. It must be very difficult on manufacturing.
VELSHI: It's very difficult to get back to normal.
All right. Police on Long Island, New York are stepping up their search for a serial killer this morning after investigators discovered what appears to be a human skull along a beach highway yesterday. Now, they believe it could be the killer's ninth victim.
Earlier in the day, a police officer and his cadaver dog spotted another set of remains about half a mile -- about a mile and a half away. They are working right now to determine if those remains are human and if they are, that could possibly mean a tenth victim.
ROMANS: Ten people, including a former coach and two former players, at the University of San Diego have been charged with trying to fix the school's basketball games. Among those indicted, Brandon Johnson, all-time leading scorer at the University of San Diego. The alleged bribery ring involves using proceeds from marijuana sales to try to alter the outcome of games.
VELSHI: A cease-fire proposal offered to opposition leaders in Libya has been rejected. Under the African Union plan, Moammar Gadhafi would have agreed to stop all hostilities and allow international forces to enter Libya to help keep the peace. Rebel leaders say any plan that does not include the removal of Gadhafi is unacceptable.
And elsewhere in Africa, celebration of liberation in the Ivory Coast. The nation's president is calling for calm this morning, this after the arrest of strongman Laurent Gbagbo, seen there. Gbagbo's refusal to step down after losing an election last year plunged that West African nation into civil war.
An assault last week by French and U.N. warplanes was the beginning of the end for him. He surrendered after French troops stormed his compound yesterday.
ROMANS: Now, we're learning the U.S. had tried to cut a deal with Gbagbo to get him to leave.
Our Zain Verjee is live in London with exclusive details.
I mean, he was -- he was lodged in the presidential palace. He was not moving despite an assault on the premises, and he finally got out. But the U.S. was working behind the scenes to get him out.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. And what we have learned from two senior sources who are familiar with the negotiations that were going on back and forth and what was, in fact, on the table, was basically that Laurent Gbagbo was given an opportunity to go to Boston University and become a resident or some kind of a lecturer at a program they have there called the African Presidential Archives and Research Center, based at that university. Also, they said, if you wanted to go and lecture anywhere else in the U.S., he could do that, too.
Now, I just spoke to Boston University and they totally deny there was ever any deal for Laurent Gbagbo on the table. I spoke to the head of the center, Charles Stiff (ph), who said, had Laurent Gbagbo left right after he election, even if he was under protest, just for the good of the country, he would have considered him as a potential candidate of the residency program at Boston University.
So, there are a lot of questions about this but it seems like he is denying it. But two senior officials have told CNN that that's not the case, that it was floated out there. So, we need to get to the bottom of that.
ROMANS: What about the U.S. State Department? What do they know?
VERJEE: Well, it's interesting, because according to "The Oklahoman," they say a high-ranking State Department official asked Senator Jim Inhofe to intervene in the Ivory Coast. Now, this is a senator who knows a lot about Africa. He said to met and known Laurent Gbagbo and his wife well as well.
And we contacted Inhofe's office and his spokesperson said Inhofe refused to communicate a B.U. offer from the State Department to Laurent Gbagbo.
So, according to that reporting, it was out there and the State wanted him specifically to make that offer about B.U. and he said, no way.
VELSHI: Hey, Zain. I just want to turn the corner for a second, 17 days before the royal wedding and we're not going to see any more of the prince and Kate? How are you going to manage this? How are you going to cover this?
VERJEE: Oh, we'll find a way. That's lots to talk about. There's the dress to talk about. It's the guests, as that kind of leaks out there, is what will Harry be doing? There will be a lot of color coming out.
People are gearing up for it. It's pretty exciting you. Our bureau is getting a good buzz.
VELSHI: Good. Zain, good to see you.
ROMANS: And you can watch Zain every morning at 5 a.m. on "WORLD ONE" right here on CNN.
VELSHI: And coming up just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING: Japanese officials now consider the country's nuclear crisis as serious as Chernobyl. We're going to talk with a nuclear engineer about what exactly that means.
ROMANS: And Olympic champion Carl Lewis is still running, only this time, it's for political office.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Mitt Romney has taken the first official step in his bid to become president. The former governor of Massachusetts announced yesterday he's setting up a presidential exploratory committee. He's the second major Republican candidate to do so. Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty also announced an exploratory committee three weeks ago.
VELSHI: Former Olympian Carl Lewis wants to run for a living, but the finish line these days, the New Jersey state Senate in Trenton. The 10-time Olympic medalist said he has decided to run for office because his charity work wasn't solving enough of the state's problems. He is on the Democratic ticket. He plans to focus on two big issues: education and making New Jersey more affordable.
ROMANS: Now to Japan's nuclear crisis. And this morning, the nation is on maximum nuclear alert. Government officials have raised the accident level at that crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant from a category five, equivalent to Three Mile Island in 1979, to a category seven, indicating a major accident. That's the highest level on the international scale for nuclear accidents and it's on par with the Chernobyl disaster.
VELSHI: All right. So, what does that spike mean? What does that change in the warning level mean?
Joining us now from Burlington, Vermont, is nuclear engineer Arnold Gundersen.
Arnold, good see you again. Tell us, quite frankly, what this means.
ARNOLD GUNDERSEN, NUCLEAR ENGINEER: Well, Chernobyl had a single reactor that melted down and they have three. Plus, the fuel pool. So, it's been pretty clear all along that this was on par with Chernobyl. What it means is that the emergency planning zones are getting pushed out, but I think that should have happened sooner anyway.
ROMANS: Well, that's one of my questions, Arnold, because it feels as, though, all along the way, we've been playing a little bit of catch up in terms of officials telling us the severity of it and I understand that you can't get in there -- you couldn't get in there to see what was going on.
But, I mean, do you feel as though officials have a handle on this and they're going to be able to see it through from here on out?
GUNDERSEN: Well, I think this is the first time they have really recognize how serious it is.
ROMANS: Right.
GUNDERSEN: Before that, you are absolutely right. They have -- they have been way behind the eight ball on that one.
ROMANS: Arnold, we -- experts have said that really only one- tenth of the amount of radiation that Chernobyl gave off has come out or is likely to come out of these reactors. So, what should be the public be thinking about this level, this change of level from five to seven? Does it mean more people are going to be irradiated?
GUNDERSEN: Yes. You know, Chernobyl was -- had a -- was covered by this point in time. And here this accident is just continuing on. There was -- that this means is there have been 10,000 trillion disintegrations every second have been released already from the plant. So, this is based on what has already happened and the really, it can get worse as you look forward.
ROMANS: When we talk about all of these aftershocks and we're still looking, we're looking at pictures right now of just the buildings still look so damaged, are you still concerned about further deterioration from hereon out? Are we in a "how to cleanup" phase yet, or we still in a containment crisis phase yet?
GUNDERSEN: No. We're still in the containment crisis phase. You know, these buildings were designed to be dry. And now, they are trying to flood them with water. And while that's good to cool, in a event of an earthquake, a serious aftershock, these buildings can't take all that weight.
VELSHI: All right. So, when you said that Chernobyl by this time was already covered, what was different that there that we could cover Chernobyl that quickly that we can't do in Japan?
GUNDERSEN: Yes. Chernobyl was a single reactor and here, if you work on one, you're being contaminated by the others. And actually, the sheer magnitude of this one, even though releases maybe the same, you essentially have seven balls in the air at the same time -- the three reactor cores in meltdown and four fuel pools, including unit four. So, there's not a single problem to focus on. But in fact, you have got to successfully juggle seven balls at the same time.
ROMANS: We were talking earlier to a guest who told us that it's going to require unbelievable heavy, you know, earth-moving equipment and getting all of this rubble out of the area and the scope of the nuclear contamination around this area. What do you think is the risk for humans, for the broader environment, but more importantly, for the people in this region of Japan and how -- how they're going to ever be able to clean this up?
GUNDERSEN: Well, I think within 10 kilometers or six miles, they're not going to clean it up within a generation, and people are not going to come back in the 6-mile zone. Out -- if there's one good thing here, it's that predominantly, the wind has been blown out to sea. If the wind had been blowing across Japan the other way, this could be even worse.
VELSHI: Arnold, is there anything you -- you see that's being done or obviously not being done that can end this sooner? Is there something obviously that they're missing or have he they got the world's brightest minds working on trying to solve this?
GUNDERSEN: You know, this is the best outcome that could have happened given where they were a month ago. They really have played their cards as well as they could, and still, we have, you know, an unimaginable catastrophe on our hands.
VELSHI: The only thing that you think critical of is that they should have widened the perimeter in which people are not allowed earlier?
GUNDERSEN: Yes. Especially for pregnant women and children. I have been saying out to 25 miles three weeks ago. That was pretty evidence to me.
ROMANS: All right. Arnold Gundersen, chief engineer of Fairewinds Associates. Thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate your perspective.
GUNDERSEN: Thank you.
ROMANS: Up next on AMERICAN MORNING, we know women still make less money than men, but could that be changing in the years to come? Generation Y, will women be the boss then?
VELSHI: And hoping to land a piece of history. NASA is about to announce new homes for its retiring shuttle fleet. Sixteen minutes -- 17 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Carmen Wong Ulrich is with us "Minding Your Business" today because Christine was just saying --
ROMANS: Generation Y.
VELSHI: What might change? What will be the next generation in which women earn more than men on average?
CARMEN WONG ULRICH, PERSONAL FINANCE EXPERT: Yes, absolutely. You know, we were here yesterday talking about women still make less, but things are changing quite a bit. Listen, we are on track to get paid on par with men, well, at least, by 2020, and a new report by Emerging Research entitled "Intuit 2020," the future of financial services, well, they found that by that year, seniors, 65 and over are going to start small business ventures in force.
And 60 percent of this group are women. So, that's on one end. And in more small business news, women are going to be the drivers of personal and small businesses growing from 26 million now to 33 million businesses in 2020. And, on the other end of the age spectrum, female millenials, 20-somethings are going to earn income equal to or greater than males.
Now, the study's aim was to look at who's going to need financial services and banking more as well as financial literacy by 2020 and that answer is because they'll have more money in their pockets, women.
ROMANS: And they'll be starting more businesses.
ULRICH: Exactly.
ROMANS: And they'll be a big driver of small business growth. We know that there's so many women in college. We know that --
ULRICH: Many, many more. Generation of millenials, women are more -- going to be more educated.
VELSHI: Right. Half the workforce is college-aged women.
ROMANS: You look at medical schools. You look at -- Jeff, too, and I were just talking about this law schools. I mean, they're full of women. At some point, they're going to be have to earn more.
VELSHI: We all develop in personal finance, and I think we've all found that even where women are not the key earners in the family, they're still more interested in personal finance advice.
ULRICH: Oh, absolutely, because women control over 85 percent of household income and to the spending. So, it's really, really smart to look at women as drivers in the new economy.
VELSHI: Really good.
ROMANS: All right.
ULRICH: Yes.
ROMANS: Thank you.
ULRICH: Thank you.
VELSHI: All right. It's a bird, it's a plane, it's actor, Nicolas Cage's stolen Superman comic book. This is not just an ordinary comic. It's Superman's debut valued at $1 million. The comic was stolen from Cage's home back in the year 2000. Turned up in an abandoned storage unit. Nobody knows who stole it yet.
ROMANS: Huh! The next time you see them, they're going to be taking their royal vows, the entire world will be watching. Prince William and Kate Middleton made their final public appearance together before their April 29th wedding. The couple was doing what they seemed to do best, greeting well wishers. AMERICAN MORNING, of course, is the place to get all of the royal wedding details leading up to our complete coverage of Will and Kate's big day.
VELSHI: Yes. When they say their final public appearance, they can't go anywhere if they want to go get some fish and chips or something or that's public -- like scheduled public appearance?
ROMANS: Their scheduled public appearance, but I have a sneaking suspicion they're going to be staying apart into a lot of photographic evidence of them together, builds momentum and anticipation for the big day.
VELSHI: How excellent. It's already working. I'm already anxious to see them again.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: OK. Coming up next, the changing face of a southern state. We're talking -- we're going to take you to the heart of Oklahoma where there are now more Spanish radio stations than country music stations.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
According to the latest U.S. census, the Latino population in Oklahoma nearly doubled in past ten years, and they now make up 9 percent of that state. Now, that means Hispanics have surpassed Native-Americans as the largest minority group in Oklahoma. Our Ed Lavandera on the changing landscape in the plains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Inside the Oklahoma History Center, the story of American-Indians takes up a large wing. The influence of Native-Americans is deeply engrained in the state. The Latino history of Oklahoma fits in a modest corner.
MICHAEL DEAN, OKLAHOMA HISTORY CENTER: You look at the media.
LAVANDERA: But Michael Dean says that's quickly changing.
DEAN: Today, there are more Spanish radio stations in Oklahoma City in the metro area than there are country music stations.
LAVANDERA (on-camera): In 1900, state historians say they could only count 134 Mexican families that lived here in the state of Oklahoma. Today, the Latino population of this state is more than 332,000 people.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Marcelino Garcia's (ph) story is like a dream come true, came to Oklahoma illegally in 1979, started washing dishes in a restaurant, became a U.S citizen. Thirty-two years later, he owns 12 Chillino's restaurants, a tortilla factory, two meat markets, and a banquet hall.
Who are all these guys here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These are all my brothers, Cesar, Ramil (ph), Jesus, Armando.
LAVANDERA: And brought most of his family to Oklahoma, too. But Garcia says his success as a Mexican businessman often raises suspicions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They think I'm going to run them out of Oklahoma.
LAVANDERA: Mario Jamison (ph) owns a Native-American jewelry store. He's seen his own American-Indian culture slowly disappear, and he urges Latinos to hold onto their culture.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm talking folklore and ethnic food. These things over time are lost through generations. My dream was to have a little restaurant to work with (ph) myself and my family, but I think I passed my dreams a hundred times. How we do it? More than I ever dreamed.
LAVANDERA: For Marcelino Garcia (ph), Oklahoma is a land of unlikely opportunity.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Oklahoma City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Bottom of the hour now, top stories, a collision on the tarmac at New York's JFK Airport, a giant Air France Airbus A-380 take way taxiing for take-off.
VELSHI: Oh.
ROMANS: It hit a commuter plane that just landed, and it was all caught on tape. No one was injured in that accident, but boy, look at that little Delta Flight flip around there.
Maximum nuclear alert, the threat level at Japan's cripple d Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant has now been raised to a category 7 on par with Chernobyl. And officials have widened the evacuation zone around the plant now.
Going even deeper for oil, Transocean, the owner of the controversial deepwater horizon oil rig, it's announced that it set an offshore drilling depth record of 10,194 feet off the coast of India. The Deepwater Horizon rig was leased to BP which, as you remember, was the source of historic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
VELSHI: Well, with America's space shuttle program being phased out this summer, dozens of museums across the country are hoping to land a piece of history in the form of a space shuttle.
ROMANS: That's right. Later today, NASA will announce where the retiring space shuttles will be going on permanent display. John Zarrella is waiting for the scoop live from Kennedy Space Center in Florida this morning. Wherever these go, it will be a big boon for the community, won't it?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's no question about it, Christine, Ali. This is huge for whatever communities get it, and, you know, quite clearly, because NASA administrator, Charlie Bolden, is coming to Florida today to make the announcement of where these vehicles will go. It's pretty clear that the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, here where I'm standing, is going to get one of these space shuttles. And without doubt, the places that get them are going to experience a real economic boom.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA (voice-over): One wall of the new space gallery is already up. At the museum of flight in Seattle, it's like hoping, if you build it, a space shuttle will come.
DOUG KING, PRES., MUSEUM OF FLIGHT: I think confident might be too strong a word. Hopeful is probably a better one. NASA put together a set of requirements for museums around the country to respond to. We think that we have responded positively.
ZARRELLA: The Seattle Museum is one of nearly two dozen museums, planetarium and visitors centers across the country looking to land a space shuttle orbiter. In Texas, home of the Johnson space center, members of Congress publicly lobbied for their home state.
REP. PETER OLSON, (R) TEXAS: There's no community in the world, none in the world that deserve an orbiter more than Houston, Texas.
ZARRELLA: The drama mirrors the bidding to host the Olympic Games, with good reason. If your city gets one, the iconic winged flying machines will generate tens of millions in increased revenues every year. The intrepid museum in the big apple estimates an orbiter translates to a 30 percent increase in attendance.
SUSAN MARENOFF, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INTREPID MUSEUM: Figure over 300,000 people additional to the Intrepid to New York City, couple that with the a $106 million economic benefit, we think that's pretty good deal.
ZARRELLA: A pretty good deal because the price tag for each orbiter, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour, is $28.8 million, the cost to NASA for cleaning up and making them museum-ready.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA: Now, they call this orbiter here behind me at the visitor complex a "morbiter," mean it is a mock orbiter, not a real one. This entire assembly here would be removed and a climate- controlled building to house one of the real shuttles would be put up right here.
And you know what else, today is a big day. It is also the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin, the Russian cosmonaut, first human in space, and of course 30 years ago marked the first shuttle flight, Bob Crippen, John Young, lifting off here from the Kennedy Space Center. So NASA is using that anniversary to -- as the stepping stone to announce where these orbiters are going. Christine, Ali?
VELSHI: So John, let's just talk about it. How many shuttles are there to give away and where do you think they are going? We have mentioned a few names here.
ZARRELLA: Yes, well it looks like Endeavour would come here. That is the one that is flying at the end of this month. Atlantis, which flew a lot of department of defense secret mission might end up at the air force museum outside Dayton. They want one badly. Discovery has already been promised to the Smithsonian. As you guys know, they have got Enterprise there a shuttle that flute initial drop test, never flew into space from dropped from the 747 to test the ability to reenter the earth, reenter and land.
That is the wildcard. You know, right now if all these things fall into place, where does Enterprise end up? And any of these other sites could very easily get Enterprise.
ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: No question I'm taking the kids, the closest one I can.
VELSHI: Well, as he said, might be Intrepid, here, off the edge of New York.
ROMANS: Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, at 16, 16 years old she tried become the youngest person to sail solo around the world. The trip nearly ended in tragedy. She lived to tell her story. The unsinkable Abby Sunderland joins us.
VELSHI: Will she do it again? We will ask her.
And he is not just an NBA star. Ron Artest is an advocate for mental health issues. He talks to our Dr. Sanjay Gupta in this morning's "Human Factor." It is 33 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: All right, you might recall the name Abby Sunderland. She dared to sail solo around the world at the young age of 16, trying to become the youngest ever to accomplish that feat.
VELSHI: She got quite a distance, but her dreams were shattered on the high seas, a 50-foot wave, a rogue wave destroyed her sailboat. Abby had to be rescued. Now she has written about the experience in a new book called "Unsinkable, a young woman's courageous battle on the high seas."
ROMANS: Abby joins us now. You know this wave this wave that turned your boat upside down, we have got, I think, animation of this dramatic -- a rogue wave by definition, you don't see it coming, flips the boat over. That must have been terrifying. Where were you and what happened to you when that wave knocked you out? ABBY SUNDERLAND, "UNSINKABLE": Luckily, I was down below and I got hit by that -- really lucky. If I had been outside, I probably wouldn't be here right now. But it was definitely unexpected. I wasn't planning on that happening.
ROMANS: That ended your quest to sail solo around the world, to be the youngest person. Your brother had done once before and his record was beaten pretty quickly?
SUNDERLAND: I held the record for two months.
ROMANS: At 16, what makes someone at 16 decide that this is a good idea to solo, you know, circumnavigate -- I mean that's very dangerous.
SUNDERLAND: It's definitely not for everyone. But sailing has been in my family my entire life. I grew up sailing. I can't remember a time when there wasn't boats in my family. And I have always loved having, you know, big challenges and goals and things like that. So for a girl who loves to sail, sailing around the world alone was the ultimate challenge.
VELSHI: You were -- you were a bit upset with some of the criticism of your parents, people who said how could they possibly let a 16-year-old girl go out. Tell me how that worked out for you, because while you had been close to it, this isn't a common thing for 16-year-olds to do.
SUNDERLAND: Yes, you know, it's a little weird when you see all these people criticizing you and you're like -- but like sometimes it feels like they just don't understand. But we had a lot of preparation going on. I had a team of experts routing me, also a team of experts that went over my boat and did all the systems. And you know, my background is sailing is really extensive.
So you know, the book kind of explains that and goes into a lot more detail about that, I think that will help late of the people who were criticizing to see the full story.
SUNDERLAND: You talk about, sort of the end of the book, talk about when they picked you up, the search and rescue people found you, when they picked you up. And something you said to the captain, you said, and I think we have a full-screen quote of this you said to the captain, that you missed your boat, that there you were, you were sad and that essentially, you missed -- you missed the boat. He said, look, you can replace the boat. You can't replace you.
That -- did it hit you then that you could have been killed, your family could have been in mourning, all of these search and rescue people could have spent all this time looking for you, and that this was really - this was a big deal for a 16-year-old?
SUNDERLAND: Yes, you know, I still miss the boat today. Who wouldn't? I mean it becomes like your best friend after a while. But the captain on board that boat was the best guy ever, really nice and everybody is really nice. And yes it was -- ROMANS: Would you do it again?
SUNDERLAND: Yes.
ROMANS: Even knowing you could die, you would do it again?
SUNDERLAND: Definitely.
ROMANS: Why?
SUNDERLAND: You know, sometimes the things most worth doing in life have the biggest risks and to me, that's been a dream my whole life. One day, I'm going to sail around the world.
ROMANS: Your parents really push to you follow this dream, even though they know they could lose their daughter?
SUNDERLAND: They don't push me at all, but they do encourage me to follow my dreams and they do work hard to put me in a position where I'm capable of achieving my goals.
ROMANS: What do your friends say? You know, girls are going to the movies, getting a driver's license or preparing for college, and you are preparing for a trip around the world if f you can get the sponsorship and do it. What do your friends think?
SUNDERLAND: Some say it is going to do terrible things to my skin, wear sunscreen and a hat.
(LAUGHTER)
But it's nice having my friends back home where I can go and just be a teenager and goof around and stuff.
VELSHI: Teenagers are constantly in communication with each other. The thing that struck me about your trip is it's absolute isolation. What do you do? Who do you talk to? Do you talk to yourself, talk to the boat? How much communication were you in with other people?
SUNDERLAND: Never reached a level of insanity where I was talking to myself.
VELSHI: OK.
SUNDERLAND: But it is a hard thing. You get lonely out there but you know, you find things to deal with it. For me, I've always loved single-handing and I have done a lot of it.
VELSHI: Single-handing means one person on the boat? Doing something on your own?
ROMANS: You learn when you do something single handedly, that comes from boating.
SUNDERLAND: Yes. Yes. So I have just done it so much, I love being out in the ocean alone. It was pretty easy for me, whereas some people like my brother would rather not be alone for three months.
ROMANS: I would rather not be alone for three months.
VELSHI: Neither of us will be challenging --
ROMANS: Not only am I not as young as you, I don't have that desire to go around the world. But it is amazing, you know, when you talk about goals and goal setting. You think you are going to do it again?
SUNDERLAND: Definitely one day I'm going to do it.
ROMANS: All right, Abby Sunderland, the book is called "Unsinkable, a young woman's courageous battle on the high seas." Thanks, Abby.
VELSHI: Up next, trouble on the tarmac at JFK airport right here in New York as a giant airbus A-380, the biggest commercial jet out there and a small commuter plane collide. It's all on tape. We will show it to you after this break.
ROMANS: And if you are shopping for a new kindle there is a way you could save $25, but there is a little catch, as there always is. It is 41 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: A lot going on this morning, here is what you need to know to start your day.
The FAA is now investigating a runway collision, watch it here, last night at New York's JFK airport. You're looking at amateur video from WNBC's Web site of an airbus A-380 hitting a delta commuter plane as it was taxiing for takeoff. No one hurt.
Japan is raising threat level at its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to a category seven. That is the highest level, putting it on par with the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
Parts of North Dakota remain under water this morning. In Fargo the Red River has broken its banks, reaching 39 feet. Three people have been killed by the floods.
Amazon offering to save you $25 on a new K, but here's the catch. You got to put up with advertisements that will appear at the bottom of the Kindle's home screen.
Faster lines at airport security checkpoints could be on the way. The TAS is about to begin testing on a plan to allow pilots and crew members to bypass scanners. And that could translate into shorter waits for everyone else.
If you are about to face a judge, try do it first thing in the morning or right after lunch. A study of Israeli judges found those times produced the most favorable rulings. And U2's 360 world stadium tour is now the highest grossing road show ever, so far taking in more than $554 million in ticket sales. When the tour wraps up in July it is expected to have made more than $700 million.
All right, you are caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back in 60 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: It's going to be a nice day in Denver and Santa Fe. It's 45 minutes past the hour.
Jacqui Jeras is going to give us our morning weather need-to- know. Hi there, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, guys. Not a bad day overall. We got some storm we have to worry about once again today, but nothing compared to what we have seen the last couple of days. And our biggest worry will really be maybe some wind damage out of some isolated storms.
Here is that big system he though, still rolling along. You can kind of see that little swirl of our upper-level system that's bringing in some really heavy rainfall. There was some wicked storms overnight that plowed through parts of Mississippi and Tennessee as well as Alabama.
Thousands of people without power this morning around the Huntsville area; that line has just petered out. There is nothing strong about this any longer. So, that's some good news but it will be wet on the roadway still and you might hear a few rumbles of thunder.
Now the heavy showers around Louisville up towards Cincinnati, right along I-75 there Pittsburgh had a wet go of it this morning. And now it's starting to see this snake into the northeastern corridor.
So, look out New York City and Philadelphia, you are just a couple of hours away from that rain coming down. Now, in terms of travel delays by the airways, we have got nine-minute delays, Ali Velshi, if you are listening, in Atlanta. That's due to runway maintenance now, but those delays could get a little lengthier as those winds pick up throughout the day today.
New York City over an hour possible this afternoon due to that rain coming in as well as the D.C. metros in Philadelphia. We mentioned Atlanta. Charlotte expecting thunderstorms this afternoon and Orlando and Tampa could have a few delays because of thunderstorms later on for today.
But real gusty conditions in the backside of the front, beautiful conditions for a change across parts of the Midwest, temperatures pretty mild here as well, but windy into the southwest and critically dry conditions mean those fires that are still burning across parts of Texas and into Oklahoma will continue to get that fuel unfortunately to feed those fires.
Temperature-wise we are coolish across parts of the west as well as into the northeast, but above average in the nation's midsection. We have got another big storm, guys, that's going to be rolling on through the plains and the east late this week. This is going to be another severe weather maker and it's also going to be a snowmaker for some people again across the Midwest. Don't blame me. Just --
VELSHI: She didn't just say snow?
ROMANS: She did. She said -- but she said don't blame here.
JERAS: Don't blame me.
VELSHI: There you go. I don't know about a nine-minute delay at LaGuardia. Never even heard of such a thing.
JERAS: Nine minutes. Set your watch to it, Ali.
VELSHI: It is a half an hour delay even when there is no delay at LaGuardia. So how is that a nine-minute delay -- all right Jacqui. Thank you.
ROMAN: Jacqui Jeras. Thanks, Jacqui.
This next story I love.
VELSHI: We both take the subway, love the subway here in New York and sometimes it can get pretty crammed check this out. A video going viral right now showing 28 New York City strap hangers, which is what you call riders here, stuck in an elevator. Only way to get to the number one train at the 181st Street --
ROMANS: Look at the firefighter coming down.
VELSHI: There you go. It goes down 130 feet.
ROMANS: A commuter posted on a blog on Friday. She said people were hot. They were scared but mostly remained calm. 28 people in one with elevator, folks. One little girl suffered an asthma attack. Fire Department came to the rescue about an hour later.
VELSHI: This is why everybody loves firefighters, right? It's all the good stuff. They come down. They help you out. You're mad at everybody, you're mad at the subway, still the best deal you can get in New York for two bucks though.
ROMANS: It is not a very comfortable place to be, a New York City subway elevator, even if there's one other person with you, let alone 28.
VELSHI: All right. Coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING NBA star Ron Artest probably still best known for a brawl in 2004 is working hard to change that. We're going to show you how.
ROMANS: And a police officer claims he was trying to protect kids from a potentially dangerous squirrel. But now he has some explaining to do. Jeanne Moos has that story.
It's 49 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. When he is not chasing down his opponent's best players, NBA star Ron Artest spends his time raising money and awareness for mental health program. Here is Dr. Sanjay Gupta with this morning's "Human Factor".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RON ARTEST, NBA PLAYER: Today, we visited a school in Englewood. Yesterday, we visited a clinic, visited a health clinic in South Central. You know, and so I move around a lot, try to stay involved.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: After practice, this is what L.A. Lakers forward Ron Artest does in his free time. He is raising awareness about mental illness.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Artest for 3.
DR. GUPTA: While it is not exactly what most people would expect from the man who made the cover of sports illustrated for storming the stands in Detroit after a fan threw a drink at him. That was back in 2004.
You know, people watch the videos of you like, they will forever, when you were angry.
ARTEST: Yes.
DR. GUPTA: It's a very different Ron Artest today.
ARTEST: Definitely. Definitely. Just having the confidence to let people know, yes, I had a problem and I made it a problem. Yes, I did see a psychologist. Yes I do still -- I saw him before game seven.
DR. GUPTA: In fact, after the Lakers won the NBA championship last year, Artest's first shout out when to his psychologist essentially telling the world he was seeing help because he needed it. Then (INAUDIBLE) his championship ring for more than $500,000. That went to his charity which helps high-risk kids.
Do you have a particular diagnosed mental illness?
ARTEST: I don't have a mental illness. At the age of six years old, I had anger management problems. There was a lot of frustration and tension in my household. And as I got older, I'm like, man, I'm always mad for some reason.
DR. GUPTA: Do you have anger management issues anymore?
ARTEST: Not as bad as I used to. DR. GUPTA: But he does say there has been a lot of mental health issues in his issue and he knows counseling has helped him deal with these issues and it can help others, too, but they have to have access to therapy.
ARTEST: I'm still not perfect. I tell people I'm an example, you know? I'm no longer a statistic, I'm an example. I'm a solution and I'm trying to be a role model, international airport a role model yet. One day I will be.
DR. GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back to American morning.
For the animal rights crowd, the latest YouTube sensation is right in their wheelhouse.
VELSHI: This video features a cop, a inquiry squirrel and a can of mace. That's all you need to know. Jeanne Moos has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What happened to this baby squirrel may drive animal lovers nuts. No, it wasn't an oncoming car but a back-pedalling cop.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't spray him.
MOOS: Don't spray had him with your pepper spray, officer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't spray him.
MOOS: But spray him, he did. The screaming girls attend Kimball Middle School (ph) in Mesquite, Texas. Kids and school officials differ on how the squirrel was acting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It wasn't doing anything to us.
LAURA JOSE, MESQUITE SPOKESPERSON: It was behaving in kind of a strange manner and kept advancing toward the students.
MOOS: The police department says the officer --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Officer Davis.
MOOS: -- was worried the squirrel might be diseased, rabid and was protecting the kids but for Kelsey Frye, who shot the cop/squirrel confrontation with her cell phone --
KELSEY FRYE, STUDENT: To me, it was not a very good role model.
MOOS: She thought he should have dropped a box over the squirrel. "A threat to students," posted someone, "It's squirrel, not a tiger." But a squirrel, as we have seen in other YouTube videos, can get very attached.
The baby squirrel that got pepper sprayed was picked up by Animal Control and cleaned up then released back into the woods, apparently ok. And in case you ever find yourself under attack by a squirrel, remember, the CDC says small mammals, such as squirrels, are almost never found to be infected with rabies.
Ok it has happened. For instance, a woman in Pittsburgh got bitten by a rabid squirrel after her dog attacked it first. But it's extremely rare. The case of the pepper-sprayed squirrel is still under review but the department believes the officer wasn't acting maliciously. As one person posted, at least they didn't shoot it or tase it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't tase me, bro.
MOOS: Don't spray me bro.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: The box idea, really, the teenage girls were probably right with the box idea.
VELSHI: I grew up around squirrels. They're a little harder than that to sometimes catch.
ROMANS: Well, yes. But I mean -- ok.
VELSHI: Good story.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSI: Hey, the other one that we have been watching all morning that we can't get enough of, I'm so glad it had an ok ending to it is what happened at JFK Airport, that runway collision. Watch that A-380 clip that Delta Plane.
ROMANS: Whoa. There's about 600 people on those two planes, most of them are on the big plane, of course. That's the biggest jumbo jet in the world clipping this --
VELSHI: Commuter jet, basically.
ROMANS: The commuter jet basically and the Air France was taxiing to take off, the other -- the commuter jets on its way in. You know, we were saying all morning, it is what you say about the seat belt fasten sign.
VELSHI: Yes. You land that plane, people start getting up. This is a very good reason you why should keep your seat belt on and listen to the flight attendants.
ROMANS: That's right.
That does it for AMERICAN MORNING.
VELSHI: "CNN NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello starts right now.
ROMANS: Hi Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": You just want to be on the big plane and not the small plane when that kind of thing happens.
VELSHI: That's right.
