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Arthur Threatens 4th Of July Holiday Plans; Tim Howard: America's New Sports Hero; Food Trucks Explodes In Philadelphia; New Georgia Gun Law Expands Places; Hobby Lobby 401k's Include Contraceptive Companies: Good Investing Or Hypocritical?

Aired July 02, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

Happening now in the NEWSROOM, tropical storm threat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Arthur is just east of where we are right now, but we can still see and feel his reach.

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COSTELLO: Arthur getting stronger by the minute, expected to be a hurricane by the holiday.

Tim Howard, Mr. Invincible.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) again!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The secretary of defense, the man of the match, setting a World Cup record for most goals saved in a single game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM HOWARD, TEAM USA GOALKEEPER: Watching some of the scenes back home has been incredible, and the feeling, the passion back home was second to none.

CROWD: USA! USA!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Plus, border bus backlash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're not born here. They're not - they're not born here.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: Hundreds of protesters blocking buses full of undocumented immigrants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If these children were from Canada, we will not be having this interview.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard a boom first and then fire came out nowhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Caught on camera, a Philadelphia food truck exploding. Fire officials trying to find a cause this morning.

Also, bogus billing, T-Mobile under fire for charging hundreds of millions of dollars in fake fees. Let's talk live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. We may be hours away from the first hurricane of the season just in time for the 4th of July. Right now, Tropical Storm Arthur is churning off the coast of Florida. It could become a full blown hurricane by tomorrow as it heads up the eastern seaboard.

Hurricane warnings are already in effect for parts of North Carolina and AAA warns the biggest problem could be drivers on the roads with wind. Let's head to the weather center and Chad Myers. There's no chance of this thing will pitter out?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I don't think so. It's also part of the gulfstream. It comes out of the Gulf of Mexico, runs up through by Miami and on up right through here. What we're worried about are these on shore winds. There's going to be tremendous rip currents right here. Everybody in the water is in danger at this point already, and the storm is only getting stronger. The water will pile up. It will move on shore.

It will go over the sand bars and then rush out into the ocean and when that happens, you always have the chance that that water can break through and you wash yourself away or get washed away from this sandbar and from the shore. You are way out here trying to swim back to shore and it is a very difficult swim. You try to swim along the current and back.

I've been caught in a rip current before when I was in Mexico, and I tell you don't think about trying to swim along the current. All you want to do is get back to shore. So stay out of the water if you can. If you need to be in the water for some reason, everybody honestly needs a life jacket for sure. Nags head the next step for this likely handful -- landfall. For the first hurricane making landfall in the U.S. in quite some time -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Chad Myers, thanks stay with CNN throughout the hour as we check the weather. Never give up, never say die. The U.S. soccer team showed true grit despite getting knocked out of the World Cup. The New Jersey native, Tim Howard was a beast in 16 saves against an attacking Belgian squad. Count them.

We just needed better music. Tim Howard's performance was fantastic. Rachel Nichols, host of CNN's "Unguarded joins me as well as Chris Cuomo. You talked with Tim Howard this morning. Share, please.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CO-ANCHOR, I did. He is a special guy. He showed it on the field last night. He's going to show it more and more off the field. He's going to be embraced as the face of U.S. soccer. Probably wasn't the likely choice for that being a senior member on the squad. But he stepped up when they needed it most. Maybe the best thing to come out of New Jersey since Bruce Springsteen. Who knows?

But one of the things that will make him popular is how he carries himself. Take a listen to what he said when I asked him what he was going to do now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM HOWARD, GOALKEEPER, TEAM USA: I'm going to go home and I'm going to relax and hide away. You know, hang out with the kids. Get some more tattoos. Just be me.

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COSTELLO: Chris, do you think he realizes what a big star he is?

CUOMO: Look, I think he's very savvy and aware. He's been playing the premier league for a long time. I don't think you can appreciate it from here. I don't even think I appreciate it. What I'm hearing back home about the level of interest of soccer that's why I've been hedging against what happened here against Belgium. That wasn't a surprise.

The U.S. has embraced this sport like it never has in my lifetime. I remember the women's team and the joy of the 90s. It's never been like this. I don't think he is not going to know it until he gets home. I hope he makes the most of it.

COSTELLO: I hope he does too. Rachel, you have to believe when Tim Howard comes home, he's going to be a very wealthy man. Everybody is going to want him to pitch their product.

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN HOST, "UNGUARDED": Absolutely. And all they have to do is look at social media, which is basically how we define our national conversations these days. So much fun during the match. There were 1.8 million mentions of Tim Howard's name on twitter. That is amazing. By far the most of anybody yesterday, and the memes came out, come on.

Somebody took the Secretary of Defense, they put Tim Howard's picture that's awesome. They put Tim on the dollar bill. Saying in Tim we trust. We had tweets saying, I tried to follow Tim Howard on Twitter but he blocked me. Jesus saves, and so does Tim Howard. It speaks how much people fell in love with this guy. As we saw in the interview, there's so many reasons to like him. He's a lot of fun and you are going to see his face on TV.

COSTELLO: How did the fans react to Tim Howard in between games -- Chris?

CUOMO: Huge. I mean, he came in with a following, but you know, here's what I can tell you. Being at the match last night and being seated really near Tim Howard in the first half, I was also deep in the Belgian section, a little bit of a mixed blessing. But people could tell he was playing inspired in the goal. He was blocking shots he should not have been able to save because the Belgian players were beating the U.S. and a lot of them were breaking free. He was stopping shots. Everybody was talking about him. The Belgian fans were turning around and saying wow, he's great.

COSTELLO: It's just amazing. You know, and he's so honest about everything, and he's so open and forthcoming, Rachel. I mean, I just found out he had Tourette's syndrome a couple of days ago. He treats it like it's no big deal.

NICHOLS: We talk about a little bit on the show yesterday how he helps a lot of kids with Tourette's. I don't think people realize how much it affects him. You could see it yesterday. Tim has the physical tics. Just little shrugs. Involuntary physical movements. They are brought on in times of stress. He talked about them a little bit about the match. He says when the ball was away from him. He let his body go free.

Those tics came out. You might have noticed them a little bit while you were watching the match. He was able to control his body when the ball came his way, which as we know was so many times. It was a whole other layer of what he was doing while he was also making those incredible saves. So it's pretty incredible when you think about the many things that Tim Howard did out there and the fact that he talked about it so openly after the match was fantastic.

He said look there's kids with Tourette's syndrome and other people with it, I want everybody that it's something I deal with and manage, it's OK. You don't have to be ashamed about it. That makes him pretty incredible too.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. Can't wait until he comes back home. Rachel Nichols, Chris Cuomo, thanks so much.

Two people remain in critical condition this morning after a food truck explodes in Philadelphia. Ten others suffered lesser injuries. The terrifying moment caught on surveillance video. Officials say the blast was probably the result of a propane leak. CNN's Miguel Marquez has more for you. Hi, Miguel.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They want to get to the bottom of this thing. We all eat at these food trucks. They are so popular these days. What is amazing about that video when you look at it is that no one was killed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Caught on camera, this food truck blowing up, sending massive flames and billowing smoke into the skies.

It looks like something out of a war zone. It's not. The explosion of a food truck serving Mexican food taking place around 5:30 Tuesday evening. It took place in Philadelphia. The food truck parked in front of an auto repair shop.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard a boom first and the fire came out of nowhere.

MARQUEZ: The 24-year-old Latoya Page was one of the 12 victims rushed to the hospital.

LATOYA PAGE, FOOD TRUCK EXPLOSION VICTIM: I was walking by and the truck blew up.

MARQUEZ: She was released last night.

PAGE: I was first degree burns on my left side.

MARQUEZ: When it exploded, parts of the truck and propane tank went flying. A passing car even singed in the crossfire.

CHIEF INSPECTO SCOTT SMALL, PHILADELPHIA POLICE: It caught on fire.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The whole house shook like an earthquake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I literally missed a step. It rock me.

MARQUEZ: A mother and daughter were working inside the truck when it blew up. They are the two seriously burned. The cause of the explosion under investigation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This lunch truck actually has two similar propane tanks in the rear of the truck. One of them is still intact. The other one exploded.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Now, one of those tanks ended about 150 feet away many someone's backyard. They are not entirely sure which tank caused that explosion yet, but all eyes now turning to the two women who were in the truck to see if they are doing better and if they will survive this horrific explosion.

COSTELLO: It's unbelievable. Miguel Marquez, thanks so much.

Still to come to the NEWSROOM, Georgia residents now have a lot more places to carry their guns thanks to a new law that's gone into effect. Now legally you can carry a gun into a bar in the entire state of Georgia. We'll talk about why next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Critics both inside and outside the state of Georgia have called it the guns everywhere bill, but it's officially known as the safe carry protection act and as of yesterday it is now the law in the state of Georgia. The act greatly expands the number of places gun owners who have concealed carry permits can carry their weapons, including to bars, churches, and schools.

It sounds pretty straightforward, doesn't it? Not so fast. The owners of those establishments must first approve guns in their venues. Adding to the confusion, the law allows gun owners to carry weapons into unsecured government buildings without approval. Leave it to Stephen Colbert to figure things out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE COLBERT REPORT: Georgians will be able to bring their guns to churches, guns schools, and libraries. And of course you will want to use a silencer. Best of all you can pack heat in certain parts of the airport, which will final allow you to defend that one seat near the outlet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: We're joking about it, but it's serious stuff. So you called bar owners across the state. What are they telling you?

PATRICIA MURPHY, POLITICAL COLUMNIST, "THE DAILY BEAST": I went into bars across the state, and they are concerned. They are worried. The bar owners I spoke with we don't think guns and alcohol are a good mix. Many of these bar owners own guns themself and even carry guns themself to tamp things down just in case.

They don't want the responsibility of either saying you cannot bring guns into my bar by placing a sign, or even having the responsibility of removing somebody who has a gun. It's their legal right to ask somebody to leave, but I talked to bar owners I don't want to ask a drunk guy with a gun to leave.

They feel like it puts them in a difficult position. They have the legal right to keep guns out, but they also have the responsibility to sort of police it themselves and they are not comfortable with that especially when you have alcohol, late night, and guns. You can just sort of imagine where it could go.

COSTELLO: Well, those who favor gun rights laws say, you could carry a conceal weapon in a restaurant in Georgia and that's been in effect for a long time and there's been no trouble. Well, and that's true, there have been for the last four years, most Georgian's do not know this for by the way, a lot of restaurants have bars inside of them.

Georgia legally defines that by the percentage of sales that you have based on alcohol, how would a patron know if you go into an apple bees, is it legally a gun or a restaurant. And the gun owners who say I don't want to get arrested just because I go into a restaurant that counts as a bar because they sell more alcohol than food. It's private property. I should be able to take it there if I want to as long as the restaurant owner says it's OK.

MURPHY: The most concerning thing on this very topic is bar owners are confused about the law. People who carry guns are confused about the law. The state's attorney general isn't asking their questions about the law. And they wouldn't answer questions for me about the law. I had some scenarios, what about if a bar owner does this or do that? We can't answer those questions for you is what they said.

COSTELLO: Isn't the job to answer questions about our laws?

MURPHY: They don't think so. The problem or difficulty with this law, there's an opt in and opt out. Do you have the right to ask somebody if they have a license for the gun? Nobody knows if that's legal or not at this point, so there's an enormous amount of confusion and concern. The NRA has called it an historic victory. A lot of people in Georgia are worried about the specifics of the bill.

COSTELLO: Why did the state legislature pass such a confusing law?

MURPHY: They passed a couple of different laws. They were all sort of mushed together at the very end of the session. Honestly, I think people, lawyers I spoke with they may not have known exactly what they were passing when they were passing it and a lot of these details conflict with each other and they are going to have -- different pieces of the bill conflict with each other. A lot of it is going to end up in the courts to be decided in the end. Sounds like a lot of fun. It sounds scary.

COSTELLO: Even the bill itself is opposed by most Georgians. People who voted for it, they believe in second amendment rights. Thanks so much, Patricia Murphy.

Hobby Lobby won the battle against Obamacare, but should its workers profit from the very drugs that Hobby Lobby's owners oppose? Christine Romans is breaking this down for us

CHRISTIAN ROMANS, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Really interesting. Hobby lobby didn't want to provide coverage for certain contraceptives for its employees, but at the same time, the 401(k) plan allows those employees to vest in those companies that make those contraceptives. I'll break it down after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right, we're keeping a close eye on Wall Street. The Dow is flirting with 17,000. Hovering right now around Tuesday's record high close. Economists say a strong job market is helping to propel stocks. We'll keep an eye on it for you.

Hobby Lobby will not have to pay for certain contraceptives it believes it induces abortions, it doesn't mean its employees cannot make money off those same troefle (ph) drugs -- controversial drugs. However, the company's own 401(k) plans does not include making money off those same drug makers. ROMANS: It's a big contradiction, Carol. Really interesting, when you dig into the 401(k) offerings of Hobby Lobby, the employees have taken advantage of the 401(k) through hobby lobby, but some of the mutual funds do offer investments in companies that actually make the very drugs or devices that Hobby Lobby went all the way to the Supreme Court to on the to.

Those companies include Pfizer, Forest Labs also, Bayer makes those hormonal IUDs, which Hobby Lobby Teva is a pharmaceutical company that makes a plan B, that type of contraceptive that hobby lobby founders say is inconsistent with their Christian biblical beliefs

On the one you have a company going all the way to the Supreme Court to try to prevent the coverage of four types of contraception for its employees, but on the other hand within the mutual funds offered to its employees, those companies -- employees can invest in those very same companies. It is a contradiction. Hobby lobby does not invest its own money. It is managed by another company, but many people this morning it looks like a contradiction to them.

COSTELLO: Well, if companies can be Christian, maybe they ought to totally be Christian and isn't that the point. Maybe the Supreme Court knows the answer to that question. You are just evading it altogether. You are a smart woman.

I don't know how you tell the religious persuasion of companies. The corporations are people, I know, the Supreme Court has said that too. I'll leave that in the hands of the Supreme Court.

Good move. Christine Romans, thanks so much. Still to come in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Tropical Storm Arthur churning up waves all along the Florida coast. The storm on a path up the eastern seaboard. It's expected to be the season's first hurricane tomorrow. Sustained winds could reach as high as 85 miles per hour. Let's talk with severe weather expert Chad Myers. No chance of this thing not becoming a hurricane.

MYERS: Sure. There's always that chance. There is some dry air around. There is a Sahara dust layer around. The deal it's right over the gulfstream. That's the warmest water in the Atlantic Ocean right now and that is the fuel to the fire. It's like putting premium in your car rather than, I don't know, kerosene.

It is the real power to the storm and here's the three dimensional look at the storm from West Palm to Miami, there's almost an eye forming for a while this morning. We flatten it out, rotate it around for you. The spiraling bands now in the Atlantic Ocean right through the gulfstream itself which is the warmest water. The storm itself on satellite doesn't look as impressive as it did yesterday. That doesn't mean it's falling apart. That means it's gulping in a little bit of that dry air. Here's the watches. There's the warning.