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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

How Did Texas Nurse Get Ebola?; Warning of ISIS Attack in U.S.; Smoke Bomb Scare; St. Louis Overnight Protests; Oscar Pistorius Heads Back to Court; Cowboys Hand Seahawks Rare Home Loss

Aired October 13, 2014 - 05:00   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A new Ebola case. This time contracted inside a U.S. hospital. Shocking hospital officials in Texas and prompting the CDC to claim a breach in protocol.

New concerns over possible threats on U.S. soil from ISIS. The terror chatter that has FBI and homeland security officials on edge.

A thousand people in the streets overnight. Police in riot gear as protesters hold sign that say, "black lives matter". We are live in St. Louis this morning.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. John Berman has the morning off. It is Monday, October 13th, Columbus Day. It is 5:00 a.m. in the East.

Serious jitters around the world this morning as the global death toll from Ebola climbs above 4,000 for the first time.

In Dallas, health officials are baffled by the first case of Ebola contracted in the U.S., a nurse who took care of Thomas Eric Duncan. Duncan traveled from Liberia to Dallas. He fell ill and he died from the disease last week.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Dallas with more on this investigation into just how that nurse could have contracted Ebola even though she wore protective clothing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: CDC officials say they will investigate what they're calling a breach in protocol. They say that this health care worker, a female nurse, was wearing all of the protective gear, a mask, gloves, gown, everything that she needed. But despite all of that, she somehow became infected during the time that she was taking care or part of the team that was taking care of Thomas Eric Duncan before he died here at Texas Health Presbyterian last Wednesday.

This health care worker reported having a low-grade fever Friday night, and then she drove herself here to the hospital. CDC officials say they will be investigating just how all of this happened, that it's critical. In the meantime, they will try to limit the number of people who have exposure to her, this new patient. They want to keep the number of health care workers who have direct contact to the fewest number of people possible. So, they will continue to do that.

In the meantime, they are continuing with the decontamination process at her apartment and the various places that she walked through coming here to Texas Health Presbyterian. That work will continue as well as the calls for calm and explanation to people who live around the apartment complex not too far away from this hospital where she lives here in the Dallas area.

But, really, the main focus at this point is trying to figure out just went wrong -- what went wrong, how this could have happened -- someone who was wearing all of the protective gear still managed to get infected. That is the number one question that faces officials here at this hospital and CDC investigators as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Ed Lavandera, thank you for that, Ed.

Nearly halfway around the world from Dallas, U.S. troops going into battle against Ebola in West Africa where most of the depths of the current outbreak had happened. On Thursday, 90 U.S. marines and airmen landed in Liberia, bringing Americans total deployment of Ebola fighting troops to 334, with another 700 scheduled for later this month.

There's new concern this morning about attacks on U.S. soil by ISIS- inspired terrorists. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are warning law enforcement and news media, they could be targeted by ISIS militants. Law enforcement officials tell CNN that a security bulletin with that warning is based on chatter in extremist forums and on social media. Not intelligence about a specific threat.

In Iraq, ISIS advancing on Baghdad, despite further airstrikes over the weekend by the U.S.-led coalition. More than 30 suspected ISIS fighters in Iraq were killed in an airstrike Saturday on an armed convoy, west of Ramadi. But officials say ISIS is moving aggressively, dispatching as many as 10,000 fighters to Anbar province from Syria and Mosul.

I want to go live to Baghdad this morning. Senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman is there for us.

Ben, Anbar is very close to Baghdad. You point out how these ISIS fighters have been probing the capital. But how serious a threat is ISIS to the capital at this point?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At this point, it's just a theoretical threat. They really made no effort to push into the capital.

Now, our colleague Nic Robertson spoke sometime ago to a Sunni leader, tribal leader, who is sympathetic to ISIS. He told Nic that the interest is not into taking over Baghdad, or attacking Baghdad. It's a huge city, 9 million people. Most of them, Shia, who are extremely hostile to ISIS.

But what they want to do is somehow disable Baghdad International Airport, which is to the west of the city which abuts Anbar province. And certainly, the loss or disabling of Baghdad airport would be a serious symbolic blow to the government here.

And it's worth keeping in mind that it's about eight miles from the airport to the area called Abu Ghraib, and that is an area with a Sunni majority, which according to our sources, the army and the police control by day, but ISIS operates there by night. And, of course, the worry is that that will be used as a foothold for some sort of hostile action against the airport.

But until now, by and large, most of the action against the defenses of Baghdad have been sporadic and light compared to the operations of ISIS elsewhere in Anbar province where in town after town, they managed to take more and more ground. Yesterday, they were able to kill an IED bombing, the chief of police for entire Anbar province, which itself a very serious blow for any attempts to bolster the defenses of Baghdad and, of course, to maintain control over the remaining 20 percent of Anbar that's not in ISIS hands.

ROMANS: All right. Ben Wedeman for us this morning in Baghdad -- thank you for that, Ben.

Six minutes past the hour.

Hillary Clinton heckled during a speech Sunday night in San Diego. She was addressing the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics when she was interrupted by a man in the crowd carrying of all things a bullhorn. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(INAUDIBLE)

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Millions of our children are at risk. Though, there are some people who miss important developmental stages.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The man was taken out of the room by security. Officials say he had a one-day badge for the weekend-long conference.

It's been a weekend of mostly peaceful resistance in St. Louis and Ferguson, Missouri. Thousands taking part in marches and vigils during a four day event which wraps up today. Protesters are calling for Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson to be charged in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown.

Seventeen people were arrested early Sunday. Police used pepper spray to subdue some of the protesters staging a sit-in outside a convenience store in St. Louis where another black teen was fatally shot by a white police officer last week. Police say the teen, Vonderrit Myers, shot first. Some 1,000 protesters overnight to remember Vonderrit Myers. The

group started at just 200, but the size of the crowd quickly swelled.

CNN's Sara Sidner is live for us on the St. Louis University campus this morning.

Sara, what's happening at this hour?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are students here that have planned a sit-in, and they are part of the 1,000-plus march that went through the city from the Shaw neighborhood, where Myers was shot and killed. But really is not just about Myers and not just about Brown.

There is an emotional issue here about the way the people in this march feel about police and police action. Many people talking about police brutality. The huge gulf of mistrust between the police and African-American community. And people say they just want the shooting to stop. They want the killing to stop. They are here and they are going to be here, they say, ever since the August 9th shooting of Michael Brown.

The 1,500 protesters we saw marched through St. Louis today, all peaceful and trying to stay on the sidewalk and trying to keep away from police. It was significant that the protesters really wanted to make sure this was a peaceful movement. They also heard from different speakers today, including thinker Cornell West who was also here at this protest. But certainly, emotions high in the St. Louis area -- Christine.

ROMANS: Emotions are high again this weekend.

Thank you so much, Sara Sidner.

Nine minutes past the hour. Time for an EARLY START on your money this morning.

Futures mixed, some losses in Europe and Asian stocks. The Dow industrials are now lower for the year, by the way. The NASDAQ is up 2 percent. The S&P 500 still positive. It's up 3 percent for the year. But those averages had the worst weekly loss in two years last week.

Some big U.S. companies are said to report earnings this week. We've got tech companies like Google, Netflix, eBay, big banks, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo. Signs of growth in the business is key. If investors don't see it, it could get worse before it gets better on Wall Street.

Alexandra Steele has an EARLY START on your forecast this morning -- Alexandra.

ALEXANDER STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: (AUDIO GAP) to you, Christine.

All right. Lots to talk about in the world of weather. Few different things happening. We've got two rounds of rain, severe weather, a moderate risk. So, tornadoes are certainly not out of the question. Temperatures all over the map.

So, let's show what we've got. This is the three-hour radar. You know, we got a few areas of moisture. Believe it or not, there was an old hurricane, Hurricane Simon, moisture coming in from that, moisture coming up from the gulf.

So, two rounds of rain. Flooding is a possibility over the next couple of days. Severe weather threat here.

What we've got is moisture coming up. We have the very stalled boundary, also a jet stream that's kind of paralleling that. So, severe weather, isolated tornadoes, some very strong winds, as well as this flooding potential.

Two to four inches here in the Southeast, especially western Kentucky, Tennessee. The ground has been already saturated, now we're bringing in more rain. Here's where the severe weather threat is, again large hail and isolated tornadoes. Little Rock, Memphis, Jackson, all the way to St. Louis. So, a lot of big hubs impacted, if you will be traveling out there.

High temperatures in the northeast, you are getting warmer in the 60s today. It's been pretty cool over the weekend. But now, temperatures warming mid-70s by the time we get to Wednesday.

But the opposite of that happening, Christine, in the Southeast. Temperatures have been warm and humid and they are going down as that front passes. So, a lot really -- a lot of fluidity and a lot of changes.

ROMANS: Looks like a lot of moisture.

(LAUGHTER)

STEELE: Yes, right.

ROMANS: Thank you so much, Alexandra Steele. We'll talk to you again soon.

STEELE: Sure.

ROMANS: All right. Coming up on EARLY START: health officials questioning the ability of the hospital handling the Ebola case in Spain. The city of Boston waits to hear if a patient there tests positive for the deadly virus.

And an Ebola scare in the air. A flight to LAX has flyers on edge as one passenger falls ill. How a miscommunication terrified a plane full of people.

That's all coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: A Spanish nurse infected with Ebola is showing marginal signs of recovery this morning. Health officials in Madrid say Teresa Romero is slight improved, but she is in critical but stable condition. There is also concern the hospital where she is being treated is not prepared to handle a crisis, like an Ebola outbreak.

I want to bring in Nic Robertson. He's live for us this morning from Madrid.

Nic, bring us up to speed on both her recovery, at marginal improvement, but still critical, and also the ability of this hospital to handle a further outbreak.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christine, good morning.

Well, the news overnight some reports saying that nursing assistant Teresa Romero had something of a rough night. The hospital isn't confirming that. They say that she is in critical but stable condition. She is conscious and talking, that she is having difficulty breathing, and that her lungs are affected by the illness at the moment. However, they also say that they are seeing some signs of hope. This is how the spokesperson put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FERNANDO SIMON, SPOKESPERSON, SPECIAL COMMITTEE FOR EBOLA CRISIS (through translator): The amount of the virus Teresa has seems to be lowering. It is important to believe there is hope regarding her case. We have to be careful. It is a good sign for hope, but a person who's contracted Ebola is always in critical condition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Well, the experts here believe the next few days will be absolutely critical. A pivotal point, they described it. They believe sort of 14 or 15 days after showing the first symptoms. Teresa Romero showed first symptoms around 30th of September. So, that timing would be around now.

It's a pivotal time. The patient can go either way. Of course, they remain hopeful.

But we heard as well that officials here, the special commission in Spain that's overseeing the Ebola crisis says the hospital does not have adequate space for the treatment of this illness. They say the area where they have set aside for putting on and taking off protective equipment just isn't big enough. We heard from the European Center of Disease Control as well, they believe the same thing, Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Nic Robertson for us in Madrid this morning -- thank you for that reporting, Nic.

An Ebola scare on a United Airlines flight from New York's JFK airport to Los Angeles International started with a passenger with flu-like symptoms began vomiting on board. That prompted the fire department to respond.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. JAMIE MOORE, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPT: The patient has been assessed by the Los Angeles Fire Department, as well as Los Angeles County public health officials. And there is no reason to believe that this person has been exposed to an Ebola virus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: A miscommunication fueled this incident. Airlines officials initially believed the sick passenger had been to West Africa. Turned out that passenger was in South Africa.

Fear of an Ebola outbreak also rattling nerves in Boston. Dozens of workers and patients at Harvard Vanguard Medical Center quarantined for hours after a man who recently visited Liberia entered that facility complaining of a headache and body aches. According to one patient, things got a little hectic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We didn't get to wash our hands. We didn't get to do anything. And no one has really told us what to do. They just said take a shower and check your temperature for the next 21 days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Late last night, hospital officials said the patient likely does not have Ebola, but he's being kept in isolation as a precaution.

Authorities in Virginia are looking for any link between a man charged in the disappearance of Hannah Graham and yet another possible victim, 23-year-old Cassandra Morton went missing in 2009. Weeks later, a hiker discovered her decomposed body at a camp ground owned by Liberty University. Police hunted for her killer, but eventually the case went cold. Now with Graham's disappearance and the subsequent arrest of Jesse Matthew, police are looking into several similar cases, including Morton's. Campbell County sheriff's office acknowledged the investigation but declined any further comment on it.

The murder trial that gripped a nation entering its final phase. Oscar Pistorius today is back in court for sentencing in the killing of his girlfriend. Last month, the athlete was convicted of killing model Reeva Steenkamp on culpable homicide. Pistorius faces several years in jail although the judge -- the judge could go easy on him.

CNN's Diana Magnay is following the latest development. She's live for us this morning from Pretoria, South Africa.

This procedure could take a couple of days, we're told. What can you tell us about what is happening in the courtroom right now and how much time Oscar Pistorius is facing?

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine, if the prosecution keeps cross-examining in the way it did the first witness, it really could take time. We heard from the therapist of Oscar Pistorius who painted this very

powerful picture of a broken man. He had depression, suffered from post traumatic stress disorder and deeply filled with remorse and a sense of guilt from the killing of Reeva Steenkamp. She also made a case, a powerful indictment really, of the media coverage of the trial and how it had been a character assassination of Pistorius himself and how that completely destroyed him also. That all weighs into the judge's decision-making in terms of factoring in the sense of remorse as a mitigating factor on the sentence.

So, we are expecting a few more witnesses to take to stand both for the prosecution and the defense. The judge will then withdraw an issue of her sentence. And that could really be anything from house arrest to an indefinite number of years in jail. It's up to the judge's discretion. There are many here who believe he should serve a long sentence because they believe this sentence of verdict of culpable homicide was actually too lenient.

But, of course, there are many Pistorius loyalists out there who believe the sense of remorse should weigh in his favor, Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Diana Magnay for us in Pretoria, South Africa, this morning -- thank you, Diana.

Twenty-one minutes past the hour. Not too many NFL teams can visit the Super Bowl champion Seahawks and come out on top. That's what the Dallas Cowboys were up against on Sunday. Could they pull off the improbable upset?

Andy Scholes knows and has the details in the 'Bleacher Report", next.

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ROMANS: What an exciting Sunday of NFL football. We saw a little bit of everything yesterday.

Andy Scholes has more on this morning's "Bleacher Report".

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Yes, good morning. Yes, we had blowouts, last second game-winning touchdowns. We even had a tie.

The Panthers and Bengals each scored 37 points through four quarters, but neither put points on the board overtime, resulting in the rare tie.

Now, the biggest surprise yesterday and the entire season thus far got to be the Dallas Cowboys, America's team taking on the Seahawks, trailing in the fourth quarter and on third and 20, Tony Romo with an amazing pass to Terrance Williams and somehow stays inbounds. Take another look, barely get those toes down. That first down would lead to a DeMarco Murray touchdown run. Cowboys win, 30-23. They are now the league best, 5-1 on the season.

Now, the Eagles looking to keep pace with the Cowboys. They hosted the Giants on Sunday night football. This one, all Philly. They shutout New York, 27-0. If the loss wasn't bad enough for the G-men, Victor Cruz, he goes down on this play and ends up tearing his patellar tendon. He's likely going to miss the rest of the season.

Packers at Dolphins. Green Bay trailing by four and Aaron Rodgers pulls the old Dan Marino move. He fakes the spike and throws to Davante Adams. That sets up Rodgers to Andrew Quarless. That touchdown with three seconds to go gave the Packers a 27-24 win. They are 4-2 on the season.

To baseball we go. The National League Championship series. Giant and Cardinals, bottom of the night, Kolten Wong goes deep to right. That's a walk-off home run.

Cardinals win, 5-4, to even the series at a game piece. That's 11 home runs now for the Cardinals in six playoff games. Not bad for the team with the least amount of home runs this season. Game three is going to be Tuesday in San Francisco.

Tonight on TBS, Royals and Orioles. Game three in the American League Championship Series.

Christine, will Kansas City ever lose a game? They're 6-0 so far in the post-season. It's incredible. They hadn't been there in 29 years. At least they're making the most of it.

ROMANS: Making the most of it. Such an exciting Sunday of football. John Berman couldn't even show up today, you know?

SCHOLES: Right.

ROMANS: All right. Thanks so much, Andy Scholes.

New case of Ebola diagnosed in the U.S. Officials saying it is a result of a breach of protocol. What happened? That's coming up.

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