Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Recession: The End is Here; Invasion of the Bed Bugs; Major Fire Near Harlem Bridge
Aired September 20, 2010 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.
Top of the hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, where anything can happen. Here are some of the people behind today's top stories.
It has happened again. Another New York business closes because of bed bugs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two years ago, we'd probably five calls a year. Today we're probably getting five calls a day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Would you eat fish if it was genetically engineered to grow faster? The FDA is considering whether such fish will be allowed.
You're online right now. We are, too. Josh is following "What's Hot" -- Josh.
HARRIS: Tony, a Mexican newspaper writes an open letter to drug cartels calling them the de facto authorities and asking them this: "Que quieren de nosotros?" "What do you want from us?" We have details at CNN.com.
All right, Josh. Appreciate it.
Let's get started with our lead story right now. It may not feel like it to many of you, but the longest and most severe economic downturn the U.S. has seen since the 1930s is officially over. The CNN Money team's Poppy Harlow joining us live now from New York.
And Poppy, when did the Great Recession officially end?
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: A while ago, Tony. I mean, we just found out this morning from the only group in this country that can tell us that we're in a recession or that we're out of one, that's the National Bureau of Economic Research. They said they think that this recession ended all the way back in June, 2009.
Now, many Americans right now would question that heavily. We hear more and more talk about fears of a double dip. But they say, this group -- it's a nonprofit organization -- many economists say that is when, in June, 2009, this economy took a turn for the better.
As you said, this is the longest recession, 18 months long, that we've seen since World War II. Really the longest recession we've seen since the Great Depression.
And what they do to measure whether we're out of it or not is they look at GDP, the broadest measure of economic growth in this country. They look at employment, they look at production by manufacturing companies. They look at income, and they also look at sales. How much is being sold within this country, how much is being exported?
They say all in, it looks like the economy hit its worst point in June, 2009, and since then it rebounded.
Now, I have to say, Tony, because this is very important for anyone watching that says, well, I certainly still feel like we're in a recession, here's what this group said. They acknowledged the risk of a double-dip recession and they said they do not conclude that economic conditions in this country since June of 2009 have been favorable or that the economy has returned to normal.
That's really critical here, Tony. They say it ended June, 2009, but if they determine later on that we're in a new recession now, they will call that a new recession, not a continuation of the recession that started all the way back in December 2007 -- Tony.
HARRIS: Well, I'm going to cut through that all that and ask the people's question here. If it's over, Poppy, why does it still feel like a recession?
HARLOW: It is only officially over. This is a group of economists that say it's over.
We don't feel like it's over. And here's why.
Let's start out with jobs. That is the most important thing in this economy in the turnaround.
Look at that. When they say the recession ended, our unemployment rate was at 9.5 percent. Well, it has gone up since then. It is now at 9.6 percent, Tony.
And guess what? Since the recession officially ended, unemployment in this country actually topped 10 percent. So unemployment got worse after the recession ended. That's why many people don't feel like it's over.
Let's look at the housing numbers, because housing was at the crux of this crisis. It's also been the housing woes that have not really allowed us to recover from the crisis -- $219,000, your median home price in this country when the recession started in 2007. When the recession ended, in 2009, it was about 172,000. It has only gone up slightly since then.
So, again, we don't have a housing recovery. We don't have a jobs recovery. But I'll tell you, for people that talk about double- dip recessions, most economists that we surveyed say that's probably not going to happen. The last one we saw, Tony, was back in 1981.
We'll keep an eye on it, but an official end of the recession, certainly not a feeling that it's over.
HARRIS: That's for sure. All right, Poppy. Thank you.
Say it with me here, "night, night, sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite." Right?
The creepy-crawly bed bugs, invade Niketown. It is New York's newest front line in an escalating battle against the little critters.
The infestation at Nike's flagship store on Manhattan's East 57th Street is big enough to prompt the athletic clothing and shoemaker to close shop. I mean really close shop. We're talking indefinitely.
Its windows covered in brown paper as the store prepares to exterminate the bugs. Company execs say their primary concern is the well-being of consumers and sales associates.
Bed bugs have been discovered recently in other New York stores: a theater, office buildings, housing projects, and posh apartments.
CNN's Kate Bolduan reports on the federal government's effort to tackle the problem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feed them once a week.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So you're one of the rare people who wants healthy bed bugs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want healthy bed bugs to test. If they're sick, we're way ahead of them.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): The sight of them, even the thought of them can make anyone's skin crawl.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So that would qualify as a lot of bed bugs.
BOLDUAN: Bed bugs are making a big come back. According to a survey by the National Pest Management Association, 95 percent of pest control companies have faced bed bug infestations in the past year, that's up from 25 percent in the year 2000.
And Mark Feldlaufer is at the forefront of the federal government's attempt to take on the pests. His mission, find the chemical that consistently kills the blood suckers.
MARK FELDLAUFER, USDA AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE: At first, we looked at compounds that the bed bugs produced themselves to see if that could be used. But as the problem has gotten larger and larger, we have looked at new chemistries which are synthesized by our in- house chemists and we're even starting to examine existing chemistries.
BOLDUAN: In a quiet lab just outside Washington, Feldlaufer has been studying bed bugs for two years for the scientific research arm of the USDA. The pest control industry welcomes the help from Washington, saying a widespread coordinated effort is need to wipe them out.
JASON GUY: Two years ago, we probably get five calls a year. Today we're probably getting five calls a day.
BOLDUAN: Jason Guy is on the front lines, an exterminator in the Washington region.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have seen them in the best hotels. I have seen them in the worst hotels. I have seen them in cruise ships and in homes and in any neighborhood we have in D.C.
BOLDUAN: Last year the Environmental Protection Agency hosted a bed bugs summit. Along with the EPA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted an alarming insurgent in bed bugs. Back in the Dr. Feldlaufer's lab, the painstaking search for a solution continues.
FELDLAUFER: Right in the thick of it, I would much prefer giving an interview saying, like, this is what you want to use than. And, you know, we're right in the middle of it right now.
BOLDUAN (on camera): So where are the biggest problems? Well, according to a survey by Terminix, New York and Philadelphia top the list of most bed bug-infested cities, and the very city where the federal government is trying to tackle the problem, Washington, D.C., is also up there.
Kate Bolduan, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Well, so, boy, isn't this a perfect story at lunchtime?
We want to hear from you. Have you encountered bed bugs? What can you tell us about them?
Send us your thoughts, CNN.com/Tony, or you can tweet us, drop us a note on Facebook. We will share some of your comments a little later in this news hour.
Bermuda taking stock after getting battered by Hurricane Igor.
First, though, our "Random Moment" in 45 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Our "Random Moment of the Day" is making moves. And I'm not kidding you here.
Cincinnati's Oktoberfest means beer, and lots of it can make you a funky chicken. (MUSIC PLAYING)
Here we go. That's good stuff. (INAUDIBLE) fighter and Cincinnati native Rich Franklin (ph) led festival-goers in the Chicken Dance this year. Cincinnati's Chicken Dance billed as the world's largest.
It's certainly among our oddest "Random Moments of the Day."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: OK. Let's take you to New York for a little breaking news now.
We're going to start wide with this shot, and then we're going to get a little closer so you can take a better look at what's going on here.
FDNY, Fire Department of New York, is confirming here that we've got a pretty significant fire. You can see it for yourself there.
A fire near a Metro-North railroad bridge over the Harlem River, right in -- from that pic, everything checks out. OK. Information matching pictures here. And this is on the Harlem side of the bridge.
We understand that all trains are out right now, suspended. All trains out of Grand Central terminal -- that makes sense -- have been suspended for now, until they can get this under control. And take a look at it there.
Do we have a Google Earth map maybe we can put up as well?
All right. Let's do that, Scott. Let's put that up.
And once again, we don't have any indication of any injuries at this point, and we have no idea what caused the fire, as we continue to gather information on this, but the fire department in New York is confirming that they are on the scene of a pretty significant fire, as you can see here, Metronorth railroad bridge over the Harlem River. I think you can imagine for yourself how precarious that can be.
And this, of course, is on the Harlem side of the bridge. And all trains out of the Grand Central terminal have been suspended. Pretty dramatic stuff, isn't it, right there?
We've got another view of it here. OK. So the Coast Guard, as you would imagine, responding as well.
Can we -- yes. And there you go. As it widens out, you can see the Coast Guard boat in relation to the fire and the smoke. Look how intense that smoke is right now. Thick, black smoke, just billows of smoke at this point.
No word yet on what caused that. In a closer view, you can see how intense the flames are right now. OK. I think we're working just to get some more information. Got a beeper, someone from the fire department to talk to us about that.
OK. So you turn the hoses from the Coast Guard vessel on to that fire and try to get it under control. It looks like it's going to be a while, though. We certainly don't know what the fuel is on that, but it is worth watching. All right.
All right, Chad. So what do you think as you take a look at these pictures here? It's a significant fire.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, these fire boats, you know what they're used for? They're used to, like, bring the -- when they get a cruise ship in or some kind of hero in, they use these fire boats and they squirt their water in the air as a celebration. You rarely get to see a boat like this do its thing.
HARRIS: Oh, yes.
MYERS: But this is the water pumping out of the river right on to the fire itself. He needs to get just a little bit closer, I think, but maybe the captain can't see because it's in the spray. But he'll get directed that way.
There's a significant fire there. This is completely engulfed.
And, you know, it could be anything. You could be talking about the tar that could be on these cinders, on these boards. You know, the creosote that's very -- I can't even tell what that is under there.
HARRIS: I can't either. I can't either. I don't know.
Let me ask the national desk and folks in the control room. Any indication at all as to what's burning?
MYERS: I think it could also just be the embankment that this thing is attached to.
HARRIS: Yes, that's true.
MYERS: What did you get? Did you get anything from them?
HARRIS: No, nothing. I've got nothing. But we're working at it. We're trying to get someone, a spokesperson from the fire department, to help us out on this, but no word yet.
MYERS: Yes, this is way up, like, 126th Street. This is way up there on the east side.
HARRIS: Yes. OK. So we'll just keep an eye on it and squeeze it there.
MYERS: There you go. There's the bridge.
HARRIS: Yes, there you go. And we'll keep an eye on it. We'll try to get some additional information.
Again, we're not getting any indication -- no indicate at this point, at least initially, that anyone is injured, anyone hurt, or as to a cause for this. No indication whatsoever at this point, but we'll continue to look at it. Amazing pictures.
Pretty intense fire. And look at all of that smoke. And a Coast Guard fire boat on the scene as well trying to do its best.
We'll keep an eye on it and get some information, and we'll circle back on it.
Crews in Utah reporting significant progress against a wildfire near Salt Lake City. Officials say the fire in Herriman destroyed at least four homes and has burned about 10,000 acres. Evacuation ordered are still in place for about 5,000 homes. As many as 1,600 had been evacuated. The National Guardsmen practicing at a nearby firing range apparently sparked the fire.
Near-hurricane-force winds pounding surf. We're talking about heavy, heavy rain.
Reynolds Wolf has weathered it all in Bermuda.
Not quite -- Reynolds, not quite as bad as some people feared, as the forecast seemed to indicate, heading into the weekend.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely, Tony. We were talking about a major hurricane possibly hitting here just a few days ago. All signs were pointing to that occurring. But right before this thing came on shore, or at least came close to the island, within a few hours the eyewall began to collapse a little bit, the storm lost a bit of its intensity.
It did pass to the west of the area. That's the good news.
The bad news though, is we got that front right quadrant, the strongest point of the storm, that brought in some immense waves, just some very, very rough action. Right now, just give you a bit of a contrast.
We've got CNN photojournalist Steve Suwark (ph) behind the camera.
Steve, let's pan out just a little bit to the left, or at least to my right. Show the viewers just the beautiful view, blue waters that we have here, almost a turquoise blue.
And now let's go back in time 24 hours for the benefit of our viewers to show what occurred here just yesterday. Take a look at this video.
The wind, relentless. Just incredible gusts that came on shore. Again, tropical-storm-force winds along much of Bermuda for at least 24 hours. There were some stronger gusts, hurricane force, that were pounding the coastline. The wind, well, it caused the water to help pile it up.
And I'm telling you, we had some monster waves that were hitting the coastline. Not only that, heavy rainfall. The combination of all of that caused all kinds of damage in terms of tree damage, power outages for two-thirds of the population of Bermuda. At the same time, a lot of structural damage, roof damage.
Luckily, though, things are fine in terms of the people who live here. There were no fatalities. There were no major injuries. That is certainly the good news.
And I'll tell you that the manager of this specific property got out, had the opportunity to take a look at the property this morning. He was happy with what he found.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANK STOCEK, ELBOW BEACH RESORT: I'm happy. On a quick cursory inspection, looks like minimal damage, a couple little dividers down here and there. The beach erosion is a little intense down there, but as you can see, we've still got lots of beach. Compared to Fabian, this is a good outcome.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF: And Tony, he's talking about Fabian. Fabian was a storm that struck this area back in 2003, and that's a storm that -- a hurricane killed four people along the causeway here in Bermuda. It caused all kinds of damage, had power out in parts of Bermuda for up to three weeks.
So, again, it could have been an entirely different story. They're very thankful the storm did pass a bit to the left, or at least to the west of Bermuda, and certainly did not cause the kind of damage that Fabian did in 2003.
HARRIS: Reynolds, appreciate it. Thank you so much, sir. And come on back home to us.
We want to circle back to that fire at the Harlem River.
Chad, come on in here.
MYERS: Got some information. You getting it too?
HARRIS: Perfect. No, no, no. Take it away.
MYERS: OK. Metro-North spokesperson Margie Ander (ph) says that these are actually wood pilings that are surrounding the piling itself for the bridge, basically to protect the pilings from getting hit by a boat or a barge, and these are just the pilings that are on fire. It's on the Manhattan side of the Harlem River, and it is -- it's on fire. Service is suspended until further notice on all three lines. The fire is not under control, clearly. And there's no telling when it will be extinguished.
But that fire boat is now much closer. You can see it getting the water right onto the pilings, and that's what it looked like. I could see the vertical nature of the pilings. And so when that wood, which is, you know, treated and treated and treated a lot like a train track, with the creosote, very flammable, when it catches on fire it's like trying to put a tire fire out.
HARRIS: Right. Right. Right.
Well, I believe we've got -- Sam, are you on the line with us?
I am, yes.
HARRIS: Sam, what's your last name?
SAM ZAMBUTO, MTA SPOKESMAN: Zambuto.
HARRIS: And Sam is an MTA spokesman.
And Sam, do we have it about right here with this latest information? You've got pilings on fire?
ZAMBUTO: That is correct. There is a fire under the bridge, the 138th Street Bridge. It's on the Manhattan side. And as you indicated, of course, because of that, there is no service into or out of Grand Central.
This bridge carries all four tracks, all four Metronorth tracks out of Manhattan. So, at this point, there's no service going in or out of Grand Central, and we ask our customers just to look for the service advisories that we'll be putting out about this.
HARRIS: Yes.
Hey, Sam, that's a pretty significant fire, and it's leading to some pretty significant repercussions here for your system. Any idea what caused it?
ZAMBUTO: We don't have a cause for the fire at this point. Of course, it is under investigation and, of course, the main thing that we'll need to do once the fire is under control is to assess the damage and to see how that's going to impact service further.
MYERS: Hey, Sam, you know, you get on the train, you take the train downtown. You don't know what bridge you go over. If people are trying to get in from Connecticut, from wherever, what lines are affected here? What number, what letters, so on and so on?
ZAMBUTO: Well, of course it affects all of the Metro-North lines coming in. However, trains at outlying points, of course, are still operating. It's those that are in the vicinity of the bridge that will be held and will not be able to go over the bridge either coming into the city or going out.
HARRIS: Boy, you could be talking about a pretty significant suspension here of service, right? You've got to check the integrity of everything around that structure now. Right?
ZAMBUTO: Well, I wouldn't want to speculate at this point. I think the first steps are that the fire needs to be -- get under control, and then to assess the damage.
HARRIS: Yes. OK. Sam, appreciate it. It does look like you're going to have a significant suspension -- well, at least for a few more hours and maybe into the afternoon and evening rush.
Sam, appreciate it. Thank you.
ZAMBUTO: Very good.
HARRIS: OK. Let's --
MYERS: No idea how hot those lines could be, how hot those rails could be.
HARRIS: Yes.
MYERS: They have to make sure they're still parallel. You don't want to put a train on two rail lines that aren't parallel anymore.
HARRIS: I know Sam didn't want to answer to that, but that would seem to make sense here, common sense, that you've got to take some time after this is out to do a real assessment.
MYERS: Big time.
HARRIS: Got to make sure everything is sound.
All right. Let's do this -- let's take a break. We'll continue to follow this story.
Thank you, Chad.
We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Scott, let's look at these pictures again, the breaking news we've been following here.
We've got a picture over Manhattan, and we're going to take you closer here to this fire. It looks like the Coast Guard and maybe some units on the ground from the fire department are starting to get a handle on it.
You see the smoke has gone from thick and black to white smoke now. Generally speaking, that's a good sign that firefighters and the Coast Guard ship there that you can see are getting a handle on the flames portion of this. But there is clearly a lot of work to be done here.
And we're talking about a fire over the Harlem River, pilings there on fire.
And that's what it is, Chad, right?
MYERS: Yes.
HARRIS: That's what we're talking about. We're talking about pilings here.
MYERS: Yes. We're talking about kind of the support structure there being protected by these wooden pilings just in case some barge gets out of control. You know, you lose the pilot, whatever it might be. You don't want these barges bumping into the real pilings of the bridge.
And so they make these surroundings out of wood that are a little bit flexible, but also very -- let's go to Google and I'll show where you this is, and you can see the city of Manhattan right there. You can see Hoboken.
And so we're going to fly you on up to the north, because this line here really goes up toward Connecticut and up toward Westchester. And there's the bridge. I'm going to take you right in. And there's the wooden structure right there that's on fire.
HARRIS: Very good.
MYERS: And then below that, you can't see the verticalness of this bridge. I know when you see it from the helicopter, you see a vertical piling going straight up. Google is not showing me this, but that's OK.
This is the bridge, and that is what's on fire right there. And you can see how the boards -- you can see the fire almost in between the vertical boards there next to the words "Breaking News." And is that an old picture?
HARRIS: Perfect. That's better. That's good.
MYERS: Yes. That's old tape. The fire is much more under control right now.
It's hard to see because of the smoke and the steam coming off of the fire, but that's it. And there's live pictures.
HARRIS: Terrific. OK.
And again, we have no indication yet. We just -- you know, we talked to the spokesman from the MTA. No word on the cause.
And, boy, we're looking at a significant suspension of service here. All of the trains out of the Grand Central terminal have been suspended, and that, of course, makes sense. And it looks like it will be that way for some time once the fire is out. Now you've got to check the integrity of everything surrounding that fire before you can set the trains in motion again. So that's going to be quite a lengthy period of time, I would think, into evening the rush hour.
Don't you think, Chad?
MYERS: And a tough week for commuters in New York --
HARRIS: Yes.
MYERS: -- from the tornado.
HARRIS: This going to sound a bit fishy to you, but the FDA could actually announce today whether a super type of salmon is coming to your supermarket. Scientists have tinkered with the salmon's genes.
Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here, tinkered with the genes.
Tinkered with the genes. Oh, explain -- first of all, good to see you, Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you.
HARRIS: So explain this to us. What's been done here?
COHEN: All right. This is very interesting.
Here is the issue with salmon. I bet you probably never knew there was an issue with salmon, but here's the issue with them.
They don't grow quite as fast as fish farmers would like because they only have growth hormone in their systems during the warmest months of the year. So, some businessmen said, hey, wouldn't it be great if they grew faster and they had growth hormone all year round rather than just a few months?
And that led to this. This is a salmon. This is something called an ocean pout. You've probably never heard of it because --
HARRIS: What is that?
COHEN: I know, it doesn't look so good.
HARRIS: No.
COHEN: Apparently, it used to be eaten. It's been eaten by humans, but is not currently on menus commonly in this country anymore.
HARRIS: Right.
COHEN: So what they did is that scientists took a gene from the ocean pout. Ocean pout have growth hormone all year long. And scientists said, well, isn't that cool? Let's take the all year long growth hormone gene out of this fish, put it in this fish.
This fish now grows a whole lot faster, about twice as fast. And so they say that's good for business, and they say the fish looks and tastes the same.
HARRIS: OK. So I'm wondering if the scientists have -- or should we get to the beeper now? All right.
Elizabeth, let me -- yes. Let me get to the beeper that we have. I'm getting the latest information on -- I apologize Elizabeth. We'll try to circle back.
Let's get the latest information that we can on this fire under a bridge, the Harlem River.
Tom Von Essen is on the phone with us. He's a former New York fire commissioner.
Tom, thanks for your time.
TOM VON ESSEN, FMR. NEW YORK FIRE COMMISSIONER (via phone): You're welcome.
HARRIS: Hey, have you seen some of these pictures?
VON ESSEN: Yes.
HARRIS: What's been going on? What's your assessment?
VON ESSEN: Well, I think we're going to be lucky here, depending on the damage, of course, to the wires underneath those train tracks. It looks like the fire was going pretty good before the guys got there.
They did a great job. They got a great angle. They were able to come in underneath the bridge, upwind. They got a lot of water on the fire very quickly.
You can see it's really been knocked down, all those piers. That heavy lumber really gets going. You need a lot of water and you need to get it pretty quickly.
They did that. Now, you just have to wait and see when Metro North gets there, just to see if there's any wires or anything underneath the tracks that will prohibit them from running the trains later on today.
HARRIS: Well, we don't get these kinds of fires in this kind of an area every day. You have any -- so, I have to ask you the question, any idea what might have started this? Does arson come to mind? What are your thoughts?
VON ESSEN: Who knows? Who knows?
HARRIS: Electrical, or what do you think?
(CROSSTALK)
VON ESSEN: I doubt it's arson. It could have been some workers there. Sometimes guys welding underneath the tracks, fire gets going, and they don't realize it. Too early, I guess, to speculate.
HARRIS: Gotcha. So, at the point at which the fire is completely under control and they put it out, what's the next step? Talk to us about the investigation, and checking on the structural integrity of everything around that area.
VON ESSEN: I think the integrity will be fine. What I would imagine is that MTA needs to get their engineers and technicians up there just to see if any damage has been done to the technology that's underneath those tracks.
It's an old system. I'm sure there's a lot of upgrades made to it that are outside the structure, that could easily have been damaged by that fire. You had a tremendous amount of fire early on. So, depending how long it was going before all the guys got water on it and what kind of damage maybe the water did.
So, you could have long-term effects. I think as far as it could have been, if the guys had been delayed in getting there or weren't able to get water on it that quickly, could have been a lot worse.
HARRIS: Well, Tom, I don't know if you've been watching the same feeds we've been showing folks at home. But I've got to tell you, from the moment -- I don't know when it started -- but from the moment at which we were aware of it and we were able to get pictures of it, looked like firefighters and the Coast Guard jumped on it really quickly and did a really good job on it.
VON ESSEN: Yes, but there was a lot of fire that was roaring right underneath that track. That was the first place they went to. That was the first part of the fire they put out. So, you really don't know until somebody gets up there and examines it how much damage was done.
HARRIS: Tom, appreciate it. Tom Van Essen, a former New York fire commissioner. Tom, thanks for your time.
Let's take a quick break, and we'll update this story. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: All right. Let's show you the latest pictures here. These are pictures -- OK, these are pictures -- thanks, Scott -- from earlier of this fire underneath a bridge here. We're talking about the Metro North railroad bridge just over the Harlem River. And there was a fire here burning intensely for a good period of time here. I guess we've been on the story for about 20, 25 minutes or so.
Pilings on fire there. All around the supports for the bridge there, but it looks like, at least, the latest pictures -- we're going to do this. You've seen the pictures from earlier where the fire was really burning really hot, and then we're going it loop in some pictures where it looks like things are beginning to be -- well, firefighters are getting a handle on it, really. But we don't have a live picture - a live picture right now to show you. But we can tell you as we look at these pictures from earlier, the most recent information is that firefighters are really getting a handle on this thing now.
And we heard just a couple of moments ago from Tom Van Essen, former New York fire commissioner, we might actually get a bit lucky here. The firefighters were able to get at it, really get at the source of the fire. A lot of water on it, you heard Tom say.
So, what happens next is that the moment that that fire is out, completely out, under control, you can get some inspectors and engineers from the MTA there to take a look at any real damage there, because as you know, all trains out of the Grand Central terminal have been suspended, and with good reason. That fire was really burning intensely.
We had no idea what caused it. We have no reports of injuries at this point, but we'll continue to follow it and give you a look at the updated information as we get it right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Let's take a break. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: With 110 days until the Bush -- oh, do this first. Let's get you to CNNmoney.com. We're going to talk to Jeanne Sahadi in just a moment. So, there you go. CNNmoney.com. It is your place for the latest financial news.
Let's take a look at the Dow very quickly here. 91 points. We're in positive territory. We are off of session highs, but it's still looking good. We're in positive territory three hours into the trading day.
The Bush tax cuts. Boy, a hot topic. Right? Set to expire. The debate on whether to extend them really raging right now on Capitol Hill. But the impact will be felt on Main Street and the bank accounts of millions of Americans.
Jeanne Sahadi, senior writer for CNNmoney.com, joining us from New York. Jean, explain the argument that goes extending the tax cuts would help preserve the recovery. We know there is a new survey of a group of economists showing support for extending them. Doesn't it?
JEANNE SAHADI, CNNMONEY.COM SENIOR WRITER: Right. We surveyed about 31 economists. Sixty percent of them said the most important thing Congress can do to help the economy right now is extend tax cuts for everyone. Not just the middle class like the president wants.
The economic argument is basically, don't rock the boat. The recovery may not be very strong, but if you pull the tax cuts away now, you raise people's tax bill, they're going to have less money to spend and that will just make it worse. That's the general thrust of the argument.
HARRIS: Let me ask this. Does extending the tax cuts for anyone add to our national deficit?
SAHADI: Oh, yes. By a lot, and by a lot, minus a little, if you don't do it for the upper income folk. Treasury numbers suggest that it would cost about 3.7 trillion over ten years to extend them permanently for everybody. I highly doubt that's going to happen, because there's too many parties arguing against that at the moment.
What's more likely to happen, if anything happens, extend it for the middle class. And that's a $3 trillion hit to the deficit. But people who say we still have to extend the cuts say, we can't afford not to do it right now, because if we don't extend the tax cuts, we go into double-dip recession possibly. And that by itself could add to the debt. And that's also why some people are saying, let's just make do with a one- or two-year extension. That's cheaper.
HARRIS: Yes, well -- got you.
Jeanne, I want to be clear, because you know the politics of this, and then there are the economics of this. So, if you want to do something right now, right now, that would help reduce the deficit, because we hear a lot of that in the political discourse. Would you let the tax cuts expire?
SAHADI: I think it's a tough call. You know, the president and the administration has said let them expire for the upper income folks. That would raise $700 billion in revenue over ten years. And that would be a down payment on deficit reduction. But in the short term, they want to use the money maybe to help pay for stimulus items.
It's not -- it's not that black and white. I mean, there are a lot of economists who are worried we will go into a double-dip recession, or we're too fragile at the moment to risk it. Why do it? If you just do one or two-year extension and the markets understand that, they think, well, maybe that's okay.
HARRIS: Right.
SAHADI: But if you want to reduce the deficit now, yes, on paper could do that. But if it sends us into a double-dip recession, the government may have to spend a lot more money to help unemployed and to do other things.
HARRIS: One last one. Isn't it also true that the reality here is that at some point, something is going to have to be done on the tax side? So, you don't want to do it now, because you've got concerns about a double-dip, but you may have to do it later?
SAHADI: Yes. Basically, the debt situation for the country is such that every fiscal decision that Congress will be making from now on will be the rock, between the rock and hard place. Should we extend the tax cuts and increase the debt, or do we reduce debt and not let the tax cuts go and hurt the economy? So, it's going to be like that for a number of years now. The Fiscal Commission is reporting on December 1 back to Congress and to the president with their suggestions about how we deal with this issue. People are saying if we get a plan in place so that it's phased in gradually over time, that that could be the solution. And, yes, taxes will have to be a part of it. Even people who don't like taxes say that.
HARRIS: Yes, OK. Jeanne, appreciate it. Thank you as always.
Let's take a break. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Okay. We want to get you the latest information that we have available to us at this time on that fire in New York.
Harlem. Underneath a Harlem bridge. And, let's see, the Harlem side of the bridge. Metro North Railroad Bridge over the Harlem River, on the Harlem side of the bridge.
These are pictures from earlier. Now we've heard from an MTA spokesman. That was important because we getting an update on the fact that all trains out of the Grand Central Terminal have been suspended.
And, let's see, I had a note here. We're talking about the Harlem line, the Hudson line and the New Haven line, right? And then we spoke to Tom Von Essen, Chad, former New York fire commissioner, who gave us some information as well. But you've got some information to share.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, I think it's going to be quite the nightmare for people that came in on the train from Poughkeepsie and from Peekskill and from Yonkers.
HARRIS: I think you're right.
MYERS: I mean they're going to have to try to get to Yankee Stadium to get on the train.
Now, and you know, these trains would go all the way down, do their turnaround and go the other way.
HARRIS: Right.
MYERS: And so now they're not going to be able to get across that bridge. They're going to have to stop at either -- probably either Yankee Stadium or Melrose and the other one over there would be something like -- probably Mt. Vernon. And the Mt. Vernon one would -- if you went from New Haven to Bridgeport to Fairfield or Greenwich --
HARRIS: Oh, man.
MYERS: If you took any one of those -- if you took that train in from those areas, you are stuck downtown right now.
HARRIS: Yes.
MYERS: You are going to have to get a cab, a car or something --
HARRIS: Yes.
MYERS: Something to get you across the river to get to one of the stations that would be to the east of there, unless there's some -- they're going to set up some kind of bus service. And I've been on the Web site looking.
HARRIS: Right.
MYERS: And I don't have anything yet new with what --
HARRIS: Gotcha.
MYERS: How they're going to get these commuters over that bridge to get to the other stations. Clearly, I mean you can get from Greenwich to New Haven.
HARRIS: Yes.
MYERS: Because that train would still be open. Right, that line would still be OK. It's that bottleneck to get you from Grand Central to Poughkeepsie, to Chappaqua, to New Haven. You just can't get over that bridge to get there now.
HARRIS: You know, we've heard from folks who have been on beeper lines with us, on the phone with us, but we haven't heard from anyone who's been on the ground at the scene of the fire, until now.
MYERS: Oh, good.
HARRIS: Marsha Biggs is one of our producers.
Hey, Marsha, you OK? Are you with us?
MARSHA BIGGS, CNN PRODUCER (via telephone): Yes, I'm here. I'm here.
HARRIS: OK, Marsha, can you give us an assessment? Tell us what you're looking at? What do you see?
BIGGS: Well, I'm looking at the bullhead pier under the bridge, which according to Frank Dwyer, the spokesman for the fire department in New York, caught on fire at 11:38 a.m. By 11:45 there were firefighters on the scene. And at this point there are about 60 firefighters here. I counted 10 fire trucks as we were driving up.
The fire appears to be being contained. I'm seeing a little bit of a flame on the left side. And I'm still seeing a bit of smoke, but nothing like that black billowing smoke that we saw earlier. So it appears -- the spokesman, Drank Dwyer, also told me that the fire's not spreading and they're containing it and there have been no injuries.
HARRIS: Can you explain, because we don't have a good relationship shot of this area and how it relates structurally to the bridge itself.
BIGGS: Well, it's certainly not the bridge.
HARRIS: Right.
BIGGS: It's a section adjoining the structure that holds the bridge up.
HARRIS: Uh-huh.
BIGGS: And from what we heard from Metro North, it was the wood pilings in the river meant to keep boats away from the bridge's support structure that caught on fire. And that appears to be what I'm seeing. It's certainly -- the bridge appears to be intact. It's not on fire. And it appears to be being contained.
HARRIS: OK. And no indication at least from anyone you've spoken with as to what might have caused all this, as we look at the -- you know, at least moments at the height of the fire when it was burning intensely and we've got this thick black smoke billowing out of the area. Any indication from anyone you've spoken to as to what might have caused this?
BIGGS: They have been reticent to tell us anything about any causes while they were containing the fire. But the fire chief is due to speak to us in a few minutes and hopefully give us some more answers.
HARRIS: OK. OK, Marsha, appreciate it. Thank you.
MYERS: It was --
HARRIS: Go ahead.
MYERS: It was brought up earlier that, you know, maybe even -- maybe the train tracks are just fine.
HARRIS: Yes. (INAUDIBLE).
MYERS: But there may be control lines, control wires. There may be all kinds of other things under that track that have been damaged by the fire. You don't think about what -- you know, you burn through a 16-gauge copper wire --
HARRIS: Yes.
MYERS: And that thing was controlling the switches up and down this line. And all of a sudden you have a longer delay.
HARRIS: Yes. And I keep asking the question, it's because it's what we do, we ask the questions, do you have any idea. It's early in this thing and it could have been anything.
MYERS: Oh, sure.
HARRIS: It could have been the electrical situation that you and Tom discussed. It could be workers working in the area as well. So we just don't know. But we ask the question because it's what we do. We just --
MYERS: Plan for a late arrival of a loved one today.
HARRIS: Yes. That makes sense.
All right, Chad, thank you, sir.
MYERS: You bet.
HARRIS: Let's take a break. We're back in a moment. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: All right. Time for your "CNN Equals Politics" update. Paul Steinhauser with "The Best Political Team on Television" joining us now from Washington, D.C.
Paul, good to see you. What's crossing right now?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR: Let's start with that race in Delaware. That hot center race up in Delaware. And you know it was less than a week ago that Christine O'Donnell won there. A big upset over Mike Castle, the longtime moderate Republican.
Well, it didn't take the Democrats long, Tony, to go up with brand new ads in Delaware against O'Donnell, doing that yesterday. Guess what? I just learned today that the Tea Party Express, that's that Tea Party organization, has spent about a quarter million dollars helping O'Donnell in the primaries. They're going to be going up with brand new ads in support of her.
And our Peter Hamby (ph) just learned that Senator Jim DeMint's, conservative senator from South Carolina, his political (ph) action committee is also up with new ads. So ad wars heating up in Delaware.
Let's talk about the president and the vice president. Tony, they're both on the campaign trail today. Later today the president goes to Philadelphia. He's going to try to help the Democratic Party raise some big bucks and he's also going to be helping out Joe Sestak, the congressman from Pennsylvania, who's now the Senate nominee up there. He faces a tough battle to keep that seat in party hands.
And the vice president, Tony, going to Ohio today. Teaming up right around now with the governor there, Ted Strickland, who's facing a tough re-election.
So a couple of things going on here. But let me send it over to Mark Preston, our senior political editor, for some more stuff.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Hey, Tony, of course our viewers know that I tend to get really serious and talk about serious subjects. But let me just point something out, have a little bit of fun. Check out this picture we have on cnnpolitics.com. As you can see it says RR100. And what that is, is those are the sailors on the USS Ronald Reagan and they are spelling out his initials and 100 to signify his 100 birthdays. The late president, of course, was born 100 years ago. Come February, they plan a year-long celebration to honor his life and his legacy.
So, of course, this picture right here, we see it on cnnpolitics.com, just taken last week. We'll give a shout-out to Dillon McCord (ph) who was the U.S. Navy sailor who took that picture, Tony. So kind of a cool thing to check out on our Web site.
HARRIS: Hey, I love that. I wish we could take it full. That looks -- that looks terrific. But we can certainly direct everyone to the Web site.
Gentlemen, appreciate it. Very good. Thank you.
And your next political update coming up in one hour. For the latest political news, just go to cnnpolitics.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Back from war and now in the fight of his life. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr talks to a wounded soldier determined to regain use of his limbs and pressing the Pentagon for a new kind of treatment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chief Warrant Officer Romy Camargo and his team were ambushed in Afghanistan in September, 2008. Romy was shot in the neck. This motorcycle-loving special forces commando instantly paralyzed from the neck down.
C.W.O. ROMY CAMARGO, U.S. ARMY: I want to get better. I want to, you know, I want to be able to hug my children. I want to be able to hug my wife.
STARR: Still on active duty, Romy has a new mission, convincing the Army to pay for an innovative surgery has might help him regain some movement and maybe even walk again.
R. CAMARGO: I was told once that in special forces that I may be the first ones into a mission, that I guess this is the mission that I need -- that I'll be sent on for the other soldiers.
STARR: Romy and his wife Gabriela scoured the Internet looking for help.
R. CAMARGO: We started researching. Found out that a doctor, Dr. Lima, was doing this procedure.
STARR: Doctor Carlos Lima in Portugal has been performing leading-edge surgeries placing cells from the back of the nose on to injured spinal cords. It's worked in several cases. We spoke to Dr. Lima via Skype.
DR. CARLOS LIMA, HOSPITAL DE EGAS MONIZ: When I'm talking about recovering, I'm talking about patients walking with a walker again, and having movements of the legs again, after years of parality (ph).
STARR: But military officials say it's not an approved procedure in the U.S. Romy recently made his case to a panel of military specialists asking them to approve $60,000 in costs. The Army is still reviewing Romy's proposal.
Lima has told him he'll have to be in rehab for years. A soldier still working out getting conditioned.
R. CAMARGO: So for him to say that the physical therapy's the most important part --
STARR (on camera): That doesn't scare you? Doesn't scare you?
R. CAMARGO: Not at all.
STARR: Right. It's what you do.
R. CAMARGO: Exactly.
SCOTT NEIL (ph), U.S. ARMY: I promised Romy that I was going to raise his flag over Ground Zero for him.
STARR (voice-over): Former Army buddy Scott Neil stops by to say hello. Neil and others have even built this motorcycle side car so Romy can ride again. It's the Romy Spirit.
STARR (on camera): Never quit.
GABRIELA CAMARGO, ROMY CAMARGO'S WIFE: Never quit. Thank God.
R. CAMARGO: I'm determined that I'm going to -- that I'm not going to be like this for the rest of my life.
STARR: Military leaders like to say they do everything to help the wounded. In the case of Romy Camargo, we will see if that's a promise kept.
Barbara Starr, CNN, Tampa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Never quit. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ali Velshi.
