Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Orbitz Steers Pricier Hotels to Mac Users; New Book Looks at Obama's Upbringing; Breaking Down Hospital Costs; Morning Show Wars.

Aired June 26, 2012 - 11:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips. It's 11:00 on the East Coast, 8:00 in the West.

Flames racing out of control in Colorado and beyond, thousands of people fleeing their homes and vacationers smoked out of popular national parks.

If you favor Macs over PCs, you may be coaxed into booking into booking a pricier hotel. We're checking in to a popular travel service's price-search policy.

And from Hawaii to Indonesia, Kenya to Kansas, tracing the childhood that shaped President Obama, the author behind the story live this hour.

Now let's get straight to our severe weather center. Meteorologist Chad Myers is monitoring Tropical Storm Debby. Chad, Debby's proving to be pretty stubborn.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Not moving, really, at 5 miles an hour. And it's still spinning at 40 miles an hour, so don't get me wrong. It's still there, but it's not moving along, so when it begins to rain in one spot, it rains for hours.

In fact, one spot in Tallahassee in 24 hours picked up 20 inches of rain. It is flooding. The flooding there is tremendous right now. In fact, we can't even get crews in. We're still trying to get crews into these areas to see how bad it is. That would be east of Panama City, right here along the panhandle of Florida, but not all the way to Jacksonville.

The rain is spreading out a little bit right now, moving off to the east. This is the latest, 11:00 advisory, east at 3 miles an hour.

It doesn't even make landfall until 8:00 tomorrow morning and it's only about 60 miles away from shore. It's going to take a long time to get across the body here of Florida, then back out into the ocean and then eventually turning on up into the northeast.

And when it gets out here, these are spinning again, Kyra, because it turns into a tropical storm again, even though it did hit land for a while. The water out here with the Gulf Stream is warm enough that we're going to see that take place. So here's the radar right now and the radar that we watched last night on CNN -- this area here, right in that -- that entire area is talking about 20-inches-plus, the entire area. Where is that water going to go? It's going to flood. The flooding is tremendous. There's a state of emergency there.

In some of the counties south of Tallahassee, they're asking people, please don't drive. Some of the roads aren't there. Some of the bridges don't exist anymore. The roads are gone. The flooding has taken them away.

Now, the rain has spread across I-10. Parts of I-10 closed earlier today and I think they still are because of the flooding on the roadway. And, eventually, as this moves across the state, all of this rain will fill in here into parts of Central Florida and, just like we had yesterday, the potential for some small tornadoes. As these storms come in, they spin. They don't make F5 tornadoes, but they make small ones. In fact, on Sunday, we had seven tornadoes come onshore in Florida. They are now all confirmed.

PHILLIPS: Yeah, I talked to a number of friends on vacation. They're not too happy right now.

OK, Chad, we'll keep following it. Thank you so much.

Now, from too much water to too much heat across the West. Hot, dry, windy conditions making things really tough for firefighters that are battling those wildfires in Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado.

At least a dozen fires are burning across that state right now. Jim Spellman is there. He's actually near the Waldo Canyon fire. Jim, are these guys going to get any relief any time soon?

JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boy, no time soon, Kyra. At the very minimum, a few days. Another red flag warning day, that means high winds, high temperature, low humidity and we can already start to see the fire get a little more active behind us here as wind picks up.

Fifty-one hundred acres, this particular fire here near Colorado Springs, has burned and they still only have 5 percent containment. And this fire could go on for another three weeks and it could double in size. That's their estimate at this point.

It's just brutal here, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: The Air Force Academy is there, right? Is that being threatened at all?

SPELLMAN: Not at the moment, but that's one of their big concerns. It's to the north and that's the way the winds are blowing. Right now, the fire is nowhere near the Air Force Academy, but they're building lines to keep it from getting up there and, before you get to the Air Force Academy, is a huge stand of timber that would go up like that with these kind of conditions. That's one of the main things they want to try to protect, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Jim Spellman there live from Colorado Springs. Thank you so much, Jim.

And, according to the National Interagency Fire Center, currently, 24 fires across the country have burned more than 561,000 acres.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: And just a quick note for you. If you're heading out the door, you can still continue watching CNN from your mobile phone or, if you're heading to work, you can also watch CNN live from your desktop. Just go to CNN.com/TV.

Tough talk today from NATO member Turkey over Syria shooting down a Turkish fighter jet. Turkey's prime minister is now warning that they'll consider any Syrian military approach to its borders as a direct threat.

This is coming during a special NATO meeting that was called by Turkey over last Friday's incident. Now, both Turkey and Syria do agree on one point. The jet, like this one you see here, did enter Syrian air space, but Turkey insists that it was an accident and there was no reason to attack.

Ivan Watson is monitoring the developments in Istanbul. So, Ivan, today's meeting, what do you think? Just saber-rattling or can we expect some type of retaliation?

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think it's too early to talk about retaliation. What's going on right now is Turkey is using it's international diplomacy, trying to marshal international support, as well as here within Turkey, among different political factions for whatever steps are next.

And the Turkish prime minister announced one of those steps in a speech before parliament members, Kyra. He says that Turkey is changing the rules of engagement for its army, basically saying that every the Syrian military approaches Turkey's borders, as it has in the past, Turkey can respond in kind.

And he used on example. He mentioned that Syrian helicopters have crossed into Turkish air space at least five times over the course of this year. If I was a Syrian helicopter pilot, I would be very nervous in the weeks and months ahead about any accidental slip into Turkish air space now that the Turks have seen their warplane shot down and two of their pilots now feared dead after this incident on Friday.

PHILLIPS: So is the search still on to find the crew?

WATSON: That's right. The search is still ongoing and, because the plane crashed within Syrian territorial waters, there still has to be some coordination from the Turkish search-and-rescue operation and the Syrians to allow the Turks to operate in that area. And just to give you a sense of how tense things were, on Friday, when Syrian anti-aircraft guns shot down this Turkish jet, the Turks are saying one of their rescue craft, a slow-moving, propellered transport plane, was fired at on Friday, a second time, by Syrian anti-aircraft defenses as it rushed into the area to try to look for the missing Turkish reconnaissance jet and its two pilots who are still missing now four days later.

PHILLIPS: Ivan Watson, thanks so much.

And in addition to the war of words, more fighting and killing on the ground in Syria today. Anti-government activists say that at least 15 people were killed in heavy fighting in the Damascus suburbs.

There are devastating floods, devastating tornadoes, all before even making landfall. We're talking about back here in the States. Tropical Storm Debby is slowly inching east toward Florida, turning about 85 miles from shore and, if one thing is clear, it's rain, rain and more rain on the way.

Several states are now bracing for the already dire situation to get worse. We're talking about widespread flooding, power outages and tornadoes and it could be days before Florida and other Southern states get it any relief.

Florida's governor, Rick Scott, has already declared a state of emergency. Here's what he had to say about the situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: We're going to have a lot more rain. We have flooding. We have downed power lines. We have about 30,000 customers without power.

So we've got a very good state emergency response team and local emergency response teams. We are ready for these things because of hurricanes. So we're working hard at this, making sure that Floridians are prepared, making sure they're very cautious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Wading through all the flooding and the damage, John Zarrella is on the ground there in Tampa, Florida. So, John, what do you think? It wasn't looking good yesterday. Any worse today?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's certainly no better, Kyra, and you can see behind me now. This is not a lake. This is Bay Shore Drive. This is one of the main arteries in Tampa. It is low tide and it is under water and has been under water and shut down for a couple of days now.

Now, this is not rain-water flooding. This is tidal flooding. You can see that. The bay behind me, you see the waves breaking across the barrier there. And again, this is low tide. Come about 6:00 or 7:00 tonight, where I'm standing will even be deeper in water and the flow just continues to race down. And what's in this direction, Kyra? That's the convention center about 400 yards away from me and the arena there, the forum where the Republican National Convention is going to be held, starting around the 20th, 22nd of August.

And, of course, one of the big concerns -- and they did hurricane drills to prepare for this -- was, what if they had a tropical system in this area during the convention. You can see what would happen on one of the main arteries leading to the convention site. This is what they would have to deal with. So, I'm sure there are a lot of people over there with a lot of sweat on their brow right now, just hoping and praying that there isn't a tropical system like this in the neighborhood come convention time.

But again, very serious flooding. The road is shut down and, in fact, Kyra, right across the street from where I am, earlier today, they tried to rescue a manatee. The mother manatee perished. She died. They pulled the carcass out of the water and the smaller manatee along with another adult actually swam off.

So, they're hoping that those two will be OK, but wildlife officials and city divers were all here in case they had to make a water rescue attempt of an infant manatee, but determined that it was big enough it could survive on its own and they let it go.

So, again, Kyra, you can see low tide. That is the bay, Tampa Bay, over there, and the Hillsborough River comes through this little inlet here in Tampa into the city and the heart of Tampa.

So some very serious flooding that they're dealing with here and all along the coastline from here north, around the big bend of Florida because what you're getting is tidal flooding. The right side of the storm is pushing all this water inland as the storm approaches, even as weak as this tropical storm is. Still, a lot of flooding associated with it.

Kyra?

PHILLIPS: OK, John, you have been covering this area for quite a long time and you know how the state can respond. And we were all just, as we were looking at these pictures, saying, wait a minute, the conventions are in Tampa, which - and then you started to explain, this is the main area that would lead you to the spot, so is there a contingency plan, or what's your sense?

ZARRELLA: Yes, there's other roadways in which you can get in here, but one of the things -- I was talking to a diver a little while ago. A police diver was saying, one of the big concerns is that, as far as he can tell, he doesn't recall ever a convention being this close to the water.

Now, of course, I remember in the '60s, the Democrats held their convention on Miami Beach, but that's going way back. But you have the river, you've got all of these inlets here and they all run around the backside of the convention center and around the back side of the forum and so there is a genuine concern about not just the in fact that you have tropical systems come through here, but that they have to protect the water from any kind of threats that might be out there as well.

So a lot of things that they have got to deal with when you put water in the mix and this is just one of them.

Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Look at your memory. I thought you were born in the '60s, John Zarrella. Joining us live out of Tampa, Florida. We'll keep talking. John, thanks so much.

OK, we're watching your money, too. The Dow Industrials not looking too good today, down 33 points as of now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It's pretty much a helpless feeling right now at the site of a Canadian mall collapse. That's because rescue crews are detecting signs of life under the rubble. They say it's too dangerous, though, for them to try to get in there to try to reach anyone trapped underneath the tons of concrete.

That led to some pretty emotional pleas from the community as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We come from a mining town where mine rescue never gave up on their people and it didn't matter how bad it was. They stuck it out. They were there.

Mr. Hamilton, you know that. You never left a man underground, ever. They made sure they got those men out and they did everything in their power.

And if Mr. Needles can't do it, why can't we get a mine rescue team in here?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: John Vennavally-Rao from our affiliate, CTV. So, John, what's the plan right now?

JOHN VENNAVALLY-RAO, REPORTER, CTV: Well, as you said, yesterday, the rescuers pulled out. They felt that the situation was just too dangerous inside this building. They were worried that the structure could collapse on those rescuers and, as you mentioned, there was outrage in this town.

So officials have decided to go at it again, but they're going to try a different strategy. They're going to go at it from the outside. They're bringing in some heavy equipment, some big cranes, and they're hoping to get into the structure that way, perhaps remove some big chunks of debris that are causing them problems and concern that the structure could collapse. But the concede and even the premier of Ontario conceded today that it's kind of like a house of cards. They're not sure when they start pulling these pieces out whether the whole thing is going to come in.

They're not sure how many people could still be trapped inside. They did have signs of life yesterday morning. They're still holding out hope, but it's a very difficult rescue operation here.

PHILLIPS: So we don't know how many people may be trapped. Talk about the signs of life. What was it that rescuers saw, heard?

VENNAVALLY-RAO: First of all, a couple of days ago, they heard some tapping and then, yesterday morning, they put in a piece of equipment and they could actually detect somebody was breathing underneath the concrete slab that fell in when the roof collapsed. They can detect that, so they know someone is alive down there. They don't know who it is.

That was yesterday morning at 4:00. We're just holding out hope that that person is still alive.

We talked to one gentleman here today. His fiancee was inside that mall. She's been missing for three days now. She was working at a mall lottery kiosk. He's holding out hope that's her, that she's the one that is underneath that rubble and still alive, potentially.

But it might be quite some time before rescuers can get anywhere near her because, again, they're just concerned the structure will come in. They're bringing in some heavy equipment. They're bringing in robotics used in mine rescues. They're trying everything else that they can possibly do to see if they can't safely get into this building and see if anyone's alive.

PHILLIPS: John, I was reading about that resident and he said that he believed that his fiancee was trapped because he believed she was doing some tapping and why he knew it was her was because they used to tap a code to each other as sort of a love note?

VENNAVALLY-RAO: It's heartbreaking talking to him as he was telling the story. Yes, she used to tap a certain number of times and he would tap back and they had this pattern thing, so when he heard the rescuers talking about someone had been tapping, he's convinced that that has got to be his fiancee, a woman in her 30s.

They're due to be married and he's just been standing out here today. There's really nothing else he can do except stand here, wait and hope that these rescuers can get in there in time and hope that his fiancee is the one who may be alive.

PHILLIPS: John, we'd sure like to follow his story and everybody else right there along with you. Please keep us updated. CTV's John Vennavally-Rao. John, thanks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: For all of us who have been clamoring, demanding, begging for a real major college football playoff for years, the wait may soon be over.

A four-game playoff plan drawn up by the BCS commissioners is now in the lap of 12 university presidents who are expected to give a yea or a nay today. If approved, it would go into effect during the 2014 season.

But a lot of questions and issues will need to be ironed out. Among the most contentious, how will the four teams be selected and when and where will they play?

Carlos Diaz here to help us sort it all out. So, where do we begin?

CARLOS DIAZ, HLN'S "MORNING EXPRESS WITH ROBIN MEADE": So many questions. Ask me whatever you want to ask me.

PHILLIPS: Today's meeting. What's happening in today's meeting?

DIAZ: 3:00. They're going to meet at 3:00. They're going to have a bunch of guys, like 24 guys around a big table. You're going to have the 12 guys from the BCS meeting with the 12 presidents. You're going to have one president from each power conference and then, of course, Notre Dame's president there.

And they're going to talk. The presidents of the BCS are going to give the presidents of the university their proposal. They're going to say a four-game playoff would be wise. It would be lucrative.

And that's what we're talking about here, money. It's about money. We're not talking millions. We're talking billions of dollars in revenue for a playoff system and that's why this is going to get done today.

PHILLIPS: When would it go into effect?

DIAZ: The 2014 season, so, basically, it would be New Year's Day, 2015.

PHILLIPS: How does this impact the bowl games?

DIAZ: Some people say it would lessen the impact. Some people say it would cause a greater impact because what you would have would be -- say you have the Rose Bowl and the Orange Bowl, those would be semi-final games and the winners of those two games would play in an as-yet-unnamed bowl game to determine the national champion.

But here's the kicker. It is a situation where that bowl game would go out to the highest bidding city in America. So you might have Dallas, you might have Indianapolis, you might have a city that's not hosted a bowl in the past, host this big bowl game, which means even more revenue just like the Super Bowl.

PHILLIPS: How about my hometown of San Diego?

DIAZ: San Diego? No. Because they need a new stadium there in a big way. Qualcomm, the seating is all bad.

PHILLIPS: Now, you're dissing my city.

DIAZ: I'm not dissing San Diego. It's a good city.

PHILLIPS: OK, what about the fans? Do you think they'll be happy with four games versus eight or 16?

DIAZ: Allow me to use an analogy. No, here's the thing.

PHILLIPS: We better not because we'll get creamed by every woman out there.

DIAZ: Fans want this, OK, so they'll take whatever they can get. If it's a four-game playoff, they'll say fine. Of course, they want an eight-game playoff, an eight-team playoff and then maybe a 16-team playoff. They want more and more, but for now, four teams will be fine. It's one more than we have right now.

PHILLIPS: So here's my next question. Who's going to get the TV deal?

DIAZ: And that's the thing ...

PHILLIPS: All the networks will be clamoring for that.

DIAZ: Yes, you know CBS is right there, saying, hey, we've been doing the NCAA basketball tournament forever. ESPN's got to be in line for it. But it's big money for college football.

And, like you said, it causes more controversy. The controversy is, well, now we're talking about billions of dollars. What about paying these athletes? So that's going to come into play.

Another big question, how are you going to determine these teams? They're talking about a four-team council, a committee to determine the four teams. It's not like when the committee chooses the 68 teams in the basketball's March Madness, you've got 68 teams, the 69th team, you know, it's neither here nor there.

But you're talking about four teams for football. So the fifth- ranked team will be left out. That's going to cause some controversy.

PHILLIPS: Oh, boy. All right, well, we'll be talking more about it. Carlos, thanks so much.

And the word now is that the game determining the national champion would actually be played on New Year's Day.

Wait, Carlos is shaking his head.

DIAZ: No, it ...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: I got a question for you. A Mac or a P.C. person? Because according to "the Wall Street Journal," the travel web site, Orbitz, is using your answer to that question to determine what hotels they show you up front. If you're a Mac user, you could be seeing the more expensive hotel options, while, get this, your P.C. counterparts are staring at the cheaper ones.

The CEO or Orbitz will joins me in just a moment.

But first, let's get to Alison Kosik who is at the New York Stock Exchange.

Alison, lay it out for us. What's the deal?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What really comes down to when you look at this broadly is that, what companies like Orbitz are trying to do is to cater more specifically to people's spending habits by tracking a keeping data on how we spend. Orbitz says that what it's found is that Mac users wind up spending 30 percent more on accommodations than if you're using a P.C. And "the Wall Street Journal" is reporting that Orbitz is actually steering Mac users to the more expensive hotels. What "The Journal" found is, depending on what city you're searching for, that result curiously come up very different between the P.C. and Mac users.

Orbitz tells us is they're not charging anyone more money. The prices are all the same. What's different is they're just displaying the results in a different order. A P.C. user may get a certain hotel on page one of their results, it may show up on page three if you're a Mac user. Orbitz did put out a statement saying, "This story really grew out of our observation that Mac users tend to like four-five star hotels more than P.C. users." Orbitz goes on to say that "We make recommendations about hotels along a number of variables, like traveling with or without children."

Kyra, whatever type of computer you wind up using to search, you can wind up with the same results by the price -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: So how common is it for web sites to do this?

KOSIK: Expedia, Priceline and Travelocity say they don't base their hotels suggestions on the type of computer the customer is using. But then you go and ask the CEO of Rulala (ph), a fashion web site, and they something different. They tell "The Journal" that they actually pay very close attention, if you're an iPhone or an iPad user, because they account for such a huge chunk of mobile sales. Analysts say that's going to become more and more common. And it makes sense because if someone's willing to pay $600 on an iPad, they have probably got a little extra cash to spend elsewhere -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Alison Kosik, thank you.

This raises questions about privacy, consumers, their preferences and their rights, which is why we have Barney Harford, the CEO of Orbitz Worldwide, joining us live from Chicago. Mr. Harford, appreciate you joining me today.

Let's go ahead and clear this up. Are users actually being steered to pricier options compared to P.C. users when they search for these deals on your web site?

BARNEY HARFORD, CEO, ORBITZ WORLDWIDE: I want to be really clear, there's no way that we are charging Mac users more for the same hotels. That would be absolute nonsense. We love Mac users. But what we have found, as our correspondent mentioned, that Mac users are more likely to book 4-5 star hotels than P.C. users and Mac users are more interested in spending money for high end computers. And our algorithms -- recommendations module is using to help customers cut through the clutter on the other fine hotels that are right for them.

PHILLIPS: So does Orbitz make a profit by doing this?

HARFORD: Well, our goal is to be able to serve customers as effectively as possible. We make money when customers book stuff on our site. If we're showing them the wrong hotel, we're not going to make more money. Our goal is to be able to meet our customer's need, to be able to help more customers. In many cities, customers are overwhelmed by the fact that there's hundreds of different hotels and our goal with our sort and recommendation algorithms is one to be able to find a hotel that's right for them. We're learning that we're making those recommendations based on what a lot of other similar customers book.

PHILLIPS: What do you say to the critic who says this isn't just tayloring to the user, and the user's taste, but this is actually discrimination?

HARFORD: I think this is absolute trying to recommend for customers what they are more likely to book. All of the hotels are available to the users, you can sort by price, you can sort by alphabetical, you can sort by any hotel name. There's no way we're treating Mac or P.C. users any different, we love both. But our goal is to use technology to learn from the people who visit our web sites every day, every week, every month. We are excited about using this potential to use the wisdom of the clouds to make the experience of booking travel better for consumers. If you're traveling with kids, versus if you're not traveling with kids, obviously if you're traveling with kids, are going to want a different type of amenity. And we're learning that people traveling with kids are going to buy. You ought to perhaps consider this hotel because it's got a pool or is near is beach. This is just one of a myriad examples of how we're making the site more customized and more relevant to our individual consumers.

PHILLIPS: Let's take a look at "The Wall Street Journal" article because that obviously is what triggered the conversation here. And it found that although tells on the first page of the Mac search were about 11 percent more expensive than they were on the P.C. Now you and I both know everything knows when you do searches, you usually go for that first recommendation, you think oh, that must be the better place, the nicer place, that's where I should go. So it really is an advantage to you, indeed, if you are making a profit off the pricier recommendation.

HARFORD: The article got a little bit confused on a couple of topics. We're actually using the Mac/P.C. flag, not in the sort logic, but in the recommendation logic. So the difference between those two searches, it could be the fact that they're signed in on one versus the other. I was just doing a test to somebody that was asking this question, oh, this hotel is cheaper on this site. We have in some cases exclusive member only deals that are available if you're signed in when you're doing a search. What we're actually doing right now with the Mac/P.C. flag, is that we're using that in the recommendations module. Here are some hotels that are similar customers have booked after viewing this hotel. And if you're shopping on a Mac versus a P.C., we're going to show you a different kind of hotel. That's driven by the fact that Mac users spend more for a hotel.

PHILLIPS: If I search on Orbitz for a hotel in Miami Beach -- and I had my producer actually do a search from a P.C. computer. Here's what popped up. So if someone was to do this from a Mac computer, tell me, how would the options be different?

HARFORD: Actually, today, if you did a search on a Mac computer and a P.C. computer, you would actually see the same results on the search results. If you had selected one particular hotel, and scrolled down the page at the hotel recommendation module, people who use this hotel subsequently booked the following hotels, you might see different recommendations because we're taking into account what similar customers to you take into account when they're booking. The full details of the article are hidden behind the pay registration wall so most people who are commenting on it right now haven't seen the full details of what the article talks about, which may seem really clear. I do want to emphasize the same point. Mac users and P.C. users that pay the same price. Our goal is to show you hotels that you're most likely to be interested in and we're doing this based on similarities between customers.

PHILLIPS: Barney Harford, appreciate your time.

There are two big political races that we're watching for you today, one that could impact the House, and the other the Senate. Charlie Rangel, in New York, his district has been has been redrawn, which has set him up for a five-way battle for the Democratic nomination. Rangel, who was famously censored by the House two years ago, is trying to stay in the race for his 22nd term in Congress. On the Senate side, Oregon Republican Orrin Hatch is facing a tough challenge in his party's primary. That challenge is coming from a Tea Party candidate. Hatch has served in the Senate for 35 years.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: If you're leaving the house right now, just a reminder, you can continue watching CNN from your mobile phone. You can also continue watching CNN live from your desk top.

So what makes you tick? For a lot of people, that actually starts in your childhood. It's the same for President Obama. There's a new book out that investigates Obama's childhood. It's called "Barack Obama: The Story." It takes us from Hawaii to Indonesia and Kenya and Kansas.

Author David Maraniss with me today.

(LAUGHTER)

DAVID MARANISS, AUTHOR: Thanks, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: I've been working on that last name. I know folks have been getting it wrong.

MARANISS: I'll answer to anything.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: I can see it. I get, Kira, Kyra, you know. Anyway, the book, let's get to it.

Why don't I just ask you this right off the bat? We have been talking a lot about your book, all of us within the media. And no one has asked you, was there anything that really caught you completely off guard as you were working on this book?

MARANISS: There were a few things like that. One was Obama's grandmother, Madeleine Dunham, was always portrayed as the pragmatic rock of the family. And she was. In many ways, she was the one who reared the president, who was dependable all of the time when his father was never there, and his mother was off and gone. Only in researching the book did I discovered was that she, too, was a closet alcoholic. When I interviewed to the president, he compared here -- he said that he loves to watch the show "Mad Men." And that he compared her to Peggy, the secretary who rose up from being a secretary to being important in the ad agency. And Obama's grandmother rose from secretary to vice president of a bank. And I never knew that all of that time she was also suffering with alcohol.

PHILLIPS: Did he talk to you openly about that?

MARANISS: He did. And you know, I had intimations of it, as I was reporting, and the president acknowledged it in our interview. Other things that surprised me like --

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: Let me ask you something.

MARANISS: Sure.

PHILLIPS: Did he say it was something that he was -- if someone in the family has it, a lot of members within the family will struggle with it.

MARANISS: Very true.

PHILLIPS: Did he say I was concerned about that or I watch how I drink or my alcohol intake?

MARANISS: He drinks moderately. He doesn't have that problem. It can be genetic. He doesn't have it. His addiction was to cigarettes, which he apparently broke in the White House.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: We keep talking about that. Does he really smoking or not?

(LAUGHTER)

MARANISS: I'm sure but he's not.

PHILLIPS: You were going on to another thought.

MARANISS: Well, you know, his father, Barack Obama Sr, who came to Hawaii as a student, as the university -- you know, his book is named "Dreams of My Father." And it was really when I started doing research that I realized that President Obama was lucky that he never lived with that man. He was not only -- he was abusive to all of his wives, even to Obama's mother, but they were not together very long.

PHILLIPS: It's interesting because you actually touched base with one of his former girlfriends.

MARANISS: Yes.

PHILLIPS: You actually read her journals, right? He had mentioned, I guess within this interview with his ex-girlfriend, that even though she was white, he always knew he needed a strong black woman.

MARANISS: It was actually the girlfriend who saw that.

(CROSSTALK)

MARANISS: She's the one that wrote, "There's a strong black woman waiting for him out there somewhere."

PHILLIPS: OK.

MARANISS: She was very perceptive. Genevieve Kirk (ph), who was an Australian, and kept a journal.

PHILLIPS: Right, we've seen interviews with her.

MARANISS: You see, in Barack Obama's life, this long arc towards home, and finding himself, his racial identity. He's a biracial kid, with an African father and a white mother. He gets to New York to go to Columbia and then he gets with this girlfriend who was white, and she's the one that could see that, as he's making that transition, that eventually he'll find that black woman.

(CROSSTALK)

MARANISS: So, Michelle, who's not even in my book, is the magnet. You can see that he's reaching that magnet eventually.

PHILLIPS: Why do you think he felt that way or Genevieve had that sense?

MARANISS: Partly because society forces that on people with dark skin. But also, he wasn't feeling that politically and never has. Politically, he wrote a letter when he was 21 which sort of summarized that, that said everyone, that all his friends are finding various niches, and he's not satisfied with that. He has to try to embrace it all, meaning all races and all types of people.

But personally, to feel at home, he never really had a home. His father wasn't there. His mother was Indonesia for much of his life. So to find that comfort level, he really only found it in Chicago on the south side when he was sort of embraced by the African-American community.

PHILLIPS: Before I let you go, because a lot of people wonder, when they see someone on the air, they see someone in power, they wonder, is that really the person. Is that person really like that at home, when they're relaxed, and they're with the people that they love? Do we get a sense that who we see is the man that --

(CROSSTALK)

MARANISS: Yes. There's less of a different from Barack Obama than most of the politicians I have covered. In public, he's sort of cool. In Hawaii, there's this cool head thing. And he sort of carries that public persona. I think, with his family he's much more comfortable and loose, but basically you see the same man publicly and privately.

PHILLIPS: Appreciate you stopping into Atlanta today.

MARANISS: Thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: David Maraniss, thank you so much.

And the book is on the shelves now, "Barack Obama: The Story."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: $1,200 for a surgical stapler, 280 bucks for an I.V. bag, it's all part of the reason health care costs are soaring.

CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, takes us inside the operating room for a pretty eye-opening look at how much hospitals charge for basic items and why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: One of the questions that comes up all the time is what about these hospital bills? How exactly do they break down? How do you make sense of it? No question, it leaves a lot of people scratching their heads. I want to give you an example here by taking you inside this operating room. This is the hospital where I work, where I'm a neurosurgeon. Just having an operation performed in a room like this costs $3,000 an hour. That's for starters.

Come on in.

Let's give you a couple quick examples. If you look at a hospital bill, you might see an I.V. bag charge. It's an I.V. like this. About $280 just for the I.V. bag. That might strike people as very high. Stapler. This is a stapler that's often used in surgery. Something like this costs about $1,200. This is a chest tube. If someone has compression of one of their lungs, they might need a chest tube like this that costs about $1,100.

You find examples like that really all over a room like this. Suture, something used in just about every operating room in the world. This suture over here costs about $200. If you look at even devices like -- this is a needle that's used for biopsies. If there's a concern someone has a tumor they'd use a needle like this. This is going to cost about $800.

It's important to keep in mind, if you ask the manufacturers of a device like this, why so much money? They'll say, well, it took years to develop something like this. The research and development costs are significant. Also they're guaranteeing a certain level of effectiveness of this needle. That costs money as well.

But something maybe you didn't know. When you look at a hospital bill, it's not just the cost of the supplies. There's also administrative costs built in. there's the cost of covering people who simply don't have insurance or can't pay. That's built into these costs as well. And finally, keep in mind, that what is charged and what is ultimately paid are two very different numbers.

RICHARD CLARK, HEALTH CARE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION: The typical hospital collects about 4 percent of every dollar that they -- about four cents of every dollar that they bill. So it's not coming out in massive profits. It's coming out as a result of underpayment from the government.

GUPTA: I'll tell you, you know, the cost breakdown like I just gave you on lots of these different supplies, a lot of people simply never see. What we have found is a lot of people don't care as well. If you're insured, some people may not open the hospital bill. But there are 50 million people uninsured out there, and they care very much about hospital bills like this. What you can do is call the hospital and get a detailed breakdown. While on the phone with the hospital, if the cost seems still too high or hard to understand, you might be able to negotiate some of these prices down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Oh, yes. I've negotiated before.

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: $800 for a needle, though? Can you, as a doctor, say, I'm not going to pay that, I can get a better deal for that? Are you kidding me?

GUPTA: The hospitals negotiate with large distributors and try to obviously talk those prices down. You know, a little bit of what we learned here is that when you look at uncompensated care in this country, somebody pays for that ultimately. So if you have a $56 billion, for example, a year, in uncompensated care, people are showing up at hospitals without insurance, which is what this argument is about, all week this week --

(CROSSTALK)

PHILLIPS: We're paying for the uninsured.

GUPTA: That gets transmitted different ways. Higher premiums for health care insurance, higher taxes if you live in a certain county. Also in the way I showed you. It costs a lot of money for some of these devices. Some that to offset the cost of the uncompensated care.

PHILLIPS: Sanjay, thanks.

GUPTA: Thanks.

PHILLIPS: The Supreme Court is expected to release its decision on the president's health care law on Thursday. CNN will bring you live coverage as soon as it happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, a shakeup may be coming to morning TV. The well-publicized ratings battle between the "Today" show and "Good Morning, America" may have claimed its first casualty.

Alina Cho reports it's a high-stakes game with big money implications.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT LAUER, HOST, THE TODAY SHOW: This is "Today."

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the set of the "Today" show, it's business as usual.

LAUER: And good morning, everyone.

CHO: Matt Lauer and Ann Curry co-hosting the show as they have for the past year. But if you believe all the recent media reports, there could soon be a change.

BRIAN STELTER, MEDIA REPORTER, NEW YORK TIMES: Now there's this very strange situation going on where she's on the show every morning, acting like nothing's going on.

CHO: Behind the scenes amidst declining ratings, reports are rampant that curry is negotiating her exit. And that she could leave the "Today" show as early as this week. Why? Insiders say it all comes down to chemistry.

ANN CURRY, HOST, THE TODAY SHOW: If it does rain, we're going to be dancing, you and I both of us outside. We'll get sopping wet, right?

LAUER: Let's play that by ear.

STELTER: Morning TV anchors are like husband and wives on TV. The research showed Ann was great on her own and the viewers love her. Being paired with matt may have not been the right fit.

CHO: "The New York Times" media reporter broke the news that curry could be leaving. Why now? And so soon? For one, the competition.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, HOST, GOOD MORNING, AMERICA: Hello, everyone. Boy, everyone's stepping up their game.

CHO: The numbers don't lie. Though the "Today" show has been number one for 16 years and still is, in April, ABC's "Good Morning, America" took the lead and has won the ratings battle several more weeks since then.

STELTER: Maybe that's because those people on "GMA" now are people you want to hang out with, people you want to spend more time with. Right now, "GMA" feels fresher.

CHO (on camera): And Natashia (ph)?

STELTER: And Natashia (ph) feels stale.

LAUER: I'm Matt Lauer, alongside Ann Curry.

CHO (voice-over): NBC isn't reporting on the reports. In a recent CNN interview, Matt Lauer said this.

LAUER: When people start to write articles about what might be wrong with the "Today" show, you know where you should point the finger? Point it at me. I've been there the longest and it's my responsibility.

CHO: As for Curry, in an interview for the August cover of "Lady's Home Journal," when asked about the ratings decline, she said, it's hard not to take it personally. You worry, am I not good enough? Am I not what people need?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: This isn't non-profit theater. It's advertiser-supported television. You know that, right?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: I'd rather do a good show for 100 people than a bad one for a million, if that's what you're saying.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHO: Problem is, viewers count. The more people watch, the more money tv morning shows make, which is why who sits in that anchor chair is so closely watched.

Alina Cho, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Thanks for watching, everyone. You can continue the conversation with me on Twitter, @Kyra/CNN, or on Facebook.

NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL starts right now.