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Trapped Miners Sent Food and Advice for Keeping Physically and Mentally Fit as They Await Rescue; Gunmen Kill 33 at Mogadishu Hotel; Manila Police Say Bus Hostage Crisis Mishandled; Hurricane Danielle May Reach Category 3 But Will Likely Miss US and Bermuda; Shirley Sherrod and Tom Vilsack Meet in DC
Aired August 24, 2010 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, guys. And good morning, everybody. Here's what we're working on this morning.
Safety of the food that's sitting in your fridge. Half a billion eggs recalled. Hundreds of people sick. What's being done now to protect you?
Thirty-three trapped miners belt out the Chilean National Anthem from nearly half a mile underground. But crews say that a rescue might take until Christmas.
The fed tells SeaWorld to pay up after a 12,000 pound whale kills its trainer. But it's not just a fine. It's accusations of serious safety violations.
It's 9:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 6:00 a.m. out west. Good morning, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Well, we begin this morning with the safety of your food and a couple of new causes for concern. First up, the salmonella outbreak that's triggering a massive recall of eggs. Health officials now say that no further recalls are expected on top of the 550 million eggs already identified as being at risk.
Food safety inspectors are still investigating and they say it's a little premature to discuss the findings of those inspections so far. Now the number of confirmed cases of salmonella has risen to about 1300.
The other food threat that could be putting you or your family at risk. Zemco Industries in Buffalo, New York, has recalled about 380,000 pounds of deli meat sold at Wal-Marts nationwide.
It may be contaminated with bacteria. The food can cause listeriosis. That disease, rather, is uncommon among healthy people but can be fatal to the very young and the very old. It can also put pregnant women at risk of miscarriage or stillbirth.
So what should you be looking for to keep your family from getting sick?
Let's bring in our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. She's got all the boxes of eggs.
And you can see there's all different types of eggs. And this is actually -- and I want to thank you very much. This is the result of a discussion that happened in our meeting this morning.
Did we really think that people understand the difference between or among organic, cage-free, you know, regular eggs that don't have any type of label on it? So is it easy to break this down?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. I even had people ask me if it's a brown egg, does that mean there is no salmonella and maybe a white egg means there is salmonella?
PHILLIPS: Wow.
COHEN: People are searching for some kind of a hint.
PHILLIPS: OK.
COHEN: Right? They want something. And I am here to give the disappointing news that there really isn't much of anything that would be able to guide you towards the salmonella-free egg.
PHILLIPS: OK.
COHEN: And I know that it's confusing. For example, here you have cage-free. All right. This one says cage-free on here. This one says organic. This one says vegetarian. And according to studies the scientists have done and published and according to experts we talked to, they've all said that doesn't decrease the chances that there is going to be salmonella.
This just means that the chickens run around more. This one means that they were fed organic feed. This one means that they were fed vegetarian feed. But they can still have salmonella in them.
PHILLIPS: So it doesn't necessarily mean OK, because it's cage-free means they're not in the cage and that means it's not cleaner.
(LAUGHTER)
COHEN: Correct. Correct.
PHILLIPS: If you could clean -- I mean I'm trying -- I'm just -- you know, I'm throwing this out. But that -- it's not that simple.
COHEN: It is not that simple. It will be great if it were that simple but it's not. I mean what you have to do is you have to go to CNN.com.
PHILLIPS: OK.
COHEN: Find -- we have a list of all the brands that have been recalled. And don't buy those brands. I mean that's really --
PHILLIPS: All right. COHEN: That's how you know.
PHILLIPS: Well, so but -- so how does salmonella actually get into the egg in the first place?
COHEN: Right. And that answers the question. That explains why these labels don't matter. Salmonella lives inside the chicken. It hangs out in the ovaries of these hens. And so when they lay the eggs the salmonella gets passed down to them.
So they could be fed organic feed, they could be free-range, they could be whatever, and they can still have salmonella hanging out in their ovaries.
PHILLIPS: So does it come down then to the cleanliness of where they are? What they are -- I don't know. How they're living, breathing, putting things into their mouths -- I don't know, interaction with other chickens?
COHEN: Right. This is somewhat controversial.
PHILLIPS: OK.
COHEN: And some scientists will disagree with each other. But the gist of what we've gotten, the experts that we've talked to, is that it doesn't matter. They could be living in a clean environment and they could still have salmonella inside of them.
It just kind of hangs out inside chickens. It doesn't make them sick. They are fine. But when they pass it down it to their eggs and we eat them we get sick.
PHILLIPS: Got it.
COHEN: So it really has to -- it doesn't necessarily have to do with the environment that they're living in.
PHILLIPS: All right. So even in an egg that looks fine, OK, but it can have salmonella, you know, what can we do?
COHEN: What you can do is, one, you can know which brands not to buy. That's the most important thing.
PHILLIPS: Right now because we know what brands are tainted.
COHEN: Right. Exactly.
PHILLIPS: OK. All right.
COHEN: So the -- the USDA has a list that we put on our Web site at CNN.com. And also what you can do is cook all eggs thoroughly.
PHILLIPS: OK.
COHEN: So don't have any of those runny egg yolks, don't be like rocky. PHILLIPS: Uh-oh, no runny eggs --
COHEN: I know. They're so good.
PHILLIPS: Eggs Benedict. That's the best part.
COHEN: I know. Yes. Yes. I know. Well, if a restaurant makes Eggs Benedict, and they use pasteurize d eggs, in other words the eggs that come out of a carton and that they've been pasteurized, that's OK. But if raw eggs have been used that's a problem. And so don't eat raw eggs. And also, just look and see what brands not to buy.
PHILLIPS: Then I ask the question today, kind of threw this out, I said OK, is this a stupid question because I have no idea? Pasteurized versus non-pasteurized. And folks in the team said, well, the ones that are not pasteurized taste better.
COHEN: You know, I think --
PHILLIPS: Is that controversial as well, too? You know I would think of course you want pasteurized, right? That's safer.
COHEN: Right.
PHILLIPS: But --
COHEN: Well, it's chocolate and vanilla, right? I mean some people feel -- it's all a matter of taste. And so it's hard to say -- you know, everybody is going to be different. But certainly when eggs are pasteurized that reduces the risk that there's going to be salmonella or something else bad in there.
PHILLIPS: All right. We'll be talking a lot more about this next hour. Well, we've got all kinds of people joining us to break this down.
COHEN: OK. Great.
PHILLIPS: And I know you're going to be a part of it, too. Elizabeth, thanks so much.
COHEN: OK.
PHILLIPS: Well, at the bottom of the hour, we're going to actually hear from an attorney who specializes in tainted foods. Spinach, peanut butter, hamburgers, he's filed lawsuits in all those cases, and now the tainted egg recalls, so he's going to be here to talk to us in just about 25 minutes.
Well, it's a Tuesday during an election year. And that means that more Americans are hitting the polls. And today voters will have their say in primaries in five different states. Florida, Arizona, Alaska, Oklahoma, and Vermont.
Today's got it all. Coming in political newcomers and some big dollar races. In Arizona one of Capitol Hill's most familiar Republicans is facing a nasty challenge. Senator John McCain squaring off against conservative talk show host and former congressman J.D. Hayworth.
Now McCain has been pushed to the right and forced to spend $20 million with Hayworth accusing him of not being a true conservative. The challenger says McCain is cynical, telling our Jessica Yellin that McCain will lie to Arizona voters and lurched left once back in D.C.
Now to Florida where Miami Democrat Congressman Kendrick Meek is facing a bitter battle from Jeff Greene, a celebrity linked real estate billionaire. Greene made bank off the housing crash causing Congressman Meek to dub him a meltdown mogul.
Well, Green challenged Meek's commitment to Israel. A big charge in a very Jewish state.
And on the Republican side voters will decide on their candidate for the governor's race today. And the other big shows in Alaska, incumbent Republican senator Lisa Murkowski is one of most recognized names in the state.
She's facing a challenge from a little known candidate Joe Miller. And Miller has picked up the backing of the Tea Party movement and Sarah Palin.
Thirty-three trapped miners have stayed alive for more than two weeks but it could take three months for them to be rescued.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Heart wrenching when you hear that. Sounds of life. It's good news. And these are the miners that have been trapped more than 2300 feet underground. But what they're singing is their national anthem.
It's the first time that their families have heard their voices since they got trapped on August 5th. But that joy over contact with the miners is tempered by this fact. It could be Christmas before rescuers are actually able to reach them.
Our Karl Penhaul is actually outside of the mine. They are near the city of Copiapo in Chile.
And, Karl, why are they predicting it's going to take so long and also why even say that when you never know what could happen? Right?
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, really it's based on the drilling conditions here in this heart of Chile. And in fact in the course of this morning, Kyra, they're bringing a new drill in that will drill a bigger hole -- about the width of a man's shoulders -- that they will then be able to pull those men, the 2300 feet, from down in the bowels of the earth back to the surface.
But the problem is that it's going to take a few days to put this drill together to start with. And then it drills at a rate of about 60 to 90 feet a day. And then it has to make two passes. It makes a first hole of about 35 inches. And then on the second pass, makes a whole of 66 inches. And that will be finally where they can pull them out. And that's the process. It could take between three and four months. Basically these men will be lucky if they are out by Christmas -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: OK. So, Karl, here is what we want to know. And I don't know if you can answer this or not. But we hear -- oh my god -- they won't be out until Christmas. Do they know that? Have their superiors said guys, we may not be able to get you for four months.
That's my first question. And then, second question is what kind of food and liquids are they going to be putting down there to them so they can survive?
PENHAUL: To the first question, these miners, some of them are very experienced miners. In fact the guy who seems to have emerged as their natural leader, Mario Gomez. He's been mining in this part of Chile since he was 12. He's now 63 years old.
So he knows that it could take that long and, in fact, since last night the rescue workers on the services have managed to get a line of communication down into that shelter 2300 feet below the surface. And they've told them that.
What did the miners do? They spontaneously broke out into a rendition of the national anthem. What these miners want to show their relatives on the surface -- what they want to show the rescue workers, they are ready for anything. They are holding on and they will resist.
They were told this news that it could take them a long time to get out and they say that they are going to stay strong.
Now of course, meanwhile, the challenge is yes, feeding them and so what initially has been put down some small holes is glucose, glucose mixed with liquid, also medicines to coat their stomachs and that will prevent any illness.
But also any possibility of them getting any stress ulcers from stress and that kind of thing. And then over the period of the next few days, solid foods will be put down because over the last 18 days, all they've had to survive on, are cans of tuna and mackerel. And that only every other day they've been ossifying (ph), they've been rationing that food because there was so little of it. They say on one day, they had a big treat. Among the 33 of them, they were able to share a jar of peaches.
But it's not only the physical treatment that they need, the medicine, the hydration, the food that they need, but they've also got to keep it together up here. They've to keep their mental health going, and that's what the psychologists are saying. These people now must work as a team. The miners must stay together. If one is depressed, the others must cheer them up.
They must also keep a little routine during the day. They must sleep and eat at the same times. They must also do little chores to keep their area clean, and that way, the days will pass just a little bit quicker, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: We'll be following every single day that they try to get to those miners. It's amazing how they're keeping their spirits up. Karl Penhaul, thanks so much.
Let's go ahead and scan our morning passport. Other stories happening internationally. Two gunmen disguised in military uniforms stormed a hotel in Mogadishu today killing at least 33 people before blowing themselves up. Officials say that at least six members of the Somali parliament are among the dead. Journalists say that those attackers committed suicide after government security forces surrounded the Muna Hotel. That's located near the presidential palace. Now, this attack comes as al-Shabab militants and government forces face off in neighborhood street battles that have left dozens of people dead now.
Let's head to Manila in the Philippines. Police say that officers mishandled a hostage stand-off where eight people and the gunman died. A disgruntled former police officer commandeered a busload of Hong Kong tourists for ten hours. Police say that they tried to end stand-off peacefully, but the hostage taker suddenly turned violent and began shooting. Survivors want to know why police waited so long to rescue them.
And if you've ever wanted to spin, groove or moonwalk like the King of Pop, guess what? You're going to get a chance to show off your moves. A new video, Michael Jackson video game, won't hit store shelves for months, but we are getting a sneak peek.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: It's a hurricane that south Florida will never forget. One of the most powerful storms ever churned out of the Atlantic Ocean and the second most destructive hurricane in US history. Today is the 18th anniversary of Hurricane Andrew making landfall in south Florida as a category 5 hurricane. The storm killed 23 people in the US, left more than $26 billion worth of damage in its wake.
We're currently watching another hurricane out in the Atlantic, Hurricane Danielle, now strengthening to category 2 status. That's where our Rob Marciano comes in. He's tracking it for us. What do you think, Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLGOIST: Looks like it may get to category 3 status at this point. And by the way, Andrew, which you mentioned, one of only three category 5 storms ever to hit the United States.
PHILLLIPS: What were the other two?
MARCIANO: One back in 1938 and -- I knew you were going to ask that. I can't remember the -- oh, Camille. 1969.
PHILLIPS: There you go. Whew!
MARCIANO: That was a close one. PHILLIPS: I don't think you were born either one of those.
MARCIANO: No. But nonetheless, hurricanes still doing their job of transporting heat from the tropics to the poles, trying to equalize everything that the Earth has going on. And this one has got 100- mile-an-hour winds at the moment.
Category 2 storm but man, it's out there. Here's Miami. There's the storm. We're talking still over 2,000 miles away. And where this is going, well, pretty much the same story we talked about yesterday. The only difference in the forecast track or forecast is the intensity. The National Hurricane Center says now they think it's going to become a major hurricane here, probably today or tomorrow. Category 3 storm.
But the re-curving may even miss Bermuda entirely. So that's good news, and certainly would bring it farther away from the United States. And we -- we are digging that. But there's more behind that storm, as far as tropical waves are concerned, out there in the Atlantic Ocean.
As far as what's happening a little bit closer to home, we had rain and wind across the northeast yesterday. Today, less rain, less wind, but kind of damp, kind of dreary. At times, some light rain, especially in eastern New England. But that onshore wind is going to keep things rather chilly for the rest of today.
Virginia and parts of North Carolina seeing some heavy rain in spots this morning, so some flash flooding in some of these areas. Beginning to wind down, but really looking at a cell, that this doesn't want to move away from that part of North Carolina.
A little cool front trying to move across the northern tier of the US, and this will bring slightly cooler air to the upper Midwest, but probably not as far south as the -- well, say southern California, where temperatures today are going to be extreme. In the upper 90s in many spots and in the deserts, well up and over 100 degrees. So, excessive heat warnings in effect for parts of the southwest.
That's the latest here. We'll be watching Danielle and Earl, which is the next storm on the docket, Kyra. Maybe named as soon as later on today. So, starting to get a little bit busy.
PHILLIPS: OK. Now, a little something for your baseball fan pleasure.
MARCIANO: Yes, please.
PHILLIPS: Whoever said little league wasn't brutal?
MARCIANO: No, it's pretty tough down there.
PHILLIPS: Did you play little league?
MARCIANO: Of course.
PHILLIPS: Yes. It can get hard-core, man.
MARCIANO: I never made it to television, though, if you're going to show highlights, I never made it on the big screen.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Well, here's a highlight for you, pal. ESPN crew, check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE SPEAKER: Morley Epiano (ph), and that seems to be away. To the backstop. He's going to be starting in center field in this ballgame.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: My --
PHILLIPS: Yes, what do you think?
MARCIANO: We're beat.
PHILLIPS: We've got to get the name of this kid. We're going to find out who this kid is and how fast that pitch was. Because let me tell you what, he's destined for the big time.
(CROSSTALK)
MARCIANO: That has some --
PHILLIPS: What do you say?
MARCIANO: Let's call off the table.
PHILLIPS: Now, do you think it was a curve ball, fastball? Oh, there you go.
MARCIANO: It was a ground ball.
PHILLIPS: There you go. I don't know why we threw that in there. Maybe just for the hell of it, it was just kind of fun.
MARCIANO: Why not?
PHILLIPS: Slip and slide, 1987.
MARCIANO: I don't think they're going to make that kid pay for that.
PHILLIPS: Oh, here we go. Here we go. Here's the -- we got the scoop. Mexico versus Puerto Rico when the pitch hit the lens there behind the plate. OK. We didn't get the name of the kid, though. Gosh darn it. I'm going to want to follow him.
MARCIANO: Clearly there was a rain delay, though, of some sort. They got the tarp out and they had the slip and slide.
PHILLIPS: Bringing it back. That looks safer, too, than the slip and slides back in our day. All right. We'll be right back.
MARCIANO: All right, see you later.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: If you think that your dancing skills can rival the King of Pop, get ready to prove it.
(MUSIC - "Beat It")
PHILLIPS: Oh, yes. More an year after Michael Jackson's death, there's a new video game on the way that actually teaches contenders to spin, slide, shake, and grab just like the King. "Michael Jackson: The Experience" is due out in November on Nintendo, PlayStation, and a few other game consoles.
Right now in DC, Shirley Sherrod and her former boss are actually talking about a new job for her. This is the first in the flesh meeting, by the way, that Sherrod has had with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack since she became national news last month. In case you didn't watch much news during the week in July, here's a little quick refresher for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHIRLEY SHERROD, FORMER USDA EMPLOYEE: I was struggling with the fact so many black people had lost their farmland, and here I was faced with having to help the white person save their land. So I didn't give him the full force of what I could do. I --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: You might remember that Sherrod was working for the USDA in Georgia when just part of that speech that she gave to the NAACP turned up on this guy's website, Andrew Breitbart. The snippet made it look like she was a racist and she was forced to resign.
Well, then she called CNN, and she said, "Have you heard the rest of the speech? You'd actually realize that I was talking about overcoming my own racism." She was telling the story from her pre- USDA days in the 1980s, but her bosses didn't seem to care about the context.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERROD: The thing that really hurts is it was so easy for them to make a decision to throw me under the bridge. You know, without looking, I was asking them, "Please, look at the entire speech. Look at my message, and you will see that's not the message I put out there." But no one was willing to do that. It was easy to put the blame all on me.
(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: Now Ag secretary Vilsack then apologized for basically pushing her out the door and told her by phone that she could have another job at the USDA if she wanted it. Sherrod said she needed time to think about it. And that brings us to today.
Let's go to CNN's Brian Todd in Washington. So, Brian, the meeting started, I guess, about an hour ago. Do we know anything at this point? How it's going? What's expected to happen today?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some details, Kyra, are dribbling out of there. What we're told now is that the meeting is still going on. We were told that a few moments ago, that this is now a one-on- one meeting between Secretary Vilsack and Ms. Sherrod. There were other people in the meeting to start out. We were told then it became a one-on-one session between the two of them to talk about a possible job.
And what we're now told is that there is a news conference scheduled for the top of the hour, at 10:00 AM Eastern time. Ms. Sherrod and Mr. Vilsack will both take part in that news conference. So, that may indicated that she may have accepted a job here at USDA
One of the jobs that we're told she may have been offered was a position with the agency's division of advocacy and outreach. That's the division that's tasked with helping the agency improve its civil rights record and its image across the country.
If that is indeed the case and if she does take that job, she may be ideally suited to that, considering everything she's gone through in this situation, considering her experience with USDA through the years. So, we will know, probably, in about 40 minutes or so, Kyra, whether she has taken that job or not.
PHILLIPS: All right. And there's been some back and forth also over the White House's role in all of this. Do you know what the status of that is?
TODD: Well, she had said -- after she was forced to resign, that there was pressure from the White House for her to step down. The White House has denied that. They have said that neither President Obama nor any of his aides took part in that decision. Secretary Vilsack has also reaffirmed that. He has said it was not their involvement at all, that he made the decision, he has apologized for it. He said he had moved too fast, he had acted too quickly in the situation. So, he is taking the full responsibility for that.
There's still -- it's still a little bit unclear whether the White House really had any role, but the White House has apologized, the secretary has apologized, and now she has been vindicated in this story, and we should know in a few minutes what the outcome will be.
PHILLIPS: We're eager to know, and we're hoping to talk to her also, as soon as she comes out those doors. Brian Todd, thanks so much.
We talked a lot with Shirley Sherrod during her whirlwind week in the national spotlight, from her condemnation to her explanation to her vindication. We covered it all. We heard from her at each step of the way. So we want to know what the next step is for her. Now, you're going to hear about her decision directly from her right here on CNN. And that will be sometime next hour. She's going to join me live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: The housing market got us into a mess of a recession. And it's certainly not going to lead us out. In just about a half hour we're likely to get new proof of that when a report on existing home sales is released.
Patricia Wu at the New York stock exchange.
So, what can you tell us? What can we expect, Patricia?
PATRICIA WU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nothing good, Kyra. I wish I had better news.
But the expectations are all over the map and they're all horrible. The most analysts see a double-digit drop and the worst estimate we've seen - 26 percent. That would be the biggest drop in a decade. Just to give you a little context, a month ago, the report showed just a five percent drop. And you know, existing home sales is the most important housing report we get. Why? Because the sales of those previously owned homes make up 90 percent of the market.
Now the report is not out until 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. But the stocks are already being hammered by the weak expectations. We'll take a look at the Dow already down triple digits, 101 at 10,072. The Nasdaq is down 32, and the S&P down nearly 13 - Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Now mortgage rates are at record lows, roughly 4.5 percent. So why aren't people buying?
WU: Sure, those low mortgage rates are one good reason to buy. But there are many reasons not to buy, as well.
First of all, the first time home buyer tax credit, that expired in April. And it gave people free money, up to $8,000 to buy that first home. So it did attract a lot of the first-time home buyers. With the cash incentive gone, so are many of the first timers.
Also, home prices are expected to drop. Some analysts predict that it could drop another five percent or more and that it won't hit bottom until next year. So that becomes sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy. If buyers think that prices are going to keep falling, they're not going to buy. Demand falls, prices drop further. You get the picture. A vicious cycle.
Also, foreclosures are driving down prices. Foreclosures are expected to top three million this year. But finally and maybe most important, the uncertain job outlook. All about the jobs. Most people aren't going to buy if they think that they are not going to be able to pay the mortgage. So if you don't have a job or you're worried about keeping your job, not likely you will go out house hunting. And that unemployment rate is expected to stay above nine percent this year. The bottom line is that the job market needs to turn around for the housing market to do so as well -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Patricia, thanks.
This morning we're also looking at the safety of your food. A couple of new causes for concern. First up, the salmonella outbreak that's triggering a massive recall of eggs. Health officials now say that no further recalls are expected on top of the 550 million eggs already identified as being at risk.
Now food safety inspectors are still investigating what happened. They say that it is a little premature to discuss the findings of those inspections so far. So we're going to have to wait. Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases of salmonella has risen to about 1,300.
Now our next guest is an attorney who specializes in tainted food cases. He's filed lawsuits over bad spinach, peanut butter, hamburgers and now he's representing some three dozen families in this tainted eggs recall.
Bill Marler joins us now from Seattle.
Bill, good to see you.
Good morning, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: OK. So let's go ahead and start out with the number of people that you're representing. We are talking 35 families. Put into perspective how sick are they, what's the worst case scenario, and how old are they?
BILL MARLOR, FOOD BORNE ILLNESS ATTORNEY: You know, they vary, you know, from every region of the country, North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin. California. They vary in age from, 4 to 75. Most, fortunately, have had a pretty bad go of it. Five, six days of illness, which is a typical salmonella illness. But several of them have been hospitalized.
The one thing about those people who have been hospitalized, they may develop future complications. As one of my clients was on "LARRY KING" last night from a prior salmonella outbreak and she's still is suffering the ill-effects of salmonella, a year and a half after her initial illness.
PHILLIPS: So, what can suing actually do, Bill? What does it get your clients? Or is it more getting them compensation for the illness and then putting more pressure on these companies to change their ways or even impact legislation?
I mean, what's your mindset into what you want to achieve here, the benefit of these lawsuits?
MARLER: Right.
That's a great question and it's really what's really part of our civil justice system. The great thing about having the ability for just the individual to take on a huge corporation like, you know, Rite Aid company that sells millions and millions of eggs and has a responsibility to consumers. Certainly the consumers who have become ill, who have long-term medical needs, you know, that needs to be taken care of. And that company should do that.
I mean, it shouldn't be left to insurance companies to do that. And it certainly shouldn't be left to the taxpayers to foot that bill. So companies need to step up and do that.
More importantly, a lot of my clients have gone to D.C. and testified in front of Congress and have lobbied for new food safety legislation and more resources for the FDA and USDA. So I sort of look at this as, you put pressure on the companies to do the right thing.
Some of these companies like The Peanut Corporation of America that poisoned 700 people and went bankrupt, you know, we pushed them into bankruptcy. That sends a strong message to companies that it's a really bad idea to poison their customers.
PHILLIPS: I was actually, because I know you were on the cases for peanut butter, spinach, even Taco Bell and its salmonella outbreak. So pushing them into bankruptcy is one thing because in your case, you're saying OK, we're getting rid of the problem. They poisoned hundreds of people. But, you know, we don't want to just swat out the big bugs, right? We want overall change. We want to see everybody be held accountable and hold their companies and their employees to a certain standard.
MARLER: No. I can't agree with you more. I mean, you know, and shall did a putt this in context, too.
The personal injury side of these equations, although tragic for my clients and tragic for other families, is really a very small component to what actually the cost is. If you take this egg outbreak, a half a billion eggs are being recalled. 1,300 people sick. That's a tragedy, that's going to be expensive.
But the real cost, the recall cost, lost business. I mean, egg producers that are doing a very good job and there are lots of those. They're seeing lost sales. Restaurants are seeing lost sales because people aren't having bacon and eggs in the morning. So it's a tragedy across the board and one of things about civil litigation and what I do is we fill in where the government has failed.
Even Commissioner Hamburg yesterday, certainly admitted that the FDA and USDA didn't have the resources to do the kind of inspection on this plant. And many times we have to come in, sometimes lawyers, sometimes the media, to shine the light on the problems and to try to get it corrected.
PHILLIPS: Bill Marler, we'll follow up on your cases.
Appreciate your time today.
MARLER: Thank you very much.
PHILLIPS: You bet.
The company at the center of the eggs recall did issue a statement. Wright County Egg is fully cooperating with FDA's investigation by undertaking this voluntary recall. Our primary concern is keeping salmonella out of the food supply and away from consumers. As a precautionary measure, Wright County Egg also has decided to divert its existing inventory of shell eggs to a breaker where they will be pasteurized to kill any salmonella bacteria present.
Now, this got us talking and wondering. Which eggs are best? Factory eggs? Cage-free or organic? We want to know what type of eggs you buy and why you buy that specific egg. Tell me a CNN.com/kyra. I'll try to read some of them during the 10:00 a.m. Hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
Now, less than an hour from now we're going to talk to a small farmer who has actually bucked the system. John Boyd Jr. has pleaded with the government to support smaller farms and in his words, prevent such large-scale tainting of food. He's going to make his case at 10:30 Eastern Time.
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PHILLIPS: Let's check the top stories.
33 people dead after gunmen storm a hotel in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. Witnesses say the two gunmen blew themselves up as security forces surrounded the hotel. Several lawmakers are said to be among the dead.
In Chile, it could be Christmas before they're able to rescue 33 miners trapped in an underground cavern. Those miners have been surviving on scant amounts of food and water since the August 5th mine collapse.
And former President Jimmy Carter says he's going to North Korea later this week. Carter hopes to win the release of an American who is serving an eight-year prison sense tense for entering North Korea illegally.
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PHILLIPS: All right, crossing our political ticker this morning. Voters in five states head to the primary polls today. Among the headlines two billionaires face off in Florida. Politics get ugly in Arizona where John McCain is facing a tough senate primary and a Tea Party candidate is coming on strong in Alaska.
Josh Levs is tracking it all for us. Hey Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It never gets any prettier does it -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Politics is always ugly. Come on. You know that. It gets nasty. The closer we get to that the big day.
LEVS: I know. And the sad big reality is that stuff ends up working a lot of the time. And now it gets people out there.
All right, well, let's do this. Big picture, while we are looking ahead to November, to the midterm elections, the fact is there are some major shifts going on in politics in America right now and today we are seeing some of that play out.
You've got some big money challenges to veteran politicians who are once thought safe, including perhaps the biggest Republican figure in the senate, John McCain in Arizona. Former Congressman J.D. Hayworth there took on the former presidential candidate.
This is the image of the primary and McCain was forced to spend $20 million on this campaign to hold on to his seat. And part of what's been interesting here is he was driven to the right on some issues. Hayworth has called him cynical, a shameless panderer to the left. McCain's spokesman turn and said Hayworth is going down with little dignity. Talk about ugly.
All right, well it's not much prettier over here with this race in Florida. Where Representative Kendrick Meek seemed to safely have the nomination for the senate until Jeff Greene, a billionaire real estate investor who made a fortune betting against the housing market decided to fund his own bid, attacks have been flying in that race.
And you know what? That's not the only hot race in Florida today, we've got this one right here the Florida gubernatorial primary between attorney general Bill McCollum and someone our viewers have seen a good deal, this guy Rick Scott, who is a former health care executive. I interviewed him right here in the NEWSROOM about some of his assertions of health care reform.
And the one other big race to tell you about right now is way up in Alaska there. Senator Lisa Murkowski, is an incumbent, she's an incumbent Republican. She has been challenged by Joe Miller, an attorney, who has the support of the Tea Party Movement and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
So can the Tea Party and Sarah Palin help unseat an incumbent? We'll be watching that.
And Kyra details on all of this and more can always be found right here at CNN.com/politics with a great map. It shows you everything going on each day in politics in America.
PHILLIPS: Great.
LEVS: All right.
PHILLIPS: Thanks so much.
LEVS: There you go.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Josh. LEVS: You got it.
PHILLIPS: Well, every day in this newscast we honor our fallen heroes with our "Home and Away" tribute. We also cut the VA zero slack when it comes to veterans and the treatment that they deserve.
But in three minutes, we've got the story of a veteran who's put his fellow veterans in a very awkward position. They are begging that the man's family not to bury him alongside other heroes today.
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PHILLIPS: All right. There's going to be a funeral today at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver. A Marine from the World War II generation will be laid to rest with heroes, but there's a big, big problem. Other vets say that Raymond Sawyer was no hero and that he doesn't deserve to be in that cemetery and they won't provide the military honors they normally do.
Here's why. Sawyer strangled his wife and got away with it for more than 25 years. And as if that weren't enough, he might have made up a story of valor and actually faked a medal.
Kyle Clark from KUSA talked with retired Marines who feel like Sawyer stabbed them in the back and violated the Marine Corps motto of Semper Fi many times over.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB FISCHER, U.S. MARINE CORPS (RET.): Well, we all feel betrayed.
KYLE CLARK, KUSA (voice-over): And retired Marine Colonel Bob Fischer feels that more than most. He nominated Raymond Sawyer for the Legion of Valor, believing that he was eligible as a recipient of the Navy Cross. He used to call Fisher a good friend. Today he calls him --
FISHER: Traitorous, false, phony. That's more than one word but that's -- that's my appraisal.
CLARK: Sawyer was thrown out of the Legion of Valor when members became convinced the Navy Cross claim was a fraud. Sawyer was thrown in jail in 2007 when he admitted to the cold case murder of his wife.
JOE RYAN, U.S. MARINE CORPS (RET.): He not only is a -- committed a heinous crime but he also -- was also guilty of dishonoring the Marine Corps.
CLARK: Retired Marine Staff Sergeant Joe Ryan served with Fischer on the Honor Guard that appears at each Marine funeral at Fort Logan until this one.
FISCHER: We are not going honor somebody who has dishonored us.
CLARK: Fort Logan says the only criminal conviction that would prohibit a military burial is a sentence of life in prison for killing. Sawyer pleaded guilty to second degree murder he died last month while serving a 13-year sentence. His family has requested and received permission to have him interred with heroes.
RYAN: We're pleading sincerely with his family to call off this funeral on Tuesday, and, please, take this funeral somewhere else, not at Fort Logan National Cemetery.
FISCHER: And Ray has dishonored all veterans, not just at Fort Logan but everywhere.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: So we will see if those retired Marines get what they want, a funeral somewhere else. Sawyer's daughter says that she believes her father was awarded the Navy Cross and doesn't think the public should have any say when it comes to where he's buried. And get this, Sawyer could have been the first person prosecuted under the Stolen Valor Act for Medal Fakers but he was arrested on murder charges. And that was that. The act was ruled unconstitutional just last week.
Let's take a look ahead at what we're working on to the next hour, in the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's go and begin with Deb Feyerick -- Deb.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, suspending teens, jamming cell phone signals. Schools across the country are wrestling with ways to find effective policies governing cell phones. Is it just a pipe dream? We'll have that.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Karl Penhaul at the San Jose Copper Mine in northern Chile where hope against hope, 33 miners have been found after 18 days trapped under ground. They are well. They are alive, and efforts are now proceeding to pull them back to the surface alive. We'll have more on that in the next hour.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Stephanie Elam in New York. We're bracing for housing numbers due out in less than ten minutes. July sales are expected to be down sharply. What does it mean for the economic recovery? And if you are buying or selling, I'll have that in the next hour.
PHILLIPS: Also next hour, we're going to look at the massive recall of tainted eggs. An isolated problem or the product of a system that's completely broken? Your health could be riding on the answer.
And live pictures from the department of agriculture. Any moment now we should find out how that conversation went between Tom Vilsack and Shirley Sherrod? What do you think? Is she going to take that job offer? Will she go back to the Department of Agriculture, the department that threw her under the bus, calling her a racist when that wasn't even the full story?
We're going to find out when we will take that news conference live. We're also going to talk to Shirley one on one this hour.
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