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New Day

Third Person Possibly Distracting Pilots; Chargers Have Not Been "Recalled," According to Tesla CEO; JPMorgan Replaced Two Million Cards; Heat Wave Hits Australian Open

Aired January 15, 2014 - 06:30   ET

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

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. Let's get straight over to John Berman for some of today's top stories.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Thanks to much, Kate.

An 11-year-old boy in critical condition this morning after being shot at his middle school in Roswell, New Mexico. Police say a 12-year-old class mate brought a shotgun to school and opened fire on two students before a teacher got him to give up the weapon. The other victim, a 13-year-old girl is in stable condition this morning. The alleged shooter also in custody today. Police are still trying to determine a motive there.

Breaking overnight, confusion and chaos moments after the crash of Asiana flight 214. Captured in a dramatic new video that's just been released, it shows first responders were warned twice about a teenage crash victim lying on the runway still alive. Despite those warnings, the 16-year-old was run over twice by fire trucks and killed.

New development in a chemical scare in Colorado: two students at Skyview Acadamy outside of Littleton are in police custody accused setting off a chemical device exposing their classmates and a teacher to a dangerous reaction. Five people had breathing problems and were sent to the hospital. Investigators are trying to determine what that device was and what chemicals were inside it.

New FDA recommendations to doctors about acetaminophen -- not from the FDA, rather, new recommendations. It's one of the most common painkillers in America. It's found in medicines like Tylenol. Now the FDA is asking doctors to stop prescribing combination drugs that contain more than 325 milligrams per tablet. In large doses, acetaminophen can lead to liver failure and even death. Regulators hope that reducing the quantity per dosage will also reduce the risk of an overdose.

So dozens of endangered sea turtles fully recovered from last week's freezing weather. They now back in the Gulf of Mexico. Rescuers released the 57 turtles -- go swim; be free -- into Florida's St. Jobe Ayotte (ph) on Tuesday. They suffered cold stunning. I guess they were just shocked it was so cold. They float on the surface in a sort of comatose state if the water gets too cold. You gotta believe it was really cold last week. The smallest turtle saved was about two pounds. The largest was 70 pounds.

BOLDUAN: Every time we see a sea turtle, I think of Nemo and those adorable little turtles in Nemo. I was like, "Whoa, and I was like whoa."

BERMAN: Life is just a big Disney movie.

BOLDUAN: It is. I'm sorry. It had to be done. I know you're all thinking of it.

BERMAN: For me, it's "Frozen."

BOLDUAN: Chris, you?

BERMAN: "Frozen" got me.

BOLDUAN: It got you deep?

CUOMO: It got me, and that's not easy because I have no heart.

Now take a look at this. This is the flight data recorder from that Southwest jet that landed at the wrong airport Sunday. And it could prove to be a key piece of evidence in figuring out what went wrong. This morning, investigators are pouring over that data to see if a third person in the cockpit -- a third person -- may have acted as a distraction to the pilots. CNN's Rene Marsh is in Washington with the new details.

Rene.

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Chris, you know that third person in the cockpit was an airline dispatcher. They typically work on the ground coordinating flight plans and helping reroute planes.

What we don't know is why this person got the green light to be in the cockpit. That has really raised a new question. Did this third person contribute to the pilot's potentially catastrophic mistake?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH (voice-over): When Southwest 4013 came in for landing at the wrong airport with a dangerously short runway, the two veteran pilots had company in the cockpit. An airline dispatcher was in the jump seat behind the pilot and co-pilot.

It's something that's common, and the airline approved, but investigators want to know if that third person created a distraction that may have played a part in the pilots landing seven miles from their intended destination.

Experienced pilots say landing at the wrong airport means one thing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Inattention. Now, whether that was distraction, fatigue or what the underlying cause was.

MARSH: An FAA rule says only conversations relevant to take-off and landing are allowed during critical phases of flight. Southwest dispatcher union makes the rule clear on its website.

These data recorders will tell investigators if it was violated. The NTSB is reviewing the recordings now. They plan to interview the crew and dispatcher. Drug and alcohol tests are complete, but they're awaiting results.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a myriad of reasons that are going to be looked at so at that NTSB hearing, when they come up with that probable cause, will say, "OK, how do we mitigate this so this doesn't happen again?"

MARSH: As for the plane, two days after successfully taking off from the wrong airport, it's back in service, suggesting this investigation is focusing on human factors and not mechanical mishaps.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH (on-camera): All right, well that dispatcher is now on paid leave, along with the pilots. But again, we still don't know if this person contributed to the problem on Sunday night. Investigators are looking at many factors. We do know though from an industry source, air traffic controllers are cleared of wrong doing. The FAA found they acted properly.

Chris and Kate?

BOLDUAN: All right, still questions to be answered, though.

Rene, thank you very much for the update.

We're gonna take a break here on NEW DAY. Coming up next, trouble for the car of the future. Tesla motors now forced to recall thousands of chargers that could cause fires. But find out why CEO Elon Musk is refusing to recognize the word "recall" in a rare one-on-one interview with CNN.

CUOMO: And temperatures near 110 degrees at the Australian Open. One of the competitors actually collapsed. Now tournament officials are taking the heat. Should they be doing more to protect the players?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Welcome back.

The car of the future under fire this morning. The electric car maker Tesla recalling nearly 30,000 of its chargers because of a potential fire hazard. But Tesla CEO Elon is taking issue with the government's terminology. he says it is not a recall. In fact, he says the word "recall" needs to be recalled. Musk addressed that and more in a rare interview with CNN's Poppy Harlow. She joins us now.

So what's his take?

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: His take is that this is not actually a recall. We can pull up the tweet and show it to you. He tweeted this yesterday. I mean, Tesla's been a big focus of the Detroit auto show. They had record sales in their fourth quarter. But this news came amid news of a recall.

And this is a company that people pay lot of attention to because they're on the cutting edge of technology. But they're recalling about 29,000 of the wall charger adapters, what you charge these vehicles with, because there have been some fires.

Tesla says that's a problem with the wiring in homes and garages, not our problem. But they did an over-the-air software upgrade to solve it. They're sending out new chargers to people. But we sat down yesterday to talk to Elon Musk and frankly asked him what should all the people with these Model S sedans do. Are they safe to drive? Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, TESLA CEO: They can drive their cars safely. There's no problem, and there's no need to bring the car in anywhere. The over- the-air software update took place last month. So this is not something that will occur. It has already occurred. That alone addresses any potential risk. And the reason we did that was not because of a concern with the charger, but rather a concern with wiring that may have been inadequate in houses. But it's not actually even a Tesla problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Now, Tesla, has also been in the news, guys -- you'll remember this fall there wee some fires in Teslas after crashes. And Elon Musk says these charges have nothing to do with those fires. He also said, "Look, our company is getting far too much attention for a handful of fires versus all the fires you have in gasoline-powered cars."

But I asked him about that. And he said, you know, I also take some responsibility because we are a company that puts ourselves out there. We're a company that tweets a lot, and we put our story out there. So it's a double-edged sword. But he came out and said this shouldn't be looked at as a recall of the cars. This the chargers. But of course it's going to be in the spotlight because --

BOLDUAN: And when you are the new, and you are breaking the mold, you're going to get the attention. He knows what's coming at him. It's kind of part of what he is, right?

HARLOW: That's exactly right.

CUOMO: What about the price?

HARLOW: $70 grand.

CUOMO: Yes, they're very expensive.

HARLOW: $70 grand.

CUOMO: And it raises the question is he charging a premium for this car or do the costs simply necessitate this valuation at this point. Does he give you any insight as to when it will become more overall consumer-market friendly?

HARLOW: Because who can afford that? I mean, the batteries are so expensive. That's why they can't bring the cost down quickly.

I asked him when are we going to see a mass market Tesla. Because a lot of people are fascinated by these cars. He said probably not tomorrow, but listen to when you're going to see that down the road.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLILP)

MUSK: A mass-market affordable car is about three years away. That's the car we've always wanted to make.

HARLOW: That's going to be about half the price?

MUSK: Yeah, about $35,000 car.

HARLOW: What about a pickup truck? I believe that you said recently that you'd like to make the equivalent of a Ford F-150. Is that going to happen?

MUSK: Yeah, we'd like to produce an electric pick-up truck. That's -- we're not really thinking much about that, but that is part of our long-term plans. I would imagine that's probably something like four to five years.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

HARLOW: I can tell you investors are betting on this stock up 300 percent over the past year. People betting big on this. I think the big question is, can this company scale and be competitive with the likes of GM, Ford, Chrysler that are on a big upswing, but Elon Musk coming defending the company saying we need a new word, I guess, for recall, but also talking about when we'll see a more affordable version that you might drive, Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Not at $70,000.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: When it's going to light on fire.

(LAUGHTER)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Might not (ph) to be secondary. Thanks, Poppy.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Go on fire.

(LAUGHTER)

CUOMO: I can do that for free. BOLDUAN: Exactly. He just light up some cash. All right. Let's get another check of the weather. Let's check in with Indra Petersons. What are you watching, Indra?

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's a lot better for us out here today on the east coast yesterday. A lot of us were dealing with some rain, although it was light, the system has now made its way offshore. Very easy to see where that is kind of completely dried out and dissipated. There is one behind it, though. Another weak system. I say weak because it came from Canada. It's really dry.

So, it doesn't have a lot of moisture with it. Yes. You're going to get couple of sprinklers here and there, but the farther it progresses to the east, it will continue to dry out. It's not going to be a huge player. In fact, it'll just kind of bring cloudy conditions throughout the day. A low does develop off again off the Carolinas, but bring you all that rain offshore, but with the cold front, yes, temperatures going to back off a little bit today, bug again, mainly dry out there.

It's another system behind this that's going to produce some heavier showers and even some snow overnight night tonight and into the upper Midwest and eventually for weekend into the east coast. You can actually see it's coming from Canada way up high this guy. So, this one is going to bring the coldest air of all three systems we've had this week.

It's also with that cold air going to produce some very strong winds in Dakotas and even through Minnesota today. So with that, some blizzard like conditions in the area. Not really huge snow maker, though, as it progresses to the east. It's just going to bring a lot of that cold air with it bringing the northeast back to the 30s.

Our average temperatures by the weekend. Just keep in mind, if you are in the Dakotas or Minnesota, yes, blizzard conditions for you. Everyone else, just keep in mind, we're going to be talking those temperatures kind of backing off. Kind of interesting though, because of blizzard conditions not a lot of snow. The winds are just so strong it's going all the snow around so not be able to see (ph). But not a big dumper.

BOLDUAN: Still --

PETERSONS: Official term again, dumper.

(LAUGHTER)

PETERSONS: I saw your face the second I said it.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Indra.

CUOMO: It's a kind of word that just likes me.

(LAUGHTER) CUOMO: Coming up on NEW DAY, a week after we suffered through dangerous cold, Australia is baking through a serious heat wave. It's happening during the Australian Open, the big tennis tournament, and officials are keeping the athletes and spectators safe. Is that what they're doing? That's the concern.

BOLDUAN: And this, babies are the cutest, right? Not this one. Wreak havoc on the streets of New York. This baby is some scary stuff, and for some reason, has become our "Must-See Moment" when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: It is "Money Time." Chief business correspondent, Christine Romans, is in our money center. Green on the screen this morning, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely you're right, Chris. Futures are higher. Markets in Europe and Asia showing gains this morning. Investors confident. A little more confident after stocks in the U.S. yesterday had their best performance of the year.

Watching GM shares this morning, you guys. They are higher. GM says it will pay its first quarterly dividend in nearly six years. Thirty cents a share, a payout to investors representing a sharp turn around. Remember, the treasury department had a big stake in this company as early as last month. This was government motors, now it's on its own paying back shareholders.

JPMorgan says it replaced two million credit debit cards after that massive data breach at Target. Two million, they've changed their pin -- changed their numbers, rather. As many as 110 million Target customers caught up in the hack, including 40 million customers who used credit and debit cards over 19 days at the peak holiday shopping season.

JPMorgan CEO, Jamie Dimon, revealing the card replacement on an earnings call. He said retailers really have to put extreme effort into protecting their operations -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Christine, thank you for all that. So, we told you a dangerous heat wave is hitting Australia this week. The extreme temperatures are taking a toll on the Australian Open, the big tennis tournament. One player hallucinated and collapsed as temperatures topped, listen to this, 108 degrees. Others said it felt like playing in a sauna or a frying pan. Are tournament officials taking the heat warnings seriously?

Let's discuss heat and its effects with our meteorologist, Indra Petersons. What do you see on this?

PETERSONS: I mean, the most -- the last heat wave they had was actually in 2009. They had 173 deaths from that heat wave. To put that in perspective, it was 94 degrees at the Australian Open. Now, let's take a look at the temperatures they actually had this week. Remember, that was like 94. We're talking about 109 and 108 degrees. So, that is the concern here.

You're talking about people on the court fainting. It looks like -- what was his name? It was Frank Dancevic. He actually fainted after he thought he saw Snoopy. We had people that were vomiting on the court and they were penalized. They got code violations for vomiting on the court for taking up time. Many people's water bottles melting out there. You have people putting ice on them. So needless to say, in my opinion, obviously, no, they're not taking it seriously.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And these are hard courts. I mean, how much hotter is it down on the court?

PETERSONS: Yes, exactly. I mean, you talk about the court itself. It radiates heat back at you. So, not only do you have it above you, you have it radiating back at you. Now, the officials are saying, though, the humidity is low. It's like 25 percent.

And what they're thinking is the heat index kind of counts for 40 to 50 percent humidity. That's where people just going outside, they're out of shape, OK? We're talking about athletes here. They're used to dealing with extreme situations and they're working out for hours. That heat index does not count for hours and hours in extraneous heat in this condition. I think they're actually misunderstanding what the advisory is actually supposed to be.

CUOMO: And we also have to take some consideration for these players. They're doing the exact opposite of what we want normal people to do in the heat which is, you know, take in a lot of fluid, conserve your energy, limit your exposure. Here, they're pushing themselves to the limits, so they're completely dehydrating, you know? And they're also exhausting themselves. So, it's a very dangerous combination.

PETERSONS: I mean, the players themselves are actually saying it is inhumane. That is exactly how they are describing. You're talking about situations that are so extreme, and it's not just the players --

BOLDUAN: Are they going to get a break soon?

PETERSONS: Yes. They're actually going to get a break as we go through the weekend, though. But keep in mind, it's going to get hotter before it gets better. And that's a concern if they don't understand these advisories. It looks like by tomorrow, it's going to be 111 degrees. You already have people fainting. You already have people vomiting. You have cramps out there.

People are having to give up their matches, and they still don't think that advisory has met the threshold because all they care about is that humidity level. I just want to point out, though, we talked about weather deaths. They usually count for more deaths than any other weather event combined -- hurricane, tornadoes, more people die from heat-related weather deaths than anything else. And I don't think they understand --

BERMAN: Let's hope the players and the fans are careful over the next few days. All right, Indra. It's time now --

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Indra.

BERMAN: -- for our "Must-See Moment." Prepare for the attack of the devil baby. Now, we should let you know up-front this is all a prank to promote the upcoming film, "Devil's due."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN (voice-over): Take a look at these New Yorkers just freaking out, scared out of their minds when a remote control (INAUDIBLE) beside them out pops that really kind of deranged looking kid that makes Chuckie look tame, I think.

BOLDUAN (voice-over): However, realistic. I mean --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: I don't know.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: But nothing quite like that.

BOLDUAN: This would leave a mark.

BERMAN: The film --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO (voice-over): Yes, I got kids. I got six kids. It's nothing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN (on-camera): And very disturbed by that.

BERMAN (on-camera): It's deeply troubling. It's like rosemary's baby in a carriage on wheels.

BOLDUAN: Do we know why they're doing it?

BERMAN: It's a "Devil's Due." It's a new movie coming out this Friday.

BOLDUAN: I'm sorry. I couldn't -- listen --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO (on-camera): Not that far off from what can happen in real life.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: I've got three kids.

BOLDUAN: It is so darling.

PETERSONS: And does it make you want to see it? Is that point -- (CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: Not at all.

BERMAN: They're going to sleep early.

CUOMO: Nothing like projectile vomiting. Always when you have good clothes on also and you're about to leave the house.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: Speaks from experience.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: And then the kids, that's a whole separate issue.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: Never mind.

CUOMO: That's funny.

Coming up on NEW DAY, so now, we're going to go back to the serious news for you. Why? We have news of another school shooting in New Mexico. The community, of course, is in shock. One of the reasons in particular, the shooter was 12 years old, shot two classmates before a teacher, once again, a teacher steps up and controls the situation. We're going to talk with a student who knows the shooter and try to understand why this happened.

BOLDUAN: And the American who spent nine months in a prison in the Middle East for posting a joke video online. How does he feel now that he is finally out? We're going to ask Shezanne Cassim in an exclusive interview next hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a report of possibly two victims at this time.

CUOMO: A shocking act. Another school shooting, but this is a new low in age. The shooter, only 12 years old. Two children in the hospital this morning, one fighting for his life. We talk live to a student who knows the shooter.