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Minnesota Recount: U.S. Senate Seat at Stake; FBI Agent Killed; Indian Warship Traded Fire with Pirate Vessel; Polar Bear Plight; Stores Now Offering Layaway

Aired November 19, 2008 - 09:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Two new signs of an ailing economy, one not good for housing, but the other is good for consumers.
And helping you get on your way for the holidays. This season's tips for travel by car or plane.

Plus, how to stay healthy as you go.

It is Wednesday, November 19th, I am Heidi Collins. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Just 30 minutes now from the opening bell, and Wall Street will open under a cloud of more grim measures of the economy. Just minutes ago we learned housing starts have hit their lowest levels in 49 years.

Also this morning, a key measure of consumer inflation, the Consumer Price Index, samples of goods and services we buy, it shows prices have dropped by the largest amount in 61 years. Much of the reason? The record plunge in energy prices.

And while you were sleeping, the markets tossed and turned overseas. Asia closed mostly down. Investors in Europe have also been in negative territory most of the morning.

Let's take a closer look now at this morning's newest measures of the economy. CNN's Christine Romans is in New York for us.

Boy, certainly not what we wanted to hear, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, and you know, when you look at the inflation gauge, in particular, there's been a real whiplash in inflation expectations. It was just a few months ago we were talking about spiking prices across the board.

But now you're talking about a decline in consumer inflation in the last month. That means the price that you're paying at the grocery store, at the car dealer, at the gas station, at the air ticket counter, these prices are all going down.

Prices for everything from -- from hotel rooms to new and used cars, to apparel, fruits and vegetables declining. In fact, it was the biggest one-month decline on record since that record keeping began back in February of 1947. Consumer prices down 1 percent. It is very rare to see even the core rate go lower which happened when you strip out food and energy, some volatile sectors, you saw that go down as well.

So, make no mistake, it's a sign of a weak economy. It's a sign of a very weak economy. And Lakshman Achuthan, an economists at Economic Cycle Research Institute, he said, you know, recession always kills inflation. And he said that's what we're seeing here.

But what it means for you is the prices that you're paying at the store, at the mall, and elsewhere, those prices are going down. He said this is a silver lining...

COLLINS: Sure.

ROMANS: ... in a severe recession. That is, at some point, those falling prices generate or should generate demand, and then that can stimulate the economy a little bit.

Now the housing market, he called that a deflationary situation for housing and for gasoline. Look at the housing market. The housing starts down 4.5 percent, the lowest level on record since record keeping began in 1959.

COLLINS: Wow.

ROMANS: Now here's another, I guess, silver lining in this. We knew that there had been an awful lot of housing development over the past two years. There had been a frenzy -- a bubble in the housing market.

There are those who say a slow down of building permits and groundbreaking on new homes, a slow down of housing starts ultimately could be good longer term for the economy because there's an awful lot of a supply altogether.

So again, on inflation, we've got declining inflation, a disinflationary scenario, if you will. It's a response to a recession. People are -- are just not going out and buying as many things and the prices are falling, and you've got -- a deflation a couple of economists are telling me in things like gasoline and housing. So it all bears watching.

COLLINS: Yes, no question about that. Kind of the good with the bad there.

ROMANS: Right.

COLLINS: Appreciate it very much. CNN's Christine Romans. Thank you, Christine.

Well, meanwhile, the big three automakers making another lap of Capitol Hill. For the second straight day, they'll try to convince lawmakers that a $25 billion bailout is essential for their industry and the nation's economy.

Our congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, is joining us now to set the stage for us today.

Good morning you to, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.

And these automakers woke up to "The New York Times" that has an op-ed from former presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, who's father was one of those auto executives back in the day who said, look, I think that what should happen is that these companies should all go bankrupt and start from the bottom up, and that's not a sentiment that is -- that is sort of foreign to some of the lawmakers here on Capitol Hill.

Some of them think that that's not the worst idea in the world, but what we heard from these CEOs yesterday, what we are likely to hear in an hour when they come back here to Capitol Hill, is that that would be a disaster for them. They insist that people wouldn't buy their cars and they say that it would make job loss much, much worse.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (voice over): One after another, the chief executives of Detroit's big three automakers pleaded for $25 billion taxpayer dollars to rescue them.

RICHARD WAGNER, GENERAL MOTORS CEO: This is all about a lot more than just Detroit. It's about saving the U.S. -- the U.S. economy from a catastrophic collapse.

ALAN MULALLY, FORD MOTOR CO. CEO: We must join our competitors today, in asking for your support to gain access to an industry bridge loan that would help us navigate through these difficult economic crises.

ROBERT NARDELLI, CHRYSLER CEO: We're asking for assistance for one reason, to address the devastating automotive industry recession, caused by our nation's financial meltdown.

BASH: But before these auto executives even got to speak, senators on the committee spent an hour and a half expressing heavy skepticism about helping the ailing industry.

SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD (D), BANKING COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Their discomfort in coming to the Congress with hat in hand is only exceeded by the fact they are seeking treatment for wounds of that, I believe, to a large extent, were self-inflicted.

No one can say that they didn't see this coming. Their companies have been struggling for years.

BASH: Democrats and Republicans alike suggested that the collapsing economy is not the only source of their woes. It's mismanagement.

SEN. MIKE ENZI (R), WYOMING: The labor costs, enormous legacy liabilities and inefficient production have also contributed to the current crisis in the auto industry. Isn't it prudent for us to consider how the taxpayers' $25 billion would go to addressing these issues before we authorize the spending?

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: We must be assured that whatever aid we give you is accompanied by a real plan that shows you recognize the direction that this industry must take in order not to survive, but to thrive.

BASH: The CEOs answered the criticism by insisting they are restructuring and modernizing. Still, they faced a heavy dose of politically reality.

SEN. BOB CORKER (R), TENNESSEE: My sense is that probably nothing's going to happen this week.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: Now there is some talk at this point, actually, of some compromise, the Michigan delegation along with senators from the state of Ohio, which also has a big stake in helping prop up Detroit. They are working towards a compromise, but, Heidi, it is looking still quite grim in terms of passage for this $25 billion bailout. We will have a test vote likely tomorrow.

COLLINS: Yes. OK, we'll be watching closely today.

Sure do appreciate that, Dana Bash, thanks.

Drama on the high seas to tell you about. We have a developing story off the Horn of Africa where modern-day pirates have been hijacking ships. India says ones of its warships has traded fire now with a pirate vessel and left it on fire.

The pirates reportedly fired first, when the Indian warship demanded it stop for inspection. Right now, pirates are holding at least a dozen ships and demanding millions of dollars in ransom.

A little bit later this hour, we'll have a reporter's view from what may be the most dangerous waters in the world.

A possible breakthrough surgery done in Europe. A team of doctors successfully transplanting a windpipe, largely made up of the patient's own stem cells. The lead surgeon says he's excited about the big step from animal experiment to human success.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. PAOLO MACCHIARINI, PERFORMED OPERATION: The jump between the animal investigation and the human investigation was a big sort of mystery to me as well. But we succeeded. And the fact that she's playing with her children is the most beautiful gift that I could have in my career, so I'm feeling very well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Wow. CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is joining us now from New York to talk a little bit more about the science behind all this.

So, Sanjay, what do they do here?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I -- love stories like this, because it is sort of a medical breakthrough. This woman, the 30-year-old, Claudia Castillo, she's the story behind this breakthrough.

She developed a terrible tuberculosis, so profound that she just couldn't breathe on her own. She feels very debilitated. You see her playing with her children now as the surgeon mentioned.

What have happened was, take a look at these images, she had severe problems with her trachea, the windpipe, as you mentioned, and the bottom part of her lung as well. And what doctors decided to do was they took a donor trachea. They took this from someone who had died, and over six weeks stripped away all the cells from that particular trachea, and then slowly began to put her cells, her own stem cells, and some of her healthy trachea cells and essentially built a new trachea.

A new trachea and bronchial as you see there, with after a few weeks they transplanted this trachea into her, allowing her to breathe normally once again. Now this is a transplant, Heidi, but she needs no immunosuppressant drugs. She was out of the hospital within 10 days and her function returned to pretty good as you see there.

Again, the first time using stem cells to tissue-engineer a new organ and then successfully transplant that. That is some rare, behind-the-scenes footage there in the operating room. That's the trachea which you're looking at right there.

COLLINS: Wow.

GUPTA: That's stem-cell built trachea and it worked. This operation worked which is why this is such a big deal today.

COLLINS: Yes, because, obviously, you take this step and you move forward with more stem cells hopefully.

Quickly, though, Sanjay, I wonder why could they not just do a traditional transplant here? Why did they have to -- or feel like they needed to build a stem cell route?

GUPTA: A great question and that was a possibility. In fact, they talked about the fact that possibly doing an entire left lung transplant was an option. The success rates are a little bit harder to predict with that. She would have needed immunosuppressant drugs for the -- for the rest of her life and she's young. She's only 30 years old.

So it would have been a much bigger trauma to her. This idea that you can build a -- tissue that is essentially her tissue, built out of her own cells, her own stem cells, and have it work without the need for a lifelong transplant -- transplant drugs...

COLLINS: Yes.

GUPTA: ... was sort of the goal here and at least, again, this is early. This operation was done in June. It looks like it -- looks like it's working.

COLLINS: Wow, it's just fascinating. You said her life is almost back to normal.

GUPTA: Yes, she can walk up two flights of stairs. She can play with her kids. These are sorts of things that she couldn't do before and as you mentioned, it may open the door for something that people have been talking about for some time, using stem cells to tissue engineer, to build organs, and to have -- give people lives back like they did for her.

COLLINS: Yes, well, certainly that is the hope for everybody.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, sure do appreciate that. Great, great story.

GUPTA: OK, Heidi.

COLLINS: We are going to talk again with Sanjay in a little while, more about the dangers of travel. Obviously, a lot of people getting ready to travel around the holiday season. What you need to know about blood clots. Deep vein thrombosis. He'll be back in just a little while for that.

And that leads into our focus on holiday travel today. What you need to know if you are leaving on a jet plane or any other mode of transportation.

AAA's new travel forecast shows the southeastern skies will be busy. Nearly 2 million people from the southeast will take a plane on their holiday trips. The west is second followed by the northeast, and then Midwest.

But the numbers also show there are going to be fewer travelers overall, 600,000 people staying home compared to last year.

We'll have much more on your holiday travels throughout the morning here on CNN.

Rob Marciano, right now, how are you? We have all kinds of weather to share with us today. A lot of people are beginning to talk about their holiday travel plans.

(WEATHER REPORT)

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Talk more about this and a whole bunch of other stuffs, I think.

COLLINS: Good.

MARCIANO: In about half an hour.

COLLINS: I can't wait. And yes, I had to break out the full length gown this morning.

MARCIANO: Nobody wears it better than you, though, seriously.

COLLINS: I got called a wimp. All right, Rob. We'll check back later on. Thank you.

Well, we have seen gas prices plunge in the last couple of months. So are you going to hit the road for the holidays? We'll tell you what you can expect to see on the road.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: An ominous warning to President-elect Barack Obama this mornings. An unverified audio message from al Qaeda number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, released on Islamist Web sites warns that he will inherit a, quote, "heavy legacy of failures and crimes." He's talking about Iraq and Afghanistan.

Zawahiri also used a racially offensive term to refer to Obama.

CNN's Ed Henry is in Chicago for us this morning with more on this. Let's begin with this story.

Is there any response, Ed, from the Obama's transition team to this tape?

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Heidi.

I just spoke to a senior Obama aide who said that they are not going to comment to this tape. Obviously a very explosive tape in terms of the derogatory term you mentioned, in racial terms going after the U.S. president-elect, and I can tell you, that the feeling within the Obama camp is it's not unexpected that al Qaeda post- election would try, number one, to sort of weigh in on the election results, comment on Barack Obama, go on the attack against him.

Secondly, for a long time now, both the Obama transition and the current White House, President Bush on down, have been preparing for the possibility of al Qaeda weighing in not just verbally but trying to take advantage of the U.S. transfer of power to try and launch terror strikes inside the United States.

That's, in part, why we saw Barack Obama and President Bush get together so early last week, so early after the election, to try and talk about what they want to do in terms of keeping each other in the loop about the threat assessments.

A lot of U.S. officials believe this kind of an audiotape is a recruiting device, frankly, to try and get more terrorists for al Qaeda, to try and rise up against the United States. And so, I think it's not unexpected that the posture from the Obama camp is to basically say, look, we're not going to comment on this. We're going to try and stay above the fray. Focus on the threat out there, but not get in for a tit for tat with the terror group -- Heidi. COLLINS: OK, understood. I want to talk also about the latest announcements for Cabinet positions. We have some new information now on this this morning.

HENRY: That's right. Two officials close to the Obama transition confirmed to CNN that Eric Holder is the pick to be attorney general. Very interesting, first of all, the first African- American to hold this post, if he's confirmed by the United States Senate.

Second of all, someone who carries great respect as a former judge, former federal prosecutor and someone who really, we're told, gained the trust of Barack Obama, by handling his vice presidential vetting process, a job where he had to show a lot of discretion, a lot of trust, had to reach out to the potential VPs and basically get them to put all their personal secrets on the table, vet their finances, et cetera, and then sit down and explain and lay out the pros and cons for then candidate Obama.

We're told he greatly impressed Barack Obama during that process with his professionalism. And the other interesting aspect is, obviously, the fact that this is someone who was a senior Justice department official in the Clinton administration, so yet another former top Clinton official, you know, being brought in to stock the incoming Obama administration.

Very interesting, Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, well, we'll continue to watch for more announcements on the Cabinet position. Sure do appreciate that, Ed Henry in Chicago for us this morning.

Could Democrats assume a Senate supermajority? Three contests will decide. As you know, one seat appears to be set. What's happening in the two remaining races?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Gas prices down again, now $2.04 a gallon for regular unleaded. That is the 63rd straight price drop. The current national average is half of this summer's high price. That was $4.11 in July, I'm sure you remember that. The last time we've seen gas prices drop this low was March 15th, 2005.

So, you know, the holiday season is here whether you are ready or not. Millions of you will be flying to your holiday destinations and spending a long time in a cramped seat.

CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is joining me now live from New York to focus more on blood clots, deep vein thrombosis, DVTs.

Talk a little bit, Sanjay, how dangerous this can be, and not just for airplanes, but for car travel as well.

GUPTA: That's right. Well, first of all, a DVT, as you well know, Heidi, is a blood clot that develops in the leg. Heidi, I know you had one in the past. But this is something that people become more familiar with.

The blood clot forms in the legs and the reason it can be dangerous is because it can split off from the leg and go to the lung. As you mentioned, there have been a lot of studies and concerns about plane travelers in specific and their increased risk for developing one of these blood clots in their leg.

Researchers decided to put this to the test to figure out exactly how much of an increased risk there was and what was causing it. Over five years they studied 9,000 travelers. They focused on younger travelers, trying to figure out if there were people who were at the most increased risk.

A few things jumped out of this. People who are taking flights that are over four hours, people that take many flights, sort of back to back, but also younger people could be more at risk. For example, women, who take birth control pills, and smoke, women under the age of 30.

And also people, anybody, over the size of 6'1" that seemed to be most related to sort of sitting in a cramped space for a long time, unable to move.

Again, talking about the dangers of these specific DVTs, you get that clot that sort of builds up in the leg, and if you take a look there, it's one of the deep veins of the leg. For some reason, that clot will just start flake off if it will, travel through the entire circulatory system and land in the lungs.

That's called a pulmonary embolism that can cause difficulty breathing and pretty serious problems, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes. And unfortunately, I had one of those as well, and obviously, when we hear about that, a PE, you know, a lot of people think well, it can go to your lungs. It can also go to your heart or your brain and then you're talking about a truly dire situation.

What are some of the red flags that travelers should keep an eye out for? What should they be feeling?

GUPTA: Well, you know, a pulmonary embolism luckily is a pretty rare occurrence. It doesn't happen very frequently. But it can also be one of the first signs that someone had a clot of any sort in their body. So the pulmonary -- the difficulty breathing might be one of the things.

But if something's going on in your legs that might be an earlier, more important early sign to catch. Swelling, redness, may feel warm to the touch. You may have an unusual leg cramping. And, again, if this is associated with a particularly long flight, if you've been sitting in a cramped position for a while, even in an automobile, this could be something to look out for.

They can be difficult to diagnose for sure, but those are at least some early signs.

COLLINS: Yes, no question about it. Mine just felt like a muscle pull, so it was very, very surprising that -- what it ended up being. So we sure do appreciate...

GUPTA: And you needed to be on blood thinners for a while...

COLLINS: Yes.

GUPTA: ... I remember which is one of the treatments to sort of dissolve those clots.

COLLINS: Exactly. Coumadin, a lot of people have heard about that, of course.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a very important issue this time of year. Certainly appreciate it a lot.

GUPTA: Safe travels. All right. Thanks.

COLLINS: Thank you.

Negative numbers in a new economics report. Does that mean minus territory in today's markets, though? Wall Street's opening bell right around the corner.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Wall Street finally managed to end a session with solid gains. How about that? Well, today, a sentiment may be guided by a new round of economic reports and a second round of hearings about an auto bailout.

Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange with a preview of all of this.

Let's go back to yesterday.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we did pretty well yesterday, Heidi. The bulls showed some resilience late in the trading session, but today we're expecting a lower open and the major averages could once again test the recent lows.

As one analyst says the 400-pound gorilla in the room is the auto bailout. On Capitol Hill yesterday UAW union president Ron Gettelfinger said that if one of the big three goes bankrupt, it could take the other two down with it.

This comes amid more signs of distress in the housing market. New home construction plunged 4.5 percent last month to the lowest level on record. And mortgage lender Fannie Mae in danger of being de-listed from the New York Stock Exchange because its share prices have been under a dollar for a month now. Fannie trades at under 50 cents a share.

Good news, another record plunge on inflation. We don't want prices to go low forever, obviously. That will hurt the economy as well. But it is a good trend that we've been seeing the last couple of months. A little bit of relief there. Consumer prices fell one percent, coming one day after the record decline on wholesale prices.

Obviously, a big drop in gas prices. And we're seeing -- well, we've seen a little bit of life in the numbers in the first few seconds of trading. The Dow right now is up 10. The Nasdaq is down 1.

And, Heidi, yes, you know who that was.

COLLINS: I know. I'm over here laughing, listening to you intently, but I am kind of cackling. Tell me what Gene Simmons is doing there.

LISOVICZ: Well, you know, he's promoting something, of course. He's promoting his reality show, "The Family Jewels." Of course, Gene Simmons from Kiss. He was minus the kabuki makeup, but he did have the shades on, the obligatory shades. Because 9:30 is early for an aging rock star.

And you know, one of their anthems, of course, is, you know, "Rock and Roll All Night", but another one is "Detroit Rock City" Heidi. So that's timely, because Detroit still very much on the radar today on Wall Street.

COLLINS: Yes, exactly. And certainly automakers at the Senate today as well.

LISOVICZ: I know. I mean, I'm talking about all these serious things and you see Gene Simmons, and it just doesn't sort of connect, right? Yes.

COLLINS: I know. That's why I was giggling. All right. Well, Susan Lisovicz, we appreciate it. We'll come back to you next hour. Thank you so much

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

COLLINS: The government's $700 billion bailout. Your money, his mission. This hour, a Senate committee begins considering Neil Barofsky as the so called bailout czar. If approved, he will be the Treasury's point man to oversee how the taxpayer money is actually dolled out. Yesterday, his would-be boss, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, got a chilly reception on Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MAXINE WATERS (D), CALIFORNIA: The fact that you, Mr. Paulson, took it upon yourself to absolutely ignore the authority and the direction that this Congress had given you, just amazes me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Paulson told the House Committee, despite the criticism, the bailout has helped stabilize financial markets. Investors apparently welcomed that upbeat assessment. Stocks on Wall Street hit their highs of the day.

Three Senate races, as we've mentioned now, to determine whether Democrats get a filibuster-proof majority. One looks like it's decided. On official voting results show a Democrat Marc Begich apparently beating Alaska Senator Ted Stevens by less than 4,000 votes. An official announcement is expected in two weeks and then Stevens would be able to request a recount. Stevens was convicted in October of filing false statements on his Senate Financial Disclosure Forms.

Shades of 2000. This time, Minnesota is in the recount spotlight. Nearly 3 million ballots being manually tallied now. The high-stakes Senate seat there up for grabs. And Mary Snow is in the middle of it all in Minneapolis.

And I'm not going to make any jokes about your last name at this point. But it does look a little chilly there.

Good morning, Mary.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. Pretty nippy out here, but that hasn't stopped volunteers. As you see -- might see behind me, who are waiting to get in. This is one of 100 sites around this state where this unprecedented recount will be taking place throughout Minnesota, unprecedented in size. As you mentioned, nearly 3 million ballots to be hand counted.

This, in the hotly contested Senate race between Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken. And a recount was ordered after a state canvassing board said the race is just too close to call.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All in favor, please signify by saying I.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Opposed same sign.

SNOW (voice-over): And with that, a Minnesota panel ordered an official recount in a highly contested Senate race between Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken.

Despite a flurry of legal challenges, the secretary of state says there won't be a delay in starting the count, Wednesday.

MARK RITCHIE (D), MINNESOTA SECRETARY OF STATE: Every person who spoke said out loud they -- the recount will go forward. We want the recount to go forward. We are excited. People use that word "excited."

SNOW: Coleman holds a razor-thin lead with 215 votes, but the Franken team claims they were absentee ballots that should have been counted but weren't. Lawyers filed a legal brief to get them counted, saying some of the ballots were rejected as a result of administrative errors.

DAVID LILLEHAUG, ATTORNEY FOR AL FRANKER CAMPAIGN: They have a right to have official mistakes corrected and their votes counted, not later but now.

SNOW: The Coleman team disagrees.

FRITZ KNAAK, ATTORNEY FOR NORM COLEMAN CAMPAIGN: There is no cause to include additional ballots, which is being requested here, in that recount process.

SNOW: The panel says it will meet next week to consider the absentee ballot issue. In the meantime, the recount will get under way at roughly 107 sites around the state. At stake, Democrats need a victory to achieve a 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority. Also at stake, Minnesota is trying to keep its reputation intact so it will no longer be the butt of jokes by late-night comedians.

JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": Turns out Minnesota is an old Indian word that means Florida.

SNOW: And while there were several references to the Gore-Bush recount of 2000, Minnesota's secretary of state hopes his state won't be remembered as another Florida and says he's confident that recount won't be interrupted by major court actions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: And, Heidi, the secretary of state has himself come under fire from Republicans, because the secretary of state is a Democrat. Republicans have questioned his objectivity, but he's not acting alone. He chairs a board that is a bipartisan panel that consists of four judges -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, we will be watching closely in Minnesota. Thanks so much, Mary Snow, from Minneapolis this morning.

The other undecided Senate seat right here in Georgia. The Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss lost in a December 2nd runoff with challenger Jim Martin. You see him there. Today, Martin gets a big boost when former President Bill Clinton comes to town. They'll be sharing the stage at Clark Atlantic University this afternoon. Last week, John McCain dropped in to campaign with Saxby Chambliss.

I want to get this news out to you right now. Just in to the CNN NEWSROOM. We are learning -- something is happening in Indiana Township, Pennsylvania. That's actually about 10 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. We are learning through WPXI, our affiliate there, that the FBI has told them one of their agents was shot and killed while trying to serve a warrant in, again, Indiana Township.

According to the medical examiner's office there, Allegheny County, they have confirmed that the agent has died. But they have not yet released the identity of this individual. They also have a suspect in custody, in this shooting. And it did happen, again, according to the FBI here at a home in Indiana Township. So, we will be continuing to follow this story.

Again, an FBI agent has apparently been killed, just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We'll stay on top of that one for you. Bring you any new details as we get them here.

Now to Southern California where they're starting to shift their focus from fighting wildfires to fighting their causes. Ten young adults are being blamed for starting the so-called Tea Fire in Montecito. Authorities say the group built a bonfire. Later leaving the area when they thought it had been put out.

The case has been turned over to prosecutors now to see if criminal charges should be filed. The Tea Fire, as you remember, destroyed more than 200 structures, including a monastery and several mansions.

CNN's Rob Marciano standing by now to talk a little bit more about this.

Boy, it doesn't take much.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: All right, Rob, we'll check back later. And we are going to be staying on top of all of these potential traveling issues. Because ready or not, it is almost time to go. Talking about holiday travel now, with Thanksgiving just eight days away and Christmas right around the corner.

AAA's Geoff Sundstrom joining me live from Orlando this morning to talk more about your travel plans.

Thanks for being with us, Geoff. And this is definitely a busy time of year. But when we talk about gas prices, this is certainly a part of the story this year. We just mentioned a little while ago, 63 consecutive days now that we have seen gas prices go down. And we have a graphic to show as well.

33.2 million Americans apparently expect to travel by car, 1.2 percent decrease from the 33.6 million people who drove a year ago. Is that a big drop?

GEOFF SUNDSTROM, AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION: Well, it doesn't sound like a big drop. But when you consider that in a normally healthy environment, we see the numbers of Americans traveling over the holidays increase from year to year. This is certainly reversal.

COLLINS: Yes, and it is interesting, because you figure if gas prices are down, more people will be traveling.

SUNDSTROM: Right. Well, certainly the lower price of gasoline is a big Thanksgiving gift to all of us. And we'll encourage, you know, more people to get out than perhaps otherwise might have. I think what has occurred is that the other economic problems that we're facing as a country have replaced gasoline prices as something that's inhibiting travel.

COLLINS: Yes. In fact, to be a little bit more specific about that, we were just talking with Rob Marciano, our meteorologist, about all the snow in the northeast, New York to be specific. And, boy, you know, some of these cities are having because of economic reasons to cut things like snow removal and other things. You know, people personally maybe not getting their cars tuned up as they should for long trips.

Are these some of the things that are really affecting travel on the roads?

SUNDSTROM: Well, I think it could. I mean, obviously, if state and local governments have to cut back on snow removal budgets, you know, some of the rural roads, secondary roads, may be affected. You know, that's a good reason to keep your motor club membership this time of year. But the major arteries are going to be fine and, you know, people that are out on the interstate should have no problem.

COLLINS: All right, and that's plug for AAA there. Geoff Sundstrom, we sure do appreciate that from the American Automobile Association coming from Florida today. Thank you, Geoff.

SUNDSTROM: Thank you.

COLLINS: Too late for holiday air travel deals? Well, maybe not. We get the answer from the man behind farecompare.com.

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COLLINS: Five people are dead and seven injured after a suspected U.S. Missile strike in north-western Pakistan. A local official tells us, the missiles struck about 3:30 this morning. It targeted a home outside the tribal areas that U.S. Intelligence officials think are havens for Taliban and al Qaeda fighters. The U.S. forces have not acknowledged hitting any targets in Pakistan. A key ally in the war against al Qaeda.

The Horn of Africa and what may be the most dangerous waters on earth. Modern-day pirates holding at least a dozen ships and demanding millions of dollars in ransom. This morning, an Indian warship says it traded fire with a pirate vessel and left it ablaze.

CNN's David McKenzie is joining us now live from Nairobi, Kenya, with more on this.

Good morning to you, David.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. Well, yes. It's quite extraordinary, this latest attack came from between an Indian vessel and a pirate mother ships. Pirates have been using larger vessels in recent months that they hijack, and then use to hijack other vessels. That's a huge problem off the Horn of Africa. And now, the scope of these pirate attacks and the size of the vessels, they are taking, it's quite extraordinary.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCKENZIE (voice-over): The super tanker more than three times the size of an aircraft carrier. This is the tiny pirate skiff usually operated by a ragtag group of armed pirates. Yet Somali pirates on just such a vessel were able to capture and dock this giant packed with Saudi oil, the Sirius Star. They nabbed their cash way off the Kenyan coastline and the top brass is taking note.

ADM. MIKE MULLEN, CHAIRMAN, U.S. JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: What I'm seeing is a reduction in the overall of successful piracy attempts but certainly we've seen an extraordinary rise in the overall numbers.

MCKENZIE: In fact, these are now the most dangerous waters on the planet. With the International Maritime Bureau reporting more than 80 attempted attacks this year and more than 30 hijackings. Right now, at least a dozen ships are being held.

This despite sophisticated warships patrolling the coast in search of pirates. But this area is bigger than Texas, and the Navy say it's just too much water to cover.

Pirates hold these waters hostage with their automatic weapons and RPGs. Once a boat is hijacked, the Navies won't attack because they fear for the hostages. But the man in charge of Somalia's transitional government suggests a change in tactics.

NUR HASSAN HUSSEIN, PM, TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT OF SOMALIA: When pirates are using force to hijack the boats and the ships, I think the only way to prevent or at least to save the hijacked ships and the crew is to use the force.

MCKENZIE: But until these dangerous waters can be properly policed, the Somali pirates are sure to rule the waves.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCKENZIE: Well, Heidi, imagine if building was hijacked, and the company that owned that building just paid those hijackers a load of money to get them out of that building. That's kind of what's happening, but it's happening out at sea. And obviously the problem is as the more and more money that's paid, the more likely these pirates will go out and find more ships.

COLLINS: Well, and David, that seems to be the main problem here. It's very, very difficult to control this type of situation, because there are so many vessels traveling around these waters.

MCKENZIE: That's exactly right. This is one of the most busy -- the busiest shipping lanes in this region. The Gulf of Aden is a major oil route. It's a major cargo route. And one shipping company at least has said, it's going all the way around the tip of Africa to avoid this dangerous water. That will add money. It will add time. And it might, ultimately, hurt our pockets -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. David McKenzie, we sure do appreciate that. And we just want to let you know, we're going to be talking further about this issue with a spokesman for the fifth fleet of the U.S. Navy, talking a little bit more about the difficulty in controlling this problem and some successes that they've had in the area that David was speaking about as well. So, we'll get to that coming up next hour.

Meanwhile, struggling to survive. Polar bears wandering into town, headed for polar bear jail? It's just another effect of global climate change.

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COLLINS: Only one day left to vote for your favorite heroes. Just go to cnn.com/heroes to see their stories. Vote and then join Anderson Cooper Thanksgiving night to find out who will be CNN's hero of the year. Vote now at cnn.com/heroes. And remember, only one day left.

She was playful up until the end. Officials and visitors at a Canadian zoo are mourning the death of Debbie today. She's believed to have been the world's oldest polar bear. Debbie died on Monday, 42 years after being captured as an orphaned cub in the Russian Arctic in 1966. Zoo vets were forced to euthanize her after they determined she suffered multiple organ failure. Debbie outlived her polar bear mate and gave birth to six cubs.

Attacking global climate change. A campaign promise by President-elect Barack Obama. Some would say the plight of polar bears illustrating the effects. They are sort of poster child for the problem. ITN's Lawrence McGinty has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE MCGINTY, ITN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Amid the broken rubble of sea ice, a forlorn polar bear unable to hunt seals, unable to go where it wants, a refugee almost in its own land. Stranded because the sea ice on the Hudson Bay is forming weeks later than it used to.

(on camera): The sea ice we're flying over is where the polar bears live. It's their niche in the world. It's their supermarket where they get meat from hunting seals. It's their highway, but traveling around the Arctic region, it's their school where they teach cubs how to hunt.

(voice-over): We come to meet Canada's foremost expert on polar bears, Andrew Derocher.

(on camera): Hi, Andy. Lawrence McGinty, hi, please to meet you.

ANDREW DEROCHER, BIOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA: Hey, good to see you.

MCGINTY: Andrew is a biology professor who studied polar bear populations for 28 years.

DEROCHER: When it comes to the loss of sea ice, the major issue there is that you're cutting down the amount of time that the bears have to feed. We're just basically taking them away from their primary habitat where they have access to seals and were forcing them on shore. In this area, when they come ashore, they really don't have much to eat.

MCGINTY: One reason our pilot, Lynn (ph), is on watch with a shotgun ready to chase off any hungry bears.

DEROCHER: Two to three times as many bears are not feeding in the spring time. And this is the best time of year for feeding. So, we really are concerned that this is just another one of these symptoms. When you add them all together between drowning bears, we're seeing increased cannibalism in other areas. Many areas we're also seeing more problem bears.

MCGINTY: When problem bears wander into Churchill, this is where they end up. They call it, bear jail. This 4-year-old male, weighing 720 pounds has been here for 30 days. Now sedated, he's about to be airlifted back into the wild.

Fifteen other bears are still back in jail as this male heads north for the open tundra. Some people say bears scavenging in towns show how adaptable they are. But escape the worse effects of warming by moving on to new food sources. An adult bear like this one needs the fat from 45 seals a year to survive.

Even as the pilot gently lowers him to the ground 20 miles from town, they don't know whether in the months ahead he'll be able to catch enough seals out on the sea ice.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: And the biologist in Lawrence's report there says by the middle of the century, two-thirds of the polar bear population will be gone.

Avoiding travel bugs. How to keep from getting sick when you're on the go.

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COLLINS: Less than 30 minutes now after the opening bell. Let's go ahead and take a look at where Wall Street is headed today. Live look there at the big board. Dow Jones Industrial Average is down about 68 points. We will continue to watch those numbers as we always do, right here in the NEWSROOM.

In what could be a telling sign of the times, layaway is making a comeback. Sears and K-Mart bringing the old school practice back. Layaway allows customers to buy what they want for Christmas and pay it off in installments before Santa arrives. It was the kind of shopping people used to do before the rise of credit cards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DORIAN NEWSOM, USING LAYAWAY: It would be good to put it on layaway and pay it out a little bit along. Not only that, you don't have that big interest charge like on a credit card.

JOYCE CHAPEL, USING LAYAWAY: Well, in holidays, Christmas time, that was the best thing to do, layaway plan. So, you can be able to store, put whatever you like in layaway for your children or gifts for other people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Layaways are limited to in-store items. The most popular? Clothes, grills, sporting goods and tools.

Well, these are tough times, as you know. But this is pretty crazy. Listen to this. A 74-year-old blind widow had a lien put on her property because she owed one penny. Eileen Wilbur says she couldn't believe Attleboro City Hall in Massachusetts actually paid 42 cents to mail her the letter about it. She's raised seven children in the five-bedroom home after the last 50 years.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EILEEN WILBUR, HOMEOWNER: Today, seeing the word lien on your property, that made my stomach boil. I think if they said you owe a $100, I'd pay $100. But don't touch my property.

ANTONIO VIVEIROS, FORMER CITY COUNCILOR: I went to City Hall as soon as it opened, and I wrote out a check for a cent to make a point to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: City collectors said the letter was computer generated and sent out with around 2,000 other bills for outstanding balances.