Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning: Wake Up Call

Wildfire Rages Outside Dallas; Facebook's "Big Bounty" Program; Tripoli Zoo Animals Thin & Thirsty; Shots Fired At Texas Rep's Office; Litany Of Failures In Calif. Blast; Libya Rebel Leader: 50,000 Killed

Aired August 31, 2011 - 05:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. It is Wednesday, August 31st. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL.

I'm Carol Costello. Thanks for joining us. We're live this morning for you out of New York.

Let's start with breaking news out of Texas. A wildfire outside of Dallas-Ft. Worth, it's destroyed about 30 homes already. It threatens many more. This is so big. The fire is so big and intense that firefighters haven't been able to contain any of it.

Right now, crews are getting people out of its way and trying to protect the homes still standing. The fire has burned nearly 8,000 acres. Air tankers are expected to drop water on the fire today. It is unclear how this fire started. But the epic drought and the heat may have made this the worst fire season in Texas history.

Oklahoma is suffering, too. A fire near Oklahoma City has forced people within a two square mile area out of their homes.

It's going to be another busy day for rescuers in Vermont. Several hundred people are still trapped by floodwaters. Irene, with its punishing wind and rain turned some communities into islands, cut off from civilization. The National Guard has been dropping supplies by helicopter. At one point, you couldn't get into or out of 13 towns.

Authorities hope all of them will be accessible soon. Mark Leibowitz, for example, went to Vermont to get married. Now, he and his guests are trapped.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK LEIBOWITZ, STRANDED IN VERMONT (via telephone): We're in need of medical supplies. We have food and we have drinkable water. There's no running water because there's no power and all the waters run on electric pumps.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Flooding in New Jersey has forced more than 1,300 people into shelters and kept rescue crews busy. The Passaic River has come roaring out of its banks. Water in the streets of Paterson got up to 18 feet. Nearly 3 million people still don't have electricity across several states.

A California man can probably kiss good-bye any chance of his being father of the year. Authorities in Orange County say Sloan Briles tossed his 7-year-old son of the side of a tour boat. Police say he was angry because his son was crying. Other boaters pulled the child out of the water. The father now is in big trouble. He's charged with a felony and he is now free on $100,000 bond.

You might hear news out of Aruba today. Gary Giordano, the man held in the disappearance of an American woman, could go free for lack of evidence. A judge could decide today whether he stays or goes. It's been four weeks since Robyn Gardner was seen at a bar with Giordano. He claims she was swept out to sea while they were snorkeling.

Here's some news about the suspect of a Tucson mass shooting. Federal authorities say they need more time to threat Jared Loughner so he'll be mentally fit to stand trial. A judge is considering their requests. Six people were killed, 13 wounded including, as you know, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

And WikiLeaks has been trying to get its Web site back up after hackers brought it down. Everything seems to be up and running now. The attack happens soon after the State Department slammed WikiLeaks' batch of new diplomatic cables because of names that were supposed to be secret were exposed.

Now, let's head to Atlanta.

Are you back at Atlanta, Rob?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I am back in Atlanta.

COSTELLO: We were looking around for you in New York and we couldn't find you. We figured you must have gone back to Atlanta.

MARCIANO: Did you miss me?

COSTELLO: I miss you already.

MARCIANO: I can see that. I'm here, Carol. You know, you got to man the Doppler here, you know?

It's been a busy of couple weeks. And we got personnel all over the place. And as you know, as you said, still flooding in New Jersey, still problems in Connecticut and obviously the on going recovery in Vermont.

Yet we have another storm to talk about. Let's talk about Katia. Here is the latest on it. Tropical storm force winds -- look at that, 65 miles an hour. So, this baby is almost already a hurricane. And we expect it to become that as we go through the next day or two, rapidly intensifying and heading in our general direction.

Here is the forecast from the National Hurricane Center. There you go, cat 1 on Thursday, cat 2 on Friday, Cat 3 by the time Sunday and Monday rolls around.

We'd like to see the northerly turn hurry and happen. The sooner it happens, the more we can relax. Right now, it is a threat to the U.S. But, typically, when these storms this far out begin this far north and make this west-northwesterly track, we'll se them be a gutter ball. And that hopefully will come true with this one -- too early to say that for sure. So, give us another couple days, and then we'll give you the green light on that.

Also watching this situation here across northwestern Gulf of Mexico -- or northwestern Caribbean. That could become something as we get towards the weekend. That could be more interesting.

Orlando, Miami, Detroit afternoon thunderstorms and morning fog. Speaking of Miami, Carol, apparently, a couple days ago, a gentleman was going through security, and the brand new technology there detected not one, not two -- seven snakes and three tortoises in his pants. He was on his way to Brazil, I believe and -- or on his way back from Brazil, one of the two.

Anyway, I don't know how all those things fit in your pants but he must have deep pockets.

COSTELLO: Yes, he must have very deep pockets.

MARCIANO: Or some sort of fancy underwear, baggy pants.

COSTELLO: I don't even want to think about that right now. Thank you, Rob.

MARCIANO: OK, Carol.

COSTELLO: From snakes to four-legged animals, smart ones at that, they're smart enough to sense when disaster is near, like last week's earthquake, for example.

Here is more from Jay Leno.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

JAY LENO, COMEDIAN: Animals have an amazing nark for predicting earthquakes, that they know an earthquake is going to happen. They did a study at the D.C. zoo. Look how they do it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Animals on record with reaction to the earthquake back east. The National Zoo made not about the animals act and they discovered the first signs of the earthquake are detected noticed by a baboon. After noticing the seismic activity, he immediately calls the cat, who informs the dog, who quickly notifies the elephant, who rings the bell, alerting the animals, causing the animals to flee the on coming disaster.

LENO: They all -- they all tell one another.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

COSTELLO: I love that. Still ahead, all around the world, Facebook is making an offer hackers cannot refuse. But first here is the quote of the day. This is the quote, quote, "The quote makes Dr. Martin Luther King look like an arrogant twit," end quote. Find out who said this and why. That's coming up in 90 seconds.

It's six minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is eight minutes past the hour. Welcome back. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL.

Now, back to our quote of the day. The quote, this the quote, "The quote makes Dr. Martin Luther King look like an arrogant twit," end quote. According to "The Washington Post," this was actually said by legendary writer and poet, Dr. Maya Angelou about the MLK Memorial in D.C. An inscription in the memorial reads, "I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness."

The quote had to be paraphrased, and apparently, Dr. Angelou is not too happy about the quote. She also said that the paraphrase minimized the man, made him seem less than the humanitarian he was and makes him seem like he was an egotist.

Now you know.

Time now to talk Facebook and funerals. Kristie Lu Stout joins me live from Hong Kong.

Good morning.

So, if you're a hacker, you could be in for some money from Facebook. Why?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yes, some big dough. Hack into Facebook and that's an order. The social networking giant wants you to hack into its site. If you succeed, it will pay you for the details.

Facebook has already paid out more than $40,000 under this bug bounty initiative.

If a report checks out, Facebook will pay at least $500. One strong report was given $5,000.

And even though a bug can be found through less than legal means, Facebook insists it won't take any legal action against those who share their fighting.

So, Carol, you can hack, but you got to disclose.

COSTELLO: I like that you showed my page. If any of you want to talk to me, it's Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I have great Facebook. Smart people.

There it is again. Yay! A little pump for me. You know, I like that, Kristie Lu Stout.

Something else that you'd like to talk to folks this morning about is something we dread about -- flying and getting on board the plane. A scientist has an excellent idea to make things easier.

STOUT: That's right. A really geeky finding here. The astrophysicist at Fermilab, his name is Dr. Jason Steffen, has found a faster way to board a plane. Boarding as we do now with blocks of fliers, you board from the back of the plane to the front. That is inefficient. It creates bottlenecks since everyone as you know from experience, we'll concentrate in the same area, fidgeting, storing items overhead, getting seated.

Now, Steffen's method removes the bottleneck by getting passengers sitting in the window seats on one side of the plane all board at once in alternating rows. The same is done on the other side, then the middle seats, then the other side. Carol, I think you got the picture. But Dr. Steffen has actually tested this out and says it can cut our plane boarding times in half.

So, Carol, proven by science.

COSTELLO: That's pretty interesting. What about the people who are sitting in the back of the plane but insist on putting their luggage on the front of the plane, up, you know, on top? I don't understand that.

STOUT: That's right. Yes, I know. Science can't save them. You know, you have to push them out of your way I guess -- Carol.

COSTELLO: They mess up every system.

Kristie Lu Stout, many thanks to you.

We're now just days away from President Obama's much anticipated jobs plan. Ahead, we'll run down what's likely to be included in the plan to get Americans back to work.

But, first, in honor of peanuts, raisins and M&M's -- it is National Trail Day Mix.

It's 11 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's 13 minutes past the hour. Welcome back.

When a woman gets famous, people love to talk about her hair. Well, Michele Bachmann's locks have joined the ranks.

Comedian David Letterman disses on her do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": Michele Bachmann, she has -- everybody loves her hair style. It's parted way far on the right. But everybody loves it.

And it's -- if you want -- if you want a haircut just like Michele O-Bachmann now, here's what you do: go into your hair salon and just ask for the crackpot. It's fantastic.

Everybody -- it's a craze sweeping the country. Everybody is getting the Michele O-Bachmann.

Well, here take a look at this. Look at that. There's Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So unfair. I think Michele Bachmann's hair looks great. I'm sure Tim Farley does, too.

It's time now for your Political Ticker with Tim Farley, host of "Morning Briefing" on Sirius POTUS live from Washington.

You love Michele Bachmann's hair, don't you?

TIM FARLEY, SIRIUS XM POTUS: You know what? Read Kathleen Parker in "The Washington Post" this morning. She has a few things to say about how women are held to an unfair standard when it comes to looks and being on the political trail. I think you'll find it in (INAUDIBLE) fun.

COSTELLO: Actually, I read that article. And it is interesting because a lot of analysts are calling Michele Bachmann a diva because she takes time to apply her makeup and put on her lipstick which sometimes --

(CROSSTALK)

FARLEY: And if she didn't --

COSTELLO: And they -- I guess, if you summed up the article, it's like hey, what if she didn't fix her hair or put on make up or lipstick, people would complain about that, too. But we digress.

We're going to talk about President Obama's job plans. He'll give this big jobs speech in September. But things are leaking out about that jobs plan. And some stuff sounds kind of new, but not much.

FARLEY: Hey, I think you hit the point there, Carol, because people are wondering what exactly is going to be new about this. The strategist I talked to said the president, we've been talking about this speech in September which now he has narrowed down to next week, although they won't tell you exactly which day.

Jon Huntsman, candidate for president, is announcing a jobs plan today. Mitt Romney, candidate for president, announcing one on Tuesday. So will the president seem reactive?

And the three ideas we're seeing is some sort of tax cut, or tax incentive. Another would be this idea of an infrastructure bank. And the third would be job training. I heard Ali Velshi talking about that on "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart.

Each one of these is going to perceived -- I think there's two areas we're talking about. We're talking about policy and politics. On the policy side, the president is going to have to make the argument that what he's going to do is going to work. There are those like Paul Krugman who says go big. You have to do a lot more.

And on the politics side, what can he get past. At this point, unless he does tax incentives and doesn't do a lot of spending, it doesn't look like he's going to get much through the House. And so, that is the dilemma that is facing the president. So, we wait and we count down the speech some day next week.

COSTELLO: Yes. The tax incentive idea might appeal to people because what he's talking about is giving businesses tax incentives to hire the long-term unemployed so they can get job training, so the worker would work for free and then the government would give it some kind of tax break to that company. And that way you could get back in the game and either get hired by that company or get some experience so you could be hired by someone else. It's up and running in Georgia already to great success.

FARLEY: And that's the policy side of it. He's getting hit back by the AFL-CIO which says Richard Trumka, the president, saying -- the AFL-CIO saying President Obama is confusing deficit reduction with job creation. The CBC, as you've seen, Congressional Black Caucus, hitting back on the president he's not paying enough attention to black unemployment and not clear whether those incentives would go toward what they're looking for.

But we'll have to wait and see. And the case that has to be made by the president, we've been anticipating it for some time, with the Congressional Budget Office projecting that growth is going to remain stagnant and unemployment some around 8 percent for the next couple years. It's a question about how dramatic this is going to be interpreted to be when the president does finally lay it out next week.

COSTELLO: Yes. We'll get a little preview, too, I guess in Michigan when the president goes to Michigan to talk on labor day with union leaders behind him.

Tim Farley host of "Morning Briefing" on Sirius POTUS -- thank you so much for joining us, as usual.

FARLEY: Your hair looks great, by the way.

COSTELLO: What? Oh, did he compliment my hair?

FARLEY: Yes.

COSTELLO: And thank you, Tim Farley. And your hair looks fabulous as well.

FARLEY: Thank you, thank you.

COSTELLO: As the battle rage for control of Tripoli, the cities zoo animals suffered -- lions, hippos, tigers, left alone with little food and little water. What's being done to help them? It's coming your way next.

It's 18 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's 21 minutes past the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Carol Costello.

Here are three things to put on your radar today:

Firefighters are working around the clock to get handled on a wildfire in northern Texas. So far about 30 homes have been destroyed and nearly 8,000 acres burned.

At 10:00 a.m. Eastern, a retirement ceremony for General David Petraeus. He begins his new duties as the head of the CIA next Tuesday.

And later today, D.C. Comics will launch a historic renumbering of the entire universe line of comic books with 52 first issues. Part of the new launch includes new costumes and new story lines for many of its most popular characters.

As Libya's rebels and loyalists clashed for control of Tripoli, some of the city were forgotten. The city's zoo animals suffered -- without food, with little water.

Here's what senior international correspondent Nic Robertson found.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Most of the cages seem empty. We're just trying to follow the sound of that roaring. There he is. There he is, a tiger. He's seen us.

Just looking at him, you can see how thin he is and the way he's walking. Those back thighs, they're so skinny. He looks like he's going in there to get some shade.

(voice-over): Then we see the lions, the male particularly skinny with a deep scare on his head.

(on camera): There's no one here to tell us how often they're being fed, how much they're getting fed. We don't even know if there's a vet here to look after them. All we've seen is the food left by the giant tortoises. These lions look like they're not just get enough to eat.

(voice-over): Suddenly we get some answers.

(on camera): The zookeeper just arrived. I'll ask him about the animals.

Assalamu Alaikum. How are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fine.

ROBERTSON: So, how about the animals? Are they getting enough food? The lions, the tigers?

(voice-over): He tells me for seven days the animals got nothing. Now, 10 of the 200 staff have returned. They're trying to feed all the animals. The big cats get only half the food they need.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Let's bring in Zain Verjee live from London.

I guess the biggest problem is there's little water to give these animals.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yes, there's a major food and water shortage all over Tripoli and in many parts of the country. It is so sweltering hot there as well, Carol. And also in the zoo, there were hippos that couldn't even get into the water that was stagnant there because it's just so disgusting. Even they don't want to get into it.

What happened is about 60 percent of Tripoli doesn't have water. And the reason for that is in part when Gadhafi left Tripoli or what we believe -- when the rebels came in -- they turned off the water distribution system, the pumping stations and things like that. And so, the water is unable to be distributed anywhere.

Because of all the security concerns and the problems in the city and the rest of the country, aid agencies aren't even able to get in the kind of water that's needed. But it's really sad to see these animals who have no idea what's been going on probably the last few weeks in Libya. But they're really suffering.

COSTELLO: Yes. And they're stuck in those cages. Well, it's nice that the zoo keepers still show up, right?

VERJEE: Yes. The only one there -- he's there. But, you know, he doesn't have the ability to bring them the kind of food and water that animals like these need.

COSTELLO: I was just saying, he probably has his own problems. It's good he still shows up.

VERJEE: He probably doesn't have water. Yes.

COSTELLO: Exactly. People don't have water either.

Let's talk about something a bit brighter. These Chilean miners who were trapped underground for so long, they finally get something from their government.

VERJEE: They do. The government is giving them lifelong pensions. They're going to get something like $540 a month.

You know, they became so famous after their ordeal. But what actually has happened is many of them are unemployed, many of them sell fruits and vegetables on street corners. They do odd jobs. Only a handful have gone off and done really well. But the majority of them have actually been suffering and dealing, too, with a lot of psychological scars.

So, this is a really good piece of news for these Chilean miners.

So, Carol, I just also want to add, Carol, that your hair does look great.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Actually, yours looks pretty good this morning as well.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Zain Verjee. It's a running joke. What can I say?

Darryl Hannah in handcuffs at the White House. Why police arrested the "Splash" actress at a protest, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning to you. It is Wednesday, August 31st. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. Thanks for joining us.

I'm Carol Costello live from New York. It's just about 30 minutes past the hour.

Hundreds of people in New Jersey now evacuated because of Irene. It's been days since the storm tore through, but rivers are swollen. People are stranded and they are still in danger.

The Passaic River has hit levels not seen in a century. Water in the streets over 15 feet deep in some places.

Our Chris Knowles is in Little Falls. Chris, is that the Passaic behind you?

CHRIS KNOWLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is. This is the Passaic River, Carol, at Little Falls, New Jersey, right now, the great big, overwhelming falls. This river crested about 7 1/2, eight hours ago at nearly 14 feet. That's double the flood stage. In other words, the flood stage around seven feet, this crested at 13.7. And it's not going down any time soon. Hurricane Irene just dumping inches of rain on already saturated soil, and rivers are already swollen.

We got reports that this river has lapped Main Street, which is up a hill and a ways away from here. It has more than moved a football field away from the previous mark of where this river went to a local high school. The water came inside. It's in the cafeteria, one to two feet of water. Musical instruments are floating in that high school's music room, and the water is shooting out of the toilets.

The kids are supposed to be there next week. It's doubtful now that that's going to happen. So, just a really awful situation here. They're used to flooding. As you mentioned, this has been more than a century since it's been this bad. It's worse now. The last time it was like this, a hurricane hit, not to the degree of Irene. So, they're in really bad shape today, and that river is going to take a while to go down.

COSTELLO: Chris, yesterday, we were watching rescue after rescue, people taken away in rafts. Will there be such rescues today or did the city get everybody out? And I'm talking specifically about where you are, but also Patterson.

KNOWLES: Yes, I mean, Patterson is in awful shape as well. This area is where four rivers converge, and they wind around, and you get stuck on these little peninsulas, and you're getting it from both directions. Last we heard, there's about 1,300 people still stuck in evacuation shelters. If we hear of any more rescues today, we'll certainly let you know. As far as we know, everybody is on higher ground.

COSTELLO: Oh, thank goodness for that. Chris Knowles reporting live from New Jersey this morning.

A window looks like it was shot out at a congressman's office in Houston. It could have been bullets or pellets or maybe BBs or something else, but the FBI and local officials are working to figure out exactly what happened. They say it's unclear if this was a random crime or if the congresswoman was targeted. An FBI spokesperson says she's not aware of any recent threats against the Democratic representative.

Actress, Daryl Hannah, led a way from a White House protest in handcuffs. She was arrested during a sit-in protesting a possible pipeline expansion that would ramp up oil imports from Canada. Hannah wasn't alone. About 100 other people were cuffed at the demonstration, that's according to organizers. And by the way, the state department could rule on that big pipeline expansion known as Keystone by the end of the year.

A bad gas pipeline, flawed operations, poor government oversight. Investigators listed problem after problem contributing to that big natural gas explosion last year in San Bruno, California. The NTSB has delivered its final report on the blast that killed eight people and charred a community. It criticized this pipe owner, Pacific Gas and Electric, saying the pipe was never good enough, not even when it was stalled in the 1950s, but the blame didn't stop there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBORAH HERSMAN, CHAIRWOMAN, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: A litany of failures, including poor recordkeeping, inadequate inspection programs, and integrity management programs without integrity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: PG&E says it's taken multiple steps to improve safety now.

Two wildfires, one in Texas, the other in Oklahoma, are destroying homes and forcing hundreds of people to get out of the way. Let's start in Texas, though, about 50 miles west of Dallas. Thirty homes have now been destroyed. Another 125 have been evacuated. And the fire is zero percent contained. They just can't get a handled on this thing.

Now to Oklahoma City where police are going neighborhood to neighborhood to get people out of harm's way. Several structures have burned, and crews are battling windy and dry conditions as they try to control those flames.

A nutrition professor living on a Twinkie Diet lost nearly 30 pounds, but now, that he's ditched the diet, his weight is back up and so is his cholesterol. They were small increases, but two pounds is two pounds. Mark Howd (ph) says it's about the number of calories consumed, not about the type of food you're eating. His Twinkie Diet, for example, was 1,600 calories a day. His new eating plan is about 2,200.

Just the thought of constantly eating Twinkies kind of makes me sick. I don't know about you, but maybe you like Twinkies. I don't know. For all you people headed to the gym, though, this morning, check out today's "Get Smart" question. Which is better for losing belly fat? A. Aerobic exercise, B. Resistance training? The answer coming up in 60 seconds. Stick around. It's 35 minutes past.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Thirty-six minutes past the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. Now, back to today's "Get Smart" question. Which is better for losing belly fat? Is it A. Aerobic exercise or B. Resistance training? Well, for all of you on the treadmill this morning, you're doing the right thing, it is A.

According to a new study by the researchers at Duke University, aerobic exercise, that's the only thing that will force that belly fat from your body.

For morning money news, let's go to Christine Romans. She's somewhere in this bureau. Where are you, Christine, anyway?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm not at the gym, Carol. I will tell you that, and I'm not doing aerobic exercise, but I am a little breathless, actually, at the new study from the Institute of Policies, the left-leaning Washington think-tank. It shows, Carol, that the 100 highest paid CEOs in this country, 25 of them earn more than what their corporations paid in U.S. taxes last year. Think about that.

COSTELLO: Come on!

ROMANS: I know. And when you look, according to the study, when you look at how much they paid in lobbying, in some cases, they paid much more in lobbying than the overall bottom line tax bill. Now, I know, I know, conservatives are going to say hold on. Taxes are very complicated. This is why we need tax reform. Actually, these companies are paying state taxes and payroll taxes.

Why are you just beating up on the rich? I Know, I know, I know. This is a left-leaning think tank that just takes the bottom line number and says, look, when you see a CEO paid that much money, it's usually a warning sign for investors, anyway --

COSTELLO: Well, when you figured, GE was paying zero taxes. It's easy to believe, but --

ROMANS: GE is on that list, by the way. GE and a lot of other big companies, as well. But when you look at how much they spend on lobbying -- and so, the average pay of these CEOs is $16.7 million, $16.7 million. In some cases, you know, they've got companies, global companies that are churning out, you know, billions of dollars in revenue and the two biggest tax dodges, according to this report, are either putting off -- you know, harboring money in offshore corporations, offshore parts of its operation or accelerated depreciation which is a very legal strategy.

Again, we have a very complicated tax code. So, you can have a tax rate of 33 percent, 36 percent for some of these companies, but there are so many dodges and very legal loopholes, and companies have very talented tax departments to take advantage of it.

COSTELLO: It's because they have the money to pay them, right?

ROMANS: Yes, they do.

COSTELLO: I don't think people would mind as much if those big companies, those big CEOs are actually hiring people, but since most of them are sitting on their profits, and when you say something like this, it just inflames people.

ROMANS: And not only sitting on their profits, Carol, but actually investing a lot of money in research and development overseas because that's where they see the talent and that's where they see the growth, not here, but they see it in middle classes somewhere else and are spending billions to harness that talent.

That's something that makes, you know, Americans who have a job and don't have a job a little uneasy especially when, you know, it is the tax system, it is the legal system, it is the freedoms of this country that helped them build their brands in the first place.

COSTELLO: Christine Romans, thanks. I'll see you in a bit.

ROMANS: Sure. Yes.

COSTELLO: Sometimes, free food isn't free. Neither are free trips to the strip club. Some University of Miami players are finding that out the hard way as the NCAA bears down. That's story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Forty-one minutes past the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. Now, to our "Political Ticker." Let's bring in our political reporter, Shannon Travis. He's live on the phone from Des Moines, Iowa. Hey, Shannon, let's talk Sarah Palin, because she headlines the Tea Party Express rally in New Hampshire on Labor Day and some interesting things may come of that.

VOICE OF SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Interesting to say the least. There's some scheduling drama, and it involves Sarah Palin, Carol. You're absolutely right. She's going to be headlining this Tea Party Express rally on Monday, Labor Day, in New Hampshire, right? That's going to be two days after she headlines another Iowa Tea Party event here in Iowa on Saturday.

But there's a little bit of drama surrounding that. So, Mitt Romney was supposed to headline this Tea Party Express rally on Monday, on Labor Day, in Manchester. He pulled out in favor of doing a Sunday event for the Tea Party Express. Sarah Palin has now stepped in or at least confirmed that she'll do it. And so, it's causing a little bit of buzz and at least a little bit of drama, Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, drama, I mean, could she announce finally what the heck she's going to do?

TRAVIS: You know what? That is the speculation. I mean, it's a huge event that they're holding here on Saturday. Again, I want to make sure our viewers are not confused. There's a Tea Party event here in Iowa on Saturday that she'll be attending, and then, there's the Monday Labor Day thing. There's a big buzz about whether or not she will announce a presidential run.

Now, organizers tell us that she will have an announcement. Carol, what that means, we've been guessing for months concerning Sarah Palin, but we're being told that she'll have an announcement, whether it's a presidential announcement, we'll have to wait and see.

COSTELLO: OK. We kind of have to talk about Christine O'Donnell, because she was supposed to speak alongside Sarah Palin, and then, she wasn't. And now, she is again. So, what's up with that?

TRAVIS: You know, I was thinking about that this morning. The title of her new book is "Troublemaker," maybe apropos. OK. So, here's the deal with Christine O'Donnell. You know, she's the former Senate candidate from Delaware, Republican. She is now back on to speak at the same rally that Sarah Palin is going to be speaking at on Saturday. Now, I say she's back on, because Monday we reported that she was invited to speak.

Tuesday afternoon, we found out that organizers took back that invitation saying that there was some kind of miscommunication, that there really wasn't enough space for her to be at that event. And then by yesterday night, about Tuesday night, we were told -- organizers were like, oh, well, you know what, that was wrong. We shouldn't have uninvited her, so we've re-invited her. Sounds a little confusing, but that's what it is, Carol.

COSTELLO: It is what it is. She's going to be there, and we think she's going to speak, and, gosh, we'll be glued to our TVs, Shannon Travis.

TRAVIS: We certainly will.

COSTELLO: Yes. Thanks, Shannon.

The NCAA has come to Miami bearing sanctions. Officials have suspended eight players for taking improper perks from a booster, perks like meals, nights out on the town, and trips to strip clubs. Oh, wait, I'm sorry. I meant to say gentleman's clubs. There is a big difference. Don't you know it? Some players like starting quarterback, Jacory Harris, will miss one game. Others will be out four to six games.

Only champions are worthy of Lord Stanley's Cup, champions and sturdy tables. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO (voice-over): Did you notice the dramatic hush after that thing fell? It's OK, because the cup is quite tough. This happened in St. Johns Newfoundland. Remember, Lord Stanley was spending time with former Boston Bruins, Michael Ryder, when he dropped that cup. What is it with that cup thing, anyway? There it goes. It's OK, though. Don't worry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO (on-camera): Texas just can't get a break. Another huge wildfire burning out of control. Details coming up.

But first, if you plan on going to the movies this weekend, you have Thomas Edison to thank. On this day in history, back in 1887, Edison received a patent for a motion picture machine called a kinetoscope. It was also called a peep hole viewer. It's 46 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning to you. It is Wednesday, August 31st. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Carol Costello joining you live this morning from New York. It is 49 minutes past the hour.

A rebel leader in Libya claims at least 50,000 people, both civilians and fighters, have died during the six-month war there, and that number could grow higher if Gadhafi loyalists do not give up by Saturday. That's the new deadline for areas still under loyalist control to surrender or face attack. Let's head around the world with Zain Verjee. She's live in London. So, the opposition sends out this ultimatum to Gadhafi loyalists, but what exactly will happen?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Nobody really knows. I mean, everyone is on edge hoping that the Gadhafi loyalists are going to say, OK, we surrender, we give up, because, otherwise, there's going to be a brutal fight. Their holiday lasts four days and it ends on Saturday. So, that is the ultimatum. That's the deadline. NATO is also hoping that there's a peaceful outcome here.

Sirte, which is the hometown of Col. Gadhafi, is pretty small. It's only like 100,000 people according to some reports I've seen that even live there. So, it wouldn't actually be that difficult to overrun Sirte. But the rebels, themselves, are feeling pretty confident that if they had to, they could. And they're hoping the loyalists will just say OK, we give up, we surrender -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Maybe. Moammar Gadhafi, I heard rumors yesterday that the opposition knew exactly where he was.

VERJEE: I wouldn't believe anything the opposition says. I mean, they said they had safe Gadhafi in the custody, and then, he popped up a little bit later at the Rixos Hotel. Then, they said that Khamis Gadhafi, one of the sons that come on to lead a brigade was dead. We saw no evidence of that. so, I think we just need to take stuff with a grain of salt. If anybody knew where Gadhafi was, you know, we would all have known it by now.

COSTELLO: I think you're right about that.

VERJEE: Yes.

COSTELLO: Zain Verjee, thank you.

We have breaking news to tell you about out of Texas this morning. A wildfire outside of the Dallas Ft. Worth area has now destroyed about 30 homes, and it is threatening many more. The fire is so big and so intense that firefighters have not been able to contain any of it. Right now, crews are getting people out of its way, trying to protect the homes still standing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sick. Sick that we didn't get the pictures, you know, of our folks and things like that, just things like that, you know, that we didn't have time to get.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It just happened so quickly, and I was thinking not again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This time it happened like now. Before we knew it was coming, it was taking time.

(END VIDEO CLIP) It's been so dry and hot there for so long. The fire has burned nearly 8,000 acres and that's so far. Air tankers are expected to drop more water on it later today. The epic drought and the heat in Texas, as I said, made the conditions right for a big huge fire like that. Oklahoma is suffering, too. A fire near Oklahoma City has forced people in a two-square-mile area to get out of their homes.

A California man can probably kiss goodbye any chance of being father of the year. Authorities in Orange County say Sloan Briles tossed his seven-year-old son over the side of a tour boat. Other boaters managed to pull the child out of the water. He's OK. Witnesses say Briles was angry because his son was crying, and then, he hit the boy before heaving him overboard. Briles says they jumped in together, and he thought it would be funny. Briles is now charged with a felony. He's free on $100,000 bond.

You might hear some news out of Aruba today. Gary Giordano, the man held in the disappearance of an American woman could go free for lack of evidence. A judge could decide today whether he stays or goes. It's been four weeks since Robyn Gardner was last seen at a bar with Giordano.

Now, let's head to Atlanta, and Rob Marciano, I don't even want to hear about this tropical storm, but I know you must.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, but there's hope that this one doesn't get to the east coast. There's hope. We can't say that for sure just yet, and of course, still reeling from the Irene flooding. Here are some live shots now from the Passaic River in New Jersey. The river crested there last night, but still, major, major flooding, dramatic rescues and evacuations across that town including some high-rises that have never been evacuated.

So, tremendous amount of water rushing through there. It crested last night at Little Falls at about 14 feet, now down to about 13 feet. It will be a major flood stage through Friday. So, awful, awful stuff across Northwest Jersey. The Connecticut River, by the way, the lower regions will crest later on today and tomorrow.

All right. Here is Katia, tropical storm, but almost a hurricane. It's movement is west-northwesterly at 20 miles an hour. So, moving quickly. And also, obviously, strengthening quickly as well. We expect it to get to a major Category 3 status by the weekend, but hopefully, that northerly turn will happen before it gets towards the U.S. Northwestern Caribbean, next item that of more concern, more immediate concern.

This could develop in the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend, and, actually, maybe even before. So, we're watching that very, very carefully. A threat to anywhere from Texas to Florida. Of course, the folks in Texas would take that rainfall. You know, hard beat (ph), cripple fire danger again today. You mentioned those fires on northern parts of Texas and Oklahoma. Windy and dry again today -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I know. Thank you, Rob. We appreciate it. MARCIANO: You bet.

COSTELLO: Some of the nation's biggest banks are finding ways to help victims of Hurricane Irene. They're hoping to help customers trying to get cash or just, you know, so they can and pay their bills. We'll have details on that straight ahead.

But first, let's take a look at our word of the day. It's actually a phrase today. A return trip today, the return trip-effect. That's the phrase. The return trip-effect. Find out what it means and why you need to know after a short break. It's 55 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Now, back to the word or phrase of the day. It's "return trip-effect." OK. Are you paying attention? Because this is difficult. Here's the definition. It happens when the trip home seems shorter than the initial trip. So, here's how it works. According to new research, when you go on a trip, you over estimate the length of that trip, you're expecting it to be longer, but when you come home, you don't over estimate the length of the trip, so it appears shorter. That is the return trip-effect.

Now, let's head to Carter Evans. He's at a look at your money this morning. He joins us live from the NASDAQ MarketSite. Did you get that?

CARTER EVANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Profound. Just profound, I say. All right. Hey, you know, things are looking up here today as far as futures go. We do have a report on employment from private payroll for ADP. We're also going to get a report on factory orders. All of this leading up to the government jobs report today.

But, in the meantime, our futures are looking pretty good. Check this out. Dow futures on the CNNMoney.com premarket page up 83 points. NASDAQ futures up 21. S&P 500 up about 12 1/2.

COSTELLO: What are the big headlines on CNNMoney?

EVANS: Well, this one -- this is going to blow your mind. Look at this. Banks are waving fees. Yes, don't adjust your TV. You heard right.

COSTELLO: No.

EVANS: Yes. Banks waving fees in Hurricane Irene aftermath. So, basically, a lot of a big banks, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank, they're waving fees for people in those 13 states that were affected by Irene, everything from ATM fees, JPMorgan Chase even letting you withdraw money from a CD without a penalty fee.

COSTELLO: OK. So, just for this day. Thank you, Mr. Banker. Carter Evans, thanks so much. "AMERICAN MORNING" continues right now.