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Propane Plant Explodes in Florida; Woman Arrested for Monument Vandalism; Hope Prices Up 12 Percent; Weiner Staying in Mayoral Race; ; Breakfast Meeting for Biden, Clinton; Rpt: MLB Plan for A-Rod Lifetime Ban; Flossie Now a Tropical Storm; Merck, Pfizer Posting Q2 Earnings

Aired July 30, 2013 - 09:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Happening now in the NEWSROOM, breaking overnight, fireball. Explosions at a Florida propane plant.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are just shooting off like missiles right now.

COSTELLO: Tanks, yes, tanks flying off into the night.

Also, busted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can confirm late this afternoon an arrest was made.

COSTELLO: The Lincoln Memorial, the National Cathedral, our national treasures splattered in green paint and now a 58-year-old woman in custody. The park police talks to CNN straight ahead.

Plus, your car hacked.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's where most of the ECUs in the car are.

COSTELLO: Under the hood and over the top.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you look how much gasoline we have right now. I can pretend we have a full tank.

COSTELLO: How they do it and how easy it really is.

And "Blurred Lines." It's a smash single played on radios across the country. The song of the summer, but should it be?

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (on camera): That's going to be in my head all day. Good morning, thank you so much for being with me. I'm Carol Costello.

A sleepy Central Florida community sounds more like a war zone when ordinary propane tanks, like the kind you use for your backyard grill, start exploding. One resident said it sounded like bombs were going off at the plant that refills propane tanks -- 53,000 tanks, with more than a million pounds of propane are housed at this facility. Now this morning, thousands of those tanks are scattered across the property and the surrounding area. Unbelievably, only eight plant workers were taken to the hospital.

Adriana Hauser has more from Tavares, Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see that?

ADRIANA HAUSER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One after another after another. Explosions so big and so loud they could be seen and heard and felt for miles. The raging inferno lighting up the night sky just after 11:00 p.m. over the Blue Rhino propane plant in Tavares, Florida, northwest of Orlando. The danger so great, officials forced to evacuate residents a mile away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are just shooting off like missiles right now.

HAUSER: This video captures what looks like propane tanks shooting up into the sky, fires burning out of control just feet away from three large propane tanks. Dozens of emergency responders racing to the scene to treat the injured while firefighters fought to put down the flames.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jesus.

HAUSER: Plant officials have accounted for the two dozen employees working at the time. At least seven were taken to area hospitals. Miraculously, no fatalities.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were propane cylinders stored in various parts of the property -- 53,000 20-pound cylinders.

HAUSER: This plant explosion on the heels of a deadly one at a fertilizer plant just three months ago and that rocked the small town of West, Texas. Fifteen people died, most of them first responders. The devastation there spanned a five-block radius. The cause of that deadly blast is still under investigation. The investigation here in Florida, just beginning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And Adriana Hauser joins us live now from near Orlando, Florida. You just finished a walking tour of the plant. Is there anything left?

HAUSER (on camera): Good morning, Carol. There is a lot left. There is actually 53,000 cylinders of propane that were actually inside of the facility at the moment of the explosion. Many of them you can tell have exploded and there's a lot of debris all over. As you walk towards the plant, you can see debris all over. And then when you get to the plant, it's piles and piles of these cylinders that were 20 pounds each and many of them exploded.

We also, Carol, had an opportunity to listen to Richard Keith. He is the fire chief of the City of Tavares. He confirmed that the number of injured has gotten up one number. It's now eight people in hospitals. The extent of those injuries are not known yet. We also know about 20 EMS workers responded to the incident, 60 firefighters, none of them injured either, fortunately. The authorities in Tavares here are calling this a blessing, a miracle, given the dramatic flames that we got to see last night here when those propane tanks started exploding one after another.

We also, Carol, have a little bit more of an idea of what could have caused this explosion. Authorities here in Tavares are saying that the cause they don't think was sabotage -- possibly equipment failure, possibly human error. But there is an investigation going on and until the investigation is concluded, we won't know for sure. Carol?

COSTELLO: Adriana Hauser, thanks so much. Reporting live for us near Orlando, Florida.

A 58-year-old woman under arrest this morning in connection with throwing green paint inside the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Paint was splattered on an organ, the floor, even a mural. Police say the paint was still wet when they came in to investigate. This comes just days after green paint was found splashed on the Lincoln Memorial.

CNN's Pamela Brown has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): Cleaning crews spent Monday night scrubbing green paint off an organ and a wall inside two National Cathedral chapels. Police arrested Tian Jiamel and charged her with defacing property. A law enforcement source says the 58-year-old woman was found carrying a green paint can when she was arrested.

RICHARD WEINBERG, NATIONAL CATHEDRAL: I can confirm late this afternoon an arrest was made, suspect who appears to have vandalized both Bethlehem Chapel and Children's Chapel here at Washington National Cathedral. The original vandalism was found in the Bethlehem chapel on the lower level and so we closed the lower level and then later in the afternoon, additional paint had been found in Children's Chapel.

BROWN: It's still unknown if the suspect is linked to the vandalism of three other D.C. landmarks in recent days. On Friday, authorities discovered green paint splattered on the Lincoln Memorial. As crews continue to clean up the historic landmark, authorities discovered what looks like green painted symbols on the statue of Joseph Henry, the first secretary of the Smithsonian.

Adding to the mystery, green paint was discovered on a statue of Martin Luther at a D.C. church a day before the National Cathedral incident. Officials are still investigating whether the vandalism is linked or if these are copycat crimes. (END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Pamela Brown joins us live on the phone right now. Pamela, is there more?

BROWN (via telephone): Hello.

COSTELLO: I know your truck died and that's why you're on the phone. So I'm thankful you could be here to share new information with us.

BROWN: So, Carol, what I can tell you right now, we have obtained a police report and what we know now is that the 58-year-old woman who was arrested yesterday, Tian Jiamei, arrested yesterday at the National Cathedral, authorities say that she actually had several green paint cans inside three bags that she had on her. When they discovered her, she was carrying a green paint can, allegedly, and tried to put that in one of her bags. We know that authorities have taken her clothes that she had on and sent them to forensic to see if the paint on her clothes matches up with the paint on the other D.C. landmarks.

But at this point, Carol, this is still an ongoing, active investigation. Authorities have not been able to link the vandalism at the four D.C. monuments yet. The woman in custody is only linked to the vandalism here at the National Cathedral, so it really remains a mystery at this point and authorities are still looking into whether these could be copycat crimes.

COSTELLO: All right, Pamela Brown reporting live by phone from Washington, D.C.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

COSTELLO: All right, we have a bit of breaking news that's actually good news, fantastic news. So let's head to the New York Stock Exchange and Alison Kosik. It all has to do with the housing prices, tell us.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: So we found out that home prices, Carol, jumped 12 percent. This is actually the biggest jump that we've seen since 2006, year-over-year jump. And this is obviously good news if you're out there selling your home. If you're out there trying to buy a home, well, that's another story, especially since what's been happening lately is we've been seeing interest rates edge back up because what's floating around now, more than just a rumor, is the Fed, the Federal Reserve saying it's going to scale back its stimulus and that is what's essentially causing interest rates to creep back up.

So as much as the housing recovery really is taking charge of the overall recovery here for the U.S., we are seeing the housing market take a few hits. One example, pending home sales fell yesterday. Those are the number of contracts, number of homes under contract. That number actually declined and that's because of this rising interest rates and those pending home sales are a good indicator of what's to come. So you're seeing the housing market take charge of this recovery in fits and starts, but the fact housing prices are up this much is a good sign. Just to give you some idea of where we're seeing home prices rise (INAUDIBLE), we're seeing in the southwest and the west, these home prices really jumped. Interestingly enough, Washington, D.C. is no longer the stand-out leader and the Eastern Sunbelt states like Miami and Tampa are lagging behind their western counterparts. We also saw a weakness in housing prices in Detroit. Carol?

COSTELLO: Well, that, perhaps, is expected. Alison Kosik, thanks so much.

Anthony Weiner, he's way, way down in the polls, but he says he's going to stay in the race. But it gets worse this morning, because the woman behind Weiner's latest sexting scandal took to the airwaves this morning to tell her story to Howard Stern.

Sydney Leathers says she thought she was in love with Weiner at the time but she told Howard Stern that things fizzled because Weiner was clingy and, quote, "like a needy girlfriend."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOICE OF SYDNEY LEATHERS, ANTHONY WEINER'S SEXTING PARTNER: There were times he talked to me multiple times a day. He was like a needy girlfriend or something. He's like this clingy person. It actually was a turnoff. That's part of why things started to fizzle out because he was clingy with me. He would get pissy with me over guys complimenting me on Facebook.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Late night comedians also piling on. Well, they are; trust me, they are. You've probably watched them. They are, they are piling on.

CNN's Rosa Flores is live in New York with much more. So, Anthony Weiner says, "Hey, I'm not quitting" still?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, I know. And, you know, Carol, everyone wants a piece of this puzzle because there's a lot of attention given to Anthony Weiner right now.

Now, here's what's interesting. We've covered many of Weiner's events since, you know, all of these raunchy text messages were revealed. Once again, I can tell you he's received applause and support during all of his appearances, so you might ask yourself, "Is this the reason why he still is in the race?"

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DENISE SAMPSON STEPHENS, NEW YORK VOTER: As a candidate, you should have moral values and right now, I think that his moral values are shot. FLORES (voice-over): Harsh words and even a harsher reality for embattled mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner. His poll numbers plummeting from first to fourth in a new Quinnipiac University poll, the survey conducted after a new round of lewd Internet chats were revealed.

Take a look, the former congressman's support dropping 10 percentage points in just five days, from 26 percent to 16 percent.

ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: I'm going to leave this to the people of the city of New York to decide, period, end of conversation.

FLORES: His vow to stay in the race angering the Clintons. A source close to the political power couple tells CNN they are livid with Weiner personally because they care about Huma.

Adding salt to the wound, Democratic candidate for comptroller, Eliot Spitzer, trying to resurrect his own career after his own sex scandal is turning his back on Weiner.

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC: You're not going to vote for Anthony Weiner. Can you just say that now? You don't think he should be mayor of New York?

ELIOT SPITZER (D), NEW YORK COMPTROLLER CANDIDATE: Fair point. That is correct.

WEINER: I'm interested in what pundits say. I'm interested in what other politicians say, but not that much.

FLORES: Despite all, he continues campaigning across the city and finding supporters at every stop -- wooing voters in Queens with a little Mandarin. Making it clear he's fighting for every vote he can get.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES (on camera): Now Weiner has also been sending supporters e- mails asking them for their vote and, of course, for their money because, as you and I know, campaigns are very expensive.

Now I can tell you that right now he's in the Bronx and he is hitting the campaign trail again, shaking hands, Carol, again trying to get those voters out there for him to support him. Again, I can tell you, we've seen people very enthusiastic about him, so that might just keep him going at least for the moment. Carol?

COSTELLO: Maybe so. Thanks so much, Rosa.

So with all of that, oh, to be a fly on the wall following Hillary Clinton this week in Washington. This morning, the former Secretary of State and potential 2016 presidential candidate is sitting down for breakfast with Vice President Joe Biden. This breakfast will take place at Mr. Biden's home at the Naval Observatory and it comes one day after Clinton's lunch date with the president, and a backyard chat with the man she spent four years traveling the globe for, logging 1million air miles.

White House correspondent Brianna Keilar is in Washington. She joins us with more. Good morning, Brianna. BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. What? You don't believe that Hillary Clinton is just here sort of catching up with her pals, having lunches, having breakfasts?

COSTELLO: No, I'm sure she's patting poor Joe on the hand saying, "It's OK, I'm going to run for president, not you."

KEILAR: You know, maybe smoothing something over, Carol. Yes, this does follow -- she's having brunch or breakfast, I guess you could say, probably as we speak. I will tell you about all that we have learned from officials who are aware of this breakfast and following it, are what they are eating: scrambled eggs, some avocado, roast tomatoes, whole wheat toast. Kind of sounds like the average breakfast you would have, but I'd bet the conversation is something that you'd really like to listen in on.

This comes on the heels of her lunch yesterday with President Obama just steps from the Oval Office. And certainly this meeting with Biden, we've been told was previously planned.

But it sort of does give the sense of the fact that he's sort of in the mix as there's been so much political buzz over Clinton being here and meeting with President Obama, certainly an interesting relationship that they've had over the years, very much at odds during the 2008 primary.

And then she's going on to be his top diplomat. He really sort of went above and beyond compared to what he does normally when members of his cabinet exit back in January, he went and did a "60 Minutes" interview with Hillary Clinton making sure that he praised her and really getting that out there publicly.

But as you mention, Carol, when you look at the polls, it is just -- there's so much contrast. The polls show that if you look at Democratic likely voters, Clinton is definitely the person to beat, a recent poll showing that she would get 63 percent of the vote, Joe Biden just 13 percent.

COSTELLO: Oh.

KEILAR: So, as you said, perhaps she is saying, you know, Joe, it's OK, but, hey, 2016's pretty far away. And neither one of them have said they are jumping in.

COSTELLO: Yes, but it's fun to surmise, isn't it?

Brianna Keilar, reporting live from the White House.

Let's talk a little sports before we take a break. Alex Rodriguez's future in baseball now coming into sharper focus. Major League Baseball could suspend A-Rod this week as part of a doping scandal, but should he fight that ban?

The commissioner's office is looking at ways to keep Alex Rodriguez from ever playing baseball again.

"Bleacher Report's" Joe Carter is following the story in Tampa.

Good morning, Joe.

JOE CARTER, BLEACHER REPORT: Hi. Good morning, Carol. Yes, we're just outside the Yankees spring training facility here in Tampa, Florida. Alex Rodriguez showed up to the facility just a short time ago, dressed in a T-shirt, dressed in shorts, ready for his typical daily workout. He usually spends about two to three hours here at the facility, in the batting cage, taking ground balls, working out on the fields.

As he continues his workouts here in Tampa as normal, trying to rehab from hip surgery, as well as a recent strained quad, Major League Baseball could be on the verge of handing down the biggest punishment in sports history. Of course, Alex Rodriguez and as many as 20 other players are accused of taking performance-enhancing drugs from a clinic in south Florida, a now closed clinic.

Of course, Alex Rodriguez, the biggest name on that list, his attorney telling a New York radio station last night that they not only plan to fight any suspension that comes down, their goal is absolutely no suspension at all.

Now, the new twist to this whole thing, Carol, and this saga has gone on now for many weeks, but the new twist is the commissioner, Bud Selig, could not only be going after Alex Rodriguez for drug violations, he could also choose to go down another path, and that's going after him for violating the collective bargaining agreement.

And some of those violations would include recruiting other players to this biogenesis clinic and/or interfering with Major League Baseball's investigation. If they choose to go down that path, meaning, going after the violation of the collective bargaining agreement, that would mean Alex Rodriguez would have to start serving his suspension immediately. So, that means he would not be able to play baseball during the appeals process.

Now, the Yankees have a decision to make come Thursday. They could decide to put Alex Rodriguez back on a five-game minor league rehab assignment, that means his return to the Yankees could be as soon as a week from today.

But as we all sit here and wonder and wait, Major League Baseball has a decision to make and according to MLB.com that decision is, quote, "imminent" on the suspensions -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Interesting. Joe Carter, reporting live from Tampa this morning.

Just ahead on THE NEWSROOM: real housewife getting a hard dose of real time reality in federal court. We'll have all the details for you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 22 minutes past the hour. Time Warner cable and CBS trying to hash out a deal. Contract negotiations back on after making an impasse overnight. Time Warner even said it was yanking CBS-owned stations off the air in New York and other key markets. Now, it's saying it won't do that for now.

Time Warner is the parent company of CNN.

San Diego Mayor Bob Filner is facing a slew of sexual harassment accusations, now he wants San Diego to cover his legal expenses. That might be a bit complicated, though. Seven of nine members on the city council have urged the mayor to resign. City council will hold a closed session today to figure out whether they want to pick up the tab for the mayor's legal bills.

In money news, you might find some long lines outside of McDonald's and Wendy's today. Fast food workers are walking off the job in seven cities this week. They want higher wages, at least $15 an hour and the right to form unions.

Real life is getting a lot messy for two stars of the real housewives of New Jersey. Teresa and Joe Giudice are expected in court on fraud charges. Prosecutors say the couple lied on loan applications about how much money they had to defraud lenders and get mortgages approved. Teresa's attorney says his client looks forward to vindication in court.

Flossie has been pounding Hawaii with heavy rains and rough surf, but the storm is now weakening. Meteorologist Indra Petersons is in our severe weather center with better news this morning.

Good morning.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.

Yes, it's always good news when we know it's weakening. Now, a depression, so we're seeing steady winds about 35 miles per hour. You can tell the center of this is actually north of the islands, even though you're seeing a lot of convection here down to the south.

Still looking for some heavy rain and, of course, some strong winds as it makes its way closer to Kauai. In about 36 hours, we expect to a remnant low. In about 72 hours, we expect it to dissipate. So, that's the good news as far as Flossie, or of what's left of Flossie is concerned.

Speaking of heavy rain and flooding, though, unbelievable amounts of rain yesterday, especially out towards Kansas. Record breaking rain, about seven inches of rain.

Now, it's very slow moving system with heavy thunderstorms embedded within it. You can actually see a current look at it right now on the live radar. Still seeing that actually make its way to the Mississippi Valley.

So, it's slow moving, another two to four inches of rain is possible in that area. So that is something we're going to be monitoring today, especially with the flood threat in that area, you actually see another look at that, kind of making its way east. Everything else going on, we've been watching a nice dome of high pressure bringing cool temperatures, beautiful weather really right around the Great Lakes.

You can see the contrast expected today. Notice all the heat down to the south and rights around Chicago, look at this. Awesome temperatures, 70s, beautiful weather really expected and also what's not too bad, anywhere from the Northeast to Southeast getting a break from all the rain we've pretty much seen really all summer long.

It's been a weird summer, June and July filled with rain out there. I'll take this day.

COSTELLO: I will, too. And thanks for that. Indra Petersons, many thanks.

Still ahead in THE NEWSROOM: traitor or hero. It's judgment day for the army private accused in the largest classified leak in U.S. history. We'll talk about Bradley Manning, with Alan Dershowitz, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning. Thanks so much for being with me. I'm Carol Costello.

Opening bell set to ring on Wall Street, so let's head there right now. Alison Kosik is there.

Alison, good morning.

So, housing prices are fabulous this morning. Will that have any effect on the numbers this morning?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, what's really depressing about this as far as the market goes, you know, those housing prices we found jumped 12 percent from last May. Well, they didn't move the needle on stock futures. The good news is it looks like the bulls are going to peek their heads over the fence ever so slightly to help stocks bounced back again today.

You know what's in focus more so than those housing numbers? It's really a busy earnings day. The pharmaceutical sector is taking center stage on Wall Street. And here's why. Pharma giants Merck and Pfizer both handed in their report cards for the second quarter and they reported declines in sales.

And this really seems to be this really ongoing problem for the pharmaceutical industry because what's happening is these pharmaceutical companies are losing their patent protections on big name blockbuster drugs. Pfizer lost its patent protection on Lipitor. And then what happened was, sales of Lipitor fell 55 percent compared to a year ago.

Then you look at Merck. Merck's Singulair taking a hit, too, sales down 80 percent for that drug.

So, what you're seeing happened is this generic competition really hitting these big pharmaceutical companies hard. But you look at the big picture, stocks for both of these companies, for Pfizer and for Merck, they're up 18 percent for the year. So investors are optimistic these companies are finding ways to stay profitable, despite the big sales decline for some drugs.

Wall Street, Carol, also has an eye on the Federal Reserve today. It's beginning its policy meeting, two-day policy meeting. So, we could see investors staying away from big moves as they wait on the outcome of the meeting, that we'll learn tomorrow.

That was the opening bell, looks like the Dow is up 19 points to start -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Good start.

Alison Kosik, thanks so much.