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Towing a Stranded Cruise Ship; Stumped by LA's Mystery Missile; Deer Trashes Neighborhood Bar and Grill in Ohio; Red Dye May Help Identify Michigan Bank Robbers; Woman Living One Month in Portland Oregon Storefront; Conan Smokes Competition in Ratings For Debut Show; Big Drop in Weekly Jobless Claims; Student Protesters Raid Conservative Headquarters
Aired November 10, 2010 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR, "AMERICAN MORNING": If you haven't guessed by now, we're out of here. Kyra Phillips in the "CNN NEWSROOM" takes over now.
Good morning, Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Bye, guys.
It's 9:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 6:00 a.m. out west. Here's some of the stories that have us talking this morning.
Off the coast of Mexico, tug boats now towing the crippled crew ship Carnival Splendor close to San Diego. It's been three days since it's -- or it's been -- actually the engine room fire we were told is what knocked the power out of that ship leaving 4500 people aboard with no air conditioning or hot food.
And another huge set back for Boeing's next generation of airliners. The company canceled all test flights of a 787 Dreamliner after one of the planes made an emergency landing in Texas because of smoke in the cabin.
And parents, if your teen spends a lot of time texting and social networking, this may be curl your toes. A new study says they're more likely to have sex, smoke cigarettes and use drugs.
Thousands of passengers stranded on a broken-down cruise ship getting hauled back for California this morning. A couple of tug boats are actually towing the Carnival Splendor. Right now bobbing in the Pacific Ocean just south of San Diego.
It's a ship that's 950 feet long, way bigger than the Titanic. And an engine room fire actually cut the power to the ship on Monday stranding about 4500 people on board. They have no air conditioning, no phone service, no hot food and toilet service was just restored overnight, so the crew of the USS Ronald Reagan is helping out, handing off food, water and supplies.
All of it to hold passengers and crew members over until they're back on dry land. Carnival says that that could happen late tomorrow. CNN producer Paul Vercammen is on board the Reagan and he's talking about how the crew of the aircraft carrier feel about restocking that cruise ship.
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN PRODUCER: Just a great sense of satisfaction here on the USS Ronald Reagan as the carrier came in to help the distressed Carnival cruise ship Splendor. We're about 200 miles southwest of San Diego right now and as one pilot who made several of these runs in her helicopter to the Splendor delivering food and other supplies said, pretty interesting for those people because they got a visit from helicopters and saw an aircraft carrier nearby and she's sure that was not on the itinerary for that cruise.
Now the good news also is that no one had to be brought to the sick bay here aboard the carrier. And they said that when they did see people on the ship itself, these are the pilots and the crew member aboard the carrier who went off to help the people aboard the Carnival cruise ship.
They said most of them were in good spirits. They were snapping photos of the helicopters. They were taking pictures with their phones and a lot of them were waving congratulatory sendoffs to all those aboard here.
What the carrier was doing was bringing vital supplies to the Carnival cruise ship. That includes water, bread, sandwich meat, granola bars, even paper plates. But most of all they were bringing water.
What happened here was the aircraft carrier left its maneuvers. They were getting ready for some pre-deployment and basically they got that distress call. And as they said they were more than happy to help out.
PHILLIPS: Carnival says its Splendor passengers will get a full refund and it's offering a credit for a free cruise. Wonder how many takers they'll get.
From the Pacific coast to the Pentagon. Just about everyone is talking about Monday's mysterious streak over the L.A. sunset. But we still can't seem to get any straight answers about what the heck this was.
It sent the military into pretty much a frenzy because a lot of people think it looks like a missile launch. Others are saying it's just an optical illusion, a distortion of the jet contrail.
Well, here's what the Pentagon is saying about it right now. Quote, "All the DoD entities with rocket and missile programs reported no launches, scheduled or inadvertent during the time period in the area of the reported contrail.
Doesn't shed much light, does it? So we're dissecting the pictures and digging for some answers in just about 10 minutes.
Now this morning, President Obama is in South Korea for the main event of his 10-day tour of Asia. He landed in the capital city of Seoul several hours ago. He's going to meet with the presidents of South Korea and China before taking part in tomorrow's start of the G- 20 economic summit.
Leaders of the top global economies will focus on stabilizing the world's financial markets and shoring up a shaky international recovery. The president is fresh off of a visit to Indonesia where he spent several years of his childhood. He spent much of his time there trying to build bridges to the world's largest Muslim majority nation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Just as individuals are not defined solely by their faith, Indonesia is defined by more than its Muslim population. But we also know that relations between the United States and Muslim communities have frayed over many years.
As president, I've made it a priority to begin to repair these relations.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: President Obama cut short his visit to Indonesia yesterday because of the eruption of Mt. Merapi. That volcano has been spewing ash and there were concerns that those clouds could ground Air Force One.
Well, today airlines have canceled flights in and out of at least two airports.
Eight days after voters went to the polls, Alaska's inching closer to naming the winner of its bitter Senate race. Election officials there will begin counting write-in ballots today. That's despite a federal court challenge by Republican nominee Joe Miller. He wants the counting delayed until rules are more clearly defined and how accurate the voter's spelling must be.
It's a critical issue because the vast majority of the write-in votes are expected to go to incumbent Lisa Murkowski. She campaigned as a write-in candidate. After losing to Miller in the GOP primary.
Well, Miller is considered a rising star of the Tea Party movement which helped get a number of Republicans elected in last week's midterm election. One of them is incoming Republican Congresswoman Kristi Noem of South Dakota.
There are reports that she's being considered for a new leadership role tailor-made for our freshman lawmaker. The argument for the new position, the Tea Party should be rewarded for the GOP winning back the House.
CNN's Candy Crowley actually had a chance to speak to Noem yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CANDY CROWLEY, HOST, CNN'S "STATE OF THE UNION": Do you see yourself as an advocate for those people who were backed by the Tea Party, yourself included?
KRISTI NOEM (R), SOUTH DAKOTA REPRESENTATIVE-ELECT: Well, you know, the Tea Party was extremely important in this election and many fresh men and many other legislators were elected with their support here in South Dakota.
I had a lot of Tea Party support. I think they -- the message that I carried of smaller, limited government, less spending really resonated with them and it was something we could agree on, so, you know, I certainly think that that is something that's going to be a factor.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Meanwhile, two Democrats in Congress are asking their party to hold off on electing its next House leaders.
Peter DeFazio of Oregon and Marcy Kaptur of Ohio sent a letter describing the Democrats' 60-seat loss in the House as historic. DeFazio has publicly opposed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remaining in a leadership role when the GOP takes control of the House in January.
The calendar says fall but wintry weather has already arrived on Oregon's Mt. Hood. It's the first major snowfall of the season and it's skier's delight at Colorado's Breckenridge Ski Resort also.
A new snowstorm yesterday adding extra coating to flakes that fell there last month. Breckenridge officially opens for business on Friday.
Bet you that sometimes wishing you were back in Oregon, Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Your old stomping ground.
MARCIANO: It's a good time of year.
(WEATHER REPORT)
PHILLIPS: Missile gazing, I know, what the heck? Well, we've already ruled out, let's see, Superman, Loch Ness monster, Hug-zilla. The boogeyman.
MARCIANO: Well, let's not be scientific about this.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Aren't you glad we're sticking to the facts, Rob Marciano?
MARCIANO: That's --
PHILLIPS: Anything else? Any other theories you'd like to down on this?
MARCIANO: It looks like one of those mini rockets I'd shoot up as a kid but bigger.
PHILLIPS: Exactly. You would be the one getting into trouble. You launched something looking like this?
MARCIANO: Like I said, my rocket's a little smaller.
(LAUGHTER)
MARCIANO: But this one's certainly --
PHILLIPS: Your mom must have had a cow when you let things up and went out in the backyard.
MARCIANO: Listen. All in the name of science. Propulsion.
PHILLIPS: Well, we're digging into it after the break.
MARCIANO: All right. Good.
PHILLIPS: OK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right. About that mysterious trail of smoke or vapor off the California coast. It's today's "Talker" because people are still talking about it two days later.
Sure wish the Pentagon would talk more about it. We're not getting solid answers from there either.
The whole thing is taking on sort of an Area 51, Bermuda Triangle, Loch Ness monster kind of vibe.
Dr. Michio Kaku is hot on the trail, though. He's a theoretical physicist. My old job, of course. Professor, author and guy who makes very complex scientific stuff easy to understand.
Good to see you, Dr. Kaku.
DR. MICHIO KAKU, THEORETICAL PHYSICIST, CITY UNIV. OF NEW YORK: Glad to be on the show.
PHILLIPS: All right. So, OK. We've heard missile launch. We've heard rocket. We've heard optical illusion. We've heard airplane. What are you sticking with at this point?
KAKU: Well, it's not Superman. I think that there are two basic reasons for believing that it's an airplane contrail. First of all, the smoking gun is radar sightings and if you analyze the radar images you find no object that is moving like a missile. All you see are just airplanes in the area.
But second of all, if you go to a frame by frame analysis of the trail itself, you realize that it's really an airplane. First of all, the object is not accelerating. Booster rockets accelerate up to 15,000 miles per hour. This thing is traveling at a constant velocity.
And second of all, it's deviating in its trajectory slightly. Rockets can't do that.
PHILLIPS: So it's changing direction.
KAKU: Rockets move in a straight line.
PHILLIPS: Right.
KAKU: So rockets move in a straight line while airplanes, of course, can change maneuver.
Also if you're looking at the trajectory head on, edge on, something that looks like it's going vertically up could actually be going horizontally with a very small slope. And, so, it plays tricks on you.
And then, contrails expand very rapidly, so the base of the contrail looks like it's very close to you artificially. Actually, that object could be moving toward you rather than away from you, and that would put it in line with other airplanes that were in the area.
PHILLIPS: Interesting because you bring up an interesting point. From the way we would see it versus the way a pilot would see it, it would be completely different, right?
KAKU: That's right. In fact, pilots who were interviewed said they saw nothing strange in the area. How can that be? Because that trail is staring you in the face. However, looking at it from above, looking down, they would see an ordinary airplane flying horizontally, while we on the ground think that it's a missile flying vertically.
So, all of the dots fit. If you assume that it's an airplane, rather than a missile.
PHILLIPS: OK. Now, we're getting a number of other -- obviously, there's a lot of professionals weighing in on this, OK? You are sticking to the airplane thought. Another expert that has been on a number of networks is saying it looks like possibly a test firing from a submarine.
KAKU: Well, you have to realize that ICBM launches from Vanderberg usually go east to west. Now, there are polar orbits, but for the most part, we fire east to west with ballistic missiles.
PHILLIPS: OK.
KAKU: The trajectory of this object is different. The trajectory here seems to be coming toward you. It seems to be going east, which is opposite the direction of polar launches and also launches to Kwajalein in the Pacific Ocean that we fire our missiles at. PHILLIPS: So, Dr. Kaku, if it was an airplane, though, wouldn't there be some sort of record of the fact that it's airborne? It had to launch from somewhere. It had to show up on some sort of a screen.
KAKU: Yes. If you look at the blogs, people have been looking at different flights that go over LA from west to east. Opposite the direction that it seems to be flying, because an optical illusion. And there is an airplane that's flying from Hawaii to Phoenix traveling over Los Angeles in the correct direction.
So, there are candidates, there are prime candidates for that missing airplane that is causing this trail. And remember, the passengers on that airplane don't even know that it's creating this contrail, and so, we have now, I think, the smoking gun.
PHILLIPS: OK. We're going to pin it on you, Dr. Kaku. We're going to see how this holds out. We're going to have to get some answers at some point. Dr. Micho Kaku, so great to see you. It's always fun watching your show, as well. Thanks for joining us.
KAKU: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: All right. Time for you to weigh in. You don't have to be a theoretical physicist like Dr. Kaku to really have an opinion here. Tell me what you think at cnn.com/kyra. What's your theory?
All right. Let's travel cross country, shall we? First stop, Boston, Ohio. That's where a deer crashed and then trashed a neighborhood bar and grill. The chaotic scene was caught on tape and is quickly becoming quite the hit online. The nervous buck actually slipped and slid across the barroom door before making its way out the kitchen door left open by a fleeing worker, by the way. Lucky nobody was hurt.
Next stop, Plymouth Township, Michigan. Surveillance cameras rolling when a packet of red dye exploded as two robbers made their getaway. That pair held up a bank on Friday and are still on the run. Investigators say that even if they ditched their clothes, you can still recognize them.
Finally, Portland, Oregon, talk about life in a fish bowl. Cristin Norine is spending the entire month of November inside this glass encased store front. Her only contact with the outside world is through social networking. Cristin's stay is part of an art and social media experiment called the "Public Isolation Project."
The reviews are in on Con -- Conan's first show, rather. And yes, he still has a job this morning. His computer log-in and security badge should still working. In fact, he actually smoked the competition. We'll have more of that right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "CONAN": A lot of people are -- a lot of people were talking about the show today. A lot of reactions. And it's all playing out on television. Take a look.
BROOKE ANDERSON, HOST, "SHOBIZ TONIGHT": It was great to see Conan back on the air.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I squirmed a lot in my seat. But no. I didn't pass out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's pretty gory?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very gory.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's out of control. Drunk, cursing. Naked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I had the impulse to turn away, but I stuck with it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It reminded me of Barbara Bush a little bit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It reminds me of my husband, who is no longer alive, so I keep coming back.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS)
O'BRIEN: Some varied perspectives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: See, Conan? Basic cable isn't so bad. So far, so very good with his new show on TBS, our sister network. His debut Monday actually smoked Leno, Letterman and Jon Stewart in the ratings. That's really going to -- well, it looks good on his employee evaluation next month. More than four million people watched the big comeback. Tom Hanks was on the show last night, and we learned how he's ruined Conan's life. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: I mention this? You ruined my life, because --
(AUDIENCE CHEERS)
O'BRIEN: You started -- you did. You have --
AUDIENCE: Co! Co! Co! Co!
ANDY RICHTER, "CONAN": Be careful with that hand gesture.
O'BRIEN: That gesture's bad, yes.
RICHTER: Out of context, it looks like you're doing the shake weight.
(LAUGHTER)
TOM HANKS, ACTOR: This is what happens when you -- this is what it looks like when you take Grandma to Applebee's. (APPLAUSE)
O'BRIEN: Now you're talking. Now, I have to say, you started -- it was just --
HANKS: It was just a thing.
O'BRIEN: It was a little quip that you made.
HANKS: You guys did it on another thing, someone referred to you as "Coco," and --
O'BRIEN: Yes.
HANKS: I thought it was a thing that they called you.
O'BRIEN: Yes. And, so, you repeated it, you got people chanting it. And now, my kids -- I have little children who call me sometimes "Coco" instead of "Daddy." Which enrages me.
(LAUGHTER)
HANKS: It's a sample of my power.
O'BRIEN: I know it. Do not screw with this guy.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: And tonight, Conan welcomes Jon Hamm from "Mad Men," and Fistful of Mercy will play. That's a band featuring Ben Harper, Joseph Arthur, and Dhani Harrison, son of the late Beatle George.
Bashing your boss, if you do it online, you may find yourself unemployed. But an important new case may change that. We're going to tell you about how as an employee, you may soon have more protection under the law.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right. We've got new numbers on the state of the job market today. And if you want one word to describe this report, it's "improvement." Stephanie Elam in New York with all the details.
OK, Steph, what happened? Alison Kosik is off, and she usually brings bad news. You're on, you're bringing improvement. You trying to one up Alison Kosik?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I know, I was thinking about that.
PHILLIPS: What's up?
ELAM: I know, I was thinking about that, because I heard you say yesterday that she was Debbie Downer. And I'm like, "Hey, guess what? I've got good things to share today. Woo hoo!"
PHILLIPS: Poor Alison.
ELAM: It just turned out lucky for me today, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: OK.
ELAM: I know. She's going to be like, "Great, thanks, Steph."
But, right. What we do have to tell you is that jobless claims, new jobless claims dropped by a sizable 24,000 last week. And this number actually measures the people who signed up for benefits for the first time. So the total last week, 435,000, that's the lowest level in four months. Obviously, it's still pretty high, but it is a sign of fewer layoffs happening. So, that is good news.
And how about some more good news? Just to continue with the trend here, General Motors, they made nearly $2 billion last quarter and this GM's third quarter in a row where it turned a profit and its best quarter in six years. This is setting the stage for GM to go public in the next week or so and strong earnings make it a more attractive investment and that means, the more successful the IPO is, the more money taxpayers will get back from the bailout, that $50 billion bailout.
So, with that in mind, let's go ahead and take a look at stocks. We're pretty much flat today. The Dow up three points, 11,342, Nasdaq up one point at 2,564. And in case, you happen to be in the market for a truck, you might want to know this one. Ford is bringing its trucks to you to test drive. It's launching a 60-city tour to show off 2011 F-150. All you have to do is sign up for a Ford rep to bring a truck to your house or work.
You can then go ahead and test drive the truck for 30 minutes. This offer is running through January. It doesn't make it any easier. You barely have to get off the couch and check it out, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. I will. Steph, thanks. We'll see you again next hour.
ELAM: Sure.
PHILLIPS: All right. Here are some of the stories that have us talking this morning. Off the coast of Mexico, tug boats towing that crippled cruise ship Carnival Splendor closer to San Diego. It's been three days since an engine room fire knocked out power on that ship leaving 4,500 people aboard with no air conditioning or hot food.
Everybody's been wondering what the mystery plume in the sky off the California coast is, and the Pentagon sais there's no evidence that (INAUDIBLE) was left by a missile. Defense expert thinks that the contrail could be from an airplane.
A school in England says if you want to improve student's grades, well, let them sleep longer. So, (INAUDIBLE) high school now starts classes an hour later from 10:00 a.m. till 3:45. So far, school officials say that Math and English scores are up and so as attendance.
If you love Facebook and hate your boss, you may want to listen carefully to this next story. There's a new legal case that could redefine just how much you can bash your boss without putting your job at risk. Here's the deal. The National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint against a Connecticut company that canned a woman who griped online about her supervisor. Earlier on CNN's "American Morning," John Roberts spoke to a legal expert about just how ground breaking this case could be.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: So, what the NLRB is basically saying is your Facebook page is kind of like the water cooler at work and people gather around the water cooler at work and they say, well, this is wrong. They're talking about working conditions and maybe that involves dissing your boss, as well. And the Labor Relations Board is saying, Facebook would be just like a water cooler as long as it's a conversation going on.
PROF. PAUL CALLAN, MEDIA LAW, SETON HALL UNIVERSITY: That's right. And it's really interesting because, traditionally, American companies and as a matter of fact, most workers probably look in their manuals and they will see they are prohibited from making postings on Facebook or other social networking sites, violation of company policy. You can't wear a company outfit and post a picture.
And these rules have been thought to be sacred in the past. Now, the LRB says if you are discussing work conditions on Facebook and other workers are participating, it's legal conduct and it can't be prohibited.
ROBERTS: Companies across America, of course, are wrestling with social media and the policies that they have in place and what people can and cannot do. for companies that is have a blanket policy as this ambulance company did that said you cannot post anything about the place that you work particularly in a derogatory fashion on a social networking site, does that render that policy now either ineffective or just basically illegal?
CALLAN: Well, any company that has such a policy has to look at it and weigh whether -- and they're going have to consult with their attorneys about this, whether this rule is going to be applied nationwide. So, they're going to look at this policy, but I think companies are really worried about this because, remember, if a worker criticizes a company on a Facebook site, and let's say they have 500 friends on Facebook, it's not only going to the fellow workers, it's going to the 500 friends.
And I think when lawyers start arguing about this, they're going to say, you know, this is really not about workplace conditions, this is about a company's entire national reputation, and the NLRB should take a different look at it. So, it's going to be a fierce battle in the courts, I think.
(END VIDEOTAPE) PHILLIPS: On that case will take place in January just before Labor Board.
May be, deja vu in Minnesota. Two years ago, a long and bitter account battle for Senate. Now, the state could recount votes for governor.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: In honor of Veterans Day, our photo journalists here at CNN have been traveling across the country to highlight the service, struggle and success of our men and women in uniform. And today, photo journalist, Chris Turner, turned his lenses on a company in Burlington, Vermont, that allows veterans to express themselves through art. The vets literally take the uniforms worn in combat, cut them up, beat them into a pulp and form sheets of paper. It's called the combat paper project.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DREW MATOTT, COMBAT PAPER PROJECT: The combat paper project, you really are -- you're taking these people who have come back and they've suffered such experiences that they're unable to kind of like -- to know where to go or what to do with themselves and they really struggle. We're hoping that we can get through this process. We can give them a sense of, like, recovery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The project is based out of the art studios throughout the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST: Obama actually spent part of his childhood in Indonesia. He was known as Barry Obama back then. They've been digging up his childhood friends. One of his childhood friends said he was chubby and round like a duck.
(LAUGHTER)
KIMMEL: Which I think proves he's definitely not Kenyan because that's as American as it gets.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: All right. We've heard this one before. Minnesota recounting votes. The state may just do it for the second time in two years. CNN deputy political editor, Paul Steinhauser, has that story from our CNN Politics desk now. Hey, Paul.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, you got it, Kyra. Now, earlier this hour, you were talking about the vote counting in Alaska. It's gone overtime there. It is also going an overtime in Minnesota. And in Minnesota, of course, you've got that gubernatorial contest that could go well into next year. You've got Tom Emmer, the republican nominee. He trails the Democratic nominee, Mark Dayton, by just under 9,000 votes, Kyra, out of more than 2 million cast.
Emmer yesterday said that, yes, he is willing to let this go forward, maybe to a recount. We'll find out later this month if it does go to an automatic hand recount. And as you mentioned, back in 2008, that election went an extra nine months after the senator there, Norm Coleman and Al Franken went to two recounts and then legal battles and went all the way to the state Supreme Court. So, it could be a while in Minnesota.
We're here for you until that story is over, and I promise you that. Hey, another thing. Tale a look at this. As you know, the lame duck session of Congress is coming back next week. One of the big battles will be over extending these Bush tax cuts. So, which party maybe more willing to compromise because they really don't see eye-to-eye (ph) in the issue? Check out these new numbers of Gallup out this morning. It's interesting.
Which party would be more willing to compromise or stick by their core values? And you can see Democrats, according to this, only 18 percent say it's more important to stick to your beliefs, 59 percent of the Democrats questioned in this poll say, you know what, compromise is the more important thing to do. You can see very different numbers for Republicans who were asked the question in the poll.
Forty-one percent saying stick to your beliefs. Only 32 percent, Kyra, saying that it is okay to compromise. And that could be the big story of the next Congress, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: I'll tell you what the big story was here yesterday, and we couldn't even get out of the CNN center. Sarah Palin was speaking at the -- right next door at the arena. And what do you think of these new comments about running for the White House?
STEINHAUSER: Yes. She's was with you guys yesterday during the day, and then she went to Pennsylvania last night. Plumstead, Pennsylvania, and she gave a speech there and took questions in front of a school there. And here's what he said when asked about whether she would run for the White House or not. She said, after prayerful consideration and a survey of the political landscape, she said she would maybe consider it.
And she said, if she decides to run, if, that's a big if, she said, she would be in it to win it, which sounds a little bit like what Hillary Clinton said going back a couple of years before she made her run for the White House. Hey, and one other thing I'm going to ask for Ken (ph), our camera man, to zoom right in. There was also a cookie controversy at that even last night.
I'm only going to give you a tease there. If you want to read that story, go to the CNN Political Ticker, and you know where to go, CNNPolitics.com.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Paul. We're going to have the next political update in just about an hour. All the political news of course, though, you can just go to our website, CNNPolitics.com.
CNN's primetime show "PARKER SPITZER" is demanding that news makers explain how they would balance the federal budget. Last night's guest, Senator-elect Rand Paul says that he has a plan to do it in just one year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAND PAUL, (R) KENTUCKY SENATOR-ELECT: There are entire books written on this, and you want me to point out each and every program. There are thousands of pages that go into the budget.
ELIOT SPITZER, CO-HOST, "PARKER SPITZER": Well --
PAUL: And there are thousands of people that go into preparing the budget. I will be preparing a budget over the next two months, and it will include a balanced budget. And I will give people different alternatives.
SPITZER: Well, senator --
PAUL: I will give them a one-year budget. I will give them a one-year budget with significant cuts. It may not be palatable to many people. There will be budgets that will be balanced over two, three, four and five. But the thing is, is what we have -- what we cannot do is simply put our head in the sand and keep doing what we've been doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: "PARKER SPITZER" every night 8:00 p.m. Eastern time.
All right. Live pictures now out of London. Thousands and thousands of students taking to the streets in protest of a tuition hike. We're going to take you there live right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right. Breaking news overseas right now. Take a look at these live pictures out of London. A massive protest going on over college tuition hikes. And it's turned pretty ugly, too. It started out as peaceful and now it's gotten a bit violent and it's just outside the headquarters of Britain's governing Conservative Party there in London.
We're told possibly 40,000 students now have been demonstrating but it took a turn when they actually broke into the building and started to set off flares, also, setting off fires outside of the building.
Let's get the latest now. Atika Shubert on the phone with us from London. Atika, are you -- are you near the protests? Heading that way? I know you've been covering them since they began.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Yes, I'm actually right outside, I just stepped away from the -- the front of the Conservative Party headquarters but there are still hundreds of students that have basically taken over the plaza in front of the party headquarters, and has lit a big bonfire and they're trying to smash through the windows. They have already smashed through several of them.
And some students are inside negotiating obviously trying to deliver a message to the Conservative Party. But this started out very peacefully. And there was about 40,000 students, that's the estimate. And it was all very festive and peaceful.
And then, this one group smashed through the windows of the party headquarters. And pretty much it's become a flash point and now all of the students are sort of surged into that area.
What's remarkable is that there's a very, very minimal security presence. When they first got into the party headquarters, there were almost no police at all -- I was actually inside when they smashed through and there was just one security guard with a walkie-talkie there. There do seem to be more police now but they are going to have great difficulty trying to get this area under control with so many students that have basically taken over this area.
PHILLIPS: So, Atika, how much is the tuition going up?
SHUBERT: Well, this is the thing. They're angry because the tuition is basically going to be tripling. Right now they pay about $5,000 a year for the tuition. And the government has lifted that cap and now universities can charge up to $15,000. That's an incredible rise for a lot of people. It means they'll have to go very deep into debt here to get a university education.
Now, that doesn't compare it to the American system where some private universities can charge as much as $20,000 or $30,000 but here it's a big shock to the system to see such a rise in tuition price. And on top of that the university budgets are being slashed by 40 percent. So there is a lot of anger from students here.
PHILLIPS: So, is it -- is it private and -- and public or just the public universities that are raising rates?
SHUBERT: Pretty much -- pretty much public. What happens here is that there was -- there was a cap basically on tuition for schools here so schools could only charge a certain amount, and that was up to $5,000 and then whatever -- whatever else was needed by the universities, are often topped off by government funds.
However, as a result of the recession, the government is saying they just can't afford this anymore and they can't be giving up this kind of public funding for universities. That's why they say these kind of cuts and tuition hikes are necessary and inevitable. But students here say it's all happening too fast, too soon, tripling the tuition fees they say are just simply going to put -- put students into -- into debt.
PHILLIPS: Wow. And so, is -- is this -- are these students from all various universities? Have you had a chance to mingle in the crowd and talk with them? And what are they telling you? Are they going to have to drop out? Are they concerned about not getting a degree, not getting a job? What -- what are they voicing?
SHUBERT: Yes the -- the students here are very concerned. What they're concerned is that their family is going to have to shoulder this financial burden to put them through university, something they say that some families, a lot of working class families, since can't afford.
So the students that are in now -- they say they're ok. What they're worried about is in the years to come, especially those recent -- maybe high school graduates that are looking towards university that they may not be able to afford the kind of education that they could -- that they could have gotten.
So what people here -- what the students here are telling me is that what they fear is the sort of stratified system where only the rich are really able to afford an education, that the -- that the poorer people, the working classes, aren't able to -- aren't going to be able to afford it or only going to be able to afford it if they go deep into debt and aren't able to pay back those -- those fees that they have borrowed for.
PHILLIPS: Yes, that's a lot of money tripling. Atika Shubert there in London following those protests for us. Atika, thanks so much. We will definitely monitor.
They are saying up to 40,000 students now demonstrating those tuition hikes at universities. That's happening right there in London in front of the Conservative headquarters.
All right, we're lots of developments however in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM. Let's go ahead and start with Jean Casarez -- Jean.
JEAN CASAREZ, CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION" ON TRUTV: Ok, Elizabeth Smart continues to testify on the stand here in Salt Lake City, describing step by step what happened to her at the hands of Brian David Mitchell. I'm in that courtroom. I'll have a live report at the top of the hour.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Severe Weather Center. Severe warmth across the Midwest and record breaking high temperatures yesterday and probably see them again today. And some ski resorts are opening up for the season this weekend. And we run them down in the next hour.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Stephanie Elam in New York. Well, happy days are here again for one Silicon Valley company. I'll tell you which one and all of their employees are getting a 10 percent raise. I'll have that in the next hour -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, thanks guys. See you all in just a little bit.
Well, from the "Situation Room" to the Soul Train Line, our Wolf Blitzer will make a special presentation tonight at the Soul Train Awards. It's a lot more boogying and shimmying nowadays. We're talking about it next in the CNN NEWSROOM.
But first, Flashback", November 10th, 1969.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIG BIRD, SESAME STREET: Sunny day sweeping the clouds away on my way to where the air is sweet --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, that's the day American kids were first introduced to Bert and Ernie, Big Bird, Oscar, Cookie Monster and all the rest of the "Sesame Street" gang. Over the last 41 years, the show has tackled issues like racism, sexism and AIDS. "Sesame Street" now airs in more than 120 countries.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's where we meet; can you tell me how to get how to get to "Sesame Street"?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Look at that. Michael Basin's in the house and Tony Harris is completely distracted by his idol.
TONY HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Did I miss my cue?
PHILLIPS: You missed your cue. You're schmoosing.
HARRIS: Are you good.
PHILLIPS: It's nice to see you.
Although I thought Michael Basin was a smart man but he has season tickets to the Miami Heat, and he's hanging out with you.
HARRIS: That's it. That's it. Two bad decisions in one lifetime.
PHILLIPS: I called him out.
HARRIS: So Michael Basin's on your show next hour, right?
PHILLIPS: That's right.
HARRIS: And he's got season tickets, he's got court -- you know because he's a big shot radio/TV guy now. So he's got these courtside seats there for the Miami Heat games. And he wasn't there last night. It's a good thing.
PHILLIPS: Well, make it clear. He's talking about the Soul Train Awards but we can give him a hard time because he's got tickets to the Miami Heat.
HARRIS: Yes. Definitely, we can give him a hard time about the Heats because this is the super team, right? They are supposed to set the world on fire. Mr. Basin, is that correct?
MICHAEL BASIN: Yes.
HARRIS: Let's roll some of the videotape from last night's game. At home, against the Utah Jazz, a team that this super team, the Heat, should beat every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
PHILLIPS: Sorry. Paul Milsap, you just can't stop him.
HARRIS: Paul -- I'm not Ronnie -- Milsap. Right?
PHILLIPS: I'm trying to think of a good country song right now.
HARRIS: Let me tell you something. The kind of defense that the Heat played last night against the Utah Jazz and Paul Milsap, Ronnie Milsap could have scored 46 points last night. Ok. That's my point.
They lose a 22-point lead and ultimately lose the game. This is a super team playing absolutely mediocre right now. There you go.
PHILLIPS: All right. There you have it.
(CROSSTALK)
HARRIS: You ready for one more clip.
PHILLIPS: The Heat has died. It's very cold. It's the Miami Breeze right now.
HARRIS: It's a Miami Breeze. It's a south beach breeze.
PHILLIPS: Yes. Which isn't so bad. Exactly.
HARRIS: Not too bad at all.
All right. So we go from a team that just was kind of miserable last night to a team that was near perfection. You ready?
Fifty-four points in one quarter. I don't know if it's a record, but this is what happened in Indiana last night. The Pacers taking on the Denver Nuggets, and there's the king of the nuggets, Carmelo Anthony. Right.
Particularly this.
PHILLIPS: He's got the walk, and the look and the head phones going on.
HARRIS: Did you notice the fans? Very few fans saw something really amazing last night. We're talking about the Indiana Pacers scoring 54 points in a quarter -- one quarter.
PHILLIPS: Ok. So let's average that out, how many would that be per ten seconds?
HARRIS: You want me to do math? Exactly.
So there you go, Kyra, and I'm going to clear out of here because the great Michael Basin is here.
PHILLIPS: That's it?
HARRIS: That's all we got. You want a little more?
PHILLIPS: I was kind of hoping we could talk a little more. Basin's a great tennis player, right, like you?
HARRIS: Yes. Yes. He's really picked up the game quickly. I got to head to Miami and got to do what I do, which is to put that hurt on him.
Phillips: Tony Harris, ladies and gentlemen, with "The Big Play".
All right. It's the top of the hour; 10:00 a.m. on the east coast, 7:00 a.m. out west. Here are some of the stories that have us talking this morning.
Have you seen these images from southern California? The Pentagon is knocking down speculation that it's some kind of mystery missile that streaked across the sky. The problem is the military can't or won't say what witnesses saw. One theory, optical illusion from an airplane's vapor trail.
Then a huge setback for Boeing's next generation of airliners. The company cancelled all test flights of its 787 Dreamliner after one of its plane made an emergency landing in Texas because of smoke in the cabin.
And parents, if your teens spend a lot of time texting and social networking, this may make your stomach turn. A new study says that those teens are more likely to have sex, smoke cigarettes and use drugs.
All right. Let's talk about this mysterious orange streak over the L.A. sunset. It just kind of had everybody scratching their heads, asking what the heck was that? But we still can't seem to get any straight answers from the FAA, the Pentagon, or from anyone else for that matter. A lot of people think it looks like a missile launch.
