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American Morning: Wake Up Call
Candidates Showdown in Las Vegas; Wild Animals Escape Ohio Farm; "Unruly" Passenger Arrested; Malaria Vaccine Trial Promising
Aired October 19, 2011 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, a massive animal hunt is under way in Ohio. Dozens of wild animals are running loose there.
Officials are so worried. Several schools are closed this morning. And residents are told to stay indoors.
Another GOP showdown. This time in Las Vegas. And in this round, no one held back. We'll bring you the highlights that will have everybody talking today.
Millions were outraged last week when BlackBerry cut them off. Starting today, the BlackBerry maker hopes to make up with those customers with lots of free apps.
Good morning. It's Wednesday, October 19th. This is your A.M. WAKE- UP CALL.
I'm Christine Romans, in for Carol Costello this morning. I'm joining you live from New York.
All right. The presidential candidates, the Republican hopefuls either declaring victory or licking their wounds this morning -- all except Jon Huntsman took the gloves off at last night's debate in Las Vegas hosted by CNN.
This was perhaps the most heated of the five GOP debates held in the past six weeks or so. Much of the focus on the three front-runners: Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Herman Cain.
One of the most explosive one came during the exchange on immigration between Romney and a very assertive Perry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But they're coming here because there is a magnet. And the magnet is called jobs. And those people that hire illegals ought to be penalized.
And, Mitt, you lose all of your standing, from my perspective, because you hired illegals in your home and you knew about it for a year. And the idea that you stand here before us and talk about that you're strong on immigration is on its face the height of hypocrisy.
(LAUGHTER)
ANDERSON COOPER, MODERATOR: Governor Romney?
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Rick, I don't think I've ever hired an illegal in my life. And so, I'm afraid -- I'm looking forward to finding your facts on that, because that just doesn't --
PERRY: Well, I'll tell you what the facts are.
ROMNEY: Rick, again -- Rick, I'm speaking.
PERRY: You had the -- your newspaper -- the newspaper --
ROMNEY: I'm speaking. I'm speaking. I'm speaking.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMNEY: You get 30 seconds. This is the way the rules work here, is that I get 60 seconds and then you get 30 second to respond, right?
Anderson?
PERRY: And they want to hear you say that you knew you had illegals working at your --
ROMNEY: Would you please wait? Are you just going to keep talking?
PERRY: Yes, sir.
ROMNEY: Would you let me finish with what I have to say?
(BOOING)
ROMNEY: Look, Rick --
COOPER: I thought Republicans follow the rules.
ROMNEY: This has been a tough couple of debates for Rick, and I understand that. And so you're going to get testy.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right. As for Jon Huntsman, he was in New Hampshire holding a town hall. He boycotted the debate because of a dispute between Nevada and New Hampshire over the primary calendar. He's hoping to win the New Hampshire primary.
The candidates also went after Herman Cain again last night over his 9-9-9 tax plan. He denied a report by the nonpartisan research group which said his plan would raise taxes for about 84 percent of Americans. At one point, he seemed to get flustered in trying to defend his plan in an exchange with Mitt Romney.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: Herman, are you saying that the state sales tax will also go away?
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, that's an apple.
ROMNEY: OK.
CAIN: We're replacing a bunch of oranges.
ROMNEY: OK.
So, then Governor Perry was right that --
CAIN: No, he wasn't. He was mixing apples and oranges.
ROMNEY: Well, but will the people in Nevada not have to pay Nevada sales tax and in addition pay the 9 percent tax?
CAIN: Governor Romney, you're doing the same thing that they're doing. You're mixing apples and oranges. You're going to pay --
ROMNEY: I'm --
CAIN: No, no, no, no. You're going to pay the state sales tax, no matter what.
ROMNEY: Right.
CAIN: Whether you throw out the existing code and you put in our plan, you're still going to pay that. That's apples and oranges.
ROMNEY: Fine. And I'm going to be getting a bushel basket that has apples and oranges in it because I've got to pay both taxes, and the people in Nevada don't want to pay both taxes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: All right. We're going to have much more on the debate and some analysis of that tax plan in about 15 minutes.
OK. Bears, lions, tigers and cheetahs, just some of the exotic animals on the loose right now in eastern Ohio. Schools are closed. Residents are either staying indoors or they're being extremely careful when they go outside.
The animals which also included wolves, camels and giraffes escaped from a wild animal preserve in Zanesville, Ohio, yesterday, apparently after the death of the owner.
Now, sheriff's deputies have already shot and killed about 25 of these animals.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF MATT LUTZ, MUSKINGUM COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: These animals could be in the woods laying down, scared, maybe going to come back to their cages once we vacate the area.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Investigators say when they arrived at the farm, they found the animals' cages open, and they found the body of the owner. So far, no word on how the owner died. We're going to bring you a live report on this mystery from Ohio in our next half hour.
OK. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Oman this morning to thank the Arab nation for helping to secure the release of three American hikers from Iran. Yesterday, she made a brief unannounced visit to Libya. After talks with top members of the transitional government, Clinton praised Libyans for overthrowing Moammar Gadhafi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: This is Libya's moment. This is Libya's victory and the future belongs to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Clinton is the most senior U.S. official to travel to Libya since Gadhafi's ouster. She told reporters she hopes Gadhafi is captured or killed soon.
The number of people who have died from a listeria outbreak links to tainted cantaloupe -- that now has risen again. It's now up to 25. This is according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Officials say that number could still rise because listeria develops slowly in some people. This is the deadliest known outbreak of food- borne illness in 13 years in this country.
Now, let's go to meteorologist Rob Marciano live from Atlanta.
Rob, we got this video overnight, of thunderstorm ripping through south Florida, sending trees into homes. What can you tell us about it?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: A couple of tornadoes reported here, and the damage in Broward County was such that a couple of people were trapped, a total of three tornado reports across parts of South Florida. And this is all associated with that system that has been trying to develop as a tropical one. It hasn't had any luck in doing that, but a tremendous amount of rain, and wind and obviously a couple of embedded severe thunderstorms doing some damage there, even a couple of minor injuries.
All right. Here's where it is on the radar scope right now. It's moving up the Eastern Seaboard. As it does so, it's going to be spreading rain across the mid-Atlantic, Delmarva, and already now begin to stretch in towards of the Northeast.
And on the backside of this is back in through St. Louis and Chicago. And that's the cold side.
New York metros, you'll see some delays because of this system. Same deal with Chicago. The winds in Chicago and the lower Great Lakes are going to be blowing and intensifying tonight and tomorrow, especially in D.C. You'll see some delays because of the winds as well and the rain, same deal in Atlanta.
Here's that big storm, it kind of gets its entire self together, a combination of really three systems and making its way up towards the Northeast, a fairly slow mover now. Here's how it's going to work. It's got a little moisture connection to the Tropics. And because of that wind, it does rain, it's going to rain fairly heavily. Hopefully, there will be a dry spot that moves into the major cities that have seen so much rain the past couple of months.
But look at the backside -- the rain and even snow across the higher terrain of the Appalachians. And, yes, freeze warnings have been posted for parts of the plains there. Temperatures will fall into the 20s and 30s. And that, my friends, is not baseball weather.
Temp tonight, 52 at best. Maybe a couple of showers hanging around for the start of game one of the World Series between the Rangers and St. Louis. And the winds, I believe, will be blowing hard and out to right.
So, benefiting left-handed pole hitters, I guess. We'll see how that affect game, Christine.
ROMANS: All right. There you go. Thanks, Rob. We'll talk to you in about 20 minutes or so. Don't go away.
MARCIANO: Good.
ROMANS: If you have the new iPhone 4S, you're probably becoming more acquainted with Siri, the voice activated personal assistant. Well, comedian Stephen Colbert is getting to know his digital pal. Let's see how that's working out for him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
STEPHEN COLBERT, COMEDIAN: Write the show.
SIRI: What would you like to search for?
COLBERT: I don't want to search for anything. I want to write the show.
SIRI: Searching the web for search for anything I want to write the shuffle.
COLBERT: What am I talking about tonight?
SIRI: No comment.
COLBERT: For the love of God, the cameras are on. Give me something.
SIRI: What cameras are you looking for, camera stores or churches?
COLBERT: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you.
SIRI: I would if I could.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
ROMANS: All right. Listen up. BlackBerry users today, this is the day to load up on some free apps. The cell phone maker is trying to make up with customers after last week's massive outage.
But, first, our "Quote of the Day," basketball star LeBron James has taken a lot of heat since going to play in Miami and struggling in the NBA Finals. Now an NBA legend is piling on saying, quote, "There's going to always be great players, always guys who win championships in the NBA, except LeBron."
Oh! Who said that? I'm going to tell you in 90 seconds.
It's about nine minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: All right. It's 11 minutes after the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL.
OK. Now back to our "Quote of the Day." "There's going to always be great players, always guys who win championships in the NBA, except LeBron." NBA legend and current ESPN analyst Magic Johnson poking fun at LeBron James while speaking to the University of Albany over the weekend.
James received a lot of criticism after struggling last year in the finals. Miami lost to the -- his Miami Heat lost to the Dallas Mavericks.
All right. We've seen Superman do it, but now a group of MIT researchers say they've developed a way to see through walls.
Let's go to Kristie Lu Stout live from Hong Kong.
The practical applications and military applications for this are fascinating, Kristie.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: That's right. Researchers at MIT, they have developed a way to see through solid concrete walls in real time. And they have created a device, and it sends microwave signals that bounce up objects and return radar images to the screen. And the images appear as thermal blogs. You don't get a lot of detail, but you can see objects and movement.
The system does have its limits, though. It can penetrate only a little more than half a foot, about eight inches. But the technology, as you said, it could be a boon for the U.S. military. And the researchers say it could be used in urban warfare to increase situational awareness.
So Christine, quite a game changer.
ROMANS: I'll say. All right. Also a game changer, BlackBerry is trying to make up to very angry customers -- free apps today available to download. Tell us about that. STOUT: Yes, I'll give you the details. And I don't know if it's going to be enough. After last week's global outage, the maker of BlackBerry is saying sorry, not with cash or service credit but with free apps.
Now, starting today, Research in Motion is rolling out the give away of the dozen free apps. And they would usually cost about 100 bucks on the BlackBerry app world site. And they include Sims 3, Bejeweled, Texas Hold'em Poker, Shazam Encore and Vlingo Plus: Virtual Assistant.
And I've got to ask, is a business user really going to install "Sims 3"? Anyway, maybe it's just me, but Research in Motion says its business clients will also be offered a free month of tech support. What a way to say sorry.
Christine, back to you.
ROMANS: All right. Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong -- thanks, Kristie.
All right. Rick Perry takes off the gloves in Vegas. He comes out swinging against Republican rival Mitt Romney. But was last night's debate enough to propel him back to the top?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: All right. The Republican presidential candidates wasted no time pouncing on Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan at last night's debate. And neither did comedian Stephen Colbert. Here's your punch line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
COLBERT: That's right. Herman Cain is ahead with 27 percent. As opposed to Newt Gingrich who is 27 percent head.
And, of course, there is Cain's famous 9-9-9 economic plan. Everybody's talking about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nine-nine-nine tax plan.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Nine-nine-nine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nine-nine-nine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nine-nine-nine.
PERRY: Nine-nine-nine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nine-nine-nine.
COLBERT: Folks, folks, all Cain is saying is Hitler had some good ideas.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
ROMANS: That was only a matter of time before that happened.
Time now for your "Political Ticker" with Tim Farley, host of "Morning briefing" on Sirius POTUS live from Washington.
You know, I'm going to ask you, Rick Perry came out swinging against Romney last night. Let's listen for a second.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PERRY: And, Mitt, you lose all of your standing, from my perspective, because you hired illegals in your home and you knew about it for a year. And the idea that you stand here before us and talk about that you're strong on immigration is on its face the height of hypocrisy.
(LAUGHTER)
COOPER: Governor Romney?
ROMNEY: Rick, I don't think I've ever hired an illegal in my life. And so, I'm afraid -- I'm looking forward to finding your facts on that, because that just doesn't --
PERRY: Well, I'll tell you what the facts are.
ROMNEY: Rick, again -- Rick, I'm speaking.
PERRY: You had the -- your newspaper -- the newspaper --
ROMNEY: I'm speaking. I'm speaking. I'm speaking.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMNEY: You get 30 seconds. This is the way the rules work here, is that I get 60 seconds and then you get 30 second to respond, right?
Anderson?
PERRY: And they want to hear you say that you knew you had illegals working at your --
ROMNEY: Would you please wait? Are you just going to keep talking?
PERRY: Yes, sir.
ROMNEY: Would you let me finish with what I have to say?
(BOOING)
ROMNEY: Look, Rick --
COOPER: I thought Republicans follow the rules.
ROMNEY: This has been a tough couple of debates for Rick, and I understand that. And so you're going to get testy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So, Tim, how did Perry do? Was this aggressive attack helpful, hurtful? Was it presidential? Was it painful? And the whole immigration -- this is a discussion -- this is something that is a retread from the last election, I think, isn't it?
TIM FARLEY, SIRIUS XM POTUS: A lot of these are retread issues, but God love Anderson Cooper because it was one of those moments -- I actually think he did a pretty good job balancing the opportunity for these candidates to speak as well as trying to maintain some semblance of control.
Clearly, Rick Perry came to pick a fight with Mitt Romney and he had to. And it's pretty clear that he helped stop the slide or at least slow the slide that he's seen in the polls. I did think at that one point when Romney put his hand on Perry's shoulder that we might see a Texas brawl.
But that said, I think that the feistiness is something that people wanted to see out of Rick Perry. At times, it bordered on petulance. And I think that that's something that people don't want to see. That said, you know, you have to look at what these candidates wanted going in.
Mitt Romney wanted to stay the front-runner. I think he did.
Rick Perry wanted to not look like he was not just sort of spectating and I think he accomplished that last night.
Time will tell whether or not people hold that back-and-forth against them eventually, Christine.
ROMANS: Right. Herman Cain, he's been soaring in the polls. A lot of talk of his 9-9-9 plan. Did voters give -- did he give voters more reason to choose him? Did he give voters more reason to choose him in 2012? Did he hold his ground? Did he gain ground? Did he lose ground last night?
FARLEY: Did he hold his ground? Nine-nine-nine, I think he actually had problems last night defending the program. And all of the candidates said, oh, we like you, Herman, but we don't like your plan.
And based of the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan center, that yesterday had an analysis that showed that Herman Cain's plan would cost people an awful lot of money, a lot of taxpayers who are paying now are going to pay more. His defense was: "Do your own calculations at home, do your math" -- which I don't think most American voters want to do is sit down with pen and paper. I don't know how many -- math was their favorite subject.
But the other is that he said, look, I don't believe them. And it's kind of hard to try to defend your plan by rejecting facts. That said, Herman Cain has never been, I don't think, what I would consider to be a threat to Mitt Romney. I think what he is is a threat to Rick Perry, which is why you saw Romney say occasionally say, Herman, I really like you and I know your plan is a lot more complex than this. But let's talk more a little bit about it.
So, I don't think Herman Cain did himself huge favors last night, but I think that he is still going to take some votes away from Rick Perry as time goes by, and that could help Mitt Romney in some of the early contests -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. So, is this still a three-man race?
FARLEY: I think it's a two-man race, frankly, between Romney and Perry right now. And Mitt Romney is doing what he can to undercut Rick Perry. And Rick Perry is doing what he can to undercut Mitt Romney. And that's the dynamic moving forward into these next debates where we start seeing more on foreign policy, and I think a little bit broader sense of what these candidates are all about.
ROMANS: All right. Tim Farley, host of "Morning Briefing" on Sirius XM POTUS -- nice to see you this morning, Tim.
FARLEY: You, too.
ROMANS: All right. Developing right now, a rocket attack kills at least 24 people in Turkey. The president is calling it terrorism. Details just ahead.
But first, stop what you're doing. Take a minute to reflect. What have you accomplished? What's still on your to-do list? That's because today is Evaluate Your Life Day. Think about that for a minute.
It's 20 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: An early morning rocket attack in Turkey has killed at least 24 people.
Let's go around the world this morning with Monita Rajpal live from London.
The Turkish president, Monita, blaming terrorists for the attack. At this point, do we know who did it or why?
MONITA RAJPAL, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, what we know right now, Christine, is that authorities, quoting authorities, are saying that Kurdish guerrillas struck security forces and military sites in Hakkari. It's a Turkish province that borders Iraq.
Reports are saying that guerrillas fire rockets and also opened fire with automatic rifles. And CNN Turk is reporting that at least 24 people have been killed in that. "Reuters" is reporting that Turkish planes have now bombed Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq.
According to recent reports, militants from the Kurdish workers party also known as the PKK have been blamed for the deaths of more than 50 Turkish security personnel since July.
In retaliation, the Turkish military has launched air raids on rebel targets in northern Iraq where the PKK have bases. Now, the PKK was formed in 1970. And since 1984, it has launched an arms struggle against Turkey as they seek an independent Kurdish state within Turkey. Turkey considers them a terrorist group.
And, of course, we continue to wait for more information that comes out of that region -- Christine.
ROMANS: So, in Greece, Monita, right now, riot police are getting ready as angry workers there are calling for the mother of all strikes today and tomorrow. This is over austerity measures again, isn't it?
RAJPAL: Absolutely, Christine. They are calling it the mother of all strikes. And we're going to be showing you some live pictures there now of Athens as the strikes get under way. We understand some 5,000 riot police have been called in to maintain security.
A 48 general strike has begun in the country where the country will practically go into shutdown mode. Air traffic controllers are staging a 12-hour walkout, meaning flights are grounded. There will also be no public transport, and most public services are halted.
Two big unions have called for their 2 million members to hit the streets as lawmakers in parliament there -- as you see the building there -- vote on two bills today and tomorrow.
Now, the bills include higher taxes, cuts to pensions and salaries, the loss of some 30,000 public service jobs. The country's prime minister says these stark austerity measures are necessary as the country deals with a staggering government debt that is 162 percent of its GPD.
The situation in Greece, of course, is increasingly worrisome as the country's economy could have -- and we're already seeing evidence of this -- a ripple effect on other countries within the Euro zone, not to mention the single euro currency. In June, if you can remember, protests in Athens between police and protesters did go violent.
So, of course, we're keeping an eye on the situation there. As you can see, sort of thousands of people have already hit the streets of the capital of Athens -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Monita Rajpal, thank you so much. Monita, talk to you soon.
The break is over for jurors in the Michael Jackson death trial. We'll head back to court in a few hours to hear more testimony against Dr. Conrad Murray.
Plus, a Southwest plane is forced to make an emergency landing when a passenger loses control.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Good morning. It's Wednesday, October 19th.
This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Christine Romans, in for Carol Costello, joining you live this morning from New York. The time is now 5:30 in the East. In Philadelphia, three suspects already being held on multimillion- dollar bonds may face even more charges. Police say they may have found 10 more victims. Six are children. Investigators believe the suspects imprisoned four mentally disabled adults in a filthy boiler room to steal their Social Security checks. Two of these possible new suspects -- victims, rather, are the children of one of those held captive.
Another is the niece of one of the suspects. Police are determined to find out what may have happened to them. The suspects have a preliminary hearing. We'll learn more on Monday.
After a five-day break, it's back to court today for jurors in the case against Dr. Conrad Murray. The prosecution could wrap up today with their final witness, an anesthesiology expert. If that happens, they'll recess until Friday when the defense presents its side. Dr. Murray is charged with aiding in the overdose death of Michael Jackson. The trial is expected to go to the jury, perhaps, next week.
A Southwest Airlines passenger could face charges for what investigators call his unruly behavior. He's accused of disrupting a flight from Los Angeles to Kansas City last night, forcing it to make an emergency landing. Passengers describe how he was acting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHARON KNIGHT, PASSENGER: The other one was going on about, God was going to be killing everybody. And, he wouldn't kill anybody, but God was going to.
NANCY GREEN, PASSENGER: At one point he stepped out into the cabin of the plane and shouted loud enough for everyone to hear that he was not afraid to die.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Oh, boy, that sounds terrifying.
OK. It's being called a huge medical milestone. Researchers say they've finally developed a vaccine against malaria. The vaccine is still being tested, but researchers say it's effective in about 50 percent of cases. Even that rate, it could save tens of millions of lives. The disease kills some 800,000 people a year, mostly it kills children.
A change of policy and change of heart from the Marine Corps. Marines will now be able to wear the KIA bracelets in memory of fallen comrades. In a statement, the Marine Corps said the bracelets can honor POWs and the injured, missing or killed in action. Marines had already been able to wear those familiar M.I.A./P.O.W. bracelets you remember from the days of Vietnam.
We keep hearing about the grim outlook for the U.S. economy, but there are a couple of banks out there ready to get back to real lending. I can't believe I'm reading the words. I want to tell you more about it ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: All right. Some good news for Social Security recipients. For the first time in two years, you can expect a bit more in your Social Security check come next year, come January. Cost of living adjustment of around 3.5 percent should kick in in the New Year. We're going to know the exact amount later today, but it's based on inflation numbers.
And, it looks as though inflation has picked up a little bit. That means you'll get a little bit more in the check. On the other hand, expected hikes in Medicare premiums could eat up part of that raise. The Medicare changes should be announced next month.
All right. This morning, we're expected to hear major companies reveal how they fared in the third quarter. Let's go to chief business correspondent, Ali Velshi, live here in New York. We've already heard from a lot of the banks. And one interesting tidbit from the banks, some are doing better than others, but Citigroup and Wells Fargo, they're lending money again, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and this is sort of counter to the narrative that we typically hear that banks are just not lending money to people. A couple of things are happening here. First of all, they are lending more money, but there are couple of things that play. One is they're lending money to the biggest and most secure of companies.
So, sometimes, small businesses are not getting money. In fact, increasingly, they're still not getting money. The other side of this narrative, Christine, you and I talk about it all the time and that is that banks got into this problem by lending money to people who weren't supposed to receive it.
So, what they're doing now is they're being particularly cautious and not getting into a problem where they're lending money to businesses or individuals who can't pay back. Of course, another big part of the problem is the inability for that housing market to stabilize, continued foreclosures.
So, when it comes to individual loans, personal loans, home equity loans and mortgages, a lot of these banks are saying you know what? We're just not 100 percent sure people can pay them back, and we don't want to get into the situation that we were in sort of from 2005 to 2007 which led to the economic collapse, Christine.
ROMANS: It's interesting because one of my banking sources said that they -- for one of the big banks said that they had been looking for about six months aggressively for credit-worthy borrowers.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: Both people and customers and businesses to be able to start new loans, and they've been scouring for people with very high credit ratings, people who've done well and managed through the recession well and need to expand but not survive. They're not looking to lend to people who are looking for money to survive.
They're looking for people who are ready to go out there and grow. And that's a smaller piece of the pie, quite frankly.
VELSHI: Right. And you know, I was speaking to some bankers last night who were saying, look, their risk management people at the banks don't let them do it. Their shareholders don't want them to do it. And even regulators are really on them about not making risky loans. As you know and as our viewers know, risky loans are substantially more lucrative than non-risky loans.
There's a risk if they don't get paid, but if they get paid, the interest that you can charge a high-risk borrower is great. So, banks actually kind of like that business, but after what happened in 2007 and 2008, they're saying everybody is on top of them saying just take it easy. Don't lend that money yet. The economy will come back. Money will start to flow. Interest rates are low. It's just going to take longer.
ROMANS: Yes. And we know that for some banks up to 70 percent of their earnings are tied to lending money. So, I mean, it doesn't pay for them to be stingy. It really doesn't.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: But finding those clients is what they need.
VELSHI: It's also why you're seeing increased fees, right? Because most of their earnings usually come from lending money, and they're not lending as much money as they used to. They're making it up somewhere else.
ROMANS: All right. A little banking industry 101 this morning with Ali Velshi. Thanks., Ali. Nice to see you.
VELSHI: All right.
ROMANS: Talk to you in about 24 minutes, actually.
And you've heard stories of high cell phone bills, but what about one that tops $200,000? It happened to a Florida woman. I'm not kidding. A $200,000 cell phone bill. Celina Aarons has her younger brother who's deaf on her plan. He went to Canada and didn't turn off his data roaming.
He doesn't call. He uses a lot of text messages. He sent more than 2,000 texts. He downloaded videos and the charges started adding up. Aaron says the company should have warned her before the bill skyrocketed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CELINA AARONS, RECEIVED PHONE BILLS FOR $201,000: Why don't you let me know as the primary holder? And they're saying no, we respect your privacy. What privacy? That's my account. That's all I could think about. I'm like, that's it. My life is over. I can't do nothing. It's done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Not quite. Her carrier reasoned with her, lowering her bill to $2,500 and giving her six months to pay it off. And now, they know about the cross-border roaming charges. We should tell you. The woman's brother was warned by the cell phone company via text.
So, the company told them that they were getting ready to, you know, really rack up all these charges, but he, the boy, overlooked it.
All right. Wild animals on the loose this morning. The latest on those bears, lions, tigers and other wild animals that escaped from a farm in Central Ohio. They're on the loose right now. Schools are closed. People are told to stay home. We're going to have more on this right after the break.
But first, time for your "Get Smart question of the day." We all know college can get expensive and a new report shows the amount of money students are borrowing hit a record high. So, what is the total amount of outstanding student loans in this country? Is it $100 billion, $700 billion, $1 trillion? The answer in two minutes. It's 38 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: All right. It's almost 41 minutes after the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL.
Now, to the answer of today's "Get Smart" question. What's the total amount of outstanding student loans in this country? Is it $100 billion, $700 billion, or a $1 trillion? The answer, C, $1 trillion. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York released new information showing the total outstanding loans will surpass $1 trillion for the first time ever this year.
Students are borrowing twice what they did just ten years ago to pay for college. And they're graduating with, gosh, a record amount of debt.
This might be the first time. Some schools, unbelievable. Some schools are closed in Eastern Ohio this morning because of bears, lions, cheetahs, some of the exotic animals that are on the loose right now. We're looking at pictures there right now of Zanesville, Ohio. We're going to bring you an amazing story -- quite frankly, an amazing story of all these animals on the loose right now.
You've got sheriff's deputies armed, hunting through the woods, killing these dangerous animals who were released somehow or escaped somehow from an animal preserve. The farmer, the owner of that preserve found dead and all of the cages open. We're going to go right now to WBNS and talk a little bit more about this.
It's really quite a frightening, frightening thing. Joining us now, reporter, Tino Ramos, of our Columbus affiliate, WBNS. What's the latest on the animals? How many have been tracked down? How many are still on the loose?
TINO RAMOS, WBNS REPORTER: Yes. Right now, we're talking about 48 animals that were total. Twenty-five of them have already been shot and killed and a lot of that happened when officers stepped on the property, but they're still looking for about 23 more animals. Animals that include lions, bears, tigers, wolves and even leopards that are out there.
I want to show you something real quick here before we show you some video. This is a sign you don't see on the interstates much often. The caution, exotic animals. They are obviously warning people to stay in their vehicles right now or call 911 if they do see it. And they've even shut down schools in the area with fear that these animals may remain on the run.
I want to show you video from the scene here, too, and take a look here because this happens -- started at least yesterday afternoon. It was Terry Thompson. This is the owner of that exotic animal farm that's there. Now, apparently, he was found on his property outside his home dead. And when law enforcement officials entered onto the property, they noticed a number of the cages had been opened.
Again, some 48 animals had escaped from their cages. And unfortunately, they had to shoot to kill when they stepped onto the property. Killing a number of animals. They're not releasing what exactly animals that they have shot, but, they've also noticed there were holes that were cut into the fence of this exotic animal farm. And that means a number of them escaped.
So, that's when an all-out bulletin went to search for these animals. We know several counties are involved in the search here. Even S.W.A.T. teams being brought out with high-powered rifles to shoot to kill these animals if, indeed, they are spotted. Unfortunately, nighttime set in. Rain set in. So, it makes the search even more difficult for officials.
So, right now, they're not going into wooded areas but rather just traveling on the roadways in hopes that they can spot these things and put them down. Now, we can tell you one of the local zoos, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, they're sending officers out here as well. Some experts that they can possibly take these animals down with tranquilizers.
But unfortunately, these are adult animals, and they say they're very dangerous and very aggressive. So, clearly, this is putting the big scare into the community here.
ROMANS: So, we do not know, Tino, how they got loose. Do we know yet how the owner of these animals or the person who ran that preserve how he died? Was it natural causes? Was it foul play? We don't know any of this yet?
RAMOS: Yes, and we don't know any of that yet. They're not releasing any of these details. They're not sure if, indeed, that he may be responsible for letting some of these animals loose before he died. We don't know if, indeed, that's the case. Officials are kind of holding that close to their belt right now in terms of releasing any type of information in regards to that.
All they know, though, it seems to be somewhat suspicious, though. It's clear that somebody had released them or somebody had opened up these cages. We don't know if it was planned, a part of a plot or what. We do know a news conference is scheduled for about 10 o'clock this morning. So, hopefully, then we'll get more details on this.
ROMANS: And certainly, it will raise more attention to the laws in Ohio that allow people to have so many of these animals in these preserves. I mean, I know there's a fatality. I just think a few months ago, a bear fatality. So, we'll continue to look at all of these angles. Tino, thank you so much, and we'll check in with you again later this morning. Thanks for following the story for us.
A real slugfest in Vegas. Who came out on top? Who's licking their wounds after the latest Republican presidential debate? A live report coming up next.
But first, this day in history, October 19th, 1987, Black Monday in the financial world. Wow! The Dow fell 508 points, nearly 23 percent in one day, the biggest one-day drop in terms of percent. Experts say the cause can't be attributed to any single news event. Most agree mass panic caused it to get even worse. Since then, a number of protective measures have been put in place to prevent panic selling, but Black Monday on this day in 1987.
Forty-six minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Good morning. It's Wednesday, October 19th. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Christine Romans in for Carol Costello joining you live this morning from New York. Now, time now for our "Political Ticker." Our very own Carol Costello joins us on the phone from Las Vegas.
Carol, a wild debate night last night. You watched the whole thing. Who do you see as the winners and losers?
VOICE OF CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's so hard to tell. I see definite losers, and I'm going to say Herman Cain, because all of the other candidates ganged up on Herman Cain in the beginning about his 9-9-9 plan and whether it would raise taxes on the middle class and the lower classes in America.
And it was pretty clear that Herman Cain came out the loser because he couldn't adequately explain why it would not raise taxes on middle- class Americans. And then, Herman Cain just sort of faded from view, and you never really heard from him again until, of course, the very end of the debate when he talked a little bit about foreign policy but not in an effective way.
ROMANS: All right. Rick Perry came out swinging against Mitt Romney last night. I want to listen again, Carol, to this exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GOV. RICK PERRY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And Mitt, you lose all of your standing from my perspective because you hired illegals in your home, and you knew about it for a year.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Governor Romney?
MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Rick, I don't think I've ever hired an illegal in my life.
PERRY: I'll tell you what the facts are.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMNEY: Rick, again -- Rick, I'm speaking. I'm speaking.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMNEY: You get 30 seconds. This is the way the rules work here is that I get 60 seconds.
PERRY: No, but the American people want the truth.
ROMNEY: And then you get 30 seconds to respond, right?
PERRY: And they want to hear you say that you knew you had illegals.
ROMNEY: Anderson, will you please wait? Are you just going to keep talking? Or are you going to let me finish what I'm just saying? Look, Rick --
COOPER: I thought Republicans followed rules.
ROMNEY: This has been a tough couple of debates for rick, and I understand that. So, you're going to get --
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
ROMNEY: You're going to get tested.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: That crowd sounded a little pro-Romney to me. I mean, they kept cheering for him. How did Perry do? What was the crowd reaction? Was this whole tax aggressive helpful, hurtful?
COSTELLO: Well, if you read post-analysis, post-political analysis in the newspapers across the land, many analysts say yes! Rick Perry, the real Rick Perry finally showed up. He was feisty and aggressive. He attacked Mitt Romney. We hope we see more of him. I just talked to Tracy Smith.
She was watching the debate. She's a single mom. She lives in a house. Her house is under water. She was listening closely to this debate. She said that Perry seemed petty to her, and that he took up too much of Mitt Romney's time. She wanted to hear about issues. Frankly, she doesn't care much about illegal immigration.
She has other concerns, economic concerns. She wanted to hear from Mitt Romney about how he was going to fix, you know, maybe the foreclosure crisis in America. But Perry and Romney seemed to spend so much time fighting about illegal immigration, a factor that really doesn't factor into her life, but Perry lost points with her.
ROMANS: Interesting. All right. Carol, we can't wait for more of your analysis on "American Morning" about nine minutes. So, we'll talk to you again very, very soon. Thanks for getting up so early for us or staying up late. I don't think Carol slept in two days, but she loves this stuff.
All right. Let's go to meteorologist, Rob Marciano, live from Atlanta now. Where are we expecting the flight delays today, Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, we've got a bit of a mess, Christine, heading up the eastern seaboard from Florida all the way up to the northeast and then back to Chicago as well. Here's on the radar scope. New York, it's kind of two, if not three different systems that's kind of coming together today.
And right now, the rains are increasing across the tri-state area of New York, Connecticut, and especially New Jersey. You see it lighting up there and is sliding back across the Delaware Valley in through D.C. A decent amount of rain. On the backside of this, lighter amounts of rain from Chicago to Detroit to Columbus, Ohio, but the winds and the colder air is going to be the bigger story there.
And this has a tropical connection to it. The rainfall still happening across parts of South Florida where we had rough weather last night with the potential of possible tornadoes touching down across plantation and parts of -- other parts of South Florida. New York metro airports, you're going to be the sore spot as far as travel delays are concerned today.
Chicago, gusty winds as well on the backside. D.c., philly, I mean, pretty much everywhere east of St. Louis. We'll talk more about St. Louis in just a second. You go west of there, not so shabby across Texas and parts of the desert southwest including SoCal and the intermountain west. Here's that storm that moving up the east coast. The gulf moisture taps it.
So, some of this rain when it does come down and you're experiencing this now in Jersey, it will be heavy at times, and eventually, a bit of a dry slot heading into tomorrow, but notice a little bit of white and pink there in the Appalachians. That means it's going to get awfully chilly. But we've got wind advisories and wind watches and some wind warnings for parts of the lower and Western Great Lakes.
Winds will easily gust over 40 miles an hour in some of these spots. We might even get a little mild storm surge across southern parts of Lake Michigan kind of like what we had with the last cycle that rolled through this area. And that will be this afternoon, tonight, and tomorrow morning timeframe. And the cold air's going to plummet down from Canada with this.
Morning lows tomorrow expected in the 20s and 30s. So, freeze warnings up for a good chunk of the central plains. Fifty-seven in Memphis today, 50 degrees in Chicago, only 47 degrees for a high temperature in Minneapolis. Not exactly baseball weather. Game one tonight in St. Louis, eight o'clock, first pitch, 49 degrees.
A couple of showers, winds northwesterly, 20, maybe 30 miles an hour. They're going to be all bundled up there in St. Louis for the fall classic -- Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Thank you so much, Rob.
Apple sales hit the $100 billion mark. It sounds like good news, but actually, it's a bad scenario for the tech giant. Details ahead in a live report from the NASDAQ MarketSite.
But first, let's take a look at the word of the day. It's smishing. Find out what it means and why you need to know it right after the short break. It's 54 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Good morning. Welcome back. Let's go to Carter Evans for a look at your money this morning. He's at the NASDAQ MarketSite here in New York. Good morning, Carter.
CARTER EVANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Christine.
ROMANS: Market this morning -- read the tea leaves for me.
EVANS: Well, you know, we've got a couple things going on today. We're going to get a report on consumer prices. That's a reading on inflation at the consumer level. We also get a report on housing starts and the feds beige book survey of economic conditions around the country.
Ahead of those earnings, futures are kind of mixed today. Take a look. Dow futures down -- or actually up about 13 points right now. NASDAQ down almost 12. S&P 500 up about a point. So, did you hear about Apple's record sales in profit?
ROMANS: Yes, still missed the estimates, though, didn't it?
EVANS: Yes. You know, it's really interesting because the bar is set so high for Apple, and this rarely ever happens that Apple does not meet expectations. Normally, it blows them away, and you would have thought that apple could have done that with fiscal year sales of $100 billion.
A new sales and profit record for the quarter, but it still was not enough. It missed analysts' estimates, and it fell short of expectations. So, basically, Apple shares in after-market, after- hours trading, down about five percent. ROMANS: Yes. Those folks who say it could be kind of choppy for Apple going forward here as investors try to figure out especially longtime investors who've had a very big profit in this company. I mean, I know somebody who's been buying shares every time it doubled since $2 a share. Think of that! Unbelievable.
EVANS: That's incredible.
ROMANS: It is.
EVANS: Wow!
ROMANS: It really is. All right. Thank you so much, Carter Evans.
EVANS: Sure.
ROMANS: Nice to see you.
Now, back to our word of the day. Today's word is smishing. It's a technique used by identity thieves that uses mobile phones to track victims -- sorry to trick victims into handing over vital information. You know like phishing online, smishing using your cell phone. Law enforcement getting the word out, worried this form of identity theft could spread quickly.
Bottom line is somebody calls you asking for your bank account information, your Social Security Number, your personal information, do not give it to them over your cell phone. Someone's trying to scam you.
"AMERICAN MORNING" continues right now.
